Thunderhead Keep (mission)

Mission Objectives
Rescue Thunderhead Keep.
 * Clear the city.
 * Clear the fort.
 * Kill Dagnar Stonepate.
 * 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 well with reasonable teamwork. Unfortunately, this means it is rarely simple.

The trip to the city is very manageable if care is taken not to run into multiple groups at once. Begin by speaking to King 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 2) 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 precise. Either way, the hardest thing in the fort is to make sure the king stays alive as he has a tendancy to run off and attack whole groups. Send someone to the far side of the fort to fire the left 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 aide (six, three per fort entrance) and the king settles down to his throne, leaving the fighting to you. You just need to hold 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 each set of ballistas between battles as it makes it far easier given the majority of attacking forces will stop in one of the firing spots before attacking. This can result in killing a large number or severly hurting them prior to them getting a chance to invade the fort. The hardest part of this will come with a Mursaat/Jade boss of some form. These can be hard to kill, resulting in two or three groups of Mursaat and Jade Armor/Bows stacking up and overpowering your group. Once he's dead, the remaining groups are easy enough to hold off until you complete the mission. Make sure no Mursaat break through to King Ironhammer! He doesn't have infused armor and will die almost instantly as soon as they attack him.

The last group you will have to fight is Confessor Dorian's White Mantle pack.

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.

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
 * Perfected Armor (Warrior): Devastating Hammer (Jade Armor, siege only), location C
 * Perfected Cloak (Ranger): Oath Shot (Jade Bow, siege only), location C