Hey everyone, Hell Raised (also called Into the Inferno) is the second dungeon you will encounter in The Secret World. This dungeon is located in Savage Coast and require a gear requirement of QL4-5 for the normal version. It is recommended that DPS have at least QL5 weapon green weapon or QL3 blue weapon from Polaris as there is are some fights in there with some strict DPS check.
The quest for the dungeon can be picked up from Overlook Motel in on the NE side Savage Coast by talking to the NPC there. You will be directed to room 13, the entrance for the dungeon.
Navigation
This is the first boss of the dungeon. The basic gest of this fight is to move around in clockwise fashion when you see the pillars about to spew out AoE.
The boss itself is a pushover, she doesn’t do much damage and only has an ability called Macroshock that she sometimes cast. What will damage players however, is the pillars all around.
Those pillars are placed in a circle all around the room. Periodically throughout the fight, these pillars will activate and start to spew out AoE. You get plenty of warning in advance: you will see white circles start to form on the ground. When that happens, just stop what you are doing and start running clockwise. The pillars will activate in a clockwise fashion so if you keep running clockwise you will always be ahead of them.
Alternatively, you could take a step in counterclockwise when the white circles start to happen. If you move out of the initial white circle, you can stand there and fight a bit since the pillars activate in a clockwise fashion and won’t reach you until it almost complete the cycle.
| Mechanics | Strategy |
| Caustic Outpouring | Stay immediately behind the boss to avoid damage |
| Fire | Enrage mechanic – DPS check |
| Cleave | Stay behind the boss at all times |
At the start of the fight, the group should position themselves at the start of the pipeline (shown in the picture). Tank will go by alone by himself to pull the boss while the rest of the group wait at the indicated spot. Once the boss comes, tank will position himself to the left side of the wall while rest of the group move up behind the boss. Doing this positioning will allow the group to neglect all boss mechanics and turning the fight into a straight DPS race.
It is very important that DPS and healers position themselves immediately behind the boss. The boss has a cleave that will damage any DPS standing in front of him. Additionally, his Caustic Outpouring attack can be only avoided if you stay right behind him.
Caustic Outpouring is an attack that can be only avoided if you are in the little bubble of safety zone all around the boss or if you LOS (line of sight) the attack. This attack is performed immediately after you engage the boss so that is why only the tank go in to pull while the rest of the group wait at the starting position to LOS the attack.
The enrage mechanic is the fire that creep up along the pipes. The longer the fight take, the higher the fire will creep up. Most groups will not need to move at all but groups with poor DPS may need to move up when they see the fire around the corner. If you are having DPS issues with this boss though, you might have a lot of trouble with the 4th boss, which also have an enrage mechanic that is far worse.
This fight is quite fun – it is movement intensive and people need to pay attention. Healers should have some AoE heals to cope with the damage to the group (Assault Rifle’s Mortar Support and Platoon come really really handy inhere).
| Mechanics | Strategy |
| Lit grates on fire | Move to the grate that is not lit on fire as a group. |
| Enrage mechanic | If the fight lasts too long, all grates will catch on fire and there won’t be any safe spot to stand in. |
Positioning is very important here. The metal grates on the ground are safe spots to stand on if they are not lit on fire but the molten cracks in between are not safe to stand in. You will take constant environmental damage if you stand in the cracks.
This fight also features an enrage mechanic. There are 5 metal grates in the room (central + 4 sides) . Periodically, the boss will light the grates on fire and you will need to move to a safe grate. Initially, it will be just one grate that he lits on fire (the one he is standing on). Next time however, the grate he is standing in + an additional grate will catch on fire. The third time, 3 of the grates will be on fire. If your DPS is low, eventually all the grates will be on fire and everyone will be roasted.
It is recommended that players all stand together in the same grate and move together to the next safe grate. Tank should lead the group to the next safe grate if possible. Othewise, a DPS can be designated to the person who looks for the fire on the current grate and lead the group to the next safe grate.
Detecting the fire is fairly simple – you will see puffs of smoke pop up on the ground before the fire starts. Once you see the puff, you should immediately look for the next safe grate and start moving across.
Group members will take a lot of damage – people may forget to move out of the fire until it is too late or take damage on the molten cracks between the grates. AoE heals here should help to top everyone up.
| Mechanics | Strategy |
| Stripmine – an attack targeting a random player in the group | Move out of the white circle. |
| Pillars will spew out of AoE | The pillars will activate in a counterclockwise direction, you can easily dodge them by moving to the other side of the room. |
| Fire | Enrage mechanic – fire will cover more and more ground as the fight goes on. |
Traumadiver is at the end of a long hallway with pillars on the sides similar to the pillars from the first boss fight (Antimony). These pillars activate as well, but in a counter-clockwise direction.
It will start with pillars on the right and keep going forward until it reaches the otherside, and then it will pass it to the pillars on the left side. When you see the pillars lit up on on your right side, move to the left side of the hallway and once they deactivate, you can move to the right side of the hallway to avoid the AoEs from the left pillars that are not activating.
In addition to the pillars. the boss will also cast an ability called Stripemine. This ability places a white circle on the ground and a few seconds after, rocks will burst up from the ground, damaging anyone standing there at the time. This, in combination with the circles from the side pillars means that you have to keep watching the ground in order to not take any avoidable damage.
Lastly, there is an enrage mechanic. Fire will start up from behind you and keep moving up as the fight prolongs. Group need to move forward as a team to avoid damage.
Recursia features a very straight DPS check. Having abilities with Hinder effects (slowing mob’s movement speed) will help immensely with this fight if you are having trouble with the DPS checks.
| Mechanics | Strategy |
| Macroshock | Places a debuff on random players, reducing healing but nothing serious. |
| Arcane Halo | Similar to the Caustic Outpouring from the 2nd boss (Corroder), you must stay near the boss in her little safety bubble or you will take damage. |
| Infernal Critically | Start the add phase – she is immune to damage until all adds are killed |
| Adds | these adds will spawn from all around the room and if they reach Recursia, they will explode, damaging the group |
| Enrage mechanic | If you don’t kill Recursia fast enough during the 3rd add phase (she is not immune to damage at this 3rd phase), adds will keep coming and exploding, wiping out your group. |
Recursia has three phases: normal phase, add phase and final phase. During the normal phase, she will use Macroshock and Arcane Halo abilities. During the add phase, triggered when she casts Infernal Critically, she will be immune to damage and adds will spawn all around the room. The final phase, which is actually the 3rd add phase, she will not be immune to damage and spawn unlimited adds. This phase is essentially a DPS race to kill Recursia before too many adds reaches her and explode.
Normal phase
Macroshock is a debuff she casts on random players that reduce their incoming heals and it is not something to be worried about. Arcane Halo, on the other hand, is an ability similar to Caustic Outpouring from Corroder. You must be within melee range of the boss when she casts this to avoid damage. The immediate area around here is a safety zone where you can avoid the damage. It is recommended that everyone stack behind the boss so they don’t have to worry about this mechanic. Be aware that she can move while casting this so you will need to move with her.
Add phase
The add phase is triggered when she casts Infernal Critically. It is fairly obvious when she casts this ability as there are large demonic circles under her feet when she casts this. In the first two add phases, Recursia is immune to all damage.
Adds called Triggerthing will spawn all over the perimeter of the room and will walk slowly towards her. If they reach her, they will start casting Biomeltdown and explodes once the cast is finished. This is a massive AoE explosion that can easily chip off your group’s health by 20-30%. It is recommended that players use ability with Hinder effects (snare/roots) to slow the adds down and healers use AoE heals to help recover from this phase.
The add phase is over once all the adds are killed and Recursia will be vulnerable again and returns to the normal phase.
Final Phase
During the final phase, which is actually the 3rd add phase, Recursia won’t be immune to damage and will spawn unlimited adds. This is essentially a burn phase. You must kill Recursia before too many adds reaches her and explode. Don’t worry about the adds as they will keep spawning and you can’t keep up if you try to kill them all. Burn Recursia!
Machina Tyrant is an epic boss fight. In the couple runs I did, I always seem to lose at least one DPS who failed to move out of bad circles on the ground.
| Mechanics | Strategy |
| Demolish | An AoE knockdown that affects players right next to him. Dodge it. |
| Orange shield | If the boss has an orange shield on, he is immune to damage, kite him to one of the orange swirling circles on the ground to remove the shield. |
| Tracking red circles | These red circles will follow players around. Move ahead of them to avoid damage. |
| Center carpet bomb | Boss will teleport to the center of room and start radiate a tons of circles outwards. Running to the sides to avoid the circles is a good idea. |
The Machine Tyrant start off with an orange protective bubble and cannot be damaged. To remove this, tank need to kite him to one of the orange swirling circles on the ground (you will see a wavy thingie connecting boss to the swirling circle).
Players near the boss need to aware his AoE knockdown called Demolish, there is a large white circle placed on the ground undernearth the boss when this ability is used to warn you ahead of time.
All players need to be aware of tracking red circles, these circles will follow a random player for a bit and damage them if they don’t move out fast enough. A lot of people don’t pay attention to this and get themselves killed. As a famous saying goes – I can’t heal stupid!
After ~50%, the boss will start using his center bombing move periodically and very frequently in the last 10%, Machine Tyrant will run to the center and start “carpet bombing” from center of the room and radiate outwards. Everyone should run to the sides of the room and avoid the “bomb” circles!
The two mechanics people die to the most are 1) tracking red circles and 2) carpet bombs. Remember this fight is about survival, there are no enrage mechanics. I have killed this boss with just me and a tank remaining as all the DPS got themselves killed due to the various mechanics.
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