It's up to you to lead your party to victory as you seek the Throne of Idris. Lucky for you, our guide will help make that happen.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Die We Go… Wait. What?!

With some help from our previous guides, you've made your way through the ranks of dungeon bosses, including the incredibly powerful Chartilifax within the Lair of the Mad Dragon. This week, it's time to take on Idris the Revenant, and it's going to take some special teamwork to pull it off.

Hidden high upon the Royal Rise in the southeastern section of Ebon Downs lies the Throne of Idris dungeon entrance (1592, 494 map location). It's up to you to enter the crypts, destroy the vile Direhelm Forge, slay Idris the Revenant, and lay to rest anything that dares get in your way.

Throne of Idris is a level 38 dungeon and has a very small window queuing opportunity, especially if you're regularly adventuring outside the dungeons. If you're between the level of 35 and 39, you can use the queue system to gather a group. If you're too high there’s no need to panic. You can still run the dungeon; you'll just need to enter the old fashion way by walking up and kicking in the front door.

However you enter this dungeon, be sure to stock up on potions. Any cleric is going to be stressed to the max trying to keep the tank alive, let alone worrying about you getting agro and getting your butt handed to you. Have your own potions. They're cheap and at this point in the game, so you have no excuse not to have plenty of gold to buy stacks of them. Bring along any other potions you’ve accumulated, such as Force, Fortification, Tidespan, etc. -- anything that boosts your various character abilities such as Recovery, Defense, Power, or more for 10 minutes. Save these for bosses and they'll make the battles go much easier.

Filled with various undead, including heavily armored Direhelms, teleporting Gloomblades, spell-slinging Shadar-Kai Witches, and more, the Throne of Idris is not going to be easy. Even the "trash" battles will be enough to test the mettle of many groups. There will be no areas the party just waltzes through so be prepared to fight and fight hard.

Bosses

There are three bosses within the Throne of Idris dungeon. The Direhelm Forge battle and the final confrontation with Idris the Revenant cannot be avoided. There is one optional boss before them called the Bone Golem. Each boss will drop a rare (blue) piece of equipment for the party to roll on. This is also where you'll get your first Manticore Seals, which all players can collect with each boss victory. These can be used to purchase special equipment from a vendor back in town. Be aware that anything that would normally affect a target’s movement or ability to attack will have no effect on these bosses; they are immune to any form of knockback, stun, freeze, etc. You have been warned.

Name: Bone Golem
Class Type: Fighter/Summoner
Known Loot:

• Amulet of Sorrows (Neck – Level 38 – Great Weapon Fighter)
• Bone Band (Ring – Level 38 – Any Class)
• Shroudcloth Bindings (Arms – Level 38 – Trickster Rogue)

First up is the optional boss, the Bone Golem. If you see a body resting on an altar and the mouse-over says "Complete summoning ritual," be sure you're ready to have a boss spawn before you click it because he's coming. While you're in the heart of this battle it initially appears far worse than it actually is. The Bone Golem uses a lot of AoE attacks and repeatedly summons groups of four Zombie Bonekins. Fortunately, the Bonekins are pretty weak compared to what you've already been fighting, so just have someone keep them occupied and off the Cleric and the rest of the party can concentrate on the Golem without too much worry.

Name: Direhelm Forge / Razvahn the Forger
Class Type: Forge Puzzle / Boss Battle
Known Loot:

• Forgekeeper’s Ring (Ring – Level 38 – Any Class)

The Direhelm Forge is more of a piecemeal puzzle rather than a traditional boss battle. To complete it, you're going to need to destroy the four Deathknell Shards powering the Direhelm Forge before being able to destroy the Forge itself. You’ll find two on each side of the massive room the Forge is housed in. To do this, you're going to need to fight your way through hordes of Direhelm and Gloomblades, along with multiple other undead types. The key to this battle is to move slowly. Keep everyone together, battle each group individually, and whatever you do, do not destroy another shard until you've dealt with the incoming wave of Direhelms that will spawn up top and come down for you each time a shard is destroyed.

Once you've destroyed all four shards, it's time to climb to the top and take on Razvahn the Forger and his pet Doomsept. Take out the pet first because he actually hits harder than Razvahn himself. Once the Doomsept is down, the entire party can concentrate on Razvahn. As long as the party has a decent Cleric, the party can ignore his AoE attacks at this point and all go into DPS mode.

Name: Idris the Revenant
Class Type: Caster/Summoner
Known Loot:

• Nightwyrm Ring (Ring – Level 38 – Any Class)

Old EverQuest players will feel right at home with the method of clearing the throne room. As soon as you enter, you'll notice there are hordes of undead scattered in pockets here. It's all too easy for a party member to accidentally draw aggro from these groups while trying to deal with your initial target. If this happens, you’ll find yourself buried in seconds.

Most groups won't like taking this approach, but the name of the game here is pull, baby, pull. Pull each group individually to the entrance of the throne room and you'll have little to no problems with all the undead. Be sure to kill every single group before taking on Idris. Otherwise, they will heed her call to battle when you engage her no matter how far away they were.

Idris the Revenant rules the crypts under Miradain Fortress and it quickly becomes clear how she's managed to hold power over all the undead. She is a master summoner and casts a vicious AoE with heat-seeking purple globs of doom and destruction. As cute as that description may be, those globs hurt. They're hard to avoid and when you do get hit by them, they'll strip the health off your character faster than anything else you've encountered in the dungeon so far.

Throughout the battle, Idris will continually summon more and more undead, including two Zombie Hulks that hit like tanks and have an extreme amount of hit points. With this in mind, there are a few ways to deal with her, but here's how my party eventually took her down.

If you're lucky enough to have more than one fighter, let one of them off-tank the hulks. They're big and strong, but they're also slow, so the fighter should be able to keep them occupied. Idris doesn't appear to cast more if those two are still standing -- at least not once the initial wave of summoned undead has been dealt with.

The wizards and thieves should concentrate on Idris while being prepared to dodge regularly. Since stamina will eventually run out, it's advised to lure Idris down to the main floor of her throne room. There, you'll find a number of columns you can duck behind when she starts casting her globs.

Have no delusions -- this is going to be a long, tough fight. Pay attention to the health of your fellow players. The Cleric will undoubtedly not be able to keep everyone alive all the time. It's up to you to keep your eyes open and revive any party member that goes down as quickly as you can before they release. If they release, they will not be able to join the battle again.

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

Be prepared for more than one wipe as you and your party try to take Idris the Revenant down. The chances of getting through this with a PUG on your first attempt are slim to none. But, although the battle will be rough, it can be done. You're just going to need to be one your toes and pay attention to what's going on around you at every moment. Do this, and you'll find yourself victorious!