Ruingalad the unkillable :P

[oopsies]

@ Solien; Im flumoxxed myself about the difficulties people have with Ruingalad, as i've previously mentioned. I've comfortably solo'd him, without death, on multiple occasions (I lost my herbalist once, and that was the first time I met him, when I stupidly lit the torches while the counterattack was approaching). I just don't get what people are having difficulties with, because he's always been quite manageable for me.

That said, he IS harder than most optionals I've come across, just not to the epic proportions that people here seem to to be stating.

You are a guardian. If you fight this mob S+B you do a low amount of dps.

You also have a healer pet, which adds to the already phenomenal amount of survivability you have.

The big gripe about this boss in solo mode is that he reflects 50% of the damage you deal to him. Because he reflects so much there is absolutely no chance of a DPS class beating him without major heals.

Try soloing him with an archer or warrior pet and see how it goes, it won't be very pretty.

[Golledhel]

You are a guardian. If you fight this mob S+B you do a low amount of dps.

You also have a healer pet, which adds to the already phenomenal amount of survivability you have.

The big gripe about this boss in solo mode is that he reflects 50% of the damage you deal to him. Because he reflects so much there is absolutely no chance of a DPS class beating him without major heals.

Try soloing him with an archer or warrior pet and see how it goes, it won't be very pretty.

Unless you're specifically speced for Fire Defense, you'll still take alot of damage from Ruingalad's normal attacks alone.

[Solien]

I just don't get what people are having difficulties with, because he's always been quite manageable for me.

Ok...manageable to the extent of only using WH once and burning one morale pot for the whole fight - with a warrior soldier?

First of all, the Fire aura and Ruingalad's attacks alone would seem to do more damage than those two measures would account for (again, unless Jaunt somehow got his fire mit stupidly high), and that's before you factor in the damage reflected from attacking him.

Second, if soldiers aren't affected by auras but are affected by reflects, how does a Warrior whaling on this mob's back for the whole fight not wind up dead? Dumb luck? Bugged encounter?

[Jaunt]

Glad you asked. I was tank specced, I had stoic, I had the 3 piece DG set which grants fire mit. I like having a lot of vit. I think I used my Bow of Unification clicky. I was focused on hitting (maxed legacy'd) Ward, and my 15s Catch a Breath. I may've also thrown some shield attacks for the stun, and I think I was applying Salt. I wish I logged the fight, with all the questions flying around.

If the soldier was indeed affected by the reflect, I have no idea how he wasn't dead. He's running around with 6k now, but at the time he was probably closer to 5k. It's possible that Bloodseeker was really messing up Ruingalad, but each application is only ~550 damage over 15 seconds, and that's assuming no mit. I don't remember how much morale Ruin has on T1, but even with a 50% reflect (is that what it is?) my soldier should've taken over 5k damage, and I didn't have ICMR slotted for him.

[RusselDog]

Don't know about you oopsies, but with the changes to Belts and shield damage legacies, my DPS with a Shield is actually quite reasonable (well, comparatively reasonable).

And what you say seems to indicate that it's not the mob that is the problem, but more likely the way people are deciding to take it on. If you want to knock down a wall and do so with a tissue, it's not the walls fault, it's the twit that decided to use a tissue. Go back, get a sledgehammer, and try again.

[Ames]

Don't know about you oopsies, but with the changes to Belts and shield damage legacies, my DPS with a Shield is actually quite reasonable (well, comparatively reasonable).

And what you say seems to indicate that it's not the mob that is the problem, but more likely the way people are deciding to take it on. If you want to knock down a wall and do so with a tissue, it's not the walls fault, it's the twit that decided to use a tissue. Go back, get a sledgehammer, and try again.

Go try it with a hunter and then come say this.

[cyimri]

With the help of two awesome kin (Courtney for the DPS and Beowerd to keep us alive) we brought him down. I just wish he had a trophy drop for the kin house. He'd make an awesome candle!

[Erelgal2]

Finally fought this guy the other day on my guardian. I died 2 times to him, once was because I accidentally aggro'd a storm keeper. :/

The third time though, I got him. I realized its hard to see the induction circle on the ground, and when it does that there's about a 1500 point fire damage hit coming your way. If you can move out of its range as it starts the induction, or keep it interrupted, then its much easier to take down.

The reflect damage wasn't as hard to handle as I'd expected, mainly because I run with an herbalist.

[oopsies]

15s Catch a Breath.

Probably the only reason you were able to win the fight

Don't know about you oopsies, but with the changes to Belts and shield damage legacies, my DPS with a Shield is actually quite reasonable (well, comparatively reasonable).

Compared to a hunter or champion, I was just trying to point out that the less damage you do to this mob the less damage it does to you.

And what you say seems to indicate that it's not the mob that is the problem, but more likely the way people are deciding to take it on. If you want to knock down a wall and do so with a tissue, it's not the walls fault, it's the twit that decided to use a tissue. Go back, get a sledgehammer, and try again.

I'm not saying that the mob isn't difficult, all I'm saying is that if you don't have any healing there is no chance for you to take down the mob.

[sir-rinthian]

Tried fighting him today with my R10 bannerguard. We died. I jumped out, swapped in my R7 herbalist, and tried again. We died. He manages to reflect all of my Call to Fate crits, meaning I'm hitting myself harder then he is

[Jaunt]

Probably the only reason you were able to win the fight

Do bear in mind it only heals for ~400, and I could've popped another pot, another heart, and manheal. I think I would've pulled it out even without that particular legacy.

[Golledhel]

Compared to a hunter or champion, I was just trying to point out that the less damage you do to this mob the less damage it does to you.

It still has over 18k Morale, so you will still end up taking over 9k reflected damage regardless of how hard you hit it. Unless you do most of your damage through bleeds.

[bprorsum]

I'm not saying that the mob isn't difficult, all I'm saying is that if you don't have any healing there is no chance for you to take down the mob.

You mean in terms of having a Herbalist as your pet or in general a lack of incoming healing through a Class Skillset will prevent a player from defeating him?

I run QK on my Burg and a Guard as my pet. The latter being completely useless, sometimes I just let him drop from the encounter and move on. However, I've been running SoT just to run into this Mob and I finally encountered him this morning. I just kited him a bit and waited for MG (45s CD) to be up and then when ST was back up, would begin to DPS him.

Without a doubt, the worst Encounter in all the skirmishes but a first attempt and being used to EMs (SoA days), it was doable.

That being said, it isn't worth the time for 20 skirmish marks or whatever lowly amount comes from it.

[Lohi]

I'm not saying that the mob isn't difficult, all I'm saying is that if you don't have any healing there is no chance for you to take down the mob.

Even with healing it's hard. I tried three times on my minstrel, and I literally took damage faster than I could spam bolster courage (no war speech). I tried sending in soldier first, but it was dead in seconds even at high rank (maybe protector might, but my warrior is squishy and can't hold aggro). Tried fire defense tale, even faster defeat (pointless skill really, but I thought I'd give it a go :-) . Yes, with great gear maybe it's doable, but it's a huge step up in difficulty compared to all other solo tier 1 optional encounters I've seen. (the screenshot of the minstrel doing it clearly shows 1st age weapon and 5K morale, so not an average player)

I like the offensive skirmishes myself. But Dannenglor has two optional encounters that make me avoid it and try others instead. It's nice to see that it's being fixed. Yeah, if some players want a challenge, then just bump up the tier, raise the level, or get an underpowered soldier instead.

[Digital_Utopia]

Go try it with a hunter and then come say this.

Got him today, last one for the deed. Wasn't too hard with a good herby.

quickshot -> barbed arrow -> penetrating shot -> lowcut -> run away, runaway

worked pretty well.

Someone already did.

Key here is kiting and a healer.

Personally I suck at kiting - or at least haven't practiced much. I also have a protector - so it looks like i'm pretty screwed on that strategy for now.

Then again I'm not an OCD completionist - although with repair costs going down in the next patch, I might try it out a bit more.

[Solien]

Ok, I just tried this guy, finally got the encounter.

I used a normal Rack of Lamb before the fight started. I had on 4 pieces of the Dar set for the fire mit. My soldier is a level 10 Archer with skills at level 5 or so.

Even using taunts and letting my soldier do all the DPS, I was down below 3k morale before Ruingalad was below 12k. Died without getting close to killing him.

Second try I went active DPS. Got him down to about 5k before I had to kite him. I used Sprint to get out of his fire aura and then just let my archer plug him, also used Let Fly for the extra damage. I finished with about 1600 morale.

So, yes, this guy is soloable, but I don't see how anyone finds him easy. I certainly don't see how anyone kills him without kiting. The fire aura and damage reflects sap morale far too quickly.

EDIT: by comparison, the elite Morvul encounter mob only knocked me down about 2k morale, and I used no pots or self-heals in that fight. Both Ruingalad and the morvul have 18k morale.

[bprorsum]

I certainly don't see how anyone kills him without kiting.

This is certainly the key.

It's incredibly challenging for melee classes to kite and kill but it's doable. Had I known about his mechanics/aura/wound dot, I would have tried a Ranged pet (which would have been seemingly as useless as he would be Lvl 1) but as it was, my Guard (Whatever they're called) just followed him around taunting.

I do hope that Turbine leaves the challenge of Ruingalad as is. There aren't many things in this game that allow one to truly test your skill and skillset, well since SoA and the EM challenges.

[Solien]

It's incredibly challenging for melee classes to kite and kill but it's doable. Had I known about his mechanics/aura/wound dot, I would have tried a Ranged pet

Yes, having an Archer really helped. When I started kiting him, he was at about 5k morale, I was under 2k. I hit Charge and a morale pot at the same time. It took him a while to get close to me again, and while he was chasing me, my archer was plugging away and knocking him down pretty hard. At that point it was just a matter of staying out of his fire aura and getting off a Let Fly shot whenever possible.

I do hope that Turbine leaves the challenge of Ruingalad as is.

IIRC, there's plans to nerf him in some regard.

[Bombadil411]

Heaven forbid something be more challenging than easymode.

[Lohi]

Heaven forbid something be more challenging than easymode.

Removing the reflect damage but leaving the fire aura will not turn this into easy mode. And the change is only for solo mode, the group modes will remain the same.

[SGWB]

I killed this guy with very little trouble last night. I just tanked him. I didn't even have to burn my man-heal. I think I used 1 moral pot. I had a bit over 500 moral left after he self destructed.

Because I knew about the reflect damage I did not try burn him down. I equipped my sword and shield and drew out the fight letting my Warrior soldier's bleeds do their work. I wear the 25 radiance DG set, so my fire resist was about 23.5% to 24% I used no food, because I forgot to. I also probably should have placed my moral banner for the 1k extra moral buffer, but I forgot to do that as well.

[Ultiheart]

Weighing in on the easy/hard debate on this encounter.

Harder than the average bear. Most encounters that are elite grade are generally manageable simply because the type of mob they relate to have few/no tricks up their sleeves. Lordfisher in Thievery and Mischief can hurt more due to the bleeds and armour debuff. Fear debuffs from Angmarim and the like can hurt anyone who already has power issues.

This guy has:

Constant bleed - fire aura
Reflect Buff - all damage
Potential for extra bleed (5%) - fire.
Plus it's usual auto-attacks - fire.

If that weren't enough - this is the big one that I would like to address:

Self-Destruct

I do not believe that this skill is working as intended, or at least...it may just be opinion but this ability of his is unfair and can only be gotten around with the use of LoS issues.
Interrupts - they work.
Except they don't. MAYBE maybe wardens could do this, but - the induction for the self-destruct ability will simply re-activate even if you interrupt this skill. This seems rather out of line of normal induction skills with enemy mobs. The fastest I have ever seen barring 2 separate heal inductions that NPC defilers can do back to back or the spirits in Sammath Gul who can summon every ~4-5 seconds (and therefore possible to interrupt with 5s stamp, clobber etc).

Luckily, I have found that I am capable of going toe to toe with this creature and even taking the explosion at the end with well over 1000-2000 morale to spare.

That said, I'm a guardian, the mitigation tank and also the now +5 per vitality point guardian.
No wonder we can outlast it, it's what we've pretty much been able to do since day one.

This somewhat reminds me of the Gurvand fight in Dark Delvings. The fight is a difficult one but possible...what made things really difficult was that in challenge mode, the odds were just so grandly stacked against you. The incoming damage debuff, the adds, slowed inductions therefore healing, throws, more adds, "it's time to reflect damage" (...Bleeding Ears? I never understood that name).

The point is - compared to all other encounters, so many odds stacked against that one person.
Now - it is reasonable that not all encounters be ideal for solo. A 3 person version would be easier in that you'd be able to heal the extra damage coming in so fair enough.

So personally, my only complaint is this:
Self-destruct, if you can stun him, fear him, interrupt him etc out of this ability...he doesn't get to do it instantly again once he's up and running (stun/fear) or once you've stopped it (interrupts). By all means, it can happen again but not straight away - maybe make it recur based on remaining morale (i.e. multiple points, at the moment it occurs at ~3000 morale, so set another 2 or 3 points like 2000, 1000, 500 or just 2000, 1000).

Anyway...that's all.

P.S. Still, I feel for the people who simply cannot do this. It's hard to take a good stance on this as I agree that for some class/soldier combinations it's just too much, but on the other hand, I do enjoy a more interesting fight and wouldn't want to see it just become an 18k fire grim with nothing of interest to it. What I would say though is this:

I find it exceptionally strange that this particular encounter has so many tricks to it by comparison to other fire grims in this skirmish, yet so many other encounters are really just more morale versions of their lesser kin, why the discrepancy?

[cpt_rhetoric]

Killed him the first time I encountered him on my mini, luckily I had read these posts before then.

I made sure I had Ballad of flame up at all times, ran the tale of frost and flame, and wore armor with fire defense. As other posts suggest, sent my warrior in first as I tiered up ballads and then let him go at it. Hit ruingalad as much as I could until I was about 1/2 morale and then dropped warspeech and just made sure to keep my warrior and myself up.

I don't believe this was the toughest skirm encounter I've completed because I learned many lessons doing all the other encounters. Had I not had that experience (and the remarks here, thanks to those that piped in advice!) I certainly would have not fared as well.

[Golledhel]

I find it exceptionally strange that this particular encounter has so many tricks to it by comparison to other fire grims in this skirmish, yet so many other encounters are really just more morale versions of their lesser kin, why the discrepancy?

I noticed that just like with Lieutenants, some encounters gain new tricks at higher group settings. It's possible that with this one they forgot to disable some for Solo.

[Lestache]

I still find it amusing that jwbarry's response to this thread was basically, "some encounters may not be meant for solo skirmishes." Amusing because I thought that the whole idea behind skirmishes was that they scaled to the group size. Also amusing because there's not a single other encounter that I've seen that even approaches the difficulty of this one (save a self-healing defiler I ran into on my Captain... not having an interrupt on a short cooldown or a stun made that dude pretty tough.)

Anyway, I've taken Ruingalad down on my Champ and Captain so far. Sadly, to kill him on my Champ I had to set the encounter to level 61 (when I was 65) and turtle up in Glory w/Invincible traited. I was using a Bannerguard, but perhaps an Herbalist would've been better. Having done it once on the lower setting, I'm fairly sure that I could take him again on-level, but I honestly don't care to try. My eyes are bleeding from all the skirmishing I've done for Scrolls of Empowerment.

As for my Captain: on-level, HoH-traited, Warrior, Improved Hope Banner, Revealing Mark... worked like a charm. I did have to pop Last Stand, though - even with 8.5k morale at the start of the fight.

I look forward to doing this fight on my RK - I suspect that I'll just have to clear the courtyard, then kite and burn.