Plane of War: Rulnavis #3 - Tactical Strike  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
What:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:100
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Quest
Quest Goal:
  • Advancement
  • Experience
  • Money
Faction Required:
Castle Rulnavis (Min: Ally)
Quest Items:
Related Creatures:
Related Quests:
Era:Call of the Forsaken
Recommended:
Group Size:Solo
Min. # of Players:1
Max. # of Players:1
Appropriate Classes:
  • All
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Sun Apr 13 19:18:07 2014
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023


THE PLANE OF WAR:

Access Quests: #1 - Field of Strife & Mines | #2a - Castle Rulnavis | #2b - Castle Tamrel | #3 - The Grandmaster's Tower
Castle Rulnavis Quests: #1 - Defending the Castle | #2 - A Colossal Task | #3 - Tactical Strike
Castle Tramrel Quests: #1 - The Tamrel Trials | #2 - A New Colonel In Town | Edmuund's Plight
Quests in the Mines: Katka's Cause | Deserving of Battle
Named Spawns & Locations: Hunter of the Plane of War
Castle Faction Quests: Castle Rulnavis | Castle Tamrel | Escape to Tamrel



This quest is the third in a series of three and begins with High Strategist Galben (click for map image) on the second floor of Castle Rulnavis in the Plane of War.

Pre-Requisites for Starting the Quest:
- Access to Castle Rulnavis (see this quest)
- Ally faction with Castle Rulnavis (see this quest)
- Completed the first Rulnavis quest, "Defending the Castle".
- Completed the second Rulnavis quest, "A Colossal Task".
- Completed the Mines quest, "Katka's Cause".



Beginning the Quest

At the end of the previous quest, you received a "Plan for Narikor". Once you've done the "Katka's Cause" quest in the Mines, you can hand the Plans back to him:

High Strategist Galben crumples the plans in his fist. 'There is no longer need for paper. The souls have risen, and Squelniss has trapped them. They linger in this castle, awaiting my word, awaiting the fate for which they were destined. You think me mad? Do you think Drelg of Tamrel honors the wishes of our Father? He too consults the dark shamanic arts and feeds upon the souls of Narikor. His crystallized souls shroud him and his spies from view, and even as we speak he plans to drown our forces in an invisible tide of steel. But this will not happen. You will take the colossus, imbued with the souls you have brought back from Narikor. You will deliver it to the gate of Castle Tamrel, use it to smash the crystals, and finally plant its stony fists through the face of Drelg himself. Go now, and give these requisitions to Gurkan and Forlen. I will have my victory.

You receive "Assault Bow Requisition" and "Colossus Requisition".



The Requisitions

Hand in the "Colossus Requisition" to Troopmaster Gurkan (click for map image):

Troopmaster Gurkan shakes nervously as he presents the colossus before you. 'It's smaller than the original, but no less fearsome. And the shrieks those souls made when Squelniss confined them to the body... I don't even want to think about it. Take this thing and go. If this is the cost of victory, so be it, but I'm glad I'm not the one delivering the ultimate payment.'

You receive "Strategic Colossus".

Hand in the "Assault Bow Requisition" to Fletcher Forlen (click for map image):

Fletcher Forlen hands you a bow as tall as you are. 'The best I've ever made. This will pierce the heart of any wall defender, even at a great distance. It will buy you enough time to march that monstrosity into Castle Tamrel. And keep the bow close by your side: an arrow to the leg will hobble even the bravest guard.'

You receive "Assault Bow".



Into Castle Tamrel

Some warning: This portion of the quest involves the killing of a named mob that has AE damage spells and that spawns multiple adds that hit for 25k+ and each have their own AE spells. It is reported as a difficult encounter for two full raid groups.

With the "Assault Bow" and "Strategic Colossus", head to Castle Tamrel. From the bridge, look up, and kill all eight mobs called "a Tamrelian wall defender" with your "Assault Bow" (one-shot kills). Then at the base of the bridge, right-click the "Strategic Colossus" to spawn "a possessed colossus" which will follow you around.

NOTE: The AI of the possessed colossus is odd, and it will run around a lot. Don't get too far away from it, or it may warp back to the bridge. Mobs will not aggro the colossus.

The colossus has an active timer of 60 minutes, and a second timer for when it is engaged on "a shamanic resonance" (30 minutes - more details on this to follow). This second timer does not reset when it engages a second resonance; it continues to tick down from where it was on the previous one.

Upon summoning the colossus, you see:

a possessed colossus cannot enter the castle while the wall defenders live!

a possessed colossus can enter the castle now that the wall defenders are dead.

a possessed colossus has 58 minutes before it loses its power.

Head inside Castle Tamrel, and kill 4x "a shamanic resonance" (click for map image). These each have a respawn timer of about 10 minutes, and they ALL must be dead in order to spawn High Tactician Drelg (your kill target). You can attack the resonances without the possessed colossal, but their health will not go down until the colossus attacks it and emotes.

Note: The resonances have a large assist range for mobs in the castle, so you'll want to clear mobs around it first. The resonances are perma-rooted in place and attack back.

Given High Tactician Drelg's spawn location, it may be worth killing the two north resonances first, followed by the southernmost resonance, and then the last (which is closest to the named's spawn point).

Locations of the resonances (click for map image):

a shamanic resonance: -1690, -1725, 31
a shamanic resonance: -1790, -1945, 31
a shamanic resonance: -1210, -2025, 31
a shamanic resonance: -730, -1685, 31

Upon attacking "a shamanic resonance", you see:

a shamanic resonance is made vulnerable by the power of the possessed colossus!

a possessed colossus has 27 minutes before it loses its power.

When "a shamanic resonance" dies, you see:

a shamanic resonance shatters and destroys part of High Tactician Drelg's barrier!

When all four resonances are dead, High Tactician Drelg spawns:

a shamanic resonance's destruction brings down the barrier and reveals High Tactician Drelg!

High Tactician Drelg (click for map image) appears at -1530, -1660, 31. For fight information, see the next section.



The High Tactician

Be prepared for a tough battle here. He /cons as whatever your faction with Castle Tamrel is, so if you've done any factioning for Tamrel, you may be non KOS and able to set up around him as you see fit before engaging.

High Tactician Drelg says 'My tactics will always thwart your strategies!'
High Tactician Drelg is made vulnerable by the power of the possessed colossus!

High Tactician Drelg hits for a max ~25,000; single-target rampages; and flurries. He casts "Bladewheel"; "Boisterousness"; "Zekarian Slam"; and "Drelg's Sweeping Blow".

His health does NOT lock at any point, and adds do NOT have to be killed; however, he spawns a total of seven adds, each hitting for over 20,000 and casting their own AEs, so it's likely you'll want to kill them as they spawn.

The item you're looking for here is "Drelg's Message", which drops from High Tactician Drelg. For some reason, he may not always leave a corpse. This may be due to the possessed colossus doing too much damage compared to your raid, but this is not confirmed.

Drelg casts:

Bladewheel: PB AE 100', Unresistable (0)
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 46154

Boisterousness: Targeted AE 60', (-900)
1: Increase Spell/Bash Hate by 100%
3: Increase Agro Multiplier by 30%
4: Negate Agro Multiplier Effect
5: Negate Spell/Bash Hate Effect

Zekarian Slam: Single Target, (-900)
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 23077
2: Stun (3.50 sec/999)

Drelg's Sweeping Blow: PB AE 55', Magic (-975)
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 46153

Drelg spawns adds at health intervals (may vary slightly due to your DPS): 95%, 60%, 40%, and 15% (consisting of 1 add; 1 add; 2 adds; 3 adds, respectively):

High Tactician Drelg calls an honor guard!
High Tactician Drelg calls a blood guard!

Adds are immune to regular root/snare spells, but CAN be snared with the "Assault Bow". Unfortunately, the Assault Bow also has a large DOT component, and the adds summon after being damaged.

There are two add types (note that the last wave consists of 1x "an honor guard" + 2x "a blood guard"):

an honor guard

Hits for a max ~25,000; single-target rampages; comes with an arsenal of spells and buffs:

Blood Rage Discipline: Self 0', Unresistable (0)
3: Increase All Skills Damage Modifier by 35%
4: Increase All Skills Minimum Damage Modifier by 35%

Counterattack: Self 0', Unresistable (0)
1: Increase Chance to Riposte by 10000%
2: Additional Riposte (100)
3: Block Behind (10000)
4: Increase Damage Shield by 1000
5: Increase Spell Damage Shield by 5000

Bloody Wound: Single Target, Corruption (-900)
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 20308 per tick

Reckless Axe Swing: PB AE 100', Unresistable (0)
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 76924

Stumbling Stance: AE PC 600', Corruption (-900)
1: Negate Chance to Riposte Effect
2: Negate Chance to block Effect
3: Negate Block Behind Effect
4: Negate Shield Block Chance Effect
5: Negate Staff Block Chance Effect
6: Negate Chance to Dodge Effect
7: Negate Chance to Parry Effect
8: Negate Chance to Avoid Melee Effect
9: Negate Additional Riposte Effect

a blood guard

Hits for a max ~22,000; flurries; casts the following spells:

Quick Defense: Self 0', Unresistable (0)
1: Increase Chance to Resist Spell by 80%
2: Mitigate Melee Damage by 90%, 0 total

Bladewheel: PB AE 100', Unresistable (0)
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 46154

Boisterousness: Targeted AE 60', (-900)
1: Increase Spell/Bash Hate by 100%
3: Increase Agro Multiplier by 30%
4: Negate Agro Multiplier Effect
5: Negate Spell/Bash Hate Effect

Shieldbreak: Single Target, (-900)
1: Negate AC Limit Modifier Effect
2: Negate Melee Mitigation Effect
3: Negate Chance to Avoid Melee Effect



Completion

After you defeat High Tactician Drelg, loot "Drelg's Message" from his corpse.

Head back to High Strategist Galben in Castle Rulnavis, and hand in the note + "Strategic Colossus" + "Assault Bow" to complete the quest:

High Strategist Galben throws his head back and laughs as he holds the bloodstained note from Drelg. 'He awaits me in Narikor? What foolish tactic is this? He can rot with a pick in his hand and a whip at his back! _____, you have proven your worth a hundredfold. I might even call you a master strategist in your own way. But war never ends, and the master one day becomes a slave the next, caught by an unseen arrow or snared by his own misstep. One day soon Tamrel will fall. I expect to see you striding over its broken walls, yelling a war cry so long and fierce that it echoes until both stones and bones are naught but dust.


Rewards:
850 platinum
Experience (about 8% in Level 100)
Submitted by: Moseph & lylelovits
Rewards:
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Achievement Name - Any Means Necessary
# Oct 22 2020 at 8:20 PM Rating: Good
***
1,273 posts
Within the PoP Quests Achievement "Partisan of the Plane of War", this quest plus "#2 - A Colossal Task" are combined as a single quest listed as "High Strategist Galben - Any Means Necessary".

Edited, Oct 22nd 2020 8:24pm by dafdaf
Achievement Name - Any Means Necessary
# Oct 28 2020 at 6:43 PM Rating: Excellent
dafdaf wrote:
Within the PoP Quests Achievement "Partisan of the Plane of War", this quest plus "#2 - A Colossal Task" are combined as a single quest listed as "High Strategist Galben - Any Means Necessary".

Edited, Oct 22nd 2020 8:24pm by dafdaf


Thanks. Added the achievement as a related quest.
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Some useful info.
# Feb 20 2015 at 5:04 PM Rating: Decent
Here's a few things we discovered when we did this for a couple of groups and a basic outline of our strategy:-

We split up into 4 groups with quite a few mercs. One person was in charge of spawning and leading the colussus each time, we used the same person for all the kills we did, try to make sure it's someone who can invis themselves for when the colussus gets lost.

Shamanic Resonances: (aka crystals)
North most one is in a room by itself, no mobs. As we moved towards the second crystal we told the other groups to move to crystal 3 and start clearing.
Next one is just South a bit and second left, 1 mob next to it, always seemed to be a Kobold, kill the Kobold, then the crystal.
We went to the most Southern one next (crystal 3) which by now was already clear of mobs, meant clearing the NE, E, SE mobs in that order, then the roamer usually too.
The clearing groups would then move into the big main room where Drelg spawns and clear the 2 mobs in the corner near the last crystal, usually was a golem and orc, sometimes a kobold. Meanwhile we would have killed crystal 3 and move into the last room to take down the last crystal.

As soon as the 4th crystal (Shamanic Resonance) was killed Drelg would pop (along with all 4 crystals again). We'd then form up just South of him and prepare to engage. WARNING: he de-spawns in about 4-5 minutes if not engaged.

Drelg:
Our Paladin tank (me) would then move in and engage Drelg. Try to keep the Colussus on the other side of the mob because of the "Counterattack" thing that he does (same as Gindan Berserkers), we lost our colussus one time because of this. The %'s above are nearly correct, however, the last wave in fact spawns at 20% not 15%. Adds can't be mezzed. We had our warrior aggro them and move them away from Drelg (named and adds all seem to do AE's, best keep them apart) then focus all dps on the adds. On the last set of adds at 20% we would use some form of defensive each just before they were due to pop while the dps would burn down Drelg (he doesn't have many HP's really), then we'd split the adds and kill them.

Doesn't matter who/what group gets the kill, anyone can loot the message from the corpse.

Things to remember>>
Shamanic Resonances are belly casters, i.e. you have to be standing on them in order for spells to land, also, yes they do hit back but it's for miniscule amounts.
Drelg depops if not engaged after 4-5 minutes.
The Shamanic Resonances never repopped while we were doing it no matter how long we took.
If you lose sight of your colussus (and you will) then we often found that going back to just inside the gate would eventually get him back following. If you go outside you will have to kill the 8 Kobold Defenders on the wall again as well as being bombarded by them.
If your colussus dies during the crystal killing phase just go back out and get another at the bottom of the drawbridge, this will require you to kill the kobolds again with the bow to be able to enter the castle.
If your colussus dies when you're fighting Drelg he will immediately return to 100% health and be undamagable. You can remedy this by getting a new one. Any adds you had spawned before he healed back to full will NOT spawn again.
Have someone use the bow on the adds after your tank has grabbed them, the bow puts an 80k a tick dot on them, snares them and also lowers their attack.
Colussus timer: when you spawn him you have 60 mins to engage a crystal with him. After engaging a crystal a separate timer starts for 30 mins, for some reason this timer used to run to -10 mins (yes that is minus 10 mins). We used to get 2 Drelg kills per colussus at the end when we had the strategy sorted.
If you want to get rid of your colussus (you don't have enough time to kill the crystals and Drelg and don't want him to depop part way through Drelg fight) you can just camp out on the owner and he will depop.
The colussus can be buffed, i would only put HP buffs and regen on it though, we never had a problem with it out-dpsing us or anything but why risk it?
Mage Eradicate Magic AA, as if mages weren't powerful enough! Having a mage there for us with this AA means that alot of the nasty buffs the named and adds put on themselves could be instantly removed. Of course is equally handy in the rest of the zone.
poof poof pass
# May 18 2014 at 7:02 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
70 posts
a work around that corpse poof bug is to agro and DPS Drelg before sending the pet on it... If by chance the pet agro before you think your raid did enough DPS then let it die and get a new one..


specially if you split raid with merc like ive seen many do...
AI
# Apr 14 2014 at 12:26 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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70 posts
NOTE: The AI of the possessed colossus is odd, and it will run around a lot. Don't get too far away from it, or it may warp back to the bridge. Mobs will not aggro the colossus.

Selo is defenetly a no go and you better take the time to baby sit is pathing to each spot or you will end up waiting for him or even loose him.

I wanted to mark down the exact % the adds pop at but hard to get the adds clicked on one toon and spam heals non stop on the otehrs and watch everyone HP goes down like there is no tomorow lol. We had 3 groups today 5 tanks 4 healers filled up with dps... We still wiped but that is because we poped the 2 last waves back to back...5+ nameds is no thx.

Little trick to make this simple on the hardest a shamanic resonance...wich is the second one on the right pass the first... Room can be hard to clear, even agro throug the walls and ceiling... Buff your colossus and let the owner get him the prox agro on it... go back to the first room(where named pop), wait till the a shamanic resonance is about 20% or so depending your group/raid DPS make up and start clearing the 2 adds next to the shamanic resonance. by the time they die your colossus should be otw to be able to DPS it.

I keep the smith golem in the rigth corner alone untill named pop (even so it seem to be hard for people not to agro it) and kill the roamer + the smith + the othe golem behind the pillar to give us space to kite some and use the bow on the adds.

The biger your raid will be the more chance you will get to have people agro unneded adds so I just send 1 group DPSed based that understood by now that ALL Ogres see invi doing the crystal lol

hope that will help some
drop confirmation
# Apr 13 2014 at 11:55 PM Rating: Decent
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70 posts
First 2 times I killed it last week the corpse poofed soon as it died... Today was different, 6 adds and the drelg's note droped so maybe it was fixed.
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