Nodon Front

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Nodon Front
Release						26 July 2021 (Update)
Members						Yes
Location						Senntisten
Teleports						Boss portal attuned to Kerapac Pontifex shadow ring (cathedral)
Music						The City of Senntisten
Map

The Nodon Front is the first of four fronts of the Elder God Wars Dungeon released on 26 July 2021. It features the first assault on the cathedral in Senntisten, where united forces of young gods keep the eggs of the Elder Gods from hatching and destroying Gielinor in the process. The attack is led by Kerapac, the bound and his army of Nodon dragonkin, who have been enslaved by Jas and tasked with reclaiming the eggs. Kerapac is also the avatar of the Needle, an Elder artefact which gives him control over time, and possesses the Staff of Armadyl.

The front has no requirements to access; however, 92 Slayer is required to fight Nodon dragonkin in this part of the dungeon, and 90 Construction is required to repair the siege weapons and use them against the enemy. It is also recommended to have at least level 80 in combat skills, as well as tier-80 equipment. Additionally, the completion of Sliske's Endgame and City of Senntisten is recommended for a better understanding of the story, as the front is considered the next instalment in the ongoing Elder God Wars narrative. The Shard of Erebus makes the Nodon dragonkin unaggressive towards the player, and the pontifex shadow ring can be upgraded with 1,000 resonant anima of Jas acquired from defeating enemies in the Front.

For the duration of the first week after release, Jagex instated a Free death week.

Getting there

The Nodon Front is located in the western section of Senntisten, which can be accessed by the ancient door north of the Archaeology Guild and directly east of Tolna's rift. After entering Senntisten the player needs to access the cathedral to the south of the entrance and then leave through the western cathedral door. Passing through the western door for the first time triggers a cutscene.

Travel methods include:

• Use the Archaeology journal to teleport to the Archaeology Guild, then walk north to the ancient door.
• Using a gnome glider to fly to Lemanto Andra (3) leaves the player very close to the ancient door.
• The Pontifex shadow ring, restored after the City of Senntisten quest, can teleport the player directly to the cathedral.
• The dig sites map in the Archaeology Guild, archaeology teleport or the master archaeologist's outfit can be used to teleport to the Senntisten Dig Site camp just north-east of the cathedral, provided the player has level 60 Archaeology or access to those items.
• The boss portal in War's Retreat (requiring at least one kill of Kerapac, the bound) or the boss portal in the Max Guild (doesn't require a kill) can be attuned to teleport the player to the colosseum gateway, right next to the market area.

Map

Nodon Front

• 
  Kree'arra
• 
  Commander Zilyana
• 
  Nex
• 
  K'ril Tsutsaroth
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  Kerapac, the bound (boss)
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  Naressa
• Nodon artificer
• Nodon guard
• Nodon hunter
• Nodon engineer
• Siege engine
• Abandoned siege engine

Kerapac, the bound

Main article: Kerapac, the bound

Kerapac, the bound is a boss encounter within the Grand Colosseum of Senntisten, found in the north-west part of the Nodon Front. Kerapac can be fought in a team 1-3 players, with an emphasis on the solo fight. His health and drop rate does not scale with team size. The fight has both a normal and hard mode. Both modes have four phases, however in hard mode the fourth phase is much different and more difficult than the fourth phase of normal mode. Hardmode provides a harder fight but also has access to the normal unique drop table along with fragments for the Fractured Staff of Armadyl, a tier 95 two-handed magic weapon. Kerapac uses both Elder artefacts during the fight, bringing himself back with an "echo" repeating mechanics as he does them as they happened in a previous phase. Kerapac also has a unique extra action button based mechanic in the fight called Timewarp that takes a snapshot of the player (Adrenaline, cooldowns etc.). Unlike in the previous God Wars dungeons, there is no kill count requirement to fight the boss.

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  Kerapac, the bound with Elder artefacts.

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  Jas commands Kerapac to reclaim the eggs.

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  Senntisten colosseum, where Kerapac makes his stand.

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  The inside of Senntisten colosseum.

Nodon dragonkin

Slayer

Main article: Nodon dragonkin (Slayer assignment)

Players with 92 Slayer can fight several variants of the Nodon dragonkin using different combat styles. The Nodon can be assigned as a Slayer assignment by Morvran or Laniakea.

The Nodon are concentrated in two areas, between the buildings directly to the west of the Cathedral and in the ruined market area in the northern part of the front, directly to the east of the colosseum. Except for siege engines, all Nodon are aggressive unless the Shard of Erebus is equipped.

Monster	Level	level	Combat style	Weakness	Slayer XP	LP	Susceptible to	Notes
Nodon artificer	120	92			1,858.8	30,000	hexhunter,dragon slayer	Special attack (after 6 auto-attacks): Feel the flames... Launches 3 fire beams in quick succession, each targeting the player's current location. Taking damage prompts the following chat message: The dragonkin's fiery beam pierces your body. Damage ignores protection prayers and deflect curses, but can be reduced with dragonfire protection or avoided by moving.
Nodon guard	120	92			1,858.8	30,000	inquisitor,dragon slayer	Special attack (after 6 auto-attacks): ARGHH! Leaps into the air and slams back down, hitting 3 tiles in front of them with a quake attack, dealing heavy damage and stunning the player if they're standing on one of those squares. Can be avoided by sidestepping the guard as soon as they shout. If dodged, the guard will take double damage from most sources for the time it takes them to make 2 standard attacks. This includes bleeds and K'ril Tsutsaroth's battlefield ability which can be used to deal nearly half of their life points in a single hit.
Nodon hunter	120	92			1,858.8	30,000	terrasaur,dragon slayer	Special attack (after 6 auto-attacks): BOMBS AWAY! Rains arrows in a 3 × 3 area surrounding the player's current position, dealing damage over time. Taking damage prompts the following chat message: Your lungs fill from the toxic gases. Can be avoided by moving away right after the attack is signaled. Damage is reduced by any headgear working as a face mask (such as a Slayer helmet).
Nodon engineer	150	92			2,769	50,000	inquisitor,dragon slayer	Can attack with one of the three special attacks mentioned above.
Nodon enforcer	200	92			4,003	100,000	inquisitor,dragon slayer	Elite variant that can randomly spawn while killing the Nodon engineer. Aggressive even with the Shard of Erebus. Can attack with one of the three special attacks mentioned above.
Siege engine	150	92			1,505	30,000	hexhunter,dragon slayer	Loot is dropped by unattackable Nodon grunt. Damage can be avoided by stepping away right after the shot or reduced using Protect from Missiles/Deflect Missiles.

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  Nodon artificer

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  Nodon guard

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  Nodon hunter

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  Nodon engineer

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  Nodon enforcer

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  Siege engine

Siege engines

Additionally players can use their Construction and Thieving skills, as well as siege engine parts, to turn the siege weaponry against the Nodon.

Engine	Requirement	Parts needed	Notes
Abandoned siege engine	90 Construction	Repair: 30 Siege engine parts Shot: 15 Siege engine parts	When used can be aimed at any spot or monster, dealing 30,000 damage and killing most enemies, excluding engineers and enforcers, in one shot. This counts as a Nodon dragonkin kill and awards experience and loot as usual. Engine can be exited by using the extra action button.
Siege engine (broken)	90 Thieving	15 Siege engine parts	When destroyed in combat, it can be sabotaged to instantly kill the Nodon grunt upon respawn. Sabotaging gives 500 Thieving experience. This does not count as a Nodon dragonkin kill, awarding no experience nor progress towards Slayer assignments, but awards loot as usual. If a grunt respawns while the player is sabotaging, the siege engine becomes aggressive and the process is interrupted.

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  Abandoned siege engine

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  Siege engine (broken)

Battlefield abilities

Additionally, the five generals from the first God Wars Dungeon and the Heart of Gielinor found throughout the different fronts can aid in the defences of the Cathedral by providing the player with temporary abilities:

One of the following abilities may be selected at once by talking to the corresponding commander and can be activated using the extra action button. Can be used during, and does not incur, the global cooldown.

Commander		Ability		Description	Cooldown	Location
	Kree'arra		Swiftness of the Aviansie	Channel the Avianse kin and gain a 10% damage increase for a short duration (18 seconds).	60 seconds	Show map
	Commander Zilyana		Light of Saradomin	Call upon the light to shield yourself from 50% of incoming damage for a short duration (18 seconds).	60 seconds	Show map
	Nex		Blood siphon	Siphon life directly from your target to heal yourself (25% of the target's maximum health over 6 hits).	120 seconds	Show map
	K'ril Tsutsaroth		K'ril SMASH	Smash your target with a large attack of 75% of your current weapon's damage type.	150 seconds	Show map
	Helwyr		Wrath of Nature	Summons a Mushroom that explodes after a delay, dealing damage around it.	60 seconds	Show map
	Gorvek		Dragonfire rain	Call in support from Gorvek to rain down dragonfire where you stand, dealing magic damage to any monsters standing in the affected area.	120 seconds	Show map

Rewards

Kerapac, the bound, drops the following rewards:

• Kerapac's wrist wraps, tier 85 Magic gloves which cause Combust to instantly deal 25% more damage if used 6 seconds after Dragon Breath
• Scripture of Jas, Jas themed god book with +5 bonus to Prayer, +8 bonus to all styles and Time Rift special ability which causes all ability damage to add up for 10 seconds and then deals 20% of that damage to the target. The scripture cannot be illuminated.
• Greater Concentrated blast ability codex, which upgrades Concentrated Blast to deal 70%-290% total ability damage over 1.8s in 3 hits (from 48%-246% over 2.4s) and gives 5% critical strike chance for the next ability after every channelled hit
• Pieces of the Fractured Staff of Armadyl, a tier 95 magic staff; exclusive to hard mode. Its special attack, Instability, deals 50-200% weapon damage and causes each critical strike against the target in the next 30 seconds to fire an extra spell.

Upgraded dwarf multicanon.

The Nodon dragonkin drop the following:

• Siege engine parts, used to repair or sabotage siege machines.
• Dwarf multicannon upgrade kit, used to unlock the dwarven siege engine, an upgrade to the dwarf multicannon with a unique appearance, as well as increased damage of all multicannon variants (such as the golden or royale dwarf multicannon).
• Kinetic cyclone upgrade kit, increasing the damage of the kinetic cyclone by 50%.
• Oldak coil upgrade kit, increasing the damage of the Oldak coil by 50%.
• Naressa's journal, a lorebook.

Rewards from both sources include:

• Resonant anima of Jas, used to upgrade the pontifex shadow ring, after which a tradeable variant is dropped.
• Dragonkin bones, which can be buried for Prayer experience.

Repairing 10 abandoned siege engines grants the Engineer [Name] title.

Archaeology

The Nodon Front contains two excavation sites of the Senntisten Dig Site. The marketplace excavation site consists of marketplace debris, found directly north of colosseum gateway, and Inquisitor remains, found near the Inquisition headquarters directly north of the Nodon artificers. The colosseum excavation site can also be accessed by choosing Enter (Non combat) option on the colosseum gateway, leading to a safe version of the area from the Kerapac, the bound encounter area. Numerous parts of mysteries from the Senntisten Dig Site can also be found in this area.

Personalities

Throughout the Nodon Front several allied NPCs can be found, providing additional narrative background, granting battlefield abilities and occasionally fighting the Nodon in scripted events. The main defenders of the front are the Crux Eqal knights and the Temple Knights, who were later joined by the Abyssal Knights.

• Commander Zilyana is found on the north-western cathedral balcony. She provides a battlefield ability and can be seen flying down to the entrance of the market area to kill a Nodon commander.
• Kree'arra is found on an overlook to the west of the forum, located north of the cathedral. He provides a battlefield ability and can be seen using his hurricane ability to kill two Nodon flying up to his position from the market area.
• Kenton Decarte is found on a lower overlook north of the staircase. He is leading the Abyssal Knights and keeping order on the request of Grand Master Cemphier.
• K'ril Tsutsaroth is found near the blood bank, on the way to the market area. He provides a battlefield ability and can be seen killing an approaching Nodon and exclaiming the number of enemies he has killed.
• Naressa is a non hostile Nodon dragonkin hiding in a house on the southern end of the front.
• Nex is found on the stairway leading to the Nodon Front from the cathedral. She provides a battlefield ability. She was previously found on the overlook to the north of her current position.
• The Praesul (Cruor, Fumus, Glacies and Umbra) are found on the stairway leading to the Nodon Front from the cathedral. They can be seen dispatching a wave of four Nodon approaching the cathedral.
• Thaerisk Cemphier is found on the north-west cathedral balcony, where he runs an infirmary for the wounded Crux Eqal knights, Temple Knights and Elven Knights. The infirmary was expanded with elves following the release of Glacor Front.
• Valluta, a Guardian of Guthix, is found in the northern part of the lower overlook north of the staircase.

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  Thaerisk's infirmary after opening of the Glacor Front.

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  Praesul fighting a Nodon approaching the cathedral.

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  Nex and her Praesul.

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  Zilyana fighting a Nodon commander.

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  Kree'arra fighting two dragonkin.

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  K'ril killing an approaching Nodon.

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  Camp of the Temple Knights and the Crux Eqal knights.

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  Nodon artillery firing at the cathedral.

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  Senntisten cathedral under fire with Zilyana on the balcony.

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  Camp of the Abyssal Knights, with Kenton Decarte and Valluta, established after opening of the Croesus Front.

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  Southern part of the Nodon Front, invaded by the dragonkin after opening of the Croesus Front.

Gallery

Promotional

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  Promotional art featuring Kerapac with the Staff of Armadyl leading the Nodon, with Jas looming in the distance

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  Main artwork of the Nodon Front.

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  Art by Linyi commissioned by Jagex.

Cutscene

Kerapac reflects on his own fate.

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  Jas lays waste to Orthen.

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  Jas binds Kerapac.

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  Kerapac wakes the Nodon.

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  Kerapac and the Elder Artefacts.

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  Jas seeks the eggs.

Development

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  Cutscene colour script

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  Concept art for Kerapac, the bound by Mod BakingaZ.

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  Artwork of Kerapac, the bound by Mod BakingaZ.

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  Concept art for the Staff of Armadyl by Mod BakingaZ.

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  Concept art for the Staff of Armadyl by Mod BakingaZ.

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  3D model of the Staff of Armadyl.

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  Dyed variants of the Staff of Armadyl.

Development history

The release month of the first front of the Elder God Wars Dungeon was first revealed by Mod Warden during the RuneScape Mobile release stream on 16 June 2021, along with the information that next fronts will open in the following months. On 9 July a newspost revealed first details about the first front, including requirements and the date of the reveal trailer. On the same day a short teaser featuring Kerapac's voice and a view of Senntisten colosseum was posted on social media. On 16 July 2021, following a countdown, a reveal trailer was published, revealing the update's name and release date, as well as a narrative introduction. On the same day, an accompanying newspost was published, informing that more details as well as gameplay will be revealed in a Developer Diary on 20 July, as well as announcing behind the scenes Discord lore chat with Mod Jack and Mod Raven on 21 July, an update to the newspost with new information on 22 July, and launch stream with developers on the release day. The introduction video released on 20 July provided first look at gameplay and details regarding the boss fight, Slayer and siege weapons activities and rewards.

The Nodon Front has been developed by Mod Ramen and Mod Luma. The artists working on this project were Mod Blkwitch, Mod Wing, Mod Soffan, Mod Alex and Mod Haku.

With the release of the Glacor Front on 31 August, Thaerisk's infirmary was expanded with wounded elven knights. With the release of the Croesus Front on 27 September, the Nodon Front was expanded and underwent a number of changes. Additional spawns of guards, hunters, artificers and siege engines were added in the area directly to the west of the Cathedral, which previously included only scripted encounters between non-attackable Nodon and the defending NPCs. The Abyssal Knights, led by Kenton Decarte and Valluta, were added to the lower Cathedral overlook and near Zilyana, while Nex was moved to stand behind her Praesul. Temple Knights were added to the Crux Eqal camp on the southern overlook. A number of dead dragonkin and defenders' bodies were added throughout the new portion of the front. Several roofs throughout the front were destroyed, using assets developed for the Croesus Front area.

Transcript

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Credits

Nodon Front
Developers
Developer				Mod Ramen (boss), Mod Luma (Slayer content)
Writing				Mod Jack, Mod William
Production				Mod Stacey
Art and graphics
Characters				Mod Deadly, Mod Soffan
Environments				Mod Alex, Mod Blkwitch, Mod Read
Animation				Mod Haku, Mod Wing
Concept				Mod BakingaZ, Mod Fox
Quality assurance
Quality assurance				Mod Forza, Mod Planty
Audio
Audio				Mod Surma

Graphical updates

Infirmary

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  Infirmary after 26 July 2021 (update)

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  Infirmary after 31 August 2021 (update)

Crux Eqal Camp

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  Crux Eqal camp after 26 July 2021 (update)

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  Crux Eqal camp after 27 September 2021 (update)

Northern Overlook

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  Northern overlook after 16 August 2021 (update)

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  Northern overlook after 27 September 2021 (update)

Blood Bank Area

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  Blood bank area after 26 July 2021 (update)

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  Blood bank area after 27 September 2021 (update)

Western Approach

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  Western approach after 16 August 2021 (update)

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  Western approach after 27 September 2021 (update)

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included – see here for how to help out!

• patch 24 January 2022 (Update):
  • Fixed an issue with incorrect difficulty information during the Kerapac encounter.

• patch 25 October 2021 (Update):
  • The additional Nodon Engineer in the Nodon Front has been removed.

• hidden 27 September 2021 (Update):
  • More Nodon dragonkin and siege engines have been added to the area to the west of the Cathedral.
  • Nex has been moved from the overlook to just behind the Praesul.
  • Kenton Decarte, Abyssal Knights and Valluta have been added in the area were Nex was previously found.
  • A number of dead, non-interactive Nodon, Temple Knights and Crux Eqal knights have been added throughout the area. Temple Knights have been added to the overlook with Crux Eqal knights.
  • Several buildings had their roofs destroyed.

• patch 20 September 2021 (Update):
  • A player that joins the battle during Kerapac's lightning attack can now see the attack animation.

• patch 6 September 2021 (Update):
  • The Fractured Staff of Armadyl has been added to the Magic Skill Guide.
  • The Needle in the Colosseum in Senntisten can now be examined.
  • Achievements that require the boss to be killed in a certain way will no longer be awarded to players who joined in the middle of an encounter.
  • When a player dies in the Wilderness with the dyed version of the Fractured Staff of Armadyl equipped, they will leave the broken base version of it as loot.
  • The overlapping abandoned siege engine in The Nodon Front has been removed.
  • The materials cart in The Nodon Front has been moved slightly north.

• hidden 31 August 2021 (Update):
  • Elven Knights were added to the infirmary.

• patch 31 August 2021 (Update):
  • Kerapac's time clones no longer target players that have left the boss fight.
  • The Staff of Armadyl's special attack's initial hit will now deal 50-200% ability damage as stated in the tooltip.
  • Greater Concentrated Blast's tooltop has been updated to match its live damage values.

• patch 9 August 2021 (Update):
  • Dyed versions of the Fractured Staff of Armadyl are no longer tradeable.
  • The Pontifex Shadow Ring can now be reclaimed from Azzanadra in the Azzanadra's Cathedral.
  • Attack options will now be hidden on Kerapac during his death animation to make looting easier.
  • Added a 1.2 second antispam to the Warp Time ability in the Kerapac encounter to prevent spam clicking from accelerating it.
  • Cooldown indicators on various abilities found in The Nodon Front have been made more opaque for better visibility.
  • Clue Scrolls will now drop with the rest of the loot piles in the Kerapac.
  • If players attempt to stand beneath Kerapac during the Shatter mechanic, the time thread tear will now pick a random direction to fire in, instead of not firing at all.
  • Added a check to Kerapac's magic attack to stop him dealing damage while he's in the process of dying.
  • The Staff of Armadyl's special attack is now affected by the Altar of War's cooldown reset.
  • The Greater Concentrated Blast ability's animation no longer shows the player held in place if they attempt to move while casting.

• hotfix 9 August 2021 (Update):
  • The damage from Kerapac's slam attack has been increased.
  • The drop rate of Naressa's Journal has been increased.
  • The maximum number of players able to join an instance of Kerapac, the Bound is now capped correctly.
  • Poison no longer bypasses damage caps when Kerapac transitions through phases.
  • The dyed Fractured Staff of Armadyl will now retain its dye when transitioning to certain states.
  • Drops from the Nodon will no longer appear under siege engines.
  • Ironmen will now be awarded drops and progress on their Slayer Tasks when using siege cannons against the Nodon.
  • The Warp Time ability from the Kerapac boss fight will no longer re-trigger upon leaving the instance.
  • The extra damage from Dwarf Multicannon Upgrade Kits will now only be applied after the upgrade has been unlocked.
  • Kerapac will now attack straight away after transitioning into phase 4 on Hardmode.
  • Kerapac can no longer be damaged during phase transitions.
  • The Staff of Armadyl's special attack no longer gives extra spellcasts via non-ability-based critical hits.
  • Ironmen will now reliably receive loot and XP from Kerapac.

• update 26 July 2021 (Update):
  • Added to game.