Malefic Star
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HP
Phases
Rewards
Mesos
Drops
Grindstone of Life(x1)
Life Ring Box(x1)
Maleficroid(x1)Video Guides
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Battle Overview
Radiant Malefic Star (Korean: 찬란한 흉성) is the Level 280 endgame boss of the Dark Sea storyline, added in the CROWN update and released in KMS on January 15, 2026. She is a clone of the Ancient God Ymir, created after Ymir attempted to steal Edea and Brighton's life force. Entry requires Level 280 and completion of the "[Dark Sea] Return" quest, and the party is capped at 1-3 players.
- Level: 280
- Defense (PDR): 380%
- Required Authentic Force: 400 (Normal) / 550 (Hard)
- Personal death count: 5
Radiant Malefic Star cannot be affected by the Slow debuff or by Critical Bind. Throughout this guide, two figures written as "40% / 50%" mean Normal / Hard. All damage figures are a percentage of your max HP.
Phases
The fight is a single continuous encounter rather than a set of discrete phases. The HP bar is drawn as three segments, and clearing each segment advances the phase and unlocks additional attacks. The current phase is shown by the color of the HP bar.
| Phase | Remaining HP |
|---|---|
| Phase 1 | 100% - 80% |
| Phase 2 | 80% - 40% |
| Phase 3 | 40% - 0% |
From Phase 2 onward an extra effect appears at the top of the map.
Predation Value
Predation Value is the party-wide failure counter shown at the top of the screen, alongside the time remaining until the next Illusion/Reality swap. It starts at 0, and reaching 1000 fails the run. Nearly every pattern that hits you raises it, and destroying an Essence of Illusion lowers it by 40.
The Gauge UI
The gauge has two rings, both shared by the whole party:
- Inner ring: the Essence spawn cooldown (in the Illusion map) or the current final damage modifier (in the Reality map).
- Outer ring: the Illusion Magic value.
The Awakener
An Orb of Enticement sits on the left side of the entrance map. Interacting with it makes one party member the Awakener (the party leader role for this fight); interacting again returns the power so it can be reassigned.
The Awakener is the only player who can see and destroy the Essence of Illusion, and the only one who can cast Realize Reality and Project Illusion to swap the party between maps. Those two skills become available 30 seconds after entering the fight or after a map swap, and are unusable while an illusion orb is present on the map or while Illusion Magic sits at 1000 in the Reality map.
Illusion Magic
Illusion Magic starts at 1000 and determines the Illusion Magic tier. The tier effects apply only in the Reality map - they do nothing while you are in the Illusion map.
| Illusion Magic | Tier | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 0-249 | Tier 1 | None |
| 250-499 | Tier 2 | Predation Value rises when you are hit |
| 500-749 | Tier 3 | Above, plus the Swimming Calamity appears |
| 750-1000 | Tier 4 | Above, plus increased damage taken |
Keeping Illusion Magic low is the central goal of the fight: it is what keeps Predation Value from climbing and what keeps your damage taken manageable.
You start in the Illusion map. The party swaps between Illusion and Reality either when the Awakener casts Realize Reality / Project Illusion, or when the swap timer expires (3:40 by default). All party members always move together.
In the Illusion Map
Every time the party destroys all Essences from an Essence spawn pattern, Illusion Magic drops by 200. This is the primary way to reduce it.
Once 60 seconds remain before the swap to Reality, Predation Value rises by 2 per second - so lingering in Illusion is costly.
In the Reality Map
In the Reality map your final damage can range from -10% to +30%. If Illusion Magic is anything other than 0 when you move to Reality, your final damage starts at -10%.
In the Reality map, destroying all Essences from a spawn pattern instead spawns two Illusion Cores on the map. You activate one of the two with the NPC / gather key; if you do not pick within a time limit, one activates at random.
| Core | Illusion Magic | Final damage (by tier at activation) |
|---|---|---|
| Left core | -250 | -5% (T1-2) / -10% (T3) / -15% (T4) |
| Right core | +250 | +5% (T1-2) / +10% (T3) / +15% (T4) |
The left core is the safe choice; the right core trades a rising Illusion Magic value for more damage.
Illusion Magic at 1000 in Reality
If Illusion Magic reaches 1000 while you are in the Reality map, the boss begins charging a powerful attack:
- The remaining swap timer is capped at 40 seconds, even if more time was left.
- Predation Value rises by 1 per second.
- After 3 seconds, Project Illusion is disabled, so you cannot retreat to the Illusion map.
If you cannot push Illusion Magic below 1000 before the timer expires and are forced back to Illusion, Predation Value rises by 160 / 200. Dropping it back below 1000 restores the original timer and re-enables Project Illusion.
Essence of Illusion
The Essence of Illusion is the core mechanic. Only the Awakener can see or destroy it, using the NPC / gather key.
Every Essence destroyed lowers Predation Value by 40, and additionally lowers Illusion Magic by 200 in the Illusion map, or spawns Illusion Cores in the Reality map. Destroying one also grants 0.5 seconds of immunity to the Essence pattern itself.
An Essence only stays destroyable for about 1 second. Failing to destroy it in time raises Illusion Magic by 100 / 200 in the Illusion map, or Predation Value by 50 / 60 in the Reality map.
Every Essence spawn pattern has a base cooldown of 15 seconds. In the Illusion map, being hit by any other pattern extends that cooldown by 4 / 2 / 1.33 seconds for a party of 1 / 2 / 3, up to 5 / 10 / 15 times (a maximum of 15 + 20 = 35 seconds). In the Reality map the cooldown is fixed at 15 seconds.
The pattern will not trigger at all if the Awakener is too far from the boss, so the Awakener must stay near her.