The Battle for Aughaire
"Mordirith, the Steward of Angmar was believed defeated, but such hope was in vain. According to the armies of Angmar, Mordirith has returned and now stretches forth his hand to crush the Trév Gallorg in Aughaire...."
Location
This instance can be accessed once a server has accumulated a total of 70,000 Ring-lores for Elrond in his efforts to stop Amarthiel. Once this has been accomplished, speak with Firingal outside of Gath Forthnír by the Stable-master. He will give you the quest The Battle for Aughaire. Talk to him again to enter the instance.
Quests
Instance Overview
Aughaire has come under attack by the armies of Angmar, and it is up to you to hold out and defend four positions for 30 minutes. Although the instance only takes half an hour, it is highly recommended to bring a full fellowship and to have some form of voice chat enabled, since a good deal of coordination is required. Before starting the encounter, split the fellowship into two groups of three. Ideally each group should be well balanced, with a Guardian or Champion (to tank), a Minstrel or Lore-master or Captain (to heal), and any other class for added damage or healing. In the end, it is up to the leader of the fellowship to make the right choices on which players are in which group to achieve a good balance. There are four positions that will need to be defended - the Northern, Southern and Center Aughaire Bulwarks, as well as the Gate of Aughaire. It is recommended to take a few minutes to ride around in order for everyone to familiarize themselves with the positions. Once everyone is ready and knows which group they are in, speak with Firingal to begin.
Every two or three minutes (approx.), an announcement will appear that one of the positions is about to come under attack. Fifteen seconds later, a wave of mobs will spawn near the position and begin attacking the Hill-men who are defending it. The position that will be targeted is random, and there are numerous different waves of mobs. The mobs that can spawn are detailed in the section below. For now, keep in mind that every group contains one Elite Master, two to four Elites and several other Normal mobs. Although this may seem a little daunting, the Hill-men allies defending the Bulwarks - including a Healer who also heals players - make the encounters more manageable, to the point where as few as two or three players can effectively defend a position.
There are two exceptions to the attacking waves of mobs:
- Whenever the Gate of Aughaire comes under attack, the wave will consist of a named Angmarim Elite Master called Priestess Avair along with two Elite Gorthorogs and several other Normal Angmarim. Avair cannot be defeated, and instead runs away once she reaches about 2,000 morale.
- If an announcement appears stating that a Warlord of Angmar is about to assault a gate, then only a single Nemesis mob with approximately 45,000 morale will attack.
The initial wave of mobs can be handled by the entire fellowship, as well as any other waves as long as they come one at a time. Sooner or later though, a second wave of mobs will assault a position while the fellowship is still busy defending another. Once this happens, it is important that one of the designated groups splits off immediately and moves to defend the second position. As long as there is always a group of players defending a position under attack, it should not prove too difficult to hold out for 30 minutes. Minstrels, Captains and Lore-masters need to keep an eye on the morale of their Hill-men allies and Firingal, especially during waves of mobs that deal AoE damage such as Gorthorogs. If either Firingal or eight Hill-men are defeated, the instance fails and needs to be restarted. There are no actual boss encounters, but it is possible that three positions come under attack (usually due to players not taking down a wave quickly enough). If this happens, have the group with the least mobs left run over to the third position and drag the remaining mobs along.
Once the instance timer runs out, assuming all quest objectives are met, any remaining mobs will retreat and players can speak with Firingal to travel back to Gath Forthnír and turn in the quest. The quest is on a two and a half day cooldown, which means that players may only complete it once every two and a half days, per character. However, if someone else in the fellowship has the quest and enters the instance first, players who do not have it may still enter and participate. Each completion counts towards the server-wide total, which can be viewed on the tooltip of the banner behind Firingal. Once the total reaches 20, The Battle Before the Rammas Deluon becomes available. Although the counter may reset occasionally, it only needs to reach 20 once to unlock the instance permanently.
- Rare Angmarim Warlord
Sometimes an alert will sound claiming the gate or one of the bulwarks is being attacked by a Warlord of Angmar. Occasionally the Warlord drops an interesting item or two, as do most Nemeses in the game, but it is rare. Warlord has no extra adds.
Mobs Groups
The following table lists all of the possible groups of mobs that can spawn. It is usually best to deal with the weakest mobs first, followed by the Elites, leaving the Elite Master for last. In some cases, such as the group with Defilers that can heal considerably, take them down first.
| Group Type | Elite Master | Elites | Normal/Swarm Mobs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorthorogs | Angmarim High Sorcerer | 2 Gorthorog Champions | Several Angmarim | Watch out for Knockbacks and full AoE damage from the Gorthorogs, and try to interrupt them and the Sorcerer from healing. |
| Spiders | Angmarim Spider-master | 2 Bogbereth Egg-tenders | ~10 Bogbereth Broodlings | Cure poisons whenever possible, and try to interrupt the Spider-master to prevent her from summoning Normal spider adds. |
| Merrevail | Morroval Blood-mistress | 2 Morroval Lurkers & Stalkers | 2 Morroval, Summoned Bats | Merrevail deal considerable AoE damage. Blood-mistress can summon bats. Additionally, look out for and cure a wound effect with a red eye icon that deals 300+ damage every 3 seconds. Bats have a silencing effect, so make sure they are taken out quickly. |
| Ongbûrz Orcs | Ongbûrz Chief | 2 Ongbûrz Defilers | 4 Ongbûrz Skirmishers | Defilers cast poison and disease effects and can heal. Skirmishers can shoot poisoned/burning arrows. Chief can heal as well. |
| Krahjarn Uruks | Krahjarn Captain | 2 Krahjarn Warriors | 4 Krahjarn Archers | Warriors can disarm, and Archers can shoot poisoned/burning arrows. Captain abilities unknown. |
Loot
Most mobs have a chance to drop Vile Bronze Coins and Vile Silver Coins, which can be bartered at Gath Forthnír for various rewards.
Esteldin cosmetic barter items drop from random mobs in all battle instances, but drop rate is very low.