SoBA: Neron's Underworld

SoBA: Neron's Underworld is a tier 6 8-player raid in the The Sins of Black Adam episode. It also features an elite version and an elite plus version.

• Combat Rating: 368
• Event version: Level 12+

The raid is also available as tier 7 raid, DoR Flashback: Neron's Underworld, in Chapter 1: Day of Reckoning.

• Combat Rating: 448
• Casual Mode version: Level 20+

Story

Accompany Black Adam in the Underworld and clash with Neron in a battle to release Isis from Neron's treacherous machinations.

Characters

Black Adam Isis (Deadly)

Neron Hatred (Deadly Enemies) Selfishness (Deadly Enemies)

Locations

Underworld

Map

Walkthrough

You start off in Neron's Underworld, and traverse through a series of staircases and hallways, killing Skeletons and other Demons in the way. Eventually you find Neron in a lava cave area, where he leaves your raid group to fight two demons, Hatred and Selfishness.

First boss: Hatred and Selfishness

Mostly straightforward fight in both regular and elite versions. In elite plus probably the most difficult elite plus boss encounter in the episode, but not as difficult as the elite plus version of Dark Knights: The Source Wall.

Recommended group setup for regular version: 5 DPS, 1 Controller, 1 Healer, 1 Tank. Recommended group setup for elite and elite plus version: 4 DPS, 1 Controller, 1 Healer, 2 Tanks.

On PS, hold R1 to block, hold Square to lunge

Mechanics:

• (Elite/elite plus only) The elite version of this fight may require a 2 tank setup. It may be possible to finish this with 1 tank, but for best results 2 tanks are preferred. This is due to the fact that if Hatred and Selfishness are close together they will shield each other, increasing their defence from the group's damage output and therefore prolonging the fight. If Hatred is too close to Selfishness, Hatred will also restore health in addition to being shielded. In elite plus a 2 tank setup is more required, at least with the current gear.

Hatred:

• Burning Shroud: Reflect mechanic. (Indicated by skull icon above Hatred's head) Hatred will raise his hand in the air for a short time, before blocking with its shield. Do not attack Hatred while this is active or he will reflect damage back to you and spawn a fire AOE (Hate Field) on/around you, which does moderate/heavy damage over time to affected players. There will be on-screen text when this occurs stating "Do Not Attack Hatred while Burning Shroud Is Active!".

• Hateful Charge: Hatred will punch the ground, grounding everyone in the group. A random player will receive a red face icon above their head. Hatred will then charge the player with the red face icon. This will do heavy damage or most likely KO anyone impacted by this, especially in the elite version. Upon impact this will leave a fire AOE (Hate Field) on the ground, which does moderate to heavy damage over time if a player is affected by it.

• Raging Backhand: Hatred will shake his fist in the air before teleporting to a random player and doing a melee attack. This will do heavy damage or KO the affected player unless they are blocking - again especially in the elite version. Usually Hatred will face its target when shaking his fist but it is still recommended for all players in range to block.

• Fireball: Hatred may sometimes clap his hands and shoot a fire projectile in that direction. This should be evaded as it may do heavy damage or KO on impact. Most likely to occur in the elite plus version, perhaps other versions depending on how quickly Hatred is defeated.

• Flightsnare: Hatred may sometimes do a fire attack on a random player, which will do heavy damage or KO. Can be interrupted by the tank who has Hatred's aggro beforehand but a very short time window for this.

• Whirlwind Strike: Hatred may do a skull icon before spinning around. Does heavy damage if he impacts players directly with this. Depending on single target damage it is possible to skip this mechanic in most versions of the raid. Most likely to occur in elite plus.

Selfishness:

• Devastating Dash: Selfishness will roll and charge in a straight direction for a time. Anyone impacted by this will take heavy damage or most likely be KO'd by this, especially in the elite version. This is indicated beforehand by a slight delay and arrows on the floor telling you the direction of his charge. Make sure if you are tanking Selfishness that he isn't facing the group when he is about to use this ability.

• Selfishness may do various projectile attacks that may do large damage or knock back to affected players. These should be blocked or evaded. Examples include: Ice Boulder Strike*, Static Discharge

• After Selfishness has taken some damage, he will periodically spawn a Hell's Hatred add, which will hard stun and do damage over time to a random player (Hatefire). DPS should prioritise KOing this add as soon as possible.

• Whirling Pummel: Selfishness may jump and do a shockwave. Does moderate damage, perhaps heavy damage at mid or close range, and knocks back players.

*Tip: As it is possible to block through Ice Boulder Strike, the tank who has aggro of Selfishness can use that to the group's advantage and try to block every Ice Boulder Strike by being in line of sight of the boss when it does this. This may take some practice and the group should still be aware at all times of when Selfishness is likely to do this. This way the tank blocks the attack (the ice boulder is destroyed on impact) and it shouldn't affect others in the group.

Considerations/differences for elite plus:

Hatred and Selfishness must be defeated within a similar timeframe.

• If one is defeated and the other isn't defeated in time, the other will revive with approximately 45% health.

• While this may seem like a minor update, it makes the fight much trickier due to overlapping mechanics from both bosses.

• As such voice chat will be preferred for this boss encounter as some mechanics may occur off-camera for some players and everyone will need to know what is happening and where at a given time.

• I will add strategies for this boss encounter later but nothing requiring an Advanced Walkthrough.

• One possible strategy is to lower Selfishness' health first as he is a lesser threat to the group in the longer term. It is vital for the group to callout Hatred when he shakes his fist and ensure everyone blocks for this so they don't get KO'd by Raging Backhand. This way Hatred won't start doing Hateful Charge until later in the fight (when the group have lowered Selfishness to low health and move onto Hatred) as this only occurs after Hatred has lost some health.

Other elite plus mechanics/considerations:

• Selfish Demon adds will spawn after a while. They will raise their hand in the air, and stun all group members. To stop this players should lunge to counter them so they are unable to do this.

• Selfishness's shockwave attack (Whirling Pummel) may KO if players are mid or close range when this occurs.

• Hell's Hatred may not be able to be defeated before it disappears in elite plus. While with especially high DPS burn it is possible, just focus on KOing the bosses or countering/defeating Selfish Demons in this case (at least with the current gear). This note may be subject to change later once players get higher gear/CR.

After both Hatred and Selfishness are defeated, the group proceed through more staircases and hallways to KO more adds. Midway through this the group will need to KO several adds in a room before the door will open. After a few more adds the group eventually reaches Neron in his throne room.

Last boss: Neron

Mostly straightforward fight in both regular and elite versions. In elite plus somewhat trickier post 20/12/2022 hot fix.

Recommended group setup for regular version: 5 DPS, 1 Controller, 1 Healer, 1 Tank - Recommended group setup for elite version: 3-5 DPS, 1 Controller, 1-2 Healer, 1-2 Tank

On PS, hold Square to lunge, hold R1 to block

Mechanics:

• At the start of the fight, Neron will take very low damage. Players will need to activate cogs around the edges of the room to lift this shield and allow Neron to become vulnerable. This is stated in the on-screen text: "Destroy his Items of Power to make Neron Vulnerable!". While this phase of the fight is ongoing, demon adds will continue to spawn. They should stop re-spawning once Neron is vulnerable.

• Scorched Agony: Neron may shake his fist before doing a stomp, dealing a raid wide fire AOE attack. This will deal damage over time to affected players in the group.

• After Neron has taken some damage, Lava pattern AOEs will spawn in various parts of the room. Players should avoid these throughout the fight as they will spawn into Pool of Lava AOEs for a time - these will do very heavy damage over time (Lava Flow) or most likely KO on impact. These will respawn in other areas of the map for the remainder of the fight, so players will need to continue to evade these AOEs.

• Underworld Intruder: A random player may be form changed into a lava demon, with a different loadout. On-screen text will state: "Remove Demon Form with your Demonic Ability - but Use with Care!". Either the player can run around while in the form until it eventually expires, or they can use the first ability in their loadout several times to return to their normal form quicker. However, using the first ability in their loadout triggers Underworld Admonishment, which does raid wide damage to all nearby players in the group. This mechanic may be tricky if the group has a solo heal and/or solo tank, which is why some groups may consider 2 heals and/or 2 tanks, especially in the elite version.

• Fire Ball: Neron may spawn a fireball on the floor. Does some damage over time, however it will explode and do moderate to heavy damage to nearby players.

Underworld Rebuke

• Underworld Rebuke: Neron may give whoever has his aggro (ie. the tank) a yellowish ring around them over a period of time. When that player has 4 rings around them they will lose their loadout for a time and won't be able to use any abilities. This mechanic may also warrant using 2 tanks during this boss fight as the tanks may need to swap aggro of Neron for when this occurs.

• Flame Breath: Neron breaths a cone of fire that deals heavy continuous damage in a long line. This can be countered by lunging the boss.

• Hellfire Curse: Neron will have a skull icon and wait for a brief time before pulling all players in the group towards him, perhaps 1-2 times. This will usually occur when Pool of Lava AOEs are not active. Neron marks players with a big red circle indicator (proximity marker) at their feet and after a few seconds they explode, doing damage to themselves and nearby players. This can even target and damage players who are already out of the fight. After being pulled and getting the red proximity markers, all players should then spread out away from each other while minding other AOE mechanics in the fight to mitigate incoming damage.

• Fireball Spread: Neron may sometimes throw several fireballs around him, which can do heavy damage to affected players especially if they are melee or midrange from the boss. This can be countered/lunged usually by the tank but this only mitigates some of the fireballs being thrown.

• Backdraft: Neron may have a skull icon above his head before lifting in the air with a fiery vortex, pulling players in range towards him (unless the tank has popped immunity). This does moderate to significant raidwide damage. This can be interrupted if the boss is countered by a lunge (usually by the tank).

Differences/considerations for elite plus:

Soul mechanic

• Later in the fight a random player may lose their loadout (not as a result of Underworld Rebuke). They will also gain a mostly green/red chroma material over their style. (They will lose their soul)

• On the left/right side of the room are vials, some of which may contain blue souls. You will need to activate a vial that has a blue soul inside it (do this 7 times for a feat) in order to get your loadout back.

• If you activate an empty vial, not only will you not get your loadout back, but when Neron is at 20% or lower health he will summon adds to his side.

• The adds can be tricky for the group as the tanks may not be ready for them due to Underworld Intruder/Underworld Rebuke mechanics or other ongoing mechanics in the fight.

• The more empty vials that are activated while an affected player has this, the more adds that will spawn at the end of the fight and the more difficult it will be for the group.

• If a player activates an empty vial or empty vials and then later activates a vial with a blue soul in it, the blue soul should restore that player's loadout, but it will mean adds will spawn towards the end of the fight because that player mistakenly activated an empty vial or vials previously.

Youtube: Example of what to do when you lose your soul

Other elite plus mechanics/considerations:

• Neron is much more likely to use Hellfire Curse - again there will be periods where Pool of Lava AOEs are not active and this is where Hellfire Curse is likely to occur.

• Occasionally Neron will spawn a Fire Field AOE, which does heavy damage over time if affected players are stood in it for too long. This is more of a red colour and shouldn't be confused with the Pools of Lava AOE spawns, one of the main mechanics of the boss encounter. This is more likely to occur when Pools of Lava AOEs aren't active, alongside Hellfire Curse and the green AOE mechanics.

• Hex Totem: Neron may spawn green targetable AOEs. These may do damage over time, and drain an affected player's power and supercharge. They will also debuff affected players, for example an affected player will do considerably lower damage output for a short time. It is possible to target and KO these AOEs, or they can be destroyed by Pool of Lava/Lava Flow AOEs if they happen to spawn on them.

• Fire Ball (when it explodes) will KO players in range if they aren't blocking. Players can even block while stood directly next to the Fire Ball as it explodes and should survive the mechanic, provided there aren't other mechanics affecting that player also. There may be times where these can occur more frequently, so pay close attention.

• Pool of Lava - Lava Flow AOEs spawn a little faster in elite plus than in other versions of the raid while active.

Considerations for Underworld Intruder form mechanic in elite plus while active:

• Underworld Admonishment will KO any nearby players who are not blocking.

• It may be easier if you get transformed to stay in form throughout, as there is no exclusively elite plus feat requiring you (at this stage) to get out of form as soon as possible, and stomping to break out of form (which causes Underworld Admonishment) will add further difficulty for the group overall.

• Be especially careful if you use an ability that is on the same loadout slot as Underworld Admonishment as getting transformed and misclicking that loadout slot may be a considerable risk for the group.

• Another alternative idea is if a tank or heal gets the Underworld Intruder form that they can go to a corner of the room well away from other players (while minding ongoing mechanics) and activate Underworld Admonishment a few times until they breakout back to their normal form. This will require group co-ordination and timing however.

Once you have defeated Neron you have completed the raid.

Rewards

• CR 368-411: 10 Source Marks, 10 Coins of Ra, Loot Items
• CR >411: Coins of Ra, Loot Items
• 1 Catalyst (Augments)
• 6 Shazamily Commendations (elite only)

Collectibles

Briefings and Investigations

• The Seven Deadly Enemies (Briefings)

Collections

• n/a

Feats

• Demon Stayer (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat Neron without anyone ending their Underworld Intruder form early (25 Points)
• Don't Feel the Hate (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat Hatred and Selfishness without anyone being hit by Hateful Charge (25 Points)
• Exorcising Demons (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat at least 18 Demons during Neron's initial phase and then defeat Neron (25 Points)
• Extinguished Shroud (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat Hatred and Selfishness without anyone triggering Hatred's Burning Shroud (25 Points)
• Gone Demon Gone (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat Neron without anyone staying in Underworld Intruder form for longer than 15 seconds (25 Points), grants title: The Fiendish
• Lava Champ (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat Neron without anyone being burned by lava (25 Points), grants title: of the Hotfoot
• Tanks for Nothing (Normal): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Normal), defeat Neron without anyone being suppressed by Underworld Rebuke (25 Points)

Elite

• Demon Stayer (Elite): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite), defeat Neron without anyone ending their Underworld Intruder form early (25 Points)
• Don't Feel the Hate (Elite): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite), defeat Hatred and Selfishness without anyone being hit by Hateful Charge (25 Points)
• Exorcising Demons (Elite): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite), defeat at least 24 Demons during Neron's initial phase and then defeat Neron (25 Points)
• Extinguished Shroud (Elite or Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite or Elite Plus), defeat Hatred and Selfishness without anyone triggering Hatred's Burning Shroud (25 Points)
• Gone Demon Gone (Elite or Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite or Elite Plus), defeat Neron without anyone staying in Underworld Intruder form for longer than 10 seconds (25 Points), grants title: the Underworld Intruder
• Lava Champ (Elite or Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite or Elite Plus), defeat Neron without anyone being burned by lava (25 Points)
• Separation Anxiety (Elite or Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite or Elite Plus), defeat Hatred and Selfishness without allowing them to shield or heal one another (50 Points), grants title: The Selfish
• Tanks for Nothing (Elite or Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite or Elite Plus), defeat Neron without anyone being suppressed by Underworld Rebuke (25 Points)

Elite Plus

• Demon Stayer (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat Neron without anyone ending their Underworld Intruder form early (25 Points)
• Don't Feel the Hate (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat Hatred and Selfishness without anyone being hit by Hateful Charge (25 Points)
• Exorcising Demons (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat at least 30 Demons during Neron's initial phase and then defeat Neron (25 Points)
• Hard to Keep a Good Emotion Down (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat Hatred and Selfishness after each boss has been knocked out then revived at least 4 times (25 Points), grants title: The Tireless
• Hex-A-Not-Gone (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat Neron without destroying any Hex Totems (25 Points)
• Soul Purpose (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat Neron after your team have retrieved souls at least 7 times without any mistakes (25 Points), grants title: The Soulful
• Why So Selfish? (Elite Plus): In SoBA: Neron's Underworld (Elite Plus), defeat 12 Selfish Demons and then defeat Hatred and Selfishness (25 Points)

Trivia

• During first boss, it is possible that if Hatred targets the affected player with Hateful Charge, and an ally NPC such as Black Adam is in line of sight between you and Hatred, for the ally NPC to stall Hatred's charge. This is unreliable however, so address the mechanic as you would normally.
• Related to above, there is a very low chance that the ally NPC may catapult Hatred in the air while Hatred is charging, and he may land and still impact the targeted player with Hateful Charge. This is an unlikely/unlucky scenario but can also occur.
• Selfishness' Ice Boulder Strike differs somewhat from the Ice Boulder Strike ability from the Ice powerset. Selfishness picks up and throws an Ice Boulder towards its target, which is more similar to the Ice Boulder ability. The Ice Boulder Strike ability when used by players strikes enemies with an enormous hailstone from above.
• For the Soul Purpose (Elite Plus) feat, it is possible after activating a vial (with a blue soul in it) to retrieve your soul that you may still activate the vial while transforming back to normal (due to a short time window in between). Be careful when you activate not to press the button more than once (eg. the circle button on PS controller) as you may activate the vial twice by accident and spawn adds, failing the feat.
• Several of Neron's mechanics are from or inspired by the Fire powerset.

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