Dungeon · 4 players · Deshaan · Base game
Darkshade Caverns II
VetEasyHMEasy
Darkshade's kwama and netch have been transmuted by a Dwemer engine in Rkugamz. Three bosses (Transmuted Hive Lord, Grobull, the Engine Guardian) plus minibosses and a construct army. Grobull is the notorious one; the Engine Guardian is an endurance fight.
- Wait for all four players before entering the Engine Guardian's room. The door closes when the first player walks in (ArzyeL).
- Grobull must be killed. The door to Rkugamz stays shut until he dies (he used to be skippable).
- Hard mode has no scroll. On veteran, kill the Engine Guardian without anyone pulling an Engine Lever ('Deadly Engineer'). Most groups do this by default.
The Fallen Foreman
Miniboss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Revolving Flame: he raises his staff and a flame jet sweeps slowly around him (clockwise per ArzyeL). Move around the boss ahead of it or follow behind it. Don't try to stand through it.
Tank
- Hold him in the center and pull in the trash around him.
DPS
- Interrupt the archers' channels, and interrupt his Health Potion.
- Aspect of Terror fears through block. Break free.
Healer
👁 Watch for
- Corrupted Dunmer mage. Revolving Flame is a long jet of fire rotating 360° around him.
Transmuted Hive Lord
BossTank
- Face him away. Also hold his two scribs (Draining and Sedating) and block their heavies.
DPS
- Interrupt the scribs' channels. A finished channel pins a player (unbreakable) and drains resources. Hard to see in the red room; watch closely.
- Don't bother killing the scribs. They respawn.
- Cave In: he gets a damage shield and slams the floor nonstop, hitting the whole room. Burn the shield to end it.
Healer
- Cave In is sustained room-wide damage. Heal through it while DPS breaks the shield; don't run away.
👁 Watch for
- Huge red-tinted kwama warrior with two smaller scribs on its sides.
More detail
Not fully confirmed:
- Xynode says Cave In happens at low health. UESP doesn't give a threshold.
Transmuted Alit
Miniboss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Kill all three within about 5 seconds of each other. One that dies alone revives with partial health.
Tank
- Hold all three together. Block the jump attack (Lacerate). It staggers the alit and stops the bleed.
- Don't let them flank you; they deal more damage from behind.
DPS
- Spread damage evenly (cleave). Finish them together.
Healer
👁 Watch for
- Three transmuted alits (small two-legged dinosaur-like beasts).
More detail
Not fully confirmed:
- UESP lists them as optional. Xynode mentions a poison spit AoE that UESP and ArzyeL don't.
Grobull the Transmuted
Boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Shielded phase: don't attack Grobull. He takes very little damage and his Reflection Ward bounces projectiles back at you. Ranged DPS especially, stop.
- Kill the Netchlings. Each one that dies chips his shield. Stack and AoE them before they swarm the group.
Tank
- He teleports to his target and discharges lightning under himself (red circle). Block it.
- Gather the netchlings (and larger netch) onto the group.
DPS
- When the shield breaks he falls to the ground for roughly 10–15 s with no damage reduction. Dump ultimates now.
Healer
- Don't stand in Enervating Trap (blue lightning pools). They stun.
👁 Watch for
- Large netch with a crackling lightning shield. When the shield drops he sinks to the floor.
More detail & images
Repeat: AoE netchlings until the shield is gone, burn him while he's down, then back to adds. Weaker groups just need more cycles.
Not fully confirmed:
- Do netchlings have to die near Grobull? Xynode says kill them close enough for their shock explosion to hit him. ArzyeL says every netchling death sends a projectile to him. UESP just says killing them depletes the shield. Killing them near him is safe either way.
Engine Garrison
MinibossConstruct army guarding the Engine Guardian's door. Four groups, each a centurion, spheres and spiders. Pull one group at a time.
Tank
- Grab the centurion and stack the group. Stay away from the next group so it doesn't aggro.
DPS
- AoE the spiders. Interrupt any construct channeling an empower on the others.
Healer
The Engine Guardian
Final boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Can't be taunted. It walks around the central pillar on its own and changes color every quarter lap.
- Red (fire): flame jets around its head plus fireballs at random players (red circles). Stay out of its front and move off the circles.
- Blue (lightning): Shocking Bolt hits everyone in line of sight. Hide behind the central pillar. It also launches 3 Dwarven Spheres; kill them fast.
- Green (poison): the whole room fills with poison. Stack on the healer and heal through it (hard mode), or pull the levers in the middle of the room to stop it.
Tank
- Pick up the spheres from blue phase and stack them for AoE.
DPS
- Spheres first. Blue phases stack more of them if you leave them alive.
- Save ultimates for when it sits down to switch phases (ArzyeL); it's easier to hit.
Healer
- Green phase is your burst check. Pre-shield and HoT the stack.
👁 Watch for
- Giant Dwarven spider. Its glow shows the phase: red = fire, blue = lightning + spheres, green = poison gas. It can repeat a color twice but never three times.
Hard mode · veteran only
Activate: No scroll. On veteran, kill it without anyone activating an Engine Lever.
- No lever breaks: every green phase runs full length. Stack tight on the healer and use potions or self-heals.
More detail & images
Endurance fight, not a race. Most deaths are to the red fire and the sphere build-up, not the poison. Forum consensus: pulling the levers is harder than just healing through, so nearly everyone does hard mode.
Lightning (blue) phase: hide behind the pillar · view on UESP ↗ Poison (green) phase · view on UESP ↗
Not fully confirmed:
- Xynode's colors disagree: it says blue = huge AoE around the boss and green = boss heals itself. UESP, ArzyeL and forum players all say green = room poison and levers. This page follows the majority.
- Number of levers: ArzyeL says four. UESP doesn't give a count.