Coldain Ring #4: Platinum Coldain Insignia Ring  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:50
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Quest
Quest Goal:
  • Advancement
  • Experience
  • Faction
  • Lore
  • Tradeskill
Factions Raised:
Factions Lowered:
Quest Items:
Related Creatures:
Related Quests:
Era:Scars of Velious
Recommended:
Group Size:Solo
Min. # of Players:1
Max. # of Players:1
Appropriate Classes:
  • All
Appropriate Races:
  • All
Entered: Thu Oct 25 15:57:45 2001
Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
At the end of the previous quest, Garadain mentioned a smithing hammer.

You say, 'What smithing hammer?'

Garadain Glacierbane says '[Tain] Hammerfrost can get you one. Find him and give him this.'

You receive a Note to Tain.

You say, 'Who is Tain?'

Garadain Glacierbane says 'Tain left a short time ago, he said he had a score to settle with a particular Kromriff.'

Tain Hammerfrost is a wounded dwarf lying on the ground at -4950, -2650, a bit west of the bridge to Iceclad Ocean. Giving him the note doesn't do much, so try hailing him.

You say, 'Hail, Tain Hammerfrost'

Tain Hammerfrost says 'The bloody Kromrif ambushed me! I escaped, but I am near death. They'll be tracking me down to finish me off at any moment. Without [help], I'm as good as dead.'

You say, 'I will help.'

Tain Hammerfrost says 'Thank Brell! I hear them approaching from just over that hill! Slay the leader, Ghrek, and give me his elixir.'

Four frost giants and a named leader, Ghrek Squatnot, spawn on a hill a bit east of Tain's location. They will kill Tain (forcing you to wait for him to respawn), so your best bet is to intercept them and draw aggro before they can reach him. Kill Ghrek and loot the Frozen Elixir from his corpse. Give this to Tain.

Tain Hammerfrost says 'I will report your selfless actions when I return to Thurgadin. Take this for your troubles, friend. I hope you find it useful. Fare thee well.'
Your faction standing with Coldain could not possibly get any better.
Your faction standing with Dain Frostreaver IV got better.
Your faction standing with Kromzek got worse.
Your faction standing with Kromrif could not possibly get any worse.
You gain experience!!

You receive a Coldain Smithing Hammer. Return to Garadain and give him the hammer along with your Gold Coldain Insignia Ring.

Garadain Glacierbane says 'Excuse me, ______, aren't you forgetting something?'
Garadain Glacierbane says 'Ahh, there we go now, that's more like it. It would be time to return to the hunt were it not for the [plans] our spies have discovered.'
Your faction standing with Coldain could not possibly get any better.
Your faction standing with Dain Frostreaver IV got better.
Your faction standing with Kromzek got worse.
Your faction standing with Kromrif could not possibly get any worse.
You gain experience!!
Submitted by: Dimuyen Sylvanesty
Rewards:
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Must do Coldain Ring Quest
# Jun 07 2019 at 4:43 PM Rating: Good
3 posts
As of a March 2019 patch, you must do the Coldain Ring quest to speak with Tain and trigger the event for the hammer.
Must do Coldain Ring Quest
# Jun 13 2020 at 1:41 PM Rating: Decent
4 posts
Once you turn in the hammer and the ring you can't get another hammer to do the Aid Grimel task. So make sure you have the Aid Grimel task done before you do turn it in if you decide to do the ring quests.
Must do Coldain Ring Quest
# Sep 24 2020 at 9:15 PM Rating: Good
Scholar
29 posts
There is a way to keep the hammer AND turn it in though:
Once you get your first hammer, go back to Garadain and say "smithing" to him and he will give you another note for Tain.
Then you can redo that part (Hail Tain, hand him note, kill giants, loot and hand in elixir) and you get another hammer!
Note: He will not give you a hammer if you already possess one. However, they are not lore and tradeable so just hand it off to someone else and voila!
Must do Coldain Ring Quest
# Mar 10 2020 at 7:10 PM Rating: Good
Sage
Avatar
**
317 posts
Really annoyed, we are busy with one quest and have to start into a totally unrelated thing just for a hammer!
Can get hammer without doing earlier quests
# Oct 23 2018 at 10:36 AM Rating: Good
*
162 posts
FYI - Tain WILL respond to hail then 'help' - giants show up, kill 'em, then hand in elixir to Tain and you get hammer. No need to do earlier quests.
Exact faction hits
# Apr 19 2016 at 8:42 AM Rating: Decent
Avatar
*
249 posts
Your faction standing with Coldain has been adjusted by 25.
Your faction standing with Dain Frostreaver IV has been adjusted by 6.
Your faction standing with Kromzek has been adjusted by -2.
Your faction standing with Kromrif has been adjusted by -12.
You gain experience!!
Bugged and Working at the same time.
# Nov 17 2011 at 10:31 AM Rating: Decent
*
63 posts
If you loot the Frozen Elixer and he wont accept it. Hail him and begin the quest again. Once quest is initiated, hand him the elixer. He will take it then. I killed the giants again, but not sure if this is necessary. I dont think so. I even Killed tain by accident by not targeting the giants and hit auto attack.

I too had no need for the note. It remains in my inventory.
Broke?
# Jun 24 2007 at 9:59 AM Rating: Decent
*
71 posts
Killed the named, looted elixir... Unfortunately, Tain is giving it back to me - he won't take it. Petitioned, will update when I get more info.

Edited, Jun 24th 2007 2:06pm by kramgoda
Broke?
# Jun 24 2007 at 10:32 AM Rating: Decent
*
71 posts
Apparently was a bugged spawn... HAd to wait on respawn, started it again, and it worked.
its not broke
# Dec 15 2006 at 8:09 AM Rating: Default
I had a hard time with the turn in so I hope this helps anyone else that has the same problem....

After I killed the named giant i tried to do the turn in.. Tain found no use for the letter or the elixer. I tried many ways for the turn in... nothing worked.. im lvl 55 and conned ally to him so no problems there.
Finally what worked was to have the elixer already, walk up to tain and simply say 'help', and immediatly hand him the elixer...before the giants ever come up over the hill. This worked and,BTW, I have NO idea why the letter even exists....its not needed in the slightest..

I hope this helps anyone having trouble with the hand in part. As far the fight part, simply kite and root/fear each giant till youve singled out the named, make sure you have sow (philter of the wolf) during the kiting.... then just kill him...
Lowbie Solo
# Sep 13 2005 at 9:11 AM Rating: Decent
Soloed this yesterday with a 45 druid. Used a lot of the information below, thanks all who posted.

It was kinda ugly, didn'w work as smooth as I would have liked, but got it done anyways.

I didn't intercept the giants early enough, and wasn't able to single out named Squatnot before they got to Tain and killed him, had trouble targetting him in the crowd. So I had aggro from all giants, they stunned me, and pretty much beat the crap out of me before I could take off running. At 30% life, took off running and kiting. Ran out of range, targeted one, and rooted. Kept going over to coldain camp, where the coldain's aggroed giants, the giants stopped to fight and kill the coldains, and I was able to target Squatnot, and get him snared so he would separate from others. Did the root and run to get away from remaining giants, then eventually wore down Squatnot and killed him.

Thanks again for all those that posted useful info below. It was a close call for me, but with your help, I was able to walk away successful.
Yet Another Erarr
# Apr 11 2005 at 7:59 PM Rating: Excellent
**
387 posts
This is from the Velious Era!
lazy man's solo
# Feb 05 2005 at 11:31 PM Rating: Decent
Working my faction back up with the Dain to get my final shawl I decided to run down the ring quests. Seems that Dain holds a grudge, the dorfs see me as ally but the Dain still glares threateningly. Anyway, since I'm also farming tundra kodiaks to do the first step of shawl 3 again and again (2 positive Dain hits per cycle) I can wait. So here is how I handled this. I told Tain I would help, ran up east hill to where the 4 giants spawned, rooted Squatnot while the others ran off to kill Tain (sorry Tain) then proceeded to kill Squatnot at my leisure. The other 3 depopped, Squatnot went down to my sad chanter dot's and nukes, looted the elixer and waited for Tain to repop.
LOL
# Aug 21 2004 at 6:29 PM Rating: Decent
um, yeah, talk about a joke, was just passing through, saw the guy, hailed him, nothing happend, so i cast a heal on him, he jumped up said his stuff, i said i will help, a train, i snared all, walked away , rooted aeach as the followed me, the bowed them down....just passing through...total time spent, about 55 seconds




Shayker Killshot, 65 ranger 200 aa's, stormhammer
MQ action....
# Feb 05 2004 at 11:18 PM Rating: Decent
I've completed this quest on my alt up to looting the elixer...question is, can i MQ it to my main at any point? maybe turn in my ring with the alt, and then turn in the elixir/hammer with my main to get the plat ring?
RE: MQ action....
# Mar 09 2004 at 3:51 PM Rating: Decent
*
131 posts
Yes you can MQ all these quests upto the the 8th one. I've done it upto the 6th one so far. Just make sure that the char you want to receive the ring does the last turn in.

Kraylon Stormrider
56 Shaman
Lanys T'Vyl
____________________________
Glarion
95 Shadowknight
Tunare

Mentalius Mindripper
Level 70 Enchanter (retired)
Lanys T'Vyl
My Stuff
Easy
# Feb 02 2004 at 8:52 PM Rating: Decent
Did this today solo at 58...told him i would help....backed off and drew a bead on named.... pulled him away from others and pet soloed him..looted the elixir... went back to bridge with dragon ribs and waited for about 30 minutes...went back...hailed him told him i would help and handed him the elixir right away before giants got there and he gave me hammer...

Jinrah Greenpaw 58 Animist
Veeshan
Hammer
# Dec 04 2003 at 9:51 AM Rating: Default
Hammer is not no drop or lore, got today on TZ Dec.4/03
When to give him Elixir?
# Jul 30 2003 at 10:37 AM Rating: Decent
*
57 posts
I have recently killed Ghrek and looted the Frozen Elixir but Tain was killed. I've heard Tain is on a 2 hour spawn time and didn't have time yet to wait for him.

My question is: In order to successfully get the Coldain Smithing Hammer, if Tain is up - can I just hand it to him (without triggering the FGs)? Or must I trigger the FG's first "I will help you" and then hand the elixir to him before the FG's kill him in order to get the hammer?

Just want to make sure so I don't waste an elixir.

Reason I ask, I don't want to have to kill Ghrek again and wait another 2 hours.
RE: When to give him Elixir?
# Nov 19 2003 at 12:02 PM Rating: Decent
*
105 posts
To complete it, wait for him to spawn, tell him you will help to spawn the tain that has the hammer, then hand him the elixer you got previously. You will get your hammer so just leave him to the giants.
____________________________
Merody
Deericious on Drinal
RE: When to give him Elixir?
# Aug 07 2003 at 4:25 AM Rating: Decent
43 posts
I really have no idea if you can just hand him the elixer at any time but once you give him the "i will help you" phrase it appears that he respawns, he lays down as opposed to his normal standing state and there is a time between the phrase and when the giants get to you so I would highly suggest that you give him the phrase and then turn in the elixer which should give you time to scoot before the giants show up. It may be possible to give him the elixer at any time but why risk it?

I did this quest twice this way... spawn giants and kill the named giant but Tain dies, come back later and give key phrase then turn in elixer for hammer (which is not NODROP so the 2nd one was for an alt.)


A Necro can do the job easy
# Jun 18 2003 at 6:52 AM Rating: Decent

hehehe though it will take you some time to respawn the little guy. what i did is while all this big folks running towards the dorf i feared Grek then followed him. Casting fear to the mob wont agro anyone except on the one casted on. So i follow him when we are far away from others i killed it easy with fear kiting.
55 Solo Pally
# Mar 22 2003 at 4:18 AM Rating: Decent
Just let the Tain guy die, then root a frost giant and run away a bit. Continue this until only Ghrek is on you (be very careful of annoying adds). Take Ghrek a ways north so when roots break giants will be out of aggro range. Kill him.
Hand stuff to Tain. Not too hard at all did it first try.
NOTE?
# Feb 08 2003 at 10:44 AM Rating: Default
What do you say to get the note?
RE: NOTE?
# Feb 11 2003 at 3:53 PM Rating: Decent
To Garadain, "What Smithing Hammer?"
Soloing the 4 Frost Giants
# Jan 31 2003 at 12:32 AM Rating: Decent
I soloed the 4 giants that spawn when you trigger Tain Hammerfrost in Eastern Wastes with my 60 Druid. Here is how I did it:

First I cleared the roving mobs, wolfs, Kodiaks and dervishes that agro even if they are green to me. I hate that! These need to be taken care of because you will need to cast fast and they are notorious for interrupting your casting. They also make kiting the giants a problem because you walk right into them and the next thing you know, you have 5 or 6 mobs taking turns bashing you.

Next, I had KEI and POTC on for manna regeneration. Your going to need alot of manna.

Then I tripped Tain, (“I will help you”) and went a little South East of Tain so that I could quickly target one of the incoming frost giants. I cast “Bonds of Tunare”, a short duration AOE snare spell. This turned all 4 mobs toward me and away from Tain. Normally I would quad kite them and do them in with Fist of Karana, but the first time I tried that I had way to many adds and when I lost the short duration snare spell, I got the crap kicked out of me by the 4 giants and the adds.

Next, I rooted each giant one at a time with Engorging Roots. This allowed me to separate them in a line. I cast “Ensnare”, which lasts 10 minutes, on each one just to make sure that if root broke I would have time to maneuver without being run down.

With all on them now rooted and ensnared, I went after the named mob that was dark blue to me. I used the epic, (wrath of nature), winged death and drifting death DOTS on him and meditated in between DOTS.

If root broke on any of the other I re-rooted them and cast wrath of nature to start taking them down. This helped save manna. As soon as I had the named dead, I looted the vial and gave it to Tain and received the hammer. This would have been good enough for the quest, but I decided to take the other 3 down for the experience. I used wrath of nature and winged death on them as manna allowed. I was able to ware them all down and only occasionally re-root and ensnared again for good measure.

All 4 died and I ended up with 40% manna. I did have some adds, but they were manageable as I was not running for my life and I had manna to DOT them. I ended up getting 4% experience from them at level 60.

Oh BTW warriors, its not that I need the rings as much as I need the Dian IV faction is get for doing the quests. Beside the magic resists are nice on these rings even for casters.

A side note...
# Jan 11 2003 at 4:07 AM Rating: Default
This might not have anything to do with these quests, but I have killed Tain (was a green con to 54, killed in one nuke, immediately repopped as DB to 54).. when I killed the DB version, he dropped a "Note to Tain". Trying to figure out if this is useful for something..
Frozen Elixir
# Jan 09 2003 at 11:21 PM Rating: Decent
Was with a small group in eastern wastes hunting Tundra Kodiaks to get the HQ pelts for the first quest. We got bored and decided to try our luck against the giants that spawn from Tain when you say I will help. Targeted named and as I had my pick pockets linked with my backstab I was mildly suprised to find that I stole the Frozen Elixir from the named giant. We decided they was too much for us and zoned. Waited for him to respawn and said I will help again and handed him elixir and got the smithing hammer in return, ran and let the giants beat him up once again. Easy as pie and no death.

Stealsa Hugsandkisses LVL 52 Halfling Rogue of Bristlebane Server

Watch your back cause trust me I am watching where I stab it!
RE: Frozen Elixir
# Jul 02 2003 at 3:56 AM Rating: Decent
That was just plain wicked. :)
Just did it
# Dec 20 2002 at 11:55 AM Rating: Decent
A couple of us just did the fourth part of this quest last night. It was fun. We had a 60 Warrior, (me), a 60 cleric, a 52 druid, 54 warrior, a 61 Sk, and a 55 monk. We killed practially everything in the zone from Ry'gorrs, to snow cougars, to snow griffins. The cleric was also doing the 3, or 4 part of the prayer shawl quest. After Tain spawned,we hailed him and made the giants spawn. Cleric and druid had to root the giants while the sk kitted the named one. All the giants were darkblue to me at 60. We eventually killed them all and the sk got the vial, then the hammer, then his ring. Just be buffed and make sure healers are FM as allways before triggering the giants.
RE: Just did it
# Jan 24 2003 at 4:50 PM Rating: Default
not sure on the resist but i think the 52 druid could have soloed the 4th, none of them resist snare or root much and all u got to do is snare / root all and then only cast dots on named.
MQ and Assistance
# Oct 29 2002 at 4:30 PM Rating: Decent
Just a few comments. I started this two days ago and have the 6th ring, going for 7 and 8 today).
The blanket I made on the first try with a 36 tailoring skill. The knife I had my alt smithy make (droppable), just need the smith to get his own skinning rock as they are no drop and get used up in the process. So far we did 1-5 with me (60 war) and my wife (60 shaman), but the 6th we were sure glad to have our 60 monk friend as I think we would have lost otherwise. Just a few tips. Go for it gang!! 9 and 10 rock)) We have many 9's and a couple 10's in the guild, awesome fun, one of the best quests imo))
Oh yes, almost forgot...the note to Tain. I tried to turn it in several times, while he was standing,sleeping,and after battle...he gives it back says he doesnt need it, but we got the spawn, vial, and hammer just the same. Just tell him you will help.

Edited, Tue Oct 29 16:14:27 2002
#Anonymous, Posted: Jun 24 2002 at 7:05 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) hail tain, say 'what help' then back up. let the giants kill him, then target the named giant. stand back and use a spell to pull him. kill him, loot the exlixer, then wait for tain to spawn again (this takes a while, may fart around in CC a while). ask him 'what help' then he will despawn and respawn. quickly hand him the elixer then back up so you don't get run over
Hammer
# Feb 04 2002 at 5:34 PM Rating: Decent
I did this quest today w/o getting the note. I just hailed him and said " I will Help"... Giants spawned and i targed named and tagged him.. smoked him to the ground.. I noticed during the battle that after the cleric died that the other giants despawned and i was left with the named... waited 2 hrs for repop ( spanking everyhting i could find to pass the time) ,,, Hailed Tain Hammerfrost again , spawned the giants and handed in the vial.... Got hammer np )

Hope this helps
Youridia Thicstyk
60 Monk < Forsaken Unity >
RE: Hammer
# Oct 28 2003 at 12:17 PM Rating: Default
Really odd: I was invis and hadn't hailed him. He fell down and said something about needing help and there was something about him bleeding. So I said I'd help him. Killed the named.
Got the elixer. Waiting for him to respawn to get the hammer. Need it for 3 Aid Grimel quest sub-combine.
Solo done paladin style
# Feb 02 2002 at 10:03 PM Rating: Excellent
This part of the ring quests can be done solo with a paladin of decent level, I would say prob 50th or so. I solo'd it at 60th but thats just me, did'nt start my ring quests till then. You MUST have Jboots for this or better. I used my Jboots they are just fast enough to keep ahead of the giants and then some with time. After you go through the dialog that gets the giants to spawn, just as they are comming over the hill towards Tain and you, target Ghrek (the named giant), he is light blue to 60th BUT he hits for about 80 to 120 and is fast as hell. Then charge the group of giants BEFORE they get to Tain. Kite them to the nearest dwarf camp of your choice, I used the one near the shore line beyond the orc camp next to the bridge. When you get about 100 yards or so from the camp, root Ghrek, I used instill. Then take the others to the dwarfs. Once the dwarfs engage the frost giants, they will be busy for awhile. Go back to Ghrek and kill him. You will need a fair amount of damage output to do this at this camp, there are not alot of dwarfs there for the giants to engage and ulitmately the giants will win. If all goes well with the melee you should be able to put Ghrek down and loot the vial before they are done slaughtering the dwarfs, then haul butt to the zone at the bridge. Not the smoothest way but effective. The only drawback is you will have to wait 2 hours till Tain repops to turn in the vial to get the hammer you need. Which you can do just by spawning the giants again BUT giving him the vial BEFORE they arrive to kill him, you got about 1 minute to do that so be quick about it. If you were to take the giants to a more occupied camp like the one near sleepers tomb you would probably be able to kill the remaining giants off or the dwarfs would take care of them for you. Well worked for me...when you havent the group to do it the right way....improvise. Be safe

Edited, Sat Feb 2 21:06:20 2002
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