"Neverwinter" - Fangbreaker Island Quiz

Answer: Recover the Ring of Winter, slay Drufi the Herald of Winter, and escape the island with Makos' corpse

The entire premise of the Storm King's Thunder campaign has been to recover the Ring of Winter. You watched Bryn Shander fall from a prosperous kingdom into a city in shambles. The people in Lonelywood have suffered every day from the unnatural cold and presence of hostile Frost Giants and Ice Trolls.

The beautiful Sea of Moving Ice has been corrupted by the presence of these Ice Trolls and Frost Giants as well. Now, it's time to end it all by recovering the Ring of Winter and eradicating the unnatural cold that has constricted Icewind Dale.

In addition to that, following Makos' heroic sacrifice, it has been determined that it is possible to actually resuscitate him; you need only locate Makos' corpse on the island and return it to the Arcane Brotherhood, with the hopes they can revive him. Drufi the Herald of Winter has been a huge road block in your plans to this point, and as such, she must also die. Aided by Harshnag and Princess Serissa, Frost Giants who have been aiding you, along with Artus Cimber, who has been instrumental in locating the Ring of Winter, this has been made possible. All of this is the premise behind your visit to Fangbreaker Island.

Answer: Hati

Hati the Manticore is true devastation, to say the least. You better have come equipped with Everfrost Resistance potions and some heavy Everfrost resistance in your equipment, or you will perish very, very quickly against Hati. Even with all of this, one must pay very careful attention to the avalanches Hati summons; they will instantly kill anyone, regardless of class or resistance.

They can be avoided by retreating underneath a large rock on the Cliffside you are on, but you do not have much time to make this maneuver. Guardian Fighters lacking Everfrost resistance and Everfrost Resistance potions are rendered very heavy liabilities in this fight; even with their shields up, they take far too much damage from Hati's fast, hard hitting attacks. Of course, they are also incapable of significantly hurting Hati due to their passivity, so it is an absolute must for them to come with the necessary resistances if the party is to defeat Hati.

Answer: Dragon Turtle

While the concept of a Dragon Turtle may not seem too intimidating, there is nothing about this creature's appearance that yields any comfort. Thankfully, unlike Hati, super heavy Everfrost resistance, while still highly encouraged, is not absolutely mandatory in order for the party to overcome the Dragon Turtle.

Unfortunately, this comes at a cost to Guardian Fighters; you are nearly worthless in this fight. All of the Dragon Turtle's attacks are Area of Effect attacks, meaning the Tank cannot divert them away from their party members like they could a typical foe.

The most useful thing a Guardian Fighter can do is Mark the Guardian Turtle, cast Knight's Valor to mitigate the inevitable damage their team will suffer, and continuously use Into the Fray throughout the fight.

This fight comes with a fairly explosive and deadly twist around the points the Dragon Turtle hits 75%, 50%, and 25% of its health. At these times, it will leave the battlefield, begin to swim in a circle around the iceberg the party is standing on, and it will begin to toss Explosive Runes onto the field. What's worse is it will also summon a blizzard which completely drains all players of their stamina. Guardian Fighters cannot negate the knockback of the Explosive Runes with their shields and Trickster Rogues and Great Weapon Fighters cannot simply dash past them; you have to have very high maintenance as to where all the Runes are at all times. If you fail, you can very easily get knocked off the iceberg into certain death in the freezing waters, which will kill you quickly with Hypothermia.

Answer: Drufi

The nastiest Frost Giant to ever scourge the lands, it's the infamous Drufi Herald of Winter. Predictably, Drufi is not merely a glorified version of a Frost Giant. She has two devastating attacks to look out for. The first one provides reminiscence of your trip to Valindra's Tower, albeit much, much worse.

She will encase all but one player of the party inside Permafrost. It is up to this player to free the rest of the party from the Permafrost, individually, or else they will all die a slow, agonizing, cold death.

Much like the Phantom Claw on Valindra's Tower, these is no defense to this Permafrost, but there is one known fact on how to control the player left unfrozen; the four players standing closest to Drufi will become frozen, while the one standing farthest away will remain. For this reason alone, it is highly recommended to bring a Hunter Ranger with you to this fight, as they will naturally be at a distance in attacking, and as a DPS loadout, they can free the party from Permafrost faster than any other class. Fortunately, if anyone happens to die, it is worth noting that Grufi will never freeze the entire party.

There will always be one player left unfrozen, so do not be distraught if something happens. Unfortunately, due to how bulky the Permafrost is, the player left unfrozen may need to make a difficult decision on who to save and who to let die. This is particularly problematic if the player left unfrozen should happen to be the Cleric, as their negligible offensive presence will essentially seal the fate of at least two, possibly three and maybe even all four of the frozen party members. The second attack to look out for is not particularly problematic, but moreso annoying. Drufi will summon a blizzard that pushes the party backward, towards the other side of the map. This blizzard does light damage and can leave the player dazed for a few seconds after it concludes. In addition to this, Drufi is a better version of the feared Warrior Frost Giant, and she can easily kill any player in one hit with her ice boulders, as well as running over any player with her bull charge, in addition to simply hitting really hard with her standard attack.

Answer: At least 28% Everfrost Resistance

While this is a requirement, it would be absolutely insane to try this dungeon without having a significantly higher Everfrost Resistance stat. The typical consensus is that an Everfrost Resistance of 45% or higher, if you bring Everfrost Resist Potions, is sufficient.

It is helpful to pack Everfrost Chaincoat and/or Clausses if you are able to. Really, you cannot have enough Everfrost Resistance on this epic dungeon, so whichever source you get it from will be good. Even with a stat of 45% Everfrost Resistance or higher, it is still recommended to bring Everfrost Resistance Potions, especially if you are the party's Guardian Fighter. Guardian Fighters are actually total and utter liabilities if they come with the minimum Everfrost Resistance required to enter the dungeon, as they will be getting hit the most out of the entirety of the party.

A Guardian Fighter that is a liability will essentially make the completion of this dungeon impossible.

Answer: No

Much like Castle Never, nobody has ever completed Fangbreaker Island alone, nor has Cryptic Studios ever stated such a feat to be impossible. Having said that, it is unreasonably difficult, treading into impossible territory, to complete this dungeon alone. Hati, alone, is pretty much impossible to defeat alone, as it hits extremely fast and does a ton of damage with each hit.

It isn't a model of perfection in terms of its bulk, but this is irrelevant when it kills the one player in the party in a few hits, within the first five seconds of the battle. Guardian Fighters will easily be overwhelmed if they do not have a Cleric with them, as they are incapable of seriously threatening to hurt Hati, and even with their shields up, take far too much damage to be able to reasonably sustain the fight for long. DPS loadouts may as well turn back, they will be killed in less than five seconds, before they even have the opportunity to cut into Hati's health. Even if somehow, someway, you managed to defeat Hati, the gigantic groups of enemies throughout this dungeon will easily overwhelm any one player.

This mob of enemies is arguably even more impossible to overcome alone than Hati or the Dragon Turtle. Finally, Drufi will make short work of any one character, as her ice boulders will instantly kill even Guardian Fighters with their shields up. While you would not need to worry about Permafrost here, we actually do not have any documentable data that would portray how hard or easy defeating Grufi alone would be; nobody in the game's long history has even made it this far before alone. We actually do not know for sure whether or not Drufi's 'leave one player unfrozen' mantra with Permafrost works if the party has only one player in it. That should really go to show just how near-impossible it is to complete this dungeon alone. Really, it's hard enough to complete this dungeon with a cohesive team, but alone? You can pretty much forget it.

Answer: The Many Arrows Tribe

Orcs of the Many Arrow Tribes will be seen on Fangbreaker Island. Curiously enough, after defeating Hati, you will enter a factory on the island and suspiciously find these two forces fighting against each other. The game does not provide a reason nor a context as to why this is happening, but it is best to accept what you have been given; if you confront these groups, they will band together once again and attack you. On the rest of the island, these two forces work alongside each other for unknown reasons. Predictably, the Many Arrows Tribe is not anywhere near as easy to defeat as they were way back in the Cloak Tower.

Answer: Tank

The most important rule of Fangbreaker Island is that a useless Tank makes a useless party. Clerics are of obvious importance, but if the Tank they're healing lacks the Everfrost Resistance and didn't pack Everfrost Resistance Potions, then they're wasting their heals on something that will end up dead in a handful of seconds either way. DPS loadouts are of obvious importance as well, but with the Tank down, they will end up dead extremely quickly to the overwhelming bosses or mobs of foes.

It is truly important to make sure the Tank has sufficient Everfrost Resistance, or you have no business trying to complete this dungeon.

Answer: Ewan Roald

Ewan Roald does not say or do anything other than wait outside the entrance. As the leader of the mercenary Cold Run scouts, his decision to have ventured this far into Fangbreaker Island is a curious one, to say the least.

Answer: Ancient Runic Key

The Ancient Runic Key, surprisingly cheap, can be crafted for 2,000 Voninblod and 50 Ten Towns Supplies via the Storm King's Thunder campaign. I cannot stress how easily worth it this key is. It can spawn the most jawdropping prizes, from the fabled Harper Bard (regarded as being among the top five best companions in the entire game) to other amazing goodies and treats, there is truly very little risk in bringing one of these keys, especially given the surprisingly low cost there is to crafting one.

In addition, why bother going to the trouble of finishing a dungeon as difficult as Fangbreaker Island if you didn't plan on cashing in on your efforts?