Rilohn Refuge (mission)

Objectives
Destroy the Drought.


 * ADDED Protect Dehjah until she opens the entrance to the Mahnkelon Waterworks.
 * ADDED Make your way to the central reservoir.
 * ADDED Weaken the Drought by shutting off the water pumps. X of 5 remain active.
 * BONUS Defeat the Drought without shutting down water pumps.

Primary
The party will be affected by the environmental effect Thirst of the Drought throughout this mission, which increases all received Earth damage by 50%. Use of the Ranger spirit Winter will negate this effect by turning all Earth damage to Cold damage.

When the mission starts, Dehjah will lead you through a few groups of Steelfang Drakes and Kournan troops to the entrance of the waterworks. She will run ahead of the party, heedless of whether you follow or not, and can easily die if she gets too far ahead. It is possible to avoid her at the start by running wide to the right, clear out the area up to the waterworks, then return and fetch her in safety.

Inside the waterworks, there are five water pumps that you can turn off to weaken the Thirst of the Drought. Each pump shut down will provide a 2% Morale Boost and decrease the effect by 10%; shutting down all five will eliminate the effect altogether.

The gate in the center of the second wall is guarded by a neutral Agent of Whispers, who will open it as you approach. There is another Agent at the center of the third wall, who will lead you to the northwest where he opens a gate into The Drought's chamber.

The Drought is surrounded by Droughtlings, most of which can be killed off without aggroing the Drought. The Drought's spells, especially Sandstorm, inflict extremely high AoE damage. Skills such as Broadhead Arrow, Concussion Shot, Spinal Shivers, and Maelstrom are very useful at interrupting the Drought's spells, while skills such as Shelter can be used to negate the damage. Instructing your team to spread out before the fight and move when sandstorm hits can keep your team alive.

Please note: The Droughtlings do not leave exploitable corpses. Especially considering the AoE, Minion Master is not a very good strategy. Most of your army will be killed during each fight against the Droughtlings, and you will not be able to raise a new one.

Bonus
If you are attempting to complete the Mission Bonus, it is very helpful if you equip yourself or one of your heroes with the Winter skill, which will turn Earth damage into Cold damage, which the Thirst of the Drought environmental effect doesn't apply to. In addition to Winter, it is also very helpful to equip Mantra of Frost, even temporarely changing your and your heroes' secondary professions to Mesmer in order to equip the skill. That way, not only do you get a 25% damage reduction compared to not having Winter, but you also get a 26-45% damage reduction from Mantra of Frost and 2 Energy whenever you are struck by elemental damage. As long as your Monks are doing their usual jobs, you should have no problems with completing the Bonus. Also consider bringing some interruption skills to shut down most of or the whole final group.

Even then, the Drought and its minions can still deal a high amount of damage per second. However, during the final fight, none of the enemies can remove enchantments. Shield of Absorption, Life Barrier, and Life Bond can all be used on the tank, where the enemy damage will be concentrated.


 * It should be noted that shutting off the water pumps is NOT required to complete the mission. The number of pumps shut off only determines the party's master rank (the more pumps shut, the less rank); the only requirement to complete the mission is killing the Drought.


 * Another tactic that has been used successfully is using Ebon-modded weapons to do this mission, without using a spell such as winter to change the elemental damage. This allows party members to do considerable damage, even against the droughlings and the drought itself ( since the damage bonus overcomes the elemental resistance of fighting the elementals with the same element).  While highly unconventional, this is also a viable tactic, and helps considerably to fight your way thru the mission itself ( since your weapons do an amazing 50% damage bonus against everything ).  You can also follow the other advice of subbing mesmer, and bringing Mantra of Earth instead.

Monsters
Dragons Elementals Insects Kournan army
 * 20 Steelfang Drake
 * 24 Droughtling
 * 20 Bladed Veldt Termite
 * 20 Veldt Beetle Queen
 * 20 Veldt Beetle Lance
 * 20 Kournan Guard
 * 20 Kournan Priest
 * 20 Kournan Seer
 * 20 Kournan Scribe
 * 20 Kournan Phalanx
 * 20 Kournan Zealot

Bosses

 * 28 The Drought: Sandstorm

Follow-up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: Moddok Crevice
 * To continue the storyline, do the mission in this outpost.