Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

I’m running with a mixed level group of guildies for AC, covering every class at some point, and while we have no issues with the main bosses before and after, we seem to keep getting stuck on these parts and video guides are of limited use. I was wondering if any runners could give us some tips to help us move forward?

For Path 1, what is the best method of getting the burrows down before Hodgkins cops it? We often have an ele with us, so we’ve tried ice bow, and we’ve had 3 people specced for max dps but we can’t seem to get them down quick enough. Also, those using ranged weapons often find that their attacks are obstructed on the burrows, when there’s nothing in the way. Is this a known problem?

Also, when I whip out the fiery greatsword to cut one down, I end up in the area for p2. Is this a known glitch to?

On Path 2, normally we can get through no problems, but occasionally, due to mob make up we’ll wipe when the traps are being built. Often we get back to find 8 ghosts casually chilling in the corner and try as we might, we can’t take any of them down, we’ve tried focused fire, running in and going crazy, pulling etc, but nothing seems to get even one of them down. We’ve managed it when there were 6 around the body, but there was only one necro in the group. This time we had 2 necros, 2 monks, 2 eles, a ranger and warrior.
Besides trying not to wipe/ restarting, does anyone have a clever tactic for this?

Any help would be fantastic!

Path 1
If your party does not have the DPS to have 4 people running from burrow to burrow and 1 to protect Hodgins, split the room in half and have 2 people on each side, and 1 protecting Hodgins. Make sure that both sides have a roughly equal amount of DPS. You will need to experiment to figure out the best DPS balance and Hodgins will definitely die at least once or twice while you figure out how to even out the DPS on both sides of the room. This works beautifully once you do so.

The ranged weapons not working on burrows has been an issue since Day 1. Time and time again we’ve been told it’d be fixed, but yeah. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I don’t know about the Fiery GS glitch – could you explain it further? Is it that burrow in the far bottom right corner? Because if you’re standing too close to the wall, sometimes that glitches and teleports you through the wall, and then you have to WP to run back.

Path 2
When that happens, pulling/kiting actually does work. Necromancers have Spectral Grasp and Thieves have Scorpion Wire which makes this easier, but you can still pull normally. What you do is you aggro a targetted one (which will aggro them all) and then your whole party makes their way backwards, back towards the entrance where the Oozes spawn. Eventually some of the Ascalonian ghosts will lose aggro and you’ll only have to deal with 2 or 3 of them.

If you do not have the coordination to move together in a group they will all stay aggroed, so make sure that everyone is listening and only focusing on the one targetted ghost.

In addition to what Icp said, a helpful tip for the Burrows in Path 1 is for the kiter as well as the rest of the party to stay away from Hodgins as much as possible because of the Graveling AoEs. I find that kiting the Gravelings around the pillars on the east side of the room works well.

I don’t have any methods that are 100% but I’ve used them in teams and they work.

For burrows have 1 or 2 people wait around hodgins and kite mobs around while pulling any mobs that go towards him away. The rest of the members should do the burrows and take out the one that spawns directly in front of hodgins last. Also don’t run over hodgins (go around) or fight over hodgins. It is not a good idea to bring gravelings on or near him. The glitch where you go through the wall happens all the time. It actually has happened to me twice in a run before.

For path 2 you can pull the mobs to their maximum agro range where they will begin running back. All melee should breakoff but ranged enemies can be kept at this range. Try to break off most of the enemies to avoid being overwhelmed. I’ve done this in a group before and it does work.

Path 1: There are 2 sets of 3 burrows, so start off knowing that. Also Ranged attacks will often get “absorbed” by all the little adds before they hit the burrows, if it isn’t an area affect ability it might be better to stick with melee. Remember to use Condition removal to get rid of bleeding from the hatchlings.
If you’re going to be using Ice Bows, I find it better to use them after the first burrows, to quickly knock down the second ones at range before much can spawn, make sure at least one other person is looking for the bow to pick it up.
As others have said, don’t stand near / run past Hodgins, If you’re going to try to protect him you need to be pro-active about hitting (to aggro) all the spawns from the burrow, and kiting them around away from him while your team kills the first three burrows. The new AC you can’t really just hit the burrow once to have aggro on everything it spawns unlike before so make sure you’re watching!

Path 2: You can try to kite the Ghosts, or to pull them when you get back after you wipe. Killing fast here actually doesn’t help since they’ll respawn (very quickly), so if you have a set of PVT or similar armor to help keep you alive that will help. Also if you have to split up so you’re not all being hit by AoE’s … assuming that you can survive/kite/dodge for 30s when you’re not actively trying to fight them.

Thanks for the tips guys, I will get round to trying some of them soon. I would select one as the answer, but they’re all useful and combine to make some good advice.

The fiery great sword is probably due to the wall glitch, especially the 3rd attack.

As an extra bit- what profession do you guys recommend using to defend Hodgkins? I think we have all but mesmers available as we’re still leveling them. Generally the party is one ele, 1-2 rangers, guardians and 1-2 warriors depending on mix up.

Also if there was 2 ele’s would that work in terms of giving all four people an icebow to take down the burrows. Or is Melee better?
Thank You

Don’t forget that Meteor Shower is dealing even more damage than Ice Bow 4 to the burrows. 2 Eles can easily duo that part in less than 30 seconds. Also 2 Warriors can easily duo it, not as fast as Eles but still in less than 40 seconds. One 100b + Whirlwind Attack is usually enough to kill a burrow. In a team without warriors or eles, just split 3 guys to the western and 2 guys to the eastern side who DPS the burrows down in melee as fast as they can.
Defending Hodgins is contraproductive by the way. You will just drag aggro to him.

For part 2 there’s an easy solution – take a warrior. Attack one ghost in melee and ball up behind a pillar. Warrior uses 100b + WA with Haste → 1-3 Ghosts will be dead within 2 Seconds.

Dub.1273:

…Defending Hodgins is contraproductive by the way. You will just drag aggro to him….

In my experience that just happens if people try to tank ON hodgins. If you decide to tank it is usually pretty easy for guardians. At least for me the easiest way is to tank in front of the big table and have a staff to switch to in case some gravelings attack hogdings. The aoe autoattack of the staff works like a charm to get the aggro of those punks.

Fatfox.4915:

As an extra bit- what profession do you guys recommend using to defend Hodgkins? I think we have all but mesmers available as we’re still leveling them. Generally the party is one ele, 1-2 rangers, guardians and 1-2 warriors depending on mix up.

As a Guardian, I can only offer you the Guardian aspect of my experiences. A Guard is great to defend Hodgins because of

• Stand Your Ground (Stability Buff + Stun Breaker)
• Save Yourselves (Stun Breaker + tons of boons)
• Contemplation of Purity (Stun Breaker + conditions convert to boons)
• Virtue of Courage (Aegis)
• Renewed Focus (3 seconds of Invulnerability + Virtues are recharged)

I use SYG, SY, and Retreat instead of CoP since I’d rather have a shout that gives me aegis and swiftness and my current build uses Soldier runes to have any shout heal conditions, but it all depends on what works best for you.

Of course, I am sure other classes have their benefits for guarding Hodgins too.