Dominus

Dominus, High Templar is the final boss of act 3, located in The Upper Sceptre of God, on the Tower Rooftop (after climbing 3 or 4 staircases in the Upper Sceptre of God) Upon defeating him, Lady Dialla appears to congratulate the player and opens the way to act 4.

Lore
He is the High Templar, the highest rank of the order of the Templars, which appear to be the rulers of the theocracy of Oriath. Dominus also controls the Ebony Legion. His name is Latin for "Lord" or "Master".

Strategy
The Dominus fight can be a tough and complicated encounter, and it is important to have capped resistances, most importantly lightning resistance. Instant-healing (seething/bubbling) life potions, resistance flasks and granite/jade flasks are extremely helpful during this fight. There are various stages to this encounter, each of which has different mechanics and strategies. If you are playing on a hardcore league, it is advisable to bring Portal Scrolls to this fight to replenish your potions during the fight, and to allow a quick escape should that be necessary.

Minibosses
Initially, Dominus himself will not fight. Instead, he will send three unique Legionnaires to fight for him:


 * Imperator Stantinus Bitterblade (Cyclone, Ice Trail)
 * Draconarius Wilhelm Flamebrand (Burning Lightning Strike, Leap Slam)
 * Compulsor Octavia Sparkfist (Spark Totem, Lightning Warp)

During this period, regular legionnaires will also enter the fray alongside the uniques, until all three uniques are dealt with. This phase should not be too difficult if the player isolates the uniques from each other and deals with them one by one. None of the uniques is particularly formidable on their own.

After these three bosses are defeated, the next three minibosses will enter the arena. Each one is a unique Miscreation, similar to the ones found in The Lunaris Temple:


 * Alal the Terrifying (Viper Strike, Ethereal Knives)
 * Kali the Crazed (Extra Projectiles Tentacle Miscreation)
 * Orcus the Reaver (Reave, Smoke Mine)

Combined, these three uniques might pose a threat, but again, isolating them and dealing with them one by one should allow the player to complete this phase with minimal risk.

The First Phase - Human Dominus
After all minibosses have been defeated, Dominus will descend to the arena and fight alongside the miscreations from the previous phase which will continue spawning until the very end of the fight. If the miscreations annoy you, you can lure Dominus to a relatively quiet spot on the roof and deal with him there, though he will still move around a bit, possibly causing you to attract some of the miscreations anyway. He has both a sizable life pool and a comparatively small energy shield. He has various attacks, each of which is quite dangerous in its own right and can be anticipated through various things Dominus says before using them. The attacks are:


 * The debuff Mark of Dominus which forces dominus minions to target the debuffed player aggressively and explode when near the vicinity of the player.
 * An area-of-effect Lightning/physical-based spell (Lightning Fist) dealing very heavy damage. To counter this spell, either run away or make sure you have good lightning resistance, armor and a decent life/ES pool. Granite and Topaz flasks, preferably with the "of Grounding" suffix, is immensely helpful against this attack, but must be used before he initiates the attack, as damage dealt is calculated when it is initiated (similar to Vaal's smash), ignoring any resistances gained after the attack has initiated.
 * A rapid-firing attack (Lightning Stream) which appears to be evadable/blockable, but is still very dangerous. This can be dodged without too much difficulty by walking perpendicular to its line of fire.
 * A cold damage dealing Searing Bond-like cluster of totems which deal damage over time. These do not deal a lot of damage and are easy to avoid.
 * A Flicker Strike-like attack which Dominus uses to move around the arena.

The Second Phase - Dominus Ascendant
Once Dominus has lost all his life on the first phase, he will move to the center of the arena and turn into a bloodred insect-like being called Dominus, Ascendant. During this phase, he will have no energy shield left, but still a sizable life pool. It is important to stay close to him during this phase due to the nature of his attacks during this phase:


 * A melee attack dealing sizable, but not incredibly high damage which appears to be hybrid physical/fire. You will probably have to tank this.


 * A rain of blood in the entire arena except for a bubble around Dominus himself. You will want to stay inside the bubble or risk losing a lot of HP very rapidly. This is the most dangerous attack during the second phase and it is not advisable to risk getting caught up in it, so stay close to him at all times during this phase.

Achievements
Killing Dominus grants you an achievement, depending on the character class played.

Text and Speech
Upon entering the vicinity of Dominus on the highest level of The Upper Sceptre of God (depends on which class you play):


 * Scion : I offered you the gift of exile and you used it to reinvent yourself. I couldn't wish for a more potent instrument. (Play)
 * Marauder : I exiled an animal. Now you almost resemble a man, Karui. (Play)
 * Witch: You'd bite the master that called you here, Witch? (Play) (Play)
 * Shadow: I've dealt with far darker shadows than you, exile. (Play) (Play)
 * Duelist: Welcome to the greatest of arenas, Duelist. God is watching. (Play)
 * Templar: Exile has tested you, my brother. Now let's see what God has to say. (Play)
 * Ranger: It is woman's purpose to tempt and try the will of man. (Play)

When the first unique boss trio is defeated: Submit, heretic! (Play)

When the second unique boss trio is defeated: Have you ever seen the true face of god, exile? (Play)

Occasionally: "Shrink not from god!" (Play)

When casting his Thunder Punch: The touch of God! or The light of divinity! (Play)

Occasionally, when attacking/marking a player: Die! (Play), Die in awe! or Nightmare prevails!

Upon killing Dominus in his first phase: This world is an illusion, exile.

Map variants
Stronger versions of Dominus serve as map bosses:

Divination card
The following divination card can drop from this monster:

Version history

 * Dominus and his map variants are now less likely to skip their audio cues for Touch of God and Light of Divinity.


 * Introduced to the game.
 * }