color="gold">In
the beginning there was Everquest. color="gold">

And from this void emerged the Raid.

And it was good.

Since the early days of MMORPGs raids have
been the endgame; that place where all players gravitate to once they
have achieved the maximum number of levels and are looking to do
something more challenging. Raids come in a variety of shapes and
sizes, and Age of Conan (AoC) is no exception.

AoC actually has two types of raids. The
Player vs Player (PvP) raids take the form of siege warfare (both
offense and defense), the basics of which were covered in an article by
Martuk. In this article I will only cover the basics of the 2nd type of
raid; PvE raiding. I will not be covering any strategy, but there will
be some tips at the end.

The PvE raids in AoC are in three distinct
tiers, each tier needing to have a particular event completed before
the next tier may be attempted. Tier 1 has four bosses in three
separate zones.

While there is no particular order in
which you need to tackle the four bosses I am going to go through them
in the order I recommend that you attempt them. My recommendation is based
on three arbitrary factors; difficulty, gear, and necessity.

Disclaimer:
I would like to submit two quick disclaimers here. First, raiding is
still very much a work-in-progress in AoC. These bosses have been
rebalanced several times since launch and will most likely undergo
changes in the future, so remain flexible. Second, I do not consider
myself omniscient in terms of AoC raiding. I am just a guy in a great
guild who has taken down these bosses many times in the last couple of
months and is sharing some information. All of you who know more than
myself about T1 raiding are welcome to post away to correct any errors
I have may have made.

 

Difficulty

None of the Tier 1 bosses are very difficult for a full team
of coordinated players who communicate well. Each boss has been taken
down with less than a full raid, but as they say, the more the merrier.
Therefore, I recommend you have a full raid if for no other reason than
efficiency. It is very possible to take down all four T1 bosses during
a solid raiding session of 4+ hours. Each boss (except the Champion)
also has adds (additional monsters) which take a varying degree of
coordination to handle.

Gear

Gear is important in AoC. All four bosses can be taken down
with good players who have standard green gear. However, taking the
time to “gear-up” and acquire as many blue pieces of gear as possible
will definitely improve your chances. Crafted gear is very good for
most classes and indispensable for main tanks so farming gems can be
very beneficial.

By completing the easier bosses and getting the purple gear
they drop, you should find your more difficult bosses easier to defeat.

Note:
To get to Tier 2 raiding you must have one of Vistrix's teeth. This
makes killing her necessary.

 

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Yahkmar’s
cave is found in
the Eiglophian Mountains and is listed on the POI (point of interest)
in the middle portion of the zone at (589,1178).
Zoning
in to the cave you will start off in a short tunnel (at the end of this
tunnel is where the ice wall will drop down once the fight starts).
This tunnel opens up into a massive ice cave, with a mammoth skeleton
and large pillar off to the right. Continuing to walk straight out of
the tunnel you will travel down a slope and if you keep walking to the
far end of the cave Yahkmar will be found lurking in an alcove.

Yahkmar looks like a mini Shai-Hulud (a sandworm from
Dune).
However, do not let his size fool you. He is extremely fast and can
turn on a dime. Tanks who are not geared properly can expect to get hit
for thousands of points of damage and he has an AOE spell as well as a
stun. The stun seems to be a reactive proc to being damaged by fire, so
you may want to switch any fire damage for an alternate source.

However, it is not Yahkmar himself who gives adventures
the most
trouble. When threatened, Yahkmar will summon forth mini versions of
his mini Shai-Hulud self. These adds have a wicked stun and are not
easy to kill. Oh, and did I mention they come four at a time from the
corners of the compass? However, there are no special tricks or
scripts. When working properly Yahkmar is a memorable first raid and a
satisfying fight.

Note color="gold">: As of the writing of this Yahkmar is
a little bit borked and
summons forth its children at a horrendously fast rate. If you attempt
to fight it you will most certainly die. Keep an eye on patch notes to
see if its disposition changes. There is a quest from the hunting lodge
to kill Yahkmar, so I recommend that you pick it up first.

 

 

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This zone is found in the Field of the Dead and the POI
is shown in the upper right hand corner of the zone at (1228,920).
It has the distinct honor of being the only Tier 1 raid zone with 2
bosses. As far as I know, there are no quests associated with this zone
currently.

When you enter Kyllikki’s Crypt it looks like…well, a
crypt! Dark, dank walls. Ancient pillars. You get the idea.

This zone is very small, with only four rooms. However,
there are
quite a few mobs here and they are all in groups. Be very careful
pulling these groups, as each type of mob has a different set of
attributes. I will give you one hint here; watch the spell guards
closely.

After you have cleared the first room, the second room
holds a large
number of evil groups…and the Champion of the Honorguard. The Champion
can be killed in a variety of ways and is a simple fight, making him an
alternate for a first raid.

This is where I should probably make mention of the fact
that raid
bosses have unique spells. Some are only dangerous to a single person
and some to the entire group. There are even some that are insidious
and do what you would not expect. Watch for these spells and learn what
they do.

Once you have killed the Champion and cleared out the
following
rooms ( I recommend you clear everything because these mobs have a
chance of dropping epic belts) you will come to a large chamber
containing Kyllikki. Do not worry, this is a small zone and there is no
way to take a wrong turn or get lost.

There are many ways to kill Kyllikki. None of them are
the “right
way” but having a Necromancer around sure does not hurt (shout-out to
my undead brethren).

 

 

Vistrix’s Lair

This zone is found in Atzel’s Approach and is marked as a POI
in the upper left hand corner of the map called “The Lair” at (353,859).
It is actually fairly hard to find, as there is only one way up and you
might miss it if you are not looking.

There are four main quests that end with Vistrix. The first is
for Vistrix Bane (more on that in a moment). The second is from King
Conan and upon completion gives you the rank of Black Dragon and an
epic cloak. The third is for Vistrix's crown. The fourth will give you
Vistrix’s tooth; which is needed to move on to Tier 2 raiding.

To get there, head to the middle of the zone towards Atzel’s
tower, but just before you cross the moat into Atzel’s tower take a
left, heading up the mountain through a passage in the ice walls. Watch
out for the roaming mobs, head West over the bridge, and climb down the
long ladder.

Note: 300 climbing was required
to climb down at one time, so if you have trouble using the ladder you
may want to increase your climbing skill.

Ah, the final Tier 1 raid. What could be more appropriate than
a Dragon?

Enter the lair and you will be in a small staging area. Go
down the stairs and the path branches left and right. These paths each
go through a few rooms, creating an oval with Vistrix’s Lair at the
apex. If you are going straight for Vistrix you only need to clear one
side or the other. If you are trying to get the Vistrix Bane then you
will need to clear both sides. The mobs in here are some of the most
FEARful mobs in the game. I highly recommend having a few Necromancers
in the raid, as their pets are immune to fear and will stay on the
target while everyone else is running around like a bunch of ninnies.

 

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This quest is received from Kurtz Mandros (284,266)
found just north of the zone entrance in Atzel’s. Basically, he will
send you to go find a mysterious cave (The Lair) and when you return he
gives you a second part. You need to find four stones hidden within
Vistrix’s Lair. There are two on the left side of the zone and two to
the right. Once you have all four then you will turn them in to Kurtz
and get the Vistrix Bane item. It is on a 10 minute timer and when used
it makes the person you cast it on immune to Tartarous Vapors (which is
Vistrix’s fire) for a short time.

Vistrix can definitely be defeated without this item.
However,
having Vistrix’s Bane to use on your tank makes the fight smoother than
Angelina Jolie’s newly oiled bottom.

This
one is straight forward.
King Conan will give you a “final” task to prove your worthiness to
join the elite Black Dragons. Once you kill Vistrix go back to him and
receive your reward. Kurtz
Mandros (284,266)
gives you this quest. After you have killed Vistrix everyone who has
this quest can grab Vistrix’s crown from the chest and turn it into
Kurtz for a little silver. Unfortunately, Funcom has not put in an item
reward for this achievement.

Once Vistrix is dead, a
totem will appear in the front of the cave where you fight him. Each
person can take a turn clicking on this totem and getting a tooth. Take
the tooth back to a Char in Kheshetta City and you will start on a
series of quests that will keep you on the move for a while.

Tip: set your bind point in
Kheshetta, as you will be returning many times.

When you are all done you should have 9 quests (Tier 2
and Tier 3) for Black Ring Citadel.

Welcome to Tier 2 raiding!!

To see what loot is available from each of the four bosses I
would recommend looking at this link:

href="http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=116639">http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=116639

Tips

• When traveling in a large group on horseback be careful.
  Horses have an oddly large collision circumference and it is quite easy
  to knock guildies off of bridges and paths.
• If possible, have at least one of each type of class on the
  raid. I know everyone would fill their raids with just Necros if they
  could, but try to mix it up a bit. It is not uncommon to have all of
  the loot drops belong to one particular class (damn you Ragnar) and
  since it is Bind on Equip you cannot give it to someone who is not
  there. A puppy dies somewhere every time a piece of epic gear sits and
  rots.
• Make sure that your entire team is assembled before you go
  into any of the zones because there are sometimes challenges with
  lockout timers and getting everyone into the same instance of the zone.
• Let the raid leader go in first…especially if anyone in the
  raid has been in the zone within the last week.
• Once a boss is killed, everyone who was there for the event
  is supposed to be locked out of that zone for a week. Funcom has
  changed how this works a few times, so play with it a bit.
• Before entering the zone have everyone reboot their
  computer. Some of the zones are notoriously bad at crashing people;
  which puts them outside of the zone until the fight is complete. This
  is particularly annoying when you kill the boss and someone cannot get
  back in and get credit.
• Make sure that people who do not have high level systems
  turn off particle effects, adjust settings to medium or low, and set
  shaders to 2.0.
• Have everyone bring (and use) lots of food and mana drinks
  (if necessary) and stamina drinks (if necessary). Have them stack up on
  HP/mana/stam potions. The vendor in Kheshetta is a great place to buy
  cheap high level food, drinks and pots. Alchemists can make food with
  the best stats and alchemist food will also last 4 hours (even when you
  die).
• If you are having trouble visit the AoC forums for ideas.

 

Well, that sums it up. Good luck and have fun!

Notleh the Necromancer

Brotherhood of the Spider

Omm Server

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