Thunderhead Keep

[Lenny]

Title Icon says it all really.

I've been stuck here since the day I ascended, and I'm starting to loathe it.

I've so far had 3 absolutely amazing groups, and the traditional groups of leavers, n00bs, and people who can't follow and order to save their lives!

Each time we power straight through the mission to the forge, kill everything in sight, man the catapults and obliterate everything.

And then two different tactics come into play when we've killed Dagnar. We either:

1. One person to the West Catapults and one to the right. The rest of the gorup split into two parties with the 2 healers next to the King. When enemies come, the guys on the catapults take out as many as possible then run onto the bridge and nuke as many as possible whilst the other party members protect the door. When the boss Mursaat comes, everyone ends up dying leaving two healers next to a podgy idiot of a King. These three are subsequently wiped out by hordes of Jades.

Or:

2. Form a circle around the King, with two people to the catapults. When the enemies come, the two on the catapults nuke the enemies from the bridge whilst the undead (healed by healers) fight them off. We then end up rallying by Jalis and slowly dying out one by one until Jalis is topped off.


The one thing we never do is light the beacons, which may lead to our eventual downfalls.

I've been reading guides that say the best way to do this mission is to take henchies, light the beacons, and, after annihilating the initial rush of Stone Summit, casually pick off the trickle of Mursaat. The use of catapults seems to be an option extra for those who want some excitement in their lives.

I haven't tried this yet, and probably won't end up trying for the sole reason that the henchies are, at best, totally incompetent.

Does anyone who has managed to complete this bitch of a mission have any tips for completing it? Also, out of pure interest, what's the bonus?

[Sum Yung Guy]

When I finally beat it after 20 tries our group got to the keep and keep 4 people at 1 gate and 4 at the other and 1 of those 4 from each group was on catapult. When the final boss came, we ran up to the King and actually attacked him when he was in range of us, from the kings position, but he was outside the keep. I kept casting spiteful spirit on him and other hexes. After that we killed the last few stragglers and beat the mission.

[undeadzombieguy]

Okay I havent played in a while but what the hell is it with thunderhead keep? Did they change something in the later patches? I've done this mission with 3 characters and completed it on the first try with 2 of them, 2nd try on the other.

Fastest was when I did it with my monk. We had a group of 4 warriors 3 monks (1 smiter, 1 protection hench and me) and some other class I cant remember.

Just take on 1 group at a time and call targets. When we got to the keep we just started chatting and fucking around. 1 warrior went tanking one side of the gate, the smiter monk went afk every 2 minutes and everyone else was fooling around at the other side of the gate. Only used the catapults once or twice, much more fun hacking them up close and personal ;).

I dont see how you can fail defending the keep if not everyone is afk. The minions come at you with like 5 minutes inbetween (okay a little less, but still a long ass time) and they're in groups of like 3(?), which is not that hard.

So has this mission changed or what?

[Lenny]

It seems like it.

At our best we were killing groups in a minute or so. A group on one side was finally killed and the other side started fighting, then they all came at once.

But did you light the beacons UZG?

What were the other members in your group btw? If you can remember?

I'll try again tomorrow. I may get a lucky break and move on to the last 3 missions. It seems a bit of a shame bringing the Mursaat in so late. Then again, I don't know how the game ends after the last mission. For all I know it ends on a cliffhanger that will be carried on in the next Chapter.

Talking about the next Chapter, for all those who want to, and don't yet know, Chapter 2 is scheduled for release on the 1st Feb next year over here. I can already order it for no more than £18 ($32) with free p&p, delivered within 24 hours of ordering (if ordered on a working day).

[Acer]

Go through the gates(closed or not you can walk through) before you kill the Elemental Elite, and kill as many as you can. Then come back. Make sure you have one on each catapult(sp?). I mean, I haven't had much trouble with it.

[undeadzombieguy]

No I've never lightened the beacons. Never bothered to, isnt that the bonus? I cant really remember the other member because it's a long time ago, maybe an E...

Seriously, it shouldnt be that hard if you have a decent group. I dont know how it is right now but back when I played alot, I changed from the european to the american servers. I saw that there were alot more players, and people were always on. Also IMO, the level of skill was a bit higher as well. I thought I was going to have lag issues when changing but that wasnt the case, still as smooth as ever. But then again I dont know what the situation is right now on the servers.

[Lenny]

Go through the gates(closed or not you can walk through) before you kill the Elemental Elite, and kill as many as you can.

We do that, but can only ever find 6 Jades.

No I've never lightened the beacons. Never bothered to, isnt that the bonus?

It is indeed.

I would change to the American server, but I've only got the one swap left and I'd prefer to stay where everyone else I know is.

I'm gonna try again later today with just the henchmen, and see if I can beat the mission. If I don't, then I'll have to round up the members of the best group I was in and we can all have a shot.

[Farquar]

Yeah same for me. First of all it took me about a week straight to get a group. And then another week to find a group who could complete it. Finally we finished it.
What we did was:

Keep 2 people near the king. 1 to heal him and 1 to draw the fire away from him.

Then we Split the rest of the party by placing them in the stairways.
With this strategy the mursaats and jades just came to us.

Covering each direction as they came up

Utilizing nukers and healers and we counldn't be stopped.

And with a good team you can do this mission relatively easy. Its just a really long mission. The hard part is finding a team there that isn't looking for a Healer. I sat around for days until i found a group that needed a nuker :)

[Lenny]

Cracked the bastard!

I finally found a good group yesterday morning... :)

Managed to kill Pantheras the Deciever (Mursaat boss) with a Catapult. w00t! How embarassing for him eh? :p