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Published On: December 6, 2022
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Al-Naemeh, The Sand Devil

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Al-Naemeh, the Sand Devil is the dungeon boss you will need to defeat to acquire Oil, a resource used in Artifact Ascension. Check our full guide on Artifact Ascension here. Al-Naemeh brings with him unqiue mechanics that will require you to unearth some long forgotten debuffs (and champions as a result) to beat his mechanics! Let’s break it down.

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Ability Breakdown

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Rage of the Sands
Attacks all enemies. Places a 30% [Decrease SPD] debuff and a 50% [Decrease ACC] debuff on all enemies for 2 turns.

Dune Tempest – 3 Turn Cooldown
Removes all debuffs from Al-Naemeh, then heals him. The amount healed is proportional to the total amount of destroyed MAX HP on the enemy team. After healing, attacks all enemies. The damage this skill inflicts decreases for each removed debuff.

Feasting Swarm – 4 Turn Cooldown
Attacks all enemies. Ignores [Shield], [Block Damage], and [Unkillable] buffs, as well as 100% of the target’s DEF. After attacking, places a [Sleep] debuff on Al-Naemeh for 2 turns.

[Passive Effect]
Increases  the current cooldown of this skill by 1 turn whenever a [Sleep] debuff is placed on Al-Naemeh by enemies.

Rest for the Wicked [Passive]
Al-Naemeh is immune to receiving all debuffs except [Sleep]. Also immune to HP exchange effects, HP balancing effects, cooldown increasing effects, Turn Meter reduction effects, and debuff duration increasing effects.

When under a [Sleep] debuff, Al-Naemeh is only immune to receiving [Freeze], [Sleep], [Provoke], [Block Active Skills], [Block Passive Skills], [Fear], [True Fear] and [Petrification] debuffs, as well as HP exchange effects, HP balancing effects, and cooldown increasing effects.

Decreases incoming damage from enemy skills by 25% on Stages 1-5, by 50% on Stages 6-15, and by 75% on Stages 16-25. This innate damage reduction is decreased by 10% for each debuff that Al-Naemeh is currently under.

Soul Sustenance [Passive]
Whenever Al-Naemeh attacks, destroys the MAX HP of all targets by 10%. Whenever an enemy decreases Al-Naemeh’s turn meter, destroys the MAX HP of that enemy by the same percentage.

Whenever Al-Naemeh is under a [Sleep] debuff and an enemy Champion is healed, restores a portion of that Champion’s destroyed MAX HP. The amount restored is equal to the value of the heal.

Dreamless Sleep [Passive]
Activates the Slumber counter whenever a [Sleep] debuff is placed on Al-Naemeh. The Slumber counter disappears whenever a [Sleep] debuff expires on Al-Naemeh or is removed from him. [Sleep] debuffs are not removed from Al-Naemeh when he is attacked.

Decreases Al-Naemeh’s Slumber counter by 1 whenever Al-Naemeh is hit. Whenever the Slumber counter reaches 0, removes any [Sleep] debuffs from Al-Naemeh and fills his Turn Meter by 50%. Whenever a [Sleep] debuff expires or is removed from Al-Naemeh, he becomes immune to [Sleep] debuffs for 1 turn.

The duration of the Slumber counter is 10 on Stages 1-5, 7 on Stages 6-15, and 5 on Stages 16-25.

Almighty Strength [Passive]
Damage from skills that scale based on enemy MAX HP cannot exceed 10% of the Boss’ MAX HP when attacking the Boss.

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How to beat the boss!

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There’s a great deal going on with Al-Naemah that will stretch your needs in a 5 man team. Firstly, you must bring some form of sleep to this fight. If the boss is not receiving Sleep debuffs regularly he will be able to have access to his big AoE nuke more frequently, an ability that will likely kill your team if you do not have some form of revive on death. You also are unable to debuff the boss without sleep so dealing damage will be impossible due to his passive damage immunity. His A2 as a result will scale to much greater damage. Sleep therefore is something you should bring.

Once you apply a sleep you have a limited number of turns to apply debuffs on the boss (5 in any high end dungeon stage). Therefore multi-hitters (unless you can disable their abilities) should be avoided and you’re looking for champions that can apply large amounts of debuffs with as few attacks as possible. Ideally you want poisons alongside Decrease Defence and Weaken debuffs.

You will also want to bring some aspect of healing to your team to combat the boss’s MAX HP destruction effects. If your healer also brings Miracle Heal Blessing this is a bonus. You’ll likely face atleast 1 of his big nukes which ignores all defence, unkillable and block damage effects. The only solution here is a Revive on Death buff placed on all members so they revive after the nuke.

Finally you will want a method to defeat the boss. This will likely be enemy MAX HP nukers ideally with single hit abilities alongside Warmaster/Giant Slayer damage, Poisons and HP Burns.

Essential things to bring to your team:

  1. Sleep Debuff – Check out our recommended Sleep Champions for this boss here.
  2. Debuffs – Check out our best debuffers updated for this boss here (TBC).
  3. Healing – Check out the top 10 recommended Healers here (TBC).
  4. Damage – Check out our recommended Boss Killer Champions here (TBC).
  5. Revive on Death – There are not many revive on death champions but we’ve compiled a list of your best options here.

Main things to Avoid:

  1. Multi-hit champions – This will deplete the Slumber counter limiting your debuff window
  2. Turn Meter Reducing effects – This will destroy you MAX HP very quickly so should be avoided at all costs.
  3. Unkillable, Block Damage effects – The boss will ignore these effects on his big nuke

Beating Al-Naemah can be done in a few ways and we have 3 examples of team compositions below! First let’s cover the minimum stats you should aim to hit.

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Required Stat Breakpoints

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For a full stat breakdown, use our handy Raid Stages Tool which displays enemy stats for every encounter in the game. If you are not already a member of the HellHades community, you can sign up for a Free Account to gain access to this tool. Below we will outline the minimum stats you should aim for:

The key stats you should consider are Accuracy and Speed on your team alongside good HP/Def to survive his damaging abilities (Defence is worthless versus his Feasting Swarm but will benefit the other two abilities). You can choose to add resistance however this only required for his Rage of the Sands (which can be blocked with Block Debuffs buff or cleansed).

Stage 7 (Most Efficient Lesser Oil)

To be successful, aim for:

  • Speed: 180+
  • Accuracy: 200+
  • Resistance: 265+ (To resist the Rage of the Sands Debuffs)

Depending on which strategy you choose, you should ensure you have enough HP and Defence to survive this encounter. Generally we advise at least 30kHP and 2000 Defence.

Alternatively considering farming Stage 11 if you cannot farm Stage 24 to get some Greater Oil.

Stage 24 (Most Efficient Greater Oil)

To be successful, aim for:

  • Speed: 265+
  • Accuracy: 505+
  • Resistance: 675+ (To resist the Rage of the Sands Debuffs)

Depending on which strategy you choose, you should ensure you have enough HP and Defence to survive this encounter. Generally we advise at least 50k HP and 4000 Defence.

Stage 25 (Most Efficient Superior Oil)

This is the highest stage rewarding the most Tier 3 Oil and is Force Affinity. To be successful, aim for:

  • Speed: 270+
  • Accuracy: 525+
  • Resistance: 705+ (To resist the Rage of the Sands Debuffs)

Depending on which strategy you choose, you should ensure you have enough HP and Defence to survive this encounter. Generally we advise at least 60k HP and 5000 Defence.

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Team Compositions

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Strategy 1: Revive on Death

In this strategy we utilise Revive on Death to avoid dying to Feasting Swarm. We designate a single space for Sleep and bring strong healing and debuffs. If you lack debuffs you can consider toxic sets to improve debuff placement per team.

MVP’s for this Strategy

Mother Cybele: This was once considered a terrible Fusion champion but then came Hydra and now Al-Namaeh. She brings a single A1 attack with Decrease Speed debuff and a Revive on Death with Increase Defence and a strong speed aura. You can disable her a3.

Riho Bonespear: No champion pumps more debuffs on a single ability than Riho’s A2. This single ability increases your damage output on high stages by 37.5%!

Djamarsa: We need a Sleep champion and there are not many better options than Djarmarsa, a champion available with very little effort from the Referral System (see here) and is a 50% A1 Sleep with also a full team Revive if required.

Champion Alternatives

Not every player will have this exact team, but there are very good options to some of these champions. Below we detail viable alternatives:
Mother Cybele: Cardiel, Skytouched Shaman, Lightsworn (although really avoidable due to 3 hit A1)
Riho Bonespear: Narma the Returned, Liburga, Teodor the Savant, Taurus
Djamarsa: Siphi the Lost Bride, Muckstalker, Hellhound, Maeve, Chaagur, Marquis

Strategy 2: StoneSkin Trickery!

morrigaine team al-namaeh

This team is built with all champions on 1 turn Stoneskin and going after the boss takes a turn or with 2 turn debuff and going before the boss takes a turn. You will use the Stoneskin protection to reduce the initial Feasting Swarm by 85%. Then you have approximately 8 turns of the enemy boss to kill him before you lose the fight! (Each sleep you place increases the cooldown of Feasting Swarm by 1). Riho and Liburga allow you maximise the Debuff bar in 2 attacks allowing full damage max hp from Armiger. You will run no Accuracy on Armiger to avoid dropping turn meter and Morrigaine will run with A3 disabled. We utilise Morrigaine’s unremovable Heal Reduction to stop Al-Namaeh from Healing.

MVP’s for this Strategy

Riho Bonespear: No champion pumps more debuffs on a single ability than Riho’s A2. This single ability increases your damage output on high stages by 37.5%!

Hellhound: We need a Sleep champion and whilst Hellhound is a Common champ (so tricky to keep alive), he has the best Sleep on the right affinity for the highest stages of the dungeon.

Champion Alternatives

Not every player will have this exact team, but there are very good options to some of these champions. Below we detail viable alternatives:
Riho Bonespear/Liburga: Narma the Returned, Liburga, Teodor the Savant, Taurus
Hellhound: Siphi the Lost Bride, Muckstalker, Djamarsa, Maeve, Chaagur, Marquis
Armiger: Acrizia (No Accuracy to avoid Turn Meter Drop), Septimus, Royal Guard (A3 disabled)

Strategy 3: GodNinja!

godninja team

This team revolves around Godseeker’s unique abilities. Her Passive will place a revive on death prior to an ally dying. This is selected via Team order if multiple allies die so you place Godseeker as the leader. She revives herself when the boss uses his Feasting Swarm and then her A3 revives your DPS Champion (i.e. Ninja) and resets their skills allowing you to use the desirable skills on revive. A careful balance of HP/DEF is required to keep both champions alive during the Feasting Swarm Windows and you will need both in Regeneration Artifacts and ideally Defiant or Immortal secondary sets (strong non-set pieces are viable if the stats are achieved). This duo allows you to farm stage 24/25 (changing to a different DPS) Full auto reasonably fast. Check out Saphyrra’s guide on this team here.

MVP’s for this Strategy

Godseeker Aniri: One of the most powerful epics in the game and she is an absolute MVP for this encounter!

Ninja: Ninja’s power in his A2 to place HP burn and activate it. HP Burn Bypasses the Boss Damage Reduction making it one of the most viable damage dealers for this boss.

Champion Alternatives

Not every player will have this exact team, but there are very good options to some of these champions. Below we detail viable alternatives:
Godseeker Aniri: Godseeker is fairly irreplaceable however teams have managed to find success with Mother Cybele
Ninja: Walking Tomb Dreng (Stage 25), Crohnam (Stage 24), Sicia Flametongue, HP Burner

Alternatively, any 6 Star Awakened Legendary champion with Brimstone can replace Ninja.

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Shangri-La
Shangri-La
1 year ago

I think you forgot to mention one honorable champion with a triple hit A1 and a 50% chance of sleep and that is Crimson Slayer!

Also, green affinity so she wouldn’t have a problem on the highest floor where the affinity of the boss changes to red ..

sdshadow
sdshadow
1 year ago
Reply to  Shangri-La

Crimson Slayer is not good because of the triple hit A1.
She will eat the only 5 turns of sleep a lot. If you are lucky, you sleep at the last hit. If not, she sleeps with the first hit and then reduce the sleep counter by the next two hits.

Aingree
Aingree
1 year ago

In response to your champion alternatives section: Acrizia’s A3 doesn’t need accuracy so having her without it won’t prevent stealing turn meter when the boss is asleep. However since you can’t debuff the boss when it’s awake, you can use her A3 then.

Trixel187
Trixel187
1 year ago

No love for Conelia? What about a reflect strategy since he doesn’t remove buffs.

SS2020user
SS2020user
1 year ago
Reply to  Trixel187

Well, he has way more hp than you, he won’t die from reflect damage, as will basically no bosses in the game. For example he has nearly 5 million hp at stage 25. If all your champs have 100k hp, have reflect damage, all get killed and revived you’d deal 165k. You’d need to die about 30 times if you always have reflect damage, and don’t gte your max hp reduced, and the boss doesn’t just heal.

Aeryn
Aeryn
1 year ago

In my first attempts at this I have found that Warmaster and Giant Slayer may NOT be the best bet as each proc of them counts as an extra hit on the sleep timer.

K M
K M
1 year ago
Reply to  Aeryn

thanks for that observation, I think that’s been making me think that he was bugged and using up extra hits when people who only hit once are causing 2 of the counters to drop :(

Tomas Jelinek
Tomas Jelinek
1 year ago
Reply to  K M

The problem is – the mastery description is saying it doesn’t count as an extra hit. So the counter should not go down. Same thing with Fire Knight, right? I would consider it a bug.

K M
K M
1 year ago

I don’t have hardly enough of the champions that you used in your strategies. But, I have been exploring another strategy that might be easier for you (I don’t have enough of these champs or dupes to make it a viable comp yet to max level). BUT, what about a “No-hit debuffer” strategy. I have been using BEK, madam serris, and Geomancer (riskily), but it kind of works so far. There are a few champions who don’t attack when they place debuffs. This seems like something you overlooked, or maybe you tried it too and couldn’t climb all the way to the top level with it? I’m currently stuck around level 10…

nikoknight
nikoknight
1 year ago

Whoever people are using to put the Devil to sleep, I’m finding that the Harvest Despair mastery is helpful (60% chance of placing a Leech debuff when placing the Sleep debuff).

dont3372
dont3372
1 year ago

Question: In the guide you say to avoid turn meter control but you have one of the best turn meter control champions in the game shown in the teams above, Armiger. So I am a bit confused as to why this champion is shown/listed.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 months ago
Reply to  Saphyrra

I had wondered that as well. So based on what you said, I’m guessing you would build an Armiger without accuracy.

KillerGMC
KillerGMC
11 months ago

Hello HH team! Great work btw!!
Can you add the Efficiency table on this page? The one with all the other levels, and per stage breakdown of oil/ refil/energy stuff?
Keep up the amazing work!

Enrico Viglino
Enrico Viglino
11 months ago

I can’t get sleeps to land on lvl 6. I have 280 accuracy on my muckstalker (yeah, bad affinity) but even on normal hits it won’t take.

Hemsley Stewart
Hemsley Stewart
8 months ago
Reply to  Enrico Viglino

Well according to its A2, it’s a 100% sleep if there are no active buffs on the devil. So that is probably your problem there. My guess anyway

Penny
Penny
10 months ago

i pulled Claidna from the Sylvan watchers. She has booked out a 70% for sleeping on A1, Revive on death and block debuffs on a3. Also i got Riho and im thinking bout to build a team for higher stages.

i was manualing it till Stage 19. If someone has ideas, please let me know

LoneDragon
LoneDragon
8 months ago

I’m currently farming Stage 11 with Duchess, Conellia, Ma’Shalled, Richtoff and Scyl. Can’t beat 12. Ma’Shalled’s Heal Block is essential. In theory, I have better Champions than Richtoff and Scyl, but I lose when I put them in.

BladeStunner
BladeStunner
7 months ago

What’s the best way to minimise my max hp to be decreased? I’m trying to out-miracle heal it, but failing. Does it make a difference if I build more defence on my champs for example?

SS2020user
SS2020user
7 months ago

Oil efficiency hasnt been changed since drop rate changes!