Overview
Embermount Volcano – take up a challenge – a small guidance.
Introduction
Welcome Defenders,
First things first. Embermount Volcano has been created with the goal to add something challenging for high-end players. In current state (Dungeon Defenders v8.2 – the CDT Update 2) I don’t see any reasonable way to succeed on this map with mediocre DPS heroes. This may change with a future release depending on feedback of the community.
So be warned, this guide is not made for whose who are still struggling with other content.
The Heroes
All heroes which I’ve used for creating this guide are decently equipped. By decent I’m not talking about 7k, 8k or even higher stats, I’m talking about stats from 5k to 6k. You are able to reach such stats using Transcendent armor, so no worries if you are not running around with Ultimate sets.
My tower heroes are using Diamonds (Fish in a Bowl or Treadmill pets are as good), Ultimate tower weapons, Supreme accessories and exclusively Transcendent armor. I always had a weakness for Transcendent armor 🙂
I figured a relatively stable build for mythical tower heroes. Nonetheless I suggest to use better equipped tower heroes. I for one use regularly transcendent-armored heroes.
(click to view)
Recommended Stats
- Monk – 2500+ / 5000+ / 2500+ / 1500+ ( HP / DMG / Range / Rate )
- Series EV – 3000+ / 3000+ / 1000+ / 1000+
- Huntress – 2500+ / 5000+ / 2500+ / 1500+
- Summoner – 3500+ / 5000+ / 1200+ / 1200+
The waves are short and you have many defenses to upgrade. Therefore a Jester with Genie and Lupine Bow is almost crucial. There are different methods to fight the Phoenix but running solely I’ve chosen Jester with Cat and Bloodshot Staff.
The benefits are obvious. You are able to use the Wheel O’ Fortune during boss fight, healing your allies or killing a percentage of enemies to relieve some pressure on your defenses and the Bloodshot Staff is perfect to deal full damage over a long distance.
Recommended Stats (doesn’t really change for other DPS heroes)
- Jester (Upgrader) – 1500+ / 3000+ / 1000+ / 1000+ ( HP / DMG / Rate / Ability 2 )
- Jester (DPS) – 2500+ / 5000+ / 1000+ / 2500+
The Build
Creating a build on a brand new map means a lot of trial and error. Therefore a build may change over time. Current build evolved three times already due to great ideas / input from others and myself. So far I want to thanks harry for his idea to use Ethereal Spike Traps and Caa for her idea to stall enemies. Both ideas has been implemented in one or another way.
On a further note; These detailed screenshots are showing a 2-spot build. Playing with 3 or more players you may want to take a look at the 3-spot build I’ve recorded. I experienced that the 2-spot build works better when soloing or playing with one more player. At the end it is a question of stats, so you have to figure which build works better by your own.
You have to build with Monk, Huntress and Series EV. Heal Aura at the Boss Area is highly recommended. If you are building Heal Auras at north and south crystal then you will not have enough Mana to build an Ethereal Spike Trap and Tower Buff Beam at the Boss Area. Instead you build them in Wave 12. Upgrade at least all Tower Buff Beams to 3 Stars.
You need a good chunk of 2000 Mana for your Summoner. If you are missing Mana then you will build just one Mage per Tower Buff Beam which saves 540 Mana. Don’t forget to build them in Wave 12. Upgrade Auras and Traps to 3 Chevrons and move over to the other spot.
Reminder to build Ethereal Spike Trap and Tower Buff Beam at the Boss Area and missing Mages if not done yet 🙂
The Boss
Unlike on other maps you are not completely safe by just building an Aura stack with a Heal Aura and sticking to that. Even in combination with a high-end Fairy you have to dodge its attacks as fast as possible.
Currently the Phoenix doesn’t have a fixed attack pattern to the best of my knowledge. It seems you are not able to engage a certain attack, rate and type seems to be completely random.
Unlike the known homing fireball from the Old One, these will change their directions very fast and multiple times for a very long distance. On hit they also set the ground on fire you are standing on. You have to get out of the fire as soon as possible.
It can be tricky to completely dodge them especially at the beginning when you still feel safe inside your Aura. I strongly advise to leave the Aura while fireballs are incoming. Take advantage of the bridge using its full length. Your Aura spot will be free from fire once you get used to it.
This attack is a finisher in my book. It deals massive damage and if you are already weakened by previous attacks then there is a high chance that you won’t survive a hit. The Phoenix randomly targets one of the players. Soloing you always get the short end of the stick.
In order to dodge this attack, you can use the environment. Just get something between you and the Phoenix (probably take a mate :O ). The range of the attack is relatively huge. Therefore you won’t see me often, trying to dodge the attack but dealing damage to the Phoenix while it lasts.
Hint: Using a weapon from Squire with upgraded ‘Blocking Damage Resistance’ as secondary weapon for Jester, helps a lot to reduce (95% – 99%) or completely block (100%+) incoming damage.
You can easily avoid this type of attack by standing on the bridge. I have encountered this attack only a few times within the beta while playing on the ground. I have no clue if this attack has been ported since I exclusively fight the Phoenix on the bridge. If I remember and noticed correctly, then the stomp/landing process already deals damage to you. However, the fire-breath attack was very serious in the beta.
Take this with a pinch of salt, there are certainly more ways to beat the Phoenix than I did. I played it relatively often, tried different heroes and many combinations of heroes but standing on the bridge was always a good idea. Following is my personal favored hero setup.
- Soloing (not recommended, team up)
Jester with Bloodshot Staff + Cat (or Rainmaker when you got your hands on one) - 2-player team (recommended)
Jester with Bloodshot Staff + Cat (or Barbarian with Steam Saws + Cat)
Monk + Chicken / Seahorse / Fairy (if you get killed easily) - 3-player team
Jester + Chicken / Seahorse (preferably Seahorse due to higher single-target damage)
Monk + Chicken / Seahorse / Fairy
Barbarian with Steam Saws + Cat (or Glaciers when you got your hands on two) - 4-player team
The 4th player can secure a role from the mentioned 3-player team above in case someone dies more often. Alternatively a Huntress with Blaster Rifle + Seahorse seems to be a very viable choice.
The Run
For those who are curious to see in-game footage to some of the mentioned things above. Enjoy!
The run below has been done with mythical tower heroes. As mentioned above, I suggest to use better equipped tower heroes. This shouldn’t be a major issue when we are considering that you are in need of a very well equipped DPS hero.
At the end of the run a Mage was killed because I haven’t done Heal Allies fast enough. When the kill message appeared, I decided to do Damage All Enemies to relieve some pressure on the defenses. Doing so has lead to a second Mage dying a bit later.
That said, Embermount Volcano remains hard also when I’ve done it with mythical tower heroes.
This run has been done with 5k stats, the new build seems to be less fragile.
By the way; An epic ending, no? ;D
The 2k Challenge
First off, this has been done just for challenging purpose with a different build as shown above. It is absolutely not recommended to run Embermount Volcano with such low stats. To date I think this build just holds for soloists as in much more Ogres and Harbingers are spawning when playing with more players. However, I assume this kind of build will work much better with higher stats.
Jester was limited to 3k Hero Damage. As usual, stats are shown at the end of the run.
Final Notes
Embermount Volcano is way tougher when playing solo. I am sure you are able to push down required stats when playing with experienced mates. Do not think every run is working just fine. It’s a love-hate relationship to this map. Especially the attack pattern of the Phoenix can be very frustrating, attacking highly frequently with its homing fireballs.
Besides the boss, the flood of incoming Ogres and Harbingers can be very challenging for your defenses during the boss fight. Heal Allies done with Jester’s Wheel O’ Fortune helps a lot. Keep a sufficient distance to Harbinger, it’s a player orientated enemy type which will only deal a tenth of the damage it deals to you to your defenses.
In general, weapon rewards from this map do not outperform previous best weapons, which I like the most because you are not forced to run this map to get a somewhat decent weapon. However there is, like on other maps, the chance of the extraordinary rare weapon we are all seeking every day.
Embermount Volcano’s accessories have the potential to reach higher stats than any other accessory but the difference to previous accessories isn’t so huge that you are literally forced to play this map. It’s more a kind of a teaser for high-end players to run this map. I’d say a legitimate decision.
*sounds dumb but stays true
Thanks jemmajule for checking the spelling and grammar.
Thanks Caa and harry for the tweaks I’ve added to the build.
If this guide gave you some assistance then a 
In case you are going to vote this guide down for any reasons, it would be nice to contact me first. Probably we can sort out misunderstandings or obscurities to improve the guide.
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Changelog
- 6th August 2016
- Officially released the guide
- 8th August 2016
- Added two Shockbeams, an additional Heal Aura and tweaked tower placement
- 9th August 2016
- Taking advantage from the environment, changed from a 3-spot to a 2-spot build.
- 12th August 2016
- Added some more notes, added Ember 2k Challenge 🙂