During the past 2 years,World of Warcraftplayers have explored and completed everything to do in Zandalar, Kul Tiras, and otherBattle for Azerothlocations. But untilShadowlandsreleases later this year, the current endgame content which includesseveral achievements and mounts being removedremains relevant. With those goals in mind, individuals looking to get the Faceless One title or gear up for similar challenges need to successfully complete 5 Mask Horrific Visions.
As one of the features released inPatch 8.3, Horrific Visions are what-if futures where N’Zoth has taken over Stormwind and Orgrimmar. While normally easy to complete, inflating the difficulty can reward characters with up to ilvl 470 gear for a full clear. However, clearing these visions on the hardest setting of 5 masks can be difficult for players starting out or even veterans who have experienced hundreds of runs. Although Horrific Visions can be completed in a group, this breakdown is meant for solo players.
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Faceless Masks
The 5 Faceless Masks will unlock as players clear more and more Horrific Visions, making enemies tougher and adding restrictions.
While individually annoying, their combined effects can instantly end a run if handled poorly.
Madnesses
During each week, players will be affected by 1 effect, or 2 with the Faceless Mask of the Pained, while in certainHorrific Visionareas.
Tainted Area (Cathedral Square, Valley of Strength)
Corrupted Areas (Dwarven District, Trade District, Valley of Spirits, The Drag)
Lost Areas (Old Town, Mage Quarter, Valley of Wisdom, Valley of Honor)
Titanic Research Archive
World of Warcraftplayers should already have the most important upgrades that extend their sanity and trivialize its loss before attempting a 5 mask run.
Ashjra’kamas, Shroud of Resolve
Players automatically get this legendary cloak from Wrathion’s questline prior to unlocking Horrific Visions and it starts by decreasing all sanity loss in Horrific Visions by 20%. On the other hand, a Rank 15 cloak will instead decrease sanity loss by 80% which also applies after the 400% sanity damage increase from wearing the Daredevil mask. However, fully upgrading the cloak from Horrific Vision runs will take between 3-6 weeks on average which means grinding enough currency fromBlack Empire assaultsin Azeroth.
Consumable Food
There are 5 foods which have specific effects within Horrific Visions.
During 5 mask runs, Ghastly Goulash is the preferred food to counter increased damage from enemies and eat K’Babs whenever possible to maintain high sanity.
Potions
In each Horrific Vision, there is a potion besides a dead NPC near the player’s initial spawn point. That potion and other ones of the same color will drain sanity if used during the run, but there is another potion that restores 100 sanity instead.
Sanity Drain:Black, Blue, Green, Purple, Red
+100 Sanity:Green, Purple, Red, Black, Blue
Furthermore, there are 3 other colored potions that give increased defense, health regen, or even fire breath but the sanity potions are the most important to find or avoid during 5 mask runs.
Azerite Essences
Because players will be fighting multiple enemies at once during most of their 5 mask run, consider use an AOE Azerite Essence especially for more single-target classes and specs. One budget suggestion is Purification Protocol since it can stun Aberration type mobs which are commonly found in both Horrific Visions as well as rarely insta-kill anything except the final boss.
In the end, while 5 mask Horrific Visions may seem overwhelming, it’s a matter of experience and practice more than anything. However, the most likely reason to fail a few runs won’t come from boss fights or running out of sanity, but by pulling too much instead. So although time and sanity is more valuable than ever, players should remember to take it slow and they’ll eventually triumph overN’Zoth’sdisciples.
World of Warcraftis available on PC.
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