Empowered Stacks
Over the course of the encounter, failing mechanics will often give Cerus stacks of Empowered. These are permanent, and each one increases Cerus’ damage by 5%, up to a maximum of 99 stacks, when his attacks additionally become unblockable.
Due to the difficult healing check at the end of the fight, players should try to avoid giving stacks to the boss as much as possible. In Legendary Mode, it is almost impossible to complete the encounter if Cerus has more than 10 stacks at the beginning of the final phase, while the normal CM is a bit more lenient.
Stack Sources
Several of Cerus’s skills can generate Empowered. Details on these attacks will be provided in further sections of the guide, but all possible sources are provided below for reference’s sake.
- Insatiable Huger - 1-3 stacks every time an orb is not collected.
- Malicious Intent - 5 stacks when a summoned add reaches Cerus and is sacrificed.
- Cry of Rage - one stack whenever a player is hit by the AoE.
- Enraged Smash - 2 stacks whenever Cerus uses this attack (3 in legendary mode).
- Crushing Regret - 5 stacks whenever there are not enough players in a green.