Halls of Command
Throne of the Rune King
- Boss: Rune King Molinar and Price Dollin
- Determined to go down with the ship, the King of Hammerknell and his Crown Prince stayed when the doors were sealed shut. But instead of being devoured by the other bosses like good little dwarves, they were twisted and warped by the evil and have become the very demonic creatures they swore to protect their people from. How poetic. Kill them. We imagine a lot of the fight will revolve around requiring two tanks to position the two demonic buddies away from each other to keep them from aiding one another. Divide and conquer and all that.
Chamber of Runebinding Quarry
- Boss: Estrode
- Estrode is piiiiiiiiissed. At one point, the former rulers of Hammerknell bound her to the great wheel that opened and closed the lair's massive doors. But now that wheel's destroyed (and demons are running willy-nilly all over the place) she's out for revenge, and who could blame her? Who wants to be bound to a wheel? That's gotta give you vertigo and totally screw up your back. Expect some crazy attacks from those spiky wings of her.
After clearing these three halls, a fourth will open up for you to explore. Go ahead and do that, we're sure it's not filled with more horrific monsters. Just kidding, it totally is.
Part 3:Halls of Ingenuity
Construct Foundry
- Boss: Inquisitor Garau
- Inquisitor Garau is the Robin to Jonaru's Batman. A technical mastermind, Garau has broken his way into the construct foundry of Hammerknell in order to steal the secrets of their runebinding technology. (And no doubt use it for some nefarius plot that ironically encases the inventors in their own trap.) We don't know for sure that he was successful in understanding the technology, but you have to believe he's going to be using this powerful tech on the players that attempt to kill him. Prepare to be runebound and controlled. Remember the golden rule on fights like this: break out your allies as soon as they're trapped. Especially if they're a healer!
After everything is dead, the last hall will open up to reveal the final boss(es).
Part 4: Halls of Commerce
Stoneborn Harbor
- Boss: Jornaru
- As you might expect from someone who's lifetime career has been as a bodyguard for a massive floating monster, Jonaru is powerful. The devs tell us that he “stands ready to receive the power of his master as Akylios is unleashed on Telara,” though we're going to guess the raid parties entering Hammerknell are going to do their best to make sure that doesn't happen. It's probably safe to expect some AoE swings from that weapon and a couple debilitating clamps from his massive claw hand, along with some magic granted by his master.
- Boss: Akylios
- Here he is, the reason you've been delving the devious dungeon for hours: Akylios the gross space octopus starfish of death. There aren't many situations where we can legitimately say that a raid boss' main strengths are “secrets and knowledge,” but this is one such time. Akylios knows things about things that you don't have never even heard of, and if you've seen what he's seen your brain would melt right out of your ears. We're talking H.P. Lovecraft-scary, here. Gameplay-wise that'll likely manifest itself in some mind-control powers and fear effects. Or he's feeling old-school, he may just slap you around with his tentacles—that works, too.
And that about does it for Hammerknell! So, I'm sure your gorup had no problem clearing the whole place on their first attempt with lag spikes and only two clerics, right? Be sure to let us know how you did, and what you think of Rift's newest raid instance.
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