Battle of Lorien - Draft Guide

[Haleabor]

I believe that there are still those out there who have not yet tried the Battle of Lorien. So in case you want to try with a PUG and none of them knows the tactics...here are some pointers for you.

Reputation

In case you are not aware you need to be at least Friend in reputation with the Galadhrim to enter Caras Galadhon and pick up the quest/instance from the NPC.

The instance has a 12 hour cooldown

Rewards

For the main quest you are rewarded with Reputation and 2 x gold leaf.

There are additional challenge quests that gives Reputation and 3 x gold leaf (separate NPC and only active after you have cleared the instance at least once)

There are also a series of very nice Titles for completing the instance a certain number of times (x3, x5 etc) [Tier 5 which I'm aiming for is "Trueheart Defender of Lothlorien"]

Basic Tactics

The instance requires you to defend 3 barricades while at the same time destroying 4 idols at orc camps. It also reqiures you to protect the main NPC and to do all of this within 45 minutes.

As such the most used tactic is to place a Tank and a secondary healer to protect the barricades (there are elfs (elves!?) in position too) and have the rest of the group - preferrably with Main Healer, DPS, Off Tank and CC - go and deal with each of the orc camps and idols.

Before you start

Buff up etc etc

Send the Orc Camp group to the western pass so they can get to the first Orc camp quickly.

Have the barricade group start the intance and then you need to assign 3 NPC protectors to the passes. Either assign all 3 to one pass, knowing that you have extra work to protect the others, or 1 to each pass....the latter seeming to work well.

As soon as the last Elf is instructed the instance opens up fully and the timer begins.

Barricades

Orc attacks on the barricades will be announced in advance and you need to move quickly to the location (horses work) Western [left] Northern [centre] and Eastern [right].

In general let the NPC's get agro first and then support or gain agro from those that require help. Depending on the selection of MOBs take down Troll first, then defilers then Leader/Chief.

Generally speaking the barricade group do not require help, however if absolutely necessary call for help, the main healer can come to help but this takes time and is dangerous (patrols!!)

Orc Camp group

There are 4 orc camps throughout the instance that have an idol. Be aware that there are at least 2 camps without an idol and if you attack these chances are that you will run out of time to complete the instance.
Hoping that someone can add the locations/co-ordinates here...:lol:

In each or camp there is an idol (obviously) and an orc leader/chief. There are also a number of elite orcs and normal orcs with either a defiler or a spear thrower.

Generally speaking root pulls seem not to be too reliable so mezz pull the chief. It is important to keep the chief away from the rest as they either have a heal aura or a defence aura. If required Fear the chief away and mezz again at range. If no CC is present then have the off tank keep him away....

Kill all the small adds first, then defilers then other stuff then the chief.

As soon as you feel confident in the chief fight (as early as possible) have the member with least dps go and get a banner.

These banners are located at a) the start point of the instance, b) at each barricade and c) at the last Orc camp you released. Go to the nearest safe one and "pick up" the banner and run back to the camp.

Ideally the arrival of the banner should coincide with the death of the chief. Move the banner carrier next to the idol and the message "idol is vunerable" appears. DPS the idol to death asap. The banner carrier cannot use induction skills but can use other skills if this affects your choice of carrier (eg never pick a hunter!!). To be clear - the rest of the Orc Camp group stays at the Orc camp until the banner carrier returns.

Once the idol is dead you will get a message of success and must then move onto the next Orc camp. Simply repeat this 3 times and you have completed the instance.

Talk to the NPC (now at one of the barricades) and leave the instance (with a stupid ride back to CG!!)

Patrols

Throughout the instance there are Orc Skirmisher patrols, try and be careful not to agro them, however if you do quickly drag to a safe area and kill quickly

Alternative Tactics

There is a commonly used tactic of dragging the Orc Camp groups down to the barricades. While this speeds up the process of clearing the camp to the idol it a) increases the chance or dragging in Patrols and extra MOBS or camps and b) it weakens the elfs at the barricade...so it's a risk/choice.

When things go wrong

If you take "too long" to clear a barricade then a 79K Orc Pulpum will arrive at the barricade

if you take "too long" to kill the idol after clearing the camp then a whole host of orcs will respawn at the camp!!

Bosses/Extra Challenge

The extra challenge requires you to kill one of two bosses (1 Orc and 1 Troll) who appear at one of 3 random spawn points in the instance after about 5 minutes. You need to kill one before he leaves the battlefield which he will do after about 15-20 minutes.

The bosses only have about 35K health, however the issue is a)finding them and b) agroing them without agroing a non idol camp group. If you have been slow on the orc camps you may also struggle with time.

Try and find them after the 2nd Orc camp when you will be in the most central position....


Enjoy....Hal :)

[Hirion]

A very nice guide Haleabor! I wish I had read it before we did it - but now I learned it the hard way. Though these days it seems no learning is hard when in good and able company.

A few thoughts:

The instance has a 12 hour cooldown
As so many other repeatables it resets in the middle of the night, so it need not be 12 hours between doing it, though few might be able to take advantage of that.

Generally speaking root pulls seem not to be too reliable so mezz pull the chief. It is important to keep the chief away from the rest as they either have a heal aura or a defence aura. If required Fear the chief away and mezz again at range. If no CC is present then have the off tank keep him away....
I can add that riddling seemed a bit under the weather - some of the Orcs werent immune or resisting the riddle, but they just seemed to last less time. And not because someone tickled the riddled. I believe it might either be a skill they use or that it's connected with proximity to the chiefs. I'll have to test it some more, but found that the skirmishers, hurlers and defilers could be riddled but best to do that out of the aura of the chief to avoid them getting free too soon.


As soon as you feel confident in the chief fight (as early as possible) have the member with least dps go and get a banner.

Is THAT why I was sent? Here I praised my skills at (almost not) getting lost. Anyway, as you've mentioned, the banner-bearer can still use non-induction skills, and since the idol takes quite some time to bring down (70k+) it's worth sending someone who can still use skill, especially attacks, when returning to weaken and kill the idol.


Ideally the arrival of the banner should coincide with the death of the chief. Move the banner carrier next to the idol and the message "idol is vunerable" appears.

And the idol will only be vulnerable when the last of the enemies have been killed - so no point in CC them while planing to kill the idol while the banner is present. Which is why the banner fetcher shouldnt go too soon either.


Throughout the instance there are Orc Skirmisher patrols, try and be careful not to agro them, however if you do quickly drag to a safe area and kill quickly

I've been pondering that it might be a good idea to at least kill a few of those as to make the running back and forth for banners more smooth - or at least if they're only one or two, to pull them and leave them at the barricades.

Rather have them killed in a controlled fight than returning with a banner, a skirmisher and the 2 camps it took with it.


There is a commonly used tactic of dragging the Orc Camp groups down to the barricades. While this speeds up the process of clearing the camp to the idol it a) increases the chance or dragging in Patrols and extra MOBS or camps and b) it weakens the elfs at the barricade...so it's a risk/choice.


Agreed. I have considered whether it would be worthwhile to fortify one of the barricades better and use that as the place to drag a camp like that? If so this needs to be considered already when setting up for the battle.

[Daphne]

Well the first time I did the battle we used that tactic (fortifying the western barricade only) but: while we managed to finish it, it was at times a bit messy as some of the mobs got stuck in anti exploit ... but maybe a mix might be an idea (like do the western and eastern camp that way as they are close, but the middle and northern one the 'kill them on the spot' way). Also last time we killed one of the bosses by dragging him to the barricade as he was conventiently sitting just Northeast of the northern one.

[Tiermond]

Riddles can be a little unreliable at the best of times but when theres enemies around that can do heals they do seem to get broken more frequently.

[Silirien]

I have a question though: you can buy those BoL use-only items from various traders, most of them don't seem necessary, but there's one that's supposed to 'enhance the tactics of elven warriors' or something.

Anyone ever used that? What does it do and is it worth buying?

Also, I don't think I particularly like the idea of dragging orc camps to barricades, it might get rally messy with the waves...

[Hirion]

Anyone ever used that? What does it do and is it worth buying?

Also, I don't think I particularly like the idea of dragging orc camps to barricades, it might get rally messy with the waves...
I've not tried using them, but having tons of silver branches (and too few leaves anyway), I might try them the next time around.

As for the barricades, it doesn't seem necessary to drag enemies there for now, but not knowing the more advanced Sentinel's Challenges yet, I wonder if it might be an idea later on if the 4 people attacking the Orc camps dont have enough time or DPS to close things in time - what ever might need getting done.

[Daphne]

To be honest I don't think the items are worth the bother... as they can only be used on one defender, and aren't all that hot ... given the cost for them ... ugh.

And dragging them to the barricades isn't a big problem as the players will be there as well ... it just makes killing them faster. The problem with that tactics is mostly that for the camps further away the running back and forth to aggro them does take time too, plus the further it is the higher the likelyhood some of them get stuck in anti exploit. So I'd recommend doing that only if they are pretty close to the barricades.

One point worth mentioning: Some people seem to get the instance map (which shows the position of the barricades/orc camps, and some only see the normal one (which gives the 'normal' names).

The spawn points for the bosses I've seen so far:

Just northeast of the norther barricade, on the eastern side of the non Idol camp there (just shoot at him from the eastern side and drag him down to the barricade)

On the eastern side of the middle Idol camp - again can be pulled solo, but will likely aggro if you attack that camp.

Between the middle and the northmost Idol camp.... sort of sitting alone in the area where those wooden thingies are (that you have to burn up for one of the quests), we fell over him when moving from the middle to the northern one.

The order I'd recommend is Western, Middle, Northmost (and there is a lot of skirmisher patrols between those two camps but they can mostly be avoided) and finishing off with the Eastern one - that should also avoid accidentially pulling some non Idol camps.

[Haleabor]

Addendum

Orc Camp locations

For those without the map icons the Camp locations are at:

11.0S 72.8W
9.7S 72.8W
10.3S 72.0W
9.7S 71.4W

Sentinnels Challenges

Challenge 1 - Kill either of the boss mobs before they leave the instance

Challenge 2 - Bevelgar (main named NPC) must not sustain serious damage

Challenge 3 - Complete the Battle of Moria instance in under 30 minutes


A couple of notes on this that i've worked out.

Firstly you only get the next challenge once you have completed the next tier on the deed ladder (eg complete it 1x 3x 5x etc) so I;m expecting a futher 1 or 2 challenges maybe.

The second challenge the NPC only needs to take about 2-3K damage to fail

Titles

Steadfast Ally of Lorien (3)
Defender of Lorien (5)
Persistent Defender of Lorien (7)
Trueheart Defender of Lorien (9 prolly)

Hal x

[bothorn]

If ya look at the deed in your book with the "set rewards" box ticked theres 5 title to be earned so im guessin 5 challenges atleast.

[Tiermond]

Didn't have any problems riddling the orcs last night but then I do have both riddles traits equipped. Carrying the banner doesn't inhibit any burglar skills (didn't try stealth but then don't need it for this instance) and getting hit doesn't reduce the time you have to carry the banner. There is plenty of time to pick up the banner as soon as you clear one camp and take it with you to the next camp and clear it avoiding the need to run back and dodge patrols.

[Haleabor]

Hmm that's useful info...thanks Tiermond

The banner only stops induction skills and from memory I can only think of 1 BRG skill that has one (the DOT one)

Hal

[Hirion]

Didn't have any problems riddling the orcs last night but then I do have both riddles traits equipped.
The problem is not riddling them, but keeping them riddled. I think the answer to why they sometime un-riddle earier than expected depends, as mentioned earlier, on them being healed by a defiler or a chief with a healing aura. At least that's the only explanation I've been able to think of (having the state-break notices toggled on and not seeing the riddled being hit by any effect of the fellowship when un-riddling). And Ive had no problems with premature unriddling after having been carefull in riddling away from both the melee fight of the fellowsip AND away from healing auras of other Orcs.

Carrying the banner doesn't inhibit any burglar skills (didn't try stealth but then don't need it for this instance) and getting hit doesn't reduce the time you have to carry the banner. There is plenty of time to pick up the banner as soon as you clear one camp and take it with you to the next camp and clear it avoiding the need to run back and dodge patrols.
Actually one skill is inhibited: Well-placed strike. Which is also the only burglar skill with an induction. But given that most are without induction really makes it a good choice, using any present burglar as banner-runners.

Traiting for stealth is probably not worth it - even if traits and gear can make stealth almost as fast as regular run - but I've had much benefit from HIPS, basically running straight through the skirmisher fields and loosing the enemies just before reconnecting with the fellowship. With a reduced HIPS cooldown and ready and able (and for my part also a hobbit silence for the same effect) this can be done for most of the banners, reducing the time otherwise spent picking a skirmisher free path.

[Raedwulf]

Last night went swimmingly, notwithstanding me & Calabam going in for the first time. We left WDN & RNK (Rhy & Fey) at the barricades, taking LM (me), HNT (Ala), BRG (Tier), & CHM (Cala) on the grand tour. I was traited 2/4 on healing / CC lines. It got a little sticky in the first fight, with both HNT & CHM dangerously low on health, after that it was pretty straightforward & we finished in about 28 minutes.

Comments from the newbie LM point of view - I have to say I'm glad I didn't listen to Ala's doom-saying over Herb-Lore - it worked fine. It's never wholly reliable in terms of rooting, never has been; what probably made the difference was that I chose to equip Deep Lore (+5 AoE targets) for once. If you're only trying to root 3 targets out of 6-8 at each bonfire, a failure or 2 (easily possible) means you get swarmed, and yes, it does look useless. Particularly since your main target is almost certainly going to be the boss, who is probably harder to hold. If you're rooting every mob at the bonfire & a couple fail... It's no big deal. The boss, being a boss, probably is more likely to resist. Certainly, they seemed to immediately break an initially successful root 2 times out of 4, but the first one held perfectly (can't remember whether the last did).

That, in any case, is not a problem, since you ought to also have Fast Loader & Explosive Force traited - no-induction, buffed Blinding Flash. The bosses never moved till we allowed them to, essentially. When they did... Having 4 CC traits up meant that the Beast Warding circle also worked on orcs, increasing the rate at which they went down.

The last thing to say is that Knowledge of the Lore-master is working again, huzzah! The bosses are weak against fire, the idols are feeble against fire, remarkable against everything else; so HNT should have fire oil on, & LMs should spam their fire skills after the debuffs, including Sticky Tar.

Didn't seem all that difficult to me, even with our "main" healer back at the barricade...