Winter. Never something one looks forward to. The freezing cold edging in to every corner; the inability to find warmth without grueling difficulty. Food is scarce and the entire harvest season is spent preparing for it.
But there are those who wish for the cold to reign. To have a great and mighty power finally over take them all. They chant in a circle at the top of a mountain as wind whips around them, ice stings their skin. With a clamor of ice forming all around, SHE is summoned. Perched upon the top and looming over all who would dare to challenge her.
Sapphire the Eternal Cold has been awakened. And it’s only a matter of time before she freezes the entire realm…
An Introduction to Sapphire, The Eternal Cold
Let’s talk about Sapphire, the noble blue dragon who is determined to reign supreme with her icy powers. Much like Azzoz, she too has scourges: her ice. Let’s dive in to Sapphire, her ice powers, and the cultists who wish to bring her back.
Sapphire’s Powers
Ice Scourges
Unlike with Azzoz, Sapphire only has seven total ice scourge tokens, which is very important to keep in mind for her movement. When her cultists would charge, ice is added to her location first. Sapphire then gains a health and flies there. Yes, every time.
Self-Healing
Her health can increase all the way to the maximum amount on the spinner (20) for every ice she gains. And, when the 7th one would be placed? She flies straight to Monarch City instead, meaning you have to do damage to get her out of there.
A Growing Threat
Instead of advancing, one adds ice and a minion to her location, compounding the ice problem.
Oh, and one is added to her location at every dark.
Did we mention that she also does two damage to each hero in the attacking hero’s location on top of it all?
Defeating Sapphire
She’s no pushover. She is a great and mighty dragon! There are ways to have her be the first boss that you take out, but more often than not, she’s usually one of the last (if not the last) boss to be thwarted.
But, as we said, it’s not impossible to take down! Her ice is taken down by testing Might (which is the helmet icon) and gaining a darkness. On a success, the ice is removed. Each ice means that you must remove one die from your attack for each one present.
Her ice is as tough as her skin, and she’s no pushover. But you can take her down, with the aid of your friends.
Boss Rewards
When you do take her down, you’ll be treated to her rewards! (Or the usual three coins.)
(Note that this art is not final!)
She’s got some pretty powerful rewards too, so maybe it is worth it to aim right for her and take her down first! But then you’re letting Gri accumulate coins and Dianara and Azzoz march closer… Oh, the suspense! You’ll be able to handle it, though, with all the tools as your disposal.
Sapphire’s Cultist Minions
Sapphire, though, of course does not work alone. She needs her minions as much as anyone else. Possibly more so, as they are the ones who summon her!
As you can see, each cultist has a base armor of 2, but for each one in an area, you increase their armor by 1. There’s power in numbers. The elite side starts them at 3 instead of 2 to make them just that little bit more challenging. Remember! You have to roll that number on the dice or higher if you wish to take down minions, and all minions of that boss need to be taken out before you attack that boss.
There will be times where there are, say, red imps at the feet of Sapphire, just by luck. You can absolutely attack a general with minions of other bosses present. They aren’t loyal to Sapphire after all! Just willing to cause mayhem and destruction in any other number of ways. One little advantage to get you over the edge.
And that’s all for today! Sapphire is possibly the most formidable of the bosses, but maybe you disagree! Gri’s coin can be pretty annoying and those curses and healing from Dianara aren’t to be underestimated… Who do you think is the most difficult of the core four bosses?
We're close to our launch date for the crowdfunding campaign! We're so excited to see you there. Be sure to sign up to follow along and be notified as soon as it goes live! We'll see you on the 19th of November!