Quick notes for those of you who are keen on acquiring the Guardian of Elona title with Heroes and henchmen.
Nundu Bay
There are corpses available even before the action begins and many more to exploit once the siege gets underway so a minion master will excel here. It’s not appreciably tougher in Hard Mode.
Pogahn Passage
The first half is easy but the second half can be challenging. There are some balanced mobs, tough bosses and one group that’s specifically scripted to trip up impatient players. Don’t rush because you have ample time even in Hard Mode. There’s a large group comprising several mobs which includes one powerful elementalist boss near the finishing line so pulling is the best approach to use.
Dasha Vestibule
The biggest danger comes from elementalists casting Searing Flames and your healers will need to deal with party-wide burning. Margrid is mandatory so she’s best configured as an anti-caster. The final mob comprises three bosses in close proximity but with careful use of flags, you can use Margrid to pull them one by one. Try to spread heroes and henchmen out to limit the hurt from AOE attacks.
Jokanur Diggings
The second Nightfall mission might be tricky because your party is restricted to four, one of whom has to be Melonni. The Master’s requires some foes kept alive so you will have to keep an eye on your heroes and Kormir. A minion master would be a bad idea since you have no control over the minions.
Blacktide
The trickiest part here is handling the skale stampede. In normal mode, the stampeding herd is comprised of very low level foes and can be quickly dealt with. In Hard Mode, however, they’re level 20+ or higher and are capable of overwhelming the party with sheer numbers so withdrawing temporarily might be necessary.
Dzagonur Bastion
This is often cited as the toughest Hard Mode mission in Nightfall and it might seem impossible with a Hero/henchmen party. It’s not. As detailed here, earning the Master’s is all about making four key decisions.
Once you’ve killed one boss, you’ll have much less pressure to contend with and the Master’s is yours for the taking.
