Post by Clexxor on Jul 14, 2005 15:16:15 GMT -5
Van Cleef (VC) is often a term for The Deadmines, in and out of the instance. The Deadmines are found inside a building in Moonbrooke. 4 quests, in order of difficulty:
Collecting Memories - 18 elite
Oh Brother... - 20 elite
Underground Assault - 20 elite
The Defias Brotherhood - 22 elite
The Defias Brotherhood quest will be discussed at the bottom of this post.
Most groups complete either all of these, or just the last two, in one run.
Collecting Memories
Location: Stormwind, Dwarven District
Giver: Wilder Thistlenettle
Quest Reward: 140 XP (Doesnt sound right, could be 1400) and a choice of:
thottbot.com/?i=2267 or
thottbot.com/?i=2329
AND
Oh Brother...
Location: Stormwind, Dwarven District
Giver: Wilder Thistlenettle
Quest Reward: 160 XP (Doesnt sound right, could be 1600) and:
thottbot.com/?i=3321
Both these quests are in the exact same spot. In The Deadmines, before you go into the instance, look for the different colored section of your map. Inside that small area are:
1) 16-18 elite undead that drop the 4 miner cards you need.
2) A 20 elite that drops everyone's Oh Brother... quest item at once.
3) And usually 1 or 2 other groups.
Oh Brother... is easy. Kill the target once, and satisfy your whole party. Collecting memories is harder, since the area is pretty small, and other groups will be hunting too. Each miner card that drops is only one miner card for one person, not the whole party, and 20 kills does not equal 20 cards, sometimes they dont drop it. Often times, you have to wait 10 or 20 minutes for 1 or 2 full respawns, depending. Entirely skippable quest.
The entrance to the instance in the southwest corner of minimap. On the way, you will encounter many 15-16 non elites and few 15-16 elites. Nothing major, just stick together. Ofter times, the traffic is so high that the path is clear, or a high level has killed everything for fun.
The Instance
Respawn in intstances is slow. In VC its about 3 hours.
The importnat thing to note in VC is it isn't nessecary to kill everything, just the things in your path. If you enjoy the drops and exp of miners, kill em all, but it'll take longer.
Since VC is usually every allience side character's first instance, I will go over some basics.
The Puller
This is the person who is responcible for engaging the enemy at the beginning of combat. It is called the puller because usually they are pulling enemies back to your party instead of engaging them where they are. This prevents runners from easily getting help from additional mobs, because they more distance to cover. It also stops the party from accidently aggroing nearby mobs. The puller is often times also the tank.
Examples of good pullers:
Warriors
Hunters
Warlocks*
Examples of bad pullers:
Paladins**
Priests
Mages
*Warlocks can pull with a curse, then get the mob to attack their voidwalker very easily.
**Paladins have no ranged attacks except against undead. Only holy specced paladins have a ranged attack, and thats at level 40.
If you have a bad class for pulling doing it, be cautious, these are the sort of overexcited people who generally dont listen to plans or have no patience. Take this as a warning sign at best.
If you are the puller, watch your party's health and mana before pulling, if nessecary ask whose ready. Dont ask too often though, as that will tremdeously slow things down. If your puller is pulling when people arent ready, or the priest or mage is at low mana, take this as a bad sign.
The Tank
This is the person who takes the damage. This should someone with high armor/HP generally with a shield. Warriors, Paladins, Pets, and Voidwalkers are tanks. Your tank has to be able to capture the aggro from a mob and hold it, so the people doing damage dont catch it's attention. A tank is taking the damage because he is the BEST at taking damage. On mobs that die fast, this is generally not an issue. Non elites and lower level elites may not have to be tanked, as they die fast.
Aggro is a simple damage/healing equation, the following things factor into aggro.
1) Damage dealt
2) Healing done
3) Time spent engaged with the mob, while the mob is engaged back
4) Immobility
5) Class-based tricks
1 - Damage dealt to a mob adds to its aggro against you.
2 - Healing your allies adds to its aggro against you
3 - If you are engaged with a mob, attacking it, casting spells, or healing your allies, and it is engaged with one of your party members, you are gaining aggro. What this means is, you can NOT fight a mob that your tank is fight for a few seconds, and your tank will grab extra aggro beyond what he gets for dealing damage. This is called 'Initial aggro'.
4 - Rending a mob immobile will lower all of it's aggro against party members it cannot reach. If it is a spellcaster, this means little, but if it is a melee fighter and you have a way of rooting it to the ground, AND it has a target to melee still, all the people out of its aggro range will lose aggro.
5 - Various classes have tricks for losing the aggro. These are generally powers.
If the tank loses control of a dangerous mob and it goes after a weak target, like the priest, it is important that the new target does not run. Running from a mob in an instance is useless. Instance mobs will chase for the whole instance, and by running, you are just making it more difficult for you party to regain its attention, and you are risking grabbing the attention of more mobs around you.
The Healer
This will almost always be a Priest or a Druid, and be wary of a party without one.
The healer does not generally know the progress of the enemy's health, and will not usually be actively doing damage to it. Instead, he will be watching the party's HP and trying to keep it up.
Signs of a bad healer:
They are trying to pull
They are trying to spend too much mana on damage
They consider themselves damage dealers in groups
They are waiting until people are at 25% life to heal them
Signs of a good healer:
They watch their distance from the fight at most times, keeping decently away from the action
They heal with heal over time spells at 80% health, and more drastic spells at 30-50%
They watch the tank very carefully
The Damage Dealers
If you dont fit into one of the other categories, odd are you are there to do the damage, and actually END the fights. It's a fairly simple job, only a few things to know, and know well.
1) Know your aggro tricks. Mages know when to frost nova. Rogues, when to faint, Hunters when to play dead.
2) Even with your tricks, know when to intentionally slow your damage down, so you dont catch aggro.
3) Use AoE with caution, and only when nessecary.
Loot
Generally, if an item is Bind on Equip (BoE), everyone may roll on it. If its an upgrade for someone, let them have it.
For bind on pickup (BoP), only roll if you need the item, and need is based on a priority system. VC has the perfect example:
A goblin boss late in the dungeon drops a ring that gives +2 agi and +6 int. This is a caster's ring. If a caster needs this ring, rouges, hunters, and warriors are inclined to pass. That is the priority of need. If its better for a class than another class, that class has priority, unless the distinction is too minor for notice.
Need means nothing if you already have the item. If noone needs the item, roll for greed.
Onto the instance.
Part 1
Following the right wall, you have to fight half the miners and about 5 elites. Be careful about the miners, they like to run and get more of themselves. This part should be easy. You dont have to fight everything. A short path leads to the first boss.
Boss 1: Rhahk'Zor
Provided this is your first instance run, this will be a little different than what you're used to. Bosses are like 'elite' elites. Rhahk does a decent amount of damage and has quite a few hp. Pull him when he has walked as far ahead as he can so he doesnt link with his gaurds. Have your tank take him for a couple seconds, then join in. With good teamwork, he's easy enough. He has no BoP drops.
Kill his two gaurds, the rest and wait. A patrol is coming at you from behind. Kill them and proceed through Rhahk's now open door.
Same as the beginning, hang right, kill miners and a few elites, nothing difficult. Open the door and proceed to part 2.
Part 2
This room has about 12 elite goblins in it. They come in groups of 2 or 3 sometimes when you pull them, so have polymorph and sap ready. Theyre about as hard as the elites you killed in Rhahk's room, so youll be fine. The boss of the room cant be missed, as he is in an awesome shedder machine. he wanders the room from a point in the center to a point up a rise where do mobs are. When he goes up, pull the mobs in the center until theyre all dead, then let the tank charge him for a few seconds.
Underground Assault
Location: Stormwind, Dwarven District
Giver: Shoni the Silent
Quest Reward: 160 XP (Doesn't sound right, could be 1600.) and:
thottbot.com/?i=2868 or
thottbot.com/?i=2861
Boss 2: Sneed's Shredder
Not a challenging boss if your tank keeps his attention. He will occasionally fear the person with the secoond most aggro, but since youve cleared the room, theres nothing to run into. He drops the quest item and one BoP about 10% of the time.
thottbot.com/?i=6770
Warriors, rogues roll first.
Boss 3: Sneed
Sneed immediatly pops out of his shredder, and he's a little harder. The tank needs to establish aggro fast though, because Sneed likes to jump out of his shredder and attack casters. Let him establish aggro and rinse, repeat. His BoP's are:
thottbot.com/?i=5730
Paladins roll first, then Warriors, then Hunters.
thottbot.com/?i=4911
Any cloth wearer first.
Sneed's door opens. Often there is a chest here, roll for it with /roll. Rest, and kill the patrol that comes from behind.
The next tunnel is like the first two, but with elite goblins scattered around. Also there is a mob, the Defias Overseerer I believe, who will randomly run from you to shoot his gun. This can cause a lot of extra aggro if it gets out of hand. Always kill Overseerers last, and drag them back to safe zones. Get to the end of the tunnel, open the door, and begin part 3.
Part 3
Follow the spiraling ramp, killing the goblins in groups of 2. Easy enough until you get to the bottom. Always kill engineers before their creations, or they can make more. The engineers run, the craftsmen do not, this is important. Everything in here is elite 18-19.
Once you get to the bottom, camp there. Have your puller bring groups of 1 or 2 goblins to your camp. In the case of engineers, who wont come to you, because they have guns, the puller should back up the ramp until the engineer chases him right into the party's camp. Do not let engineers run. Use stunning, slowing, and freezing effects to stop him. This area can get out of hand if an engineer runs even once. Keep pulling, following the left wall. Pull a couple from the center closest to the camp too.
When you have made your way around, move the camp right outside of Gilnid's aggro range, and farther to be careful. Pull some of the goblins from your right and kill them, then engage gilnid, sapping or sheeping his gaurds if you can. If you got this point right, you could have skipped about 5 goblins.
Boss 4: Gilnid
Gilnid is very easy. Focus on him. He doesnt have much life and dont do much damage. No problems here. His BoPs are:
thottbot.com/?i=3512
Casters first, rogues and hunters second, paladins third, warriors last.
thottbot.com/?i=5738
Druids first, Rogues second
Like the other bosses, there is a patrol, but it takes so long to get down the ramp, you can skip it if you want.
Enter the last tunnel, same strategies as your previous tunnels. If you have a rogue, just go straight. If you dont have a rogue, turn left halfway through and grab the powder. At the cannon, if you have a rogue, have him pick the door's lock. If not, blow it up. Either way proceed to part 4.
Part 4
If you blew up the door, be prepared for a slow but steady flow of about 5 pirates (19 elites) to come your way. If you picked the lock, noone comes (Moxious!).
This area has 3 main types of enemies:
Pirates - 19 Elites - Do not run - Melee based
Squallshapers - 19 Elites - Run - Casters
Goblin Shipbuilders - 20 Elites - Run faster - Melee Based
The pirates have birds on them half the time. The birds are 15 non-elites, and non-threatining, but can be annoying if they lock onto one of your healers.
Starting out, there are 2 goblins on your right, just dont get too close to them, and youll be fine, move forward, and pull pirates 1 or 2 at a time. They dont put up that much of a fight if they dont get out of control. After you kill the pirates ad get on land, rest. Do not go for the treasure chest, it is a prop. You will be able to see Mr. Smite, but dont go to the bottom of the ramp until your party is fully rested, because he has 2 invisible gaurds at the bottom of it.
Boss 5: Mr. Smite
Mr. Smite is the first real challenge of the game, above finding a party of good and patient people. You fight him, and 2 of his elite 19 gaurds. If you can spot them stealthed, you can sap one to start the battle.
It is absolutely nessecary to kill the two gaurds first, and usually before you even get Smite to 70% life. Have your tank, or a backup pet/voidwalker engage Smite while the rest of you try to kill the gaurds as fast as you can. They fight like the pirates you've already had practice on. If Smite drops to 70% health, he does a war stomp that stuns your whole party for 8 seconds. If the gaurds are still alive, they get 8 seconds of free attacks on whoever they are fighting. No good. Smite doesnt however, as he talks a bit, and runs to the prop chest to pull out 2 axes. His damage increases here only slightly. At 40% he does the same thing, pulling out a giant 2 handed mace. Again, slight increase in damage. If you got rid of the gaurds in good fashion, this should be easy, but Smite definatly is a step above all the previous bosses. He drops the following BoPs:
thottbot.com/?i=4350
Warriors and Paladins first
thottbot.com/?i=5737
Warriors, Hunters, and Paladins first
thottbot.com/?i=6215
Rogues first, Hunters second, Warriors and Paladins third
Congrats on getting this far. It gets harder.
Rest, up the ramp, kill the 3 mobs up there. Stay in that spot for a while, and let your puller pull from the right for a while. If hyper members are jumping around, encourage them to stop. Aggro radius on mobs is spherical, and Ive seen guys above us aggro to hyper jumpers and bring 10 other mobs trying to get to us. It wasnt pretty. After 5 or 6 mobs pulled, move to the right and get to the second ramp. Camp at the bottom of this ramp and let your puller pull from above until that level is clear (about 5 mobs). You might find another chest, /roll on it.
Move up the ramp, camp, and move on to part 5
Part 5
This part can take finesse. Another ramp, camp at the bottom of it and let the puller pull down. Make sure the puller is careful though, there is an area to the right of him where a boss and his two gaurds are patrolling around, but have to run around to get to you. If the puller or anyone is too close to the right side, the boss will agrro, bring his gaurds, and bring everyone he runs past on his way to you. Simple answer, be mindful of him. Pull, pull, pull, and about 8 mobs later, move everyone up, and over to where the scaffolding (sp?) becomes the top of the ship. Rest.
When you are rested, pull Captian Greenskin and his gaurds to you when he comes around. Do not goto him, or you risk aggroing Van Cleef too, and he will mess you up.
Boss 6: Captain Greenskin
Two ways to do this: Have the tank focus on the captian while the rest of the party kills the gaurds, or go nuts on Captian Greenskin. Either way is fine, he's pretty easy. One of his gaurds is a spuallshaper, dont let it run. BoP drops are:
thottbot.com/?i=4815
Casters first. This staff is better than the one you get for the Van Cleef quest.
thottbot.com/?i=7311
Hunters first. Warriors and Paladins close second.
He also drops the defias belt, but its BoE.
Boss: Edwin Van Cleef
This will be the hardest fight you've had in the game so far most likely, so be on your toes. Van Cleef is sitting in the cabin. Its best to pull him out of it.
Stage one: Van Cleef brings 2 gaurds, 19 elite, same as Smite did. Have the tank fight VC while the rest kill the gaurds, but the tank will need very good healing. VC does about twice or more as much damage as Smite did. Kill the gaurds and focus on VC. Kill the gaurds, dont crowd control them.
Stage two: At 50% health, he summons 2 more gaurds. There are a couple ways to go about this. Either do stage one again, or crowd control these. Polymorph and Fear work. You can crowd control one and kill the other, either way focus back on VC as soon as you can. In a well balanced party, this will be only moderately challenging, what is more often the case, you will need to kill VC quickly, because your healer will run out of mana, or worse, VC will run over and kill him.
A-game here, VC isnt easy. When you kill him, be sure to cheer about it. His BoPs are:
thottbot.com/?i=7076
Rogues first, Druids and Hunters second. Ironically, this final Defias peace sucks. The reward you get for turning in the VC quest is tremendously better.
thottbot.com/?i=3903
Highly sought after. Don't be surprised if the chain of need is broken. Rogues and Hunters first, Warriors and Paladins second.
thottbot.com/?i=5989
Best caster armor for a while. Cloth casters first, Druids second.
thottbot.com/?i=5664
Main hand: Sword rogues first. Rogues, Warriors, Paladins second, Hunters third.
He also drops his head for anyone who needs it (how many of those does he have?) and a letter that starts a quest for anyone who hasnt done it. Congrats for beating Van Cleef, hearthstone out, or in the pirate cove, there is an exit.
Keep in mind, many VC runs are 'bully' runs, where the group going through it has a member who is much stronger than the rest. If that is the case ignore...this whole guide. This guide is prime for a full party of people around level 20.
Collecting Memories - 18 elite
Oh Brother... - 20 elite
Underground Assault - 20 elite
The Defias Brotherhood - 22 elite
The Defias Brotherhood quest will be discussed at the bottom of this post.
Most groups complete either all of these, or just the last two, in one run.
Collecting Memories
Location: Stormwind, Dwarven District
Giver: Wilder Thistlenettle
Quest Reward: 140 XP (Doesnt sound right, could be 1400) and a choice of:
thottbot.com/?i=2267 or
thottbot.com/?i=2329
AND
Oh Brother...
Location: Stormwind, Dwarven District
Giver: Wilder Thistlenettle
Quest Reward: 160 XP (Doesnt sound right, could be 1600) and:
thottbot.com/?i=3321
Both these quests are in the exact same spot. In The Deadmines, before you go into the instance, look for the different colored section of your map. Inside that small area are:
1) 16-18 elite undead that drop the 4 miner cards you need.
2) A 20 elite that drops everyone's Oh Brother... quest item at once.
3) And usually 1 or 2 other groups.
Oh Brother... is easy. Kill the target once, and satisfy your whole party. Collecting memories is harder, since the area is pretty small, and other groups will be hunting too. Each miner card that drops is only one miner card for one person, not the whole party, and 20 kills does not equal 20 cards, sometimes they dont drop it. Often times, you have to wait 10 or 20 minutes for 1 or 2 full respawns, depending. Entirely skippable quest.
The entrance to the instance in the southwest corner of minimap. On the way, you will encounter many 15-16 non elites and few 15-16 elites. Nothing major, just stick together. Ofter times, the traffic is so high that the path is clear, or a high level has killed everything for fun.
The Instance
Respawn in intstances is slow. In VC its about 3 hours.
The importnat thing to note in VC is it isn't nessecary to kill everything, just the things in your path. If you enjoy the drops and exp of miners, kill em all, but it'll take longer.
Since VC is usually every allience side character's first instance, I will go over some basics.
The Puller
This is the person who is responcible for engaging the enemy at the beginning of combat. It is called the puller because usually they are pulling enemies back to your party instead of engaging them where they are. This prevents runners from easily getting help from additional mobs, because they more distance to cover. It also stops the party from accidently aggroing nearby mobs. The puller is often times also the tank.
Examples of good pullers:
Warriors
Hunters
Warlocks*
Examples of bad pullers:
Paladins**
Priests
Mages
*Warlocks can pull with a curse, then get the mob to attack their voidwalker very easily.
**Paladins have no ranged attacks except against undead. Only holy specced paladins have a ranged attack, and thats at level 40.
If you have a bad class for pulling doing it, be cautious, these are the sort of overexcited people who generally dont listen to plans or have no patience. Take this as a warning sign at best.
If you are the puller, watch your party's health and mana before pulling, if nessecary ask whose ready. Dont ask too often though, as that will tremdeously slow things down. If your puller is pulling when people arent ready, or the priest or mage is at low mana, take this as a bad sign.
The Tank
This is the person who takes the damage. This should someone with high armor/HP generally with a shield. Warriors, Paladins, Pets, and Voidwalkers are tanks. Your tank has to be able to capture the aggro from a mob and hold it, so the people doing damage dont catch it's attention. A tank is taking the damage because he is the BEST at taking damage. On mobs that die fast, this is generally not an issue. Non elites and lower level elites may not have to be tanked, as they die fast.
Aggro is a simple damage/healing equation, the following things factor into aggro.
1) Damage dealt
2) Healing done
3) Time spent engaged with the mob, while the mob is engaged back
4) Immobility
5) Class-based tricks
1 - Damage dealt to a mob adds to its aggro against you.
2 - Healing your allies adds to its aggro against you
3 - If you are engaged with a mob, attacking it, casting spells, or healing your allies, and it is engaged with one of your party members, you are gaining aggro. What this means is, you can NOT fight a mob that your tank is fight for a few seconds, and your tank will grab extra aggro beyond what he gets for dealing damage. This is called 'Initial aggro'.
4 - Rending a mob immobile will lower all of it's aggro against party members it cannot reach. If it is a spellcaster, this means little, but if it is a melee fighter and you have a way of rooting it to the ground, AND it has a target to melee still, all the people out of its aggro range will lose aggro.
5 - Various classes have tricks for losing the aggro. These are generally powers.
If the tank loses control of a dangerous mob and it goes after a weak target, like the priest, it is important that the new target does not run. Running from a mob in an instance is useless. Instance mobs will chase for the whole instance, and by running, you are just making it more difficult for you party to regain its attention, and you are risking grabbing the attention of more mobs around you.
The Healer
This will almost always be a Priest or a Druid, and be wary of a party without one.
The healer does not generally know the progress of the enemy's health, and will not usually be actively doing damage to it. Instead, he will be watching the party's HP and trying to keep it up.
Signs of a bad healer:
They are trying to pull
They are trying to spend too much mana on damage
They consider themselves damage dealers in groups
They are waiting until people are at 25% life to heal them
Signs of a good healer:
They watch their distance from the fight at most times, keeping decently away from the action
They heal with heal over time spells at 80% health, and more drastic spells at 30-50%
They watch the tank very carefully
The Damage Dealers
If you dont fit into one of the other categories, odd are you are there to do the damage, and actually END the fights. It's a fairly simple job, only a few things to know, and know well.
1) Know your aggro tricks. Mages know when to frost nova. Rogues, when to faint, Hunters when to play dead.
2) Even with your tricks, know when to intentionally slow your damage down, so you dont catch aggro.
3) Use AoE with caution, and only when nessecary.
Loot
Generally, if an item is Bind on Equip (BoE), everyone may roll on it. If its an upgrade for someone, let them have it.
For bind on pickup (BoP), only roll if you need the item, and need is based on a priority system. VC has the perfect example:
A goblin boss late in the dungeon drops a ring that gives +2 agi and +6 int. This is a caster's ring. If a caster needs this ring, rouges, hunters, and warriors are inclined to pass. That is the priority of need. If its better for a class than another class, that class has priority, unless the distinction is too minor for notice.
Need means nothing if you already have the item. If noone needs the item, roll for greed.
Onto the instance.
Part 1
Following the right wall, you have to fight half the miners and about 5 elites. Be careful about the miners, they like to run and get more of themselves. This part should be easy. You dont have to fight everything. A short path leads to the first boss.
Boss 1: Rhahk'Zor
Provided this is your first instance run, this will be a little different than what you're used to. Bosses are like 'elite' elites. Rhahk does a decent amount of damage and has quite a few hp. Pull him when he has walked as far ahead as he can so he doesnt link with his gaurds. Have your tank take him for a couple seconds, then join in. With good teamwork, he's easy enough. He has no BoP drops.
Kill his two gaurds, the rest and wait. A patrol is coming at you from behind. Kill them and proceed through Rhahk's now open door.
Same as the beginning, hang right, kill miners and a few elites, nothing difficult. Open the door and proceed to part 2.
Part 2
This room has about 12 elite goblins in it. They come in groups of 2 or 3 sometimes when you pull them, so have polymorph and sap ready. Theyre about as hard as the elites you killed in Rhahk's room, so youll be fine. The boss of the room cant be missed, as he is in an awesome shedder machine. he wanders the room from a point in the center to a point up a rise where do mobs are. When he goes up, pull the mobs in the center until theyre all dead, then let the tank charge him for a few seconds.
Underground Assault
Location: Stormwind, Dwarven District
Giver: Shoni the Silent
Quest Reward: 160 XP (Doesn't sound right, could be 1600.) and:
thottbot.com/?i=2868 or
thottbot.com/?i=2861
Boss 2: Sneed's Shredder
Not a challenging boss if your tank keeps his attention. He will occasionally fear the person with the secoond most aggro, but since youve cleared the room, theres nothing to run into. He drops the quest item and one BoP about 10% of the time.
thottbot.com/?i=6770
Warriors, rogues roll first.
Boss 3: Sneed
Sneed immediatly pops out of his shredder, and he's a little harder. The tank needs to establish aggro fast though, because Sneed likes to jump out of his shredder and attack casters. Let him establish aggro and rinse, repeat. His BoP's are:
thottbot.com/?i=5730
Paladins roll first, then Warriors, then Hunters.
thottbot.com/?i=4911
Any cloth wearer first.
Sneed's door opens. Often there is a chest here, roll for it with /roll. Rest, and kill the patrol that comes from behind.
The next tunnel is like the first two, but with elite goblins scattered around. Also there is a mob, the Defias Overseerer I believe, who will randomly run from you to shoot his gun. This can cause a lot of extra aggro if it gets out of hand. Always kill Overseerers last, and drag them back to safe zones. Get to the end of the tunnel, open the door, and begin part 3.
Part 3
Follow the spiraling ramp, killing the goblins in groups of 2. Easy enough until you get to the bottom. Always kill engineers before their creations, or they can make more. The engineers run, the craftsmen do not, this is important. Everything in here is elite 18-19.
Once you get to the bottom, camp there. Have your puller bring groups of 1 or 2 goblins to your camp. In the case of engineers, who wont come to you, because they have guns, the puller should back up the ramp until the engineer chases him right into the party's camp. Do not let engineers run. Use stunning, slowing, and freezing effects to stop him. This area can get out of hand if an engineer runs even once. Keep pulling, following the left wall. Pull a couple from the center closest to the camp too.
When you have made your way around, move the camp right outside of Gilnid's aggro range, and farther to be careful. Pull some of the goblins from your right and kill them, then engage gilnid, sapping or sheeping his gaurds if you can. If you got this point right, you could have skipped about 5 goblins.
Boss 4: Gilnid
Gilnid is very easy. Focus on him. He doesnt have much life and dont do much damage. No problems here. His BoPs are:
thottbot.com/?i=3512
Casters first, rogues and hunters second, paladins third, warriors last.
thottbot.com/?i=5738
Druids first, Rogues second
Like the other bosses, there is a patrol, but it takes so long to get down the ramp, you can skip it if you want.
Enter the last tunnel, same strategies as your previous tunnels. If you have a rogue, just go straight. If you dont have a rogue, turn left halfway through and grab the powder. At the cannon, if you have a rogue, have him pick the door's lock. If not, blow it up. Either way proceed to part 4.
Part 4
If you blew up the door, be prepared for a slow but steady flow of about 5 pirates (19 elites) to come your way. If you picked the lock, noone comes (Moxious!).
This area has 3 main types of enemies:
Pirates - 19 Elites - Do not run - Melee based
Squallshapers - 19 Elites - Run - Casters
Goblin Shipbuilders - 20 Elites - Run faster - Melee Based
The pirates have birds on them half the time. The birds are 15 non-elites, and non-threatining, but can be annoying if they lock onto one of your healers.
Starting out, there are 2 goblins on your right, just dont get too close to them, and youll be fine, move forward, and pull pirates 1 or 2 at a time. They dont put up that much of a fight if they dont get out of control. After you kill the pirates ad get on land, rest. Do not go for the treasure chest, it is a prop. You will be able to see Mr. Smite, but dont go to the bottom of the ramp until your party is fully rested, because he has 2 invisible gaurds at the bottom of it.
Boss 5: Mr. Smite
Mr. Smite is the first real challenge of the game, above finding a party of good and patient people. You fight him, and 2 of his elite 19 gaurds. If you can spot them stealthed, you can sap one to start the battle.
It is absolutely nessecary to kill the two gaurds first, and usually before you even get Smite to 70% life. Have your tank, or a backup pet/voidwalker engage Smite while the rest of you try to kill the gaurds as fast as you can. They fight like the pirates you've already had practice on. If Smite drops to 70% health, he does a war stomp that stuns your whole party for 8 seconds. If the gaurds are still alive, they get 8 seconds of free attacks on whoever they are fighting. No good. Smite doesnt however, as he talks a bit, and runs to the prop chest to pull out 2 axes. His damage increases here only slightly. At 40% he does the same thing, pulling out a giant 2 handed mace. Again, slight increase in damage. If you got rid of the gaurds in good fashion, this should be easy, but Smite definatly is a step above all the previous bosses. He drops the following BoPs:
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Warriors and Paladins first
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Warriors, Hunters, and Paladins first
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Rogues first, Hunters second, Warriors and Paladins third
Congrats on getting this far. It gets harder.
Rest, up the ramp, kill the 3 mobs up there. Stay in that spot for a while, and let your puller pull from the right for a while. If hyper members are jumping around, encourage them to stop. Aggro radius on mobs is spherical, and Ive seen guys above us aggro to hyper jumpers and bring 10 other mobs trying to get to us. It wasnt pretty. After 5 or 6 mobs pulled, move to the right and get to the second ramp. Camp at the bottom of this ramp and let your puller pull from above until that level is clear (about 5 mobs). You might find another chest, /roll on it.
Move up the ramp, camp, and move on to part 5
Part 5
This part can take finesse. Another ramp, camp at the bottom of it and let the puller pull down. Make sure the puller is careful though, there is an area to the right of him where a boss and his two gaurds are patrolling around, but have to run around to get to you. If the puller or anyone is too close to the right side, the boss will agrro, bring his gaurds, and bring everyone he runs past on his way to you. Simple answer, be mindful of him. Pull, pull, pull, and about 8 mobs later, move everyone up, and over to where the scaffolding (sp?) becomes the top of the ship. Rest.
When you are rested, pull Captian Greenskin and his gaurds to you when he comes around. Do not goto him, or you risk aggroing Van Cleef too, and he will mess you up.
Boss 6: Captain Greenskin
Two ways to do this: Have the tank focus on the captian while the rest of the party kills the gaurds, or go nuts on Captian Greenskin. Either way is fine, he's pretty easy. One of his gaurds is a spuallshaper, dont let it run. BoP drops are:
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Casters first. This staff is better than the one you get for the Van Cleef quest.
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Hunters first. Warriors and Paladins close second.
He also drops the defias belt, but its BoE.
Boss: Edwin Van Cleef
This will be the hardest fight you've had in the game so far most likely, so be on your toes. Van Cleef is sitting in the cabin. Its best to pull him out of it.
Stage one: Van Cleef brings 2 gaurds, 19 elite, same as Smite did. Have the tank fight VC while the rest kill the gaurds, but the tank will need very good healing. VC does about twice or more as much damage as Smite did. Kill the gaurds and focus on VC. Kill the gaurds, dont crowd control them.
Stage two: At 50% health, he summons 2 more gaurds. There are a couple ways to go about this. Either do stage one again, or crowd control these. Polymorph and Fear work. You can crowd control one and kill the other, either way focus back on VC as soon as you can. In a well balanced party, this will be only moderately challenging, what is more often the case, you will need to kill VC quickly, because your healer will run out of mana, or worse, VC will run over and kill him.
A-game here, VC isnt easy. When you kill him, be sure to cheer about it. His BoPs are:
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Rogues first, Druids and Hunters second. Ironically, this final Defias peace sucks. The reward you get for turning in the VC quest is tremendously better.
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Highly sought after. Don't be surprised if the chain of need is broken. Rogues and Hunters first, Warriors and Paladins second.
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Best caster armor for a while. Cloth casters first, Druids second.
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Main hand: Sword rogues first. Rogues, Warriors, Paladins second, Hunters third.
He also drops his head for anyone who needs it (how many of those does he have?) and a letter that starts a quest for anyone who hasnt done it. Congrats for beating Van Cleef, hearthstone out, or in the pirate cove, there is an exit.
Fetch me a Van Cleef, Sir.
The quest to kill Van Cleef is a short chain.
Quest 1
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Travel to Lakeshire, in Redridge. Talk to the rogue in the second floor of the inn, Wiley the Black.
Rewards: 140-1350 XP
Quest 2
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Wiley the Black
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Return to Stoutmantle. Good work.
Rewards: 91-675 XP
Quest 3
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Head to Stormwind and talk to Master Mathias Shaw, who is in the barracks in the Old Town. Rogue area.
Rewards: 91-675 XP
Quest 4
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Master Mathias Shaw
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Return to Stoutmantle.
Rewards: 35-340 XP
Quest 5
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Find the messenger (Level 14) and kill him.
This one can take a while if you dont know anything about it. The easiest way to do it, is first call on the general channel 'has anyone seen da messenger?' and then following directions. If noone responds, goto Moonbrooke and sit at the north exit of the town. This is where he spawns. Group with anyone else waiting for him so you all get credit at once. Kill him, take his letter, and return to Stoutmantle.
Rewards: 140-1350 XP
Quest 6
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: The Defias Traitor
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Escort the traitor to and through Moonbrooke. Keep your head on straight and this is easy. Report to Stoutmantle afterwards.
Rewards: 140-1350 XP
Quest 7
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 22 Elite, obtained at 14
Go kill Van Cleef. Report to Stoutmantle.
Rewards: 260-2600 XP and
thottbot.com/?i=2444 or
thottbot.com/?i=2450 or
thottbot.com/?i=2273
The quest to kill Van Cleef is a short chain.
Quest 1
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Travel to Lakeshire, in Redridge. Talk to the rogue in the second floor of the inn, Wiley the Black.
Rewards: 140-1350 XP
Quest 2
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Wiley the Black
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Return to Stoutmantle. Good work.
Rewards: 91-675 XP
Quest 3
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Head to Stormwind and talk to Master Mathias Shaw, who is in the barracks in the Old Town. Rogue area.
Rewards: 91-675 XP
Quest 4
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Master Mathias Shaw
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Return to Stoutmantle.
Rewards: 35-340 XP
Quest 5
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Find the messenger (Level 14) and kill him.
This one can take a while if you dont know anything about it. The easiest way to do it, is first call on the general channel 'has anyone seen da messenger?' and then following directions. If noone responds, goto Moonbrooke and sit at the north exit of the town. This is where he spawns. Group with anyone else waiting for him so you all get credit at once. Kill him, take his letter, and return to Stoutmantle.
Rewards: 140-1350 XP
Quest 6
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: The Defias Traitor
Level: 18, obtained at 14
Escort the traitor to and through Moonbrooke. Keep your head on straight and this is easy. Report to Stoutmantle afterwards.
Rewards: 140-1350 XP
Quest 7
Name: The Defias Brotherhood
Giver: Gryan Stoutmantle
Level: 22 Elite, obtained at 14
Go kill Van Cleef. Report to Stoutmantle.
Rewards: 260-2600 XP and
thottbot.com/?i=2444 or
thottbot.com/?i=2450 or
thottbot.com/?i=2273
Tricks and Extras for The Deadmines' Pirate Cove
Shortcut 1: When you first enter the cove, jump into the water on the left. Swim to the rock right before Smite. 10 or so pirates skipped. Moxious!
Shortcut 2: When you first enter the cove, jump into the water on the left. Swim around the ship and surface at a small camp of pirates. Go up and around, and back to the ship. Take a left on the ship, and carefully make your way around the back of the ship. Boss skipped: Mr. Smite. Moxious!
Shortcut 3: If you are really good, wait until Greenskin has moved behind the cabin and run in to engage Van Cleef. Boss Skipped: Captain Greenskin. Moxious!
Extra Boss: Cookie, the Ship's Cook
Cookie is wandering the lower part of the ship, on the side that, in the normal route doesnt have to done. He is as easy as a normal elite. His BoPs are:
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I consider this one of the prime grabs for a caster in the early game. This wand is intensely better than any you have or can find for a good while.
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Crap. Mace rogue first.
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This wont bind until use, or even take a roll, one person will just get it. You should roll for it though.
Shortcut 1: When you first enter the cove, jump into the water on the left. Swim to the rock right before Smite. 10 or so pirates skipped. Moxious!
Shortcut 2: When you first enter the cove, jump into the water on the left. Swim around the ship and surface at a small camp of pirates. Go up and around, and back to the ship. Take a left on the ship, and carefully make your way around the back of the ship. Boss skipped: Mr. Smite. Moxious!
Shortcut 3: If you are really good, wait until Greenskin has moved behind the cabin and run in to engage Van Cleef. Boss Skipped: Captain Greenskin. Moxious!
Extra Boss: Cookie, the Ship's Cook
Cookie is wandering the lower part of the ship, on the side that, in the normal route doesnt have to done. He is as easy as a normal elite. His BoPs are:
thottbot.com/?i=6502
I consider this one of the prime grabs for a caster in the early game. This wand is intensely better than any you have or can find for a good while.
thottbot.com/?i=7310
Crap. Mace rogue first.
thottbot.com/?i=9147
This wont bind until use, or even take a roll, one person will just get it. You should roll for it though.
Keep in mind, many VC runs are 'bully' runs, where the group going through it has a member who is much stronger than the rest. If that is the case ignore...this whole guide. This guide is prime for a full party of people around level 20.
Dealing with BS. Don't.
Van Cleef is where people become good or bad players. It is the first scenario where people are forced to work together, and a person who is getting away with being greedy or stupid will be encouraged that this proper behavior. The following are examples of bad behavior:
1) Rolling on BoP's they don't need
2) Misplaying their class badly
3) Pulling when they aren't the puller
4) Yelling for heals all the time
5) Healing only at low life
6) Running around when they are attacked
7) Overreacting to mistakes made
8) Trying to take control of the group unpeacefully
9) Generally being a jerk
In later instances, I talk to these people more first. In VC, I kick them out or leave. People cannot be encouraged, or they will show up in places like Gnomeragen and Scarlet Monestary without a clue. You may end up redoing this instance several times. Dont sweat it, it's good practice. Better that the weeds be wrenched from our server than VC just "be out of the way". Thanks.
Van Cleef is where people become good or bad players. It is the first scenario where people are forced to work together, and a person who is getting away with being greedy or stupid will be encouraged that this proper behavior. The following are examples of bad behavior:
1) Rolling on BoP's they don't need
2) Misplaying their class badly
3) Pulling when they aren't the puller
4) Yelling for heals all the time
5) Healing only at low life
6) Running around when they are attacked
7) Overreacting to mistakes made
8) Trying to take control of the group unpeacefully
9) Generally being a jerk
In later instances, I talk to these people more first. In VC, I kick them out or leave. People cannot be encouraged, or they will show up in places like Gnomeragen and Scarlet Monestary without a clue. You may end up redoing this instance several times. Dont sweat it, it's good practice. Better that the weeds be wrenched from our server than VC just "be out of the way". Thanks.
