Scrambled Reinforcements

Objectives

 * Help Hixx and his troops secure the Arachni's Haunt.
 * Destroy 3 spider matriarchs.
 * Kill Arachni.
 * Use the Asura flame staff to burn through the web gates.
 * Use the Asura flame staff to set ablaze the egg sacs.

Reward

 * 7,500 Experience
 * 1,500 Gold

Walkthrough
''Beware of the Ooze! They multiply and can wipe an unprepared party with PBAoE damage spam.''

When doing this dungeon on level 1, keep the third Asura Flame Staff you encounter with your party as the next staff is far away and you will need it several times before there is a new staff.

Level 1
On the first level, you need to take out a number of groups of Needling Lavastrider and Lifeweaver Spider. If you kill the Lifeweaver first, the rest of each group is much easier. The Ooze should be avoided if possible; they tend to swarm the party quickly with high amounts of AoE damage. Try to aggro mobs one by one, because there are plenty of pop ups. Even if a prepared party can handle 2 mobs of Spiders, the poison traps can be potentially dangerous when you're in fight. Be wary of the Fire Bombs that Lok sends down the passage with the Forge Masters in.

This area also includes a map showing the location of two Spider Matriarch targets. (Follow the Left-hand wall to find the map site, guarded by a trio of Needling Lavastrider and Lifeweaver spiders). Once you have the map, you can ignore anything off the direct map route. Following the map, you will find an Asura Flame Staff among dead asura, which must be carried (Note: While holding the Flame Staff the effects of any weapon or focus item is nullified - i.e. health or energy - so when facing mobs it is a good idea to drop the staff and then pick it up again when they have been cleared). To reach the first target, you need to use the staff to burn a web, again guarded by a trio of Needling Lavastrider and Lifeweaver spiders. The web MUST be burned before this group can be effectively killed. It is useful to the party if you light the eggs one at a time to prevent getting overwhelmed by the popups. Also on the fourth group of eggs, the spawn of spiders is delayed.

If a party misses the first matriarch by running straight past the eggs, then the key will not drop at the matriarch near the entrance to the next level. The party must run back to the first matriarch and kill it. This will cause the key to spawn in the location of the matriarch near the entrance to level 2, this had been mistaken for a bug but can be avoided by simply killing the first matriarch as you pass the eggs.

Level 2
Head east as soon as you enter the level to retrieve the asura flame staff. The area map is located in the northeast corner of the dungeon. Like the first level, fight your way to the boss, but it's better to kill the Flame Guardian, located in an alcove in the southeast corner of the map, because of the multiple fire traps in this level.

In the final room there are many spiders, from Level 14 Spiders to Lifeweavers of Level 24, and kill all the spiders before starting to burn the eggs, because of the pop ups. There are three groups of eggs to burn here. Two on the left side of the room and one on the right but that group is not very obvious. After you've burned the last group of eggs, Arachni spawns. You have to kill the matriarch and Arachni to complete the quest; it doesn't matter which one you kill first.

Killing Arachni

 * Read the Arachni article.
 * Blinding skills, or skills such as Price of Failure, Reckless Haste, and Spiteful Spirit make the final boss battle much easier. The damage from Arachni comes from Barrage. If you use Diversion to stop Barrage then Arachni will simply stop attacking except to try to use Troll Unguent.
 * Arachni uses Whirling Defense, which can be turned to your advantage with Pain Inverter.

Skill recommendations

 * Because of the large number of Ranger and Paragon enemies in this dungeon, consider taking a skill like "Shields Up!" or Winds to reduce the damage you and your party takes. The henchman Talon Silverwing uses "Shields Up!".
 * Minion Masters are extremely useful, as they are very efficient in killing the many weaker mobs. There are enough corpses to easily support two Minion Masters.  Consider using a Curses Necromancer with Barbs and Mark of Pain, as well as Ebon Battle Standard of Honor to boost the damage output considerably.
 * AoE damage is extremely useful against the large groups of low level spiders.
 * When trying to do this dungeon, remember that your NPC allies are warriors as primary, and they'll rush to attack anything crossing their aggro bubble. This can be extremely dangerous when trying to pull the oozes on level 1, because the NPCs following you will attack your target and aggro all the others. For this reason, it's highly recommended to bring along with you at least one running skill to break NPCs' aggro on foes.

Allies

 * 20 (20) Commander Hixx
 * 20 (20) Hudd
 * 20 (20) Vask

Bosses
Arachnids Elementals
 * 28 Brood Warden &rarr; Crippling Shot (Level 1)
 * 28 Spider Matriarch &rarr; Stunning Strike (Level 1 & 2)
 * 28 Lok The Mischievous &rarr; Savannah Heat (Level 1)

Boss-like foes
Arachnid
 * 29 (32) Arachni &rarr; Barrage (Level 2)

Initial dialogue

 * Hixx
 * "You are a sight for sore eyes, bookah! Arachni's Haunt is home to powerful veins of energy we need in our defenses against the Destroyers. We've been fighting an unending Battle against the matriarchs and are in need of some reinforcements. These spiders lay large egg sacs and spin webs that no normal fire can burn through. They've enslaved other nasty beasts to help protect their brood. Manp developed a super-heated staff capable of doing the job. I'd find you one, but the last troops that went in took the remaining ones. I'm sure you'll find what you need on their bodies..."

Trivia

 * This quest contains several references to the motion picture Aliens. The three Asura accompanying you, Commander Hixx, Hudd and Vask, are named after the characters Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez. They use quotes from the film, for example "Now all we need is a deck of cards" or "Anytime, anywhere". You torch egg sacks on your way into the lair to kill the spider queen which resembles scenes from the film.