Along with the big Witchcraft borrowed power system, Season 7 also brings new activities and a brand new type of reward to the game. So let’s dive into the Helltide-like zone events, Headrotten bosses we’re going to be chasing, and their rewards.
The New Zone Event: Headhunts
The Tree of Whispers is expanding its bounties to brand new zone-wide events! These are called Headhunts and have us looking for escaped… well, heads, obviously. Headhunts feature new Whisper bounties and the new Headrotten enemy type to hunt down.
These events will be active in more than one zone in Sanctuary at once and shift locations just like Helltides. The goal (aside from just doing Whispers for Whisper’s sake) is to find the Headrotten. You do this by completing Whisper bounties and destroying Exposed Roots that will spawn once they are completed. Once destroyed they have a chance to spawn an Uprooted Cocoon, which has a Headless Husk or Fugitive Head (the boss variants of Headrotten) in them. The chances of finding these boss variants are increased by Torment tier and by the new Draught of Whispers elixir.
A very welcome new addition to these zones are the Ravens that will be active. At these locations you can turn in your Whisper bounties and get the rewards!
The Headrotten Themselves
The new enemies of the season, the Headrotten are affected by runaway heads from the Tree of Whispers. We’ll be hunting them down in the Headhunt zones, with many Whisper bounties related to them. We will also be gaining the season’s reputation currency, Restless Rot.
The Headless Husk and Fugitive Head are the boss variants of the Headrotten and will be our primary goal. Fugitive Heads in particular are the most valuable, as they can drop the Stolen Head, which you can trade at the new vendor Gelena at the Tree of Whispers for Occult Gems!
Occult Gems
Speaking of gems, they are a new socketable item that can only be used in jewelry. They come with defensives as well as unique powers, so as not to make our characters weaker in those key armor/resistance socket slots. Each one has 160 Armor and 8% Resist All. The gems are crafted by using the aforementioned Fugitive Heads, as well as Restless Rot (the seasonal currency) and actual gems at the Tree of Whispers vendor Gelena. They can also be upgraded by using the same materials.
They have many different powers, many linked to the new Witchraft borrowed power systems, so let’s take a look.
All Occult Gems Revealed
And here are the rest of them:
Wicked Pact
- Your Non-Unique Eldritch Witch Powers gain 25% Potency.
Heart of Anima
- Your Non-Unique Psyche Witch Powers gain 25% Potency.
Toadling’s Wish
- Your Non-Unique Growth & Decay witch Powers gain 25% Potency.
Phantom String
- You deal 40% more Overpower damage to Hexed enemies.
Elder Sigil
- Your Agility, Corpse, Incarnate, Mastery, Weapon Master, and Wrath Skills deal 25% increased direct damage to Hexed enemies.
Killing Wind
- While you have three or more Eldritch Witch Powers slotted, gain 25% Movement Speed and 15% Critical Strike Chance.
Witching Hour
- While you have three or more Eldritch Witch Powers slotted, every 5 seconds, the next Core Skill you cast gains the Eldritch tag.
Raging Enigma
- Your Unique Witchcraft Powers deal 40% more damage.
Voice of the Stars
- While you have an Aura active, your Ultimate Skills gain each Grimoire tag and deal 10% more damage.
Mind Wreath
- While you have three or more Psyche Witch Powers slotted, your Defensive, Macabre, Trap Skills gain 20% Cooldown Reduction.
Spiral Coin
- While you have three or more Psyche Witch Powers slotted, gain 30% Control Duration and 20% Lucky Hit Chance.
Cornucopia
- While you have three or more Growth % Decay Witch Powers slotted, you generate 30% more Barrier, gain 30% more Fortify and have 30% more Thorns.
Vulture Talon
- While you have an Aura active, you deal Damage Over Time 35% faster.
Pointed Finger
- Your Summons deal 25% more direct damage to Hexed Elites.
Vile Phylactery
- While you have a Witch Power with the Summon tag slotted, if you would take fatal damage, instead prevent that damage. Then gain a Barrier equal to 100% of your Maximum Life and disable your Witchcraft Powers with the Summon tag for 6 seconds. This can only occur once every 75 seconds.
Friend of the Bog
- While you have three or more Growth & Decay Witch Powers slotted, you gain 10% primary stat, 10% Maximum Life and you are always Unhindered.
Moonlight Ward
- For each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and 1% Maximum Resistance to All Elements.
Dust Stone
- For each of your Auras and Hexes an enemy is afflicted by, they take 4% increased damage from you.
Hungering Void
- While you have an Aura active, pull Nearby enemies toward you every 8 seconds.
Rootholds
And finally we have Rootholds. These are “micro-dungeons” which contain Headrotten as well, and can offer bonus challenges for extra rewards. You can access them by using Whisper Wood sigils which drop from Whisper Caches and Silent Chests (the ones you open with Obol keys).
Season 7 is shaping up to be a great one, so let’s see what happens on the PTR, which opens on December 3rd.