Tower of Orthanc (T1) Quick Guide

[Merowin]

Tower of Orthanc: Fire and Frost (T1)

Location:
Directly behind you as you enter the instance

Raid Setup:
2 Tanks
3 Healers
3 Crowd Controllers

Pull 1:
4 Ruffians (leadership aura, AoE stun disease)
2 Trolls (adaptation, healing corruptions)
One tank on each troll, pull them to the back of the room. Keep 3 of the ruffians cc’d and kill the ruffians one at a time, then kill the trolls. Bring disease pots and pot any disease or the raid will be hit by an AoE stun from the ruffians.

Pull 2:
5 Warriors (receives buff if not in combat)
3 Ruffians (leadership aura, AoE stun disease)
One tank on each group of warriors, keep the 3 ruffians cc’d, pull the warriors away from the ruffians and kill the warriors first then the ruffians. Bring disease pots and pot any disease or the raid will be hit by an AoE stun from the ruffians.

Pull 3:
3 Warriors (receives buff if not in combat)
3 Ruffians (leadership aura, AoE stun disease)
2 Trolls (adaptation, healing corruptions)
One tank on each troll, pull them to the back of the room. Keep the 3 of the ruffians cc’d and kill the warriors one at a time, then the ruffians and finally the trolls. Bring disease pots and pot any disease or the raid will be hit by an AoE stun from the ruffians.

Boss:
2 Dunlending Giants (Crisiant & Usgarren)
Split the raid into two groups, separate the giants and tank them in two diagonally opposite corners of the room, with the tanks in the corner and the giants facing the corner; everyone else should stand immediately behind the giants. If someone is standing too far away the giant will turn around and throw boulders at that person. From time to time the giants will receive a corruption (“My Power Builds!”) which needs to be removed immediately or the other giant will punt everyone; everyone with a corruption removal skill needs to be ready for that. From time to time a grim will spawn (“The frost courses through my veins!”, ”The fire burns within me!”) and needs to be killed immediately. The number of grims that spawn is equal to the number of players standing in front of the giant. Hence, everyone except the tank should be behind the giant. At 2/3 and 1/3 morale the grims become immune to damage and need to be hit by a cc to become vulnerable again.

EDIT: For all three trash pulls a simple yet effective strategy is to divide the rooms into right, left and center. One tank deals with everything to the right and the other tank with everything to the left. That leaves two ruffians in the middle, one is cc'd and the other will be the DPS target.

[Merowin]

Tower of Orthanc: Acid (T1)

Location:
To the left of you, as you face the tower. Head up a ramp and inside a sewer pipe.

Raid Setup:
1 Tank
2 Healers
2 Crowd Controllers

Pull 1:
4 Orcs (adaptation)
2 Wargs (adaptation, receives buff if not in combat)
Have the tank kite the two wargs; quickshot works wonders slowing them down. Crowd control three of the orcs. Kill the remaining orc first, then the rest of the orcs then the wargs. Adaptation means you have to cycle through the crowd control type, e.g. first root, then mezz, then fear. During the fight waves of 3 or 4? slugs will spawn. If a slug gets in melee range of a player the slug will explode in a massive AoE. To avoid this have everyone run around, while the ranged DPS kill the slugs first

Pull 2:
3 Orcs (adaptation)
3 Wargs (adaptation, receives buff if not in combat)
Have the tank kite two or all three wargs; quickshot works wonders slowing them down. Either have a captain kite the last warg, or have a temp pull and kite it until the tank can pick it up. Crowd control two of the orcs. Kill the remaining orc first, then the rest of the orcs then the wargs. Adaptation means you have to cycle through the crowd control type, e.g. first root, then mezz, then fear. During the fight waves of 3 or 4? slugs will spawn. If a slug gets in melee range of a player the slug will explode in a massive AoE. To avoid this have everyone run around, while the ranged DPS kill the slugs first

Boss:
1 Orc (Iorweth)
Have the raid spread out along the walls, to minimize the damage from the initial AoE. The tank will tank the boss where he is, but turn him to face to far wall. At several stages during the fight the boss will disengage and say "My friends come and destroy this vermin" and 2 trolls, 2 avancs and 2 dragonets will spawn. Have the tank on one troll, crowd control the other. Kill the dragonets first, then the avancs and then the trolls. The avancs will throw a disease on people which needs to be potted right away. If your timing is right the acid in the room will now rise ("Let the acid rise and devour you"). While the acid level is high everyone will need to run and jump to avoid taking damage. The acid will drain, and the tank will pick up the boss, as he becomes active again. The fight is a DPS race and a green bar will slowly start to fill up when you start the fight.

EDIT: This is still work in progress, especially the slugs on the trash pulls can be a real pain

[Merowin]

Tower of Orthanc: Lightning (T1)

Location:
To the right as you face the tower

Raid Setup:
2 Tanks (possible with tank + off-tank)
3 Healers
2 Crowd Controllers
1 Hunter with Rain of Thorns

Pull 1:
3 Deep Claws (receives buff if not in combat)
1 Taskmaster (adaptation, leadership aura, healing puddles)
2 Trolls (AoE attack)
Have one tank kite or tank the deep claws, this tank may need extra healing. Cc'ing one of the deep claws may make it easier for the tank to pick them up. Keep the two trolls cc’d. One of the trolls is out of clip range in the back of the room. He will become visible as soon as the fight starts. Kill the taskmaster first, then the deep claws, then the trolls. Keep the DPS target out of the healing puddles.

Pull 2:
3 Deep Claws (receives buff if not in combat)
3 Taskmasters (adaptation, leadership aura, healing puddles)
1 Troll (AoE attack)
Have one tank kite or tank the deep claws, this tank may need extra healing. Cc'ing one of the deep claws may make it easier for the tank to pick them up. Keep the troll cc’d. Start with Rain of Thorns and root two of the taskmasters. The root can be followed up with a mez or fear if needed. Kill the taskmasters first, then the deep claws, then the troll. Keep the DPS target out of the healing puddles.

Pull 3:
3 Deep Claws (receives buff if not in combat)
3 Taskmasters (adaptation, leadership aura, healing puddles)
2 Trolls (AoE attack)
Have one tank kite or tank the deep claws, this tank may need extra healing. Cc'ing one of the deep claws may make it easier for the tank to pick them up. Keep the trolls cc’d. Start with Rain of Thorns to root two of the taskmasters. The root can be followed up with a mez or fear if needed. Kill the taskmasters first, then the deep claws, then the trolls. Keep the DPS target out of the healing puddles.

Boss:
1 Troll (Kalbak)
Have the tank pick up the boss and bring him to a corner. Below 30% morale Kalbak will send out lightning ("Lightning Shatter") in four directions (east, west, north and south). To avoid the lightning the tank should therefore stand in one corner facing the diagonally opposite corner with Kalbak directly in front of him (SE, WE, NE or NW of Kalbak). The rest of the group should stand grouped up tight behind Kalbak.
During the fight a debuff (Static) will build up on the tank, and every time the debuff reaches 10 the tank and anyone within 10m will take massive damage. To limit the damage to only the tank, the distance between the tank and the group should be at least 11 m. This is possible if both the tank and the group keep Kalbak at maximum melee range.
During the entire fight Kalbak will spawn Storm Elhudins ("Storms Come"). The Elhudins should be pulled to the group away from the tank, where they after 5-20s will explode as distributed damage.
Below 70% morale Kalbak will start to call out peoples names ("Shock <name>") and lightning will arc out from Kalbak to the player. If the player doesn't immediatly run away from the group the lightning will arc on to another player in the group and eventually the entire group, causing serious damage.

[Merowin]

Tower of Orthanc: Shadow (T1)

Raid Lock:
The raid leader must have completed Fire, Frost, Acid and Lightning the same week to open up Shadow. The lock will reset Thursday morning at 3 AM /servertime.

Location:
Inside the tower, directly in front of you as you enter the instance

Raid Setup:
2 Tanks
3 Healers

Pull 1:
2 Orc Healers (Heals)
2 Uruk-Hai Orcs (AoE when close to the Shak-Hais)
2 Shak-Hai Orc (Immune to cc)
Split the room into right and left, with one tank right and the other left. Kill the healers first.

Pull 2:
2 Orc Healers (Heals)
5 Uruk-Hai Orcs (AoE when close to the Shak-Hais)
1 Shak-Hai Orc (Immune to cc)
Split the room into right and left, with one tank right and the other left. The DPS should pull the Shak-Hai down the stairs and kill him first away from the Uruks, then the healers, then the Uruks. If the Shak-Hai and Uruks are not split up the raid will drown in AoE damage. The tanks will have to watch their taunts to make sure they do not pull the Shak-Hai, and the healers will have to hold back healing for a second to give the tanks time to pick everything up

Boss:
1 Orc (Bukot)
Tank the boss in a triangle in front of the throne: Right of the throne, left of the throne and at the end of the carpet in front of the throne. Melee DPS should follow the tank around. Healers and ranged DPS should stay on the dais. The boss will drop purple ("I call forth the night!") and black ("Choke and die on my noxious fumes") clouds. When the boss drops a purple cloud move to the next corner of the triangle. If the boss drops a black cloud stand still and do not move even if you're standing in a purple cloud. You will die if you move inside a black cloud. Wait until the black cloud has dissipated before moving out of the purple cloud. Below 50% morale the boss will start to summon choking roots ("The tendrils of the dark hold you!") have your ranged DPS kill them. The fight is a DPS race, and during the fight a purple barrier will slowly encroach on the fellowship. If the boss is not dead after 10 minutes the barrier will reach the throne and kill everyone.