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Blackthorn Castle Dungeon

Brand new player here so forgive me for my ignorance. Is there anyway to gather Blackthorn dungeon awards points currently?

I did some searching which seemed to suggest the Devs pulled the spawns from the dungeon but left Blackthorn Captains which would allow players to still collect reward points. However when I venture down to the town portion of the dungeon it appears completely empty too. Do I need to do something to make the captains spawn?


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Pawain

I Hate Skilling
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
3 players can do Blackthorns. More is better.

All gather at the entry of the city.
One player goes in and chooses a Captain that will follow him. That player kills all the spawn around it. That player can be a mage or warrior.
That player brings the Captain to the entry.
Put a pet on the Captain.
All kill the Captain.

Everyone but the designated Captain bringer stays at the entry and repeat.
Save the Captains that wont follow or hop around for last.

Only damage the Lighthouse as needed. When new Captains spawn, stop hitting the lighthouse and start over.

Each player will get 40 to 50 drops per city.

When our group is cooperating and not dragging stuff all over the place, I can bring 3 accounts and get lots of drops.
 

Pawain

I Hate Skilling
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
In a group each Captain drops 1 to 3 artifacts to everyone who gets loot rights. Go with a group and each player will get 40 or more drops from a city if you do not destroy the lighthouse until all Captains are gone.
 
Thank you both. I’ll reinvestigate I must not have visited each town after the first handful were empty. I’ll see what I can do to scrounge up a group on Great Lakes.


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Zeems

Visitor
Is there a guide for fighting these guys? Because the assasin is kicking my ya know. I did read uo cah guide but it kinda glazes over it like it's an easy fight.
 

Petra Fyde

Peerless Chatterbox
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
They're not an easy fight, and some, I think fencers? Are susceptible to only the right damage type. You can hit on the thing for ages and seem to be getting nowhere if your weapon is a simple 100% physical damage.
 

Laura_Gold

Certifiable
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
If you don't see a "spawn" in any town pod, look for a town pod with a lighthouse. Beat on the lighthouse until captains appear again.
 

Zeems

Visitor
Alright thanks guys. My plan is to take my guild in. Discord it , assign arch cure role, a healer role, and a damager role. I just didn't want to drag the whole crew in looking like a bunch of idiots , just to find out there was an easy way lol

I prefer a challenge anyway
 

PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
So, i basically copy+pasted this from a guide i wrote for my guild. We do Blackthorn's often on Wednesdays with about 10-20 people. Here you go.


THE OBJECTIVE
The objective of Blackthorn's Dungeon is to defeat the Lighthouse that spawns in a random "city pod" inside the northern part of the dungeon. The Lighthouse itself starts off invulnerable to attack, until you kill enough Captains. The Captains themselves are invulnerable to attack (but still affected by Paralyze Field), until you kill their surrounding Minions. So you have to kill the Minions, then kill the Captains, then bring the Lighthouse health down to a certain point, at which point the Lighthouse will become invulnerable again and spawn more Captains/Minions. Rinse and repeat 3 times (75% Health, 25% Health, then 0%) until the Lighthouse is destroyed. A new Lighthouse will spawn within another city pod within 10-15 minutes.

GENERAL TIPS
If you're having trouble targeting the Captains due to how many people/pets are attacking them, then hold Ctrl+Shift, right click away the other name tags, until you see a red tag with the name of the Captain. Left click on that tag, hold, and drag to get it's health bar. Double left click while in war mode (Warrior) or target (Caster/Tamer) the health bar to attack the Captain. Otherwise, targeting the Captain can be very frustrating with how many people are attacking it.
All of the Captains and Minions inside Blackthorn's Dungeon are immune to Discordance skill debuff, but have 0 Resisting Spells skill. This leaves them incredibly vulnerable to debuff/disabling spells if you have Eval, and makes Corpse Skin (In Aglo Corp Ylem, Necromancy spell) last a long time against them.
Paralyze (An Ex Por, 5th Circle Magery spell) is useful for paralyzing individual Captains, which is particularly useful for temporarily disabling a Captain you don't want to fight yet as you fight another one, or catching them in an X-Field. Paralyze Field (In Ex Grav, 6th Circle Magery spell) will paralyze any opponent that runs into it (including Captains even when they're yellow [invulnerable]). This can and does save lives, and makes the spawn MUCH easier to handle, Para Field should be cast extensively by all Eval Mages, especially when pushing into a new wave of mobs. The paralyze effect will be broken on any damage taken (including DoTs like Poison, try avoiding that), so do not attack a Captain that you see someone attempting to Paralyze. (An Ex Por in particular).
Para Wall 2.PNG Para Wall 3.PNG

Do NOT use Energy Fields (In Sanct Grav, 7th Circle Magery spell) except in very specific circumstances i list on particular Captains, as they block guildmates and their pets from moving, which can lead to deaths with improper E-Field placement. Parts of the E-Field can be dispelled with Dispel Field (An Grav, 5th Circle Magery spell).
X-Field.PNG


Mana Vampire (Ort Sanct, 7th Circle Magery spell) is extremely effective against the Captains. Most melee Captains have a limited Mana pool, and so you can deprive them of their use of their Special Moves by Mana Vamping or Wraith Draining them to low Mana. Caster Captains have a virtually unlimited Mana pool, and so are useful as "mana batteries" to recharge your own Mana from with either Mana Vampire or Wraith Draining.
Curse (Des Sanct, 4th Circle Magery spell) and Mass Curse (Vas Des Sanct, 6th Circle Magery spell) can be used to debuff STR/DEX/INT by a %, slightly lowering the victim's damage output.
Sleep (In Zu, Mysticism spell) and Mass Sleep (Vas Zu, Mysticism spell) do not function at all against the Captains unfortunately, they're immune to them.
The melee captains can have their damage output greatly reduced by a Macer's "Stagger" (-60% SSI for 10 secs, can be refreshed) Mastery ability or a Fencer's "Pierce" (Damages 40% of Max Stamina over 10 seconds) Mastery ability. Three Pierces over 30 seconds is enough to reduce any Captain to 0% Stamina, which makes them swing and move extremely slow. Combine Stagger with 0% Stamina, and the Captain's melee damage output is neutered.
All of the Captains and Minions will randomly have either High Resists/Lower Health, or No Resists/High Health. The Captains also take half damage from pets/summons, and have a 20% chance per melee attack of inflicting triple damage to pets/summons. Pet debuffs (such as Rune Corruption/Conductive Blast/Inferno/Armor Pierce) function fine against them though, which is why i prefer to bring debuff pets to this hunt
 
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PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
THE MINIONS
There are several categories of Minions that can spawn with the Captains. Each time a city pod activates, it'll remain the same category of Minion until the Lighthouse is destroyed. Some categories of Minions are fairly weak, while others are extremely dangerous. I'll list them in order of danger, and which mobs to target first (i'll only list the real dangerous ones).
  1. Fey. The Fey spawn has Satyrs (Strips Female players and Discord), Dryads (Strips Male players and Peace) and Cu Sidhes (hits hard). Kill the Satyrs ASAP, then the Dryads, then the Cu Sidhes. This spawn is weak to Fey Slayer and Fire Damage.
  2. Dragons. The Dragon spawn has Hydras (Hydra Breath, which can hit multiple players multiple times), Dragons (Dragon Breath), Reptalons (Dragon Breath), and Drakes (Dragon Breath). If these Minions spawn as No Resist/High Health, their Breath attacks can be devastating, especially the Hydra Breath (can be a multi-player insta killer then). Hydras must die ASAP. This spawn is weak to Dragon/Reptile Slayer and Cold Damage.
  3. Daemons. The Demon spawn has Succubus (Life Drain Aura) and Bone Daemons (hit very hard and very tough to kill). The Succubus' Life Drain Aura will cause them to frequently re-target, so vetting pets near them isn't advised. Succubus must die ASAP (to allow pet vetting), then the Bone Daemons (which can be tanked by a pet under Consume Damage). This spawn is weak to Demon Slayer and Cold/Energy Damage.
  4. The only other somewhat notable minion is the Raging Grizzly Bear from the Wildling spawn. They hit hard and are tough. They're weak to Bear Slayer (usually only on Talismans, except for some Invasion spellbooks) and Fire Damage.
  5. All the other categories are pretty easy to kill.
THE CAPTAINS
Some Captains are more dangerous than others, and should be killed first while the others left alone/disabled by Paralyze while killing the more dangerous/easier one. A pet under Consume Damage can be used to distract many of the melee Captains as you kill another. Here's the Kill Priority list.
  1. Bard. While the Bard Captain themselves aren't very dangerous, their Howl of Cacophany debuff (-60% SSI/-5 FC/-5 FCR/Force Walk for 30 seconds) is extremely debilitating and makes killing any other Captains/Minions much harder. The -5 FC/-5 FCR also makes it much harder to cross heal/invis with spells as well. The Bard in combination with any other Captain will cause many deaths.
  2. Assassin. The Assassin will frequently Lethal Poison everyone on screen with Poison Breath, and Paralyze his attackers. This greatly interrupts any healing going on. The group should stack up on top of each other for Arch Cure (Vas An Nox, 4th Circle Magery spell). The Assassin also has Corrupted Life, so any attempt to leech Life from him (Hit Life Leech on weps or Hit Life Drain from Vamp Form/Curse Weapon) will damage you instead. Turn off Vampire Form on this one, Sampires. The Assassin deals enough non-Physical damage and interrupts healing so much that he can threaten a pet under Consume Damage. The Assassin in combination with any other Captain will cause deaths.
  3. Wizard. The Wizard will occasionally yell out "You will burn to a pile of ash!", run from her when she says this. Within a few seconds, she'll erupt in a magical explosion (Virtuebane on the Shadowguard Roof does this too) that'll deal high damage, knock you back, dismount you, and stun you if hit. She also has an occasional retaliatory Lightning ability when hit, and has an Aura of Energy, that'll can cause her to target switch to nearby opponents. She seems to deal mostly Energy damage, and can easily be tanked by a Triton. If not paying attention to her shouts, she can easily cause multiple deaths with her eruptions, especially if she starts chaining them.
  4. Necromancer. The Necromancer has a "Necrotic Touch" ability that functions like a temporary Discordance effect, lowering your skills (this used to be much more dangerous when pets could go wild from disobeying commands, although Giant Beetles still can). He also deals decent AoE damage with his Withers and Poison Strikes, and he deals enough non-Physical damage that he can threaten a pet under Consume Damage. The Necromancer can occasionally cast Blood Oath on his target as well. The Necromancer also has Corrupted Life, so no Life Leeching/Draining against him, turn off that Vampire Form.
  5. Fencer. The Fencer can hit extremely hard, and uses Death Strike (making you take a lot of damage when you try to run) and Mirror Image. She can easily be tanked by a pet under Consume Damage though.
  6. Swordsman. The Swordsman hits decently hard, and can use the Frenzied Whirlwind ability to AoE nearby players and pets (this will cause him to frequently target switch, especially to Tamers trying to vet their pet). He can easily be tanked by a pet under Consume Damage.
  7. Macer. The Macer is basically a walking Tank. He hits very hard, and is very tough, especially to weapon/pet attacks due to his 35% Parry Chance. He'll teleport attackers (even if it's your pet/summon attacking) to him unless they're within 2 tiles of him. Stay within 2 tiles of this Captain as he's being tanked. He can easily be tanked by a pet under Consume Damage. The only reason he's not #5, is due to how tough he is to kill, you can kill most other Captains much faster than him.
  8. Mystic. The Mystic isn't all that dangerous, with either his melee or his spellcasting, and he's fairly easy to kill. His Purge Magic ability is pretty annoying though, especially to Sampires (he can Purge you out of Vampire Form). He can also Purge your Protection or potion buffs :/
  9. Rogue. The Rogue is another fairly easy to kill Captain that doesn't dish out much damage. He'll occasionally inflict Deadly Poison with his Serpent Arrow ability (which sometimes spawns an easy to kill Snake), and target switch due to his aura. He won't chase you down or teleport away.
  10. Sampire. The Sampire Captain is actually pretty dangerous due to damage output, but has a mechanic that makes them extremely annoying to kill. When attacked, the Sampire Captain has the irritating habit of teleporting away from it's attackers, which oftentimes leads you into groups of other Captains, and you chasing them all over the pod. The Sampire Captain is best left disabled by Paralyze until most of the other Captains are dead. If you can catch a Sampire Captain in a Paralyze, then drop 2 Energy Fields (In Sanct Grav, 7th Circle Magery spell) on top of it to form an X (X-Fielding), it can't teleport away and becomes MUCH easier to kill. Once again, if someone is attempting to Paralyze a Sampire Captain, leave the Captain alone. Due to being in Vampire Form, Sampire Captains are also vulnerable to Undead Slayer and Fire Damage. That is unless someone Purges them out of Vampire Form, which a Mystic's Rising Colossus summon will do. So please don't summon RCs against Sampire Captains.
  11. Archer. The Archer itself isn't very dangerous, but it too has the annoying mechanic of teleporting away from attackers (oftentimes leading you on a merry chase into another group of Captains). Once again, this is another Captain that you want to Paralyze and leave for last. If you can get an X-Field on it, it becomes MUCH easier.
  12. Lighthouse. Save the Lighthouse for very last, once all the Captains are dead (the Captains give more Minax Artifacts anyways). The Lighthouse itself is immune to Energy Damage (unless under debuffs, like Rune Corruption/Conductive Blast/Death Ray). It'll occasionally retaliate with Lightning when attacked. You cannot leech/drain life from it (it doesn't have Corrupted Life though), so Sampires will have to heal up in other ways after being hit with Lightning. When it gets down to 75% Health, it'll become invulnerable again and spawn more Captains/Minions, and once again at 25% Health. At 0% Health, it explodes and everyone that attacked it receives a single Minax Artifact.
 

PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Each player will get 40 to 50 drops per city.

When our group is cooperating and not dragging stuff all over the place, I can bring 3 accounts and get lots of drops.
Yep. I use 2 accounts to do Blackthorn's Captains with my guild, and usually get between 70-110 Minax Artifacts per run. I use a Disco/Tamer with a RC+AP Fire Beetle and a Death Ray Tamer/Mage © with a 120 Disco+CB Triton. Between the debuffs those two provide (RC+AP+CB+DR+HLA+HLD) the Captains melt like butter under my guild's onslaught.
 
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