[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Hello forumers. So after reading this forum and seeing a bunch of people having problems with the new dungeon I decided to make a guide on it. My goal is to help individuals who are having a hard time with the dungeon and hopefully improve pick up groups for this temporary dungeon.

Dungeon Setup

  • 1 Guardian, 3 Warrior, 1 Mesmer (Note: Read below. This is what me and my guild ran with)
  • You are not forced to run any particular team. The important thing to note is that you need a good amount of condition removal (Mesmer null field and Guardian shouts) along with some form of protection (boons and heals). I had success with rangers, elementalists, and thieves in my party. So anything is possible. The important thing is to have some innate defense on these professions (stat some toughness and vitality) along with bringing some support like water fields and blast finishers among other group support skills and mechanics.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Aetherblade Retreat Dungeon Guide (Part 1)

For those that prefer videos you can view them here:

Thanks to our guildmate Kenage Achalarus for recording and uploading one of our runs for this dungeon. Also, a lot of thanks to Dulfy for her preview guide on the Aetherblade Retreat dungeon. This information helped us refine our strategies specifically for this dungeon.

Underwater Mines

  • This is fairly simple just avoid the mines as you are swimming underwater. Also note that there are some mines at the corner so it is a good idea to stay in the center. Generally I found the bottom and the top left safe. Just take it slow and you should be fine.

Before the laser wall mobs

  • The key here is to pull the mobs and use the small rocky wall on your left to dps and reduce some of the damage you take. Stability will benefit your team a lot by allowing them to dps without running the risk of getting stunned or knocked down. If you do not have stability time your dodges, have some stun breakers, and use your knock downs and stuns on the mobs.
  • After this you will run into another small group of Aetherblades. Your anchor (someone with high toughness) should pull this group. Pull the group to the left wall and just dps using the same strategy you used for the previous group.

Laser Wall

  • Just avoid the laser walls. There is one Inquest near the switches to deactivate the laser walls in each section.
  • At the very top is another group of Aetherblade. Just use the same strategy you used for the previous two groups to take this one out. Nice places to pull and group up would be in the center next to the dancing hologram or to the right wall.

Gate Event

  • In between each group kill you will be shot by two cannons (one on the left and one on the right)
  • The easy way to do this is to group up at the bottom left corner (left of the wooden stair structure). From here your group would pull the group of mobs and dps them down with stability or cc (similar to what you did for the previous groups). During the cannon barrage phase your group would just move to the open areas in that corner.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Aetherblade Retreat Dungeon Guide (Part 2)

The mid boss: Frizz

  • It is important to have at least one range weapon. Also, it is a good idea to bring one condition removal and a stability skill or stun breaker.
  • Just focus Frizz to dps him down to 75% hp. The reason is that the lasers will damage and instantly kill the veteran mobs around him (except the golems of course).
  • Your group can take down the veteran mobs but it just adds time to the dungeon run. So only do this if your group has a lot of trouble removing the conditions that the inquest mobs apply to your team.
  • Every time you kill the golems, it will move on to the next phase. If you look at the center where Frizz is located you can see something rise or connect together. This is how you can tell where the laser wall will start at. Make sure your team is grouped up together in one area.
    • Small Laser Wall Phase: For this phase use a range weapon to damage the golems. While you are auto attacking make sure your group is moving around near the center. The reason is that it takes your group less time to move in a full circle if you move from the center. If your team is moving from the outer edge then your team will complete one circle rotation at a much slower rate. On top of that, you should try to pull the golems when they are about to hit a wall so that they will not gain a shield that makes them immune to damage. Only use the boxes when the laser wall is close to your group (about 1s-1.5s away).
    • Big Laser Wall Phase: After you kill the two golems you will arrive at this stage. Make sure your team is grouped up together. Pretty much you will use the same strategy you used to take down the golems in the previous stage. The only big difference is that you cannot use the boxes to avoid the laser. And the golems will apply 5 stacks of confusion on you when you attack them when they have the shield buff.
    • Double Laser Wall Phase: It is important to have your team grouped up together in one place before this phase starts. The reason is that it will be easier for mobs to move where you want them since everyone is in the same area and if the mobs change targets it will still be moving in the same general direction. Use the same strategy you use before for the small wall. The big wall should not hit you unless you get pulled by one of the golems. This is why it is important to have stability or a stun breaker so that you can immediately dodge to avoid the big laser wall.
  • After the boss is dead take your reward and go left.

Storm Bridge:

  • Before the bridge there will be a group of mobs. This group consist of trash mobs and three silver mobs. Just pull them to the right and dps them down. Be very careful, this group can apply a lot of confusion so make sure you have some condition removal to remove it before it takes down your team.
  • For the bridge just walk across and if you see a red aoe circle just wait or dodge through. After each bridge there are mobs that you have to deal with.
  • The first mob encounter just dps and tank with stability (if you or your team has it). If your team doesn’t have stability just make sure you have a stun breaker to use and don’t hold on to your dodge rolls. Just dodge roll to avoid some of the CCs.
  • Before the second mob encounter move to the right corner. There is a switch you can use to deactivate the lightning strikes from the two bridges you just crossed. After that just pull the mobs to this corner and dps. This group does a lot of damage but if you have stability/stun breaker and some aoe team heal you should be fine.
  • Don’t forget the small bonus chest. After that cross the final bridge and you will see some inquest engineers and some golems to the side.

Inquest Work Area?:

  • Your anchor (someone with high toughness) should pull the golems to the engineers while your team dps the mob down. Having stability is useful since the golem’s spin attack will knock you back. You will encounter this group two times so use the same strategy for both.
  • After the second group of inquest mobs you will encounter a group of Aetherblade. Pull this group to the rocky wall to your right near the passage (area between the inquest area and where the Aetherblade are standing). Use the same strategy that your team has used to deal with every Aetherblade group in this dungeon.

The not so jumping puzzle:

  • A few people will jump up to the top to activate the switch. While everyone else will follow the npc once the door opens.
  • Once you move forward just pull the group of mobs to one of the walls and dps it down. Most of the group consist of trash mobs so it shouldn’t be a problem for any team.
  • Previously, this section will bug if you kill the mobs too fast and the npc did not make it to the top yet to say something.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Aetherblade Retreat Dungeon Guide (Final Part)

Final Boss: Mai Trin & First Mate Horrik

  • It is important for you team to have some form of both personal and team condition removal. This can mean utilities or a light field along with a few whirl finishers. Another idea is for everyone to run -condition duration food for this fight. Also, having some water fields, team heals, or blocks/invulnerability can help you and your team.
  • Your team should start off and focus on damaging First Mate Horrik down to about 10-15% of his hp. This will make the final fight after Mai easier since First Mate Horrik will have a frenzy buff on him.
    • Important Note: Do not reduce his hp further than 10% hp since there is a chance for this boss fight to bug out if you kill Horrik by mistake before Mai is down. There is a bug where Mai would not revive Horrik and the result is that you are forced to wipe and restart the fight from the beginning.
  • After you reduce Horrik hp you will focus on Mai Trin. Mai will have a shield buff on her which starts at 10 every stage. When Mai has 10 stacks of the shield buff she is immune to your team’s damage. In order to reduce Mai’s shield buff you will have to keep her in an Aether(electric) field.
    • Note: Although your team cannot apply conditions to Mai or damage her, there are other ways your team can apply some damage to her while she has 10 stacks on her shield buff. Retaliation and the Guardian’s Greatsword skill 5 are two ways that you can damage Mai while she has 10 stacks on her shield buff.
  • Horrik will rotate shots in the following order: Fire -> Aether -> Fire -> Aether -> Fire . So make sure you pay attention to what Horrik is firing. This way you and your team will know when it is a good time to tank a bit of damage to keep Mai Trin in the Aether field. Using blocks and such will prevent you from taking damage in the Aether field.
  • When an Aether field is not down you and your team should stay within 600-900 range of Mai and your team should be grouped together. This prevent her from shadow stepping very far. On top of that if someone dies your team can revive them very quickly. If someone dies far away then people will have to run to this individual forcing the team to not focus on removing Mai’s shield (due to shadow step).
  • If an Aether field is down and Mai is very close and aggroed on you but she is not in the field then simply move into the Aether field and dodge forward. This ensures that it removes some of the shield buff on Mai.
  • Should someone die when Mai is close to 75% / 50% / 25% hp make sure you and your team stop their damage on Mai and focus on reviving your teammate before the cannon sequence starts.

Cannon Barrage: Tyrian Dodgeball

  • The cannon barrage starts when Mai Trin is at 75%, 50%, and 25% hp.
  • The strategy that I use is for your team to spread out. Ideally, each person should occupy one of the four corners of the arena while the 5th person stays in the middle. The four individuals will move around in their corner to find a safe spot and if they cannot find a safe spot then they will move a little bit towards the center (diagonally). The 5th person in the middle will try to find a safe spot and if they do not have one they will move up or down (forward or backward from the center).
    • Reasoning: This spreads out the AoE since the cannons target the players and if everyone is grouped up then there is a higher chance that someone will take a lot of damage or die from the cannon barrage. Also, if everyone moves to the center then every other area (the corner areas) will be safe spots. So at most the strategy only puts 1-2 people at risk of death.

Rest of the boss fight:

  • The rest of the boss fights revolve around bringing down Mai’s shield, damaging her for 25%, and evading cannon barrage for a period of time. Pretty much this strategy will help you get both achievements for the dungeon. Granted your team doesn’t not wipe of course.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Profession Builds

For full disclosure and for those who might have questions about what build everyone ran I will briefly list it here.

Guardian:

  • 0/0/10/30/30 [Healway]
  • Valor IV
  • Honor II, IX, XI
  • Virtues II, IX, X
  • All clerics gear with 3 water + 3 monk superior runes

Mesmer:

  • 15/0/25/0/30
  • Domination IV
  • Chaos V, X
  • Illusions V, VII, XI

Warrior:

  • 30/0/0/10/30

I hope this helps people out there with the Aetherblade Retreat dungeon. If you have any questions, difficulties, suggestions (guide format for example), or alternative strategies feel free to leave them below. I will try to answer them all.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

[Additional post for information or revision]

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

I feel like your guide is the equivalent to that of a “Citadel of Flame Dungeon Guide!” which contains information only about CoF P1 speedrun and nothing else about the dungeon.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

I feel like your guide is the equivalent to that of a “Citadel of Flame Dungeon Guide!” which contains information only about CoF P1 speedrun and nothing else about the dungeon.

I encourage you to read specific parts of the guide instead of focusing on the fact that I used a specific composition. For the final boss fights I noted a very good strategy that people can used to get past it regardless of their team composition namely the cannon strategy and how to effectively deal with Mai’s shield.

It is true that using certain team composition makes it easier. However, I noted that you can take alternative stuff like ccing mobs or carrying 1-2 stun breakers if you or your team does not have stability.

As for speed run we tried to make the run as smooth as possible since we (nor anyone here on the forums) want to take 2 hours to complete this dungeon. If you see the video of our run we made a lot of mistakes but we still managed to grab the achievements that people have been complaining are too hard. I just hope that my knowledge in this guide can help others complete something that make seem at times impossible to them.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Lucky.9421

Lucky.9421

  • The strategy that I use is for your team to spread out. Ideally, each person should occupy one of the four corners of the arena while the 5th person stays in the middle. The four individuals will move around in their corner to find a safe spot and if they cannot find a safe spot then they will move a little bit towards the center (diagonally). The 5th person in the middle will try to find a safe spot and if they do not have one they will move up or down (forward or backward from the center).
    • Reasoning: This spreads out the AoE since the cannons target the players and if everyone is grouped up then there is a higher chance that someone will take a lot of damage or die from the cannon barrage. Also, if everyone moves to the center then every other area (the corner areas) will be safe spots. So at most the strategy only puts 1-2 people at risk of death.

This part in particular is interesting as we were using the strategy of running around in a circle in one group, which eventually worked for us on the 5th try.

I was thinking there might be a better way.

Have you tried the running-around-in-a-circle method? If so, how would you compare the difficulty compared to your method in regards to individual skill needed?

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

This part in particular is interesting as we were using the strategy of running around in a circle in one group, which eventually worked for us on the 5th try.

I was thinking there might be a better way.

Have you tried the running-around-in-a-circle method? If so, how would you compare the difficulty compared to your method in regards to individual skill needed?

Yeah I tried the running around in a circle method. That was actually the first method my group tried before coming up with an alternative you see here.

What I found with the circle method is that it requires constant or high uptime on swiftness (meaning multiple people carrying a utility, weapon set, or trait lines). On top of that, it is harder on pick up groups since there are times where it is significantly safer if your group cuts in a bit when you are doing the full circle (safe spot somewhere in the middle). However, since a group of random individuals playing a dungeon together will not be on VoIP it is hard for people to communicate quickly that everyone should go there. Finally if someone has a bad connection or computer (100-200 ping or a drop in their fps) then they will most likely die from the overlapping circles since their response time is delayed due to their low fps or high ping.

I find that my method is easier for anyone (organized groups and PuGs) and it allows people to complete the dungeon (without any wipes) along with both Personal Space and Unfriendly skies achievements without the need of some specific profession (thief) or logging out and having 4 people fighting the boss. People can split their focus between their area/corner of the arena and see if Horrik is shooting anything at them.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Lucky.9421

Lucky.9421

The only thing that I think might be a challenge is that each individual will be responsible for their own dodging, which seems a little scary. I’ll pitch the idea though, thanks for sharing.

If one person dies, do the remaining cannon shots focus on the rest, or do less rounds get fired overall?

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Hvaran.6327

Hvaran.6327

Do people know any other class except war, mesm, guard, thief?!

I had no problems in that dung for myself. GL to u anyway.

Handarand – Handacooon – Handa Panda – Handa Genie

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

The only thing that I think might be a challenge is that each individual will be responsible for their own dodging, which seems a little scary. I’ll pitch the idea though, thanks for sharing.

If one person dies, do the remaining cannon shots focus on the rest, or do less rounds get fired overall?

The thing is that for both strategies everyone has to worry about their own dodging because if you lag behind in the circle method you have to catch up somehow or avoid the aoe behind you that the rest of your group past.

Yes they will focus on the other targets. However, if one person dies then you will have that extra space for the remaining individuals to move around.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Do people know any other class except war, mesm, guard, thief?!

I had no problems in that dung for myself. GL to u anyway.

Yeah, I ran the same strategy for every profession except engineer. For this recorded run everyone ran what they liked or were comfortable with. Unfortunately, for a long time the dungeon meta revolved around warriors, guardians, and mesmers with eles and thieves in the mixed once and a while for fractals. So most people these are the professions they are comfortable with (hopefully this changes). As for team compositions, I swapped the guardian for staff elementalist and completed the dungeon in around kitten minutes. Swap out a warrior for one necro and completed it easily. Swap 2 warrior for 2 rangers and completed it in 50 minutes.

The point is that this dungeon is possible with different professions and different team compositions. What this guide points out is some strategies to use regardless if you are range or melee (stay 600-900 range of Mai) and regardless of if you are an engineer, ranger, or warrior (spec some toughness, carry some condition removal, along with a stun breaker or stability).

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Kenage Achalarus.4276

Kenage Achalarus.4276

Thank you Curtyy for posting my videos and in the videos i explan how to fight the boss. and that mesmer build is the same build in all 3 of my videos.

a Mesmer with a Greatsword [Confusion], your mind has been [Mind Wrack]

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: CuRtoKy.8576

CuRtoKy.8576

Just in case this useful for anyone that still needs to complete the dungeon within the next 2 days and the achievements for it. Attached is a screen shot of me completing all the dungeon achievements (just in case someone wanted proof of me completing it with this method lol).

Attachments:

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: LONGA.1652

LONGA.1652

Some food are nice to have if you are trying to get achievement .
Like those Loaf of Saffron Bread( – stun duration )
Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew (+ endurance regneration)

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Rayean.8726

Rayean.8726

A thief plus my Bomb Engineer (With EG for Condi removal as normal setup) had everything blinded nonstop and made the dungeon pathetically easy. Unfortunately I had to go before we reattempted the final boss but I can say with certainty they beat it without me, took about 40 minutes to get to it and this was when it first came out.

Point Being, enemies cluster up like mad and blinds are hilariously effective. Dropping bombs and running around as a tanky engineer was quite easy on Frizz too, though I’d suspect grenades would have let me do more dps when I got caught on the other half of the room sized field away from Golems and team.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: DoctorOverlord.8620

DoctorOverlord.8620

Frizz’s Lab stopped my group of friends cold and they tried it more times than I did. We never finished the dungeon because of this one encounter.

There is no build, there is no combination of characters, there is no set of gear that will help. This encounter is solely based on repeated practice until you develop the jumping technique to avoid the walls. I have no doubt that we could eventually learn to do it, but we do not have the time or interest in filling our limited free time with boring tedium.

I have no problem with challenging jumping puzzles or dungeon encounters. If players with more time want to show off their epic gear or titles, more power to them. But the Frizz lab encounter is a big brick wall that cuts off some people from ever seeing the ending Aetherblade storyline. (And this is a storyline that was introduced with soloable, casual content but the conclusion is a radical change in the difficulty)

Leave the challenges for rewards like gear/skins, story is something that the whole playerbase should be allowed to experience.

Check my GW2 Comic Dynamic Events http://goo.gl/JyB3J (Short Google Link to Fan Content Forum here)

(edited by DoctorOverlord.8620)

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Hvaran.6327

Hvaran.6327

A thief plus my Bomb Engineer (With EG for Condi removal as normal setup) had everything blinded nonstop and made the dungeon pathetically easy. Unfortunately I had to go before we reattempted the final boss but I can say with certainty they beat it without me, took about 40 minutes to get to it and this was when it first came out.

Point Being, enemies cluster up like mad and blinds are hilariously effective. Dropping bombs and running around as a tanky engineer was quite easy on Frizz too, though I’d suspect grenades would have let me do more dps when I got caught on the other half of the room sized field away from Golems and team.

M8. Almost the same) But i use HEling turret +EG+FT+Shrink elixir on all the run except the last boss, on that ported witch i change FT on bombs and switch on healing bomb trait, and no problemous)

Handarand – Handacooon – Handa Panda – Handa Genie

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Wesnoth.1705

Wesnoth.1705

As a guardian i really enjoyed this. 0/0/30/30/10 with mace+shield/hammer, over 1k healing power and pure voice, i made last boss fight laughable all the runs, both tanking her(making sure she focus on me), healing whole party, and constantly saving people lifes if they had troubles . No healers in this game? I disagree

What you must learn in gw2 is to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6npO-NoOPOg

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Doggie.3184

Doggie.3184

Need 1 Guardian and 4 Thieves.

| Fort Aspenwood (NA): Sylvari Daredevil Thief Main: All Classes 80. |
Please Remove/Fix Thief Trait: “Last Refuge.”
“Hard to Catch” is a Horrible and Useless Trait. Fixed 6/23/15. Praise Dwayna.

[Guide] How to succeed in Aetherblade Retreat

in Sky Pirates of Tyria

Posted by: Stooperdale.3560

Stooperdale.3560

I’ve run this dungeon frequently without heavy armors and it seems fine without them. I’d be more bothered running an explorable dungeon or fractal without a guardian than the aetherblade retreat.