Frostcovered City

Frostcovered City lies in the far north-west corner of the Midlands. It used to be a favourite levelling spot, because its bosses and monsters gave a lot of experience and the dungeon could be run again and again. Hyper EXP Stones are now nearly always switched off inside, so those big gains are gone; they are sometimes switched on for a while and usually turned off again with the next update. An Illusion Stone can take you to the entrance for a fee.

• You need a squad of at least 2. The leader must be level 85+, the other members 75+.
• Only the leader has to be inside to start it: talk to Lin Yan at the entrance and take the quest "Open the Gate".
• Locked doors open when you kill the Glacial Shades or certain bosses. Squads usually pull groups of monsters to each Shade and kill them together with area attacks.
• Players of level 85+ can earn a reward chest: the repeatable quest "A Daring Rescue" from Lin Yan summons the optional boss Cyclotra Styren and gives the item Faithfulness, and the Celestial Sister gives Sincerity after the Frozen Heads. Hand both to the Frost Elder at the end for a chest with one random prize, such as Perfect Stones, Flawless Shards, Mirage Celestone or Socket Stones.

Today most players run it alone or in small groups. A classic squad for weaker characters has a tank (a Barbarian, or a Blademaster or Seeker), a healer (Cleric or Mystic), debuffers and area damage dealers.

Every boss in Frostcovered City is level 150. What to watch for:

• Thunderclaw: ranged magic that slows you and a short bleed. It drops circles on random players that explode for 5,000 damage after 5 seconds, so step out of them.
• Diabolic Shocktrooper: Frost Lord Holan's quest starts a ritual. Two Glacix Elementos appear every 30 seconds; the more you kill, the weaker the boss (Weakened, Tough or Frenzied). It puts players to sleep and uses Occult Ice, a damage-over-time that can be purified.
• Cyclotra Styren (optional): summoned through "A Daring Rescue". Ranged magic and an area bleed; it calls a Glacix Dragoon at the start and again near one third of its health, and the Dragoon can stun the area once.
• Dreadindra: melee hits, sleep, random aggro and purges. It calls Frost Bishops that can freeze players, and an area attack takes a share of your health, so area heals help.
• Asoteric Runewolf: when it stops and shouts a long build-up ending in "SLASH!", run away; the strikes that follow can wipe a weaker squad. Avoid interrupting its casts, which can set this off early.
• Messenger of Fear: area sleep and area damage. The tank holds it while healers cover the squad.
• Oceania Master: do not use area skills here. Ignore the minion next to the boss that dares you to hit it, since killing it sets off a deadly blast, and kill the summoned hands within 5 seconds before they clap.
• Decaying Fragrance: an axe debuff that must be purified, plus area stuns.
• Asoteric Runephoenix: seals, area damage and life drain, with strong health regeneration. After it dies, destroy its remaining soul quickly before it disappears.
• Holeen, Champion of Fientazzar: first lure out and kill Holeen's body; then the Champion appears with random aggro, seals and area attacks, and buffs itself near 30% health, which should be purged at once.

Most bosses have a small chance (the wiki lists 1.6%) to drop a green-named piece of gear such as rings, capes, helmets or wristguards. The later bosses mainly drop an item called The Past of Frostcovered City, with a very small chance of gold-named gear instead. Holeen always drops two items: usually Flawless Shards, rarely a green- or gold-named weapon. See Shards and Socketing for what the shards do.

The main quest "Wind and Snow" starts with the Elder of the Streams at level 75. It leads you through Snowy Village and North Barrier Village, then across the race capitals to learn the city's past, and ends with "Fall of the City": entering Frostcovered City, freeing the soul of Frost Lord Holan, defeating Holeen and bringing the Journal of Frost back to the Elder of the Streams.

Frostcovered City is one of many dungeons in the Midlands; for another mid-level option see Twilight Temple.