Beginner dungeons?

I'm trying to understand all these dungeons and such... I read about them on the Wiki, see them mentioned here, watch people offering "runs" to/through them. I've peeked inside a couple... from Temple of the Ages, and the one at Tomb of Primeval Kings. Obviously, I die fast. LOL

I've been slowly working on acquiring some of the elite skills... some of them are still out of my reach as I haven't progressed far enough in the Nightfall/Factions story lines yet, but I do look at builds people suggest, and I do go try and capture skills I think I'm capable of grabbing (or have access to the area already).

My main focus right now is on EotN and WiK, as I'm having a LOT of fun with those two storylines. Killing White Mantle is almost as satisfying as killing charr... and I love that EotN provides a great deal of charr fodder for me. LOL

Doesn't mean I'm not really curious about those dungeons... doesn't mean I'd like to find my first ecto... heck, I'd like to find my first GREEN item for that matter!!

But the dungeons seem very intimidating... so where does one start getting their feet wet with dungeon crawling? I was just reading up on Shards of Orr... didn't one of my Asuran quests lead me through part of that? Is that then a good one to start with in terms of completing it as a full dungeon? Or Cathedral of Flames in the whole charr storyline?

I'd just like to know where beginners go to wade into the dungeon pool?

Thanks for your input in advance.

In general, FoW is one of the easiest elite areas to handle for most any player. I think you'd do best to read the walk throughs on some of the wikis and see what you feel like you can handle. EotN dungeons aren't horrendously hard either. There's a couple that are a bear in HM, but NM isn't too bad. Most of them can be H/H'ed. FoW/UW/Deep/Urgoz/DoA can't easily be H/H'ed because of the lack of henchmen and the limitation to just three heroes. There are some farming builds for certain areas of elite maps that use just the player and 1-3 heroes, but you need experience to really do well with those builds. You're best off playing through the game and getting familiar with your character and the gameplay before trying out one of those specialized farming builds.

Raven's Point
Sepulchre of Dragrimmar
Darkrime Delves
Bloodstone Caves
Oola's Lab

Are all pretty much easy. Look over wiki at whats in each.

Fow is great for an elite area. But as a beginer I would rather start with an area that won't kick you out for one slip up (i.e. letting the griffons die)

If you have well-equipped heroes and a decent player build, you can H/H many of the dungeons. Cathedral of Flames is not overly difficult for a first time. You simply need to be cautious and pull carefully when there are multiple groups; take time to watch patrol patterns and skip areas when possible. Another easy one is Secret Lair of the Snowmen. The hardest part is gathering the map pieces. Shards of Orr takes a specialized team build to cope with all the undead, but is easily doable with two players and H/H. ArenaNet has made sure that almost all content can be completed by the average player.

I'm only just getting my feet wet with dungeons/elite areas, too.

I agree that the EotN dungeons are the best place to get a taste. I recently did Bogroot Growths (NM) when one of the bosses was the Zaishen. It was incredibly easy to H/H.

Congrats on starting into dungeon crawling. eotn is full of dungeons. If you've played through the full eotn storyline you should be familiar with how some might work through the regular questline.

Most of the dungeons require knowledge of basic gameplay concepts like using the environment and not over-aggroing groups, as many of the dungeons have groups placed closely together and it's easy to get overwhelmed. Once you learn this bit, the rest should come to you by taking your time through each area.

The thing I'd suggest is watching how the enemy nocs behave and if they are using skills or tactics you're finding difficult to overcome, it might mean you need to acquire a different skill layout before attacking the area again.

Each dungeon usually has a trick to it which might require bringing some particular skill or might be easier with one profession in your party over another.

The dungeons mentioned above are a good example. Make sure you bring the Master Dungeon Guide in your inventory and build up reputation points as these will improve the attributes of skills you acquire in eotn from asura, norn, ebon and deldrimor factions. Some of these skills make builds far more effective.

Of course if you get stuck, there's loads of information about each dungeon on the wiki. But I find it most enjoyable to play through the dungeon without this at first

Thanks so much for all the great advice... I think I'm going to try my hand at Raven's Point first. I feel pretty confident about my ability to deal with Destroyers, at least based on my interactions with them so far. They're not quite as awesome as charr, but close. "...and they made a very satisfying *thump* when they hit the floor." ~G'kar

I don't play much anymore and am mostly powertrading, but if you need someone to have a fun hour with and take some pointers running around a dungeon give me a shout through PM. Goes for anyone in this thread who'd like to have a first stab at a dungeon or something

IGN: Kan Ook

The end-boss for Raven's Point, Plague of Destruction, is the Zaishen bounty on the 10th, so maybe leave it a couple of days and get the extra rewards from your efforts?
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Plagu...ishen_quest%29

If you simply follow the primary quest line in EotN you will enter several dungeons, such as Oola's Lab, along the way.

Those tend to be dumbed down versions of the dungeons. Like oola's that you mention...it is similar to the dungeon...except without the end boss and what not. Same with the trip in dd. The only one truely accurate is Hos.

Except for different end boss with Oozes

Here in Guild Wars, the word "dungeons" is used in a couple different ways. I want to clarify a bit for you:

-------------------------------------

"Elite Areas" are what we used as dungons before Eye of the North came out. These are:
- Domain of Anguish (Nightfall)
- Underworld (core)
- Fissure of Woe (core)
- Urgoz's Lair (Factions)
- The Deep (Factions)
- Sorrow's Furnace (Prophecies)
- Tomb of the Primeval Kings (Prophecies)

These elite areas (except Sorrow's Furnace) most usually require a special kind of team build to work properly, since they all have unique challenges that your regular builds may not be able to overcome.


-------------------------------------

In Eye of the North there are 18 "Dungeons" which are chained instances that have multiple "levels" and which feature "endbosses." When you kill the endboss, a chest appears which gives every party member a bit of loot to take home.

If you want to do one of these dungeons, you'll want to make sure you have two things first:
1. The dungeon's activation quest in your questlong
2. A Master Dungeon's Guide in your inventory

Here's the big list of these dungeons. It has links to all the NPCs that give the dungeon's activation quests, links to the wiki pages for each dungon, and (most importantly) a darn list of all of their NAMES, haha! I think you'll find it very useful.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Dungeon

Here's a link to info on the Master Dungeon Guide. Just keep it in your inventory for extra bonus loot/rep. Remember there's a different version for normal and hard modes. The book doesn't list the darn names of the dungeons until you complete them, though, so keep the list above handy!
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Master_Dungeon_Guide

-------------------------------------

Enjoy, and have fun!

And if you understand how to play the builds and employ appropriate techniques (like pulling and pre-protting) you can H/H them all in HM without consumables. The trick with dungeons is identifying the threat and addressing it. Dungeons are themed, so you know what you're going up against (even more so if you read up on Wiki first). If you're going into Raven's Point (with Destroyers), avoid fire damage where possible. If you're going into Shards of Orr, you're going to need a lot of damage mitigation and condition removal. Holy damage would be good too.

As for the easiest dungeon, I'd go for Bloodstone Caves. Doable in about 30 mins in HM without rushing.

Just wanted to update everyone since you gave me such insightful advice...

I've been doing Raven's Point and Oola's Lab - just repeating both of them several times. I find them both VERY easy. I read up on both places, read up on the foes, and planned two builds (one for each) based on what it seemed I'd need. Had lots of fun uncovering the hidden treasures/ghostly allies, even if the Wiki tells you right where they are. LOL

I also took another peek into ToPK. I'd done some reading up on how others use their elementalists there, played around with a few builds I saw, added my own tweaks. I actually made it through the first two areas, which surprised the heck out of me. Then my necro's bonies had to go and aggro a big group of nasties, and we wiped. LOL But it was FUN anyway!

I deliberately picked Raven's Point and Oola's Lab because a) they seemed fairly easy from what I'd read and b) they would force me to use two different approaches AND two different H/H teams. My necro rocks as a minion master, but he's useless in Oola's Lab for obvious reasons. Raven's Point is a nice mix of fleshy/non-fleshy, so it forces me to remember I can't rely on his bonies all the time... I have to be able to still kick butt when he's got nothing to offer.

I also found my first green item!!! It's just the Bonehewer axe, but still... it was pretty exciting for me. I actually got it on the way to Oola's Lab entrance. LOL

I'll probably do these for a few more times and then try something new from the list. I really appreciate all the advice you offered here... I'm definitely finding my attempts at dungeon crawling VERY enjoyable so far!

Since you're new to dungeon crawling, i highly recommend the Hidden Lair of the Snowmen.

You can find the start point within Umbral's Grotto. You'll just need to collect the 4 map pieces before you can enter, or you can enter the dungeon with someone else that already has the map. (Hit up your guildies or friends ingame for map pieces. Many players have multiple copies and we don't mind giving them away for free)

This is considered the easiest dungeon BY FAR. It's a simple fun beginner dungeon with simple fun rewards from the end chest. Don't let the Difficulty Master tag scare you. I have no idea how it earned that rating.

I second the recommendation of Secret Lair of the Snowmen. If you're going to be doing a dungeon multiple times before moving on, you might as well get a boatload of Deldrimor points at the same time.

It's probably one of the easiest to do in HM, too, for when you want to start experiencing that.

Perhaps I'm just a slow learner, but it's taken me awhile to get use to Guild Wars weapon grades. Don't assume that greenies are the best. As far as I know, they cannot be modified to suit your build. My first ranger completed Prophesies with a blue bow. My Rt is carrying green, but I wouldn't hesitate to swap them for gold if I got the right drop. (funny how few Rt drops I get) I have several green weapons taking up room in storage for no particular reason while my other character carries gold weapons modified to suit her needs.

btw - you will also find that gold and purple items you don't need will vendor for much more money than green items you don't need.