When do you go out to gianthold

[mindlessdrone1991]

My cleric is level 10, and I finally have the Gianthold adventure pack (it was on sale! woot). But I'm not sure when to start doing quests out there. 11? 12? I remember the xp out there being awesome, but I want to make sure I'm pulling my own weight. I think 12 would be the latest I would wait, since I will have the heal spell and and +40% potency for level 6 spells.

So... level 11 or 12? Or even now? I think 10 is pushing it though.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

When there used to be a bonus for doing a quest over your level people used to routinely go there at L8-10, so you would be fine there.

However, at this point in the game where there is much more XP at low level than high and with the bonus gone, it is often wiser to wait to L12-14 so that the XP helps you at the point quests start to be more scarce.

[mindlessdrone1991]

Thanks. That makes sense. Guess I'll wait til level 12.

[Lehrman]

I usually do not make it out to GH until level 14, but you can go out there as early as 10 if you are wiling to carry cure wands and heal scrolls.

[Frodo_Lives]

The earliest I would head out there is 11th, without the heal spell it can get really expensive.

Others tried to get out there at level 9 or 10 when the bonus for being under level was huge. However I avioded those PuGs because the success rate was horrible and it always took way longer than it should.

There is no rush to do the Gianthold stuff, as a matter of fact it would probably be easier to find groups when you are 13th compared to 10th. I would wait until level 13, but if you are really eager to experience the new content 12th is also quite manageable.

[Kalari]

Yep about 11 or 12 for me to because by then I know I can get 100 percent fort on a helm at least I have more diverse and powerful spells by then and even on a melee class I have weapons ready for gianthold (paralyzer, vorpal, disruptor (madstone/pop) and the like. I went out to gianthold once before level 10 because a group of friends of mine who been playing since beta knew the quest well and thought my rogue could help them out it was heart pounding and I felt squishy but it was fun wouldnt do it again if you paid me though

[Isolani]

Agree with Lorien and others, I go at L14 or so. At L10 you have some big xp lower level quests you should farm (Jungle of Khyber and Shadow Crypt are both L9 quests), you can easily get 2+ levels just from those 2 quests. I generally bank xp at L10/11 doing those quests, then go directly from L10 to 12 pretty much. At L13 I run wiz-king 7 or 8 times, that gets you into L14 and then some. Then I go to GH. L14 to 20 is more of grind for me, the quests are harder generally, there's fewer quests to run, and the xp isn't as good as some of the lower level quests in most cases. I hit Trial by Fire and Feast or Famine a lot in GH at L14, and I'll usually do some orchard slayers/rares when I get bored of quest grinding. Wish they would add more quests in this level range.

[herzkos]

my suggestion depends on whether you are pugging it or going with friends/guild.
pugging, wait until 13-14 for the walkups and 14-15 for the flagging quests.

with friends/guildies . . . go whenever you feel like it. If you haven't tr'd the character
there is plenty of xp available.

[mindlessdrone1991]

The one problem I have with doing wizard king or jungle of khyber or some of the other suggestions is that I'm a premium account, so I lack many adventure packs. Is getting to level 13-14 plausible with mostly ftp content at those levels?

[p3n1x0r]

used to go there as soon as i hit 10....not anymore

now i usually wait until 11 to 13 to do any quests, explorers may be ok at lv10, but u need heavy fort out there getting 1hit kill crits depending.

but yea ive got a lv 12 fighter with dual GS dorf axes tearing thru gh ok, and i have a lv 14 cleric im taking thru there, reaosn being higher level better heal spells easier to manage out there

be a warrior, go at 10! death is swift and merciless out there!

[vVAnjilaVv]

You should go and dabble in the explorer area some....you'll get a general idea of what you'll be up against inside the dungeons......GH is tough tho....most things either hit hard (giants)...or hit fast (archers).....or both (ogres).

[Rasczak]

When you have heavy fortification, then the time shall be right for you to expand your DDO experience.......normally I'm out there at lvl 14 these days because it's easy, xp heaven and I'm tired of collecting relics

[sirgog]

The one problem I have with doing wizard king or jungle of khyber or some of the other suggestions is that I'm a premium account, so I lack many adventure packs. Is getting to level 13-14 plausible with mostly ftp content at those levels?

Yep, there's easily enough free stuff to get to 15 if you wanted (with grinding) or ~13 without grinding.

If you have a well-built toon and know exactly what you are doing, you can solo most GH content on Elite by level 12 or 13, and speedrun Normal and Hard by those levels. If you don't know it well, hold off to 13 for Normal, 14 for Hard and 16 for Elite, unless you want a challenge and are willing to risk multiple failures.

The harder quests (Crucible and Gianthold Tor) should be tackled two levels higher than previously mentioned. Also the level 14 quests cannot be soloed without 'tricks', except for Madstone Crater which is probably too difficult to solo as a newer player.

[FluffyCalico]

if you are well geared and not a TR go as soon as you can get through. They stuck a min level on it to keep level 7-8s out. I think they made it min of 11. might be 10. If you are a TR wait as long as you possibly can before going there. Probably 14 or 15.

[Anthem]

You can try Trial by Fire first at 10 or 11. It's easy enough and short enough that nobody has to invest a lot of time in a failure. Bring your Command or G.Command. If that goes well, then Cabal, since its end fight can be done in the door with minimal danger.

If those work out then Feast or Maze (with a trapper if you're worried about your SP) and decide if you and your party are ready for more. Cry's cats, archers and air trap can test your party, and Foundation's end-fight has all the potential to turn ugly. I'd save them til you're comfortable with the other walkups.

Flaggers once you're happy with the walkups.

[gwlech]

I don't care about level, and you shouldn't really but....Do NOT go to gianthold until you have 100% fortification and a MINIMUM of 200 hps as a non-melee dps character, doing so is just adding liability to a group and contributing to the pileons-are-us fountation.

Personally, I don't take my charcters into gianthold until around level 13-14...at this time they are sitting at or around the 300 hp mark (even arcanes), which makes things significantly easier.

[Kadran]

You can try Trial by Fire first at 10 or 11. It's easy enough and short enough that nobody has to invest a lot of time in a failure. Bring your Command or G.Command. If that goes well, then Cabal, since its end fight can be done in the door with minimal danger.

If those work out then Feast or Maze (with a trapper if you're worried about your SP) and decide if you and your party are ready for more. Cry's cats and archers can test your party, and Foundation's end-fight has all the potential to turn ugly. I'd save them til you're comfortable with the other walkups.

Flaggers once you're happy with the walkups.

Really? I'd say Foundation is easier than Cabal. The end fight in Foundation: Hit the gongs to spawn Patrick. Have wiz/sorc throw a FW on him in his hole. Have entire party retreat back 1 room and clean up eles. Gain xp.

Edited to stay topical: I don't go to Gianthold until I'm 1 level higher than the lowest level dungeon. I think it's around 14-15. This means I'm not taking an exp hit, and there's no bonus exp for doing it below level anymore. I see no reason to go there at level 10 (I'm normally farming The Pit Elite at level 10.)

[biggin]

I wouldn't go out there without heavy fort and your level 6 spells. You need Heal at that point if your pugging. Greater Command (level 5) will knock just about anything out there to the ground, so always leave that prepped, it will save you a ton of SP in the long run. I usually hit GH around 11-12, walk out around 15-16, then time to hit the vale for some GS love. As a new cleric though, stay away from under level elite runs out there, they are murder on your plat. Norm runs are fun runs, great XP, and decent loot (+2 tomes, paralyzers, vorps, etc).

Also if you can swing it, try to grab a paralyzer and maybe a disrupter if you can. Paralyzers go a long way to mitigate damage when you learn to bob and weave.

[hecate355]

There is no way to say when to go there, noone here mentions gear and knowledge, those two make you perform completely differently. Certain builds/classes may find gianthold easier or them being more easily accepted into gh groups.

couple of examples: level 10 sorcerer sure has firewall, and if he has potency item for it+enhancement line+ spell crit equipment, then he can be quite helpful, in lets say cabal, or in other walkups or rogue with decent trapskills, as long as you do traps when its needed, i dont think you would be extra weight to the group or make em complain about you being 10.

[Anthem]

Really? I'd say Foundation is easier than Cabal.

I don't disagree, and Foundation's end fight can be done well and easily, so my own experiences there may have been less than lucky. Seems to me the air and earth ellies make some people panic, and the obstacles in that room can throw heals off during the gong phase. I say Cabal first since the fight in the door is (hopefully) still a common tactic well understood.

For the OP, whichever way you go True Seeing will be expected throughout Cabal, and FoM's a nice gesture at the end of Foundation.