Deepstrike Mines Walkthrough (Rift)  

Detailed map of the Deepstrike Mines
Detailed map of the Deepstrike Mines

Deepstrike Mines is a dungeon designed for groups in the mid to upper 20's level range. It is considerably harder than the other dungeons preceding it. A group must be able to work together and multi task to be successful, especially against the final boss.

Immediately upon entering the group will find Asha Catari and Kaspar Massi. Pick up the quests Reclaiming What's Ours and Stolen Source before continuing forth. The first pull in the dungeon will determine how well the group will fare in here. It is comprised of one Baneful Decapitator and two Baneful Laborers. Without using crowd control this group will deal massive amounts of damage to the tank. Should the group be organized, have a good enough tank and healer, or simply be able to power through this pull with no casualties they have a good chance of finishing the dungeon without too much trouble.

Contents [hide]

Walkthrough

As the group progresses through the dungeon many of the monsters here will drop Stolen Sourcestones for the quest Stolen Source. They can also be found embedded in the cave walls.

After the first pull the group will face two single Baneful Slasher pulls as they cross the first bridge. With those down pull the two Baneful Laborers that reside on the first platform. From here take the bridge leading toward the cave wall. Deal with the three laborers awaiting the group on the other side and prepare for another hard pull. There will be a Baneful Slasher roaming the cavern wall, seemingly alone. However when he is pulled two laborers will rise up from the ground. Much like the first pull this one will test the groups mettle. Either have CC ready for the Laborers or make sure the tank is prepared to pick up all three. After this pull and another pack of laborers the group will meet the dungeon's first boss, Overseer Markus.

Boss: Overseer Markus

Overseer Markus's Drops
Deepstrike Longbow
Mantle of the Overseer
Miner's Toolbelt
Overseer's Binding
Source-fused Crystal

If the group has managed to tame the two tough trash pulls up to this point, this boss should not be much of a challenge. Markus has 25,594 health and some simple add mechanics. Markus uses an attack called Elemental Cleave so the tank should keep him faced away from the group. He will come with four non elite adds called Rotted Dredgers. Simply AoE them down after the pull and then focus on Markus. This will be a tank and spank fight until Markus reaches 50% health. At this time he will split into three Shades of Markus. The tank must be quick at gathering all three up and obtaining aggro. The group leader should mark one of the shades and everyone should focus fire it down. Do this for the second and third shades to summon Markus back. The remainder of this fight is exactly like the first half. Soon enough the group will be dividing up the spoils of Markus and his minions.

Slaying Markus will complete the quest The Foreman's Disgrace.

With Markus down it is time for the group to make its way toward Gregori Krezlav. The group should keep an eye on the next platform and pull the Baneful Decapitator and his laborer lackies when the patrolling Baneful Slasher is not nearby to avoid complications. Next clear the patrol and move across to the next platform. From this platform take the bridge to the next platform. In order to kill the needed four Baneful Decapitators for Slaughtering the Butchers the group will want to descend to this platform and kill the group on the lower level.

After this head back up the ramp and take the first bridge exiting this platform. Slay the Laborers and patrolling Slashers as the group ascends the next platform. At the top of the platform there will be a bridge leading to the next boss.

Boss: Gregori Krezlav

Overseer Markus's Drops
Adorned Quickblade
Deepstrike Torch
Gregori's Glimmering Staff
Gregori's Jeweled Belt
Load Bearer's Legplates
Overseer's Binding

Krezlav can be a difficult encounter if the group is lacking in DPS. He has 22,075 health and more complicated add mechanics than Overseer Markus. He will remain mostly stationary in the center of his platform throughout the fight. Every once in a while he will summon a Baneful Delver that has 4,300 health and will need to be tanked. DPS should switch and focus fire it down. Periodically he will also summon three Risen Channelers that will channel a spell at Krezlav. With this spell active Krezlav becomes invulnerable so the Channelers must be killed quickly. The fight will continue with him summoning his two types of adds and DPS having to switch each time. An alternate strategy to speed up the fight is to ignore the Baleful Delvers and focus all damage on Krezlav and the Risen Channelers. This makes the fight go faster however the incoming damage on the tank will be significantly higher, especially if two of the Delvers are summoned.

Behind Krezlav is a cave that contains the final Baneful Decapitator for Slaughtering the Butchers and his journal for the Gregori's Revelation. Beware the Delve Creeper spider because it will summon many smaller Delve Skitterers that can get out of hand if not managed. Move across the bridge and engage the Baneful Slasher and Baneful Laborers waiting for you there.

Boss: Bonehew the Thunderer

Bonehew the Thunderer's Drops
Seismic Blaster
Shard of the Thunderer
Shockwave Suppression Cap
Source-speckled Gloves
Stonecutter's Edge
Thunderous Beacon

Bonehew has been the cause of many quick and unexpected deaths and should be handled with caution. He has three different attacks he will use throughout the fight. The first is called Earth Shaker and will stun anyone in melee range, preventing them from using spells or abilities. To compensate for this all healers and ranged DPS should insure they are outside of melee range.

He also has a knock back attack that will send a player flying a distance of roughly half the diameter of the platform he is on. Keeping this in mind the tank will need to keep Bonehew on one side of the platform with the tank's back facing the rest of the platform, to avoid being knocked off. Falling from this platform is fatal. Bonehew will perform his knock back attack in two fashions. The first will be randomly to the tank during the fight and the second will be performed after he runs to one side of the platform and faces the middle. Anyone standing in 120 degree cone in front of Bonehew will get knocked back by this attack, so the group needs to position itself carefully. Following this second type of knock back attack Bonehew will begin pounding the ground in front of him doing some heavy AoE damage. Everyone should stay a safe distance from him until he returns to the tank. If the group can mange the knock back mechanic then this fight is straight forward and easy.

Slaying Bonehew will comple the quest Crystal Clear.

After slaying Bonehew return to the previous platform and begin descending. There will be a gap in the flooring that must be jumped over, a fall from this height can be fatal. After the jump continue the descent until the path simply ends. Drop off the side here for minimal, if any, falling damage. If the group is uncomfortable with jumping there is an option of returning to the very first platform in the dungeon and descending it.

The base of the caverns is filled with Delver Screechers and Delve Skitterers. The group should slowly make its way to the southern side of the cave where the Ethian Device for the quest Reclaiming What's Ours. This device must be activated by someone who has the quest and it can only be activated when the entire group is standing on the device platform itself. Once it is activated Baneful Servants will begin to spawn around the group rapidly. They have an attack that will knock characters off the device's platform and if too many characters are off the platform for too long the quest will reset. After a brief onslaught the quest will complete and the group can move on.

Exit the cavern through the cave on the far western side. Clear out the five Laborers that are roaming this room, but ignore the two at the western end of the room mining the large “rock”. With the room clear except for the “rock” and the last two Laborers it is time for the final boss.

Boss: Gatekeeper Kaleida

Gatekeeper Kaleida's Drops
Concussion Refractor
Gemstone Scepter
Golem Maker's Mark
Golem's Energy Core
Golem's Sensory Core
Jeweled Shoulderpads
Prismatic Buckler
Sparkling Waistguard

First of all, congratulations for getting this far. Secondly do not let this boss frustrate the group too much, it is a very difficult encounter, especially for a group that is average level 26-28. When the group approaches the final two Laborers, Kaleida will activate and kill them. The tank should immediately pick up Kaleida and tank near the center of the room with Kaleida's back facing the group. Kaleida has two phases and multiple tricks up his sleeve. Throughout the fight Kaleida will use a frontal AoE cleave on the tank so everyone else in the group needs to make sure they are facing Kaleida's side or back. Kaleida will also use Clobber Rock which will stun the tank for around four seconds and prevent the use of any abilities during this time. This ability makes it very hard for tanks to rely upon their own cool downs to save their lives so the group's healer must be extra careful. Beyond these two static abilities Kaleida will shift between two phases. During one phase he will have the buff "Earth Attuned". During this phase he will do a minor amount of melee ranged AoE damage, which is easily healed through. He will also randomly target a group member and hurl an earth crystal at them. These crystals have ~2000 health and all DPS must switch to killing them immediately. They will heal Kaleida for 1% of his maximum health every two seconds. If they are not handled extremely quickly they will heal him significantly and cause this fight to take a very long time. He will hurl two earth crystals before switching to his fire buff.

During Kaleida's fire phase he will have the buff "Fire Attuned". This is when the group will deal the most damage to him, however it also when Kaleida is dealing the most damage to the group. In this phase Kaleida will cast Fireblast which is a melee range AoE that hits very hard. In order for your melee DPS to live through the entire fight and insure your healer has enough mana to keep the tank alive, melee DPS must run away from Kaleida as soon as they see the cast bar for Fireblast. If they start running as soon as they see the cast they will not suffer any damage and it will make this fight much easier. During this phase he will also be hurling fire crystals at random party members. The crystals will cause AoE damage to whomever they hit and as well as continuing to deal AoE damage once they spawn. After a short time the fire crystals will explode dealing a large amount of AoE damage. Everyone should avoid these crystals at all costs and if one spawns near the boss, melee DPS should move away and the tank and healer should prepare for a large influx of damage. Avoid moving Kaleida as his cleave and Fireblast abilities can cause huge damage to unwary group members. After Kaleida hurls the second fire crystal he will cast one more Fireblast before shifting over to the earth phase again.

This fight can break many unorganized or lower level groups so be prepared and focus on mastering the mechanics.

With Kaleida dead the automatic quest Deep Threats will complete and the group will have conquered a difficult dungeon. Return to Kaspar Massi in the beginning of the dungeon if you completed Stolen Source, The Saga of the Endless: Endless Digging, Deep Threats, and Reclaiming What's Ours to obtain the story quest The Saga of the Endless: Fueling the Rituals.

Quests

Quest NameDungeon ObjectiveReward
Crystal Clear Slay Bonehew the Thunderer Choice of You will also receive
  • 3600 XP 12 25 
Deep Threats Defeat The first time this quest is complete you may choose one of the following You will also receive
  • 5580 XP 15 73 
The Foreman's Disgrace Kill Overseer Markus You will receive
  • 3600 XP 12 25 
Gregori's Revelation Locate and examine Gregori's Log in Deepstrike Mines You will receive
  • 5580 XP 15 73 
Reclaiming What's Ours Disable the Eth Device Choice of You will also receive
  • 5580 XP 15 73 
The Saga of the Endless: Endless Digging Speak with Asha Catari and Kaspar Massi inside Deepstrike Mines You will receive
  • 1860 XP 6 56 
The Saga of the Endless: Fueling the Rituals After completing the quests inside Deepstrike Mines return to Asha Catari in Meridian You will receive
  • 930 XP 3 94 
Slaughtering the Butchers Kill four Baneful Decapitators You will receive
  • 3600 XP 12 25 
Stolen Source Collect ten Stolen Sourcestone Choice of You will also receive

Item Drops

Gatekeeper Kaleida's Drops
Concussion Refractor
Gemstone Scepter
Golem Maker's Mark
Golem's Energy Core
Golem's Sensory Core
Jeweled Shoulderpads
Prismatic Buckler
Sparkling Waistguard

RIFT
Wikibase™
Guides

Categories: RIFT | Guides (RIFT)
This page last modified 2011-04-26 15:00:04.