Permadeath 101

[Kardas]

Last Update: December 23 2017

I don’t know about you, but I completely forgot Permadeath was a thing until the Missions Update came out. Suddenly, Permadeath was interesting again. Now that Perfect Immortality is becoming very relevant, I thought it may be interesting to give the status effect an analysis thread. So here’s a nice explanation of what it does, and who has it.
Credit to Slauki and the Unknown Soldier for keeping their ‘Compilation of Maximized Characters’ up to date. The perfect resource for writing these threads.

So what does Permadeath do?
A character afflicted by Permadeath:
- Cannot be revived if they die while it’s active.
- Cannot benefit from Ghost (Carriage Rider, Magus Lord of Light), Endure (Talismans, GCR, Assassin Golden Son, Artillery Dog), or Perfect Immortality (Talismans, Mystic Eddie).

Who has it?

Talismans

Thorn Talismans
3 Set: Thorn Shield Augment (45% Chance to grant a Thorn Shield to allies on Perfect Attacks. Thorn Shield reduces physical and true damage by 50% and 35% respectively, and reflects 35% of that as true damage to all enemies with a 35% chance to inflict Heal Block or Permadeath.)
- The best way to easily bring Permadeath to Arena fights. Note that they can also easily be used against you. I hit an Alliance General with my Newborn once to remove his buffs and he stole my Thorn Shield. As a result, my Vampire Hunter Eddie got Permadeath, and that cost me the match. So take that risk into account.

Eddies

Aces High Eddie:
Do or Die: Deals single target physical damage, and Removes One Beneficial Effect. Inflicts Permadeath on targets with Immortality, Endure, or Ghost.
- The recent update has been very kind to Aces High. Good Vampire Hunter counter.

Allies

Warrior:

Desert Warrior:
Mad Dance (3PWR): Deals single target physical damage and inflicts Permadeath for 2 turns, with a 30% chance (45% with Skill Shards) to Remove Beneficial Effects from the target.
- Solid guaranteed way of inflicting Permadeath, and fairly easy to get too. Good choice for completing the Permadeath missions.

Sentinel:

Chopper:

Scrap: deals single target physical damage with a 55% chance to Permadeath (85% with Skill Shards) for 3 turns. Deals Additional Physical Damage to enemies with Permadeath.
Dead to Rights (5PWR): AoE. Heal boosted by number of debuffs on enemy. Deals single target physical damage, Dooms enemy if they have Permadeath.
- Sentinel Chopper will do good in Permadeath combos I imagine.

Magus:

Axis Soldier:
Fire: Deals 3 hits of single target magic damage with a 30% chance (80% chance with Skill Shards) to inflict Permadeath, as well as a chance to Critically Strike.
- Very Skill Shard reliant. Not your best choice.

Undead Rescuer:
Raze (7PWR): Deals single target magic damage that scales with your Missing HP with a 45% chance (55% with Skill Shards) to Remove Beneficial Effects, and inflicts Permadeath for 2 turns.
- I’m curious to find out how this will do once I get him. Sounds impressive though.

Gunner:

Golden Son:
Solar Witness: Deals 3 hits of AoE random damage, with a 30% chance (50% chance with Skill Shards) to inflict Permadeath for 1 turn.
- Gunner Golden Son was already one of my favorite toons for farming, but the recent update giving him Permadeath gives him enough of a niche use that I sometimes bring him along for PVP (but not too often, as Strike Talismans are bad for his health). Great way to easily complete those Permadeath Missions.

Choppper:
Dead End (Passive): Inflict AoE Permadeath for 3 turns at the start of the battle.
- If you don't have The Prisoner, bringing this guy along in the Magus and Gunner Lord of Light Dungeons will save you a lot of time!

Assassin:

Mummy Dog:
Bite: Deals single target physical and magic damage that scales with the target’s Missing HP, with a 35% chance (60% chance with Skill Shards) to inflict Permadeath for 2 turns.
- I’ve never really used Mummy Dog but I have a soft spot for him. Probably the easiest way to get Permadeath along with the Desert Warrior and Magus Axis Soldier.

Child of the Damned:
Condemn: Deals single target physical and magic damage with a 50% chance (80% chance with Skill Shards) to inflict Permadeath.
- Along with the Gunner Golden Son, the easiest way to complete those Permadeath Missions. Just weaken the enemy and slaughter them repeatedly thanks to his Passive. Also the reason you should keep your farming Assassin Golden Son away from Game of Death.

Axis Bomber Boy:
Axis Bomber Boy:
Break (5PWR): 50% Chance to AoE Remove 2 Beneficial Effects and a 50% Chance to AoE inflict Permadeath (75% with Skill Shards). AoE Lowers DEF. Effect duration increased by 2 with Skill Shards.
- The only AoE Permadeath option in the game, before Gunner Golden Son got buffed. Bringing him and a Power Generator on Powerslave was how I got those Permadeath Missions.

Pyro Soldier:
Scald (5PWR): Deals AoE magic damage that increases with enemy SPECIAL, and inflicts Scalding Burn (Target takes magic damage based on 5% of their Max HP per Burn. Also has a 30% chance to lower MR by 70% and a separate 30% chance to inflict Permadeath) for 2 turns.
- Very luck reliant. Still, you’d think the Pyro is nice to bring against Gunners with an ability like this.

Corrupt Ox Cultist:
Mad Dance (3PWR): Deals single target physical damage and inflicts Permadeath for 2 turns, with a 30% chance (45% with Skill Shards) to Remove Beneficial Effects from the target.
- Solid guaranteed way of inflicting Permadeath. The Assassin Ox Cultist in general is a great character for completing those Missions.

Astra, Valkyrie Slayer:
Suppression (5PWR): Deals AoE true damage with a 50% chance (65% with Skill Shards) to inflict Perfect Corruption, Permadeath, and Heal Block for 2 turns.
- Forget what I said about the Ox Cultist. This is the toon to complete those Missions. Also a frighteningly effective character in the Arena.

How do I get rid of it?
I have a thread on that too! See this.

Is it worth it?
With Immortal and Fate Talismans everywhere, Permadeath is almost mandatory. Fortunately Thorn Shields are a good antidote for that now.

As always, I am open to corrections, suggestions, and commentary. Hope this helps! I feel like writing again, so I'm also open to another reference thread in the future.

[osiris0000]

Amazing thread as always, dear Kardas.

[slauki]

awesome job as always dear Kardas. good to see some productive threads from time to time too.

great analysis and nothing to add (aside the two missing charecters in the maxed chars thread)

[R1ck]

Good thread as usual Kardas.
Unfortunately it is not working, hope devs fix it. One more thing broken in the game.

[T-Man]

Great work as usual Kardas. Thanks!

I built a set of thorn talisman just for this purpose, but couldn't get them to proc one single time in the arena. Wasted the last of my red shards on them unfortunately.

I did however, run into a team using them, and they did proc on me. Go figure.

[Kardas]

Great work as usual Kardas. Thanks!

I built a set of thorn talisman just for this purpose, but couldn't get them to proc one single time in the arena. Wasted the last of my red shards on them unfortunately.

I did however, run into a team using them, and they did proc on me. Go figure.

Yeah, we've all been there. It also doesn't help that the Permadeath and Heal Block chances are calculated per character, so Permadeathed toons surrounding the one guy with Immortal Talismans is a very possible PVP outcome.