Cliffside Monastery
Initial Sketches
Enemy Designs
First Boss
Wingwarden Zepharion
Wingwarden Zepharion, the Bloodwind Enforcer, oversees the monastery’s protection with ruthless devotion. He is a zealot of the Skybound Order and believes pain is the truest form of discipline. His mastery of wind and steel enforces order through suffering, ensuring no weakness festers under his command.
Abilities
Hemorraghing Throw
Every 12 seconds Zepharion hurls a sword at a random non-tank player, applying Hemorraging Wound.
Hemorraghing Wound
A Damage over Time effect that deals moderate damage, it cannot be dispelled.
During Bloodwinds, if the target is above 90% health when the bleed expires, they will burst and deal additional damage to players within range.
Wingthrust
After channelling for 2 seconds, Zepharion will cause a burst of wind, knocking back anyone in front of him.
I began with quick paper sketches to explore layout ideas and iterate rapidly on the foundational structure of the dungeon. Working on paper allowed me to test flow before committing to a blockout.
I designed the layout to include two viable routes, allowing groups to choose their approach based on party composition. One path focuses on fewer, stronger enemies that reward controlled positioning, while the other features larger packs of weaker enemies, better suited for sustained area damage and crowd control. This provides strategic flexibility and supports different class strengths.
The wind chutes and bursting wisps introduce a layer of positional pressure. Since the wisps’ death burst can knock players into hazards or off the edge, groups must coordinate AoE usage, positioning and target priority, turning an otherwise straightforward encounter into a challenge of spatial awareness.
Warriors: Melee unit that applies bleed DoT
Mages: Ranged spellcasters that cast an interruptable radial knockback when attacked by melee units
Guardians: Fortified units that regularly push back any players in front of them.
Bursting Wisps: Low health passive NPCs that will burst if killed, causing radial knockback.
Bloodwinds
When Zepharion reaches 25% health, the Wind Court will be engulfed in bloodwinds, causing mild ticking damage across the entire platform.
Last Boss
High Ascendant Serathiel
High Ascendant Serathiel embodies the monastery’s ultimate creed: ascendance through trial. He has the monastery’s utmost respect for having endured the challenges he has faced. From the pain he has endured he has harnessed the power to control winds strong enough to tear stone from the mountain.
Abilities
Winds of Judgment
Every 8 seconds Serathiel will cause a wind burst under a random player, throwing any players in its range into the air after a brief delay.
Razor Gust
Every 15 seconds Serathiel will spawn a moving cyclone, it will change target every 5 seconds until disappearing after 20 seconds. If players are hit by the cyclone they will be thrown into the air.
High Ascendant’s Challenge
At 50% health Serathiel will move to the center of the platform and start channeling a radial knockback for 15 seconds.
Tempest
Every 12 seconds a gust of wind will travel through the arena, knocking any players caught in it off the platform.
Blockout
The first blockout followed the sketch closely, but traversal testing revealed pacing issues in several corridors and platform transitions. Some areas were too short to support natural movement flow, so I adjusted corridor widths and lengths to create a smoother traversal rhythm.
Adding Combat Encounters
Introducing enemies into the blockout revealed additional pacing issues. The two wind-hazard platforms were originally ordered so that the combat version came before the safe version, which weakened the progression. I reversed their order so the player first learns how to navigate the hazard safely and later applies that knowledge under pressure.
In the Wind Court, the boss will spawn after both patrolling packs are defeated and unlock the following door after being the encounter is cleared.
I also noticed that the first boss introduced a new ability that had no prior introduction in the level. To fix this, I gave a minor version of the ability to a third enemy type encountered earlier and increased the number of enemies on the open platforms. This encourages the player to read the space carefully and consider positioning before committing to engagement. Similarly there was no safe introduction to the wind chutes, so I added those into the Wind Garden as well.
The Sleeping Quarters were inteded as both a space for groups to pull the patrols safely and as a space that contains a small amount of enemies that can grant extra clear percentages, which can be weaved into the strategy for the run (for Mythic+).
The second part of the Highwalk was designed to have enough space for coordinated groups to be able to pass by the patrols safely without accidentally engaging in combat with them.
Refining Blockout
Once the pacing and encounter structure were finalized, I evaluated the level for potential issues caused by wind knockback and enemy pushes. I adjusted platform placement and the final boss arena to ensure players would not unintentionally fall back into earlier spaces.
I then added structural and thematic elements to reinforce the cliffside monastery setting and to clarify the purpose and identity of each space.