Unlike other MMOs,The Elder Scrolls Onlinedoesn’t shy away from immersing players with the rather deep lore of its franchise, with some of its dungeons and raids containing some of the more niche aspects of its world’s history that not even NPCs nor its popularly-lengthy books contain. Such an example of a lore-diving dungeon inElder Scrolls Onlineis theBlack Drake Villa Dungeon, named supposedly after former Emperor Durcorach, or the Black Drake.
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When players meet quest-giver Eveli Sharp-Arrow, they have to accompany her in a race to find a valuable book tucked deep within the ancient library under the former Emperor’s villa. And unfortunately for players, this dungeon is filled with rather dangerous traps and puzzles. However, just how can players ofElder Scrolls Onlineprevail against the Black Drake Villa’s threats?
The Black Drake Villa Location
Before players proceed to defeating the horrors that await inside the Black Drake Villa, it may be best to get a rough idea of its location first. This group dungeon is located on theGold Coast, located just northwest ofKvatchand alongVaren’s Wall. Players can only play the Black Drake Villa Dungeon after acquiring theFlames of AmbitionDLC.
Upon a arrival, they’ll encounter a scout named Eveli Sharp-Arrow who tasks the player’s help in accompanying her in finding an ancient book hidden within the Villa’s library. Her quest “Burning Secrets” will involve killing its bosses in exchange for gold, one Skill Point, and one Unidentified Black Drake Villa Armaments coffer.
Mobs And Monsters
Various monsters and creatures plague the Black Drake Villa Dungeon in aplayer’s gameplay ofThe Elder Scrolls Online. While these creatures appear sporadically throughout the dungeon’s many locales, there’s a general set of monsters that block the player’s path as they progress they way to the dungeon’s many bosses. Here are the minor mobs players should expect:
Special Condition: Ice Avatar Transformation
Throughout the dungeon, players can step on platforms and activate anIce Avatar Transformationby having at least 150 Ultimate. This causes the appearance of a unique buff that can upgrade the player’sElder Scrollsexperience for this dungeon by adding ice damage to their skills and even have a shot at interrupting everything with frost damage, including the skills of bosses.
SinceAvatar Synergy Platesall exist in boss chambers, players may want to save up their Ultimate to tap into this transformation when fighting them. At its core, this transformation provides these benefits:
Boss 1: Kinras Ironeye
The Minotaur namedKinras Ironeyeis the first major boss players will encounter in the Black Drake Villa. He blocks a gate that leads further into the Villa, with the fight taking place in a rather open environment. Thanks to the Avatar Synergy Plate in the room, players can easily tap into the Ice Avatar Transformation to get the upper hand especially with its capability of blocking even Kinras’ unforgiving attacks.
Hard Mode Mechanics
Strategies
Players need to be on top of their exploration game considering that the Minotaur has quite a lot of AOEs and damaging effects that come from different locations. It’s ideal that the tank ensures Kinras stays in one spot while the rest of the team moves around to avoid his attacks. Some more specific strategies include:
Boss 2: Captain Geminus
When players venture much deeper into the Black Drake Villa, they will eventually encounterCaptain Geminusin an open arena-style interior room. This archer-type boss will fight with bows and daggers, making her tough to outpace without the necessary preparation. Again, there’s an Avatar Synergy Plate nearby that players can use to tap into the Ice Avatar mode. In this form, they can time a Whiteout that cancels Geminus’s teleport and dagger throw attacks that are usually among her deadliest abilities.
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Compared to other bosses, Captain Geminus doesn’t receive any special attacks during her Hard Mode iteration. However, players of thisElder Scrolls Onlinedungeon should anticipate a massive increase to her Health aside from her overall damage. This means players should stay wary of her aimed attacks and dodge as often as possible.
Given the sheer speed of this boss, Geminus can be a tough creature to handle especially with her quick repositioning yet frequency of her AOE attacks. It’s advisable that not only do the tank keep her away from the party at all times but that the team coordinate their resources to attack in between her fastest moves. To be more specific:
Boss 3: Pyroturge Encratis
Serving as the final boss in the Black Drake Villa Dungeon, players enjoying this part of theirElder Scrolls Onlineexperience may be thrilled to facePyroturge Encratisas a mage combatant. Given his nature as a boss, it’s expected that even the environment may move to his favor. However, the fact that the second phase of his fight involves a completely different moveset that makes him especially deadly for the unprepared.
Given the nature of Encratis as a dungeon boss, players should strategically dish out damage while maintaining a relatively safe distance to avoid AOEs. It’s ideal for everyone except the tank to avoid facing Encratis at all times, and it’s especially important to dodge or avoid his AOEs during the second half of the combat phase. Here are some other tips for players to follow throughout this encounter:
Secret Boss 1: Avatar Of Zeal
When players enter the Estate Grounds in theirElder Scrollsgameplay, theAvatar of Zealis an enemy available for fighting. It’s ideal for players to kill the mob surrounding the estate beforehand to ensure there are no interruptions in combat. The Avatar of Zeal is an Indrik - a creature that looks like a purple deer with crystallized parts. As a boss, the Avatar fights more like a mini-boss with minimal mechanics.
Accessing The Boss
to access the Avatar of Zeal, players need to first activate four pressure plates throughout the main part of the Villa. They’re largely located near the left and right borders of the main entryway and are not located within Kinras’s domain. Upon activation, the plates will reveal a trapdoor to the far north of the Villa just in front of the north most pressure plate. This trapdoor descends into a cave-like structure where the Zeal waits at the end.
Boss Mechanics
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Compared to other bosses, defeating the Avatar of Zeal is an extremely straightforward endeavor due to its rather transparent mechanics. At its core, it’s ideal for tanks to hold the Avatar of Zeal in position so the rest of the team can secure their AOEs. Whenever the Avatar tries to teleport away, tanks should follow suit to maintain aggression. Given the predictable nature of the Avatar’s attacks, much of them can be blocked and aren’t even extremely damaging.
Echo Of Zeal
Defeating the Avatar of Zeal unlocks a buff called theEcho of Zeal. When equipped, this buff boosts the spell and weapon damage of players by 50, with the acquisition of Avatar Fragments being capable of boosting this up to 350. This attack buff is extremely important not just for the other bosses but also for Hard Mode encounters.
Secret Boss 2: Avatar Of Vigor
TheAvatar of Vigoris the second optional boss players can encounter in the Black Drake Villa, this time taking the form of a floating maiden of frost. Her nature as a magic user makes her extremely dangerous at first glance, but can become rather easy to deal with as soon as players understand how to keep the rest of the party away from danger.
As with the other Avatars, the Avatar of Vigor is accessible only after completing a puzzle. Upon defeating Kinras Ironeye and entering the Grand Archive, players will see a room with four statues. Of these four, two of them will have glowing orbs called Guardian Orbs. Players need to find the remaining orbs for the other eyes.
Players need to split into teams of two and proceed to the stairs on each side, giving them access to rooms with the same layout. Two players should pull the lever on each room simultaneously to unlock an upstairs area with book cases. Near these cases are pressure plates, which should be stepped on simultaneously to get their respective Guardian Orbs. Upon returning to the first room, players should put the Guardian Orbs in the empty bowls to open a path in the room’s center, leading them to a cave that has a monolith at the end that triggers the boss encounter.
Similar to the Avatar of Zeal, the Avatar of Vigor can be defeated by the same tanking mechanics. Tanks should keep the Avatar of Vigor facing them and away from allies as much as possible so they can focus on dealing AOE damage as often as possible. The rest of the team should take note whenever the Avatar summons Geysers as they can be annoying to deal with even if they’re avoidable via dodging. Keeping one’s distance and avoiding damage as often as possible can make this boss fight more convenient for players.
Echo Of Vigor
Defeating the Avatar of Vigor unlocks a special aura called theEcho of Vigor. Players who have this equipped will get a 200 point boost in Stamina and Magicka Recovery, which is extremely useful when fighting bosses especially from the perspective of skill rotations. Acquiring Avatar Fragments can boost this buff up to 500 points.
Secret Boss 3: Avatar Of Fortitude
Although resembling the typical Frost Atronarch, theAvatar of Fortitudefeels like a more upgraded reskin with its darker look and red highlights. Unlike the other bosses, the Avatar of Fortitude prefers going in melee and overwhelming enemies with harsh attacks. Players should ideally focus on getting the Avatar’s attention elsewhere and stop its attacks with the Ice Transformation, which should leave it available for powerful AOE attacks.
Again like the other Avatars, the Avatar of Fortitude is only accessible in the Black Drake Villa Dungeon viaanElder Scrollspuzzle. Players can start looking for the Avatar just before the fight with Captain Geminus, specifically within the chamber before her arena. This room should have two statues and a locked gate opposite it, where to the front often locked gate are two levers and pressure plates. Pulling the levers simultaneously unlocks the gate, which then leads to two staircases leading to different balconies.
These balconies will have small locked rooms containing orbs, with gates having pressure plates nearby. Standing on these pressure plates will trigger nearby statues, with control pads available for other players to use. Players should use the statues to go to the pressure plates near the first gate, which should then unlock the small rooms with orbs. After acquiring these orbs, players should go to the bookcases and place the orbs there, which should then unlock a secret pathway that leads to the boss.
Unlike the other Avatars in thisElder Scrolls Onlinedungeon, the Avatar of Fortitude is a rather straightforward opponent to face given its hard melee setup. Tanks are still advised to keep the Avatar on their toes via damage mitigation and threat generation, with the rest of the team taking it out from afar via their respective damaging rotations. It’s important for tanks and the rest of the team to keep their damage mitigation and sustains up throughout this duration, as the Avatar still hits hard when up close. Its projectiles also home in on the entire party, meaning players need to time their attacks and dodges when tackling these homing icicles.
Echo Of Fortitude
Securing the defeat of the Avatar of Fortitude will secure the Echo of the same name. TheEcho of Fortitudebuff will provide players with a 500 point boost to maximum Health. This might seem minimal, but Avatar Fragments can boost this buff to add as much as a 3500 Health increase. This buff can be extremely helpful when facing the other bosses, especially on Hard Mode where they get a massive health boost.
Secret Boss 4: Sentinel Aksalaz
As the secret final boss in the dungeon,Sentinel Aksalazis a rather terrifying opponent to face. Unlike the other Avatars, Aksalaz appears as a warrior clad in blue armor and wielding a large axe. Players only have five shots at defeating this boss, lest it just disappears and the dungeon ends normally. In this scenario, players need to reset the dungeon and fulfill all summoning conditions again to fight this boss.
The final secret boss of the dungeon is rather easy to access, provided allElder Scrollsplayers participating in the Black Drake Villa Dungeon have fulfilled certain requirements. For instance, all main bosses and other secret bosses must be defeated beforehand. Moreover, each party member should have at least 30 Avatar Fragments each for a total of 120 Fragments. When these conditions are met, the Avatar Artefact in the final boss chamber should have bowls beside it. Each player must place 30 Avatar Fragments on every bowl on the side. Once this is fulfilled, Sentinel Aksalaz spawns in the middle of the arena.
Hard Mode
Despite its size, Sentinel Aksalaz hits for moderate to heavy damage, meaning all players should have some means of sustainability or damage mitigation. Due to this damage threat, tanks must capture the Sentinel’s attention at all times in order to sponge the most damage while the rest of the team tries to take it out. Whenever the Sentinem summons its Frostkins, these should be the priority as their numbers can overwhelm players pretty quickly. Thankfully, the Sentinel isn’t programmed to check the DPS of players with the Frostkins active, meaning players can kill the Frostkins with heavy attacks and not steal the Sentinel’s attention from the tank. During the Ice Meteor phase, players should try finding a secure place and never overlap with other players as this could take them out quickly.
TheNecromChapter ofThe Elder Scrolls Onlineis slated for a July 01, 2025 release.
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