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Ok, I thought I'd put together a post for a walkthrough on each of the instances as we finally start to get them on "farm" status. Yes, I'm sure somebody has done this on the official forums somewhere, but I can’t access them from work and maybe this will get our forums more traffic
. At the time of this writing, we have Forges and 16th Hall on farm status, so I'm going to start with the Forges.
To start with, all mobs tend to drop "Water Pouches" these are like pots that remove some very vicious fire DoTs. They really aren't "required" for any boss except maybe the 3rd one, but they do help. Probably best to have everyone throw these on their hot bar somewhere. Just have everyone roll on them, and share later if somebody consistently rolls badly. Just FYI, these pouches are not useable until lvl 58.
In the first area, you'll clear 4 groups of mobs, 2 on each side. Nothing specatacular here, but mezzing archers helps a bit.
Once the groups are down you have a mini-boss with a couple of adds. Easiest course is to mezz the mini-boss while killing adds, but its not really necessary. The important part of this mini-boss is being ready when he dies. There are 2 passages, one to the east and one to the west of the mini-boss. By each passage is a clickable barrel. When the mini-boss dies, mobs will start spawning out of those passages. You have to take the barrel in the respective passage so it will explode and seal the passage; thus no more mobs. The problem is that with mobs coming out of the passage, if you just try to take the barrel in, they will attack you and knock the barrel out of your hands. There are likely multiple strategies, but here is the one we use:
Burn the mini-boss down to about 3k, then let the tank beat on him by himself with minstrel healing. Have 2 “screeners” setup in front of the passages (Champ, Capt, anything really...) and then have 2 individuals ready to pick up the barrels (the 2 remaining group members). Then, when the tank takes down the mini-boss, the “screeners” will grab the aggro of the mobs running out and the barrel carriers can get those barrels in unscathed. I typically pick up the barrel when the mini-boss has 500 health remaining, but the barrels do have short timers, so don’t pick it up too early.
You’ll probably get 2 mobs out of each side that you’ll have to clear up, but nothing special. Now you go through the door where the mini-boss was standing and you’re ready for the first real boss of the instance.
****HARD MODE****
Hard Mode simply means doing the instance and meeting certain requirements to get the teal radiance armor piece from the instance. For the Forges, this is accomplished by beating a timer. From the time the first boss mob dies (described below), you have 30 minutes to kill the final boss. You’ll see a screen message when the first boss dies, and a subsequent screen message if 30 minutes passes. The armor piece from the forges for a successful hard mode is the chestpiece.
You’ll notice that his boss is on a large platform, with 2 ramps leading down to it. Be aware that if the boss goes too far up the ramps he will reset. However, as long as the healer controls his aggro, the ramp is the best spot to stand because he won’t get fire dropped on him. If you have a hunter, the ramp is safe, but the hunter can’t pull aggro or the encounter may reset. Throughout this boss fight fire will pop-up/drop all over the place (anybody know if there is a “trigger” to watch for when this happens?). When this happens it is important for the tank and all melee classes to move out of the fire. The fire only damages you while you are standing in it, so move!
There are two sets of adds that come during the fight (anybody know the trigger or health). The first comes from the back of the platform on the west side. They are a group of gobbies and orcs. The gobbies throw fire pots, so one more bad place to stand when they get there... The second set comes from the back on the east side. Just make sure your off-tank picks them up and be careful of the fire. I have seen an off-tank go off to meet the adds and then get separated from the group by the dropping fire. If this happens, just be patient, the fire doesn’t block heals
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Once the boss is down, head to the back of the platform for your uber(or not so uber) loot. Remember, if you’re doing hard mode, your timer has started, so don’t waste time master looting, just have people roll on stuff they’d use. You have to trust your group here.
Head off on the ramp that is on the west side of the north end of the platform. Turn left and follow the tracks. You’ll notice that you get ran over by trolls, and stunned, but just keep going. If you have any lowbies with you (I did this for the first time at 56), you might have to throw them a heal. The tracks will curl around the wall until you are at the south end of another platform where the next boss awaits you.
The platform has 3 passages off both the east and west sides, I’ll refer to these as the North, middle, or South passage of the respective side. These become important for this fight. You’ll need to move off the ramp together, as once you are down, rocks will fall blocking the ramp back up. Some people have noted that you can get over the rocks with a well-timed running jump off the ramp, but I can’t vouch for this personally.
Once you are down, there are mobs coming at you from the North-East ramp. Have the tank gather them up and start beating them in the middle, or eastish-middle of the platform. The passages are open throughout the fight and goblin suicide bombers will come out occasionally. When they do, make sure to try to kill them before they get to the group. If they make it to the group they’ll explode, and you’ll need to use a water pouch to get the burn off. One person, and a back up, needs to be designated to close the passages (see mini-boss above). This can be a bit tricky, because throughout the fight, those non-aggro trolls are walking along the rails. If they hit you while you have the barrel, poof, no more barrel, and you have to run back and grab another one.
The barrel person needs to start with the north-east passage, followed by the south-east passage. The next one open is the north-west passage, but DO NOT close this passage until you have the initial mobs dead. When the initial mobs are dead, the barrel person closes the third passage, and trolls will come out of the middle passages (1 on each side). Now, these trolls hit like semi-trucks. They are mezzable, so if you have CC, mezz one of them and have your off-tank pick up the other, if not the off-tank will just have to take both. The best plan here is to have your off-tank get aggro and start kiting the troll(s) around the outside of the platform until you’re ready to deal with them. If you only have one champion, do NOT use the champ to off-tank these, I’ll explain in a second...
Once the 3rd passage is closed, the remaining three need to be done. Start with the south-west one so the dumb bomber goblins stop coming and then close the 2 middle ones. At this point, usually, I close the south-west and middle-west passages and some one else closes the middle-east passage. Once you close both middle passages, the boss will come down. Have the tank grab aggro and keep him in the middle while your off-tank is kiting around the edge. The boss has a fire aoe that he does whenever he says, “Feel the bite of black-powder” (thank you Jeanna), this can be interrupted, so have your champ watch for that and clobber accordingly. If you don’t interrupt it, he will do an aoe fire that you’ll need to use your water pouch on..
Other then that, the boss is pretty much a straight tank and spank while the off-tank runs around and gets dizzy. Every once in a while we’ve seen him get a buff where he starts absorbing the damage. He appears to be shooting the damage to the trolls (ala Rift Slave), but it isn’t consistent. Don’t know the exact dynamics to this, but it hasn’t caused too much trouble.
Now you have boss 2 down, so get your uber loot. Then head off the north edge of the platform on the east side. This time it will curl around to the right (don’t forget about the stunning trolls). When you get to the east wall you’ll notice there is a platform with a number of mobs (5 I believe). This fight isn’t too bad, but if you rush it, you might regret it because there are a bunch of mobs, and they hit pretty hard.
Once the mobs are down, keep following the rails until you are again on the south side of the next platform (east side this time...). The third boss is wandering around the south edge of the platform. If you are doing hard mode, you’re going to skip this boss. You’ll notice a flame jet coming towards the bottom of the ramp. When the boss is away from the base of the ramp just head straight north to the northeast part of the platform. Yes, the flame jet hurts, and you might have to help any particularly squishy groupmates, but you should get through it.
*******Insert Jeanna’s walkthrough of third boss here...I’ve only done it once..and the only thing I remember is that everybody said it was easier after killing the final boss******
From your new vantage point, you can see two trolls standing on a grate in front of a cave to the north of the main platform. This is where you will fight the final boss. When you are ready, go ahead and rush into the trolls; you can mezz one if you have CC. Have the off-tank pickup the troll(s) and start burning them down. As the fight starts, the main boss will walk out of the cave and then finally aggro. Have the main tank pick him up while the rest burn down the trolls. It is important to note that if the boss runs back into the cave he will reset.
Once the first two trolls are down, focus on the boss. After you take off about 10k health, he’ll go “green” and run off for a few seconds. At this point, 2 more trolls rush in, off-tank/mezz and burn them down. Have the main tank keep his eyes open, because the main boss will come back before you have the trolls down.
Again, once the trolls are down, focus on the boss. You’ll take off about another 10k and then he’ll run off again. This time however, he only sends one troll. When the troll is down you’ll be able to take another 10k off the boss and then he’ll send in two more trolls as above (so just rinse and repeat...).
At this point you should be able to get him down to under 20k. This is where it turns bad if you don’t know what’s going on. You can no longer fight (very well) on the grate because there will be jets of flame coming from the platform to roast you. So, when the boss goes running off, have everyone, including the tank get inside the very edge of the cave. Basically have your front foot just off the grate. By standing here, the jets won’t reach you and the boss won’t reset. If you do end up getting in a jet and getting burned, don’t forget those water pouches.
The boss will send in 1 troll before him. Now, this time, you’re not going to kill the troll first. If you have CC you need to mezz him (as far away as possible, so you might have to stand in the safe area of the grate for a second). The problem is that this troll does knockbacks, and if you have him knocking the main tank further into the cave, the boss will follow him and the fight will reset. If you don’t have CC, what you have to do is have your off-tank pull the troll past the group and into the cave. This way he’s not facing the group and isn’t going to do knock anybody back into the cave. Some people have suggested that this is a better tactic even with CC simply because of the possibility of resists. If the troll resists the mezz it only takes a few seconds for him to walk up and knockback your tank if you’re unlucky. However, I’ve been successful with both methods, so whichever you prefer.
Once the boss down, loot the chest and enjoy your +10 radiance chestpiece! An experienced group can get the instance done in about 30-40 minutes with no wipes and skipping the third boss.
Any information on the class specific quests in the forges would be nice, but I haven’t done them, so I’ll need somebody to help with that part.
