Charon the Gatekeeper

Charon the Gatekeeper (Korean: 문의 주인 카론) is one of the many Gods introduced in Dungeon Fighter Online. He is the eighth ghost who existed before Zieg, and ruler of Realm 5: The Netherworld, serving as a boss for The Archmage's Hall of Dimensions Legion Dungeon.

As an Enemy

Charon the Gatekeeper

Type

Phase 1 ~ 2 Move Set

• Law of the Underworld → Grave digging: One of Charon's mandatory core patterns. Upon the beginning of Phase 1, everyone will receive a soul gauge next to their character that slowly fills up over time. In order to reduce the gauge's energy meter from becoming full, there are green floating souls on either the top or bottom portions of the map that transports them into the spirit realm, where they encounter various grave sites underneath, containing either of the Soul Bender's ghosts that comes in a stylized tombstone, or a non-lighten one that inflicts an AoE explosion.

By hitting them with basic X-String attacks, an unearthed tombstone that was carved out of rocks leaking out light, will transport players out of the spirit realm, and begins absorbing spirit energy from their respective gauges. Once that tombstone has absorbed enough energy, a ghost is awakened to attack the party with their own familiar characteristics. Failing to manage the spirit gauge or if a player's HP (MP for Mana Shield users) is depleted to 0%, can result in being attacked by  Ghost 7: Furious Blache where instead of being permanently killed, they become a spirit with Charon recovering 20% of his HP back. If everyone gets turned into a spirit, this counts as an automatic failure, and he'll send them out of the dungeon.

• Tombstones:
  •  Khazan: (Khazan's Energy can be felt.) An Axe-shaped Tombstone that contains the God of Destruction, offers a 10% Physical/Magical attack increase. Once awakened, Khazan does a slow, yet telegraphed Axe slam from both left and right sides of the room.
  •  Hazy-Eyed Bremen: (Bremen's Energy can be felt.) A Tombstone with goat-shaped horns, contains Bremen who offers a 10% Physical/Magical defense increase. Awakening Bremen has him launch out a series of three ghost waves that reduces defenses by 6% upon being hit.
  •  Afterimage of Keiga: (Keiga's Energy can be felt.) A Tombstone resembling a sacred tree, contains Keiga who offers a 10% increase in Movement/Attack Speed, and +12.5% in Casting Speed. Awakening Keiga has two clones of himself perform  Phantasmal Slayer (Soul Bender).
  •  Ice Saya: A Tombstone shaped like a butterfly, contains Cold-Hearted Saya. She provides no buffs, but instead places her sword in the ground at the position she was awakened, to create frozen areas that'll explode after a few seconds have gone by.
  •  Plague Rhasa: A Tombstone wrapped in bandages that resembles a Mummy, contains Rhasa. Doesn't provide a buff, but once awakened, it'll summon numerous plague ghosts by striking the ground with an anchor, that'll forcibly dig up other Tombstones and tries to summon them through an identical spirit energy absorption pattern, they can be destroyed before this occurs.
  •  Kalla of Dark Flame: A Tombstone that resembles the shape of a face mask, contains Kalla. Doesn't provide a buff, but she'll awaken to randomly target a player by launching out a series of black flames in a counter-clockwise circular motion.

• Sword Strike: Charon's usage of his sword, can be somewhat identical to the Neo: Soul Bender's  Ravenous Crevasse skill, but on a far more dangerous level to where those rift slashes alone, are able to nearly fill the screen ranging from vertical, horizontal and cylinder-shaped areas that have a 2-6 second delay like Neiser's Destructive Dagger, before exploding and dealing moderate - heavy damage. This will be Charon's main source of attack patterns throughout his entire boss fight in every phase, including Transcendence.

• Soul Zone → Soul Rain: Upon hitting Phase 2, Charon is able to form a soul field of three different variations ranging from; top - bottom, right left, and circle. Anyone who within the field's range is given a reduced movement speed debuff, while he attempts to drain their MP through their screen darkening out. Once the field disperses, Karon finishes casting and bombards players with souls raining from above, similar to the Chaos's  Aten Incarnation around reaching 40% or lower of his HP.

Transcendence Phase (Master of a Hundred Ghosts)

• Soul Absorption: Upon entering his Transcendence Phase, Charon teleports into the background and grows gigantic, as he begins to absorb all the souls. If players are quick enough to block them, his HP can be reduced to at least 30% before the fight starts.

• Enhanced Sword Strike: Instead of purple, Charon's sword rift slashes are now Turquoise color-coded and while the strikes he delivers are identical in previous phases, they are much stronger and are now able to launch out larger versions that can instantly kill anyone who comes into contact.

• Next Step → Soul Rip: Around 40% HP, there'll be a series of explosions around the room and each time this occurs, a player's soul will get ripped out of their body on either the left or right side, and they must retrieve it quickly as possible, or result in an instant kill.

• Awakening Advent →  Descent of Sieg: If Charon's Transcendence gauge reaches 100%, he'll use the Soul Bender's Second Awakening, which results in an automatic failure and kicks everyone out of the dungeon.

Notes & Strategy

• Upon Archmage's Global release, Charon has gained a notorious reputation for being one of the most difficult, frustrating and challenging bosses in either his normal or transcendence form, mainly due to either his AOE-advantage patterns such as; Sword Strikes, Soul Zone, any of the Ghosts attacking or getting healed per spirit, are major factors of parties retreating and restarting his fight.
• During Law of the Underworld → Grave digging:
  • Players should be mindful on summoning the Ghosts from their tombstones, as having too many of them on the field can make Charon's fight even more hectic, especially around Phase 2.
  • But each time a tombstone is dug up, this decreases Karon's Neutralize Gauge by 6 ~ 7%.
  • Whenever he becomes neutralized after breaking his gauge, this not only resets the awakened tombstones and soul gauges, but also anyone who was turned into spirit is fully brought back to life.
  • If playing on Level 1 via Immortal Memory Card on solo mode, the player will not be kicked out of the dungeon, but instead gets auto-revived when going near their tombstone's position.

Elemental Resist/Weakness

Fire Element	Water Element	Light Element	Shadow Element
20	0	20	20

Abnormal Status Resist/Weakness

Shock (Status)	Burn (Status)	Bleed (Status)	Poison (Status)	Stun (Status)	Frozen (Status)	Slow Down (Status)	Confusion (Status)	Stone Curse (Status)	Curse (Status)	Blind (Status)	Bind (Status)	Sleep (Status)
-15%	0%	0%	-15%	0%	0%	-15%	0%	-15%	-15%	0%	-15%	0%

Quotes

Phase 1

Encounter

• "I'll see if you deserve to stay here." (Normal Encounter 1)
• "I'll see if you deserve to hold the hilt." (Normal Encounter 2)
• "King of a Hundred Ghosts...let me test your worthiness." (Soul Bender Encounter 1)
• "King who wishes to dominate, let me test your worthiness." (Soul Bender Encounter 2)
• "King of a Hundred Ghosts, such a worthless trick. (Soul Bender Encounter 3; if there's two or more in the party)

Sword Strike

• "We're not done yet."
• "Try to avoid this, too."
• "My king, show me your majesty!" (Soul Bender)

Phase 2

Encounter

• "The tales I've heard of you from wandering spirits are not false.
• "I've heard the heroic tales of Your Majesty from the spirits of your dead enemies." (Soul Bender)

Transcendence

Encounter

• "Mwah hah hah hah! I like you! (Normal)
• "Be thankful, King. That you were free to cross the gates of the Netherworld". (Soul Bender)

Appearances

• Realm 5: The Netherworld (Boss)

Trivia

• Charon (Χάρων) is heavily based around the same Greek/Roman Mythology figure, who is a Death God and Ferryman that carries souls across the rivers, Acheron and Styx to the underworld, known as Hades.
• Prior to his boss debut for Hall of Dimensions, he would appear during an Ozma Raid in-game cinematic with Khazan of Destruction and the Neo: Soul Bender.
• The Special Equipment in Hall of Dimensions Soul Bind Set, is themed after him.

Gallery

Artwork

Sprites

See Also

• Priest Zieg
• Soul Bender