Scarab King Borgoth: how Shields and Destroy MAX HP beat him

Borgoth, the Scarab King, appears in Rotations 1 and 3 of the Doom Tower, as Force Affinity in Rotation 1 and Spirit Affinity in Rotation 3. He also turns up in the Cursed City and Proving Grounds. The fight comes down to three things: keeping Shields up, controlling his turns, and destroying his MAX HP.

Why Shields matter

Borgoth's Easy Prey passive makes him counterattack whenever a Champion without a Shield hits him. Reliable Shield coverage is therefore the foundation of a traditional team.

His skills punish gaps as well. Madness Fog hits all enemies with Decrease ATK and Decrease SPD for 2 turns, and any Champion without a Shield takes an extra hit that adds Provoke for 1 turn. Vile Absorption adds an extra hit for every buff on each target. Unshielded Champions have a random buff stolen and receive True Fear. Shielded ones lose a random buff instead and receive Fear.

He is also immune to most crowd control, plus HP exchange, HP balancing and cooldown increasing effects. Stun, Freeze, Provoke and Fear will not lock him down, so Turn Meter reduction and Decrease SPD do that job.

Breaking Spectral Horror

Borgoth starts by taking 90% less damage while less than 10% of his MAX HP has been destroyed. This drops to 60% between 10-20%, 30% between 20-30%, and disappears once more than 30% has been destroyed. The purple bar above his HP shows your progress. Destroy MAX HP effects and the Destroy Set are the quickest way through, and your heavy hitters can wait until the protection is gone.

Building the team

• Shield source: have your fastest Champion place a strong Shield on a reliable cooldown, ideally with Increase Buff Duration or a second Shield Champion alternating with them.
• Shield gear: Shield or Bolster sets cover the opening, which helps if your Shield skills were spent in the waves. Bloodshield Accessories add a Shield whenever the wearer damages an enemy, as backup.
• Control: Decrease SPD and Decrease Turn Meter can leave him with very few turns. Be careful with Champions who steal Turn Meter, as they can cycle through their Shield faster than the rest of the team.
• Protection: enough RES, or a remove debuffs, helps when Provoke, Fear or True Fear get through. Doompriest is named as a Cleanser option.
• Sustain: heals and Regeneration are safer than Continuous Heal, because if Borgoth steals that buff he can heal himself.

An example line-up

• Wixwell: Shields all allies on a 3 turn cooldown, then extends buff duration.
• Gnut: his A1 decreases Turn Meter with each hit, and he can switch to Blessed Bash once the damage reduction falls. Alure can take the control role, but check the boss's Affinity for the Rotation you face.
• Stokk: a strong Destroy MAX HP option, placing up to three Poisons with HP Burn active, or two without it.
• Morrigaine: a SPD aura in all battles, Turn Meter control, Decrease SPD, and the ability to steal buffs back.
• Lyssandra: her A2 can fully deplete a target's Turn Meter, and she fills allies' Turn Meter while placing Increase SPD.
• Mithrala: a 3 turn cooldown Shield and Poisons, and she can solo him with the right build.

Treat these as roles rather than a fixed list, and adapt them to what you own.

Solo options

Champions with self Shields, or Bloodshield Accessories, can avoid Easy Prey entirely. In a Regeneration build with enough RES, Urost, Toragi, Mithrala and Skull Lord are examples. They rely on Poisons or HP Burn for damage while Regeneration keeps them alive.