EverQuesting: A guide to EverQuest II’s dungeons

It’s no secret that EverQuest II has a plethora of quests. The moniker surely fits: There are so many quests that it’s impossible to do everything in a zone before out-leveling it. But you could just as well call it EverDungeon! Unlike many games that have a dungeon or two per zone or level range, EQII has an abundance of them; a player of literally any level has a selection to choose from when preparing to go for a dive. There are many different types to cater to different whims, be it open public dungeons, instanced group dungeons, raids, mini zones, and even two-man solo instances. There are even small instances within other dungeons! Now top it all with the ability to mentor or chronomentor (which opens up all the dungeons you’ve already leveled past) and the repurposing of lower-level dungeons to level 95+ Fabled Dungeons and there’s a seemingly endless supply of them to do.

With so many, how do you know where to go? If you are looking for a certain type, level, or just want to make sure you don’t miss a single one, this guide is for you — it lists out the available dungeons to help you decide where you want your next trip to be.
Although there is nothing about EQII’s factions that prohibits a player from visiting any dungeon on the map, I am segregating the first few simply to follow the original leveling path of those who choose to side with Qeynos vs. Freeport. This way, those who have the urge to follow one faction’s story and questing path of the original Shattered Lands release for nostalgic purposes can do that instead of following the later addition of the new beginner zones and the Golden Path.

Of course, players are always more than welcome and able to jump into whichever dungeon catches their fancy at the moment. And nothing stops folks from chronomentoring and going back at a later time. But what if you don’t really want to experience it as an overpowered toon? You can actually temporarily disable combat XP and/or quest XP by right-clicking on your XP bar. All-access members can adjust the Alternate Advancement slider to have more adventure experience go into AAs instead of levels.

Because of the sheer volume of dungeons, little additional information can be listed individually, so whenever possible the dungeons are linked to their EQ2i wikia or eq2.mmodb pages.

Qeynos-aligned

While some might not consider the sewers of the main cities actual dungeons, they are small contested zones with occasional named mobs, so they are added to our list! This follows the journey from Qeynos to Thundering Steppes to Enchanted Lands to Rivervale to Everfrost. Because the Splitpaw Saga adventure pack was introduced not too long after and before any expansions, it is also included.

Freeport-aligned

As on the Qeynos side, the sewers are included on the Freeport compilation as well as this faction’s adventure pack, The Bloodline Chronicles. This list follow the journey from Commonlands to Nektulos Forest to Zek, the Orcish Wastes to Lavastorm.

The Golden Path

Now that players cannot start in the main cities, the default leveling experience flows from the new starting zones (New Halas or Kelethin instead of Qeynos and Darklight Wood or Gorowyn instead of Freeport) to the newer lands of Butcherblock Mountains and Steamfont. And as you’d expect, new lands mean more dungeons! These areas are all a part of the fabled Golden Path leveling experience.

So happy together!

In an interesting aside, before advancing to Everfrost and Lavastorm players could come together in the jungle zone of The Feerrott, then split off again. Once expansions entered the scene, however, players are always funneled into the same regions. Additionally, as the level cap kept increasing with successive expansion, new dungeons were incorporated into previous zones for higher-level players to enjoy. Note that at level 95, almost every dungeon has advanced solo and group heroic versions.

Fabled Dungeons

New zones from expansions are not the only ways that max-level characters get more dungeon goodness. Although players are welcome to chronomentor and visit all the old haunts, certain dungeons have been undergoing retrofitting to work with the endgame crowd. These are fabled versions of the familiar instances.

The EverQuest franchise is a vast realm, and sometimes MJ Guthrie gets lost in it all! Join her as she explores all the nooks and crannies from Antonica to Zek. Running biweekly on Thursdays, EverQuesting is your resource for all things EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Daybreak. And keep an eye out for MJ’s OPTV adventures!