Thunderhead Keep (mission)

Mission Objectives
Retake Thunderhead Keep.
 * Clear the city.
 * Clear the fort.
 * Kill Dagnar Stonepate.
 * ADDED Help King Jalis Ironhammer hold Thunderhead Keep
 * BONUS Light the beacons to draw additional Mursaat forces into Thunderhead Keep.

Note: The king must stay alive, otherwise you lose the mission. Make sure that the healers in your party give precedence to healing him.

Primary
This is a fairly simple mission if done with reasonable teamwork. However, a party that doesn't work together and communicate on this mission will not stand a chance.

The trip to the city is very manageable if care is taken not to aggro multiple groups at once. Begin by speaking to King Jalis Ironhammer to have him follow your party (point A). You will first encounter a group of three Stone Summit Beastmasters patrolling directly ahead of where you enter the mission. Kill them and then head up to the right. Circle counter-clockwise around the peak with Ice Golems standing atop it and attack them, this will avoid having to fight the Stone Summit on the left rear side of the peak while Ice Golems are firing down on you. Kill the Stone Summit group next and then head across the bridge. At the other end of this bridge is another group. However be aware a second group patrols down from the ridge behind this group. You have two choices, to wait until this group comes down and then turns around and heads back up the hill or use someone to quickly pull the first group out on to the bridge to handle them there. Once this is done, the second group is easy. A random boss will spawn on the ridge too, providing an elite skill.

The path from the ridge leads down to the front gates of the city. Here is the first part of the mission where you have to clear out eight groups of foes from the city.

After killing the eight mobs lead the king to the the right-hand side of the wall (point B). There is a gate here - lead him to it and he will open it for you. Three groups can reside in various parts of this area behind the wall, one on the far battlements, one in the centre and one coming down off the hill on the far side. If you time this right without charging in you should only have to fight one group at a time. Once you've cleared out this area, head up the path on the far side.

From here you head down into the fort. Again, take your time. All these groups are stationary and can be taken one at a time. Once you reach the area adjacent to some catapults/ballistas you have two choices of a path to take. The easiest is to head down in the centre of the fort, lure in Dagnar and kill him (third part of the mission complete) and then kill off each singular group to clear the fort (second part complete). The other way is to sneak around past the ballistas to take on one group at a time. However the aggro circle is about the same size as the wall width, so you can often end up with two or even three groups on you at once if the group isn't careful. Either way, the hardest thing in the fort is to make sure the king stays alive as he has a tendency to run off and attack whole groups (see tips section). Send someone to the far side of the fort to fire the west ballista three or four times to kill off the giants out there, otherwise you'll have to fight them later.

Now for the hard(er) bit. Once you have cleared the fort and killed Dagnar you get a cutscene; The Vizier Khilbron appears and gives you some Smoke Phantom aid (six, three per fort entrance) and the king settles down to his throne, leaving the fighting to you. You need to defend the fort against scattered groups of Enslaved Frost Giants, White Mantle, Mursaat and Jade Bows/Armor. Make sure that you have one person, preferrably a ranger or caster, manning the east and west walls, who can give advanced warning to the party when the enemies start their approach, and operate the ballistas. The attacking forces will sometimes pause at the ballista firing spots before attacking, letting you kill or weaken a large number of them before they get near the fort. The rest of the party should stay in the courtyard, rushing over to defend whatever side the attack is coming from (they usually alternate sides, but not always.) The most challenging groups are those led by the Mursaat Bosses, flanked with Jade Armor/Bows. They require a significant amount of damage to defeat, and unless everyone is attacking in unison, they will stack up and overpower your group. Warriors should consider using Charge! or Sprint to run quickly from one side of the courtyard to the other as the attackers appear. Make sure no Mursaat break through to King Ironhammer! He doesn't have infused armor and will die almost instantly if they attack him.

The last group you will have to fight is Confessor Dorian's White Mantle pack. After he is defeated, talk to the King.

Tip: The King follows whoever first talks to him, but will run off into the fray if he gets too close to an enemy. It is imperative to keep him alive during the trip to the keep, so have a caster talk to him, and make sure that person (and thus the King) stays well away from the fighting.

Tip: When confronting boss packs during the siege, don't go for the boss first, unless the boss is a healer; Eliminate their support lines, then their ranged and melee fighters, saving the boss for last.

Tip: Health degeneration skills, enchantment removal spells, and interrupts tend to be effective against these bosses.

Tip: Before Dagnar is killed, the keep gates appear to be closed, but you can actually walk right through them! Use this to your advantage--save Dagnar for last, take your party outside the keep and launch a pre-emtive strike on any enemies you find, then go back in and kill Dagnar. This will dramatically reduce the amount of groups that will attack.

Alternate Stratergy: The whole group should stand close to the king and wait for the enemy to come to you, rather than splitting into two groups and protecting a gate. When ever there is a lull in battle, i.e. you are currently not fighting any groups, man the seige weapons so your enemies are weakened before they get to you.

Bonus
After clearing the fort, killing Dagnar, and watching the cutscene (right before the siege), the king will ask you to light the beacons to save the Dwarves trapped outside the walls. There are two Storm Beacons that you have to light, one on the East wall, and one on the West wall. (Point 1 on the map) Enchanted torches appear at the base of each, so it is just a matter of running to each beacon, picking up the torch there and clicking the beacon. You have only a few seconds after the cutscene to do this, so designate one person on the team to light each beacon.

Lighting the beacons will essentially draw more Mursaat packs to the fort, meaning that you will have to fight an additional Mursaat boss pack or two. Once you kill Confessor Dorian's group at the end of the mission, you should receive the bonus credit.

Bosses and Skills
The following bosses can be encountered during the Thunderhead Keep mission:
 * Bolis Hillshaker (Monk): Mark of Protection
 * Fuury Stonewrath (Mesmer): Crippling Anguish
 * Gornar Bellybreaker (Warrior): Cleave, location E1-2 and C
 * Rine Windrot (Necromancer): Offering of Blood
 * The Judge (Elementalist): Water Trident, location E2
 * Ulhar Stonehound (Ranger): Melandru's Arrows, location E1-2 and C
 * Agyrus The Scoundrel (Necromancer): Life Transfer (Mursaat Necromancer, siege only), location C
 * Chrysos The Magnetic (Elementalist): Thunderclap (Mursaat Elementalist, siege only), location C
 * Demetrios The Enduring (Monk): Aura of Faith (Mursaat Monk, siege only), location C
 * Perfected Armor (Warrior): Devastating Hammer (Jade Armor, siege only), location C
 * Perfected Cloak (Ranger): Oath Shot (Jade Bow, siege only), location C