Raid Task: Showdown at the Crystal Core  

As to be expected, I guess, at level 115 this raid becomes trivial. You can ignore protecting the dwarves and just burn down the boss in 15 seconds. It's one old-time raid still worth doing since Twincast is one of the very few sub-90 spells, other than ports and utilities like Call of the Hero, that are still very useful at 115.

One interesting note: I recall when I tackled this raid a few years it was an unusual instance in that it was bindable. I remember clearly binding my druid near the boss's cave and teleporting my entire group there for the final fight. As of today though, it's not bindable anymore. They must have fixed or nerfed this. It would be odd to be bound in an instance. I'd hate to imagine what would happen if you forget to relocate your bind and you attempt to gate after the raid finishes and the instance fades away. It doesn't bear thinking about!

Edited, Jul 22nd 2020 8:21pm by Sippin

We had problems getting this raid to start. Eventually we figured it out. We were standing next to the wrong NPC. Look carefully at the name saying "Gather Round." It isn't Ulgrin.

After completing this I was able to buy Cantata of Courage RK3 from Zeb.

Interesting raid, challenging to do with single group or small force even at 100.

A few things I've learned for posterity:

Nothing sees thru invis except the boss and the nexiont spheres.

Nothing summons except the boss.

In truth, it's NOT essential to clear the lake. None of the existing spawns assist at all when the summoned minions travel thru the area toward the dorfs' camps. Dunno if they'd assist if you fought the summoned mobs near them. Probably. Up to now I clear any of the trash close to anyplace I'm fighting. It sure doesn't hurt to clear them but it isn't really needed and it certainly doesn't matter if a couple escape notice.

The raid fails when Ulgin Darkhammer dies. Essentially. He's the first named dorf they encounter and it just takes one named death for failure. He's a tough little guy! I triggered the raid for learnin' purposes and did nothing but watch and he and his crew lasted entirely thru 5 full rounds before he succumbed. Unfortunately, you can't heal or buff him. He also doesn't regen fast since his HPs stayed the same after each round, even if he had 1-3 minutes to heal up. I have to test if he can be charmed and then buffed. I suspect being a quest NPC he isn't charmable and I also suspect his closeby guards and buddies might take offense to the attempt. But worth a shot! Maybe his guards being ordinary NPCs, could be buffed... a whole crew of dorf warriors and paladins buffed to the gills with AC, HP, haste, regen and damage shields might prove a fearsome threat to the Crystal Core! ;)

I've debated WHERE to engage the waves of adds. I've tested right outside the core and right at the beginning of the tunnel that leads to the dorf camp. It might be better to fight them WITH the dorfs altho I'd have to test if aoe mez is going to **** off the little men. That would be bad. Of course with all the dorfs helping it might not even be necessary to perform crowd control.

Note also when the waves spawn from the core they move en masse to the "shore" but then they usually split, half going south and half going north. This is why you have to find a bottleneck where you can be sure to intercept them all. That is, unless you want to trust in the dorfs being able to handle partial waves with no problem. They wiped out the first 5 waves and were halfway thru the 6th when Ulgin finally croaked, at least during the one run I just observed the action.

Given the dorfs do a good job defending themselves, a viable strat might be to fight the first 7 waves or so with them, get to the level where the waves are 4 mins apart, teleport the group to right outside the core, wait for the next wave to spawn and move out and then engage the boss. This would allow almost 4 minutes of raiders-against-boss fighting before the next wave spawns.

/ponder

I will post more as I learn more.


Edited, Jul 6th 2014 1:17pm by Sippin

This raid enables you to use the Pure Power Sources ! Tested it on my toon...could not "open" my pure source prior to...as soon as raid complete, I could open the pure power source

Is there a list for what all classes get for completing this?

Paladins get Aurora of Dawnlight rk III
Clerics get Blood of the Unsullied Rk III

for completing this

Can anyone give an aprox. amount of hp on named?

hard version drops whirring runes too

You say, 'Hail, Ulgin Darkhammer'

Ulgin Darkhammer says 'You did well in removing the Imperiont, but it seems that that was not the end of the issue. Something even bigger has taken its place, and even the largest group we have been able to send into the Crystal Core have not even been able to get to it. Worse yet, it looks like it is starting an offensive to strike back at us. If you can gather a large amount of friends to help, we will need more of your [assistance]. If you are not able to assist us, you can still [investigate] the other matters.'

You say, 'assistance'

Ulgin Darkhammer says 'Thank you. When you and each of your companions are [ready] I will have one of my assistants escort you to the staging area.'

Given by Delver Hagorn in dwarf camp.