I have made a mistake, I meant the color of the swarm, which is pink-ish. fixing now.
also, you may want to check the last part for the equips. I made a mess on them.
I made various locations to make a gap with the other bosses, and to underline that swarm can crawl everywhere.

erm, yes. sorry, language mistaken.

ok, I'll think about it. I'll edit the post soon.
but I would prefer that the swarm knight not summoning knights, only because it would not be coherent to have a swarm knight above the others. at least, if you do not want to have a full striker party at phase 6. also, no SLs armor: those are made in the sanctuary, with the power of light, and cannot be used by swarm. that would be a mess to explain. maybe phantom knights from graveyard will do.
also, it is neutral/resistant to all, he hasn't got a weakness.
bigger, darker colored, spiked? mmm... I prefer a dark colored cobalt set. just because it's the "main" armor of the spiral order.

P.S.: it will take a while because I just discovvered that the armors I'm seaching for are in the HoH. so I'm calling a necromancer to resurrecting after I get myself shooted.

EDIT: oh, the armor. yeah, well, I thought of something, I'll post it right away. I discovered a necromancer in my closet.

re-EDIT: re-bump, because I would like more opinions. especially Lug.
also, I have to update my word copy with a feedback that, up to now, I don't have.

must re-do the descrpition for materials; anyway the corrupted soul is from the swarm knight. also, swarm enemies do not drop anything. the only guy that drops something is the trojan, and I already have the explanation: wasn't entierly corrupted by swarm, because it was corrupted before (see arkus).
and please, remember that:
1 one battle is not a war. the swarm is strong as ever, and he practically let us pass (see last swarm dialog).
2 in the 99% of videogames, the character wins. in like 10%, the character gets overhelmed once and then returns more powerful. I'm skipping the second part.
and, not conronting directly with the swarm? 4 corrupted bosses with a swarm seed at center of arena is confronting indirectly? if the swarm has attacked the alpha team, then is our enemy and we gotta investigate. especially if it wants to get to the core. or, could be like a danger mission. or just make an NPC near the gate that says that more than one team has gone missing after going through this gate, but the ones that have returned speak of darkness attacking. there are many ways to justyfy this.
also, what do we know about the swarm? the architect invented it but the swarm got out of control. now it consumes everything it can. he creates power distorsions on gates (stratums are fixed only if there is a power distorsion). why those gates? imo because of the sanctuary.

now to re-do those description.

@waffle: if you want to join the swarm, it will not help you: it will only transform you in a swarm knight. not really what you want I presume, since you won't have free will at all (knight attacking knight ect). also, remember that the swarm is out of control (see echo stone: firestorm citadel).
@ace: I think that a reproduction of the boss in its phases it's fine, but it will not drop tokens and so will not have an obtanable material from those. also, you will not be able to use the corrupted soul for the guild hall. unless you want something really evil in your guild hall. so I'll have to think of a dark 5* material and a light one for the temple alchemy machine. later. be patient.
@duck: since you do not use an elevator to reach the temple, you use 50 energy. anyway, the elevators that take you to the sanctuary don't use energy.

this is genious.

You are contacted via comlink by an unknown knight, who tells you that the guardians are looking for your help. He explains the things below.
the swarm was made by the architect, and its identity is unkown to the guardians. it got out of control when it absorbed energy from the core; the swarm a reaction to the core, and it wants to consume it.
The guardians are the reaction from the reaction. They were generated from the swarm, and their only propose is to render the swarm useless. They cannot destroy the swarm; without the swarm, they have no propose, thus they will destroy themselves.
They have decided to help you, but only if you can prove your worth. They already know that you are enemy of the swarm, but they will test your strength to see if you are strong enough for the tasks they want you to do.

all missions are at unknown (???) depth.

1) A Shard of darkness: you are tasked from the guardians to help them in retrieving a “swarm shard”. It contains valuable information on the last movements of the swarm. You will be aided by one of the guardians, Braw, in your quest.
2 depths: first the unknown passage, then it will be a mixture of puzzles and arenas like the unknown passage, with an arena at the end. This should be a bit more difficult than the unknown passage. As you retrieve the shard, a swarm knight approaches; Braw tells you to go to the elevator while he distracts him. There will be a flash while on the elevator; Braw will appear near, while merging with the swarm knight, and then they both explode.
2) The dark prison: you are tasked to rescue one of your fellows from the swarm. You will be aided by another guardian, Solon. Always unknown passage at the beginning; then a deconstruction zone. At the far end, you will see your (ex) companion already partially corrupted. Solon tells you that there is nothing left to do but to destroy it; there is a battle like the first 2 phases of the swarm knight, then the battle is over. Solon transports you up.
3) Stopping the invasion: you are asked to aid the guardians to repel the swarm from an area. Random area at the beginning, then an area called “clockwork tunnels: darkening road”. You will find both normal enemies and swarm enemies, but no one will drop anything. At the end, an arena with many of the enemies of the game.

Each missions will give about 1k crowns of reward.
The guardians greet you. You have passed all of their challenges, and they can trust you and your strength now. They tell you that they and the swarm are equally matched, and so they cannot actually complete their propose. But there was a guardian that drew strength from balance, and that was the most powerful. He’s been missing for a long time. You are tasked to search for him, as he would certainly help. But also, they warn you not to fight him; you would have no chance.

3rd

ok, third addidtion is complete. hope you enjoy.

The guardian

Intro: some missions to intro the boss:
1 the report of spiral HQ, saying of some tales of the strangers about a powerful being, and of some “off-limits” areas for the gremlins. It will all be explained later.
2 a stranger tells you a legend about a powerful being that lives near to the core, and that is made of both light and darkness; some say that it has been spotted in one of the deepest crystal mines, and that has vanquished a great number of black warriors. But, it informs you that that is probably just a tale.
3 you have to penetrate an information node of the gremlins. In this node, there is a map of the stationary stratums of the clockworks. That information should provide you a few locations in which searching for the guardian.

Main:
Recon knights have found a possible location for our target. The road is infested with swarm, so you will have to fight your way through it; although, recon knights say that there is something strange down there.

Location:
A terminal near the core. 4 levels.

Depth 1: tunnels of darkness
A clockworks tunnels style depth, only with swarm enemies instead of normal ones (shankles included, these are all invincible). Background is darker than usual. There are all family types here. Ends with an arena, with similar form of the last arena of smoldering steps (FSC, d27), only with spikes instead of fire and no heart/vial spawn . at the beginning invincible shankles spawn at the corners. 4 waves: 1st gremlins (twackers and menders) and undead (kats and howlizers), 2nd beast (wolvers) and construct (lumbers and mecha knights), 3rd slime (polyps and lichens) and fiends (devilites and silkwings), 4th wave spawns 2 battlepods and 2 deadnaughts.
Notes: all enemies of the last arena are normal but don’t drop loot; in the last wave, you have to kill the dreadnaughts to open the shield of the battlepods.

Depth 2: enter the light
Aurora isles style depth. With puzzles and all. You need 4 gold keys to open the way to the elevator, but there are 8 in the map. The RNG will decide what keys will be open and what won’t. Only 4 keys will be obtainable.
Left side:
1st key: do you know that maps in devilite depths in which to pass you have to blow up explosive boxes, and in the meanwhile other boxes explode and more enemies are unleshed? This is like that, but it goes from right to left. Obviously it’s long enough not to let you know if the key is obtainable or not. And it has greavers with devilites.
2nd key: do you know that room in FSC with spikes at center and spawns lots of zombies? That, but with kats. And you enter from the right, so you don’t know if the key is open or not.
3rd key: do you know that room in the Ice Queen Palace with infinite lichen spawning? That one upside down.
4th key: you enter from the upper side. There are 5 paths: one is sealed with 2 doors, the other 4 are sealed with blocks, but the first is a ghost one. Now, 2 paths at random lead to two buttons, the other 2 to two pads that spawn static deadnaughts.
Right side:
1st key: do you know that initial puzzle in Ghosts in the machine? That one. Only with 2-3 more box blocks, and some respawining rocket puppies at the sides. You are going from left to right.
2nd key: do you know that corridor in the second depth of IMF with switches that open doors, and in the meanwhile you have to dodge rockets? That one. From left to right.
3rd key: IMF again. Oh well. The last arena on the second depth, with respawning enemies? That one. Upside down, with only one switch at the center, and 4 spawining points around it.
4th key: do you know the last arena of C42? That one, upside down, with normal lichens and no super schorcher. And a battlepod.
After getting 4 keys you get to the elevator. I would add an arena, but it could be too much for a level.
Note: all monsters are normal but drop no loot, if not some hearts here and there. All party buttons are surrounded by blocks, that will turn in ghost blocks when the button is activated. Also, the ones that should be in the center of the room go to the beginning.
Depth 3: the great darkness
Compound-like zone with darker background. Yes, there are minis. Every type of those. First up, party button. Pressing it spawns 2 invincible battlepods that start throwing missiles at you. Once out of their range, mini spawns. Like 10 of every kind. Then you enter the facility. Gold wisps of every type block the way . there are 9 groups of boxes, size 3x3. The corners are unbreakable boxes and all the others are normal. There are 4 switches to open the way out. You know where to search them, right?
You get out again. 3 Lumbers and a giant lichen colony are there to greet you. With 5 of every mini. After, a little maze with gold wisps. You re-enter the facility. But not so fast. In a left to right corridor, 4 blocks wide, rockets are shoot to you. In a random pattern.
Then, something big enough to make me change paragraph. Usually, one of the last rooms of the compounds presents a large area with some spikes and respawning minis, in which you have to search for buttons to open doors. Not this time. Well, not completely.
There is no beginning party button, only a force field (blocks monsters). Same room, but there are 3 party buttons. You can press only the central one, the others have unbreakable blocks around them. Pressing the central button spawns mecha knights and chromalisks. Some blocks of the right button are now ghost blocks. Pressing the right party button spawns jellies and devilites. Left button has now some ghost blocks. Pressing the left button spawns gremlin twachers and zombies. You need to defeat all the monsters to get to the elevator. Yes, after there is an elevator.

Depth 4: the guardian’s lair

Right after descending, there is a party button. The guardian appears in front of you, in another corridor separated from yours.
Little dialog:
Guardian: “And so you came here too. I guess the others told you to search for me.
I will not return with them. I can’t. I serve another propose now. “
Player: “And what about the swarm?”
G: “ There is a propose for everything in this planet, but I don’t know everything. I don’t understand the plans the core has.”
P:”The Core?”
G:” Who else could have sent those messages in the sanctuaries? The core. It’s a sentient entity, and I have specific orders from it. I cannot help you.”
P: (end conversation)

The guardian goes away. Another corridor to the right. You encounter another guardian, near a closed gate. Another little dialog:
Another guardian: “I was sent here to make sure how the mission went.
So? How did it go?”
P: ”He refuses to go. He says he has orders form the core.”
AG: “I see. Well, I guess we have failed.
But cheer up! We have discovered and secured a passage that leads in the core. You can use that. Unfortunately, we cannot approach it. A strange force repels us. But you can try and see if you can pass.”
P:” That’s great! We’ll go there right away!”
AG:” you can restore yourself here. We don’t know what it is inside the core, it could be dangerous. Good luck.”
P: (end conversation)

The gate opens. Heart pads. In the upper side, a stairway leading upwards. And after, a party button. From the party button you can see the elevator, after an open space and a corridor.
You press the party button. A gate before the corridor closes. The guardian (the one you were looking for) appears in front of it. Little dialog again:
G: “and so they send another bait. There is no other way but this, so you were obliged to go here.”
P: “Bait?”
G: “you are the third group reaching here. Before you, gremlins and fiends attempted to reach the core. Always guided by the others.”
P:”And why?”
G: ”They know the force is repelling them form that gate is mine. So they try to get rid of me.
They want the power of the core to destroy the swarm. But I cannot let them do that. The only propose of that gate is to contact the core for orders. No one must pass through.”
P:” But we have to!”
G:” Yes, to power your ship, I know that. But I cannot let you pass.
Turn around, or you shall be slaughtered.”
P:” We cannot give up now!”
G:” Then your fate is sealed. Prepare yourselves!”

Boss: the guardian

Phase 1: remember when the guardians told you you had no chance? That. It’s like the phase 6 from the swarm knight, with additional attacks like: after charging for a while, he shoots rotating blades that home for the target. They do only one hit, but last until the hit is done. Shield is your only choice. He does normal damage only. Weapons do not deal him any damage, knockback or interruption; you must survive for 2-5 minutes.

Phase 2: the guardian uses the swarm to empower himself. Weapons now deal damage and knockback as usual but no interruption. At the beginning and every certain amount of damage, he rises flying, targets a random knight and smashes the ground before him, then, places a swarm seed on the impact location and creates a vacuum that pulls knights in it (range: 5-6 blocks) and returns to the center. He is immune to all damage when he does so.
He can switch between 3 loadouts: shadow, elemental and piercing. When he wears a loadout, he deals according damage and is immune do that damage (ex: in shadow loadout he deals shadow damage and is immune to shadow damage).when he changes loadout, he emits a pulse like a trojan, but in half of the time and it has twice the radius. He deals split damage of the two damage type he is switching. The behavior is equal to the one above, and the blades deal damage according to the loadout he has. Yes, he heals in swarm seeds.

After placing 6 swarm seeds and after taking enough damage, phase 3 triggers.

Phase 3: not to be corrupted, he goes at the center and tries to take out the swarm from itself. A cloud of swarm surrounds him, shielding him. All players in the field suffer damage over time until the phase is over. To hit him, you must find a weak spot in the shield; one hit and the battle is over.

The gate for the elevator opens; but as a knight approaches, the path destroys itself. If you aren’t fast enough it’s insta-death. But it should be real slow. When the path is completely erased, the swarm attacks from the bottom of the room. 5 waves. A swarm seed grows to consume half of the battlefield, and new sources spawn at every enemy wave. When the seed reaches the guardian’s body, a blast destroys the enemies, the guardian rises up and destroys the seed; then he flies away. An elevator appears instead of the path destroyed before.

Depth 5: Hidden sanctuary: nearest the core

The hidden sanctuary is just like a normal sanctuary level, but instead of the material there is the guardian. Actually, you have to talk to the guardian to take the material. Dialog:
G: “And so you have beaten me. My orders from the core have changed.
P:” So can you let us in?”
G: “No, I can’t. You are not ready. Not even your greatest team could manage to exit the core. You would not return. “
P:” Do you know what happened to the alpha squad?”
G:”No, I don’t. I only guard the entrance, I don’t know what is inside.”
P: “But you said you could help us…”
G:”Yes, I can. I can make you stronger. I can summon great enemies to enhance your skills. When you will be ready, I will tell you.
For now, I can only give you this. It’s not much, but it will help you.”

Item: hidden force: apparently, this is not an item. It’s just a great mass of energy you feel inside you, and you know it has a specific propose.

That is, crafting armor. Yes, there is a sanctuary alchemy machine. Here you can craft every piece of armor of the sanctuaries, and the shadow, elemental and piercing loadouts. Armor. Only armor.
Helm and body armor offer the same resistances. They all have 3/4 of a bar normal defense and 9/10 of special defense.

It would be better to design brand new sets of this because I have no idea of where to take these from. I watched the list of armors we have and I said to myself that none of those fits.
Anyway, they should be medium armor, the shadow should be dark with a curse symbol on the back (and cursed aura), the elemental should be bright with symbols of each status on it (and a possibly color changing aura), and piercing should be shiny (and with twinkle aura). Yes, helmet and armor should have the same characteristics.
Names will be: shadow helmet/armor, elemental helmet/armor, piercing helmet/armor. It you can think of better name, tell them. Please. These are horrible.
Shadow loadout:
An armor appositely made to protect from darkness and curses. It seems to be cursed itself.
Protection against curse: 3/4 of the bar.
Requirements:
Dark Shard 20
Ecto Drop 5
Grave Soil 4
Soul Dust 3
Blighted Bone 2
Hidden Force 1

Elemental loadout:
An armor appositely made to protect form the elements. It seems it contains the power of each of it.
Protection against all statuses but curse and stun: half of the bar.

Requirements:
Light Shard 20
Ecto Drop 5
Owlite Feather 4
Fine Fabric 3
Silver Coil 2
Hidden Force 1

Piercing loadout:
An armor appositely made to protect from piercing and strong hits. It seems like it’s made of one piece.
Protection against stun: 3/4 of the bar.

Requirements:
Green Shard 20
Gel Drop 5
Gel Core 4
Brute Core 3
Rocky Core 2
Hidden Force 1

Ok, now guild hall thingy things. Since I’m not going to make you craft something else from that machine, you’ll have to use the armor. Repeat: you will have to use the armor.
Pillar of the three warriors: it’s a pillar resembling the three loadouts. One side will be purple, one green and one yellow. Requirements: 100 green, light and dark shards, 1 maiden’s tear, 1 celestial ore, 1 gremlonium, 1 nightmare mane.
Half-replica of the three warriors: it shows the head (well, helmet) and part of the chest of three warriors, emerging from the pillar. Requirements: 4 pillars of the three warriors, 1 shadow helmet, 1 elemental helmet, 1 piercing helmet.
Replica of the three warriors: it shows the three warriors, wearing the three loadouts and: the shadow one has an Acheron, the elemental one has(… erm. Well. The only elemental and non specific sword that there is right now is Davenger, and I would like a medium-speed sword. Make one. Please.), and the piercing one has a fearless rigadoon. (And this is why I couldn’t use sealed sword lines: because of a thoothpick. No, I won’t use final flourish.)

There. Done. It took a while.

guildie things expensive? go on the wiki and check the prices of the others.
as for the bosses, we need hard bosses in this game, really. things like soloing a SL should not be possible. it should be about teamwork.

oops, forgot about the recipes for the loadouts. I'll edit the post as I'll get things done.