Guild Wars 2

If you kill the AC path 3 boss without stacking please describe how you do it and any special things that you do with your class to make it easier.

How I do it is to just stand in the side of the bubble opposite the boss and range attack. That way I dont get knocked out of the bubble. As well I put health regen on the npc when it is available. Putting the target symbol over the npc makes it easier to keep track of where the bubble is going to be. If most of my party is dead the npc is going to die before the boss does so having everyone in my party putting out dps is essential.

I do not kill it without stacking often but we did do it without stacking a few times recently and iy seemed to go well. Other than the time most of the party was dead as it was their first time and they just ran out to boss without a clue hehe.

Perhaps I have been lucky recently since the npc had been putting his bubble up reliably. I remember when the patch first came out he would sometimes attack when it would really have been better for him to bubble. What with the entire room full of insta kill red circles and all. Is this still happening and if so what can you do about it?

Edit: I was using staff ele

Nope, he (grast) is working for me. I’m pretty sure they fixed it so the moment the howling king does the seismic attack, grast instantly puts the bubble up.

As for actually beating him, just stack near grast. When grast puts up the shield, use any stability skills (stand your ground, hallowed ground, Mantra of Concentration, armor of earth), or if you get knocked out of the bubble, pop any stun breakers while on the ground (shake it off, mist form, Cleansing Fire, ect) and run back into the bubble. Other then that, just dps him down and you’ll be fine…There’s not much else to the fight then staying in the bubble and dpsing him down.

o.O the mechanic of that boss is to use grast/the bubble to protect yourself from the instakill, why would you NOT use the bubble…

I think I liked the old version better TBH…
Yeah it was a really WIDE cone he’d 1Hit you with, but it wasn’t a loooong cone like Colossus’. You just anticipated it, and got completely out of its range or rolled behind him. Every melee was basically stacking behind him but atleast they were always moving and so was he. :\

EDIT: yeah everyone stacked inside the pillar when I did it the other day too…. zzz

I dont think anyone mentioned not using the bubble. Unless you meant while stacking in the corner of the pillar when the party will often leave grast dead back with the breeders.

O.o

Yes I prefered the old version as well.

Stay under the bubble and use stability when the boss is about to push you out of it.

By the way, the pillar is clearly the wrong way to go: too many times melee are ejected. Use a cavity on the other side of the room: everytime you’ll be pushed, you’ll stay in the cavity and can come back really quick. Don’t aggro the boss until you all are at that safe place.

Maintain stability (SYG+Hallowed Ground) and stand by Grast . Then just DPS him down.

The problem with Stacking in a “safe” place.. Is too often they are not “safe”, yes you will not be hit by the rocks, but the entire team will take every cleave the boss does, and may even be knocked out and still get hit by boss.

So much better to run in with Grast, heal him when he takes damage. Fire off stability when he puts up the bubble. And possibly have a stunbreak or shield in case you do get knocked outside.

I’m not very expert at this fight but I see the use of walls/cavities etc as an exploit. Doing the fight as the designers intended seems too hard for PUGs, although maybe if they had to learn they would learn. The proper way seems to involve both NPCs, since one has the bubble and the other does some healing. However the aoe damage on them from the Colossus is so large that a group needs to really hammer out the healing with water fields, finishers, and so on. One knockback from the Colossus can wipe you out and this really favors stability classes. Getting behind the Colossus to avoid his aoe attacks seems obvious but he spins around so much that this is still dangerous. Groups that can manage defiant stacks will do a lot better than those can’t.

You can do it with any class. Jut stay inside the bubble and use stability, or go ranged and stay far from the boss (still inside the bubble), or dodge the attack
Any skills that can heal or give the npc regeneration is helpful

Ratty.5176:

The problem with Stacking in a “safe” place.. Is too often they are not “safe”, yes you will not be hit by the rocks, but the entire team will take every cleave the boss does, and may even be knocked out and still get hit by boss.

So much better to run in with Grast, heal him when he takes damage. Fire off stability when he puts up the bubble. And possibly have a stunbreak or shield in case you do get knocked outside.

This is true now apparently (haven’t done it for awhile) but Grast used to not pop the bubble reliably. Therefore it wasn’t skill at all, but mostly buggy RNG to see if you would wipe or kill the boss. That’s why people started stacking in the corner by the pillar, instead of relying on the not-so-reliable Grast.

Ethics.4519:

This is true now apparently (haven’t done it for awhile) but Grast used to not pop the bubble reliably. Therefore it wasn’t skill at all, but mostly buggy RNG to see if you would wipe or kill the boss. That’s why people started stacking in the corner by the pillar, instead of relying on the not-so-reliable Grast.

I haven’t seen it bug in ages.

I remember pugging for it right after the change, and eventually having to switch to thief for CC because we lacked dps and Grast was buggy.

Fun time. It was one of the most coordinated moments I’ve had, sadly for the wrong reasons.

Our group uses a mesmers F3 to remove 3 defiance, then 2 warriors remove the other 2 then when he howls either the guard or 3 warrior interupt, rinse and repeat.

Xehanort.7034:

Nope, he (grast) is working for me. I’m pretty sure they fixed it so the moment the howling king does the seismic attack, grast instantly puts the bubble up.

As for actually beating him, just stack near grast. When grast puts up the shield, use any stability skills (stand your ground, hallowed ground, Mantra of Concentration, armor of earth), or if you get knocked out of the bubble, pop any stun breakers while on the ground (shake it off, mist form, Cleansing Fire, ect) and run back into the bubble. Other then that, just dps him down and you’ll be fine…There’s not much else to the fight then staying in the bubble and dpsing him down.

I can confirm that Grast will throw the bubble shield up reliably now. I remember when the changes first came out, he was a bit picky, but I ran it today and had no such trouble.

I just stay at the edge of the bubble and dodge the cleaves/ use condition removal

Method 1: Stack near Grast

Method 2; Learn 2 Play and interrupt his attack by chipping away his defiant. Too bad most PUGs are stubborn as mules, and refuse to co-operate.

Like everybody said, you can just stack on Grast. If you dps the boss hard enough he probably won’t even be able to do anything (check strife’s video) since his HP is pitiful.

I always laugh when people suggest exploits when i’m in a pug, it’s actually a lot easier to just do it properly.

Thanks everyone.