Weekly WARview : Gates of Ekrund

[Meteorfall]

Welcome readers, to your Weekly WARview ! This week's spotlight is turned on Gates of Ekrund, the Tier 1 Dwarves VS Greenskins scenario, that has also been turned into a R19-R24 scenario with it's own (and very rewarding) quest chain !

Lore & Tactics

The ancient Gates of Ekrund guard the only mountain pass that is wide enough to accommodate an army. For the Dwarfs, recapturing these gates and sealing them shut is of vital importance in stemming the greenskins' tide of destruction. The Dwarfs have succeeded in repairing most of the damage to the gates, but the greenskins remain relentless in their attempts to break through, if only to annoy the Dwarfs. The greenskins have no siege weaponry capable of damaging the doors, so they are forced to try to take control of the gate mechanism, located atop the gates. To accomplish this, the greenskins have erected siege towers that they use to climb to the top of the walls.

Gates of Ekrund is a 12on12 (6on6 for the R19-R24 version) Domination scenario. There are three key locations on the map : the Gate Switch, the Ammunition Room, and the Supply Room. The Gate Switch is directly in the middle, meaning it will most probably be the main fighting hotspot, and it should be your priority to keep it under your side's control. Keeping key locations under your control nets you points, and once either one of the teams reaches 500 points, the game ends. There is also a 15 minute time limit, if the timer finishes and no one reached 500 points, the team with the current highest points will win the game.

The R19-R24 Gates of Ekrund comes with a rather long quest chain (you'll receive the first part in the mail once you reach Rank 19), with each quest giving you 63k exp, yes, that's 63,000 each. You can complete most of the quests either in the actual scenario, or in T3 ORvR Zones. It's a really fast way to gain around 3-4 levels.


Personal Opinion

I like being the one who takes control of the side locations in Gates of Ekrund, most of the time 3/4 of both sides will be clashing at the Gate Switch, so I like to take that time to ninja the other Objectives . Having a knockback is fun as hell in GoE (For example, the R1 Morale for non-caster RDPS : Point-Blank), punting people of the sides of the Gate just feels so rewarding. On another note, there's a "secret" hidden in this scenario, and it involves being launched into the air :
First of all, I'm pretty sure it's Destruction-exclusive, but this needs to be tested on Order. Anyways, when at the Destruction spawn camp, move East a bit and you should see two orcapults with gobbos near them. Talk to either one of the goblins (right-click) and he should send you packing onto the Gate (sometimes it bugs out and you have to talk to the goblin a second time). The place you land at is completely random, you could end up on either side of the Gate, in the middle of it, or even smashing into a wall. Well, that's really all I have to say about Gates of Ekrund, it's a great scenario, and I enjoy it a lot.

Next Week : Khaine's Embrace, you know you want to hear about it.

-WAAAGH Well, Meteorfall.

[Boozed Beerchugger]

I've been playing since OB and I had no idea you could launch onto the walls...I'm gonna have to try it!

[Dubidox]

damn, nice tip!

[Stick&Move]

That is a good tip!


I've been qued for this constantly though and have yet to see GoE pop.

[Sir Robin]

Hehe, yep, I love being launched by those orcapults.

[leslie]

your personal opinion works for me!

[pyxxel]

Thanks for the write-up, especially the background story. Great tip about the Orcapults, must try it and also see if similar stuff exists for Order!