DoD Level 70 Spell #1: Preemptive Strike  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Time:2 Hours
Level:70
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Advancement
  • Loot
  • Spell
Quest Items:
Related Zones:
Related Creatures:
Related Quests:
Era:Depths of Darkhollow
Recommended:
Group Size:Group
Min. # of Players:3
Max. # of Players:6
Appropriate Classes:
  • All
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Tue Oct 4 17:33:03 2005
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
This is the first task in a series of five (the end result being your 70th level spell/tome) and begins with Jarzarrad the Prophet who can be found in Undershore at -960, +650.

You say, 'Hail, Jarzarrad the Prophet'

Jarzarrad the Prophet says 'I know why you are here, _____.' He nods as you approach. 'I have known why you'd be here since before you were born. You are the _____ who will learn the secrets of [Shadowspine].'

You say, 'Shadowspine?'

Jarzarrad the Prophet says 'Yessss, Shadowspine. . . The drachnid book of the dead. . . The tome stolen by the Shiliskin Empire during the War of Four Crests. Shadowspine corrupted Emperor Draygun and drove him mad with the promise of power. Ultimately, Draygun's study of the tome led him to unleash terrible magic in Illsalin which turned him into a lich and bound the fallen warriors of two armies, both drachnid and shiliskin, to his will. You may not even know of Shadowspine yet. . . But you will. . . Let me know when you are [ready] to trace your fate.'

You say, 'I am ready.'

Jarzarrad the Prophet says 'So be it. Here is what you must do.'

There are two versions of this task: Normal and hard. The only difference between them is the quality of loot and difficulty of mobs.

You have been assigned the task 'Preemptive Strike'.

Before it fell to ruins, Illsalin served as capital of the Shiliskin Empire. The city's streets now lay broken and befouled with Draygun's undead thralls. The few surviving shiliskin refugees have retreated to Malgrinnor, the fortified outpost along the Undershore.

The first thing you must do is weaken Draygun before confronting him directly. Sneak into Illsalin and find where Draygun keeps his living shiliskin captives and then kill them. Draygun needs their life essence to sustain what is left of his wasting body. By killing his energy supply, you are weakening Draygun himself.

When you finally have depleted Draygun's energy supply, you will be ready for a more direct attack on the city itself.



Enter the Nargilor Pits of Illsalin 0/1 (Ruins of Illsalin)

Zone into The Nargilor Pits, an instance off the eastern side of the Ruins of Illsalin (location: -749.69, -1324.27, 57.20).

Find the Living Shiliskin Captives 0/1 (The Nargilor Pits)

Kill 10 Captured Shilgrave Legion Soldiers 0/10 (The Nargilor Pits)

Clear your way to "an ornate chest," which spawns in a random location, usually a rather inconvenient one. One location is southwest of the zone-in, in an underwater pool surrounded by mobs. Another possible location is in the trap. Inside this chest is a Carved Nargil Triangle, a key which opens the door at the opposite end of the pit.

Next, clear your way to the Guardian of the Pit (random in level 71-73) due south of the zone-in. You will need to kill it to safely pass through the locked door behind it. There is nothing overly difficult about the fight. If you can handle trash, you should be able to handle the guardian.

Once you have killed it and unlocked the door, moving into the room will pass the second task stage above.

Finally, you must pull and kill 10 x "a Shilgrave XXX" from the room behind the door, where "a Shilgrave XXX" may be a hard-hitting regular mob or a regular mob that transforms into "a Shilgrave shade," an even tougher version of the same mob.

Once this is done, you will see:

A clatter sounds throughout the hall as your fleeing enemies drop a treasure chest near the entryway.

Your task 'Preemptive Strike' has been updated.

A glittering warchest spawns at the zone-in with loot, which may be one of the following:

Darkcoral Bracer (hard)
Dead Water Ring (normal)
Deepskin Arms (hard)
Fen Link Vest (hard)
Fishgil Stone (normal)
Illsalin Enforcer Bracer (normal)
Illsalin Enforcer Helmet (hard)
Shimmer Scale (normal)

Return to Jarzarrad with News of Your Victory 0/1 (Undershore)

Head back to Jarzarrad.

You say, 'Hail, Jarzarrad the Prophet'

Your task 'Preemptive Strike' has been updated.

Jarzarrad the Prophet says 'Welcome back. It appears that Emperor Draygun's power will wane for want of sustenance. Let Jarzarrad know when you are [ready] to venture back into Illsalin.'

"Normal" Rewards:
Casters: Faithful Templar Belt
Melees: Cavefish Goggles

"Hard" Rewards:
Casters: Voyager Stone
Melees: Conqueror Stone

Completing this mission unlocks the next mission in the series, "Praetorian Guard".
Submitted by: Healerith
Rewards:
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Add/remove fomr the task
# Oct 24 2022 at 3:17 AM Rating: Decent
You can add/remove people all the way until the end were you have to go back and hail the quest giver, so, past the kill part of the mission
Cursed Thoughts
# Oct 19 2022 at 4:53 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
59 posts
Shillgrade Shades are nasty, they use an AE spell called "Cursed Thoughts" that's a 2550 DD, and 2350 hp/mana drain. 1 minute recast.
Shade Morphing
# May 26 2022 at 5:05 PM Rating: Good
*
123 posts
Shilgrave mobs WILL morph into the shades even if they are mezzed. Had a four-pull (one respawn) got 3 mezzed. 5 seconds later it was 4 yellow shades and a dead group.

Kayrsoc
70 gnomish enchanter
The Awakened Legends
Rizlona
Corrupted Netherstone Amulet - random drop
# Oct 26 2008 at 11:37 PM Rating: Decent
Corrupted Netherstone Amulet dropped off a random trash mob in this zone today.
Req lvl?
# Jan 06 2007 at 1:10 PM Rating: Decent
Anyone know the req lvl for being able to get the gear from these? I know req lvl to wear is 65. I thought it was at lvl 62 that you can start getting this gear? Anyone? thanks!!
Locating Chest
# Dec 18 2006 at 10:29 PM Rating: Decent
We use a Mage to scout with eye of talon . If chest is in the tunnels underwater bard invis to undead runs to chest loots and mage coh'es , timing is everything though when using this method. If it is in the last room on the left we just loot it once we kill all mobs down left side and clear the room. So far the only way we have taken the guardian was with 70 necro in grp.
he hits hard!
# Nov 19 2006 at 5:47 PM Rating: Decent
Thought we could walk through this with newer levels, but that Guardian of the Pit's rampage is brutal... we cleared the way with a SK puller and a necro slowing the mobs all the way to the Guardian... then we got near wiped by him two times and gave up... When he goes into his rampage, he send 2k hits out like they are an AoE, took out the healer, wizzy, and Mage rather quick... so be careful ;-)

Groupage
# Oct 13 2006 at 1:27 AM Rating: Decent
Nice post kirbyramz!!

I'm thinking of doing this mission for the first time, what group setup would you recommend? I was thinking along the lines of:

1. TANK: Warrior
2. SLOWER: Shaman
3. PULLER: Bard
4. HEALER: Cleric
5. DPS: Rogue
6. DPS: Wizard

Let me know what you think :)
Groupage
# Oct 15 2006 at 11:09 PM Rating: Decent
**
449 posts
Stats on any of the above would be more helpful. I do this mission with the following:
75 SK with 700+ AAs, 14k hp, 2.6k AC
75 Druid with 700+ AAs 10K hp 9.5k mana
75 Beast with 700+ AAs 11K hp
75 Ranger around 3-400 AAs 11K hp
73 Baby cleric with 3 AAs and around 7k mana
Farming it for the knight sword atm, and keep getting those dumb augs. A +10 to stats aug for this difficulty of mission is dumb.
SK pulls everything to the zone in except the guardian. The mission seems tame enough, but there is a huge difference in the mobs before the guardian and after. If the mobs before the guard give you problems just cut your losses and give up, the shades will kill your whole group before you can cast a quick heal.
don't be suprised if the shammy has to throw quick heals to suppliment during the shade fights and the guard fight. Promised Renewal is great for this mission.
As far as loot to date, done 4 times on easy. First time was the bracer, second and fourth was the weapon aug and third was the stat aug.
Hah! Fifth time was the sword.
Edited, Oct 16th 2006 at 1:11am PDT by Srakeats


Edited, Oct 16th 2006 at 3:57am PDT by Srakeats
Eye of Zomm
# Oct 03 2006 at 9:21 AM Rating: Decent
36 posts
You can do this mission a lot more easily if you use cast sight or eye of zomm to figure out where the chest is. Then just pull fast and you're through it easily.
drops
# Aug 27 2006 at 7:46 PM Rating: Decent
since u still have it up there with a question mark...

Illsalin Enforcer Bracer - chestloot 70.1 normal today

Shimmer Scale - chestloot 70.1 normal yesterday
My strat for this mission
# Jul 22 2006 at 5:31 PM Rating: Excellent
I am a bard and always the puller for this mission so this is what I do every time on normal setting. I have not pulled this mission on hard, but have done normal about 10-12 times. And we never have any player deaths (other than someone overnuking too soon) not counting the first mission that I pulled here, before I figured out a strat.

GETTING TO THE ZONE:
when ppl zone into Ruins of Illsalin, occasionally they see the green stripe on their compass and head straight for the zone in. This is a mistake in my opinion because it seems half the time ppl do this, they get killed by a see invis on the way there. What I do and tell everyone, that will listen, is to first have levitate on. Without that my strat wont work. After zoning in from undershore keep normal invis on and run over the water straight south. Keep heading south and stay in the middle of the water and circle around to the left (or east) after you pass the main center island building where the Statue of the Deep is in.
Keep going around east and turn north, all the while staying out in the middle of the water. Go north until you are near-ish to the bridge that the instance zone is off of. You will be able to tell which instance it is by the green stripe on your compass.
Now here in the middle of the water but south of your destination, look to your west at the hillside. There will be 2-3 spider dudes and zero to one will be see invis. Just avoid that one and work your way up the hillside until you are at a higher elevation than the bridge you want. Then just float over to the bridge and head across and your there. All the other mobs you go by are not see invis and your totally safe the whole way there. No one ever, who followed my lead, got killed on the way there. FYI autofollow does not work for my strat. You need to have someone be at the keyboard to work your way up the hillside.

THE ZONE IN:
This is where I have my group 100% of the time. Its easy for them to zone out if things go wrong and easy for me to scout the zone from that vantage point. Occasionally someone wants to move up and I go into a speal about needing room to split mobs or something like that, which is equally believable, and need them to stay there. This always works hehe. Truth is I can stay out of trouble MUCH better than most other ppl and I dont want them in the way. Plus, I change my pull strats often and dont have time to explain it to ppl. By the time I bring a mob up to the grp I know its single and safe to give me a heal or whatnot. Plus it gives me more room on the 2nd stage mobs.

PULLS:
Some ppl say to pull left first but I ONLY pull the immediate mobs at the bottom left of the ramp not the left rooms first. Almost every misison, a mob will fall down the pit trap in the center of the lower part of that first ramp. I can not depend on mob pathing to avoid that pit and regardless of how hard I try something usually falls in.
So, I pull the mobs at the bottom left and right of the zonein and proceed to pull the first right set of rooms/tunnels.
Contrary to what ppl have written, I have seen the chest spawn in all three locations in the zone. Its always at the end of the first left, first right, or second right tunnels. If you happen to fall down the pit and survive, you might see it right by the zonein hehe. That being the case, loot the key and get a COH to the entrance and the mission just got a lot shorter.
Normally though, I pull the right tunnel until its clear and I get to the chest or see that there is no chest. This is the easiest tunnel because none of it is underwater. If no chest is found in first right tunnel then I pull first left next. Once this tunnel is clear, all the rest of your pulls will just come back up the back way if they fall into the pit. No adds or anything, just a delay in their arrival on a pull.

Pulling is somewhat tricky because I occasionally use pacify, and occasionally use bellow/fade, and use mez - memwipe, and snare - fade. Whatever is called for based on whats in front of me. The first pull from a tunnel is the trickiest because there is one roamer per tunnel and also 2-3 in the first room of each tunnel so you can potentially have 4-5 mobs on that first pull. I usually tell my grp to be patient as I am splitting 5 mobs and they dont complain! Then I watch the roamer to see him go back down the tunnel and out of my aggro. I usually can pacify one mob or two and then tag another for a double or single pull. Then I fade and either snare one or call to my grp to engage the fastest/non-caster mob and I get rdy to mez the late arrival of the caster type. Most mobs mez quite easily, but occasionally I get a resist. My grp is not complaining because I already told em I was splitting 5 so two is good! I get the mez to stick and we now have the next pull sitting beside us until we finish off the first and are rdy for him.

If we have bad luck the chest is by default in the third tunnel which is 2nd on the right. We always skip 2nd left because its a short tunnel with nothing in it but mobs who prefer to stay out of trouble unless you bring trouble to them. Then never aggro anything and mind their own business and thats fine with me.

2nd right is also partially underwater and keeping your bearings while being stunned by a warping mob is sometimes tough when your spinning. I often come back to the grp at 40-50% health but with a single mob. I'd rather need a heal than have the rest of my grp get killed off and delay the mission even more on rezzing or rebuffing. Sometimes I path the mobs around the middle some to split em apart so I can mez one or fade one off. All that pathing around leads to getting stuck on some corners or something and getting tagged a couple times.

THE KEY:
The key is not a key or a triangle. Its a piece of dung or rock or something. Just loot it from the chest and have it rdy for the next stage. BUT, we are not that far yet. We still have the named to kill and he has two mobs next to him. Luckily he IS pacifyable so I always pacify him and pull the right mob behind the stalagmites to avoid adds on a named pull. Targeting the left mob behind the stalagmite is occasionally difficult so in those cases I pull the named, fade, and mem wipe off the add so the named is single. I either pull with slow or debuff or dispell. I have not found which is best yet. My grp is rdy for the named and I told them ahead of time that he's the toughest in the zone and we usually use disciplines on him. Ppl like to use thier disc's and they like it better if I tell them in advance to save em for this dude. It gets them psyched and its always an easy fight since ppl are rdy and waiting and throw the book at him. Thats the way a named should be. Often ppl comment on what a pansy he was, but by then hes dead and not in my way blocking the door. I usually add the comment about how we're a great group and so on to keep ppl motivated. The key works on that main door and it will shut behind you if you hang round the area. I always click and back up, because occasionally a roamer is on the other side of the door and I want to be the one that grabs him, not him being the one that jumps my bones.

THE BACK ROOM:
Now I tell ppl that the mobs are getting harder. In truth they are, but the key here is that the normal shilliskin mobs, on a pull, will turn into a non-roaming shadow and memwipe themselves at the same time. What that means is that if I pull 2-3 mobs I want them spread apart with judicially placed snares by the time they shift. After that I can simply single pull each shade. If I pull a mob too fast to the grp he will still be a shilliskin and then do his switch to shadow in the middle of our fight. What that means is that whoever aggros him first will be the MT for a second. If your healer is in the middle of a heal he might get stomped if your tank is not on the ball.
I just prefer to have them as shadows by the time they arrive at the group. Keeps it simple and easy for ppl.
The back room repops so I always just pull the right side after clearing the one or two roamers that path by on the inside of the back door. Usually I am not overly careful and get a couple mobs after me. I actually prefer this as it makes subsequent pulls easier. They will turn into shades and stand put where they morphed. Plus they now opened up the spawn spot for a repop so less waiting around if we are fast.

We just kill 10 of the shades and were done. If you plan on adding someone else to the task so they get the reward. Have them be ready because as soon as you drop someone they only have a short while before they are booted from the mission and you wont want to do this until your on your last shade or hes already half dead.

Edited, Jul 22nd 2006 at 6:50pm EDT by kirbyramz
arms
# Jul 13 2006 at 3:30 AM Rating: Decent
35 posts
Deepskin Arms in chest on hard mission
Couple of thoughts
# May 21 2006 at 11:20 PM Rating: Decent
We finally completed this mission tonight, after 5 hours of trying yesterday and 8 hours of it today. Smiley: oyvey

A couple of things no doubt our own fault...well all things but you know. Like finally killed the named and realized only then that our original bard left to go to work, and he had the key. Oh well, four hours in and had to start over. hehe

The majority of this mission is pretty easy. Best advice I can give is puller needs to be very adept at splitting mobs. This is your key to a win in my opinion. If multi mobs come you are better to zone out than kill the med time from a death. Pull all mobs before named to camp at entrance, keep push to wall and not down ramp. After named it killed move camp to courtyard in front of named.

Have puller pull singles only from behind the door once it is unlocked. Slow is a must and one at a time this can be knocked out.

The majority of mobs in this mission are UNDEAD, so keep those undead spells up. They don't appear to be your typical undead so don't be fooled most are and all the shades are.

We had lots of med breaks and lots to deaths, but steady trudging on got us the win!!

Seamy
DoT
# Mar 05 2006 at 1:40 AM Rating: Decent
Update: the shades cast a mana/hp dot-curse. very nasty but can be cured with RGC or Purify Soul
DoT
# Mar 05 2006 at 1:38 AM Rating: Decent
the chest can be tracked
# Feb 16 2006 at 11:33 AM Rating: Decent
I don't know if this is a bug, but I did this today and the chest could be tracked, which was useful.
random drop
# Feb 04 2006 at 12:38 PM Rating: Decent
Pearl Hoop
Slows
# Jan 29 2006 at 11:11 AM Rating: Decent
Just a little information:

We did this today and learned that the last 10 mobs you kill for the task are all undead - making the necromancer an awesome slow option if you dont have a shaman along.

We had BST slow up till then, but the difference with necro slow was very noticable.
10 to stats aug
# Jan 29 2006 at 4:17 AM Rating: Decent
Had Fishgil Stone drop in normal chest last night
http://lucy.allakhazam.com/item.html?id=83878

sucked but mask is nice
Hard VS normal
# Jan 26 2006 at 1:28 PM Rating: Decent
*
111 posts
I have done the normal on this mission, got the nice melee mask. It seemed pretty tough, as the tank was pulling, and we wiped a couple of times pulling from the room after the named, lots of adds. However, we swapped in a bard for somebody who had to leave anyway, and the mission became 10 times easier as we had the bard start pulling and we never got any adds.

My question is this. Is the difference between the normal and hard in the degree of strength on the mobs themselves(yellow or red instead of white), or is the mission itself harder(More chances of adds from placement or concentration of mobs, etc) with more chance for fails.

I would be interested in hearing from anybody who has done both the normal and hard and would like to hear how the 2 versions of the mission contrast each other.

Edited, Thu Jan 26 13:31:11 2006
RE: Hard VS normal
# Jan 28 2006 at 11:50 PM Rating: Decent
There is no spectacular difference. The mobs just hit a little harder and are a little higher in level.
RE: Hard VS normal
# Feb 08 2006 at 11:25 AM Rating: Decent
agreed; the difference is hardly noticeable
Chest Loot (Hard)
# Jan 25 2006 at 12:39 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
52 posts
Deepskin Arms Droped from Chest loot on Hard mission.
____________________________
Knightlord - Shadowknight (Level 125)
Question regarding Paladins and reward....
# Jan 17 2006 at 12:26 AM Rating: Decent
Finished the normal versioin of this task on Sunday Morning. We had 70 chanter, paly, bard, ranger, mage, and 69 cleric. We learned alot.

My question for Paladins completing the normal version....

Did you recieve the Cavefish goggles?

Upon completion our paladin recieved no reward for the task. Upon petition he was told that because he is a Hybrid character he didnt recieve the item. Description of the item states Paladin wearable and all races.
We believe this is an error on the GM's part and a poor way of resolving an issue. Even if we have to re-do the mission, he will be flagged as having completed it so he may not recieve the item if he tries it again. Please let me know if anyone else has run into this problem.


Question regarding Paladins and reward....
# Aug 16 2006 at 3:00 PM Rating: Decent
I was in a group in MPG and wasn't doing the task when in my guild asked if I wanted these googles and I said yes. They added me to the task and completed the task and I got the googles on my cursor. I am a Paladin. I'm not sure why you didnt get yours.

I haven't check to see if I got credit for the mission or not, maybe he was in the group but not the task.

RE: Question regarding Paladins and reward....
# Jan 18 2006 at 9:25 AM Rating: Good
**
451 posts
Either he wasn't /taskadd'ed into the mission, or he got hosed. I know several pallies, self included, that had all received the goggles on successful completion.

*edit- musta been tired, if he wasn't taskadded, he shouldnt have been in zone eh? :P

Edited, Wed Jan 25 09:58:37 2006
RE: Question regarding Paladins and reward....
# Jan 18 2006 at 10:13 PM Rating: Decent
Our feeling is he got hosed and the GM's dont want to do anything about it. I had to zone to get my reward (belt for casters/clerics), and our ranger had his reward attatched to his cursor. Thanks for the response.
korlach crusader sword
# Jan 16 2006 at 3:43 PM Rating: Decent
does the pally/sk sword come from the hard or normal version,anyone know?
Named rampaging
# Jan 14 2006 at 10:09 PM Rating: Decent
what is the deal with rampage going around corner and hitting claric
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