Castle Never Strategy Guide: Trash Mobs

In this multi-part series we are going to talk about mastering the newest dungeon addition: Castle Never. Although it is being stomped by well-geared teams, it can present a challenge to everyone else and there is stuff to pay attention to, especially if you are not running with an almighty Paladin. In this first post we’ll be dealing with the trash mobs in between bosses.

The devs made a concerted effort to deny the type of speed running that was so popular during the 60s era and caused many problems. Given a certain group power, players would just rush through an intersection and kill all the mobs at the end (big pulls). Or simply run to the next campfire, where they could die, respawn and entirely skip big chunks of dungeons.

Castle Never is now designed in a way that you can only advance to the next room if you’ve completed the mini tasks in the current one. That’s why players jokingly describe CN as a sequence of Heroic Encounters, which is not really wrong but also not quite right. None of the mini-encounters is particularly challenging, but at least not mindlessly slaying one mob after another adds to the variety and keeps players engaged.

Player Fighting Inside Rift
Player fighting inside rift

Entering the queue you’ll meet the first mob outside the Castle followed by a cutscene. Glabrezus hit really hard and will one-shot any DPS class or a DC. Make sure if you are in melee range to dodge all their attacks but otherwise try to stay out of their range. Inside the castle you instantly have to gather and fight Cthylarr‘s minions on a bridge. The only tough part of the fight is dodging the AoEs that the boss throws at the group, which can be a line or a fireball AoE.

The next room of the Foyer features five tears that have to be closed. Players that interact with a tear are pulled inside it and have to fight easy mobs. You have to clear all five tears to advance. The last room in front of the first boss is a little tricky, because at the end of the hallway a major purple tear will spawn a Nalfeshnee and two Zythars. The encounter is tough and it is generally advised to take out the two minor adds first while the tanks is on the Nalfeshnee. Otherwise the AoE attacks make the whole thing a lot harder.

After the first boss there’s the zombie massacre waiting in the Hall of Mirrors that was already present in the original design. Strong groups can just push through and AoE the Undead Adventurers down at the end, otherwise you need to pull them gradually. The Balor at the end, like any major mob, has to be tanked and can kill DPS instantly with some attacks.

Party Fighting Servitor
Party fighting a servitor

Pushing forward will lead you through four Servitor Witches inside the Lower Court State Rooms. The encounters are not particularly hard, but whenever they are close to dying and shouting that Orcus requires your soul, they use the same bonding mechanic as the first boss. Two random players are slowly dragged towards each other and if they touch, they get CC’d and the occurring damage most likely kills as well. Try to space out sufficiently to be able to counter the chains.

The light version of the death sphere is next. The party has to gather again and will enter a platform. You need to kill 20 adventurers before they are able to charge the sphere and release substantial damage. The whole thing is trivial though, but if you think you can’t solely DPS the adventurers make sure to slot some CC stuff.

After the second boss navigating the darkness through the Upper Court State Rooms is not as hard, because you still have the sparkels to follow on the ground and the Undead Adventurers you might run into are not a big issue.

Poison Ball Map
Poison Ball Map

At the end of it though, the most challenging and fun part begins. Pictured by josephskyrim you are going to face a labyrinth with moving poison balls that instantly kill on contact. There are safe zones in every room though and getting used to the moving pattern just takes time. Still one error means death and doing the whole thing again. It’s getting additionally complicated due to some Glabrezus you meet along the way. You can either fight them on the spot, there are safe zones nearby to do so, or pull them to the end and deal with them there.

Following all of this, you should now stand in front of Orcus, which will be featured in a later article alongside the other bosses. I hope this covers the most basic information on the dungeon. If you feel anything is missing, make sure to add it in the comments or in the corresponding forum thread. Used pictures taken from this blog and this video and I’d also like to thank Sharpedge for contributing to this guide.

j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.