Epic Battle: Retaking Pelargir

Retaking Pelargir
Level:	10 or higher
Size:	Fellowship
Cluster:	War for Gondor
Region:	Central Gondor
Area:	Pelargir
Location:	[83.0S, 34.8W]

This page is about the Epic Battle: Retaking Pelargir. For the city, see Pelargir. For the reputation faction see: Pelargir (Faction).

Retaking Pelargir is an Epic Battle introduced in Update 15: Gondor Aflame and updated in Update 15.1.

Difficulty Level

This is a scaled instance, designed for solo, duo or fellowship (6 players) from level 10 and up.
All players are "Level Scaled" to level 100. Equipment is also scaled and Virtues are scaled to at least level 14. It is available in the Instance Finder and the Road to Battle panel.
Estimated completion time is between 30-45 minutes.

Quests

Quests can only be completed once per day and can be run Solo, Duo or in a Fellowship [100] Epic Battle: Retaking Pelargir

Possible side objectives for Retaking Pelargir.

• [100] Archer Thisarti
• [100] Backs to the Wall
• [100] Kang-kethek the Sorcerer
• [100] Okurayo the Minstrel
• [100] Parade of Thieves
• [100] The Ship-slaves (fellowship only)
• [100] The Thrice-blown Horn (fellowship only)
• [100] Ugturu the Half-troll

Deeds

Known Deeds for this instance (usually bestowed upon first entrance) include:

Creatures

These mobs are encountered within:
Click [+] to expand a list of creatures.

Retaking Pelargir Mobs

Instance Overview

Unlike the defensive battles of the Battle for Helm's Deep instances, this is an offensive battle. You will always only command one squad of Soldiers and a single Captain. The Commander will follow you as you advance through the city, taking his soldiers with him. This means that you can move at your own pace, taking breaks if necessary. There is no time limit during "Running Phases" (more info below). The Sons of Elrond will assist you. They too will only move forward if you do.

Walk-through and Tactics

Basic Strategy (Solo/Duo)

Running Phase I ^{[84.1S, 34.9W]} You start out at the entrance to the sewers having snuck in with the help of the City Watch. Elrohir and a Guard Captain join you with one squad of soldiers, and a Labourer will follow behind. You will encounter two bands of Corsairs and Haradrim. Each band can be attacked individually, and you can heal up in between. If your Officer rank is high enough to do so, command the soldiers to use two-handed weapons. After defeating the second wave, your allies will advance up the stairs towards the gate winch, where you will have a short break before the battle continues.

Defending the winch ^{[83.0S, 34.8W]} The Labourer will start to crank the winch in order to raise the Great Gate. Approximately one minute after arriving at the winch, enemies will start to run in from both sides, trying to burn the winch. The winch can be doused with water and repaired if damaged (Engineer ranks increase the speed of repairing and dousing, but players cannot speed up the cranking). Setting up tripwires at the stairs to the left and right of the winch is helpful in stopping enemies from reaching the winch. There will be 2-6 mobs attacking in each wave. This defensive phase lasts roughly 7 minutes. Make use of the Gondorian Captain to heal and buff up the soldiers. There are no side quests in this phase. Once the gate is opened, Aragorn's host will enter the city. Follow Elrohir down the stairs to the north-west until you meet up with Elladan.

Routing the pillagers ^{[82.8S, 34.0W]} After Elladan opens the portcullis, you will meet a new squad of soldiers with their commander. Set them to two-handed mode if you can. The squad that helped defending the winch will no longer accompany you and instead award Merit if they survived. To the right on the bridge, there is a ballista. You can use it to fire upon the pillagers below, but it is not necessary. Construct it to gain some Merit, then move back to the soldiers and down the stairs towards the barricades below. Enemies will start attacking from the road to the east, where they will climb up on grappling hooks, which can be cut off just like in the defensive Helm's Deep battles. It is recommended to upgrade all barricades with the damage upgrade (Engineer rank 4 required). Setting up tripwires and caltrops at the choke point where the soldiers will stand is extremely helpful here. Switch to Officer from time to time to heal and buff up your soldiers. Enemies will try to destroy barricades, kill citizens and burn resources in the area behind the soldiers to the west.
Two side quests will pop up here. The first one will start roughly three minutes after arriving here: it will be either:

• Kang-kethek the Sorcerer or
• Ugturu the Half-troll.

Deal with either epic foe quickly to gain a platinum rating (45 seconds). The second quest will either be

• Backs to the Wall or
• Parade of Thieves

It will start at the end of the phase. The citizens in need of defending are to the north-east, while the thieves will walk along the road from the south to the north. At the end of the phase, Kisung Teng will join in the attack. Defeat him quickly to gain Merit. He will buff his allies with attack speed and damage.

Running Phase II ^{[83.3S, 34.6W]} Elladan and Elrohir will run to the south-west towards the gate below the ballista and open it. They will only advance if you join them, so you can take another break here if you wish. Along the way to the piers, a fresh squad of soldiers will join you. Set them to use two-handers. You will encounter one band of enemies lead by a Half-troll. After defeating them, your allies will advance to the piers where the final phase will take place

Holding Aragorn's flank ^{[84.1S, 34.7W]} This phase will play out similarly to the defensive battles of Helm's Deep. You will defend a wall segment against enemies who attempt to climb up using grappling hooks. There are two catapults that need to be set up at the left and right ends of the wall. Foes will attempt to destroy them, causing Merit loss. If you do not wish to use them, you can simply construct and then dismantle them so they cannot take damage. Once again, use traps and switch to Officer from time to time to heal and buff up. There will be one side quest popping up relatively soon after arriving at the piers. It can be

• Archer Thisarti or
• Okurayo the Minstrel.

These both include an epic foe which should be taken down immediately (45 seconds for platinum).
At the end of the phase, Aragorn will command the Oathbreakers to attack, routing the Corsair host. All survivors will climb up to try and escape the Dead, including the epic foe Zagarôth. Two Oathbreakers will join you as soon as the final wave arrives. Remember to keep Elladan and Elrohir alive -- they will not receive healing from the Gondorian Captain, but will regenerate morale out of combat relatively fast.

Basic Strategy (Six Person)

The battle progresses the same way as it does in Solo/Duo mode. The main differences are that waves of enemies are larger and side quest bosses are more powerful. Engineers are vital, as they will need to deploy traps and trip-wires in the first two phases and build siege equipment in the last two phases. You may want to have one vanguard to use on the side quest bosses, but don't use more than one.

Running Phase I Same as above, except there are 4 groups of Corsairs to defeat. The groups are triggered in pairs. Once each pair is defeated, you can pause before continuing without worrying about triggering the next phase. Going up the stairs towards the winch will trigger the next phase.

To Do: DPS, use bear trap if low level, to do more damage.

Defending the winch Break up into two groups of three, balancing DPS between each side. Position each team on the landings where the stairs turn, as all waves will either spawn or run through this area, creating a bottleneck. Deploy bear traps on the landings to stop the waves and DPS them. If you are using a Vanguard, they should be allowed to get kills to reach the max kill streak. Be careful not to put traps right in the door or at the edge of a wall, as half trap area is wasted. If the mobs get away and reach the soldiers and winch, you will need to heal them. No side quests in this phase. Once this phase is complete, move to the gate on the far side of the winch.

To Do: Place bear traps repeatedly, DPS any mobs that get to the stairs. Heal soldiers and winch.

Routing the pillagers Similar to Solo/Duo, except that there is an added stream of mobs that will spawn behind you at the large door by the fountain. To deal with those mobs at the back door, you should 1) take one of the barricades and place it in front of that door and add the damage spikes to it and 2) either place one player there or have at least 3 players spam bear traps at that door. If you don't deal with those mobs, they can easily destroy supplies and kill civilians near the fountain. Otherwise, place and arm the other three barricades at the gap in the wall as above. It is not recommended that you build the ballista until late in this phase, as you will need to defend it once you build it. If you start this phase by building the ballista to about 90%, you can come back at the end of the phase and complete it. Optionally, when the first side quest appears, you can remove some of the grappling hooks to slow the progress of the instance. This will avoid having two side quests at the same time.

To Do: Dismantle all barricades, three go in the gap between the fences, one goes at the "back door." Buff and heal the soldiers. Heal the supplies when needed, heal villagers when needed. When the Kisung Teng arrives (last mob in this phase), one person goes up the rope and builds the ballista. Continual: bear traps at back door. As needed for side quests: bear traps at doors. 1-2 good DPS characters at the first side quest.

The first side quest will either be

• Backs to the Wall or
• Parade of Thieves and will start a few minutes into this phase.

For Backs to the Wall, one or two players should be committed to the side quest. The mobs that attack those civilians will spawn from one door, so place a tripwire in front of the door and DPS. For Parade of Thieves, one person should be able to DPS these mobs easily. While these side quests are going on, the others should be cutting hooks and keeping an eye on the back door. Once these are complete, stop cutting hooks and prepare for the next side quest.

The second side quest will be either

• Kang-kethek the Sorcerer or
• Ugturu the Half-troll.

Both are DPS races. All 6 players should start nuking the boss. If you have a vanguard, use the vanguard kill streak skills to reduce morale immediately. If you can get the boss into the barricades, they will damage the barricades, but it will allow the NPC soldiers to attack him as well. Once defeated, there will be a short break before a final boss, Kisung Teng, appears. Kisung Teng is not a DPS race, but should still be defeated as quickly as possible to avoid damage to barricades and NPCs. Once that boss is defeated, repair all supplies and barricades, complete the building of the ballista, and pack up the barricades to take to the last phase.

Running Phase II Same as above. Make sure everyone is ready before you pass through the gate under the ballista. There is a mob just before you arrive at the next area.

"We Must Defend This Spot" Same as above with an additional side quest before the boss side quest. Use catapults ONCE EACH to speed up the intervals between side quests, but stop using them when the side quests are active. If you don't, you may trigger both side quests at the same time, which will likely result in a poor reward for one or both. Deploy and arm the barricades along the wall. If you have a vanguard, the vanguard should take this time to build kill streak to max again for use against the boss in the second side quest.

To Do: As soon as you arrive, two people build and FULLY upgrade the catapults, then use them once each. If the side quest doesn't trigger then use them again. Then stop. Put a barricade at each catapult and two in the center. Buff and heal soldiers, keep barricades healed and repaired. Keep catapults repaired. Complete side quests (may require 2 people).

The first side quest will either be

• The Thrice-blown Horn or
• The Ship-slaves.

The Thrice-blown Horn is about killing enemy horn blowers at the gate you entered the piers through swiftly before they summon reinforcements while The Ship-slaves involves freeing slaves in the area of Running Phase II as quickly as possible. For Thrice-Blown Horn, you only need to commit one or two players. A corsair scout will appear just outside the gate to the Phase 3 area as soon as the quest starts. Kill ASAP. To the right of where that scout stood, there is a small wall segment where more waves will appear. Place two or more bear traps here and kill those waves ASAP. There should only be 2-3 waves, with the last adding a half-troll.

For The Ship-slaves, commit two or three players. Move to kill Corsairs and free slaves as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the others should be cutting grappling hooks. Once all Corsairs are dead and slaves are freed, return to the 3rd phase area. (As of May 2018, this quest often bugs, failing to spawn one of the slaves. As long as all other slaves are rescued and all Corsairs defeated quickly, you should still get a platinum reward).

The second side quest is the same as Solo/Duo, which are both DPS race bosses. All players should move immediately to kill the boss. If there is a Vanguard, use the kill streak skills to reduce the boss's morale.

Once side quests are finished, the waves of Corsairs should stop and there will be a brief lull while Aragorn arrives below. Use this time to repair catapults and barricades and heal the NPC soldiers. The soldier furthest from the gate tends to take the most damage, so any healing classes in your group may need to give him special attention.

Once Aragorn's forces send the Corsairs into flight, Zagaroth and Co. will appear as described above. Kill him and the other waves that spawn to end the battle.

Rewards

All Epic Battles pull from the same rewards pool see Main article: Epic Battle Rewards
Rewards are based on the Medals achieved during the instance. There are four medals; Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Higher medals offer better rewards. Most Epic Battles will have a main objective and several side objectives. Each objective completed will give a medal. Players will receive at least 2 medals per instance (2 pool of rewards) but can earn far more. Larger size Epic Battles have more objectives and reward more medals.

There are five rewards given for each Medal:

• Epic Battle Promotion Points for first time Medals or when a higher level Medal is awarded for an objective already complete
• Epic Battle Reward Points to fill the rewards bar for a Jewellery Reward
•  Mark,  Medallion and  Star of Merit for bartering
• Reward boxes (one for each objective you complete) that include more Jewellery, Marks, Medallions, Stars of Merit, Universal Solvent, Stat Tomes, Supreme Essence, Symbols for crafting Legendary Weapons, Steeds and many more items.

Metals	Side quest	Main quest
Gold, Silver and Bronze	Quartermaster's Reward	Gifts of Pelargir
Platinum (Rewards Incomparable and Epic)	Quartermaster's Fine Armaments	Treasures of Pelargir

Map and Gallery

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Lore

The Haven of Pelargir (Garth of Royal Ships) is by far the oldest permanent settlement in Gondor. Like its sister city, Umbar, it was founded by men of Westernesse in the mists of Second Age. Together they have a long and irreconcilable history of contest, and occasionally, war. Umbar is older, more venerable and strategically situated in the nexus of southern trade lines; a former bastion of King's Men (Ad. Arûwânai). Pelargir is her stronger and more populous little sister, mother colony of the Faithful (Elendili, ad. Nimruzîri). Even when both havens have been ruled by a common dynasty (933-1448), their life has been one of fierce competition and civic pride.

Under the command of the Heirs of Castamir and their leader, Balakhôr the Scourge, the Corsairs have sailed north with the full might of their fleet, smashing through the gondorian defences and seizing Pelargir. But even as the city burns, a mysterious host is approaching from the West: Aragorn, son of Arathorn, has rallied the Oathbreakers of the Paths of the Dead alongside the Grey Company and the brave soldiers of central and western Gondor led by Angbor to storm Pelargir and drive the Corsairs back into the Anduin. The Sons of Elrond lead a small party of brave warriors through a hidden entrance in the sewers of the city in order to open the main gate for the Grey Host to advance into the city.