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Log inThe Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
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The Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
Guest on Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:34 pm
Full tactical guide - part 1:
The FAQ
A new raiding instance introduced in book 11 patch. It's found in the north-east tip of Angmar, in a highly dangerous place only reachable by a group (or by a captain summon or hunter's porting). It is ment for 12 players. It is highly challanging and entertaining, and provides us with some opportunity to go togther as a team and get some splendid rewards. And if that's not enough, we get to kill a Balrog.
In principle - subject to changes - we will go as a group on every Friday and Sunday at 20:00 UK, GMT time. People can freely attend either or both runs. I will try to be available at every run to guide and advice. If you want to come, please sign up. Sometimes we will add an additional run during the week.
After ever second run (sunday's run), I will open a new thread and people can sign up for the next weekend's runs by indicating if they wish to come to Friday's, Sunday's, or both, runs. If you do sign up, please make sure to attend to let us know in advance you cant' go!
Oh, it will vary according to how much we are in the mood, how far we go into. It's about fun, not deadlines, but please make sure you got at least four solid hours of playing available if you sign up. If you don't have four hours at the very least, then please do not join, as finding a replacement in the middle is very time consuming.
Raid locks are a system that ensure people can not 'farm' an instance by visiting there constantly. Basically, once you are in a group that slays a certain boss, you get 'locked' and you can not kill that boss again. Beyond that, if you - the locked person - joined another group that isn't locked, you will lock them as well. So, basically, once you are 'marked' you, and everyone with you, can not kill that boss until the lock clears. Just as easily, you can get locked by other groups - as soon as you enter an instance with a group, you get all their raid locks, even if you go inside for just a second.
For that reason, and for the sake of avoiding confusion, we are trying to organize a fixed group and not let everyone go and raid with anyone they want, or we get conflicting raid locks. That means you can not go with anyone else, even for a short time, into the rift instance.
Basically, I would like to ask anyone who attend our raids to gurantee they go with us, and just us, to raids so we can get mutual raid locks.
People who still want to go with their friends, or missed some bosses, or want to push ahead with more advanced teams, please go after sunday. Raid locks clear on Thursday. That means if you raid with us, please restrict your outside raiding to only Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. This would be better for us all like this, and will increase our approach as a solid, well knit community.
Always make sure you are lock free please!
All classes are welcome and ALL are equally useful, but you need to be level 49-50. Anything below that, even level 48, generates too much threat and is a danger to the entire team.
If you are going to be a tank, please try to have a gear with as close as you can to 4000 morale - some of those critters hit HARD. If you are a healer, please try to have close to 3000 power. Tweak gear accordingly.
The rift is a 12-man run. The nessecery members are:
1 guardian (with 4000 morale buffed, give or take)
2 minstrels (with 3000 power, give or take)
2 crowd-controls (burglars or lore-masters, preferably lore-masters)
Beyond that, we can really take anyone we want - including, of course, more guardians or minstrels. I found preety much everything works, as long as people have fun and are focused.
Do come fully repaired. Remember there is no repair vendor next to the Rift zone so we need to come fully repaired in advance. Class specific advice will be available in the next section.
Please realize we might wipe A LOT, especially at the start as we get our bearing and learn our tactics. Don't worry about it. It's all fun. Dying is irrelevent if we die togther! *smile*
On bosses we will switch to master-looter and afterwards roll on the unique gems. Everyone can equally and freely roll, including randoms and friends. On the barter items - scraps and shards - we will roll need.
Important rule - first, remember the gems are bind on acquire so they can not be traded. Only roll if you need the item in question and don't have the set piece yet. Secondly, only one gem per run! Be considerate and let others get some gems too
Bosses drop gems that are bind on acquire and can be bartered for class-specific gear set (they are BoE so they CAN'T be traded or auctioned). For example, the first boss drops a sapphire that the winner can trade for boots that come from his specific class set, a new, nicely looking and very powerful set. The guide below explains what boss drops what part of the set (as a gem). So, for example, Thrang drops the head gem that will give one lucky winner the head piece. Each set has 6 parts. It is currently the best gear in the game, and is expected to remain so for a long time.
* Burglar set - Thrill-Seeker Armour. Can also recieve the dual daggers of Aeglang and Maethmegil.
* Hunter set - Doom-hunter's Armour. Can also reciece the bow Cumaen.
* Champion set - Armour of the Gloom-Bane. Can also recieve the three melee weapons of Othdring, Saellang and Avorchrist.
* Guardian set - Rift-Defender's Armour. Can also recieve the sword Congrist and the heavy shield Vorthrand.
* Lore-master set - Eldar Days Armour. Can also recieve the staff Noris.
* Minstrel set - Armour of the Wandering Bard. Can also recieve the mace Goldram and the shield Filigothan.
* Captain set - Armour of the North-Star. Can also recieve the halberd Torcathol.
In addition, players can obtain a variaty of general rewards by the use of barter items in the ranger's camp. See the next section for more.
Scraps or Rift-Iron ore and Obsidian rock-shards are given as quest rewards or drop inside the instance as relatively rare mob drops (scraps in the first stage of the instance, shards in later stages). They are barter items and can be traded inside the instance, after slaying the first two bosses, at the enterance of stage two (the giants).
They are bartered for Rift-iron coin, at a rate of 3 shards per coin or 5 scraps per coin. Coins can be bartered in terns at the ranger camp outside the instance. All of this items can be traded and auctioned. Note that if Thrang is killed, then all item bartering (to coins, and the use of coins) can be done deeper inside the instance, at the NEW giant's camp that replace Thrang domain over Norbar arena.
Coins can be traded for a small batch of potions, a hope token or some two-pieces set items. There are five such two-set pieces for a variaty of classes and tasks. Each set item cost 2 coins (4 all in all for the set).
While each item is not that useful with the set bonus they tend to be quite handy, sometimes even surprasing teal quality items. Try to do the math and calculate, you might find those items worth getting. Remember - in a set, sometimes even the crappy-at-first-look rift items are quite, quite useful, even better then legendry/teal items.
The list below gives you the full value of both items (with the set bonus). Compare them with the sum total of your current items and see if they are useful for you.
Will of the Rangers - a ring and earring two-set
Moderatly good for guardians and champions
45 vitality, 30 might, 15 fate, 66 morale, 1% parry, 2% disease resistance
Spirit of the Rangers - a braclet and pocket two-set
Superior to most teal-quality items for minstrels and lore-masters due to low quality of braclets for those classes.
45 will, 45 fate, 66 power, 1.1 power regen, 3 fear resistance
Amban's cloths - light armour, gloves and robes.
Superior to most teal-quality items for minstrels and lore-masters due to low quality of gloves for those classes.
45 vitality, 45 will, 30 fate, 44 morale, 22 power
Amban's leather - medium armour, legs and boots
Decent for hunters and burglars.
60 agility, 23 vitality, 23 will, 15 fate, 44 power, 22 morale
Amban's steel - heavy armour, helm and shoulder pads.
Decent for captains
45 might, 45 vitality, 16 agility, 8 will, 8 fate, 44 morale, 22 power
I would not say so! Just having a reasoanble pc that can run the game without lag at high level settings at least (anythign below has a shorter rending range, not perfect for a raid we all need to see the same things). Laptops, unless high-powered ones, are usually not recommended. This game scales very well. If you exprience lag, try to lower graphic settings but keep your object draw distance at ultra high.
ALQUA EDIT: From experience it IS perfectly possible to go into the Rift on non-high settings with lower/low draw distance and some of us have regularly done so. However it's more of a challenge, and you really need to be on your toes!
My personal recommendations:
CPU of 3.0 GHZ or higher
1.5 GB of memory or more (very important in raids)
Graphic card of the Nvidia 7xxx series or better
A mike and a headphones are handy in case we choose to use voice chat to give tactics and strategy, but it is not nessecery. I myself will not use voice chat to deliver commands - I find people process and focus more when they read text, but we can still find it useful!
This seems straight-forward, but make sure no program runs in the background. Anti-alisting (found on the graphic screen) is a huge resource hog since the last patch, turn it off if it is high. Turning off floating names (press N) helps a lot in raids. In 'adv graphic' settings, you can also try to scale 'player crowd quality' to 0.
Let all have some fun!
The FAQ
- What is the rift, anyway?
A new raiding instance introduced in book 11 patch. It's found in the north-east tip of Angmar, in a highly dangerous place only reachable by a group (or by a captain summon or hunter's porting). It is ment for 12 players. It is highly challanging and entertaining, and provides us with some opportunity to go togther as a team and get some splendid rewards. And if that's not enough, we get to kill a Balrog.
- When will we go to the rift?
In principle - subject to changes - we will go as a group on every Friday and Sunday at 20:00 UK, GMT time. People can freely attend either or both runs. I will try to be available at every run to guide and advice. If you want to come, please sign up. Sometimes we will add an additional run during the week.
- How do I sign up?
After ever second run (sunday's run), I will open a new thread and people can sign up for the next weekend's runs by indicating if they wish to come to Friday's, Sunday's, or both, runs. If you do sign up, please make sure to attend to let us know in advance you cant' go!
- How long will it take?
Oh, it will vary according to how much we are in the mood, how far we go into. It's about fun, not deadlines, but please make sure you got at least four solid hours of playing available if you sign up. If you don't have four hours at the very least, then please do not join, as finding a replacement in the middle is very time consuming.
- What are raid locks, and can I go with other people?
Raid locks are a system that ensure people can not 'farm' an instance by visiting there constantly. Basically, once you are in a group that slays a certain boss, you get 'locked' and you can not kill that boss again. Beyond that, if you - the locked person - joined another group that isn't locked, you will lock them as well. So, basically, once you are 'marked' you, and everyone with you, can not kill that boss until the lock clears. Just as easily, you can get locked by other groups - as soon as you enter an instance with a group, you get all their raid locks, even if you go inside for just a second.
For that reason, and for the sake of avoiding confusion, we are trying to organize a fixed group and not let everyone go and raid with anyone they want, or we get conflicting raid locks. That means you can not go with anyone else, even for a short time, into the rift instance.
Basically, I would like to ask anyone who attend our raids to gurantee they go with us, and just us, to raids so we can get mutual raid locks.
- But I still want to raid with other people!
People who still want to go with their friends, or missed some bosses, or want to push ahead with more advanced teams, please go after sunday. Raid locks clear on Thursday. That means if you raid with us, please restrict your outside raiding to only Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. This would be better for us all like this, and will increase our approach as a solid, well knit community.
Always make sure you are lock free please!
- Who can go to the rift?
All classes are welcome and ALL are equally useful, but you need to be level 49-50. Anything below that, even level 48, generates too much threat and is a danger to the entire team.
If you are going to be a tank, please try to have a gear with as close as you can to 4000 morale - some of those critters hit HARD. If you are a healer, please try to have close to 3000 power. Tweak gear accordingly.
- What is the best group composition?
The rift is a 12-man run. The nessecery members are:
1 guardian (with 4000 morale buffed, give or take)
2 minstrels (with 3000 power, give or take)
2 crowd-controls (burglars or lore-masters, preferably lore-masters)
Beyond that, we can really take anyone we want - including, of course, more guardians or minstrels. I found preety much everything works, as long as people have fun and are focused.
- What do I need to bring?
Do come fully repaired. Remember there is no repair vendor next to the Rift zone so we need to come fully repaired in advance. Class specific advice will be available in the next section.
Please realize we might wipe A LOT, especially at the start as we get our bearing and learn our tactics. Don't worry about it. It's all fun. Dying is irrelevent if we die togther! *smile*
- How we will handle loot?
On bosses we will switch to master-looter and afterwards roll on the unique gems. Everyone can equally and freely roll, including randoms and friends. On the barter items - scraps and shards - we will roll need.
Important rule - first, remember the gems are bind on acquire so they can not be traded. Only roll if you need the item in question and don't have the set piece yet. Secondly, only one gem per run! Be considerate and let others get some gems too
- What can of things can I get in the rift?
Bosses drop gems that are bind on acquire and can be bartered for class-specific gear set (they are BoE so they CAN'T be traded or auctioned). For example, the first boss drops a sapphire that the winner can trade for boots that come from his specific class set, a new, nicely looking and very powerful set. The guide below explains what boss drops what part of the set (as a gem). So, for example, Thrang drops the head gem that will give one lucky winner the head piece. Each set has 6 parts. It is currently the best gear in the game, and is expected to remain so for a long time.
* Burglar set - Thrill-Seeker Armour. Can also recieve the dual daggers of Aeglang and Maethmegil.
* Hunter set - Doom-hunter's Armour. Can also reciece the bow Cumaen.
* Champion set - Armour of the Gloom-Bane. Can also recieve the three melee weapons of Othdring, Saellang and Avorchrist.
* Guardian set - Rift-Defender's Armour. Can also recieve the sword Congrist and the heavy shield Vorthrand.
* Lore-master set - Eldar Days Armour. Can also recieve the staff Noris.
* Minstrel set - Armour of the Wandering Bard. Can also recieve the mace Goldram and the shield Filigothan.
* Captain set - Armour of the North-Star. Can also recieve the halberd Torcathol.
In addition, players can obtain a variaty of general rewards by the use of barter items in the ranger's camp. See the next section for more.
- What are those scraps and shards anyway? What other rewards are in the rift?
Scraps or Rift-Iron ore and Obsidian rock-shards are given as quest rewards or drop inside the instance as relatively rare mob drops (scraps in the first stage of the instance, shards in later stages). They are barter items and can be traded inside the instance, after slaying the first two bosses, at the enterance of stage two (the giants).
They are bartered for Rift-iron coin, at a rate of 3 shards per coin or 5 scraps per coin. Coins can be bartered in terns at the ranger camp outside the instance. All of this items can be traded and auctioned. Note that if Thrang is killed, then all item bartering (to coins, and the use of coins) can be done deeper inside the instance, at the NEW giant's camp that replace Thrang domain over Norbar arena.
Coins can be traded for a small batch of potions, a hope token or some two-pieces set items. There are five such two-set pieces for a variaty of classes and tasks. Each set item cost 2 coins (4 all in all for the set).
While each item is not that useful with the set bonus they tend to be quite handy, sometimes even surprasing teal quality items. Try to do the math and calculate, you might find those items worth getting. Remember - in a set, sometimes even the crappy-at-first-look rift items are quite, quite useful, even better then legendry/teal items.
The list below gives you the full value of both items (with the set bonus). Compare them with the sum total of your current items and see if they are useful for you.
Will of the Rangers - a ring and earring two-set
Moderatly good for guardians and champions
45 vitality, 30 might, 15 fate, 66 morale, 1% parry, 2% disease resistance
Spirit of the Rangers - a braclet and pocket two-set
Superior to most teal-quality items for minstrels and lore-masters due to low quality of braclets for those classes.
45 will, 45 fate, 66 power, 1.1 power regen, 3 fear resistance
Amban's cloths - light armour, gloves and robes.
Superior to most teal-quality items for minstrels and lore-masters due to low quality of gloves for those classes.
45 vitality, 45 will, 30 fate, 44 morale, 22 power
Amban's leather - medium armour, legs and boots
Decent for hunters and burglars.
60 agility, 23 vitality, 23 will, 15 fate, 44 power, 22 morale
Amban's steel - heavy armour, helm and shoulder pads.
Decent for captains
45 might, 45 vitality, 16 agility, 8 will, 8 fate, 44 morale, 22 power
- Do I need anything in my computer?
I would not say so! Just having a reasoanble pc that can run the game without lag at high level settings at least (anythign below has a shorter rending range, not perfect for a raid we all need to see the same things). Laptops, unless high-powered ones, are usually not recommended. This game scales very well. If you exprience lag, try to lower graphic settings but keep your object draw distance at ultra high.
ALQUA EDIT: From experience it IS perfectly possible to go into the Rift on non-high settings with lower/low draw distance and some of us have regularly done so. However it's more of a challenge, and you really need to be on your toes!
My personal recommendations:
CPU of 3.0 GHZ or higher
1.5 GB of memory or more (very important in raids)
Graphic card of the Nvidia 7xxx series or better
A mike and a headphones are handy in case we choose to use voice chat to give tactics and strategy, but it is not nessecery. I myself will not use voice chat to deliver commands - I find people process and focus more when they read text, but we can still find it useful!
- Do you have any performance tips for my sluggish PC?
This seems straight-forward, but make sure no program runs in the background. Anti-alisting (found on the graphic screen) is a huge resource hog since the last patch, turn it off if it is high. Turning off floating names (press N) helps a lot in raids. In 'adv graphic' settings, you can also try to scale 'player crowd quality' to 0.
For questions, comments, clarifications, problems, suggestions and such, contact the Mazara in all her glory via private message.
Let all have some fun!
Last edited by on Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:19 pm; edited 6 times in total
Guest- Guest
Re: The Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
Guest on Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:42 pm
Full tactical guide - part 2:
Specific class preperations
All characters, without exception should bring:
* 5 Brilliant Edhelharn Token
* 10 Pure Flask of Conhuith
* 10 Pure Flash of Lhinestad
* 10 Pure Healing Draught
* A bunch of Pure Celebrant Salve
* A bunch of Pure Essence of Athelas
Also, come FULLY repaired.
This is for ALL to read, remember, process and keep in the back of your mind, even if you believe you're familair with your class:
* Always listen to the leader.
* Ask if you are not sure about anything.
* Have the raid assist menu open and placed in a comfortable place.
* Constantly (every 1-2 seconds) look at who is the target-picker (off-tank) attacking and change targets constantly as they do. It is vital we all attack as a group to take off the aggro from minstrels.
* Turn OFF automatic target select, especially hunters, and select the targets-picker targets manually from the raid assist menu.
* Do not pull until the leader says 'go'
* Remember to keep a clear LOS (Line of Sight) to your healer - Do not stand behind pillars, rocks, fire and other objects.
* Do NOT run around, even if your'e a lore-master of minstrel being hit. You will run out of healing range and then can't be healed.
* Always look to where your marked healer is, and stay in range. Healers can't run around in battle.
* Remember that in many places in the battle you can not AOE (Area Of Attack). That means exactly what it says, no AOE at all. As this is key in MANY parts of the raid, pay special attention to such skills.
* Also remember not to DOT (Damage Over Time) on mobs that are supposed to be stunned. This includes, but is not limited to, Hillmen slave, Hillmen guards and orc Summoners.
A burglar's job is to serve in capacity of assist-crowd-control, however due to it's unique abilities will need to concentrate on some tasks that belong to off-tanks. Basically, a burglar start the job by riddling one additional mob and if nessecery, keeping it stunned like a lore-master. When possible, a burglar should try to help to keep aggro off minstrels, by using any skill in their disposal and being ready to mezz any add that attacks minstrels.
A burglar should also call in advance when he is going to get a conjuction going, and direct people if nessecery if now is the time for damage (all yellow), healing (all green), and power (all blue). More complex formations should be avoided as they often lead to confusion.
Attributes and virtues:
Concentrate on getting your agility and might as high as possible to maximize damage and critical success. Vitality is a useful third option. Will has little use, and Fate has no use at all for a burglar.
Determination 8
Discipline 8
Tolerance 6
Valour 8
List of recommended traits:
* Blind Fury
* Disabling Attack
* Exposed Throat
* Opportuntist
* Preplexing riddle
Hunters should be very careful about their attacks, as they have many AOE and DOT skills. Pay special attention where and when you shoot. Beyond that, constantly keep to the target's picker target. Make sure to turn OFF your auto-shot.
All hunters should carry:
* A batch of refined light-oil (especially against specific bosses)
* A batch of breach-finder bow-chants (especially during earlier boss fights)
* A batch of whisper-draw and wind-rider bow-chants (especially during longer, later boss fights)
* A batch of quality quick-trap and superior multi-trap (especially for the Fruz encounter)
Attributes and virtues:
A hunter should work entirely on it's agility score, as it effects preety much every skill and damage ability it has. Will and vitality else is highly secondary - vitality is low as a hunter should not be damaged, will is secondary as a hunter should be able to regain power. Fate and might are totally useless for a hunter.
Determination 8
Tolerance 6
Mercy 7
Recommended traits:
* Rain of Thorns (for Fruz)
Champions are often target pickers in the raid. A target picker must constantly keep an eye out on mobs and change mob (and thus the target everyone attacks) accordingly. The key is to attack mobs that are attacking minstrels or running away.
As champions are mostly target pickers and not AOE'ers in raids, they should concentrate on dual weapons (and not a two-handed weapon), and to maximize other traits then those that increase AOE skills such as blade-wall and blade-storm.
Champions clobber skill is very important, and should be used excessivly against mobs, especially hillmen slave (to avoid it healing), hillmen summoner (to avoid it summoning worms), and fumaroles (to avoid them summoning urfons). Champions should coordinate among themselves to keep a target clobbered at all times.
All champions should carry:
* Selection of various melee weapons of the highest quality doing both Light and Common damage.
* Gear that maximize might and morale at the expense of all else. Champions should aim for 3500 morale unbuffed and 400 might.
* One simple, most basic vendor weapon (archet or likewise) for bosses that should be clobbered but not aggroed (like Thrang)
Attributes and virtues:
As damage-dealers champions should maximize their might, and as off-tanks they should maximize their vitality as a strong second. Agility has some use in terms of critical strikes. Will is useless as a champion should be able to regen in frevor, fate is useless as a champion has almost no tactical strikes.
Disicpline 8
Fortitude 8
Valour 6
Loyalty 6
Justice 8
The guardian, the tank (and sometimes off-tank and target picker) is maybe the most important class in the instance. Most bosses in the rioft require good timing and excellent abilities to generate and retain threat while having superb gear. A guardian should try to maximize his threat output, even on the sake of damage. Most important thing for the Guardian is to keep aggro.
In many cases a guardian should make sure to try and keep aggro with doing as little damage as possible (using cries, or lower-damage yet threat-generating melee attacks (such as vexing blow) and avoid all others. Also remember not to use any cries, abilities or attack that AOE - as a tank your only tank is to keep a SINGLE creature on you, and nothing else.
Guardians should not use bow unless to pull. A guardian should, even when dragging a boss, use shield-smash and all shield-related abilities constantly to retain aggro. In selecting his traits and gear, he should try to maximize morale over everything else, as armour protection means for little in an instance where many bosses do un-common damage. Wound resistance is also very, very important.
All guardians should carry:
* A full complement (20) of Pure Essence of Athelas.
* Appropiate gear that allows for 4000 morale unbuffed, or as close to that as possible. Common damage mitigation of 50% is also very important.
* A batch of Ancient Dwarf Shield-spike Kit (especially against Barz, Zurm, and drakes)
Recommended traits:
Our recommended trait build is the following:
* Shield-smash
* Challange the Darkness
* Defensive expertise
* Deflected blows
* Controlled breathing
* Grim challange
* Stoic
Attributes and Virtues:
A guardian, especially the main tank, should emphesaize vitality (and morale) above everything else. Wound resistance is key for successful tanking, right after morale. Might is handy as it helps absorbs some damage, and agility as it legs the tank dodge a bit more. Will and fate are useless.
Valour 8
Justice 8
Loyalty 6
Charity 6
Patience 7
Recommended traits:
In order to heal the tanks from various afflictions that some bosses, we require ALL lore-masters to equip two traits in advance, as this is vital for the balrog's fight:
* Proof against all ill
* Healer
Attributes and Virtues:
Fate is probably the most key attribute for a lore-master who has a very damaging-oriented task with many tactical skills. Morale is also very useful for a lore-master, possibly more then will (as he can regain power constantly and should in order to replenish the party). Might and agility are naturally useless for a lore-master.
Idealism 7
Empathy 6
Honesty 6
Valour 8
Justice 8
A minstrel should maximize his healing ability, which means picking traits that allow him to heal more often, and with less interruptions and aggro. A minstrel must learn to do several things, the most important thing is not to over-heal. A minstrel's job is to keep everyone alive, NOT AT FULL HEALTH. Do not heal unless a target is at least 1000 health points below their max. Try to wait for the first heal of the battle until it is vital. Afterwards, try to heal as little as possible and as intellegentilly as possible.
Minstrels should stand a bit away from their group so it's clear for target pickers when adds are attacking them. Minstrels should also learn to use song of soothing a lot, fear mobs and FD to avoid aggro. In addition, it's very important that the minstrels keep EACH OTHER alive.
All minstrels should carry:
* A full complement (20) of Pure Celebrant Salve
* Appropiate gear that allows for 3000 power unbuffed
* An Exquisite Superior Theorbo for threat reducation.
Recommended traits:
* Rally!
* Fellowship's heart
* Subtle movements
* Focused Performance
* Life-singer (less important in shorter boss fights with many lore-masters)
Attributes and virtues:
A minstrel should work on it's will as an important prime, to make sure he has plenty of power to heal the party. Fate is highly useful second to ensure regenration and the occassional critical when in war-speech. Vitality and morale are a third-option in case the minstrel pulls aggro, while agility and might are useless.
Honesty 6
Wisdom 6
Confidence 7
Idealism 7
Valour 8
Captains should focus not on damage and melee attacks (althought it is important they do that, and follow the target picker), but they must help keep healing the minstrels with over-time heals. They should never forget to place their banners. The captain that is with the main tank must remember to always place his or her banner next to the TANK, and not the group or the captain.
All captains should carry:
* Intricately Woven Grand Master Standard of Hope
* Intricately Woven Grand Master Standard of War (we do not use heralds inside the rift)
Recommended traits:
Captains should try to maximize their abilities as buffers and in combat ressurcations.
* Defy corruption
* Blood of Numenor
* Captain's Hope
* Captain's Valour
Specific class preperations
All characters, without exception should bring:
* 5 Brilliant Edhelharn Token
* 10 Pure Flask of Conhuith
* 10 Pure Flash of Lhinestad
* 10 Pure Healing Draught
* A bunch of Pure Celebrant Salve
* A bunch of Pure Essence of Athelas
Also, come FULLY repaired.
- General tips
This is for ALL to read, remember, process and keep in the back of your mind, even if you believe you're familair with your class:
* Always listen to the leader.
* Ask if you are not sure about anything.
* Have the raid assist menu open and placed in a comfortable place.
* Constantly (every 1-2 seconds) look at who is the target-picker (off-tank) attacking and change targets constantly as they do. It is vital we all attack as a group to take off the aggro from minstrels.
* Turn OFF automatic target select, especially hunters, and select the targets-picker targets manually from the raid assist menu.
* Do not pull until the leader says 'go'
* Remember to keep a clear LOS (Line of Sight) to your healer - Do not stand behind pillars, rocks, fire and other objects.
* Do NOT run around, even if your'e a lore-master of minstrel being hit. You will run out of healing range and then can't be healed.
* Always look to where your marked healer is, and stay in range. Healers can't run around in battle.
* Remember that in many places in the battle you can not AOE (Area Of Attack). That means exactly what it says, no AOE at all. As this is key in MANY parts of the raid, pay special attention to such skills.
* Also remember not to DOT (Damage Over Time) on mobs that are supposed to be stunned. This includes, but is not limited to, Hillmen slave, Hillmen guards and orc Summoners.
- Burglar
A burglar's job is to serve in capacity of assist-crowd-control, however due to it's unique abilities will need to concentrate on some tasks that belong to off-tanks. Basically, a burglar start the job by riddling one additional mob and if nessecery, keeping it stunned like a lore-master. When possible, a burglar should try to help to keep aggro off minstrels, by using any skill in their disposal and being ready to mezz any add that attacks minstrels.
A burglar should also call in advance when he is going to get a conjuction going, and direct people if nessecery if now is the time for damage (all yellow), healing (all green), and power (all blue). More complex formations should be avoided as they often lead to confusion.
Attributes and virtues:
Concentrate on getting your agility and might as high as possible to maximize damage and critical success. Vitality is a useful third option. Will has little use, and Fate has no use at all for a burglar.
Determination 8
Discipline 8
Tolerance 6
Valour 8
List of recommended traits:
* Blind Fury
* Disabling Attack
* Exposed Throat
* Opportuntist
* Preplexing riddle
- Hunter
Hunters should be very careful about their attacks, as they have many AOE and DOT skills. Pay special attention where and when you shoot. Beyond that, constantly keep to the target's picker target. Make sure to turn OFF your auto-shot.
All hunters should carry:
* A batch of refined light-oil (especially against specific bosses)
* A batch of breach-finder bow-chants (especially during earlier boss fights)
* A batch of whisper-draw and wind-rider bow-chants (especially during longer, later boss fights)
* A batch of quality quick-trap and superior multi-trap (especially for the Fruz encounter)
Attributes and virtues:
A hunter should work entirely on it's agility score, as it effects preety much every skill and damage ability it has. Will and vitality else is highly secondary - vitality is low as a hunter should not be damaged, will is secondary as a hunter should be able to regain power. Fate and might are totally useless for a hunter.
Determination 8
Tolerance 6
Mercy 7
Recommended traits:
* Rain of Thorns (for Fruz)
- Champion
Champions are often target pickers in the raid. A target picker must constantly keep an eye out on mobs and change mob (and thus the target everyone attacks) accordingly. The key is to attack mobs that are attacking minstrels or running away.
As champions are mostly target pickers and not AOE'ers in raids, they should concentrate on dual weapons (and not a two-handed weapon), and to maximize other traits then those that increase AOE skills such as blade-wall and blade-storm.
Champions clobber skill is very important, and should be used excessivly against mobs, especially hillmen slave (to avoid it healing), hillmen summoner (to avoid it summoning worms), and fumaroles (to avoid them summoning urfons). Champions should coordinate among themselves to keep a target clobbered at all times.
All champions should carry:
* Selection of various melee weapons of the highest quality doing both Light and Common damage.
* Gear that maximize might and morale at the expense of all else. Champions should aim for 3500 morale unbuffed and 400 might.
* One simple, most basic vendor weapon (archet or likewise) for bosses that should be clobbered but not aggroed (like Thrang)
Attributes and virtues:
As damage-dealers champions should maximize their might, and as off-tanks they should maximize their vitality as a strong second. Agility has some use in terms of critical strikes. Will is useless as a champion should be able to regen in frevor, fate is useless as a champion has almost no tactical strikes.
Disicpline 8
Fortitude 8
Valour 6
Loyalty 6
Justice 8
- Guardian
The guardian, the tank (and sometimes off-tank and target picker) is maybe the most important class in the instance. Most bosses in the rioft require good timing and excellent abilities to generate and retain threat while having superb gear. A guardian should try to maximize his threat output, even on the sake of damage. Most important thing for the Guardian is to keep aggro.
In many cases a guardian should make sure to try and keep aggro with doing as little damage as possible (using cries, or lower-damage yet threat-generating melee attacks (such as vexing blow) and avoid all others. Also remember not to use any cries, abilities or attack that AOE - as a tank your only tank is to keep a SINGLE creature on you, and nothing else.
Guardians should not use bow unless to pull. A guardian should, even when dragging a boss, use shield-smash and all shield-related abilities constantly to retain aggro. In selecting his traits and gear, he should try to maximize morale over everything else, as armour protection means for little in an instance where many bosses do un-common damage. Wound resistance is also very, very important.
All guardians should carry:
* A full complement (20) of Pure Essence of Athelas.
* Appropiate gear that allows for 4000 morale unbuffed, or as close to that as possible. Common damage mitigation of 50% is also very important.
* A batch of Ancient Dwarf Shield-spike Kit (especially against Barz, Zurm, and drakes)
Recommended traits:
Our recommended trait build is the following:
* Shield-smash
* Challange the Darkness
* Defensive expertise
* Deflected blows
* Controlled breathing
* Grim challange
* Stoic
Attributes and Virtues:
A guardian, especially the main tank, should emphesaize vitality (and morale) above everything else. Wound resistance is key for successful tanking, right after morale. Might is handy as it helps absorbs some damage, and agility as it legs the tank dodge a bit more. Will and fate are useless.
Valour 8
Justice 8
Loyalty 6
Charity 6
Patience 7
- Lore-master
Recommended traits:
In order to heal the tanks from various afflictions that some bosses, we require ALL lore-masters to equip two traits in advance, as this is vital for the balrog's fight:
* Proof against all ill
* Healer
Attributes and Virtues:
Fate is probably the most key attribute for a lore-master who has a very damaging-oriented task with many tactical skills. Morale is also very useful for a lore-master, possibly more then will (as he can regain power constantly and should in order to replenish the party). Might and agility are naturally useless for a lore-master.
Idealism 7
Empathy 6
Honesty 6
Valour 8
Justice 8
- Minstrel
A minstrel should maximize his healing ability, which means picking traits that allow him to heal more often, and with less interruptions and aggro. A minstrel must learn to do several things, the most important thing is not to over-heal. A minstrel's job is to keep everyone alive, NOT AT FULL HEALTH. Do not heal unless a target is at least 1000 health points below their max. Try to wait for the first heal of the battle until it is vital. Afterwards, try to heal as little as possible and as intellegentilly as possible.
Minstrels should stand a bit away from their group so it's clear for target pickers when adds are attacking them. Minstrels should also learn to use song of soothing a lot, fear mobs and FD to avoid aggro. In addition, it's very important that the minstrels keep EACH OTHER alive.
All minstrels should carry:
* A full complement (20) of Pure Celebrant Salve
* Appropiate gear that allows for 3000 power unbuffed
* An Exquisite Superior Theorbo for threat reducation.
Recommended traits:
* Rally!
* Fellowship's heart
* Subtle movements
* Focused Performance
* Life-singer (less important in shorter boss fights with many lore-masters)
Attributes and virtues:
A minstrel should work on it's will as an important prime, to make sure he has plenty of power to heal the party. Fate is highly useful second to ensure regenration and the occassional critical when in war-speech. Vitality and morale are a third-option in case the minstrel pulls aggro, while agility and might are useless.
Honesty 6
Wisdom 6
Confidence 7
Idealism 7
Valour 8
- Captain
Captains should focus not on damage and melee attacks (althought it is important they do that, and follow the target picker), but they must help keep healing the minstrels with over-time heals. They should never forget to place their banners. The captain that is with the main tank must remember to always place his or her banner next to the TANK, and not the group or the captain.
All captains should carry:
* Intricately Woven Grand Master Standard of Hope
* Intricately Woven Grand Master Standard of War (we do not use heralds inside the rift)
Recommended traits:
Captains should try to maximize their abilities as buffers and in combat ressurcations.
* Defy corruption
* Blood of Numenor
* Captain's Hope
* Captain's Valour
Guest- Guest
Re: The Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
Guest on Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:44 pm
Full tactical guide - part 3:
General information
Troll/Troll-keeper group
This guys appear in the first stage of the rift, before (and during, as waves) boss 1 and 2.
Composed from an Uruk troll-keeper and a Troll. As long as the troll-keeper is alive, the troll can't be damaged or tanked properly So don't give it a serious try. Main tank should keep the troll relatively busy. Off-tank picks the troll-keeper, DPS the troll-keeper down, and keep the troll away from the minstrels. Remember that if the troll gets far away from the keeper he enrages and does amazing amount of damage, so don't try to seperate them. Once troll-keeper is down, troll can be tanked and killed.
Slave/Slave-master group
This guys appear in the first stage of the rift, before (and during, as waves) boss 1 and 2.
Maybe one of the hardest trash mob groups, positioning is key here. A group is composed from an Uruk slave-master, a hillman slave (healer) and 4 lower-level hillman workers. The slave can heal and buff everyone, and the Uruk can give serious buffs to his workers and himself if he is next to them, allowing them - and him -to do massive damage, on the scale of 1000-1500 damage per blow, sometimes more from the Uruk.
The encounter should start with proper coordination - the lore-master stuns the slave, and the main tank already rushing to pick the Uruk and drag him away from the group and everyone else. Some slave-masters can be stunned as well (not all), but it's far more important to stun the hillmen slave. Stun slave-master only if you have at least 3 CC players.
(Alqua's update: Stunning both slave and slave master works well these days - careful co-ordination and voice-enabled countdown enable only two CC to work together to stun both. Have successfully dealt with these in a party with one burg and one LM)
The off-tank job is key here. First, he must pick off any worker or other add that might be following the tank. This is vital. Then he will pick worker targets, everyone DPS down his target. Off-tank MUST keep an eye out for the minstrels and pick off any workers from them. Off-tank must also keep an eye out for any escaping add and hunt them down before they reach next to the slave-master and he buffs. This is especially key in groups that include pale-folks.
Healers should try not to over-heal and take their time as much as possible to let people build aggro on the workers. AOE should only be done if the stunned hillman is far away - for safety sake, no AOE at all.
Kill the workers, then the slave-master, and finally the slave. The hillmen slave must be stunned at all times, without exception. If the uruk is free as tank is down (usually because an add caused a buff), minstrels should fear him immidiatly and repeatdly until tank has been rezzed and has control again.
(Alqua - Again, we've normally taken the slave down first, and kept the master chain mezzed, it really doesn't matter which order they're taken - if either break free, others should feel free to intervene to stop buffs until able to remez, champions clobbering are especially useful at this!)
Summoner and worms group
This guys appear before boss 3, in the second stage of the rift.
Summoners come with two worm allies and will summon more constantly if not stunned. Summoners also use ranged attacks so they are not pulled easily - make sure they are constantly stunned and kept in a safe distance. The worms do a fire-based area attack - spread out a bit and AOE them as fast as possible. In a group that has more then just the summoner (orc adds), the off-tank should pick off the worms first, as they do more damage. Kill the worms first, and the orcs later. Of course, make sure to pick off the orcs from the minstrels. AOE is fine, as the summoner will be at a distance.
Drakes group
This guys appear before boss 4, in the third stage of the rift.
Drakes have a ranged and fast fireball attack that does 200-400 damage and seems to pass most obstacles. They MUST be rushed and properly tanked and aggroed, or stunned. Main tank must make sure to tank all of them, and lore-masters must keep the others stunned. They must be kept tanked at all times, or they have a nasty tendency to target minstrels and slay them in seconds.
(Alqua - LMs being able to air-lore the attacks helps here)
Fumarole
This guys appear before boss 5, in the first part of the fourth stage of the rift.
Fumaroles are passive, static, stealthed 20k volcano-like mobs that are found in specific, fixed locations on the map on the way to the fifth boss. They, by themselves, are not dangerous at all. However, they both spawn adds that can be dangerous (searing Urfon) and are found in a dangerous location. Fumaroles CAN be clobbered to avoid them summoning Urfons, so keep them clobbered champions.
Things to remember while fighting Fumarole - always move as a group and do not stray ahead or run around at all - or you might trigger more Fumaroles. This is vital. Also, stay off the metal bridges as they do 150 damage per second. No matter what, move to solid ground as fast as possible. Secondly, waves of three orcs will spawn all the time (10k orcs, melee-fighters and archers).
Fumarole spawn several urfons. Urfons do moderate fire attacks but - and this is key - they deliver damage equal to that been done to them. Hit an urfon for 400 damage and get hit by 400 damage on top of the damage they deliver.
While the Urfons who spawn are initiatlly passive (and must remain so for as long as possible), healing, attacking any or AOE triggers them all. Some tactics call for no healing and not AOE and waiting for the Urfon to despawn after killing the Furamole (something that is supposed to happen after 30 seconds if they are not triggered). However, from our experience this does not really work.
Instead, as soon as a new Fumarole is spawned, attack it (but no AOE) as quickly as possible, including minstrels. If an orc wave comes, stun the archers and fear the melee-attackers. Once the Fumarole is dead, kill the melee orcs, then concentrate on killing one Urfon at a time. This will require TONS of healing and the minstrels WILL get aggro constantly. Switch targets if nessecery between Urfons to pick them off the minstrels as they have a fast attack that will interrupt healing. While this tactic is taxing to the minstrels, it has the advantage of working.
Once all Urfon's are dead, kill the archer orcs and move to the next one. Either range kill them or move back (retrace your step carefully to avoid triggering more Fumaroles) and kill them in a safe local.
Bornabar - first stage
This stage has the bosses Barz and Zurm, as well as the troll/troll-keeper, and slaves trash mob groups.
Clear the way past several trash mob groups down to Asmolf the giant. Kill the group in front of him. One member only reach close to him and trigger the event, the rest stay back. Proceed up via several mob groups, clear the area around Barz and slay him. Very important, slay Barz first.
Retrace your steps back, clear the way and around Zurm, and slay him as well. Finish by returning to Asmolf who lifts the stones blocking the way into Noruidor, the ancient giant city.
Once the bosses in this section have been cleared, all trash mobs will not spawn anymore.
Upper Noruidor - second stage
The upper reaches of the once great giant city house boss Fruz, as well as the summon trash mob groups and a friendly NPC base. Here you can trade for coins, complete some quests and take some others.
Enter the cave togther and stay as a group. When you reach the Eldgang camp, trade and deal with quests quickly - less then a minute - then stay back. Once a wave of adds appear, let the giants handle them then immidiatly run to where they came from and down the corridor. This mobs are impossible for the raid to slay and come every 6 minutes, so move quickly. Reach near Fruz, clear the way to the door by slaying several trash mob groups, then kill Fruz. Go throught the door behind him.
Upper Noruidor - third stage
This small section house the boss Zogtark, as well as several drakes groups.
Clear the corridor and reach the open space where Zogtark is, circled by several drakes. Go around the wall and have a guardian pull several groups to you. Clear the entire area, without worrying to trigger Zogtark but do not touch the elite master drakes. Once area is clear, move to the chest area, then send the tanks to slay the drakes and trigger the Zogtark event. Slay him, then go throught the door behind him.
Norbar approach - fourth stage
This section house the boss Narnulubat, as well as several Fumarole groups.
Move as a group to the first land key and wait for the orc wave. As soon as it is killed, reveal the first Fumarole and slay it, as well as Urfons and second orc wave. Wait a tad for power and health, then continue to reveal the next one. Only the party leader will move forward and reveal them - everyone else stay back. It is vital people move as a group and do not panic.
The inner keep that seperate outside Noruidor with the inner arena of Norbar and the Balrog prison. Contains the mini-bosses Shadow-Eater and stone-biter, as well as a few orcs.
General information
- Trash mob groups
Troll/Troll-keeper group
This guys appear in the first stage of the rift, before (and during, as waves) boss 1 and 2.
Composed from an Uruk troll-keeper and a Troll. As long as the troll-keeper is alive, the troll can't be damaged or tanked properly So don't give it a serious try. Main tank should keep the troll relatively busy. Off-tank picks the troll-keeper, DPS the troll-keeper down, and keep the troll away from the minstrels. Remember that if the troll gets far away from the keeper he enrages and does amazing amount of damage, so don't try to seperate them. Once troll-keeper is down, troll can be tanked and killed.
Slave/Slave-master group
This guys appear in the first stage of the rift, before (and during, as waves) boss 1 and 2.
Maybe one of the hardest trash mob groups, positioning is key here. A group is composed from an Uruk slave-master, a hillman slave (healer) and 4 lower-level hillman workers. The slave can heal and buff everyone, and the Uruk can give serious buffs to his workers and himself if he is next to them, allowing them - and him -to do massive damage, on the scale of 1000-1500 damage per blow, sometimes more from the Uruk.
The encounter should start with proper coordination - the lore-master stuns the slave, and the main tank already rushing to pick the Uruk and drag him away from the group and everyone else. Some slave-masters can be stunned as well (not all), but it's far more important to stun the hillmen slave. Stun slave-master only if you have at least 3 CC players.
(Alqua's update: Stunning both slave and slave master works well these days - careful co-ordination and voice-enabled countdown enable only two CC to work together to stun both. Have successfully dealt with these in a party with one burg and one LM)
The off-tank job is key here. First, he must pick off any worker or other add that might be following the tank. This is vital. Then he will pick worker targets, everyone DPS down his target. Off-tank MUST keep an eye out for the minstrels and pick off any workers from them. Off-tank must also keep an eye out for any escaping add and hunt them down before they reach next to the slave-master and he buffs. This is especially key in groups that include pale-folks.
Healers should try not to over-heal and take their time as much as possible to let people build aggro on the workers. AOE should only be done if the stunned hillman is far away - for safety sake, no AOE at all.
Kill the workers, then the slave-master, and finally the slave. The hillmen slave must be stunned at all times, without exception. If the uruk is free as tank is down (usually because an add caused a buff), minstrels should fear him immidiatly and repeatdly until tank has been rezzed and has control again.
(Alqua - Again, we've normally taken the slave down first, and kept the master chain mezzed, it really doesn't matter which order they're taken - if either break free, others should feel free to intervene to stop buffs until able to remez, champions clobbering are especially useful at this!)
Summoner and worms group
This guys appear before boss 3, in the second stage of the rift.
Summoners come with two worm allies and will summon more constantly if not stunned. Summoners also use ranged attacks so they are not pulled easily - make sure they are constantly stunned and kept in a safe distance. The worms do a fire-based area attack - spread out a bit and AOE them as fast as possible. In a group that has more then just the summoner (orc adds), the off-tank should pick off the worms first, as they do more damage. Kill the worms first, and the orcs later. Of course, make sure to pick off the orcs from the minstrels. AOE is fine, as the summoner will be at a distance.
Drakes group
This guys appear before boss 4, in the third stage of the rift.
Drakes have a ranged and fast fireball attack that does 200-400 damage and seems to pass most obstacles. They MUST be rushed and properly tanked and aggroed, or stunned. Main tank must make sure to tank all of them, and lore-masters must keep the others stunned. They must be kept tanked at all times, or they have a nasty tendency to target minstrels and slay them in seconds.
(Alqua - LMs being able to air-lore the attacks helps here)
Fumarole
This guys appear before boss 5, in the first part of the fourth stage of the rift.
Fumaroles are passive, static, stealthed 20k volcano-like mobs that are found in specific, fixed locations on the map on the way to the fifth boss. They, by themselves, are not dangerous at all. However, they both spawn adds that can be dangerous (searing Urfon) and are found in a dangerous location. Fumaroles CAN be clobbered to avoid them summoning Urfons, so keep them clobbered champions.
Things to remember while fighting Fumarole - always move as a group and do not stray ahead or run around at all - or you might trigger more Fumaroles. This is vital. Also, stay off the metal bridges as they do 150 damage per second. No matter what, move to solid ground as fast as possible. Secondly, waves of three orcs will spawn all the time (10k orcs, melee-fighters and archers).
Fumarole spawn several urfons. Urfons do moderate fire attacks but - and this is key - they deliver damage equal to that been done to them. Hit an urfon for 400 damage and get hit by 400 damage on top of the damage they deliver.
While the Urfons who spawn are initiatlly passive (and must remain so for as long as possible), healing, attacking any or AOE triggers them all. Some tactics call for no healing and not AOE and waiting for the Urfon to despawn after killing the Furamole (something that is supposed to happen after 30 seconds if they are not triggered). However, from our experience this does not really work.
Instead, as soon as a new Fumarole is spawned, attack it (but no AOE) as quickly as possible, including minstrels. If an orc wave comes, stun the archers and fear the melee-attackers. Once the Fumarole is dead, kill the melee orcs, then concentrate on killing one Urfon at a time. This will require TONS of healing and the minstrels WILL get aggro constantly. Switch targets if nessecery between Urfons to pick them off the minstrels as they have a fast attack that will interrupt healing. While this tactic is taxing to the minstrels, it has the advantage of working.
Once all Urfon's are dead, kill the archer orcs and move to the next one. Either range kill them or move back (retrace your step carefully to avoid triggering more Fumaroles) and kill them in a safe local.
- Our passage in the rift
Bornabar - first stage
This stage has the bosses Barz and Zurm, as well as the troll/troll-keeper, and slaves trash mob groups.
Clear the way past several trash mob groups down to Asmolf the giant. Kill the group in front of him. One member only reach close to him and trigger the event, the rest stay back. Proceed up via several mob groups, clear the area around Barz and slay him. Very important, slay Barz first.
Retrace your steps back, clear the way and around Zurm, and slay him as well. Finish by returning to Asmolf who lifts the stones blocking the way into Noruidor, the ancient giant city.
Once the bosses in this section have been cleared, all trash mobs will not spawn anymore.
Upper Noruidor - second stage
The upper reaches of the once great giant city house boss Fruz, as well as the summon trash mob groups and a friendly NPC base. Here you can trade for coins, complete some quests and take some others.
Enter the cave togther and stay as a group. When you reach the Eldgang camp, trade and deal with quests quickly - less then a minute - then stay back. Once a wave of adds appear, let the giants handle them then immidiatly run to where they came from and down the corridor. This mobs are impossible for the raid to slay and come every 6 minutes, so move quickly. Reach near Fruz, clear the way to the door by slaying several trash mob groups, then kill Fruz. Go throught the door behind him.
Upper Noruidor - third stage
This small section house the boss Zogtark, as well as several drakes groups.
Clear the corridor and reach the open space where Zogtark is, circled by several drakes. Go around the wall and have a guardian pull several groups to you. Clear the entire area, without worrying to trigger Zogtark but do not touch the elite master drakes. Once area is clear, move to the chest area, then send the tanks to slay the drakes and trigger the Zogtark event. Slay him, then go throught the door behind him.
Norbar approach - fourth stage
This section house the boss Narnulubat, as well as several Fumarole groups.
Move as a group to the first land key and wait for the orc wave. As soon as it is killed, reveal the first Fumarole and slay it, as well as Urfons and second orc wave. Wait a tad for power and health, then continue to reveal the next one. Only the party leader will move forward and reveal them - everyone else stay back. It is vital people move as a group and do not panic.
The inner keep that seperate outside Noruidor with the inner arena of Norbar and the Balrog prison. Contains the mini-bosses Shadow-Eater and stone-biter, as well as a few orcs.
Guest- Guest
Re: The Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
Guest on Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:46 pm
Full tactical guide - part 4:
Bosses 1-4
Remember - it's vital to kill Barz before Zurm, or they are both much harder to slay.
Barz is a troll with about 140k health morale. He is highly resistant to fire and light damage, so hunters don't use any oil, and others try to use your non-light melee weapons (unless this means a loss of too much DPS).
Unique abilities:
* Has two AOE attacks that he will perform by calling them out loud (and say a sound wave too).
"I will gnaw your bones" - Barz will start to thump the ground and will do a massive AOE damage per second to anyone who is around him - about a 10m range. EVERYONE, without exception, must flee from him. However, remember it's only 10m so dont' run too much.
"No power is stronger then Barz" - a relatively minor attack that does some power damage. If we got two lore-masters in the raid, it's not a problem at all. Make sure the guardian always has power to keep his special skill and aggro up.
* In addition, at about 95k, 70k and 50k health left for Barz, he will call on adds - first wave is a troll keeper wave, and later slave healer worker. Those adds must be killed before continuing.
Our tactic:
Main tank runs in to where Barz is, next to the fire. Two minstrels stand and do not move next to the bridge stairs, in LOS to the tank. Rest of the party stand not far from the minstrels.
Let main tank get aggro and do not DPS or over-heal for a minute or so. Then start attacking. When Barz yells his "gnaw" attack the tank runs away toward the cliff and the remote stairs, and the rest of the party runs towards the minstrels. The tank must not run too far. He will wait till Barz will stop thumping the ground then return and keep attacking. He must return to the same spot, next to the fire. Do not attack Barz while he is thumping, and try not to heal if possible.
Go slowly, conserve power, there is no rush. Notice when the add waves are getting close and warn people in advance. For the first wave, send the off-tank (preferably champion) against the troll keeper. Make sure the troll does not whack the minstrels too much. Kill all adds before going back to Barz.
When fighting the adds, no need to change plans. Keep postioning of minstrels and tank. The additional damage from the adds is very sustainable and will not make the tank die with a good healer. However, when fighting the adds, make sure not to move too far away from the bridge and the minstels. Off-tank must pick off the workers from the minstrels, this is vital as they need to keep up everyone and the tank alive.
Second wave is slave (healer) and workers - but without an uruk slave-master. Keep the healer slave stunned. Kill the workers one by one. Do not AOE at all to avoid breaking the slave stun. Second wave is similar. Beyond that, really straightforward.
Possible other tactic and tip:
Barz moves very slowly, and even more slowly if he is covered in lore-master tar. It is sometimes possible to make Barz chase the tank (by running in circles around the bridge, up and down the stairs) while one healer keep an eye out on him - in theory, this converve the healing needed from Barz damage on the tank while adds. However, it's not that nessecery.
Zurm is another 140k morale troll highly resistant to light and fire damage, as is Barz.
Unique abilities:
* "Get out of the way" - When Barz calls that, he picks a random target, stuns it for several seconds, flings the tank away, clear all his current aggro and runs toward the new random target.
* A poison cloud and powerful attack that are not super-damaging but can come as a surprise and do up to 1500 health damage.
* As Barz, he calls for add-waves. He calls for four add waves and at random intervals (not fixed like Barz). However, as of 15/12/07, it is possible to avoid future waves (which is NOT possible with Barz) by keeping one member of a wave alive - this would be a healer slave from the second wave.
Our tactic:
This tactic requires 2 crowd-control
The tank heads to Zurm, hit him a few times, and drag him to a location need the wooden fence in the back. There he tanks him for up to a minute. The tank stays in this location at all time. If Zurm yells his 'get ouf of the way' skill then the tank stand still and shots at Zurm. No one else attacks Zurm. Healers try not to over-heal as well. The target who Zurm is heading must head toward the tank and return Zurm to the proper postioning. This is vital that Zurm is returned at all times to a fixed location.
DPS Zurm when possible slowly and conserve power. When the first add wave comes, kill troll keeper first. Keep running back to Zurm if attacked even in the middle of an add wave. For the second wave, stun the slave and kill the workers. Keep workers away from minstresls. Once the workers are dead, keep the slave stunned and go all out on Zurm.
Healers, due to Zurm burst and random damage, make sure everyone has AT LEAST 1500 health at all times.
Fruz is a 150k morale troll that is very tolerant to common damage yet very suspectible to light and fire damage. Hunters make sure to DPS him constantly with oils. It's a fight in a tiny room with some broken stairs leading in the distance. All the doors close once Fruz is engaged, make sure to be inside the room.
This boss is very low key in terms of healing. It is very possible, and advisable, that one minstrel will go into war-speech mode. Captains can go to damage-based banners.
Unique abilities:
* Very hard to keep aggro - Fruz will select, similar to Zurm, random targets and head toward them. Basically, he will run around alot.
* Every minute or so a wave of 4 normal orcs (2k health) will spawn up the stairs and rush down. They will try to reach Fruz. For every orc that is around Fruz, every second, they will heal him for 2k health. So yes, this does mean he can be fully healed in matter of seconds.
Our tactic:
A ranged player will keep an eye out for when orcs are dropping down the stairs. Hunters can and must shoot and root them while they are on the stairs. Lore-masters should use stuns while the orcs are on the stairs and tar the spot where they fall down. Champions must break off from Fruz and go and stun any orc with their AOE horn stun. If the champions have a hard time running back and from Fruz and you lack DPS, consider keeping one champion next to the fire and not move from there.
An attacking minstrel in war-speech will stand close to the fire with the champions and AOEthe orcs, making sure they keep aggro on them and not run to Fruz. Do EVERYTHING you can to stun, slow, distract and kill the orcs before they come to Fruz. If an orc breaks free and gets to Fruz, EVERYONE, including tank, kill it as fast as possible (but tank and off-tank should not move from their corner). Beyond that, go maximum DPS that you can, and all the orc killers - hunters, war-speech minstrel, champions, lore-masters should DPS Fruz down as much as possible whenever possible.
Main tank drags Fruz to the north-east corner next to the doors we can throught. He must keep him there at all times. Like Zurm, however, Fruz likes to travel and pick random targets. Random target (unless has aggro by the healing adds, naturally, he will just drag the orcs close to Fruz) must drop everything and run to the corner. If you get targeted by Fruz, run to the corner, don't wait.
Off-tank (a guardian preferably) runs after Fruz if he breaks aggro and drags him back. Main tank stand, like in Zurm, and shoots Fruz until he comes back.
The healer minstrel will stand not far from the corner where Fruz is tanked. All ranged attackers will try to stand in the opposite corner so if they pull adds it would be not toward Fruz.
Important thing - never fight or wait directly under the stairs. If Fruz goes there he becomes bugged and nothing will release him. War-speech minstrels and champions should stand next to the fire and stop the orcs.
Zogtark is an orc that has tamed 2 powerful drakes as his servents. He himself is very easy (incredibly so), but his drakes can be dangerous. He (not that it matters) is highly vunerable to light, fire and beleriand damage. The drakes are highly vunerble to ancient-dwarf damage. Guardians might want to put such spikes on their shields here.
Unique abilities:
* The boss can greatly heal the drakes, even allowing them to return to fly again. To avoid this, keep the boss as far away as possible from the drakes.
Our tactic:
This tactic requires two tanks.
Main tank and off-tank both rush the two drakes at the edge of the field and tank them slowly. Minstrels must rush after them and heal, but the damage is not severe. A wave of worms will come, and they must be dealt with a lot of AOE. Healers should take their time before they start healing to avoid pulling worms.
As soon as the worms are dead, two things must happen - the party starts to slay the main tank's elder drake, and the main drake run toward the stone pillar where Zogtark is. After a little damage to the drakes, Zogtark will jump down, and rush toward his drakes, and they will rush toward him. The main tank must grab Zogtark quickly and pull him away from the drakes and from the group. The main tank's drake will get airborne. It is key the tank properly captures Zogtark, or he heals the drakes who start to do massive damage to everyone. This is the key moment and preety much the only difficult thing in this encounter - if the transition and tanking is done properly, we practically won.
The main tank drags Zogtark away from the main group. The off-tank must run after his drake, and keep tanking the other drake and keep aggro on it - shooting at it if it's in the air. Rest of the party must go all out on the main-tank previous drake with every ranged ability they have, including if possible some minstrel ranged attacks.
The drakes will shoot fireballs that do massive damage and have a tendency to shoot several characters, mostly minstrels. The two minstrels must heal each other. Due to the burst damage of the drakes, try to keep all characters at at least 1000 morale. All chars must stay around the minstrels, except the main tank who will drag the boss away (do not worry, his damage is very low and the main tank will require little healing).
The first drake will eventually return to the ground as well after being ranged DPSed. Slay him quickly on the ground. After the first drake is dead, kill the second. By now it's preety much settled. Kill Zagtark, both minstrels can even go war-speech and help DPS him as there is virtually no damage.
Bosses 1-4
- Barz- raid lock 1 - drops the set boot
Remember - it's vital to kill Barz before Zurm, or they are both much harder to slay.
Barz is a troll with about 140k health morale. He is highly resistant to fire and light damage, so hunters don't use any oil, and others try to use your non-light melee weapons (unless this means a loss of too much DPS).
Unique abilities:
* Has two AOE attacks that he will perform by calling them out loud (and say a sound wave too).
"I will gnaw your bones" - Barz will start to thump the ground and will do a massive AOE damage per second to anyone who is around him - about a 10m range. EVERYONE, without exception, must flee from him. However, remember it's only 10m so dont' run too much.
"No power is stronger then Barz" - a relatively minor attack that does some power damage. If we got two lore-masters in the raid, it's not a problem at all. Make sure the guardian always has power to keep his special skill and aggro up.
* In addition, at about 95k, 70k and 50k health left for Barz, he will call on adds - first wave is a troll keeper wave, and later slave healer worker. Those adds must be killed before continuing.
Our tactic:
Main tank runs in to where Barz is, next to the fire. Two minstrels stand and do not move next to the bridge stairs, in LOS to the tank. Rest of the party stand not far from the minstrels.
Let main tank get aggro and do not DPS or over-heal for a minute or so. Then start attacking. When Barz yells his "gnaw" attack the tank runs away toward the cliff and the remote stairs, and the rest of the party runs towards the minstrels. The tank must not run too far. He will wait till Barz will stop thumping the ground then return and keep attacking. He must return to the same spot, next to the fire. Do not attack Barz while he is thumping, and try not to heal if possible.
Go slowly, conserve power, there is no rush. Notice when the add waves are getting close and warn people in advance. For the first wave, send the off-tank (preferably champion) against the troll keeper. Make sure the troll does not whack the minstrels too much. Kill all adds before going back to Barz.
When fighting the adds, no need to change plans. Keep postioning of minstrels and tank. The additional damage from the adds is very sustainable and will not make the tank die with a good healer. However, when fighting the adds, make sure not to move too far away from the bridge and the minstels. Off-tank must pick off the workers from the minstrels, this is vital as they need to keep up everyone and the tank alive.
Second wave is slave (healer) and workers - but without an uruk slave-master. Keep the healer slave stunned. Kill the workers one by one. Do not AOE at all to avoid breaking the slave stun. Second wave is similar. Beyond that, really straightforward.
Possible other tactic and tip:
Barz moves very slowly, and even more slowly if he is covered in lore-master tar. It is sometimes possible to make Barz chase the tank (by running in circles around the bridge, up and down the stairs) while one healer keep an eye out on him - in theory, this converve the healing needed from Barz damage on the tank while adds. However, it's not that nessecery.
- Zurm - raid lock 2 - drops the set boots
Zurm is another 140k morale troll highly resistant to light and fire damage, as is Barz.
Unique abilities:
* "Get out of the way" - When Barz calls that, he picks a random target, stuns it for several seconds, flings the tank away, clear all his current aggro and runs toward the new random target.
* A poison cloud and powerful attack that are not super-damaging but can come as a surprise and do up to 1500 health damage.
* As Barz, he calls for add-waves. He calls for four add waves and at random intervals (not fixed like Barz). However, as of 15/12/07, it is possible to avoid future waves (which is NOT possible with Barz) by keeping one member of a wave alive - this would be a healer slave from the second wave.
Our tactic:
This tactic requires 2 crowd-control
The tank heads to Zurm, hit him a few times, and drag him to a location need the wooden fence in the back. There he tanks him for up to a minute. The tank stays in this location at all time. If Zurm yells his 'get ouf of the way' skill then the tank stand still and shots at Zurm. No one else attacks Zurm. Healers try not to over-heal as well. The target who Zurm is heading must head toward the tank and return Zurm to the proper postioning. This is vital that Zurm is returned at all times to a fixed location.
DPS Zurm when possible slowly and conserve power. When the first add wave comes, kill troll keeper first. Keep running back to Zurm if attacked even in the middle of an add wave. For the second wave, stun the slave and kill the workers. Keep workers away from minstresls. Once the workers are dead, keep the slave stunned and go all out on Zurm.
Healers, due to Zurm burst and random damage, make sure everyone has AT LEAST 1500 health at all times.
- Fruz - raid lock 3 - drops the set gloves
Fruz is a 150k morale troll that is very tolerant to common damage yet very suspectible to light and fire damage. Hunters make sure to DPS him constantly with oils. It's a fight in a tiny room with some broken stairs leading in the distance. All the doors close once Fruz is engaged, make sure to be inside the room.
This boss is very low key in terms of healing. It is very possible, and advisable, that one minstrel will go into war-speech mode. Captains can go to damage-based banners.
Unique abilities:
* Very hard to keep aggro - Fruz will select, similar to Zurm, random targets and head toward them. Basically, he will run around alot.
* Every minute or so a wave of 4 normal orcs (2k health) will spawn up the stairs and rush down. They will try to reach Fruz. For every orc that is around Fruz, every second, they will heal him for 2k health. So yes, this does mean he can be fully healed in matter of seconds.
Our tactic:
A ranged player will keep an eye out for when orcs are dropping down the stairs. Hunters can and must shoot and root them while they are on the stairs. Lore-masters should use stuns while the orcs are on the stairs and tar the spot where they fall down. Champions must break off from Fruz and go and stun any orc with their AOE horn stun. If the champions have a hard time running back and from Fruz and you lack DPS, consider keeping one champion next to the fire and not move from there.
An attacking minstrel in war-speech will stand close to the fire with the champions and AOEthe orcs, making sure they keep aggro on them and not run to Fruz. Do EVERYTHING you can to stun, slow, distract and kill the orcs before they come to Fruz. If an orc breaks free and gets to Fruz, EVERYONE, including tank, kill it as fast as possible (but tank and off-tank should not move from their corner). Beyond that, go maximum DPS that you can, and all the orc killers - hunters, war-speech minstrel, champions, lore-masters should DPS Fruz down as much as possible whenever possible.
Main tank drags Fruz to the north-east corner next to the doors we can throught. He must keep him there at all times. Like Zurm, however, Fruz likes to travel and pick random targets. Random target (unless has aggro by the healing adds, naturally, he will just drag the orcs close to Fruz) must drop everything and run to the corner. If you get targeted by Fruz, run to the corner, don't wait.
Off-tank (a guardian preferably) runs after Fruz if he breaks aggro and drags him back. Main tank stand, like in Zurm, and shoots Fruz until he comes back.
The healer minstrel will stand not far from the corner where Fruz is tanked. All ranged attackers will try to stand in the opposite corner so if they pull adds it would be not toward Fruz.
Important thing - never fight or wait directly under the stairs. If Fruz goes there he becomes bugged and nothing will release him. War-speech minstrels and champions should stand next to the fire and stop the orcs.
- Zogtark - raid lock 4 - drop the set leggings, sometimes twice
Zogtark is an orc that has tamed 2 powerful drakes as his servents. He himself is very easy (incredibly so), but his drakes can be dangerous. He (not that it matters) is highly vunerable to light, fire and beleriand damage. The drakes are highly vunerble to ancient-dwarf damage. Guardians might want to put such spikes on their shields here.
Unique abilities:
* The boss can greatly heal the drakes, even allowing them to return to fly again. To avoid this, keep the boss as far away as possible from the drakes.
Our tactic:
This tactic requires two tanks.
Main tank and off-tank both rush the two drakes at the edge of the field and tank them slowly. Minstrels must rush after them and heal, but the damage is not severe. A wave of worms will come, and they must be dealt with a lot of AOE. Healers should take their time before they start healing to avoid pulling worms.
As soon as the worms are dead, two things must happen - the party starts to slay the main tank's elder drake, and the main drake run toward the stone pillar where Zogtark is. After a little damage to the drakes, Zogtark will jump down, and rush toward his drakes, and they will rush toward him. The main tank must grab Zogtark quickly and pull him away from the drakes and from the group. The main tank's drake will get airborne. It is key the tank properly captures Zogtark, or he heals the drakes who start to do massive damage to everyone. This is the key moment and preety much the only difficult thing in this encounter - if the transition and tanking is done properly, we practically won.
The main tank drags Zogtark away from the main group. The off-tank must run after his drake, and keep tanking the other drake and keep aggro on it - shooting at it if it's in the air. Rest of the party must go all out on the main-tank previous drake with every ranged ability they have, including if possible some minstrel ranged attacks.
The drakes will shoot fireballs that do massive damage and have a tendency to shoot several characters, mostly minstrels. The two minstrels must heal each other. Due to the burst damage of the drakes, try to keep all characters at at least 1000 morale. All chars must stay around the minstrels, except the main tank who will drag the boss away (do not worry, his damage is very low and the main tank will require little healing).
The first drake will eventually return to the ground as well after being ranged DPSed. Slay him quickly on the ground. After the first drake is dead, kill the second. By now it's preety much settled. Kill Zagtark, both minstrels can even go war-speech and help DPS him as there is virtually no damage.
Guest- Guest
Re: The Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
Guest on Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:49 pm
Full tactical guide - part 5:
Bosses 5-7
Narnulubat can be found on a small raised platform with two set of stairs on either side. He is an orc with 145K health, and four seer elite-master orc adds with about 20k each (as well as the ever-seer, but he runs away to be met later, so think not about him). The encounter starts when the party reaches the platform. There is a whirlpool of power that appear at the start of the fight in the middle of the platform - that whirlpool results in instant death to any who touches it, so avoid it.
Narnulubat is resistant to all forms of damage on an equal footing. For that reason, and because of the dispersal of DPS during the entire fight, it's a VERY long battle. For this purpose, hunters are recommended to use the wind-rider bow-chant, minstrels to use the tale of heroism, and captains to use power and power regen banners and abilities.
Unique abilities:
* Damage reflection: As long as the seer adds are alive, Narnulubt will reflect ALL damage dealt to him back to the attacker while taking none himself. As long as the seers are alive, he can't be harmed.
* Darklings: A small distance from the platform, at both sides, darklings will spawn. Those are passive, sometimes stealthed, very slow critters that will crawl to the whirlpool of power. If they reach it, they will spawn into adds, which is a very, very bad idea. They are slow and have little health but they spawn constantly and are highly resistant, so they will require handling almost 100% of the time.
* Armour melting: the boss may apply a debuff on the tank that will cause severe damage to armour. Can be mended by a lore-master with the 'healer' trait slotted.
Our tactic:
The tank rushes the boss and drags him down from the platform. The boss hits hard and is not very fast, and can be slowed further with skills as the lore-master tar, so once the tank secures his aggro he may try to run the boss around for a while (preferably around the platform) to conserve how much damage he takes. However, the boss axe swipes are AOE so keep him away from the others. LM's should keep and eye out and remove the melting armour debuff from the tank if nessecry.
The tank must remember that as long as the seers are up, the boss can not be harmed at all and will reflect all damage. For that reason, he must try to keep aggro by using cries and non-damaging skills as much as possible, or to pick threat-generating melee strikes and not the more damaging ones. The more damage he recieves the more healing is needed, and the harder it is to keep the boss away from the minstrels. The minstrels should try to use 'song of soothing' from time to time or they WILL steal aggro.
The rest of the party splits, one group on one pair of stairs, the other on he second. Group and DPS the seers down with the off-thank, AOE them as much as possible, but keep the boss away as he does AOE damage and will also reflect the AOE back. However, even during killing the seers - that really must be killed fast - the top priority for hunters and LM's. Split the hunters and LM's between both parties, and have them DPS down the darklings as much as possible, but they should also stand away from the platform to locate the stealthed darklings.
Once the seers are dead, switch to killing the boss and constantly kill darklings. They spawn regardless of how quickly killed and can overwhelm a bit in numbers if not handled. The hunters should yell for help if nessecery. This is not a complicated fight once the seers are down but it is quite, quite long.
Shadow-eater and stone-biter are two strange, odd monstrosities that togther make a relativity easy encounter. Shadow-eater has 140k health, stone-biter has around 40k. They are both very vunerable to beleriand damage and very resilient against magic or ranged attacks.
Unique abilities:
* Self-heal: Shadow-eater will start to heal himself greatly once he reaches very low morale (around 10k health). This is a fast regeneration skill that CAN be overcomes with burst DPS.
* Summoning: stone-biter will summon several adds and darklings (that can turn into even more adds if not killed immdiiatly) if he is killed before shadow-eater.
* Deep wounding: stone-biter will apply a repeated DOT wound on it's tank that can do serious damage and require intensive healing. It should be healed constantly.
Our tactic:
The main tank should open the gate and let the two bosses rush into the room. The Shadow-eater should be dragged away and they should be both tanked seperatly and at a distance. You can assign tank for shadow-eater cause it will need to soak up more aggro (more health) or to stone-biter to avoid the wound (tanks usually have more wound resistance), from our experience it does not matter a great deal.
DPS shadow-eater down to 15k, then switch to stone-biter. A LM should be assigned to constantly cure the tank of the stone-biter from wounds. If this is done, healing will probably be minimal and a single healer will be sufficent for the entire raid. Once shadow-eater reaches 15K, everyone but the tank should switch and DPS stone-biter to 15K. Then they should be brought togther and AOE'ed and DPSed in a way to split the damage so they die in the exact same time, if possible in the space of one second. This will avoid most spawns and adds, that can be easily cleared up after they are both dead. Just make everyoen realize they should switch targets to split the damage and balance it. A preety straight-forward, easy fight.
Thrang, when he finally emerges, is a strong 140k orc with many resistantnces. His least resistances are to fire and cries.
Unique abilities - applies to Thrang only:
* Arena-range AOE: Thrang has a powerful AOE spell that allows him to basically hammer the entire arena and hit EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE for some serious fire-damage and he casts it often. When Thrang is on top of the stairs, he will cast it repeatedly (it can be stopped with clobber). When he is downstairs, the AOE can be prevented if he is properly tanked 100% of the time.
* Invunerability: Similarly to Narnublat, until his four adds (shamans in this case) die, Thrang reflects all damage back at the tank, and he cant' be harmed. When the adds die, he will lose this and won't reflect damage anymore, but he will STILL not get any damage (or about 1%, not worth the trouble of hitting him). This peremanent invuerability can be temporarly removed when a fumarole explode on him.
* Wounding: similar to Narnublat, Thrang has a series of wounds that cause damage and lowers armour, and they must be removed properly.
Our tactic:
It's highly recommended that the main tank will have at least 3700 morale unbuffed, or it's extreamly hard to keep him alive.
The encounter starts when the tank reaches the giant talking to the ever-seer. The tank should drag the giant to an island that is safe from lava and against the wall (to avoid throw-backs), but still close enough so he can be healed and recieve captain buffs. This is important, as the tank should have high health and not need to many heals with the party deals with several wave of orc adds. In general, morale is very important in this encounter as Thrang has a 7 level dread aura (so all players lose 10% morale) and he attacks in serious damage bursts.
Several waves of orcs will appear while fighting the giants. With proper healing and crowd-control they pose no problem and dont' need any special tactic. There are four waves, when it's only the fourth wave that the players need to start paying attention. The last wave has two summoners and their worms in them. Stun one, kill the other, use clobber while killing all the worms as well. Once the summoner is almost dead, stun it and leave it. Make sure the field is clean. Keep the summoner stunned, work on positioning and regain some lost morale and power.
Facing Thrang:
As soon as the last summoner is dead, Thrang will emerage and the giant will depart. Thrang will appear on the top of the stairs and stay there, sending his four shamans to deal with you. Once the shamans are dead, he will descend.
The entire party should be in position, and the tank should be ready to get to his position ASAP, as the giant stops fighting and starts talking. One group is composed of the main tank, a healer and a lore-master, and they will remain in the left corner behind the stairs, as close to the wall as possible. This is the tanking group. The tank should be ready to rush to the stairs, jumping above the lava stream to avoid damage - the tank should really have full morale when the shamans drop down, and the minstrel can't heal him before he grabs aggro.
The rest of the party, minus one champion, will be at the other corner, the right corner of the stairs. This is the DPS group, and it must have one other guardian or champion. The reason of this positioning is to avoid Thrang AOE attack. While the champion (see below) will make sure Thrang won't cast all this AOE attacks, he will still cast about 30%, and that's still enough to kill. So stay in the corner and hug the wall, and don't move from it.
One champion, as said, must rush up and face Thrang. He must use clobber on Thrang, and nothing else - no melee, no bow, NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER. To ensure there will be no damage, the champion must equip his level one sword that we ask everyone to bring. Thrang reflects all damage back and the champion will recieve no healing (and doesn't need any), so this is key. The champion will just use clobber, which will break most of Thrang's arena-scale AOE, that will help the group downstairs a great deal.
When Thrang appears, he comes with 4 shamans. The shamans will step down the stairs, in principle, two to each side. It is in THIS spot, and none other, that they must be seperated. If they are not, it will almost certinly result in a wipe. Shamans heal each other and themselves for a considerable amount of damage. The DPS group can overcome the healing and kill one if there are no more then two shamans togther - if three, or more, shamans are grouped togther then the combined healing is far too much to DPS and they will eventually kill everyone. If for some reason the shamans did not properly split 2 by 2, then all DPS must cease, as well as healing, so a single person can pick up the extra shamans and drag them to the other corner.
Both tanks of both groups (either champions or guardians) must use their cries while the shaman lower drop the stairs to get aggro. No healing must be done at this stage. Both tanks must work hard to keep aggro on two shamans on each side. The LM's must cure wounds that will be caused by the shamans. The minstrels will have a singularly hard time to keep the tank alive - which will require tons of healings - while not getting aggro, which will require tricky timing of feint death and song of soothing on BOTH shamans. Using lute strings to reduce threat here is HIGHLY recommended. For this purpose, we suggest captains assist the minstrel of the DPS group, while the minstrel in the second group wait with healing, heal the guardian 3 times, feint dead, heal him again, use song of soothing on both shamans, and from then should be okay with threat. Casting 'call to greatness' on the guardian is also an excellent idea to help him generate aggro.
If the transition is done properly, it is just a question of keeping up the healing and DPSing the shaman's down. Once the main group kills both shamans, wait till the champion clobbers Thrang successfully (so there is no aura and no danger in passing), then have the tanking group run to the DPS group, dragging their two shamans. Then DPS the two remaining shamans. When that happens, Thrang's runs down the stairs, and the tank must be ready to tag him.
The Fumarole stage:
Now is the final stage of the fight, and it is quite hard. Rememeber not to waste power on damaging Thrang constantly that EVEN NOW has nearly full damage resistance. There is one way to surpass it, but when he is not vunerable, conserve power and save it for burst damage.
Secondly, everyone should keep a sharp eye out for any Fumaroles. When they appear and explode, they cause an aura that both damages and stuns. It's quite important people stay away from them, especially the healers. However, the fumaroles are key for the tank, who must tank Thrang will looking for one of two fixed fumarole spawn spots, then dragging him there. When Thrang nears a fumarole the volcano explodes, causing damage both to Thrang and to the Guardian, and more importantly, making Thrang fully vunerable to damage for thirty seconds. Everyone should go all out on him, even minstrels if possible, until the buff fades and the tank will drag Thrang to another fumarole. They spawn on fixed locations and in fixed intervals, so the best thing is to drag him from one to the other, keeping in close range to the minstrels and the party. It is advisable that a captain place the banner somewhere between the two fumaroles the tank moves between.
Two classes will work very hard - the LM's must cure wounds that Thrang will inflict immidiatly, prevent the guardian from being stunned (key as the fumarole explosions will otherwise stun him), and constantly slow down Thrang so he can be comfortablly pulled and DPS'ed. Secondly, the minstrels - the tank is going to be hit by wounds, explosions, thrang's small AOE and his massive melee attack. This can easily result in an accumlated burst damage, especially when Thrang gets vunerable from an explosion, to 3000 damage in 1-2 seconds. Both minstrels must spam heal the tank constantly, and the captains should help. High morale and buffs for the tank are key. The minstrels should also use song of soothing to avoid pulling Thrang.
Still, if this forumla is adhered he will die in no time.
Bosses 5-7
- Narnulubat - raid lock 5 - drop the set chest piece
Narnulubat can be found on a small raised platform with two set of stairs on either side. He is an orc with 145K health, and four seer elite-master orc adds with about 20k each (as well as the ever-seer, but he runs away to be met later, so think not about him). The encounter starts when the party reaches the platform. There is a whirlpool of power that appear at the start of the fight in the middle of the platform - that whirlpool results in instant death to any who touches it, so avoid it.
Narnulubat is resistant to all forms of damage on an equal footing. For that reason, and because of the dispersal of DPS during the entire fight, it's a VERY long battle. For this purpose, hunters are recommended to use the wind-rider bow-chant, minstrels to use the tale of heroism, and captains to use power and power regen banners and abilities.
Unique abilities:
* Damage reflection: As long as the seer adds are alive, Narnulubt will reflect ALL damage dealt to him back to the attacker while taking none himself. As long as the seers are alive, he can't be harmed.
* Darklings: A small distance from the platform, at both sides, darklings will spawn. Those are passive, sometimes stealthed, very slow critters that will crawl to the whirlpool of power. If they reach it, they will spawn into adds, which is a very, very bad idea. They are slow and have little health but they spawn constantly and are highly resistant, so they will require handling almost 100% of the time.
* Armour melting: the boss may apply a debuff on the tank that will cause severe damage to armour. Can be mended by a lore-master with the 'healer' trait slotted.
Our tactic:
The tank rushes the boss and drags him down from the platform. The boss hits hard and is not very fast, and can be slowed further with skills as the lore-master tar, so once the tank secures his aggro he may try to run the boss around for a while (preferably around the platform) to conserve how much damage he takes. However, the boss axe swipes are AOE so keep him away from the others. LM's should keep and eye out and remove the melting armour debuff from the tank if nessecry.
The tank must remember that as long as the seers are up, the boss can not be harmed at all and will reflect all damage. For that reason, he must try to keep aggro by using cries and non-damaging skills as much as possible, or to pick threat-generating melee strikes and not the more damaging ones. The more damage he recieves the more healing is needed, and the harder it is to keep the boss away from the minstrels. The minstrels should try to use 'song of soothing' from time to time or they WILL steal aggro.
The rest of the party splits, one group on one pair of stairs, the other on he second. Group and DPS the seers down with the off-thank, AOE them as much as possible, but keep the boss away as he does AOE damage and will also reflect the AOE back. However, even during killing the seers - that really must be killed fast - the top priority for hunters and LM's. Split the hunters and LM's between both parties, and have them DPS down the darklings as much as possible, but they should also stand away from the platform to locate the stealthed darklings.
Once the seers are dead, switch to killing the boss and constantly kill darklings. They spawn regardless of how quickly killed and can overwhelm a bit in numbers if not handled. The hunters should yell for help if nessecery. This is not a complicated fight once the seers are down but it is quite, quite long.
- Shadow Eater - raid lock 6 - some random, non-specific drop
Shadow-eater and stone-biter are two strange, odd monstrosities that togther make a relativity easy encounter. Shadow-eater has 140k health, stone-biter has around 40k. They are both very vunerable to beleriand damage and very resilient against magic or ranged attacks.
Unique abilities:
* Self-heal: Shadow-eater will start to heal himself greatly once he reaches very low morale (around 10k health). This is a fast regeneration skill that CAN be overcomes with burst DPS.
* Summoning: stone-biter will summon several adds and darklings (that can turn into even more adds if not killed immdiiatly) if he is killed before shadow-eater.
* Deep wounding: stone-biter will apply a repeated DOT wound on it's tank that can do serious damage and require intensive healing. It should be healed constantly.
Our tactic:
The main tank should open the gate and let the two bosses rush into the room. The Shadow-eater should be dragged away and they should be both tanked seperatly and at a distance. You can assign tank for shadow-eater cause it will need to soak up more aggro (more health) or to stone-biter to avoid the wound (tanks usually have more wound resistance), from our experience it does not matter a great deal.
DPS shadow-eater down to 15k, then switch to stone-biter. A LM should be assigned to constantly cure the tank of the stone-biter from wounds. If this is done, healing will probably be minimal and a single healer will be sufficent for the entire raid. Once shadow-eater reaches 15K, everyone but the tank should switch and DPS stone-biter to 15K. Then they should be brought togther and AOE'ed and DPSed in a way to split the damage so they die in the exact same time, if possible in the space of one second. This will avoid most spawns and adds, that can be easily cleared up after they are both dead. Just make everyoen realize they should switch targets to split the damage and balance it. A preety straight-forward, easy fight.
- Thrang - raid lock 7 - drop the set head piece
Thrang, when he finally emerges, is a strong 140k orc with many resistantnces. His least resistances are to fire and cries.
Unique abilities - applies to Thrang only:
* Arena-range AOE: Thrang has a powerful AOE spell that allows him to basically hammer the entire arena and hit EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE for some serious fire-damage and he casts it often. When Thrang is on top of the stairs, he will cast it repeatedly (it can be stopped with clobber). When he is downstairs, the AOE can be prevented if he is properly tanked 100% of the time.
* Invunerability: Similarly to Narnublat, until his four adds (shamans in this case) die, Thrang reflects all damage back at the tank, and he cant' be harmed. When the adds die, he will lose this and won't reflect damage anymore, but he will STILL not get any damage (or about 1%, not worth the trouble of hitting him). This peremanent invuerability can be temporarly removed when a fumarole explode on him.
* Wounding: similar to Narnublat, Thrang has a series of wounds that cause damage and lowers armour, and they must be removed properly.
Our tactic:
It's highly recommended that the main tank will have at least 3700 morale unbuffed, or it's extreamly hard to keep him alive.
The encounter starts when the tank reaches the giant talking to the ever-seer. The tank should drag the giant to an island that is safe from lava and against the wall (to avoid throw-backs), but still close enough so he can be healed and recieve captain buffs. This is important, as the tank should have high health and not need to many heals with the party deals with several wave of orc adds. In general, morale is very important in this encounter as Thrang has a 7 level dread aura (so all players lose 10% morale) and he attacks in serious damage bursts.
Several waves of orcs will appear while fighting the giants. With proper healing and crowd-control they pose no problem and dont' need any special tactic. There are four waves, when it's only the fourth wave that the players need to start paying attention. The last wave has two summoners and their worms in them. Stun one, kill the other, use clobber while killing all the worms as well. Once the summoner is almost dead, stun it and leave it. Make sure the field is clean. Keep the summoner stunned, work on positioning and regain some lost morale and power.
Facing Thrang:
As soon as the last summoner is dead, Thrang will emerage and the giant will depart. Thrang will appear on the top of the stairs and stay there, sending his four shamans to deal with you. Once the shamans are dead, he will descend.
The entire party should be in position, and the tank should be ready to get to his position ASAP, as the giant stops fighting and starts talking. One group is composed of the main tank, a healer and a lore-master, and they will remain in the left corner behind the stairs, as close to the wall as possible. This is the tanking group. The tank should be ready to rush to the stairs, jumping above the lava stream to avoid damage - the tank should really have full morale when the shamans drop down, and the minstrel can't heal him before he grabs aggro.
The rest of the party, minus one champion, will be at the other corner, the right corner of the stairs. This is the DPS group, and it must have one other guardian or champion. The reason of this positioning is to avoid Thrang AOE attack. While the champion (see below) will make sure Thrang won't cast all this AOE attacks, he will still cast about 30%, and that's still enough to kill. So stay in the corner and hug the wall, and don't move from it.
One champion, as said, must rush up and face Thrang. He must use clobber on Thrang, and nothing else - no melee, no bow, NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER. To ensure there will be no damage, the champion must equip his level one sword that we ask everyone to bring. Thrang reflects all damage back and the champion will recieve no healing (and doesn't need any), so this is key. The champion will just use clobber, which will break most of Thrang's arena-scale AOE, that will help the group downstairs a great deal.
When Thrang appears, he comes with 4 shamans. The shamans will step down the stairs, in principle, two to each side. It is in THIS spot, and none other, that they must be seperated. If they are not, it will almost certinly result in a wipe. Shamans heal each other and themselves for a considerable amount of damage. The DPS group can overcome the healing and kill one if there are no more then two shamans togther - if three, or more, shamans are grouped togther then the combined healing is far too much to DPS and they will eventually kill everyone. If for some reason the shamans did not properly split 2 by 2, then all DPS must cease, as well as healing, so a single person can pick up the extra shamans and drag them to the other corner.
Both tanks of both groups (either champions or guardians) must use their cries while the shaman lower drop the stairs to get aggro. No healing must be done at this stage. Both tanks must work hard to keep aggro on two shamans on each side. The LM's must cure wounds that will be caused by the shamans. The minstrels will have a singularly hard time to keep the tank alive - which will require tons of healings - while not getting aggro, which will require tricky timing of feint death and song of soothing on BOTH shamans. Using lute strings to reduce threat here is HIGHLY recommended. For this purpose, we suggest captains assist the minstrel of the DPS group, while the minstrel in the second group wait with healing, heal the guardian 3 times, feint dead, heal him again, use song of soothing on both shamans, and from then should be okay with threat. Casting 'call to greatness' on the guardian is also an excellent idea to help him generate aggro.
If the transition is done properly, it is just a question of keeping up the healing and DPSing the shaman's down. Once the main group kills both shamans, wait till the champion clobbers Thrang successfully (so there is no aura and no danger in passing), then have the tanking group run to the DPS group, dragging their two shamans. Then DPS the two remaining shamans. When that happens, Thrang's runs down the stairs, and the tank must be ready to tag him.
The Fumarole stage:
Now is the final stage of the fight, and it is quite hard. Rememeber not to waste power on damaging Thrang constantly that EVEN NOW has nearly full damage resistance. There is one way to surpass it, but when he is not vunerable, conserve power and save it for burst damage.
Secondly, everyone should keep a sharp eye out for any Fumaroles. When they appear and explode, they cause an aura that both damages and stuns. It's quite important people stay away from them, especially the healers. However, the fumaroles are key for the tank, who must tank Thrang will looking for one of two fixed fumarole spawn spots, then dragging him there. When Thrang nears a fumarole the volcano explodes, causing damage both to Thrang and to the Guardian, and more importantly, making Thrang fully vunerable to damage for thirty seconds. Everyone should go all out on him, even minstrels if possible, until the buff fades and the tank will drag Thrang to another fumarole. They spawn on fixed locations and in fixed intervals, so the best thing is to drag him from one to the other, keeping in close range to the minstrels and the party. It is advisable that a captain place the banner somewhere between the two fumaroles the tank moves between.
Two classes will work very hard - the LM's must cure wounds that Thrang will inflict immidiatly, prevent the guardian from being stunned (key as the fumarole explosions will otherwise stun him), and constantly slow down Thrang so he can be comfortablly pulled and DPS'ed. Secondly, the minstrels - the tank is going to be hit by wounds, explosions, thrang's small AOE and his massive melee attack. This can easily result in an accumlated burst damage, especially when Thrang gets vunerable from an explosion, to 3000 damage in 1-2 seconds. Both minstrels must spam heal the tank constantly, and the captains should help. High morale and buffs for the tank are key. The minstrels should also use song of soothing to avoid pulling Thrang.
Still, if this forumla is adhered he will die in no time.
Last edited by on Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:16 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Re: The Rift - a tactical guide and FAQ ver 3.3
Guest on Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:52 pm
Full tactical guide - part 6:
The Balrog
Thaurlach - raid lock 8 - drop the set shoulders, as well as weapons and shields.
Information forthcoming.
Stage 1 - water and levers, getting to the ever-seer
Stage 2 - The ever-seer fight
Stage 3 - The balrog fight
The Balrog
Thaurlach - raid lock 8 - drop the set shoulders, as well as weapons and shields.
Information forthcoming.
Stage 1 - water and levers, getting to the ever-seer
Stage 2 - The ever-seer fight
Stage 3 - The balrog fight
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