Bottomless Pit

"YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN’T YOU CAN’T YOU CAN’T YOU CAN’T YOU CAN’T YOU CAN’T"

Location
The Bottomless Pit is a Boss Altar added in the 1.20 Gavel Reborn update, designed for endgame players of level 100+. It is located on an island in the deepest reach of the Silent Expanse, below the floating rocks leading to the Portal to Dern; a short invisible bridge signalled by a stream of particles leads to the island from the "mainland". In order to access the area, you must have completed the level 101 quest A Journey Further, and successfully completed at least one run of the Eldritch Outlook Dungeon.

Items
To access the arena, you must pay a tribute of 6 Soul Essence to the altar. Soul Essence is a common level 103 Crafting Ingredient, dropped by Void Soul Roamers in the Void Valley region of the Silent Expanse.

Boss
After giving the required Soul Essence to the altar, before you even face the boss, you will be dropped down an extremely long, pitch-black pit, before landing at the bottom and immediately taking unavoidable fall damage equal to 99% of your health. Continue down a short passage to the arena itself, which will at first appear to be empty. A brief dialogue ensues as follows: At this point, the boss of the Bottomless Pit will appear at the far side of the arena: the level 140 Panic Zealot.
 * There's... nothing here?
 * There has to be something down here, you can feel it watching you...
 * You just took a huge fall, you're vulnerable, something's there but y o u can' t see it where is it
 * where is it whe re is it where is it you c a n’ t find it where is it you’re going to die if you don’t find it fi nd it FIND IT
 * IT’S THERE YOU CAN SE E IT AND IT’S TOO STRONG YOU’RE GOING TO DIE AND THERE’S NO WAY OUT WHY DI D YOU COME DOWN HERE
 * PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC
 * NONONONONONONONONONO YOU CAN’T DO THIS
 * RUN AWAY BUT WHERE THERE’S NO PLACE TO
 * CAN’T THINK STRAIGHT CAN’T CALM DOWN
 * YOU HAVE TO STRUGGLE BUT IT WON’T BE ENOUGH
 * STOP PA NICKING YOU CAN’T STOP PANICKING YOU
 * CAN'T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN'T STOP PANICKING
 * YOU CAN'T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN'T STOP
 * PANICKING YOU CAN'T STOP PANICKING YOU CAN'T
 * YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T YOU CAN'T

The Panic Zealot possesses a considerable 1.5 million health. While it can attack with melee if you get too close, it does not move very fast, and its main attacks are in the form of a wide variety of abilities. These include the dangerous offensive spells Explosion and Wave, as well as their more powerful “heavy” variants, plus the Push, Heavy Weakness, and Teleport abilities, the last of which it will occasionally chain several times in a row. It has some defenses against and  damage, and a weakness to.

However, this fight is much more complex than a typical boss fight, and makes use of several unique mechanics. Most importantly: at all times while fighting the Panic Zealot, you will be unavoidably damaged for 99% of your current health every five seconds. Without a very large stock of Healing Potions or healing spells, you will effectively be forced to fight it at minimum health, and although the effect cannot kill you directly it can make any oncoming threat much more dangerous. This is the defining feature of the fight, significantly disadvantaging most players (but which can also be leveraged as an advantage using certain builds, such as Rage). While this effect is intimidating, the Zealot actually deals less damage than normal in exchange, so you may still be able to take one or two hits from it even at extremely low health.

Additionally, the Panic Zealot makes use of two other mechanics. Firstly, “snares” can appear throughout the arena, signalled by a ring of purple particles. These snares last for 15 seconds and will freeze any player stepping into them for 3 seconds. When you get snared, the following dialogue will play:


 * CAUGHT I T'S CAUGHT YOU IT'S CAUGHT YOU
 * WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU NEED TO MOVE YOU CAN'T
 * CAN'T MOVE YOUR BODY IT'S COMING FOR YOU GET OUT
 * YOU'RE CAUGHT YOU'RE TRAPPED NO WAY OUT
 * PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC
 * MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE

Second, starting when the Zealot is reduced to 50% (750,000) health, “clones” of it will begin to appear, signalled by a line of particles, and rapidly run across the arena. If one of these clones catches you, you will be blinded for several seconds, and the following dialogue will play:

Both of these mechanics can compound with one another and with the Zealot's regular abilities, such as the already-difficult to avoid Heavy Wave, and care must be taken to remain aware of your surroundings. Both the snares and the clones will appear more often over the course of the fight, peaking when the Zealot is at 30% (450,000) health.
 * IT'S EV ERYWH ER E IT'S EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK
 * IT'S STARING AT YOU FROM EVERY DIRECTION YOU CAN FEEL ITS EYES
 * ITS EYES CAN FEEL YOU IT CAN FEEL YOUR MIND
 * WHY DID YOU COME DOWN HERE THERE'S NOTHING BUT DEATH AND DEATH AND DEATH
 * YO U CAN'T SEE ANYTHING IT'S GOING TO GET YOU YOU'RE VULNERABLE
 * MOVE KEEP MOVING BUT WHERE CAN YOU GO THAT'S SAFE THERE'S NO PLACE SAFE
 * PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC

The Panic Zealot also possesses “Crowd Control Immunity”, meaning it is immune to all special knockback and status effects (Ice Snake's freeze, Aura's pull, etc).

After being defeated, along with its other drops, the Zealot will drop a Tether to the Surface, which can be used on the far wall to leave the arena.
 * PanicZealot.png
 * Panic Zealot
 * 140
 * 1500000
 * Melee AI
 * Push Teleport Explosion Heavy Explosion Wave Heavy Wave Heavy Weakness
 * Tether to the Surface Fragmentation  Scopaesthesia Coalescence.png Coalescence  Dissociation  Anxiolytic  Panic Zealot
 * Bottomless Pit
 * }
 * }

Tips

 * Avoid casting any spells while falling down the pit that might negate fall damage or clear your potion effects. The damage you take upon entering the altar is scripted, but if the effect protecting you from real fall damage is removed you will likely die instantly when hitting the bottom, wasting your Soul Essence.

Trivia

 * This Boss Altar is the only boss altar that has its own unique music, Catalyst for a Fractured Psyche, by XavierEXE.