A "Nexus Apparition" mini-boss.
- “I see you have come back. Welcome, to my Haunted Forest! No more flowers or pretty little lights, you shall traverse in the dark. You have twenty minutes to defeat my challenges and prove your worth to me. You did the Forest His way, now you'll do it my way.”
- ―The Angel[src]
The Haunted Forest is an activity introduced as part of the Horrors of Extinction event for Call of Duty: Age of Extinction. In this activity, players will be facing against enemies and mini-bosses chosen by The Angel. Just like the Verdant Forest, the Haunted Forest will remain as a permanent game mode in the game.
Unlike the Verdant Forest, Difficulties will only affect how many enemies are encountered and how powerful they are. The Haunted Forest uses the four base game Difficulties. The Haunted Forest also gives players only 20 minutes to clear all six Branches, if running out of time before hand, players will be taken directly to The Angel Boss Battle.
At the end of the activity, players will be rewarded with Nexus Fragments depending on the amount of Branches they've cleared and how many Mini-Bosses they killed during their run of the Haunted Forest.
Lore[]
Originally the Verdant Forest, the Haunted Forest is a realm within the Nexus built by Mr. Tachibana and The Drifter. Having gathered Reflections as bosses, both were aware of The Angel actually being herself and not a Reflection. After she was supposedly defeated by Rose Squad, she corrupted the Forest and shaped it to her desires, changing its physical appearance to a more darker theme and gained control over some Nexus Apparitions, calling them "Haunted Apparitions".
Realizing what had happened, The Drifter once again recruits the services of Rose Squad to defeat The Angel for good. For Rose Squad to bypass her defenses, they battle through numerous of her minions and three former scientists from another universe whom were bosses. Once they finally bypass her challenges and defeat The Angel, she retreats into a portal, however the Forest would remain the same. The Drifter decides to leave it that way and experiments with it.
Gameplay[]
Reveler's Tonic[]
- “(laughs) Your Tonic is useless in here. You don't need your Mysterious Supers to prove your worth!”
- ―The Angel
Due to The Angel's takeover of the Verdant Forest, players will be unable to use the Reveler's Tonic, thus rendering the Mysterious Super useless without it. However, this does not mean players won't deal any damage against The Angel or the other Bosses.
Instead players will be able to use their Class Abilities against the Bosses as well as certain Abilities.
Difficulties[]
The Haunted Forest uses the four base game Difficulties: Casual, Regular, Hardcore and Extinction.
- Casual: the lowest tier of difficulty, all enemies will deal 40% less damage to players and have 40% less health than normal. 30% less enemies are encountered.
- Regular: the standard tier of difficulty, all enemies will deal normal damage and have normal health. The standard amount of enemies are encountered.
- Hardcore: a high tier of difficulty, all enemies will deal 20% more damage to players and have 20% more health. 20% more enemies are encountered, including increased changes of High-Value Tier Grimm and Cryptids.
- Extinction: the most highest available tier of difficulty, all enemies are much stronger and more powerful, increasing their attacks and health by 40%. In addition, 40% more enemies are also encountered.
Also dependent on difficulty is the XP players will earn. Casual rewards less XP than Regular. Hardcore rewards 20% more XP while Extinction rewards 40% more XP from all sources.
Branches[]
Unlike the Verdant Forest, each Branch players clear will bring them to a Boss Battle and once killing the Boss, they'll need to clear another Branch. These Branches will get increasingly more difficult as players continue to pass each one.
Enemies players encounter in these Branches include:
- Grimm
- Cryptids
- Zombies
- Cyborg Zombies
- Nexus Apparitions
- High Value Tier Grimm
Some Branches will even contain a Nexus Apparition mini-boss who are known as "Daemons", these enemies will add more time to the Boss Battle once clearing a Branch.
Modifiers[]
Modifiers are special properties which are assigned to the Haunted Forest. All modifiers stack with the effects of currently equipped Relics. In private matches, these modifiers can be chosen by the host. In public matches, these modifiers are assigned automatically and by random.
In both public and private matches, only a max of three Modifiers can be active.
| Modifiers | |||
| Name | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prism | All Specialized Weapon Variants deal 30% less damage against all enemies; this also includes their Weapon Perks. | ||
| Momentum | Health regeneration is now dependent on player movement. Stationary will not regenerate health. Walking regenerates health while sprinting will regenerate player health at an increased rate. | ||
| Attrition | Health regeneration is a lot more slower than usual. In exchange, enemies will drop Nexus Orbs which will heal players completely. | ||
| Timewarp: Killing Time | The Haunted Forest timer starts at 15 minutes. Killing enemies extends this timer up by two seconds. High-Value Tier Grimm will add five seconds. | ||
| Elite Soldier | All Specialized Weapon Variants will have their Weapon Perks disabled for the duration of the match. In exchange, Class Abilities have decreased cooldowns. | ||
| Brawler | Melee damage is greatly increased and all melee kills reloads weapons. In exchange, all enemies will also deal increased melee damage. | ||
| From the Shadows | Movement speed, both while standing and while crouching, is increased; additionally, Class Abilities are more powerful and certain Class Abilities have longer active times. | ||
Bosses[]
These Bosses will be fought in order and players will fight the first three twice. In the second battles against these Bosses, they'll become "Nightmare" versions, being particularly more powerful and stronger.
- Branch 1 - Zack
- Branch 2 - Robert
- Branch 3 - Dave
- Branch 4 - Nightmare Zack
- Branch 5 - Nightmare Robert
- Branch 6 - Nightmare Dave
- Branch 7 - The Angel
Periodically during Boss Battles, the Bosses will occasionally be shielded from nearby Sentinel Nexus Apparitions, and in order to continue dealing damage to these Bosses, players will need to kill these Sentinels.
The "Nightmare" Bosses are not difficulty-locked to the Nightmare difficulty. Defeating The Angel awards players with the Delirium Specialized Weapon Variant.
Dialogue[]
- Main article: Haunted Forest/Dialogue
Music[]
Trivia[]
- Zack, Robert, and Dave were killed by The Angel, whom had then turned them into evil reflections, bringing them to the Haunted Forest.
- After defeating The Angel, players can speak with Mr. Tachibana and The Drifter in the Armoury for story-related dialogue.
- Nexus Apparitions in the Haunted Forest, due to The Angel's takeover, have a much different form.