Lonely Tower (CM) Guide - Hardstuck (2024)

Introduction

Lonely Tower CM is a more challenging version of the normal Lonely Tower fractal, requiring precise coordination, understanding of advanced mechanics, and optimized gameplay. This fractal is set within Isgarren’s Tower, where players must assist Isgarren and Mabon in defeating demonic forces and purifying the tower. The fractal features complex mechanics, especially in the boss encounters, Cerus & Deimos, and Eparch. Players must effectively manage debuffs, execute break bars, and handle specific mechanics like emotion orbs and fixation.

While the early sections of the fractal (the puzzle and Cerus & Deimos fights) are similar to normal mode, they deal significantly more damage, requiring stricter adherence to mechanics and positioning. The primary differences and challenges arise during the final encounter with Eparch.

Purifying the Nodes

The First Corridor:

After leaving the starting room, proceed right through a hallway filled with Despair Globule AoEs that apply and . These damaging effects require careful navigation and consistent healing as you reach the room with the Astral Purifier Nodes.

Astral Purifier Puzzles:

Players will encounter Astral Purifier Nodes that require solving a button-matching puzzle. However, the challenge intensifies in CM with the appearance of Avatars of Spite, which will attempt to interrupt the purification process by exploding when they reach the players.

• Stability Approach: Use to prevent interruptions from the Avatars of Spite.
• Stealth Approach: Alternatively, use to allow the purifying player to complete the task uninterrupted.

Use

or quickly eliminate Avatars of Spite while purifying the nodes to prevent any interruptions.

Upon purifying all nodes, the Despair Globule AoEs in the hallway will vanish, allowing you to return to the starting area and proceed to the next challenge.

Cerus and Deimos Boss Fight

Fixation Mechanic

In CM, the closest player to each boss will be fixated upon. It’s essential to keep Cerus and Deimos apart to prevent them from gaining the Brothers United buff, which significantly increases their damage.

Deimos Mechanics

• Black Oil: Deimos spawns black oil patches that expand if stepped in. Avoid these patches to prevent spreading oil across the arena.
• Hands: Hands spawn underneath the furthest player and must be kited away to prevent overwhelming the group with damaging AoEs.
• Smash: Deimos performs a large AoE smash attack that knocks back players. It’s crucial to dodge this attack.

Cerus Mechanics

• Malice Shadow: Cerus summons a shadow clone of a player that runs toward him. Defeat this shadow before it reaches Cerus, or he will gain empowered stacks.
• Cry of Rage: Cerus channels a large AoE attack that deals massive damage. It’s recommended to dodge or block this attack.
• Orbs: Damaging orbs will spawn above players. Drop these orbs away from the group to keep the arena clear.

Focus on keeping Cerus and Deimos separated while managing their AoEs to prevent overlapping attacks.

Eparch Encounter

The Eparch encounter in CM introduces several new and intensified mechanics, requiring players to manage emotion orbs carefully, execute break bars, handle specific attack patterns, and navigate Rifts that appear during critical phases. Effective management of these mechanics is essential to prevent Eparch from gaining overwhelming advantages and to ensure the party’s survival and success.

The Eparch encounter in CM introduces several key differences compared to normal mode:

1. Permanent Emotions:
   In CM, the emotions (orbs) that Eparch generates with each attack are permanent. This means players must be much more deliberate in how they collect these orbs, as Eparch can no longer be stripped of these buffs by breaking his defiance bar. Instead, breaking the bar quickly is critical to prevent losing stats permanently throughout the fight.
2. Break Bar Changes:
   Breaking Eparch’s defiance bar no longer removes his accumulated emotions. Instead, it serves to prevent Eparch from gaining additional buffs and allows the party to maintain their stats. Bringing strong crowd control (CC) abilities to instantly break the bar is crucial, as Eparch will ‘suck’ the emotions of a player.
3. Kryptis Rift Phases at 65% and 35%:
   At these health thresholds, Eparch ascends into the air and summons Kryptis Rifts around the arena. Each Rift spawns a Champion Kryptis boss and continuously generates Avatars of Spite. These Avatars must be killed before they reach Eparch, as they grant him permanent buffs that increase his difficulty.

Key Mechanics and Attack Patterns

Eparch’s attack patterns are complex and must be carefully managed to prevent overwhelming the group. Each attack spawns corresponding emotion orbs, and failure to manage these can result in devastating consequences.

Attack patterns:

Kryptis Rift Phases (65% and 35%)

The Rift phases at 65% and 35% are critical turning points in the encounter. Here’s how to manage them:

65% Rift Phase:

• Rift Spawn: Two Rifts will appear at this phase, usually positioned at the North and South ends of the arena.
• Rift Mechanics: Each Rift spawns a Champion Kryptis boss along with Avatars of Spite. These Avatars must be killed before they reach Eparch, or he will consume them to gain permanent buffs.
• Team Split Strategy:
  • Focus Group: Assign the majority of your DPS and CC to one Rift (the Focus group). Their job is to quickly eliminate the Champion Kryptis while cleaving down the Avatars of Spite.
  • Stall Group: Assign one or two players (the Stall group) to the other Rift. Their task is to delay the Avatars of Spite using CC and damage, preventing them from reaching Eparch while the Focus group finishes their Rift and then moves to assist.

35% Rift Phase:

• Rift Spawn: Three Rifts will appear, adding an extra layer of difficulty.
• Increased Pressure: The mechanics remain the same, but with an additional Rift, the party must be even more coordinated.
• Strategy: Use the same Focus and Stall group strategy, but prioritize one Rift at a time to minimize the number of Avatars reaching Eparch. This phase can quickly overwhelm the party if not handled efficiently.

Kryptis Rift Priority:

• Focus on Rift Closure: Ensure that after killing the Champion Kryptis, someone in the Focus group stays behind to close the Rift. This will stop the spawning of Avatars and reduce the overall pressure on the team.
  • Closing a rift despawns all avatars of spite, but when the last rift is closed Eparch will instead consume ‘suck’ the Avatars of Spite similar to his breakbar phase.

Example Video Demonstration

Emotion Management in CM

Emotion management is crucial in CM due to the permanence of emotions and the need to avoid Eparch consuming them. The group must coordinate who collects which emotions to avoid overwhelming a single player or giving Eparch an advantage.

Emotion Effects:

• Rage Globule (Red): Increases your outgoing damage but also increases damage taken. If Eparch collects it, his damage increases.
• Despair Globule (Blue): Reduces your incoming damage but also decreases your damage output. Eparch receiving this reduces the damage he takes.
• Envy Globule (Green): Enhances your condition damage and boon duration. If Eparch collects it, he corrupts boons.
• Malice Globule (Purple): Increases crowd control effectiveness but applies additional conditions. Eparch receiving this inflicts extra conditions with his attacks.
• Gluttony Globule (Orange): Heals you over time but also inflicts periodic damage. Eparch consuming this restores his health.

Strategies for Emotion Management:

1. Taking Turns:
   • Assigned Collectors: Assign specific players to collect odd and even groupings of orbs. This ensures that no single player is overwhelmed and allows for strategic negation of orb effects. For example, Player A collects orbs spawned during the first two attacks, then Player B collects during the next two, and so on.
2. Player Specific Orbs:
   • Role-Specific Assignment: Assign orbs based on player roles. For instance, healers might collect Despair orbs (Blue) to reduce incoming damage, while DPS players collect Rage orbs (Red) to maximize their damage output. This strategy requires adaptability and coordination, as players must adjust their collections based on the fight’s progress.

NOTE: Collecting a different emotion cancels out others, so ideally you want one person collecting one color for maximum DPS.