This is a guide for the Crystal Caves zone. I will attempt to impart my knowledge to make fighting in this zone a little easier for you. This zone is a maze at the beginning and I still haven't fully explored the underwater aspects of the zone. Beware! You can get lost easily here. Always make sure you know where you are at. The zone is geared towards levels 30 to level 40. Level 30 to 35 should be spent at the orc area and level 35 to 40 should be spent in the Stalag/Queen Spider areas.

Maze/Pit area
The Orc area is a maze of crisscrossing passages and bridges over a deep pit. There are several different named orcs that spawn in various areas.

The Herbalist: drops very nice cloak-Blackened Crystalline Cloak(ultra rare), A Crystal Covered Shroud (also ultra rare), and Herbalist Pack (Common).

Foreman Samson and Foreman Rixact: Both drop the Crystalline 2h Sword as a Common, and the Foremans SkullCap as the rare. Rixact seems to drop the cap more often than Samson and Rix is static.

The Inspector: Wow is all I can say. Crystalline Belt Ac 5 Wis 3 Agil 3 Hps 10 as the common drop. Too bad he's a semi rare spawn. He is a lot like camping Grenixx over in HighPass. You never know when he is going to spawn.

Oracles: Ultra rare drop is the Cloak of the Ry`Gorr Oracles.

Dwarf City
A bank and merchants. The merchants won't sell unless you are hiding, sneaking, Dwarf, or benevolanced. I am semi working on the quest aspects here as I get time. I think there is several quests to be had, just figuring out what is story line and what is quest is the hard part.

The Ice Caves area
This is a fairly easy area to figure out. At the bottom of the ramp from the city there is a large room with 4 Crystal Stalag's in it. Leading out of that room is a short tunnel that goes up to a platform with 2 Crystal Stalag's on it. After this is an area with three main ways out. Left passage takes you to Stalag's, Middle passage takes you to the queen room and the right passage goes to a one way zone out. Velium Crawlers wander all over the area but primarily stay in the water. The named spawns are as follows…

Queen Dracnia: Drops Crystalline Robes Ac 10 Int 6 mana 10 Agil 2 Cold 10 as the rare and Messanger of the Queen as the common. She also drops the Sceptre of the Coldain Ancients everytime. This is for an unsolved quest based out of Thurgardian.

Crystal Lurker: Drops Spider Fang Choker Ac3, 20 mana, Agil and Stam 2, 5 Cold and 5 Magic

Dracnid Retainer: Drops Crystalline Sword 11 29 1hs common and Crystal webshield as the rare.

Crystal Piercer: 7 levels I've camped this spawn without seeing it once, needless to say, I don't know squat about it.

Crystal Grinder: Crystal Grinder ac 2 9 dam 27 delay Piercer

Life Leach: Chipped Velium Amulet Common

Hollow Crystal: Crystal Fiber 8 26 1hs whip common

A Terror Carver: Stalagterror Spine Spear Common SK Only

Levels 30 to 35
You zone in from Eastern Wastes by clicking on the white gem inside the orc fort in the middle of the zone. After you zone in there is an area where you can buff up and etc. in relative safety. This is a great spot to solo at level 30ish. The first spawn that you encounter normally is a wanderer. This wanderer could be the Herbalist, Inspector, Foreman Samson, or a Miner. The next two spawns are in the same area and are hard to split. However once split this is a nice, fast exp camp for low to mid 30's. There is 2 good area's I've found to solo for the low to mid 30's. Here at the zone and down by the Dwarf city. This is a good place to camp while forming a group.

Once you have a group put together, it depends on your objectives. If you want to get the Herbalist, your best bet is to wander up and down the maze, killing as you go. The Herbalist, Foreman Samson, and the Inspector can spawn in any spawn spot that a miner spawns in. The Inspector normally spawns near the bottom of the pit from what I've found though. If your objective is Exp and you are grouped your best bet is to go to the bottom of the pit and set up camp right outside the pit and down the hall a shade. There is a ton of Mobs that you can pull. Most of the pulls will be one or two spawns max. You should be able to non-stop pull here and not run out of mob's to pull. This is also the best way I found to get the Inspector. On a bad pull, do not run the orcs to the dwarf city. The dwarves will not attack them and anyone resting or medding in the city will be extremely unhappy with you for training them.

Levels 35 to 40
Time to start going to Stalags and Spiders. At the bottom of the ramp from the city is 4 Stalag spawns in a room that can be solo pulled. This is a great soloing area. Just be aware of the occasional Velium Crawler that will come out of the water when you pull and do not go in the water. Groups will find that this is a relatively easy area to camp and break.

To break the Stalag area: First set up by the water's edge at the bottom of the stairs by the platform. Then pull the 2 spider's that camp the hallway leading to the queen room. You might get a wanderer or two when pulling… Be prepared for them. Next move into the left hallway and pull the first 2 Stalag's. After these 2 are done, have the group stay here and pull to here to clear the next spawn. When this single spawn is pulled, the group can move forward to around the corner. Have the puller then begin to attempt to separate the spawns in the Main Stalag room. If you don't have a monk pulling, have a chanter ready to mez. You might end up with up to 5 stalags. Once these are pulled and separated you have broken the room. I would stay camped out in the hallway however. LD's happen.

To break the Queen area: First set up by the water's edge at the bottom of the stairs by the platform. Then pull the 2 spider's that camp the hallway leading to the queen room. Then move forward down the hall, killing as you go. When you hit the bridge area have the group move back to the corner and slightly around it. This will give your monk plenty of room to separate the spawns. This is one spawn that I highly recommend you have a monk with to break and pull. A 4 tank 2 cleric group would probably be able to do it also through sheer brute force. There is a ton of mobs here to keep control of the room. Mana management is critical.

The Geonids: If you are a Caster do not do geonids! There is a higher level quest that requires geonid faction.