Project: Tank - The Crystal Castle

It's somewhat hard to write a complete guide for the Crystal Castle because the layout varies each time you enter, but there are a few key things to look for as you enter each room.  I'll break down some of the harder ones and give you some tips on how to wipe them clean.  You can also view the video here:

Compliments are always a nice thing!  =)

We're not always perfect, but we come pretty close.

Zombies -
Zombies emerge from several different triggers.  Coffins, Kamaris, Chests, and Ores.  They have a quick attack as well as a high damage AOE.  I'm not 100% sure whether that AOE is M.dmg based or not, but it hurts.  A lot.  So how I tackle Zombies is usually 3-5 at a time, even without a Cleric.  This is not a case where you want to stick your chest out and pull the whole room.  If you do so and get caught by 3 or 4 simultaneous AOEs, you're done and chances are so is your party.  Zombies don't have much HP/DEF so they go down pretty quickly, especially if you have multiple 67+ Mages in your party.  It's just a matter of you, the Tank, taking that pounding and keeping aggro.  You can do Zombies without a Cleric if you're comfortable judging your ideal stone/potion usage.

Kinda my fault for not asking him to stay back....

The other Fighter actually ran towards the Zombies when the Kamaris died.

You can see him buried in here, pulling them all.  >. < !!!

I Mocked, but wasn't able to handle that many at once.

Kamaris -
Kamaris themselves aren't much to handle, but after they die, they spawn a roomful of either Zombies, Trees, or Magic Staffs (the three drop repeats).  A word to the wise, keep other players out of that room including other Fighters.  While they can help kill the Kamaris faster, the chances that they will pull too many mobs once the Kamaris dies, is extremely high.  If the mobs happen to be Zombies, more than likely it'll end up in the party getting wiped out.  (Viewable at 5:25 of the video)

Vampire Bats -
Vampire bats are similar to Zombies, but they only show up mixed with those other fat, Piggy Bat looking guys.  Usually the fat bats have a magic "immunity" (their word, not mine) that increases their m.def tremendously.  The Vampire Bats also have a high dmg AOE so be careful where you're pulling.  Typically you want to pull stuff like this into one of the far corners awayf rom the party, with enough sightlines that you can still see them should a Bat wander off towards them; you'll be able to Kick it back to you.  Don't pull these back to the party or into the near corners if possible.  The near corners are to always be avoided because the Cleric will be unable to heal you without running into the room.  That puts the Cleric at risk as she's running, she may take a smack of that nasty AOE.

Orcs -
Orcs, like the rest mentioned above have a deadly AOE.  Just be mindful of your pulls and aggro control and you'll be alright.  No reason to panic.

Archers / Skelelton Archers / Pinkies -
Ranged mobs can cause some distress if not handled properly.  Ideally, the Tank should rush the room, pulling all the mobs back into the entryway creating a chokepoint.  At that chokepoint, you should do your aggro grabs (Mock + Demoralizing Hit) and hit Devastate.  This will disable most of the mobs you've pulled making it much easier to take them out as a collective group.  If everyone charges the room, it gets extremely chaotic as you run from mob to mob while keeping an eye on non-aggroed mobs attacking the backline.  Establish control of your party and let them know your plan ahead of time.

Boss Fights -
The Boss battles are actually pretty straight-forward.  There are three different bosses:  Jewel Golem, a Guardian Lizardman, and a Guardian Great Orc.  Of the three, the Jewel Golem is the worst and always the longest battle.  All three bosses should be pulled out of the top room and down to the bottom entry room.  This way, you avoid the waves of summoned mobs from the boss.  All summons appear in that top room, so unless you want a challenge, just pull them down. 

For the Lizardman and Great Orc, you'll notice that they have a buff when you first encounter them, there are three ways of eliminating that buff:  Purge from a Mage, destroying the light pillars in the top room, or simply waiting it out.  Purge does not have a 100% success rate vs. Bosses, so it may take the Mage several attempts before he can delete that buff.  Having him Chain Cast + Purge is a good idea.  Killing the Light Pillars isn't very hard, you just have to deal with the mobs that are in there if you didn't pull all of them at the beginning.  Waiting it out really doesn't make much sense but you can do it if you choose.  Not sure how long that buff lasts, maybe 10 minutes?



For Jewel Golem, you'll see that he has two buffs.  The first one looks like the "idle state" icon you see when you log in or change maps.  For him it's an "Unattackable Status".  What this means is he cannot be hurt by anything.  The Tank will need to maintain aggro on the Jewel Golem while the rest of the party takes out the four Light Pillars.  While the rest of the party is in the top room, there's really not much for you to do.  I would recommend spamming your debuffs as they will help ease the damage you take (Demoralizing Hit, Immobilize, and Bone Slicer).  If you choose not to spam skills for some reason, your auto-attack should be sufficient to maintain aggro over your Cleric.  If you're unsure, toss a few Kicks in here and there.  Once those Pillars come down, the party should join you on the bottom and wipe the floor clean with Jewel Golem.

All three bosses have a pretty heavy AOE attack, so if you have some weaker members it might be better serrved to just have them sit back and wait it out instead of dying, minimizing your party buff, and altering your Cleric's focus.