Nature has returned to reclaim the City of Ash. An unsealed portal still threatens, and only a few remain to defend against it.
City of Ash II is a four-person dungeon in the game The Elder Scrolls Online. The dungeon consists of various rooms and corridors, each with its own challenges and enemies. City of Ash II can be accessed at Level 44. In this guide, I shall explain the mechanics as well as what you should and shouldn’t do while facing the dungeon’s bosses.
Table of Contents
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City of Ash II Location
The City of Ash II is located in the northern region of Greenshade. Travel northeast from the Falinesti Wayshrine to reach the City of Ash I and II. You can also access City of Ash II specifically by using the Dungeon Finder.
Inside City of Ash II
City of Ash II is a four-level dungeon with six bosses and one quest. The enemies in this dungeon include dremora, senche tigers, flame colossus, and flame atronachs.
Return To Ash
Fingaenion attempted to enter an Oblivion Gate with a group of Undaunted to save his wife, Gilraen. He failed. I’m to help him get her back—if she still lives.
Completing Return To Ash
You will need to defeat the Dremora who entered from the Oblivion Gate and enter into the Knives of Discord, defeat Urata the Legion, Horvantud the Firemaw, and the Ash Titan. Speak to Finagaenion to complete this quest. Completing this quest will reward you with gold, a skill point, and the Erthas’ Sunderflame Bow, part of the Sunderflame armor set.
City of Ash II Boss Mechanics
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Xivilai Rukan
This boss is pretty simple but you can get overwhelmed if you don’t control the boss. There are actually 3 bosses and no right or wrong order to complete this but I generally kill the melee first because he seems to hit the hardest AND has adds. So. The tank should run straight to the melee and plant his feet. Turn the boss away from the group and let the group stand behind the boss, spread out.
Heavy Attack – This is a pretty simple melee attack that should only hit the person with agro (ie the tank hopefully) and can be blocked. If you are a dps/healer and this is on your for some reason, the same applies. BLOCK. If you do not block you will get plenty of air and probably die. It hits VERY hard and has a massive knockback.
Flame Atronachs – The boss will spawn Atronachs during the fight, these can be killed quite fast as they have low health. You can either burn the boss and kill them afterward OR focus these as they come in. This depends on how much damage you have in your group. If you have low damage, be sure to kill the Atronachs asap else you will get too many and it will get difficult.
Burst – The boss will occasionally channel a huge spreading aoe, all dps and healers should avoid this at all costs. It has a huge knockback and massive damage. The tank can take the damage but will get knocked down so makes sense to dodge roll out of it and then just position back at the boss’s feet after it has gone.
Healer – This boss heals and teleports from time to time. His abilities can be interrupted and he is pretty much stack and burn. Kill him on the spot and only move when he moves.
Archer – This one fires some nasty aoe flames on the ground, be sure to stay in the gaps when this happens. He can teleport like the healer so follow him when he does. His ability can also be interrupted to prevent damage, be careful not to get caught out if you are not the tank.
Urata the Legion
This boss is extremely easy to kill however has some high damage which you must avoid and a straightforward mechanic which if not followed will make the fight last WAY too long. So pay attention. The tank should of course taunt the boss and hold her still, this is a very static fight so long as people don’t run around like crazy.
Fire AOE – The boss will cast nasty flame circles on the ground which burn on the spot for a few seconds each, sometimes 2-3 at a time. These are very obvious to see and easy to avoid. Do NOT run around the room, just move a couple of feet to step out of them.
Summon Adds – The boss will periodically summon 2 adds from the center of the fight. These will chase the dps/healers etc to try to kill them but the tank can of course and SHOULD control them and keep them aggroed. The adds MUST die! If you do not kill the adds within around 20 seconds she will summon them back and the amount of health they have will depend on how much she gets back! If the adds don’t die she will heal so much that the fight will go on forever. So your priority on this boss is to kill those adds at all costs!
Horvantud the Fire Maw
The Mega Jeff!! This boss has very low health considering his size but if not controlled can wipe groups out so you must pay attention. The tank should grab the boss and hold him still while always facing him away from the group. The group should spread out close to the back of the boss. Stacking will be dangerous because of stacking aoes.
Stomp – The boss occasionally will stomp the ground and the ground will shake in front of him. Anyone caught in the effects will knock them back and do high damage, so dps should NOT stand in front of the boss.
Breath – This is very typical of a Deadroth, occasionally he will breathe fire with a massive cone effect causing HUGE fire damage. The tank can block this but dps/healers have NO business standing in this, stay away from it.
Ground Pound – During the fight the boss will punch the ground, and aoes will pop up from the ground under player’s feet. To avoid this simply move left and right a little to get out of them and you will be fine, do NOT sprint around the room. Simply watch your feet.
Dremora Adds – At 75% 50% and 25% health the boss will fill the room with a wave of Dremora, you should FOCUS these down as fast as possible, bring them in close, and kill them all. THEN after they are dead you can go back to the boss. There are 3 phases of these and if you push the boss from one phase to the next before they are all dead, you WILL get overwhelmed with multiple spawns.
Ash Titan
This boss is huge, scary and pretty rough in the damage department, BUT it can be made simple. Get the tank to grab the boss and turn it AWAY from the group, facing the back of the room or the lava if possible. Note: even when doing “other stuff” in this fight, the tank MUST maintain a taunt on the titan.
Heavy Attack – This is an extremely easy-to-spot mechanic. A high damage heavy attack with a cone aoe telegraph. The tank should block this and NEVER spin it on the group. If you are a dps or healer, you can dodge roll backward or block it depending on if you can time it or not but do not go side to side, it is locked on!
Fire Splashes – During the fight fire splashes/meteor-type effects will fire at the group. This is less painful than it looks, simply move your feet and be careful without running away per se.
Lock On Fire Shot – During the fight everyone will get their own locked-on aoe effect in the form of a fireball. Black this, don’t try to run, you cannot run away from it.
Slam and Flame Wall – In the first stages of the fight the boss will slam the ground and knock everyone back. Once this is over he will emit huge waves of flame across the room. Get some distance and move side to side to avoid these. If you do not, they will hit you for fire damage and stun you.
Air Atronachs – At 65% the boss will move to one platform to summon an Air Atronach. While summoning the Atronach the boss will only take 10% damage so use this 5-second period to build up resources with heavy attacks. Once the add is fully spawned/summoned it will spin violently at the group and the boss is attack-able again.
This is where the tank has to work like hell. The tank needs to hold a taunt on the boss (at range if must) while kiting (keeping at bay) the add (also must be taunted and has a massive damage shield so not worth trying to kill it).
During this phase, you can fight the boss as normal and when he hits 35% he will repeat his 65% phase on the right side and wake up ANOTHER Atronach. The tank needs to grab this Atronach too!
So now the tank has 2 adds, AND the boss. So long as you hold a taunt on all 3 you are free to move around at the back of the room AWAY from the group to keep the adds off them and hold the agro. If you sit and hold block you will most likely die, so keep them on you but don’t let them kill you, and don’t drop the taunts. This is where the rest of the group will be finishing off the boss while you as the tank are distracting the boss and the adds.
Xivilai Fulminator & Xivilai Boltaic
These two bosses are very similar, there are 2 paths before the last boss, one boss on one side and one boss on the other. The areas and spawns are almost mirrored. The bosses have slightly different damage types(one ranged one melee) but they can be fought almost the same.
Heavy Attack – they can heavy attack so be sure you block these when they happen whether you are a tank or not(although the tank should be the only one getting heavy attacked).
Charged Attack – The bosses can cast a frontal lightning charge. If you get hit this can cause high damage so watch your feet but this CAN be interrupted to avoid any damage being done at all. Very easy to avoid.
Lightning Burst – The bosses will channel while almost crouching and burst with lightning damage. This can be interrupted and is very easy to avoid. If you miss the interrupt, simply move out of it.
Artonachs – Storm Atronachs will spawn throughout the fight, they do nasty lightning aoe damage(which can be interrupted). Generally, you can stack and burn the boss while throwing out interrupts but if you have low damage, focus each Atronach as they come in so you do not get overwhelmed and you will be just fine.
Valkyn Skoria
The final boss in City Of Ash II is the PUG killer himself. This boss although reduced in difficulty is still to date considered one of the hardest base game bosses for dungeons. There are 5 platforms on the floor, during the fight these platforms are where you will fight the boss and when each one is destroyed you should move to the next (before it explodes). If you run out of platforms, our prayers are with you!
Hard mode removes 2 platforms so you have to kill him in 3 instead of 5. Hard mode can be done with low dps groups but this will require you to focus and have MINIMAL mistakes to pull it off. Watch your feet, be careful, and focus! The tank should taunt the boss and try to hold him in the middle of whatever platform he is on at ALL times! The group should be in a semi-circle behind the boss with a clear area of space each so that you can all see as and when he turns on EACH member of the group (yes he will do this). If you are stacked and he turns and you are all bunched up, no one knows who the target is. Get in formation and relax…
Heavy Attack – This is a HUGE hit and will cause a massive knockdown (usually into lava) you MUST block this. This should only be on the tank since the tank should be taunting but if you are a dps or healer and you know he is on you, block it!
Fireball – During the fight (this is why you have your own space) the boss will aim at one random member of the group and charge up a fireball. If you are the one he is aiming at be sure to dodge roll the fireball or you will be knocked backward (usually far enough to land in the lava).
Fossilize – The boss will aim at a random member of the group and like the fireball will throw a projectile at the member. If you are FAST this can be dodge rolled, if not he will turn you into stone of which you MUST break free.
Flame Wheel – I have used this description before but basically from an above view, this effect looks like a wagon wheel (spokes). The boss will cast flame onto the ground and straight lines of flame will travel outwards from the center over and over until it is gone. DO NOT PANIC! Get a tiny bit of distance, keep your eyes on it, and just stand in the gaps when you can. If it hits you for a couple of ticks you are dead but this can be completely avoided.
Smash Platform – Periodically per platform, the boss will stab the center of the platform smashing it to bits. Get off FAST! and move to the next platform that he lands on.
Atronachs & Damage Shield – When the boss jumps to a new platform, he will raise his sword in the air. During this phase, a group of flame Atronachs will spawn around him. These can be chained in and killed with aoe. While he is channeling with his sword up he constantly hits the group with fireballs and has a small damage shield. You must get rid of his damage shield in order for him to stop doing this. Then the fight is rinse and repeat of all of the above.
The faster you can kill him the better for hard mode of course but remember to relax, follow the mechanics, and don’t panic. Clear mechanic following will make this a breeze, mistakes will mess it all up. And to the nay-sayers about vampires? all 4 members in the video are stage four vampires. Fire won’t nuke you if you can avoid it 
Good luck!
City of Ash II Dungeon Loot
Below is a list of all the loot you can expect to find in City of Ash II.
On normal the loot is blue and the boss does NOT drop a monster helmet, but on veteran difficulty all of the loot is purple and the main boss DOES drop a special monster helmet.
Note: in dungeons some individual bosses can drop a unique item but generally, the weapons and jewelry (non-named items) come from the last boss. HOWEVER the entire loot table can also drop from trash and chests, so loot everything! Got the gear in the wrong traits? Don’t worry! You can alter the traits by either transmuting or reconstruct the piece with a trait of your choice. For more information see the Introduction to Transmuting and Reconstructing article.
If you are looking for a matching shoulder monster piece, visit the Undaunted Pledge Master Glirion the Redbeard at the nearest Undaunted enclave. He sells a 50/50 chance at the shoulder piece as part of the City of Ash Coffer or it could be in his mystery coffer. You can learn more about the Undaunted in the Undaunted Guide.
- Burning Spellweave
- Embershield
- Sunderflame
- Valkyn Skoria (monster helm from vet only)
City of Ash II Achievements
A World On Fire
In Veteran City of Ash II, make a pact with the Frigid Tome, then defeat Valkyn Skoria.
City of Ash II Assassin
Defeat Rukhan, Marruz, Akezel, Urata the Legion, Horvantud the Fire Maw, and the Ash Titan; reassemble the bridge; and defeat Valkyn Skoria himself in Veteran City of Ash II, all within thirty minutes. Timer starts when players enter the Inner Grove.
City of Ash II Conqueror
Complete Veteran City of Ash II by defeating Horvantud the Fire Maw, the Ash Titan, and Valkyn Skoria.
Deadlands Savy
Complete the following achievements associated with City of Ash II.
Deadly Deadlands Survivor
Defeat Rukhan, Marruz, Akezel, Urata the Legion, Horvantud the Fire Maw, the Ash Titan, and the Daedra at the bridge to Valkyn Skoria, before defeating Valkyn Skoria himself in Veteran City of Ash II without suffering a group member death.
City of Ash II Vanquisher
Defeat Horvantud the Fire Maw, the Ash Titan, and Valkyn Skoria in City of Ash II.
Easy as Pie
Explore the culinary traditions of the Dremora.
Mehrunes Dremora Slayer
Defeat 300 Dremora in Veteran City of Ash II.
Veteran Flame Colossus Slayer
Defeat 50 Flame Colossi in Veteran City of Ash II.
Undaunted Rescuer
Rescue all of the members of the failed Undaunted expedition to the City of Ash II.
City of Ash II Leads
There are currently no leads located in City of Ash II.
Final Note
Thank you for taking the time to watch the content and read this guide. Be sure on your travels to remember, although once you get very experienced you may make these dungeons much easier and faster… it starts from the ground up and it’s…
