A guide to the Rakghoul Resurgence event and the THORN reputation in SWTOR. The event will run from Nov 10 to Nov 17 on Alderaan.
Contents
Rakghoul event now runs monthly on a different planet each time. From Nov 10-17 it will be on Alderaaan, Dec 15-22 it will be on Tatooine and from Jan 12-19 it will be on Corellia.
1) Starter Quest from Fleet
Players level 20 and above can participate in this event as the mobs in the tunnel scale to your level. If you attempt The Eyeless operation boss, you will be bolstered (on storymode)
You will find new terminals on the fleet. Interacting with it will give you a small cutscene and a quest. You will also receive the codex entry for THORN. You will complete this quest once you arrive inside the Rakghoul tunnels on the planets which will reward you with 10410 credits, 1 Glowing Data Crystal and THORN Booster Pin (green rep item).
Alderaan
You will need to head out to Alderaan and talk to Doctor Ressel (Empire) outside House Thul or Tralie Masoon (Republic) outside House Organa. You will also get the codex entry Rakghouls on Alderaan when you arrive on Alderaan.
Once you have talked to them, you will need to travel to the location of The Spike, a giant drill located in King’s Pass to access the Rakghoul tunnels. Walking near The Spike will give you the codex entry for it. There is a speeder that will take you right to the Spike that is near the camp where Doctor Ressel or Tralie Masoon resides.
Corellia
You will need to head out to Corellia and talk to Doctor Ressel (Empire) in Incorporation Island or Tralie Masoon (Republic) in Blastfield Shipyards
Once you have talked to them, you will need to travel to the location of The Spike, a giant drill located in Labor Valley, west of Imperial War Camp. Walking near The Spike will give you the codex entry for it.There is a speeder that will take you right to the Spike that is near the camp where Doctor Ressel or Tralie Masoon resides.
Tatooine
You will need to head out to Tatooine and talk to Doctor Ressel (Empire) outside Mos Ila or Tralie Masoon (Republic) outside Anchorhead.
Once you have talked to them, you will need to travel to the location of The Spike, a giant drill located in north side of the Dune Sea to access the Rakghoul tunnels. Walking near The Spike will give you the codex entry for it. There is a speeder that will take you right to the Spike that is near the camp where Doctor Ressel or Tralie Masoon resides.
2) Quarantine Daily
Behind Doctor Ressel/Tralie Masoon is a datapad with a daily that is completed around the their camp instead of the Rakghoul tunnels. You will need to find Infected NPCs around the area marked by the daily and then get very close them to use your mission item. If you missed this datapad, you can also get it inside the Rakghoul Tunnels.
3) Spreading Infection Daily
You get this daily automatically when you reach stage2/stage 3 of the Rakghoul Plague and blow up, infecting other players. The daily asks you to infect 3 other players give you 1 Rakghoul DNA Canister and 1 green rep item.
The Rakghoul Plague has 3 stages
Dallies Count
Dallies Terminal
You will find a bunch of dallies on the mission terminal as well as the datapad nearby. You will also get the codex entry Rakghoul Propagation when you enter the tunnels. Make sure you grab some Rakghoul Vaccines off the Medical Droid near the entrance to the tunnels as each can protect you from ~6 hrs of Rakghoul plague, which is very annoying to have.
Rakghoul Tunnels
Rakghoul tunnel is divided into 3 sections: Contagion Zone, Infested Pathways, The Epicenter. They are all interconnected with each other. Epicenter is where you will find the Jawa vendor Jeelvic and is also the location for the [Heroic 4]
Contagion Zone: [Daily] Collecting Raklings /Rounding Up Rakling– 5 minutes
This is a timed daily and you have 5 minutes to complete it once you have injected your first Fungal Flora.
Locate one of the egg shaped Fungal Flora in the marked area in Contagion Zone and click it. You will need to find two other Fungal Floras within 5 minutes and then escort all the raklings back to the mission terminal.
Contagion Zone: [Daily] Dissecting the Plague/Tracking the Plague
Kill a bunch of the infected mobs inside the Contagion Zone until you collect 10 Mutagen Samples from their corpses.
[Daily] The Tunnel Network/Navigating the Tunnels
This quest has you travel all over the Rakghoul tunnel. When you arrive at the marked location on the map, use your Navigation Beacon Scanner provided on the tracked quest menu to look for the navigation beacons.
Infested Pathways: [Daily] All that Remains/A Grim Examination
You have to do two things for this daily a) Scan 5 skull like items by interacting with it and b) Kill 25 Rakghouls inside the Infested pathways. When you attack Rakghouls, their friends tend to spawn and join the fight so 25 Rakghouls isn’t a lot.
The Epicenter – [Heroic 4] Fungal Corruption/Flora and Fauna
Clicking on the interactable puddles on the ground will spawn champions called Rakghoul Blight which will drop the Fungal samples you need for the quest.
Everyone’s favourite Jawa vendor Jeelvic is back! He can be found in The Epicenter area of the Rakghoul tunnels (and also the cartel bazaar section of the fleet) but before you bolt your way to there, grab a repeatable quest (weekly) off the Contagion Zone as that will not only lead you to Jeelvic but also give you 1 Rakghoul DNA Canister.
What does Jeelvic sell? Lots of stuff
Where does Barnacle of the Eyeless, Symbiotic Fungal Bloom, and Exotic Plague Specimen drop?
Decorations
Contaminated Rakling – 4 Rakghoul DNA Canister – Champion standing
Irradiated Rakling – 2 Rakghoul DNA Canister – Newcomer standing
Plaguetail Kowakian Monkey-lizard – Legend standing
Infected Dewback – Legend standing
Infected Varactyl – Legend standing
The Eyeless is an operation boss for 8 or 16 players available in two difficulty modes with a weekly lockout. There is no reputation requirement to enter his lair, which is located on the bottom right corner of Infested Pathways section of the tunnels.
However, if you want to get the [OPS] Heart of Infection quest, which rewards you with 2 Rakghoul DNA Canisters, 1 Engraved Rakghoul Claw (blue rep item), 4 Glowing Data Crystals and 20k credits, you will need Outsider rank and purchase a THORN Priority Authorization from the reputation vendors for 1k. This will allow you to interact with the terminal back at the Rakghoul Tunnels starter area to receive the quest.
Health
Video
Storymode 8m
Hardmode 8m
Mechanics
Mechanics for this boss is very simple and is identical in storymode/hardmode. Only one tank is needed as there is no tank swap mechanics.
Loot
Note: For world bosses, only the world boss in the planet the rakghoul event is active will spawn. The world bosses on the other two planets will not spawn (i.e. if the rakghoul event is happening Alderaan, only Shellshock is around, but not the other two).
Toxxun
World boss in Corellia, located in the SE corner of Axial Park. He drops a new pet Plaguehorn Sleen in addition to Exotic Plague Specimen. Make sure you have a couple of vaccines from the medical droid inside the Rakghoul tunnels or have someone with Revan holostatue.
Plaguehorn
World boss in Tatooine. Located in Jundlands around coordinates 1200, -1350. He drops a new pet Plaguehorn Reek in addition to Exotic Plague Specimen. Make sure you have a couple of vaccines from the medical droid inside the Rakghoul tunnels or have someone with Raven holostatue.
Shellshock
World boss outside the Rakghoul Tunnels in King’s Pass in Alderaan. Also drops the components you needed to purchase mounts and pets from Jeelvic.
Frenzied Plaguebearer
You get attacked by plaguebears when you exit the spaceport and also when you head towards the Rakghoul event NPC on each planet. Sometimes instead of regular plaguebearer, this elite Frenized Plaguebearer will spawn instead and has a chance to drop Pale Rakling, one of the pets (BoE)
The Tunnel Lurker
The Tunnel Lurker is a champion mob with 351k HP that roam the left half of the Infested Pathways mostly. He is after by achievement hunters as he is required for a bunch of achievements that require defeating him with various pets (see achievement section).
Fungus Elites/The Catalyst
The Catalyst is a rare spawn that can replace any of the 5 Fungus Elites you need for the Hey! I’m a Fungi achievement. Like the Fungus Elites, it has a chance to drop the parts you need to purchase the mounts and pets from Jeelvic.
The Midnight Rakghoul – Secret Boss in Kaon under Siege
This is a secret boss added recently with the Rakghoul event. He has a 100% chance to drop the Midnight Rakling pet (BoP).
Character specific titles:
Legacy Titles
THORN: Received when you interact with the news terminal on the fleet
Rakghouls on Alderaan: Received when you arrive on Alderaan from the spaceport during the Rakghoul Resurgence event on Alderaan. Codex is received automatically when the announcer starts their announcement in chat.
The Spike: Obtainable in Alderaan, King’s Pass area when you encounter the giant drill. You may need to run around the area around The Spike until you get it.
The Rakghoul Tunnels: Received when you first enter the tunnels via The Spike.
Rakghoul Propagation: Received when you first pick up the [DAILY] Collecting Raklings/Rounding Up Rakling from the mission terminal.
THORN stands for The Hyland Organization for Rakghoul Neutralization and is founded by Addalar Hyland, a philanthropist. Its goals are to search for a cure to the Rakghoul Plague while also stomping out major planetary infestations.
Rank Rep Cumulative Rep Weeks to ReachThere is a max limit of reputation you can earn per week (usually 12000). However, you can go over that cap slightly if you use a purple rep item right before you hit the cap. Depending on your guild reputation bonus, the optimal reputation point to stop and consume the purple rep item have being calculated.
All of the rewards are Bind to Legacy except for THORN Priority Authorization which is BoP.
To get to the THORN reputation vendors, you can find them right inside the Rakghoul tunnels or you can find them in the cartel bazaar section of the fleet.
Decorations
THORN Epicenter Armor Set – Newcomer
THORN Dark Vector Armor Set – Champion
Outbreak Response weapons – Hero
Infected Companion Customizations
Plagued Companion Customizations – Friend standing except for Treek which requires Hero
Location map for Hey! I’m a Fungi where you need to locate
Beasts (170 pts)
Name Description Points Legacy Title Establishing a Perimeter Killed 50 Rakghouls in the infested tunnels 10 Tunnel Reinforcements Killed 250 Rakghouls in the infested tunnels 25 Tunnel Vision Killed 1000 Rakghouls in the infested tunnels 25 Rakghoul Ravager Isolating the Infection Dispatched 50 infected creatures and humanoids in the infested tunnels. 10 Stopping the Spread Dispatched 250 infected creatures and humanoids in the infested tunnels. 25 Enforcing the Quarantine Dispatched 1000 infected creatures and humanoids in the infested tunnels. 50 Hey! I’m a Fungi Dispatch every fungus-harvesting Rakghoul symbiote in the Rakghoul Tunnels.General (235 points)
There are 4 hidden achievements that will be revealed once you have done the daily quests.
Name Description Points Legacy Title Tunnel Containment Defeated 500 non-player opponents while in the plague-infested tunnels. 10 Tunnel Annihilation Defeated 1000 non-player opponents while in the plague-infested tunnels. 25 Tunnel Eradication Defeated 3000 non-player opponents while in the plague-infested tunnels. 50 The Lighting at the End of the Tunnel Completed all combat achievements for the plague-infested tunnels.Player vs Player (220 points)
There is one hidden achievement (infected 1000 players with the rakghoul plague)
Name Description Points Legacy Title Novice Plague Researcher Defender Defeated 10 players in the plague-infested tunnels 10 Plague Research Defender Defeated 50 players in the plague-infested tunnels 25 Elite Plague Researcher Defender Defeated 100 players in the plague-infested tunnels 50 Calling in Sick Infected 5 players with the rakghoul plague 10 Breaking Quarantine Infected 25 players with the rakghoul plague 25 An Infectious Personality Infected 100 players with the rakghoul plague 50 HIDDEN Mobile Contagion Infected 1000 players with the rakghoul plague 50Pets (175 points)
Name Description Points Legacy Title Lord of the Raklings Completed all rakling achievementsThe Eyeless (70 points)
Name Description Points Legacy Title Keeping an Eye Out Defeated The Eyeless on 8-person story mode 10 Keeping an Eye Out (Hardmode) Defeated The Eyeless on 8-person hard mode. 25 Turning a Blind Eye Defeated The Eyeless on 16-person story mode 10 Turning a Blind Eye (Hardmode) Defeated The Eyeless on 16-person hard mode 25Information on the pets was taken from enderandrew42 on reddit.
If you are unsure on the location of Tunnel Lurker, Frenized Plaguebearer, Shellshock, and Fungus Rakghouls, please see the Rare Spawns section of the guide.
The Midnight Rakghoul – Secret Boss in Kaon under Siege
This is a secret boss added recently with the Rakghoul event. He has a 100% chance to drop the Midnight Rakling pet on both storymode and hardmode Kaon under Siege
Some of the information contained here are taken from friends at jedipedia.net, which have compiled an excellent resource for the Rakghoul Resurgence guide as well (In German). German readers are encourage to visit their guide located here.