Seventh trial · 3,750 health. A new ability joins at 100, 80, 60, 40 and 20% health and none ever leaves. Get behind him for the chain, step back into the spikes that have just sunk, keep him away from the next altar, stand between the lines of fire, and read the room in the night. The Bone Tide, the dead and the night keep their own clocks whatever he is doing.
In the film: a male Pyromancer wins in 6:39 after the pull, taking nine hits (five of 30 and three of 25 physical, one of 30 fire) and finishing on 32 of 100 health. Twenty-one skeletons rose and nineteen reached him, and each one that reaches him heals him, which is why this win is far longer than a fight that kills them on the way. It earns neither Dead Man Walking nor Bone Dry, and not the no-damage Bones Unbroken; the only card is Trial by Fire, the Pyromancer's class ladder. The game's test player controls the hero.
He opens with “Mind the walls. They were heroes once.” over the title card, and speaks again at the first Bone Tide (“Watch your steps!”), the first Five Pyres (“Light the pyres!”), the first night (“Night watch. I never sleep.”) and his fall (“My watch... is over.”). Boss voices in Settings controls the audio.
The five spells
| From | Spell | How often | Damage | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | Reaping Chain | every 4 s | 30% physical, the sweep and the slam each once | Get to his back, stay out beyond 9 m, or roll through |
| 80% | Bone Tide | every 10.8 s, on its own clock | 25% physical, once a wave | Step back into the row that just sank; roll, blink or immunity |
| 60% | The Faithful Dead | every 15 s, on its own clock | none to you; heals him 165 per hero | Kill the skeleton on its way, or kite him away from the next altar |
| 40% | Five Pyres | every 10 s | 30% fire, once a cast | Stand between the lines (melee: step back from him), or immunity; the roll does not dodge it |
| 20% | The Long Vigil | a surge every 3.2 s | none | Read the floor in the surges |
Reaping Chain
From the pull, every 4 s he whirls the chain over his head for 1.4 s, still striding after you. As the wind-up starts he snaps round to face you and then his facing is locked. He then sweeps the chain round his front from his right to his left, 1.2 to 9 m out, and slams its iron ring down 6 m off his left rear. The sweep and the slam are each 30% physical, once per hero; pets and turrets are hit too. With floor warnings on, both are drawn on the floor and fill as they land. With them off there is no mark: watch the chain drawn back over his right shoulder and listen for its rattle. The safe places are his back, anywhere beyond 9 m, or a roll through the physical hit.
Bone Tide (from 80%)
Every 10.8 s, whatever he is doing, a wall shines for 1 s. Then rows of spikes 2 m deep rise from it across the room to the far corner, one every 0.7 s, each up for 0.3 s and cracking where it rises. A row that catches you does 25% physical, once a wave. Step back into the row that just sank, roll through a rising row, blink back over the crest, or use immunity. With the warning off the wall does not shine; listen for the cracks from its side. The wall is random and never the one just used.
The Faithful Dead (from 60%)
Every 15 s an altar's flame flares for 1 s and a skeleton climbs out: first the north altar, then each next one clockwise. It walks straight at him at 3.5 m/s and never harms you. If it reaches him it crumbles into his ribs and heals him 165 for every hero in the party, never above the top of the phase he is in. One hit from each hero in the party kills it, whatever the hit; a damage-over-time effect counts one hit for every 2 s it ticks. The answer is to lead him away from the next altar, so the skeleton has a long walk, and to kill it on the way.
Five Pyres (from 40%)
Every 10 s he stands for 1 s while fire kindles in his ribs and the five altar flames go out. Then five streams of fire 2 m wide run from him to the five altars at 30 m/s, and each altar bursts back alight as its stream arrives. Anyone on a line takes 30% fire, once a cast. The roll does not dodge fire: stand between the lines (a melee hero steps back from him), or use immunity. With floor warnings on the five lines are drawn; with them off only the kindling and the dark altars warn you.
The Long Vigil (from 20%)
A partial night. The candles gutter and the room goes dim and cold, never black. Every 3.2 s the altar flames surge tall and light the room for about a second. His tells and the floor marks are faint between the surges, so read the floor in them and listen for the spikes; the skeletons' wisps still show where they walk. Reduce flashes in Settings halves the surge and slows it, and the fight is flagged as photosensitive.
Achievements
Besides the shared no-damage and Blind Faith achievements (the no-damage one is called Bones Unbroken on this boss), the trial has two challenges of its own. They exclude each other, since one needs every skeleton to reach him and the other none, and the film earns neither.
Dead Man Walking
Defeat the Ossuary Gaoler without killing any of the Faithful Dead.
Bone Dry
Defeat the Ossuary Gaoler with no skeleton ever reaching him, each one killed no sooner than 3 seconds after it stands.
For Bone Dry, drag him 8 to 10 m past the middle of the room, away from the next altar: the skeleton then has 5.5 to 6 s to reach him, and you have 2.5 to 3 s of that to land your hits after its 3 s. For Dead Man Walking, never kill a skeleton: each one must reach him, so each heals him and the fight runs long. A skeleton still alive when he falls crumbles and counts as neither killed nor reached. All of them: Achievements.
Tips
- Stay behind him: he turns as fast as you run, and snaps to you as the chain draws back, so move round him as the wind-up starts.
- Keep immunity (1.5 s, 45 s cooldown) for a fire line you cannot leave; a roll will not dodge fire.
- Watch the walls: the Bone Tide never waits for him, and neither do the dead or the night.
- Kill each skeleton before it reaches him, or lead him away from the altar it rises at; every one that arrives heals him 165 per hero.
- Melee heroes step back from him when the altar flames go out.
- In the night, look in the surges and plan your steps for the dark between them.