How to Beat Any Map on Corruption 10 Nightmare

Specific recommendations on how to beat any map on the highest difficulty!

Introduction

Prior to the Ashen Nightmare (Scarlet Tower v2.0.0) update, the mastery achievements required to 100% the game were limited to the "Win on Plaguelands in Corruption 9 (with each available hero)". With the release of the DLC update, comes a new set of map masteries and powerful gear to assist you in achieving them as well.

This guide will primarily discuss the most straightforward solution to accomplishing the Corruption 10 Nightmare mode wins on the Holy Island and Ashen Woods maps. This is due to the fact that the new gear system provides a substantial amount of raw stats. So much so that it trivializes the wins on the first 5 map locations. In short, you can easily apply the same methods for beating Holy Island & Ashen Woods to the other maps.

If you find this guide helpful, feel free to give it a like!

❓ In-Depth Information

This "How To" is focused primarily on beating Corruption 10 Nightmare. As such, it doesn't go in-depth around specific mechanics or gameplay elements.

If you wish to learn more about Scarlet Tower. Please check out my comprehensive reference guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3373618699

💬 TLDR Tips

For those that don't wish to read about the recommendations in detail. You just need to keep in mind the following:

• The bosses can one-shot you even with upgraded stats.
  
• You can't one-shot nor burn down the boss fast enough to not get hit at least once.
  
• Hence, you want to be able to tank at least one hit so you can stabilize before the next attack or burn them down before the second full rotation of their attack.

👤 Hero

Time waits for no one...

The DLC introduces the new hero character of Amelia. She is unlocked by defeating Death (in Nightpine Valley) before midnight in Nightmare mode.

I highly recommend unlocking her immediately as her abilities and primary weapon currently provide a hefty early power spike, which is important to ensure that we have our desired build online before the boss spawns.

You should use the following abilities:

Time Warp (Default Ultimate)

Stop time for all enemies for 12 seconds. Each enemy killed during Time Warp increases your Max Health by 0.5% (up to a max. of 300%).

• Useful as a panic button for when you risk being overwhelmed.
  
• Recharges quick due to the sheer volume of enemies on Corruption 10 Nightmare.
  
• Acts as a free DPS window on fast-moving bosses. Note that, it doesn't stop boss ranged abilities; just their movement or any melee attacks.

Future Sight (Left-side Ability) with Chrono Shield (Middle Glyph)

At the Start of the match, you receive +500% Magic Damage for 6 minutes.

Grants 20000 shield for the duration of Future Sight.

• Gaining +500% Magic Damage for the entirety of daytime is a comfortable power spike that ensures you can quickly start working towards your desired build.
  
• Of the 3 glyph specializations, Chrono Shield is the most important for Corruption 10 Nightmare as it gives you survivability when you still lack damage and crowd control. The other 2 specializations either scale too slowly or are too troublesome to maintain with the amount of fast enemies. Remember, the run ends when you beat the boss, there's no need to plan for an Endless run.

Last Hope (Default Racial Passive) with Persistence (Middle Glyph)

Humanity's boundless determination allows them to keep fighting even in the worst situations. Upon reaching 25% health or less, humans are healed by 26% of their Max Health over 20 seconds. This effect can occur once every 2 minutes.

During Last Hope's effect, your defenses are increased by 100%.

• Useful to quickly stabilize after dropping to low health. However, both Halaziel and Duskfang can easily one-shot you, which bypasses the passive from proccing. In order to take advantage of this we need to build enough Health & Defense stats to at least require two hits from the boss before dying.
  
• Realistically, the glyph specialization doesn't matter too much. The goal of the racial passive is simply to heal us to full after tanking one hit. So all 3 specializations can fulfill this.

Chrono Staff (Primary Weapon - Elementalist - Magic Damage)

Fires an orb that deals 250 Magic Damage to the first enemy hit. The orb explodes, dealing 50% of the damage in an area.

• Paired with high Attack Speed, Amelia's primary weapon does substantial AOE damage that rapidly applies status effects, like burning.
  
• The Elementalist faction association means that you can immediately start working towards talent masteries like Living Bomb or Power Flux.

🎯 Talents

Talent Tree

I recommend the following offensive & defensive talents. The choices are fairly straightforward, the goal is mitigate the reduced healing from Corruption 10, increase your DPS as much as possible, prevent yourself from being one-shot by the boss, and get your build online ASAP by gaining experience quickly.

Offensive Talents

• Pyromancy
  
  • Grants 25% chance to apply Burn on hits.
• Alacrity
  
  • Provides +25% Attack Speed.
• Executioner
  
  • Deals +30% Damage to enemies below 50% health.
• Outburst
  
  • Enemies that dies while Frozen or Burned have a 7% chance to spread the effect in an area.
• Battle Cry
  
  • After using your Dash, grants you +25% Movement Speed and Attack Speed for 5 seconds.

Defensive Talents

• Life Stealer
  
  • Grants +5% chance to Drain 5 Health every time you cause Damage.
• Cauterize
  
  • The Damage dealt by Burn heals you by 5% of that damage.
• Take a Breather
  
  • Increases invulnerability time after taking damage by +1.5 seconds.
• Guidance Tome
  
  • Gain +25% EXP.
• Battle Scars
  
  • After taking damage, get healed by 30% of the damage received over 10 seconds.

🪨 Runes

Rune Choices

You are limited to 5 rune choices (which you should fully upgrade to +25) and I would recommend the following:

Bargain Rune

The best rune in the game because it reduces the Vendor hunter point costs by 48.5%, which allows you buy lesser potions at 1803 and greater potions at 2319. Buying potions are usually better than anything else because they provide substantial stat bonuses and also scale well with a few select Alchemist talent masteries.

Alacrity Rune

Attack Speed is always welcome as it lets you make full use of your powerful Chrono Staff. Additionally, we want to front load our stats as much as possible so we can reach that 90% Attack Speed cap with just a few pieces of gear.

Wind Rune

Usually Move Speed is not useful at all. In fact, it can sometimes cause your death as you run into enemies before your weapons can shoot their projectiles. However, when fighting Halaziel & Duskfang, the added Move Speed is surprisingly useful to escape/dodge their attacks. Furthermore, you'll find it helpful when navigating the Ashen Woods map as you rush to find lanterns and prevent the darkness from blocking your sight.

Defense Rune

Both bosses deal Physical Damage, so you will want to reach the Armor cap of 80% immediately. If you can reach the cap without the need of this rune. Feel free to swap it with the Time Rune for additional Spell Acceleration.

Hell Rune

This rune in conjunction with the Pyromancy and Cauterize talents, will further enhance your healing capabilities.

🐾 Familiars

Guardian of earth

Since the Wisp and Bloodwing familiars require beating Holy Island and Ashen Woods on Corruption 10 Nightmare, we won't be considering them as options. Instead, I recommend the tried and true classic; Jinn.

At level 3 with max upgrades, they provide the following bonuses:

• Increase your Health by 500.
  
• Every 30 seconds, receive a shield based on 60% of your Max. Health for 5 seconds.
  
• Deals 40 damage plus an additional amount based on 10% of your current health.

The important qualities are the increased health and shield. Remember our goal is to mitigate one-shot possibility as much as possible.

🛡️ Gear Sets

Geared up!

Gear is incredibly crucial with the Ashen Nightmare update as it provides the necessary stats to deal with the deadly enemies in the final maps. You will want to fully upgrade any equipped gear to +20 and ideally have multiple corrupted stats on each piece as well.

I would highly recommend that you equip 2 unique gear items for their significantly higher stat rolls. I personally prefer the chosen two to be a jewellery item and the boots. This is because jewellery can roll any stat in the primary roll. As such, you can have both jewellery items pumping up your Magic Power. As for the boots, the raw Move Speed stat is useful and it has one of the few unique abilities that is kind of helpful.

Generally speaking, the gear set abilities aren't that impactful. So choose whatever set you prefer.

I personally used the following gear equipment to complete my runs:

⚔️ Weapons & Faction Talent Masteries

In order to maximize our survivability, we'll be choosing our weapon combinations more so with the intent to access certain talents. DPS-wise our primary weapon will be able to fulfill most of our damage needs.

I recommend the following weapons and weapon fusions:

• Slime Staff + Skeleton Staff = Slime Skeleton Staff (Alchemist/Necromancer)
  
• Thunder Staff + Holy Bible = Raziel's Tome (Elementalist/Paladin)
  
• Templar Shield (Templar)
  
• Octopus Staff + Deep Orb = Leviathan's Scepter (Elementalist)
  
• Corruption Orb (Bloodmancer)

Using these weapons will immediately give you access to the following base faction masteries (all values are for Rank 1 masteries):

Alchemical Mirror

Alchemist weapons have a 5% chance to grant you an Alchemical Mirror charge.

When any other Master is triggered, an Alchemical Mirror charge is consumed and the Mastery happens twice. Additionally, each Alchemical Mirror charge retaliates 500 Magic Damage to enemies who hit you.

Dark Servant

Necromancer weapons provide a 10% chance to invoke a Dark Servant after summoning another Ally.

Dark Servant is an Ally, which has 64000 Max Health and 2000 Physical Power.

Frostfire

Elementalists have a 50% chance to apply Frostfire to enemies under the effects of Burning or Freezing.

Frostfire deals 1000 Magic Damage over 5 seconds. If the target is Frozen, the duration of Freezing increases by 7 seconds. If the target is Burning, Burning explodes and deals its full damage as additional damage.

Beacon of Light

Paladin weapons have a 5% chance to cast Beacon of Light.

Beacon of Light follows you for 3 seconds, dealing 70 Physical damage to enemies hit and healing allies by 7% of the damage dealt.

Vengeful Wrath

Templar weapons provide stacks of Vengeful Wrath when you take damage.

When your receive damage while having stacks, you retaliate 50% as Physical Damage to the attacker. This effect has a 20% chance to Stun the enemy for 7 seconds. When you accumulate 5 stacks, Vengeful Wrath explodes and deals 5000 Physical Damage to enemies around you.

Crimson Rite

Bloodmancer weapons have a 10% chance of consuming 3% of your Health, as long as it's above 20% of your Maximum Health. When this happens, the next attack deals 500% additional Magic Damage based on the amount drained, and heals you for 5% of the damage dealt.

You will also have the opportunity to obtain the following random talent masteries, which I have ordered by desirability.

1. (Alchemist) Brewmaster

   • The effectiveness of potions bought from the Vendor increases by 15%.

2. (Alchemist) Chemical Flux

   • Gain +10% Physical Damage and Magical Damage for each potion purchased from the Vendor.

3. (Necromancer) Shadows Reinforcement

   • Your Spell Power is increased by 12% for each Ally on the field.

4. (Templar) Pain Link

   • All damage received is reduced by -1% for each Ally on the field.

5. (Elementalist) Living Bomb

   • Burn has a 5% chance to apply Living Bomb, which detonates after 3 seconds and deals 100 Magic Damage.

6. (Elementalist) Power Flux

   • Applying a Damage Over Time effect (such as Cold, Burn, and Bleed) has a 10% chance of replicating that effect on nearby enemies.

7. (Paladin) Knight of Light

   • Allies have a 5% chance of activating Beacon of Light. Beacon of Light damage is increased by 100% + 50% per Curse Level.

8. (Necromancer) Invoke Abomination

   • When you have 3 Dark Servants, they are sacrificed to create The Abomination. It costs 3 Summon Slots and has 400% more Health and Physical Power than a Dark Servant. It also receives +50% Health and Physical Power by Curse Level.

9. (Elementalist) Elemental Rising

   • Frostfire now creates an area that deals 200 Magic Damage. The damage increases by +100% for each Corruption Level.

10. (Necromancer) Death's Reckoning

    • When you take damage, your Allies become enraged, receiving a +40% bonus to their Cooldown Reduction, Movement Speed, and Attack Speed for 5 seconds.

11. (Necromancer) Family Ties

    • Increases the maximum number of Summons by 1 for every 20% Health lost.

Weapon Choice Reasoning

The goal of the weapon and talent mastery choices is to allow us to scale our stats as much as possible before the boss spawns during the night. On Nightmare mode, the day-night cycle is quicker so we have less time to be ready. However, potions give us large chunk of raw stats, just for purchasing them. Additionally, they combine with Alchemist masteries to give us another stat boost.

The choice of a Necromancer weapon is unique as usually this faction is not worth investing in. However, the two key talents that make it worthwhile are the (Necromancer) Shadows Reinforcement and (Templar) Pain Link. Gaining an easy boost to your damage, while also gaining damage reduction is a useful combo. We want to grab any accessible stat scaling that will allow us to survive a one-shot.

Another important talent to have is (Elementalist) Living Bomb. When paired with your primary weapon and other Elementalist talents will result in screen-wide crowd control. Either through straight killing or inflicting status effects.

🎮 Gameplay

If you've made it this far into the guide, you should be well prepared for tackling the challenges ahead.

Your playstyle for both maps will essentially be the same. Your goal is to level up quickly, which means killing efficiently and finding Experience Altars (if RNG blesses you). Also, the faster you kill things, the faster you rack up hunter points that you will want to spend immediately on potions.

Generally, I would recommend prioritizing potions in the following order:

• Greater/Lesser HP Flasks
  
• Move Speed Flask
  
• Greater/Lesser Damage Flasks
  
• Other Flasks

HP is the most important because you want to take yourself out of one-shot range and give your maxed out defense stats more value.

Move Speed is also important because it gives you some breathing room to snake around the crowd of enemies, kiting the boss around, and, in the case of Ashen Woods, bee-lining towards the nearest lantern pickup so you don't go blind.

Finally, more damage is always helpful. The quicker you kill things, the faster the run finishes, and the less chance you have of dying.

Holy Island Tips

Halaziel moves fast and his attacks have a large AOE range. As such, you'll want to have a decent amount of Move Speed that will allow you to escape his attacks and kite him around a bit. Although, he will eventually catch up to you. This is where your Time Stop ultimate is useful as it allows you to freeze him in place and either DPS or create distance from him.

As long as you keep mobile, you shouldn't have much of an issue in committing a sacrilegious murder.

Ashen Woods Tips

This map definitely gave me the most trouble. The darkness mechanic, which requires you to pick up lantern is quite punishing. It doesn't take long for your screen to turn completely black if you fail to find a lantern in time. Additionally, the game currently suffers from a glitch where map items (altars, pickups, totems, etc.) disappear for no reason, which means I was often out of luck when a much-needed lantern just *poofed* into nonexistence. However, as long as you continue to move forward into a new area. You should be able to maintain a fresh spawn of lanterns.

The real challenge is when Duskfang spawns at night. Unlike Halaziel, Duskfang has a fast long-range dash attack that is difficult to dodge. It has a good chance of hitting you and just straight up one-shotting you.

However, we can take advantage of his other abilities to prevent him from attacking us. Duskfang will flee and maintain his distance from you, if you have high level of light from collected lanterns. I.e. the darker your screen gets, the more aggressive he becomes. As long as you maintain high light, he will flee and spawn Werewolf elites at you, which is also beneficial since general mob enemies stop spawning during the boss fight; reducing your opportunities to heal.

Of course, you may wonder, "How am I supposed to kill him if he runs away?" The key is the Time Stop ultimate, which allow you to DPS him without him fleeing away. So your damage rotation, will be to collect lanterns, charge your ultimate on the spawned elites, Time Stop, and go house train Duskfang.

That said, this isn't a fullproof plan as maintaining a high level of light is inconsistent. The moment it gets slightly dark, he will dash across the map towards you, which is why it's important to be able to tank at least one hit from him.

Other Maps

On the first 5 map locations, you can actually play a lot more aggressive and go full damage without the need for the damage mitigation. As such, your weapon and talent mastery choices should eschew any damage reduction. This will speed up the runs considerably.

Changelog

• 2025-01-01
  
  • Removed the "(Alchemist) Fading Formula" weapon talent from the ⚔️ Weapons & Faction Talent Masteries section. Currently, the Slime Skeleton Staff fusion weapon only generates Alchemical Mirror Charges on weapon action, which in the case of the Staff is when a skeleton is summoned. The skeleton auto-attacks do not generate charges. Thanks @Raikao for pointing out this discrepancy!

[Tuile]

@Vitas thanks! Glad you found the guide helpful :)

Yeah the new bosses are tuned with decent armor and stat upgrades in mind. Their high damage is what made me recommend move speed as it allowed me to noticeably dodge a few attacks.

The bugs are definitely annoying, especially the disappearing lanterns in Ashen Woods. It made that achievement 10x harder than it needed to be.

When the devs add more content and some bug fixes, I'll definitely consider expanding the guide with more builds.

[Vitas]

But anyway, your guide for this game is great, but I would add a set for cd ultimate as an alternative, it looks like a worthy replacement if our build is based on stopping time as often as possible.

[Vitas]

by the way, thanks to your guide, I made most of the achievements, but I got stuck on the Holy Island. I tried 3 sets: hp (the water one), damage reduction. and even cd ultimate set (which I consider the most successful). A couple of times I reached Halaziel, reduced half of his hp, and then I was one-shotted in any case. I understand that I just need a little practice, but at every new run I die from a one-shot from any shit. It doesn’t matter what build I do and how much hp I get ASAP, I get damage from unknown reasons, because the developers of this game ate shit, leaving a billion bugs and 0 balance on these two maps. You can't even see what's hitting you because of the absurd amount of effects on the screen that you can't turn off. I know that I lack a little luck, but I'm tired of trying this shit and hope for balance and bug fixes.

[Tuile]

@Vitas It's definitely super rare. In my 100 hours of playtime, I only have two pieces with full corruption rolls. But I can confirm it's possible at least.

[Vitas]

I collected a full inventory of items 3-4 times and saw only a few items with 3 corruption stats, never with 4

[Tuile]

@Vitas I believe only secondary stats can be corrupted so that would be 4 max.

In regards to the corruption stat roll chance, I don't think that the corruption level has any effect. Anecdotally, at least. But Endless mode is still the most efficient way to farm for gear so you'll be running it either way.

[Vitas]

How many corruption stats can you get maximum, 3 or 4? Does the level of corruption in endless mode affect the chances of getting corruption stats?

[Tuile]

@Raikao no worries. That sounds like a viable build. the important part is just having any Alchemist weapon for those potion-related talents.

Yeah honestly, farming gear was a pain due to the inventory limits. So I just went with whatever combination would let me reach the stat caps for things like attack speed, armor, magic armor, etc. Unfortunately, this means that only the Templar Shield would benefit from the physical damage boosts. However, it also means that a sub-optimal build isn't a limitation for beating the highest difficulty. I'll consider adding a enchantment tier list when I get a chance as well.

[Raikao]

Thanks for the replies. Since Slime Skellies can't trigger the Alchemy Passive, I'm currently playing the Freeze oriented version sort of that @Kienan posted further down. I'm going to try going Frost Skeletons instead of Slime and putting Slime Scepter together with Corruption Orb maybe.

One other thing: Some of your gear has Physical Damage rolls, I'd assume Magical Damage rolls are better since we're entirely using Magical Weapons. Of course, the rolls are rng so you take what you can get. Maybe a list of Enchants to look out for would be good. MoveSpeed/AttackSpeed/MagicalPowe/etc.

[Tuile]

3/3
As for the choice between Templar Shield vs. Divine Armor. The latter is certainly serviceable since we mainly want a specific Templar talent. But if I were to rank them, it would be "B Tier" vs. "D Tier". Templar Shield is just a better option as it has such a wide hitbox and overall range. Unfortunately, any of the weapons that deal damage over time with an aura around you are lackluster. Their range is so short that often times enemies will barrel through before the tick damage can kill them. Additionally, our secondary weapons can still apply our hero talents, like Life Stealer, so we want to maximize our overall damage opportunities as well.