As one of the first dungeons in The Elder Scrolls Online, the Banished Cells allows parties to learn some of the basics of combat. There’s a little something for every party member in this dungeon, so it’s important to work together and make sure everyone in the group knows the winning strategy.
How to Beat the Cell Haunter
The Cell Haunter has a few abilities your party should be aware of, but in general, this is a fairly simple battle. Healers should be on the lookout for the Cell Haunter’s health draining ability. This can be stunned or interrupted if you’re paying attention, but if it hits a party member, they will need to be healed quickly. The other main technique to watch out for is the frozen tornado. It’s not overly difficult to avoid if you’re looking for it, as it moves at a slow pace, but be careful when it appears.
There are a few adds that spawn during the fight. When you see the adds, shift focus from the boss to the adds. Have the tank pick up the adds when they appear, or if you have a solid healer, the DPS can take them down while the tank continues to focus on the main boss. Either way, make sure the adds go down before the party returns focus on the Haunter.
How to Beat the Shadowrend
This boss makes everyone in the party work for the win. The main technique you need to watch out for is the devour ability. It will be used on a random party member, trapping them. If the party member has at least 50 percent stamina, they can break free of the ability. If not, another party member will need to stun or interrupt the attack. If this does not happen, the trapped player will take considerable damage. Once a party member is trapped, your top priority should be to free them.
When the boss summons a clone, shift focus to the clone and burn it down as quickly as possible. The clone is identical to the boss in every way except that it has considerably lower health. It dies quickly if all damage dealers (DPS) switch targets to the clone.
The boss also uses an area of effect (AoE) attack that hits any party members in close proximity to the Shadowrend. Ranged DPS won’t have to worry too much about the attack, but tanks and melee DPS should move to avoid it as quickly as possible.
How to Beat Angata the Clannfear Handler
The battle against Angata is very similar to that of a normal enemy. What makes this boss encounter difficult are the sheer number of adds your party will need to deal with. Depending on your party make-up, there are a few different ways you can handle this boss battle.
If you have strong DPS and healers, have the tank stay on the boss and use AoE attacks from the DPS classes to take down the adds. If your DPS classes aren’t overly powerful, focus on one or two adds at a time and burn them down before moving on to the next set of adds. If your healers aren’t great, the entire party (including the tank) should move from add to add until they’ve all been dispatched.
With the initial set of adds taken care of, the boss goes down fairly easy. More adds spawn periodically throughout the fight, but if you have solid DPS classes you can ignore the additional adds. If that’s not the case, have one DPS focus on the adds that appear, while the rest of the party continues to take down the boss.
How to Beat the Skeletal Destroyer
Ranged DPS are great to have during the battle against the Skeletal Destroyer. The boss uses an AoE attack that stomps the ground immediately surrounding the boss. When you see the red circle, move away from the boss until the attack is over. Ranged DPS will not be impacted by this attack and can continue to burn down the boss. Tanks and melee DPS will have to move to avoid taking damage.
The only other aspect of this fight that is of some concern are the trio of adds summoned throughout the battle. These adds are not difficult to defeat. Assign a single DPS (preferably not a ranged DPS since they need to focus on the boss) to take down the adds when they appear. Healers should keep a close eye on the DPS taking down the adds, as well as the tank, due to the fact that the boss hits relatively hard.
How to Beat High Kinlord Rills
There are environmental concerns when battling against the High Kinlord. The boss uses a magic attack that targets a random party member and knocks them back. By itself, this attack isn’t much to worry about. However, flames randomly spawn throughout the fight. If a party member is knocked into the flames, it can cause considerable damage. Avoid the flames, but make sure you’re not standing in front of any flames to ensure you won’t get knocked back into them.
When healing orbs appear, it should be your number one priority to take them down before they reach the boss. Each healing orb gives the boss a moderate amount of heal back, so the more orbs that reach the boss, the more heal is replenished, and the longer the battle becomes. Ranged DPS are especially good here as they can target the orbs as soon as they appear.
Beyond these two abilities, simply avoid any red circles that spawn on the ground (indicating an attack is about to follow) and burn down the boss as quickly as possible. Even if you take damage from the various attacks, as long as you have a decent healer and take out the healing orbs, there isn’t much to worry about.
