Guide Magmastream Core (new Boss Altar In Volcanic Isles)

As some of you may know, there is a new boss altar in the Volcanic Isles. This is known as the "Magmastream Core", with a level 55 minimum discovery level and a level 60 recommended level.

The altar itself is located at (-1027 x, 95 y, -3656 z). You will need 6 "Mineral Cinder" to get in, a tier 0 ingredient that can drop from basically anything within the Volcanic Isles at a relatively high rate. The most notable mob to drop it is the "Volcanic Sludge" (i.e. the Magma Cubes) from my experience.


The most straightforward way of getting to the altar is going directly south through Volcanic Isles when you reach the island, following the stone parkour located inside at (-1057 x, 41 y, -3712 z).


When you reach the end of the stone parkour and head out the southern exit, there will be a clear path branching off to your right hand side (west). Follow this path to reach the boss altar. Watch out for sudden gaps in the stairs that will make you fall into lava as you ascend.


When you enter, you should get the discovery, along with lava towering over you in every direction. Proceed to the boss room.

The Boss: Vulcor Adrenophage

(I swear to god the convecs won't stop photo bombing)

Spoiler: Boss Data

NOTE: The following is not 100% accurate, because I tested the spell combos myself. All I did was record what I observed. Thus, take this with a grain of salt, though I believe it is mostly correct.

Vulcor Adrenophage Phase 1 (no Crowd Control Immunity)
HP: 20,000
Weakness: Water/Air
Damage: Earth/Fire
Defense: Fire
Normal melee AI with moderate walkspeed and low knockback resistance

Combos:

Heavy Charge Spam i.e. "Charge stack" ("I believe I can fly")

Heavy Charge->Heavy Charge->Charge+Heavy Charge

Charge->Explode->Charge->Explode->Charge->Explode->Charge->Explode
^The timing for each of these is quite awkward, as it varies for each charge->explode for the delay in between both the explosion itself and the next charge.

Flamethrower->Charge+Charge


Vulcor Adrenophage Phase 2 (no Crowd Control Immunity)
HP: 30,000
Weakness: Water/Air
Damage: Earth/Fire
Defense: Fire
Normal melee AI with moderate walkspeed and moderate knockback resistance

Combos:
Charge->Explode->Charge->Explode->Charge->Explode->Charge->Explode
^The timing for each of these is quite awkward, as it varies for each charge->explode for the delay in between both the explosion itself and the next charge.

Heavy Charge->Heavy Charge->Charge+Heavy Charge

"I believe I can fly" (Charge stack)

It appears to be the same as Phase 1, though I did not see the Flamethrower combo (or I might've confused it for the minions). It also uses the charge->explode combo much more in comparison to the first phase.


Vulcor Adrenophage Phase 3 (no Crowd Control Immunity)
HP: 50,000
Weakness: Water/Air
Damage: Earth/Fire
Defense: Fire
Normal melee AI with high walkspeed and moderately high knockback resistance

Combos:
Charge->Charge->Charge->Charge->Charge->Push->"I believe I can fly" on steroids (Charge stack)->Flamethrower
^After the five charges, the boss will shoot up so far into the air that it becomes invisible. It will eventually come back into view with a heavy charge stack, using the flamethrower upon landing.

Charge->Charge (instantaneously)->Charge+Explode spam->Charge+Explode spam->Heavy Charge

"I believe I can fly" (Charge stack)

Explode->Flamethrower->Flamethrower->Charge+Explode

Flamethrower->Charge+Charge

Heavy Charge->Heavy Charge->Charge+Heavy Charge

Because of how fast the boss uses all these spells, they can seamlessly chain together to give the illusion that they are one string of combos. However, they do appear to be separate from one another.


Minion: Convec Monocyte (no Crowd Control Immunity)
HP: ~8,800
Weakness: Water/Air
Damage: Earth/Fire
Defense: Earth/Fire
Charge AI with high walkspeed, low knockback resistance, and a moderate respawn rate. There seems to be a maximum of seven allowed on the field at any one time, and three will spawn in immediately with the boss from the ceiling.

Combos:

Heavy Charge->Heavy Charge

Charge->Charge->Charge->Flamethrower

It will continuously cycle between these two combos, i.e. it will go 1st->2nd->1st->etc.


To summarize, the boss does extremely high damage with its attacks and is hyper aggressive most of the time (especially the minions), but has relatively low health for an altar at this level and is very susceptible to CC (especially hitstun/knockback). For example, the hardest hitting combo that the boss has, which is "I believe I can fly" on steroids, does a total of ~5,500 damage if the whole charge stack hits you, and an additional ~7,000 damage if the flamethrower AFTERWARDS hits you entirely (tested on an Assassin with 0 defense and only 1-5 fire/earth defense).

While this is an exaggeration, as that combo does hit significantly harder than any other combo, you get the idea. Without the necessary defense investment, you will die in at best 2-4 hits, depending on what it is that hits you.

Spoiler: Analysis and Strategy

Needless to say, face tanking is basically not an option unless you pump skill points into defense out the wazoo. It also helps to have earth/fire defense in regards to this, as it's (probably) safe to assume that the boss has really funny spell multipliers to exploit your elemental weakness judging by its damage.

However, while the main threat remains the boss itself, the minions are what can make this fight quite difficult. Because of how fast, somewhat tanky, and high damaging they are, they will constantly barge in and ruin your day while trying to fight the boss, especially with their heavy charge combo. Trying to dodge all of them and the boss at the same time is insanely difficult to a seemingly bs degree without luck on your side.

This is why the boss and its minions are highly susceptible to CC, in particularly being hitstun and/or knockback. If you can interrupt their charge combos at a distance with either of these and lock them away from you constantly, the threat is greatly nullified.
Due to this, you pretty much have to play in the same hyper-aggressive nature as the boss in order to come out on top, taking literally any opportunity to reasonably attack and apply this CC. If you try to take this fight slow, you are going to have an awful time in most scenarios.

Spoiler: Shaman

tl;dr

• Aura Prison destroys this boss. Use it.
• Constantly meleeing and maintaining Totem uptime as much as possible to hitstun the enemies will help tremendously.
• Using Haul to dodge when needed guarantees safety in almost any scenario. If all else fails, don't hesitate to spam it.
• Try to remove your Totem by switching off your weapon when the third phase goes for the "I believe I can fly" on steroids combo, because you may accidentally interrupt it to early otherwise.

Ironically, Shaman is probably the best matchup in this fight because of this. Since the boss never has CCI at any point, you can permanently lock it in place with Aura Prison on a spell spam or hybrid setup. This takes care of both the minions and the boss simultaneously. Even if they manage to get out, or you can not pull it off due to being a melee setup, Shaman's tick damage and spread out melee will hitstun them before they even get close. The icing on the cake is your gradual healing as well, since you can heal back any possible chip damage on tankier builds (irrelevant for glassy builds, though, since you'll probably be nuked off the planet if you do get hit).

If you do need to dodge something, however, rely primarily on Haul as you (probably) always have. If you are in the air in this, you are safe from pretty much everything other than something heavy charging right over you as you land (or flamethrower auto tracking if you get caught in it). As a result, well timed hauling, or really even spamming, will remove a large portion of the threat.

That being said, I do highly recommend you delete your Totem when the boss goes for the "I believe I can fly" on steroids combo in its third phase. Interrupting this attack to a large degree will cause it too fall quite quickly, resulting in instant death most of the time without an agility proc.
Otherwise, just keep in mind your totem timer and you will come out on top.

Spoiler: Archer

tl;dr

• Arrow Storm clowns on them as per usual. Use it.
  
• Bomb Arrow+Arrow Shield can be used as a secondary option should the enemies get out of CC purgatory.
• Your sheer range and speed to strafe at a distance is enough even if this spam is not possible.

In a similar manner to Shaman, Archer performs comically well, as per usual for Archer. You can simply sit on the other side of the arena and spam Arrow Storm to nullify the threat, as the Arrow Storm's spread will permanently knock the mobs into the shadow realm and hitstun them. Bomb Arrow and Arrow Shield also help. Bomb Arrow covers a decent AoE if they manage to escape this purgatory, while Arrow Shield potentially can interrupt any charge attack that does manage to get near you, albeit you will still have to react to that charge attack since it will land on top of you regardless if you just do not move afterwards.

Even if these CC options are not available due to running Archer melee (oh no), your speed 3 to zoom around the arena circle strafing has not changed. Your sheer range has not changed either, and thus you can just keep pelting the boss with arrows as you concentrate on dodging the minions.

If you want to be really funny, it is almost possible to infinitely chain the boss to death with Arrow Storm while it's in the air by standing directly underneath the boss after it's "I believe I can fly" on steroids combo. Naturally, I HIGHLY ADVISE YOU DO NOT DO THIS BECAUSE MESSING IT UP EQUATES TO INSTANT DEATH, but it is incredibly funny if you do manage to pull it off.

Spoiler: Assassin

tl;dr

• Vanish cheeses their AI as it always has.
• Be as aggressive as possible with your Vanish combos. Your goal is still to burst it down as fast as possible.

Despite a lack of hitstun or knockback, especially at range, Assassin still will perform very well in this fight. Of course, this is due to Vanish breaking aggro of everything immediately, allowing you to constantly go in and out of it to shred the boss as the minions sit around. While this does make charge unpredictable, you can always just go up into the air to ensure safety before continuing your onslaught.

However, do note that hit and run is a bad idea in this fight due to the above. You have no way to deal with the minions other than strafe and praying without Vanish (and I suppose Spin Attack/Smoke Bomb, but that will not save you from heavy charge). The longer you try to remain out of vanish and not damaging the boss by cycling combos with it, the harder the boss will become to an exponential degree. Assassin can swap between these hit and run and hyper aggressive playstyles on a whim, and this is a fight that actively punishes the former and rewards the latter.

Spoiler: Mage

tl;dr

• Teleport and your melee are invaluable in this fight for maneuvering or disrupting enemy movement.
• Ice Snake can be used for a moment of reprieve if they get up close or locking them at a distance temporarily. It also will lockdown heavy charge when timed properly, though you might screw it up and have it slam into you regardless with the timing.
• Try to avoid relying on spamming Heal, focusing on the above instead. Exception is super tanky setups.
• Your issue is that you can not burst the boss down quickly most of the time. Remain as aggressive as possible despite this, since the fight only gets exponentially harder when trying to play passively.

Along with Warrior, this is where you will probably feel the true difficulty of the fight. Mage is inherently rather slow paced in gameplay, relying on its range and heal to win the battle of attrition. This fight actively goes against this ideology, and thus that will not be enough to save you in this fight unless you go all out with mana regen + defense to tank with spam healing.

Your two best resources in this fight are Teleport and, funnily enough, melee. Teleport being able to move in a direction in an instant is invaluable for quickly reacting to charges and other positioning from the enemies. The blind is also nice to have for disrupting the minions temporarily, though it can lead to some unpredictable scenarios regarding charge where you will need to react again. Your long ranged melee is great for interrupting the charges before they get close to you, though this does take a bit of time to get used to at slower attack speeds.

While not great, Ice Snake still can help as well. Locking the boss and its minions in place helps out for getting a bit of breathing room when needed if they manage to get on top of you. However, while it can lock down the heavy charge, it is largely inconsistent (and possibly detrimental in the case of the "I believe I can fly" on steroids combo) compared to Teleport and melee, so I wouldn't recommend it.

As stated above, Heal is rather pointless outside of hyper-tanks. Of course, you should still try to heal whenever possible, but your primary focus should be on evasion rather than trying to heal back that massive damage if you do get hit.

Spoiler: Warrior

tl;dr

• Do not rely on your sheer tankiness to get by. It will almost always end poorly.
  
• Warscream is amazing here. Make sure to keep screaming until you lose your voice.
• Uppercut is good for interruption, and shift Uppercut is unironically great for evasion.
• Your issue is that you can not burst the boss down quickly most of the time. Remain as aggressive as possible despite this, since the fight only gets exponentially harder when trying to play passively.

Along with Mage, this is where you will probably feel the true difficulty of the fight. Throughout most of the game, Warrior relies mostly on its sheer tankiness to be able to just laugh off a lot of damage that comes its way. The damage from the boss is enough to just ignore that, and thus you must still focus on dodging and punishing as much as possible.

Luckily, Warrior does have a rather good hitstun+knockback CC in the form of Warscream. This will interrupt anything coming from any direction and push it back, along with the rest of the scream constantly hammering into whatever enemy you aimed that at. However, you will need to be spamming it a good chunk of the time to ensure safety, otherwise facing the wrath of the heavy charges.

Uppercut can be quite helpful as well, dealing actual damage to the enemy while still disposing of them momentarily. Don't be afraid to genuinely use shift Uppercut, either, because you are almost always safe in the air during this fight. Charge is still utilized for movement and that's it, though it's knockback will push mobs away from you when you get near them as well.

Otherwise, this still remains largely difficult because Warrior needs to play the long game, not really having a sure fire way to burst down this boss insanely quick or anything (keeping in mind that "Uppercancelling" is nearly impossible to do consistently at this level due to mana constraints without the literal best of the best gear). You still will be playing insanely aggressive to the point where it will feel like the fight is flashing by, but it will still last longer and give the boss more opportunities to nuke you.

The only other major tip I have is to try and avoid right clicking on the mobs in the fight. For some reason (probably because of armor stands), right clicking will not register when doing it directly on either the boss or its minions. As a result, try to aim slightly away from wherever they may be when right on top of you to use your spells.

Overall, I can not stress how important it is to maintain aggression at all times. It is a fight that actively encourages such a playstyle due to its inherent nature of being basically a glass cannon itself, and it will be quite painful when trying to be patient/passive with the boss.

As always, do not feel ashamed of using pots, either. It hits like a tactical nuke and is a boss altar, after all, so using pots if you so desire is fully acceptable. However, do note that you can face tank quite a bit more when using pots, so my insistence on playing hyper aggressive does not necessarily apply in those cases.

Spoiler: Video Showcase

I decided last minute that would be helpful to have an actual visual showcase of the boss. Note that I do play rather poorly here, but I do believe it is the best example I have recorded for this.

But who cares about any of that? You're here for the rewards, obviously! Luckily for you, the rewards from this altar are ludicrous for their respective purposes (at least in regards to the armor pieces, because I don't know anything about crafting). Thanks to @RJJguyTheCarrot for already creating the custom items for these armors pieces (here) and everyone else in the discord who helped out during the excitement over finding the altar.

Spoiler: Rewards

Armor:


(https://wynnbuilder.github.io/customizer.html#10000ECapsid Frame0220401020500G0202b0H010y0M010y0Q010o0R010e0V010A0i0109d0j010140s0108X100109d11010Bk170231r0-)


(https://wynnbuilder.github.io/customizer.html#10000ECrystal Coil0230401020510L020160M010y0O010o0n010130t013D70u013H90v0202qCC0-0207tY2140106Q)


(https://wynnbuilder.github.io/customizer.html#10000CPhage Pins014CSalvaged from the limbs of the Vulcor Adrenophage, they radiate extreme heat, suffusing the body they attach to with that same heat. It almost feels as though your blood is heating to a frenetic boil.0240401030530G021440H0201B0L0201B0M020110R010y0T010F0j010150t0105K0z0200W2C100105K140105K1C0230l1N)

Ingredients:



(thank you @euouae for the screenshots)


(thank you @Wxhlf for the screenshot)

You also receive an emerald reward after the fight, which I believe is around 4-5 emerald blocks. It's negligible, but hey, money is money I guess.

Overall, is this boss fight that difficult? If you are able and willing to match the boss's extreme pace, then it's rather easy. Shaman/Archer/Assassin all do this with relative ease, but it is indeed much harder to pull off for Mage/Warrior in my opinion without genuinely knowing the combos. Personally, I would lump it in the same overall difficulty levels as Sunrise Canyon/Rotten Passage/Panic Zealot, since it similarly rewards specific playstyles heavily while being very challenging otherwise.

Regardless, I hope this was at least of some help to you. Good luck and have fun with the new boss altar!

Spoiler: Builds and such I used for this

Since I was not going to level every single class to level 60 within the span of today, I settled for doing "simulations" of a level 60 player fighting the boss, i.e. fighting the boss on my high level characters but while using level 60 builds. While this is slightly bias because of having access to the third upgrade of my fourth spell, it largely did not play a factor in the fight or I actively avoided using them. Here are the builds and the number of attempts it took to fight the boss with said builds, all without pots.

Rawstack Melee Warrior (Second try, and my first blind fight against the boss):
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/#4_0oD0cY0cX0cW0dd0dd0tu0UB0lW0o0m00110e0y00000

Spell Spam Warrior (Second try, takes five years)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/index.html#4_0oG00V0ID01g0950950TN00A0CL0A001F0x000y000010008G
(tbf, this is insanely scuffed because I couldn't use Abysso Galoshes or Water Relic Spear lmao)

Poison Shaman (First try)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/#4_00K0cb01u0cZ0950sE00W00T0Rr0U0Z001h-y0y00001002RM

Spell Spam Shaman (First try)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/#4_0oG00V06k0Sr09509500W00T0lh000g0l18000y000010005A

Tierstack Melee Archer (First try)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/#4_0u30Tp0cX0Bn0Rk0Rk00W0UB0mJ001E0005120y00000

I used a spell spam Archer to, but I forgot what the build was. Safe to assume it was just like meta spell spam stuff outside of Deadeye (Evanescent + Mask of Enlightenment + etc.), though.

Glass Cannon Hybrid Assassin (First Try, but I did it again after that run and my manasteal did not active 8 times in a row LOL)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/index.html#4_0oD0Ie0Bw02y09509500W0TK0Mc0e1d-i-s-s0y000010005A

Glassy Fast Hybrid Mage (Second try)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/index.html#4_0u30Bl0rs0qV0dd0dd0G60UB0s500-y14-w180y00001000ES

Spell Spam Mage (First try, but took five years)
https://wynnbuilder.github.io/index.html#4_0oG00V0ID0Sr0950950TN00A0m40A071U0l000y000010008G

Most of these are scuffed, but I did not feel the need to test various builds in insane detail or anything after using these. I felt they did a pretty good job of giving me an overall idea of how each class did in the fight when I also applied my knowledge outside of the fight to it.

 

just be lvl 106 and 3 tap the boss :saltroll:

 

Ez money when too low level for loot running I guess

 

YOOO I AM IN ONE OF THE SCREENSHOTS,

Caspid Frame enjoyers : )

 

How long did it take you to type all of this, sir?

 

Basically the whole day if we account for the time I actually had to fight the boss and record its spell combos.
In other words, I have no life.

 

Ugggghh another kill it as fast as you can boss mob :/

(I’m looking at you wretches)


As a mage main: GODAMMIT










nice guide though I guess

 

The bedbugs

 

@Selvut283 is this the arena I had to make?

 

yes

 

oh can i remake that its kinda embarrassing for me

 

man, sound's like it'd be fun to fight this boss if my frames didn't drop to five when I entered the arena...

Yeah, I'm guessing it's a bug, but this boss altar lags my computer out really badly, so hopefully It'll be fixed soon.

 

Check dates before posting to avoid necroposting (like you just did)

 

oops

This is like the 50th time I've accidentally necroposted because I forgot dates were a thing.