Talk:Vloxen Excavations

I've finished the dungeon, but unfortunately I haven't collected data for a full article. This article NEEDS to be updated. It's not a very difficult dungeon, all the more so as level 1 is very short when you come from vlox's fails. Really take 1 MM and plenty of nukers. What I've done will help those who attempt to finish it. In the end chest I got a gold item ( remains to know what the greens are ).


 * I finished it tonight as well and finished it without too much trouble. Group consisted of me and 1 other real player, and 6 heros. Chest gave my friend a crappy gold warhammer(only 1 mod) and me a diamond. DKS01 02:18, 1 September 2007 (CDT)


 * Green is Zoldark's Staff

http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d104/Al-Aaraaf/?action=view&current=Zoldark2.jpg http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d104/Al-Aaraaf/?action=view&current=Zoldark1.jpg

this morning i went to vloxen excavations (level 1) and now i have enough informations about mobs^^ so i will fill up the bestiary section. Now i think the page is quite complete (i guess :P) ^^ Rik Hawk 22:05, 3 September 2007 (GMT+1h)

it's not that easy. at the end of level 2 and almost complete level 3 is flooded with undeads. i haven't seen those anywhere else in the game yet. they do look like the undead in the wastelands though, just with different names. too bad i play the game in german and dunno what there names are in english anymore. can't even remember the german ones.--Klossi 06:41, 4 September 2007 (CDT)

Sacced himself to death for me -.-" cKowDont 10:23, 11 September 2007 (CDT)

Very easy if you have some nice AoE damage and a warder. Just ball up in the little corner to the right of the entrance and they will ball up, it's even easy to tank them there and AoE will make this a very short fight :) Shai Meliamne 16:09, 12 September 2007 (CDT)

What is it the stone summit are searching for in the dungeon-quest?

Light of Deldrimor bug?
I used Light of Deldrimor around all the locations, but no pings on the compass or light on the ground appeared. Is anyone having problems with this? --Kendo Bo Master 03:25, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

A friend told me to wait 5 minutes and it would work. It did /highfive --Kendo Bo Master 03:37, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

I couldnt find the Hidden Treasure, near Stone Summit Emblem Collector.. anyone know more accurately where it is?


 * I didn't find one near him but there were two by the boss key guy [[Image:Unyielding Aura.jpg|20px|Flesh Over Steel]]Flesh Over Steel 22:51, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Hard Mode Glitch?
So I went into there on Hard Mode and ran into the mobs from Slavers. You know, the Stone Summit Dominators, Warders, etc. Are the enemies in there supposed to be updated as such, or is it just another of Anet's HM glitches?


 * I honestly don't think it's a glitch? As far as I know, the groups that look like they're taken straight from Slaver's Exile ARE actually groups from Slaver's Exile (I believe, normal mode, since they are mostly non-level 30). I believe they aren't given any higher levels, and no different attributes. Just treat them as you'd treat the Stone Summits in Slaver's Exile(i.e. bring Frozen Soil) and you should do fine in general.
 * What it looks like is A.net buffed the Stone Summit groups that already existed in Normal Mode and added Slaver's Exile Normal Mode Stone Summit groups inbetween each group, and gave us the resulting Vloxen Excavations Hard Mode. Maaya 06:20, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

60 dp'd on a rez shrine. moving from level 1 to level 2 there was this mob of summit and b4 could do anything, 2 h/h were down; the summit necro then made 2 lvl 22 minoins of some sort; couple of death novas and 'boom' my whole group was down. then rezzed and again and again and again. summit never moved away b4 the group had rezzed and could not run with all the minions blocking. what a crock of crap. there was some room to have avoided the summit if had realized but...anyway, a waste of an hour.

Lever on Level 3
What's the lever behid Sotanaht for?
 * You mean the lever that, when you pull it, it says the traps are disabled, and the traps no longer shoot green **** at you?--War Pig5 06:14, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Did anyone has done it in solo (Hard mode) with heroes and henchies?
Well, i have done in solo all slaver's Exile donjon in normal mode, many donjon in hard mode but this one i failed all the time, if some one has succeded (in solo!!), please post your team and build.Kemydes 17:34, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I did. For the heroes I used pvx:Build:Team_-_Triple_Necro_Vanquish (SS,MM,&Healer N)+ henchies (Healer,E,W,Interrupt R) and me, W (skills: Ursan, LoD, Rez, various Strength&Axe). All humans should take Light of Deldrimor except Monk & Dervish who may have access to better holy damage skills. (I saw some tips at but found that my team was better.) --War Pig5 06:19, 29 January 2008 (UTC) <- added more detail --War Pig5 23:43, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I tried War Pig's suggestions but still had more trouble than I wanted. I added a alternative build and partial walkthru belowCrypt Tick 05:36, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Can someone pls ping a team build for this dungeon
I reckon you would need 2 mms one with a normal build excluding bone fiend one and one sort of back up with veratas aura animate bone fiend and maybe veratas gaze. Also would need a heavy hexer and two normal tanks and a healer and protector and a nuker but that is my opinion any help pls.--roshanabey2 20:29, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It does not require 2 MMs; I did it with heroes and henchies with just 1 MM. Please see my post directly above for details.--War Pig5 23:12, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I tried War Pig's suggestions, but still found it tougher than I liked. I posted an alternative build and partial walkthru below.  Crypt Tick 05:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Possible?
When I entered dungeon from Vlox's Falls, I could not continue from the gate in level 1. What am I doing wrong or is it bug?--Coolritualist 14:49, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Did you have the quest required active? (Hey, it could happen...)--- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG]]-- (s)talkpage 21:50, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Vipermagi.--Coolritualist 14:52, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Lol, thanks for being here! RT | Talk  21:51, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * No problem :) --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG]]-- (s)talkpage 21:52, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Found this dungeon to be the worst of the lot. Arenanet really have been nasty here. Have completed all other dungeons in HM and have tried this countless times with different HM builds that would do any other area in game. The buffs in this dungeon are way too much and tbh kill off hopes of getting this without many, many attempts. Utterly ridiculous and NOT fun in the slightest, Im off to clean my car....much more fun and rewarding.

Hard Mode H+H
Is it do-able with H+H in hard mode? I got as far as a large mob on level two before giving up (because it kept respawning me by the first rez shrine).

yes it is doable ~ de klootviool

explain it, dont just answer yes ^_^ (Am Bups)

Please see above: Talk:Vloxen_Excavations --War Pig5 23:12, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Am I missing something? In HM the summoners get all the minions, since they are faster than you, also with that build they rez all the time, unless u are going with all the consumables, and in that case it is doable with other builds (but expensive)
 * Please sign yer postsCrypt Tick 05:49, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

This worked for me hard mode HH:
 * Pick up quest at umbral but enter at vlox's falls. I was warrior/ranger - OQIUETqVVsStRDF6iGlpFbFYcXHA.  I had superior strength on head, superior sword, and minor tactics runes.  With 13 str I had on sentinel armor.  I took a zealous sword for when ursan was down, when ursan up I used a sundering 'club of a thousand bears' of fortitude (ursan now reduces att to zero, club has no req and since shield doesn't add to armor under ursan now club does most damage).  I also had a longbow for pulling and kept a low damage weapon for smacking spirits to draw aggro.
 * Hero 1 - OAhjUkGZITWbDTTOST6BXBnOKgA. SAB type (thank you SAB).  Xinrae's weapon gives nice protection.  Malign intervention causes deaths to automatically spawn a masterless minion...that way the enemy gnashers can't make a minion of their own.  Then verata's gaze converts these masterless minion to mastered.  It also pulls away existing bugger minions.  Works well.  (Verata's aura doesn't seem to work as well).  The dwarves in this dungeon in HM don't have hex removal...so...added couple nice aoe hexes.  Frozen soil provides the spirit needed for the ritualist spirit based skills.
 * Hero 2 - OAhjYoHboO5BEhdYPUVHmSzJHA. Another SAB type (thanks again SAB).  This time added in shadow of fear aoe hex.  Parasite hex for good (needed) self heal.  Enfeebling blood is not enchantment so isn't stripped by dwarves.  Again, dwarves don't have hex removal so this build is very useful.
 * Hero 3 - OQhlAMBoQOoh54TzBLhVARIDMMlm. 'Echo Teaser'.  This is a very nice aoe interrupter I put together.  It interrupts most everything, not just spells.  Works well with SAB type team.  I found worked MUCH better than BHA or eternal choking gas based ranger (at least for me).  Heroes don't use echo well but all the skills here are very useful for this team so echo'ing any of them works well.
 * Hench: Mhenlo, Lina, Zho, LoSha. Zho and LoSha are very nice and very useful interrupters.  Tried many other hench but found this team worked best with this build.
 * Usage - Set all heroes to guard. There are 3 very hard slavers type dwarf groups in hard mode and one moderately hard group. For most OTHER (not the hard ones) dwarf groups just take your time and use sniper support to try and take out any healer/priest type first (switch of course to ursan after using sniper regardless of kill/no kill), gnashers next, sage, then all else.  For the 4 harder groups try this:
 * Group 1 - dungeon level 1 just after key boss (Durgon). The right side of this room looks a bit like an easter island statue profile - flag team by large 'nose' point behind trees.  This is the turn around point for the big dwarf mob.  Set frozen soil.  Immediately run up by yourself and longbow pull the buggers.  Run back to team.  As you get in team healing/frozen soil range turn around and use 'sniper support' on closest bugger (preferably a monk type).  Now fall back into your team and watch the mob retreat.  If any get caught or stick around try and kill quickly with either another sniper shot or with ursan & team attack.  If nothing goes down quickly pull back.  Ideally there should be spirits left by the marksman now.  Set frozen soil again.  Run up smack ranger spirit to draw mob again.  Regenerate, rinse & repeat.  Once mob is manageable (no monk types) thanks to either sniper head shots or from tree trap/team attacks then you can fully attack.
 * Group 2 - 2nd level dungeon key boss (Kurg). This is the 'moderately' hard one.  Same basic setup as group 1.  Flag team back.  Set soil.  Run up and longbow attack closest.  Run back to team (you may need to adjust flag till you find turn back point of mob).  Turn around and sniper support attack.  Team attack with ursan any mob stragglers. Regen, rinse and repeat.
 * Group 3 - 2nd level, just after dungeon key boss, in tight group up on hill across water pool. MUCH harder, same setup again tho.  Flag team about 5-10 feet back from water edge (use character height as rough guide).  This is approx the mob turn around point...but still in frozen soil range if placed just right.  So, set soil, run up and instead of longbow use sniper support right away to target a monk type.  Run back to team.  Regen, rinse and repeat till all monks are gone (about 4 of em).
 * Group 4 - Level/key boss (Bellok). Clear nearby area above group 3.  Flag team on top of group 3 hill just below the next bugger rangers' stairway (basically use walls as a pinch point soon - so flag team appropriately).   By yourself go down into boss mob zone just close enough to trigger the 'drama'.  Wait for buggers to finish fighting and moving around.  Then longbow pull closest.  Run back to team.  If you flagged in right spot team should be at turn around point.  If not back up till you are.  This is DANGEROUS area.  Rez shrine nearby can lead to doom if party wipes.  So...stay flagged by turn around point.  Set soil.  Run up longbow pull.  Run back to team.  Turn around - shoot with sniper support.  Pull back.  If any get stuck quickly move in for quick kill.  If they don't go down quickly pull back to break aggro.  Regen, rinse and repeat.  If party deaths begin here you HAVE to break aggro asap and run away.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO PARTY WIPE HERE as it will lead to a rez shrine death trap situation.  Just follow my flag point suggestion and you will be okay.
 * When you get to final level no probs till final boss. You can set soil to act as ritualist spirit.  You may party wipe but soil or no soil may lead to party wipe.  Just regen and re-attack.  Target minions only.  Boss kills self eventually by raising more minions.
 * Few thoughts: Many posts all over helped me develop this team...so I may update this with some links to them.  Dwarves have no hex removal...so whatever you try keep that in mind.  They are good at condition removal tho so I would forget about them.  Sniper support will probably get nerfed at some point but basic tactics of pulling and then attacking at the turn around point is the real key for these hard mobs.  While it lasts (I assume anet will nerf) 'sniper support' is worth taking the time to attack with over and over till it does a 'one shot one kill' type hit.  This is definitely true for group 3.  It is amusing to see the various kill shot emotes.  Whatever you do also take frozen soil.  Hope this helps some.  This one can really suck.  Special thanks go out to 'Michigan still suks'!  Crypt Tick 00:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

This is RIDICULOUS. The spawns and res shrines are beyond uncool. I can see making a dungeon challenging, but this is just downright stupid. I'll confirm this team build, with me as a perma and the HH as noted above I got to the boss, just needed one more conset and powerstone to deal with zoldark's minions plus the ancients that kept respawning at the res shrine and in the boss' chamber. Oh well. Spend another 20k on consumables, probably try again tomorrow...

Moved Zoldark's section and other article improvements
I don't think this read right at the beginning of the article, as he is the final boss. Feel free to revert if you preferred it the other way. --  Scar  -- Contributions  † 17:27, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

I also updated the reputation points gained on repeated this dungeon. For some reason it said 200 NM or 300 HM upon repeating, while it's simply half the first reward (1500 NM or 2250 HM, meaning 750/1125) as with all dungeons... Karya Foxstep

Map
can we get a better map cause even though its nice being able to see everything it kinda confuses me cause i dont know where to go.
 * What, specifically, did you find confusing? I find only the lack of the 2 outpost names on the up stairways potentially confusing to noobies, but obviously the north starway goes to the more northern town & vice versa. --War Pig5 23:12, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Taskmaster Kurg
I got hung up on his group in HM. Normally I like to kill defenders before priests in Slavers' Exile. This defender wouldn't go down for me though (had killed others up to this point). I think maybe when they mix the regular healer dwarf with the defender (instead of priest with defender), you might want to take the healer down first. Regardless, I ended up pulling a sloppy trick to get the gear the taskmaster and his group are guarding. Pulled group to a side room and died. Hero's/henches killed the taskmaster, then suicided (kept ones without rez from suiciding to save a little on death penalty). We rezed and just skipped the troublesome Slavers' build Dwarfs. --Mooseyfate 17:22, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

OMG HM.....plz ping builds (those with r6 north)
me and ma guild leader have been trying for hours now and weve tried different team builds(heroes)...you name it weve tried it....can someone with r6 master of the north ping a build or give us a tip as to how to do it?
 * If you look a bit above your post you will see I pinged some builds using just heroes and hench...no extra person. If you take another person (guildie) you might double up on the mm type I pinged and also the mesmer interrupter.  For the last hero take a protection monk.  Really 2 things are the key to this dungeon in HM. 1. Frozen soil. 2. Fighting the 4 harder groups at their turn around points.  Just flag your team at the turn around point for each of the harder groups and pick off the stragglers one by one.  Run up and aggro then run back to turn around point.  Pick off one.  Let the rest of the buggers go away.  Rinse and repeat.  Do this for all the hard ones.  The exception is perhaps the 2nd nasty group by the water on the second level.  For that spot it really is nice to have vanguard sniper support as a skill.  That way in combination with frozen soil you can one by one sniper shot all the monks (4 or so).  My post above says where to stand for that second group (actually it's the 3rd hard group - 2nd on 2nd level).  It takes time but it works.  If you don't take sniper shot you still can take them out at the turn around point but it takes even longer.  The MM type I pinged above isn't a true MM but its build works well in HM vloxen because it denies the dwarf gnashers their corpses by cursing them and automatically creating a minion BEFORE they do.  Then verata's gaze converts the newly created minion into YOUR minion.  I tried verata's aura but on heroes it just doesn't seem to work that well...maybe on a primary.   Oh, and btw...sign your posts --Crypt Tick 09:22, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I used verata's aura and it worked great against the dwarven gnasher's minions. The only thing you have to remember is that you have to be right next to the minions to capture them. That is not really that hard to do since the minions like to aggro en masse around a target. If there are 10 minions running around, get them to aggro on you, then hit verata's aura and they will all convert if they are adjacent to you. Because you have to first aggro the minions, only a real person can use verata's aura effectively, since heroes will just activate it randomly, regardless of whether enough minions are nearby. There were more than a few times I had to run around a bit to gather up all the hostile minions to get them all aggroed on myself. The long recharge of verata's aura makes it essential to have as many hostile minions around you as possible first if you want to use it successfully. My only problem now is getting through the 3rd level, where I am currently stuck, as I can't kill the respawning ancients fast enough. -- Rpger Dec 9, 2008

Lol
This was so easy. Endurance Scythe with sabway, monks and wars and flew right through it--Relyk 23:14, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Please add a description of how level 3 works
I am using all henches in normal mode, and on level 3 various "ancients" (carvers, blademasters, etc) respawn as fast as my hench group kills them. I am stuck in the entrance and all the henches have -60% death penalties from the non-stop fighting. Exactly how do you proceed to get to the boss on this level? Do you try to sprint past the respawning ancients? I have done 6 other dungeons and this appears to be the most difficult as I can not see a way to get to the boss chamber safely. I have 3 full monks, 1 battery/healer, 2 eles (fire + water), necro (curses), and interrupt archer. I can see the minions of the boss creatures around the corner, but cant kill the ancients in the prior hall faster than they respawn.
 * That seems odd. They are supposed to respawn, but not that fast. Once you kill them off they are supposed to stay dead long enough for you to be able to move on to the next group. (Sort of like in Jokanur Diggings (mission) Maybe you've got a rare bug? [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 03:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Based on his group, maybe he's just not killing them fast enough...3 full monks AND a battery/healer? Unless those monks are setup for smiting, that's a full half his team that contributes nothing damage wise. Likewise, he has an interrupter, which while useful, is not a real high damage output character either. If the monks aren't smite, that means his damage dealers consist of a water ele, a fire ele, and a curses nec. I'd be curious to see what the skill bars of his chars are, cause that could be an issue. DKS01 03:55, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

My group has resurrected about 50 times already, and keep refighting the same group of ancients over and over as it respawns. Is there any spot you can run to to bypass them, or at least to where they won't immediately respawn again? -- Rpger Dec 9, 2008

Well almost half of my hench team are nukers, so there is plenty of damage:

> N/Mo (myself) > (E) Spiteful Spirit, Insidious Parasite, Rising Bile, Putrid Bile, Atrophy, Necrosis (85 damage per use at my current level), Verata's Aura, Rebirth

> E > Freezing gust, Shard Storm, Ice Spikes, Maelstrom, (E) Ward Against Harm, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Water Attunement, Aura of Restoration

> Mo > (E) Light of Deliverance, Sig of Rejuvenation, Words of Comfort, Cure Hex, Healing Ribbon, Shield of Absorption, Protective Spirit, Restore Life

> N/Rt > (E) Blood is Power, Blood Renewal, Weapon of Warding, Resilient Weapon, Vengeful Weapon, Wielder's Boon, Life, Rejuvenation

plus the henches, Mhenlo, Lina, Zho, Cynn. Stats on heroes are maxed more or less in their primary skill, except the N/Rt where Restoration=12, Blood=13, Soul Reap=7, also on myself (N/Mo) it is split, Curses=15, Death=12, Soul Reap=9. With this setup, I breezed through the first 2 levels, and me and all my henches went into level 3 with a +10% morale boost. Initially the ancients and effigies were not a problem, but because they kept respawning and because the fighting was non-stop, eventually death penalties began to creep in and accumulate. Now all have 60% dp and I really see no way past the entrance since unless there is some way to turn off the respawning, the henches are stuck there. -- Rpger Dec 9, 2008

Solution: Well I finally did make it through, because the rate at which the ancients respawned slowed down after a long while. In order to get to that point however, I had to post my henches at the ressurection spot and let them continually fight, die, ressurrect and fight again repeatedly. There is a unique spawn mechanism on level 3 which apparently follows the location of your group, so no matter where you are standing, the ancients will spawn there as well as at the pre-set spawn locations which you first see upon entering that level. The "floating" spawn which is set at your position is usually one to three ancients, enough to also draw in some of the pre-set spawns depending on where you happen to be standing. This is particularly a problem for spell casters because after a fight, the group needs to find someplace safe to regenenrate energy. Even with a battery, I wasn't able to move on because of the floating spawn.

So the solution came only after I gave up and basically let my henches fight by themselves continuously at the ressurrection shrine while I went off (in real life) to eat dinner. The floating spawn made that easy since it spawns an ancient wherever you plant your henches, and that ancient fighting will draw in others nearby. When I came back from dinner the spawn rate had noticably slowed, and I was able to find a corner just past the exit of the entrance chamber to level 3 which did not seem to trigger floating spawn mechanism. From there I was able to proceed fairly routinely.

The boss fight itself was fairly easy however, since as usual with most of these dungeon mega-bosses, they don't heal themselves well, if at all. The entrance to this level, however, made it the most difficult dungeon of all of them I think, at least it took the longest, and 80% of the time in the dungeon was spent just in the entrance of level 3 (if I include the time I spent eating dinner while letting the henches fight by themselves). The needless repetitiveness, above and beyond the usual in these dungeons, made it the most boringly frustrating. -- Rpger Dec 9, 2008

Was this normal or hard mode? I've never encountered this in normal mode (I have done the dungeon multiple times, most of them done because I thought I was in HM...), but I have yet to get that far in HM.. King Neoterikos 06:36, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

It was normal mode. I imagine it would be easier if there were real people in the group as they could manage their energy and position better than henches. Also, knowing ahead of time where the "safe" spots were that were not affected by the floating spawn would have helped, although at the start, the spawns were much more frequent and it wasn't clear if it such a safe spot existed at that time. The first two levels and the boss fight itself were fairly straightforward, but the entrance to level 3 was simply ridiculous. -- Rpger Dec 9, 2008


 * I'll go through here again someday, I guess, and check for myself. Heroes were three Savannah Heat nukers while I was Splinter Barrage, so we mopped things up very quickly. I didn't have any problem with the undead on Floor Three. To be honest, the boss was the hardest part for me, since I wasn't prepared at all (no holy damage or Aegis is ftl). [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 07:22, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, yeah, with his group, damage output is EXTREMELY low, that may be part of the problem... DKS01 22:19, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Possible bug - entering from Vlox's Falls?
I entered Vloxen Excavations from Vlox's Falls, but the door that's to the east and south wouldn't open for me. Can someone tell me why the door wouldn't open, or how I can make it open? Do I need a quest, or do I need to start from the beginning in Umbral Grotto? 76.89.212.148 06:23, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * No, it is not a bug. Most dungeons will not get you far without a quest. You will need Dredging the Depths to access more then the first level. The quest is given in Umbral Grotto, but if you wish, you can enter from Vlox's Falls.-- [[Image:merty_sign.gif]]-- ( talk ) 07:33, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

H/H-ing in HM: as a ranger
Hey guys, you seem to be knowledgeable on this -

Now I've tried every suggestion here. I have the SABway necros, didn't work too well. I'll try again, but as a ranger I simply do not have enough damage output. SABway necros + 2 healers and 2 interrupts was frustrating.

I also tried Crypttrick's method. I got past the first level easy enough, but once i got to the second level, I couldnt kill that first group. I was a choking gas ranger, and it was just not working. Does anyone have any suggestions? I could stick with the SABway build, and maybe get different henches? or pick up Verata's Aura? Maybe even Ursan, even though it sucks major now? Anything will do! Even 'stop trying, impossible as a ranger'.

I've been trying this on and off for over 6 months. I just can't seem to do it!

173.32.12.34 05:42, 8 April 2009 (UTC) Zephyros, in-game Raven Edgewalker