Alzzin Fel-Face, Demon Keeper: how to beat

Dungeon The Dire Sanctum (West Wing — Corrupted Library), final boss, level 49.

The boss plays its own deck: every turn it plays the next line of its phase’s cycle, with no randomness. Learn the cycle and you know what is coming. The numbers on this page are the same as in the card tooltip in combat: before Hardiness and Defender’s Stance. Mechanics in detail — Boss mechanics.

In short

• Modes: Heroic (at level 60), Normal (at the place’s level, 39–49), Keystone +10 (Mythic+, at level 60).
• 2 phases, 9 cards in the deck. Schools: 🔥 Fire 5, 🌑 Darkness 2, 🩸 Blood 1, ⚔ Physical 1.
• “The Stove Gives No Heat” cold: every enemy turn, everyone through shields — heroic 600, keystone +10 500 to each before Hardiness. No cold in normal mode.
• “Dustpan to the Head” test strike — on boss turns 9 and 17: heroic 7,000, keystone +10 8,000; 40% weaker with a defensive card on yourself.
• The heaviest hit is “Dustpan to the Head”: heroic 7,000, keystone +10 8,000.

Phases and turn cycle

The phase changes with the boss’s Health. In each phase the boss goes round its own cycle: at the end it starts again. The boss’s next turn shows on its portrait.

1. “Stoking” — from the start of the fight

Down to 35% Health.

2. “Everything He Burnt” — below 35% Health

Below 35%: burning pages fly out of the stove.

On entering the phase the boss plays at once: 🩸 Everything He Burnt, 🔥 From the Stove.

The “Dustpan to the Head” test strike is not part of the cycle: the boss announces it on its turns 8 and 16 and hits on turns 9 and 17.

Cards and numbers

The number is what a hit takes before Hardiness (through shields — from Health only), how much the boss heals itself, the shield it puts up, a minion’s Health. A dash means the card is not in that mode or has no number. Keystone: +10 numbers; hits are the same from +7 to +9 and weaker per level below +7.

“The Stove Gives No Heat” cold

He burnt half the library. It is still cold.

• Heroic: 600 to each per enemy turn, before Hardiness.
• Keystone +10: 500 to each per enemy turn, before Hardiness.
• Hits every fighter in the party through shields; Hardiness reduces it — better gear takes less.
• The answer is healing every turn: shields do not stop cold. Healer cards do it best — they heal Health only.
• No cold in normal mode.

Test strike

• “Dustpan to the Head” — on boss turns 9 and 17, through shields, on whoever holds the boss’s attention (usually the tank). On heroic, while the party’s tank is alive, it goes to the tank. Not in normal mode.
• Heroic: 7,000 before Hardiness; 4,200 if the target answered with a defensive card.
• Keystone +10: 8,000 before Hardiness; 4,800 if the target answered with a defensive card.
• One turn before the hit there is a countdown on the portrait and a warning above your hand. The target plays a defensive card on themselves: a self-shield, damage reduction or “cannot be killed”. A card someone else plays on the target does not count.

Enrage

• Heroic: from party turn 40, every boss turn is 4% stronger, and it stacks.
• Normal: as before — if the fight drags on past its expected length, the boss hits harder every turn.
• Keystone +10: as before — if the fight drags on past its expected length, the boss hits harder every turn.

Roles

Tank

• The “Dustpan to the Head” test strike lands on the boss’s 9th and 17th turn (heroic and keystone +10). One turn before, play a defensive card on yourself — a self-shield, damage reduction or “cannot be killed”: the hit becomes 40% weaker. Keep such a card in hand for those turns.
• Shields do not stop this hit: the healer tops up your Health before it.
• “Ash Pan” hits you. Keep Taunt on rhythm: while the boss hits the tank, the rest stay whole. The heaviest is “Ash Pan” (“Stoking” phase, cycle step 1).
• Do not fall: on heroic, mythic and in keystones, without a living tank the boss’s hits on its focus go through shields. A resident can be the tank too.

Healer

• “The Stove Gives No Heat” cold hits everyone through shields every enemy turn: heroic — 600, keystone +10 — 500 to each before Hardiness. Heal everyone every turn; healer cards do it best — they heal Health only.
• “Threw in More Tomes” and “Burning Pages” hit everyone. Before such turns, get everyone above half Health; “Threw in More Tomes” goes half through shields: shields hold half, the rest hits Health.
• “Burning Pages”: damage over time — outheal it; a cleanse helps.
• “Everything He Burnt”: the boss hits harder — keep crystals and heals in reserve for those turns.
• “I'll Warm Up on Yours” strips buffs from everyone — apply yours after it.

Damage dealers

• “Eye Above the Stove” covers the boss: while it lives, damage to the boss ×0.6. Kill it first.
• “Burning Page” hits on its own — take it down while the boss is not open.
• “The Stove Smokes”: the boss is open and takes more damage — save your strong cards for that turn.
• Do not drag it out: heroic — enrage from turn 40.

The heaviest hits

• “Dustpan to the Head” — test strike, through shields.
• “Ash Pan” — on the tank; “Stoking” phase, cycle step 1.
• “Threw in More Tomes” — on everyone, half through shields, ignores 50% of Hardiness; “Stoking” phase, cycle step 5.

Loot

All of the boss’s loot with rough drop chances is in the item atlas; rules and items by boss are on the The Dire Sanctum (West Wing — Corrupted Library) page.

Previous boss — Spellslinger Ghost Ka'Driss.

All bosses of the place — The Dire Sanctum (West Wing — Corrupted Library). Rules of a fight against a boss with a deck — How to beat: every boss.