How bad the SOTS elites used to be

These are the two new elite types (Guilded and Twisted) you can encounter in Seekers of the Storm. Specifically, before Gearbox actually made them not awful to fight.

I made this guide before then, and decided to keep it as is to not forget how bad they were (also i got hella lazy and don't feel like updating it lol, sorry)

Guilded Enemies

Guilded enemies are a Tier 1 elite, meaning they can show up as early as the first stage. They are easily recognisable thanks to their golden skin.

Every few seconds or so, guilded enemies will wrap themselves in a golden barrier, increasing their defense and draining your gold when you attack them until it goes away.

Try to avoid hitting them when their barrier is up if you want to keep your gold. Note that the barrier does not make them invincible, so you can still kill them while it's active.
Here's a close look at a Guilded Stone Titan.

Twisted enemies

Now for the tough ones : Twisted enemies. These are a Tier 2 elite, meaning they'll start showing up during loops (like Celestial and Malachite elites).

Twisted elites are blue and have a large blue bubble surrounding them. They also have stone spikes logged within their bodies.

The blue bubble is the important part : any other enemy within the bubble will reflect any damage they suffer back to their attacker. They can easily end a run if you're not carefull.

If you see a Twisted bubble, aim for the elite casting it ASAP. Be careful with certain items that can automatically attack nearby enemies (Tesla Coil, Ceremonial Daggers, etc), as they will likely damage enemies within the bubble with no regards to any counterattacks.

Here's a close look at a Twisted Beetle. Notice the spikes on its back.

That's about it

That's everything I have to say about the new elites. I wanted to make a quick guide after encountering them and sharing what I learned about them. Hope it helped!

also pay no mind to my lunar coins lol

[Coleman5362]

Gotta be honest, I don't think the gilded elites were implemented well at all. Punishing crowd control (which is like 1/3rd of all the items in the game) is a terrible idea (that applies to twisted elites too), and they spawn from the very start. That and their massive health pool makes them a difficult, unrewarding enemy with no reasonable counterplay in later stages.

I had a run recently (monsoon) where a boss spawned on stage 3 as a gilded elite, and I had to quit the run due to how massive it's health pool was. I was at decent pace, killed every other enemy, and finished tele charge before a third of it's health was gone. Run killer

[Fat Cat idk]

i don't think i ever noticed guilded enemies drop items (unless i play with sacrifice on). did you have the new red item sonorous whispers equipped when it happened?

[lina]

I noticed gilded elites drop items. But only sometimes. How does it work? Can you add info on that?

[Fat Cat idk]

yeah, i really don't like how twisted elites punish you for taking crowd control items either. it feels like whoever put them in didn't know what type of game this is.

if they just applied a debuff or something, it'd be manageable, but raw damage? hell no.

[bgkidz02]

thats definitely hacked i only have 463000000(digits beyond 463 are not accurate but there is that many digits) so 992,209,880 is def not legit.

[Wing Egg Elf]

I love dying to something two maps over as soon as I get a proc chain

[Cubbix]

must of taking a billion years to get all that lunar coins