Powerful beings in Altera can create areas of influence where their power is absolute. These areas are known as Nests and cannot be entered by other beings without permission, though this can be circumvented with specific items that serve as keys.
During the main story players witness and interact with the Nests of the Gold Dragon Gerrant and the Black Dragon Velskud, but more monstrous entities have created their own Nests all over the land. Monsters in these areas are much stronger due to being infused with the Nest Boss's dark powers and are an incredible threat to all but the strongest of adventurers at the same level.
Nests are the final challenge for players who reach the level cap in the update that introduces them. They start at Abyss difficulty and subsequently offer an even fiercer Hell difficulty (not available for the Minotaur Nest) with better rewards. Players will have to run both versions multiple times if they wish to craft the signature equipment and claim the Nest Boss's powers.
Entering a Nest
To enter a Nest, every player in the party must have its associated Nest Pass, which can be obtained from any Dimensional Rabbit's Box. This allows access to the Abyss version of the nest. To access the Hell version, each party member needs the Rare version of the Nest Pass from the Abyss difficulty Reward Chest. Any player who does not have either version of the Nest Pass will find an impassable black miasma blocking the entrance.
Every Nest can only be entered a certain number of times a week, recorded by the Nest list in the 'Dungeon' tab to the left of the Social Panel (opened with the 'O' key). All Nests can be accessed from the portal chamber in North-west Saint's Haven.
Why challenge the Nests?
There are many rewards that can be obtained from Nests:
- Materials that are needed to craft that Boss's signature equipment set (each class has his or her own set), which has tremendous set bonuses for its level.
- One or more pieces of 'regular' (non-Boss related) Epic equipment. All equipment that drops in a Nest is furthermore already sealed and ready for trade.
- Epic Powders/Extracts/Crystals that would otherwise need to be refined from Rare versions.
- Epic Crests.
- Special Skill Crests that allow a player to use one of the Boss's attacks as an Active skill.
- Comet Dust.
Nests also offer more gold than any other dungeon and the Boss's unique 'trash' drops can be NPCed for a hefty sum.
General Tips
- The contents of the final Reward Chest in the Nest is affected to some extent by the score of the player who opens it, so many parties state their scores before or after the Reward Lottery and have the highest scorer open the chest.
- The Abyss version of a Nest can usually be soloed at the recommended level for the next Nest (e.g. the level 24 Minotaur Nest can be soloed at level 32, the level of the Cerberus Nest) even with poor play and sub-optimum gear. Good gear can allow a Hell solo for the same Nest. Soloing a Nest at its recommended level requires a certain level of skill even with the best available gear.
- Having enough people with Lifesaver to cover the whole final boss fight can eliminate the need for a healer but proper coordination is needed.