Rift Update 1.7 Chronicle - River of Souls: Chains of Death 

Among the many additions coming with Update 1.7 is the release of the newest Chronicle, River of Souls: Chains of Death. This 2 person instance is the shortest of the 3 main chronicles, but it may be the one packed with the most lore. Using the same physical entrance and environment as the 20 player raid zone, CoD sends players off on a story of espionage, reconnaissance and trickery. This scaled down version also features none other than the betrayer of Port Scion, Alsbeth the Discordant as it's key figure. There are three boss encounters and two repeatable quests featured here, with rewards of Plaques of Achievement and various blue items. There are also two new collections and an achievement to reward your efforts.



The instance is fairly compact and can be completed rather quickly by 2 quest geared players or a solo T1+ geared toon. Like all Chronicles, CoD is designed to give non-raiding players an alternate path to seeing the lore of the game, as well as providing gear upgrades.




At the entrance you will find yourself outfitted to look like a member of the Endless Court and will note that many of the mobs inside con friendly to you. Approaching the first NPC will start the zone quest, Chains of Death, that first tasks you with gathering up siphoned power from the River of Souls. A second quest, Alsbeth's Binding, is available just up the path that will require you to weaken mobs to under 50% and then use a quest item to turn them friendly. The quest item is clickable from the quest tracker.




The first of the three boss encounters is Ithluk the Corrupted. This fight is pretty straightforward  with a random add phase of two NPCs that can be quickly burned down.



The second boss encounter, Tychus Ranthar, is a bit harder than first. The mob comes with two adds at the pull and hits pretty hard. Dispatch the adds, pop any cooldowns and burn the boss as quick as possible. At approximately 30% health he will cast an incapacitation on you that lifts you into the air and deals moderate damage, make sure not to go into that phase with low health.




Once the repeatable quests are done and the first two bosses are defeated, you can move up the hill to the final part of the instance. Make sure to clear all the trash as there is a slight chance to receive an epic mount similar to the one from the 20 player raid.  One nice feature of the new Chronicle is the addition of  NPCs to sell trash items to at a small camp just past the second boss.


Dropping off the pilfered souls to Plutonus the Immortal triggers a neat sequence that progresses you on to the final set of encounters with Alsbeth.


The dialogue section with Alsbeth was among my favorite parts of the instance as I am a huge lore nerd. Listening to her story will grant you the opportunity to unlock the final fight in the zone; a showdown with Gaurath, a rather angry undead dragon.

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Check out the video below for a preview of the Gaurath encounter and keep an eye out for more information about Update 1.7 as it draws closer to release.

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