Guide to Warden

Disclaimer: For those familiar with the “Bog Guard/Vanguard” roles on old Ratwood, Wardens are not necessarily that. Their role is first and foremost a PvE one. Also, the directions that are given on the map “Dun World” are partially inverted, so this guide will refer to north as south and south as north.

What is a Warden?

A Warden is part of the garrison, a role with a 4-person limit. They start with being able to choose between a Forester and an Archer subclass. Forester specializes in close quarters combat with axes and polearms, while the archer is more focused on bows, crossbows and daggers. Both classes start with a generous amount of armour; iron haubergeon, chausses, coif, gauntlets, a steel helmet and a light leather chest piece.

Wardens are the garrison’s woodsmen, their goal to protect the Vale from the most outward threats that seek to terrorize the populace, namely ambushes. Each part of the map has its own threat level that determines how likely, and how powerful, ambushes are going to be. This can be seen by going to the postings board anywhere on the map, and going to the “Scout Report” tab. This tab shows the threat level for every region.¹ The threat levels range from “Safe-Low-Moderate-Dangerous-Bleak”. Safe means there are no possible ambushes. Bleak means possible ambushes are likely to spawn more numerous mobs. A Warden’s job is to lower those threat levels to make traversal of the world much safer.

How to play?

A Warden spawns in their tower at the start of every round, or on the boat for late joins. Then, a Warden must decide where they wish to lower threat levels. Rotwood Basin? Southern Rotwood Coast? Outer Grove? Decapitation Mountain? The Terrorbog? These are easy to reach locations on the map for anyone starting out centrally from the city of Rotwood. The Terrorbog is to the west, the Southern Rotwood Coast is just above the stairs up from the gate, Rotwood Basin begins in the small forest and near the late-join spawn-point. These are just examples. After a Warden has chosen their location, they need to find a suitable, dark spot at these locales and blow the signal horn they get in their satchels. This horn is crucial to being a Warden, for without it, you’re little more than a guard with lighter armour. It can’t be replaced. Inspecting the horn will also tell you in which area you are in, so you don’t need to worry about not knowing where you are.

Blowing the horn takes a bit of time, and immobilizes you for a few seconds after blowing it, so it may be wise to have your weapon out before using it. After it is blown, multiple ambushes will spawn, primarily focused on whoever used the horn. This is why choosing the perfect location to blow it is important; you’ll need to kite mobs or get them into a chokepoint. If you end up getting surrounded by an ambush, you’ll likely be in deep trouble from which you can’t rise from. It IS possible to blow the horn and simply run away for a little while, since mobs can sometimes despawn if their ambush victim has left the area for a while. Archer Wardens can use their bows and arrows to keep distance, while foresters start with a spear to keep enemies in range while still managing to attack. Aiming for the throat is a generally wise strategy when dealing with mobs.

Payday (2):

After successfully beating off an ambush, you’re left with a lot of bodies and blood on the ground. If it’s not yours, everything is going well. Wardens also start with a dagger sheath and a hunting knife, which can be put in the sheath. After a battle, you can butcher any animal carcasses that you left with the knife and use whatever’s good to chop off the heads of any bandits/orcs/goblins/vikings/wildmen/bogmen.² You must also make sure to have space for all of this, since just the satchel and cloak to start with don’t have enough space for all the loot. Making a handcart is suggested. Then, after you’ve gathered up all the hide, fur, meat and head from whatever it is you have slain, load it up and go back to town. Sell the goods in the stockpile, and the heads to a headeater. Alternatively, if there is a merchant in the round, then deliver the heads to them instead. Headeaters only give you 40% of what each head is worth, and the difference between it and the merchant is night and day. The following image shows the possible income from heads sold to a merchant after an ambush in the Southern Rotwood Coast. It is not an exaggeration when some people say that Wardens are a high-paying job, for a garrison role, as they contribute to the economy by bringing in furs, hides, cured leather and meat.

Locations: There are various locations on Dun World, and each has its own unique mob spawns and threat levels at the start of each round. Some places will require more Wardens to deal with, due to difficulty. The following list lists the locations and what kind of mobs spawn in an ambush there.

Rotwood Basin - Lynxes - Volfs - Venards - Skeletons only armed with weapons
Northern Grove - Volfs - Goblins - Lightly armoured skeletons - Bandis clad in leather.
Southern Rotwood Coast - Bandits clad in leather - Orcs with hide armour and bone weapons - Vikings with iron equipment - Volfs - Venards - Lynxes - Dire bears - Moles
Decapitation Mountain - Minotaurs - Dire bears - Bandits clad in leather - Light-to-heavily armoured skeletons - Wildmen with wicker cloaks, sacks on their heads and high dodge rate
The Terrorbog - Mite crawlers, big and small - Bogmen, head-to-toe in iron armour and with steel weapons - Beespiders - Ador (?) (spider subtype) - Heavily armoured skeletons - Bog trolls
Outer Grove - Bandits clad in leather - Lynxes - Volfs - Heavily armoured skeletons - Goblins
Northern Rotwood Coast
Rockhill Basin - Volfs - Lynxes - Venards
Rockhill Terrorbog North - Skeletons with barely anything - Rous - Spiders - Goblins - Volfs
Rockhill Terrorbog South - Mite crawlers, big and small - Bogmen, head-to-toe in iron armour and with steel weapons - Beespiders - Ador (?) (spider subtype) - Heavily armoured skeletons - Bog trolls
Rockhill Terrorbog West - Skeletons with barely anything - Rous - Spiders - Goblins - Volfs
Rockhill Terrorbog East
Rockhill Murderwoods (North) - Bandits clad in leather - Skeletons in armour and shields - Volfs - Lynxes

Quick Guide:

This part includes a short guide on how to tackle each area. These should work most of the time, provided everything goes well.

- Rotwood Basin: This is the easiest one to deal with, and can easily be kept at Safe levels. The hardest part is avoiding getting surrounded by animals since venards are very quick to surround you. Aim for the nose since skeletons usually come along with the beasts and keep moving. There’s a lot of space to kite, so don’t be shy to use it.

- Northern Grove: This is the second easiest place to deal with, since it spawns just a bit more mobs than the Basin, is easily kept in check, and has a bit more variety. Aim for the nose to pick off any skeletons, then aim for the throat to finish off bandits, goblins and wildlife you may see. The area is heavily forested, but the small ruins right past the tunnel separating it and the Basin is a suitable location to kite.

- Southern Rotwood Coast: This area is the third easiest place to deal with, and the last of the easy solo areas. This area will spawn at least several mobs, with a high diversity rate. Picking a wide, open area is key to winning here. The dirt road is suitable for kiting, since it is open and you can weave around the braziers and trees to throw off mobs. Kill enemies one by one, aim for their weakpoints.

- Mount Decapitation: To enter the area in the first place, you need to break down one of the bars leading to there from either the Terrorbog or the Southern Rotwood Coast. Keep it that way. If you are solo, your best bet is to continuously kite backwards into the Coast, making sure you’re not surrounded. Alternatively, you can also simply run for it after triggering the ambush, leaving for a few minutes and coming back. The ambush will either have de-spawned, or the mobs will have begun infighting. They’re natural cannibals, after all. If with a partner, you can hold the entrance that you made as a chokepoint, letting in only one enemy at a time to fight. Use Feints on the wildmen with the wicker cloaks and aim for their heads/skulls. They have a high dodge rate, their weapons hurt a lot, and their throats and faces are well protected. Loot their chain mantles, they’re better than the roundstart coif.

- Outer Grove: Entering this area means going through either the west of the Northern Grove, or further north if the bridge has been repaired. This area is usually neglected, and very low traffic. There is also little room for kiting or chokepoints, barring the bridge. Bring a friend or two.

- The Terrorbog: The Terrorbog is found directly west of the city and is easily the hardest place to survive. This area starts the round at “Bleak” threat level. Ambushes are frequent and dangerous, and anyone that’s not a druid can easily find themselves surrounded by Mite crawlers and turned into a cocoon. Dealing with this area is mostly an endurance test, since there is nowhere to kite in the bog, and without sneaking, a blow from the horn can quickly escalate into a fight for survival. Mite Crawlers are most numerous here. Bring a small army.

- Rockhill Basin: Similar to Rotwood Basin, except since there are no skeletons coming, it is purely animal spawns. Venards will commonly spawn, meaning you’ll be parrying/dodging a lot in these encounters.

- Rockhill Terrorbog: The Rockhill Terrorbog has been made easier because of underestimated difficulty players would have when trying to reach the northern part of the map, the city. As such, the Terrorbog has been split into four areas: North, East, South and West. South is still where the difficult encounters are, like the Terrorbog on Dun World. But West and North are drastically easier, even if the spawns are still pretty numerous. You should make sure you can either funnel the mobs into a chokepoint or have enough space to dance around them as you pick them off one by one. The randomness of kneestingers, foliage and trees in the area make it very annoying to find a good spot.

Rockhill Murderwood: This is an area with a higher Z-level than most of the map, same level as hightown. It is far more open, lacks kneestingers, but still has a lot of foliage to trigger unwanted ambushes while already dealing with one. A nice spot that separates the north side of the Terrorbog, it can be easy to deal with ambushes here, even with the added difficulty. The most common entrances are north and south, both exiting at the northern Terrorbog area, and a short distance away from each other. You can rotate between the southern stairs with the north Murderwood and the north Terrorbog, since one area will have reset by the time you are done with the other.

Wardens and Other Players:

You may be thinking “That’s great an all, but how does this fit into roleplay?” That is for you to figure out. Wardens are woodsmen with the duty to keep the roads clear, the forests safe and the populace relatively safe from the oppression of enemies. Since Wardens spend a lot of time in the wilderness, they can volunteer to use their knowledge of monster hunting to escort certain people of their desire. Mages and witches all seek alchemical ingredients on Mount Decapitation, sometimes even the Terrorbog. If they don’t ask for service, offer it to them. Even if it’s a brief interaction, you’ll be doing more to ensure players do not suddenly vanish from the round by a wandering antagonist or a sudden ambush. Wardens contribute to the economy with the goods they bring in and can quickly become Expert in Butchering due to how much they end up having to skin animals for money. This makes them great hunters and can use their wealth to purchase whatever it is they wish. But Wardens also start with great climbing skills and Expert in Tracking. This makes them excellent trackers to sniff out anyone who’s trying to evade them or the retinue. Since they also play a lot outside of the city, their houndstone is normally what keeps them informed to activities in town. Constant silence can feel like a bad sign, but unlikely to cause unease. Anyone else will report wrongdoings, anyway, and you can speed off from there. Wardens can also spot antagonists early if they manage to notice them, though with their low numbers, it is usually unwise to engage in a sudden fight with random bandits or Wretches. Alert the rest of the retinue instead if something seems off. Remember, the presence of a Warden is seldom seen outside of town, but their absence is always felt with the escalating threat levels. Good Hunting!

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