Arbanus (in-depth strategy guide)

Introduction
Arbanus, a terrifying risen canine mummy, is one of the bosses added by the Thrall Wars mod. With several interesting abilities, he stands out as one of the harder fights to learn, but also one of the most rewarding.

Throat Slash
Before starting the fight, you may ask the guard who summons Arbanus for the ability 'Throat Slash' which is needed to counter the ability 'Tender Kiss of Set'. It comes in the form of an item which you must put in one of your action bar slots. When you press the button, if you're near Arbanus and have a weapon drawn then your character will perform the attack, interrupting the spell. The attack also staggers Arbanus and is not delayed by your character's current animation, which can be useful for continuing combos - but be careful not to waste it, as this ability has a lengthy cooldown.

Throat Slash has a bug that will cause it to become unusable if you die while it's on cooldown. Some will suggest attempting to use the ability upon respawning to trigger the cooldown, but I've found it more reliable to simply ask the guard for another Throat Slash and replace the bugged one with the fresh one.

Base Mechanics
Arbanus has a whopping 16,500 hitpoints, beaten only by Heng and Neesa. That's a lot of health to burn through, so it's suggested that you bring the best weapon you have available.

Like the other Thrall Wars bosses, Arbanus is balanced around being hit quickly, kept in a staggered state to avoid his deadly attacks, so a one-handed weapon, spear, or set of daggers is recommended to keep him off-guard. Experiment with different combinations of heavy and light attacks until you find the combo that flows best for you.

A weapon that cripples is highly recommended for this boss, as it will make two of his abilities much easier to deal with.

Arbanus's basic attacks can use the animations and hitboxes of both a spear and a two-handed mace. His light attack is a side swipe or a frontal stab with his weapon, dealing moderate damage, and his heavy attack is an overhead smash, which hits devastatingly hard and is capable of killing unprepared players in a single hit. All of these attacks can be blocked, but are easy enough to dodge as well.

Like the other Thrall Wars bosses, Arbanus uses a milestone system for his hitpoints. Once he is brought below 75%, 50%, and 25% health, he will regenerate no further than that even if everybody dies and he is allowed to reset.

Abilities
Check the pictures in the gallery at the bottom of this page for visual examples of which UI warnings to look for when fighting Arbanus.

Chosen One can be ignored if you fight him solo, but will require coordination to deal with in groups. Arbanus marks a player as the chosen one, with a timer ticking down for that player to attack him. The chosen player must have attacked Arbanus directly within one second before that timer runs out, or everyone else in the arena will be instantly killed.

Scorn marks a player to explode. When the timer expires, any players near the marked player will be killed, and if the marked player is near Arbanus when the timer expires then the marked player will be killed. Having Arbanus crippled makes this ability much easier to deal with, as you can easily create the necessary distance between yourself and Arbanus. With precise timing, the invincibility frames granted by rolling can be used to avoid this attack.

Blood Draw is similar to Scorn, except that if the player remains near Arbanus when the timer expires then Arbanus will be healed for a large chunk of health, though no further than to the last milestone. Having him crippled makes it much easier to move far enough away to prevent the healing.

Fires of Gehanna will set another timer in motion, and upon its expiry Arbanus will teleport to the centre of the room (marked with a permanent green splatter on the ground) and any player within line of sight of him will be killed instantly. Avoid this attack by hiding behind a pillar. Players with good reflexes and precise timing can also avoid this attack with the invincibility frames granted by rolling.

Tender Kiss of Set is a casted spell that should be interrupted with Throat Slash. If not interrupted, Arbanus will put a short but highly damaging poison on all players which is lethal even from full health. It is possible to heal through this damage with aloe extracts or a well-timed Life of Set (Rank II), and it can also be removed by weapons with the 'Cleansing' attribute, such as Balancing Daggers. As of the publishing of this guide, Set Antidote is untested.

Taint
Arbanus's only new ability when tainted is the universal purple damage-reflect shield. If you directly damage him while this shield is up, the damaged will be reflected back to you. Periodic damage like bleeds and poisons are not reflected. Remove it from him by using the Tainted Weapon abilityl. The warning message that pops up when he's about to use it is: "Poison of Set will drain you"

Crafting Mode
Crafting Mode is activated by using the green-glowing torch inside Arbanus's arena. Activating it requires a sacrifice of ten blood and five serpent venom glands. During the fight you must successfully taint Arbanus, and complete the fight without you or any other player dying. Satisfy those criteria and he will be guaranteed to drop an additional item, the Shadebreaker Axe Head. This feature must be implemented by admins and may not be available on all servers using the mod.

Loot Table

Blue Sapphire

Stygian Treasure Key

Stolen Oriental Weapon Handle

Chromium

Mercury

Veteran Token

Steel Reinforcement

Slave Master's Chain ring (Wall)

Resonating Shard of Arbanus

Divine Gem of Golden Balance

Occult Gem of Golden Precision

Onslaught Gem of Golden Might

Stygian Butt Plug