"The Lords of Umbar, sorcerers trained by Sauron, the great Necromancer, seek to bring terror to Annuminas by raising the remains of Valandil, third King of Arnor, as a terrible wight. Only the most courageous of the Free Peoples will be able to put an end to their evil deeds. . . ."
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Introduction
Valandil was the youngest of Isildur's four sons. He was only a child at the time of the War of the Last Alliance, and so remained in Imladris when his father and brothers went into the south. As such, he was the only one of Isildur's sons to survive the Disaster of the Gladden Fields. He eventually became the third King of Arnor, and was succeeded by his son Eldacar.
Warning: Spoilers below
Location
Haudh Valandil is the tomb of Valandil. It is west of Ost Elendil, down a set of stairs just north of the bridge to Tyl Annun. It is possible to go north of the stairs, jump on the west wall and down onto a small ledge above the dome with 4 lookouts and drop aggro. Then, drop down onto the dome and either kill the lookouts or skip them and drop down the nw part of it. This is a safe place to drop aggro and leave a captain for summoning after a wipe. From here, you can run directly into the instance.
Quests
[50] New Home for the Relics of Old
[50] The Kergrim Stalk Haudh Valandil
Instance Overview
The first floor
Haudh Valandil is full of nasty fear and disease effects and the water drains power. It is full of Kergrim, cave claws, and flashing Limrafns that will summon 3 elites or 1 master elite if they get too close to anyone in the group. The Limrafns can be mezzed by minstrels or sapped, can be feared, and can be stunned. It's best to get at maximum range and then lay into them and either fear or mez them if they get too close.
The instance requires a full group of 6. Lore-Masters equipped with their AoE disease and wound cleansing skill are especially useful as are Burglars and Champions. Having a Captain positioned outside of the instance is especially useful when recovering from wipes.
The instance is set up with a circular passageway which surrounds 6 central rooms, 3 on the west side and 3 on the east side. Each room contains one or two levers which opens up the next room, moving counterclockwise around the circle. Start the instance by moving down the stairs, killing the 2 patrolling Kergrims and then the two Limrafns. There is a master elite mob that patrols the circle, so keep an eye out for him.
Room 1: NW room - Pull the outside monsters back to the entrance stairs and kill them. Move inside and kill the mobs in there. 5 or so master elite cave claws will pop up out of the ground as you approach the lever. Kill them and pull the lever and move on to the next room.
Room 2: W room - Clear the outside and inside and pull the levers.
Room 3: SW room - This room has some issues with monsters resetting infinitely. Rush into the room, move as far away from the door as possible and kill of as much as you can and have people that need the relics get them and then have someone pull the lever. Some of the monsters will respawn infinitely, so ignore these until everyone is finished. Then, move outside of the room and kill off the monsters that follow.
Room 4: SE room - This room is extremely difficult. The easiest way to deal with this room is to clear go north from Room 3 and around to the east and clear everything back down the south side to Room 4. Clear the outside and inside and collect relics. Pulling the lever will pull a very large number of Limrafns and cave claws. Have everyone but a burgler or guardian go back to the NE corner of the map. The burger should pull the lever and then use HIPS and walk back out of the room. Several Limrafns will follow the burgler out but will not aggro. Have the group clear these off and continue to Room 5. If no burgler is available, have the guardian pull the lever, click on the dodge/parry/block buff and run out of the room to the north side of Room 5's step where they should wait and die. Have a minstrel resurrect him and continue on to Room 5. Alternatively, if you wish to fight to clear the room, move everyone in the group into the room as far away from the door as possible and pull the lever.
Room 5: E room - Clear the outside and inside and pull the levers.
Room 6: NE room - Clear the outside and inside and pull the lever. Five or so elites will run into the room. Kill them.
Once all the levers are pulled, a gate will open in the southern part of the instance. From Room 6, move to the NW corner of the map, then south. You will encounter a number of Limrafns that can be pulled singly or in groups of 2. Kill them off and enter the gate. There will be another limrafn just inside the gate and more on the stairs up.
The second floor
At the top of the stairs, you will find Shingrinder's bridge. He has a nasty knockback so it is best to fight him in the groove between the braziers and the pillars. His knockback will knock you into the center of the bridge so quickly move back to the brazier groove when you get hit. Falling off the bridge will kill you. If he is pulled through the doorway onto the bridge (because everyone runs away or because he's trying to follow people who fell off the bridge, rezzed, and is running back) he will reset.
After Shingrinder dies, you will face Dolvaethor. Until you approach him, he will send a single burning Limrafn down the bridge towards the group. When you approach Dolvaethor, he will run away and your dread will be gone. When you follow him up the next set of stairs, you will activate an event in which he summons an increasing stream of burning limrefn, barring your passage with a wall of fire. Kill them as they come -- you'll just have to wait to advance. Once you've fought enough, Dolvaethor will retreat further back into the instance.
As you follow Dolvaethor back, you will encounter 3 elite Arnorian Wights and 2 fiery Morelendil Guards. The Morelendil Guards will be non-aggro (green) until all of the wights are defeated. Standing at the top of the stairs will trigger another set of wight adds to come from the rooms to the side. There are 12 wights in each side room and they come out in sets of three (from each side, sometimes one at a time, sometimes two). The Moelendil Guards sometimes ignore their aggro table and attack someone random.
Once the 2 Morelendil guards are dead, you can approach Dolvaethor and the resurrected corpse of Valandil. This is a challenging fight and one that requires significant coordination. Everyone should have morale potions ready for emergency heals and have eaten food before engaging. A hope token is also a must. Valandil attacks with melee attacks and an occasional shadow damage attack and has a Greater Protection Buff which makes him resistant to most damage types other than Westernesse and Light damage. Dolvaethor is mainly a caster and has several AoE fire attacks as well as a channeling fire attack towards one member of the group. The channeling attack is an especially devastating effect and can kill a group member in several seconds unless interrupted or removed. The channeling attack may be a wound effect (unconfirmed). Dolvaethor will fall on his knees and turn to face the channel-target. Dolvaethor also summons fire from the heavens which turns into firey spiderweb splotches on the ground which are incredibly damaging to stand on.
One way to fight
It is best to split the group up into 3 or more smaller groups and array in a way where each group far enough away from the others to avoid Dolvaethor's AoE attack against one of the other groups. Group one should be a Guardian who will pull Valandil off to the side where To the King is used as often as possible to try to get off all green CJs. Group two should be the rest of the melee attackers (Captains, Champions, and Burglars, 2nd Guardians). They should focus on slowing and interrupting Dolvaethor's spells, especially his channeling attack where he falls to his knees. A combination of all yellow CJs and all green CJs works well against Dolvaethor. Groups 3+ should be the ranged attackers and Minstrels and can spread apart as long as they stay within healing range of the minstrel. Focus on burning Dolvaethor down and on dealing with his channeling attack. Once he's down, everyone should focus on Valandil.
Another way to fight
Those with Westernesse all pile on Valandil, those without pile on Dolvaethor. Have someone move from group to group as necessary.
The Challenge
Dolvaethor and Valendil must die at roughly the same time, within 10 seconds of each other. It is recommended that the people who have Westernesse damage fight Valandil and the rest of the group beat on Dolvaethor. Someone should regularly be interrupting Dolvaethor.
Loot
Tollang
| Thalionham
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75
Map
