Hell's Precipice

Hey Guru!

I did a brief search for this topic and found nothing, but if there is an answer that I did not find, I apologize .

I was doing Hell's Precipice the other day on a character that hasn't beaten it. When I did it, I remember Rurik in the cut scene saying the Lich must be on the center of the Bloodstone for the soul batteries to recharge. However, wiki says it does not matter where he stands. When I was fighting him, I killed him once dead center of the bloodstone, and he respawned. Wiki also stated that he may respawn up to 2 times after killing him, and the second time I killed him, he was not on the bloodstone, and the mission ended. I suppose my question is simply this:

Does The Lich HAVE to be on the Bloodstone, for him to die the first time? Or is the number of times he respawns just random? If I kill him while hes in the lava the first time, can I still finish the mission after one death, if I get a lucky "1 life Lich"? Sometimes when I do the ZM, I tell people it does not matter where he dies, and many people argue and say he must die on the center. I just want this debate ended, because I honestly feel like I'm right when I say it, but a huge part of the community think I'm crazy. Thanks for your help guys!

from the unofficial wiki:

When the Lich dies, he will recharge two, four, or six of the soul batteries scattered around the bloodstone. It is unknown what determines how many batteries are charged upon his death. Charging all six soul batteries completes the mission. If killing the Lich leaves some batteries uncharged, then he will respawn, along with one titan hand or fist for each battery charged. Kill the titans first, then kill the Lich again.

so rurik is wrong (go figure)....I usually have to kill him at least twice to finish the mission

Yeah. I was a runner, both independently and with Ling's service, and Hell's Prec was one of the most popular missions requested. Got into countless arguments over where you had to kill him--eventually stopped caring and just killed him in the center to make people happy.

No it doesn't matter where you kill him, but don't waste time arguing with people, it is just as pointless as trying to tell idiots who think Ogden is "slower" than other monk heroes, that they are identical, you can cite official sources and the buggers still believe what they want to believe, go figure.

I'd always had it in my head that he had to die on the bloodstone, so have always killed him there (plus its just easier to flag the heroes on the stairs and forget about 'em, I don't often join PUG's these days). However the reasons why is going way back to the start of Prophecies, perhaps originally it did actually matter where he was killed - whatever the reason, for me is just habit now.

If you've killed the Lich in the lava and the mission has completed just fine well then obviously no it doesn't make a difference. I wouldn't worry arguing over it though or trying to convince your team you're right, it's just not worth the effort.
Perhaps part of it is more that people are unwilling to trust the word of a stranger in a pug team these days, thinking you're just trying to screw the mission on them (kinda sad if they are thinking that, but could be).
By all means mention it to your team that you've killed the Lich while not on the bloodstone with no problems, but if they insist on him being in the center its no big deal, just means waiting a few more minutes for him to plod his way back there.

Interesting to know - explains how a couple of times the mission has ended after only killing the Lich once (I was used to him spawning usually at least twice, had settled in for an annoying battle, killed the bugger once and then mission was over... it was very much a "WTF??" moment at the time )

There is something to be said for NOT FIGHTING IN LAVA! My inner monk asks all the melee types to please get out of the burning stuff and let the lich get back on land, kthx.

I've had to kill him only once most of the time, only recently had to do it twice but never more than that...unluckily I never played any attention as to where he died...even if I use to flag heroes out of the lava, ranged stuff still kills him so he might as well have died there most time.

I've always had success killing Lich in the center with regular people (or with heroes flagged outside). FWIW, I do recall a time where it took 2-3 times to kill him and he was outside of center.

I kill him on the bloodstone as well usually... even then it takes me 2-4 kills before ending the mission. So yeah, just kill him until he stops spawning

I've never really tested it fully, but the Lich seems to charge more batteries the closer to the center of the stone it is.

The only times I've ever seen him charge them all on the first try were in NM, after killing him very fast right on the middle of the bloodstone.

It could be time, it could be placement, it could even calculate damage over a period of time or maximum damage like the Master of Damage, it could be completely random... who knows? I for once I'm not testing that. The mission is very long, so I'll get bored of doing the same thing in the same place.

Well, I've killed him dead center, twice in the same round, and I still had to kill him a third. As far as I'm concerned, it's random, regardless of anything