Keys to taking a t4 keep

[Gerv]

In this post I will attempt to out-line a how to guide on taking a t4 keep. There are 3 sections, the outer door, the inner door and the inner sanctum.
* added section about supplies and edited parts no longer necessary. 1/12/16

First of all I will preface this with a note; This is not an all encompassing guide, but I hope to outline key factors that lead to a successful keep take after countless unfortunate fails.

Ultimately, be a team player and be aware of the situation around you and how you can assist out others.
Supplies
Supplies are generated from Battle Field objectives. The Battlefield objective will glow a white/yellow boarder about it on the map when supplies can be picked up. These can be traded in at your factions keep or at your factions War-camp to contribute to leveling up your factions keep. They are also worth renown and influence.

During the engagement, it is critical to be aware of the supplies from both your own realm and the opposition. The successful return of supplies by the opposing realm heals the current door by x%. The highest I have seen is that of 25%. If attacking, be sure to ensure someone or a group is watching out.

If you are attacking, returning supplies ensures the ammunition of your siege weapons does no run out. Each artillery piece (not rams) begin with 10 or 15 shots and once empty just be re-loaded. It also ensures your enemy is not capping them and this leads to the enemy receiving the diminished returns de-buff.

The Outer Door. Critical to bring it down as soon as possible to prevent the enemy getting free re-spawns inside their keep, initially all damage should be focused on the door. Small groups can delay the enemy realm by guarding the respective War Camp.

1. Bringing siege weapons to the keep. A mix of Area of Effect (AoE) and single target (ST) siege weapons are useful. Ideally 2 of the AoE and 2 of the single target.
The Importance of Siege:The single target cannon provides ample damage to assist with taking out the oil and other siege weapons. The AoE cannons provide pressure on the enemy range dps to keep them away from the walls which prevents them shooting at attackers.

2. Range damage per second (rdps) classes need to be present and watching for the oil to be deployed by defenders and then focused down to minimize the damage to the ram and increase the damage per second to the outer door from the ram. After the oil is destroyed rdps classes can continue to focus on shooting defenders. Trying to shoot the same target as your realm mates is a great way to increase the chance that defenders will die. The door however is the most important factor at the initial siege. Get that ram in place as soon as possible.

3. Mele dps (mdps) at the initial siege on the outer door need to provide assisting damage on the outer door when there is no oil or to be working the siege weapons. Your strength stat scales with the re-load time of siege weapons, so get shooting!
If there are few defenders, mdps can also group up together and lock down the oil room on the outer door by using the ability 'pick lock'. Additionally at a rank 1 keep all enemies can access the postern doors, providing the front door is destroyed.

4. The ram must be filled by 4 tanks at all times, this maximizes the damage per second of the ram on the outer door which is the most important factor during the initial siege. Destroying the outer door prevents the enemy realm from respawning inside the keep. Tanks not on the ram can provide assistance by using the ability 'hold the line' on their realm mates to minimize the chance the attackers get shot and killed by defenders.

The Inner Door.
Once the outer door is down the main focus is preventing the enemy from making it to the inner keep or to get in resurrection range of the healers at the inner keep. This usually requires at least 2 groups or if possible a whole War-band to cover the postern entrances on the outer keep walls closest to the destruction war-camp as people mainly follow the quickest path from their own war-camps.

1. Range dps are again needed to be present to remove the oil as quickly as it is deployed. After the oil is destroyed the range dps can again apply pressure to defenders.

2. Mele dps can assist the guarding of the outer possterns, this is their best place because close to the inner door are a lot of defenders who can shoot them from range. alternativley, again they can use the siege weapons from the inside of the keep by towing them in through the front door.

3. Tanks are needed to fill the ram to maximize the damage per second by the ram. Their crowd control (knock downs and roots and knock backs) are very useful at defending postern doors to increase the chance of the enemy not making it close to the inner keep before they are killed.

4. The remaining siege are used exactly the same as on the outer wall. To shoot the oil and the pressure the defenders on the inner keep walls.

5. Organizing a keep lord tank group. This requires 2 geared tanks with the PvE tanking tactics and morals slotted (menace tactic for aggro holding and shield wall for Moral 2 are you bread and butter) plus at least 2 dedicated healers with the tactic subtlety slotted.

The Inner Sanctum
The key here is to kill defenders and the lord to finally take the keep. Issues can occur with the keep lord running down, stay with your group, use damage mitigation morals or abilities and continue on.

1. It is important to make sure to remove any chance of oil being deployed before moving inside the keep, the last thing you want is getting oiled as you move in. If there are multiple Warbands it is critical to communicate when thee realm is pushing together into the keep. Ideally have tanks who can use the ability 'challenge', healers who can use their moral absorb abilities (core m3 moral) and both rdps and mdps who can use their 'detaunt' and 'root breaker' abilities when running inside.

2. Clearing Funnels: the common defense tactic is to block the inner door. Siege weapons are key here to break the funnels along with a communicated moral ability dump. This is where the damage classes will build their damaging morals and when called for, by the siege leader, everyone will use the moral abilities (these are un-defendable damage) and use rapid area of effect damage abilities (Shatter limbs & ID from Slayer, Fiery Blast from Bright Wizard are common examples) to apply pressure to the line. A AoE punt from a Sword Master can help tremendously.

3. Once inside the bottom floor, it is important to identify who the main tanks are for the keep lord. It is their job to hold the keep lord while the rest of the realm concentrates on rapidly pushing up into the enemy and killing them as fast as possible. Another co-ordinated moral dump can help with clearing pesty defenders on the third floor of the keep. it is of utmost importance that once you push into the keep you do not stand on the outer ram, keep moving or you will all die to the enemy realm pushing down on top of you. Or you will be punted off by the keep lord.

4. Tanking the Keep lord
5 Key keep lord abilities which are added depending on the rank (the stars above the keep).
* The AoE slow: can be cleansed by healers, just press your cleanse button for your entire group.
* The Frontal, conal cleave: a AoE attack that goes in the direction the lord is facing: tanks, turn the lord away from the group of order, into a corner is a great idea.
* The whirlwind: The lord spins around himself: this needs to be interrupted by the tanks using challenge, taunt or generic tank interrupt abilities.
* The AoE punt: tanks must hold the lord inside the room or against a wall. so they do not get punted and possibly loose aggravation from the lord.
* The Armor de-buff. Using the moral 2 shield wall while under the effect of this debuff is key to surviving and holding aggravation on the lord. Alternatively if the 2nd tank in your party notices this he can taunt the lord off you.

5. Once the enemy realm is dead the damage classes can assist to bring down the keep lord and the keep can be successfully taken.

If it is un-clear, please let me know, if it is missing things let me know.

[anarchypark]

good advice
but funnel fight is missing
that guide is needed
like don't stand in the middle of funnel etc

[NoRKaLKiLLa]

AOE cannons do nothing except charge the enemy morale. 600 damage every 5 seconds is laughed at and does more harm than good.

[Gerv]

AOE cannons do nothing except charge the enemy morale. 600 damage every 5 seconds is laughed at and does more harm than good.

While I agree, the number of existing AoE abilities that will be flying around, because you can not control everything, will ensure that the enemy are already building moral due to combat. This is why I believe it is better to bring them than too not. Their damage when concentrated in one area with the addition of defenders shooting or a moral push is accumulative to the point where I believe it has some pushing power.

[DonBandi]

For a newbie players (like me) it is super informative post. Please consider sticking it.

[Azarael]

The minute keep rank is added, AoE cannons will become terror incarnate to massed players.

[Cimba]

5. Organizing a keep lord tank group. This requires 2 geared tanks with the PvE tanking tactics and morals slotted (menace tactic for aggro holding and shield wall for Moral 2 are you bread and butter) plus at least 2 dedicated healers with the tactic subtlety slotted.

I don't think one group is sufficient. Last weekend I was part of two keep raids that failed because the tanks of tank group continued to crash during the inner sanctum fight. Ideally all tanks would go into PVE mode just to prevent the lord from randomly charging off when the main tanks suddenly disappear.

[DokB]

Everyone on the door should always watch the damage ticks from the ram. If you see it slightly less than usual from a standard 4 man ram hit, then its probably because the ram isn't completely full.

Before this, all tanks should be checking to see the ram is full CONSTANTLY. Your job is simple, guard and keep the god damn ram full.

People on the ram have to exit to type anything so they can't always jump off to tell you to fill it.

[NSKaneda]

1. Be aware of the situation
2. Be aware of your healers
3. You've got roughly 15-20 usable skills. Use them.
4. Be a team player.

and

5. Don't be afraid to die.

-
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Enemy uses funnel? Break their lines. Chances are you already have line-breaking skills. And group buffs.

Playing a tank? Hit that door or protect your casters (hold the line is not just for fluff! Neither is guard. Xguard a tank if you have no mdps or healer nearby). Xguard on ram to make your healer's job easier. Use your buffs.

MDPS? Get inside and disrupt enemy heals, guard postern or hit those doors. At current game level it's not that hard to keep a choppa under oil. Use your buffs to help out a group.

RDPS class? Bring down oil asap and lay terror to casters on walls. Keep debuffing for effect.

Healer? Heal, heal, heal and re-apply buffs. And debuffs.

Oh, and read /wb to follow waaghband leader's commands

[NectaneboII]

Yeah , Great post !
but
1. Damage through walls .
2. Lord charging randomly on 1st floor , damaged through walls .
3. Irritating champs with stupid resets and insane respawn time .

The difficulty of a keep at the moment does not represent current , active population , till things settle we shall have to endure : empty keep taking , various exploits ( logging inside keep , seen it many a time ) zergs , x realmers (sitting idle , contributing to nothing ) , weak to non existent rewards for the most underated yet vital class aka Healers and the overall progression of the individual healers - domino - realm