The Heart of Darkness is a piece of Legendary (5-Star) Gear, evolved from the Epic (4-Star) gear, Black Diamond. The unevolved version can be obtained by ranking in the top 5% of certain Online Battle seasons, or as a possible reward in the Worst Heroes Ever Bundle, The Dawn of Justice Triple Pack, Nth Metal Pro Packs, or Nth Metal Ultimate Packs.
Effects
- 10% - 30% DAMAGE BOOST on Special 2
- Any Special Attack applies 2% - 6% DOT which also drains 12% enemy Power.
- 10% - 30% POWER GENERATION increase
- [EVOLVED] If opponents Tags-out they receive DAMAGE equal to 10% - 20% of equipped character's damage
Mechanics
SP2 damage boost
The % damage boost is based on special's minimum damage, regardless players' performances on its mini-games. So if players achieve either 100% or 200% on the mini-game, the bonus boosted damage is still the same. It stacks with other sources of special attack damage boost.
DOT
Its DOT deals damage equal to 2%-6% enemy max health total and drain enemy's power (a total of 12% of max power), over 5 seconds. It can stack with itself or other DOT. It applies at the end of the special and only once per use of special.
Heart of Darkness' DOT
It is not affected by Catwoman/Batman Returns, Quake Engine (however, the DOT can still be retriggered by it) or any other damage boost other than bleed (+20% per stack of bleed). Crit buffs from augments or Batman/Beyond Animated, Batman/Batman Ninja and Scorpion/Mortal Kombat X's passives can cause it to crit. Batman/Flashpoint's ~5% crit chance for Flashpoint characters and crit chance for Batman from Batman Ninja Helmet can cause it to crit as well. The DOT will trigger Catwoman/Prime and Catwoman/Regime's passives.
The Flash/Blackest Night allows himself and Blackest Night teammates to heal and gain power from DOT. They will both gain and lose power when Heart of Darkness' DOT is used on them. As their power gain % is equal to the damage the DOT would have dealt to their % max health (e.g. a DOT that deals 50% of their max health gives them 50% total power), they would normally suffer a net loss of power, unless the DOT crits with at least 50% crit boost at maxed gear.
This DOT differs from those of The Ibistick and other similar DOT gears in several ways. It is applied after a special; if the special deals a KO blow, the Heart of Darkness can apply DOT on the next opponent while the Ibistick does not. However, The Ibistick can apply DOT several times with one special in certain circumstances while the Heart of Darkness cannot. It can inflict DOT upon using Aquaman/Prime's Atlantean Hero, Harley Quinn's Bag-o-Tricks (the bomb also applies DOT from other gears as usual), and missed special attacks (e.g. short ranged or used on a knocked down opponent) which don't deal damage.
Tag-out damage
Tag-out Damage
If opponents Tags-out they receive damage based on percentage of equipped character's damage. This damage can't knock out opponents. Aquaman/Prime's summoned Atlantean Soldier can't apply this damage.
Invulnerability does not prevent this damage.
Although it only damages a single target, it is considered Area Effect damage and Brandished Ninjato's effects against AoE will apply to it.
Strategy
Due to the high rate of power gen by this gear, it's best to equip it on special-dependent characters. Furthermore, since it only boosts the characters' SP2, it pairs better with characters that have devastating SP2s, like Ares/Prime and Batman/Arkham Origins.
Although the DOT damage is low and the power drain is gradual, it can be a great nuisance and stall an opponent from using a special attack. This allows the character equipped with the Heart of Darkness to follow-up with another special, tag-in a teammate with power to burn, or, if the opponent's at low enough health, finish off with basic attacks.
Player can pair this gear with the Tantu Totem on Harley Quinn, Aquaman/Prime and other characters that can miss their own specials intentionally (Wonder Woman uses her SP1 when opponent is recovering from being knocked down for example) to inflict DOT several times, effectively stalling opponents from using special attacks. The Quake Engine can further improve this strategy, being able to re-apply DOT when the DOTs expire or when enemies tag-out. This is best used on Aquaman/Prime, as he can tag-in after the Atlantean Soldier's death, gaining 3 bars of power from the Tantu Totem and can fire off one SP1 before using another SP2 and continue the loop.
Fusing
| Level | Credits | 
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | 1,000 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| +2 | 2,000 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| +3 | 3,000 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| +4 | 4,000 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| +5 | 5,000 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| +6 | 6,000 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| +7 | 7,000 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| +8 | 8,000 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| +9 | 9,000 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| +10 | 10,000 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Credits |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60,000 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 5 |
| 115,000 | 147 | 147 | 147 | 5 |
| Level | Credits |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | 5,000 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| +2 | 10,000 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| +3 | 15,000 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| +4 | 20,000 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| +5 | 25,000 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| +6 | 30,000 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| +7 | 35,000 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| +8 | 40,000 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| +9 | 45,000 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| +10 | 50,000 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Credits |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 390,000 | 441 | 441 | 441 | 5 |
Shattering
| Evolution |
|
|
|
|
Bonus
Shards |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unevolved | 20 | 20 | 20 | 1 | --> | ? | ? | ? |
| Evolved | 24 | 24 | 24 | 1 | --> | ? | ? | ? |
| Maxed | 24 | 24 | 24 | 1 | --> | 36-71 | 36-70 | 36-70 |
Ignoring the power credit cost and assuming minimum output (24 red, 24 blue, 24 green), evolving it breaks even after 7 gear pieces shattered.
Ignoring the power credit cost and assuming minimum output (60 red, 60 blue, 60 green), maxing it breaks even after 5 gear pieces shattered (over the base evolved form).
Trivia
- It ties with League of Assassins Adept Knives at providing the most power generation increase in all of the gears.
| Gear (evolved) |
|---|
| 4→5 star 5-U-93-R Pill (Overpowered 5-U-93-R) • Alien Artifact (Mother Box) • Ancient Katana (Soultaker Sword) • Astro Force (Astro-Harness) • Black Diamond (Heart of Darkness) • Black Power Battery (Nekron's Scythe) • Cloak (Cloak of Destiny) • Gingo Fruit (Gingold Soda) • Gloves of Azrael (Gauntlets of Azrael) • Mysterious Artifact (The Ibistick) • Nightwing's Ninjato (Brandished Ninjato) • Ra's Al Ghul's Dagger (Ra's Al Ghul's Scimitar) • Riddler's Cane (Riddler's Staff) • Scarecrow's Mask (Scarecrow's Ventilator Mask) • Sengoku Helmet (Batman Ninja Helmet) • The Batmobile (Militarized Batmobile) • The Master's Arms (The Master's Death Cart) • Time Capsule (Quake Engine) • Totem (Tantu Totem) • War Gauntlet (Claw of Horus)
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