"Watch closely." Lucas leaped from the exploit spot, closing to 30 yards of the Warlord. "Pyroblast!" A fireball slammed into its skull, tearing a thunderous roar from its jaws.
"Curse you, human!" The Warlord raised its axes—System Notification: Orc Warlord casts Charge. Wind howled behind Lucas as the beast blurred forward, but he timed a Blink to perfection, vanishing in a flash of light.
Blinking to dodge charges was a high-skill play. Blink too early, and the charge extended to 60 yards; too late, and the 0.1-second stun from impact would let the axe land first. For Lucas, it was muscle memory—he'd practiced the timing thousands of times in his past life.
He reappeared 20 yards from the boulder glitch spot. The Warlord, enraged, gave chase—its 487 movement speed (50% faster than Lucas's 325) closed the gap quickly. "Watch out!" Leo shouted from above.
As the Warlord loomed, Lucas spun and cast Fire Blast—an instant-cast spell that exploded in its face, stunning it for 1 second. He jumped, grabbing Leo's hand to haul himself atop the boulder, then tugged Leo into the crevice behind it.
"Clang!" The Warlord's axe slammed into the rock, embedding deep. "Why'd it wake up so fast?" Leo gaped—Fire Blast usually stunned for 2 seconds.
"Elites take 50% reduced crowd control. Warlords are outright immune," Lucas explained. The Warlord hacked at the boulder furiously, but Lucas smirked—he remembered a rogue's old clip: this rock was indestructible. "We can farm him safely from here."
Leo activated the Venom Orb, dousing the Warlord in lime-green mist. Lucas laid four Fire Walls around its feet, then spammed Pyroblast. The Level 15 elite Warlord—with 20,000 HP, heavy defense, and rapid health regen—would normally require two full parties of Level 15 players.
Now, it was helpless. Trapped by the boulder, it could only rage as poison and fire gnawed away its HP. Lucas and Leo took turns attacking, pausing only to chug mana potions.
An hour and a half later, the Warlord collapsed with a final roar. System Notification: +3,142 XP. "We killed it!" Leo yelled, bouncing on his heels.
"Not so fast—look around." Lucas nodded at the cavern—four waves of orcs had respawned, filling the hall. Leo peeked out, groaning: "We can't get the loot yet?"
Lucas downed a Crispy Eel Fillet to refill mana, then cast Pyroblast to pull nearby orcs. "Clear these first. Then we'll see what the Warlord dropped."
As they fired up their AoEs again, Lucas's mind raced—elite drops were vanishingly rare. Little did he know, the Warlord's loot included two skill books that would upend their early-game meta entirely.