Rock Dragon

Last updated: Exalt Version 1.6.0.0 (May 2021)
Rock Dragon

The Rock Dragon is an event boss that drops the entrance to the Lair of Draconis at a guaranteed rate and rarely drops the untiered Ray Katana.

Hibernating for a millennia deep beneath the surface of the Realm, legends tell that the beast would awaken at the dawning of the new age. Those adventurers brave enough to have the rare opportunity of encountering this monstrosity had better have their wits about them. To defeat the beast, adventurers are going to have to ensure its complete obliteration; just going for the throat on this one might prove… futile. - Release 11 (Feb 2013)

The Rock Dragon was chosen to guard the as-of-yet elusive Lair of Draconis due to its indomitable nature. Approach with caution! (Steam Trading Card: Rock Dragon)

As of release Patch X.20.0 (Dec 2017), is reskinned as a Christmas version Rock Dragon.

The Realm Eye says:
While Malphas secretly sculpted the dragon statues which would later be used as elemental hosts, a great deal of chiseled stone was left unused.
Not one to put any building material to waste, Malphas repurposed the fragmented rubble into an enchanted beast of many segments.
The Rock Dragon was too feral and uncontrollable to remain inside the lair, but it made for an effective deterrent from the outside.

Contents


Stats

Body Segment Tail
Tail Segment

Invincible
Immune to Stasis
Immune to Slow
Immune to Paralyze
Body Segment
Body Segment
HP (Phase 1): 5,000 (+10% [500 HP] per player in Realm)
HP (Phase 2): 8,000 (+10% [800 HP] per player in Realm)
DEF: 10
EXP: 0

Immune to Stasis
Immune to Slow
Immune to Paralyze
Counts toward Beast Kills
Eye of the Dragon
Eye of the Dragon
HP: 36,000 (+10% [3,600 HP] per player in Realm)
DEF: 50
EXP: 20,000

Level 20 Quest Monster
Immune to Stasis
Immune to Slow
Immune to Paralyze
Counts toward Beast Kills
Counts toward Encounter Kills
Counts toward God Kills

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Combat

Attacks

Aesthetics Damage Condition effects Speed (tiles/sec) Range (tiles) Comments
Fire Bust Shot 120 12 9.6
Fire Bust Shot 120 7 5.6
Dragon Eye Laser 140 14 16.8 Piercing Shots hit multiple targets
Passes cover Shots pass through obstacles
Dragon Eye Blast 160 4.5 9 Particle Trail
Invisible 100 0 0 Contact damage from Body Segments
Body Bomb Blast 150 10 6 From Body Segment explosion
Dragon Eye Blast 120 6.5 13 From Body Segments in Phase 2
Dragon Eye Laser 150 10 12 Piercing Shots hit multiple targets
From Body Segment explosion in Phase 2

Behavior

The dragon is made up of a Body Segment Tail, multiple Body Segments, and the Eye of the Dragon. The tail is always invincible, and thus cannot be hit. The eye is initially invulnerable, but the body segments are always vulnerable.

Phase 1

The Rock Dragon’s eye and tail are invulnerable and invincible, respectively. The Dragon flies around quickly, spraying rapid shotguns of flame bursts. It also deals high damage on contact. Combined with it’s attacks, it can deal incredible damage. It spawns Rock Dragon Bats from the corners of the arena at a constant rate. When a Body Segment is destroyed, it will separate from the Dragon, flash, and explode into a ring of bullets.

The Dragon’s speed is inversely proportional to the amount of segments it has left - the less segments it has, the faster it’ll move.

Once all body segments are destroyed, the tail will self-terminate and The Eye will become vulnerable. It slowly floats around the arena, firing radial Dragon Eye Blasts around it. It also fires fast Dragon Eye Lasers aimed at the nearest player.

Phase 2 (50% HP)

The Eye of the Dragon becomes invulnerable again, respawning its body segments and resuming its initial behavior. This time, the Body Segments will grow eyes and start independantly attacking players as the Dragon flies. In this phase, the segments have more HP than before and target players with aimed Dragon Eye Blasts. When killed, they will explode into rings of piercing Dragon Eye lasers.

Once all the segments have been killed, the Eye of the Dragon becomes vulnerable again. It adopts the same vulnerable behavior as before, only now its radial attack is denser and its aimed attack fires three lasers at once.

Reproduction

Spawns:
Rock Dragon Bat Rock Dragon Bat

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Drops

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Tips and Strategies

This beast is an incredibly dangerous quest, even for maxed melees. With its high speed, erratic movement, and devastatingly punishing attacks, even a brush with this boss can result in massive damage or death. It is advised to skip out on this quest if your character isn’t level 20 and reasonably well equipped, and even then caution is absolutely necessary.

Piercing attacks are optimal against this boss, as they can damage multiple segments at once and push the Eye into its vulnerable phase quickly - keep in mind, however, that the Dragon is immune to all movement-impairing debuffs, but it is not immune to Stun. It’s also important to handle the stream of Rock Dragon Bats that spawn from the arena edges, as they can be a hindrance at best and a death sentence at worst.

Keep a good distance from the dragon once you start bringing the segments to low health, because they explode for 150 damage per shot, and sitting on it will result in about 2100 damage, instantly killing even maxed melee classes.

Keep in mind that despite the Dragon’s extreme firepower and highly erratic movement, the eye can only fire forwards. Sidestepping the Dragon when it approaches you will spare you from the brunt of the attack. Do not underestimate the Eye of the Dragon’s slow, floaty movement in phase 2: sitting on it while it fires its radial attack will result in enormous damage that is instant death for all but the tankiest of melees.

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History

Added in Release 11 (Feb 2013).

Began dropping the Lair of Draconis portal, and Ray Katana, in Release 22.4.0 (June 2014).

Was reworked in Patch X.31.8.0 (July 2019):

  • now immune to Paralyze and Slow;
  • movement speed now based on the number of segments remaining;
  • phase transitions depend on HP remaining instead of being time-based;
  • a new second phase was added when 50% HP is remaining. Prior to this update it repeated the same two phases until death;
  • the Rock Dragon Bats slow instead of confuse.

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Trivia

The Rock Dragon is by far the deadliest event boss in the game, accounting for 1.21% of all player deaths between January and June 2020.

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