Rime Hound, in The Icy Guardian

cryshal · January 2014

I'm level 50 Hunter/Ranger, and my Neverwinter Guard is level 20. I've tried for two levels to beat the Rime Hound. I made one level doing Foundry quests. I'm wearing all blue gear except bow and cloak are purple. I play solo and I'm not in a guild, for time restriction reasons.

Can anyone please give me tips on how I can advance if I can't kill the Rime Hound? Do I have to finish that quest to go on to the next quest?

kevinc55 · January 2014

With some bosses, you really need a partner (pref. one with complementary skills to beat them without using tons of potions and injury kits. Best bet for you is wait till you see a GWF come along and ask if you can go through with them. Good luck!

rhoric · January 2014

Don't enter the large area. Pull the two winter wolves into the small area. Kill them then advance slowly into the open area to trigger the cutscene. then when the rime wolf comes out, shoot him from range but don't go further in and let your companion tank him. when your companion dies, you can pull the rime wolf into the small area where you started. just kite him. dropping split the sky and thorn ward down in between his attacks. I did this on two rangers so it is doable.

ironzerg79 · January 2014

There's a hole in the side of the room just before the Hound. Pull her back into that first room, knock her back off the ledge. One shot. One kill.

endocin · January 2014

As above if HR have knock back

kurtb88 · January 2014

I did it on my lvl 50 Ranger. I had a lvl 15 Cleric companion. I kited as much as possible using split shot and thorn ward . I used lots of HP pots because you really cannot stop Rime Hound from charging in and biting. As long as you keep kiting and stay away from any red zones made by the adds you should eventually kill the beast.

Don't forget to use your encounter powers and daily when ever they are up.

Use the one Encounter power that lets you retreat 50 meters away, its great for getting you out of sticky spots.

charononus · January 2014

In addition if you can time it right as soon as she starts an ice breath animation pop rain of arrows on her head then dodge.

bioshrike · January 2014

The Rime Hound is probably *the* only boss I have trouble with while leveling up. I'll usually ask for help in zone chat, in order to get me through.

trapublican · January 2014

I've never understood how people have trouble fighting him. He only has one attack that does high damage and he telegraphs the hell out of it while the adds do no real damage and die quickly if you decide to target them. The method rhoric posted works if you can't handle the adds but I've seen people who still couldn't kill him that way which gave me a good laugh.

arabatur · January 2014

I just lure the mob on to the traps in an early room. This works for all characters.

trterror1 · January 2014

trapublican wrote: »

I've never understood how people have trouble fighting him. He only has one attack that does high damage and he telegraphs the hell out of it while the adds do no real damage and die quickly if you decide to target them. The method rhoric posted works if you can't handle the adds but I've seen people who still couldn't kill him that way which gave me a good laugh.

The adds dont do damage but they can stunlock you. then the rimhound kills you or you are very close to death.

diedel443 · January 2014

trterror1 wrote: »

The adds dont do damage but they can stunlock you. then the rimhound kills you or you are very close to death.

The adds do damage, at least the first 2 have the regular frost breath that hits you for 2.5k. Than you have the main mob that will hit you for 2.5-3k White damage (on a GWF) plus that huge AOE for 5-8k. The boss is just one of the many examples of encounters that are set in a nicely done area, but utterly horribly designed, sadly something that cryptic is great at. Most of the Little single Player dungeons are badly balanced, but as long as the cash is coming in there probably won't be any fixes to all those broken parts of the game.

I honestly have no idea how people from the EU do epic dungeons, even regular Mobs have tons of abilities that are nearly unavoidable with the great "one Server" concept as it is, can't be easy if everthing will instantly kil you.

nwnghost · January 2014

Pretty much every character can just push the Rimehound off the ledge.

HR can use Seismic Shot for that.

Other classes have powers like Sunburst, Repel, Roar, Bull Charge, Impact Shot

pitshade · January 2014

I soloed it twice recently with a WK rogue and a AC cleric. To be fair, both had the unleveled purple weapon sets that drop in lockboxes. For the rogue, I tried to stay in stealth as much as possible and keep everything tagged with Disheartening Strike, used Shadowstrike and Bait and Switch as much as possible, plus Lurker's Assault. For the cleric, I used Daunting Light, Divine Glow and Sunburst, just tried to dodge a lot. In all cases, kill the adds first.

As far as leveling up, that doesn't do much good. I made that mistake with my first rogue. Better strategy rather than grinding levels. If you still have trouble, definitely consider using zone chat to find a partner. Icespire is the first zone that people really start trying to team up for the dungeons. You can usually find someone pretty quick.

rhoric · January 2014

I had a GF on another account that I couldn't do this boss. I ended up teaming with a DC. While the DC was dealing with the adds, I was burning down the boss.

Doing it the way I made in my other post avoids the adds coming out.

bendalek · January 2014

rhoric wrote: »

I had a GF on another account that I couldn't do this boss. I ended up teaming with a DC. While the DC was dealing with the adds, I was burning down the boss.

Doing it the way I made in my other post avoids the adds coming out.

But then where is the sense of accomplishment? With each new toon I've created, it's taken a while to learn the skills and tactics for each type of enemy and Boss ... With my GF, I just tanked and wore it down, with my GWF, I just kept mobile, used Roar for the interrupt, and then just beat it down ... my HR = Kite, Kite ... KITE! the HR's most outstanding feature, IMHO, is there fantastic maneuverability, even better than the TR really, Just kite the boss and spam your dailies and encounters as much as possible and use Split Shot, making sure to position and target properly to always be hitting as many adds and the Boss at all times ... And STAY MOBILE ... Half the time, I ignore the boss altogether and just Kite/Split shot the adds, get into a rhythm or move, shoot, move, shoot, and suddenly the Chest is glowing and the Objective Complete text appears ...

Was it a tough fight? Hell yes! But the sense of satisfaction you get when you beat a boss Solo is magical ... I've paired up several times in the past with several different combinations and in all honestly it took all the real fun out of the game ... My GWF teamed up with a DC, and we did the whole Pirate Map in about 10 mins ... And really, it was boring ...

And don't forget, YOU CAN'T DIE! Their is no negative consequences to failing to kill a boss the first time ... If you fall, you'll just be teleported back to the start, it's a PITA, but that's it ... Learn from your mistakes, swap powers, quaff some buff potions and try again ... You won't regret it ..

angrysprite · January 2014

bendalek wrote: »

Their is no negative consequences to failing to kill a boss the first time ... If you fall, you'll just be teleported back to the start, it's a PITA, but that's it ... Learn from your mistakes, swap powers, quaff some buff potions and try again ... You won't regret it ..

Actually, this is a misnomer: there IS a consequence: time. It can take 40 minutes to an hour to make one's way through a boss instance (I like to explore at an even pace). Then if "killed" during the boss fight, you are teleported back to the camp fire. I don't mind running aaallllll the way back to the boss. The problem is that the boss now has full health again and it's as though the first fight never occurred.

Hence, the first ten minutes of boss fight, plus three minutes of campfire time are laid waste. You get to start all over again. The only answers to this are resurrection scrolls and Stones of Health. It's fortunate that these are selling for the equivalent of about $2 in the auction house.

I remember this boss when I leveled my DC back in april or so (DC was still just nerfed) - I think I ended up just giving up on this one and moving on. There are definitely some real combat-balance issues through the entire game (I'm referring to solo-play instanced quests) - where some bosses are a cakewalk and others are near-impossible to defeat on many race/class combinations (or something).

OH, and to be clear: I agree with the commenter I am quoting above with regard to the thrill of victory: it really is a huge sense of accomplishment when (if) you manage to defeat the really tough ones.

#justsaying

jarebla1051 · January 2014

Like the OP time restrictions have me playing solo and I've put 4 L60s thru this Beast. 2 TRs a DC and CW.

My first experience a TR, took 5-7 runs to complete it. As others have mentioned staying mobile is a MUST.

When NW was first released many players had difficulty with the "Hound", the forum was full of suggestions, one of the best spoke of places in the outer room where a player could "perch" to survive and succeed. If memory serves me, the Devs even changed the outer room to minimize that. Some still exist.

Every time I'm on the mountain, a player is asking for an assist, you are not alone OP.

Knowing what to expect, I play the "Hound" different now. Again, "Mobility" is a MUST.

My personal "Boss" that always gives me trouble? The "ScaleFather", my GWF is stuck there right now, but another story for another campfire.

pitshade · January 2014

Scalefather's adds have been nerfed twice and he's still a challenge. But it's the same tactics you'll use on the rime hound. Stay mobile, focus the adds. Those two, Scoundrel's Retreat and the second and third dungeons of Hotenow are my least favorite. Actually, for Fireguard Fortress, the boss fight isn't so bad, it's the two magma brutes and the giant you have to fight on the way. Small area to fight in and lots of AOE are a real headache.

thestaggy · January 2014

The hardest crypt in the worst map, in my opinion. As a tank this was the first and last thing to kill me in my solo run from 1 - 60.

stercogburn · January 2014

Used to find this hard. Solo'd it twice in the last couple of weeks on different alts.

You can pull the initial adds without agro'ing the boss. Tank can taunt, ranged can... well... do their ranged thing. Tank actually has a slight advantage here as taunt won't set off your companion hurling itself into the fight, the companion will wait for the mobs to come to you.

Don't go into the boss cave, fight at the entrance or in the room there. When the adds are dead, pull the boss. Again, fight him in the previous room, not the boss cave. The next set of adds will still spawn but you have a good chance you won't agro them if you do it right.

Be careful not to get knocked off the cliff that's on the left side of the room. Other than that, its a piece of cake.

Hope this helps

fhelstag · January 2014

After doing the best combat dance I could with my hunter ranger, I finally got him down after dying about 10 times, and then made my way back to the Final room, and to my horror I saw that he was there again. Anybody else run into this problem?

jarebla1051 · January 2014

Not that way! I'd be p****d

With my DC I did lure the "Hound ' to a ledge. The "Hound" charged, I dodged, the "Hound" went down into a hole in the terrain unable to get out.

With the "Hound" trapped I threw everything I had, surprisingly the still alive "Hound" was able to attack. I did get the "W" and for my troubles, I got no reward, no XP, no completion.

My one and only do-over.

sphecida · January 2014

I just tried this on my level 48 Hunter Ranger today and died twice because (don't laugh!) I fell off the d*mned ledge backing up for a shot. I don't have a knockback to push her off, and she didn't seem willing to conveniently slip and kill herself, so I brought her into the snowy room with the four traps, switched from the incredibly slow powerful shot thing I usually use to rapid shot, then simply ran around rapid-shotting her until she was dead.

Also, the fawn is the best companion ever. Worth all the other companions combined, even at level 20. She doesn't sit around and stare into space like the others.

ladymythos · January 2014

I fought the final boss in Diablo 3 for nearly 20 minutes straight before he was soooooo close to dying, then I died. After that, I usually just team up for difficult bosses.

Fighting a challenging boss once or twice is fun, but getting stuck there is not. We have multiplayer for a reason, so why not use it?

Rime Hound, in The Icy Guardian

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