Blight (game mechanic)

For other uses, see Blight (disambiguation).

An exile during a Blight encounter

Blights are tower defense-like encounters that can spawn from Fungal Growths in any map area, which will always be accompanied by Sister Cassia. This encounter is considered Extra Content and has a baseline greater than 8% chance to appear in any non-unique map area.

Blight encounters are also found in Blighted maps, which are a modified version of existing maps, which contains no regular monsters and instead contains a single Blight encounter. Blights in Blighted maps are far larger, spawn a significantly increased amount of enemies and bosses, and provide a greater quantity and variety of rewards. Players can trade Blighted maps. Most Atlas passives that affect Blights in maps do not affect Blighted maps. There is also a pinnacle version of Blighted maps called Blight-ravaged maps.

Mechanics

A Fungal Growth

Once players interact with the Fungal Growth, Cassia will place a purification pump on the growth, causing it to spawn roots in random directions. At the end of each root is a portal that spawns enemies that slowly move towards the core, only stopping to attack units in its way. The Blight can spawn up to 8 roots, increasing with zone level. Players will be given a short preparation time before the Blight starts spawning monsters. Players can skip this by pressing a button that appears on the bottom right during this preparation period.

Some roots will spawn after a delay, and sometimes a root will have multiplied monster density (indicated by a multiplier) or contains a Blight boss (indicated by an icon on top). An icon corresponding to a tower can appear over each root, indicating which tower it is resistant to. Along the paths of the roots, players can construct a tower in specified areas. Towers cost resources to build or upgrade, which are given at the start and also acquired from killing blighted enemies. In a party, a tower belongs to the player who built or last upgraded it, using that player's ring anointments.

When an enemy reaches the core, it will lower the pump's durability by a fixed amount and despawn. The pump has 10 durability in maps (20 in Blighted maps), and the amount of durability lowered is based on the monster's rarity (1 for normal, 2 for magic, 5 for rare, 10 for unique). When the pump's durability reaches 0, the Blight encounter fails and monsters will stop spawning.

Once all enemies from each portal/lane are defeated, reward chests will spawn at the location of each portal. These chests remain once spawned even if the pump is destroyed and the Blight encounter is failed. Blight encounters will have at least one lane that contains a Blight reward (Oils or Blighted map). Oil rewards chests have a baseline ~15% chance to drop a Blighted Map. Additionally, natural loot from killed monsters will drop at the pump's location. (Kills by towers are unaffected by any player's increases to item quantity or rarity.)

A maximum of one Blight can spawn per zone naturally; this maximum is shared between the random chance to spawn a Blight, and guaranteed Blight from Blight Scarabs, sextant mods, implicit map mods, or enchantments. However, it is possible to spawn up to two Blights:

1. Random spawn chance, or guaranteed Blight from sextant, implicit, or enchantment
2. From "Blight" or "Fortune Favours the Brave" map device craft, when Blight is available as a map crafting option, or while Mycelial Swarm is allocated on the Atlas Passive Tree

The Scarab cannot be used in combination with the map device craft.

Characters must complete least one map Blight encounter in a new league to complete Cassia's quest before she will anoint items. This also applies to the Blight Stash Tab.

Strategy

The most important thing to do in a Blight encounter is to keep the minions stalled. If you leave a lane unprotected, you'll have to scramble to defend the pump on your own, which takes away time for you to put down towers. Prioritize building stalling towers (Chilling, Seismic, Summoning) over damage towers (Fireball, Shock Nova) first and have them covered by Empowering Towers whenever possible. An empowered Tier 3 Chilling and/or Seismic tower is usually enough to hold down a lane. Tier 4 stalling towers are not that much better at defending than their Tier 3 counterparts. If the Blight encounter has delayed lanes, wait for them to spawn in if possible. Be sure to account for enemy tower resistances.

Damaging towers are more valuable in Blighted maps than small Blight encounters. Meteor Towers synergize well with stalling towers and are very effective at clearing enemies once you have your defenses established. Other damage towers aren't as damaging, but are effective in the right positions. They are significantly better as Tier 4 towers than Tier 3.

For ring anointments, Your Chilling Towers freeze enemies for 0.2 seconds while they are affected by chilling beams (Opalescent/Silver) is often considered to be one of the best in the game. Other generally good or budget ring anointments include:

• Your Meteor Towers create Burning Ground for 3 seconds on Hit (Indigo/Violet) (This burning ground ignores resilience to fire towers)
• Your Meteor Towers drop an additional Meteor (Verdant/Opalescent)
• Your Freezebolt Tower deal full damage to Cold Enemies (Verdant/Crimson)
• Your Scout Towers have 25% increased Range (Teal/Violet)
• Your Empowering Towers have 25% increased Effect (Sepia/Azure)

Towers

List of towers

Main page: List of towers

Name	Tier	Cost	Radius	Description	Icon
Arc Tower	IV	500	45	Damage: Medium Casts Arc Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Chilling Tower Mk I	I	100	35	Damage: Low Chills and Damages nearby enemies Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Chilling Tower Mk II	II	150	35	Increased Damage Increased effect of Chill Affects more Targets
Chilling Tower Mk III	III	300	35	Increased Damage Increased effect of Chill Affects more targets
Empowering Tower Mk I	I	100	35	Improves the effectiveness of other Towers Does not Damage Enemies
Empowering Tower Mk II	II	150	45	Improves the effectiveness of other Towers Does not Damage Enemies
Empowering Tower Mk III	III	300	55	Improves the effectiveness of other Towers Does not Damage Enemies
Fireball Tower Mk I	I	100	45	Damage: Medium Casts a Fireball Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Fireball Tower Mk II	II	150	60	Casts 3 Fireballs
Fireball Tower Mk III	III	300	75	Casts 5 Fireballs
Flamethrower Tower	IV	500	45	Damage: High Casts a stream of Fire Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Freezebolt Tower	IV	500	75	Damage: Very High Shoots a Piercing projectile which Freezes enemies Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Glacial Cage Tower	IV	500	60	Deals no Damage Imprisons Enemies Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Imbuing Tower	IV	500	55	Improves the effectiveness of Players in range. Does not Damage Enemies
Lightning Storm Tower	IV	500	45	Damage: High Lightning rapidly strikes around the Tower Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Meteor Tower	IV	500	100	Damage: Very High Rains Meteors from the sky Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Scout Tower	IV	500	75	Summons 10 Flying Minions Minion Damage: High Minion Life: Low Can only summon Minions when previous Minions are dead Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Seismic Tower Mk I	I	100	45	Damage: Low Repeats 3 times Always Stuns Damages and Stuns nearby Enemies Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Seismic Tower Mk II	II	150	45	Repeats 5 times
Seismic Tower Mk III	III	300	45	Repeats 7 times
Sentinel Tower	IV	500	45	Summons 1 Durable Minion Minion Damage: Low Minion Life: High Can only summon Minions when previous Minions are dead Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Shock Nova Tower Mk I	I	100	20	Damage: Low Creates Shocked Ground Casts Shock Nova Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Shock Nova Tower Mk II	II	150	25	Increased Damage Increased chance to Shock Increased Area of Effect
Shock Nova Tower Mk III	III	300	30	Increased Damage Increased chance to Shock Increased Area of Effect
Smothering Tower	IV	500	55	Weakens Enemies in range Does not Damage Enemies
Stone Gaze Tower	IV	500	45	Periodically Petrifies Monsters Does not Damage Enemies Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Summoning Tower Mk I	I	100	30	Summons 3 Minions Minion Damage: Low Minion Life: Low Can only summon Minions when previous Minions are dead Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Summoning Tower Mk II	II	150	30	Summons 5 Minions
Summoning Tower Mk III	III	300	30	Summons 7 Minions
Temporal Tower	IV	500	45	Persistently Slows Monsters Does not Damage Enemies Ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type
Tower Foundation		0	0	A powered base for one of Cassia's towers.

Tower upgrades

Upgrade paths

Tier I	Tier II	Tier III	Upgrades	Tier IV	Upgrades
Chilling Tower Mk I	Chilling Tower Mk II	Chilling Tower Mk III	Increased Damage Increased effect of Chill Affects more Targets	Freezebolt Tower	Increased Damage (Very High) Shoots a Piercing projectile which Freezes enemies
				Glacial Cage Tower	Deals no Damage Imprisons Enemies
Empowering Tower Mk I	Empowering Tower Mk II	Empowering Tower Mk III	Increased effect area	Imbuing Tower	Improves the effectiveness of Players in range
				Smothering Tower	Weakens Enemies in range
Fireball Tower Mk I	Fireball Tower Mk II	Fireball Tower Mk III	Increased effect area Cast more fireballs (1-3-5)	Flamethrower Tower	Increased Damage (High) Casts a stream of Fire
				Meteor Tower	Increased Damage (Very high) Rains Meteors from the sky
Seismic Tower Mk I	Seismic Tower Mk II	Seismic Tower Mk III	Repeats more times (3-5-7)	Stone Gaze Tower	Periodically Petrifies Monsters No longer does damage
				Temporal Tower	Persistently Slows Monsters No longer does damage
Shock Nova Tower Mk I	Shock Nova Tower Mk II	Shock Nova Tower Mk III	Increased Damage Increased chance to Shock Increased Area of Effect	Arc Tower	Increased Damage (Medium) Casts Arc
				Lightning Storm Tower	Increased Damage (High) Lightning rapidly strikes around the Tower
Summoning Tower Mk I	Summoning Tower Mk II	Summoning Tower Mk III	Summons more minions (3-5-7)	Scout Tower	Summons 10 Flying Minions dealing high damage
				Sentinel Tower	Summons one durable minion with a high life pool

Rewards

Completing a blighted map or a blight encounter on a regular map will grant many of the following:

Image	Type	Typical drops
	Random	Random assortment of items including armour, weapons and common currency
	Blight	Oils, small chance for rare oils like , and Blighted Maps
	Currency	Common currency, can contain s Small chance for s, s, s, s
	Harbinger	s, Beachhead map, chance for s and s
	Jewelry	Rings, Amulets, Jewels, Abyss Jewels and Belts, which may be veiled, fractured, or influenced
	Divination Cards	1
	Fossils	Fossils, Resonators
	Map Fragments	Scarabs, /Dawn/Noon/Midnight, , Small chance for valuable map fragments
	Maps	White and yellow maps (T1 to T10). Small chance for red maps (T11+).
	Uniques	Low level unique items, small chance for unique maps and valuable uniques like .
	Armour	Armour, some of which may be veiled, fractured, 30 quality, or influenced
	Weapons	Weapons, some of which may be veiled, fractured, 30 quality, or influenced
	Abyss	Abyss Jewels, Stygian Vise belts
	Essences	All tiers of Essences, small chance for Deafening Essences or
	Gems	Skill gems, which may have levels and quality. Does not contain Transfigured or Awakened gems
	Talismans	Corrupted Talismans
	Labyrinth
	Ultimatum	Catalysts, small chance for valuable s and s
	Delirium	s, Cluster Jewels, Delirium orbs
	Breach	Breach Splinters, , Breach Scarabs, and rarely Breachstones or Empowered Breachstones
	Legion	Legion Splinters, Incubators
	Scarab	Scarabs

Ruthless mode

Some Blight reward chests in Ruthless.

Reward chests from Blight encounters in Ruthless mode lack reward icons, and drop generic items, oils, or Blighted maps.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.20.1	The Blight Atlas Passives that provided your Maps with Blight Encounters a chance to contain an additional Blight Encounter have irreconcilable issues that result in areas with two Blight Encounters failing to generate reliably, so we have replaced these stats.
3.20.0	We want to improve on the concept that the Atlas Tree allows players to invest into leagues that they enjoy, and have added new clusters to the passive tree for league content that can be blocked through Atlas Passive Skills. We've also increased the chances for such league content to appear.
3.17.0	It is now possible to have multiple Blight Encounters in a single Area through the new Blight Atlas Passive Skills.
3.14.3c	Fixed a bug where Blight chests were not displaying their reward type.
3.14.0c	Fixed a bug with Blight Encounters where Zombie Rhoas and Rattleback, Hollow Matriarch could become invulnerable.
3.14.0	Reduced the chance for Map Areas to contain Abyss, Ambush, Blight, Breach, Domination, Essence, Heist, Legion, Metamorph and Torment encounters by 20%. The chance to encounter a Zana mission containing any of these mechanics has also been lowered by the same amount. Spawn chance in map has changed to 8%
3.12.0	Arc Towers now cast 74% faster. Shock Nova Towers now cast 50% faster. Chilling Towers now have 50% more Chill effect, and have a cooldown of 4 seconds (from 7). Seismic Towers now have 50% more skill effect duration and have a cooldown of 4 seconds (from 7). Minion Towers now wait 3 seconds before resummoning their dead minions (from 8). Freezebolt Towers now cast twice as fast and have half their previous cooldown. They now fire an additional projectile. Stone Gaze Towers now reduce action speed by 20% (from 15%) and have slight reduced cooldown. Scouts from Scout Towers now have 38% more Attack Speed and deal 50% more damage.
3.8.0	Introduced to the game.

See also

• Blighted map
• Guide:Blight quick guide