Utgarde Keep

Immediately in front of you when you enter the instance will be the first pull, which is two Dragonflayer Ironhelms, nothing spectacular, they do have Second Wind though. Beyond that you’ll see 7 mobs, a mix of Dragonflayer Metalworkers and Dragonflayer Weaponsmiths, there will be two metalworkers at each anvil, and the 3 weaponsmiths will walk around, crossing between the two anvils, and going back behind the anvils to the weapon racks, pulling these can be a bit tricky depending on where they’re standing, don’t be ashamed to take your time. The Weaponsmiths can stun and disarm, and the Metalworkers have an enrage.

Beyond that you’ll see the forge, it’s impossible to walk through the fire, so you’ll want to go right, the Dragonflayer Forge Master in this group has a Flame Buffet called Burning Brand, and they have a Cure-All for magic effects. Once you get to the point where you can continue on, you can clear the last forge, which I suggest you do, as it’ll shave off about 25 seconds if you have to walk back. Beyond that you’ll see the stables, when you enter the room make a sharp left and kill the Enslaved Proto-Drake there, turn the drakes away from the group and other mobs as they have a fire breath and a knockback. The next pull will add a Proto-Drake Handler, who will throw their weapon at random group members and have a Debilitating Strike, which reduces your physical damage. They have a ability called Unholy Rage, which increases the dragons attack speed by 70%, they won’t cast it on themselves, or the other Handlers.

Once you make it through the stables, you’ll see a group of three, the new mobs being a Strategist and a Runecaster. The Runecasters will cast two buffs on their group, a Power Word: Shield bubble, and a Rune of Flame which does quite a bit of fire damage, both can be shield slammed. The Strategists drop bombs, throw daggers, and blind the second highest threat. After one more pull you come to the first boss, Prince Keleseth. The biggest mechanic he uses is his Frost Tomb attack, which encases a random target in ice, which must be broken as quickly as possible, especially if it’s a healer or tank, as it stuns them, and does damage over time. He also spawns four skeletons, who honestly I’d prefer to just pick up and hold, but most groups AoE them down, after ~20 seconds they respawn and you have to pick them up again.

After Prince Keleseth you’ll enter a tunnel with some ghouls digging out new tunnels, and a Overseer, he’s a warrior so he charges, casts BS and Demo Shout. The Geists and Ghouls don’t really do anything at all… just kill them. Clear clear clear, and you’ll come to some stairs, as you’re going up them you’ll run into an Ironhelm walking his dog, the dogs are non-elites but they have a fixate and can mess up a clothie, so keep them stunned, also they jump when you pull them, so if you charge them, they jump to where you started, which means they’re behind you, nothing life threatening, just something I find funny.

You’re now at the second boss, Dalronn the Controller, and Skarvald the Constructor, first time I killed these guys we got a BoE blue on Dalronn, so I thought you got two blues, not the case. Skarvald is your main concern as Dalronn will just attack targets randomly with shadowbolt, the only thing you need to watch for is when he summons skeletons you need to make sure those stay with you. When you kill one target, they’ll ressurect and come back as an invincible ghost, randomly targetting, so if you kill Skarvald he’ll generally pick either a DPS or healer and won’t get off them until Dalronn is dead, or the person he picked is dead.

The next group of enemies you see will be Bonecrushers, Spiritualists, and Heartsplitters. The Heartsplitters will use a Piercing Stab, which reduces your armor by 30%, and they throw weapons. Spiritualists, will cast Flame Shock, Lightning Bolt, and Healing Wave. The Bonecrushers have the old-school head crack (reduced stamina), and a whirlwind that stuns at the end. After another stair-way you’ll finally be outside, after a moment of fresh air, you’ll pull one group, and the way is clear! Except, a Proto-Drake rider jumps down from the upper level and blocks the way, be careful here as ranged DPS has a tendency of attacking the rider, and not the drake, about the only way you can hit the rider is to use Cleave, Shockwave, and Thunderclap. Clear one more group, and cross the bridge…

Ingvar the Plunderer is a interesting fight, he has two forms, living and undead. For his living form he has four abilities, Cleave (melee stay in the rear). He has a Enrage mechanic, which increases attack speed by 5% every stack up to 50, this has never been a problem for me, infact I didn’t know about it until now. His Staggering Roar will damage all party members, but much more importantly, it will interrupt any spell casting, so make sure your healer doesn’t get themselves silenced. And he has a Smash attack, which can be sidestepped, just step to the left or right as he casts it.

Once you kill him, he’ll be judged, and then come back as a undead, as this is happening, everyone in the group should run and hide behind a pillar, as the first thing he’ll do is roar, and his new roar causes you to take 5% more shadow damage per application. He’ll also cast Woe Strike, which causes damage to the healer when they heal you, this can be removed by mages or druids. Dark Smash deals more damage, sidestep it, but you’ll still get hit for 1-2k and knocked down. And he’ll throw his axe at a random target, if it’s in the melee group you need to move him immediately.

This fight could take a few tries for a new tank to get down and simply survive through as there is a LOT of damage being put out. But, once you get it down, congratulations. Now, what loot did you get in this instance you wonder? From the Prince, we have the Infantry Assault Blade, and from Ingvar we have the Unsmashable Heavy Band. The Tattered Castle Drape is a BoE item that drops off of anything in the instance, or from the AH, and is good for a Shield Block set, should you choose to make one. After you’re done with the loot, you can turn and run back across the platform, and there will be a door directly ahead of you that opened when Ingvar died, two Leap of Faiths later and you’ll be at the entrance of the instance.