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!

For every dungeon you encounter during your journey to the level cap, there is a second, more difficult, version for players at level 50. These dungeons are called “Expert” Dungeons. Ten in all, they are divided into two tiers; the first tier is aimed at players who have just recently hit level 50 and the second tier is geared towards those who have spent time in Tier 1 Expert Dungeons.

For the purpose of this guide, Darkening Deeps is considered a Tier 2 Expert Dungeon. General requirements for all Tier 2 dungeons include a Tank with at least 100 Toughness, DPS minded players must have either 100 Hit or Focus, a credible healer and an off-healer. The Tank can be a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric if properly geared, however Cleric Tanks will have the hardest time of all three. Healers will consist of Clerics mostly where your best off healer will be a Chlormancer. This does not mean you will not be able to use a Bard or Justicar as an off-healer or a Chloromancer as a main healer.

All expert dungeons offer new challenges, more bosses and sometimes additional areas to explore. In Darkening Deeps you will find two additional bosses, and a slightly extended dungeon path. This guide will go over each boss fight and what to expect during each encounter.

For a full list of Tier 2 Dungeon Gear please use this link.

Alchemist Braxtepel

Much like normal mode you can do this two different ways. Upon entering the dungeon you can go left up the pathway and clear out all the NPC and alleviate the added pressure of bombs being dropped on you. Or if you want an additional challenge you can head straight down and confront the Alcehmist head on with bombs dropping from over head. It is recommended for groups that are new to the dungeon or undergeared to clear upwards first.

Alchemist Braxtepel is pretty much the same as normal mode. You’ll have to clear out the first two adds first, avoid ground damage effects and clerics will have to purge debuffs from players. Once the adds are done you can confront Braxtepel which is pretty much a tank and spank fight. Just avoid the bad stuff on the ground.

Michael Bringhurst

Again, this fight is quite like normal mode as well. If you’re not familiar on how to spawn this fight, there is an NPC in a cage on the left side of the cave when you enter. Talk to him to trigger the fight.

Once Michael Binghurst turns into a werewolf, the tank will have to slowly bring him back out of the light. When Michael is in the light he will be more powerful and do more damage. He will eventually cast an AOE fear that you won’t be able to avoid and he will run back into the center of the light. You must repeat this cycle until he dies.

Tegenar Deepfang

This fight can be difficult for those either not prepared or without the right specs. The tank must be able to pick up a large amount of adds, AOE specs are quite useful and necessary and you will definitely need a second healer for this fight.

When the fight starts it will be a simple tank and spank. Tegenar will eventually “eye” someone and they will turn into a cocoon. All players must immediately attack the cocoon to free that player. If it happens to the healer, then issues may occur.

Also Tegenar will also summon a bunch of small adds the tank will need to collect. Gather them up on the boss and AOE them down.

The best strategy for this fight is to bring a ton of AOE damage. Everyone should stack up behind the boss so the tank can easily gather the adds and players can AOE them and damage the boss at the same time. If a player is cocooned the AOE damage will help also. Even outside the AOE phases, if your group is melee heavy, then staying close together will save DPS time from having to run across the room.

Glubmuk

This is one of the new fights to the dungeon and it’s pretty easy except for some graphical problems. Glubmuk has two abilities besides cleaves. He summons adds and shoots up a water spout. The water spout does damage and is a ground effect and is quite hard to see which is the problem.

Essentially you need to watch your feet and make sure you’re not standing in anything bad and pick up and take down the adds as they appear. There isn’t much else to worry about.

Council Geldo

This fight is extremely different depending on the order you kill the Council Members. What happens is, as you kill the council members their powers are handed down to the remaining members. The easiest method is to kill the spellcaster, the shaman and then the melee boss. You can do them in different orders for different achievements and is quite entertaining the way the fight changes depending on who dies first.

If you’ve done this on Normal Mode then you are probably already aware of how this fight works. Not much has changed on expert mode mechanics wise.

Scarn

Scarn is probably the most difficult fight in all the Expert Dungeons. He’s a dragon that likes to breath fire on everyone. It consists of two phases: a ground phase and air phase. When he’s on the ground it quite easy. The issue is with that he has a rear and frontal cleave making it extremely difficult on melee characters.

Use range dps and keep Scarn away from the group during the ground phase.

After a certain amount of damage and time, he will life off and begin breathing on the ground. Avoid the fire and keep moving. If you run into someone and you’re on fire you will spread the fire DOT and cause even more destruction. Avoid the ground effects, you must stay spread out, and don’t sit still because if you get hit by a ground effect you will most certainly die if you’re not over geared for the fight. Instant cast heal spells help tremendously during this fight.

That cycle will repeat itself over and over and if you can survive the air phase intact, then you should be able to defeat Scarn.

For every dungeon you encounter during your journey to the level cap, there is a second, more difficult, version for players at level 50. These dungeons are called “Expert” Dungeons. Ten in all, they are divided into two tiers; the first tier is aimed at players who have just recently hit level 50 and the second tier is geared towards those who have spent time in Tier 1 Expert Dungeons.

For the purpose of this guide, Charmer’s Caldera is considered a Tier 2 Expert Dungeon. General requirements for all Tier 2 dungeons include a Tank with at least 100 Toughness, DPS minded players must have either 100 Hit or Focus, a credible healer and an off-healer. The Tank can be a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric if properly geared, however Cleric Tanks will have the hardest time of all three. Healers will consist of Clerics mostly where your best off healer will be a Chlormancer. This does not mean you will not be able to use a Bard or Justicar as an off-healer or a Chloromancer as a main healer.

All expert dungeons offer new challenges, more bosses and sometimes additional areas to explore. In Charmer’s Caldera you will find two additional bosses, and an extended dungeon path. This guide will go over each boss fight and what to expect during each encounter.

For a full list of Tier 2 Dungeon Gear please use this link.

Smouldaron

Smouldaron doesn’t take much in order to defeat him. There are only two mechanics you have to worry about outside him cleaving and other normal attacks. The first is that he will summon adds periodically, though they aren’t too tough. The second mechanic is a bomb he places on the ground at the feet of a random target. You can make them out by giant red pulsing rings. The circle of the bomb will start off small and expand twice to cover a large area.

The trick is to slowly kite Smouldaron around in a circle and have everyone trail behind him. This will allow the tank to constantly be moving away from the bombs that are placed on the ground. You will always be able to predict where the bomb will be placed because everyone is stacked in the same spot.

Cyclorax

This fight is quite difficult, especially for melee characters. There is a lot of movement and general awareness that is required by every player in the game.

Note: Before we go into the strategy, everyone should enter the room before engaging Cyclorax since there will be a forcefield preventing anyone from entering once the fight begins.

Cyclorax has a few moves that you need to be aware of. He has a “wrath” type ability that you will be warned about. It’s essentially a large radius AOE attack. Everyone will have to run away from him to avoid it. It will typically one shot anyone but the tank.

Cyclorax will also shoot out spears that do damage and small little energy pods on the ground that will snare players if they are hit. The snaring can be quite deadly, and here’s why.

Throughout the fight, laser will begin sweeping across the room. The pattern is the same each time as it sweeps first across the room and then back. Here is the pattern:

A player will have to manuever through the lasers and they sweep across and back through the room. This is why it’s best to avoid the smaller little mines that get tossed out into the room.

If you can survive all the movement, then the fight should be won.

Ryka Dharvos

This fight is much like Smouldaron is many ways. Ryka will summon adds that you will need the tank to pick up and dps to kill. She will also drop ground based damage/snare effects on a random party member that you will have to avoid. She also cleaves.

The strategy is quite simple, stay out of the bad ground effects and kill the adds as they pop up. Kill Ryka and win.

Oh yeah there is a laser to. Stay away from that.

Gronik

Gronik is a simpler fight where he comes with two adds and is a bit of a dps race. There are two strategies to this. You can kill Gronik first and then the two adds, or kill the adds then Gronik; we would suggest Gronik first.

There are two mechanics you have to be aware of. The adds will put an effect on one player that acts as a pulsing PBAOE Stun where that player will have to run out of the way of other people. The second mechanic is Gronik will gain a stacking buff on him over time that will increase his damage. So the fight becomes a bit of a DPS race depending on how well geared your group is.

Outside of those two mechanics the fight is quite simple. Just avoid getting stunned and heal through all the damage.

If you look at point 7 on the map above you will see a pathway, this is an uphill section leading to the next boss, Jultharin. Once you clear halfway up this hill a bluish air elemental will spawn behind you. Keep your head on a swivel and watch out for this pathing add.

Jultharin

This is a DPS race all the way. Jultharin has no special attacks that you must be aware of, however the fight takes place on a long narrow cliff. Once the fight starts two balls of light with a laser in between will slowly move across the ground and force everyone towards the edge of the cliff. You will have to kill Jultharin before you get pushed off the edge. You can not jump over the lasers or avoid them.

Caelia the Stormtouched

This fight can be extremely frustrating depending on how good your computer is. There are certain effects that either are bugged in game or don’t show up on your monitor. We will point out when this happens.

This fight requires AOE so make sure your dps has a spec that does this well. The fight starts off easily with a tank and spank phase. Caelia will randomly put a short range damaging aura on a random player, but it can be purged. It can also be applied to pets. The best way to help your healers out is to convert the group to a raid and click on the option to show pets since the typical party UI is horrid. They will be able to see the debuff icon more cleared.

Since this is a timed event, Caelia will then go immune and summon adds. All players must run and stack up on Caelia at this point to prevent the adds from charging and stunning players. You must AOE all these adds down before the next phase.

After the adds are dead, Caelia will then face one direction and shoot out lightning and then slowly rotate around clockwise. You will need to be directly behind Caelia the whole time. If you are not you will be killed instantly.

The easiest way to avoid getting hit is to stand directly on top of Caelia right before this phase. Once you see the lightning shoot out run through her so you are standing on the opposite side of the lightning field. This is where the graphics can glitch out so make sure you are aware of which direction she is facing.

After the rotating lightning field phase, Caelia will grip everyone and lift them off the ground and throw them back. Make sure your back is to the wall or you will get thrown off the cliff to your death.

This is the whole fight and you will most likely have to repeat that cycle 3-5 times before she dies.

For every dungeon you encounter during your journey to the level cap, there is a second, more difficult, version for players at level 50. These dungeons are called “Expert” Dungeons. Ten in all, they are divided into two tiers; the first tier is aimed at players who have just recently hit level 50 and the second tier is geared towards those who have spent time in Tier 1 Expert Dungeons.

For the purpose of this guide, Deepstrike Mines is considered a Tier 2 Expert Dungeon. General requirements for all Tier 2 dungeons include a Tank with at least 100 Toughness, DPS minded players must have either 100 Hit or Focus, a credible healer and an off-healer. The Tank can be a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric if properly geared, however Cleric Tanks will have the hardest time of all three. Healers will consist of Clerics mostly where your best off healer will be a Chlormancer. This does not mean you will not be able to use a Bard or Justicar as an off-healer or a Chloromancer as a main healer.

All expert dungeons offer new challenges, more bosses and sometimes additional areas to explore. In Deepstrike Mines you will find three additional bosses, and a very extended dungeon path, the largest of all Expert Dungeons. This guide will go over each boss fight and what to expect during each encounter.

For a full list of Tier 2 Dungeon Gear please use this link.

Note: Before you start Deepstrike Mines, make sure you group is optimal as this is one of the more difficult Tier 2 dungeons. Make sure all your melee DPS players have a ranged off-spec they can use.

Overseer Markus

This fight is incredibly simple and not much has changed from the normal version. You will engage Markus and a few other adds. Markus cleaves, so make sure you stay behind him if you’re in melee range and not the tank. Kill the adds, and continue to DPS Markus.

At 50% Markus will disappear and split into 3 more adds. After a certain amount of time Markus will come regardless if you’ve killed the adds. Usually there is enough time for you to finish them up, however be aware that you’re on a clock. This might give some groups that aren’t nearly as geared some issues.

Once the three adds are down, finish Markus.

Gregori Krezlav

This is a difficult fight for warrior tanks and undergeared players. The fight itself is pretty simple mechanics wise, but there are moments where you have large amounts of damage done to the tank. The fight starts with Gregori come to the center of the platform where he will stay throughout the whole fight. He has two mechanics you have to watch out for.

The first ability is one where he summons an add. If it isn’t picked up by the tank it can become a nuisance and kill party members. Kill it ASAP or save it for the next phase.

Gregori also does a heavy hitting spell with a long cast time. It can either be interrupted or absorbed by the tank. This is where Rogue tanks benefit from their class mechanics. If you miss an interrupt, only well geared tanks will survive long enough.

After a certain duration Gregori will go immune and summon three channelers, this is the second phase. You must kill all three channelers to make Gregori vulnerable to attacks again. He will remain invulnerable for ever but he will still attack the tank. You can kill the add during this phase if you’re confident the tank can take all the damage.

These two phases will repeat over and over until Gregori is dead.

Bonehew the Thunderer

This fight is one of those fights that is easy mechanics wise, but incredibly frustrating. Ranged DPS is preferred on this fight as it makes the job of healing easier. The mechanics are somewhat similar to normal mode but with a few twists.

Bonehew will do the same mechanics as normal to start off. He will do AOE pound damage and stuns around him. He will also, on occasion, move to the edges of the platform and do a long range ground pound that will hit everyone from one side of the platform to the other. The only way to avoid it is to move to the sides.

You will know Bonehew is going to do this attack when he stops his attacks and run to the perimeter of the platform. At this point you need to run to the edges of the platform to the sides of Bonehew. If you don’t, you will be hit for a high amount of damage and be knocked back. Because of the terrain, it is possible to be knocked off the platform and fall to your death creating a long process to recover from a wipe.

One other mechanic that is different in this fight is that he will put a debuff on someone that does AOE damage on a short duration. Healers will have to not only heal the tank but heal the other player as well until it wears off.

At 50% Bonehew will split into two smaller versions of himself. The mechanics will remain the same however. Finish off the two splits and that is all.

Tips for this fight: Stay ranged. This will allow you to react to Bonehew’s cross-platform attack better and get into position. Also, the safest place for you to be is directly behind Bonehew. When he splits, the cross-platform attacks can form an “X” across the platform and it’s difficult to judge where it will be safe.

Gatekeeper Kaleida

This fight is a bit easier that normal mode in some respects. Instead of cycling between fire and earth modes, Kaleida will also add water and air into the mix. Range DPS is preferred on this fight.

When engaging Kaleida you should always start with him on Fire mode. You can tell which mode he’s in by his buffs under the target’s portrait. The reason for this is that it will give you the longest duration for DPS before his Earth phase begins.

What you need to be aware of:

• 1) During Fire Mode, Kaleida will toss out fire crystals that do heavy AOE damage when the explode and they have a large radius. Run away from them ASAP. Kaleida also has a nasty cleave, “wave”, attack. Melee must avoid this.
• 2) During Air and Water Modes, Kaleida will put out crystals that either silence, stun or do damage on impact, but can largely be ignored as they won’t cause you to wipe.
• 3) During Earth Mode, Kaleida will summon Earth Crystals that will begin to heal him. These must be killed ASAP or you will just prolong the fight even more.

This fight is all about endurance and patience. Once Kaleida’s Earth phase is done, he will go back to Fire and it will start all over again.

Dichrom

In the next room there will be tons of trash. You will want to clear out the whole room before engaging Dichrom. There will also be lasers that will try to hit you. These must be avoided as well. The best strategy to clearing the room is have everyone stand on the rubble right behind Kaleida and have the tank pull everything to the group. There are also two safe spots to the left and right of you as you face Dichrom. You can stand here to avoid laser harassment.

Clear the room and you will be able to freely pull Dichrom. It’s a pretty simple fight as he really doesn’t do anything special. What’s special about this fight is avoid the laser beams. There are a few tricks however that may or may not work depending on if the Trion devs fix them. If you stand directily in the middle of the intersection, no laser will hit you. You can then position Dichrom to the sides of the room having the tank stand on the ledge to avoid lasers.

Dichrom will cleave so you can’t all stack in the same spot.

Other strategies include pulling Dichrom to either dead end and have the group stand on the rubble while the tank engages Dichrom in a safe spot.

Caretaker Arcanis

Further on in the dungeon you will come across Caretaker Arcanis which is a relatively easy fight. The caretaker doesn’t have any special abilities that you really need to be aware of. However there are four crystal in the room you have to keep your eye on. At different times of the fight Caretaker Arcanis will activate a crystal that summons adds. You will have to destroy the adds and the crystal and then continue to attack Arcanis. This will happen four times.

Keep everything under control and you will easily win.

Plutonus

This is one of the most entertaining fights in all of the expert dungeons. Once you clear your way through even more trash, you will come to Plutonus’ room. The fight is quite simple but requires situational awareness and movement. The fight is a single cycle that will repeat itself until you are victorious.

Plutonus stand at the center of a circular platform. You will have to fight him on the platform because once the fight begins swirling laser beams will be sweeping the perimeter that will do more damage than the lasers outside in the hallways. This is very important to remember.

Plutonus cleaves so you will want to keep him and the tank in the center of the room. At different intervals throughout the fight he will begin to cast an ability, and you will get a warning across your screen that “Plutonous flows with energy”. When he’s finished he will knock everyone back.

Here’s the trick, walls will pop up on the perimeter of the circular platform. You will have to position yourself in front of these walls so you don’t get knocked back into the lasers. The configuration and placement of these walls will vary throughout the fight. They will be different lengths and in different places every time.

After you are knocked back lightning will shoot out from the walls and converge on Plutonous in the center. It will look like spokes in a bicycle wheel. Stand out of the lightning.

If you can manage not to be knocked back into the lasers and avoid the lightning damage you will easily win. Ranged dps is much easier to manage since you can line up against the walls before the knockback.

Here is where you need to be careful. On

For every dungeon you encounter during your journey to the level cap, there is a second, more difficult, version for players at level 50. These dungeons are called “Expert” Dungeons. Ten in all, they are divided into two tiers; the first tier is aimed at players who have just recently hit level 50 and the second tier is geared towards those who have spent time in Tier 1 Expert Dungeons.

For the purpose of this guide, Runic Descent is considered a Tier 2 Expert Dungeon. General requirements for all Tier 2 dungeons include a Tank with at least 100 Toughness, DPS minded players must have either 100 Hit or Focus, a credible healer and an off-healer. The Tank can be a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric if properly geared, however Cleric Tanks will have the hardest time of all three. Healers will consist of Clerics mostly where your best off healer will be a Chlormancer. This does not mean you will not be able to use a Bard or Justicar as an off-healer or a Chloromancer as a main healer.

All expert dungeons offer new challenges, more bosses and sometimes additional areas to explore. In Runic Descent you will find two additional bosses, and an extended dungeon path. This guide will go over each boss fight and what to expect during each encounter.

For a full list of Tier 2 Dungeon Gear please use this link.

Rictus

Rictus is a difficult fight that requires everyone to constantly be moving and watching for ground effects. Rictus has two abilities that make this fight difficult. One is a ground effect that has similar graphics to an Inquisitors ground based AOE. Rictus will cast them randomly on players and player will have to move to avoid them. Because of the space this fight is being used on, it is quite easy to have line of site issues with your healers.

The second ability is that Rictus pulls everyone in to him and then slows and does a PBAOE ground pound. You can avoid this pull if you are constantly behind something that blocks you from flying to him.

This is essentially the whole fight, but it’s brutal. Ranged DPS is almost necessary for this fight. Positioning is key however so pick your battleground. As you approach Rictus you will notice a square right before him. There are two barriers in this square, one to your left and one right before Rictus’ platform. It is best to pull Rictus into this area and use these existing barriers to prevent Rictus from pulling you to him.

Wormwood

Wormwood is quite a simple fight much like he is on Normal Mode. Wormwood for the first 50% will randomly target someone and plant an exploding mushroom. In the later portion of the fight he will summon an exploding mushroom on everyone in the group. Avoid the mushrooms if possible. He also has a soft enrage at 10%.

The one thing you must be careful of if your group is melee heavy is that Wormwood cleaves and the tank will constantly be moving to avoid mushrooms.

Warden Falidor

Warden Falidor is a fun and quite fight that does not require much strategy, just awareness. Falidor casts a damage shield on himself that DPS players will kill themselves on. Either you must wait for it to wear off or a group member must purge it off of him.

Falidor also casts a long cast time spell that you must Line of Sight or you will potentially be one shotted. There are several areas where you can stand, the best being near the stairs leading to his platform where you can use a pillar to LOS the spell.

The only other mechanic that the tank will need to watch out for is when he summons adds at certain intervals during the fight. You will need to gather them up and AOE them down.

Atrophinius the Fallen

This fight is quite difficult for many groups if you are under geared. It requires mostly ranged dps, two tanks and healers. Only more advanced and well geared groups can get away with a single tank.

When you approach Atrophinius it will set off a speech phase. This will give you time to prepare and set up your positioning. If you notice the area leading up to him there are two braziers or pillars. The tank should position himself on one side with the melee and everyone else should be on the other side.

Warning: This fight favors ranged builds. Atrophinius also cleaves.

Once the fight starts it will be a simple tank and spank fight. On a timed script he will then cast an ability and during it’s duration he will charge everyone in line of sight. During this period, all players melee and ranged should run behind the pillar the started at. You will know when effect has worn off when he begins to melee attack again. All players must remain out of sight until this time. There is also a purple ring on the ground that designates this period, but might not show up on some people’s screen. Use his autoattack as a sign to get back out.

He will do this for the whole fight however at 50% he will summon his friends from Realm of the Fae. These will need to be picked up by a second tank. DPS down the two adds and finish off Atrophinius.

Eliam the Corrupted

The Eliam fight is a small rift event consisting of two stages before Eliam. The first stage will has a group of NPCs consisting of a heavy hitting melee NPC, a Healer and NPCs that summon shamblers and squirrels. The mobs are not incredibly difficult but you could run into issues with AOE threat.

The second stage includes another group of NPCs that you will have to fight and the only thing you must be aware of are flying Pixies that will need to be killed by a ranged dps player. They will spawn intermittently on either the right or left side of the center.

Once the first two stages are completed, Eliam will present himself to you. The fight is a mix of a DPS race and movement. The tank will engage Eliam and you will begin to DPS him down. He will then begin to cast a blinding spell. You will have to physically turn your character away from Eliam to avoid being stunned. He will then enrage and begin cleaving where the tank will have to kite him around the rift area. After a short time he will then return to the center of the rift area and summon a number of ghosts.

Eliam will become immune at this point while everyone has to scramble to kill the ghosts. They are situated at the far edges of the rift area so you might not be able to see all of them depending on your video settings. The ghosts can not be grouped up together or they will begin doing a lot of damage. Also during this phase Eliam will be throwing “bombs” that slow and do AOE damage. Avoid them if possible.

That is the whole fight. Turn your body as Eliam goes to blind you. Stay out of cleaving range as the tank kites Eliam during enrage. Kill ghosts quick enough to reset the the script.

If you don’t kill ghosts fast enough or if Eliam goes through too many cycles he will fully enrage and kill everyone.

For every dungeon you encounter during your journey to the level cap, there is a second, more difficult, version for players at level 50. These dungeons are called “Expert” Dungeons. Ten in all, they are divided into two tiers; the first tier is aimed at players who have just recently hit level 50 and the second tier is geared towards those who have spent time in Tier 1 Expert Dungeons.

For the purpose of this guide, Abyssal Precipice is considered a Tier 2 Expert Dungeon. General requirements for all Tier 2 dungeons include a Tank with at least 100 Toughness, DPS minded players must have either 100 Hit or Focus, a credible healer and an off-healer. The Tank can be a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric if properly geared, however Cleric Tanks will have the hardest time of all three. Healers will consist of Clerics mostly where your best off healer will be a Chlormancer. This does not mean you will not be able to use a Bard or Justicar as an off-healer or a Chloromancer as a main healer.

All expert dungeons offer new challenges, more bosses and sometimes additional areas to explore. In Abyssal Precipice you will find two additional bosses, but the dungeon itself is not expanded. This guide will go over each boss fight and what to expect during each encounter.

For a full list of Tier 2 Dungeon Gear please use this link.

Kaler Andrenos

The fight mechanics for Kaler are pretty much the same as the normal version except things really hurt now. The fight is pretty simple but now you have to be more aware. He will cast a water spout on someone that will cause a local AOE slow. It will also damage you and you will die if you don’t run away. This is where the ice block you have to run behind will form.

Kaler will then cast a large cast time spell that will doe AOE damage to everyone and usually one shot anyone who isn’t a well geared tank. To avoid this damage line of site him. This can be done by using the terrain or the ice block that formed earlier. Once the spell is cast the ice block will disappear and a new one will form shortly.

What you also have to be aware of is a debuff Kaler will randomly put on someone that will pull in other players to them. This will often cause other players to by pulled into line of site or into the AOE slow effect and kill them. Be aware and stay spread out.

Icetalon

Right up the hill from Kaler is Icetalon. The fight starts off simple with a single boss mob that is tank and spank where he will summon three bird adds. Once he is close to dieing he will summon Icetalon.

Icetalon is pretty simple, he will randomly charge someone and he cleaves. If he charges you he will send you flying with a knockback. You can be knocked off the edge and die. So be careful where you stand.

The easiest place to tank Icetalon is to have the tank position himself against a wall. There is also a hollow log in the back of the boss fight area. Have all dps and healer sit in the log while the tank stands nearby with his back to the wall. This should take care of any issues you might have with placement. The log will prevent you from flying back on the charge.

Majolic the Bloodwalker

This fight is exactly the same as Normal Mode. Upon starting the fight you will be attacking Majolic. Once he reaches 50% he will explode so all melee characters must run away or will most likely be one shot. At this point he will transform into the Bloodwalker.

The rest of the fight is quite simple. The boss will cast a DOT on a player that will spread another DOT to everyone around them. Have your healers cure/purge this and keep an eye out if it spreads to others. Stay spread out as well. The Bloodwalker will also turn a random target into a Blood Crystal. In this case, destroy the crystal and free the trapped player.

Ranged DPS is preferred on this fight as it’s easier to transition to the Blood Crystals.

Renthar

Renthar is a new addition to Expert Mode. He is in a small cave down from the last room before the final boss. The fight isn’t very complex but you’ll have to be aware of your positioning.

Renthar has two abilities, one he charges the player furthest from him, and the second is he casts a damaging and slowing ground effect. The best strategy is to either have a second tank or a decently equipped cleric stand in the back of the room so they can absorb all the charges. The rest of the group should stand on the sides of the cave and DPS from range. Melee is acceptable but it’s harder to survive as Renthar does cleave and players in melee range might be cleaved when he returns from his charge.

Calyx the Ancient

Calyx is a very fun and interesting fight that requires heavy movement and healing. You will notice at the onset of the fight that large “lasers” will form a cross centering around Calyx. They will slowly revolve so everyone will constantly have to move in a clockwise direction to avoid being hit. This is the heavy movement portion of the fight.

Calyx also has a damage shield that can be purged. If it isn’t purge melee dps character can, and often will, kill themselves. Keep your eyes open for this.

Calyx also casts a ground effect spell that will slow and damage you. This spell is also followed up by another ability that will damage everyone in the party down to a low percentage. If you are caught in the ground effect at this point you will be frozen in ice for a short duration. Get out of the ground effects.

The large AOE spell effect is what makes the fight healing intensive. Once it goes off, everyone will be down to 10-20% health. You will have to avoid the lasers as well as get everyone back to high health.

Melee and Range both suffer on this fight, having a single person in the group with an offensive purge is beneficial for the shield.

There comes a time in every warrior’s life when quest gear just doesn’t cut it anymore. When a dozen trips to the dye vendor can’t conceal the greenish tint of your minty fresh Level 50 tag, it’s time to head into the belly of the beast. After all, you didn’t come this far to stand around and listen to NPCs chit chat about faeries. Yes, you’re going to have to slog through the intestines of every mechanic of every boss in every dungeon and rip epic armor from the bowels of teamwork. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to save Telara from Regulos. Why not you?

The charts below contain loot information by slot for Tier 1 and Tier 2 dungeons. Information was compiled from several different resources, some first hand. Therefore, it is possible the list is not 100% accurate. As always, please leave any discrepancies in the comments below and information will be updated accordingly. Furthermore, if anyone should have more information to contribute to the charts, this is also welcome.