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RuneScoop.com  >  The RuneScoop Ultimate Skill Guide for RuneScape       >  The RuneScoop Ultimate Skill Guide - Dungeoneering            >  The RuneScoop Ultimate Skill Guide - Dungeoneering - Bosses

Night-gazer Khighorahk (Floors 26-29) Bal'lak the Pummeller (Floors 33-35)

Most of the bosses in the first set of “Abandoned” floors are pretty routine. But when you get to the second “Abandoned” theme on floor 30, and run into Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan, you know that you aren’t in Kansas any more. This is a boss that can easily lay claim to the title of most difficult boss in Daemonheim. His regular magic attack hits through prayer and does high damage on players, but his special attack is worse. This ugly eyeball boss is capable of wiping out a team of maxed combat players. He’s not as bad when soloed, but still nothing to sneeze at.

When you’re doing a 5:5 large map, someone opens the boss door, and you see that big black square in the middle, you know you’re in trouble. :) That square is a pit, and suspended over it rests Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan, one of the nastiest bosses in Dungeoneering.

Like his cousins Plane-freezer Lakhrahnaz and Night-gazer Khighorahk, Ihlakhizan appears to be somewhat based on beholders from the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Unlike those two other bosses, however, he doesn’t actually seem to be able to levitate. Rather, he has four tentacles that he uses to wrap around pillars, holding himself above the chasm in the floor below. A very ugly dude, he seems to have four faces, each with a large “eye” on top and two other things that might be eyes below this. (For some reason, this guy creeps me out more than any other boss, so from that perspective, they did a good job in designing him!)

Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan is a powerful adversary, with potent regular and special attacks. He is immobile, and will melee players who get close enough to him, hitting fairly hard as he does. But much worse is his magic attack, which is capable of doing heavy damage and cannot be blocked by protection prayers.

If that weren’t enough, Ihlakhizan has easily the nastiest special attack in Dungeoneering. It is capable of hitting all players for over 700 LP of damage and also draining combat stats so much that the players are left unable to finish the fight.

This boss is dangerous when soloed and very dangerous in a group. He is entirely capable of KOing an entire party of high-level players. The difficulty of this boss is part of why so many people consider Bal’lak the Pummeller to be a disappointment by comparison.

• Name: Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan.
  
  
• Examine Text: “It's hanging over a deep chasm with four fleshy tentacles.” (Yeah, we can see that. Whoever came up with this was not having a particularly inspired day. :) )
  
  
• Daemonheim Theme (Zone): Abandoned 2.
  
  
• Dungeon Floors: Levels 30 to 35.
  
  
• Primary Attack Styles: Magic.
  
  
• Secondary Attack Styles: Melee.
  
  
• Special Attacks: Area effect light attack that does massive damage and drains stats.
  
  
• Special Defences: None.
  
  
• Special Immunities: Poison.
  
  
• Weak Against: Melee/Stab, Ranged.
  
  
• Neutral: Melee/Crush and Melee/Slash (neither properly tested yet).
  
  
• Strong Against: Magic.
  
  
• Recommended Attack Method: Melee/Any with Piety or Turmoil.
  
  
• Recommended Defence Method: Ranged armor with Protection from Melee or Deflect Melee.
  
  
• Drop Category: Kiteshields.

In Table 105 I have listed all of the incarnations of Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan that I have fought personally, or that have been documented by sources I consider reliable. For each I have shown its combat level, life points total and maximum damage, along with information about where and by whom it was fought, and what it dropped.

Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan has two main attacks. First, he will melee players who get within melee range of him; this is not that bad of an attack. His magic attack is far worse: a portal opens in the top of his disgusting head, and large numbers of yellow-green balls of energy spew forth, landing all around him. Players touched by these balls take magic damage even through protection prayers or curses, and it is possible to be hit by more than one at a time.

Every 30 seconds or so, a message will appear in your chat box saying “The shadow forger starts to glow”. A few seconds later, a light burst will emanate from the boss. Players must react quickly by hiding behind one of the pillars, preferably diagonally opposite Ihlakhizan; this will allow them to avoid the light attack entirely.

Anyone who is hit by the light blast will take massive damage: hits of up to 800 LP have been recorded. Even worse is that it will drain your combat stats by about 50%, knocking a player with 99 stats down to 49 in each. Since the boss’s stats remains the same, even messing up once can put you in the position of not being able to finish him off, unless you’ve gone to the trouble of bringing stat restore potions.

Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan really has no noteworthy defensive abilities. His overall defence appears to be low, except (as you might expect) he is strong to magic attacks. He has no special defensive moves, though his offensive light burst also protects him somewhat—he can’t be damaged by players who are hiding behind pillars! :)

Obviously, the most important part of beating this dangerous boss is making sure you do not get caught in his burst attack—not even once. This means you must pay close attention to the warnings that appear before he uses the attack. One trick that helps here is to put the “Game” chat setting on “Filter”. This will get rid of most of the dumb spam messages that show up every time you eat, which makes it much easier to notice when the “starts to glow” message appears.

Preparation for this boss should include plenty of food, good magic defence armor, and gatestone runes. A beast of burden holding extra food is quite useful here. While ranging armor is best (or at least balanced ranged/melee), you can get by with melee armor if you are careful about your prayer and your health. Before entering the boss chamber, be sure to drop a gatestone outside the door.

If you don’t have the best reaction time, or feel it is likely that you’ll get caught in the burst attack, it is not a bad idea to bring with a couple of restore potions, preferably strong ones. Make these from aloe, featherfoil or buckthorn with red moss.

Aside from his special attack, the biggest threat is those spewing balls of goo. One key to avoiding getting hit by these too much is simply to stay close to the boss; in particular, standing right next to one of the pillars while meleeing him seems to minimize how often you are hit by the magic attack. This, combined with his weakness to melee attacks, is why meleeing is recommended.

Again, keep a close eye out for the warning about the special attack. As soon as you see it, run behind a pillar, aiming to keep the pillar between your character and the boss. Fortunately, you don’t have to be in one exact, perfect spot to avoid the damage of the attack, just most of the way behind a pillar.

If you do get hit by the special, you’ve got a problem. If he’s almost dead, you may be able to finish him off. If not, and you have stat restore potions, use one or two (depending on strength). If the boss has lots of health and you don’t have restore potions, use Gatestone Teleport to leave, make some restore potions, gather more food and return. There is no point flailing away with level 49 Attack and Strength, while getting destroyed due to level 49 Defence: it won’t work, and you’re likely to die, take an XP penalty, and then have to start over again anyway. (He won’t heal if you leave his room, by the way.)

The pillars can also be used to shield yourself partially from Ihlakhizan’s regular attacks. He can’t melee you from there, and you mostly are safe from the balls as well. It is not a perfect safe spot—you still sometimes take damage—but it’s a decent refuge if you get into trouble. One time, I entered the boss chamber by mistake before I was ready, and I was even able to use Dungeon Home Teleport from behind a pillar!

As bad as Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan is when soloed, he is much worse in a team. I have been in teams of 130+ combat players where every member was killed by the boss at least once, and some more than once. On the other hand, I was in a team where nobody died. The difference generally comes down to experience and preparation.

The reason why Ihlakhizan is so much worse in a team is simply that he is so much stronger: his attacks do more damage. There’s also a cascade effect that comes into play: if one teammate dies or has to leave because of supply or stat issues, it is harder on those who remain. Then one of them is more likely to get into trouble, and it snowballs from there. In the fight I mentioned above where everyone died, at one point I noticed that it was only me and one other person trying to finish the boss off—everyone else was running back from the starting room!

There really isn’t much different in terms of overall strategy here, compared to when you solo. You should still melee, watch your health, and get behind those pillars immediately. Because of all that is going on in the room, though, it is easier to miss the warning messages. This can be made even worse if players talk too much (though usually everyone is too busy for that!)

When Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan is finally defeated, his tentacles wither and snap, and he tumbles down the chasm. He leaves behind a metal kiteshield for one player, including the impressive primal kiteshield. Of course, most players can’t afford a bind slot for a shield, so even that nice piece of gear goes to waste.

In theory, this monster can leave behind part of the “mysterious chronicle” journal (Chronicles of Bilrach), though I haven’t gotten any from it myself. Look for the pages on the platform near where you exit the level.

Night-gazer Khighorahk (Floors 26-29) Bal'lak the Pummeller (Floors 33-35)