Realize one thing about "The Hole"; it's a big zone. It's such a big zone that you shouldn't even think about hitting the whole place and killing all the mobs in one shot. It's just too big for anyone to spend less than 12+ hours in there and see the whole thing. That 12+-hour estimate isn't for new raiders, either, but for people who really know what they're doing. You can clear the Plane of Hate or Fear faster than you could make it through this entire zone. This is the biggest dungeon in the game as far as I'm aware and while Sebilis, for those who've been there, seems rather large I believe this place has it beat on pure volume. The Hole is a confusing, complicated dungeon that was once a city hence you've got the volume of a place like Sebilis but with buildings so the mobs are stacked much neater and tighter which causes more aggros from above and below, more mazes to navigate, and more pure time to get through it all. In this place its advisableto set your sights on a goal and reach it, not just explore for the sake of exploring because that results in not getting very far at all and never reallyseeing much of the zone itself.
You know you'll have to do it so don't skip over this stuff. Halfling rogues following Brell aren't aggro to the elementals, fiends and so forth. They are aggro to the ratman warriors and ghosts but those won't see through a rogue's sneak/hide potential. We've had total raid wipeouts and if you don'twant to spend the huge amount of money on coffins then you can get some level 1 rogue halflings to go drag the corpses up. They can drag them all the way from the deepest parts of the zone right up to the drop-off ledge in the entrance area where others can pick them up and pull them the rest of the way. Best thing to do is get a bunch of newbie rogues ready at the top and bind them just outside the zone in Paineel itself. Give them SOW and send them into the city. When SOW runs off they just suicide and get a new SOW and head back in again.Pulling without SOW is just too slow to bother with and since they're level 1 who the heck cares if they die a dozen times just to get SOW again and make things go faster.
There are two ways to enter the Hole, both from within the Erudite city of Paineel. The first is through the large hole with the waterfall in Paineel. This,however, is not a safe way to enter the city. Levitate gets stripped when you enter the zone, and you will fall for lethal damage at the feet of Master Yael at the bottom of the zone.
The other way is through a small, locked boulder located in the area just past the newbie area in Paineel. You will need to be able to pick locks in order to open this, but evil races can purchase the key in Paineel for quite a large sum (around 100-120 pp). Buy a key from Superior Supplies shop, below the Poison Petal, next to the bank in Paineel; The Vendors name is Rallia Hapera. Also, smaller races or creatures (like wolf form or some illusions) can fit through the rocks with a little work, although they must be careful not to drown while doing so.
We start from, well, the beginning of course. The water up near the zone out is the place where you'll be waiting for the stragglers to show up for the raid as we all know there's usually at least one or two. This is also the place where you'll usually find a single group of mid-40's people hunting for experience since its all pretty good experience for one group in the 35-50 level range to pull down to point "1" marked on the map. This is also where you'll want to clear while you're waiting for people to show up. A group of people in the 50+ range can clear this with no equipment if they want to so this is just basic warm-up junk for experienced people. Keep everything down as far as "1" clear so when you move people down to point "2" you'll have no aggro mobs on your tail.
As you progress further in along the purple arrows you'll be moving along a relatively narrow ledge. Peoplehave fallen off before a number of times and pets can get knocked off this spot and aggro a bunch of stuff below. Be careful when moving along here and anyone who DOES fall off shouldn't try to run back up. If they have to, let them stand and die if they can't handle solo what aggros them. Too many wandering mobs down around the water to have them running along to reach you and bring 4-5 mobs on top of what you might be fighting already.
Where you see the wandering fiends, golems and elementals at "2" is where you should set up for your first small fights. You'll clear out some of the stuff in this area including golems, fiends (look like imps), and elementals. Just inside the area marked "Castle Entrance" is a pair of elementals that you can't see unless you walk into the room. They're halfway merged with the wall on either side of the door so give them a smack and bring them out to kill. Leave the group where they are and let the puller clear out some other things in this area to be safe. Don't go too deep either which way or you'll get stuff respawning outside and have to redo everything in the area.
This is also a nice place to setup to kill ratman guards if you want to do that because the jail isn't toofar inside the castle and this is, supposedly, where the most of them spawn. Last time was down I saw nothing but ratman warriors but I believe they're just placeholders for ratman guards to spawn. You can setup at "2" just fine and pull the jail if you have sufficient force to kill the ratman guards. If you don't know what they are you probably shouldn't try. They're a mob that is required on the shadowknight epic quest and hence isn't going to be easy to handle for one group unless you're all 55+ or so.
Moving onto the next area you take the raid through the castle entrance as shown in the map below. The two "0" represent the same physical point on both maps.
Sidebar: If you want to go after Ratman Guards this is the map to pull using while keeping your group back at their previous location. The area that shows the pathing for the ratman warriors is where, I believe, you'll find ratman guards spawning. We haven't done this hunt yet but others have and reported ratman guards spawning in the area. I believe that ratman warriors are just placeholders for ratman guards and why sometimes you never run into any of them and sometimes they pop on your head with little warning where you only expected lighter mobs.
Location marked "1" is a good place to setup the group for the remaining pulls. After you've cleared everything to that point you drag them down from the first staging area up in the castle entrance. Set them up here and begin pulling the next set of mobs from the large area just past point "0". The best method for pulling this that I've found is tag-team pulling due to the high number that CAN result if you're not careful. If you're new at this or want to show people how it's done, this is the best route. We tend to use it anyway despite experience because it results in faster, cleaner pulls through this section. Have your monk/shadowknight feign in the area around point "0" and run in to tag some mobs. The first should be the wanderer, which will probably bring a golem and maybe one or two others as well. You don't need to clear ALL of this area if you don't want to. You can just clear out anything that will aggro on your raid as it passes through if your main destination is the city below. Just run around if this is the case and bring back anything that picks you up. Make sure you circle the whole room and get close to all walls because, as we all know, people on raids tend to spread out to fill the space available and will running through this area. If you don't have everything that CAN aggro cleared then you get into impromptu fights.
Some wanderers also come up from the ramp leading down into the city so poke your nose down that tunnel a ways to make sure you don't run into anything on the way down. Tunnels, small ones, aren't the best places for a raid to fight even though the mobs you run into shouldn't be all that difficult to handle. Drag your group from their staging area down and across the open area as the purple arrow shows and down the long tunnel where you'll find yourself overlooking the city itself for the first time.
City fighting is relatively fast-paced compared to what you were doing up to this point so point "1" where you setup your group after coming down the tunnel as per the previous map is a good place to rest and relax before you push into the city. The pulls in this area are fairly light to begin with so its ok for some of your people to go AFK, get some food, relax for a bit before pushing into the city. This is a point where you've got all fresh spawns ahead of you and nothing about to spawn on top of you or behind you aside from a lone wanderer or two. Take whatever time you need now to take a break because from this point until you get down into Hole Middle is a big, long, non-stop fight if you want to push through the city in no time at all.
From point "1" you need to pull anything that will aggro up to point "2" which will be your next staging area and the one that is going to be the most difficult amount of fighting since you began. Its also advisable to clear the building in front of this point marked by 2K because at times when fighting the lower level of that building can be brought into the fight by accident. Once everything is clear from "1" to "2" its time to move the groups up to "2" and get ready for the next stage of fighting. You want to do this fast because the last thing you want when clearing stuff between "2" and "5" is to get stuff respawning in that building. You cleared it to avoid the problem so that will all be for nothing if that building respawns, aggros, and causes you to have to redo the whole thing over again in clearing from "2" to "5".
The best way I've found to do this clearing and make it as fast as possible is for your tag-team to come back into play. Feign one person at "3" and have the other move up to "4" and aggro stuff in the bar and surrounding area. Keep clearing stuff along the path between the staging area and "5" with the exception of the mobs in the area marked "Hole Top". You can leave these and just charge your group into the area with a few tanks going first to make sure you don't have casters or priests with mobs on their ass running to the staging area. Once you're setup in the staging area at "5" then you immediately begin pulling from there to keep things clear all the way to "6". This is a bit unique in that you'll get lots of wanderers coming up through the tunnel at that spot but once you wipe out a few of them the flow diminishes to almost nothing. You should be able to clear this stuff fairly quickly and drag it all back for the slaughter. Once stuff is clear get the group moving ASAP.
Instructions that should be given for this run are as follows: Keep running, don't stop if you get something aggro on you as stopping increases the chances that more mobs will jump you and that you'll get caught in respawn. Don't root it thinking that's the best route because its not. You have pathing on your side on this run and you'll make it just fine if you don't stop. If you do stop then remain stopped and die where you stand because if you stop, root something, and then continue running you'll end up killing everyone when your rooted mob gets free and now respawn causes him to bring 4-5 other friends along with him. Bring it all, all of it, every single mob that might possibly respawn along the path and don't wait around for others. You are responsible for one thing and one thing alone, getting your own ass from "5" to "6" without getting lost. Don't wait for your friend; don't go AFK thinking people will wait for you. Get through that gate and inside where people are waiting for you to join them.
You have to drive this point home because casters have this tendency, when chased, to stop and root mobs, which is just such a bad idea unless you're trying to escape to a zoneline. Assign 2-3 tanks (monks/shadowknights preferred)to stay paused along the route to guide people and to pick up any aggro mobs. No offense against caster or priest classes but they tend to panic much more readily than tanks do if something beats on them when they expected clearsailing. Tanks make a living at being beat on by mobs so station a few that can operate independent of your instructions and get them taking over any mobs that aggro on others. Don't tell the bulk of the people that, though, or they'll rely on that and stop and wait for a tank to get it off them. Unless you're confident the people that are with you are smart enough to act against what instinct tells them to do just drive the point home to run, run, and run to that gate no matter what.
Once you're all through that gate then kill off anything that followed and anything that is wandering up from above, you're pretty much home-free if your goal is to get to Master Yael. Nothing you'll face between you and Master Yael is anywhere as difficult as what you went through getting through the city.
From your entrance from the city you're facing a very long, winding cave tunnel that leads you down to the Tower. Once you've dealt with anything that followed you from the city you can begin moving fights right down to just before "1". There are a few spawns here as well as a possible roamer so you might want to pull to group instead of rushing that spot. Once you've done that you can move your group into the area marked "1" and continue to pull to this spot to clear the revenant at the bottom of the open area as well as the rock golems that are stationed inside the left tunnel. Things are surprisingly light from leaving the city to finally reaching Master Yael so don't think that you're somehow missing a whole bunch of stuff. It is easy compared to getting through the city. Once you've cleared the stationary golems inside the left tunnel you can take your whole group in there and walk down the tunnel for a good long way yet. There's nothing in this tunnel until you reach Master Yael's place that can hurt your group on the move.
Keep dragging the group along with you until you get right down to the area marked "1" and park them there. You still only have token resistance at this point but IF you have one of those people in your group who likes to wander you don't want them anywhere near Master Yael's room. There's some oddity about the room that you need to know before charging in and taking him out. The first thing is that there is one mob missing from the map above, a rock golem that is stationed RIGHT inside the room on your right at "2". Grab him and pull him back to the group to be killed. Once you've gotten him out of the way grab the fiend that wanders when he's at the point closest to you. Take him back to group to be killed and then move them all down just shy of the entrance but tell them not to, no matter what, approach the room. The two elementals remaining WILL aggro Master Yael and he will Death Touch the person who gets aggroed. When you're buffing for taking him out the last thing you want is to have to resurrect and rebuff some fool who decides he wants to take a peak and thinks, hey, that mob is far away from Master Yael, I should help and pull him.
Once everyone is buffed and ready you treat this like any God level fight and pick the person who's going to take the first Death Touch from Yael. You send them along the left wall and given them a few seconds head start in their run. Then start the group moving after them all the while keeping as far against the wall along the purple arrows as you can. If you move straight through the room you risk aggroing one of the elementals and getting Death Touch from Master Yael before your designated person has a chance to aggro him and take it. Last thing you want is to lose a tank on the first charge because he decided to cut straight across the room.
Have one or two enchanters ready to deal with those two because, frankly, its likely just inevitable that through the course of the fight they will get aggroed by the brawl that ensues taking out Master Yael. Leave them mezzed and take care of the big boss and once he's dead you can deal with the two remaining minions.
Frankly, we found him really easy to contend with compared to normal god-level mobs. He Death Touches, casts gravity flux, but overall isn't all that difficult to deal with. Only deaths we got were from DT's because of the relative ease. If you can get *TO* him you should have no trouble at all taking him out. Just need enough people to soak up the DT's that might occur over the course of the fight.
Once you've dealt with Master Yael you can do your ressing back in and have a look around his chamber. Looking up, waaayyyy up, you can see two other points in the zone. The top of the waterfall is near the lake you fought at in the city itself and this is where you fall if you jump off the edge of the lake. A newbie rogue halfling we had managed to swim down this waterfall doing some scouting after our raid but I wouldn't recommend this as a way to skip the bulk of the fighting. Last thing you want is someone not swimming properly, falling, and dying from that or your best tank being the first down, or a cleric, and then getting death touched. You also then have to contend with four mobs plus Master Yael because you can't pull the golem and fiend prior to your assault.
Many mobs in the Hole are summoned which leaves them open to the summon line of spells. Also many are undead and fall prey to clerics and Paladins.
-Mostof the loot in the dungeon is on a random cycle so you have a good chance at path loot. Most of the namedcreatures will drop withered leather armor. Six different classes have to make trips to the depths of the Hole to obtain vital components for their epics.
The first group to ascend will be the puller group. ITU will be cast on the group members one at a time. When the first person leaves to ascend the tower, the next person will wait 30-60 seconds before getting ITU and following. It is necessary to break up the runners like this in the event that one person becomes visible and aggroes an AoE spell. In that case, that one person dies, instead of the whole group.
When the first group makes it up there, we'll begin sending the other groups. Again, it is essential here that no one train Kindle's room or the Ledge. Doing so will undoubtedly terminate the raid and result in lengthy CR.
I have included some screenshots as a guide to get through the tower... Visual Tour
It's pretty much a straight shot through the lower level, then up several flights to the top. Not all mobs in the upper level of the tower are aggro. Therefore NO AoE spells will be used whatsoever. Aggroing mobs that are indifferent will only result in potential, unnecessary deaths. In Kindle's room, Kindle is not aggro and there is speculation that only one of the two Revenants in that room are aggro. We are only concerned with the aggro mobs at this point. We will not kill the non-aggro mobs for exp or fun. We are on a get in and get out mission here.
It has also been reported that if a Revenant casts an AoE spell and hits Kirn or Kindle, Kirn/Kindle WILL attack the Revenant. DO NOT attack Kirn or Kindle until we are prepared. Let them help us out in that battle and we'll thank them for it later.
When the puller group arrives successfully in Kindle's room, they will await the arrival of the others. If ITU fades and party members appear and aggro the Rev(s), try to mez and hold them off as long as possible.
Others will be arriving in 30-second increments so it shouldn't take too long to assemble enough folks to clear the aggro mobs out of Kindle's room.
Once everyone is assembled in Kindle's room, we will clear the aggro Revenants out of that room. Once cleared, the puller will go into the room directly across from Kindle's room (not Kirn's room yet) and bring whatever mobs are aggro there back to Kindle's room. Next, the puller will bring any aggro mobs in Kirn's room, then lastly any mobs in the room behind Kirn's room. Once these aggro mobs are down, a tank and myself will head out to talk to Kirn.
When I give the word, the tank will pull Kirn back to Kindle's room and take the Harm Touch (so clerics be ready in case).
Due to faction issues on these quests, it is very important that whatever group I am in gets experience for the kill. Not only does this simplify the looting of the corpse, but if TrueSpirit factions are received upon Kirn's death I will most likely require all of those faction hits to continue with the next portion of my quest. Kirn should not be that difficult to take down so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just be careful here, please.
Once Kirn is down, we will take Kindle. I will assume as well here that the looting enchanter will also need to be in the group that gets experience for Kindle's death.
The tower is on a 22-minute spawn, so we will need to work fast here folks. Once we clear the rooms and take down Kirn and Kindle, we will sit tight in Kindle's room until repop. After repop, we'll take down the aggro Revenants in Kindle's room again, then ITU and return to the ledge. From there, depending on the numbers, we can make our way down to Yael and/or to the Tower graveyard for the Keeper.
Another method I will be testing out will be going to Cazic-Thule and camping Clay golem for the "ball of clay" it will transform the mage into a fire elemental and they can travel down to the camp ledge and start summoning in the group one by one. Elemental form lasts 30 minutes and it takes about 10 minutes to get from the zone entrance to the ledge in front of the tower.
Scout the Hole via a lvl 1 rogue I am creating. If you worship Brell then only the Ratmen are agro to you.
