User:Quizzical/Nightfall Vanquish

Plains of Jarin
Difficulty: * Mobs: 191-209 Average: 199.7 Median: 199 Standard Deviation: 7.0

You can get a party of 8 by completing Blacktide Den using only henchmen available in Sunspear Great Hall (so they don't get booted from your party) immediately before starting this vanquish. You can do Blacktide Den in easy mode, then vendor items and switch to hard mode to start the vanquish.

Cliffs of Dohjok
Difficulty: * Mobs: 118-128 Average: 120.6 Median: 119 Standard Deviation: 3.7

Nightfall characters have to kill essentially the upper bound on the number of mobs, while foreign characters do essentially the lower bound. This discrepancy is probably caused by completing a quest that foreign characters cannot acquire increasing the number of mobs, though the vanquisher page doesn't list this.

Start from Beknur Harbor or Blacktide Den to get a party of eight.

Zehlon Reach
Difficulty: * Mobs: 228-248 Average: 240.5 Median: 241 Standard Deviation: 6.9

The numbers are skewed a bit from two Nightfall characters having completed Skale and Magic Compass, while the eight foreign characters were unable to do so.

Start from Beknur Harbor and go through Cliffs of Dohjok to the entry into this region to get a party of eight. The eastern side of Cliffs of Dohjok is sparsely populated, so you'll barely have to fight anything over there.

Fahranur, The First City
Difficulty: * Mobs: 196-197 Average: 196.2 Median: 196 Standard Deviation: 0.4

Start from Blacktide Den to get a party of eight.

If you clear the eastern side of the region first, then after clearing the rest, there will be one more group around the middle of the east edge. This happens no matter how throughly you clear the eastern area first, so it is probably a group whose spawn is triggered by something else, and not merely entering the zone.

Issnur Isles
Difficulty: *<BR> Mobs: 340-342<BR> Average: 341<BR> Median: 341<BR> Standard Deviation: 0.9

Mehtani Keys
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 215-258<BR> Average: 235.1<BR> Median: 234.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 12.1

There are a number of mandragor pop-up groups scattered through the northern and eastern portions of the region. The dirt area just northeast of Kodlonu Hamlet has only pop-up groups, so you can avoid it.

Lahtenda Bog
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 368-402<BR> Average: 380.4<BR> Median: 378.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 11.2

Mobs wander a substantial distance, and there are quite a few mandragor pop-up groups in the northern half of the region. If you end up fighting two groups at once, that's manageable, but three is not.

Marga Coast
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 255-299<BR> Average: 271.7<BR> Median: 268.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 11.9

The veldt beetle queens always come with a few insect pop ups, so be ready for that, especially if other mobs are in the area. There are also several pop-up groups of frigid kuskale along the south edge of the map. The southern end of the peninsula just east of Nundu Bay has several pop-up groups, but no other mobs, so you can avoid it.

Mobs can be pretty dense around Neoli the Contagious and Admiral Chiggen, in addition to wandering considerable distances. With pop-ups in the area as well, it is best to pull mobs back considerable distances to be safe.

The central fort is most easily assaulted from the west. Two groups of Kournans patrol outside near the west entrance, so kill them before trying to get into the fort itself. After that, flag your party back and pull the boss group out. You can ignore the rangers inside the fort while killing the Acolyte of Melandru's group. The rangers in the fort will mostly have their attacks blocked by the fort itself.

Arkjok Ward
Difficulty: ****<BR> Mobs: 335-345<BR> Average: 340.2<BR> Median: 339.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 3.6

The southwestern quarter of the zone has many pop-up mandragor groups, mixed in with the roaming groups that you can see. Be careful about moving forward to pull, and be quick to flag your party back, as while one group of three is a trivial battle, three such groups at a time is not.

The fort in the southeastern corner of the zone can be tricky to clear. Approach first from the north to trigger the movement of Captain Chichor's group. Do not actually aggro anything, but merely come close enough to see his group in the distance, and then back off. Chichor's group will come well out of the fort, making it easy to clear it by itself. After that group is dead, clear the group guarding the north entrance to the fort, and then approach from the west to clear the rest of the fort, leaving the Acolyte of Grenth group for last, to make it easy to avoid aggroing it before you are ready.

Sunward Marches
Difficulty: ***<BR> Mobs: 276-310<BR> Average: 293.2<BR> Median: 291.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 9.7

A group of 11 rampaging ntoukas roams in the northwestern part of the zone. Clear the area and then wait for it to come near the northwestern rez shrine to pull it. This way, if (when?) you wipe, you can re-engage the remnants of the group before they have a chance to heal up.

There are many avoidable mandragor pop-up groups in the southeastern portion of the zone, mixed in with a handful of normal groups. Try to mostly stay out of the area, and only go straight to the groups you can see, in order to avoid fighting more mobs than necessary.

Jahai Bluffs
Difficulty: ***<BR> Mobs: 263-287<BR> Average: 273.3<BR> Median: 271.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 6.8

The fort a little to the west of the center of the zone contains two bosses, each in sizable groups. They are in separate halves of the fort and effectively separate battles. Each has pairs of Kournan bowmen blocking off various routes to the boss group. Clear the various Kournans outside of the fort before attacking those inside it, and then clear the bowmen if you can do so without aggroing anything else. If you can't clear the bowmen by themselves, but the boss group comes, too, then run away. The bowmen won't chase very far, but the boss group will, allowing you to clear the boss group by itself.

The Fortress of Jahai is stocked with different types of Kournans from most of the rest of Kourna. They have no healers, making them perhaps easier, but the groups in the fortress can be pretty close together. The largest group has six mobs, and the groups can be pulled apart, but it sometimes takes running long distances. Taking on two groups at once may be doable in some places, but is a bad idea for the boss, Admiral Kantoh. Kantoh's group and another group of Kournans have overlapping spawns, but can still be pulled apart. You may need to run halfway out of the fortress entirely to get one group to follow and the other not.

Turai's Procession
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 205-210<BR> Average: 206.1<BR> Median: 205.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 1.7

Korr, Living Flame can deal tremendous area damage. It comes accompanied by two elementals, which can be a problem if both are stone shard crags. It may help to spread out your party so it can't all get nuked by the area damage at once.

Dejarin Estate
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 233-239<BR> Average: 237.4<BR> Median: 238<BR> Standard Deviation: 1.7

Be careful when pulling near the central fort in the estate proper. Some roamer groups should be cleared before the stationary boss groups outside the fort. It can also help to pull Avatar of Dwayna's group to the door of the fort and clear it before going after the bowmen inside the fort; the boss group will chase no further than the doorway, but the pairs of bowmen in the fort will not chase at all, allowing you to fight from outside the fort and have the front wall block the bowmen's arrows.

Spread out a bit for Poldatur the Angry, as the entire party getting hit by spirit rift at once can be a problem.

Barbarous Shore
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 173-189<BR> Average: 174.9<BR> Median: 173<BR> Standard Deviation: 5.0

Clear the area just south of the covered region in the center of the zone (pink on the map) from the north, rather than from the west. There is a winding path through the covered area, even though it doesn't look like it on the map. This makes it much easier to pull groups apart. Note that when you go up the hill to the west of that area, there are several roamer groups that wander near the intersection, making it easy to get overwhelmed. Reaching that intersection from the east means that you at least take out the boss group first, making it much easier if you accidentally pull more other groups than you intend.

There is only one group that is not purely pop-ups to the east of the river, but there are many pop-up groups. Cross the river at the southern crossing (near the center of the zone) and follow the route toward the southeastern area to reach the group of seven level 5 mobs, and you'll only have to fight two pop-up mandragor groups along the way.

Gandara, the Moon Fortress
Difficulty: *<BR> Mobs: 64-68<BR> Average: 66.5<BR> Median: 67<BR> Standard Deviation: 1.3

The quest A Thorn in Varesh's Side is particularly notable here, as completing the quest before vanquishing cuts the number of mobs in the zone by about half, and makes the vanquish completely trivial, as the remaining mobs are in well-spaced small groups.

The Floodplain of Mahnkelon
Difficulty: **<BR> Mobs: 211-253<BR> Average: 219.9<BR> Median: 215.5<BR> Standard Deviation: 12.6

There are many avoidable pop-up groups in this zone. Just east of the exit to Rilohn Refuge, stay near the north wall, as if you head further south, a large pop-up group including the boss Zelnehiun Fastfoot will appear. In the southeastern portion of the zone, stay near the outside (south or east) wall, only heading in to kill mobs that are visible on radar from the wall. This won't map some territory further in for you, but it will avoid a number of pop-up groups. The boss Jerneh Nightbringer pops up a little south of the southern entrance to the waterworks, and is also avoidable.

The bosses Robah Hardback and Buhon Icelord come in groups with overlapping paths, and can be pulled separately, though you may have to wait for one group to move away from the other.

Bahdok Caverns
Difficulty: **

The northeastern quarter of the zone is predominantly mandragor pop-up groups, apart from the oasis in the northeast corner. Don't take the northern approach beyond the rez shrine in the top center of the zone, as all that is immediately to the east of that is pop-up groups. Rather, take the eastern entrance to that quarter and follow the eastern wall. This will bring you to the boss Joknang Earthturner, which is visible from the start and hence must be killed. This boss brings several pop-ups when aggroed, but following the eastern wall lets you vanquish the zone while triggering only one other mandragor pop-up group.

Riseh the Harmless and Commander Sehden are in the same linked group, and thus the two bosses must be fought together. Their group should be clear as they are the only corsairs in the zone, and this group can be pulled separately from the various Kournan groups in the area.

The four immolated djinn that spawn if you touch the treasure at the far south can be dangerous if you're unprepared. At minimum, flag your party apart before touching the treasure. If the vanquish is not going well, you can leave it for last, and complete the vanquish and then go get the treasure.