Heroes Of Hammerwatch 2: How To Beat The Elemental Totem

Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 has you exploring the world of Hammerwatch, collecting loot and resources, leveling up your classes, and defeating bosses. There are several different bosses at various stages of a run, from massive shadowy heads to sentient clusters of vines.

Heroes Of Hammerwatch 2: 8 Beginner Tips

Here are some beginner tips to help you get started in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2.

The first boss in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 is the Elemental Totem Pole, found after the Dark Caves 2. As the first boss, the Elemental Totem can be difficult, especially since you're likely encounter it when you're still fairly weak. Below, we'll take a look at various strategies for defeating this boss.

How To Beat The Elemental Totem Pole

The Elemental Totem has four distinct phases; in each phase, the boss will attune to a different element and use attacks of that element. The order in which these elements appear is random and can change from run to run, so you'll need to learn each phase on its own.

Fire

In this phase, the Totem will shoot out waves of fire in different directions, spinning around slowly. Stay between two streams of fire and move along with the Totem for the duration of this attack to minimize damage. The hitboxes of the fire streams are larger than they appear, so it's hard not to get hit; just try to take as little damage as you can.

It may be easier to avoid the fire streams from a distance; if you're playing a melee character, back up for the duration of the attack until it's safe to move close again.

You'll also need to watch out for waves of fire on the groundthat persist for a few seconds, dealing damage if you walk into them. This, combined with the fire streams, will ensure you take at least a small amount of damage, so stay vigilant with potions.

Earth

The boss will shoot out boulders that fly to the edges of the arena. Ranged characters will have an easy time dodging these, as they aren't too fast, but melee characters may get hit by one or two.

You'll also need to watch out for cascading earthquake spots that shoot out from the Totem. These will move toward the small totems around the boss, creating waves of small earthquakes around it.

Overall, this is the easiest of the Totem's phases, so hang back and heal up if you need to, as dodging the boulders and earthquakes is relatively easy from a distance.

Lightning

Throughout this phase, the Totem will send out tornados that move around the arena, dealing damage if you walk into them. These dissipate rather quickly, but there can be upwards of four on the field at a time, so do your best to avoid them.

At the same time, the Totem will shoot out chain lightning to the smaller totems around the arena, which will then chain to two other nearby totems, while all totems in the chain fire out lightning projectiles. These don't deal too much damage, but you'll want to avoid being hit by them as much as possible, as the damage can add up if you're not careful.

Ice

The boss will launch waves of cascading ice that covers a large part of the arena. When you see these ice crystals forming, get to the opposite side of the totem to avoid taking damage.

The Totem will also launch icicles at the smaller totems around the edge of the arena. When hit by one of these icicles, the smaller totem will emit ice orbs that orbit around it, dealing damage if you pass through them. This will force you to get closer to the main Totem, making it harder to avoid the ice waves. Try to move to another part of the arena without an ice-orbiting small totem.

Reward For Defeating The Elemental Totem

The first time you beat the Totem with any character, you will unlock the combo mechanic. This mechanic is visible above your health bar at the bottom of the screen, and will activate when you kill a certain number of enemies in quick succession. The activation requirements can be changed once you unlock the Library later.

When Combo is active, you will gain a significant movement speed boost and ranged slow-down reduction, meaning you'll attack faster when firingand moving with ranged weapons, like longbows on a Ranger.

There is a downside to Combo, however, which is that you will now see Combo-related skill options when you open skill gems during a run. This can saturate your options with less valuable choices, making it more difficult to get the skill upgrades you actually want. If you see this as too big of a downside, you can avoid picking up the Combo item after defeating the Totem.

Heroes Of Hammerwatch 2: Complete Class Guide

Here's an overview of all seven classes in Heroes of Hammerwatch 2, their starting skills, and each of their class Masteries.