Viconia DeVir/Combat

Overview

Combat

This page focuses on Viconia DeVir's behaviour during her combat encounter. Viconia DeVir is able to be fought in the Cloister of Sombre Embrace, which is found under the House of Grief in the Lower City. She is joined by the members of her flock.

Attacks and abilities

Viconia fights like a level 11 Cleric, capable of casting spells up to level 6 and possessing two Channel Divinity charges.

 Channel Divinity: Cloak of Shadows ()

Wrap yourself in shadows to become  Invisible if you are obscured^{[See Notes]}.

 Range: Self

 Inflict Wounds ()

3d10 (3~30) Necrotic

Putrefy a creature with Necrotic energy filling your hands.

 Melee: 1.5 m / 5  ft

 Bone Chill ()

1d8 (1~8) Necrotic

Prevent the target from healing until your next turn. An undead target receives Disadvantage on Attack rolls.

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

 Blight ()

8d8 (8~64) Necrotic

Deals 8d8Necrotic to a target. Plants take maximum damage from this spell, and have Disadvantage on the Saving throw against it.

CON Save

 Range: 9 m / 30 ft

 Spirit Guardians: Necrotic ()

3d8 (3~24) Necrotic

Call forth spirits to protect the area around you.

Nearby enemies take 3d8Necrotic damage per turn, and their Movement Speed is halved. Lasts for 10 turns.

WIS Save

 Range: Self

AoE: 3 m / 10 ft (Radius)

 Divine Intervention: Sunder the Heretical ()

8d10 (8~80) Radiant

Call upon your deity in your moment of greatest need. Once they interfere, your deity will never do so again in this manner.

WIS Save

 Range: Self

AoE: 15 m / 50 ft (Radius)

 Divine Strike: Poison (Melee) ()

Normal weapon damage +

1d8 (1~8) Poison

Once per turn deal 1d8Poison in addition to your weapon's damage when you make a melee attack.

 Melee: 1.5 m / 5  ft

Recharge: Per turn

 Shadow Step ()

Teleport from shadow to shadow. Afterwards, you have Advantage on your next melee Attack roll.

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Mapping of the Heart spells

Main article: Mapping of the Heart

 Castigate Heartform ()

Curse a creature whose heart you have mapped until they act against their nature.

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: Per combat

Mapped Terror applies  Frightened and an additional condition depending on the character's response to "What is your greatest fear?" during the Mapping of the Heart. Cast against the same target as  Castigate Heartform. Two variations have additional effects that buff the Sharrans:

 Mapped Terror: Betrayal ()

Exploit the target's mapped fear to  Frighten it and  Dominate one of its allies.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: Per turn

 Mapped Terror: Darkness ()

Exploit the target's mapped fear to  Frighten it and inflict  Blinding Sickness upon it.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: per turn

 Mapped Terror: Disease ()

Exploit the target's mapped fear to  Frighten it and inflict  Flesh Rot upon it.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: per turn

 Mapped Terror: Ceremorphosis ()

Exploit the target's mapped fear to make it believe it has undergone ceremorphosis.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

 Mapped Terror: Powerlessness ()

Exploit the target's mapped fear to  Frighten it and  Rot its flesh.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: per turn

 Mapped Terror: Spiders ()

Exploit one of the target's deepest fears by transforming yourself and some allies into spiders.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: Per combat

 Mapped Terror: Wolves ()

Exploit one of the target's deepest fears by transforming into a pack of wolves.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

Recharge: Per combat

Uniquely cast against Shadowheart if she sat on the bench in the House of Grief, this ability polymorphs Viconia and two allies into wolves.

Honour Mode

 Heartwrench

10d12 (10~120) Psychic

Rend a target with a psychic barrage after you or an ally is struck by a  Heartform Mapped creature.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

 Sanctuary of Loss

Shield yourself or an ally from harm after they are attacked. This protection will wane when the protected creature attacks. Viconia can still use  Heartwrench and keep this protection.

 Dark Deliverance ()

8d10 (8~80) Necrotic

Summon the Nightbringer's unholy wrath as roiling and acrid clouds of darkness that spare only the faithful of Shar.

WIS Save

 Range: Self

AoE: 15 m / 50 ft (Radius)

(Replaces Divine Intervention: Sunder the Heretical)

Passives

Viconia's armour and weapons grant her a few passives and boosts:

• Handmaiden's Mace
  • Set the wearer's Strength score to 18

• Viconia's Walking Fortress
  •  Rebuke of the Mighty
  • Spellguard

• Viconia's Priestess Robe
  • Shar's Umbrae
  • Sharran Veil

Allies

Viconia DeVir can be fought in the Cloister of Sombre Embrace. She is joined by 19 other Sharrans:

• Two Justiciar Crusaders; Nightmist and Owltalon
• Four Sharran Sentrys; Baxta, Fredrichk, Hendly, and Imwise.
• Five Sharran Fidelians; Gloommask, Gydd, Hyrald, Lamona, and Uttermask
• Eight Sharran Novices; Bluenail, Dohna, Dollay, Garrigan, Greymask, Humboldt, Monteith, and Tylda

Defection

If Shadowheart became a Dark Justiciar in Act Two, the party can choose certain dialogue options and pass several Ability Checks to convince many of the Sharrans to defect from Viconia's side and ally with the party.

1st Dialogue option

• DC 20 Persuasion check or DC 20 Performance check (with Disadvantage You are an outsider)
• Causes Nightmist to defect.

2nd Dialogue option

• A passive DC 7 Perception check to realize Shadowheart is attempting a coup. Must succeed the check and then select "Connect with her mind. Suggest she talk about the power Shar granted her."
• Causes 7 Sharran Novices (all except Greymask) to defect.

3rd Dialogue option

• Must select either:
  • "Give Shadowheart a chance to sway more of Viconia's followers."
  • "Wait- I have to know before it's too late. Why did you want the Astral Prism?" and then select either "Shar bid you do all of this?" or else "I've heard enough. Deal with this lot how you wish, Shadowheart."
• Causes Owltalon, Gloommask, Gydd, Uttermask, and Greymask to defect.

Notes:

• Hyrald, Lamona, and the four Sharran Sentrys (Baxta, Fredrichk, Hendly, and Imwise) will never defect.
• Failing the ability checks on the earlier dialogue options does not prevent the party from selecting the later ones.

Encounter details

Viconia is one of the more difficult opponents in the game. She is continuously affected by the conditions  Nightbringer's Beloved and  Radiant Retort and begins the battle under the effect of  Sanctuary. She has a high initiative bonus and will begin her first turn using  Castigate Heartform on the character who underwent the Mapping of the Heart, followed by Mapped Terror on the same target, crippling one character with a series of debuffs. Of the several variations of Mapped Terror,  Mapped Terror: Ceremorphosis is potentially the worst, fully locking down one character for at least two turns with a  stun-like effect.

Viconia herself is a capable melee attacker thanks to the strength bonus from her Handmaiden's Mace, application of  Divine Strike: Poison, and potential guaranteed critical hits from  Castigate Heartform. Disarming her can be useful for reducing her damage output, but she will still have many powerful spells to fall back on.

Allies

The Sharrans possess overwhelming strength in numbers. Viconia is supported by nineteen allies including two powerful Justiciar Crusaders, four Sharran Sentrys, five Sharran Fidelian mages, and 8 Sharran Novices. All of her allies possess the passive feature  Born into Darkness which allows them to see through  Darkness and take advantage of many spells and passives like  Overwhelming Grief and  Shadow Ambush. The Sharran Fidelians will cast  Darkness to set up these effects and also frequently attack with  Bone Chill to prevent the party from healing.

Honour Mode

Viconia gains one Legendary action per round and three new abilities on Honour Mode:  Heartwrench,  Sanctuary of Loss, and the passive  Impenetrable Shadow. Heartwrench adds a high-power targeted attack that focuses down the character whose heartform was mapped, while the latter two abilities defensively buff Viconia and her allies with additional instances of Sanctuary.

Tactics

The easiest way around the Mapping abilities is also the most obvious: don't do the Mapping of the Heart, or don't take the mapped character into battle. Avoiding the Mapping can be done by either leaving the mapped character at camp or passing a DC 20 Investigation check to reveal a button that unlocks the entrance to the Cloister without having to participate in the Mapping. Without the Mapping completed, Viconia cannot use Castigate Heartform or Mapped Terror.

Triggering Viconia's  Radiant Retort with a small AoE source of Radiant damage, such as  Spirit Guardians, can prematurely block her Sanctuary and allow her to be targeted as early as the first turn.

It is highly recommended to bring a dedicated caster or a large number of AoE spells to this fight, especially in Honour Mode. This will allow the party to deal with the large number of enemies and potentially bypass Viconia's  Sanctuary and Legendary  Sanctuary of Loss abilities which prevent her from being targeted by single-target spells or melee attacks. This is potentially an excellent battle to use a Cleric's Divine Intervention: Sunder the Heretical, especially in conjunction with death-prevention effects like  Death Ward. The enormous radius and large radiant damage will wipe out many weaker Novices and deal significant damage to all other Sharrans, though if it hits Viconia then it will trigger her  Radiant Retort to kill the caster.

Perhaps most significantly, the entire fight can be somewhat cheesed with a very simple strategy: using the chokepoint. Retreating back up the stairs and through the door will force the entire Sharran army to follow and clump up close together. This makes them very vulnerable to damaging terrain such as  Wall of Fire,  Wall of Ice, and  Spike Growth, as well as AoE spells such as  Fireball,  Cone of Cold, and  Sunbeam. It also places the party on the high ground and allows them to keep pushing enemies back onto damaging surfaces with  Thunderwave, Smokepowder Bomb, or even  Shove.

Allies

It is also critical for the party to focus down the five Sharran Fidelians and Sentry Fredrichk. While Viconia and all her allies have many ways of benefiting from  Darkness, only these six characters are actually able to cast it. If they are dead or crowd controlled then the other Sharrans will lose access to many powerful synergies and abilities, making them much less threatening.

The Sharran Fidelians also make liberal use of  Bone Chill cantrips during the fight. Be sure to prepare your party with additional HP, temporary HP, or a way of preventing damage to one or more characters (invisibility, sanctuary, etc.) to avoid a situation where much of your party is immunized to healing effects.

In the case that the Sharrans are able to fill the battlefield with  Darkness, the party can rely on certain items and spells to counter it. Sources of immunity to  Blinded such as Eversight Ring or Shar's Spear of Evening may be necessary for melee characters to wade through the clouds of darkness. The party can also cast  Daylight to dispel the Darkness but they should keep in mind that the most recently cast instance of Sunlight or Darkness will override the other, so Sharran Fidelians could summon more Darkness to extinguish it.

The Justiciar Crusaders, Nightmist and Owltalon, are second only to Viconia in power and are also significant threats to the party. However, they have very low Wisdom saving throws and thus make great targets for crowd control like  Command or  Hold Person, as well as for mind-control effects like  Confusion or  Dominate Person.

Notes

• The bestial polymorphs from Mapped Terror: Wolves and Mapped Terror: Spiders are illusory, and thus not targetable with Dominate Beast. They also function like a Druid's Wild Shape, with the polymorphed creature returning to their original form after the beast's hit points are depleted.

• Viconia can be reanimated with Sovereign Glut's spores