Rift Guide: Upper Caduceus Rise
Upper Caduceus
Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide
Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus
Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide
Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus
Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide
Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide Upper Caduceus Rise Guide
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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/207962">
Nestled deep in the jungles of Ember Isle, Caduceus Rise is home to a
sect of the Golden Maw that is bent on creating a new body for their
malevolent deity; Laethys, the Dragon of Greed. This is the
first new dungeon since Rift
launched and it is full of color and sound, with a wide open non-linear
feel.
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Group Configuration:
Upper Caduceus Rise, while mechanically unforgiving, is fairly tame for
a tier 2. If the healer is undergeared or new to t2 you can utilize
your support class for extra heals, but most healers can handle the
bulk of the instance solo. Several of the fights can require a bit of
movement so Rogue tanks tend to do very well here, and while there
isnt much in the way of trash packs, nearly every pull has mobs spread
up so the Rogues ability to gather them all up is handy
Quests
style="text-shadow: none;">Lust of Fire and Gold
style="text-shadow: none;">
style="font-weight: bold;">Starts: Caduceus Rise
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From: Zone
In
Deafeat the 5 bosses plus Caduceus of Caduceus Rise
Bosses:
Zugthak
alt="Caduceus Rise"
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Upper Caduceus Rise is surprisingly bereft of trash with few pulls
between each boss which helps with the non-linearity of the zone.
Zugthak is visible from the automatic zone in spot, so he makes a prime
first target.
A lumbering, hulking giant, Zugthak has a few mechanics you will need
to master. The first ability he will deploy, and the easiest to deal
with is his proximity based AoE, this massive stomp will deal a fair
bit of damage to the tank and any melee in range, but its slow cast
time allows plenty of time to run out and avoid it. The real trick of
the fight is the dealing with adds and a damage reduction buff that the
boss gains. Two types of mobs will spawn during the fight, a group of 3
adds that have no threat table and will ultimately attack the one
helpful mob that spawns. The helpful mob will have a blue bubble around
him that affords players one of three abilities when they stand it. The
three abilities share a 1 min cooldown timer and do one of three things
remove the Thick Hide damage reduction buff, kill a trogg add or
grant immunity to stomp. Most groups will have the ranged DPS
and healer rotate going into the bubble and cleansing the thick hide
buff. The other two abilities are trivialized as DPS can avoid the
stomp and burn down the adds quickly.
Rodiafel
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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/207959">
Next up is Rodiafel, a nasty burrowing worm with two distinct
phases. The boss will be underground when first engaged with
the fight beginning when he emerges. During the exposed stage Rodiafel
will employ a couple nasty DoTs that need to be managed and cleansed
quickly. One is ground based and can be avoided, one is a frontal PBAoE
that should be cleansed from the tank and the third is a randomly casted
DoT that hits two players and needs to be cleansed quickly. While phase
1 is mostly a healing/cleansing exercise, phase 2 requires everyone to
be responsible for their own survival. When Rodiafel burrows a yellow
bubble will appear over each player, these bubbles cause massive damage
to other players when they intersect. To further complicate things
there are red circles that appear that need to be avoided.
Transition between the two phases is fairly quick, so make
sure to be aware of your positioning and make everyones life easier.
Captain Black Spit
alt="Caduceus Rise"
src="http://www.riftgame.com/img/instances/caduceus-1.png">
The next, and most entertaining boss in the instance, is Captain Black
Spit. A hearty drinker, Captain Black Spit runs amok drinking
from the large flagon on his back and spitting up bile when he has had
his fill. This fight is all about positioning. Captain Black Spits only
serious ability is a frontal cone attack that will one shot anyone that
isnt at the top of the threat list, so the tank has to keep the boss
faced away from the party (and the party needs to be aware of their
positioning even though it may look like you are behind him the
ability has a wide cone so stack on his backside). There is also a
ground based AoE component that must be avoided and random adds that
spawn. Stay on your toes and burn down the adds quickly for
an easy kill.
Cinderstorm
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Cinderstorm is a fun fight that has two fairly easy mechanics and a DPS
race component. Engage Cinderstorm where he stands in the
middle of the room, you will notice a fiery pattern appear on the
floor, this ring of fire will rotate around the boss and needs to be
avoided. The main mechanic to be dealt with here is Cinder
Storm, an ability that causes balls of energy to flare up in
his room, killing anyone in their line of sight. Ranged DPS and the
healer can stand in the initial doorway, while melee and tanks will
need to duck into one of the alcoves in the room to avoid
this. After the second cast of the LoS ability a ring of fire
appears around the outer edge of the room and begins to move toward the
center. Everyone must avoid this ring as it will insta-gib you. Burn
the boss down quickly to avoid a wipe.
Headhunter Kulir and Disciple
Varash
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The Headhunter Kulir and Disciple Varash encounter is one that is
extremely easy to over-think and make much harder than it needs to be.
Tanks will engage both mobs initially and attempt to maintain it
throughout the fight. Headhunter Kulir is the more annoying of the two
mobs as he will teleport about and smack a random party member, the
damage isnt difficult to heal through and this is mostly a
smokescreen. What makes Headhunter Kulir really deadly is his Magma
Tempest ability. Magma Tempest is a point blank AoE that grants the
boss a stacking buff that if left unchecked can be a death knell to any
tank. The good thing about the ability is that it is 100%
interruptible.
Disciple Varash is the easier of the two to kill and he will shoot off
a ground based AoE that can be a pain in the ass if you attempt to kill
Headhunter first. Burn down Disciple Varash first with either the tank
or another player assigned to interrupt Headhunter Kulir.
Once Disciple Varash is dispatched you can concentrate on Headhunter,
keep him interrupted and prepare to collect your loot.
Caduceus
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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/207961">
The final boss is the zones namesake, and he is only accessible after
the other 5 have been killed off. Unlike the normal mode of this fight
the two NPCs in his room are now KoS and need to be dealt with before
moving on to the big ugly himself. The fight mechanics here are not
much different than the non-heroic version but there is a DoT that has
to be cleansed from three players intermittently throughout the fight.
Players will stack up directly behind the boss to negate his Tectonic
Disturbance mechanic, and while it helps to avoid the ground based AoE
that rumbles about during the encounter the damage is minimal and can
be shrugged off. There are two types of adds that can spawn in this
fight, depending on group DPS you can either choose to ignore them or
burn them down as they appear. Some groups may never actually
see the adds. With competent heals and strong DPS this fight can end up
being one of the easiest in the zone.
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