Spellplague Caverns Strategy Guide

Today we are going to extent our list of dungeon guides with Epic Spellplague Caverns. Introduced in Neverwinter’s Cloaked Ascendancy it can be unlocked in the corresponding campaign and concludes the storyline of the module. Spellplague features three bosses that all present different challenges to the party and it’s probably the most intriguing piece of content in terms of mechanics.

That’s why we’ll focus on the boss fights for this guide. The trash and tasks in between are merely fillers and do not need additional explanation in my eyes. It’s basically just kill and fetch. The only thing undergeared parties have to watch out for is not to pull too much stuff at once. If you then still can’t beat the mobs, you’re probably simply not strong enough to master the dungeon.

Kabal

The first boss in the dungeon is a test to teamwork and awareness. The fight basically follows the same mechanics than the one in Kabal’s demiplane. So having run that one a few times up front should definitely help.

Upon entering the room, Kabal initially is immune to damage. The tank grabs aggro and the group has to fight the sword and golem mobs that spawn. All relevant attacks from Kabal are teleported, so you normally shouldn’t run into trouble there. The boss however will occasionally “bring fire to his domain”, setting either the inner or outer circle on fire. It deals a substantial amount of damage, but can be anticipated. Kabal will always target the area he is not standing in. So positioning yourself in the inner or outer circle depending on the boss position helps dealing with that mechanic.

Chain Mechanics

The two other mechanics of the fight are tied to the golem mobs. Two players are randomly chained together and an annoying damage over time is applied to them. Some golems leave a lava ball once killed, which can be used to burn the chain and free the teammates. It’s not hard, but requires some coordination between affected players while still paying attention to everything else.

While the boss is immune to damage, the golems can also spawn a lava ball that gets chained to and slowly moves towards the player that killed the mob. That way the ball can be pulled into Kabal, which lifts his immunity. At that point the boss “just” has to be killed. He doesn’t have too much HP, but depending on your DPS it can still take some time.

Last Phase

Kabal refreshes its HP twice, meaning groups have to do the whole immunity, get chained, crash lava ball into boss thing multiple times. The last intermediate stage comes with some extra juice though. All players get chained to the boss and have to outheal a hefty damage over time effect. Five mobs drop five lava balls that have to be used to free the whole group. I would suggest moving together and letting the squishier classes burn their chains first. Tanks and healers simply can survive the DoT longer. In case you have the DPS and self-heal, everyone can obviously take on one enemy individually.

Giant Nothic Stone-Eye

While Kabal is a team-effort, the second boss requires personal skill to beat. The number one target for each individual participating in the fight is to not get pushed off the platform. The boss will frequently spawn a pulsating AoE, jump to the area and initiate a massive push. Players have to position themselves at the edge of the red AoE warn area that has the most distance to the end of the platform. It’s the only way to not fall off.

While control immunities do not prevent the push, they can interrupt it. Guardian Fighters for example can raise their shield and stop it prematurely. Classes with dodge also have the ability to teleport back onto the platform if they just got pushed over. So even if you got caught in a bad spot there are some ways to avoid death. Positioning yourself correctly however is also important to not lose your companion if you’re using Bondings. Pets will get pushed as well and if they die, you’ll obviously lose their boosts and abilities. That’s why it might make sense to have a geared Augment at hand for this fight.

Gaze and Mirrors

Unfortunately the push is not the only thing that’s going on. In addition to a couple hard hitting AoE attacks, the boss uses a gaze attack to stun players. This is done in preparation for his jump and push, so getting caught by the gaze and then being unable to position yourself correctly is a death sentence most of the time. The only way to avoid the stun is to not look the boss in its eye. So you either place yourself behind it or turn away. Again control immunity or resistances do not help.

Last but not least, the boss grows in size, increasing its damage. Several mirrors are positioned around the platform. You can clear the growth stacks by letting the boss gaze itself using the mirrors. This feature is not very intuitive though and I’d ignore it if you have a potent tank and healer combo. Players by the way can also get gazed through the mirrors, so watch out!

A while ago this boss could be glitched. I haven’t actually done it and never checked whether it might still be possible. Anyway, if you can’t beat this boss legit, you definitely fail one of the few skill checks of the game!

Nostura

The last boss of the dungeon might be the easiest one. Again running the Nostura demiplane in the River District helps to get an idea of some of the attacks and mechanics.

One that is not included in the solo content is the laser attack however. Nostura will spawn lasers at 80% health around the platform that fire lethal damage. Players simply have to position themselves in between them to avoid the beams.

Additionally Nostura features a gaze attack that can once again be avoided by turning away. It’s forewarned (“Be still!”), so this shouldn’t be an issue. The gaze has an upside though. Nostura can apply a pretty hefty curse dot that stacks indefinitely and without a very potent healer or self-heal almost certainly will kill squishy toons. By taking the gaze, the curse stacks get cleared.

Planar Tears

At 66% and under 50% health, she “grows weary of this” and three tentacles and yellow portals appear. The group first has to DPS down the tentacles, then enter the yellow portals and clear the Planar Tears inside. The boss slowly heals during this phase, is immune to damage, but still attacks. The faster you do this, the less Nostura can heal. You can also send one DPS through the portals while still killing the tentacles by the way. It’s not mandatory and depends on the power and setup of your group.

Under 25% she spawns five Planar Tears and five Portals again. The group has to DPS down the tears and every players needs to enter a portal to prevent getting one-shotted by the ensuing  nuke. After that, you can safely kick her butt back to the Far Realm!


I hope this helps you guys to maneuver through the dungeon safely! Have any additions or experience to share? Do it in the comments below and visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

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