Death



"'Tis only fitting that this island would host its own Reaper. It haunts Arisen as though enraged at the half-immortality granted by the wyrm, relentless and intractable as its namesake. Even now, I swear I can hear the whispers..."
 * -Barroch's Notes

Death is an Enemy in Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen.

Death in the Dragon's Dogma universe shares the same features as the Grim Reaper in popular mythological depictions. Larger than many creatures in the realm, Death has a black body that resembles that of a shadowy, tattered robe with no visible limbs; thus, it travels via ghostly flight. Death's head also resembles a hood; it has no visible face as opposed to the common skeletal depictions featured in mythology and popular culture. Using its tattered-like robed body as limbs, Death grips a scythe upon its right side. Larger than Death's own body, the scythe can impart instant, fatal destruction even to highly skilled Arisens. A Bone Lantern rests on its left side that allows it to cast Sleep.

Speculation suggests that Death is the twisted form of Arthacos, an Arisen driven insane by loneliness and the unending labyrinth of Bitterblack Isle. Arthacos, in his insanity, has come to believe that his duty as an Arisen is to offer one thousand human sacrifices to both appease the Dragon's destructive nature and save his country from calamity.

He continues his vigil to this day.

Arthacos' accounts can be found in the form of ten epitaphs scattered through the isle. Many of the noticeboard quests, specifically The Wages of Death I through IV, seem to also be written by Arthacos, which would imply that even after becoming Death, he retains his memories and some of his sanity.

When Death searches in the darkness, the Arisen will sometime hear the whispering voice that drove Arthacos to madness.

Information and Stats
Death is classed as a corpse-feeder enemy, and is attracted by the presence of corpses or Rancid Bait Meat.

Further Explanation of Abilities
Death has only three abilities: While the Arisen may use a Wakestone to revive, Pawns slain by Death will be instantly forfeit, with no chance of revival and will have to be re-hired within a Rift Stone. Mage Pawns wielding the Legion's Might staff are not immune to Death's Scythe.
 * Teleportation, allowing Death to engage the party at close range.
 * Death's Lantern, which will inflict Sleep (purple glow) on nearby characters vulnerable to the debilitation. A yellow glow functions as a searchlight, seeking prey.
 * Death's Scythe, which will instantly slay any enemy caught within its swinging arc in a single strike (the Arisen, Pawns, Cursed Dragons, Gorecyclops, etc). Any such enemy slain by Death will not drop loot or award experience unless the player had engaged it prior Death's intervention.  Only Dragonkin and Metal Golems appear immune to the Scythe's effect (instant death).

Pawns often comment, "Death cannot be slain in one go." Death has a great deal of health, and is designed to be fought over a number of separate encounters.

Death will flee when enough damage has been inflicted. Any damage inflicted on Death will carry over to every subsequent battle, until Death is slain. As the physical manifestation of the cessation of life, Death cannot be permanently slain and will eventually re-appear to resume the hunt for living prey.

In some areas, Death will disappear if the party simply exits and re-enters the dungeon. Death will also sometimes leave after slaying pawns or after a Wakestone is used.

Locations
Death will randomly appear throughout the various dungeons of Bitterblack Isle, appearing in areas rife with fresh corpses (with increased frequency in the Post-Daimon phase). When Death appears, it is advisable for lower level players to flee the area as quickly as possible.

Death's spawn rate is 100% in The Bloodless Stockade until Daimon is defeated for the first time.

Farming Death
Once Daimon is defeated for the first time, Death will stalk all of Bitterblack Island indiscriminately.

There is still an easy way to spawn Death. Much like the first encounter, Death can appear in the courtyard of the first area, The Garden of Ignominy, provided the stench of death there is high. This can be achieved either by killing enemies, or, more easily, using Rancid Bait Meat, if Saurians are present in the courtyard. If Goblins are present, Garm will appear instead of Death.

The spawned enemies in the Garden of Ignominy can be changed by simply entering and exiting a Rift Stone, or by exiting the main entrance and re-entering. After Death is routed from sustaining too much damage, re-zoning after dropping another bait can cause him to re-spawn immediately.

Spawning Death Infinitely

Intuitively the following steps can be taken:
 * (1) When in the Garden of Ignominy defeat all enemies.
 * (2) Save the game.
 * (3) Stab the Arisen by using the Godsbane.
 * (4) Reload the save.
 * (5) Upon reloading drop a piece of Rancid Bait Meat. Death will Spawn.
 * (6) Damage Death as much as possible until he retreats.
 * (7) Zone the area by leaving and then re-enter.
 * (8) Repeat the steps 2-7 above to re-spawn Death again.



Defensive

 * Upon entering the lower level of the Garden of Ignominy on Bitterblack Isle for the first time (even in New Game Plus, as the dungeon resets to a Pre-Daimon state), Death will appear. For newer players, the most effective defensive strategy against Death is ... RUN !  Avoid confronting Death (and the Hobgoblins within) and run directly down the stairs leading to the Duskmoon Tower.  Upon re-entering the Garden of Ignominy, Death will be gone, and the party may continue exploring the dungeon unabated by Death's re-appearance (for now).
 * Listen for Death's ominous ambiance music (whispers, creepy gongs) whenever entering a new area - any of these signs mean Death is stalking the area.  Listen for Death's unique battle theme. A sudden shift in background music will indicate that Death has located the party.
 * Death has only 2 attacks: Sleep (indicated by his lantern turning purple) and the Scythe attack (after searching with the yellow lantern). Come prepared with the highest sleep resistance possible when facing Death, ideally at 100%. Pawns especially will benefit from this. Spells or items that protect against debilitations can also help. This can be easily achieved by the use of one Sobering Wine, or wearing two Restless Earrings (sold by  Madeleine and Delec), or with Mercenary Slogs, a Harpy cloak, Patterned Gambeson, etc.  The application of one Sobering Wine will give the entire party immunity to all debilitations for ninety seconds, which is very useful against Death's Sleep attack.


 * Death's scythe attack CANNOT be blocked with any shield or countered with Masterful Kill or Clairvoyance. One can only avoid the Scythe by backing away from the Scythe's large swing radius.
 * Wakestones can resurrect the Arisen, but NOTHING can revive pawns from this attack. You must re-hire your pawns from a Rift stone if they fall to the scythe. Since pawns are vulnerable to Death, the best way to save them is to quickly inflict a lot of damage to Death to chase it away or kill it outright.


 * Death tends to float off the ground, and cannot be grappled. This, combined with the range of the scythe, makes melee a risky strategy. Spellcasters and Bow users can safely attack from long range, but should be wary of Death's ability to teleport behind them suddenly.
 * In areas such as the The Bloodless Stockade, the abundance of water can leave you drenched and extinguish your lantern. This can work for or against you, depending on your strategy. If you wish to fight with a reliable light source, the Ring of Desiccation or Sobering Wine is extremely useful here. Consider, though, that Death will be strongly attracted to the light of any Lantern.

Offensive

 * Immune to all debilitations.
 * Weak to high knockdown or stagger, even in Hard Mode.
 * Highly resilient against Holy and Dark enchanted weapons and spells.
 * Vulnerable to knockdown/stagger.
 * Rangers: It takes about 25 seconds of uninterrupted, accurate shooting to utterly destroy Death using Tenfold Flurry, 4x Conqueror's Periapts or 4x Tagilus's Miracles, Blast Arrows and a Gold Dragon Forged Revenant Wail, even at full health. Do not run out of Stamina. Death's weak spot is the Lantern itself; the hitbox for the Lantern is from Death's collarbone to his waist level.
 * Striders: The fastest way for a Strider to inflict a lot of damage to Death is with the Brain Splitter skill and the Eminence augment (be sure to jump first BEFORE initiating the Brain Splitter to get the 30% Eminence damage bonus). Three to six Brain Splitters interrupted by Instant Reset (for faster recovery time between jumps) can scare away Death fairly quickly. From afar, use Hailstorm Volley.


 * Strider/Rangers: Shots to the head cause massive damage from bows and longbows. If equipped with blast arrows, assuming you have high enough strength between weapon attack and base attack, you can chain-lock Death infinitely, allowing you to kill him with ease as long as you have enough blast arrows. Using four Conqueror's Periapts or four Tagilius' Miracles will increase your damage significantly.


 * Magick Archers: Ricochet Hunter in close quarters (like the Bloodless Stockade) is extremely effective, potentially stun-locking Death in a barrage of increasingly damaging richochets. Explosive Bolt is also very damaging, but hard to activate when Death is above ground. Magical Gleam can stun an unaware Death, allowing you to strike, or giving you time to run past it. Explosive barrels also do the trick. Use Ricochet Hunter without getting spotted to deal massive damage.  Start firing bolts immediately upon entering the area, and as long Death doesn't find you, it's possible to take out several bars of health (a lot from when Death falls down). Because Death is not officially engaged in battle, it won't leave the area as well.  How much damage you do depends a lot on the condition of your weapon, however. Four Demon's Periapts or four Salomet's Secret could be required to attain a higher damage output since Death is highly resistant to magick in general.
 * Mystic Knights: An Arisen can easily use the Reaper's teleport skill against him, providing they have the ability: Stone Jungle; With this ability, an Arisen may cast from afar, awaiting Death as he tries to teleport to them. Once he does, using this magick will have a high chance to knock the Reaper down, allowing a party to deal massive amounts of damage.


 * There is a blindspot just behind Death when he swings his scythe, albeit very small.
 * Death can be knocked down with a well-timed focused strike.
 * In places like the The Bloodless Stockade, you can use the light of a beacon to cause moderate damage to Death. Get him close to one, wait until he begins to cast and light it up.


 * Death can be defeated by having it fall into deep enough water or off a cliff, achieved by surprising it with Blast Arrows, Magickal Gleam, or Sixfold Bolt. When Death appears above the bridge at the entrance Fortress of Remembrance, this is quite possible. You will gain the Experience but none of the item drops.


 * Autonomy augment can be very useful here as pawns are very likely to die.


 * If Death does not 'see' you with his lantern and you attack him while he is stuck, he will never go into the cutscene where he disappears. This can be exploited either to kill him, or if you want to save and reload to affect item drops.
 * If Death appears in the Vault of Defiled Truth,  there's a rare chance it will get hit by the Cockatrice's petrification breath and succumb to it. [Needs Verification]

Rewards

 * Base exp - 420,000 on normal/easy mode, 840,000 on hard (can change depending on various factors).
 * Bone Lantern - Forging Material
 * Scythe Shard - Forging Material
 * Jewel of Summoning
 * Bitterblack Armor Lv.2
 * Bitterblack Armor Lv.3 - (Rare)
 * Bitterblack Novelty Lv.3
 * Bitterblack Gear Lv.3
 * Bitterblack Weapon Lv.3 - (Rare)

Note: Death does not drop Elite Lanterns, they are instead obtained from Bitterblack Novelty Lv.3.

Bugs

 * When Death spawns in the Garden of Ignominy (from the Entrance of Bitterblack Isle), if the player walks onto the balcony, Death will try to attack the player but will get stuck on the way (where Snakes (Pre-Daimon) or Leapworms (Post-Daimon) spawn). Unless the player stays away from the Lantern Light and has no Light Source of their own (like a Lantern), Death will stay there and do nothing.