Haudh Valandil

From Lotro-Wiki.com

A fellowship prepares to face Dolvaethor and Valandil

1 Location
2 Quests
3 Instance Overview
4 Bosses
5 Loot
6 Map

"The Lords of Umbar, sorcerers trained by Sauron, the great Necromancer, seek to bring terror to Annúminas 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. . . ."

Location

Haudh Valandil is the tomb of Valandil, once a great King of Arnor, and is now overrun by forces of evil.

The instance entrance 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 then 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 north-west 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

Instance Overview

Haudh Valandil is full of nasty fear and disease effects, Kergrim, Cave-claws, and Flashing Limrafn that will summon either three elites or an elite master if they get too close to anyone in the fellowship. A good idea to deal with the Limrafn is to get at maximum range and then lay into them, crowd-controlling them if they get too close. Turbine developer Scenario has stated that "Haudh Valandil is one of the hardest (if not the hardest) 6-man instances we've created to date." [1] As such, it is recommended to bring a full, balanced fellowship of level 50 characters. A Lore-master equipped with disease and wound cleansing skills is especially useful here to make things a little easier, and a Captain placed outside the instance entrance can reduce wipe recovery time considerably.

The instance is a massive underground burial hall. In the middle is a large, central structure containing six rooms, three on either side. There is a wide, watery passageway leading around the structure. Within each of the building's six rooms there are one or two levers which open up the next room in sequence, going counterclockwise around the building from the north-west. There are braziers outside of each room, which will light up once the previous room has been cleared. At the dungeon entrance and the south gate, there is a line of 6 braziers that represent your progress in clearing the lower part of the instace. Once all 6 are lit you can proceed to the upper level. Begin by moving down the stairs, defeating the two patrolling Kergrim and Limrafn. There is a rare spawn Kergrim Elite Master known as Hooktooth who sometimes patrols around the central structure, so keep an eye out for him. Head for the north-west room first.

Room 1: NW room - Pull the outside monsters back to the entrance stairs and deal with them. Move inside and defeat the mobs in there. Around five Elite Master Cave-claws will crawl up out of the ground as you approach the lever. Defeat them and pull the lever, then 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 been modified after b13 , in order to stop the infinite spawning : defeat some mobs from outside , then rush inside and have someone pull the lever immediately , that will stop the infinite respawning , except for a cave claw at the gate ,defeat the remaining mobs and collect relics and move to room 4.

Room 4: SE room - This room is extremely difficult. The easiest way to deal with it is to head back around to the north side of the hall, then clear everything on the way down to the south-east side. Defeat the mobs outside and inside the room and collect relics. Pulling the lever will spawn a very large number of Limrafn and Cave-claws. Have everyone except a Burglar go back to the north-east corner of the map. A Burglar should pull the lever and then use the HIPS ability. Several Limrafn may follow the Burglar out, but they will not aggro. Have the fellowship take care of them, then continue on to Room 5. If no Burglar is available, have the tank (usually a Guardian) pull the lever, use some defensive abilities such as Guardian's Pledge, and run well out of range of the room towards the fellowship. Wait until the tank is defeated and the mobs have reset, then resurrect him and continue on to Room 5. If you wish to clear the room as intended, have the fellowship stand far away from the door, pull the lever, and enjoy a very tough fight.

Room 5: E room - Clear the outside and inside and pull the levers. Make sure to take out the 2 Flashing Limrafn before dealing with the other ones.

Room 6: NE room - Clear the outside and inside and pull the lever. Approximately five elites will run into the room. Defeat them.

Once all the levers in all of the rooms have been activated, a gate will open in the south of the instance. From Room 6, it is best to head back to the north, turn left, and then come down the western side of the dungeon, especially if you used a Burglar to avoid the fight in Room 4. At the south end of the dungeon you will reach a room filled with Flashing Limrafn. Clear a path through them and enter the southern gate. Head up a few sets of stairs, carefully killing the Limrafn on the landings, and you will encounter Shingrinder on the bridge leading to the upper section of the central structure.

After he is defeated, head across the bridge and you will see Dolvaethor standing behind a fiery inferno that is blocking your path ahead and spawning single Burning Limrafn until you approach. Once you do, Dolvaethor will cause a rapidly increasing number of Burning Limrafn to spawn from the fire. Defeat them quickly or risk becoming overwhelmed. Since the Burning Limrafn have a buff that deals damage to melee as well as ranged attackers equal to the amount of damage received, DPS classes such as Champions, Hunters and Burglars will require a lot of healing. Focus damage on single targets, as AoE attacks will cause massive amounts of reflected damage at once. After the encounter, Dolvaethor will retreat farther back into the instance, and the inferno blocking your path will be gone.

As you pursue Dolvaethor, you will encounter three elite Arnorian Wight and two Fiery Morelendil Guard mobs. The Fiery Morelendil Guards will not engage until the wights are defeated. Once you engage the wights, they will attempt run down the stairs on either side in order to aggro up to twelve additional wights. The best approach to this encounter is to have a Minstrel and/or Burglar crowd-control two of them as the rest of the fellowship pulls the middle wight down the steps. After the wights and any adds from the side areas are defeated, the two Fiery Morelendil Guards will engage. They are untankable, meaning they act like an enraged mob, and they have a knockback attack that can spread people out. Have everyone move close together to prevent them from running back and forth, then burn them down one at a time. It is best to stand in the lower corner to the left or right of the stairs, as the knockback can cause instant defeat if it knocks you to the bottom of the dungeon. Once the two guards are defeated, clear any wights in the side rooms, collect 2 more relics, then you can approach Dolvaethor, the final boss encounter. After defeating Dolvaethor and Valandil, collect the last 2 relics, carry Valandil's remains to his coffin, and loot the chest.