Talk:Vloxen Excavations

I had a Lev 26 Stone Summit Zealot down here in Hard mode. This calls is not mentioned in the article.

Softouch Hunterbabe

As far as I can tell, to kill Zoldark, you have to kill his minions. I can't seem to hurt him directly, but killing minions seems to lower his health. Thankfully, he never regens either, he just heals and revives his minions. ~ Kailianna Firesoul 15:14, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I tried killing him earlier today, but i had to log off so i didn't really try. But apparently, his minions are the source of his power - he has skills that grant him +x armor for each minion alive and other stuff like that. If you manage to deny him of his minions and stop him from reanimating more, then i guess he is easy :b - Pulse 00:04, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Taking Care of Business (Zoldark in this case)
As they say, you're only as powerful as your weakest link. In this case, his weakest link is his minions. Him being too dependent on all his little minions. Ward Against Melee seems to work greatly. Aegis might work too. An assassin with Flashing Blades/Critical Defenses and some points in both Dagger Mastery and Critical Strikes should have no problem. Warriors should have some invaluable Tactics moves that would allow you to block melee attack. -- Kael the thief 02:17, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * lol yeah... i had Lina/Lo Sha/Herta as my henchies and the fight went FASSSSTT.....--Ridz16 03:52, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

If only all doors were bugged
The door to the gate to lvl 2 seems to be lacking a line of sight issue, I was able to kill off many dwarfs in the next room as a ranger, poisoning and interrupting them before opening the lock.76.233.7.5 04:31, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Getting started
I have just started playing Eotn and as I walked out the Eye of the North, I have been fighting my way through the areas until I arrived to Umbral Grotto. Now I walked out Umbral Grotto and I am pretty sure I am in a dungeon (the 9th one). Since I just started to play, the gate that leads to the first batch of Stone Summit Dwarves does not seem to want to open up to me. Is it because I don't meet a prerequisite or did I just not find the way to open up that gate? --76.68.152.60 17:23, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Most, if not all dungeons in GW:EN require you to have a certain quest in your log in order to proceed farther into it on your first try. Once you beat that quest, you will be able to enter the dungeon freely. Look for a Ruined Bag somewhere near the door that won't open, see what NPC it belongs to. Seek out that NPC, they should have the quest to get you started. Goodluck! [[Image:user eldin sig.jpg]] Eldin 21:49, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Hard Mode?
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, I did it with H+H in HM. I had a curses N/Rt (Shadow of Fear, Enfeebling Blood, Faintheartedness, Reaper's Mark, Barbs, Rip Enchantment, Signet of Lost Souls, Death Pact Signet), MM N/Mo (Animate Bone Minions, Jagged Bones, Blood of the Master, Death Nova, Verata's Gaze, Signet of Lost Souls, Aegis, Dark Bond), a BHA R/Me (Read the Wind, Poison Tip Signet, Broadhead Arrow, Distracting Shot, Throw Dirt, Epidemic, Muddy Terrain, Frozen Soil), Zho, Herta, Mhenlo and Lina. My character was an E/P with a hybrid damage/support build. The two ranger spirits helped a lot by negating the mobility advantage of HM monsters and preventing infinite rez chains. Meticulous flagging, long pulls, hit and run style fights for big mobs. There are three very hard mobs, one before the locked door on level 1 (with defender, summoner, warder, 2 dreamers and stuff, they start with 6 minions off the freed dredges), the second some way after Taskmaster Kurg on level 2 (after a pool of water, contains a priest, defender, warder and stuff, their rangers get an advantage of elevation) and the third Taskmaster Bellok's mob (has 2 priests, Bellok raises minions from dead dredges, try to block the mob at the stairs). No consumables except 3 Rainbow Candy Canes to patch morale after an inadvertent wipe at the second hard mob. Once you get past Bellok all the rest is laughably easy and takes about 10 minutes total.--Tmakinen 12:31, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
 * The only hard groups are the ones mentioned above..just try to split up the third group with hit and run attacks and then they are easy pickings (they will chase your forever and wind up all over the place). Watch out on third hard group though, because if you pull them to the resshire right next to where the groups starts you will get owned by spawnkills   Also for the 2nt group (next to the water) just pull them back to the caskets so they lose their height advantage.


 * A ranger Hero with BHA is really important here, as he will disable the other monk in the multi monk team (as you kill one).


 * Zoldark is a joke with ursan because 1 on ursan bar does direct damage to him and he cannot heal. If you are ursan just run in with your H/H flagged back and ball up the minions on you.   Kill them a bunch of times ftw...or if Zoldark comes up to where the minions are balled start 1ing him untill he gets really low (then kill minions for -5% hp on each kill).   Also if you have tons of DP and no DP remover flag a hero with no res by the shire, go ursan, run in and get a few 1s on Zoldark, die.  The hero will get no more DP so you will not wipe.--24.34.96.64 08:08, 25 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I found a BHA hero here just didn't cut it (for me). But perhaps my ranger build was not good/fast enough, or maybe it's because I hate micro managing targets for heroes.  At any rate I posted a slightly different team build that worked for me using a new mesmer group interrupter/healer in place of the BHA ranger type hero.  I posted the build/partial walkthru at the other wiki here: http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Vloxen_Excavations#Hard_Mode_H.2BH  (I hope that isn't totally frowned on here.).--Crypt Tick


 * i did it with H+H in hard mode - the second level was a bit hard, but doable - bring Verata's Aura on 2 or 3 players and a conset, and bellok is soooo easy ;) - i had zho, herta, mhenlo and lina as henches, livia: OANEQVxG+5oFrHdC5wR1LgGwCA, master of whispers: OAhjUkGZITWbDTTOSTjTYBnOKgA and gwen: OQBDApwTKuNHoBZQO4CzgpD - i played ranger with this one: OgQUUqLjzMS5WXGPGwGylwiYBXHA (wasn't perfect, but worked ;) smiley --79.217.69.39 19:52, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank god for rit.upgrade. As a primary mesmer this was giving me the rage quit intention. hero's: MoW, standard rit heal build, Olias with standard MM build (tried verata but the minions kept attacking me>.<) Jin with standard BHA build. Aidan, Mhenlo, Zho and Hertha. Me as spirit spammer, signet of spirits, you are all weaklings, sniper support, destruction, Was Tsungrai and some loose damage skills. Whoohood through levels 1 and near the end of level two till I hitt the healers that like to stay put >.>. Got whiped befóre ress shrine in middle (where taskmaster is at) but could thankfully flag the hero's away so second party wipe at shrine was kept at bay. Gnashers summon faster and somehow more then my MM so use courage stone. FINALLY got to level 3 with 45 dp or so. Worked a lot of it off at the effegies and so only to find that this boss is laughably simple. It didn't even hit him until he was at 5% health or so at which point he didn't raise his minions anymore. Black powder mine for the minions, spirits in front and spamming essence strike all the way. The way to him took 4 hours. killing him 5 mins... Good luck all u who have to get to him.

Light of Deldrimor
having real issues today with revealing stuff on lvl 2. I get pings on the map all over but no marker on the ground and nothing revealed--Demonthorn 12:03, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
 * same here, I thought I was the only one guess not.--Ridz16 03:53, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Demolishers?
This seems to be a mistake, I don't remember seeing Stone Summit Demolishers in this dungeon, and the other Stone Summit mobs encountered in Slavers' Exile are exclusive to the elite dungeon. I'm in the Vloxen Excavations right now, and I'll remove them if I don't see any during this run. -- Gordon Ecker 06:18, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Yep, I didn't see any, the entry has been removed. -- Gordon Ecker 06:56, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I found a lot of them ;) And it seems that the foes are the same as the foes in Slavers' Exile. --AntiLamer 14:27, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Orison on Tahlk is such a mistake. You want Patient Spirit there. Oh, and on the subject; no mistake. Backsword 14:37, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * The dwarves that populate this dungeon in normal mode are not the same groups that populate the dungeon in hard mode. The hard mode dwarves are basically Slavers' type dwarf mobs.  As such there ARE in fact demolishers - but in hard mode only.  I will update main page with the full HARD MODE ONLY mob variants.--Crypt Tick 21:03, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Stone Summit
Theres also foes that resurrect that aren't listed under the foes listings. -- Chieftain  Alex 11:30, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
 * The dwarves that populate this dungeon in normal mode are quite different than the dwarves here in hard mode. The hard mode dwarves have several that resurrect.  The dwarves here in hard mode are Slavers' mobs basically.  I added them back in to the main page and I listed the ones that have resurrect.  Not positive about one of them. --Crypt Tick 21:19, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Major Glitch?
I was doing this dungeon right now, and when i was fighting the Zoldark, my party wiped (We took 85% of his HP). We resurrected right next to his room, and when we engaged him, he and his minions simply disappeared, finishing automatically the dungeon.


 * Something similar happened to me. We were taking out Zoldark and his minions and he was down to about 20% life or so (added deep wound).  He then sort of respawned with a flash of light, doing that bendy jump up from the ground, then he and his minions disappeared.  The chest spawned and the dungeon was finished.151.201.125.169 08:01, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
 * One of his skills increases his maximum health temporarily. King Neoterikos 11:04, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Music
Does anyone know the name of the song that sometimes plays in (the first level of) this dungeon? It's the part with the trumpets/horns. It normaly starts playing during a battle. I don't remember hearing it outside dungeons. And I can't find it on directsong, or it's a later part of one of the tracks. Help is appreciated ;). -- Ellisia  00:29, 16 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, (sry due to the fact that the reply is taken so late) but the music in this dungeon is completely DIFFERENT compared to the other dungeons or instances. I'm not sure if it's unique or something, but whenever I enter battle or close afterwards and before, there's always trumpets sounding. But either way, it's definitely special, something that MIGHT be only heard here. --Warnlord 23:02, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Demolishers and priests on level 1?
Has anyone seen Stone Summit Demolishers or Stone Summit Priests in the first level? I've seen all nine Slavers' Exile Stone Summit units on the second level, but I've only seen the other seven on the first level. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 10:14, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

This dungeon is impossible in Hard Mode
proof: My build setup was Discordway and i brought frozen soil with my elementalist build (which is Blinding Surge meant to put conditions to trigger Disocrd. I brought Mhenlo, Lina, Cynn, and Herta and I used used up 40 honeycombs and 5 powerstones. There was one group in the second level that had THREE healers that always outheal the damage.  Therefore this dungeon in Hard Mode is impossible and getting 10 titles for Rainbow Phoenix is impossible (I was trying to fill up the master dungeon guide so that I don't have to go through the farming hassle in HM for Ebon Vanguard title, so that's why I'm trying to do Vloxen).--Dark Paladin X 00:11, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
 * If you can't outdo the healers, then shut them down. The dungeon isn't impossible, just very hard. And if you're going for 10 titles, that was easy long before Eye of the North came out. Legendary guardian + legendary skill hunter = 11 titles. No rep grinding needed.--Pyron Sy 16:06, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Nothing is impossible but it's extremely hard to H/H in hardmode (it's easy with human players, and very easy in normalmode). I've H/H'd frostmaws, slavers and FoW, but I've still not managed Vloxen. Long pulls don't work with henches as the hench healers are set to 'aggressive' and will run after the dwarfs to wand them; minionmaster doesn't work because the dwafs use Veratas Aura and also instantly strip veratas aura from your MM; but the real problem are the stacks of hexes and conditions they drop on your entire team and overwhelm your healers. 213.112.192.108 21:42, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

I already did this dungeon in hm (zb)with heroes and henchs. no cons, no frozen soil... just a MM, a rit spammer spirit (other rit with support spirit), a nuker... no warriors no rangers... Attack directly. There was not any difficult along the dungeon. Only the Zoldarks's minions  were able to kill all the party just one time, but  still I killed the boss ;). I think that for this time was easier this dungeon in hm. (lucky?)--67.197.69.250 08:25, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Slaver's Dwarves removed in HM?
Just played through the entire dungeon in HM, encountered a couple defenders and maybe a summoner. Otherwise, they were just the typical EotN dwarves, but in HM.

Key Glitch
I did the dungeon earlier (600/smite/QZ) but dced on third level) and went back to do it again but this time taskmaster bellok didn't drop the key. I did not abandon the quest and the prompt was set to "Kill Zodark" or whatever.

A different approach to hero/hench in HM
I tried to H/H this dungeon in hard mode using my usual setup (sabway) that worked fine for other dungeons, and got wiped impossibly fast by the first big group of Stone Summit. I came here looking for suggestions and tried them all: Verata's Aura, Verata's Gaze, Malign Intervention, Tmakinen's and Crypt Tick's builds from above, none of it worked. Yes, they killed me more slowly, but that was about it.

I noticed all of the builds and suggestions are focused on disabling the Stone Summit -- interrupting, blinding, preventing them from raising minions, using Frozen Soil and so on. It wasn't working for me, so I decided to try the "kill them before they can kill you" strategy.

I gave up trying to stop their minions -- I just brought a smiter to deal with them:

OwUTMGHD5xnhXdJU/lv1v6PPAA

A ritualist for damage (if you're not a melee class, you'll want to bring a melee hench to make use of this):

OACkAuhiITaz1Ej5NZmWvH3Z7iB

And a standard MM:

OANDUslfSLVVBoBbhKg1DBEVVA

FWIW, the henches were Mhenlo, Lina, Zho, and Herta, and I played as an assassin:

We bulldozed the first Stone Summit group. I had a little trouble on the second level and I did use a set of consumables. I probably didn't have to, but I was impatient. It was so easy with the consumables, I suspect I could do it without them with more patience.

Strategy: I did not pull unless I had to. Sometimes I pulled to get them away from another group, and sometimes to get them into a choke point where I could body-block them. My general strategy was to wait for them to bunch up, then BH onto the most dangerous healer (take out Defenders first if there's both a Defender and a Healer) and go for it. They'll drop pretty fast with Splinter Weapon, RoJ, Ancestors' Rage, and hexes and conditions being smited off you as long as they were bunched up well and you've blocked them effectively. The only time I had difficulty was when facing a group that refused to bunch up, and I didn't have a full minion army. Frozen Soil would have helped in those instances.

I would guess that if you are playing a non-melee class and you can't just shadow step into a mob, you may need to use a little more strategy. But Elementalists might want to look into putting up StoneFlesh Aura (cover it twice), shadow-stepping in and dropping some PBAoE.

I've been using the same team to do Slavers Exile NM and it's been a walk in the park except when I get sloppy and get two groups after me at once. -- bcstingg (talk • contribs) 19:50, 29 September 2010 (UTC)


 * looks interesting, i have been having trouble with this dungeon myself so ill give it a try with your builds and a couple consets (just cuz i dont want to fail XD), and ill let you know how it goes also im guessing your using a monk for build 1, a rit for 2, and a nec for 3rd...but what are the runes you are using?AurenX 00:14, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Monk is 14+1+1 smite, 12+1 DF, 3 insp; Rit is 11+1 Communing, 12+1+1 Channeling, 6+1 Spawning, 2+1 Rest; MM is 12+1+3 Death, 9+1 SR. All have runes of minor vigor + attunement, except the rit only has attunement. Monk is radiant insignia, others are a mix of survivor, radiant, and minion master's. I think if you use a conset you'll be fine. Try to get them bunched up, kill the healers first, kill the dreamers and warders second, call the targets. Bring Frozen Soil if you have room for it; I generally could kill them fast enough that res wasn't an issue, but every bit helps. The third level is super-easy and Zoldark is a pushover if you just concentrate on his minions. -- bcstingg (talk • contribs) 04:30, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
 * . Frozen soil on the SoGM. Rolled through this in HM, no cons, no deaths. 98.248.90.248 05:15, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
 * well i failed..3 times XD...amazing in the first floor, and most of 2nd, but i got to a point where there was like 3 or 4 healers and i just couldnt over come them...i didnt use consAurenX 22:34, 2 October 2010 (UTC)
 * tried with cons and flew through the dungeon, good builds imo lolAurenX 17:39, 3 October 2010 (UTC)