Welkin Castle

Level: 50+
Location: T (party queue),  Welkin Castle, Lunagrant Woodlands
Late entry: yes

Welkin Castle is an instance that you get once you reach lv50 -- but it is very difficult to run at 50. You are best off to run it with at least two 70+, three if you can get them. This is a full party run unless you have the majority 70+. And it is a very good idea to have at least one party member that can revive.

This is a run on the mentor list, so if you can get a recruit, do it. Also, I have been in parties that have had success at multiple scrolls, so get all the lowbies to get a recruit order.

You can queue or manually enter this instance. AND this is an instance that you can late enter. I was in one run that had a total of 11 different people run it since we kept losing people and bringing new people in. If a player dies a lot during the run, they can leave, fix their gear, and hop back in. Handy.

Once inside, start by sharing buffs and using any sort of special potions and whatnot that you want to use.

You will go up a hill past someone offering a quest to save Sibil. Sibil is a lost cause. Skip it unless you have a bunch of high levels that are willing to putz around.*

If you have at least three very high levels, or a couple high levels and most people in their upper 60s, you might be able to rush straight to each boss without worrying about tactics too much. For you, you need no guide. However, if you are leaning hard on lowbies, I would suggest using the following techniques.

Take it slow and kill small bunches as you work your way up to the first boss. Tank and spank her with the high levels and have the low levels concentrate on the fishkins that will attack.

Once she is finished you will have a gauntlet to run to the next boss. Everyone should fill up hp and mana before heading up. Put your pets away - they will hold mob attention at the top while you are trying to hide and could rat you out. Have the tank lead. You will run through, do not stop to fight. Run up the hill and up the stairs on the right to a large portico. Once you hit the top of the hill, do not resurrect if you are a lowbie and you die; wait for a party member with revive to come get you. You do not want to run that hill by yourself. Constant death.**

Once you are at the top of the stairs, run into the corners. The mobs are dumb and will lose track of you if you hide in the corners - provided that they were not too close to you when you hid. Each corner will work. Have the tank run to the far corner while the rest hide in the first corner. The tank needs to be very careful to stay close to the wall on the right to avoid attracting the next boss who hangs out on the far left of the portico. The mobs should follow the tank leaving everyone else safe. As long as everyone else stays still in the first corner the mobs will lose interest and go back to their places down the hill. If the tank is dying but the mob is leaving everyone else alone, do not go to the tank - even if they die. Wait until the mob has dispersed then go revive the tank.

Once the mob has dispersed, it is safe to come out of the corners. Sometimes only some of the mob disperses and you will have to come out fighting. But a few fishkins and nagas are far better than a swarm. Once those are dispensed with, you can get ready for the Butcher. He will be similar to the first boss in difficulty, but it is very important that low levels NOT aoe; they may pull aggro which will get them killed fast. While the party is fighting him, it is very important that any low levels be very aware of their hp. If it dips below 1/2, they need to get back fast. Dying from this point on will not be an easy comeback.

Once he is dead, kill all the fishkins and nagas in the courtyard through the now open gate. Take them in small bunches to avoid needless party deaths.

Go up the stairs killing fishkins and nagas as you go. Stay to the left when you reach the top of the stairs. Kill the rest of the fishkins in this area. Have a long range attacker pull the fishkins near the Storm Witch one-by-one. Once all those are killed and everyone is prepared again, have everyone but the tank get far back. The tank will go get the witch's attention and then the party can find their places to fight. She stuns and runs around. She is not easy to fight, and just when you think you have her, she calls a large mob of fishkins to come help her. Once this happens, it may be best for the tanks to try to grab all attention and kill the fishkins first. Once her friends are all dead, she is nearly easy pickings.
 
Now it is on to Nudo and his lackeys. The party should climb onto the ledge that runs around the building that was directly behind the Storm Witch. Drop down as far left as you can. Nudo will be on the right. Nudo will have two helpers. If they are not present, one tactic to make them show is to send a pet in to aggro the boss. Another way is to have the tank rush Nudo. His helpers will appear at this point. The tank will then turn right and run along the terrace, back up the stairs that led to the Storm Witch, and back along the ledge to where the party is. By this time Nudo and his lackeys should have lost interest and gone back to hang out where you first saw him. If they haven't, the tank can just kite them until the first lackey is dead; then someone can pull the second lackey off the tank while they continue running the boss around.

Now you can have a long range attacker pull them one at a time - lackeys first. In fact, usually one of them comes back before Nudo and the other one, so have someone pull this one before the other two get back - your tank should be there in time to help out. Once his lackeys are gone, he is far more manageable.

If anyone dies at this point, they will not be able to get back if they resurrect as the gate closes again to this boss area. They must be alive to get the boss kill to count. SO, if you have people that need to resurrect, you can still get the count, and let them help, by pulling the boss over to the gate.

Once he is dead, pat yourselves on the back. Good job. Now if you are lucky, you will get a bonus boss. This boss has a slow kill debuff that you can dispell by stepping out of her cyclone. But I find it handy for getting back to the beginning when you are done :P Because once you are done, the exit is still right where you came in, and that is a long way down.


*Here's what someone in the forums had to say about the Sibil quest. Not sure if it is accurate: "Sibil runs up the center stairs and actually starts attacking the Butcher. I think this is a time event as she normally dies... I tried speaking to her to get her to follow me instead. That didn't work she was hell bent on protecting a crystal. The only thing I can say is kill the Butcher ASAP and hope she doesn't die. I'm not certain if she'd be willing to cooperate after the Butchers dead.... or runs off to be almighty yet again and try taking on something else."

UPDATE: I did finish the Sibil quest, and it is not really an easy one to complete. Sibil does run up to help fight The Butcher. Find her and kill any mobs attacking her. Once the Butcher is dead, Sibil will take off to find her sister; and when I say take off, I am not kidding. She runs right up walls and disappears to find something to kill. She generally reappears somewhere on the road that takes you up the hill from the first boss. You need to find her as soon as possible and escort her back  - basically you just follow her and make sure she doesn't die. She has attention issues so is hard to keep on task. Once she reappears on the road, she does seem to run back up the hill to the landing, so leaving part of your party there until she starts her way back down the hill is a good idea. I am not sure if it is best to kill all the mobs on the hill as you come up to keep Sibil from getting killed by them, or to leave at least a few to keep her traveling on the road down the hill -- I'm leaning toward the latter since this was the situation during my first successful run on this quest; she really wants to fight things and will disappear if there aren't enough things to keep her interested.  Help her kill anything that she wanders off to fight. You will need to do this all the way back to her sister. Once they reunite, there is a long back and forth and you fill the quest.

**Alternatively, you can just kill the mobs on the hill as you go. This is the best tactic if you are sure people will die at some point and you will not be able to revive them. If you do it this way, you don't need to use the corners as there won't be a huge mob on your tail.