Dungeon:
Temple of Dailuk

Location:
North by Northwest of Ahgram in Central Qalia

Level Range of Mobs:
16-20, 3 and 4 dots. Some quest spawning 5 dot mobs. 

Overview:

1. The town outside has many quest chains, some are done outside the dungeon.  Most of the main quests for inside the dungeon are at the base of the tower, and at the very top. Repairs available at small town a bit E of the quest town.
2. There are a few different types of mobs: hounds, human covenant people, gargoyles.  Most are stationary or have a slow patrol, but there are a few roamers, mostly around the entrance area where there are a lot of humans.
3. Many of the human covenant casters have an AOE rain of fire spell that can really hurt cloth wearers, so stand back on those pulls, and watch agro on double pulls if you can’t handle it.  Counter spell can really help.
4. With a balanced trio or more averaging level 18+, you can grind lots of the 3 dots, but there are so many 4 dots all over that the battles tend to run very long.  DPS is really needed to speed up the encounters, or you’ll need to bring a full group- or just be a little bit higher level. 
5. Re-spawn isn’t much of an issue if you are able to handle double pulls on occasion, but if you are taking major breaks after single pulls, might want to hang outside and grind for a while with the other quests.
6. Because of the large number of 4 dots inside the temples (buildings with basements that have roughly 15-20 gargoyles) this can be a great place to camp with a good group, and grind out some good exp.
7. Loot drops aren’t too great, money drops isn’t great either, but so many quests chains makes it worth it regardless.
8. Many of the quests are kill quests or collection quests that have you killing specific mobs, so be sure to turn in quests whenever possible, and look at the types of mobs you are pulling since they all look similar.
9. This temple can be very crowded since it’s a main leveling area, additional mobs can be pulled from high above- gargoyles are perched on top of the buildings and walls and can be arrowed or spelled down. 

Walk through:

Once inside the Temple of Dailuk, there are lots of Covenant people who are key kills for several of the quests.  There are pockets of hounds all over, with gargoyles in several areas as well.  The temples and houses (just names for the buildings with actual entrances to them) are scattered throughout, but there are only a few of them, each with 15-20 gargoyles inside the basement, all 4 dot.  

Many of the quests are chains, asking you to kill several different types of mobs, but once you finish purifying the temple chain, you will receive a ring that requires you to stand in several locations all around the temple.  Have your group fight around, and stand in the different locations, using your compass to guide you.  None of the locations are difficult to find and most of them are altars outside, or just the very inside doorway of a temple.  

After finishing this quest, you will be on the quest to kill Kraelix, but the quest is very vague about how to spawn him.  Just inside the temple head to the right, and you will see a group of “summoners of Kraelix” who are all humans that throw fire angled at one another.  They stand in an area called “the altar of Scorn.” That may not be the exact wording but look for the word SCORN, and I say that because the summoners can take 45 minutes to an hour to re-spawn (and I’ve waited, so trust me).  If you can kill all the summoners, you have about 10 seconds before the “Protectors of Kraelix” spawn, there are 4-5 of them, and they are level 20, 4 dots.  You need to take them out to spawn Kraelix. 

He is supposed to spawn where you are located, but has been known to spawn in other areas.  He is also ONLY supposed to be vulnerable to your group, since your group took out the protectors/summoners, but that may very well be bugged also.  Once you kill Kraelix you can take his trinket and go summon the Xarkrafi in his house.  Go to the temple of Xarkrafi (might be the house of Xarkrafi, not sure but only one of the two exists) and go to the basement, clearing all gargoyles, using the trinket to summon Xarkrafi.  

There are other Elite quests for this zone including summoning Dailuk ( a level 21 5 dot mob in the temple of Dailuk) with the dust you can obtain from killing a spirit named Veraguut spawning around the back of the temple of Dailuk.  Go to the basement of the actual temple of Dailuk and clear all the gargoyles, then put the dust on the orb to summon the level 21 5 dot.  He spawns other mobs during the encounter as well, multiple groups needed if you are around level 23 or so.   

Final View:

Visually, this dungeon is average, but gothic.  The gargoyles is a very nice touch, and the overall creativity with the quests chains and difficulty scaling to 5 dot level 21’s is very nice to see.  Leveling in here is monotonous because every pull is the same of 3 types of mobs, and can get very old with little reward.  On the other hand, its easy to get into a rhythm with a good 3 or 4 group, as long as you have the dps to really rock the 4 dot mobs.  If it’s not crowded, you can walk around looking for the names that occasionally spawn on the rocks and pick them off for good loot, but since its usually a hot spot, its rough to find decent mobs. 

With the recent addition of teleporters in Khal and Ahgram, this place is very popular for extremely low levels (15-16 even) so its really easy to get trained with higher mobs.  I suggest getting a good group and going deeper into a temple, and holding it all day for really good 4 dot experience and loot; better loot tables and exp.  There are so many quests, and most are kill/collection quests, you get a ton of exp just grouping up and farming.  I highly recommend this place for any group in the level range, and with so many mobs everywhere- it’s easy to take a small group and farm singles 3 or 4 dots.

Dungeon:
Stonesmasher Enclave

Location:
Vertically between 3 Rivers and New Targonor but a bit more East
[location 53300, 64500, (-27, 26) ]

There are several outposts around, with this dungeon entrance in the middle of a small crescent cut valley.

Level Range of Mobs:
2 and 3 dot levels 13-19

Overview:

1. All mobs inside the cave give New Targonor faction, including the bears
2. Cave holds a decent amount of Iron and Sandstone spawns
3. Majority of mobs are level 16 and 17, with 3 dots
4. Most pulls are single or double, with a few frightening 4-5 mob pulls scattered about
5. Most pulls are exactly the same, very little variety, and few surprises
6. Respawn rate is relatively fast, and dead ends can have you backtracking through re-pops
7. Wearable loot seemed to drop at a decent rate, but sellable loot was scarce.  Although, most mobs walk upright, which means coin on ever kill
8. Full group of 13’s can handle the dungeon, however, multiple tanks (even 3) is recommended for the scattered 4-5 pulls
9. The last mob was level 19, and had a few double 18 pulls around him. 

Final View:
This is a mining cave, complete with railroad tracks and lots of rock.  If you like caves, then this is heaven, but the general look of it gets old quick.  All mobs are of the same 3 types up to the boss, so variety is lacking here again.  New Targonor faction is very important because of the teleport to other continents, and finding a large spawn of mobs that are around level 16 was a bonus.  The tricky spots are where 4, 5 or 6 mobs are all standing around in a social circle… yep… that can make for a hell of a pull.  The rest of the place is all single or double pulls; which is very easy for a duo or trio to work the entrance for faction or decent experience.

Dungeon:
Gulgrethor Fortress 

Location:
East on the path from Gulkar’s Encampment, a town at the south end of the island with Martok. The path leads right by a holding point for Orcs, and into the Fortress.

Level Range of Mobs:
15-19, 3 and 4 dots

Screenshots:
Gulgrethor Fortress screenshots

Overview:

1. Entrance has 15’s with 3 dots, almost all single pulls.  From there you find increasing levels, double and triple pulls, 4 dots, as well as stealthers all over.
2. Once inside the main cave, several quests are available to your right on a platform, most are chains for more quests.
3. There are lots of different types of mobs: animals, melee’rs, casters, stealthers, flying, wandering guards… very important to look at what you want to attack first on every pull- and expect at least a stealth add every time.
4. With a balanced group averaging level 14, you can get pretty deep and tackle some of the 18 bosses.  But, with a low level group, crowd control strategy is very important to go the distance and save your healers some mana.
5. There are specific undead mobs that die, releasing multiple Cursed Spirits.  These spirits can be devastating with their stacking dots, and because they spawn on top of one another, it’s difficult to grab agro of several quickly.
6. This dungeon is huge compared to the Gardens, so plan to have a way out or recall available.  Getting to the back of the fortress can take about 30-40 minutes, and that is just going around the rim, and avoiding mobs along the way.
7. Re-pop happens at a relatively fast rate.  If you sit around too long, you are going to be popped on, so you have to keep moving forward, or at least staying close together.
8. While it’s great experience for lower levels, it can take a lot of time to kill mobs, so pay close attention to where you stand while fighting exceptionally long battles and avoid the agro from re-pops or roaming guards.

Walk through:

Quests are on your right as you enter the main area of the Fortress.  You can go down the right or left side, both eventually lead down to the ramp allowing ground level access to the dungeon.  Taking the right side is a much shorter distance to the ramp, and also has a shortcut that will be outlined in a minute.  First lets explain how to maneuver around this dungeon.  When you go down the right side you will get to the ramp leading down.  Once on ground level you are facing the main structure, and there are a few directions to go. 

Going inside the structure doesn’t really accomplish much unless you are looking for a lot of the large flying bat eye mobs- there are a bunch in the courtyard.  The ramps to the second level of the structure are all on the outside.  Our group usually headed to the left, avoiding mobs, and staying farther away from the fortress, until we saw a quick path to the ramp.  Once up the ramp, its pretty easy to see how to get around.  Several patrols that spawn regularly can cause additional agro, but other then that its pretty easy double pulls, with the undead and revenants spawning Cursed Spirits (hating these yet?).  The patrols are often named (Soul Seeker and Rampage) which both drop guaranteed loot, so keep looking for them to re-spawn.  Well, now that we know how to get around…

What’s the deal with this big structure in the middle and the 4 corners with orbs, the towers, AND why are there harbringer bosses at every corner… sometimes different bosses— it seems almost random????  Ok, let’s explain the whole ordeal.  First, there are quest chains that you have to go through.  Most are kill quests, some are collection quests.  Eventually you will get to a quest that requires you to go to the 4 orbs, and another quest to gather all 4 harbringer heads.  At each orb there is a harbringer that also has a named rare that can spawn.  The named rare will take a different form (wolf, spider, dragon, etc) and will be able to be pulled alone.  

Each harbringer is different, and some have some nasty abilities like AOE poisons, so be ready with all buffs just incase.  The harbringers will have 2 mobs near them and it’s expected to have a 3 pull, although 2 pulls have been done.  Killing an actual harbringer is the only way to get the head of a harbringer for the quest, but regardless of what is waiting at an orb, you can kill it and finish the orb quest.  Each rare spawn is a guaranteed loot drop, and most of the loot is good for the level.  If the group is good enough, waiting on re-spawns is the worst part about the loot farming or quest completing. 

There is a final quest located in Martok, that asks you to kill a rare form of another harbringer, not 100% sure of his name, possibly Viliconis.  He is the last harbringer boss at the top level of the fortress.  It’s not too difficult to reach him, except for the one mid level room that has several wandering mobs.  When you reach this room, its best to pull as many mobs as you can straight down the middle and when you see a chance- head directly down the middle to the staircase, it’s a safe spot to battle whatever agro you get.  From there you can rest then advance upwards and eventually reach the harbringer.  The last harbringer is supposed to be like the other harbringers, where his rare form has a chance at spawning, but this one is a very low chance at spawning.  For this quest, you need the rare version, so be prepared to camp the room a while.

Final View:

This dungeon is stunning.  There is so much to look at, and all of it looks great.  Huge chains come from different angles… Large Ziggurat-like structures, some with towers… Several staircases, ramps, walkways, walls- almost labyrinth qualities… Walking around the rim, fighting as you make your way to the back of the fortress- you can see bosses on the ground floor- one looks somewhat like a spider, another more like a dragon, several “Soulseekers” which are huge flying mobs resembling bats.

Once you reach the back of the fortress, its difficult to choose a path because there is so much available to you.  Variety of mobs in this dungeon is at it’s best, eye candy all over, increasing difficulty with bosses scattered with no clear cut paths, and roaming patrols keep you looking over your shoulder… Yes, this is what Vanguard is all about. 

Quick Tips:

Fighting on the Ramps:
The fortress is a big place, with lots of ramps and lots of double, triple pulls, even adds.  Its important to make sure you are fighting in safe areas.  Our group found that when you are running around on the 2nd level farming orbs and harbringer pulls, the safest place to pull and fight was the first long ramp up to the orbs in every corner.  The only mobs you will find are patrols that spawn in intervals, and the mobs at top and bottom of ramp, so pulling harbringers to the middle of the ramp is completely safe.

The Short-Cut:
This saved us a TON of time when we got to farming this place.  When you enter the main fortress/cave area and head down the right side, pass the quest givers on your left, you will see a corner stone below you that you can jump to.  It’s a corner stone that is linked to a ramp going up to an orb, so it’s a quick jump to the 2nd level of the fortress.  Look at where you are jumping to, the left side of the corner stone has 2 mobs (when the walker moves to the right side of the corner stone), and make sure there is no big axe patrolman coming… then have your tank jump first.  Have him jump and run through the mobs, carrying them to the ramp that leads down ward to the main 2nd level of the fortress.  Fight on the safe ramp area, then you are ready to pull the harbringer, or move to another orb.

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:

1. Even spread of mobs from 12 up to 16, most 3 dots, but several 4 dots.
2. 50/50 mix of single and double pulls, very few triples if you watch and wait, timing can help tremendously.
3. Golems hit hard and stun, so agro can be rough at the first pull, especially with doubles.
4. Stealth canine mobs start showing up a few rooms in, and they roam around their rooms, so look before pulling.
5. 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.
6. Respawn rate was average, nothing to amazing, but there are a few twists and turns that can lead you in a full circle.
7. Many quests available in Gulkar’s Encampment, and one in Martok (from the Shaman trainer).
8. Wearable loot drops were common, lots of armor, seemed to get a lot of +wisdom medium items (Monk/Disciple gear).
9. Sellable loot was not as frequent as other dungeons and was not very valuable.
10. 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.
11. 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. 

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

Dungeon:
Karrus Fahrel

Location:
South of Khal, across river, almost directly South of the Eastern side of Khal.

Level Range of Mobs:
3 and 4 dots, level 10-15

Overview:

1. Majority of mobs are level 12, 3 dots with a ton of HP.
2. Majority of pulls are double mob pulls, very close together.
3. Most pulls are exactly the same, very little variety, and few surprises.
4. Respawn rate seems pretty fast, so backtracking is rough.
5. Quests right outside the cave.
6. Loot drops in cave were very nice, some wearables, and sellable loot pretty common.
7. Group of 4 level 12’s had a rough time because of the amount of HP per mob, each pull took a long time to finish off.
8. There are level 14 mobs that are 4 dots down the corridors from the main spiral, which 2 shotted our main tank at level 12 with decent gear, so be careful with what you pull.

Final View:
The dungeon was graphically impressive with giant spinning globes and light reflecting from different angles, but it was lacking in variety of mobs.  The level of difficulty was pretty high for anything less then a balanced 4-5 group of level 12’s.  Respawn rate made any mistakes very costly, but the quests and experience were very decent for the level.  If it’s right for your group’s level, there are lots of mobs to kill and little variety if you get into a rhythm.

Dungeon:
Ksaravi Hollow

Location:
near Khal

Level range of Mobs:
2 dots, couple 3 dots, level 7 through 11.

Overview:

1. Consists if a very large cave, with a bridge to a series of platforms constructed with wire mesh and boards.  The entire cave is graphically stunning but it can be difficult to see which way you need to go because of the “ratty” look of this construction.  When you first enter the cave, it doesn’t look that big, but the number of mobs in there makes it a very long dungeon with great exp.
2. Alter not too far from cave, however, re-spawns cause a huge obstacle to reforming the group if only partial deaths.
3.  Experience is very decent, but drops lacking a bit.  Very few weapon/armor drops until the final boss.
4. Group of 3-4 level 7’s without healer, can easily take everything up to the boss, and its great exp.  A tank would be important though, since the mobs do decent damage.
5. Because of re-spawns, keeping moving is very important.  Boss fight especially, can be a lot tougher with a few re-spawns during the fight.  When in doubt, kill boss and loot before the others take you down.

Final View:
Re-spawn was definitely a factor in this place.  It’s a very long journey to get to the boss, and without much dropping on the way, you don’t want to retrace your steps.  The boss fight was tough, and there are mobs inside the room that you may not see at first.  Fighting the boss where he stands is probably your best bet for avoiding re-spawn.

Instance:
Arcanium

Location:
near Leth Nurae (just outside of town).

Level range of Mobs:
2-3 dots, level 7 through 11.

Overview:

1. First off, this dungeon is very close to Leth Nurae, but it’s obscenely far from the nearest altar.  Obviously, you can bind in LN but only usable 1x per hour, so expect to hold up your group for quite a while if anyone takes a fall.
2. There are several quests outside with decent armor rewards (well worth doing), and I had access to all of them at level 9-10.
3. Entering the Arcanium is tricky if you have never seen the hidden door.  When you get to the bottom of the stairs, you will have to left click the walls on your right and one will open.
4. There are 2 main wings of the Arcanium, one leading to a room of ethereal mobs, and the other heading toward a similar room with spiders.  The spider room also has access to a decent sized cave full of tougher spiders, that ultimately leads out to an exit further south on the map.
5. The spider wing has some challenges with adds, since standing around will usually bring extra spawns.  Look for a safe spot, run to it and battle there, rather than just fighting where the mobs are.
6.  The only boss that we encountered was a “mother” spider that was extremely easy, and did not drop anything of significant value.
7. With a healer and a tank, this dungeon is not too difficult for 3 level 9 or 10’s.  Without a healer, it’s very doable with 4.

Final View:
When I say that it took me 15 minutes to run back, that might be an understatement.  But, other than that, this instance was decent.  The quests made nice additions to my gear, although nothing spectacular.  As for mob spawns, this place is impossible to farm out.  Head to the spider room and cave below, you will not have any issues waiting for mobs.

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