The Ghost King is currently the toughest boss in Dark and Darker, dropping the best quality loot if you can get to them. However, getting there is only half the battle; This boss teleports across the room, dealing massive damage that will quickly destroy all but the most organized teams. Don’t try to face this one alone, you’ll lose everything on your adventurer. Here’s how to turn the tide on the evil Ghost King and get out of the dungeon with some of the best loot in the game.
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Note: This guide is updated for the current alpha playtest.
How to Prepare for the Ghost King
Ideally, your party will have a Ranger to keep engaging the Ghost King on certain attacks that put him out of melee range. A Cleric can also help, with their ability to buff allies and send healing with a shorter cast time. However, you will want to bring specific tools into this fight:
- throwing weapons
- Any adventurer who cannot attack from a distance must have two stacks of ranged weapons. The Ghost King will float above the battlefield, and punishing this animation is a great opportunity to burn him down quickly.
- Health/Shield Potions (minimum 2 stacks)
- When you’re in Hell, you’ll want to save your shield potions to help mitigate the massive damage enemies can inflict. This is vital to Ghost King combat – failing a single mechanic here can result in a group being dropped.
Where is the Ghost King in Dark and Darker?
To reach the Ghost King, players will need to enter a dungeon through the red portals instead of the blue ones. Encountering groups of enemies is rare at this level, so focus on maintaining clear communication with your group while methodically taking out enemy NPCs and making your way to the center of the map, where that enemy resides. The Ghost King appears in the Inferno 02 map, while the Lich appears in Inferno 01.
How to Kill the Ghost King
Once players get close to the central room of Inferno 02, they should see where the boss room is. Take a look – there should be two Magma enemies and the Ghost King himself. Focus on ranged Magma enemies, ideally with the Ranger so your party doesn’t waste their limited ranged weapons. These enemies will cause an AoE that will wipe out your party during this boss fight, but you can kill them without triggering the Ghost King’s aggro.
Ghost King Mechanics
Gamepur screenshot
When he strips the Ghost King down to pure mechanics, it’s a beatable fight. Three moves to remember:
- blow
- The Ghost King will float in the air and then crash to the ground. Each player must jump shortly before the Ghost King hits the ground or they will all take massive damage. When the Ghost King starts floating upwards, everyone in the party should switch to ranged weapons and barely deal any damage.
- At the start of this animation, three bats will appear in the center of the room. Focus the Ghost King while jumping, Next Eliminate bats – it will distract you from the combat mechanics.
- The Ghost King will float in the air and then crash to the ground. Each player must jump shortly before the Ghost King hits the ground or they will all take massive damage. When the Ghost King starts floating upwards, everyone in the party should switch to ranged weapons and barely deal any damage.
- Teleport
- The Ghost King will teleport to a party member, then instantly detach – anyone hit will receive a massive slow debuff that cannot be removed without leaving the dungeon. If you get hit by the slow debuff, you are effectively dead unless the Ghost King can be killed quickly. The only indication of the teleport attack is a faint flash of light where the Ghost King will appear. Communication is vital here – say the name of the player the Ghost King is teleporting to and use his ranged attacks to keep harassing the enemy.
- soul drain
- If you can’t kill the Ghost King fast enough, he’ll place a bubble around him and start chasing a single party member. If he catches the stalked player, he will start draining his soul of colossal damage. It can take damage while in this state, but it doesn’t take long before the attacked player dies. Thank your stars that he doesn’t kill you and close the distance to finish him off before he chooses you as his next meal.
The Ghost King also has an unavoidable party-wide scream attack that deals light damage to everyone – use a shield potion or take the hit to the chin. It will also throw five orbs at a specific target player – just dodge the attack if you’re the target while other party members are dealing damage. It is presumed that in High Roller Dungeons the attack patterns are the same, but this has not been confirmed.
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