Gardens of Xia’Liu : Vanguard Dungeon Review

Posted by Cyprus in Vanguard News, Vanguard Dungeon Reviews

Dungeon:
Gardens of Xia’Liu

Location:
North of Gulkar’s Encampment, a camp at the south end of the Wildgrowth Forest, south of Martok.

Level Range of Mobs:
3 and many 4 dots, Levels 12-16

Screenshots:
Gardens of Xia’Liu Screenshots

Overview:

Even spread of mobs from 12 up to 16, most 3 dots, but several 4 dots.
50/50 mix of single and double pulls, very few triples if you watch and wait, timing can help tremendously.
Golems hit hard and stun, so agro can be rough at the first pull, especially with doubles.
Stealth canine mobs start showing up a few rooms in, and they roam around their rooms, so look before pulling.
Dancers (wisps) have AOE attacks, so keep them away from the low HP party members, or you will go down quick. Double and triple pulls with 1 wisp seem harder then any other pulls in the dungeon if you are clumped together.
Respawn rate was average, nothing to amazing, but there are a few twists and turns that can lead you in a full circle.
Many quests available in Gulkar’s Encampment, and one in Martok (from the Shaman trainer).
Wearable loot drops were common, lots of armor, seemed to get a lot of +wisdom medium items (Monk/Disciple gear).
Sellable loot was not as frequent as other dungeons and was not very valuable.
Full group of 6, 2 tanks, 2 dps, 2 healers, mixed in levels but 2 highest were only 13, and there was average difficulty if you kept the pulls to only 2 at a time.
The end of the dungeon has a large wooden tower structure that you climb. Before you reach the top, know there are at least 4-5 high level clay golems at the highest level- and they appeared to be all tied to one pull. Finish the final quest at the base of the last set of stairs before attempting the last pull, or just finish the quest and leave—- because that’s one epic pull for the average group exp’ing in there.

Walk through:
Once you enter the actual ‘garden’ area, you can go left or right. The right side has 2 smaller wings, a few mobs, and a named which takes a while to respawn. If you & your group are looking to ‘clear’ the area you’ll want to take a few minutes to sweep through the right wing, otherwise its not required to advance. The quests take you to the left.

Following the left path you come to a clay golem guarded pool at the top of a hill. This pool is your first pond for the “fill up 3 water bottles” quest, the bottles are in your inventory.
At that pond you can go 2 directions:

A) Pass the pond on your rightside, following a path that veers right. This leads over a bridge and then to a doorway. Through the doorway you reach a “T” intersection at a shallow stream. Both directions take you to the 2nd pool, but going left ensures a nice ramp up to the top. Once you have reached the 2nd pool and filled another water bottle, backtrack to the 1st pond and take path B.

B) From the enterance of the dungeon, you would take a left when you reach the first pond. If you were back tracking from the 2nd pond, look to take a path on your right. The path leads toward a shallow water section of the dungeon. There are several dead ends in this section. but most can be spotted quickly, allowing you to get back on track right away.

Once out of the water, you approach a hill topped with 2 level 15 & 16 4 dot clay golems. This path leads to the final courtyard with 2 pools (complete the water collection quest) and a wooden tower structure in the middle. The near pool will work for your 3rd water bottle of the quest, and from there you can get to the wooden tower with a few timely mob pulls. Get to the tower, climb to the platform, but stop BEFORE the top level, and use your Spiriteye talisman for the big quest. You do not need to get to the very top, where 4-5 deadly clay golems await. If you clear that top level, let us know about it, looked pretty rough up there.

Final View:
Except for the deadly foes at every turn, this ‘eastern orient’ styled dungeon might be a leisurely stroll through lushly appointed gardens adorned with tidy little ponds, ornate bridges, beautiful flowers and simple open air structures. Pulls were challenging enough to really test full groups averaging under level 12. With a higher level group, timing and basic strategy is still necessary to keep AOE damage away and deal with extra adds.

Keep your group tight to avoid unexpected adds and having to fight on multiple fronts
Keep light armor classes away from the Dancer wisps (deadly AOE)
Watch out for stealthed mobs - foxes, salamanders
Watch out for the 4 dots - a few have insane HP & are harder to take down than others
Highly recommend 2 tanks to keep clay golems from aggroing casters
Expect respawns when exiting - a bind point lies just south of the dungeon entrance, if you prefer to ‘recall’ out

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