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Caer Sidi Guide

Caer Sidi Karte

This is a guide to successfully navigating Caer Sidi, and defeating its fearsome keeper. In this guide, you will find general strategies for survival, as well as a detailed walkthrough of the dungeon and the enemies you will face. The goal of this guide is to properly equip anyone to LEAD a successful raid into Caer Sidi, if they wished to do so.

Overview of Sidi:

Between the entrance of Sidi, and Apoc’s chamber, there are a series of ten locked doors. For each door, there is a corresponding named Mob. When key mob 1 is killed, door 1 opens, allowing key mob 2 to be killed, etc. Past door ten is Apoc’s hall, and the four horsemen. In Apoc’s chamber, there are four horsemen. The horsemen are very unique, very high level mobs, which fight you one at a time, with a one minute break between each encounter. After the four horsemen are slain, Apoc arrives for the final showdown.

General Strategy:

There are two very important rules of thumb to follow when raiding Sidi:

1. The ULTIMATE strategy to beating Caer Sidi is to BRING A LOT OF PEOPLE. The code in Daoc is tweaked so that when more people are attacking an Epic mob (70+) it is significantly debuffed. Mages on my raids nuke 70+ mobs for anywhere from 15-1500 damage, depending on how many people are attacking it. Epic mobs are SIGNIFICANTLY easier to take down when there are a lot of people attacking it.

2. Kill all the normal mobs in an area before attacking the named mob. In Sidi, ADDS KILL YOU. It’s not the level 80+ epics mobs that are really so bad, it’s the level 70+ mobs that bring a dozen of their 70+ friends that hurt. The named mobs in Sidi have advanced AI’s. Some kite. Some cannot be pulled. Some spawn several high level adds when you attack them. ALL OF THEM will baf ALL the mobs in the area, unless you kill the mobs first.

Now, with these two general rules in mind, most of the named mobs in Caer Sidi are scripted, and using specific strategies, can be defeated very easily. On one particular raid of mine, a mere 30 people were able to reach the Host, key mob #9. Some named mobs CANNOT be defeated unless they are attacked in a certain way. The next section of the guide will cover these strategies

The Key Mobs of Caer Sidi:

The Tower:

Technically, the tower isn’t a key mob, but it is one of the hardest fights of your raid: Getting everyone in. ALL the monsters in Caer Sidi are on a 8-12 hour respawn timer, so once a person is in, they can die, ld, get lost, and it doesn’t matter, they can be easily reazzed and caught up.

The lichs on the ramp up the tower are high level (some are red to 50’s, most are purple) and they respawn VERY quickly. It’s very easy to get split up as half your raid charges up the tower and the other half fight lichs that spawn behind them. And while this is happening people will inevitably died, ld, or fall off the tower. All these things can get a raid off to a bad start if they aren’t dealth with properly. Many raids will have a few groups of people move up the tower behind the main force, and make sure everyone makes it up the tower. This was harder to do before 1.60, and 200 person cg’s, but I would say it’s probably the best solution now.

Key Mob #1: Skeletal Saoristan

This key mob doesn’t actually fight you. When you attack him, he will run away, and agro EVERY mob in area on you. He’s easy if you clear all the mobs in the area before going after him, but he can also be an early wipeout if you don’t.

Key Mob #2: The Spectral Provisioner

This key mob is a lot like the last: When you attack him, he will run away, and aggro the mobs in the area on you. Unlike the skeleton, however, the provisioner will run through walls, and drop ‘sacks of decaying junk’ in your inventory. These sacks will encumber you to stop your chase, just destroy them to get moving again.

Key Mob #3: Lich Lord Ilron

The Lich Lord isn’t that tough if you know what to expect, but is a lot more difficult than the last two key mobs. Of course, pull everything you can before you pull the Lord himself. When you pull him, he will spawn a number of images. Ignore them, and kill the ‘real one,’ the images will die when he does. When you start attacking him, he will also cast a very power pbaoe mesmerize spell, so make sure to warn, and have your anti-cc ready.

Key Mob #4: Warlord Dorinakka

This is a straight melee fight. Pull all the mobs in his room before you pull the big guy himself, and then beat him down. He will parry a lot, so tell your melees to get behind him.

Key Mob #6: Bane of Hope

Where’d key mob 5 go??? You’ll fight him next, kill the Bane of Hope first. The Silencer, key mob 5, will teleport people in your raid to a pool of water where a number of very high level mobs are spawned. You need to clear these mobs before you take him on, so I recommend just killing the bane of hope so your raid doesn’t think you’re lost ;-)

The actual fight with the Bane is very easy, he’s one of the easiest key mobs in Sidi. When he gets low on health he will teleport of a number of different locations, which can be annoying, but not threatening. If you get your force together, and charge him all at once, he can usually be killed before he has a chance to teleport.

Key Mob #5: Silencer

This is a very unique key mob. He will adapt his resistances to what people are using to fight against him. If someone uses the damage type he has adapted to (for example, slash), he teleports all those people using it to the pool you hopefully cleared on the way to the key mob 6. If you don’t have a lot of people, this fight can take a while, but at worst you will come to a stalemate with him.

Key Mob #7: Lord Sanguis

Lord Sanguis will is a mage who spawns blood mages to attack you. Once you kill him, several blood mages spawn, and he will come back as Lich Lord Sanguis. You can’t target the Lich Lord using the ‘target nearest enemy’ key, but that’s just about the only exceptional thing about him. He will parry a lot, so tell your melees to get behind him. He is vulnerable to crush and thrust, but very resistant to slash and most magic types.

Key Mob #8: The Crypt Lord

This key mob isn’t that difficult himself, but the mobs that come with him are vicious. The Crypt lord will patrol the four rooms south of the spiral staircase, and BAF ALL the mobs in ALL of those rooms when he is attacked. Taking down the Crypt Lord requires some precision pulling, as the Cyrpt Lord himself can baf when a normal mob near him is attacked. Have your puller wait for him to patrol out of a room before pulling from it. I usually have my main force stand on the staircase before his lair, and pull everything to there.

Key Mob #9: The Soul Reckoner

The Soul Reckoner is a lot like the Crypt Lord in that he will BAF all the mobs in the area when you attack him…but he is a LOT easier, because he will not BAF himself when mobs near him are attacked. This makes clearing the mobs a lot easier. I usually just drive my raid around the north U-turn and attack the Soul Reckoner from the North entrance to his room.

The Soul Reckoner himself is surrounded by Reckoned Souls which must be killed before the Reckoner himself can be damaged. The Soul Reckoner will regain a significant amount of life when he kills someone, like legion, so try and keep your people alive!

If you can’t damage the reckoner (he ‘brushes off’ your attack) there are two possibilities:

1. He is out of his lair. The Soul Reckoner has a lair he cannot leave, and if you attack him at the boundery of this area, you will not be able to damage him. Pull him back into the middle of the room.

2. ?. On a number of occasions, I have been unable to damage the reckoner for no apparent reason. My best guess, based on my experience, is that ALL the mobs in the area must be dead before he becomes vulnerable. You will receive a message ‘the Soul Reckoner flickers briefly’ when he becomes vulnerable. If you can’t damage him, pull your raid back, take a break, and go charge again. Sometimes I’ve had to do this a couple times before he would become vulnerable.

Key Mob #10: The Host

The Host is by far the hardest Key Mob, and in my experience, harder than even the horsemen that follow him. He wouldn’t really be so hard if his pathing wasn’t so buggy. A good illustration of this can be found in the following picture:

This is a screenshot of the staircase leading up to the Host. The Host is a patrolling mob, like the Crypt Lord, but currently the Host’s patrol path takes him all over the place, even into the staircase. This kind of pathing is VERY dangerous when combined with his enormous BAF factor. On my first raid into Sidi that reached the Host, someone in a full group wandered of the staircase, and unknowingly aggroed the Host. When the Host aggroed someone in a full group, he decided he needed to bring the other 20 lvl 70+ mobs in the area, and wiped out our raid before we even knew he was there. On other occasions the Host has fallen through the floor onto my raid below, or he’s just been in weird, unexpected spots. Use a lot of caution when approaching the Host, and having a rezzer log probably isn’t a bad idea.

The Host himself is actually several different mobs all named ‘Host.’ Each mob is very powerful, but when one is killed they all die. Like the rest of Sidi, using assists here is critical. If you can get the Host by himself, he is fairly easy to take down…on one occasion my raid of a mere 30 got him down to 20%. Getting him by himself is the hard part, however.

Because his patrol path takes him through the staircase leading to his floor; Moving your raid to the floor above and fighting him there is not an option. I have had a lot of success grouping with a solo scout, pulling the Host, and sos’ing us down the floor below. The staircase is very long, and without SOS, the Host will kill the puller before he makes it down. The most critical thing here is to make sure that the Host does NOT initially aggro someone in a full group—If he does, all hell will be brought down on your raid.

The Horsemen:

I could write a section for each horseman, but the general strategy is really the same for each: Kill the horse, then the adds, then the horseman. The horse has to be killed before the horseman, so I take him down first. Some people think it’s better to ignore the adds, but I disagree.

Here’s a quick run through of what to expect from each horseman:

Fames:

He doesn’t bring any adds or do anything special, it’s a straight melee fight.

Bellum:

Bellum spawns a number of flying weapons that attack you. Some of them share health (i.e., there’s 20 weapons, and weapon x,y, and z all share the same health, so when one is attacked, they all take damage, and die together) , so kill the horse, then use assists to take down the weapons, and kill the horseman

Morbus:

Morbus spawns a number of bugs that attack you, like the weapons. These ones don’t share health, so he is harder. Just use effective assists, and take em down one at a time.

Funus:

I’m sure you’ve heard about this horseman…because only clerics can damage him, anyone else who attacks him HEALS HIM! He has VERY few hp’s, but he is healed for a LOT by non-clerics who attack him. The key to beating him is just to get all the non-clerics off of him, and he’ll go down in a few seconds.

Apocolypse:

I have never beaten Apoc. Before 1.59, Apoc could be defeated with maybe 70 people, using solid tactics. Since 1.59, I don’t think he has been killed on any server, and I don’t see him being killed with any fewer than 150 people…2-3x more people than are required to beat the horsemen. Bringing an Apoc size force into Sidi isn’t worth it, unless you are just there to kill Apoc. Every raid I’ve lead into Sidi since 1.59 has quickly and easily gotten to, and killed the horsemen, then gotten wiped out my Apoc.

Post 1.59, using good tactic, I have not gotten Apoc below 98% with 100 people.

Now, if you’re a daring raid leader who is really gunning to take him down, here’s a few things:

For Apoc, you will either have enough people to kill him, or you won’t. The tactics you use really won’t be that much of an issue…it’s sad, but that’s how it is. That said, a few things are important

1. Keep your people rezzed- Apoc will melee down your people, and rain fire from the sky. He doesn’t kill everyone at once like the dragon, so keeping people up is easy, you just have to do it

2. Pet spam- Apoc is a VERY high level mob, and you need 70 things (players or pets) attacking it just to HIT him, let alone do damage. In daoc, an epic mob is debuffed SIGNIFICANTLY when there are a lot of people attacking it. In order for your people to hit Apoc and do damage, you need everyone on him. I would try to coordinate fire and pet spam…have your theurgists send ALL their pets in, and have your dd casters use ALL their power in one shot, then rest, and do it again a few minutes later. In between keep all your people on him to stop him from regening

3. Avoid his parry- in 1.59, Apoc got a shiny new sword that he uses to parry MOST of the melee attacks coming at his front side. Your casters are the only people who really damage Apoc—your tanks just debuff him by attacking him—so this isn’t critical, but everything helps.

4. Kill his adds- Apoc will spawn some harbringers of fate hit almost as hard as he does. Use assists and take these down when they pop up. If you have enough people there to kill Apoc, these things should be a joke.

5. Necro debuffs- Honestly, I don’t know how effective these really are, since there are all of five level 50 necros on my server, and they are never on my raids. The Albion encounter TL, salaris, says that they are very important though.

Recommended Raid Formation:

Raiding Sidi is a big task, and to be raided it successfully, requires competent leaders. Notice the plural. Raiding Sidi is a big task, and it can overwhelm even the best leader if he tries to do everything himself. Here are some roles I recommend using to break down raid leadership:

Puller:

This person does all the pulling for the raid. He drives the raid, decides when people are ready to move, to rest, or pull. He is, in the most direct sense, the raid’s leader. Grouping the puller with a solo minstrel is highly advised. Being in a group with 1 other person won’t bring addition mobs on a pull, but significantly speeds up the pulling process. Being a minstrel, I group with the raid’s puller. This also allows for a convenient communication between myself and the raid’s puller only.

Crowd Control:

This is the raid’s ‘leader.’ This is the role I occupy in my raids. This person follows a short distance behind the raid’s puller, and has the most important job in the raid: Keeping everyone together. Everyone on the raid, other than the puller, should be behind this person at all times. To keep people together and behind me, I spam a /yell macro so people can follow it’s direction. I also wear a cute purple robe and constantly jump so I’m easy to see

Zen of the Zerg:

Successfully raiding Caer Sidi requires organizing a LOT of people to do things as a TEAM. A group of players this size begin to acquire certain attributes that leaders MUST understand in order to be effective.

In a raid of this size the vast majority of people won’t have a clue what’s going on. They are casual players who just don’t put in the effort to understand what’s happening, and choose not to be aware of their surroundings. They will attacks mobs that are close to them, and they will wander off for no reason. They will destroy your raid if you are not careful, and they make up 90% of daoc’s userbase. You NEED these people to be successful, since they are such a significant portion of daoc’s user base.

There are two theories for how to deal with this problem

1. Educate: Communicate with your raid as much as possible. Make sure that everyone hears you, and is as aware of what’s going on as possible. In the end, this approach is VERY difficult, and VERY rewarding. It results in a raid that runs itself, creating a leader out of every participant. In it’s perfection is success there is beauty and enjoyment. In anything but perfection it is complete failure.

This approach becomes harder with each person that comes on the raid, because it is one more person you need to teach. This approach becomes simply unworkable once the raid reaches a certain size.

2. Herd: Communicate with the masses as little as possible. Tell them want they WANT to hear, and what they NEED to hear for the raid to succeed. This approach works, but it never gets any easier. People don’t learn, and you are the raid’s perpetual babysitter.

This style does not become harder on larger, more complicated raids.

Example:

Some people in your raid are wandering too close to mobs that need to be solo pulled. If they get agro while in a full group, the mobs will baf and wipeout your raid. What do you do?

Approach #1:

Tell people in advance that mobs in Sidi baf like crazy, and if you pull a mob or it aggros you, you could wipeout the raid. If people start wandering near mobs, stop the raid, and explain again why wandering into mobs is bad. Stop the raid every time this happens until people get it.

Approach #2:

Vacca: MOVE BACK NOW

Vacca: MOVE BACK NO

Repeat the above until people back up. Make a macro, you’re going to need it.

Vacca’s Comprimise:

Primarily use approach #2. Educate people who want to learn. If someone asks ‘why do we need to back up?’ tell them. Make sure they understand. In my experience, trying to make every raid participant into a completely aware raid leader is a futile goal. I try to make leaders out of as many people as I can and time permits. These people will help you herd the zerg, and make leaders out of others.

I’ve lead about a Sidi dozen raids on Percy now, and the difference between my first and last raid was pleasantly drastic. People were doing what they needed to do, even if they didn’t know why, because most of them had done it before. Because I didn’t have to spend time herding people, was free to explain to people why we did things that way. Why we killed normal mobs before named mobs, why we had a solo puller. I could teach on cruise control, without stopping the raid.

Most leaders, however, do not have the luxury of running a dozen identical, consecutive raids.

Finding Your Style:

If you’re reading this, then you probably know a lot about your leadership style already. Some people are born educators. They take as much joy in creating better players as running a successful raid.

Some people just want to get the job done.

No style is wrong or right, and all are effective in their own ways, for different leaders, for different situations.

Vielen Dank an Mad Cow für diesen Guide.