PvE Zones/Instances

Introduction!

PvE Zones/Instances Below So Far:

Tier 1 - Hunters Vale

Tier 2 - Sewers

Tier 3 - Mount Gunbad

Tier 4 - Bastion Stairs

Lost Vale

08/28 - Added Mount Gunbad & Bastion Stairs

09/03 - Added Hunter's Vale

09/04 - Added Sewers

10/12 - Added Lost Vale

10/09 - Started working on ToVL

NOTE: There are NO walk-throughs here!

I always felt step-by-step walkthroughs remove the

excitement of the unknown, and eventually a good

deal of the sense of accomplishment.

This is designed to give you a place to go to to learn

what you can without being spoon fed steps! If a

step has a particularly hidden aspect that imo lessens

the fun or full appreciation of the redeeming qualities of

the fight, I might give a hint or two.

In my opinion this is the level of event introduction and

hand holding most adventurers seek :).

WAR is all about RvR (Realm vs. Realm .. team PvP), however,

of course there are a whole bunch of PvE instances throughout

the realms that range in quality from taking out the trash to some

of the finest zones in any mmo! Ah suggest visiting all of them

at least once.

We will not be covering any of the many single "boss lairs" out

there hidden across the lands.

This article will be a work in progress for some time to come.

Tier 1 - Hunters Vale ("HV")

Hunter's Vale was part of a very popular live event and was

turned into a Tier 1 (levels 1-11) 6-man instance. It's a very

pretty instance set in a forest/ravine setting. You get to it

from a portal on the road heading north from Nordland order

war camp otw to Norsca.

There is a time commitment here, join expecting to commit

for a while.

The main thing to know here is that tanks and healers are

best here at lvl 8+ and dps best at 6-7+.

Avoid killing any of the forest innocents like deer and rabbits,

this may displease the forest protectors.

As this is a T1 instance now it is simpler and easier than

the HV found in the yearly "Wild Hunt" Live Event.

Be sure to have your visuals set to "Ooh Shiny!" to get the best

look of the the forest and ravine!

The challenges here do not warrant hints, have fun in the forest!

Tier 2 - Sewers

There are 3 sewer instances in Altdorf, you can find them by

mousing over the black tower symbols on the map. You will

find them all somewhat near the port running north to south.

The reward most sought after in the sewers in addition to the

usual exp and the grouping experience is the keepers armor

set which have some interesting statistics.

The instances are designed not to be too big to make taking

out each instance an affair that only requires bite-sized

chunks of time, so you don't have to have a big time

commitment for these. It also makes repeating so

everyone has a shot at the keeper armor less onerous.

The various levels of the sewers also allows moving up and

down in difficulty as you gain and lose people.

For sure T2-T4 can join in the sewers, I'm not sure about T1.

Good pull practice for new tanks as the northernmost and

southernmost sewer instances will swarm your groups without

careful pulls. Good focus fire practice for new players too as

you'll want to focus on the shamen first. Yes this is a classic

noobie dungeon crawl :).

The three sewer instances breakdown as follows:

Tier 3 - Mount Gunbad

Deep in Badlands, a tier 3 dwarf zone, lies the great goblin

underground caves of Mount Gunbad. Guilds of high enough level

have scrolls you can buy from the sigmar tavern quartermaster

that can poof you right there. Otherwise set aside some time to

get there (5-30 minutes depending on level and familiarity with

zone).

Hint: If you are able to, buy the scrolls to poof there in advance

in case your Mount Gunbad event happens during a city

seige when you can't get to Sigmar's Tavern.

Mount Gunbad has 3 wings from the entrance, the final one

being straight ahead down the middle bridge from the entrance.

Feel free to throw up to a warband down there, this isn't a 6-man

instance. However, often 10-12 peeps with at least 1-2 very

strong players per group will do for the tougher content.

If possible I suggest taking the time to form 2 individually strong

groups in advance. The reason is that each wing of Gunbad

has a 6-man instance for each group to go into so be prepared

group-wise within the warband accordingly.

Folks under lvl20 can join Mount Gunbad but cannot fight

in the 6-man instance events at the end of each wing, nor of

course, the final instance fight with the final boss. If there is

room, though, those PQs in all the wings and the heros of the first

two wings are all there for everyone.

Can't miss scene: The goblin city with huts on the cave walls

in the final middle wing.

Home to the redeye armor set and many other PQ armor and

weapons, Mount Gunbad is a rest from RvR worth at least one

trip through it all. To get through it all in one run set aside 4-5

hours, but you can break it up into wings (yay Mythic for doing

that:).

Note: One of the rewards for a quest at the entrance is for a

+3 AP regen talisman. For some classes this might be very

interesting.

As you progress through each wing you progress through PQs

until you arrive at each wing's hero. I think only the first two

wings (not the middle one straight ahead from entrance) have

a hero, not sure. Each wing's heros have some serious nukage

for the level and you'll need decent group healing to overcome the

burst nukage.

After each wing's hero there is a 6-man instance consisting

of a single event each. If you go in as a warband you will be split

up by your groups so be sure to adjust your groups around

accordingly before going in.

Wing #1 6-Man Instance: Gunbad Nursery

Wing #2 6-Man Instance: Gunbad Nursery (another)

Wing #3 6-Man Instance: Gunbad Barracks (see below)

I'm tempted to give hints for these fights but the tricks are pretty

simple to uncover on these so not going to ruin the challenge.

Expect to die the first time on each one if not an uber group and

get it when you strategize to overcome each instance's challenge.

Important note about Wing #3. After getting through giants

and then some spiders you come to a BIG cave with a castle feel.

One of the bridges, the one that is broken, has a dead dwarf on it,

EVERYONE select him for the Hidden Depths quest. The

quest has a few easy steps and you need this to fight the final

overall Mount Gunbad boss later after your wing #3 instance.

After the wing #3 6-Man instance it is easy to think it's over and

portal back to the entrance. This happens all the time. However,

up another hill from the courtyard nearby is another instance ..

the final fight with the overall Mount Gunbad Boss.

The final fight, a 6-man instance, is with the over all Mount Gunbad

boss, a giant 2-faced squig. Higher level T3 peeps are often

interested in getting to this battle for the rewards.

Have fun! No need to pack sun tan lotion on this adventure.

Tier 4 - Bastion Stairs

At the extreme SE of Chaos Wastes is the Bastion Stairs zone.

High enough guilds have a scroll sold by the quartermaster in

guild hall that takes you there, otherwise set aside the time to

get through chaos wastes.

Hint: It is little known that you can summon people to just

outside the portal to Bastian Stairs in Chaos Wastes.

Most people come here for the crit weapons for all classes in

the middle "wing" PQ. There is no minimum level for the middle

wing though the content and challenge is 29+. Go up either

stairs to get to the middle wing, there is no portal to get there.

You can have as many people as you wish in the middle wing.

For the boss challenge in the middle wing PQ it is critical that

you have one very strong MT tank, and very helpful to have

enough dps to take down the statues before they reach the

boss. Enough healers to chain rez when necessary is also

helpful, as always.

The usual MT tricks of kiting the boss away from boss support

and exposing the boss's back to dps are all relevant here.

Hint: For the middle wing PQ you want to kill the boss as fast

as possible and let as few statues get to him as possible

to maximize your rewards.

Rumor: Malpain, the wandering very tough champion, may have

some connection with the number and type of rewards

in the final boss challenge of the middle PQ. Have fun

testing this and let me know what you uncover!

I like the everyone-has-their-task teamwork aspect of the middle

wing PQ final boss conflict.

The left and right wings are lower level challenges, though still

very upper T3 and lower T4 in content. These two wings are home

to the bloodlord armor set, an alternative to the Annihilator armor

set as the bloodlord also has lesser wards. If wards are unfamiliar

to you see the article in the sidebar on them. Frankly, to me,

though the art is interesting in the more open areas, these two

wings are very "take out the trash" repetitive.

Enjoy those crit weapons!

Tier 4 - Lost Vale (LV)

Lost Vale is the prettiest PvE dungeon crawl in the game and the

gameplay is right up there with some of the best mmo dungeons.

It is a instance for a team of 6 lvl40's, all with Greater Ward.

You'll want your MT to have 5/5 greater ward (and hopefully your OT, too),

your dps should have 4+/5 greater ward, and you'll want your healers to

have 3+/5 greater ward fragments.

If you don't quite get wards yet there is an article on them in the sidebar!

Before doing the first (left) wing you'll want to get the quest Pure of Heart

from the NPC just inside Altdorf temple. Without completing this quest

in Lost Vale you will not be able to move on to the other two wings.

Left Wing

Boss 1 - Ahzranok (lvl43), a 100'+ long great lizard, is an easy kill for any

but the weakest teams.

Boss 2 - Malghor Greathorn (lvl44) will take some experience for the team

to kill. Once you get a feel for a little strategy he is an easy kill

with a decent tank. Watch were you step.

Boss 3 - Horgulul (lvl44) is the ugliest boss in the game and an easy kill.

Boss 4 - Dralel The Whitefire Matron (lvl44), better known as the Boss

spidie is one of the toughest boss events in the game without a

strong team and experience with this event. It is tough for all the

right reasons, leading and positioning of the boss, positioning

of the ranged dps and healers, etc.

It is critical for this event that you have AoE dps available and

preferably ranged. An SW can do this just as easily as a bw.

Going into this event without a decent MT (main tank) is a waste

of time. As usual for high level PvE bosses, minimizing crits

against the MT is key here.

It is also critical that everyone have earned their quest torch

from earlier in the left wing, as without them you will be stuck

in webs and unable to help. I suggest hotbarring the torch.

If you are on the Pure of Heart quest, after killing the spidie,

head back to the beach to get your Worldbearer Branch so

you can go to the other wings in the future.

It's tempting to give more hints, but let's leave some room for

tactics and strategy!

Right Wing

You will need the World Bearer Branch to continue into the right wing.

This comes from the successful completion of the left wing with that

quest involving talking to the everqueen at every boss encounter.

Boss 1 - Chul Earthkeeper (lvl44) is usually an easy kill. You'll need to

take the usual precautions when fighting on a cliff face, though

you might consider MTing on the cliff face so those healers

and ranged dps tossed off still have los.

Boss 2 - Larg the Devourer (lvl44) is possibly the easiest boss in LV,

assuming the most basic level of tankage skill.

Event - Before getting to Gutbeater there is a minievent with three

sets of stairs. Take out the George-Maw scouts before they

get help if you can! The event starts when you reach the stairs.

Boss 3 - Butcher Gutbeater (lvl45) is a very tough event without

understanding what is going on. Rather than tell you how to

do this I'm going to tell you what is going on and leave strategy

to yer team.

Butcher has a little buddy named Gnobbler who will respawn

after being killed each time Butcher drops to a given level of hit

points. Butcher gets really upset each time you kill his little

buddy. His little buddy, for his part, gets much more powerful

the longer he is up each time.

As you can see an OT (off tank) can be fairly useful here and

this is the event teams have in mind when they are looking for

off tanks for right wing Lost Vale.

If there is no possible way you are getting an off tank you can

try to position the maintank in a way to intercept the two of

them, but this is tricky. If you meet an MT doing this well,

be sure to tip well :).

Boss 4 - Gorak the Ancient (lvl45) is one of the toughest bosses in the

game since it was upgraded. For a tough, simple boss event,

however, it is a fun challenge imo. Even with a strong,

experienced team, expect wipeouts here.

The damage done by the lightning is mitigated if you don't

stand close to each other. Positioning is critical here.

You should keep him detaunted, of course, if you are a healer

or ranged dps. Best to detaunt just before each lightning strike

round.

Defense against the lightning attacks include higher elemental

defense, perhaps a set of high elem defense jewelry to swap in,

and more likely hiding, yes hiding out of LOS. To keep up heals

and damage while hiding if you choose to do that, you will want

to use AoE during that period usually.

One caveat to hiding is, try to take a position that is still within

big heal range of your healers, preferably within 100' and in los

of them. Obviously same applies when not hiding.

One trick usable in many encounters out in the wilds of Lost

Vale that may prove particularly handy here is to prep partly

by keeping a sprite attacking a party member to get the

morale up from the get go.

Boss 5 - Sarthain the Worldbearer is a great tree that lays rooted on an

island. This event is a complicated affair and near impossible

to beat until you learn its tricks, and then it is somewhat easy.

The nature of this event is to succeed you usually have to

break up the team, and this makes positioning of dps and

healers critical. To the North, West, and East of Sarthain's

island you will want to ready team strike groups to take out

the corruptors, twisted druids, who in 45 seconds will heal

Sarathain if you cannot take them down. All hands should

be helping dps.

During one of it's phases it grows thorns along it's base and

any dps to it is visited upon his attackers.

Healers should prep hex removal as necessary to unroot their

teammates when necessary.

One reward for this kill is a jewelry item with high elemental

defense.

Middle Wing

Boss 1 - Zaar Painseeker is an easy fight, however, be ready to dps those

cages down fast if one teammate gets thrown in one. Only AoE

heals can help those in a cage.

Boss 2 - Darkpromise Beast is a worm with a nasty cumulative DoT. This

is an easy fight but you'll need to all stick within 100' of each

other for group heals to adjust for the big DoT.

Boss 3 - Sechar the Darkpromise Chieftan is easy once you get experience

with him. One of the special effects of this fight is pretty neat. As

usual with frontal cleave bosses, you know which way the MT

needs to get him to face.

Both of his AoE auras do elemental damage.

"Aura of Pain" does more damage to those closer to him.

"Aura of Pleasure" does more damage depending on how

spread out the party is. Everyone runs near each other,

though staying out of the frontal cleave.

Boss 4 - N'Kari, Keeper of Secrets is the end boss of Lost Vale, the

prize being the darkpromise tunic.

The Darkpromise Summoners you first meet have the

channeling stones which you will use to stop N'Kari's

torment channelling which will damage the party for 500

damage every half a second.

Her frontal cleave is 7,500 and unmitigatable so position

accordingly.

When adds appear N'Kari is able to use her Devastate effect

so don't tarry taking care of them.

Green circles you step in will slow you down.

Purple circles you step in will reduce AP Regen by 75%.

When N'Kari throws you into the air, the fall damage to you

AND those below you is elemental damage. Detaunts and

heals is how to get through all the tossing in the air.

When the 3 orbs show up, grab the right ones to give you an

edge:

RED - Doubles the damage you do (DPS)

PURPLE - Increases hitpoints by 10,000 (Main and Off Tanks)

BLUE - Quadruples your healing!

Tier 4 - Tomb of the Vulture Lord (ToVL)

Deep in LoTD (Land of the Dead zone) there lies the great Tomb of

the Vulture Lord with 8 bosses and several Tomb Raider style

puzzles. This is a very nice PvE experience, right up there among

the best dungeon crawls in any mmo.

This dungeon requires Greater Ward but no glyphs. It is the other

four little tombs that require the glyph pairs through the LoTD PQs.

The first few bosses are doable by any strong inexperienced team

with patience. After that you need a very strong team with either

experience or a ton of patience. With a very strong team with a

lot of experience all ToVL can be done in 3.5-5.5 hours.

Several endgame level jewelry pieces and Tyrant armor are

available from ToVL. Boss 8 leads to tokens of a sort called funerary

masks which can be traded in for more end game gear at the LoTD

warcamp.

You can win Golden Cartouches in the first easy bosses which

has a nice reward to trade in for, as well.

In theory when the zone flips the enemy can come to your ToVL

instance and try to purge you! This used to happen a lot but not

so much any more.

Boss 1 -

Boss 2 -

Boss 3 -

Boss 4 -

Boss 5 -

Boss 6 -

Boss 7 -

Boss 8 - Stay off the carpet. During the "light show" go behind the

columns (but still off the carpet) for protection. Cleansing

is critical here. When rezzing don't go beyond the coffin

or you will start the event prematurely. I'm not sure how

teams are expected to know these things before they kill

you so I chose to drop those hints. I'm leaving the biggest

surprise a surprise :).

If you have additional info to add about PvE

zones/instances, let me know! See "Contact

Dwooid" on the sidebar for contact info.

Best Regahds,

Dwooid of Caledor