Smelter Demon Boss Guide
Smelter Demon is the fire boss on the Disease Era main quest, and it stays useful after the quest because you can summon it again. That repeat is how players farm Armageddon, the legendary melee sword most of the current melee builds are written around.
How do you summon Smelter Demon again?
Kill Cambions in Scorch Basin until one drops a Fire Essence (1 in 5 per the in-game Bestiary, against 1 in 40 from Imps). Take it to the blacksmith in Echo Hold and choose the option that turns it into a Smoldering Horn. The horn only works at night. Every horn is one fight, so the loop is: essence, blacksmith, wait for night, fight.
Summon route
- Farm Fire Essence in Scorch Basin. You unlock the area on the main quest. The in-game Bestiary (Information → Bestiary) lists Fire Essence as a 1 in 5 drop from Cambions, the larger demons with a burning trident, and 1 in 40 from Imps. Hunt Cambions and ignore the Imps. Luck still varies a lot: one player in a September 6 group run got it quickly while a friend was stuck long enough to ask the developer for help.
- Take it to the blacksmith in Echo Hold. With the Fire Essence in hand, his menu offers the Smoldering Horn. One recording shows it as the third option. This is the same trade the main quest sends you to make, and he keeps offering it after the quest. One September 27 recording says a replacement horn after a failed attempt cost silver on top of another Fire Essence, so bring some. The amount was spoken, not shown, and is left out here until a second source confirms it.
- Wait for night. Two separate September recordings say the horn only summons the boss at night. Night Call potions are sold in Echo Hold if you do not want to wait.
- Summon and fight. The attack list is below. The main-quest recording shows a campfire near the arena. OyO's September 18 video instead summons it just inside a door at the Weeping Crypt, lets the door close and hits it through the wall. StrawBoy's September 28 guide uses the same Weeping Crypt spot: get the boss stuck on the other side of the wall and attack with a spell that passes through it, such as Ice Bolt; a staff whose shots stop at walls will not work. It still pulls you out now and then and can erupt the ground under you, so keep moving and heal between pulls. Two creators now show it, but it is still a cheese and could be patched, like the old Cell of Life cheese was. Bring sanity potions: in a September 27 recording, sanity drained fast enough during the fight to put a time limit on it. Inviting more players makes the boss tougher. The same creator read its health as 3,000 solo, 4,500 with two players and 7,500 with four, about 1,500 more per extra player.
- Repeat. There is no separate unlock for farming it. Each Fire Essence is another attempt at the drops.
The five attacks
Bosses in The Veil flash a colour before many of their attacks, and the colour tells you which button to press: green means jump, blue means weave, red means dodge. An attack with no colour can be weaved. Each weave adds a 5% damage buff that stacks up to 25%, and your dodge turns purple or pink once the stacks are full. The full colour rule comes from one melee creator's September 22 guide. The green-means-jump part also shows up in a separate Cell of Life recording.
| Attack | What to do | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Jump attack | Jump first, then dodge about a second later. The jump is followed by a forward slash. | Dodging on the jump and getting caught by the slash. |
| Chain | It latches on and pulls you in. Dodge as soon as it touches you, because it sets you on fire. A well-timed dodge or weave can avoid the pull entirely. | Letting the pull finish before reacting. |
| Eruption | Dodge just before it goes off. The timing is forgiving and dodging early is fine. | Dodging so early that you are back in the circle when it goes off. |
| Plain slash | Weave it. This is your best chance to build weave stacks. | Dodging it and throwing the stacks away. |
| Floor burst | Stay close to the boss. The eruptions come up from the floor and do not hit next to him. | Backing away, which is where they land. |
The boss changes appearance partway through, so do not spend all your stamina thinking the first phase is the whole fight. That part comes from the main-quest recording. A second recording from September 27 shows the chain pulling a player through a wall, the boss switching to blue flames in its second phase and a big explosion late in the fight. It also calls a three-hit combo the most dangerous attack, one that can take a whole health bar. It does not go through the fight attack by attack, so the table above is still one creator's list. Check it against your first attempt.
Melee + Bosses Full Guide | The Veil
A melee-only walkthrough of every boss. The first section explains the green, blue and red attack colours and weave stacking; the Smelter Demon section covers its five attacks and the accessories the creator used.
What it drops
Armageddon is why most people farm this boss. It is a legendary melee sword. Its passive tooltip, read off an enhanced copy in a September 24 build video, says your critical attack “is now a supercharged blast which fires an orb of chaos dealing 3.5 damage over time and applying Fire”. That passive is called Sun of Damnation. An unenhanced copy may show a different number.
Two creators quote Armageddon as a 1 in 75 drop, on September 13 and September 15, and neither video says where the figure comes from. The game does show drop chances: the Bestiary lists them for every enemy you have killed, as a September 27 recording shows for Cambions and Imps. Nobody has shown the Smelter Demon entry on camera yet, so check your own Bestiary after your first kill. The September 15 video wore a Lucky Coin and got the sword on its seventh kill, which is one result and says nothing about the real rate. Both videos recommend wearing a Lucky Coin before the kill.
Furystone, an accessory with a flat 10% damage bonus, drops from the Cambions you farm for essence: the Bestiary lists it at 1 in 25, alongside the Bladecrest Oathsword at 1 in 25. One melee build guide also lists it as a Smelter Demon drop. That part comes from a single creator and is not in any patch note.
Is it worth farming?
- For a melee build, yes. The current melee guides are built around Armageddon, and every recording that names a source for it names this boss.
- Plan your time around Fire Essence. In the September 6 group run the essence held them up, not the boss. Farming Cambions at 1 in 5 averages one essence per five kills, eight times better than Imps.
- You do not need a particular server. The horn summons the boss whenever you use it at night, unlike the Goblin Warlock, which you have to catch as a world event.
Smelter Demon is one of eleven fightable bosses on the boss list. It comes before The Festering Wound on the Disease Era route.