THE MODERATOR

• ELITE

THE MODERATOR is a named elite somewhere off the campaign path.

He describes a hole in the ground as an immersive offline experience and himself as extremely normal, and offers his security detail as a character reference. Everyone else lives on his platform; he has come down here to live near the servers instead.

Where you meet it

What to know

• THE ENTRANCECloses at 120/s until it has said its piece, then fights at its own pace.
• WHAT IT WAS CARRYINGMore than it should be. Its corpse sheds 4× the gold an ordinary body of its rank does.
• WHEN STRUCKIt bleeds. A blow that overwhelms it bursts it, and there is a face among what lands.

Mechanics

Every dangerous move is telegraphed — it roots, it winds up, and you get the beat you need to be somewhere else.

• SUMMONEvery 10s it calls 3 more out of the ground, up to 6 of its own summons alive at once. They arrive outside the level's wave budget, so they are extra rather than borrowed. It calls VACUUM BOT.
• WARD SHIELDOnce it has been hurt, it roots for 0.7s first and raises a shell over itself worth 26% of its full health. The shell EATS damage until that budget is spent, and whatever overflows still lands — so a saved cooldown breaks it AND hurts, while chipping at it merely feeds it. It fades on its own after 7.5s if you leave it alone. Once every 12s.
• SEEKER VOLLEYIt roots for 0.7s first — the bearing LOCKS on where you were standing — then 4 bolts leave in a 30° fan, reaching 250 at 94 a second, each carrying 52% of its contact damage. They STEER after you, which is what makes them different from every other shot in the game: standing still does not work and neither does a sidestep. They turn slowly enough to be outrun, and a wall between you and them ends it. Once every 8s.

What it drops

Every kill pays one piece of gear, one medkit, one repair kit and one XP scroll.

Its drops roll 40% better on the rarity ladder than the level's ordinary loot.

Guaranteed pieces by rarity: 1 rare and 1 magic, and a 50% chance of one more. A rarity the monster's own level has not unlocked yet is skipped, so the same fight pays better on a harder rung.

What it says

Spoilers for this fight, covered until you ask for them.