Hauani O Whe is an enormous Black Ooze in the Murkwater Lagoon, which is at #8 on the World Map. It has two basic attacks.
One is Corrosive Solvent. It's a ranged attack, but one that causes Corrosive Damage over a small area of effect emanating from its initial attack. It also reduces time from any buffs you may have in place. That and the sheer length of the fight itself pretty much rules out relying on any buffs to take it down.
Symbiote is another ranged attack. The character affected by Symbiote will change color to a sickly purple-black kind of hue. The character will also suffer Raw Damage over time indefinitely, until the Symbiote itself is purged. Each time the character takes a step, a Lesser Black Ooze appears. Three steps and three Lesser Black Oozes means the character gets rid of the Raw Damage and the Symbiote effect. A reliable method of getting rid of Symbiote, assuming you can keep Hauani O Whe at bay (i.e., through summons), is take one step, kill the Lesser Black Ooze that appears, rinse and repeat two more times. Two Lesser Black Oozes will try to merge into a Greater Black Ooze.
That brings us back to the other core feature of this fight, and what makes it so gruelling. It's not just a matter of bringing Hauani O Whe down to 0 Health. That's actually the easy part, especially as infinite summons like from a Chanter or the Monk's Dichotomous Soul can keep it at bay and eventually wear it down.
Bringing it to 0 Health causes it to split into two Gigantic Black Oozes. The Gigantic Black Oozes have the same Corrosive Solvent and Symbiote attacks, but with less Accuracy and Damage. They also have lower Defenses. As soon as one of the Gigantic Black Oozes reaches 50% Health, BOTH will try to merge with each other and become a fully reformed Hauani O Whe, at which point you may as well reload. You'll know when they're trying to merge when a pie or dial like icon appears over them, indicating that they're trying to use the "Divide and Conquer" power to make the merge happen. One of them reaching 50% means BOTH will make it their utmost priority to make the merge happen, ignoring Engagement and doing whatever they can to reach each other. And only one of them needs to succeed in using the "Divide and Conquer" power to make the merge happen. That means you have to stop them both in their tracks, and on an ongoing basis (more on this later) to stop the merge from happening.
Bring a Gigantic Black Ooze down to 0 Health, and it will split into Massive Black Oozes. Massive Black Oozes again have lower Defenses still, and even weaker versions of Corrosive Solvent and Symbiote. Bringing a Massive Black Ooze to about 75% Health means both will try to merge with each other.
Bringing a Massive Black Ooze to 0 Health means that it splits into two Greater Black Oozes. The Greater Black Oozes are the same as the ones you've encountered several times already, but with the difference that these ones will immediately try to merge back into a Massive Black Ooze.
Bring a Greater Black Ooze to 0 Health, and it splits into two Lesser Black Oozes. They will immediately try to merge back into a Greater Black Ooze. But reducing a Lesser Black Ooze to 0 Health will kill it for good without any further splits.
The good news is that only Oozes of the same size can merge with each other. The bad news is all of the Oozes, Lesser Black Oozes and larger, have the potential to merge back together and work their way up the ladder one stage at a time leading to a fully reformed Hauani O Whe.
It is when you've managed to successfully reduce all splits into Lesser Black Oozes, and killed all of them off for good, that you will have truly defeated Hauani O Whe.
It is when you've managed to bring it down to one Gigantic Black Ooze and one Massive Black Ooze that you can truly see a light at the end of the tunnel, since a fully reformed Hauani O Whe will no longer be possible.
That is, assuming you don't let the Oozes' use of Symbiote run out of control. The Lesser Black Oozes that are spawned while trying to rid a character of Symbiote will immediately try to merge into a Greater Black Ooze. And yes, the spawns and merges have the potential to work their way up to lead to a second or even third Hauani O Whe forming. I play tested that just to confirm it. So care is also needed to immediately kill off any Lesser Black Oozes that spawn from trying to rid yourself of Symbiote.
There are a few ways to go about it. If an Ooze of any size is reduced to 0 Health while also under the effects of a Cipher's Disintegrate, it will die for good without splitting.
In theory it is possible to kill Hauani O Whe in its original form in this way. And if you can pull it off, it will save you the trouble of bothering with the Gigantic, Massive, Greater and Lesser Oozes. But in practice it takes a lot of preparation, and some lucky bounces to roll your way, to come off because it will have a very high Fortitude. Wear it down to "Near Death". Buff up your Cipher with Tactical Meld (for the Perception bonus and for the Graze to Hit chance) and Borrowed Instinct (+20 Accuracy) cast on a Lesser Black Ooze. Have a warrior Hit it with a Morning Star to reduce its Fortitude by -25. You now have a few seconds to land Disintegrate, although even after that preparation you still need the dice to roll your way. If it lands, finish it with an insta-kill so that it dies instantly before the Disintegrate wears off. One possibility is if a single-class Monk has built up enough Resonance on Hauani O Whe to unleash it at that instant. Another possibility is to use the Sacrifice or Worthy Sacrifice attack from the Marux Amanth Dagger.
Another idea is to break down a Gigantic Black Ooze into Massive Black Oozes through other methods. And then use Disintegrate on a "near death" Massive Black Ooze before finishing it off. This approach has two advantages. One is that the Massive Black Ooze will have substantially lower Fortitude than either a Gigantic Black Ooze or Hauani O Whe, and that makes a Disintegrate much more likely to land and for longer. The other advantage is that it wipes out a Massive Black Ooze to avoid two Greater Black Oozes that are going to try to merge with each other right away. And chances are your party members may not have made Recovery Time yet from their previous efforts to bring down the Massive Black Ooze before they can attack the Greater Black Oozes. Disintegrate successfully used can avoid that.
The other method is, once two Oozes begin to merge, to constantly keep BOTH under wraps by using any abilities that can Interrupt, Prone, Stun or Petrify them until you can bring one of them down to 0 Health.
Here's some breakdown. Hauani O Whe has resistance to both Might and Dexterity Afflictions. Gigantic Black Oozes have 3 Concentration and resistance to Dexterity Afflictions, but not Might Afflictions. Massive Black Oozes have resistance to Dexterity Afflictions, and 2 Concentration.
Concelhaut's Crushing Doom, a spell from the Iron-Clasped Grimoire can reliably Prone an Ooze, and score Damage to boot. But just once obviously won't do the job, so repeated use of it requires either a Blood Mage or the Brilliant Inspiration (while the Wizard stays out of range of Corrosive Solvent).
The Wizard's Call to Slumber spell can also work here, as it both Interrupts and Prones. It has the distinct advantage of leaving one Ooze asleep for some time, as long as you don't damage it, while you work on the other. And again, a Blood Mage or the Brilliant Inspiration is needed if you want to keep casting it multiple times.
Stun, like from the Druid's Relentless Storm, or from Stun Bombs, can be reliable too.
Spells like the Wizard's Gaze of the Adragan and the Druid's Embrace of the Earth Talon can Paralyze the Oozes. Petrify is a kind of tier-4 Dexterity Affliction that is a tier above Paralysis as a tier-3 Dexterity Affliction. That means those spells can Paralyze the Oozes, even though the Gigantic and Massive versions have resistance to Dexterity Afflictions. What's more, those spells can be cast through scrolls that are crafted with materials that are sold relatively cheaply and frequently at stores like The Dark Cupboard. The problem is, those spells roll against Fortitude. The scrolls would also require a character with a good enough Arcana score to use them.
Any power that Interrupts will work, like the Barbarian's Interrupting Blows, melee attacks bolstered by Potions of Impediment, or the Energized Inspiration (+5 Might, +2 Penetration, Critical Hits will Interrupt). Keep in mind that Interrupts will only work when the target has no Concentration. So take care to wipe out either the Gigantic or Massive's Concentration before they reach 50% Health.
A distinct advantage of the Wizard's Thrust of Tattered Veils is that it Interrupts, and it ALWAYS hits despite the target's Defenses. And you can craft scrolls for it from cheap and readily available ingredients. Also, any character can use the scrolls so long they have an Arcana skill of at least 1.
So a sound approach is to emphasize Thrust of Tattered Veil scrolls for Gigantic Black Oozes, which will have the higher Defenses. And maybe the alternatives for the Massive Black Oozes, which will have lower Defenses.
These methods require constant, careful and meticulous micromanagement to pull off. And sometimes, a slip or the roll not going the way you wanted can undo all your progress once the Oozes exploit a slim window of opportunity and pull off the merge. So yes, do prepare for some heartbreak and frustration if you want the bragging rights that come from winning this fight.
A single-class Monk can actually make this fight substantially easier by using the Whispers in the Wind power while equipped with Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak. Whispers in the Wind will attack multiple targets. It also confers Invisibility to the Monk during the attacks, so Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak means those attacks will Stun the Oozes. Dance of Death also ensure that the Wounds recoup passively.
There are Youtube videos of Monks doing this solo. It requires a lot of Potions of Healing, and use of Blades of Turning to minimize damage taken from the Oozes. Items like the Strand of Favor and Cabalist's Gambeson, as well as a Resting bonus like from Mari Crudia, are used to maximize the duration of Blade Turning and the Invisibility from Whispers in the Wind.
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Hauani O Whe is an enormous Black Ooze in the Murkwater Lagoon, which is at #8 on the World Map. It has two basic attacks.
