Commencement

Commencement
Moon of Petrichor V
Stage	Final
Soundtrack	...con lentitud poderosa
Lunar Seer Quote
You dream of glass and dirt.
Description
Large domain located above the shattered breach of Petrichor V's moon. It is made up of the shattered remains of four individual sections, emblematic of MithrixMithrix King of NothingHP: 1000 (+300 per level) Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level) Class: Melee / Ranged Speed: 15 m/s Armor: 20 and Providence's tools of creation.

Commencement is the final stage Environment added in the 1.0 Update, and revised in the Anniversary Update. It is located on the moon of Petrichor V.

The Artifact of Kin will allow its selected monster to spawn, but not prevent the Lunar Chimera (Exploder)Lunar Chimera (Exploder)
Zenith DesignsHP: 180 (+54 per level)
Damage: 11 (+2.2 per level)
Class: Ranged / Self-Destruct
Speed: 8 m/s
Armor: 0, Lunar Chimera (Golem)Lunar Chimera (Golem)
Zenith DesignsHP: 1615 (+485 per level)
Damage: 35 (+7 per level)
Class: Ranged
Speed: 8 m/s
Armor: 0, or Lunar Chimera (Wisp)Lunar Chimera (Wisp)
Zenith DesignsHP: 850 (+255 per level)
Damage: 15 (+3 per level)
Class: Ranged
Speed: 18 m/s
Armor: 0 from spawning.

Description

Commencement is a large domain located above the shattered breach of Petrichor V's moon. It is ostensibly the desolated seat of Mithrix'sMithrix
King of NothingHP: 1000 (+300 per level)
Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level)
Class: Melee / Ranged
Speed: 15 m/s
Armor: 20 power.

It is made up of the shattered remains of four individual sections, emblematic of Mithrix and Providence's tools of creation:

• The area where Pillars of Design are found appears to be a workshop of sorts, with the unfinished remains of a Lunar Chimera Golem. The upper half of one remains suspended by large chains as if abandoned in the midst of construction.
• The Pillars of Blood are found within a large circular arena, encircled by tall pillars with raised platforms resembling seating.

Raised high above the rest of the grounds by what appears to be a titanic arm is a massive circular area, where Mithrix himself remains.

The player spawns in an underground area, facing the Rescue Ship and Mithrix's Arena. Outside the Rescue Ship are 5 dead Commandos.

Interactables

• Lunar Pod
• Shrine of Order
• Glass Frog
• Cauldron (Common to Uncommon)
• Cauldron (Uncommon to Legendary)
• Pillar of Mass
• Pillar of Design
• Pillar of Soul
• Pillar of Blood
• Deep Void Portal (only with SotV)

Monsters

• Lunar Chimera (Exploder)Lunar Chimera (Exploder)
  Zenith DesignsHP: 180 (+54 per level)
  Damage: 11 (+2.2 per level)
  Class: Ranged / Self-Destruct
  Speed: 8 m/s
  Armor: 0
• Lunar Chimera (Golem)Lunar Chimera (Golem)
  Zenith DesignsHP: 1615 (+485 per level)
  Damage: 35 (+7 per level)
  Class: Ranged
  Speed: 8 m/s
  Armor: 0
• Lunar Chimera (Wisp)Lunar Chimera (Wisp)
  Zenith DesignsHP: 850 (+255 per level)
  Damage: 15 (+3 per level)
  Class: Ranged
  Speed: 18 m/s
  Armor: 0
• MithrixMithrix
  King of NothingHP: 1000 (+300 per level)
  Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level)
  Class: Melee / Ranged
  Speed: 15 m/s
  Armor: 20 (during boss fight)
• Void ReaverVoid Reaver
  HP: 1900 (+570 per level)
  Damage: 12 (+2.4 per level)
  Class: Ranged / Self-Destruct
  Speed: 6 m/s
  Armor: 0 (during detonation sequence)

Overview

• 

  Layout of the stage

Releasing the Rescue Ship

Upon entering the main area of the stage, the player will discover a Rescue Ship protected by an unbreakable force field. Their new objective will be to find a way to release the Rescue Ship in order to escape the planet.

Different pillars are scattered around the stage, with a total of 4-7 pillars spawning. The player's objective is to activate and charge (i.e. complete the holdout event) 4 of them in order to activate jump pads that will lead to MithrixMithrix
King of NothingHP: 1000 (+300 per level)
Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level)
Class: Melee / Ranged
Speed: 15 m/s
Armor: 20, the final boss. There are 4 different pillar areas, each having the potential of spawning up to 4 pillars with a radius of 20m and their unique way of charging:

• Pillars of Mass take 60 seconds to charge, and have no special properties.
• Pillars of Design take 30 seconds to charge and release shock waves during the process. These deal no damage, but they push the player away and inflict the CrippleCripple (Debuff)
  Reduces armor by 20. Reduces movement speed by 50%. status, reducing their armor by 20 and movement speed by 50%. The shock waves can be avoided by repeatedly jumping.
• Pillars of Soul take 30 seconds to charge, but their charging radius will shrink the more they charge. The pillar's charge also rapidly decreases if all players leave the charging zone by 10% per second.
• Pillars of Blood take 10 seconds to charge, but they absorb the health of the player in the process. The pillar will drain 10% health per second (2.5% per tick, so it can be affected by the Eclipse 8 modifier), for a total of 100% over the charging duration.
  • For Eclipse 8, having any form of damage reduction (such as a single Repulsion Armor PlateRepulsion Armor Plate
    Receive flat damage reduction from all attacks.
    Reduce all incoming damage by 5 (+5 per stack). Cannot be reduced below 1., or via armor from items like Rose BucklerRose Buckler
    Reduce incoming damage while sprinting.
    Increase armor by 30 (+30 per stack) while sprinting. or playing a character with innate armor such as LoaderLoaderThe Loader is a slow but powerful bruiser that can use her grappling hook to uniquely navigate the environment.
    Class: Melee
    HP: 160 (+48 per level)
    Damage: 12 (+2.4 per level)
    Armor: 20
    Umbra: Bionic Powerhouse) will make the damage taken from the pillar not add curse.

• 

  Pillar of Mass

• 

  Pillar of Design

• 

  Pillar of Soul

• 

  Pillar of Blood

It is not necessary to activate any of the pillars if the player has enough movement items (e.g. Milky Chrysalis60sMilky Chrysalis
Gain temporary flight.
Sprout wings and fly for 15 seconds. Gain +20% movement speed for the duration., Hopoo FeatherHopoo Feather
Gain an extra jump.
Gain +1 (+1 per stack) maximum jump count.) or movement abilities to make it to the boss arena and trigger the fight.

Once Mithrix is defeated, the moon will begin a detonation sequence with an on-screen countdown. The players have 3 minutes to get to the Rescue Ship and complete its holdout event in order to escape. The event requires them to 'protect' the ship by staying within the surrounding zone for 1 minute. Walls of blue flames will appear, similar to those created by some of Mithrix's attacks. Void ReaversVoid Reaver
HP: 1900 (+570 per level)
Damage: 12 (+2.4 per level)
Class: Ranged / Self-Destruct
Speed: 6 m/s
Armor: 0 and Chimeras will spawn and attack the player, very occasionally entering the protection zone of the rescue ship.

The holdout zone has a radius of 40m and it is not affected by the Focused ConvergenceFocused Convergence
Increase the speed of Teleporter charging... BUT reduce the size of the zone.
Teleporters charge 30% (+30% per stack) faster, but the size of the Teleporter zone is 50% (-50% per stack) smaller.. Notably, its shape is cylindrical and extends all the way up to the sky. This makes it possible to fly high up to avoid any enemy attack for the duration of the event by utilising, e.g., character movement abilities, the H3AD-5T v2H3AD-5T v2
Increase jump height. Hold 'Interact' to slam down to the ground.
Increase jump height. Creates a 5m-100m radius kinetic explosion on hitting the ground, dealing 1000%-10000% base damage that scales up with fall distance. Recharges in 10 (-50% per stack) seconds. by jumping on the slope of the ceiling of the rescue ship, the Milky Chrysalis60sMilky Chrysalis
Gain temporary flight.
Sprout wings and fly for 15 seconds. Gain +20% movement speed for the duration., or the Volcanic Egg30sVolcanic Egg
Transform into a speeding draconic fireball, dealing damage as you pass through enemies.
Turn into a draconic fireball for 5 seconds. Deal 500% damage on impact. Detonates at the end for 800% damage.. However, although the Rescue Ship can charge at any height, the ship itself will not leave and save the player until they are close enough. In other words, players too far above the ship cannot leave even at 100% charge.

• 

  Defend the rescue ship during the detonation sequence

After completing this event, the game is over. An ending cinematic is played during which the ship can be seen flying away from the moon. Shortly thereafter, a purple void sphere grows from the center of the moon before vanishing in a flash of light, taking the moon with it.

There is a loophole to have the character present during the end game report after the ending credits. When the escape zone is charged to 99%, the game will slowly fade to white before showing the ending cutscene. Before transitioning to the cutscene, the game despawns the stage and all objects. If the player has a Dio's Best FriendDio's Best Friend
Cheat death. Consumed on use.
Upon death, this item will be consumed and you will return to life with 3 seconds of invulnerability., or a Survivors of the Void - DLC Content
Pluripotent Larva is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
Click for more info. Pluripotent LarvaSurvivors of the Void - DLC Content
This content is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
Click for more info.Pluripotent Larva
Get a corrupted extra life. Consumed on use. Corrupts all Dio's Best Friends.
Upon death, this item will be consumed and you will return to life with 3 seconds of invulnerability, and all of your items that can be corrupted will be. Corrupts all Dio's Best Friends. and dies while the screen is fading to white, the player will be revived after the game has despawned everything and therefore will evade this process. During the end game report screen the character will now be present, but as there is no ground they will be eternally falling into nothingness. This is most easily achieved by charging the escape zone to 98%, killing a Void Reaver, dipping in the zone to charge it to 99%, and then dying to the Void Reaver's implosion. If the player dies after charging the zone, but they don't have an item to revive themselves, the game will still count it as a win, which means the result is marked the moment the zone is fully charged and not when the screen has completely faded to white. Any deaths occuring during the fade-to-white will also not count towards the final report.

Cauldrons & Lunar Pods

On the left end side of the stage, near where the Pillars of Design spawn, there will be 5 Cauldrons, randomly selected from 12 Uncommon and 10 Legendary Cauldrons. 0-2 Common Cauldrons will also spawn, which are unique to Commencement and will exchange one red item into three of the displayed item. (This area is colloquially referred to by the community as "Soup Island").

On the right side of the stage, near where the Pillars of Soul spawn, there will be 0-7 Lunar Pods that can be attached to walls and in other unusual places. Internally, the game selects 7 objects from a list of 17 Lunar Pods and 32 other irrelevant objects, so the chance to find any number of Lunar Pods is not uniform. To calculate how many Lunar Pods are likely to spawn, one can use combinatorics:

$\frac{\binom{17}{k}\times\binom{32}{7-k}}{\binom{49}{7}}$

where k is the number of Lunar Pods that will spawn. A similar formula can be used to estimate the chance of getting (5, 0), (4, 1), etc, Cauldron pairs.

Shrine of Order

A Shrine of Order will always spawn on a floating rock behind the area where Pillars of Mass spawn (left of the map when starting from the Rescue Ship, see the Overview section).

• 

  Guaranteed Shrine of Order location.

Glass Frog

A glass frog can be found during the escape sequence. It can be found by returning to the Teleporter ring at the start of the level after defeating MithrixMithrix
King of NothingHP: 1000 (+300 per level)
Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level)
Class: Melee / Ranged
Speed: 15 m/s
Armor: 20. Interacting with the frog costs 1. If the Survivors of the Void DLC is enabled, petting the frog 10 times (thus using 10) will spawn a Survivors of the Void - DLC Content
The Planetarium is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
Click for more info. Deep Void portalSurvivors of the Void - DLC Content
This content is part of the Survivors of the Void DLC. It is only available if the DLC is enabled when starting a run.
Click for more info.The Planetarium (Final)
Cell V
The Planetarium is an area somewhere within the Void, housing a collection of planets detained by the Void's denizens. It is inhabited primarily by the Voidling, the guard of the Planetarium or potentially the controller of the Void itself..

This Easter egg was requested on the official Discord. The PurityPurity
Reduce your skill cooldowns by 2 seconds. You are unlucky.
All skill cooldowns are reduced by 2 (+1 per stack) seconds. All random effects are rolled +1 (+1 per stack) times for an unfavorable outcome. log refers to "glass frogs", implying that the frog could be more than an Easter egg.

• 

  Glass Frog

Logbook Entry

Like the Hidden Realms, Commencement's Logbook Entry is obtained through picking up an Environment Log. Said Environment Log is located within the central hole underneath the boss's arena. It will disappear 5 minutes after entering the level.

• 

  Environment Log location, underneath the Boss' Arena.

• 

  Environment Log location, inside the crater.

Lore

Have you forgotten – that those gates are my design?

You would not know, because you do not look up. You bend knees only for ants and vermin. But I have been working on a grander design. A greater gate – to travel greater seas.

What if I met you, on one of these extinct planets? What if I caused the calamities you strive to avoid? What if I reaped destruction? What would you do then?

I know the planet you trail – of water and dirt. You fear their stability. That they will consume themselves. Maybe I will go there first.

Version History

PC Patch v1.1.1.4

• Bug Fixes
  • Fixed some of Commencement’s navigation/spawn nodes being placed underground, potentially causing a softlock loop

PC Patch v1.1.1.2

• Quality of Life
  • Update the rescue ship’s charging zone to be infinitely tall, i.e you can charge it while floating above
  • Update escape portals from the final boss arena to be more portal-looking
• Bug Fixes
  • Fixed stray nodes causing lockboxes to spawn midair on the final stage

Anniversary Update

• Gameplay Changes
  • Final Stage
    • 🌧 The final stage has been redone entirely, with unique objectives and a new, large arena to play in. We won’t spoil it. Please let us know how you feel!
• Bug Fixes
  • Fixed the ending sequence explosions missing an authority check, causing it to fire additional projectiles for every client in the game

PC Patch v1.0.1.1 (Build ID No.5440050)

• Bug Fixes
  • Fix the fog on the last stage being entirely opaque if soft particles are disabled
  • Fix missing out-of-bound floor under the starting room for the final stage
  • Fix a gap in the final boss arena causing you to get stuck
  • Fix the ceiling in the final boss arena not being solid for projectiles and Lunar Chimera (Wisp)Lunar Chimera (Wisp)
    Zenith DesignsHP: 850 (+255 per level)
    Damage: 15 (+3 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 18 m/s
    Armor: 0

Early Access Content Update 5

• Major Content
  • Added New Final Stage: ???
  • Added New Stage Lore Entry: ???

Trivia

• The implosion of the Moon in the ending cinematic is reminiscent of the death implosion of a Void ReaverVoid Reaver
  HP: 1900 (+570 per level)
  Damage: 12 (+2.4 per level)
  Class: Ranged / Self-Destruct
  Speed: 6 m/s
  Armor: 0, albeit on a planetary-sized scale. It could be assumed that the Moon was not actually destroyed, but rather 'detained' in the same way that something caught within the Void Reaver's implosion is described as.
  • The Simulacrum version of Commencement is located in its boss arena, possibly suggesting the events of Simulacrum take place after the Moon's detainment.

• The Pillars in this stage are all based on the 4 elements of the universe Mithrix found. What they are, how they function, and how they look are all taken from the Bulwark's Ambry log.
  • "...Round, with no features. No orientation. It is mass. Almost everything here is mass. Mass is boring, but required." The Pillar of Mass is the blandest in design, and has no effects. Featureless and boring.
  • "...Features, angles, and intent. Look at the planarity of the surfaces. This is design. I love design." The Pillar of Design has a clear design unlike most of the other pillars, and has a distinct feature - its twisted design.
  • "...a volatile one - a lifeline. Blood. Sharp, yet radiant. Blood is heat. This is my blood, but there is plenty of blood in this universe." The Pillar of Blood is literally a pillar made of blood. Perhaps made of Mithrix's blood given the log, and how desolate the moon seems to be.
    • Prior to the map's redesign, a Pillar of Blood could be found near the Cauldrons as decoration.
  • "Now be gentle. Look closely here. Do you see it? Almost invisible, a thin film. Frail. It’s not in this reality, but an adjacent one. I’ve heard you discuss this - something you innately understood. What you describe as soul. Don’t you love soul?" The Pillar of Soul is nearly invisible, and it being the frailest of the elements, it requires the most amount of attention when charging.

• Where the Pillars of Soul are located, a stone carving resembling Providence's head can be found in a secluded corner.
• The Pillars as holdout zones are unique in that their charging time isn't affected by the number of players in the zone. This means in multiplayer it is more efficient to split and charge multiple Pillars at the same time, albeit at the risk of fighting stronger enemies individually.
• The Simulacrum version of Commencement contains various silhouettes and constellations in the void surrounding the arena. These figures are rarely seen during normal gameplay due to their distance from the arena and the fog of the Simulacrum. Some of the figures depicted include...
  • Large constellations of MithrixMithrix
    King of NothingHP: 1000 (+300 per level)
    Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level)
    Class: Melee / Ranged
    Speed: 15 m/s
    Armor: 20 and Providence
  • GrandparentGrandparent
    Aberrant CaretakerHP: 3625 (+1088 per level)
    Damage: 26 (+5.2 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 0 m/s
    Armor: 20
  • Lunar Chimera (Wisp)Lunar Chimera (Wisp)
    Zenith DesignsHP: 850 (+255 per level)
    Damage: 15 (+3 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 18 m/s
    Armor: 0 and Lunar Chimera (Golem)Lunar Chimera (Golem)
    Zenith DesignsHP: 1615 (+485 per level)
    Damage: 35 (+7 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 8 m/s
    Armor: 0
  • ScavengerScavenger
    Item HoarderHP: 3800 (+1140 per level)
    Damage: 4 (+0.8 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 3 m/s
    Armor: 20
  • Stone TitanStone Titan
    Crisis VanguardHP: 2100 (+630 per level)
    Damage: 40 (+8 per level)
    Class: Ranged / Melee
    Speed: 5 m/s
    Armor: 20
  • Wandering VagrantWandering Vagrant
    Gentle ProtectorHP: 2100 (+630 per level)
    Damage: 6.5 (+1.3 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 6 m/s
    Armor: 15
  • Elder LemurianElder Lemurian
    HP: 900 (+270 per level)
    Damage: 16 (+3.2 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 13 m/s
    Armor: 0
  • Hermit CrabHermit Crab
    HP: 100 (+30 per level)
    Damage: 12 (+2.4 per level)
    Class: Ranged
    Speed: 10 m/s
    Armor: 0
  • 2D Sketches similar to the ones found in the game's credits, depicting...
    • Providence's Head
    • AcridAcridAcrid is a melee-range hybrid who uses powerful poisons to melt tanky enemies.
      Class: Melee / Ranged
      HP: 160 (+48 per level)
      Damage: 15 (+3 per level)
      Armor: 20
      Umbra: Test Subject
    • Scavenger
    • The line “I know the planet you trail – of water and dirt. You fear their stability. That they will consume themselves.” In the Logbook could be a reference to Earth, as it is of “Water and Dirt”, and the planet is unstable (climate change). Providence may have been worried that humans would end up killing themselves and the planet and planned to transport them to Petrichor V

• 

  The literal Glass Frog