Soul War - Taints Overview

Soul War - Taints Overview Goshnar cycle

Soul War revolves around five minibosses and one final boss. You build taints by defeating unique minibosses, then use that progress for better long-term farming and end-game progression.

Main bosses in this cycle

What taints are

Taints are five stacked progression steps. The game checks your highest taint level (1 to 5) and applies Soul War effects from that value.

Taint level	Internal taint step	Player meaning
1	Teleport taint	Opens the first taint layer.
2	Spawn taint	Unlocks the second taint layer.
3	Damage taint	Unlocks the third taint layer.
4	Heal taint	Unlocks the fourth taint layer.
5	Loss taint	Unlocks the maximum taint layer.

How to unlock taints

Kill a unique Soul War miniboss (Malice, Hatred, Spite, Cruelty, Greed).
Each first-time miniboss kill adds the next taint in order.
The order is always level 1 to 5, no matter which miniboss you kill first.
Goshnar's Megalomania is the final boss, but it does not add an extra taint level.

What taints do in practice

Taint effect	What players feel in combat
Teleport taint	Some bosses can reposition to distant players during fights.
Spawn taint	Attacking can occasionally trigger an extra Soul War monster spawn.
Damage taint	Monsters in Soul War taint zones deal higher damage to you.
Heal taint	Boss encounters can rarely trigger a full boss heal event.
Loss taint	While inside taint zones, you periodically lose part of your HP and mana.

Bag You Desire and experience bonus by taint

This combined chart shows Soul War taint rewards in one place. It applies when you have a taint level and your kill target is part of the supported Soul War monster list.

Taint	Average kills per Bag You Desire	XP bonus
1	~1 bag per 20,000 kills	+4.5%
2	~1 bag per 17,500 kills	+9.2%
3	~1 bag per 15,000 kills	+14.1%
4	~1 bag per 12,000 kills	+19.2%
5	~1 bag per 10,000 kills	+24.6%

Taint timeout and reset

Taints are time-limited; after the timeout window, taints and miniboss taint progress are reset.
Defeating bosses again rebuilds the cycle from taint 1 back to taint 5.

Mastery tools (Flickering Soul)

After full Soul War mastery (all five minibosses + Megalomania), Flickering Soul gives taint management options.

Add one taint step (up to 5).
Remove the last taint step.
Clear all taints and start fresh.

Taints are a risk-and-reward system: higher taints increase danger, but also improve long-term Soul War farming value.