You’ve made your way through Dol Guldur, and are now at the topmost parapet of the tower. Silence is all around you — you hear nothing but the low sigh of wind, and your own heartbeat. The dark clouds above your head add to the tension, which is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

Then, the silence is broken. From far above your head, above the dark clouds, comes a high-pitched cry. The cry is so bone-chilling that for a few seconds you cower. Then, you hear the beat of massive wings. From the clouds comes a dark shape. At first, it appears to be a bat, but soon you see that it is the form of some great bird — or maybe reptile, since it has no feathers. When this great monstrosity lands on the parapet of the tower, you see that it is huge, with a wingspan of at least twenty metres. Seated on the back of the beast is a dark, cloaked figure. When he raises his head, you can see nothing but the black emptiness which is his form to mortal eyes.

You are now face to face with Khamul, second of the Nine and Lieutenant of Dol Guldur.

He speaks, his voice a low croak. “Hahaha, so you fools have made it to the top of Dol Guldur, have you? Curse you! You have destroyed my armies, hampered my operations, and nearly put an end to all my plans for Rhovanion! Well, I assure you that you will be a thorn in my side no longer. Fellbeast, attack!”

With a sweep of its massive wings, the Fellbeast rises four metres into the air. It gives a long, low, mournful croak. Then, it strikes at you with its massive jaws. Anyone caught between the teeth is instantly killed. At this time, only ranged attacks can damage it. Fortunately, it is nothing more than an elite master, and after a few minutes of dodging its massive jaws, it falls to the ground dead.

Khamul tumbles behind the massive folds of its wings. As the dust settles, he rises, and turns to look at you. Once again, he sends forth his wraith-scream, and the battle against the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur begins.

Khamul is a level 68 arch-nemesis with 795,462 morale and 124,760 power. Dol Guldur has 160 ambient gloom, while Khamul himself generates an additional 80 gloom. He has an aura known as Black Breath. If you enter the aura (radius 18 metres), you receive the following debuffs: 1000 shadow damage every 5 seconds. -460 b/p/e. -900 fire/frost/shadow mitigation. +20% damage received. -20% damage dealt. -25% run speed. -50% attack speed. +50% induction duration.

Khamul has many devastating attacks. Once he engages, he gains the standard unseen buff: Terrible Retribution (reflects 25% of damage back at the attacker, 5% chance to root the attacker for 10 seconds). He can strike you with his sword, of course. If multiple melee opponents are attacking him (bad idea), he does a massive frontal AOE which hits all opponents around him in a 240 degree arc for over 800 shadow damage. If he faces one opponent, he will use his normal sword attacks, which hit for over 900 shadow damage. He can also do his Morgul Blade attack, which hits for over 2000 shadow damage and applies two debuffs: a poison DOT which does 800 shadow damage every two seconds until cured; a fear debuff (The Eye is upon You) — if you die before your poison DOT is cured, a signature cargul will spawn from your corpse. (Yeah, I know, a signature isn’t that powerful, but that’s all you were equal to, after all ).

Once Khamul falls below 540k morale, he will give a massive screech which does 1500 shadow damage and knocks back all players within ten metres of him halfway across the platform. He calls adds to help him (”Orcs, to me!”) Immediately after, two level 67 nemesis uruk-hai lieutenants with 90,514 morale and 23,614 power run onto the platform. Bringing back memories of FG, the uruks will periodically use “Prepare the warband maneuver!,” which, as we all know, temporarily stuns you. The trouble is that these guys have an additional move which summons elite orcs to aid them. They will use this move approximately every 15 seconds. It has a 3-second induction, so interrupt it!

Meanwhile, you still have to deal with Khamul, who has begun attacking again (actually, his morale bar never turned green), and has gained an additional attack: “Bow to Sauron!” which causes all players within five metres of him to be knocked down for twenty seconds. Obviously, this can be a problem if he decides to take out an entire fellowships’ worth of you melee attackers, who are fighting simply to stay alive when they are within range of his Black Breath.

But, somehow you managed to stay alive through all that, and have knocked his morale down to 340k. Once again, he will use his Wraith Scream, knocking you back. Fun? Now, get ready for stage 3 of this fight. This time, he will summon adds again (”Cergyl, come to my aid!”), and immediately, four nemesis cergyl will spawn from nowhere. Each cergyl will immediately go after a different target: please note that they generate 100% more threat to LMs, RKs, minis, and hunters, and that they have a 50% mitigation to threat generation skills. They also come with their own arsenal of special attacks: “Get away from me!” (knocks the target backward), “You cannot harm us! (The target does 0% damage to undead, ancient evil, and unseen for 15 seconds), “Your inspiration fails you,” (target’s incoming and outgoing healing reduced to 1% for 15 seconds), “Fall to the shadow!” (tactical attack that does 2500 shadow damage), “Fall to the frost!” (tactical attack that does 2500 frost damage, “Fall to the flames!” (tactical attack that does 2500 fire damage).

Somehow, SOMEHOW you made it through all that and have knocked Khamul’s morale down to 170k. Now, he does his screech again, only this time, once you land from your knockback, you are knocked down for 10 seconds after hitting the ground again. Further adding to the frustration of this, Khamul will freeze the platform, covering it with ice. The ice will bring back unpleasant memories of post-Book 8 patch HOM, as you will receive a -50% movement speed debuff from the slipperieness of the platform. Ah, what fun!

Oh yes, the adds…this time it’s “That does it. You vermin are too much! Armies of Dol Guldur! Aid me in destroying these fools!” Immediately, a horde of at least twenty orcs, wargs, and spiders will swarm onto the platform. They are a nice assortment of normals, signatures, and elites. Oh, and they are all used to clinging to the ice, so they are moving at normal speed. In addition, Khamul will say “It’s time to show you the true power of the Nazgul!,” and he gains ANOTHER attack: Drain Essence (drains the target of 1500 morale and power, and gives it to the attacker). He will use this every 20 seconds or so, and it ain’t interruptable.

Finally, once your battered, bashed, and exhausted, you will heave your weapon, fire your bow, and play your lute one last time. You’re down to your last 10 morale and power. All your pots are on cooldown (or would be, if there were any left), all your equipment is down to 1 point of durability, and all your skills are also on cooldown. You’re pooped. You give the very last of your energy, and that proves enough to overcome the power of Khamul. The Nazgul gives a tremendous shriek. A massive explosion of light rocks the platform. When the blindness passes, silence has fallen. The Nazgul is defeated, and has returned to Mordor shapeless and crippled — only his black cloak remains. His army is dead, their corpses littering the platform atop the topmost parapet of Dol Guldur. The silence has returned — all you can hear is the rustling of the wind, and your own dry, heavy breathing.

Congratulations! You have fulfilled your mission, and Khamul is defeated. If you loot his cloak, you will find the following loot: Fragment of a Morgul-blade (barter item for the Elves of Mirkwood: turn in this item for a radiance boost: +35 radiance for 4 hours), Khamul’s trinket (pocket item: +350 maximum morale, +270 maximum power, +800 shadow/fire/frost/acid mitigation, +70 might/agility/fate, on any damage: 20% chance to reflect 120 damage). Loot the Fellbeast’s corpse for the following: tooth of a Fellbeast (barter item: turn this in to the Elves of Mirkwood to receive your breastplate.) Oh, did I mention that this item only drops once per raid session? Somehow, the Fellbeast only lost one of its teeth.

Oh, there are also two chests there: one is the hardmode chest, which requires you to defeat Khamul within 25 minutes of engaging him (actually, within 25 minutes of engaging the Fellbeast). Inside the hardmode chest, you will find half a dozen first-age turnin emblems, 5 gold coins, and some nice hardmode jewellry: Cargul’s ring (+5% melee/ranged/tactical crit multiplier, +200 maximum morale and power, +60 might/agility/vitality/will/fate, on use: +25% melee damage for 30 seconds on a 20 minute cooldown), Earring of Dol Guldur (+80 might/agility/will, +300 maximum morale and power, on any damage, 25% chance to receive effect: +75% devastate magnitude), Necklace of Mirkwood (rare hardmode drop — epic quality [that's brown] — +75 might/agility/vitality/will/fate, +350 maximum morale/power, +6% melee/ranged/tactical crit multiplier, on any damage, 1% chance to receive effect: 60 morale initially. 60 morale every 4 seconds for 20 seconds, on use: +1200 morale on a 45 minute cooldown).

That normal mode chest has the following: 2 Mirkwood mithril flakes (or whatever the extra-special crafting component will be by then), 2 crit crafting components, 3 gold coins, 2 75k Mirkwood ixp runes, and 12 10k Mirkwood ixp runes.

And, last but not least, you receive a nice title: Bane of Khamul — You have faced Khamul, the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur and second in command of the Nazgul. Now the Elves of Mirkwood sing your praises, whilst the armies of Dol Guldur and Mordor fear your name.

WOOT