Rift Dungeon Guide: Runic Descent

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Designed for players in the late 30 to early 40 level range, Runic Descent lies in the shadows of Hammerknell. This formerly idyllic garden is now overrun by the same death and decay that besieged the former Dwarven stronghold.

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Group Configuration:

Runic Descent is fairly forgiving when it comes to group configuration. Boasting only three boss fights, with none of them being exceptionally difficult and no overwhelming trash mobs to speak of, this instance is pretty easy on healing. In fact any combination of tank and healer will work fine here and crowd control isn’t much of a concern, so load the group with whatever DPS you have available.

Quests:

There aren’t as many quests affiliated with Runic Descent as there were in some of the earlier instances, but they are still worth completing. Defiant players will find only two quests available here, one auto quest and one from a quest giver at the entrance, while Guardians will be offered a third quest a little deeper into the zone.

Tending the Garden

Starts: Runic Descent
From: Given upon zoning in
Successfully vanquish the three boss encounters of the zone.

Sins of Stone

Starts: Runic Descent
From: Borrin Gammult
Defeat 3 Rune Cracked Spirits

Sprouting Hope - Gaurdian Only

Starts: Runic Descent
From: Shyla Starhearth
Find and activate three Life Bulbs

Bosses:

Rictus

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Runic Descent is an easy instance to navigate as there is only one path available to traverse. Rictus is the first boss on the menu here after mowing through several trash packs where you should have also encountered the first of the Rune Cracked Spirits.
Rictus has three major abilities that he will use throughout the fight, two of which are used in conjunction with each other to make life difficult. Death Blow, the first of the abilities typically used, pulls all players into melee range and casts a slowing debuff on them. After Death Blow goes off Rictus will begin using Furious Barrage; a point blank AoE. As soon as players are pulled in for Death Blow they need to immediately begin moving out of range to avoid the damage.

The third and final ability is Rotting Flesh, a DoT that not only damages the target, but anyone in their immediate vicinity. Affected players will need to isolate themselves from the group and wait for the DoT to wear off. Once you learn the proper steps in this proximity based dance, the encounter becomes very easy.

Wormwood

Kicking up the movement factor to the next notch is the second boss in the zone, Wormwood. A two phase encounter, Wormwood has only two major abilities to worry about – Fierce Stomp and Fungal Blossom. Fierce Stomp is a frontal cone knockback that, if positioned properly, should only affect the tank. Fungal Blossom is a point blank damage ability that is manifested through a mushroom that will appear on top of a single player in phase 1 and on all players in phase 2. In phase 1 players will want to stay spread out to avoid the spores. In phase 2, which happens at 50%, everyone except the tank should stack up until the ability is used and then spread quickly to avoid the damage. Wormwood has a soft enrage at low health which is dispellable, although it can easily be healed through by most healers.

Warden Falidor

Last, and sadly least, is Warden Falidor. Save for one small bit of periodic movement, this is largely a tank and spank encounter that strictly uses boss abilities and lacks any sort of reaction component. The Warden relies heavily on Necrotic Jet, a direct damage nuke that causes minor spike damage on most tanks. He also has a dispellable damage shield at his employ as well as a groupwide knockback. The only player not effected by the knockback is the tank (or whoever is top of his threat list), but the tank will suffer a damage increasing debuff, so be ready to step up the healing during this. The final threat to players is Drowned, a single target DoT and silence ability that is only an annoyance when it targets the healer. Managing these meager abilities will turn this boss into a simple loot piñata.

Source: tentonhammer.com