Sentient Pest (Everdark Sovereign)

Sentient Pest (Everdark Sovereign) is a Nightreign boss encounter that replaces the standard Sentient Pest duo with an altered, event-themed variant. The fight retains the two-headed structure of Gnoster (moth) and Faurtis (scorpion) acting as the primary combatants, but is tied to the Everdark Sovereign event scheduling and the Nightreign seasonal changes.

The encounter opens with Gnoster and Faurtis joined and coordinated: the scorpion marks the target with a roar and the duo initiates the encounter with a stampede-style assault. The paired pest units share a combined health pool that is lower than the regular Sentient Pest fight. When that first health pool is emptied, a third entity — Animus, Ascendant Light — appears and immediately revives both Gnoster and Faurtis to roughly one quarter health each. Gnoster and Faurtis then resume independent behaviors similar to phase 1 of their normal fight while Animus becomes the primary objective. Animus cannot be attacked or targeted while both Gnoster and Faurtis remain alive; depleting Animus’s HP at any point ends the fight and instantly kills the two pests.

Animus interacts with its hosts in distinct ways. When either Gnoster or Faurtis dies, Animus will hover over the corpse, attempt a possession and revive the host; during that revival window Animus becomes briefly vulnerable and can be damaged. While possessing a host, any damage dealt to that host also damages Animus, including damage from status-ailment effects. Possessed Faurtis receives a 75% damage reduction, performs repeated ground-stomp area attacks with a delayed explosion, and signals its slams with a damaging roar; after five slams it does one final stronger slam before collapsing. Possessed Gnoster fires two consecutive bursts of twelve faster magic projectiles (two volleys of six), expands the coverage of its poison mist, and will enter a prolonged aerial barrage where it showers the field in orange magic projectiles before crashing. Possessed hosts will release Animus when killed; Animus will then hover for a short period before selecting and attempting to revive another host (which may be the same corpse again).

If Animus remains separate from any host for 55 seconds, it will unleash a powerful area ultimate: it twirls, fires a ring of projectiles into the sky that then return as red laser beams striking the arena. Animus is vulnerable while executing this ultimate. If Animus has possessed a host for 55 seconds without that host being killed, it similarly readies a new, strong move before separating.

Practical notes and strategy

• The pests can be damaged during the revival animation; attack them as soon as their health bar begins to refill for free, immobile damage.
• Animus is briefly vulnerable while attempting to possess a corpse; use that window to land high-damage attacks or status effects. Animus has no special resistances while vulnerable, so any weapon or spell is effective.
• Focus on a single pest rather than splitting damage between both. The two pests share resistances and weaknesses throughout the fight; concentrating damage on the one you are progressing on is more efficient.
• Depleting Animus’s health at any time will immediately end the encounter by killing both hosts, making targeting Animus a viable finish strategy once it becomes attackable.
• Possessed Faurtis takes substantially reduced damage; avoid relying on burst damage while Faurtis is possessed and instead target Animus or the other pest when possible.
• Watch the timers: when Animus has been separate or has possessed a host for ~55 seconds, prepare to dodge or interrupt its major cinematic attack.

Event scheduling

• This Everdark Sovereign variant appears during Nightreign event windows. The Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest was scheduled to land in Limveld on July 3, 2025 at the event times listed by the event announcement.

Known issues

• A bug existed where Animus could become stuck underground or outside the battlefield, preventing encounter progression; this was slated for a patch on July 4, 2025.