16:00 (BST), 07/04/2008

NCsoft Europe presents a new Lineage II feature – Hellbound & Steel Citadel. These are the two new high level areas that will launch with the Collector’s Edition on the 25th April – giving players a greater challenge to tackle.

Since the introduction of the high-level grounds called Hellbound in The Kamael, adventurers have been seeking a way into the deadly Steel Citadel and battle the epic boss Beleth himself. Now with the new update they have the chance they’ve been waiting for. After earning an extremely high level of trust from the Hellbound natives, adventurers will soon learn from them how to gain access into the Steel Citadel and the riches within—if they dare. In fact, players should make sure their characters hit the new level cap (Level 85) before going in.

The task in store for adventurers to reach Beleth is not easy. The Steel Citadel itself is composed of four separate areas or “towers,” which need to be conquered one at a time before moving on to the next. Adventurers will start in the two-story Base Tower, featuring a labyrinthine first floor that features many rapidly spawning creatures, and a second floor, which is composed of several rooms and a long corridor. The second floor is where adventurers can gain access to the other three towers in the Steel Citadel—once they meet certain requirements for each.

Each adventurer in the party must possess Fiery Demon Blood, a special Base Tower-oriented buff, before they can gain access to the Tower of Infinitum. The tower itself has five floors, each with two large rooms—adventurers ascend the tower through one set of rooms and back down the tower through another set. Two major raid bosses are in the Tower of Infinitum: the Demon Prince and Ranku, both of which can be tough but well-organized parties should be able to take them down.

After returning to the Base Tower, adventurers can then move on to eight-story tower known as Tully’s Workshop. After clearing the initial levels they must defeat the raid boss Tully and then take on a set of more powerful creatures, including Darion’s Challengers and finally Darion himself. A deadly raid boss, Darion is clad in heavy armor and wields a large sword and heavy shield. He may use a combination of skillful attacks, such as slamming his shield and utilizing a specialized physical attack called the Black Dragon Claw. Once Darion is defeated, adventurers can then move on to the final tower, the Tower of Naia.

The Tower of Naia is composed of three floors and heavy, sophisticated machinery is spread throughout. Through a series of rooms adventurers will battle followers of Beleth and the raid boss Epidos, though they will only have a short amount of time to blow through each room. Finally, there will be the battle against Beleth itself—or more appropriately, one real Beleth and a number of fake Beleths (note that while they may be fake, they are certainly no pushovers). This will be one nasty battle, and Beleth has access to a series of deadly skills like Chain Lightning and Fireballs, to complicate the attack. Defeating Beleth, adventurers can say with pride that they have defeated one of the most difficult raid encounters ever devised in Lineage II.

Ends.