Epic Gray Wolf Den Strategy Guide

After the guide to defeat Syndrith in the Temple of the Spider, it’s time to tackle the second reworked T2 dungeon in Neverwinter’s Elemental Evil: Ethraniev Marrowslake and her Gray Wolf Den.

As always, trash and the first two bosses are pretty basic. Regdar Thunderfist’s adds re-spawn continuously and the archers have to be taken care of asap. Good groups are able to ignore the other Wolves and just DPS the boss. Packmaster Zayev is a true AoE fest with big waves of mobs, but the fight is still bugged in the way that if your group wipes, no adds will spawn the second attempt.

Ethraniev Marrowslake is a fun encounter that needs knowledge of the mechanics and a great deal of teamwork. Here we go:

  • The boss starts in human form but will regularly transform into a Werewolf shape, in which she is immune to damage, and spawns two Stormcallers as support.
  • Every 30 seconds or so a small red wolf will spawn that can morph her back and lift the immunity if killed next to her (must be really near or it won’t work).
  • If you fail to kill the red wolf next to the boss or don’t want to (this is an option, see below), then the boss might heal.
  • Marrowslake has a big swing attack that spawns two black wolves that are heavy hitters with low HP.
  • At 66% and 33% big waves of adds spawn.

The general setup of the fight sounds simple. What you want to do is tank the boss while she is immune and clear all adds. Then kill the red wolf next to her, DPS while in human form and repeat. Groups with sufficient skill and DPS can kill the two Stormcallers until the red wolf appears, otherwise you need to get creative to avoid being overrun by adds.
The problem is pretty basic: The boss spawns two Stormcallers whenever she goes Werewolf, so if you don’t kill the adds fast enough but still go for the red wolf, adds will start to pile up and just overpower you.

Ethraniev Marrowslake's Battle Ground
Ethraniev Marrowslake’s Battleground

Groups that haven’t cleared the adds when the red wolf appears may want to disable (CW’s Imprisonment, OP’s Banishment, DC’s Geas) the red wolf or kill it away from the boss to extend the immunity phase and buy time. The downside of this is that the boss might heal and with a longer fight the probability of mistakes and wiping increases. I’m not exactly sure what triggers the heal of the boss, but it definitely happens sometimes when you kill the red wolf away from her. That’s why it might be best to control the red wolf with a disable and release it as soon as the adds are cleared. I personally haven’t tested if the heal still procs that way though.
The other decision you have to make is whether you want to separate the boss and the adds. A competent tank should be able to kite the immune boss on to the plateau at the entrance, so that the group can peacefully slay all adds. That way, you don’t have to deal with the majority of dangerous AoE attacks from her. Another option would be using DC’s Geas, which, intentionally or not, goes through immunity right now. It completely takes the boss out of the fight, but you need a bit of coordination because nobody can attack the boss or Geas will end prematurely. With this strategy it’s probably best for everyone to go single target, as described by the guild “Win or Loose we Booze!” on the official message board.

** (05/13) UPDATE ** Geas has been fixed to respect control immunitites on the latest preview build, so the strategy is no longer viable.

There is no real insider tip how to deal with the adds at 66% and 33%. It’s four Archers and three Packmates (not sure here) sandwiching you and they hurt. With my CW I make sure I have a daily and Sigil of the Devoted ready to get two Oppressive Forces in. What makes these waves especially annoying is the fact that the boss will go immune soon after and spawn two Stormcallers that add to the mess. Even experienced groups might have to skip one red wolf to clear everything.

I have beaten the dungeon with various group compositions. I personally feel like less black wolves spawn from Marrowslake’s big swing attack with a GF. When shield could still absorb any damage, blocking was indeed one way to avoid the black wolves altogether, but I’m not sure if that’s still the case. Maybe because nowadays a little bit of damage goes through shield as well, this counts a hit and the wolves will spawn. From my observation the Pally generally spawned more wolves though, because the class has no chance to dodge the swing whatsoever.

I’m gonna borrow one last note from the official strategy guide. DPS classes should indeed be constantly moving to avoid attacks. Good players that have classes with dodge should be able to not get hit from the boss or Stormcallers, every single attack from them is avoidable.

I hope this helps in your journey to beat the dungeon. Good luck and enjoy the challenge!

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.