Talk:Duncan the Black (Dungeon)

Lightbringer
Lightbringer is effective in this dungeon. I think it should be mentioned here. I never tried the other parts of the dungeon so I don't know about them. MageMontu 05:56, 17 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Lightbringer, specifically Lightbringer's Gaze, is only effective on about 70% of the monsters in Slaver's Exile. Most notably it doesn't work on the undead or the bosses.  Keep in mind if the skill doesn't work its a safe bet the title bonuses will not be applied either.  Its of great benefit against the Summit and a cheap interrupt, too bad the 100 damage is checked against armor.
 * Lightbringer's Gaze no longer works in Normal mode either, though on the page it could seem like it is only in HM.

Entry
once last hierophant is completed can u just go into duncans dungeon anytime or do u hav to do the quest again?

You used to be able to only need 1 person in your party to have only duncan left, but anet nurfed this so that everyone needs to have defeated all 4 bosses to get duncan. To me its still worth it, I got an elemantal sword and gloom shield. It takes awhile but if u get any good drops u can earn a lot more money than just farming FoW or UW non-stop

what a pile of crap. got there with absolutely no problem. the only pain r all the restless dead that kept popping up. then got to duncan and found he is totally surrounded by spirits. knew he had spirits around him but jeez... four different groups. one at bottom of stairs -- tried the trick of just sitting under the stairs but the spirits kept pounding away so could not just sit under the stairs. one group on the little mound to the left of the stairs (not sure why that group is there.) two others on either side of duncan. so, if move to one side to work on the spirits and duncan, the spirits on the other side work to negate any damage done to him. figured this out when got set and worked on him for about 10 minutes with posion/burning while my h/h took on the spirits -- never got his health below the little 'down' arrow on his bar. and, any time i moved into aggro range, my h/h would follow and duncan would immediately drop 2-3 of them with his spirit rift.
 * GW:NPA and GW:SIGN please. RT | Talk  - A joyous wintersday to all 19:53, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Hardmode
I think it should be noted that you DO NOT get 2 Deldrimor Armor Remnants when completing this dungeon on hardmode, just the standard one. (forgot to sign this)FateReturns 22:23, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Did anyone has done it in solo? I have done 4 times in normal mode in solo but can't pass the first patrol in HM (Done it 3 times with an Elem one with a Warrior). Please post (team, build) if you have done it.Kemydes 17:39, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

November 8th update
"Moved a patrol of Stone Summit Dwarves who often traveled too close to the entrance in Duncan the Black's level of Slaver's Exile."

I haven't been there yet, but can anyone confirm if this significantly makes the first bit easier? -Meridan 16:21, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Okay, went there yesterday, the patrolling group now patrols i nthe other direction, making it impossible to get tangled up in both groups, the other one still wanders close though meaning they probably will eventually aggro you -Meridan 13:03, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Hard Mode
I've finished the whole quest before in NM, and I repeated all the dungeons on NM again, except this one. I decided to finish EoTN and get HM. Question is, will I be able to go straight into HM Duncan the Black dungeon, without repeating the other dungeons in HM? Ipo 14:44, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Ud need 2 play thru the other dungs again, but u can do tht in nm, only dunc has 2 b in hm 82.103.128.115 14:47, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * so I could just go straight to Duncan HM? i've already done the other 4 in NM. Ipo 14:56, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Seems like it RT | Talk  14:59, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Nice, one last question. I wouldn't get the page in the HM Dungeon guide, would I? Ipo 15:02, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Unsure, I think you would depends if the trigger is final dungeon end, or all dungeons, I'd try it RT | Talk  15:03, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * kk, i'll try it some time today and post what happens Ipo 15:06, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * . Works just fine. I just soloed Duncan in HM after doing the others in normal mode. Got full credit in my HM Dungeon guide.  Thank God that's over with.... Utter Havoc 23:36, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

h/h
i tried h/h this and it didn't work and all the pugs i had stunk any advice? Balistic Pve (T/C) 03:45, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * The EotN consumables do help a lot. <font color="darkBlue">b.r // <font color="Black">talk  03:48, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Is your problem with Duncan or just getting there? For Duncan, in addition to Swap, bring some long lasting degen.  And the consumables, as mentioned just above.  GW-Susan 15:19, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Notes - some may no longer be true
"There is a large group of Stone Summit that later on splits into two; one remaining in the area while the other patrols." I waited about 5 minutes but the group of 8 Stone Summit never split. What gives? If they no longer split, as I suspect, then "It is possible to complete this dungeon in a party of two humans with heroes" will need to be rechecked. What was the team build used for that? --War Pig5 05:05, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
 * That really shouldn't have an effect on success. When It said "large" i thought it meant like 12-16, 8 seems very manageable to me. Cons should do the trick.Gorbachev116 03:40, 25 July 2008 (UTC)
 * OK I just ran it. There are no "group splits" but 8 was completely manageable for my H/H team.Gorbachev116 04:25, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Hardmode Duncan
Duncan himself is actually much easier than the rest of the dungeon. Take max degen, and keep it on him at all time, or as much as possible. Try and keep Protective Spirit on your humans, and keep H/H back. Repeatedly cast Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support (with prot on) and then run away. The degen keeps him from recovering after you run away after casting sniper. You can very slowly get rid of his health while being relatively safe from damage. Only one person died fighting him, and that was because prot decided to stop just as spirit rift exploded. Other that that, he was a piece of cake. Slypher the executive director 23:19, 2 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I was in team above: There were only 3 humans.  The one death was, in fact, the only death the whole time in this dungeon.  We used consumables (Celerity, Armor, Grail) to get to Duncan, then no more after that.  Patience is the key;  degen only took about 10 or 12 minutes.  And NO Ursan was used (somewhat nerfed, anyway).  Degen included, primarily, Suffering, Rotting Flesh, Conjure Nightmare, Shrinking Armor and bleed from Sniper Support.  After having done this dungeon other ways, this has turned out to be the easiest way.  We used Swap, as suggested in the article. GW-Susan 04:21, 3 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I've always just kinda killed him with 1 friend and 6 heroes. Standard build we use for everything, just kinda fight him and if healers get low on energy hold back for a little bit, then keep on going.  He's just not a very hard boss. 67.160.232.67 07:38, 11 June 2009 (UTC)


 * "kinda killed"? So you let him crawl away with 50 health or what? :P
 * Other than nitpicking; He's indeed rather overrated, but it depends on your setup a lot. If you use something extremely lame like Rayway, Discord or whathaveyou, no wonder he's easy. --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]] -- (contribs) &emsp;(talk)  13:21, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Hard Mode H/H
I just finished this dungeon in hard mode with only heroes and henchmen. I had a summoning stone and a conset ready to use, but I only had to use a few clovers to get rid of death penalty after I screwed up on some spawns.

I used a critscythe assassin build (standard build with swap, no rez, no LoD), and took Lina, Mhenlo, Talon and Devona.

My heroes were the Master of Whispers (Jagged Bones minion bomber with Signet of Sorrow, Enfeebling Blood and Frozen Soil), and two monks running a Smiter's Boon / RoJ smite bar with Death Pact Signet and Aegis.

Lame build, for a lame area. ;-)

For restless dead groups, always leave your group behind and try to spawn groups one by one, never rush, and always check the area before pulling anything.

You can avoid fighting some groups, I avoided at least 2 of them (before the bridge crossing the lava river in the middle).

When facing Stone Summit groups, use corners to body block melee, some casters will come close to you too (like Priests with Healing Touch). With Frozen Soil up (in a safe place), you don't have to worry about their hard rez, and you should focus on taking out most of their damage dealers as fast as possible (melee, earth eles, minion masters), controlling Ray of Judgment on your heroes and spamming targets helps. The most important is to use the map to protect your backline, and you should be fine, that may be much harder if you're playing a caster.

Duncan is easy and really boring : I used Swap on Recuperation spirits, and on spirits that would attack my group at the bottom of the stairs. Then I flagged my necro in range of Duncan (at the stairs), the rest of the group out of range to heal him, killed myself at Duncan's feet, and spammed Signet of Sorrow using the necro. A little less than 10 minutes later, I had completed the quest.

Hope this will help. --BugJohn 00:56, 17 February 2009 (UTC)


 * A million thank yous - My original party went without me and left me high and dry on Duncan with no route of being able to finish my handbook. I was a ranger not a sin so I couldn't carry swap myself, so I gave my MM swap and took FS myself. Now, I've never done Duncan before, nobody was ever willing to take me who could get past the first mob of dwarves, so I was rather jumping in the deep end going with H/H in Hard Mode, but you know what... it worked perfectly =D


 * Granted maybe a little slower because I was learning as I went and playing cautious (Total 1 hour 45 >.< - No speed clear), but it worked nonetheless first try. --94.76.168.216 02:10, 29 August 2009 (UTC)