Dain Frostreaver the Third: The Defense of Thurgadin  

Status: Incomplete

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:1
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:Yes
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Loot
Quest Items:
Related Zones:
Related Creatures:
Related Quests:
Era:Prophecy of Ro
Recommended:
Group Size:Group
Min. # of Players:3
Max. # of Players:6
Appropriate Classes:
  • All
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Thu Jul 13 17:39:35 2006
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
The Dain monster mission series may be completed in any order.

Dain`s Historian Duggans can be found in a small room near the throne area at the top of Icewell Keep. (He /cons Coldain faction, but will not attack no matter what your status. His roommate may, however.)

This mission in particular has you playing Coldain taking part in a ring war.

You say, 'Hail, Dain`s Historian Duggans'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'Welcome ______, welcome! It's always a pleasure to speak with an Outlander such as yourself. All Coldain appreciate the services you have rendered us and the blows you have dealt to our Giant foes. Have you come to learn more of our [history]?'

You say, 'What history?'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'The Coldain are a proud people, and with good reason! We have proven ourselves time and again in this unforgiving land, flourished and thrived. Of course all Coldain must acknowledge the [leadership] that has brought us through the dark times we faced.'

You say, 'Leadership?'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'Yes indeed, we have been blessed with leaders beyond compare. All Coldain know the story of Colin Dain, and I'm sure you have heard of our great first leader. But even after Colin fell the Coldain have always been guided as if by Brell's own hand through each Dain's reign. Would you hear more about [Dain Frostreaver the First]? Or perhaps [Dain Frostreaver the Second]? And who can forget [Dain Frostreaver the Third], the father of our current magnificent leader?'

You say, 'I want to hear about Dain Frostreaver the Third'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'Dain Frostreaver the Third, Sire to our King the Dain, will always have a hollowed place in Coldain history. In our most desperate moment as a people his courage and leadership enabled us to overcome an overwhelming [host] of Giants sent against the very heart of our strength. That day will be forever honored by all Coldain.'

You say, 'A host of Giants?'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'Indeed, a mighty host! There came a day during Dain Frostreaver the Third's reign when the Lords of Kael gathered their strength to crush us and sweep us from this continent. They marched right to the entrance of our fine city. Only the [actions] of our Dain saved us from destruction that day.'

You say, 'What actions did he take?'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'If you would learn more I can help you to [relive] that fateful day.'

You say, 'Let me relive it'

Dain`s Historian Duggans says 'A wise choice indeed _____! Happily Brell has gifted me with the power to bring the exploits of our great leaders to life. Prepare yourself and let me know when you have [composed] yourself.'

You have been assigned the task 'The Defense of Thurgadin'.

Dain the Second's daring raid into Kael did indeed halt the Giants' attacks for a time. But eventually the incursions resumed and increased. At last the Giants began to mass for an assault on Thurgadin. Dain Frostreaver the Third led his army out into the Great Divide to face the Giant Hosts. Each Dwarf present knew that if the Dain were to fall, or if the Giant Warlords were to reach the waterfall area all would be lost for Thurgadin.

You are given a list of six dwarves to play:
Dain Frostreaver III (required)
Ajam Wintershade
Tsil Dirkins
Bigal Deynekn
Etzix Coldember
Lanal Icelok

You say, 'I am composed'

LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
You have entered The Great Divide.



Shortly after zoning in you will see this emote:

A loud rythmic crunching sound echoes off the mountain sides. The Giants are on the move!

Speak with General Lanix 0/1 (Great Divide)

General Lanix is located near the waterfall (where you zone in).

You say, 'Hail, General Lanix'

General Lanix says, 'A fine day for a battle my Lord! Four Units of the finest Coldain soldiers are in the field to stand against the invading Giant armires. Just give me your [commands] and I will pass them on to the Units.'

Your task 'The Defense of Thurgadin' has been updated.

(What dialogues go on from here?)

Examples of commands (you may want to make hotkeys for these - there are Units A, B, C, and D. Positions One, Two, Three, and Four.):

You say, 'Unit D Forward'

You say, 'Unit B to Position Two'

You say, 'Unit A to Position Four'

Kill the Kromrif Chieftain 0/1 (Great Divide)

The giant army originates at the zone to Eastern Wastes and makes its way towards Thurgadin from there.

? ? ?

? ? ?

? ? ?

(Information needed surrounding further steps.)




One reward for this mission is a Diamond Inlaid Frost Covered Mask (Artifact) which transmutes to:
Lesser Frost Covered Mask (level 1-10)
Minor Frost Covered Mask (level 11-20)
Frost Covered Mask (level 21-30)
Polished Frost Covered Mask (level 31-40)
Runed Frost Covered Mask (level 41-50)
Ruby Inlaid Frost Covered Mask (level 51-60)
Diamond Inlaid Frost Covered Mask (level 61-70)

The rare reward is a Pristine Petrified Dragon Eye (Artifact) which transmutes to:
Piece of a Petrified Dragon Eye (level 1-10)
Shard of a Petrified Dragon Eye (level 11-20)
Petrified Dragon Eye (level 21-30)
Glyphed Petrified Dragon Eye (level 31-40)
Runed Petrified Dragon Eye (level 41-50)
Ornate Petrified Dragon Eye (level 51-60)
Pristine Petrified Dragon Eye (level 61-70)



In addition to these rewards, a Portion of a Coldain Historical Seal drops every time. Turn this seal in to Dain`s Historian Duggans in order to receive an augmentation, based on your level (these are listed in order of level - need information on level ranges for each):

- Minor Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 5)
- Lesser Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 15)
- Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 25)
- Greater Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 35)
- Golden Crested Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 45)
- Platinum Crested Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 55)
- Diamond Studded Coldain Historical Seal (recommended level 65)

The strength of the augmentation is determined by how many and which Dain monster missions you have completed:

Dain Frostreaver the First - 15% power
Dain Frostreaver the Second - 20% power
Dain Frostreaver the Third - 65% power
First and second - 35% power
First and third - 80% power
Second and third - 85% power
All three - 100% power (maximum stats as shown on item display)
Rewards:
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Post Comment
recent
# Feb 04 2021 at 11:20 PM Rating: Decent
4 posts
Has anyone recently completed this successfully ?
recent
# Mar 12 2021 at 11:44 PM Rating: Excellent
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320 posts
Did this with my guild recently.... it quickly turns into sending endless bodies at a giant pile of mobs. You can fight the mobs outside Thurgadin. Your team will just keep dying. The player whose playing the Dain is better off sitting next to the general and afking to avoid losing. Healers should heal until they OOM and then just melee until they die. Rinse and repeat until you win.

P.S. focus the namer first, then try to needle down all subsequent mobs.
____________________________

You're talking to me all wrong... It's the wrong tone. You do it again and I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron.
a Portion of a Coldain Historical Seal
# Apr 11 2020 at 1:55 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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340 posts
Is required to get achievement credit!
How the heck can this be 3-boxed?
# Oct 18 2008 at 9:15 AM Rating: Decent
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123 posts
Okay I've tried sending the coldain out to the positions, but since you can't send more than one unit to a position, they get eaten up by the second and third waves. I use Dain, the conviction cleric, and the bottom warrior as a set up. Closest I came was when just my characters were left and 5 giant soldiers from the 3rd wave.

Keeping them at the base camp takes forever to kill the giants because of the HUGE drop in coldain DPS (we're talking 235 away from camp to 15 at camp).

What's the real secret to this?

Easy
# Aug 11 2008 at 3:00 AM Rating: Default
This is easy, much easier than #2 and takes less work than #1, just have the coldain army do most of the work, the job of the players is to soak up damage so that the coldain army can do their thing. the "bug" people complain about isn't a bug, it's been a long known game mechanism that if a mob is killed entirely by NPCs with no PCs engaged or that have done any damage, then the NPC will die with no exp or corpse left behind, so don't die and make sure to do some damage to the general.. Clerics can outheal dps from the crowd of giants using the quick heal and HoT.
3boxing this easily, win every time, it's really not as hard as people make it out to be.
Easy
# Aug 14 2008 at 10:05 PM Rating: Default
Also, sometimes the kromrif general will die and it's body will be positioned on top of a tree or inside a hill, making it hard to see, click around and you should get it on target.
Easy
# Aug 15 2008 at 7:54 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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1,087 posts
easier to use /target general_lanix
then /loot until you get a close enough spot to loot it
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Dark Elf Shadow Knight
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Retired after 500 days /played
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Broken?
# Feb 17 2008 at 2:10 PM Rating: Decent
17 posts
We have successfully completed this mission twice now and the Kromzek General's corpse has immediately "poofed" both times he was killed. So, none of us got any experience and I couldn't loot the piece for the final upgrade to my Diamond Studded Coldain Historical Seal.

Petitioned the first time it happened (12/16/07), asking to get experience for the group and to get the final upgrade for my Seal. Game Master Ranyp's response, in the email I recieved back, was "I suggest you file bug report" with the status marked solved!! So, I immediately filed a bug report and as of this date (2/17/08) have not received my upgrade nor heard any explanation from SOE as to why or what we did wrong

As a side note we tried this again about 3 weeks ago on the outside chance it was a fluke the first time and ended with the same result (Kromzek General's corpse poofs immediately after he is killed). I even have a screen shot showing the quest completed. One of the group members petitioned again and got the same response that I did (tough luck).

The strat posted here works fine it seems but the mission doesn't, unless we are missing something. If anyone knows more about this I would appreciate hearing.

Edited, Feb 19th 2008 1:05pm by Stroh
Broken?
# Feb 19 2008 at 10:07 AM Rating: Decent
17 posts
Thank you mfbrownbear!
I think you have answered the question, at least in my mind. Now, why couldn't I have gotten as timely and enlightening response from SOE customer service? lol
Broken?
# Feb 18 2008 at 3:22 PM Rating: Good
I have completed this monster mission many times and have seen the General's corpse "poof" on our group a couple of times. The reason I was told, and it fit our situation both times, was that the corpse will disappear if no player characters are within range at the time of the kill shot.

If you play it safe, you keep the Dain far away from the battle. If all the other group members were killed and waiting to respawn, or running back to the battle but still far away, at the time the Coldain army delivers the kill shot, the corpse will poof.

You need to have at least one player within an unknown range of the boss mob when it dies to keep it from poofing. It may be the range of a /say or it could be larger, but it's not a great distance.
After changes
# Aug 02 2007 at 3:39 AM Rating: Good
Scholar
21 posts
Apparently this mission has been patched since a lot of these strategies were posted. The Coldains no longer drop the normal giants like bowling pins and I'm told that you used to be able to stack them all in one location. This no longer works, so here's what my groups have been doing for this mission.


Basically, the entire setup for the classes is the same.

Pull the Chieftain/Warlord/General from the Eastern Wastes zoneline and run him all the way back to base camp for the Coldain army. Have the Dain hitting retreat until the Chieftain/Warlord/General is literally right on top of their base camp and then attack--- they'll swarm him. It drops him fairly quickly and with few causalties as long as your tank continues tanking his and his brute's damage.

After he falls, your Dain is safe to come out and wet his weapons killing the rest of the trash.

Rinse and repeat. This tactic has yielded me three flawless victories in a row so far. (No group or Coldain deaths)
After changes
# Oct 17 2007 at 9:59 AM Rating: Decent
i own dain 3. do not try what is mentioned above.

1) the dain army has two modes of effectiveness - "fight" and "resting" . if you follow the dain when they are told to attack, you will eventually see an emote that says "they turn their thoughts to battle". if they havent done this (which they dont do until they are a ways away from the base camp), then their damage output will be in the teens because they are in "resting" mode. conversely, once they change their thoughts to battle, their damage output is much higher since they are in "fight" mode.

2) the lead giant always runs slower than his followers. so the pull tactic, while effective for speeding up the speed of the mission, will not be your guaranteed win. he doesnt seem to be single pullable (havent tried the rabbit approach yet, however to test the ability to single pull it)
After changes
# Nov 01 2007 at 11:59 AM Rating: Decent
TooCrooked is right.
I made a test tonight : me (picked dain) and my shaman dual (picked cleric)
i sent armies forward and they wiped the 3 first wave so easily that it was funny to see. At that time i thought i could win easily but when last wave poped general saw me and he killed me dooooh mission lost with general at 61% :(

next time i will try to put dain at waterfall

i parsed then my 2 first attemps earlier and that one.
when you fight at camp dwarves hit for 31 and if you fight far from thurg they hit for... 235!!!!! yes 235, they are real killers hehe

I will try tomorrow again with dain far from general at last wave :)
Thanks for tip
# Jun 08 2007 at 4:33 PM Rating: Decent
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63 posts
Thanks for the very handy tip there Flazor. Works well
Army DPS / How to use it best.
# May 18 2007 at 9:55 AM Rating: Decent
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91 posts
The whole key to utilizing the Armies DPS is to KEEP THE GIANTS BACKS TURNED TO THEM. I have done this many times being the MT and as long as your group stays on MT side while attacking other giants, ( yes rogues just give up BS for a bit ) then you will keep Giants backs to incoming army. Then just watch the armies DPS go to work. They drop the giants So fast it's unbelievable. Once you figure how to do this with a good group then you'll Love D3 and wipes will be minimal.


Flazor 65th deciever Fennin Ro






____________________________
"Let the Rogue Have it, He'll keep it safe"
85 Rogue of Fennin Ro
last wave is tough
# Mar 01 2007 at 3:44 AM Rating: Default
some friends and i tried our hand at this a few weeks ago and almost got it after a few runs. too bad our play time ran out.. we were able to keep all coldains alive up to the last wave just pulling the named into the army when they got close and killing them down. But on the last wave the tanks would either go down too fast or the healers would get killed and even with full army of coldains would end up wiping. maybe the general wasnt fully focused on by the coldains, will have to try it again soon, but we used the same strategy for each wave.
Dain 3 Strategy I Created
# Jan 09 2007 at 2:08 PM Rating: Decent
Lately I have done a lot of dain 3 missions and tried a lot of strategies about how to do them. From this, I have created a strategy that, if followed correctly, will work. However, it is very crucial that every detail is noted and the strategy is followed word for word.

Before I place the strategy on here, I would like to note that in these missions, you should only use a group of all experienced players who have read this strategy carefully. They don't have to necessarily have done this mission before, but they should be someone who has been playing everquest for quite a bit. One newbie can ***** up the entire mission (of course this only happens at the very end when you're about to win).

Dain 3

Basic Setup:

In the Dain 3 mission, you and your party fight along side an army of Coldains and fight off four waves of the Kromzek Army. The best location to fight the Kromzek army is at the Coldain base camp. Shortly after beginning the mission, a message in yellow text will appear saying that the Kromzeks are marching forth. This means that they will arrive at the Coldain base camp in about 4 or 5 minutes. You will be waiting there with an army of 40 Coldains, including 4 captain units, several clerics, and a lot of soldiers and paladins. Once you defeat the general in the last wave of the Kromzek army, you have completed the mission. The drops will be found on the Kromzek General’s corpse.

Characters:

Dain:

Dain Frostreaver is the easiest character to play in this mission, and also the most boring. However, it is very important that the person playing as Dain Frostreaver won’t ***** up. Dain’s primary job is to merely stay alive. If he dies, the mission is over. While it may seem tempting to use him as a tank because of his high hp, it’s a very bad idea. In fact, having Dain fight is the best way to lose the mission. Dain must stay by General Lanix (NPC near zone in) for the entire mission. If you are on wave 2, 3, or especially 4, and Dain even approaches the fight a little bit just to be within sight of the battle, he WILL BE SUMMONED AND WILL DIE. It is extremely important to remember this, because just moving the tiniest bit forward and still being extremely far away can get Dain killed very quickly. Dain’s secondary job is to give commands to General Lanix. Dain commands the army of Coldains who are fighting. When the fighting begins, someone tell Dain and he will say to Lanix, “/say unit a forward””/say unit b forward””/say unit c forward””/say unit d forward”. You may want to make hotkeys for these as Dain. These commands make the army attack the Kromzeks if they haven’t begun to do so already, which unit D may not have because it is the farthest away from where you are likely to be fighting. If for some reason a section of the army begins to wander off, tell each unit to retreat with “/say unit a fall back” and so on for units b, c, and d.

Scouting Warrior (main tank):

The scouting warrior is the warrior on the bottom of the character select list, who has a little bit more endurance. The scouting warrior is the main tank and should train in all defensive AAs. DPS is the army’s job, not the players’. The purpose of the scouting warrior is to take all damage for the group and for the Coldains. The scouting warrior is also the puller. When pulling, the scouting warrior must be very precise. He must pull before the Kromzeks get close enough to agro the Coldains, so that he can take all of the damage and keep the Coldains alive. When the tank is ready to pull, he should use a hotkey something like this: “/g Pulling %t please give me a HoT now please.” As soon as you have a HoT, use a hotkey something like this: “/g pulling %t in 5 seconds send the army on him now please.” Wait 5 seconds and throw an axe at the leader of the Kromzek army (chieftain/warlord/general). When you pull, it is very important that the first thing the Coldains agro is the leader of the Kromzek army. Do this by making sure the leader is in the front when the army charges at you. The group is to always kill the leader of the Kromzek army first, and then the only job is to agro as many Kromzeks as you can in order to save the Coldains from grabbing agro. However, it is extremely important to NEVER USE ENRAGING BELLOW or to change targets with auto attack on. Both of these are surefire ways to agro the entire Coldain army. Then when people heal you and assist you they agro the cleric army. Everyone dies and when you get back you’ve lost a bunch of soldiers. It is recommended that you target the Kromzeks by their heads, which are far above those of the Coldains.

Non-Scouting Warrior:

This warrior’s job is to help out the main tank and Coldain army. He should buy all defensive AAs and act as a spare tank in case the main tank dies (which will happen in every mission). If the main tank ever dies, the other tank should grab agro from everything and keep the Coldains from harm until the main tank returns. The other warrior’s job is also to assist the main tank on the leader of the Kromzek army until it is dead. Then he is to help grab agro from anything that is attacking Coldains that the main tank missed. Playing as this character, you should not expect to be healed after the first wave or if the leader of the Kromzek army is still alive. Part of this character’s job is to take damage for the main tank and keep him alive longer. The longer the main tank stays alive, the longer the Coldains stay alive. It is also very important for this character to NEVER USE ENRAGING BELLOW or to change targets with auto attack on, for the same reasons stated above.

Rogue:

After doing many Dain 3 missions, and having the rogue always buy all defensive AAs, I have come to realize that the rogue is no good at taking damage for the main tank or spare tank. Therefore, the rogue should buy all offensive AAs for DPS. If the rogue is attacked, he will die before the clerics get a chance to heal him whether or not he has defensive or offensive AAs. Plus, the clerics won’t even be healing him unless you are on the first wave or the Kromzek leader is dead. Once the leader is dead, the rogue should begin attacking the Kromzek clerics or shamans.

Clerics:

The cleric has, by far, the most crucial and complicated job of them all. They should both buy all mana preserving type AAs and mental clarity. The conviction cleric is to make sure that everybody has conviction in the beginning and between waves. The only two heals that the clerics should use are light of recovery and perfect heal. Except for in the first wave, while the Kromzek leader is alive, the clerics are to only heal the main tank. The first cleric should begin casting perfect heal on the main tank as soon as the puller comes into range. They should use a hotkey to let the other cleric know. The other cleric then counts 5 seconds and begins to cast perfect heal on the main tank. The clerics will then continue to chain heal the main tank until the leader of the Kromzeks is dead. At this point, one cleric can heal the main tank and the other can heal the group members. If a cleric runs out of mana, they should agro as many Kromzeks as possible and sit keep sitting down. That way you will die and respawn with 50% mana. However, warn the other cleric before you do this so that they realize they are going to be solo-healing for a minute. The cleric should use a hotkey every time they cast a HoT or perfect heal so that the other cleric knows that you are already healing that person. This allows them to save mana and not end up perfect healing a guy who is only at 95% hp. One cleric must also give the scouting warrior a HoT right before he pulls. That way he can survive longer in case something goes wrong and the first cleric doesn’t get a perfect heal on him. As a cleric, you are likely to grab a lot of agro and get interrupted a lot. When this happens, run until the Kromzek(s) stop following you. Then you should return as fast as possible and continue to heal the main tank.

Waves:

First:

The first wave is the easiest by far. As in every wave, when the Kromzeks approach, the main tank is to be given a HoT. The army is then sent in as the main tank pulls. He should have to run towards the Kromzek army in order to be in range to throw an axe. He throws an axe at the Kromzek Chieftain and pulls him as far back into the Coldain army as possible. The Coldains will begin to attack him, but Dain should tell all units to attack anyway in case one or two units linger behind. For this wave, you will only need one cleric healing the main tank, and the other can heal the group. The main tank, other tank, and rogue should all be attacking the chieftain until he is dead. Then, their job is to agro all of the other Kromzeks and keep the Coldains from being hit. By the end of the fight, none of the Coldains should be dead.

Second:

The second wave is much harder than the first wave. The strategy is almost the same as for the first wave except for slight differences in healing. As soon as the main tank comes into range with the Kromzek Warlord following him, the first cleric should begin casting perfect heal on him. 5 seconds later, the second cleric begins. They continue to chain heal the main tank until the Warlord is dead. At this point, the second healer can begin to heal the group. By the end of this wave you should have 0 to 2 or 3 Coldain casualties. Anything more than 4 puts you in a bad position.

Third:

The third wave is the same as the second one, but will be more difficult. By the time it arrives, you will likely not be fully buffed/meditated and ready. Because of this, people tend to die a lot more in this wave, thus, the Coldains have nobody to take their agro. It is very important to keep the Coldains alive in this mission, because you will need extremely high DPS in order to kill the General in the fourth wave. The strategy for the third and second waves is the same. By the end of this wave you will want at least 20 Coldains left, which is still awfully low. A good number of Coldains to have left at the end of this wave is 30+. If you have 30+, your chances of winning are very strong.

Fourth:

This wave is the most troublesome wave of them all, and will be extremely difficult. The pulling strategy is just like all of the others, but there is a much larger load on the clerics to keep the main tank up. However, keeping the main tank up is not likely to happen, because the clerics will agro Kromzeks with their healing. Whatever the clerics do, they must not die before the main tank does. If the main tank, other tank, and rogue all die, then one of the clerics is to rush in and agro the Kromzeks. They are to then put on divine aura and survive as long as possible until the tanks return. If the tanks have not arrived yet, and the divine aura has worn off, the other cleric should use their divine aura and tank as soon as the first cleric dies. By then, the tanks should be back to take as much damage as possible while the Coldains kill the general. Whatever you do, don’t let the Kromzeks attack the Coldains. If that happens, the Coldains will die; the fourth wave of the Kromzek army can kill Coldains at about 90 kpm (kills per minute). If you lose the army on the 4th wave, then you lose the mission. By the time you reach the Kromzek general to do more damage to him, his shamans will have healed him and you won’t be able to survive long enough to kill him with just your group. Once the Kromzek General is dead, everybody in the group should let the Kromzeks kill them, and the let the Kromzeks kill the Coldain army. Someone can then train the Kromzeks away from the Generals corpse so that you can loot it.

Key things to remember:

***NEVER USE ENRAGING BELLOW OR CHANGE TARGETS WITH AUTOATTACK ON
***DAIN SHOULD NEVER EVEN APPROACH THE FIGHT GOING ON BECAUSE HE WILL BE SUMMONED AND WILL DIE.
*Always kill the leader of the Kromzek army first
*Make sure you execute the pulling method flawlessly
*The leaders of the Kromzek army summon but the soldiers do not
*Keep the Coldains alive
*Keep Dain alive
*Assist the main tank on the leader of the Kromzek army
*If you agro a Coldain, use a Hotkey to warn everybody not to heal you or assist you. Sit down over and over again until you die and respawn, clear of agro. Then run back and continue fighting.
*Everybody should train 4/4 for runspeed

Edited, Jan 9th 2007 5:04pm by Xtab
Nerfed
# Dec 31 2006 at 1:16 PM Rating: Decent
I have done about 50 of these in the past boxed with 4, but I think it is nerfed bad now. The army does NO damage almost. I always split out the named and getting him killed is usually no problem, then just take the hits by the giants while the army mops up the rest. Now, the army can't kill anything. Seriously, sometimes you will get one giant guy with like 20 Dwarves on him and nothing.

I tested it by attacking them so they could kill me, they couldn't even kill my cleric. They just chain cast this 'unknown spell' and it doesn't seem to do anything.

Thanks SOE for nerfing this into the ground.

The problem is that there are still remnants of one wave still there when the next one arrives. It takes that long. I have tried using Dain as DPS and it helps some, but the clerics go OOM healing because they can't rest between waves. The army is useless.
Nerfed
# Jan 02 2007 at 5:18 PM Rating: Decent
I have been doing a lot of these recently and I disagree with this. The army is the DPS for the mission and makes the damage done by the group very insignificant. They can tear down a giant in about 20 to 30 seconds and the Kromzek General in just a few minutes with the group's assistance. Without the army, the damage being done to the Warlords and General is insignificant and completing the mission is nearly impossible. They regenerate their hit points almost as fast as the group's DPS. By the time you get him down to 85% or 90% health, your group is likely dead. By the time you return to him he's back up at 100% health.
Nerfed
# Mar 27 2007 at 3:53 PM Rating: Good
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108 posts
Ive done this mission now 13 times over the last 3 months, and yes it is HORRIBLY nerfed. Save for the Captains, each member of the army ONLY swings for 12 damage. Maximum. Not kidding. They are lt blue to your group, but swing for next to nothing. The Captains on the other hand max at 200 and can Flurry but their attack is so low they rarely manage to even hit the mobs. BUT, Xtab is right in one respect. There are 48 of them (even though several are clerics) and 4 Captains. Do the math.
Sadly, the Dain does more damage per second than the entire army. I've proven this now. Which means after initial pull, send in the Dain and tear UP a couple of the Giants. With a Single HoT to heal him he can kill 3-5 soldiers while the entire army and everyone else deals with just the general. Butcher the last ones down and THEN switch to the tactic Xtab detailed up top. You wont have any leftovers, and plenty of time to heal and buff before next wave. Keep the Dain away no matter what if the named are still up and don't get him anywhere near the action on the final wave.
A few other details. Randomly, the Giants seem to lose agro and become invulnerable to damage. Really. No casting on them, no roots (which ONLY work on 1st wave soldiers), nothing. You have to wait till it randomly re-agros someone before you can do any damage to it. Because of this you cant pull any of the massive horde apart to single out and kill any one mob, even with the absurd damage the Dain can do, unless the mob is within about 15ft of all the rest. The Dain doesn't necessarily get summoned the instant he gets near. He can if the Warlord/General has been damaged and there is no character (not Coldain) within melee range.
The agro on this mission is COMPLETELY messed up. Be aware and good luck. Im gonna try again with Xtab's mods to my strat and see what happens. My leetle shammy wants that Aug!!
____________________________
Master Aeldwan the Coercer and Decimator Buddercup Voxslayer of MT/Emarr
Glance the Stabber, Raiding Rogue of The Last Revolution
Kaarse the Ash Warden, Striker of the Black Desert
Keonka the Mangler of Drenden and Kager Ironveins Paladin of Arathor
Skuffal Skugbref of Chaos Wastes
Raene, Defiant of Harrow
Argus Grimm Elite Sniper of Auraxis and the 2RAF
"Doing the improbable daily to make the impossible seem easy"
Nerfed
# Apr 23 2007 at 3:39 PM Rating: Decent
All of the Coldains, even the clerics, hit for much more than 12 damage. I've seen generals hit in the three hundreds before and they normally hit in the 100-200s. Dain doesn't have anywhere near their DPS with all 48 of them. And the reason i said you'll get summoned even if you just approach the battle was because a lot of people think with this kind of logic... "Oh, i'll just take a few steps closer..." (30 seconds later) "Oh, i'll just step a bit closer to get a better view..." and every 30 seconds they forget that they moved forward and then they get summoned. You do, however, get summoned from much farther than other summoning mobs outside MMs usually summon. And it may be ok to use dain for extra DPS on first wave but i still would never do that and you should never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever, yes i have to emphasize it this much, ever ever ever ever ever ever use dain in any waves after the first. Unless you and everybody in your group is some kind of ultra expert at doing dain 3 missions, your tank will die at least once, probably more, in wave 4. This means that if your tank were dain, dain would die. Plus, I believe (not totally sure of this) that the kromzeks will stop attacking the MT and attack dain as soon as he is within range, despite how much agro the MT has on the kromzeks. Dain will not survive 10 seconds to get a PH on him. A PH is needed every 8 seconds or so on this wave.

Good luck getting the aug people :) Dain 2 is a bad mission. easy but very boring.

Edited, May 12th 2007 6:44pm by Xtab
Spinz's Stragety
# Nov 19 2006 at 1:23 AM Rating: Decent
Hey, this is Spinz/ManDeemedMad on Saryrn. I have done a lot of the Dain three successfully and this is how I do it, step by step. I usually box the Dain and Scouting warrior.

First, read the post "STRAGETY", posted Sept 17, 2006, buy Miasauo it will help a lot (but it never worked for me). In this situation, you will only need 4 toons in group, Dain, warrior and the clerics. It's a bit easier to do the D3 with more, but they are not needed. Remember, (1) Timing is EVERYTHING. (2) the Coldain Dwarven Army is your DPS, not the PC toons, (3) the clerics must be able to heal correctly and stay in communication with one another (4) the Dain and the Scouting Warrior need to be in constant communication. (5) it's over if too many of your Coldains die.

Dain: Set up hotkeys before entering the MM. The Dain won't be moving way from the Coldain General but once, so other than Run Speed 4, AA's aren't a big thing.
Button One:
- /say Unit D Forward
- /pause 15
- /say Unit C Forward
- /pause 15
- /say Unit B Forward
Button Two:
- /say Unit A Forward
- /group Army sent in
Button Three:
- /say Unit D Forward
Button four:
- /say Unit D to Position Four
- /pause 20
- /say Unit C to Position Two
- /pause 20
- /say Unit B to Position Three
Other buttons should be made to make the coldains retreat and a report button.

Warriors, Clerics and the Rouge: ALL defensive AA's, Runs and anything that even LOOKS like a Defensive ability (Stamina, Riposte, Regen, etc.).

Warrior's Note: Do NOT use Enraging Bellow. It will aggro the Coldain dwarves (and the giants) the dwarves will stop fighting the Giants and attack you and anyone that heals you! Use Armor Cleave, Taunt and Kick. Use both weapons as they give a little more HP and DPS for a little less AC.

Choose one of the Warriors to be the Scout. The person that is going to play this toon should zone into the MM last as an added precaution because the fourth wave General has a strange agro and this might help. This "Scouting" Warrior is the ONLY toon that is going to be healed by the Clerics. The Rouge and the other Warrior are going to make /assist buttons and ONLY assist off the Scouting Warrior player. Attacking randomly will end up causing an accidental attack on a Coldain. Once the targeted mob dies, the rest of the Gaints will attack this "Scouting" Warrior and that toon will have a valid mob to attack for everyone to assist off of.

After everyone gets their Convict, everyone but the Dain goes to the Position 2 Flag. The Clerics are stationed just a few feet up the hill and behind the flag. The Scouting Warrior and the Rouge stand so that the Position 2 Flag is at the very edge of the left side of your screen and the flag waves in and out of the top of your screen. (Rouge stands only a millimeter behind the Scouting Warrior.) The other Warrior stands between the scout Warrior and the Clerics to Taunt/Armor Cleave/Attack/Kick the occational giant that attacks the clerics for the first 2 PH casts before Assisting off of the Scouting Warrior and taking Damage.


The Clerics: All you really need to do is cast Perfect Heals (PH). The Scouting Warrior will need only one Light of Recovery prior to the fight/pull (about the time the Named (Chieftain/Warlord/General) gets past the Obelisk). You will need to heal the Scouting Warrior in turns. Once the first Cleric starts the first PH the second Cleric will wait 5 second and start their PH. Once your PH starts casting, just spam the PH's until the wave is over, without interuption. You won't need the mind buff Pure Thought that the Dain casts because you will be medding between waves so you will have plenty of mana. Convict and heal the other Warrior and Rouge after the waves is done as needed.

The Other Warroir and the Rouge: Die. Yes, I said die. The object here is to take all the damage you can get so that (1) the Scout Warrior takes less damage and (2) he is easier to heal and (3) keep the Coldains from getting hit and especially dying. Once you die, just run back as quickly as possible and fight, repeat until the wave it done.

The Scouting Warrior: I suggest you create some hotbuttons to tell the clerics and the Dain what you will need to have done as you are the eyes for everyone else. You don't want to waste time typing when something needs to happen.
Button one:
- /group Hit me with a Heal Over Time! I am going to agro the Named.
Button two:
- /group The Named is in place. Send the Coldain Army in now!
Button three:
- /group The General is at the Obelisk, Send in Unit D!
Button Four:
- /group I am going to agro the General, Hot me and send in the remaining units and HOT me!
Once you get your AA's and Convict, go to the Cannon Ridge (approx loc: -1800, -1650) where you can view the Wizard's Spires and wait for the Giants to appear. Target the Named as soon as you see him so your buddies have a target to assist off of. Then wait until the Named paths to into the cannon about 1/3 to less than 1/2 of the way into that first ridge you are standing in front of. (approximate loc of the named -2000, -2000) then tell the Dain to send in the Army (Dain's Button 1 then Button 2). Now run back to your place by the Position 2 flag witht the rouge and wait.

Now watch for the Coldains to start attacking. This will happen just before or around when the Giants get to the Obelisk. The Named will move forward and away from his troops as his troups will break formation to attack the defending Coldain Army. Let the Gaints and the Named separate. (takes less than 2-3 seconds) This is when you call for your HOT from the Clerics. AFTER THE HOT LANDS throw an axe at the Named and start attacking/Armor Cleaving/Taunting/Kicking the Named. The rouge should jump in a few moments after the Gaint's troups start attacking the Scouting Warrior. The other warrior should jump in after the second PH is cast to insure that the clerics don't get agro. This gives more agro to the Scouting Warrior (and the Rouge and other Warrior might not die) and the if the Gaints do get agro on the clerics, you canj take it off of them.

Once the fighting is over and the wave is completed, have the Dain recall the Army back to the camp.

Do this for the first three waves. You should have no more than 0-7 coldains dead after the third wave. Often, when I get a good group with good clerics, I won't loose a single coldain throughout the entire MM. Only a few dwarven deaths are acceptable. That is because the Coldains are your DPS.

Dain: At the end of the third wave, run over to look over the Coldain troops and see that they are all in the camp and set in formation, including the clerics. Once the Clerics are in place that means that the Army is all healed and ready to go. Now run back to the General and use Dain's Button Four (Positions).

Now do everything the same as before, but when the General gets to the point that the Dain normally sends in the entire Army, he only presses Dain's Button Two (Unit A) to separate the Troops from the General. (Suggestion: Send in Unit A a tiny bit earlier than you did before.)

When the General reaches the Obelisk, the Dain presses Dain's Button Three (Unit D). This is because flag Position 4 is so far away. When the Scouting Warrior asks for the HOT, the Dain presses Dain's Button One (to send in Units B and C). The /pause 15 is a good amount of time to allow the HOT to get into place before the coldains start attacking.

Here is what you are trying to do. The Coldains are going to attack the first Giant they encounter, on the 4th wave, that should be the General. You are massing the Coldains to take out the only important/lootable Mob in D3, the General. Usually, everyone but the Dain dies on this wave, but that is okay. If the Scouting Warrior dies and the Clerics are attacked, they might want to put up auras to make their life last a little longer and give the Coldains more time to do damage. When the Clerics die, go to the General/Dain area and wait there. The Dain should cast Pure Thought on the Clerics ASAP. Then as the Warriors and Rouge the pass the Clerics they should (1) get a perfect heal from the Clerics, (2) hit the "Esc" key to clear their targets, (3) hit the "Q" button to attack and (4) run back into battle. Once the Warriors/Rouge get clost to the fight, they will be summoned by the General and he will be in your targeting box and you will be attacking again. There is no point to send the Clerics back into the fighting area after they die as they will be Summoned then killed right away.

Just keep doing this until you kill all the Giants. If the Scouting Warrior dies BUT the General is down to around 50% HP, you will win anyway, the Coldains will get it done. But you still need to be there to take the damage to stop them from dying so they can do their jobs.

If you are having a problem getting past the third wave, use the 4th wave stragety to get past it.

Thanks To: Heppen/Gnaras for all the work we did to figure out this stragety. You rule dude! Miasauo for giving the clues needed to figure this out.
PROBLEMS
# Sep 28 2006 at 11:26 PM Rating: Decent
Is it me or is the pathing all screwed up...they like to run away more now.

Also, I can't get the coldains to heal at all.....4 missions and not a single heal by any coldain. Are they healing PC's anymore?

I have also noticed that the giants are respawning in the middle of a fight...has anyone else seen this?
Doable with 3
# Sep 24 2006 at 7:13 PM Rating: Decent
45 posts
Done this many times with 3 people, dain and 2 clerics. Leave the dwarf army where it starts, as first giant army comes get dain to tag and pull to centre of dwarf army (make sure dain has rs maxed). Take out named first, just chain cheal on dain and he'll be fine. The giants will mostly focus on dain so you won't lose any of the dwarf army to giants, some might take a few hits but dwarf army has healers and they sort themselves out. Rinse and repeat, last one is a bit hard as named hits hard, but as long as clerics stay away from battle they won't get aggro and can chain cheal. Can do with more than 3, but personally I prefer not to as it means someone else to roll against for portion of seal or rare aug drop, and they don't like healers not healing them.

BTW - DON'T target mobs using F8, this also targets dwarfs and if u attack one of them its all bad (and if dain attacks one u will need to restart; if someone else attacks don't heal them, let them die).
Strategy
# Sep 17 2006 at 7:06 AM Rating: Decent
5 posts
Heres how its done!

Minimum this can be done is with 4, maximum preferred is also 4.

Classes:

Dain - only need to set IRS4, since he wont be moving.
Clerics (both required) - Max defensive AA, irs4 random leftover points. Can put them in whatever, doesnt matter much.
Warrior - Max defensive, irs4, whatever else. However, do NOT use Enraging Bellow. It will aggro the dwarves as well as the giants, and the dwarves will kill you and anyone that heals you.

Next, positioning. Dain stands next to the general until the entire dain is completed. Clerics stand on the south side of the small hill near the position 3 flag (approx loc: -2390, -370). Both clerics stand together at this location. Warrior stands a bit north of the flag for position 3 (approx loc: -2320, -370). This is where he will pull to also, to remain in range for perfect heal. Any of the monsters except the dain can be used to scout. Scout stands near the canyon edge within view of the wizard spires (approx loc: -1800, -1650)

Next, Timing. Timing in d3 is very important to get maximum effictiveness out of the dwarven army. The scout needs to watch for the giants to path down through the spires, through the canyon, and toward the obelisk. When the boss giant of whichever wave you happen to be on passes (approximate loc -2000, -2000) the scout needs to inform the dain to send the army to attack. Visually, its shortly after the second bump they hit after the spires, though the first bump is relatively small so im not sure if it even counts. Best bet is to get the scout to the appropriate spot and have a groupmate stand at the aforementioned loc to see about where it is. When the dain receives instruction to send the army, he should send them unit D first, followed by C, B, then A in that order with the commands /say unit d forward|/say unit c forward and so on. Wait about 2-3 seconds before sending each unit to attack so they get nicely stacked up on top of each other, and move as a block of pure dps. After the scout has told the dain to move the army, he should run back to his spot with the rest of the group near the position 3 flag. About 1 minute later, this group will see the giants coming over the last hill of the canyon by the obelisk. Nothing should have aggroed the giants by this time. The dwarven army will roll down the hill just north of the obelisk and engage the giant army. The group needs to wait for this to happen, because this peels the boss giant away from the army. He will keep walking toward the river. When he reaches the flag for position 2, the warrior should throw an axe at him and bring him back to the spot infront of the flag. Hitting him will distract the giant army from the dwarven army and focus their attention on the warrior. Clerics should start A 5 second PH Rotaton as soon as the warrior gets hit by the boss giant. 9/10 times the clerics will not pull aggro. if they do, usually only one does, and the other can continue to spam PH on the tank and you will live through the wave. When all giants are dead, someone needs to let the dain know to recall the army to base.

This tactic works for all waves, just wash/rinse/repeat until you win. Wave 4 does not always go the same way, but using this strategy will keep your army in good shape, and if they are only down 5 or 6 dwarves by wave 4 they will be able to kill off the giants even if you dont get a hit off in the beginning. Also you can toss a HoT on the tank before he pulls the boss, although ive found its not necessary. With the ph rotation started at the proper time it keeps him alive without a problem.

I have noticed that every so often after wave 4 that if no one is down with the giant boss when he dies his corpse will disappear. This is where your 2 spare people come in handy. If everyone who is engages dies on wave 4, tell your spare crew to run on down and get the giant boss targetted. He can summon you from the rock in the river, so be careful to just remain in sight but no closer, and back up if you start to pull giants toward you, they will turn around. If someone can see him die, his corpse will not disappear.

Hope this writeup helps! and please, if you have any questions or futher comments please post incase someone else was wondering the same thing :)


Many thanks to Dharkaron, who introduced this strategy. Also thanks to Sallidar, Mykaylla, and Lyrec, who helped perfect it :)


Miasaou
70 Bedazzler
Cazic-Thule

Edited, Sep 17th 2006 at 11:07am EDT by miasaou
Strategy
# Oct 28 2006 at 11:59 AM Rating: Decent
Tried this strat today (10/28/06). The problem we had was while the named would split from the rest when we attacked him the dwarves DID NOT assist the MT. This lead to several deaths of the fighting toons. On one attempt the third wave boss was the very last giant killed. In the end there simply weren't enough dwarves to take out the named since they were all spread out.
Strategy
# Sep 27 2006 at 5:06 PM Rating: Decent
5 posts
UPDATE!!!

Mission was harder after the patch, but after completing d3 a few times this morning it seems to be back the way it was before the patch. I am hoping the changes made in the patch were unintentional, and it will stay this way and working properly :)

*Edit* - reupdate after patch changes were fixed.

Edited, Sep 28th 2006 at 8:29am PDT by miasaou
Strategy
# Sep 17 2006 at 11:55 AM Rating: Decent
Confirm this works as advertised. Ended with light casualties to A and B. We think, but have not tried this, that you could do this with three: Dain and two clerics. One cleric spots. Dain gives commands, runs to battle and MT's. We may try this out of necessity and if we do, will post results.
Strategy
# Sep 17 2006 at 11:03 AM Rating: Decent
21 posts
Amazing guide. Works perfectly.

After a whole evening spent trying to make it, following the previous posts, we tried your guide and it went so smooth that I was scared.

Kudos, grats and whatever else I can say to thank you.
Strategy
# Sep 17 2006 at 10:58 AM Rating: Decent
Miasaou,
This works great, did it in 30min !!!
I dont know how to thank you for this post, had 3 failures in a row before in few hours.
Royie
XP...
# Aug 24 2006 at 11:50 PM Rating: Decent
The xp from this MM can be pretty insane...BUT it seems to be based on how many of the coldain soldiers are still alive at the end of the mission(The more soldiers survive...the more XP you get) Has anyone else experienced this? Gunna try it again tonight and see if we have the same results.
MIssioin name.
# Aug 24 2006 at 7:44 PM Rating: Good
**
451 posts
The Defense of Thurgadin
MIssioin name.
# Aug 25 2006 at 1:13 AM Rating: Excellent
****
6,998 posts
Aegishopi wrote:
The Defense of Thurgadin


Updated, thanks.
The real winning strat
# Aug 14 2006 at 5:17 AM Rating: Decent
The posted strats so far here don't quite work as well as they should. I did a little experimenting with a 3 box, yes only 3 characters running the whole mission with 99% success rate (sometimes no casualties even after the general)
Here is the strategy:

When starting the task you want the 2 warriors and Dain. One warrior is the puller, the other is a peeler and dain stays parked at teh general. Warrios need all defensive AAs, stamina, run4 and flurry/combat fury. Dain needs improved healing and mana preservation, as high as they can go.

Once inside the mission, your designated puller goes straight to wehre the kromzek are camped out, which is up on top of the ridge just west of the EW zoneline. your peeler is going to be just west of the river over by the obelisk, the position is marked as forward position #2 and it is visually indicated as one of the flags.

After a certain amonut of time, the first wave will become "active" you will know they are active because they're instantly buffed at that moment so there's a large green particle effect around the whole group of them. have the puller throw an axe at the main mob (chieftain in this situation) and begin to run toward the puller.

When the mobs reach the spires, quickly switch to dain, send all troops in the order of D,C,B,A this will cause the army to stack up on each other and move as more or less one large mass of dps.

Keep the mobs coming and make sure they don't get out of range cause then everything's screwed up, though you can still recover from it, its just not as pretty. once the puller gets the mobs just before the obelisk, have him make a full sprint just past the river, then switch to the peeler.

As the peeler, you want to pick out the lead mob, (general, warlord, chieftain) and throw an axe at it. with the exception of the general, who has a screwed up agro, all of the lead mobs will follow your peeler and agro a minimal amount of the rest of the army. run up the hill on your peeler with the lead mob in tow. the coldain army will obviously agro the lead mob first since that's the first mob they see. The lead mob will drop quickly but beware of enrage, move around the mob to put the coldain in a dps position so they can quickly finish off the mob and completely avoid the 10 or so secodns of enrage.once that's been accomplished you have the rest of the army to deal with.

I've found that on the peeler, you should let yourself drop to about 30%, then begin to run away from teh army. this will mean you'll probably be at 20% or lower hp, which then lets you low hp kite the rest of the mobs with the fast little coldain at their heels picking them off one by one and leaving no casualties. heal the warriors with dain, rinse and repeat until all waves are dead. if done right, you will win 99% of the time.

Edited, Aug 14th 2006 at 6:22am EDT by Kanark
The real winning strat
# Aug 22 2006 at 7:04 PM Rating: Decent
*
72 posts
Strat works perfectly, only differece i did was have a cleric bot as well and parked the 2 tanks in the middle of all the mobs to keep agro off dwarves, but this did not work with general, so did as was posted and ran around while dwarves finished him off.
I lost minimal troops even by the end.
As requested by Cael, HE Cleric of Stromm.
# Aug 01 2006 at 10:16 AM Rating: Decent
As promised to Cael, a cleric on stromm from Havens Edge, here is the winning strat in a write up. I never read the boards before trying this mission. When I zone in, I was amazed. It reminded me of the original warcraft with troops to command, but in first person verses a macro view. It is real time action of you commanding troops to defend Dain Frostweaver III. Kirby's post is close to what I came up with so Kudos sir, and i am glad there are people out there still willing to give up strat info.

When you get the mission there are 6 dwarfs to chose from. Dain, cleric with conviction, cleric without, warrior, warrior, and a rogue. Select your class before you zone in.

Inside, select AAs. DO NOT GET ENDURANCE regen as nothing uses it. TAKE YOUR TIME, as the first wave is not triggered until Dain talks to the dwarf commander/general. I recommend everyone get max run speed so when you die you can run back to the battle to do damage. Also, select max healing abilities for clerics, max offensive for the rogue and one warrior (whoever is not going to be MA), max defensive/attack speed/one lvl enraging below(AE Taunt) for MA Warrior, and max defensive for Dain with rest in healing.

Cleric with conviction, as soon as you make a hot key buff all with it and med. Dain dishes out mind candy to the casters, which is a fairly short duration, and may need to be refreshed between waves.

Set up your hot keys on an unused page so you can click them eaisly. I only played the warrior, so I had kick, range attack, armor cleave, attack, and taunt. By the time you have done this 3 times. You will have so much time between waves to med, smoke, beer, bio, or what ever. You can SAVE your AA selection when done, so the next time you play you can get going quicker.

Whoever is playing the Dain moves down to the dwarf commander/general due south of Thurgadin. Dain gives commands to the commander/general who shouts them to the troops. There are 4 different dwarf divisions, A B C and D. Set up hot keys for each division to attack. THAT is all you need.

Other 5 people move down to the dwarf army. Warriors drop your shield and equip your second weapon from your backpack. Then move the Axe's to the range weapon slot. MA Warrior out front a bit with the rest of the group between you and the dwarf army.

Side note: You have time to experiment to see where the Dain can send the troops. There are three positions, 1, 2, and 3. Only one Dwarf Division per location is allowed, so if you wish to follow the script as intended you can There is a flag at each location. As you approach

You will see an emote when each wave of giants spawn. The giants make their way from Eastern Wastes through this pass and turn north toward the dwarven armies. You can choose to pull them to the army to make things quicker, as we did. I sent the rogue or the dps warrior down through the pass and east till he/she found the giant chief/general. He/she would throw an axe to gain agro, followed by lots of screaming and running for his/her life. The chief/general was pulled back to the mountain pass and into the middle of the valley. Then the puller runs due north and stops exactly behind the MA.

MA throws a few axes, attack on, armor cleave, taunt, kick. Click armor cleave every time it pops up. You should not lose agro except to the rogue.

The object of the first three waves is to keep alive as many of the dwarf soldiers, pallies, and clerics as possible for the fourth and final wave. If you have sub three groups, or lost more than 4 dwarf clerics, you will have a hard time beating the 4th wave. Not saying it is not winnable but a lot of luck must be on your side. These guys are weak fodder, but they are great at zerging the closest non named to them and thus keeping some of the giants combined DPS off of your clerics and group.

So, once the MA has thrown a few axes, he needs to tell Dain to call all attack for the dwarven army. This will take a little timing to learn when the best time is to send them. You want to time it so the chief/general + 4 other giants are on the MA. He is much better at taking damage than the dwarfs. The dwarfs WILL NOT attack the named unless it is last. Also think of the dwarfs as pets as the giants will attack a PC before them.

On the first two waves, feel free to mingle in with the giants to absorb some of the damage to the dwarfs. These waves are smaller in number and easier to control and heal your group. Clerics set up heal assignments for the MA tank and the rogue/dps warrior so that you do not heal the same person. The spell "perfect heal" is litterally a perfect heal to 100% as opposed to a CH :). 10 seconds after the Dain calls for all troops to attack, he can run down and assist for these two waves.

On waves 3 and 4, have everyone stand behind the MA and attack the giant named head on, as heals to the MA are very important toward controlling him. If you "mingle" in with the giants, do not expect a heal. Clerics here need to start a 5 sec Perfect Heal rot. The Dain can start to run down to assist 30 to 45 seconds after giving the order for all to attack. HOWEVER, till the named is dead, do not melee. Run down to assist heal on non MA warrior.

This strat/method keeps your units as a complete force, maximizing the dwarven army's DPS while distributing the Giants dps amoung as many dwarves as possible. If the giants did any other tactic, this would not work well.

The end. You win.

Gurol Crush of Stromm
Meat Team of Evolutia

PS. This is not how the script is intended to be won. I have won it the intended way one of 8 times. There is too much room for error as the timing is every thing when sending the troops to attack. The optimal situation is for all 4 Divisions to arrive at the giants in the mountain pass at the same time to maximize the dwarf DPS as well as help spread out the giants dps.
strat
# Jul 21 2006 at 1:40 PM Rating: Excellent
I posted a strat for this mission at:
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zones.html?zstrat=120
Rare drop
# Jul 15 2006 at 10:54 PM Rating: Decent
The common drop is the mask, the rare drop is an hp aug:

Pristine Petrified Dragon Eye
Fits in slot type: 7
HP: +65
SV FIRE: +7 SV COLD: +7 SV MAGIC: +7

Restrictions:
Fits in all equipment slots
ALL/ALL
Recommended level of 70

Needs a solvent class XIV augmentation distiller to remove it
Controlling the army
# Jul 14 2006 at 9:27 AM Rating: Decent
**
286 posts
Our guild has done this quite a few times, and have been very successful. Here is our strategy; might work for you, then again might not.

Typically we have a full group of six, but I suspect this can be done by fewer. After buffing, the rogue pulls the giants to the army once they reach forward position 1. We pull to here mainly to leave the army in their starting position. The rogue is allowed to die, and then the MT holds agro. Kill the boss mob first, then the healer types, then finally the grunts. Leave the Dain in the rear until the boss mob is dead because if the Dain goes down, the mission is a bust. It's important that the puller gets the giants close enough to agro the army, so it's best not to engage them until you see all the dwarven units on the move. The army hits like crap, so consider them like a short-legged DoT. Only the final wave will present any problem as the final boss summons. The way we dealt with this was moved one cleric nearer the rez point to heal and buff folks as they died, and only returne into the fight in pairs. This way when the first person was summoned, there was a second person who could run in, acquire a target and do some damage. All in all, a really challenging and fun mission.
Drop
# Jul 13 2006 at 7:23 PM Rating: Decent
Ruby Inlaid Frost Covered Mask
Facce ac 12 7 dex,stm,cha,wis,int 70 hp, 80 mana
7 sv fr, Dis, Cld
Rdec lvl 60
Common drop
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