Blizzard has introduced some new content with Season 1 for The War Within to World of Warcraft. You can now delve deeper into the depths (‘Delves’), receive better loot there, and complete a season journey. Unless a new enemy is extinguishing your lights.
What kind of enemy is this?
- Since Season 1, the depths have become significantly tougher. You can now play them up to level 11, but starting from level 4, you have a limited number of lives, or attempts – just like in Torghast.
- Together with the new levels, the members of the Explorer’s League ask you to investigate something in the depths related to a new enemy: Zekvir, the Hand of the Herald. He strengthens random enemies in the depths that you can kill for extra loot.
- The giant beetle is also the final boss in his own new delve, which was also opened with Season 1, and is the target of a new season quest. In his spare time, he ruins your day.
What does he have to do with Diablo 4? Zekvir is not only a boss in his own delve, he can also randomly appear in any delve starting from level 4. The Hand of the Herald has enormous health points and hits harder than any other enemy in the depths.
You can’t truly defeat him. Once Zekvir has lost enough health points or if you die, the boss will vanish again. He leaves behind an item that you can loot for some bonus loot.
In Diablo 4, there is an enemy with a similar mechanic: The dreaded Butcher can appear in any dungeon, impales you with a meat hook without asking, and chases you down to slaughter you.
The once terrifying foe has lost much of his bite in Diablo 4. Especially at higher levels, he has become just a source for extra loot for players. But if you encounter him early, he will simply take your life – just like Zekvir does now.
“10/10 Boss, would pay 1,000 gold for repairs again.”
Just like the Butcher, the WoW community has apparently developed a love-hate relationship with Zekvir. The system that allows him to appear randomly causes as much frustration as joy, as it is something different.
At the moment, Zekvir is still way too strong for most players, and that will likely remain so for several weeks. This applies to both his random appearances and his fight as a boss.
In a thread on Reddit, a player lightheartedly expresses his frustration and receives much support. In the comments, the user InvectiveOfASkeptic writes:
I spent an hour dying to this guy with 2 friends. They thought it would be easier to do him solo. Listening to them complain about dying to his mechanics is the pinnacle of gaming.
10/10 Boss, would pay 1,000 gold for repairs again.
However, Zekvir is also supposed to be the target of the season journey and isn’t expected to be encountered on the very first day, as another user points out. There are a few tips for the fight as well.
- Interrupt his slime cast, otherwise dodging will become harder.
- You should ideally activate damage cooldowns when adds come. They make the fight much tougher.
- Try to keep Zekvir in the middle of the room after every add to reach the next add faster.
The depths have been a pain point for the community since Season 1 anyway. Originally intended as a cool new feature and alternative for solo players, the balancing and scaling for groups hasn’t quite worked out – and continues to cause issues: WoW has finally fixed the depths – but now groups are dissatisfied.
