Dungeon · 4 players · Western Skyrim · Stonethorn (2020)
Castle Thorn
VetChallengingHMHard
Lady Thorn's vampire fortress in the Haafingar mountains. Five bosses. The final fight has bat-swarm phases where you must stay inside a moving circle of light.
- Hard mode is a banner in the Grand Cathedral, before Lady Thorn only (veteran). The other four bosses have no HM.
- Reanimated Vampires (big two-handers) show up in the Blood Twilight and Vaduroth fights. They cleave hard. Tank faces them away, and DPS kill them first.
Dread Tindulra
Boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Quake: when she jumps, every fire patch on the floor explodes. Be out of the fire before she lands.
- Pin: she can jump on a player and keep biting. Interrupt her to free them, or they die.
Tank
- Face her away from the group (fire breath cone). Hold one spot. Don't circle the room.
- From 75% she howls and summons Death Hound Broodlings. Pick them up.
DPS
- AoE the broodlings down, then go back to the boss.
- Don't wander far. She charges players who drift away.
Healer
👁 Watch for
- A huge death hound. She vomits fire into the air that lands as burning patches across the floor.
More detail
Fire Retch patches linger long enough for two casts to cover much of the arena, then the Quake jump detonates them. Watch your feet and kill adds as they come.
Blood Twilight
Boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Ichor pool phase: the boss floats in the middle, invulnerable, and the center fills with red ichor. Stay out of it. It slows you and deals heavy damage.
- Block the red shade wing-slaps in that phase, or you get knocked into the pool. Climb out by the stairwells.
- Shadow Strike (teleport slam) can one-shot anyone but the tank on vet. Keep taunt.
Tank
- Take it to a corner, face it at the wall, and block. Block Dark Barrage (rapid purple bolts). If it targets someone else, step in front of them and block.
- Taunt the Reanimated Vampire that spawns during the pool phase and face it away.
DPS
- Kill the four Blood Channelers (one on each side of the room) right away. Their beams buff the boss.
- Pool phase: burn the Reanimated Vampire, even after the boss comes back down.
Healer
👁 Watch for
- A winged dark Twilight. Channelers send beams into it. Blood mines are small red lumps on the floor; don't step on them.
↯ Alternatives
- During the pool phase, huddle in one corner together. The shades are less likely to push you into the center.
More detail
The fight switches between a standing phase and the invulnerable ichor phase on about a one-minute timer. It repeats with no enrage, so if you get through one cycle cleanly, you can clear it.
Vaduroth
Boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Sickle pull (75 / 50 / 25%): everyone gets yanked to the thrown sickle and gets a growing red circle. Spread out instantly. Overlapping circles kill.
- Rend (axe overhead) only the tank survives, with block. DPS and healer dodge if it's on them.
Tank
- Hold him still and face him away. Block Rend.
- Taunt the Reanimated Vampire he raises after each sickle throw.
DPS
- Priority: Reanimated Vampire, then the purple Virulent Viscera (goo add), then the boss.
- Crow swarm (big moving red circle): if it's chasing you, kite it away from the group.
Healer
👁 Watch for
- A crow-wraith with a sickle-axe. Dozens of corpses hang from hooks on the ceiling.
↯ Alternatives
- After the pull, kill the animated sickle. It sticks in the floor with a green circle. Stand in the circle, look up at a hanging corpse and use it to throw the sickle. That drops a friendly Viscera.
More detail
Pre-agree spread spots for the sickle pull. Everyone lands in the same place, so the split has to be immediate. Don't overburn the boss and end up with two Reanimated Vampires.
Talfyg
Boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Below 50%: Annihilate beams follow you. When he raises his hand, everyone split in different directions and keep moving until it ends.
- Disintegrate (below 50%): a blood storm, then a huge red circle that lingers. Get out and stay out.
Tank
- Hold him still. Block his heavy (Cross Swipe) and step out of the ground slam after it lands.
- Pick up awakened gargoyles and Volatile Hounds.
DPS
- Kill awakened gargoyles as soon as they move, before they reach the group. Then back to the boss.
Healer
👁 Watch for
- A vampire with a beam of red blood magic. Stone gargoyle statues around the arena come to life (small ones Seething, big ones Frozen).
More detail
Gwendis stuns gargoyles for a while after they wake. Use that window to kill them. The low-HP beam phase repeats until he dies.
Lady Thorn
Final boss☠ Wipe mechanic
- Batswarm: the whole room fills with bats. Stay inside the green safe circle. The bats' damage ramps fast.
- Moving-light phases: she flies off, invulnerable, and the safe circle moves. Stay in it. Kill Blood Scavengers and use their Corrupted Blood synergy. It makes you briefly immune to the bats, so grab it and run back. Do this twice to end the phase.
- Scatter (70% and 45%): she turns into a swarm. Stay off the big pool and dodge the smaller swarms flying out. When she reforms, step out of the big burst on her target.
- Her heavy attack kills a tank who isn't blocking.
Tank
- Block everything. She dashes across the room to hit players (Cuff, Incursion). Stay close to the group so she stays on you.
- Pick up Blood Crawlers during Scatter and the Blood Guardian in the HM light phases.
DPS
- Kill crawlers and scavengers fast. Scavengers give the synergy you need.
- Rive: small circles across the arena explode after a delay. Below 50% it's one growing circle. Step out.
Healer
- Blood Dive (her swoop in the bat phases) knocks down and stuns. Block it on non-HM. Be ready to heal people who get stunned.
👁 Watch for
- Bats: the whole floor goes dark and swarming. The safe zone is a green circle, like Zaan's shield in Scalecaller Peak.
- Blood Scavengers: small adds that leave a synergy on the ground when they die.
Hard mode · veteran only
Activate: Banner in the Grand Cathedral, before Lady Thorn (veteran).
- More HP and damage.
- Most of her ground AoEs stun.
- Blood Dive is unblockable. Dodge it or eat the stun.
- Blood Crawlers and single Rive circles also appear during the bat phases.
- A Blood Guardian add spawns in the moving-light phases. Tank it and interrupt its channel.
- The last bat swarm never ends. After the final light phase, kill her while moving with the light circle.
More detail
Phases go: Batswarm at 90% (fixed safe circle), Scatter at 70%, moving-light phase, Scatter at 45%, moving-light phase again. Nothing enrages, so play clean.
Not fully confirmed:
- Moving-light phase thresholds: UESP says 55% and 15%. Xynode and ArzyeL say 60% and 20%.