Fort Forinthry is under siege! Take a stand against Zemouregal and protect your Fort and the rest of Misthalin in this brand new quest and boss bottle, arriving November 20th.
Confront the undead hordes and face down the combined might of Zemouregal and Vorkath in a deadly final duel!
Upon the freezing shores of Ungael, Zemouregal has awoken the ancient dragon Vorkath - now he intends to use this new-found power to wipe your Fort clean off the map. This would allow the full might of his undead armies to crash into the realms of Misthalin and sow chaos!
With the undead pounding at the gates and a menacing shadow looming overhead, it’s time to ready your forces and prepare yourself for an onslaught. First you’ll need to complete the Fort Forinthry storyline up to Ancient Awakening, and have a Necromancy level of 60. Here's the full list of requirements:
To get started, begin the Battle of Forinthry quest, which will take you through to the Story Mode version of the boss, unlocking the Normal and Hard versions on completion.
The climactic showdown takes place just outside the walls of Fort Forinthry; hope you built ‘em high and sturdy! You’ll be defending the walls, pushing back the undead hordes and stomping out three places of power which Zemouregal is using to empower Vorkath. You’ll be guided through the entire process of disrupting the power, so make sure you don’t skip the dialogue here. Finally, you’ll take the battle to the Necromancer himself - and his scary new 'pet'.
With Story Mode complete you can challenge the boss again and again, by yourself or in a group. Simply interact with the commemorative statue in your Fort’s Town Hall to go another round!
Want a deeper dive into the particulars of battle? Let's look at the two phases of the encounter: the siege phase and the boss phase.
This phase sees you facing off against hordes of the undead as they advance on the walls of your Fort. It's not necessarily just a case of smashing through them, though - remember, they’re emerging from three places of power. You can choose to simply cut a path through the undead and head straight to Zemouregal and Vorkath if you like, or you can take some extra time to smash up the two other places of power - this will remove some special attacks from the subsequent boss fight!
In Story Mode you’ll need to smash all the places of power with the help of the Raptor, but in Normal Mode you can choose to skip them for quicker attempts at the boss, or smash one or both optional places of power for an easier boss fight.
Hard Mode skips the siege phase entirely and you’re straight into the boss battle with Vorkath - no new mechanics are added, but you don't have the option to take any away by disrupting the places of power. It's just you versus Zemouregal's full arsenal of attacks!
Ok - once you have pushed back the undead and chosen whether or not to wreck those sites of power, it’s on to the dastardly duo themselves...
Yep, it's not just the Zemouregal show this time - you'll be going head to scaly head with a gigantic undead dragon too!
Usually this is where we would explain the mechanics of the main showdown in detail, but we're keeping some of the fight a surprise for now. We want those of you who are taking on the boss (or watching others) on launch day to enjoy the experience unspoiled. Then we'll all be optimizing the best strategies for day two...
Because this confrontation is the culmination of the Fort Forinthry seasonal storyline, we've aimed for a fairly approachable experience on Story Mode. The Normal version, meanwhile, is a modular experience that can be tweaked, and Hard is a bit more of a challenge.
So, what do you get? Defeating the boss and completing the quest will reward:
Vorkath won't drop conventional loot piles like other bosses. Instead, completing the Boss fight awards a chest for the relevant difficulty setting: Story, Normal and Hard. Normal and Hard chests can contain any of the rewards listed below, with Hard boasting superior drop rates. Story Mode chests will not give Spikes or the Codex mentioned below, so if you’re aiming to get your hands on that upgraded armour you'll need to push yourself to complete Normal!
You’ll also be able to stack these chests up and open them all together:
Defeat the ancient dragon to get your hands on a new Dragonhide - then use it to create brand new Ranged Armour! Better yet, upgrade your new clobber using Spikes from the boss fight to get it to t90. You can even boost it up to t92 using the same materials needed to make Elite Sirenic Armour - that's Ancient Scales, Algarum Thread, Chaotic Spike for the Chest and Praesulic Essence.
The t90 and t92 both come with a powerful set effect!
Additionally, we'll be adding a new set bonus to the existing Sirenic and Elite Sirenic Armour for crossbow players.
This should keep both bow use and crossbow use strong, allowing you to focus on the version that suits you instead of there being a clear winner!
You’ve been asking since the inception of Necromancy for a way to store your Necromancy Runes & Ectoplasm - well, you won’t have to wait much longer. Introducing the Necromancy Nexus! A Nexus is similar to a magic Rune Pouch in that it will store Necromancy Runes and allow you to cast incantations while equipped, but it will also hold a maximum stack of Necromancy Runes.
The Necromancy Nexus currently come in two flavours:
Zemouregal's Nexus also gives a passive effect - it increases the level of the Bone Shield provided by your Bone Shield Incantations by 15!
Vorkath also drops a new tradable Necromancy Incantation Codex. Use it to learn the skill Invoke Lord of Bones! Activating this incantation will empower your Skeletal conjure to tear through your enemies' armour while attacking. This makes your foes more vulnerable to attacks not only from yourself but from your whole team!
After all that huffing and puffing against the mighty dragon, you deserve an adorable new pal. Check him out!
Alongside the release of the boss fight, we're trying something different.
Vorkath Hunt: Guard & Lantern will run from November 20th until December 3rd and follows the design of the Golden Party Hat and Cape Hunt Events, where you'll set out to collect 8 shards by completing a variety of tasks.
As with other, similar events, we've made sure the tasks cover a broad spectrum - if you're not usually the PvMing type, you can still pick up these rewards by completing non-boss tasks. Check out the tasklist below to prepare yourself!
Can't make it? The cosmetics will be added to Vorkath's drop table once the event finishes, so you'll always be able to chase them later too. However, these will be rarer drops from the dragon - taking part in the shard hunt is the best way to secure yourself these new cosmetics!
Mr Mordaut has set the following 12 tasks for shards: