Mid Dragon Q's

[Alan]

I've ran many 3FG raids on ALB and when moved to HIB started them up there again with 3FG.

Now in in Mid and on the classic server, looking to kick these off.

I've looked at the guides here and thank the authors for writing such great information.

But, some strange/silly questions still remain.
- Does the mid dragon stun at <30% health like alb and hib
- Is it worth doing a lap of the lair first to pull any mobs out before starting (aka ALB)
- When do the wolves spawn ? constantly throughout or are there triggers/warnings
- Do you really need 4 healing classes in each group ? Alb had 2 clerics, hib had 2 druids and a bard
- Whats the best route to take to get to the dragon (eg hib is north to the top of the map then SE past the Azures)
- What happens if a wolf does escape and bring adds, how many/what con ?

Any information people have would be grately appreciated.

 

[Coolan]

at 50% the dragon can start to spawn wolves a msg will appear "glap shreaks in pain" or something like that, and yes it is worth doing a lap of the lair.

 

[Vell]

I've ran many 3FG raids on ALB and when moved to HIB started them up there again with 3FG.

Now in in Mid and on the classic server, looking to kick these off.

I've looked at the guides here and thank the authors for writing such great information.

But, some strange/silly questions still remain.
- Does the mid dragon stun at <30% health like alb and hib

Yes

- Is it worth doing a lap of the lair first to pull any mobs out before starting (aka ALB)

Bluesky does, Cemio doesn't. It's not really necessary imo.

- When do the wolves spawn ? constantly throughout or are there triggers/warnings

The little wolves spawn throughout, no warnings. The retriever wolves (who get the adds) spawn any point below 50% dragon health, again, no warning.

- Do you really need 4 healing classes in each group ? Alb had 2 clerics, hib had 2 druids and a bard

At the very least you need an Aug ahaman, an Aug healer, and a pac healer. Depending on the specs of those two healers, you may also need a mend specced healer. It's safer with 4.

- Whats the best route to take to get to the dragon (eg hib is north to the top of the map then SE past the Azures)

Hug the zonewall to the east of entrance, all the way round to the H, then cross just past the H to the opposite hill, and follow the wall there round to the lair. I'll happily show you the route one evening if you wish.

- What happens if a wolf does escape and bring adds, how many/what con ?

The least I've seen from one wolf is 3, high purple. The most I've seen is, erm, loads. We all died before I had the chance to count.

Any information people have would be grately appreciated.

You're welcome

 

[vavires]

Yes


Bluesky does, Cemio doesn't. It's not really necessary imo.

The little wolves spawn throughout, no warnings. The retriever wolves (who get the adds) spawn any point below 50% dragon health, again, no warning.

At the very least you need an Aug ahaman, an Aug healer, and a pac healer. Depending on the specs of those two healers, you may also need a mend specced healer. It's safer with 4.

Hug the zonewall to the east of entrance, all the way round to the H, then cross just past the H to the opposite hill, and follow the wall there round to the lair. I'll happily show you the route one evening if you wish.

The least I've seen from one wolf is 3, high purple. The most I've seen is, erm, loads. We all died before I had the chance to count.


You're welcome

Retrievers only pop after she shrieks,
and then even there might be 0 comming.

Haeling and casting u do under her or she nukes. And the fopper is best to be a bot outside lair.

I recommend u open a Dragin raid thread of Bluesky. He has explaigned everything nicely there.

greets vav

 

[cemi0]

You can also retrieve some informations from my website www.hyperteam.net/dr/ although its about outdated its probably about right for a classic server without TOA. And because you dont get FOP I would recommend you to atleast try with 4 healers first to be on the safe side.

Some raids 1 healer is enough. Other raids dragon nukes like crazy and all 3 healers comes in handy. So i guess its better to be safe than sorry.

if you have any more specific questions you are welcomed to PM me.

 

[Alan]

You can also retrieve some informations from my website www.hyperteam.net/dr/ although its about outdated its probably about right for a classic server without TOA. And because you dont get FOP I would recommend you to atleast try with 4 healers first to be on the safe side.

Some raids 1 healer is enough. Other raids dragon nukes like crazy and all 3 healers comes in handy. So i guess its better to be safe than sorry.

if you have any more specific questions you are welcomed to PM me.

If its the same code as ALB and HIB the dragon only nukes if people dont listen to the raid orders, or fail to run when seeing a glare, they just wont get a slot in future raids then

So... sounds pretty much like its the alb dragon with the hib messenger adds, cheers people - ill let you know how we do on classic next wednesday

 

[Calo]

The adds are lvl 70 drakulv wolves if you let escape 1 dog or more, about 5-6 of them.
If you are good organised you can survive it.

 

[vavires]

The adds are lvl 70 drakulv wolves if you let escape 1 dog or more, about 5-6 of them.
If you are good organised you can survive it.

Its not like its so har really, but u can have bad luck, like adds after a nuke where half ure raid died off. but for sush cases u alwasy have an egger or 2-3

but geuss u cant have that in classic

 

[Vandar]

Why do some of the wolves she spawns seem to instantly despawn?
Can you simply agro the wolves she spawns with a debuff, or mezz them or are they immune to this type of thing and you have to just kill them before they run out of range?

Also, I presume the dragon doesn't throw people like on Alb?

Also, I've not seen any confirmation about the aoe stun from 30% down and it not mentioned on some of the links listed.

 

[Vell]

You don't actually have to be stood under the dragon when casting, you just have to be stood within melee range.

One question I meant to ask actually - where does Azzarra stand on Bluesky's raids? She does make the raid a lot easier.

 

[cemi0]

Vandar
You can agro the retrievers with any instant spells. Thats why its good to have skalds on your raid to protect the gate. They have a few instas spells and have speed to catch up if some should escape by serverlag or something. Additional you get to the lair alot faster on skald speed.

Gjalpinulva doesnt throw people in the air like her evul brother in Albion. However she does AOE stun when she gets under 30%.

The whole idea about everyone standing on the pad is very nice and highly recommended. If you for instance have your Healers outside they pad they will eventually draw agro from healing which causes Gjalpinulva to either nuke the person or fly to him/her and do melee damage. When the dragon moves off pad she tends to AE nuke ALOT more frequently and its very dangerous if people aint awake.
Thats also why people shouldnt stick. When Gjalpinulva does the single AE at random person have him/her running off the pad while the rest of zerg waits on the pad for the nuked-person to return. Because sometimes the dragon follows the nuked-person off the pad, and then alot of ppl is sticked and just follows with dragon while hitting her and establihsing agro off the pad. Then you can yell like crazy before the semi-afk tanks realises they are getting nuked to pieces and should return to pad.

Also about the adds. Calo <3 is master gateguarder so if he says they are 70 then they are 70 Try to avoid these for any cause. Its true thats its somewhat easy to kill. But if you got the dragon under 30% (the aoe stuns) meanwhile dragon having a bad day nuking alot you are really in deep troubles.
If the dogs escape and dragon is close to 30 let her regen. Also you should assign a MA in case of this. The 2 warriors in G1 should stay on dragon while the MA goes for the Kloks (a certain mobtype) first. They do alot of magic dmg so nasty.

About the pulling purple mobs in lair before entering. I always just sends the 2 warriors off first then zerg follows after. Then we grab the adds in corners and get them to pad where G2 kills them. No biggie.

 

[Bluesky]

One question I meant to ask actually - where does Azzarra stand on Bluesky's raids? She does make the raid a lot easier.

The more fops in the lair the more gjalp ae attacks so I keep my shaman at an exit out of the lair (after seeing the "you have left gjalpinulvas lair" mesg) then run her in 9 mins later to fop again on the middle of the mound.

Sometimes she can get cought in the ae stuns but having only 1 fopper who isnt in the lair to be nuked (therefore when Gjalpinulva tries to attack her she cant so there is no ae attack at all even tho gjalp mentions her name) vastly reduces the ae breath attacks meaning less deaths.

Personally i find skalds/bd's overall the best gate guards with sm's/thanes/valks also doing a fine job - basically anyone with an insta or preferably 2 diff timed instas/debuffs who can handle 2 yellow/orange cons (possibly 3 in rare cases) before help gets to them works best - once a dog is out of spell/debuff range even a skald sprinting will have trouble catching them.

The green con dogs that pop ON the mound are just an irritation but if not killed they WILL run out of the lair tho - once I had 6 of them all run at once out of the north exit so im presuming they woudl also summon the 6-7 lev 70 adds but on the time they did we killed them all.

The yellow/orange con retriever dogs can pop anywhere in the lair and are prone to pop and then move to another exit - commonly they just run straight out but i have also seen them pop east side of the mound then run to the east exit but then change direction and run along the inside of the lair wall and out of the norht exit which is why i prefer my gate guards OUTSIDE the lair for a better view and more chance to see them to cast/debuff on them (OUTSIDE the lair means you are stood facing an exit and then back away until a mesg appears saying "You have left gjalpinulvas lair".). This may seem quite far away but imo it gives you the best chance to see and pull them to you.

I take a tour round the 4 exits to pull any drak agro inside the lair walls by moving close to the wall and then the draks come running. This serves to remove agro on the inside after you engage the dragon and also i drop the grp 4 ppl off at their exits as we go round.

For the initial pull i have one of the gate guards pull the dragon off the mound east/south/west while we stand at the north (archway) exit. Once the dragon is off the mound she takes a minute or so to walk back to the middle of the mound. During this time it gives us time to get everyone to the middle of the mound and for my shaman to fop and also run out of the lair. Once we are all there and fop is up the 2 warriors pull the dragon back to us if it hasnt got back yet and then we are all in melee range and engage and kill the dragon.

I have found this way the safest and easiest (if not quite the fastest) way to kill Gjalpinulva but any faster is only mebbe 2-3 mins difference and can vastly increase the massive ae attacks (eg last night my zerk was hit with a SINGLE AE for 3336 damage).

Although no fops can be used on classic I definitely suggest 3 healers in each of the 2 main tank groups and tell them to bring power pots as you will need them.

Few other notes of interest:

Gjalp does massive AE STUN from 30% do death.

Gjalp starts shrieking from 50% to death - this is what spawns from zero to 3 retrievers.

Gjalp will ae attack a minimum amount of times no matter how safe you play it and usually around every 10-12% of her health so expect your first AE by the time she is on around 89% health if you havent had one yet.

Gjalp will do a "final burst of energy attack" around 12% health - nothing can be done to stop this so prepare to "run to the corners" then run back to finish her off

Always stay in melee range of the dragon and never EVER cast ANYTHING at all outside this range or dragon will ae nuke the caster. On my raids I request casting be done under her neck/belly to make sure seers/casters stay close.

Following the above info will vastly reduce the ae attacks which are 99% of the reasons a Dragon Raid will fail so I hope it helps.

More info can be found in any of my Wednesday Raid threads so feel free to take a look at them to see what I tell ppl to do on the raid.

 

[Vandar]

Apart from the wolves it looks pretty simple, the biggest risk doing it on alb is the throw which obviously puts you out from melee range, half the time this is followed by a glare when the person is heading back to her and just in range of the zerg /sigh
Everything else is the same, even down to her aoe on 10% intervals and nasty ones on 50 and 10% left.

 

[Ixoth]

I have had the great pleasure of being in _many_ dragon raid's hosted by bluesky. I'd like to add my two cents here, and emphatize the fact that once the dragon is about to blow (gives the nice say message before doing so), one of your BG member must spam that she is going to blow, and ppl should react accordingly - otherwise the massive ae dmg will kill / wipe most around her. The red con cold dmg buff will not usually be able to save you, even you got tons of health (aye I have faced this, with many of my alts/toons and only my zerker has survived most of those blows), so when someone "triggers" this say of dragon that she is gonna blow, _all_ really should move.. in bluesky's raids this isn't always the case, still see ppl there not reacting with sufficient speed - in the sense of trying to get the best timing per raid that the dragon is killed its crucial this that ppl will react fast once she is gonna blow. It'll make a great difference - I'll assure you.

Hope this helps,
Ix

 

[cemi0]

I have had the great pleasure of being in _many_ dragon raid's hosted by bluesky. I'd like to add my two cents here, and emphatize the fact that once the dragon is about to blow (gives the nice say message before doing so), one of your BG member must spam that she is going to blow, and ppl should react accordingly - otherwise the massive ae dmg will kill / wipe most around her. The red con cold dmg buff will not usually be able to save you, even you got tons of health (aye I have faced this, with many of my alts/toons and only my zerker has survived most of those blows), so when someone "triggers" this say of dragon that she is gonna blow, _all_ really should move.. in bluesky's raids this isn't always the case, still see ppl there not reacting with sufficient speed - in the sense of trying to get the best timing per raid that the dragon is killed its crucial this that ppl will react fast once she is gonna blow. It'll make a great difference - I'll assure you.

Hope this helps,
Ix

Afraik the big AE nuke is directed on a somewhat random spot inside the Lair.
Sometimes she nukes the area of stone, but most often its around the stones. I tried a couple of times where I was the only one reacting to this AE nuke and ran right into the nuke off pad and died while the others remained safely on pad.

 

[Vell]

I have had the great pleasure of being in _many_ dragon raid's hosted by bluesky. I'd like to add my two cents here, and emphatize the fact that once the dragon is about to blow (gives the nice say message before doing so), one of your BG member must spam that she is going to blow
Ix

I completely disagree with that. On the last bluesky raid, several of us died on one of those nukes, because someone spammed thier macro several times, thus moving Gjalp's actual message off the screen before we'd had the chance to see it, and by the time we'd read what his macro said, it was to late to run - we were already dead.

If people are paying attention, there's no reason to spam - if they can see the spam then they can also see Gjalp's message too, so there really is no point to it at all.

 

[Alan]

Well the first UK raid on classic is tomorrow, were going with 2 healers per group, so I'll let you know how it pans out.

The tactics appear identicle to the ALB and HIB raids I've ran with the same triggers and variation of events.

 

[Bluesky]

Well the first UK raid on classic is tomorrow, were going with 2 healers per group, so I'll let you know how it pans out.

The tactics appear identicle to the ALB and HIB raids I've ran with the same triggers and variation of events.

Best of luck with it m8 and I hope you get to kill the big lizard

 

[Alan]

Got the beast to 84% which is actualy really pathetic

Main reason was people not listening to the raid instructions, and scattering all over the pad which caused glares and then the same people didnt bother to run.

Holding off on classic now until patch day when we can use thanes and valks to help lower his AF, also despite problems finding 6 healers im going to go for 9 with 3 in each group even with MCL and pots after a bad glare/pbaoe its hard on the power pool.

 

[Bluesky]

Got the beast to 84% which is actualy really pathetic

Main reason was people not listening to the raid instructions, and scattering all over the pad which caused glares and then the same people didnt bother to run.

Holding off on classic now until patch day when we can use thanes and valks to help lower his AF, also despite problems finding 6 healers im going to go for 9 with 3 in each group even with MCL and pots after a bad glare/pbaoe its hard on the power pool.

yup thats the usuall reason a dr fails - until ppl get used to running and not casting unless under the dragon you will always get problems - best of luck with it next time m8

 

[Alan]

yup thats the usuall reason a dr fails - until ppl get used to running and not casting unless under the dragon you will always get problems - best of luck with it next time m8

Worst DR i lead, the dragon was on patrol, and we all died in Dartmoor but that was a long long long long time ago hehe

edit : found a screeny