Black Pyramid
From HGWiki
The Black Pyramid is a legendary area intended for small parties of levels 55 to 60 (see note below for characters over level 57).
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Requirements
Immortality is the only required tag your character needs to complete the Black Pyramid. However you will also need Loki's Eye (see Loki's Hall) to open the way.
- Immortal characters will Fugue, Demi-Gods will revive after a timer. NOTE: The Fugue zone for immortals begins as soon as you enter the first area (small tunnel) populated by two lost souls not when you are transported to the Black Pyramid itself which can be an unpleasant surprise for new visitors to the area that have not equipped themselves with negative energy protection or get dominated by the souls!!
- Note however that the run has some loot (artifact is NOT one of these items) that will only drop if no one has ever entered any of the areas at any level higher than 57, you will also not receive the tag (the tag is only required to use the restricted loot).
- The pyramid interior is a no teleport zone.
General Notes
(for each room/area)
Fire - Electrical/Fire
Wind - Sonic/Electrical
Magical/Divine/Positive/Negative Immunities are also requirements throughout much of this run for meleeing guardians, soul devourers (67 mag), anymentals, as well as in the boss section.
Soul Devourers inflict physical vulnerabilities (through aura), so it is crucial to bring pearls and boost your phyiscal immunities if possible! It will show as bludgeoning when you cure it in the combat log, but they do reduce ALL physical immunities. The black cloud that goes with them can introduce impressive amounts of lag to your game so its a good idea to get rid of them quickly if you don't want to look like you're wading through syrup.
Heartseeker Scarabs have a instant kill abillity (Save vs. fort DC:60), this DC is also modified by the armour you are wearing. If you can emp one and keep it alive (they don't have good immunities) it can be highly amusing as their scripted attack can instakill just about anything.
Undeath's Eternal Foe is also a must for players reliant on their listen skill and to avoid being blind the entire run.
Spawn Structure
Spawns are not dynamic in that the numbers and types of creatures do not scale with player group size, paragon type creatures do not spawn in this area. Spawns also do not change and will always contain the exact same creatures.
Areas
The Black Pyramid areas can be reached by following the path East Road > The Crossroads > Vashyk's Ruin then entering the small tunnel.
Annex of the Seal
The entrance. Very small area. Use Loki's Eye to open the teleporter. Loki's Eye can be found in the throne in Loki's Hall. To get that Eye, grab it but don't move as moving at more than walking pace when in the original area will cause it to explode, use a TP gem to teleport out or port to your party leader (who hopefully will be standing by the Pyramid entrance).
Chamber of the Four
A symmetric area with four sub areas. In every corner a gem can be found (2 of them drop from minibosses). Use them on the elemental focuses and a teleporter opens in the middle of the map. Careful with lootbreakers in these rooms as the non miniboss keys are in containers which can be broken thus preventing you completing the run.
Black Pharaoh's Pit
One large room and 4 side arms, accessed by teleporters (Taking a teleporter cancelsGreater Sanctuary). Use the gems on 4 other elemental focuses (they get consumed this time). The 2 levers appear. Both levers need to be clicked within a short period of time (simultaneous activation is not required) to...spawn the Pharaoh and his guardians. Beware, any monster you did not kill in the side arms will also be teleported into the middle as well which could lead to a rather large number of creatures which could cause significant lag issues.
| Class Secret: Spoiler Warning! |
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Shadowdancer secret in this area. |
Boss
DO NOT USE LOOT BREAKING SPELLS in the area of the un-popped artifact or you will break it prior to having a chance to do so intentionally when you open it, it is not possible to open the artifact container until the Black Pharaoh is killed.
| Boss: Spoiler Warning! |
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Be careful as his minions have many castings of Negative Burst, and they heal with negative energy. Positive damage is very powerful against the boss and his minions. The boss has an aura mind-effect-attack that disables you for short time, without any protection besides saving throw (Will Save DC: 60, "The Pharaoh's Eye is upon you!"). At very minimum you should have mord protection and negative energy immunity for this fight unless you want to spend most of it taking a dirt nap. |
After killing the Black Pharaoh, there's 25% chance the Pyramid Energy Wisdom artifact is spawned, the other 75% time it will explode doing 2000 magic damage in a large area.
All the set loot that drops from the Pharaoh does not have a tag requirement and most of it can be used by level 40 characters.
Strategy and Tactics
Try to cover the immunities; switch rings if needed. Beware of the instakilling heartseeker bugs as they are very difficult to target with melee due to their extremely small size (they can be 'emped' by a druid or ranger with high enough Animal Empathy). Try to kill them fast. Next kill the Dedicated as they can disable you leaving you vulnerable to a good kicking from everything else.
It's recommended having all elemental immunities covered if possible, as well as Bigby, Mord and Breach protection at the Boss stage of this run. Though, this is not necessary as you can afford to switch rings based on the room/area. (beware the anymentals - they give off random elemental KB).
Turners plus Melee also work well in this area although not so well for the boss fight as the Pharaoh has the Bolster Undead ability (All friends in the area of effect have their turn resistance increased by a quarter the caster's hit dice (with a minimum of 1) rendering turning ineffective until he is killed.
Caster Shifters can petrify a large selection of creatures making the run significantly less painful.
Epic Wall can be very useful for the boss fight to prevent getting swarmed and enabling you to pick out specific targets to remove.
