Why is Thunderhead Keep so hard!!!

This mission is killing me. I am sure some folks are laughing at this post because they beat this mission on the first time, if thats the case for you I wish I was in your group when you did it (can you come help me do it to prove your prowess) had to try. I have been at this area for the past few days, sometimes we get to the end other times we die early. I can blame the group but that wont help me to beat this mission. Can any of the members here who have beaten this mission give a strategy because this mission is driving me insane (lol).

Some of the strategies we have tried are:

1. Spliting in to 2 group each taking a door.

2. One person manning bastilas and others in the middle running back and forth.

3. Noobs just aggroing and running out of the fort to kill enemies then calling monks to heal them when they die a mile away from fort. (this is my fav *sarcasim*)

Any help would be much appreciated. The Poison Clan thanks you for the help.

well, i am not sure if the way we did it the other night is the best, but i can tell you how we did it:

- we didn´t rush - always made sure everybody had full energy as far as possible
- I (elementalist) was teamleader, which has the effect of the king following me. (had to talk to him first, too...if someone else does that, he follows this person, it seems) as long as i stayed well back (but close enough to heal), the dwarven king didn´t get involved in fights and didn´t die
- we used the bows/catapults...it didn´t seem to have an immediate effect, but the mission was a piece of cake with that. basically there was always one or two who constantly fired those bows. but be careful - the jades have the nasty habit to kill you when you are up there
- one stayed in the middle and alerted the group when a new group of jades or so entered.

really, i don´t know which of those things helped, but we had tried that mission many times before and the last time it was really really easy. oh, but we didn´t go for the beacons. so no bonus - but we decided that completing the mission was more important to us.

Search through the forum there are several posts with strategies on beating Thunderhead Keep.

Quote: Originally Posted by drunkmonk

It sounds like you tend to fail defending thunderhead keep itself. Thus this is how you hold thunderhead keep. You want a group of 6 in the center with on man on each ballista. The east side is most important to man. Have either eles, necros, or mesmers man the ballistas (something that can also cast on the enemies as they try to get through the gate without leaving the ramparts.) While it my not seem like it the people manning the ballistas are the most important players of the mission. They are the team's eyes and ears.

When enemies will make it to the gate they call the target and the team comes. When enemies actually get in the gate the agro them ASAP and buy time (necros are the best at this, with life drain and curses they can drop damage output and buy a lot of time.) When the mursaat boss comes it is extremely important to call him. This lets the opposite side's ballista-man know he will be buying time when the next wave comes.

This mission was killing me for days as well (as evident by my own thunderhead ranting thread). I started off by always getting into terrible pick-up groups. Some of the groups couldn't even make it past clearing the fort. I was so frusterated after awhile I decided to use henchmen. Unfortunately with henchmen every time the Mursaat boss arrived, I ended up losing. I just couldn't find a way to kill it as well as the other Mursaat pounding on me at the same time. Eventually I tried pick-up groups again and a miracle happened: I actually got into a group where all seven other players were good and the best part was that we had three monks.

We breezed through the city and fort. The team leader made a lot of positive comments after every few mob kills. That was good. Two people manned the catapults and the other six would go as a team back and forth as the catapulters called the targets. Eventually when the Mursaat boss came two of us ended up dieing and we had to flee back to the king because Jade Armors snuck around the other side and were charging after him. This is what usually ended up dooming my other runs but this group kept their cool, killed the Jade Armors, kept the Mursaat boss busy while a monk revived the two dead players, then we all killed the boss as a team. After that it was basically a waiting game.

What it basically boils down to is the fact you just have to suffer until you find a good group (or get the henchmen to kill the boss like I couldn't do). And having three monks was great for us. We never had any problems staying healthy.

You certainly don't need 3 monks. I got through this mission on my 2nd try (same group) with only 1 monk primary plus me as a Me/Mo (split between healing & dom).

I didn't think it was a hard mission because of the easy success of my first character, until I went through as my ranger. I went through so many crappy groups. Then, I got a competent one that got through in one try. Once defending the king at the fort starts, like the others said, 2 people on catapults continuously firing and the rest guarding the stairs to the king in the center. For firing the cats, it works best if you fire one, then the other, rather than staying at the same one and waiting for the reload. Our team was kinda disappointed because we were so adept at working the cats that there were no bosses to SoC.

The biggest reason why this mission is so hard has nothing to do with the mission. It's the group. In most cases, the group doesn't play well together, or they only have one monk, or more than one person wants to be the leader, or everyone just goes on their own and does their own thing. If any of these apply then you will surely fail each and every time. This is one of the more strategic missions in the game. You have to think. You have to choose your spells carefully, work as a team, pick a leader, and follow directions. One of the other big problems with the mission is that people do not know how to be kind to the other players on the team. They swear and curse and eventually someone leaves. Then you are stuck. Because you have to have everyone to participate. Everyone has to be working together. If one person decides to stop healing because they are mad or if another leaves because of something a person said to them then that impacts the entire group and you can kiss the mission goodbye. I've seen it happen way too many times. Also, there is a level of strategy that you should think about when playing. Here are a few things to do in this mission that will help streamline the whole process.

1.) Protect the King! Protect the King! Protect the King! If the King dies then the mission is over. End of story.

2.) Call out what you are killing. Make sure everyone focuses on one beast at a time. If you do then they will go down faster; allowing you to move faster in the game and be more productive.

3.) When you first enter the mission you will face three big elephant beasts. Kill them and then you will come to a Y in the road. Turn right!! Do not turn left. Then go up the hill and turn left to kill the three ice beasts on top. The ones that you avoided by going right will still be there and will not be attacking yet because they don't see you. This allows you to take one group at a time and reduce the amount of damage you take as a team.

4.) Once you get to the bridge, pull the beasts from the other side onto the bridge. Then stay on the bridge and take the beasts down. If you do not pull the beasts then the patrol that will come up behind them will also attack you and probably outnumber you. You want to take the least damage that you can and reduce the risk of damage to the King. If even one person dies in the mission before the end that that person will have a Death Penalty. You can't afford a death penalty at the end of the mission.

5.) Unless you are a top notch experienced team who plays together extremely well (perhaps you are in the same guild) then I would HIGHLY recommend skipping the bonus. Otherwise, 9 times out of 10, the group will die and the mission will be over.

6.) Okay, when you get to the end, there will be beacons and catapults. Make sure you do NOT light the beacons otherwise you will be summoning more bad guys to come your way. Also, lighting the beacons is the bonus quest. Like I said before, I would suggest skipping the bonus and doing it later once you have completed the mission. So, leave the beacons alone!! Now, that brings us to the catapults. You need two casters manning the catapults. To man the catapults that means staying with them and making sure they are firing. To fire a catapult, simply pull the levers. You will need all the help you can get.

Now, why do I say have "casters" at each catapult?? It's really simple. You need casters because they can still do damage to incoming attacks by casting downward from the top area where the catapults are located. While they are casting down they can also SHOUT OUT what is coming from each side. This way you will know, in advance, what to expect and can form your defense accordingly. If you have anything else other than casters at the top then you will not be doing damage to the incoming attacks. You have to do both damage and SHOUT OUTs to be successful up there.

7.) Next, you will be faced with a boss at the end. You will have them trying to get to the King. Most of the time, they are successful and the mission is over and you are defeated. The reason why they are successful is because of poor teamwork, failure to man each doorway (east and west), someone left the catapult area when they were supposed to be up there, etc. Remember, casters can cast downward so keep them up high so they don't take damage. You want to minimize the amount of damage that your team takes while doing the most amount of damage you can.

8.) Also, do not rush this mission. Take your time. Think about it - What would you rather be doing? Would you rather take your time, form a strategy, get the team together, and beat the mission? Or, would you rather rush it and kill each mob one after the other without letting your team heal up and get their energy back and then eventually start dying and taking Death Penalty? Sounds stupid when you think about it but way too many teams rush the mission. I can't tell you how many times a group will yell out - What is your problem! Come back! Oh Crap!! Take the bottom!! Take the bottom!! Do not rush!! You have to play as a team. You MUST!!!

9.) Okay, now lets talk about drops. A drop is an item that appears with your name on it after a bad guy goes down. Too many players will stop fighting when a drop with their name on it appears. They figure - Might as well get the drop now in case we die! When you stop to pick up a dropped item, you cause yourself to take damage and to inflict zero damage to the bad guy who is hitting you and trying to kill you. Also, you risk your team as well. So, wait and clear the area first. Then go and pick up your drops. They will still be there.

10.) Okay there is one part of the mission that I forgot to talk about. This part is when you enter the city area and there are two levels of bad guys. There is a bottom level with a group of bad guys. There is a top level with bad guys. The top level is blocked by a door that the King will open when you walk him up there. Here is my advice. If you want to do less damage to the team, protect the King from harms way, and ensure that you get past this part without having to rez a team member then here is what you do. Everyone, and I MEAN EVERYONE (not almost everyone while two others go up and unlock the door), stays down below. From below, there are two groups of bad guys up top. One on the right and one on the left. Take out the group on the right first. You will see them. Have all of your casters cast upwards from down below. Protect them with healing and spells. Warriors do nothing! Nobody goes up top. Everyone stays down. Cast up and kill the group on the right. Then repeat the same thing for the group on the left. Once you are done you can sit back and rest happy that you didn't risk or expose your King to any damage and you didn't have to rez anyone either. Then, once both sides are taken out, go up top and pick up the dropped items. Then heal, max out your energy, and take on the last group right before you get to the area where the final part is located.

Well, I hope this helps everyone. I know it's a lot of information to take in but I hope it's useful. Just remember that this mission is not like the others. It is strategic. It tests your ability to think, work, and act as a team. So, pick your leader before the mission begins. Get two monks and two casters if you can. You definitely need two casters. One monk will suffice but they must be willing to do nothing but heal, heal, heal, heal. They can fight when they have to but they must be healing too, especially the King!! Okay, two monks, two casters, you definitely need a strong tank or two, and you need one person who can pull (for the bridge fight). Then, for the remaining slots in your team, just fill them with warriors. Also, you may need the Rebirth spell and lots of smithing!! If you can return damage back to the original source when you are hit then that is awesome.

Hope this helps everyone. Take care and good luck in the mission. See you on the other side!!

Thanks everyone for your replies. What you all have said make alot of sence. I will contiue to try this mission with the strategies you have given me. I will put them to good use. DM

Our team used simular strategies 2 on catapults 6 in center 2 calling targets. One difference the 2 on catapults were monks. Me and one more monk. This way we call the gate where target is approching and we can heal while still firing the catapults. Click click click while pressing F1 selects party member 1 number one casts heal.

the group i was in ran all the way to the stadium-like place. when we got there, we had our leader with jalis while 2 warriors guarded one entry, the other 2 guarded the other, killed whatever was trying to come in, then haul over to the other if we needed to. i was the only non-secondary monk warrior in the entire party. i mostly ran back from battle when my health dropped below 200, healed, and went back into battle. i died only once the entire time.

we kept doing that for about 15 to 20mins and completed it with only one person dropping because he or she whined about us skipping out on the bonus.

You will have the most problem defending the fortress when the boss is a monk! Had it once, and we had no way to kill him and his monk companion before the next group arrived! And that was with the better infused armor! I don´t know how hard it is now!

Wow, people actually found the ballistaes and catapults? I'm going to try this mission again tonight to see that. We just ended up in the same stadium like place and killed everything that came in. I was the only monk, and it worked out well with a necro charging my energy up. The monk boss was easy as me and two other characters were secondary mesmers. He attacked, we attacked, through down three backfires, he cast one spell and killed himself.

Quote: Originally Posted by Edge Martinez

Mission is all teamwork. I did it first time in a PuG of 6 people (2 left in beginning). And I laugh when people think they fail because there are not enough monks. If you build a character that deals ridiculously high damage but cannot stay alive for long, then you are useless. I hate it when people create a char that relies on a monk spamming heal spells on him to stay alive. It's much more efficient to have 2 tanking warriors that do mediocre damage but survive than one high damage warrior that relies on a Monk spamming heal spells on him, because the 2 mediocre damage tanking warriors will do the same if not more damage than the single high damage warrior and they are not as vulnerable because they do not depend on another character to keep them alive.

I found this mission fairly easy when I used a warrior monk that specialized in tanking/protection and hex removal (do people really expect a healing monk to be able to save 8 people who have been hit with conjure phatasm or other degen hexes and conditions? even if he has the mana the casting time alone will cause people to die). Two people manned the catapults and I could tank forever and even save other characters from being killed with shielding hands and shield of regeneration.

my advice, someone better man those ballistas right after the cutscene!

When I did this mission.. we had, if I remember correctly, two rangers (including me) a necro (on the ballista), an elementalist (on the other ballista), two warriors, and a monk.

Everybody except for the ballista firers stayed in the middle between the two gates. Any time a mob would get close to the gate, the ballista person would ping the map to let us know. We would run over, kill it, and by the time it was dead, the other gate started coming. We did this for quite a while, and even had time for one of the warriors to sprint away with the torch looking for the other brazier to light (we only found two, never found the third one) for the bonus.

It was amazingly easy, nobody died, and I completed it on my first try.

Did it without ballistas. One monk two warriors and the rest fire eles. Warriors aggro and block while eles dropped huge damage. The beacons were not lit though. I would rather get to Perdition Rock than to lose trying a 1000 xp bonus.

You basically siege everything you see. 3 players on the siege machines will do ok. Anything that escapes you...let the rangers/eles hit them when they pass underneath your feet in the doorways. Other than liting the whatever candles, thats basically all you do. The only thing you can't really siege is the few end bosses. They just keep healing themselves and moving on. Let them come to you. Always keep your eye on the battlefield for approaching enemy forces and send them packing with your siege cannons.

The way we completed it and was very easy even doing the bonus. This was on my 5th try.

2 Pyros
4 Warriors
2 monks

We split up into two teams. 2 warriors body blocked each gate and each side had 1 monk and 1 pyro. The Pyros manned the ballistas and sent AOE down on the mobs once they got to the gate. Monks roamed back and fourth healing and running the other ballistas.

I don't think anyone died.