Main Menu

Kael Drakkal

Started by Thrashum Gud, January 04, 2004, 06:02:08 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Thrashum Gud

I have no idea who to credit for this as they show only as "guest".  I thought it a very well written guide and one I plan to try as I've enver hunted Kael.


Way too often you hear about Kael raids and the ultra-rare quest piece drops from deep in the city. But what you never hear is how great this place can be for level 35+ groups. And because you never hear about it, most people never go because they assume it is a 55+ zone. However, I have found the area near the EW zone to be quite soloable for the 39+ beastlord, especially when you just get tired of being around people.

Arrival
To get here, just book to Great Divide and hug the left wall until you zone to Eastern Wastes. From there, hug the right wall until you see a HUGE valley with a big black gate. You'll have to go out from the wall to the entrance of the valley (or use levitate) to get to the Kael zone. Be warned that as you pass through the first gate comming down the valley there are 2 giants hidden behind pillars, so have SoW or invis up and just keep moving.

Setup
When you get in Kael, take a minute to look around. The first thing you should see is "a kromrif recruiter" standing in the corner. He will be green-con but don't touch him! He is perma-rooted, magic-proof, and has INSANE regen and hps. Instead, walk by him and head a little deeper till you see a gate with 4 giants (2 in the hallway and 1 on a ledge on each side). These are your targets. Go back up the ramp a little ways and buff yourself and pet, then med to full. You should be far enough up the ramp that runners will not make it to their friends. I set up about halfway to the recruiter.

The Split
The first pull is the most dangerous part of fighting here. You are going to have to kill the 2 giants in the middle at the same time if you don't have some form of crowd control handy. This can be done at 39 with decent gear, but it is risky (and fun). I usually pull with drowsy to pet, get both giants onto the pet, then drowsy the other as soon as I can get by with it. From here on, I sit and med and heal the pet. Hopefully he will kill one of the giants. You may have to use "pet back off" and "pet attack" to keep him on just one giant or else he will just take turns on them and kill neither. If he gets in trouble, you may have to jump in and help him finish off one of the giants. Remember that if things get too hairy you only have to kill 1 giant to split the spawn. You can kill the first and then zone. When you come back you will have 20 mins before the respawn to rebuff and resummon and kill the other. But to save time, kill them both if you can  

Follow-through
After you have split the spawn, you can pull the giants on the ledges alone and kill them. Also, there is a giant back a ways in the hall that wanders around a bit. You can kill him if mana and time allow before the 20 minute respawn. Also, there is another giant that will occasionally path between the 2 giants that you had to split and check out the area on the EW side of the gate. Watch out for him, and either avoid or kill depending on time/mana.

Finally
Giants here come in one of 3 classes that I have seen so far:
Watcher or Watchman = Warrior (always?)
Lieutenant = Shadow Knight (sometimes? always?)
Adjutant = Cleric (always?)

The Watchers are a little easier than hill giants, about equal to Coldain guards in CC. The Watchmen are about equal dificulty to hill giants. The Lieutenants are between Watchers and Watchmen in dificulty. They are weaker in melee but the harm touch adds 1 pet heal (pull with drowsy and the pet will always take the HT). And the Adjutants are the nastiest. They are basically hill giants that can nuke for 202dmg and heal themselves. I have not seen them CH or anything crazy like that, actually their heals are fairly small. But the nuke can be an issue if they decide to go wizard on you. They also seem to have some strange aggro issue. Sometimes i can pull with slow, let pet take aggro and beat them half dead, and then for no apparant reason they turn around and pummel me. Be warned.

All in all, this is probably the most fun place I have ever soloed, and I can't wait to round up a group and see how deep we can get. Also, I have never heard of quest armor pieces dropping from these low level giants, but if it ever happened would be a nice bonus!

Now lvl 45 and I returned to Kael today to mess around with the giants a little more. (I had left out of boredom, like i do with every spot i ever hunt.) At 45, there will occasionally be a light blue con giant near the EW zone. Also, I have discovered that splitting the spawn at the gate is not necessary. At 45 (and probably at lower levels too) it is possible to single pull the 2 giants in the middle of the gate if (and only if) you pull the nearest giant with 'sicken'. Likewise, the giants on the opposite side of the gate that look like double pulls can be pulled singly with sicken. However, you must fight them on the inner side of the gate, because pulling through the gate will result in an add. The ability to reliably single pull makes this a very safe spot to pull about 10 giants who apparantly have a chance of dropping quest armor pieces. Also, if you can clear the gate giants and have time to spare, there is a long hallway leading deeper with more giants, bringing the total to about 15 or so. However, when working down the hallway it is advisable to have summon companion because your warder may get stuck on the ledges comming up. At this point I would really like to insert a rant on how the size of warders does matter and how all you people who don't like them big can just shrink em down, but I'll spare you that