Defeating the New Genshin Bosses in Stygian Onslaught

A new rotation of Stygian just started, and in this article, we will cover all the new boss mechanics, teams, and strategies we can use. As per usual, there are weird things we can do to make this one easier.

We will focus on difficulty five and six, Fearless and Dir,e with as many examples as we can, but keep in mind that we can’t cover every single unit and scenario on such short notice. For difficulty 4, the enemies have slightly different mechanics and behavior, but you can always co-op by directly inviting someone to your world. 

The Lord of The Hidden Depths: Whisperer of Nightmares (Mechanics + Lunar)

The first boss is a totally new one. The Lord of the Hidden Depths: Whisperer of Nightmares, which we will kindly refer to as “WoN”. Let’s see what it does. First off, it has the new highest HP we have ever encountered in Stygian so far. Slightly more tanky than the recent plunge boss. However, HP is not the full picture because of the boss mechanics.

As soon as this one spawns, it will disappear and create a new kind of shield. This is equal to 45% of its HP, which is massive. But any lunar reaction damage is literally multiplied by 3. Not just that, the first time this shield takes any form of lunar damage, then 36 energy is going to be given to you.

Now, be aware that this is in the form of clear particles. Therefore, if there is a character you want to prioritize this on, they should be the one catching them. Additionally, this is not exactly a classic shield, and weapons like Favonius or Sacrificial do work. And then, for some reason, in this phase, the boss is immune to physical damage. Thank you, Hoyo, for keeping Eula in check.

When the shield is destroyed, the boss loses 20% of its HP and has a phase lasting about 15 seconds where all its resistances are decreased to minus 60%. This is obviously the reason for its very high HP. We are trading the shield phase damage for 20% plus a phase in which we deal substantially more damage.

The shield is incredibly tough, but not for Lunar characters. Failing to destroy it is a big waste of time, but technically, you can tank the hit coming right after. Although we doubt this is going to be very useful to most. As you might have noticed, that’s not all because there is another way to deal with the shield.

Once it’s up, the boss will summon four anglers. And these have 18% of the boss’s original HP. And once defeated, the main shield drops by 25% each. Meaning we have two main ways to think about this fight.

Either go for the main body, having to deal a total of 45% of the boss’s HP, but with our Luna reactions being incredibly stronger, or we go for the anglers, and we only have to deal 18% of the boss’s HP, but we have to defeat four of them.

Remember that Stygian is about builds, investment, skill, but also about rotations. Not matching your damage with a stun phase is a bigger damage loss than most other things. Consequently, Flint, Nefer, and Ineffa all have a pretty easy time here.

If you have both the on-banner characters, you can literally do it with just that and Sucrose. You don’t even need a fourth member. With Lunar Teams, you honestly don’t need a guide to help you.

Oprichniki Fireblade Shock Trooper

Moving on, the second boss we have is the Shock Trooper. The first rerun we have ever seen in Stygian. And partially because of that, it’s going to be the easiest boss for many of you.

Quick recap on the mechanics. At the start of the fight, the boss gains three layers of shield. These have a high resistance to all elements except electro and take increased damage from electrocharged and lunar charged. 

The shield constantly regenerates unless you trigger electrocharged or lunar charged, which slows the healing. Vaporize and melt do not work on this kind of shield. When destroyed, he will lose 6% of his health from each, and you get a bunch of energy.

The reasons why we say it’s going to be the easiest for most is because it gives you free energy. You have more damage from electro and its hydro reactions, a stun phase with dropped resistance, and we had an entire month to face off this encounter already.

Thus, we are aware of a multitude of strategies. For example, over time, we learned that you can stagger this enemy completely and prevent the shield from ever appearing. We tested this method, and it still works as of the time of writing this article.

This is definitely harder and not for everyone, but enabled Jean teams, Arleccino, Mavuika, and such do not have to deal with the shield at all. We have also seen Skirk and Varesa clear this encounter even in Dire stages. Most commonly, this encounter will either be for the teams that include the electro or lunar-charged reactions or have enough damage to basically not care about it.

Once again, the two on-banner characters deal with this so easily that we think this three again without a fourth member might even defeat the Dire version of this boss.

The Emperor of Fire and Iron

And for the last boss, we have the Emperor of Fire and Iron, of course, joining us with some changes, making it very, very similar to the Bloom Crab we faced not long ago.

First off, this is the least tanky encounter of this rotation. It packs a very common 10% resistance to every element except Pyro. The main mechanic is its horns. These are worth 64 units of Pyro, which is four times the overworld version. Plus, they also increase every resistance by 150%. Making it basically undefeatable.

This is how much of any element you need to apply to destroy them.

Ward Data
WardElement	WardGU	GU Required to Break
	64	128	128	64	32		128

But the thing is, the horns are hard to reach for most characters. And additionally, although very slowly, they constantly regenerate. The strategy here is not to face it directly, but instead to fight the constant spawns of smaller crabs, which also have a shield.

They are worth 12 units of pyro and, when depleted hits the main body, making the horns lose the same number of elemental units for them.

This is how much of each element we need to apply.

Ward Data
WardElement	WardGU	GU Required to Break
	12	24	24	12	6		24

For example, six units of hydro will get rid of it. We say that this boss is similar to the bloom crab because the small ones also damage the main body. The hit is equal to 60% of the hydro damage taken plus 10% of others. We have tried to use multiple debuffs and buffs on the main body before this damage hits, but it doesn’t seem to work like the bloom version of this encounter.

In short, you are targeting the small crabs, which will absorb some of the hydro damage you inflict and deliver it to the main boss. So why not focus on the main body and treat the crabs as collateral damage? You just need to apply as much hydro as possible, and then anything could work with the resistances down, right?

Well, surprise, surprise, the stun phase of this boss is only 10 seconds, and the shield is fully up right after this. 

So, what’s the real strategy here? We need to defeat as many crabs as possible while dealing as much hydro damage as possible. Technically, we don’t need super-fast depleting the shields because that gives you time to deal more damage, and it all has to be AoE. 

Now look out who’s on the second banner of this patch has a new skin, and the answer will be very clear. Neuvilette will have the time of his life here because on top of covering everything we just pointed out, he also gets free vaporize,s meaning even in a team with two hydro units, he’s able to get three draconic stacks, which is huge for him.

Lastly, we think that out of all three bosses, this one has the most potential for weird strategies.

1. How much preparation do I need for each boss of Luna IV Stygian Onslaught?

The first boss is likely going to be either easy for Lunar teams or a huge AoE DPS check for non-Lunar teams. The second boss is going to be the easiest for most, as it’s possible to even ignore its mechanics with enough damage. And the last is a big Hydro check, plain and simple.

2. Are there any alternatives for Lunar teams against Lord of the Hidden Depths: Whisperer of Nightmares?

If you have Lunar, you’re good. But if you don’t, your best bets are Mavuika or Arleccino with Kazuha or a very well-positioned Skirk. All of them can burst all four anglers without any help. But we just don’t think this is going to be easy for most.

As always, this is just our own experience and testing. Hopefully, we have enough to give you an understanding of the encounters, but we will see many new strategies pop out once the entire community gets to contribute as well.

As always, go and buy Primogems quickly and securely with our services. If you don’t have any of the characters mentioned here, take a look at our selection of Genshin Impact accounts buy.

Thank you so much for reading.

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