Feeding Hunger With Famine

Mission Description

Down in Niflheim, you defeated Krampus, and the cold torches spontaneously lit around the ritual circle depicting the children of Loki.

This guide is a combined version of Feeding Hunger With Famine containing content for both Normal Mode and Nightmare Mode. For the Normal Mode version of Feeding Hunger With Famine, see Feeding Hunger With Famine - Normal. For the Nightmare Mode version, see Feeding Hunger With Famine - Nightmare.

Tier 1

Task Description

Around the circle, the frigid air moans with the need of a ritual started but not completed. Something beckons from the far places, from the coldest, darkest, hungriest regions.

Objective: Collect your reward

After beating Hel within her realm, the dungeon mission Feeding Hunger With Famine is acquired by all players in the instance, provided the player does not have too many outstanding mission reports. Within seconds of receiving the mission, it completes.

Defeating Hel in either Normal or Nightmare Mode awards and completes the mission Feeding Hunger With Famine. The two difficulty versions of the mission do not share a cooldown.

Feeding Hunger With Famine gives an Item Reward Bag (Normal) or Item Reward Bag (Nightmare) upon completion. This mission has a default 68 hour cooldown for non-Patrons and an 8 hour cooldown for Patrons.

Niflhel Loot List

Upon defeat, Hel always drops Anima Shards and a Festive gift bag. Icy Claws are an additional drop that only occur when Hel flinched during the encounter in which she was defeated.

• [Festive gift bag] – A small bag that may contain consumables or cosmetics.
• [1,200 Anima Shards] – Drops from Hel in Normal Mode.
• [2,400 Anima Shards] – Drops from Hel in Nightmare Mode.
• [Icy Claws] – Only drops when Hel has been made to Flinch. This has a chance to occur when using Emote: Snowball during Judgement of Hel (otherwise known as Light and Dark). They will drop for everyone in the group should this occur.

Niflheim

General Information

The realm of Niflheim is a frigid underworld accessible during the Krampusnacht portion of the Winter Holidays Event as a small Dungeon appropriate for groups of one (1) to five (5) players. It can only be reached by entering a Krampus Gate opened by Krampus throughout Adventure Zones. There are two bosses within Niflheim: Krampus and Hel. The final encounter of Niflheim, Hel, is only available by summoning her through proper use of 9 Zone-Exclusive Ritual Reagents. Each zone-exclusive item is a drop from Krampus corresponding to the zone he was killed in.

There are two modes to Niflheim: Normal Mode (or 'Easy Mode'), and Nightmare Mode ('Hard Mode' or the equivalent of 'E5'). Niflheim's difficulty applies only when facing Hel within Niflheim. Toggling the difficulty is accomplished through the Altar of Niflheim, which will preserve or remove Equal Footing for the final encounter.

Krampusse fill the hallowed halls of Niflheim and a ritual awaits at its end.

While in Niflheim, the Equal Footing buff will be active by default to allow any player to solo the Krampus content within. The Living Flame is unaffected by Equal Footing despite taking its stats from its summoner. The frigid snow of Niflheim can easily snuff it out.

The Krampus Gate (Portal to Niflheim)

The Krampus Gate has been left open. Krampus himself runs rampant across all Adventure Zones, excluding Kaidan and New Dawn, well after the Krampusnacht itself. The Holiday Devil is back to punish naughty, naughty children.

Krampus can be difficult to spot. He is often found hiding in nooks and crannies off of major roads, under bridges, along mountain crevices, or by trees. When spawning or loading into view, he appears in a poof of snow that can be easy to spot from afar.

When a wild Krampus is brought to half health, he runs off and casts Krampus Gate. Krampus Gate opens a portal to Niflheim. As soon as the Portal to Niflheim is up, Krampus begins to cast The Sideways Step. If allowed to complete The Sideways Step, Krampus will leave and the portal will close behind him. Kill Krampus before he successfully finishes The Sideways Step in order to have access to the Portal to Niflheim.

Enter the Portal to Niflheim within 1 minute 5 seconds before it dissipates.

Krampus's Doorway (Portal from Niflheim)

From within Niflheim, the portal serves as Krampus's Doorway. Around the portal are 8 polaroid photographs labeled by Krampus that depict the Adventure Zones within Solomon Island, Valley of the Sun God, and Transylvania. These are the very places that Krampus has been.

Select a photograph of a desired location and use it to bring it to the forefront of both your mind and the portal.

Krampus's Doorway can be used only after selecting a destination. Until then, it is a blank slate.

The portal reflects the image of a place in your mind.

Krampus's Doorway Destinations

• Town of the King's Mute Mouth – Kingsmouth Town
• Land of the Little Slayers – The Savage Coast
• Mountain of Hel-Blár – The Blue Mountain
• Burning Sand Bad Land – The Scorched Desert
• Town of the Hungry Sun – City of the Sun God
• The Vampires' Larder – The Besieged Farmlands
• The Dim-Dark Woods – The Shadowy Forest
• The Mountains That Bite – The Carpathian Fangs

Altar of Niflheim

On the left in the hall leading up to the ritual site is the Altar of Niflheim (245,250), which serves to toggle between the two difficulty modes of Niflheim.

Activation of the Altar of Niflheim gives the option to aggravate the spirits of deathless cold and initiate Nightmare Mode. When Nightmare Mode is in effect, Equal Footing will be deactivated upon engaging Hel. This also serves to cause a flurry to surround the Altar in order to signify that Nightmare Mode is active.

To return to Normal mode and regain Equal Footing for the encounter, interact with the Altar of Niflheim again and agree to appease the spirits.

Changing the difficulty can be accomplished at any given moment out of combat before and after Hel has been summoned.

The state of the Altar does not affect Equal Footing for any encounter prior to Hel, as the altar pertains solely to Hel and whether or not she is aggravated or appeased.

Krampus

Many Krampusse litter Niflheim in small herds. Once all herds are dealt with, the true Krampus appears.

Krampus is the penultimate encounter within Niflheim. As the only encounter in the cold realm to not require a ritual, Krampus may be the only boss seen by a group that does not intend to fight Hel or have the items necessary to do so.

This final Krampus will only engage when attacked.

Krampus Boss Loot List

• [Horns of Krampus] - Ritual reagent exclusively from the Krampus boss within Niflheim.
• [Krampus Rockets] x 5 - Flares that knock the user down. Consumed on use. 60 second cooldown.
• [Novelty plastic nose, red] - Clothing item that is effectively a clown nose. Krampus sure loves to joke around.
• [Carelessly Wrapped Present] - Contains the [Worn plain socks, ugly] clothing item.
• [Poorly Wrapped Present] - Contains the [Secondhand Y-fronts, white] or [Secondhand bloomers, white] clothing item for male and female characters respectively.
• [Shabbily Wrapped Present] - Contains the [Pre-owned tank top, dirty] clothing item.
• [Mischievous Tuft] - Museum Piece used to upgrade the Superior Krampus exhibit to Paragon.

Abilities and Mechanics

1290074 HP

Immune to CC
The true Krampus is permanently immune to Stuns, Knock Downs, and Obstructions; Krampus is also immune to Roots and Snares.

Cloven Stomp
Krampus frequently gathers energy and leaps up to do a Cloven Stomp, a PBAoE damaging all who remain underfoot.

Ruten Smite
Only when there is more than one player fighting Krampus will he bother to use his ruten and give a mighty GTAoE Ruten Smite to a random player who doesn't have his attention and hate at the time. If there is only one foe fighting the Holiday Devil, they will be Smited despite having his focus. Krampus alternates back and forth between delivering a Ruten Smite and a Cloven Stomp.

Summoning Hel

General Information

The Norse goddess Hel is the final encounter of Niflheim who can be engaged at Normal or Nightmare difficulty. The version of Hel encountered within her own home is also sometimes referred to as Niflhel and may be preceeded by the desired difficulty mode when referencing a specific difficulty of Hel as faced within Niflheim. This is to distinguish the encounter from the hourly 40-Player Open Raid boss version of Hel, who is sometimes referred to as Super Hel.

It is within her own realm that she must be summoned through proper use of 9 Zone-Exclusive Ritual Reagents dropped from the defeated devil Krampus in Adventure Zones and Niflheim itself.

Unlike her son, Hel is no pushover; her fight has multiple mechanics to be aware of. Normal Hel requires one (1) player with a recommended minimum of two (2) players to survive, whereas Nightmare Hel is best defeated with a full group of five (5) bees.

The frigid depths call, sweetling. Will you answer?

Ritual Reagents

In order to complete the ritual to bring forth Hel, 9 Zone-Exclusive Ritual Reagents must be used correctly within Niflheim. Each zone-exclusive item is a drop from Krampus and corresponds to the zone he was killed in. They remind Her of Her family and Herself.

The reagents are considered Mission Items and will be placed in the Mission Inventory upon pick up. Krampus is not guaranteed to drop any reagents upon death; however, the Severed Hand in particular has a lower drop rate than all other reagents due to the fact that a single Severed Hand contains 5 Finger Nails upon use.

Ritual Reagent Locations

• Kingsmouth Town — [Lump of Coal]
• The Savage Coast — [Dead Yew Branch]
• The Blue Mountain — [Pouch of Soil]
• The Scorched Desert — [Wolf Fang]
• City of the Sun God — [Foul Whiskey Bottle]
• The Besieged Farmlands — [Corpse Maggots]
• The Shadowy Forest — [Severed Hand] into 5 x [Finger Nail]
• The Carpathian Fangs — [Snake Skin]
• Niflheim — [Horns of Krampus]

None of the minor Krampusse within Niflheim drop any reagents. They can only drop Caches.

Ritual Runes

Each ritual reagent must be used at the correct rune in order to successfully summon Hel into the halls of Niflheim. Defeating Krampus acts as the catalyst that lights the torches around the ritual circle and allows the reagents to be used. From this point on, targeting a rune will allow you to see its name.

When a reagent is used at the wrong rune, it will say, "The air hisses with the release of energy from a failed ritual. Try somewhere else." Failure does not waste any of the ritual items, as reagents are only consumed when used successfully at their corresponding runes.

When the right reagent is used at the right rune, the reagent is consumed and illuminates and empowers the rune in the process.

Runes

Nine runes form a ritual site within the depths of Niflheim. For each one, a reagent is required to complete the ritual. All must be activated to summon forth Hel to her domain.

• [Horns of Krampus] — Móðir (257,295)
• [Corpse Maggots] — Líf (255,303)
• [Finger Nail] — Andlát (257,303)
• [Wolf Fang] — Fenrir (246,296)
• [Snake Skin] — Jörmungandr (262,296)
• [Foul Whiskey Bottle] — ᛁ Svell (268,305)
• [Dead Yew Branch] — ᛇ Eihaz (268,282)
• [Lump of Coal] — ᚲ Kaunan (246,282)
• [Pouch of Soil] — ᛠ Ear (246,305)

We have a lovely graphic planned for this section! For now, enjoy an aerial view of the ritual site.

When the final rune has been empowered, a beam of bright light bursts forth from the womb of the Mother. Hel has arrived and found that her son wasn't the one to summon her.

Hel lashes out in her displeasure seconds after materializing. Her strike signals the start of combat as the battle begins at her whim. Be aware that after a wipe, anyone crossing Hel's barrier will reignite her fury and fight.

Abilities and Mechanics

5160295 HP (Normal)
1910467 HP (Nightmare)

Equal Footing

Players within Niflheim are buffed with Equal Footing so that their stats are scaled evenly regardless of their Level or Item Power. Equal Footing is present by default and can be toggled on and off by using the Altar of Niflheim. When Equal Footing is on, Hel is in Normal Mode. When Equal Footing is off, Hel is in Nightmare Mode. [May Remove This EFB Section]

Immune to CC

The Norse goddess Hel is immune to Stuns, Knock Downs, and Obstructions. So used to the frosty mist of her realm is Hel that she is also immune to Roots and Snares.

Breath of Hel

Every so often, Hel teleports to the North, South, East, or West edge of the room and takes 5 seconds to gather her breath before she begins to let loose the channeled Breath of Hel for 10 seconds. A gentle gust of wind and snow blows from the direction Hel has teleported to during those 5 seconds. Once Breath of Hel begins, the winds become strong and vicious for the next 10 seconds.

Her Breath of Hel buffets the arena in a frigid flurry that causes all caught within it to be heavily damaged by Breath of Hel for 1 second, which is constantly reapplied every second within the winds. Breath of Hel can be avoided by disrupting Line of Sight. It is highly advised to start hiding behind the pillars so that they are between you and Hel during the 5 seconds she takes to start casting.

Breath of Hel is devastating when caught in it for more than a few seconds. Avoid the Breath if at all possible.

Hel on Earth

At 75%, 50%, and 25% HP, Hel separates into multiple weaker versions of herself which all begin to simultaneously cast Hel on Earth for 30 seconds. If every Hel is not killed before those 30 seconds have passed then every member of the group is afflicted by the stacking debuff Hel on Earth, a Damge Over Time effect. Only a single Hel needs to survive for Hel on Earth to occur.

Each time Hel splits to cast Hel on Earth is another chance to gain a stack of Hel on Earth if not all adds are defeated in time. Affliction by Hel on Earth is signified by swirling blue rings. The damage of Hel on Earth doubles with every stack and thus increases the difficulty of the encounter and the demand for healing during it.

Normal Mode

At 75% HP, Hel splits into 4 Hel with 43002 HP each. All four (4) single Hel cast Hel on Earth by the pillars in the middle of the arena.

At 50% HP, Hel splits into 8 Hel with 21501 HP each. Four duos (4 sets of 2) of Hel cast Hel on Earth from between each pillar.

At 25% HP, Hel splits into 8 Hel with 21501 HP each. Four duos (4 sets of 2) of Hel cast Hel on Earth from between each pillar.

Nightmare Mode

At 75% HP, Hel splits into 4 Hel with 44954 HP each. All four (4) single Hel cast Hel on Earth by the pillars in the middle of the arena.

At 50% HP, Hel splits into 8 Hel with 22477 HP each. Four duos (4 sets of 2) of Hel cast Hel on Earth from between each pillar.

At 25% HP, Hel splits into 16 Hel with 14984 HP each. Four trios (4 sets of 3) of Hel cast Hel on Earth from the North, South, East, and West on the outer perimeter of the arena while four (4) single Hell cast Hel on Earth from between each inner pillar.

Frozen Rain

Hel quickly calls upon Frozen Rain right before splitting up at 50% HP for the second Hel on Earth. The Frozen Rain falls in the form of multiple small GTAoEs raining down on the area. It will not cease until Hel's defeat. Frozen Rain deals a small amount of damage when hit by it.

Don't stand in too much Frozen Rain. It's not good for you.

Normal Mode

In Normal Mode, Frozen Rain is a light sprinkle.

Nightmare Mode

In Nightmare Mode, there is much more rain pouring down. Frozen Rain is a heavy torrent.

Judgement of Hel

Every so often, Hel becomes fed up with the bees stinging her and decides to cast the channeled PBAoE Judgement of Hel for 15 seconds while making a full rotation clockwise or counterclockwise. While casting her Judgement, the room is bathed half in light and and half dark. The light and dark match Hel's sides of Life and Death and are split just as she is.

Players must follow Hel as she rotates and must stand in either the Light or Dark as determined by their Face of Hel. Standing in the wrong side will cause the Faces of Hel to deal immense damage every second.

Faces of Hel

During the Judgement of Hel, each individual gains either the Face of Life or Face of Death debuff. Each Face corresponds to a side of Hel and determines whether the Light or Dark she channels is safe or not. Faces of Hel deals damage every second to anyone whose side and Face do not match.

Each Face has its own visual in the form of a large image matching the Líf and Andlát runes for the Face of Life or Death of Hel with a light or dark swirl behind it. The icons for each Face share a split skull on a black background, but the colors of the sides differ.

The Face of Life visual as seen above your head is top of Líf on the floor on the left of Hel. It matches the illumination of Líf. While the Face of Life is to the left when facing Hel, it is actually her right side. The swirls of light are a light near-white blue behind the Face of Life. The buff icon for the Face of Life has the left side in white.

The Face of Life is that of Hel's living half.

The Face of Death visual as seen above your head is the top of Andlát on the floor on the right of Hel. Its colors are inverted compared to the rune's illumination and instead is a black skeletal face outlined in dark cyan. The Face of Death is the right half of the runes comprising Hel and is on the right when facing her, but it is actually her left side. The swirls of dark are a murky purple and black behind the Face of Death. The buff icon for the Face of Death has the right side in white.

The Face of Death is that of Hel's dead half.

Snowballing Judgement

There is a chance to cause Hel to flinch and impair Judgement of Hel by using Emote: Snowball through the Emotes GUI or [Emote: Snowball] item to throw a snowball at Hel while she is channeling Judgement of Hel. Doing so will return FIFO feedback at the top of your screen stating whether Hel flinched, didn't flinch, or has already flinched. There is no guarantee that any specific snowball will cause Hel to flinch. A successful flinch grants the achievement "Snowball's Chance in Hel".

When Hel flinches, she becomes visibly Dazed for 5 seconds and stops conducting the now-interrupted Judgement. You really frazzle her!

If Hel is defeated after flinching during the encounter, she will drop [Icy Claws] for every player present in the group. Hel must flinch and be defeated in the same encounter, as they will not drop upon her defeat if the fight has reset.

As using Emote: Snowball roots you to the ground for the duration of the snowball throw cast, attempting to make Hel flinch can cause you to be severely damaged by the Faces of Hel. Be certain to receive enough healing or mitigation to survive her Judgement in the mean time.