Sand Devil's Necropolis — Al-Naemeh
Dungeons · 5 champions
The Fight▾
Sleep is a hard gate: Rest of the Wicked makes Al-Naemeh immune to every debuff EXCEPT [Sleep], and cuts incoming skill damage 25% (st.1-5) / 50% (st.6-15) / 75% (st.16-25) — reduced 15% per debuff currently on him. So the loop is: sleep him, stack debuff COUNT to strip the reduction, burn him down with damage that costs no hits. Rest of the Wicked also blocks Turn Meter reduction, HP exchange, HP balancing, cooldown increase and debuff-duration increase while he is awake. Sleeping him shrinks his immunity list to just [Stun], [Freeze], [Provoke], [Block Active Skills], [Block Passive Skills], [Fear], [True Fear], [Petrification] plus HP-exchange, HP-balancing and cooldown-increase effects — so Stun/Freeze/Provoke kits are dead weight here in every state. Dreamless Sleep: the Slumber counter starts at 16 (st.1-5), 14 (6-10), 12 (11-15), 10 (16-20), 8 (21-25) — Cursed City runs 10 normal / 8 hard — and drops by 1 per HIT (explicitly NOT from debuff damage). At 0 the Sleep falls off, he gains 50% TM, and he is Sleep-immune for 1 turn. Sleep is NOT removed by being attacked; only the counter moves. Damage-over-time and passive deflect are therefore free damage and multi-hit skills are the tax. Soul Sustenance destroys 5% of every champion's MAX HP whenever he attacks — but while he is ASLEEP, healing a champion restores their destroyed MAX HP by the amount healed, and his A2 Dune Tempest heals him in proportion to your team's total destroyed MAX HP. So a big heal is both survival and damage denial. His A3 Feasting Swarm ignores [Shield], [Block Damage], [Unkillable] and 100% of DEF, then self-applies [Sleep] for 2 turns; every Sleep you land pushes its cooldown out by 1. Nothing defensive answers that nuke except [Revive on Death]. His A1 Rage of the Sands drops 30% Dec SPD + 50% Dec ACC on the whole team, which taxes the Sleep applier's accuracy directly. TURN-METER RULE, exact wording from the guide: 'Whenever an enemy decreases Al-Naemeh's Turn Meter, destroys the MAX HP of that enemy by the same percentage' — awake he is TM-immune so it never fires; asleep it fires on whichever of your champions did it. He places NO buffs on himself, which is what keeps Muckstalker's no-buff Sleep condition permanently satisfied. (All of the above re-verified against Ayumilove's Sand Devil's Necropolis guide, page updated 2026-08-25.)
Team
MuckstalkerMIN for Maeve (audit 2026-08-19, re-validated 2026-08-25) — and not 'once he is 6★': he is a RARE at 3★ where Maeve is an EPIC at 4★, so he is the cheaper finish as well as the better champion. A2 Strangle is a single-target, SINGLE-HIT, no-chance-roll [Sleep] for 2 turns on a 3-turn cooldown (2 booked), conditional only on the target carrying no active buffs — and Ayumilove's boss guide confirms Al-Naemeh never buffs himself, so the condition always holds. Only ACC gates it, which is why he already functions at low-to-mid stages unbuilt, with Lightsworn's Revive on Death covering his fragility. HH 10/10 and Ayumi 5★ for Sand Devil while rated poorly almost everywhere else — a pure specialist. AFFINITY CAVEAT: he is Magic and stages 21 and 25 are Force, so he takes weak hits exactly where the Slumber budget is tightest (8) — HellHades' own Sleep article flags the same problem.5★
Supreme KaelVRe-derived unchanged for the THIRD consecutive audit (2026-08-25; Ayumi 5★ bucket placement explicitly double-checked this pass). All three skills attack all enemies ONCE, so he costs 1 Slumber per turn. A1 Weaken + A2 three 5% Poisons + A3 50% Dec RES are ALL unresistible = five debuffs = −75% off Rest of the Wicked, which CANCELS THE STAGE 16-25 WALL BY HIMSELF — the reason additional debuff bodies are insurance against his chance rolls rather than additive damage. A3 also pre-casts 50% Increase ACC on the team, feeding the Sleep applier against the boss's own 50% Dec ACC. Void, so safe in every stage rotation. Caveat: his A2 duration extension does nothing while the boss is awake (immune to duration-increase) and only works inside the Sleep window. 6★ but NOT awakened — no blessing live on the best seat on the team. HH 9/10, Ayumi 5★.5★
GeomancerFA1 Tremor Staff hits all enemies ONCE — 1 Slumber. The engine is Stoneguard: it cuts all ally incoming damage by 15% and deflects that damage onto enemies under an HP Burn he placed, with a 30% chance of an extra 3% of MAX HP per deflect — damage that never touches the counter. His +25% Ally HP aura is the right leader aura against 5%-per-attack MAX HP destruction and a DEF-ignoring nuke. 6★ / awakening 1, priority.json `book-now` rank 2. HH 9/10 (re-verified 2026-08-25), Ayumi 4★. LEVER: A3 Quicksand Grasp is his only HP Burn source and it fully depletes turn meter — harmless while the boss is awake (he is TM-reduction immune, so nothing is decreased and Soul Sustenance never fires) but self-destructive if cast while he is ASLEEP: the verified rule destroys the MAX HP of whoever cut his Turn Meter by the same percentage, and Quicksand Grasp is a FULL depletion. Cast it awake, or immediately after he takes a turn.5★
LightswornVA3 Indomitable places [Revive On Death] + 60% Increase DEF on all allies for 2 turns and does NOT attack — zero Slumber cost, verified against HellHades' skill data (CD 5, →4 booked). Feasting Swarm ignores Shield, Block Damage, Unkillable and 100% of DEF, so Revive on Death is the only defensive tech that survives it. A2 Brutality is a single hit adding 50% Dec ATK + 30% Dec SPD. HARD-DISABLE A1 Teardown on auto: it hits 3 times AND cuts 10% Turn Meter per hit, which under the verified TM rule destroys up to 30% of HIS OWN MAX HP while the boss sleeps. 6★ Void, rotation-proof. HH 8/10 (re-verified 2026-08-25), Ayumi 4★. A3 works unbooked, so his 'book last' status stands.4★
Khamir Scald-EyeM6★ BUILT — SWAP from Rector Drath for STAGES 1–20 only (audit 2026-09-01). The Slumber budget is 16/14/12/10/8 by stage band and drops 1 per HIT, and this record's own lever calls it 'the constraint that decides the whole team' — so this seat splits on it. AT STAGES 1–20 the budget is 10–16 hits and Khamir is the better body: A1 Dark Restoration heals ALL allies 5% of his MAX HP per hit, twice, EVERY turn with no cooldown, and DIRECTLY RESTORES DESTROYED MAX HP — a second answer to Soul Sustenance that works whether or not the boss is asleep, where the sleep mechanic's heal-to-restore conversion only works while he sleeps. His A2 and A3 do not attack at all, so they cost ZERO Slumber, and A3's full-team revive at 50% HP/TM doubles Lightsworn's Feasting Swarm insurance. He needs no ACC. AT STAGES 21–25 KEEP RECTOR DRATH: the budget falls to 8 hits per Sleep window and Khamir's A1 eats two of them every turn, where both of Rector's heals are non-attacking and cost nothing, and his Master of Ghosts passive gives veiled allies +50 RES.4★Affinity
Rotates by stage — Magic (1/5/9/13/17/20/22), Force (2/6/10/14/18/21/25), Spirit (3/7/11/15/19/24), Void (4/8/12/16/23). Supreme Kael and Lightsworn being Void makes the debuff engine and the revive seat safe in every rotation; Geomancer and Rector Drath are Force. MUCKSTALKER IS MAGIC, which is weak into the Force stages 21 and 25 — the two hardest stages, where the Slumber counter is only 8. No owned Sleep body sits on a better affinity, so that is a roster gap rather than a seating error; HellHades' Sleep article names Hellhound, a Common, as the standard fix.
Levers
- ›Muckstalker 3★ → 6★ with real ACC is the single highest-value action for this dungeon, and the 2026-08-19 audit strengthens it: he is a RARE (cheap food) where the champion he replaces, Maeve, is an EPIC at 4★, so he is both cheaper and better. HellHades rates him 10/10 and Ayumilove 5★ for Sand Devil — the best owned answer by both sources.
- ›Slumber budget is now a known number, not a guess: 16/14/12/10/8 by stage band. At stages 21-25 you get 8 hits per Sleep window. Count every champion's hits per turn before seating them — this is the constraint that decides the whole team. CONELLIA IS THE CHEAPEST BODY YET MEASURED AGAINST THIS BUDGET (added 2026-09-01): her A2 and A3 are both NO-ATTACK and her A1 is single-hit, so she spends at most 1 Slumber a turn and 0 on a support turn — see her swap entry.
- ›Bench the multi-hit kits at high stages. Akemtum's A1 and A2 both hit 3×, Gwyndolin's A1 hits 3×, Frozen Banshee spams A1, Crimson Helm's A2 hits 4×, Alure's A2 hits all enemies TWICE — each is a third to a half of the entire stage-21+ budget in one cast.
- ›Debuff count strips 15% each, but it BOTTOMS OUT: Supreme Kael's five unresistible debuffs already cancel the full 75% reduction at stages 16-25 on their own. Additional debuff bodies (Fahrakin's three off one hit, Corpse Collector's two, Bad-el-Kazar's two at zero Slumber) are insurance against Kael's chance rolls, not extra damage — do not spend a seat on debuff count alone.
- ›Heal while he sleeps. Ayumilove's guide is explicit: whenever Al-Naemeh is under [Sleep] and an enemy champion is healed, a portion of that champion's destroyed MAX HP is restored — and Dune Tempest heals him off your team's total destroyed MAX HP, so healing is simultaneously survival, MAX HP recovery and damage denial.
- ›TURN-METER REDUCTION IS SELF-HARM, exactly: 'Whenever an enemy decreases Al-Naemeh's Turn Meter, destroys the MAX HP of that enemy by the same percentage.' Awake he is immune so nothing fires. Asleep, every TM cut you land destroys that champion's own MAX HP by the same percentage — which is why Lightsworn's A1 (3 hits × 10% TM) and Alure's A1 (25% per crit × 3 hits) must be off on auto, and why Geomancer's full-depletion A3 is cast only while the boss is awake.
- ›Stun / Freeze / Provoke / Fear / Block Active Skills / Petrification kits are dead here in BOTH states — he is immune to all of them awake and asleep. Maeve's A2 and Crimson Helm's Provoke contribute nothing.
- ›Supreme Kael and Geomancer carry the fight but Supreme Kael is not awakened, so no blessing is live on the best seat on the team.
- ›Only one leader aura applies: Geomancer's +25% Ally HP (all battles) is the pick over Thenasil's +70 RES in dungeons or Crimson Helm's 33% HP in dungeons, given the DEF-ignoring nuke and the per-attack MAX HP destruction. Note that NEITHER Muckstalker's (+22% HP in Faction Crypts) nor Alure's (+50 ACC in Faction Crypts) aura is live in a dungeon at all.
Swaps
- ConelliaM
ADDED 2026-09-01 (Paul flagged her for this dungeon). SHE IS NOT THE SLEEP GATE — Muckstalker keeps that seat and the comparison is not close: his A2 Strangle is a NO-CHANCE-ROLL 2-turn Sleep on CD 3 (2 booked) where hers is an 80% roll for a 1-TURN Sleep on CD 5 (3 booked). Duration and reliability both favour him, and AoE is worth nothing against a lone boss. WHAT SHE ACTUALLY BRINGS IS SLUMBER ECONOMY, which this record's own lever calls 'the constraint that decides the whole team': BOTH her A2 Peace of the Deep AND her A3 Revitalizing Rest are NO-ATTACK skills, so they cost ZERO Slumber, and her A1 is single-target single-hit. Her whole kit spends at most 1 Slumber per turn and 0 on a support turn — among the cheapest bodies available for stages 21–25, where the budget falls to 8 hits per window. HER A3 IS THE REAL ARGUMENT AND IT IS DIRECTLY ON-MECHANIC: it Sleeps one ALLY for 1 turn, then heals them 50% of MAX HP and fills 50% Turn Meter when that Sleep expires — or 100% MAX HP AND A COMPLETELY FULL TURN METER if the Sleep is lost to enemy damage, which against an AoE boss is the normal case. CD 4, and its two books are both Cooldown −1, taking it to CD 2. This record's lever already establishes that healing during the boss's Sleep window converts into restored destroyed MAX HP, and Soul Sustenance destroys 5% of every champion's MAX HP whenever he attacks — so a repeatable full heal at zero Slumber is exactly the currency this fight trades in. The ally losing a turn is largely paid back by the 100% Turn Meter fill on wake. WHERE SHE FITS: the stage 21–25 heal seat, contesting Rector Drath — his heal is team-wide where hers is single-target, but hers is far larger and also carries a backup Sleep, which is insurance the comp currently gets only from Djamarsa's 30% A1 roll. Also a second Sleep applier for re-gating after the Slumber counter bottoms out and the 1-turn Sleep immunity passes. DEAD PARTS OF HER KIT HERE: her A1's 40% cooldown-increase is immune in BOTH states, and her A2's passive Sleep→Fear conversion does nothing because Fear is on the immunity list — though it is harmless, since it triggers only when a Sleep is LOST, never cutting a live one short. ⚠ SEQUENCING RISK TO VERIFY BEFORE AUTO-FIRING HER A2: if re-applying [Sleep] overwrites the existing duration, her 1-turn Sleep landing on top of Muckstalker's live 2-turn Sleep would SHORTEN the window. Not confirmed by either source — treat it as a reason to hold A2 for re-gating rather than spamming it, and disable it on auto until tested. 4★, queue #14. Fresh HH 6/10 Sand Devil (curated 3 — both agree, no rating change); Ayumilove ★★★. 18% Ally SPD aura in all battles, which does nothing for the lead here (Geomancer's +25% Ally HP keeps it).
- Armanz the MagnificentM
DO NOT FIELD (audit 2026-09-01) — HH 2/10 understates it. Rest of the Wicked reads 'whenever an enemy decreases Al-Naemeh's Turn Meter, destroys the MAX HP of that enemy by the same percentage.' Awake he is immune so nothing fires; ASLEEP, Armanz's A2 steals ALL of the boss's Turn Meter and destroys the corresponding percentage of ARMANZ'S OWN MAX HP. His entire kit is self-harm on this boss.
- The Cowardly LionM
DO NOT FIELD (audit 2026-09-01). Fear and True Fear are on Al-Naemeh's immunity list in BOTH the awake and asleep states, so the whole Fear engine is dead. A1 hits 3 times into a hit-budget fight. Worst of all: A3 places [Counterattack] on all allies, and EVERY COUNTERATTACK IS A HIT — it burns down the Slumber counter the entire team exists to conserve. Second dungeon after Ice Golem where his signature buff is actively counterproductive. Suggested rating: 2.
- ArtakM
THE DAMAGE UPGRADE TO WATCH (added 2026-09-01). HP Burn lands once Al-Naemeh is asleep (the sleeping immunity list is crowd-control only), and BURN TICKS COST ZERO SLUMBER — this record states the counter drops 1 per HIT, 'explicitly NOT from debuff damage'. A2 Dogs Of War then instantly ACTIVATES the burn, which is more free damage under the same rule, and lands a 75% AoE 50% Decrease ATK. THE CATCH, STATED: A3 Purifyre attacks all enemies TWICE, so it costs 2 Slumber, and the debuff-count axis is already saturated — this record's lever notes Supreme Kael's five unresistible debuffs cancel the full 75% damage reduction on their own, so Artak's Decrease ATK buys nothing there. HH 8/10. 5★, queue #3, no gear plan authored.
- Rector DrathF
THE STAGE 21–25 HALF OF THE HEAL SEAT (audit 2026-09-01). Khamir Scald-Eye took the seat for stages 1–20, but at 21–25 the Slumber budget falls to 8 hits per Sleep window and Khamir's A1 spends two of them every turn. Rector's heals are BOTH non-attacking, so his seat costs zero Slumber: A2 Necro Mutation heals all allies 20% of HIS MAX HP, and the Master of Ghosts passive heals veiled allies another 10% MAX HP on their turn and gives them +50 RES — the stat that resists Rest of the Wicked's riders. 6★/a1.
- AlureM
NOW 6★ — and the audit closes the door on her with kit evidence rather than tier alone. A2 Temptation attacks ALL enemies TWICE (2 Slumber) and its [Sleep] is only 1 turn and only lands on targets already carrying the 30%-chance Dec DEF from the same cast; A1 Psychic Whip hits 3× and cuts 25% Turn Meter per critical hit, which under the verified TM rule destroys 25% of HER OWN MAX HP per proc once he is asleep. Her +50 ACC aura is Faction Crypts only, so it is inert here. Ayumi 1★, HH 2/10 — do not be tempted by the 6★.
- Bad-el-KazarF
The mechanically interesting near-miss, argued and rejected. His A2 Malice is NON-ATTACKING and does three of this fight's jobs in one button for zero Slumber: removes ALL debuffs from all allies (answering Rage of the Sands' Dec SPD + Dec ACC, which taxes the Sleep applier directly), places two 15% Continuous Heals (healing inside the Sleep window restores destroyed MAX HP), and lands two 5% Poisons. What sinks it is that the third job is redundant — Supreme Kael's five unresistible debuffs already zero the damage reduction — while both sources rate him well below Rector Drath here (HH 4/10 vs 6/10, Ayumi 2★ vs 3★) and he is not awakened. Field him over Rector when the run is dying to the Dec ACC tax rather than to raw damage. 6★.
- MaeveF
OUT of the main five (audit 2026-08-19) — she was holding the seat only until Muckstalker was built, and the audit finds no reason to wait: she is an Epic at 4★ against his Rare at 3★, so she is the more expensive finish as well as the weaker champion. A1 Stupefy is a 60% chance at a 1-TURN Sleep and its 50% Extra Turn proc generates extra hits that burn the Slumber counter; her A2 Stun and A3 block-revive are both dead against this boss (Stun-immune in both states; bosses do not revive). HH 6/10, Ayumi 4★, and she sits in priority.json `dropped`.
- MuckstalkerM
SEATED as of 2026-08-19, re-validated 2026-08-25 — see the slot note. Still needs the ascension (3★, cheap Rare food) and ACC gear to hold the seat at stages 16-25.
- Fahrakin the FatS
Strongest owned Epic by kit for the debuff-count seat: A2 Brand of Shame is a SINGLE hit placing an HP Burn plus two 5% Poisons — three debuffs, −45% off the damage reduction, for one Slumber — and A1 is a single-hit 60% Dec DEF. SOURCE CONFLICT (still standing 2026-08-25): Ayumilove ranks him 5★ (top Epic tier) for Sand Devil, HellHades only 4/10. HARD CAVEAT: disable A3 Beatdown on auto — it makes every ally attack the target, spending 4 Slumber in one cast. 4★.
- Crimson HelmS
The Epic alternative at the Revive-on-Death seat, and level with Lightsworn on HH (8/10 each, re-verified 2026-08-25): A3 En Garde! places [Revive on Death] + 60% Increase DEF on all allies with no attack (cd 6 → 4 booked), plus a 33% HP aura in dungeons. Never press A2 Vile Tongue — 4 hits, and its Provoke cannot land on this boss in any state. Ayumi 4★. 4★, so Lightsworn holds the seat on build state alone.
- ThenasilF
Sustain alternative to Rector Drath: A2 Oak-Skinned heals all allies 25% of HIS MAX HP and adds 60% Increase DEF with NO attack, which during the Sleep window converts straight into restored destroyed MAX HP. Also a +70 RESIST dungeon aura and a 15% chance-Sleep A1 as third-string insurance. HH 6/10, Ayumi 4★ — Ayumilove's highest-rated of the owned sustain options. 4★.
- MeroukaM
Two seats in one body: A3 Return From The Slime places [Revive On Death] on all allies with no attack, and A2 Badlands Witchery cleanses a target ally and heals them 50% of MAX HP — a huge single-target restore during the Sleep window. A1 hits 2×, so hold it at high stages. HH 6/10, Ayumi 3★. 4★.
- DjamarsaF
Full-team revive insurance and the roster's second-best chance-Sleep: A3 Moonlit March revives all dead allies at 30% HP + 30% TM (7 → 5 booked), and her A1 carries a 30% chance-Sleep backstop — the fallback gate if Muckstalker is parked. HH 6/10 (re-verified 2026-08-25), Ayumi 3★. 4★.
- Corpse CollectorF
Cheap debuff-count body: A2 Hailfire is a single AoE hit landing 100% Heal Reduction + 50% Dec ACC at 75% base — and the Heal Reduction is the one debuff with a job beyond counting, since it blunts Dune Tempest's self-heal directly. A3 hits 3× at random, so skip it. HH 7/10, Ayumi 3★. 4★.
- Occult BrawlerS
Both his active skills genuinely are SINGLE hits and his Ruination Ritual passive poisons a random enemy at the start of every turn (debuff damage, zero Slumber) while self-poisoning to escalate A2. But both sources put him mid-low here — HH 4/10, Ayumi 2★ — because he is a single-target damage seat in a fight that is won on debuff count and DoT. 4★.
- Myciliac Priest OrnS
AoE double-Poison + 25% Poison Sensitivity fattens every tick and A2 detonates queued poisons — but A1 and A2 are 2-hit skills, 2 Slumber per turn against an 8-count at stages 21-25. HH 5/10, Ayumi 2★. 4★.
- Frozen BansheeM
Poison depth via Poison Sensitivity, and she is already 6★ — but her whole engine is A1 spam, i.e. direct hits burning the Slumber counter every single turn. Only worth it at stages 1-15 where the counter is 12-16. HH 4/10, Ayumi 2★.
- AkemtumV
Displaced incumbent. Hex Blood duplicating poison ticks is real, free (debuff) damage, but A1 Noxious Claws hits 3× AND A2 Immortal Malison hits 3× — 3 Slumber per turn, over a third of the stage-21+ budget from one champion. Both sources rate him near the bottom for this fight (HH 4/10, Ayumi 2★) despite being a 5★ CB/Dragon/Ice Golem carry elsewhere. Viable only at stages 1-10 where the counter is 14-16.
- DoompriestF
Displaced incumbent, and the lowest-rated body the old team fielded: HH 2/10, Ayumi 1★. Her per-turn cleanse does help against the boss A1's Dec SPD / Dec ACC, but the 7.5% passive heal is far too small against 5%-per-attack MAX HP destruction, and no amount of cleansing answers Feasting Swarm, which ignores Shield, Block Damage, Unkillable and 100% of DEF.
Alternative Comps
Ideal Built Team
dream teamThe target lineup once the owned roster is fully built. As of the 2026-08-19 audit (re-validated 2026-08-25) this is the SAME five as Team Now — the audit moved Muckstalker into the live lineup rather than leaving him parked as a build target.
ZERO seats differ from Team Now; what differs is build state. Muckstalker at 6★ with ACC gear turns the Sleep gate from a low-stage tool into a stage-25 one — Strangle has no chance roll, so accuracy is the only variable, and Supreme Kael's A3 pre-cast 50% Increase ACC plus Rector Drath's +50 RES to veiled allies are both aimed at that single point of failure. Everything else is already 6★: Supreme Kael's five unresistible debuffs cancel the damage reduction outright, Geomancer's Stoneguard deflect and Rector's heals are damage and sustain that cost zero Slumber, and Lightsworn's non-attacking Revive on Death is the only counter to Feasting Swarm. Gap to ideal: one cheap Rare ascension (3★ → 6★), ACC gear on Muckstalker, awakenings across all five — Supreme Kael in particular is 6★ with no blessing live — and the books already queued on Geomancer and Rector Drath. The unfixable part is affinity: Muckstalker is Magic into Force stages 21 and 25, and no owned Sleep body sits on a better affinity.
Debuff-Max (stages 1-15 only)
damage-reduction stripStages 1-15, where the Slumber counter is 12-16 and stripping the damage reduction is worth spending hits on. NOT viable at stages 16-25.
Gwyndolin brings a +60 ACC all-battles aura — at these stages worth more than Geomancer's HP aura if Sleep is whiffing — and A1 debuff extension, though that extension only functions inside the Sleep window, because Al-Naemeh is immune to debuff-duration-increase while awake, and her A1 hits 3× per turn. Fahrakin adds three debuffs off one single-hit A2 (HP Burn + two Poisons) with his A3 Beatdown disabled. Between them that is enough debuff count to erase the 25-50% reduction even when Supreme Kael's chance rolls miss, at a cost of ~4 extra hits per round — affordable only on the 12-16 counters. Costs the revive and heal seats, so expect to lose bodies to Feasting Swarm.