Cradle of the Death God Trial Guide
Based on a Previous Guide by Rebecca Vanderpool
Edited for Web by Ennileah
Cradle of the Death God (CoDG) is a regular sight now in the random trial queue and we find many newer
players aren't sure what to do in here. As this content is a few years old now and some players aren't in
guilds that provide training of this older content, here is a breakdown of the full trial.
For those that prefer a video guide, Check out a fantastic explanation from Galactic Underwear here and at the bottom of this guide
Image Credit: Cryptic Studios
You spawn in on the elevator, that is slowly moving downwards towards the boss platform.
Head to the centre of this elevator, where there is a large square on the floor. You will first fight 2 waves of trash mobs.
After these Mobs, you see a Big Ghost face and its hands (same as the one on T9 last boss) on one side of the elevator (you can't miss it, it takes up one whole side and a health bar appears in the centre of your screen) This is the Projection
of Acerak and the group needs to take this out.
Image Credit: Galactic Underwear
Mobs will spawn all around the elevator and at the opposite side of the Projection, there will be a
floating green skull that spawns and attaches itself to the nearest player to it via a green tether line similar to
the one in Castle Never.
Image Credit: Galactic Underwear
Whoever the skull attaches to will need to move toward the giant ghost face opposite them, pulling
the skull behind them. If there are a lot of enemies in the middle, it's sometimes wise to go around the
centre away from the mobs, other players just go straight across the centre and through the mobs, so be
aware of what enemies you're hitting here.
​
Your experienced DPS will get behind the skull and when it is getting close to the face (ideally just
past the centre of the elevator) they will kill the skull, sending it flying into the face and doing damage.
They will only hit it from directly behind, keeping the skull between them and the flying ghost face.
Repeat this process until the HP bar is empty and the projection disappears. If you attack the skull
from the side it can miss and land in a corner, prolonging this stage. The Skull can also bug out sometimes,
even when hit directly from behind which is why it is best to wait to kill the skull until it has passed the
centre. During this phase, some players may be chosen at random and held in a 'Phantom Claw'. If you see this, kill the Claw to release the player, if not released quickly enough, the player can die.
Phase 2
Return to the centre of the elevator and kill 2 more waves of Mobs.
Image Credit: Cryptic Studios
The Elevator will now increase its fall speed, sending you further and faster into the depths of the Cradle. On each corner of the elevator are Gear wheels, 2 wheels on each corner. The next task is to jam these gears slowing the elevator to a total stop before it smashes into the bottom of the elevator shaft. The trial introduces Gelatinous Cubes to help you jam up those gears.
For this Phase, all but one of your group will move to the corners of the elevator. Most players who choose to drag the cubes will jump up and down in the centre or post in the chat box to let you know they are taking the cubes.
You will hear a voice saying "Now, fall! and random enemies will spawn in the centre along with a Gelatinous Cube. The mobs should follow you into the corners where you are standing, enabling you to kill them without touching the cube.
The Gel Cube will attach to the chosen player in the centre, again by a green tether line. For some reason,
they don't like attaching to Tanks so much, so try and choose a healer or a DPS for this part.
​
The tethered player then needs to drag the cube to either a corner… or the side of the elevator in the small squares on the floor. The process here is to kill the cube to splash the gooey gel onto the gears to slow the elevator down, so if you can't get a clear shot of the mobs without hitting the cube… don't attack anything yet….. Its also wise to limit any standing AoE powers or artifacts, such as Staff of Flowers as these can kill the cube very quickly before it reaches its destination
When the cube reaches a corner or centre of the side, kill it quickly and you will see the gears jam up (this visual also helps if you aren't sure which gears haven't been jammed yet). If the Cube is placed correctly, it should jam 2 gears each time. Repeat this process until all gears are jammed and the elevator stops. If you don't "goo" them all before the timer runs out, the elevator crashes and everyone dies.
Image Credit: Galactic Underwear
Phase 3
​
Now you will spawn outside of the elevator. There are 8 'Umbilical' cords extending up to the ceiling, 2 on each section of the larger platform you are now on.
Image Credit: Cryptic Studios
Attack these cords to sever them all. Usually the group stays together, but some do go off on the opposite side
to the main group to speed up this phase.
​
There are mobs that spawn as you work around the cords but the goal is severing the cords as quickly as
possible, so try to get away from the mobs rather than killing them.
Once all are severed there will be an unskippable cutscene. Now it's time for the fun part…..
Killing the 'Baby' - Boss Fight
​
You will now spawn into the last platform, a donut shape, with a large and quite ugly 'Baby' down in the
centre hole of the platform. The Baby will pop up and down from the hole as this fight progresses.
Image Credit: Cryptic Studios
Begin your attack, watch out for the many red areas on the floor, some of these red areas will populate straight
under you and send a beam of damaging light straight down from the ceiling, so move away from those as they appear.
​
If you get a red circle with double arrows on you, take it away from the group and try to place it on the
outside edge of the donut. It will create a swirling pool that is dark blue and white. The blue/white swirly
areas will debuff your attacks, so you don't want to put it under the group. There is also an AoE attack that will
make half of the platform red on the outside and again sending damaging light beams onto that area, so stay on the
inside half while attacking the Baby.
After the Baby's HP bar reaches around 70-75% the next phase begins. This is commonly referred to as the push/pull
phase but really, it's Pull then Push. At this point, head to the outside edge of the platform.
The baby will sink down into the hole and throw his head back, inhaling deeply, this will pull you towards him and the centre of the donut platform. Then he will exhale, pushing you away back to the outside of the platform.
If you fall off the platform you will be teleported back onto it, but in a fallen/dying state, and will need to be picked up by a teammate or you will need to use a scroll. (Tip: if you use a scroll, make sure the full pull/push phase is over first or you'll probably end up falling again, and if it's a mass scroll you'll take teammates with you).
Also worth noting here is that there are different strengths of this pull/push mechanic dependent on your placement on the platform. On the walls around the platform are 4 faces, each pushing/pulling air in/out. If you are directly in front of a face, the Pull/Push strength will be increased. The best placement here for the lowest strength is in between 2 faces.
After pull/push, attack him again as before watching for the red AoE areas and debuff pools, this phase may repeat multiple times depending on how fast you knock his health down, however most groups only have 2 Pull/Push phases right now (Mod19).
Once you get the Baby's health down to around 25%, There is a DPS check. Acerak appears on the platform and you have to get his HP down to around 30% as quick as possible. You will see a 'Charge' bar appear on the right of your screen. If Acerak isn't taken down quickly enough, the charge bar will fill and increase the strength of the next enemy attack… a potential one shot!! After Aceraks health reaches the lowest point, you will see a Shielded dome appear at the side of him. The Dome gives you some protection from the huge attack if you have any charge on that bar...so it's a good idea to stand in there. Most groups now take Acerak down pretty quickly, and have zero charge on the bar, so can survive outside the dome.
As the dome disappears, the Baby will rise again from the centre… Hit him with everything you have now. Again watching for the red AoE areas and debuff pools. There is also another AoE attack added here. Similar to the AoE with double arrows, there is now one with 4 arrows pointing at you. These AoE attacks need to be shared with the group, I call this 'Need Hugs'. I usually head for a tank here, if you have enough HP and a well timed health stone however, you can survive this alone.
And that's more or less it… just a note, that after the baby dies and the trial completes, more red area AoE attacks spawn and send that light down to damage you…. so watch for that happening before you head to open the chests.
Image Credit: Cryptic Studios
Full Video Guide by Galactic Underwear​
A few Extra Notes...
If you don't have a lot of heavy hitters and too many DPS have Revive Sickness, you may not pass the DPS check. So, try your best not to fall off but if you do, it's not the end for you anymore (in previous mods it was permadeath and you had to watch the rest of the fight from the nursery above)
Pull/Push Tips: Different people have different strategies for pull/push and it may take you time to find what works best for you. When I see him start to pull back, indicating it will be starting next, I move close to the edge of the platform and begin walking around the edge. As he inhales I let him pull me to just past the middle of the platform while counting 3 seconds then watch for the pull weakening and switching direction to the push and then walk away from him.
When he switches to exhaling/pushing, I walk towards him but at an angle like I'm going for a leisurely jog around the circle. This keeps me from just diving off if it stops and I'm in motion.
Here is the important bit… WALK, don't run, and for those used to using Shadow Slip, Dodge, Teleport etc, resist the urge to use your Stamina here, although occasionally it can rescue you from falling over the edge... Most falls I see in Cradle aren't from this mechanic but from the player overcompensating and flying past where they meant to go.
Cradle is usually a short run now (with a good group). It still has one of the best loot tables in the game so it's profitable to learn (and fun too).
Good Luck in there people!!
Many Thanks to Galactic Underwear for his collaboration in providing his video and some of the images for this guide
and for his ongoing Support of NWN.
​
Check out his YouTube channel and Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuXA3g-lRUlpMIOe6QSgeIA
​
Also Thanks to Rebecca Vanderpool from our Facebook Community Group for providing us with the
original guide to this trial
