Tucked away in the northern reaches of Helm's Hold, the Lair of the Mad
Dragon is a dungeon of epic battles and your first serious challenge.

Into the Dragon’s Maw

Cloak Tower down? Check! Cragmire Crypts conquered? Of course! Now it's
time to get ready to cut your teeth on your first true challenge in the
game so far - the Lair of the Mad Dragon. The final boss in this dungeon
is nothing short of brutal so pull up your britches and get ready to beat
the hell out of the minions of Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells.



Unlike the other dungeons you've gone through so far, the Lair of the Mad Dragon has a very small window of opportunity in terms of using the queue to get a group. If you're between the levels of 30 and 35, you can use the queue system. If you're too high, you can still run the dungeon. You just need to gather a group and enter through the entrance in the northern parts of Helm's Hold (map location 1672, 1742).

I suggest creating your own group for this dungeon before trying to take
it on. The queue system will not always include a healer. While this isn't
an instant fail designator in other dungeons, there is virtually no way
you are going to be able to take on the final boss without a dedicated
healer. There are just far too many adds and danger zones for you to
survive that battle without one. I would also suggest ensuring you have a
proper tank with taunts.



Any cleric is going to be stressed to the max trying to keep the tank
alive in this dungeon, let alone worrying about you getting aggro and
having your butt handed to you. Have your own potions. They're cheap and
at this point in the game, you have no excuse to not have plenty of gold
to buy stacks of them. If you've accumulated any other potions such as
Potion of Force, Fortification Potion, Tidespan Potion, 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.



There don’t appear to be any optional bosses nor any puzzles in this
dungeon. Perhaps the designers felt the battles were sufficiently
devastating and didn't want to bother you with anything else. There are a
few illusionary walls, but the dungeon is very linear compared to the
previous two. You will need to speak to a ghostly servant of Helm to get
through a flaming door, but other than that, just be prepared to fight,
fight, and fight some more.



Filled with various Devil spawn, including massive Shocktroop Devils
(similar to Pit Fiends), even the "trash" battles will be enough to test
the mettle of many groups. Every battle has adds (Imps), casters (Hellfire
Magus), fighters (Legion Devils, Erinyes, etc.), and the occasional
undead. Be prepared to work for this one.

Bosses

There are three bosses in the Lair of the Mad Dragon and none of them are
pushovers. You'll need to battle them in order.

Name: Mizreal Everdark

Class Type: Caster

Known Loot:

• Cloak of the Ashmadai (Neck - Level 34 - Any Class)
• Brimstone Boots (Feet - Level 34 - Devoted Cleric)

First up is Mizreal Everdark. She may be cute in a horrific soul-sucking
demon way, but don't let her good looks fool you into thinking she wants
anything more than your death. She's a caster of no small amount of power
and loves to set everything in sight on fire, including you. She begins
the battle with two Blazing Skeletons but quickly starts summoning more
and more groups of Imps. There are a number of ways to defeat her, but a
solid strategy is to have everyone except the tank avoid her. The tank
needs to keep her attention, while a Control Wizard takes care of both
Blazing Skeletons from range. The Cleric needs to concentrate on keeping
the tank alive with the final two members of the party keep the swarms of
Imps off of the Cleric. Once the Blazing Skeletons are taken care of, the
battle becomes pretty easy as the wizard then joins in the fight against
Mizreal herself.

Name: Baelrath the Vile

Class Type: Fighter

Known Loot:

• Sword of Tyranny (Weapon - Level 34 - Guardian Fighter)
• Scale of the Nine Hells (Armor - Level 34 - Great Weapon Fighter)

Next up is Baelrath the Vile. He's a massive Devil that likes to stomp and
cause destruction in every direction. Even though he looks vicious,
Baelrath is actually a pretty easy foe to defeat. Have the tank keep him
occupied while the cleric keeps them alive. Everyone else can generally
ignore the few adds that appear and concentrate on plucking away at
Baelrath from as much distance as they can manage. Simply stay out of his
AoE range and this battle will be over before you know it.

Name: Chartilifax

Class Type: Dragon

Known Loot:

• Ring of the Ashmadai (Ring - Level 34 - Any Class)

Remember the good old days when Mizreal and Baelrath were the worst you
had to face in this old haunt of Asmodeus? Yeah, me too. Those moments are
behind you now so get ready for the pain. And a long fight. Hit the head
(use the lavatory), pop your potions, and get ready for the first big
fight of the game.



Chartilifax is a little dragon, but packs a massive breath weapon, teeth,
and claws. He loves to spray huge streams of poisonous gas that linger
wherever he breaths. There will be long streams and sporadic circles of
the stuff, so be prepared to move a lot. On top of this, there will be a
constant stream of Hellfire Mages, Legion Devils, Erinyes, and Imps. Later
on, a couple of Shocktroop Devils show up as well, just in case you were
getting bored.



The Tank is the only one that should be on Chartilifax. The Cleric should
be focusing solely on the tank. A Control Wizard should be guarding the
Cleric and the two remaining party members need to do everything they can
to keep the adds busy.



The Wizard should have Singularity loaded and ready to go every time they
have enough Action Points to cast it. Rather than centering it on
Chartilifax, place it in the middle of wherever the add train is. This
will suck them all up, allowing some well-placed AoEs to make short work
of the Imps and giving the other party members easy access to the
stragglers.



If the Cleric goes down at any time, it is imperative all party members
minus the tank attempt to get to them for revival. A live Cleric is the
only way this battle ends with the death of Chartilifax rather than the
rest of the party.



Be prepared for a long battle. It's going to be rough. You may even wipe a
couple of times. As long as you have a Cleric and Guardian Fighter to
tank, you can do this - it's just going to take some work.

Dragon Down!

And there you go. If you completed this dungeon and took down Chartilifax,
congratulations! It really is something to be proud of. You would be
astounded how many players have never seen his green scaly corpse lying at
their feet. Well done. The experiences will serve you well as you prepare
to enter the next dungeon, the Throne of Idris.