Zone of Haze (Black Sector) all mechanics explained – Once Human

The Zone of Haze is the Way of Winter’s equivalent to Lea Labs in the Manibus scenario in Once Human, and it’s every bit as tough during the final phase of the dungeon. Hence, preparation is needed, so here’s how to clear the Zone of Haze —or Black Sector— in Once Human.

And good luck!

Preparing for the Black Sector

Before we start preparing for this tough new challenge, you’ll need to have a full T5 gear set, fully calibrated, if you’re going to add much value to a team or attempt this dungeon solo. So assuming you have that, here’s what else you need to take on the Zone of Haze.

I recommend preparing three whim potions, namely The Weaver; Chloro Armor (Also known as Living Armor), and Utter Delight. Utter Delight will give the other two a great duration boost, while Chrolo Armor will give you an extra life (in simple terms), and The Weaver will drop spiderwebs on the floor when you dodge, entangling your foes in the sticky mess.

You can get the recipes and materials for these whims by placing certain Deviations in Securement Units in your base. The Deviations you’ll need are as follows.

• Disco Ball (for Utter Delight)
• Dreamcatcher (for The Weaver)
• Harveseed (for Chloro Armor)

Another great item to take along is All Purpose Hands, which repairs your most damaged piece of gear instantly. For this tool, you’ll need an Artisan’s Touch Deviation, which can easily be found by defeating Elite Enemies in Ashenton.

Finally, craft yourself plenty of high-quality ammo. There are a lot of bullet sponges in this dungeon.

How to clear part one of the Zone of Haze

The first part introduces you to the core mechanic, which is destroying symbols on giant discs in a certain order. The order is very easy to get right, you just have to look at the number of glow dots on the pillar. Symbols on a pillar with one dot must be destroyed first, and those with four are destroyed last.

Once you leave this first puzzle, the edges of your screen will turn black (looks a bit like black ooze). This means you’re in darkness, and the red icon at the bottom of your screen will shortly appear and begin to build up stacks.

If you don’t find light (which can be found around pillars), you’ll start to take significant damage over time. Once you start taking damage, you only have seconds left to live, so I highly recommend ignoring the mobs and sprinting straight for the next spot of light before engaging enemies.

Finally, you’ll reach a room with three pillars. These are a little different since they have no symbols above them. Start fighting the mobs in this room and Rainfall Reapers will begin to spawn. Once defeated, they’ll drop an orb of light which you’ll have to pick up and throw at one of the pillars.

Once all three pillars are lit up, defeat any remaining enemies and then take a close look at the pillars. Note down which symbol is first, second, and third, and destroy the symbols on the giant disk in that order.

Congratulations, but we’re also just getting started.

How to clear part two of The Zone of Haze

The next section of the Black Sector is quite straightforward. Just follow the path to the first proper boss room. You can even choose to ignore the enemies and run straight past them, but if you kill anything here, I recommend taking care of the mirror enemy.

It can deal a fair amount of damage, so just burst it down and then hide behind the corner for a few seconds (be sure to take care of the spiders, too). Take a shot at the mirror enemy every now and then until it takes damage again after its brief immunity, and you’ll be able to finish the job.

You’ll reach the boss room, where a powered-up Scorcher awaits you. This can be quite a tough battle since its attacks deal tons of damage. Don’t get hit by it, and don’t step on any of its lava puddles (I think they’re lava puddles, anyway!).

Take your time, manage the adds well, and take out the scorcher heads to collect light orbs to activate the pillars. There are four total pillars in this room.

After this, you’ll need to rotate the giant disc by using the small pedestal in the center of the room. Once you’ve got the order down, rotate the disc and destroy the symbols in the correct order.

Don’t just stand idle by the pedestal though, as the scorcher will keep attacking you. Keep moving, and take your time to get the symbols down.

Hereafter, you can finally damage the Scorcher while tons more adds spawn in to harass you. Good luck!

How to clear part three of The Zone of Haze

Phew, this is a rough phase! Somewhere during this phase, you may need to make use of your All Purpose Hands, so keep an eye on your weapon’s durability.

As you follow the path to the final boss room, be sure to make mental notes of the order of the symbols on the pillars. This doesn’t matter if you’re playing solo, but as part of a team, you’ll need to remember.

As you reach the final boss chamber, there are four high pillars with symbols on top. If they’re not there, you can just pass them by. If you’re playing in a team, you’ll need to shoot them in the order indicated by the pillars you passed on the way here.

So take care of that and then head into the boss chamber.

You can start attacking the boss here, and make sure to apply good adds management to stop all the little guys from overwhelming you. It’s quite similar to Lea Labs — kill the adds as soon as possible, and then focus on the boss.

Once you’ve damaged the boss a sufficient amount, four clones will spawn. Each one has a symbol above their head, and their order matches that of the three pillars to be found in this room. The missing symbol will have the glow point of one, so kill that clone first.

At this point, adds management no longer applies, just take down the clones in the correct order as quickly as possible, and all the adds will die as you are transported to the final battle against the boss.

In this room, the four giant discs overhead will spawn symbols after a while. Take these out one by one while managing the adds. With each disc you take down, the boss will be vulnerable, but won’t be worth attacking until the fourth and final disc is taken care of, because the shield will regenerate with each new disc.

Once all the discs are down, the real challenge starts. The boss now has a new attack at their disposal, which is a randomized lightning strike from above. This attack can be a nightmare to avoid, especially if you’re playing with higher ping (like I am).

Just try to keep your eyes on the ground during this attack and dodge the red indicators as soon as they appear. You don’t have much time before the lightning strikes.

You’ll also have constantly spawning disciples to worry about during this phase, plus the light pillars will cease to function after a while. You’ll need to defeat a disciple, grab the light orb they drop, and hit one of the pillars in order to reactivate its light effect or die by the darkness.

This last phase gives you a lot to think about, but don’t panic. Just stay slow and steady, do what needs to be done, and you’ll clear it in no time.

Good luck.