For every dungeon you encounter during your journey to the level cap, there is a second, more difficult, version for players at level 50. These dungeons are called “Expert” Dungeons. Ten in all, they are divided into two tiers; the first tier is aimed at players who have just recently hit level 50 and the second tier is geared towards those who have spent time in Tier 1 Expert Dungeons.
For the purpose of this guide, Runic Descent is considered a Tier 2 Expert Dungeon. General requirements for all Tier 2 dungeons include a Tank with at least 100 Toughness, DPS minded players must have either 100 Hit or Focus, a credible healer and an off-healer. The Tank can be a Warrior, Rogue or Cleric if properly geared, however Cleric Tanks will have the hardest time of all three. Healers will consist of Clerics mostly where your best off healer will be a Chlormancer. This does not mean you will not be able to use a Bard or Justicar as an off-healer or a Chloromancer as a main healer.
All expert dungeons offer new challenges, more bosses and sometimes additional areas to explore. In Runic Descent you will find two additional bosses, and an extended dungeon path. This guide will go over each boss fight and what to expect during each encounter.
For a full list of Tier 2 Dungeon Gear please use this link.
Rictus
Rictus is a difficult fight that requires everyone to constantly be moving and watching for ground effects. Rictus has two abilities that make this fight difficult. One is a ground effect that has similar graphics to an Inquisitors ground based AOE. Rictus will cast them randomly on players and player will have to move to avoid them. Because of the space this fight is being used on, it is quite easy to have line of site issues with your healers.
The second ability is that Rictus pulls everyone in to him and then slows and does a PBAOE ground pound. You can avoid this pull if you are constantly behind something that blocks you from flying to him.
This is essentially the whole fight, but it’s brutal. Ranged DPS is almost necessary for this fight. Positioning is key however so pick your battleground. As you approach Rictus you will notice a square right before him. There are two barriers in this square, one to your left and one right before Rictus’ platform. It is best to pull Rictus into this area and use these existing barriers to prevent Rictus from pulling you to him.
If you take a look at point 6 on the map above you will see a position labeled “Jump Off Point”. There is a tree you can climb on that will allow you to jump off and drop into Wormwoods area. If you can get to it quickly this might shave some time off of clearing trash between Rictus and Wormwood.
Wormwood
Wormwood is quite a simple fight much like he is on Normal Mode. Wormwood for the first 50% will randomly target someone and plant an exploding mushroom. In the later portion of the fight he will summon an exploding mushroom on everyone in the group. Avoid the mushrooms if possible. He also has a soft enrage at 10%.
The one thing you must be careful of if your group is melee heavy is that Wormwood cleaves and the tank will constantly be moving to avoid mushrooms.
Warden Falidor
Warden Falidor is a fun and quite fight that does not require much strategy, just awareness. Falidor casts a damage shield on himself that DPS players will kill themselves on. Either you must wait for it to wear off or a group member must purge it off of him.
Falidor also casts a long cast time spell that you must Line of Sight or you will potentially be one shotted. There are several areas where you can stand, the best being near the stairs leading to his platform where you can use a pillar to LOS the spell.
The only other mechanic that the tank will need to watch out for is when he summons adds at certain intervals during the fight. You will need to gather them up and AOE them down.
Atrophinius the Fallen
This fight is quite difficult for many groups if you are under geared. It requires mostly ranged dps, two tanks and healers. Only more advanced and well geared groups can get away with a single tank.
When you approach Atrophinius it will set off a speech phase. This will give you time to prepare and set up your positioning. If you notice the area leading up to him there are two braziers or pillars. The tank should position himself on one side with the melee and everyone else should be on the other side.
Warning: This fight favors ranged builds. Atrophinius also cleaves.
Once the fight starts it will be a simple tank and spank fight. On a timed script he will then cast an ability and during it’s duration he will charge everyone in line of sight. During this period, all players melee and ranged should run behind the pillar the started at. You will know when effect has worn off when he begins to melee attack again. All players must remain out of sight until this time. There is also a purple ring on the ground that designates this period, but might not show up on some people’s screen. Use his autoattack as a sign to get back out.
He will do this for the whole fight however at 50% he will summon his friends from Realm of the Fae. These will need to be picked up by a second tank. DPS down the two adds and finish off Atrophinius.
Eliam the Corrupted
The Eliam fight is a small rift event consisting of two stages before Eliam. The first stage will has a group of NPCs consisting of a heavy hitting melee NPC, a Healer and NPCs that summon shamblers and squirrels. The mobs are not incredibly difficult but you could run into issues with AOE threat.
The second stage includes another group of NPCs that you will have to fight and the only thing you must be aware of are flying Pixies that will need to be killed by a ranged dps player. They will spawn intermittently on either the right or left side of the center.
Once the first two stages are completed, Eliam will present himself to you. The fight is a mix of a DPS race and movement. The tank will engage Eliam and you will begin to DPS him down. He will then begin to cast a blinding spell. You will have to physically turn your character away from Eliam to avoid being stunned. He will then enrage and begin cleaving where the tank will have to kite him around the rift area. After a short time he will then return to the center of the rift area and summon a number of ghosts.
Eliam will become immune at this point while everyone has to scramble to kill the ghosts. They are situated at the far edges of the rift area so you might not be able to see all of them depending on your video settings. The ghosts can not be grouped up together or they will begin doing a lot of damage. Also during this phase Eliam will be throwing “bombs” that slow and do AOE damage. Avoid them if possible.
That is the whole fight. Turn your body as Eliam goes to blind you. Stay out of cleaving range as the tank kites Eliam during enrage. Kill ghosts quick enough to reset the the script.
If you don’t kill ghosts fast enough or if Eliam goes through too many cycles he will fully enrage and kill everyone.
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