Heart of the Grove fight explained

Is there a guide or video or explanation of this fight? Today I went blind and got my ass wiped, expecially because of that degen...

I have done today my first Heart of the Grove fight, blind. So T3, no mods, extra safe - heck, I'm doing that just for Challenges, not drop. I'll write this for those who don't feel like watching videos.

After you have opened Seed caches in 100 (one hundred) Red-Tier maps, you will be able to start the Heart of the Grove Encounter. Of course you, being smart, will notice you could start it from your Hideout in order to get unlimited attempts... except when you do, a nice "The Encounter can only be started in a map" will pop up. Disgruntled, you open any map and get ready for a fight against a Lv83 Boss. I believe the level cannot be manipulated like Mastermind, since most of the 100 maps were just T11-12, yet item yield was ILvl85.

Thankfully, the battle does not seem to be a Phased one, different from Uber Elder, T4 seeds and Sirus. So yeah, if you're *that* Sunder one-shout berserk, just bonk it and forget about what it's down there...

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"Behold! The first Daughter of Wraeclast!"

The Heart of the Grove (HotG) will pop up and wants YOU to be the fertilizer. The arena is your Sacred Grove, of course emptied of all the Horticrafting stuff you put in it - don't worry, no Lifeforce will be canceled, and all your seeds are where they have always been when you will be done.
Time to fight.

The whole arena will be in 3 different states - Vivid, Wild and Primal. You will notice the change when the Heart will pulse out a different color. Also, notice the big Blight-like vines on the ground - those are the paths where HotG will eventually grow.
In terms of resistances, HotG is equal to a Shaper. An extra handicap would be that it's rooted in a position and cannot move. It can, however, teleport in another part of the map. It does it without telegraphing it - it just pops down and signal with a bright wave on the vine - and some pretty flowers - where it's going. Usually it does it for defence, but it can also actively hunt you down like this if you stray too far.
GGG has been very nice, and put a Symbol on your minimap in order to let you know where the heck it teleported

Usually, HotG will attack by sprounting Vines from the ground. Vines will just whip you if you get too close - like an Elder tentacle, but without AoE. They are considered Boss, but won't yield Flask Charges expect from a boss enemy - perhaps it's there only for Warcry potency calculation.
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HotG's standard attack is a little, simple projectile, very Gradius-style. It also telegraphs what it's about to do:

- "Why Fight Progress?!" - standard attack barrage. If your spellBlock/spellDodge is good enough, this is the moment you pop up your flasks and get ready to pile up as much attacks and spells as possible, because it won't teleport away
- "I am the Grove" - what this does depends from the Grove's phase:
> Vivid: A bunch of 7-8 vines will sprout out and coordinate an attack against you, before disappearing
> Primal: some fully-grown seeds from time to time. They are meant to work like Breaches during a Breachlord battle - burst them if you need extra mob mauling at you... and extra flask charges.
> Wild: VOLATILE ORCHARD : A row of 10 vines will sprout out and shoot one homing projectile each. Those projectiles are fast like Volatile Dead orbs, and are flying (so NO, you cannot make them explode on a wall). The orbs can be easily outrunned and they will burst after 15-20 seconds, but they pretty much force you to keep walking. As long you are not a self-cast melee or archer, you should be fine with this. Should one of you actually touch you, however, they will explode after 1-2 seconds, much like a Volatile Flameblood

- "Be one with the Lifeforce!" - SACRED SUFFERING : you're trapped! A Vaal Glacial Hammer-like wall of thorns is surrounding you, while HotG is channeling a powerful degen-field one Vine near HotG will start leak out a medium-to-strong Physical DoT field. You can stop it by breaking one of the Walls and get out of there. If you do it in less than 7-10 seeconds, no damage will be done. Otherwise, the Degen will stay. The degen is VERY similiar to a Burning Ground, except it isn't. When you step over it, a physical degen icon (like the "Ebola Ground" from the Atziri Trio) will show instead, even though you will suffer just a Fire DoT. The Degen field will also stay until the end of the battle, so you better break that wall QUICKLY if you don't want to turn the whole garden into a fiery nightmare.
Yes: it's like that Physical DoT field from Madness Propagators during Elder battle. Only difference being Fire DoT instead of physical DoT - much easier to lower in damage than physical for the non-EC builds.
Stepping on one of those grounds, at any time, will make you lose the challenge
This skill is only used during the PRIMAL phase
Additionally, any Vine you will break will leak a small field of Sacred Suffering. Apart from making the challenge near impossible for melee builds, it also makes a bad idea to use Corpse Explosion or other things that would make all of the bramble explode

- "Do not Resist." - VINE HAMMER : a Blight fungus will pop up and slam the ground near you after 2 seconds, leaving a poison cloud in a medium-large area for 5 seconds. Just start running/jumping/teleporting when you hear "Do", count to three, then return and you should be safe. This attack is only used during the VIVID phase

- "Your flesh will nourish the soil!" - ORB OF THORNS : HotG will channel a slow orb for 2 seconds, then launch it in front of it. The Orb will fire 8 itty bitty little thorns in a nova every 2-3 seconds, and disappear after 5-10 seconds. The skill is only used during the WILD Phase

- "Un...Natural! I'm...undone" : The fight is over. Get your challenges, harvest flowers and buds, get your Unique and you're done

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After killing HotG - or wasting all of your 6 portals - you will have to regrow the SAPLING of the HotG. This is done by harvesting other seeds, no matter their level. Lower tiers (not level) will yield the lesser: a T1 yields less progress than a T2, which yields less than a T3, which yield less than a T4. You can just spam quarry if you want.
After that, you will have to run - again - 100 Red Maps in order to attempt the fight again

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This is what I've managed to see in a single deathless fight, while earning 2 out of 4 conditions. Sacred Suffering, I've failed it because I only expected to be eligible for failure if I didn't get out in time, while Orb of Thorns... well, I didn't parry one of those thorns. Frankly, I didn't even see that, a wave from the Heart covered it and I got unlucky. I don't expect it to be complete, I don't expect it to be exact. Just a general description of what the battle should be like.

EDIT: had my second fight and got the Orb of Thorns challenge, but discovered way too late the little trick of the Sacred Suffering. I guess as an Infernal Blow user I can just let the explosion do the blast and wait for the vines to recede, but I still think it's quite an unfair mechanic for a league so focused on slams and explosions

Striked out falsities and misunderstanding, added new parts in this color

Well that was a fun read, and I am 15 maps away so thank you!

Thanks a lot!!! I'm 15 maps to fight her again... This time I'll do in a white map with AL0... Just want the challenges since she seens to drop no good loot.

Awakening level won't make the battle difficultier, since it only applies to Map Unique Boss - which Heart of the Grove is not. Map Unique Bosses are those bosses that, when slain, will give you completition for that map.
A white map, or just a map with no modifiers, will indeed make the battle as easier as possible, even though you will still face it at Lv83 even in a T1 map.

As for the drop, it will drop a related unique nevertheless. I got Law of the Wilds on my first try and a nice skin-transfer Forbidden Shako this time. I'll try for my third attempt (I am going for the 10k Tiers anyway) to see if I can dodge that accursed Sacred Suffering, but I guess the key, here, is just oneshotting it like that Zerk did to A8 Sirus

I am not -that- powerful, but someone else sure is.