User:Quizzical/Nightfall Hard

Jokanur Diggings
Difficulty: **

It helps immensely to have two healers, as mobs use disease extensively, which can put a lot of pressure on a single healer. This doesn't have to dampen your damage much, however, as if both healers are monks, they can bring a couple smiting skills and do hefty damage to the undead mobs. Likewise, Melonni should be loaded up with holy damage, especially from heart of holy flame.

Blacktide Den
Difficulty: ***

The skale stampede can be dangerous if you take them all on at once. Instead, split off west from Besuz as to go on the route to the last two rinkhal monitors, and then turn south at the first opportunity. You'll reach the skale stampede mobs from the north, but they won't stampede until you approach from the east. There are three groups, and they have different movement AI that makes them easier to pull apart if it is before they stampede.

The harpies can be a nuisance if they have a griffon with them, which is quite a potent healer. Kill it first, to prevent it from perpetually healing the other mobs.

Consulate Docks
Difficulty: ***

Bring something to stop the groups of Kournan Bowmen from doing their normal damage, as packs of them focusing fire on a single character can be a problem. There are several places where it helps to pull small groups of Kournans apart a little, though they won't chase all that far. In particular, after Lonai, Rojis, and Nerashi join you, it can help to let the sunspear warriors that spawn ahead die on their own before pulling the Kournans there apart.

If having trouble with Captain Lumanda, you can pull his group back to the sunspear rangers for help. Captain Mwende hits very hard with fireball and meteor, so it can help to spread out a bit and interrupt his casts. Conditions are unreliable, as paragons in his group will remove them.

Venta Cemetery
Difficulty: ***

Mobs get a little cluttered toward the end. After the ninth guard post, pull the roamer group that will be to the east of the bridge when you approach, to get it out of the way for later. After clearing the last guard post, stay near the south wall. After clearing a small group of bowmen, wait for a larger roamer group to get out of the way. They'll be away for plenty long enough for you to clear the last group of bowmen and head west to the exit.

Kodonur Crossroads
Difficulty: ****

Group will wander very long distances, and chase unusually far if you try to run away. Be very careful about pulling, and watch radar, to move out of the way of any approaching groups while you're already fighting another group. Taking on two groups at once can be big trouble.

In particular, when you approach the group guarding the centaur boss, a roamer group will come from behind it and move west. Approach from the west to make it start moving, and then back off and wait for it to come out of range of the stationary group. Similarly, when approaching Sadi-Belai's group, another roamer group will come up from behind it. Come close enough to make it start moving, then back off and wait for it, so you can kill it without having to fight the boss group at the same time.

Kournan priests can be a major pain. Dazed and backfire can help, but neither are reliable. The paragons will remove dazed with cautery signet, as well as other conditions that you may use to try to limit mob damage. Priests can remove conditions, too, with convert hexes, though this skill can't self-target, so they can't remove hexes from themselves. Enchantment removal helps quite a bit when trying to spike single targets, so that you can remove shielding hands.

Many of the mobs spawns are random, in that some fixed number of Kournans will spawn in a linked group, but which particular mobs actually spawn are random. The difficulty of groups can vary quite a bit by composition, but the probability that you'll have to face at least one fairly difficult group is pretty high.

The garrison at the end has mobs split into three separate groups, and it helps immensely to fight them separately. Pull them somewhat, so that you don't accidentally aggro one group while fighting another. Your centaur allies are trappers, and you can kill melee mobs pretty quickly by pulling a group, then running far enough away for mobs to run all the way up to the centaurs--and into a big stack of traps.

Pogahn Passage
Difficulty: ****

When you approach the stairs going down after rescuing Kormir and Shahai, a large roamer group will approach from behind. Back up and wait so that you can kill the roamer group by itself.

Guard Linko is linked to only one other mob--and not the group containing Colonel Kajo behind him. Clearing those two mobs before taking on Colonel Kajo's group can help.

At the end, there is a group of four Kournan guards at the front of the pier, and Captain Nebo's group is at the end of the pier. If you can pull the four guards without bringing Nebo's group, then do. If you try and both groups come, run away. The four guards will stop chasing and return to their spawn location pretty quickly, while Nebo's group will chase much further, allowing you to pull it alone.

The terrain is awkward, and Nebo hits very hard with meteor and fireball. Terrain can block fireball, but not meteor. Either one will come close to killing some party members in one hit if you don't have defensive measures such as interrupts or wards.

Mobs will ignore Kormir and Shahai unless they have no other targets nearby. If necessary, you can sometimes just run by Nebo's group, get Kormir and Shahai to follow, and trigger the cutscene to complete the mission as your party is in the process of wiping.

Rilohn Refuge
Difficulty: **

Clear the three groups of droughtlings from The Drought's group before taking on The Drought. Fire broad head arrow at The Drought from out of aggro range, and don't otherwise enter combat until broad head arrow hits. From there, focus fire on the drought (and refire broad head arrow as necessary) to ensure that it can never get a cast off--and particular, can't use sandstorm.

Moddok Crevice
Mission difficulty: ***

Master's reward difficulty: ****

The first large cavern has several groups of mandragors, some of which will wander a good distance. Stay by the entrance to the cavern, and pull groups of four to your party one at a time. If you run to where they are, you may end up fighting two or three groups at a time, which can overwhelm a party.

Don't trigger Dunkoro's fourth suggestion by approaching the corsair runners until your party is ready. Approach wide, from the southeast, rather than more directly south, to reduce the chance of aggroing bugs to the southwest of the runners. The deep freeze and mind freeze approach that works in easy mode may not be enough in hard mode. Mind freeze can still hold one runner plenty long enough, but some parties may not kill the first runner within ten seconds, before deep freeze wears off. If that happens, between blocking, condition removal, and speed boosts, the first runner may well get away. A second slowing hex applied shortly before deep freeze wears off can prevent this; imagined burden works especially well.

Don't try to kill the Kournan bowmen at the end from below. Instead, use the run all the way past everything strategy, as it still works quite nicely. You'll probably lose a party member in running by; ignore that and keep running. The Hunger will follow your party, but once it gets low on life, may try to run away. If so, let it, and finish the mission as though The Hunger had not followed you in the first place.

Tihark Orchard
Difficulty: *

Bring some out of combat healing if you can, as "Palawa Joko"'s life siphon can take another 200+ HP off you after he is defeated.