So I’m finally confident enough with my solo runs from this part of the area that I decided to write a little essay about it and let others reap the same rewards I’ve gotten. Nektropos Castle: Tribulation (also known as “Nek 3”) is a high level dungeon located in Nektulous Forest. When entering the area through the doll quest room (Cleaning Melanie’s Room), most of the mobs range from level 68 to 70. This means that if you have a level 80 character, you’ll just have to deal with a few groups of green heroes of 70. . Before I continue, let me say that not all classes can handle this instance on their own. I have a conjurer and a 80 highwayman, both of which can beat this instance solo. Therefore, I think I can safely say that necromancers, swordsmen, thugs, and monks can safely conquer this instance. Other mages like the coercer, illusionist, wizard, and warlock (with some good skill) should be able to do the same. Well equipped and skilled plate tanks should be able to succeed in this mission as well.
My conjurer has 140AA and decent gear. I found that it doesn’t really matter what AA I have specified in my conjurer. However, he usually eats a kill on this mission. My highwayman has 135AA and is equipped with Defense and Tactics, among other things, for the Safehouse ability. He has also gone through the intel line to obtain the Feign Death skill.
Now then, let’s start with my conjurer. Get the pet out of the dirt and polish. Head straight through the clickable wall and continue until you hit your nose on the wall ahead. Ignore the ghost that calls you. Turn left and then immediately turn right. Take two steps forward and then two steps back (like that Paula Abdul song). This will spawn the first group of mobs. The mobs are two doubles and one triple. Root the triple and pull the easiest ones towards you. Proceed to bomb them into oblivion and then turn triple. Keep it rooted longer if you need to heal your pet or get some power back. These mobs must be eliminated in order to pass through the small clickable gate.
Head through the door and turn left and then right. This will take you to a wine cellar. On the other side of the room is a clickable wall that will take you upstairs. There are proximity spawning poltergeists in this room, but they are level 68 or 69, so a level 80 character won’t get any aggro. At the top of the stairs are two doors. Put on invisibility and open the doors and head immediately to the left. After a few seconds of entering the room, a group of three tripled mobs will appear and see invisibility. You should stand in the corner of the room behind the bed. There is usually a triple crowd that won’t see invisibility on or near the bed (it’s a pillow). Lure this mob towards you and kill it. Now, as before, you’ll want to root one of the mobs and lure the other two towards your pet to kill them. These mobs are pretty tough even to be 10 levels below you. They have a small range area effect, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue. You’ll need to take good care of your pet during this fight and make sure you don’t pull too much aggro yourself, while also keeping the third mob rooted. Technically, these mobs don’t need to be killed, but you’re better off taking them out because if you die later, you’ll have to go through this room again and they won’t be happy to see you.
After clearing the room, head through the doors into a small hallway. At the end of the hall there is a trap. Unless you are a scout class, you will eat this trap. Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste too bad. Explorers can see a small rock on the ground and temporarily disable the trap. After the trap, you will turn right and continue down the hall. Go through the first door on your right and head to the next door on your right. This is another small hallway that leads to the door. There is another trap waiting for you before you go through the door. You’ll be able to open the door before you get crushed by the trap and target the two Heroic mobs linked there. Do so and then pet them and pull them into the hallway to kill them fairly easily. After this head into the room and get crushed by the one ton stone trap.
In the room you will see a fireplace with a conspicuously burning fire… hmm…
If you right click on the fire, you will see an option to “take the key”. After you take the key, three triple heroes will appear. Sometimes two heroes and one name will appear. Polish your pet COMPLETELY before taking the key. These mobs are casters and will stun the pet and I think they can also heal. If heroics don’t heal, then the named surely does. I have not been able to survive this encounter when the named one appears with the other mobs. In any case, you will have the key after this fight or death. If you survive, you can exit the room and go to the main hall again and then turn right. Follow the corridor a few meters and take the first door you see on the left. This door leads to the doll search room.
The quest giver is a ghost sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by 25 billy dolls. When you talk to her he will be crying because her sister threw away all her dolls and she has to clean them up. Her sister also put many fake dolls into the fray along with her real dolls. If he accepts the quest, he must collect five dolls and place them on his bed. If you pick up any of the fake dolls, about five or six billy dolls will turn into level 70 triple heroic mobs and attack you. To add insult to injury, (and this hurts) you will fail the mission. Also, this quest has a three-minute timer to complete, but that should be more than enough time. The 25 dolls are divided into five groups of five somewhat remarkable. Once the search begins, most dolls over the course of a few seconds will move slightly, either nodding or partially standing for a fraction of a second. These dolls are the trap dolls that will kill you if you pick them up. Safe dolls are the ones that will not move at all. Once you collect all five safe dolls and place them on his bed, you will complete the quest and can open the toy chest in the corner of his room for a reward.