Vex Thal

So...you can zone in...yes...but past the initial field which is just trash mobs, there is a locked door to get into the good stuff.

EDIT: From a patch on 4/17/2019: "...bosses now spawn at an accelerated rate on all servers, roughly twice the rate that they normally spawn on Live servers, with a variance equal to a quarter of their respawn time..."

Taken at face value (untested), this would mean that Vex Thal raid respawn timers as of April 2019 are 60 hours with a +/- 15-hour variation.

The information below this point has not been edited to reflect the April 2019 patch.

.................

- Base Zone Population: 37 minutes
- Va Dyn Kar: 37 minutes
- Va Xakra: 37 minutes
- Thall Va Xakra's Surrounding Halls/Rooms (not including its 'Va Xakra' guards): 74 minutes
- All Other Raid Targets: 4.5-to-5.5 days (5 days with a +/- 12-hour variation)

Of the 10 respawns I saw, nine of them were under five days, so maybe there are slanted odds towards "sooner rather than later". Fastest was 4 days, 14 hours while the outlier was 5 days, 3 hours (accurate within 30-60 minutes).

As expected, server downtime appears to have no effect on respawn timers, and it appears to have little-to-no effect on mobs that are already up. I saw Kaas Thox Xi Ans Dyek as being alive when servers came down for a patch, and it was up when servers came back online (this was with an /uptime of 72 minutes, so this doesn't rule out a randomized delay).

I have no information on Thall Va Xakra because I neglected to make note of it. Older information suggests a 3-day timer for them - not sure if this is still accurate or if there is any variation to it.

Edited, Apr 15th 2019 8:45pm by ShadowsCT

Vex Thal map!

http://i.imgur.com/uEiO1i3.jpg

enjoy.

Edited, Oct 30th 2016 9:26pm by Zaztik

I love how no one ever actually says how to get to where the end boss mobs are, or which pillars to click on and which not to, so I will do so now.

You'll have to follow along on your ingame map.

1st Floor
Once you're in the front door, go straight through the big hallway, ignoring the 4 way intersection, and into the hallway with the T intersection that can only go left or right. Go either way until you get the far west end of the map, then go up the staircase.

2nd Floor
Once you've gone up that staircase, you won't be on the 2nd Floor for long. Go straight across from the staircase to a big room with a black pillar. Click on that pillar to go to the 3rd Floor.

3rd Floor
From here, it doesn't matter if you can go either left or right. Both ways lead to a dead end, both having a black pillar. Click on that pillar to go to the central part of the 3rd Floor that's between those two pillar on the map.

Once it ports you over, it will look like you are in kind of a small room with a black pillar on the other side, even though the map looks like it keeps going past the room. DO NOT CLICK ON THIS PILLAR. It will port you out to the entrance. Instead, walk right past this pillar and straight through the false wall behind it. Once you get past the false wall, you'll now be in the hallway that's over the 4 way intersection on the 1st Floor by the entrance. You'll see another black pillar at the end of this hallway, which will take you up to the final boss room (Aten Ha Ra).

In this room, there is a black pillar on both sides of a statue of Aten Ha Ra. Click on either one to exit the building to the lawn outside.

The Plane of Shadow is accessible from within Vex Thal via the Plane of Shadow Portal Activation quest drawn from Shard's Landing.

The click-in shard is in the first large area with the pool in it.

Can you get into this place without a rogue or bard to pick the locks? Can you collect the keys and work your way through the various rooms? I zoned in last night with my 90 necro and a box 90 druid and a box 83 shaman. I wanted to get the mob that has a +15% alchemy tradeskill modification drop. I got the palace key and the northwing key. I plan on going back and getting th other keys if it will let me get to the mob I want. Does anyone know for sure if you can get free access with just the various keys? I found that I could cheat if I double shrank every one and then sat right up against the door and then camped. When you come back from camp you move forward immediately you are into the locked room. That does not work on the semivisible screen door though that you can see through however. It only works on the solid doors. Just the three of can clear pretty much every thing with my pet and tank merc and druid cleric merc doing most of the work. Was able to handle a named fabled mob to get northwing keys with no problem. I hate the fact that I have to use what I would consider a cheat to get in because we do not have a lock pick capable toon. Can anyone let me know?

I just finished my key quest and zoned in. For the first few weeks there were no named mobs up.

Last night I zone in and the 2 named blobs are up: Kaas Thox Xi Aten Ha Ra

I tracked to them and could not find them anywhere. After reading the posts here on Allak it is mentioned that they are in their own secret room (nothing mentioned on how to get there), and no secret rooms show up on the MapFiend map of the zone.
After asking around on other forums, another cryptic response I got was it has to do with the black obelisk in the rooms around where the named should be.
I actually did click one and it ported me out front to the yard.
Can I assume that if I click one obelisk on the other side of the building it will take me to the room with the named mobs?

Any extra help on how to get to the named mobs would be much appreciated since info on the web is pretty scarce.
Thanks

Did a fast test and while the 6 light blue mobs in UP before this zone can be soloed by a 70 Necro. The 2 first mobs in the zone cannot be soloed by a 70 necro with 500 AAs and a merc cleric to heal. Almost killed one of the mobs before I ran out and merc ran out of Mana. Gated at 10% mana

Dadijob (Prexus) TA Rocks

Me and friends were visiting VT, we got the palace key from the named in the yard, but were unable to open the 2nd door.

We didnt have a rog among us so someone had to gate back and get a goblin shroud, but that still didnt work for us, "You are not sufficiently skilled to pick this lock" is the message we got.

Do we need a real Rog in order to get past this door? or are there anyway to get us into the palace? thanks!!

In this post I will compile everything i know on vex up to this point, using excerpts On old strats, rumors and an amazing suprise how forgotten this zone really is. I recently had a 3 group raid to vex, Some Lowbies, a good dash of 80's and I will tell you flat out, you can still wipe here. Our 3 group raid took six hours and that was skipping 2 mobs along the way. The hp on these mobs is disgusting, and It's add city. Oh yes the uber can lie and brag about 2.5 hour clean outs, soloing, etc, but you'll speak to a few on quellious that will forever tell a different story.

Hopefully if a lowbie is drooling over an ancient spell or 2 like i was, they'll give this a read.

First off, take a good long stare on the mapfiend map, its accurate and the only one you will find on the internet. There used to be a couple .gif maps someone made, but through hours of searching I am unable to locate them.

vexthal-a.gif
vexthal-b.gif If anyone has these, resurecting them and posting the link would be helpful.


I am posting a re edited strat I found on the net which I found mostly helpful:

How to get in The zone in is the door behind Rumblecrush spawn in Umbral Plains.
You now only need to be 55+ to Zone into vex.

Tracking A ranger or druid who invises up to the courtyard can track every boss in the zone from there. Rangers can track some stuff from zone-in too.

Spawns VT is generally fully spawned within 6 hours of server up. Repop is 6-7 days on Blob1 and all nameds beyond, 3-5 days on the two Thall Va Xakra's, and 6 hours on the courtyard key mob.


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The Plow

Each trash mob in Vex Thal have three attributes which affect how the raid handles them.

#1 is the first word of its name
#2 is the last word of its name
#3 is its appearance

#1 - First Word of Name

Eom > Pli > Zun > Zov > Qua in order of difficulty.

Enchanters:
Mobs whos name start with Qua and Zov are mezzable by enchanters. These are the only two types of mobs in the entire zone that can be mezzed. Zov's are slightly harder than Qua's but both these mob types are the two least difficult in the zone.

MT & Tank Mezzers
There are 3 remaining types of mobs that are not mezzable. In order from hardest to easiest they are: Eom > Pli > Zun.
Main tank generally tries to pick off the Eoms then the Plis then the Zuns.

*misc note: Eoms have very rare random chance to drop VT bane weapons and items from the Thall Va Xakra loot table.

#2 - Last Word of Name

The last word of the mob's name (Centien, Xakra etc) defines its class. It's not important to have the whole list memorized but it is very important to recognize two types: ___ Thall and ____ Zethon. Thalls are cleric mobs and Zethons are wizard mobs. This is significant because they Gate. Gaters in VT are the most common cause of wipes. Lower mobs like Zov Zethon can be chain mezzed at low, or stunned. However Eom Thall/Zethon can only be hit with pally AA stun and burned down hard with nukes when it gets into gate mode. It is suggested that one person make a macro like < %T > will GATE and use it each time the situation calls for it.

#3 - Appearance

Trash mobs in VT have three different looks: shade golems, fancy robes (like Shei) and plain robes (like Rygan Anisher in AR).

Fancy robes that look like Shei pop a plain robe on their death on the exact spot they died. The resulting plain robe is always equal to or lower on the mob difficulty list. The thing to note is that caster versions of the spawned plain robes do not Gate as their "bind" point is the place you killed their parent fancy robe.

Tank order priority (highest to lowest)

#1 non-mezzable plain robes or Golems (Eom > Pli > Zun)
#2 non-mezzable fancy robes (Eom > Pli > Zun)
#3 plain robes that pop out of non-mezzable fancy robes, regardless of whether the pop is mezzable
#4 mezzable plain robes or Golems (Zov > Qua)
#5 mezzable fancy robes (Zov > Qua)

The average pull in VT is 3-8 mobs at a time in camp, and that is the only way you can really move fast enough to keep up with repops. So not only the main tanks , but all the off-tanks should learn or sticky-note what's mezzable and what's not and learn to be quick about picking out the mobs they have to TM when a big pull comes in.

misc plow stuff
* ALL trash in VT is slowable, Eom and Pli melee mobs need to be slowed fast or TM's will start dying.
* Rogues do NOT pop any triggered mobs ahead of the raid. You do this even if you are SoS'd and run near their spawn. If monks pull the non-trap mobs from a distance the traps won't agro. On some pulls this can cut the size of the pulls in half.

THIS IS CONFIRMED and very important, trap mobs can wipe, over powered by 20 mobs happens real easy when these traps get set, Locs of traps are unknown? but one of ours was in the north wing Key area before blob one! walk carefully

The Zone

* CoH and Summon Corpse work everywhere in this zone
Cothers need to be careful of the warders after blob one however. If you dont waste the bosses they will kill you. You can coth to blob 1 no problem with a set up cothbot , don't bother with invis they start seeing it as soon as you get into the palace itself.

****Defiant gear mostly intricate dropped frequently and as for cheesy gear, If your not anguished or time raid geared you jaw will drop at most of this gear off the nameds!
If you are uber geared, some of it, not much but some, is still impressive. My advice is to park an alt on zone in with a cother standing by, you will want a piece or 2 in here I assure you. Be aware a lot of it is no trade, So farmers will be stupid and short lived in here, There are way easier places to go, and better loots to get for the uber, so if your mobs are not up, Meh wait a while.

KEYS

There are three sets of keys for inner Vex Thal, which rogues and pullers will need. Generally it's a smart idea to key rogues before pullers. All 3 keys are keyringable.
**** Here's a note, the first key drops off the courtyard mob, it gets you into palace. YOU WILL NOT go any further without a Lockpick with you the whole way. I have ringed all 3 inner keys and I was still running into locked doors. Maybe you need to have them in your hand like sky? Or possibly there is another key mob, I am not sure. But the information as to what these keys are supposed to open is unreliable at best, If your going all the way to disneyland, Better have a pick thats up for a six hour raid.

Key #1: This drops from Va-Dyn Khar who roams outside VT in the courtyard. He is a very easy, slowable mob who can be 1 or 2 grouped. He drops 1 "palace key" each time and no loot. This opens the door to the inside area of VT. He's not really a boss, and I think his re-spawn time is 6 hours or so, he's always up pretty much.

Key #2: Inside the first main hall to the north and south are hallways that lead to mirror image areas. Inside each is Thall Va Xakra who is the first boss guilds must do in VT. They each drop 4 loots and have 2 named "Va Xakra" guards in their room. These guards drop two "North Wing" keys each. This opens the door on the west end of the long entry hallway??. Generally a guild's first VT raid is just on these two mobs and then up to Blob1 which yields a combined (8 keys?).
***The nameds in both mirror image sides that drop the keys are in the center rooms of the North and south wing circles, furthest north and furthest south. they are the inside rooms in the center furthest back that face the main entryway, Key mobs are in the room with them. (Go easy in the circle wings, this is were we trap wiped!)


Key #3: In a small room behind both DXX and DXV rooms are two more "Va Xakras" which each drop two keys again. This is the "North Tower" key which is required to gain access to DXXT who is the final boss on the first floor.
*****As you walk into the door to fight the mobs on the second floor the key room is directly north, east west rooms on second floor had nothing but add trash, waste of time.

The Akhevan Warders

Most bosses in Vex Thal have several assosciated Akhevan Warders. They are generally between that boss and the next boss behind it, as well as a copy of each in Aten room itself. These are non-targetable mobs that will warp you to outside Blob 1's room if they agro (insta-death). Each time you kill a boss its Warders will depop. So basically you can't skip killing any of the warder depopping bosses by CoH'ing past.

There are 6 sets of warders in Vex Thal

#1 - Blob 1 at west end of entry hall (kaas thox etc)
#2 - Diabo Xi Xin and Diabo Xi Va share the same set of warders. Only 1 of these two bosses is killed as they are on opposite sides of the zone and lead to the same place. (first floor is shaped like a donut). It doesn't matter which, and is pretty much a raid-leader decision which of the two to go after.
#3 - Diabo Xi Xin Thall is the last mob on the first floor and depops warders
#4 - Thall Va Kelun at entry to 2nd floor
#5 - Diabo Xi Va Terminiel and Thunderos Xi Diabo share a same set of warders on the 2nd floor. Same deal as the DXX/DXV situation on the first floor, basically Leader will pick which one of the two to go for on each clearing.
#6 - VXAHR (aka mini-Aten) is the final warder depopper.

* Va Dyn Khar at zone in courtyard, the two Thall Va Xakras, and the two Aten Blobs are unrelated to the warder system.

The Bosses

Va Dyn Khar
- roams in zone-in courtyard, 6 hour spawn
- slowable, total gimp, drops no loot other than Palace Key

Thall Va Xakra x2

- there are two of these bosses, in the passsages going north and south from the main entry hall.
- they are pulled to the first open room you come across, where you can go either left or right to pull them (doesn't matter)
- they AE silence with a tiny range. It's extremely easy for casters to avoid
- slowable, hit gimpy, lots of HP, don't ramp/flurry
- drops 4 loots each time
- the two named "Va Xakra" guards in their rooms are the ones who drop the North Wing Key which opens the door on the west side of entry?. They need to be pulled too for obvious reasons
- These two are on a different spawn time than most nameds they are 3-5 day as opposed to 6-7 day for rest.

Blob 1 (Kaas Ans Thox Dyek)

- located thru west door of entry hall in room to west
- this mob is perma-rooted (the only perma-rooted mob in the zone, btw)
- hits around 650, flurries, unslowable, enrages
- AE gfluxes. It's very important that the tank faces the mob either north or south and that all melees are on the opposite side. If any melees are on the east side of the mob the gflux can fling them into the door and bring 8 adds.
- you hug the edges of his room without agro'ing him to set up, there's little alcoves there to get ready in.
- drops 2 loots each time
- Setting up perma-CoH in his room is highly recommended to skip 1 hour plow.

Diabo Xi Va
- this depops the same warder as DXX. If you go North from Kaas room you will go in his direction.
- he's up the stairs in the big lava room after a plow
- raid preps outside the door on top of stairs
- unslowable, no AE, no rampage, hits around 900 I think
- tank charges in room and fights him at the front of his room, melees surround to avoid push.
- important not to push him anywhere near the two side doors, or you will get an add.
- once dead, the "Va Xakra" guards in the room behind his drop the North Tower key
- drops 3 loots each time
--POSSIBLE ANCIENT SPELL NOT CONFIRMED, we had no ancient drop.

Diabo Xi Xin
- depops same warder as DXV, if you go South from Kaas room you will go in his direciton
- up stairs in big lava room after a plow
- raid preps outside door, rampage tank charges in first to establish ramp. He is fought at front of his room near where you enter.
- Rampages, slowable, no AE
- important not to push him anywhere near the two side doors, or you will get an add.
- once dead, the "Va Xakra" guards in the northern room behind his drop the North Tower key
- drops 3 loots
--POSSIBLE ANCIENT SPELL NOT CONFIRMED, we had no ancient drop.

Diabo Xi Xin Thal

- This is the final 1st floor boss, he is at the far end of the donut-shaped first floor and you can get to him from both DXX or DXV sides, there is no difference in plow.
- He's up stairs in the lava room, can prep outside door
- Rampages, AE silence (small range), forgot if slowable, hits about 1k
- Rampage tanks pulls him to left side of room right by door, casters rush into room on the opposite side (right) to avoid silence.
- Again, dont push him anywhere near the two side doors or will get adds.
- Behind him is the portal up to 2nd floor. You can prep in the portal room after he dies, but on port up there are 2 mobs that will agro immediately.
- drops 3 loots
--POSSIBLE ANCIENT SPELL NOT CONFIRMED, we had no ancient drop.

Thall Va Kelun

- At far end of big hall on 2nd floor entry.
- He is pulled to the port-in room which is the only place you're not at risk of tons of repops during fight.
- Unslowable, rampages, hits 1k roughly, procs a poison-based slow on the main tank which needs curing.
- Tank usually walks him along the back wall away from door
- Drops 3 loots
--POSSIBLE ANCIENT SPELL NOT CONFIRMED, we had no ancient drop.
- After he dies you can either go left in big hallway towards DXVT or right towards TXD.

Diabi Xi Va Terminiel

- left from TVK hallway after the longest and hardest plow in the zone (HE AINT LYIN)
- after his hallway is pulled tank charges and fights him near his pop, melees surround
- everyone has to be careful not to click the port in behind him
- he is a wizard mob and casts spells which lowers his DPS.
- has a 1500 AE which is magic based and extremely easy to resist. It's pretty much a non-issue
- does not rampage or flurry, but forgot if slowable. He is not hard
- drops 3 loots
--POSSIBLE ANCIENT SPELL NOT CONFIRMED, we had no ancient drop.

Thundrous Xi Diabo

- right from TVK hallway after the longest and hardest plow in the zone (HE AINT LYIN)
- after his hallway is pulled tank charges and fights him near his pop, melees surround
- everyone has to be careful not to click the port in behind him
- this guy is straight up melee, non-slowable, no special abilities or AE's
- drops 3 loots
--POSSIBLE ANCIENT SPELL NOT CONFIRMED, we had no ancient drop.

Mini-Aten (Xi Va Aten Ha Ra I think is real name)

- After TXD or DXVT have been killed the raid preps and clicks up to the third floor. On port in there are 4 mobs that will insta-agro. Once those have been killed the port-in room is safe to prep for mini-Aten.
- AE-gflux and rampages, slowable- rampage tank pulls her to either side of room to establish ramp, then we kill her
- drops 3 loots + 1 ancient every time - CONFIRMED, our first ancient dropped here!
- the portal behind her is a trap. If you click it you will get warped to zone-in. After she dies raid moves through the fake wall behind portal.
- It's important that people stay clear of the clicky portal during the fight. It's possible to get gfluxed into it without even clicking.

Aten Blobs x2 (Kaas Thox Xi Va Aten Ha Ra is full name)

- these are in the two side rooms in the big hallway after Mini-Aten.
- they proc a 1000-1500 DD on tank and ae gflux. These are both slowable (magic)
- their damage output is insane prior to the slow. Quad 1650 + the proc.
- Suggested strat: bards and beastlords help try to get a little slow in when raid charges in until shamans can get their big one to stick. These mobs both need to be slowed damn fast and kept slow the entire time.
- There is a special pin spot in the far side of room that is hard to explain but will allow rogues to backstab while keeping the mob in one place. Any where else in the room kind of sucks because the blob tends to get stuck in the light fixtures.
- these each drop 3 items + one ancient spell- CONFIRMED

Aten Ha Ra

- port up is at the far end of the big hallway where the blobs are, and for once this port in is safe. The port-in room is the prep room.
- Rampages, AE silences (small range), same 1500 magic base DD that DXVT has (easy to resist), AE gfluxes, slowable
- Basically ramp tank agros her as raid charges in and gets ramp. Rampage is not a big deal on her, its not frequent.
- Raid surrounds and kills, none of the AE's are really frequent enough to worry about but casters need to keep away from her to avoid the Silence one.
- drops Soul Essence for neck each time + 1 loot from her melee loot table + 1 loot from caster table + 1 loot from priest table + 1 ancient spell every time- CONFIRMED.

Other Things

- First off, there is a lot of information in this post. Don't get intimidated by it. After the first 5 or so clearings you will know this stuff inside out. Dont worry about trying to remember what all the bosses do, how the warders work, or where to get the keys from. Just focus on remembering and/or writing down the mez/tank orders for trash. This zone is about plows, the bosses are all quite easy.

- Vex Thal is a matter of teamwork over gear and numbers. I'm not saying this to sound like one of those annoying motivational posters they have in offices with crap like "Innovation" written on them and a picture of a bird =/ Really mean it, any size raid as little as 3 groups regardless of gear can clear the entire zone if they work together and pay attention.

- The first time will be a blast, but subsequent plows will basically suck like you've never known EQ to suck before. Please keep in mind it's not just sucking for you, but for everyone else there too. Whining and complaining about the plows, being in a grumpy mood because of them and stuff like that just makes them feel longer. Seriously, just try your best to deal with them, play hard, and enjoy the company of your guildmates. It's is the only way to do this zone.

- Vex Thal plows also re-define how a guild can raid. You must autofollow someone in your group if you have to go AFK for any period of time, even if its just a 1 minute bio break. The raid is going to be constantly moving to avoid getting repopped on. There's also new requirements in attention span. You'll be plowing hundreds of mobs with stupid amounts of hitpoints, half of which pop more mobs that also have stupid amounts of hitpoints on death. People need to be very careful to stay awake and not go into zombie mode. After 200 mobs of boring plowing, 1 single mob that gates because people aren't on the ball can wipe the raid and ruin a whole night's effort.

- Recovering from wipes in VT is very hit and miss. CR teams need to be quick, consents need to be quick and you can't go ninja AFK after wipe. To avoid a coffin summon situation after a wipe, everyone needs to be alert, or an entire night's effort can be wasted.


****AS for final notes, I hope this saves all of you the trouble I had to go through to get these damned ancient spells, I had to pull teeth to get a raid together, primarily because if it isnt aungish or time or crystolos, no one cares. Most of the people that came were high levels that were never there before and wanted to see it for themselves, so i consider myself lucky.

Nowadays to avoid a long, dreadful, but extremely fun night (at least for me I love rediscovering old eq) I would suggest a couple of godlike tanks, a 3 healer setup, shammy, fill the rest in yourself for a good 3 full group to even think about passing an evening away in this place, and trust me. DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE! you will be here for an evening.

yes u can zone in now without key :)
However once inside u can go only so far then a locked door
so find and kill a Va Dyn Khar to get a Palace key :)
o and Va Dyn Khar takes min damage from melee but ok for spells may even be max :)
rats now u got the key u find a secon door needs a lock pick drat
Edited, Apr 20th 2008 10:06am by Laeoin

Edited, Apr 26th 2008 7:30pm by Laeoin