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Rescue on Mount Arreat
Recommended Level: 28-33
Quest Given By: Qual-Kehk
Location: Frigid Highlands
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: Three Runes, Barbarian Hirelings
Main Objectives: Rescue the 15 Barbarians in the Frigid Highlands
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Preparations:
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| You'll be greeted by Eldritch and his bunch of Enslaved as soon as you try to explore the Frigid Highlands. |
From the previous mission, you should have already gotten the waypoint to Frigid Highlands. If you haven't already done so, go chat with Qual-Kehk. He'll give you your second quest, 'Rescue on Mount Arreat'. Now you're read to step through the waypoint for the some action.
Eldritch the Rectifier
As soon as you take a few steps forwards from the waypoint, you'll be greeted by Baal's charmless welcoming commision, a bunch of Enslaved led by Eldritch the Rectifier. These guys are not especially tough, but can deal hefty damage if they get you surrounded. I suggest that you quickly eliminate his minions via spells such as Iron Maiden or Glacial Spike, once that's done, Eldritch himself is fairly easy to deal with.
Avoid running back to the waypoint and taking it back to town, or you might find that during laggy games, you can get killed by the Enslaved before the game fully loads. If you really need to flee, create a town portal somewhere else.
Experience Tip:
To gain some fast experience, simply backtrack a few steps and kill Shenk the Overseer again. He and his minions offer good exp, as well as a bunch of gems and other goodies.
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| Missile attacks will become increasingly useful in prison sieges. Infernos have a limited range, hence so long as you shoot from a distance, you'll have no problem breaking through the Prison walls. |
The Search for the Barbarians:
The Frigid Highlands is a large area, similar in size to Black Marsh in Act III. Simply keep moving upwards, and stay in the middle of the area, while carefully monitoring your minimap for a bright, white Rectangle. This represents the 'prison cell' that your Barbarian friends are trapped within. You'll know you're near the first of such cells when you hit an enemy fortification.
Demon Imps
The most numerous enemy you'll find here are Imps, these guys have a nasty fire attack, as well as teleportation so that melee characters will have very difficult time in striking them. What's worse, Imps are usually scattered about, so skills such as Whirlwind aren't as effective as usual. To remedy this, I suggest you have a Mage from Act III with you, and keep skills like, Leap Attack and Charge ready. Imps are very weak (around 60hp in normal), and hence should die in one or two hits. Player's that have trouble should seriously consider arming themselves with 'Strangling Gas Potions', they are fast to throw and can kill an imp in one hit.
Crush Beasts
Crush Beasts by themselves are harmless, but when an imp hops on one, they become equivalent to those deadly Shamans of Act III, able to blast you with a high level inferno. The best way to kill these guys is from afar.
In addition to the above monsters, you'll also find Enslaved and Catapults, deal with them the same way you did previously. The fortifications prove to be another big annoyance for melee characters, the imps can stand on top of the various towers blasting you with firebolts and infernos. The best solution is to stand back and unleash your spells, or let your Act III hireling do the work. Leap Attack and Dragon Flight will be incredibly useful here.
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| The Barbarian Prisoners will start yelling for help once you see them. Other than making a bunch of noise, they are pretty useless. |
Once you reach the bright rectangle on your minimap, destroy the surrounding monsters. There's nothing special guarding the Barbarians, so deal with them like everything else. When all is quiet, break down the prison door. The Barbarians will all rush through a town Portal like what happened when you rescued Cain. You however, have more work to do.
You'll need to free 15 Barbarians, distributed in three different prisons. Just keep searching, free the Barbarians in each of the two other prisons and the quest is done. Summon a Town Portal and talk to Qual-Kehk for your reward. Along the way, you'll probably see a Red Portal that leads to some place called 'Abaddon'. It's of no importance, but feel free to go down and explore the single level dungeon if you crave for more experience.
Maximising Your Reward:
Qual-Kehk, overjoyed with the news, will not only offer you Barbarians for hire, but also three runes, Ral, Ort and Tal. Individually, each rune gives around +35% resistance to a particular elemental attack, however if used together and placed in an item in a specified order, they will form the 'Ancient's Pledge' rune word, a much more powerful enchantment:- +50% Defense
- +43% Resist all
- +10% Damage goes to Mana
An awesome combination for any shield. Keep in the mind that this rune word functions only for shields, and won't work for Helmets, Armor or Weapons. Remember to place them in your shield in the following order exactly:
In addition, now is the time to hire a Barbarian and discard your mage. Act V hirelings are tough, and you'll probably be able to find one that's level 32 or higher. Once you arm them with a good weapon, they'll do around 100 damage per strike, and be able to soak up a few hundred hit points worth of damage. You'll need these guys in the Arreat Plateau and beyond. Just remember to unload any equipment from your current hireling first.
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| Posion Nova is very useful for eliminating swarms of enemies in the Arreat Plateau. |
Before you Quit:
Before you quit the game, you'll want to get to the nearest waypoint, so that you don't need to adventure across the highlands again. Return through your town portal and keep ascending, it won't take long for you to reach the Arreat Plateau. The monsters featured here include more Imps, Slayers (a tougher form of Enslaved) as well as Lashers.
With the presence of Lashers, Slayers become much more dangerous. They can now be whipped into a frenzy, or simply charge at you and explode like an infested Terran. Take things slowly, and make sure to utilize area effect skills such as Poison Nova or Whirlwind. Make you way slowly upwards through the center of the passageway.
After you battle through three lines of fortifications, you'll finally come across the waypoint for Arreat Plateau. Once you've got it, you can end your gaming session without worry of having to repeat your exploits.
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