I've deemed a disclaimer necessary, as to lay out what this guide is, and is not.

What this guide is:

• Exclusively single-player. I haven't been able to get multiplayer to work consistently, and I'm not interested in doing so. Since each arena is altered by how many people participate in it, I have only been able to play the single-player versions, and the strategies below may not necessarily work on multiplayer.
  
• Flexible. I'm willing to change strategies based on feedback. If there is a much more reliable strategy out there for a certain trial, then I'll consider adding it in. If the given strategy is already fairly reliable, however, then I'm not likely to consider changing it.

What this guide is not:

• A solution to all of your problems. Perhaps you tried one of the strategies below and you haven't gotten it to work yet. That's OK. These strategies are not guaranteed cure-alls for your ails. Some of these may not even work for you, because of our different play styles. I offer a few different styles of play for different scenarios to try to mitigate this, but I can't guarantee that they'll work. If they don't work, then either keep trying, or start experimenting on your own.
  
• Comprehensive. I'm not going to show you how to beat every single challenge with every single weapon. I can give you pointers to very efficient methods, but my main priority will be to get you the crystals, and not to get you godlike times.
  
• A glitch guide. There are people out there that have finished some trials in 17 seconds. I don't know how they did it, and I don't care. If you have found a glitch that makes a level really easy, good for you. If you send it to me, I'll look into it. I won't put it in this guide.
  
• Coauthored. I have no personal quarrel with any of you, but I'm not going to trust random people on the internet to edit this guide. I've worked hard on it, and I'll not have it disappear overnight because someone finds satisfaction in suffering.

There you have it. Enjoy the guide, and free your village and stuff.


EDIT: As Kotli pointed out, in most of the guides I have the player equip 3 passives, which they can't do until they have 30 Crystals. This is definitely the case: a few of the earlier Crystals are a lot easier when the player has 30+ Crystals. I've edited the guide to not be dependent on having access to more actives or passives than your current Crystal count provides.

EDIT 2: As a final note, I'm going to say that I will not provide a guide for the Survival maps. However, one of the builds I give in this guide is so effective that I managed to get a gold time on each of the Survival maps the first time I tried using it. Play around with it!

These trials are what I consider the Forced Tutorial. These levels are quite easy, and I won't be giving very much explanation on how to complete each level here. Even so, the challenges are not so easy, and here I give tips on how to finish each one. You can collect all 18 Crystals without leaving this area, so I highly recommend you do so.





Completion Prerequisites: 0 Crystals
This trial is fairly straightforward, so I will not cover completion tips here.

Challenge Prerequisites: 5 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Build:
Volcanic Slam, Call Meteor
Cleaving Marks

Focus Morgrul immediately when he spawns. Use Call Meteor first to deal massive damage and knock back whatever swarmers happen to be rushing you. Hit Morgul with two fully-charged basic attacks, and finish with Volcanic Slam. This kills the Morgrul.
Note: It seems tempting to try to do this with only 1 Crystal, to get all three gems immediately at the start of your run, but I have not found a way to consistently do this with the Volcanic Hammer,
which seems to be the best DPS weapon.

Time Prerequisites: 1 Crystal, Frost Shield
The Frost Shield is very effective here. Hit the swarmers twice times and use a Shield Throw to finish them off. Some practice with the level will teach you where the shrines spawn, which should get you a time of less than 1:05.



Completion Prerequisites: 1 Crystal
This trial is fairly straightforward, so I will not cover completion tips here.

Challenge Prerequisites: 1 Crystal, Volcanic Hammer
For this challenge, you don't actually need any of your abilities. You won't be able to finish the challenge until after you destroy the four statues in the level. Once this is done, charge Balfus' bomb ability, and get the swarmers into a large group. Try to lead them into Balfus. You will have to take some damage from the swarmers, but they are the hardest thing you have to fight in this arena. This may take a few tries to accomplish.

Time Prerequisites: 1 Crystal, Volcanic Hammer
For this challenge, you need not use your abilities. Use fully charged basic attacks to take out 2 to 3 swarmers at a time, and you can finish this in about 1:40, a full 5 seconds below the requirement. This will take practice. In addition, if Balfus' bombs miss any of the statues, you can be sure that you will not be able to finish the level in time.



Completion Prerequisites: 2 Crystals
This trial is fairly straightforward, so I will not cover completion tips here.

Challenge Prerequisites: 2 Crystals
After defeating your first brawler, you are tasked with destroying 3 spawner shrines. Let them spawn in 5 to 6 swarmers, place Balfus next to the stun shrine, and stand on the opposite side. Once 5 to 6 swarmers are on you, summon Balfus. If you need to heal up afterwards, there is a healing shrine in the northeastern part of the level. If you've equipped Frost Shield, be sure not to bring Frost Counter into this trial.

Time Prerequisites: 2 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Use partially to fully charged basic attacks to one-shot swarmers. To quickly deal with brawlers, use some basic attacks to get them to about half health, and a Volcanic Slam to finish them off. You can also start by using the blast shrine, immediately using Volcanic Slam, and then finishing them off with basic attacks. You can finish here in less than 1:20.
Note: It is possible to complete both the Time and Challenge Crystals with the Volcanic Hammer at 2 Crystals.



Completion Prerequisites: 3 Crystals
This trial is fairly straightforward, so I will not cover completion tips here.

Challenge Prerequisites: 3 Crystals
In order, run Balfus through the bomb, healing, and speed shrines, and direct him to the lowest statue. This can be done at the very start of the level.

Time Prerequisites: 3 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Start by destroying the middle statue. You can run Balfus through the speed shrine to speed this up. After killing the brawler and the swarmers, destroy the upper statue. Immediately destroy the spawner on the lower left, and get rid of the lower statue. Be sure not to let swarmers interfere with the bombs. There aren't that many in the level, so this should be simple. To dodge the cleaver, simply strafe around him: he can't hit you if you're not still, or running directly away from him. This will take practice, so don't worry if you don't get it at first. Use basic attacks to build up marks on him, and Volcanic Slam to kill him. This can get you a time of 1:45.



Completion Prerequisites: 4 Crystals
This trial is a bit tricky, so it may take you a few attempts to finish it. If you have five crystals, however, then you can follow the below strategy to get all three crystals at once.

Challenge Prerequisites: 5 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Slick Moves
Ice and Blood

For most of the level, Balfus should be very close to the mist emitter. If you have a habit of always keeping Balfus with you, it's time to nip that in the bud. Shutting the mist down should be a high priority: letting it run at all is a sure way to die. There are a few acid imps that will hang out very far away: you can get a speed boost to reach them quickly and return to the emitter in time. You can alternate between using the Speed Shrine and Slick Moves to do this. Once you kill the four acid imps, get yourself and Balfus to the healing shrine and stay there. Dance around the cleaver as much as you can, and once it and the surrounding swarmers have at least two marks, use Shield Throw. This should deal with everything except the cleaver. You should be able to kill the cleaver fast enough so the mist doesn't touch you.

Time Prerequisites: 5 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Slick Moves
Ice and Blood

Use the above strategy. You can get a time of 1:30.



Completion Prerequisites: 5 Crystals
The tips below are very helpful in defeating Wrathhoof if you're stuck.

Challenge Prerequisites: 5 Crystals
The stomps do not affect you if you aren't moving when he stomps. Use this to avoid every stomp. A bit of technical skill is involved, and you may get hit a bit, but there is a health shrine if you lose too much health.

Time Prerequisites: 15 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Slick Moves
Ice and Blood, Icing

The main skills you will be using are Shield Throw and Slick Moves. The former is excellent for crowd control, and the latter gives you healing and a movement bonus, which is always welcome. Avoid all of the stomps, and kill swarmers using 2 basic attacks and 1 Shield Throw, or 1 basic attack and 2 Shield Throw hits. Use basic attacks to get marks on Wrathhoof, and Shield Throw to use them up. Icing is an excellent defensive skill to ensure that swarmers won't overwhelm you, while Ice and Blood is to maintain high DPS against Wrathhoof. I recommend getting 15 crystals before attempting this just so you arrive in the next area with 18 crystals--this will be a massive help. You should achieve a time of 2:45 with this build.

Alternatively: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Chain Lightning Arrow, Nova Bolt, Overcharge
Hitting the Wound, Deadly Calm, Shortened Focus

If you wish to achieve a much better time, Storm Bow can be used instead. With the above build, I have achieved a time of 1:20.

Here the levels start getting a bit more challenging. For some, completion is non-trivial. The boss fight is quite challenging unless you have quite a few crystals and a skill set that you are comfortable with using. Once you get to this point, I would highly recommend acquiring all 18 crystals in the first area, and acquiring as many as you can from this one. You don't need all 36 just to progress to the third area, but 19 crystals by the end of this area is critical.



Completion Prerequisites: 6 Crystals
The level is straightforward enough that I won't explain completion strategies.

Challenge Prerequisites: 7 Crystals, Frost Shield
Use your Shield Throw to swiftly deal with volatile swarmers. Two appear in the third room: take the first one out, retreat to the first room, and kill the second one once your cooldown is up. In the fourth room, volatile swarmers do not appear until you activate the second plate. They will come from the upper left: use one Shield Throw to take both of them out. One volatile swarmer appears after the third and fourth plate each: save your Shield Throws for them. Once you have killed these 6 swarmers, feel free to use Shield Throw on any minion you wish.

Time Prerequisites: 22 Crystals, Frost Shield
Equip Shield Throw, Avalanche, and Slick Moves. This map just takes practice. Use Shield Throw to deal with volatile swarmers, and Avalanche and Slick Moves to shave precious seconds off of your time. 3:20 is a reasonable time with this strategy.


Completion Prerequisites: 7 Crystals
After you activate the Shock Shrine, place Balfus to the right of the Moving Shrine. You can place him in such a way that you can loop back around to the left side of the shrine. Once you do this, you can use Balfus to move the shrine out of the way. Once you do this, you can maneuver the same shrine so that it blocks the laser. Once you can do this, you can destroy the Volatile Swarmer Spawner Shrine.
Now place Balfus directly under the first Laser Shrine. You can do this in such a way that you can loop around to the other side of the second Moving Shrine. Summon Balfus, and use this second shrine to block the second laser. Proceed to the next room, and activate the Activator Shrine. Place Balfus in the Moving Shrine, and send it moving to the right. Use it to circumvent the next three lasers.
The next battle will have you facing 1 Taurus and several Volatile Swarmers. You are given a Shock Shrine and a Healing Shrine to aid in your efforts. Proceed as you will. This is the final encounter before the red and blue banners.

Challenge Prerequisites: 7 Crystals
This requires a bit of timing. First, position the moving shrine so you can, in one call, send Balfus through the activator shrine and into the moving shrine, without touching the lasers. Once this is is done, send Balfus and the moving shrine through the lasers, and stand on the large glowing button near the fence blocking you from the Blue Banner. This button reveals another activator shrine. Once you, Balfus, and the activator shrine are all lined up, summon Balfus. This solves the puzzle. You may have to take some damage if you move out of Balfus' range, but it shouldn't be too much. If you are worried, then you can equip Frost Shield and use Slick Moves so that you can start and end the puzzle at full health.

Time Prerequisites: 7 Crystals
The above strategy for completion can be used to pass the time challenge. Using Frost Shield with Shield Throw and Slick Moves is a reliable strategy.




Completion Prerequisites: 8 Crystals
This trial is straightforward enough that I won't cover completion strategies here.

Challenge Prerequisites: 8 Crystals
This is a fairly tricky challenge. Immediately call Balfus, and keep him close until you get into the second room. Drop him off and send him through the Bomb Shrine, directly into a statue. After this, try to skirt the enemies while sending Balfus through the Bomb Shrine again. You can try leading the statues into Balfus. This will take a few tries.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Spirit Surge, Healing Blast, Spirit Mirage
Wardancer

Use Spirit Surge to move around, and Spirit Mirage to divert attention while you charge Balfus' bomb. Since the movement of the enemies is very unreliable, you'll have to play this a few times to get the achievement.

Completion Prerequisites: 9 Crystals
This trial is straightforward enough that I won't cover completion strategies here.

Challenge Prerequisites: 9 Crystals
This is another tricky challenge. Directly after you destroy the first statue, send Balfus through the Bomb Shrine again, being careful not to detonate him. Lead Balfus and the second statue into the next room, where the third statue will appear. Finally, lead the two into Balfus. Be sure no smaller units are getting in the way.

Time Prerequisites: 12 Crystals, Frost Shield
Equip Shield Throw, Slick Moves, and Avalanche. Use the last two exclusively for movement speed bonuses. In the last room, you will be facing two statues, a Taurus, and a few Swarmers at the very least. Do not focus on the Taurus: simply dodge his charges and keep charging the Time Plate.




Completion Prerequisites: 10 Crystals, Frost Shield
This level is a lot easier than it looks at first glance. Do not take cover from the laser: in fact, staying as close to the center as possible is the best way to dodge the laser. Once you get to 13 overcharges, make sure you do the next two very quickly, because a bunch of enemies will spawn right after the 14th overcharge. A few spawners appear throughout the level, which you may choose to get rid of.

Challenge Prerequisites: 10 Crystals, Frost Shield
Use the above strategy.

Time Prerequisites: 22 Crystals, Frost Shield
Once again, use the above strategy, while equipping Shield Throw, Ground Slam, and Slick Moves. Use Ground Slam to quickly dispatch enemy units (this is very effective with the Ice and Blood passive), and Slick Moves to gain speed and regenerate health. Your main priority is to get Balfus through the Laser Shrine as often as possible.



Completion Prerequisites: 11 Crystals
Destroy all the Spawner Shrines, use the Shock and Healing Shrines, and this level shouldn't be that bad.

Challenge Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Build:
Volcanic Slam, Flamenado, Warmth Shock
Cleaving Marks, Destruction Battery, Combat Swiftness

Use Flamenado to become invulnerable at key moments: when Slarth's curse on Balfus is about to run out (you can use this to damage Slarth!), when Volatile Swarmers descend upon you, and generally when you're about to take a whole bunch of damage. Use fully charged swings of your hammer to chip away at Slarth's health, and Volcanic Slam to remove even more. Warmth Shock is a very nice healing ability, and comes with a convenient knockback that you can time just so that those Volatile Swarmers are shoved away. This will take a few tries, but it can be done.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Chain Lightning Arrow, Invisibility, Overcharge
Shortened Focus, Deadly Calm, Hitting the Wound

Note that you won't be bringing a healing ability into the arena, so you'll have to utilize the Healing Shrine at the top left. Using Invisibility stops every enemy in their tracks, so you can use this to turn Slarth's bomb curses against him and his statues. Be sure to destroy a few of the Spawner Shrines before they can do much damage. Fully charged bow shots are much more effective than spamming short bow shots in this scenario.

It is at this point where I started struggling to simply finish the levels. I encourage doing these levels out of order, if you feel stuck anywhere. It is when you finish your fight with Graw that you should start going back and trying to earn as many Crystals as you can. To give you an idea of where you should be at the end of Trial 18: there are 6 Trials I've given guides to here that require 55 or more Crystals. If you can enter the next domain with 49 crystals, then you're perfectly on track.



Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals
Completing this area shouldn't be too hard. Follow Balfus' directions, play well, and you should do fine.

Challenge Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Chain Lightning Arrow, Overcharge, Invisibility
Hitting the Wound, Deadly Calm, Shortened Focus

Here you must minimize the damage done to you. Try to always approach an infested shrine from below, as approaching it from above blocks sight in front of you. Use Chain Lightning Arrow to quickly deal with Swarmers, and use fully charged bow shots to deal with Brawlers and Cleavers. Volatile Swarmers spawn periodically after a point, so be sure to save some of your shots for them. Near the end of the level, use Invisibility to ensure victory.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Chain Lightning Arrow, Healing Arrow Totem, Invisibility
Hitting the Wound, Ranger, Shortened Focus

This will just take practice to get right. As less enemies hit you, you will get a faster time. You can use Invisibility to help you with this.




Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Frost Shield
When you first try to complete it, it is a good idea to attempt the challenge as well, so I shall put the challenge guide here. Balfus should always be doing something, whether it is mitigating the mist, destroying Spawner Shrines, or activating the Shock Shrine. Your priorities should be in that order exactly. Equip Shield Throw, Ground Pound, and Slick Moves to dispatch your enemies quickly without getting hurt too much.

Challenge Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Frost Shield
To be clear, to contract means to reel it in, not to catch it like a disease. The above build is the most effective, in my opinion. With the first three passives equipped (requirement of 30 gems needed), the mist had filled the entire screen by halfway into the trial, and yet I never went below 75% health unless I let myself get charged by a Taurus. To keep yourself at as high a health as possible, be sure to alternate using Slick Moves and the Healing Shrine. If you're moves are sufficiently slick you can also utilize the Shock Shrine, but it's not very necessary for anything.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Spirit Mirage, Energy Bomb
Rip Them Apart, Fury, Wardancer

This is a fairly tricky challenge. Until the very end, your priority should be getting burst damage on your objectives and keeping the mist at bay. Use Spirit Mirage to get movement speed boosts, and to deflect Volatile Swarmers. This will take some practice to get right.




Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Use the build below, and equip as many actives and passives from it as you can. If you have less than 30 Crystals, I would drop Spirit Mirage and Sucker Punch. You will not be able to equip all of them until you have 30 Crystals. Run Balfus through as many shrines as you can find without risking death, and use Power Kick, Fury, and Rip Them Apart to chop your enemies to bits.

Challenge Prerequisites: 30 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Healing Blast, Spirit Mirage
Fury, Rip Them Apart, Sucker Punch

Steam user LOLPATROL has posted a very nice guide showing the locations of all 48 shrines, which you can find here. Following this guide, use Power Kick to make short work of any foe you come across, use Healing Blast if you're low and the mist is slow, and Spirit Mirage for any needed movement boosts. This challenge is extremely tricky in the sense that the order of the shrines must be very precise, so this will take some practice.


Time Prerequisites: 30 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Healing Blast, Spirit Mirage
Fury, Rip Them Apart, Sucker Punch

Those activator shrines slow the mist down. If you slow the mist down, then you won't get the required time of 2:15, so don't hit any activator shrines. This means that you'll have to kill every enemy you come across with ludicrous speed. Use basic attacks to shred Armored Swarmers and Acid Spitters apart, and use your Power Kick to obliterate the Cleaver and the Brawler. This trial will require a bit of practice to get right, especially since your Power Kick isn't especially effective. If you have 55 crystals, then you can replace Healing Blast with Energy Bomb.

Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Healing Ability
This level is another level in which combat ability will save you. As each infested shrine appears, have Balfus take it out. I also recommend bringing a healing ability, like Healing Blast (Spirit Claws), Slick Moves (Frost Shield), Warmth Shock (Volcanic Hammer), or Healing Arrow Totem (Storm Bow).

Challenge Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Build:
Volcanic Slam, Flamenado, Warmth Shock
Cleaving Marks, Destruction Battery, Combat Swiftness

The only thing you need to do here is lure every enemy you fight away from the infested shrines. Unless you are on your fourth plate which is 75% filled, always deal with the enemies first. They will kill you if they're not dealt with quickly.


Time Prerequisites: 45 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Energy Bomb, Mind Mine
Fury, Rip Them Apart, Vampiric

Do the plates on the right first, and leave the lower left plate for last. The lower left plate spawns a Taurus near the end, and you don't want to have to deal with that. Whenever you stand on a Time Plate, press a movement key. The Warlock's circular ring of death will never hit you, because it thinks that you will be a few meters up/down/left/right of where you currently are. You can cleanse one or two shrines if you have time, but don't cleanse too many. Finally, use your Mind Mine to stun and mark enemies quickly and conveniently.




Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Healing Ability
Once again, combat skills prevail. Bring a healing ability of some sort. Each room is quite self-explanatory.

Challenge Prerequisites: 30 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build: Shield Throw, Ground Slam, Slick Moves
Ice and Blood, Frost Counter, Icing
At the very start of the map, hold space to have Balfus follow you. For the first two rooms you do, do not call Balfus. Start with the middle room. This time, the laser goes quite quickly, and I recommend you find cover before the laser starts turning. The laser rotates exactly one full revolution, so you can use this to your advantage and start charging the time plate much earlier. Proceed to the room on the right.
Here, you're faced with a lone time plate. Start charging it, and defeat the enemies as they come. Do not use Balfus to cleanse any shrines. The infected shrines heal enemies, so be sure to draw enemies away from them before you fight. Once you're done with this room and have full health from using Slick Moves, move to the third room.
In the third room, drop Balfus right next to the activator shrine, and have him run through it. You should be at 2 calls now. The lasers will deactivate for a little more than 20 seconds. After each deactivation, run Balfus through the shrine again, making sure that you can reach the time plate after you do so. This can be done in three activations, if you're careful.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build: Chain Lightning Arrow, Healing Arrow Totem, Yellow / Purple Lightning
Hitting the Wound, Deadly Calm, Shortened Focus

Start in the right chamber and work your way left. This is all about efficiency in combat: killing everything as quickly as possible. Use Chain Lightning Arrow to deal with multiple enemies at once, and use fully charged basic attacks to kill Warlocks and Cleavers. I kept my lightning set at Yellow.




Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals
This doesn't really require a certain build. I've given a few builds earlier on in this guide, and most are good for this fight. Graw has a very limited set of attacks, all of which are easily countered:

• He spits out Volatile Swarmers in the form of eggs. Each egg takes several seconds to hatch, and when a Volatile Swarmer dies, it reverts back to its egg form. To kill the egg, run Balfus over it. It's very important to keep doing that in this fight, because if you don't, the eggs surrounding you will kill you, not the Swarmers.
  
• Graw vomits for damage over time. This is easy to avoid.
  
• Graw periodically explodes. Just stay away from him whenever he does this.
  
• Graw summons a swarm of insects that closes in on you. If the swarm closes in on you and Balfus isn't there to protect you from it, you take loads of damage over time. It also destroys Volatile Swarmers it touches, so it's easy to use it against Graw.
  
• Various Swarmers. These are easily dispatched.

Challenge Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Spirit Mirage, Healing Blast
Fury, Vampiric, Wardancer

You want to destroy every egg that Graw spits out before it hatches. Spirit Claws and Spirit Mirage gives you the best base speed and best burst of speed in the game, which lets you position accordingly. If you make destroying the eggs your top priority, the overall fight is pretty simple. Graw's attacks will damage regular Swarmers sufficiently so that you won't need to spend too much effort taking each one down, so you won't get surrounded. In addition, a good way of avoiding all of Graw's attacks is to remain as close to him as possible (moving away whenever he explodes), and run circles around him. He'll spend the entire time vomiting and barely missing you, and if he manages to hit you you will be able to heal up with Vampiric. If you ever manage to take lots of damage in the fight, you can quickly heal up with Healing Blast. This isn't a particularly fast fight, but it is very reliable.


Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Lightning Storm, Healing Arrow Totem, Overcharge
Hitting the Wound, Deadly Calm, Shortened Focus

As long as you follow the tips outlined in the Completion section of this trial, you should be all right. I beat Graw handily the first time I tried this build. Note the lack of skills that spend marks. This is because a fully charged bow shot does more damage than any of the mark spender skills, and if you play it right you won't have many enemies at a time to kill.

Alternatively: 42 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Lightning Storm, Healing Arrow Totem, Chain Lightning Arrow
Hitting the Wound, Deadly Calm, Triple Shot

Try finishing the challenge. I managed to get a time of under 2 minutes with this strategy.

Now that you're starting to get the hang of this game, the harder levels will stop seeming so incredibly difficult. There are, however, quite a few challenges in this area that are fairly tricky, so keep your resolve up. Unlocking this area is both necessary and sufficient to obtain 72 crystals, so you can leave your fight with the Master for later if you wish.




Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Frost Shield
Once again, Shield Throw and Slick Moves are your friends. Use them often, use them well. Keep Balfus close so you can see the dark hunters.

Challenge Prerequisites: 19 Crystals
After the room full of spinning grinders and before the room of 4 activator shrines, there is a hallway with a grinder slowly sweeping it. Go to the easternmost end of the hallway, and walk through the wall.

Time Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Equip Volcanic Slam, Flamenado, and Warmth Shock. Combat Swiftness is also helpful here. After some practice, you should be able to reach the final room in under 1 minute. Once you reach this room, circle around activating all of the shrines. After you do this, you will have a bunch of enemies descend upon you. Simply take out as many as you can, and try to prioritize the Dark Hunters. Use Warmth Shock whenever you feel low.




Completion Prerequisites: 20 Crystals
This trial is simple enough that I won't give an explanation on how to beat it.

Challenge Prerequisites: 20 Crystals
This challenge is all about being careful with Balfus. I have no tips for you: just avoid the barriers. This is good practice though: if you run directly through a barrier and a Warlock suddenly traps you, you're dead because you can't call Balfus.

Time Prerequisites: 45 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Chain Lightning Arrow, Overcharge, Yellow / Purple Lightning
Hitting the Arrow, Deadly Calm, Triple Shot

Your colored lightning is a pure buff, don't activate it. Use Chain Lightning Arrow to deal with lots of weaker enemies quickly, and save Overcharge for the Commander. Warlocks can be killed in three fully charged shots. This may take some practice to get.




Completion Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Storm Bow
You won't want to complete this thing three times, so just go for the Challenge: avoiding the blood spurts. See below for how to do that.


Challenge Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Yellow / Purple Lightning, Healing Arrow Totem, Chain Lightning Arrow
Hitting the Wound, Deadly Calm, Triple Shot

Originally I had a strategy with Volcanic Hammer that could finish this challenge in a little under 30 minutes, but then I realized that the Storm Bow is a ranged weapon. Essentially, run the following algorithm:

• If you can see enemies, kill them.
  
• If you can't see enemies, kill the Blood Machine.

Always stay off of the grating around the blood pool, occasionally grab some healing, and you can finish this in under 10 minutes.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Yellow / Purple Lightning, Invisibility, Healing Arrow Totem
Hitting the Wound, Shortened Focus, Triple Shot

If you execute this well, you should never have to use Invisibility or Healing Arrow Totem. Your main source of damage will be fully-charged basic attacks, which do tons of damage when you're getting up close and personal with your target, which is very large and stationary already. Your attacks should deal with minions quickly. Take out any minions that aren't Swarmers, and destroy Spawner Shrines at your earliest convenience, but your focus should be on the Blood Machine for about half the time. You can get a time of under 3:20 with this method.

Completion Prerequisites: 19 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Ground Slam, Slick Moves
Icing

This is a fairly simple trial, where combat skills save you.


Challenge Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Ground Slam, Slick Moves
Ice and Blood, Icing, Stalwart

In the first room you'll face 3 Swarmers, 1 Brawler, and 1 Dark Hunter. Keep Frost Protection up for the Dark Hunter, or simply attack right before he does. If Swarmers hit you, use Slick Moves to quickly heal back up. I'd prioritize defeating the Dark Hunter. Right after this fight, you're a given a choice to go left or right. Go left: towards the traps. These aren't that hard to dodge. The next button is a trap: you will fight three waves of enemies.

• Two Tauruses. Just wait for them to charge, then wail on them with basic attacks.
  
• Two Dark Hunters. Attack them right before they attack you, and they'll never touch you. Focus one Dark Hunter first.
  
• One Graw, and several Swarmers. Use Ground Slam and Shield Throw to deal with the Graw, and basic attacks and Shield Throw to defeat any Swarmers that join the fight. Be sure to use Slick Moves to heal up if needed.

The Red Banner is right after this fight.

Time Prerequisites: 45 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Spirit Mirage, Energy Bomb
Rip Them Apart, Fury, Vampiric

This build is pretty self-explanatory. If you're doing well, you deal extra damage. If you're not, you heal up pretty quickly. This is a great counter to attacks from Dark Hunters, and the damage you do is enough to quickly finish every battle.




Completion Prerequisites: 22 Crystals
This map is easily completable with some combat skill. The trickiest part is the grinder puzzles, but they're not too hard to figure out.

Challenge Prerequisites: 22 Crystals
Simply lure the last Dark Hunter you see into one of the previous grinders. It's much easier when it's your only enemy.

Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Spirit Claws
Build:
Power Kick, Healing Blast, Energy Bomb
Rip Them Apart, Wardancer, Fury

It's our standard Spirit Claws build, and it's very effective. This trial will take some practice to get right, but this build makes it much easier to finish quickly.




Completion Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Volcanic Hammer
Build:
Volcanic Slam, Flamenado, Warmth Shock
Cleaving Marks, Destruction Battery, Combat Swiftness

Surprisingly, there's not much to say here. Never use Flamenado to apply marks; use it for invulnerability. After that, simply practice the boss to figure out how to dodge each attack.

• Attacks directly on Balfus: moving directly away from Mordar, then strafing to the edge, is the best way of avoiding this attack.
  
• Bouncing missile: The direction of the missile seems completely random. Try to distance yourself from it, or use Flamenado to absorb it.
  
• Circular spikes: Wait for them to have a large attack radius, then quickly dash to the inside of the circle.
  
• The occasional enemy unit: Destroy Swarmers with fully charged hammer hits, and focus Dark Hunters whenever you see them.

Challenge Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Yellow / Purple Lightning, Invisibility, Healing Arrow Totem
Hitting the Wound, Shortened Focus, Triple Shot

Shout-out to YouTube user Hammerchief for using this strategy. Once again, never use Purple Lightning, simply bring it for the buff. Invisibility and Healing Arrow Totem are only used for getting out of sticky situations. Your only source of damage is going to be fully-charged basic attacks. A few helpful hints:

• A Swarmer can be killed in close-range with one fully-charged basic attack.
  
• A Bone Shrine can be destroyed in close-range with two fully-charged basic attacks.
  
• A Dark Hunter can be killed in close-range with three fully-charged basic attacks.

Below is a video showing the strategy's execution.


Time Prerequisites: 55 Crystals, Storm Bow
Build:
Yellow / Purple Lightning, Invisibility, Healing Arrow Totem
Hitting the Wound, Shortened Focus, Triple Shot

The Challenge build is incredibly effective in terms of time. I could easily get close to 3:00 with this build.

This is the final fight. It's not that bad, but its challenges are very difficult.

Completion Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Ground Slam, Slick Moves
Blood and Ice, Icing, Shield Bash

You will be fighting two Colossi. They both have attacks that hit huge areas, so you'll be doing a lot of dodging in this fight. You will need to use your Slick Moves a lot, just to heal. Occasionally the Colossi can become invulnerable, but this can be undone by running Balfus through the link between the two. The link does not hurt you. However, this is perhaps the only fight where you don't want Balfus following you. One of their attacks is to engulf Balfus in flames, and force him to follow you. If Balfus is following you, then you won't notice this attack until it's way too late. If Balfus is stationary, you will be able to notice the attack almost immediately. To conclude: this will be a very long fight, so just use Shield Throw and Ground Slam as your primary attacks and you shouldn't have to die.

Challenge Prerequisites: 42 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Shield Throw, Avalanche, Ice'N'Guard
Icing, Frost Counter, Shield Bash
Credit goes to 9WhiteMask for this strategy (though he uses Frosh Smash instead of Frost Counter). Your passives buff up your Frost Protection, while your actives do all the damage. For a good chunk of damage in a small amount of time, try aligning yourself with the two Colossi, using Avalanche to put full marks on both of them, and immediately use Shield Throw to remove them. You can also use this combo as an escape. As for Ice'N'Guard, only use it defensively: it's great for getting out of sticky situations, but if you keep using it when you're not in one then the probability that you find yourself in a mess with no means of defense approaches 100% very quickly.

This is a strategy that requires a bit of practice. It's possible to not lose any health until one of the Colossi is dead, but that takes a bunch of tries, loads of skill, and infinite patience. But you're reading this guide, so I suppose you're all about that.

Time Prerequisites: 63 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Icy Execution, Slick Moves, Ice'N'Guard
Icing, Frost Smash, Stalwart

Credit goes to 9WhiteMask for this strategy and build. Stalwart and Slick Moves are good healing abilities, while Icing and Frost Smash boost your Ice Protection. For this challenge, you will fight very aggressively. You can run in, wait for their attacks, and activate Ice'N'Guard to reflect all of their damage back at them. While you do this, you can use your basic attack and Icy Execution to chop down their health even more. Slick Moves is a decent escape move, and you will use it quite a bit in this fight. This is actually not one of the harder fights. If executed well, you can get a time of under 3:40.

Trifecta Prerequisites: 63 Crystals, Frost Shield
Build:
Icy Execution, Avalance, Ice'N'Guard
Reckless Frenzy, Frost Smash, Shield Bash

Credit goes to Eludeath for this strategy. Ever wanted to show the big guy up? Just be absolutely better than that one person? Now you can, by getting all three Crystals in this trial. I haven't succeeded with this strategy yet because it requires a lot of technical skill, so this strategy will require a lot of practice.

Paraphrased from Eludeath: "The passives were for quick Frost Protection recovery and help keeping those pesky add-ons off of me, especially when the boss charged me when I get cornered. If I got cornered sometimes I had to Avalanche to get out of the way, while other times I used Ice'N'Guard and went into battle. I tried to make sure the bosses hit me hard when I activated Ice'N'Guard so that they hurt themselves fast. While dodging and constantly beating my skills into them they went down eventually."