So you want to join the ranks of Mage healing.  I won’t kid you, it’s a tough job that’s made even more tough by only having a couple direct healing spells.  While you could be a good dungeon healer you will likely play a support healer in raids.  This isn’t a knock against Mage healers, we are very good at pumping out group heals, but keeping a tank up during massive pulse damage can be tricky with little to no margin for error.

So with all the challenges that a Mage has to overcome when healing what spec makes it easier and how can a Mage go from being a good healer to a great one?  Well, most of the time you will find that those Mages who are good at healing know all the fights like the back of their hand and, more importantly, they know how to manage their cooldowns and time their direct healing abilities properly.  While the timing and management of cooldowns are an art form that will take a fair bit of practice to master we can take a look at how you might want to spec out your Mage souls, what macros to have available, and a general rotation of some spells.
 
Not surprisingly, the primary soul for Mage healing is the Chloromancer so that is where you will spend the majority of your points.  From there it’s a matter of where to spend the remaining 15 points.  For this build the supporting souls will be the Harbinger and Archon (7 Harbinger / 61 Chloromancer / 8 Archon). Click on the image below to bring up the full-size version of the tree.

Alternatively, you can check out the build at http://www.rifthead.com/stc/zcdRzVzzvldIuqAssIsdRvqM. 

The Buffs
There are 7 buffs that are important to maintain as a Mage healer.  Most of them are hour long buffs, but three of them are five minute buffs that need to be refreshed in order to keep the benefits going.  One important thing to keep in mind when you are casting your buffs is that Synthesis will overwrite Lifegiving Veil with the lesser Lifebound Veil so after casting Synthesis you should cast Lifegiving Veil.
 
Living Aegis        Mage armor which boosts healing and damage (1 hour buff)
Living Energy     Decreases ability costs by 5% for the raid
Synthesis            Typically cast on the tank to increase healing they receive (1 hour buff)
Lifegiving Veil    Provides group healing when damage spells are used  (1 hour buff)
Searing Vitality  Boosts Mage endurance by 14 per stack and autostacks to 5  (5 minute buff)
Ashen Defense   Boosts Mage armor and increases physical damage to target by 5%  (1 hour buff / 5 minute debuff)
Shared Vigor      Increases raid endurance by 70  (5 minute buff)
 

The Macros

Ruin (aka spam macro)
#show corrosive spores
suppressmacrofailures
cast ruin
cast corrosive spores
cast Vile Spores
 
GClean
#show Cleansing Rush
suppressmacrofailures
stopcasting
cast Cleansing Rush
 
Clean
#show nature's cleansing
suppressmacrofailures
stopcasting
cast @mouseoverui nature's cleansing
cast @group01 nature's cleansing
cast @group02 nature's cleansing
cast @group03 nature's cleansing
cast @group04 nature's cleansing
cast @group05 nature's cleansing
cast @group06 nature's cleansing
cast @group07 nature's cleansing
cast @group08 nature's cleansing
cast @group09 nature's cleansing
cast @group10 nature's cleansing
cast @group11 nature's cleansing
cast @group12 nature's cleansing
cast @group13 nature's cleansing
cast @group14 nature's cleansing
cast @group15 nature's cleansing
cast @group16 nature's cleansing
cast @group17 nature's cleansing
cast @group18 nature's cleansing
cast @group19 nature's cleansing
cast @group20 nature's cleansing
 
BRez
#show Soul Tether
suppressmacrofailures
stopcasting
shout Getting %t
cast Soul Tether
 
Abilities and Button Layout
The spells that will be most important to you will vary based on your role in the group or raid.  If you are tank healing then you need to make sure Bloom, Essence Surge, Resurgence, Natural Healing, and Healing Torrent are easily available since those are your direct healing abilities.  The spells have been listed in order of their cast time, but keep an eye on the cooldowns too since most of them have at least a 10 second cooldown.  If you are group healing you really only have two direct group healing abilities to supplement your damage/cast-time related healing that occurs.  Those two abilities are Natural Splendor and Flourish.  No matter what role you are playing when you don’t need to bump up your healing output with direct healing spells you should be using your damaging and debuff abilities to ensure a steady flow of healing procs are occurring. 

If you find yourself in moments where you really need to bump up the heals per second (HPS) then be sure you use Entropic Veil to boost your healing by 16%.  If your tank is still taking massive damage then pop your Symbiosis on him/her and if that still doesn’t get you through things you can pop Natural Conversion, but leave the healing pots as a last resort.  Wild Growth is another nice HPS boost that also increases damage to your enemy by 10%.  The only catch is that both Wild Growth and Entropic Veil are charge consumers so you’ll need to watch your charge to make sure you get the most out of those abilities.  As with most mage healing spells you should always be conscious of the cooldowns, but that’s especially true on your big HPS boosting abilities as they can help get you out of a sticky situation. 

I would suggest setting up your button bar to look similar to what is listed below.

 Primary Bar

1. Wild Growth
2. Radiant Spores
3. Ruin macro
4. Withering Vine
5. Nature’s Touch
6. Void Life
7. Nature’s Fury
8. Entropic Veil
9. Natural Splendor
10. Flourish
11. GClean
12. Clean 

The secondary action bar could be set up in the following order so that between your primary and secondary bars you have all of your healing abilities readily available no matter what role (group or tank healing) you are playing.

 Secondary Bar

1. Symbiosis
2. Natural Conversion
3. Bloom
4. Essence Surge
5. Resurgence
6. Natural Healing
7. Healing Torrent
8. Searing Vitality
9. Ashen Defense
10. Shared Vigor
11. BRez macro

  
Rotation
Healing rotations are difficult to nail down because, unlike DPS roles, the rotation on your healing is cadenced by the damage your group or tank is taking and varies by encounter.  However, the basic rotation for your spells should be similar to what is included in this guide and as additional healing is required you can use the various direct healing abilities to supplement the HPS.

Before any boss fight starts be sure that you have a full charge available to you.  This can be done by casting Bloom, Resurgence, Natural Healing, and Healing Torrent till your charge is full.  Having a full charge before a fight starts gives you the option to cast Wild Growth or Entropic Veil early on in the fight if HPS boosts are required.

Once an encounter starts the rotation should roughly flow as listed below, but you should modify this based on the damage being taken by your group or the tank.

• Searing Vitality (remember this is a 5 minute buff)
• Ashen Defense  (lasts for 5 minutes, but could be dropped based on melee in your group)
• Shared Vigor  (another 5 minute buff)
• Radiant Spores
• Ruin macro (cast three times)
• Withering Vine
• Nature’s Touch
• Void Life
• Repeat the rotation starting at Radiant Spores or throw in Nature’s Fury IF the tank has agro on all the nearby mobs and immediate healing isn’t required

The Ruin macro was built to be somewhat like a spammable macro, but as a healer do not get caught up in spamming abilities or your group will wipe and you’ll become “that healer”.

Healing as a Mage can definitely be challenging, but once you get used to the souls and figure out how to get the most out of your abilities in different scenarios you will quickly come to enjoy the class.  Good luck with the class!  One last thing, be sure to run Empyrean Core till you get the Spent Heavy Omniparticle Emitter that drops of Prince Kaliban since it will boost your HPS with its chance to heal nearby allies.

The Agonist is a serious death dealer which can maim your enemies and protect your allies.  Trion listed the Defiler soul as a healing soul, however, this soul has much more potential than just being a healing soul.  By combining the Defiler and Cabalist souls, this spec reeks of death, and your tank will thank you after that huge pull.

Agonist Spec purpose:  Solo, AoE Damage, and tank/group damage reduction.

Agonist is a very versatile spec and can be used in a variety of situations.

Strengths:

1. Links which can provide up to a 30% damage interception from any party/raid member.
2. Very good AoE Damage (30k+)
3. Beacon of Despair (Pet Summon) for easy soloing.
4. Lots of healing abilities. (HOT, cleanse, 3 stack heals)

Weaknesses:

1. Single target DPS leaves something to be desired (5-6K)
2. Only 1 Raid buff

Firstly, here’s a picture of the tree itself (click the image to bring up the full-size version).

The point spread is 58 into Defiler and 18 into Cabalist. Here is the build on Rifthead.

The only macro for this build is this one, which is used during the second part of your AoE rotation.  However, if you are fighting 6 or more mobs, you can just use this macro continuously for maximum DPS.

#show Pain Transmission
suppressmacrofailures
cast tyranny of death
cast pain transmission
cast bound fate

Buffs used:
Soloing-

• Rage Blight/Grief Blight– They do not stack. Use Rage Blight to do more damage, or Grief Blight to do more healing.  Normally I would only recommend using Grief Blight if you are in the spec to heal specifically, otherwise, use Rage Blight. At a full 5 stacks, this buffs your damage by 20%.  These stacks only accumulate when your beacon or links are taking damage.
• Feast of the Fallen– Heals yourself,  party members, and pets for a small amount every time an enemy mob dies.
• Dark Harbor– Adds +3% resistances to your character.

During every other situation, these additional buffs are used, which are called links. This is what makes this soul unique as you can intercept and take damage from another character in the party/raid. There are 4 links and each one scales a little differently. Generally, the higher intercept percentage the link, the less intercepted damage you take.

• Link of Agony– 30% intercept/Cleric takes 19% of the intercepted dmg.
• Link of Suffering– 20% intercept/Cleric takes 30% of the intercepted dmg.
• Link of Misery– 10% intercept/Cleric takes 59% of the intercepted dmg.
• Link of Distress– 5% intercept/Cleric takes 85% of the intercepted dmg.
• Blighted Greed– When cast upon another party member, allows the Cleric to gain stacks of Blight without intercepting any damage.

Use these links in order or importance in your party/raid.  Example: In a 5-man group, prioritize your links by Tank > Healer > Support > DPS.  Same goes for a bigger group, just prioritize your links in the same manner.  All the links are usable at the same time, but only one link per person.

Single Target Encounters:  

1. Cast your Beacon of Despair at your target’s location (if solo). This will automatically focus your target on your beacon and not on you, and all your attacks will channel your aggro to the beacon.
2. The main abilities you will use for your rotation are in this order: Marrow Harvest (1), Siphon Vitality (2), Dark Water (3), Curse of Solitude (4), Bond of Pain (5), and Somatic Desecration (6).
3. In order to maximize DPS, this is the rotation:  5 1 2 3 4 1 6 6 6 6 6 1 2 3 4 1 6 6 6 6 6.  This rotation will result in the highest DPS gain for a single target encounter and takes exactly 30 seconds to complete with no delay in cast times. After the last Somatic Desecration (6), you can re-apply Bond of Pain (5) and start all over again.
4. The DPS output of this rotation depends mostly on how often your beacon is getting hit. The more abuse it takes, the higher your DPS output will be.  On most single target pulls, you can expect between 5-6k DPS with an Expert-geared Cleric.

Important:  Siphon Vitality heals you, and this activates your Husk of Indifference, which absorbs all the intercepted damage you take from your links or beacon. By maintaining your rotation, you will never lose any health as the shield will never drop. It is also important to keep Bond of Pain up as this deals reactive damage back to the attacker each time one of your links or beacon does damage and ends up accounting for 10-15% of your total DPS for an encounter. If you have target of target enabled in your settings, you can also heal your beacon easily using your Ghastly or Loathsome Restoration. One use of this will make the beacon’s health go back up to 100%.

Multi-Target Encounters:

1. The multi-target rotation is not much different from the single target rotation, however there are a few key differences.
2. Cast Beacon of Despair at the target’s location (if solo).
3. If the enemy mob is 5 enemies or less, start with this rotation: Marrow Harvest, Siphon Vitality, Bond of Pain, Unholy Nexus (no Global Cooldown), and Curse of Solitude.
4. Start the AoE macro. You should be able to do about 4 Bound Fates and Tyranny will detonate around the time when you should go back to the first part of the rotation.
5. If the group of enemy mobs is larger than 5, you can just use the AoE macro as the first part of the rotation only affects 5 mobs.
6. Once again, your DPS output is dependent upon how hard your beacon is getting hit. This soul shines on AoE pulls. On an 8 dummy parse, this spec will pull in around 26-28k DPS with no Bond of Pain or links active so you can expect to see 30k+ with links or a beacon active.

Final Thoughts:

Your beacon can be used whenever you’re soloing no matter how many mobs you are fighting, however, the beacon becomes useless in a party or raid situation as you will likely have a tank and healer present.  When you use your links on your party members, they then act like your beacon, which will buff you as they receive damage. When Bond of Pain is active, they will be dealt reactive damage when the enemy attacks.

All your bonds have no cooldown and are instant cast, but their effectiveness lasts for 30 seconds.

Using Empowered Affliction will restore 7% of your max Mana, but reduce your max HP by 5% for 10 seconds up to 5 stacks. This is a great tool and can be used on the run, just be careful because big hits or waves could potentially kill you during this vulnerable state.

If your beacon takes too much damage, it will de-spawn and all aggro will redirect back to you.  It is very hard to pull the aggro away from yourself once this has happened and as such, there are a few heals you can use to keep your beacon’s health up.  Ghastly and Loathsome Restoration are big heals that consume the stacks of Foul Growth (up to 3) and can heal your beacon up to full health from around 25%.  You can also sneak in Hideous Restoration during your rotation and this HoT will help take some of the heat of your beacon.

I’ve been working on a DPS spec for level 60 dungeons.  The one found below has moderate mobility and very good DPS without having to worry about controlling a pet.  I never like to quote DPS numbers because it varies by equipment, mob/encounter type, etc. but for those that are interested I can usually get at least 7K sustained DPS in an expert level 60 dungeon against a boss with a fair bit of movement mechanics.

Please post up your questions and comments on this build.  I won’t pretend to have all the answers so if you see something that might work a bit better in the rotation, point distribution, or anything else then speak up. The only way we will all learn to get the most out of our class is if we share ideas, macros, and tactics.

61 Pyro / 7 Harb / 8 Archon

Soul Configuration
My goal with this configuration was to maximize my Spell Power and damage. The best way to do that with any soul configuration is to use Harbinger as one of your souls and drop 5 points into Eldritch Knowledge to get the 10% Spell Power increase. For my Mage that means a boost of about 340 Spell Power. I also chose Archon to boost damage by 5% with five points in Soul Fire and three points in Pillaging Stones to get the Wisdom and Intellect boost during combat.

Ok, enough about the numbers. I don’t want to make this a math class so let’s get on to the good stuff and talk about the buffs.  For this build there are five buffs that should be used.  Most last one hour, but there is one that lasts five minutes so you can either cast it occasionally or drop it completely from your buffs.  The buffs that I run are Glyphs of Power, Pyromancer’s Aegis, Flaring Intellect (Intellect buff for the raid), Lightening Blade, and Shared Vigor (Endurance buff for the raid).  If you have others in your group that are buffing for Endurance, or any other stat, be sure you compare notes on who is casting what before you start running the dungeon or raid.  As a rule of thumb no two buffs for the same stat will stack and it would be a nuisance to overwrite an hour long buff from another player with a 5 minute one. That would add another thing for you to keep track of in your rotation and we should try to avoid needlessly overcomplicating rotations.

MACROS
You’ll notice on each of the macros listed I have placed Fireball at the end.  This is because occasionally during battles it will get so heated that it is easy to be pressing the wrong button.  Rather than build a macro with only cooldown based spells I added Fireball to the end of each one so that in those events where everything is on cooldown I am still doing damage till I realize “duh I’m on the wrong key”.  Another benefit of this is that most of the casts before Fireball are instant casts so once you start the 2 second cast of Fireball you know that you’re done with that macro and can move to the next.

Your spam macro will be the one I labeled “FB Prime”.  Notice that there’s an interrupt in there (Scorch) which I tossed in for our fight with Jultharin.  Yes, you don’t really have control over when the interrupt is popped, but if you are not on interrupt duty it’s kind of nice to have it in there just in case.  Plus, it’s only a 10 second cool down.  If you want more control of interrupts or you are on interrupt duty then pull scorch out of the “FB Prime” macro.  I usually run my “FB Prime” macro without Scorch included so that I have more control over the interrupt. Whether or not you leave Scorch in your macro is up to you, but don’t forget that you have a backup interrupt called Flashfire at your disposal as well.

FB Prime

 
Fulmin8

 
WF

 
Fusillade

SPELL BAR

Primary Bar
1) Searing Vitality
2) Pillaging Stone
3) FB Prime
4) Fulmin8
5) WF
6) Fusillade
7) Cinder Burst
8) Flame Volley
9) Inferno
0) Internalize Charge
-) Fire Storm
=) Backdraft

Secondary Bar
(left to right with numbering just for reference)
1) Burning Shield
2) Heat Wave
3 Extinguish
3) Scorch
4) Flashfire
5) Target Macro (macro content changes depending on dungeon)
6) Break Free
7) Flicker

ROTATION
Rotation on this build can be as simple or as complex as you want.  How complex you go will directly impact how much DPS you put out, but even an “easy rotation” will do respectable DPS.  A few things to note before we go on, you should only use Heat Wave when all of your big macros are on cooldown (Primary spell bar macros 4, 5, 6, and 8 as well as your Extinguish).  This will maximize your potential for DPS while not wasting Heat Wave since it has a 2 minute cooldown.  Also, the whole goal of a Pyro mage is to make the best use of your Combust stacks as possible.  I tried to make this rotation take that into account so that you do not have to think about refreshing or keeping up Combust since there are so many other things going on in a level 60 dungeon.

Another tidbit of information, the “Fulmin8″ macro only becomes available when your charge meter is at or near 100% (since Fulminate consumes 100 charge) and of course Fulminate has to be off cool down which is 45 seconds.  Sadly we cannot turn on Internalize Charge before we cast Fulminate because doing so would drop our charge below the 100 required to cast Fulminate.  However, it is easy to build up a charge so be sure to look for other opportunities to use Internalize Charge to boost your DPS output.

You want to try to always keep your Searing Vitality and Pillaging Stone buffs up and don’t forget about the Shared Vigor either.  All of these last 5 minutes and you must be in combat to refresh the Searing Vitality and Pillaging Stone.  If you have trouble keeping track of the time left on your buffs then I would highly recommend using the add-on called KaruulAlert.  It allows you to customize alerts for different events and is invaluable in keeping track of when opportunities proc or how much time is left on certain buffs.  If you decide to use Karuul to monitor abilities you can import the text below into Karuul in order to get a baseline set of alerts for Cinder Burst, Pillaging Stones, and Searing Vitality.

Karuul Alert Monitors

 
OK, so let’s talk about the rotation.  The basic rotation goes as follows:

1. Searing Vitality
2. Pillaging Stones – cast 5 times to get the maximum stack
3. FB Prime macro – cast until Fireball begins to cast
4. Fulmin8 macro – if you have enough charge, if not then cast when charge is available
5. Flame Volley
6. FB macro – spam till charge is built back up
7. WF macro – once charge is above 50%
8. FB macro – a couple more times to build a little charge
9. Fusillade macro
10. Extinguish
11. FB macro spam – to get your 5 fireball instant casts in
12. Heat Wave – to reset cooldowns
13. Repeat the rotation – skip Searing Vitality and Pillaging Stones unless they are close to expiring

As the enemy gets below 30% you should toss Inferno into the mix and if the instant cast Cinder Burst opportunity proc is available then use it.  However, you should NEVER cast Cinder Burst any other time because the cast time is far too long and you will likely die from ground AOE before you get the spell off.

Don’t forget that if you get snared or slowed you have both Break Free and Flicker to help you out. Be careful using Flicker since you don’t want to appear right in the middle of some mob or in front of a boss that cleaves.

Finally, you have the end of the primary spell bar (0, -, and =) which will give you a modest AOE ability without having to switch specs.  Be sure to hit Internalize Charge (IC) before you cast an AOE. While you are channeling your AOE you can hit Internalize Charge again to turn off IC and save your charge.  The cool thing about this approach is that if IC is on when you begin your AOE cast your whole cast will realize the benefit of the IC boost even if you turn IC off after you begin the AOE cast/channel.

Exodus of the Storm Queen is a fairly easy run, even on Expert mode. I will be discussing the Expert mode, and how to deal with all the abilities. Furthermore, videos for most of the encounters and a screenshot for one of the workarounds are here. Where applicable methods for working around mechanics will be discussed.

The encounters can be solo healed, excepting the mechanic workaround on Valthundr may be a problem. This is due to high tank and aoe damage, and will be discussed during his encounter discussion. Any mechanic workarounds may at some point be fixed by Trion, and as such it is advisable to know the normal method as well as any workarounds you may want to use.

Dominax
Dominax trash is relatively easy.  6 group pulls and clear. Use the Red Mist ability gained by utilizing the control pad by the ‘Assault Frame’ to defeat any enemies that bug out and regenerate once hit. Using the control pad resets the abilities, allowing for Red Mist spam to clear the groups if you are feeling lazy. With decent dps, it is faster to burn them down.

Dominax is a 2 stage fight.  The first stage is against the Assault Frame, which is taken over by Dominax.  Here’s the rundown:

Phase 1:
Health:  1,500,000

• Razor Slash:  This is a simple attack, occuring frequently. It applies a debuff to the tank, reducing maximum HP by 5%. Using AOE cleanse will cover this fine, as you have extra time when Red Mist is used. Cleanse any remaining stacks prior to Phase 2.
• Metal Storm:  A 20 second self buff. This applies an aoe effect that deals minor damage every 2 seconds. Easily healed through with wise use of aoe healing effects. Chloromancers do not need to switch veils to cover this, as withering vines should handle most of it.
• Decimator:  A short (3 second) interruptable cast. The tank will be stunned while the cast is channeled. A dps or healer must interrupt.
• Red Mist:  A channeled effect that will kill anyone in line of sight after 3 seconds.

For this phase you should tank Dominax near a pillar. Anyone with an interrupt should hit it on Decimator, as the cooldown on Decimator is long. Hide during Red Mist. Aoe cleanse on cooldown once the first debuff has been applied.

Phase 2:
Health:  1,000,000

• Raging Tempest:  A short case that applies an aoe effect like Metal Storm. This one hits harder. Dominax will continue to hit the tank decently during this. Stronger aoe heals will be required.

For this phase Chloros will want the aoe healing veil. A few single target heals cast on the tank, with regular aoe healing should handle the damage output. When Dominax get’s low, you can trap him using the telescope like item called a ‘projector’.  Pick up the crystal, and run it to the forge to finish the encounter.

General Grim

This is also a 2 stage fight. He cleaves so melee should not get in front of him.

Health:  2,500,000

• Reaper’s Touch:  Spawns a flying scythe that spins around the room.  Kill it to get a red sphere to drop, that boosts the dps of the player that picks it up. Does damage to players if they are hit.  Very patterned, may be avoided with good placement.
• At 40%, he goes to phase 2.  One person must Duel him by clicking the flag.  The duel may be ported out of by a rogue, in which case dps can help kill him instead of killing adds (workaround.)
• Brutal Strike:  A short cast, deals 90% of max hp.  Countered via extra action button, and deals damage to Grim when countered.
• Subjugation:  Another short cast.  This stuns you.  Use another extra action button to survive.
• Rolling Thunder:  A frontal cone.  Simply move out of it.

This is a fairly easy fight. With high dps, Reaper’s Touch may be ignored, just do not stand in it. If using the workaround, the tank may take heavy damage.  It should be easily healed, as nobody else should be harmed at that time. The duel has a fairly recognizable pattern to it, and the person who accepts need not be the tank. A healer can even complete the duel, allowing them to recover easily from any mistakes with Brutal Strike or Subjugation.

Valthundr

Valthundr is the toughest boss if the workarounds are used.

Health:  2,500,000

• Avalanche:  This is an instant cast aoe knockback close to the boss. Workaround 1 is to stand by the desk in the center of the room, so as not to be knocked back. Avalanche does a small amount of damage.
• Frost Bound:  A 5 second cast that requires players to get into the blue circle on the ground. Will be cast immediately after Avalanche. Anyone not in the circle will die.
• Deep Freeze:  An aoe that ticks 3 times. Applies a stack of Frozen Heart to all players. Deals ~7000 damage each tick. Combined with Avalanche may require a second healer to keep the tank (still being hit) and party up.  If the workaround is not used, and the party does not take Avalanche damage, this should be easily handled by a solo healer.
• Frozen Heart:  A debuff on players. At 5 stacks, you freeze solid and die.
• Winter’s Fury:  After the second Frost Bound, Valthundr moves to the center of the room. Winter’s Fury will hit very hard, and kill any non tanks who are not out of sight of Valthundr. There are bookcases around the room, as well as the lecturn in the middle of the desk (workaround 2) that can be used to block sight. Each Winter’s Fury will destroy a bookcase.

Strategy:  There are 2 possible strategies with this boss. If using 1 healer, the tank should be the only person in melee range. They should stand by the desk. Everyone else should be close, but outside the radius of the knockback.  This can be measured with the first Frost Bound, or with a little practice. This prevents some raid damage, and also keeps you close for Frost Bound. In this case, players should run away during Winter’s Fury and hide behind a bookshelf.

If using 2 healers, or a healer and bard, everyone should stack by the desk. Heal through the aoe. On Winter’s Fury, hide behind the lecturn.

In either case, use aoe cleanses to remove stacks of Frozen Heart. If you have high stacks use Break Free.

Trash battle – Thedeor’s Hammer:

This is a relatively simple fight, with a workaround. Either kill mobs as the tank gathers them, and then use the extra action to aoe them when available…

Or stack outside, and have someone mount and ride in to start it, then ride back to the group. Do not move until the event ends. See picture. (Workaround method.)

Loot should wait until the next boss is defeated, as he spawns at the chest.

Chekaroth

The last boss is, ironically, the easiest.  He has the least troublesome abilities and is unlikely to wipe you unless you do poorly on getting orbs of warmth.  He does a big strike that deals ~4000 damage to anyone in melee range, so 1 melee maximum is recommended.

Health:  2,500,000

• Flash Freeze:  A three second cast, with a 5 second channel. Interrupt the channel. Adds 1 stack of Flash Freeze debuff to a targeted player each second.
• Flash Freeze (debuff):  A debuff that will freeze and kill a player if it reaches 10 stacks.
• Foul Wind:  A long cast, followed by 5 ticks of aoe. Each time deals ~1500 damage and applies a stack of Flash Freeze debuff to all players. The damage is minor, and with any aoe healing should be easily handled.
• Storm Blade:  Summons a whirling double ended sword that deals decent damage to anyone in the way. Should either be killed for extra dps boost, or ignored and avoided.
• Unyielding Warmth:  Spawns 5 orbs of warmth around the room. Each orb removes all stacks of Flash Freeze debuff. Each player must get 1 each time, or they will die.

This fight has several positioning requirements. To easily complete it, the healer should stand facing the boss, outside melee range. This allows them to move to an orb easily. All ranged should stack on an ice crystal to the left when facing the boss, to avoid the Storm Blade. Healers can either self heal through the blade, or move if it will hit them. If using the 1 melee, healers should move as they will already be working on healing that melee. Get warmth orbs, interrupt the Flash Freeze channel, and this should be an easy win.

Once Chekaroth is down, looting for him and the trash event should occur. There will be a camera pan as the story unfolds. Enjoy having beaten Exodus of the Storm Queen!

After the harsh, arid zones of Ardent Domain and Morban, Kingsward may seem like a perfect little vacation spot. Except for, of course, the rampant beasts, invading planar forces, and undead armies. Once a royal kingdom, Kingsward has now fallen. The zone’s story continues from the breadcrumb quest received in Ardent Domain.

Kingsward is ideal for players starting at around levels 56 to 59, and is a good zone to explore when approaching level 60, since it’s part of the Shards of Infinity weekly quest, which is obtained in Tempest Bay and will give you a headstart in collecting Infinity Stones. Completing quests and Carnage quests in Kingsward will reward players with Eternal City Survivors notoriety. To travel to Kingsward, head to either Soros Estate or Turnis Rive Bunker in Ardent Domain.

The in-game map of Kingsward isn’t quite as detailed as early Storm Legion zones, so we’ve done something a little different on the point of interest map shown below. Porticulum points are marked in green, as always, which there are four of in Kingsward. Onslaughts are marked with blue-bordered text and large, blue dots on the map. There are three Onslaught locations: Menagerie, Royal Gardens, and The Armory. Other points of interest and quest areas are labeled by black-bordered text. For some areas, the locations are found in the general vicinity and not at the precise spot.

Click on the map below to see the full-size version:

There are two dungeons located in Kingsward. Golem Foundry can be found at The Armory. Empyrean Core is beneath the Tower of Dawn. Upon completing the zone’s final story quest, players will receive a quest for Empyrean Core. To get to the dungeon via the old fashioned way, head up a small road to the west of Tower of Dawn. This road also happens to be the Path of Princes, which is one of the areas needed for the Kingsward exploration achievement.

Kingsward doesn’t exactly have a central questing hub. Instead, quests are found and continue at The Academy, The Armory, and at the Onslaught questgiver area in Menagerie. This is also where the daily rift closing quests can be found.

There are a couple advantages to questing in Morban. One– you get to kill lots of undead stuff, two– you gain plenty of Necropolis Caretakers notoriety, and three– you get to wander around and guess what? Kill more undead stuff! Members of the Storm Legion also make their way in the mix. Morban, which is the zone following Seratos on the Dusken continent, pretty much follows the same exploratory vibe Seratos has. The zone has a central quest line, but there are plenty of non-scripted areas to explore, random quests to find, and a great deal of Carnage killing to take part in.

Morban is ideal for players starting at around levels 55-59. There’s a fairly large level jump between Seratos and Morban, so it becomes helpful at this point to hop back and forth between both continents a bit. Some ideal Brevane zones for these levels would be Ardent Domain, Kingsward, and Ashora. Like Seratos, Morban is rather dark and desolate in appearance, with a landscape full of ominous trees and looming piles of bones. It’s also the zone where both Tower of the Shattered and Archive of Flesh are located.

There are three porticulum points which are marked by the green circles on the map below as well as the green-bordered text. These three locations are where most of the quests are obtained in Morban, although there are quite a few quests off the beaten path as well. Make sure to check all of the pockets in the Forest of Flesh, especially the northern tips. Arlan’s Challenge is the main hub of Morban and is where you’ll find the zone’s daily rift quests, a mailbox, and vendors.

Click on the map below to see the full-size version:

In case you ever want to seek out the actual dungeons, Tower of the Shattered is located in Stormhold. Archive of Flesh is in Shaper’s Citadel. There are four Onslaught locations in Morban, all of which are marked on the map by the blue circles and blue-bordered text. They are located in Forest of Flesh, Brink of Angoro, The Northern Ruins, and Black Strand. The Onslaught daily questgivers are all nearby.

After visiting Seratos, Eastern Holdings, or some combination of either zone, one option for questing in Storm Legion is Ardent Domain, the fourth zone on the Brevane continent. Ardent Domain is ideal for players starting at around levels 55-58. The easiest way to get there is by traveling to either the Vaud Tower or Miran Gate porticulum point in City Core then heading west.

Ardent Domain continues the core theme that makes up much of questing in City Core and Eastern Holdings. What once were large, looming estates now crumble into ruins, and the landscape of Ardent Domain has been transformed into one almost frozen in time. The land is parched and pale. Roots and strange vegetation loom overhead, and dangerous creatures cause what few citizens remain to hide inside a bunker. That bunker, Turnis River Bunker, is where the majority of story quests take place and begin from.

Click on the map below to see the full-size version:

There are three porticulum points in Ardent Domain which are marked by the green circles on the map above as well as the green-bordered text. There are three Onslaught areas, which are marked by the dark blue circles. Those are located in Dawnkeeper Vale, which is northeast of Turnis River Bunker, Temple of Thontic, and Cassana Estate. Other points of interest have black-bordered text.

If you’re interested, there’s also an achievement called “Pew Pew Pew” in Ardent Domain to loot a special Spooky Book (not the one needed for the zone’s puzzle). The book’s located at the Temple of Thontic, inside the main chamber where you’ll get a quest to kill a named enemy. The book initially appears on the various benches as you walk inside, facing the altar. Upon running up to the book, however, it will disappear, reappear on a different bench, and never becomes intractable at this point.

To actually interact with the book, you must follow it to all of its spawn points before an invisible timer runs out. Mounting makes this easier, since you do not have to actually click the book to cause it to change locations. If you reach all of its spawn points in time, the book will respawn on the altar for you to loot. Thanks to the mobs that like to respawn in the room, it may be advisable to grab a friend for this one!

Continuing our Dusken and Brevane zone tour and point of interest map collection, Seratos is next on the list, which is the second zone on the Dusken continent. Seratos is one of the largest zones in Storm Legion, and is quite a bit more spread out than its level-equivalent zone on Brevane, which is Eastern Holdings. Seratos is ideal for players starting at around levels 52-56, and unless you’re doing quite a few dungeons and Instant Adventures while leveling, it might be advisable around this point to begin questing on both continents if you haven’t already been doing so.

Seratos lives up to Dusken’s dusk-colored reputation, and takes players on a questing journey that’s dark, death-themed (purple galore!), and a little exploratory in nature. While Eastern Holdings has a more prominent story quest line to follow, adventuring through Seratos does follow a central story, but the story paths are more spread out, letting players explore the gloomy countryside and take part in plenty of Carnages and Onslaughts along the way.

Necropolis is the main hub of Seratos, and it opens up a little ways into the zone’s story. The Necropolis Caretakers faction quartermaster is in Necropolis, near the east edge. This is also where you’ll turn in some of the crafting dailies. For dimension enthusiasts, Caretakers has a solid selection of all things creepy and bony. Just in case, you know, you ever wanted to turn your dimension into something mirroring a horror flick (or Seratos).

Click on the map below to see the full-size version:

There are four porticulum points which are marked by the green circles on the map as well as the green-bordered text. Hub locations with quests and vendors have blue-bordered text or are located at the corresponding porticulum point. In Necropolis, there’s also a teleportaion device that leads you to Pus Swamp that is opened after completing the story quest in that area. That transportation device takes you to the area marked on the map as a yellow circle named “Teleport.”

We’ve done something a little different with Onslaught areas this time around, since some of Seratos’ are actually off the map’s radar and easy to miss. There are four Onsluaght areas in Seratos, and they’re marked by the blue circles. The first one’s located near The Eternal Assault, the second’s in Pus Swamp, the third is way out on the far end of The Fetid Plains, and the final is north of Behemoth Graveyard.

After visiting the Brevane continent and City Core, a story quest takes players right into Eastern Holdings, the next zone of interest in our Storm Legion map and point of interest series. Eastern Holdings is ideal for players starting at around levels 52-56, and is slightly more streamlined in its storyline than the alternative leveling path for these levels, which is Seratos over on the Dusken continent. The atmosphere in Eastern Holdings is also a little more, well, green as opposed to purple.

I won’t delve into storyline spoilers here, but I will say this much– if you’re looking for some of the ways RIFT’s developers have broadened their quest-making wings in Storm Legion, the final quest line in Eastern Holdings is a fantastic example. There’s even a bit of high jumping and investigation-style quests involved!

Keep reading to check out our huge map, complete with point of interest markings, Onslaught information, and more.

There are four porticulum points which are marked by the green circles on the map below and the green-bordered text. There’s even an introduction quest to find them all, which makes locating them fairly simple. Hub locations have blue-bordered text, and are locations that play major parts in story quests. Ursin Grove Bunker is the main quest hub in the zone, and is where you’ll find the Eternal City Survivors faction quartermaster. The hub also has a full set of crafting stations and trainers. Other points of interest on the map have black-bordered text.

Click on the map below to see the full-size version:

Eastern Holdings has three Onslaught areas that all have nearby daily questgivers. One’s located in Western Commons, which is directly east of Ursin Grove Bunker and Auroborus Woods. Another is in Avendrus Estate, which is in the very southeast region of the zone. The last is in Villa Orphela, which is just northeast of Avendrus Estate, following that same path.

Oh, and as a random tip, if you get a little lost when trying to find Fen Gorge Bunker like I did, hang the first right you see after you start climbing the rock-covered hill with spiders. The bunker’s entrance is kind of hidden, though if you look closely, you’ll see the doorway and a mailbox peeping out. If you go back to where the spider nests and hillside is, you’ve gone too far.

Fae Yule 2012 is here, and snowballs are in season! As part of Rift Junkies’ series of holiday event guides, here is our take on Fae Yule, complete with lots of screenshots, details on the rewards offered, and hints, tips, and descriptions for the event’s quests and activities.

Fae Yule is essentially the same lighthearted, goodie-filled holiday it was last year, except this year there is more to do, and more ways to spend Unique Snowflakes, which will be great for players who found themselves a little overrun with the currency last time around. There are some new items, including items for Storm Legion-leveled players, festive dimension items, and pets and mounts that are both new and returning. The event itself is still largely centered in Meridian and Sanctum, though Iron Pine Peak plays an important role this time as well.

Note: All information has been taken from the PTS, so this guide will be updated as the event runs its course on live servers. If you notice anything that needs to be changed, feel free to drop us a line in the comments section!

For players just starting out with Fae Yule, you’ll want to head to Meridian/Sanctum, and search out Grandfather Frost and his friendly cohorts. The event has a good number of dailies associated with it, so I won’t list them all, but among them are the standard dailies for closing rifts, blessing wardstones, and collecting items from rift creatures that grant experience. These are also completable while mentored to lower levels (just make sure the creatures you’re fighting are green or above in difficulty). Also, I should mention this early on– there are multiple ways to farm currency during Fae Yule, so feel free to pick and choose how you like.

Among the more interesting dailies, there is a daily to hang wreaths around the capitol cities, one to deliver presents to distant places like Droughtlands, one to spread holiday kisses around under the mistletoe, and one to collect bowls of Wassail for Atrophinius, who becomes a wee bit mead-obsessed (and what better time than during the holidays?). Some of the dailies do shift as the event’s phases shift. Also, there is a set of wreath portals and NPCs who will transport players back and forth between the capitol cities and Tempest Bay.

All dailies grant Unique Snowflakes, which is the currency for Fae Yule. Jingling Bells are also obtainable from completing quests and dailies as well as from closing rifts, which you can pop open and hope for goodies from. Fae Yule is very goodie-filled, and inside these bells as well as around Sanctum/Meridian and even arriving in random mail packages are chances to find Snowflakes, food items, temporary critter transformations, and rare items such as costume pieces and snowmen. Fae Yule is one of those fun world events where there are shiny objects to click on and gifts to open everywhere.

Snowflakes are also obtainable out in the world, and can be found by closing rifts (this also counts for Storm Legion zones!), defeating dynamic content (also in Storm Legion), and from looting packages around the Fae Yule trees that randomly spawn out in the pre-Storm Legion zones. These trees are identifiable by the snowflake icons that appear on the map, and randomly pop up in different areas once they have been fully looted. By clicking on any of the packages around the trees, you’ll loot Snowflakes or spawn more packages. The packages on the outer edges tend to spawn the inner packages, which contain the actual currency.

Grandfather Frost, his boglings, and Atrophinius (who appears in the second phase) offer story quest chains that are fairly simple to complete and give players a bit of the RIFT-centric lore behind Fae Yule. Additionally, Grandfather Frost offers a new daily to enjoy a bit of snowball tossing in a snowy part of Sanctum/Meridian with other players.

This quest’s aptly named “Frosty Free-for-All” and requires players to hit other players with snowballs. The snowball ability pops up as soon as you enter the correct area, which is encircled between snow creatures that only pop up if have the quest. If you happen to be caught in the snowball area alone, there is also an NPC named “Brazen Reveler” that randomly runs through the area with a greenish aura. This NPC counts for the quest as well, so feel free to use her as snowball bait.

Home for the Holidays – Dimension Style

This arena of sorts, conveniently, is also where some of the newer Fae Yule additions are located. In this area is a new vendor– Mr. Gold’s Yule Dimension Emporium. Yep, be ready to do a little in-game dimension decorating, folks! For 1200 Snowflakes you can pick up a Commerative Grandfather Frost Statue, or for 250 Snowflakes you can grab a snowman, sleigh, or Fae Yule tree (or even the extra-special, vandalized version (shown below, in the middle) for a discounted price of 150 Snowflakes!). A wreath will cost you 150 Snowflakes, and a ribboned candle will cost 100 Snowflakes. There are also gift boxes and strings of colored lights available for 50 Snowflakes apiece.

And as a hint for players out there planning their holiday decorating spree, in Tempest Bay there is a dimension vendor who already sells ice cubes if you’ve reached Decorated with the Lycini faction.

Another spoiler of sorts: There’s a second Fae Yule dimension item vendor that unlocks additional holiday-themed goodies. A special Fae Yule Instant Adventure chain unlocks this vendor, and some of the items are even obtainable during the IA itself. The vendor unlocks in a tiny Fae Yule village located both near Meridian and Sanctum after completing this IA (an icon on the map also pops up), and can be visited for one hour after that. For the vendor to appear again, a group must start the themed IA again.

In order to take part in this IA, players can randomly run IAs in Freemarch, Silverwood, Scarwood Reach, Pelladane, Cape Jule, and Ashora. The Fae Yule IA chain will generally pop up one-third of the time. For a preview of these items and all the Fae Yule dimension items in a brief Youtube tour taken while the event was on the PTS still, check out Slipmat’s preview.

Thanks to Trion’s recent Fae Yule gift promotion, it’s also possible to easily grab a stack of presents for your dimension, as well as some gigantic candy canes. For Ascend-a-Friend participants both new and old there is also a special holiday-themed cloak to grab.

Mounts, Rewards, and Mini-Games

Now, let’s get to the fun stuff. In the same area as Mr. Gold, there’s a new quest and a rather large portal that takes players on a sledding adventure. Wait– a sledding adventure in RIFT? You bet! Well, kind of a cross between sledding and snowboarding, really. The portal transports players to Iron Pine Peak, where there are two repeatable quests (that grant Snowflakes!) to grab a shield-sled, and use it to fly down a snowy mountainside. One quest has you knock down snowmen, (Gensnowcide? Sure, why not?) and another asks you to pass through banner checkpoints.

There’s a convenient little teleportation stage that will take you directly to the sledding area, and if you need to stop your sled and backtrack, it’s possible to do so. As you pass each banner checkpoint a completion ding will sound, and at the last bit, when you gain some serious air after launching off the ramp, you’ll even gain extra Snowflakes for soaring through the rings. The sledding area isn’t overly large (you’ll get dismounted if you travel too far), but it’s still quite fun, and one of the best mini-games in RIFT so far in my opinion.

Besides sledding and snowballs, there is also the aforementioned series of Fae Yule-themed Instant Adventures to keep players busy. The IA fits well thematically, takes place in multiple areas, and even the Yeti in Iron Pine Peak find themselves involved. For the PvP crew, there is also a Fae Yule-themed alternative Whitefall warfront. Players take on Santa Claws in this version, as well as each other. There is even a series of achievements for this special version of Whitefall.

New to 2012 is a Yeti NPC named Crumpus, who is stationed close to Grandfather Frost. He guards a trio of Fae Yule mounts (from the left to right in the picture above and to the right: Grey Festive Fae Yule Vaiyuu, Tawny Fae Yule Vaiyuu, and Spotted Festive Fae Yule Vaiyuu). He offers a one-time quest starting in Phase 2 to obtain one of these three mounts. The new mount for this year is the Grey Festive Fae Yule Vaiyuu. Both the Spotted Festive Vaiyee and the Tawny Vaiyuu debuted last year, although the Spotted Festive variant was an item randomly obtainable.

The quest to grab the mount, called “Dashing Through the Snow,” is probably the easiest mount quest ever in RIFT. Throughout Sanctum/Meridian you’ll find these glowing, sparkly ice crystal-looking patches (as shown to the left) called Icebuds. They respawn fairly quickly, although finding enough may take a little patience if the area is super crowded. The quest is completable once per character during Fae Yule.

The main currency vendor besides the dimension vendor is a bogling named Dorald, who is located near Grandfather Frost. New items have been added to this vendor, including level 58 blue quality planar essences (650 Snowflakes), blue quality level 58 red snow hats (650 Snowflakes), an item that can be used to upgrade those level 58 helms into epic level 60 helms (1000 Snowflakes), a holiday-colored wardrobe cape that’s pictured to the right (500 Snowflakes), two Vaiyuu companions named Prancer (brown) and Dancer (grey) that each cost 500 Snowflakes, and a unique, Bind-to-Account 28-slot bag (650 Snowflakes).

Among the items returning from last year, there is the wardrobe set, giant candy cane weapons, the festive corgi pet, low level planar essences, low level red hats, and the air elemental weapon and character aura effect items. Also around Sanctum and Meridian are plenty of food and drink vendors.

Fae Yule has definitely expanded a bit since last year, and the additions add to the holiday event’s fun score immensely. The event is planned to last two full weeks, so players have plenty of time to farm out the Snowflakes needed for everything that catches the eye. There are numerous ways to farm currency and plenty of activities to enjoy during these snow-filled days. Enjoy the holidays, folks, and Fae Yule!