The Boss Rush levels are very similar to each other. Each has a treasure chest in the center of a large circle room, surrounded by an impenetrable red field. There are 5 waves of bosses that will attack you, and you have 2 minutes to defeat each wave (which is more than enough).
Fanning out from the middle are spokes that will occasionally have spikes jut out of them, potentially damaging you (if you have around 600+ armor you'll take no damage). In addition there are 4 mini-towers that shoot gobs of poison North/South or East/West. If you have around 100+ amounts of poison resistance they should not affect you. (FIXME: I know it's more than 50 and less than 134 amounts of poison resist)
It's generally a good idea to stay where you start, near the South of the circular room, since there are no spikes there and it's easy to stay away from the gobs of poison.
Don't fight near the edges of the circular room, since you may lose out on loot if you do so. If you kill a monster near the edge the loot may drop past the red barrier and you'll be unable to reach it.
Map[]
Wave 1[]
- 1 Temple Guardian or 1 Rare Demon Warrior
- 2 Elemental Archers
You will probably be taking little to no damage from the Temple Guardian / Demon Warrior, depending on your armor (you'll need a bit more than 473 armor to completely resist the damage). The real threat here are the 2 archers. Even with 400 ice/poison/fire resistance they will still hurt you. Dodge or block the arrows, or use Dash to take them out quickly.
Wave 2[]
- 2 Elite Minotaurs
These guys are surprisingly easy. You'll likely be taking little to no damage (you'll need a bit more than 473 armor to completely resist them), and so they are a great way to build up rage for later fights.
Wave 3[]
Variable bosses. Might be:
- 1 Elite Demon Warrior
- 2 Elite Antelope Spear Soldiers
The Antelope Soldiers throw a nasty spear that can hit for more than you might expect, and it's not a bad idea to take them out quickly. The Elite Demon Warrior is either a push over to you (depending on your armor) or the biggest threat that you'll want to take out immediately.
Or:
- 1 Elite Yeti Guard
- 2 Rare Zombies
A straight-forward and easy fight. If you have 600+ armor they won't be able to hurt you at all. Use it to build up rage.
Wave 4[]
Variable bosses. Might be:
- 1 Elite Annubis Warrior
- 2 Temple Guardians
The Annubis warrior hits the hardest - even with 600 armor you'll be taking a little damage - so take him out first. If the Temple Guardians are no threat to you then let them pound on you so that you build up some rage for the next, and final, fight.
Or:
- 1 Rare Skeleton Archer
- 2 Elemental Archers
Similar to wave 1 the elemental damage (ice, fire, etc...) that the archers deal will likely hurt you unless you have significant resistances. Try to take them out quickly, using the center to keep one of the archers isolated and unable to hit you. Don't use all your rage though, since you'll likely want it for the next, and final, wave.
Wave 5[]
It will always be the following:
- 2 Doom Spinners
These huge spiders generally don't hit too hard... *except* when they do their spin attack. Try to position yourself to one side of the middle, so that both spiders come towards you on the same side. That way you'll have them grouped up for your attacks. Hopefully you have built up a lot of rage from the previous fight, so Charge and Dash these 2 spiders down quickly.
Rewards[]
Once you've dropped the 2 Doom Spinners don't forget to go the middle of the room and collect your reward from the treasure chest. In all you should have collected a lot of loot. Here's a sample:
- 4 blue gems
- 1 orange warlord belt
- 1 General's leggings
- 1 white battle shoulder
- 2 white assassin helms
- 4 white weapons (base 186-227 damage)
Or alternatively:
- 3 blue gems
- 1 orange weapon (base 354 damage)
- 1 blue assassin shoulder
- 1 blue assassin armpiece
- 3 white swords (base 170-193 damage)
- 3 white warlord armpieces
- 1 white warlord helm
- 1 white assassin helm
In all my runs through Boss Rush 1 I have only received blue gems, never gems of any other quality.