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The following guide to sacking the enemy’s city is no way intended to be ‘Realm-ist’.  The author even plays Order himself.  The example of Altdorf is merely to illustrate the complexity of the City Siege process, and is not an effort to give Destruction an edge in sacking their enemy’s Capital.  Further detailed guides on both cities and their content will be illustrating each Realm’s finer points at a later date.

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Contesting the Enemy's City

The culmination of the ever-present conflict in Warhammer Online is the capture and ransacking of the enemy’s capital city.  Herein we’ll detail the steps necessary for opening the gates of the city, and ultimately taking it for your realm.  Later on, we’ll have more specific guides for each step along the way, but every razing and pillaging group of warriors must start somewhere, so let’s begin with the basics.

Opening up the gates of either city is a long and arduous process that begins in the Tier 4 zones primarily.  In order to force your enemy’s city into the contested state, you and the fellow warriors of your realm must first capture 2 fortresses in the Tier 4 zones within 12 hours of each other.

In order to attack these fortresses, you must first capture the zones prior to the Fortress zones in Tier 4 by Zone Control (participating in Scenarios, queuing for Scenarios, capturing Objectives and Keeps, Killing enemy players and completing PQs).  What this means is you’ll first push to a zone between your Tier 4 home and the enemy’s (Praag for example), and once you’ve taken control of that zone you would push forward to Reikland or Chaos Wastes (depending on your allegiance) and capture the objectives there.  

Once both are held by your Realm, you will be free to take on the challenges of sacking the enemy’s fortress in that racial pairing.  What goes into taking an enemy’s fortress in Tier 4, you ask?  

Fortresses are the last bastion of defense before you can start knocking on your enemy’s city gates.  If ever there is a need to work together against all odds, this is it.  If you don’t win here, there is no hope for bringing the fight to the city.

Each fortress has its own zone, and once players enter this area they’ll have 60 minutes to topple the defenses and take down the Fortress Lord.  The outer reaches of each fortress has 10-12 siege weaponry pads for the attackers to use in order to take down the defenses.  Similarly, the fortress walls are lined along the top with 6-8 of their own weaponry pads for the defenders to use.  

There are 3 doors (as opposed to 1 in earlier Tiers) that can be broken down by the attackers, with oil above each one to deter attackers.  Just knocking down one door can take upwards of 10 minutes, so it’s best if you and your invading force pick one before you get started and head for it right from the beginning of your attack.  

But this first door was just for the outer walls.  The attackers still need to work their way to the actual Fortress doors and inside to get at the Lord.  Doing so will require a coordinated effort, as inside the walls awaits a host of enemy NPCs and players alike, ready to defend their stronghold with every last breath.  This door can take considerably longer to knock down, with the opposition likely being much stronger here.

Once inside the fortress however, the fight’s not over.  The fortress stronghold itself has 3 floors.  Guards of varying difficulty are stationed on the first and third floors.  On the first floor, which is the one where the attackers will enter, attackers will find many guards waiting to push them back out of the Fortress.  These guards are harder than the ones found outside and so players need to be on their toes when dealing with this onslaught.

The second floor is accessed via stairs or ramps from the first floor.  There are not as many guards as on the first floor here, but that is not to say that the attackers are safe.  Expect that defenders will be constantly harassing the attackers, trying to bottleneck them here and soften them up for the battle that is ahead.

The third floor, again accessed by ramps or stairs, houses the Fortress Lord and his Bodyguards.  These are the toughest guards found in the Fortress since any one of these soldiers can hold back a multitude of players without breaking a sweat.  If the attackers are not working in perfect harmony, with constant communication and a solid plan of attack, then all will be lost.

Keep in mind that during all of this: beating down the outer door, pushing through the

Fortress Door, fighting through all the guards, and fighting the Fortress Lord himself, players from the enemy realm will be joining in the fight to stop the attackers from progressing through to the end.  As if the guards and Fortress Lord weren’t a force unto themselves, adding other players to the defenses makes taking a Fortress a daunting task indeed.  

If the attackers are held at bay and the 60 minute timer runs down, then all is lost.  The Fortress will become inaccessible, and the specific pairing will reset back to its starting zone.  This means that the attackers will have to push their way through the Tier 4 campaign again in order to attempt to take the Fortress for a second time.

You must repeat this process for 2 fortresses in the Tier 4 zones within 12 hours of each other in order to open the enemy’s city to a contested state.  If you manage this Herculean task, the real trial of your army’s mettle begins.  The enemy city will be opened to your forces, and the march on your enemies’ last bastion will commence.

Fighting for Control of the City

We’ll use Altdorf as the example for this bit in order to give a clear example of what happens once the gates of a city are down and the enemy comes swarming in.  After the forces of Destruction have opened Altdorf into a contested state, the city becomes much like a regular RvR zone in which each side must fight for control of the city.  You fight for control over the City just like regular open world zones. A City Scenario is available to join from anywhere in tier 4 as well as within the City.  Capture the Objectives in the City to earn Victory points over time and remember to always kill the enemy players you come across as it all contributes to Zone Control in the City.

It’s worth noting that during the attack and defense portion of a contested city, contribution points towards the capture of a city are scaled based on the population of both sides, not just one lump sum for either side. This ensures that a defending force with smaller numbers has a fighting chance to hold off the invaders. However, you can overcome the scaling with a sufficiently large force.  If a group of 300 are taking on a group of 30, they should rightly be allowed to win.  The idea is for the defending force to show up in droves to protect their King, and if they can’t be bothered to do so, there’s no reason the enemy shouldn’t take the city.

Inside the city, during the attack and defense portion of the fight, there will be two Battlefield Objectives that must be taken by Destruction (when attacking Altdorf in this example).  These objectives are much like the Battlefield Objectives out in the world in the RvR Lakes.  They are, in no specific order, the Temple of Sigmar and the Docks.

For the sake of the guide, let’s say that Destruction manages to take control of the contested Altdorf.  At this point the city is still not fully captured.  The Destruction players must complete two large and difficult Public Quests in one of the instances of the City within Altdorf in under an hour.

The Public Quests to Capture Altdorf

Since we are dealing with Altdorf in this guide, let’s detail the two Public Quests and on a basic level what they entail.  We won’t give away too much here, but rather this will serve as an idea of what needs to be done for each Public Quest.

• The Grand Theogonist – An epic fight with the holy men and women of Sigmar, that culminates in a final battle with the Grand Theogonist Volkmar. 
  
  
• The Bright Wizard College – Destruction players must work their way through the halls of the college, killing all wizards in their path, destroying temple artifacts, and finally confronting and defeating Patriarch Thyrus Gormann.  

Should the invading force (Destruction in our example) fail to complete these two Public Quests in the allotted hour, the city will be reopened to the defending forces of Order and they’ll be free to wipe out any remaining invaders in and around the Public Quests and Battlefield Objectives.

However, should Destruction complete these two Public Quests (The Bright Wizard College and Grand Theogonist for Altdorf), they’ll lock down the city for 20-24 hours and gain access to the King Instance.  No Order players will be allowed into the city during this time, and the Destruction players will have access to the most challenging and rewarding fight in the game… the attack on Emperor Karl Franz (for the Order, this would be Tchar’Zanek in the Inevitable City).

The Basics of the King Encounter

Using Altdorf as an example again, the King Encounter portion of sacking the enemy’s city is much more than just opening the door to his office and inviting him out for a tea and crumpets.  You can’t expect to just knock on the King’s door and ask him to come out and play.

You’ll have to fight your way through his keep, from the foyer to the throne room, destroying all his protectors that aim to keep their king alive.  When you finally do reach the King, he won’t just give up the deed to the Kingdom and let you behead him.  The most difficult PvE battle in all of Warhammer Online is the King Encounter inside the enemy city.  You’ll need specific pieces of specific armor sets to post the greatest threat to the King.

You can find more specific info on all of Warhammer Online’s most powerful sets of armor here, but for the sake of simplicity let’s cover just the basic sets you’ll want to be wearing when you assault the Fortresses and the City.

Tier 4 Dungeon and Fortress Sets

Bloodlord & Annihilator Armor Sets
These sets have the “Lesser Ward”, which can greatly assist you and your fellow players in taking on the Tier 4 dungeons and RvR Fortresses.  Bloodlord pieces can be found in the Bastion Stair dungeon, while the Annihilator set can be obtained from competing in Tier 4 RvR.  Both sets can be worn in any combination and will greatly assist you in taking down the Fortresses around Tier 4.

Sentinel & Conqueror Armor Sets
These two sets have the “Greater Ward” which will help you take on the Lost Vale Dungeon and the City Invasion Public Quests.  You can find the Sentinel pieces in the City’s high level dungeon content, while the Conqueror pieces can be purchased and used with the appropriate Career and Renown Ranks.  

These are just a few of the sets that will help lead you to victory in sacking your enemy’s city.  Check out the full listing of armor sets here to get a preview of what your character could wear someday.

When All is Said and Done

So the enemy has captured the city.  They’ve taken on Karl Franz and possibly won and lost to the big guy a few times.  Then what happens?  Well, the capture and sacking of the enemy’s city is like the Super Bowl of Warhammer Online.  It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work and determination for the players.  Whoever manages to capture the city theoretically “wins the Championship” and after the 20-24 hour period is up the hold on the city is relinquished and the defending players are allowed back in.  The cycle begins anew.

However with Warhammer Online’s Living Cities, they’ll likely notice a few things are missing.  When the enemy takes your city, it knocks down the rating of the metropolis.  So if you and your guild had access to Sigmar’s Hammer before in Altdorf, when you are allowed back in the city and the Destruction host as moved on, you might find it in disrepair and unable to be accessed until the city has again achieved sufficient rank.  

Such is the penalty for losing the capitol to the enemy.  Things need to be rebuilt, the defenses re-bolstered.  Also bear in mind that taking a Higher Ranked Capital nets better rewards for you and your realm-mates.  By letting the enemy build up their defenses, it may be harder to take them down, but when you do… the spoils will be that much more enticing. 
But what are you waiting for?  Why are you just standing around looking at your once majestic city now in the middle of repairs?  Why aren’t you amassing your own army to take the battle to the enemy’s capitol?  Hop to it, soldier!  The WAR’s not over!