Guild Wars 2

Hey guys!

So today I finally reached level 80 and decided to go for my first dungeon in a long time. I saw an invite for COF P1 for beginners, so I tagged along. We were, of course, a non perfect group but it was surprisingly a lot of fun. But we really struggled with the Acolytes (running through the mobs to get to the safe spot before attacking the acolytes.

Does anyone have any tips for getting through this section? Thank you!

Try and stand just behind the place where they spawn and as soon as they appear kill them, if all of your party members do this you should have too much problems.

I hope you had trouble killing the acolytes, and not jumping up on the safe spot? :P

There are a few useful skills depending on what class you are to help you survive the onslaught of flamethrowers and sword-wielding Charrs. Stability is useful regardless of class because sometimes you get pulled, and I think every profession should have some stability skill so you can use that.

Obviously speed boosts are useful too as the faster you get up on the ledge, the sooner you lose aggro. If you are trying it out as a future zerker warrior CoF farmer, try skills like Endure Pain or Fear Me. Guardians have Renewed Focus although Stand Your Ground and F3 to give aegis to whole party would be greatly useful for everyone. For Mesmer, you can Blink your way towards the tunnel, or Illusionary Leap and/or iWarden can distract them if you’re being chased down by one or two.

Eles have that Earth Shield and Lightning Flash/Mist Form, sometimes you can summon an Elemental to take aggro as well. Thieves can use Blinding Powder and other stealth/shadowstep techniques. Nice thing about Eles, Thieves and Mesmers is that if you’re halfway down the tunnel and then you get downed, one of your downed skills can move you further down the tunnel, closer to your party members who can then res you in a group.

Necros have Death Shroud to absorb damage, Spectral Walk for added speed. Engineers and Rangers have Glue Shot and Muddy Terrain respectively to slow them down, and Rangers have Quick Shot to get out quickly.

If you told me your class or your party composition I could give you something more indepth. Some classes have it easier than others but it’s normal to get downed while you’re still getting your head around it, and sometimes even if we’ve done it a hundred times before, we go down too because we get knocked back/pulled and flamethrowered or some unfortunate combination, so don’t feel bad about it. Once you get the hang of it you usually only need the speed boost to get you to the ledge and none of the other skills, but while you’re figuring it out it’s good to have a backup skill in case you find yourself eating dirt and the flamethrower is coming straight for you.

• If possible, make sure there is at least one person for each acolyte. Sometimes people tend to pick their acolyte at random, and you’ll have something awkward like three people attacking one acolyte, which is likely to get some people killed.
• When retreating, make use of survivability skills (block or invulnerability), gap closers (forward leaps, teleports, etc.), snares/immobilizes, and swiftness on the way to a safe spot. If you want specific skills, please provide more information on your profession.
• Stability and stunbreakers are particularly useful here because some of the mobs will crowd control you.
• Learn the abilities of the mobs in the room — particularly, the hellstorm, the smokelord, and the blademasters. The hellstorm follows you with repeated flamethrower shots and will sometimes pull you; they can be countered momentarily with any form of crowd control if you need to get away. The smokelord has some harmful projectiles and throws down lava fonts that launch you when it explodes; avoid standing near a lava font. The hellstorms will stun you; you can easily break out of it with stun breaks if needed. These 3 are the common ones that will give you trouble, but be on the lookout for other mobs that may give you a hard time.
• Sometimes, it’s okay to down before your acolyte dies (if you need to). Have your allies kill your acolyte (or any possible low HP target, for that matter) for an easy rally.
• This section should be done in 3 waves (need to kill 10 acolytes): 1st wave has four, 2nd wave has four, and last wave has two. This assumes that your party kills the acolytes at roughly the same time. There’s about a 30 second delay in between each wave, so don’t move out too soon if you don’t have to.

Odin.1354:

Try and stand just behind the place where they spawn and as soon as they appear kill them, if all of your party members do this you should have too much problems.

I hope you had trouble killing the acolytes, and not jumping up on the safe spot? :P

We mostly had trouble killing the acolytes. Some players, including myself on one occasion (my fault for not utilizing my speed/defense skills properly) would die on the path to the safe spot, but not at the safe spot. :P

Thanks for all of the tips guys. I’ll definitely give all of these ideas (and watch some more videos on the path) before attempting it again. I am currently playing a Necromancer, also. Death Shroud, Spectral Walk, and Locust Swarm were all really helpful in getting me to the safe spot quickly, but actually attacking the Acolytes is where I ran into some problems. Thanks again!

Edit: So, watching a couple of CoF P1 videos… I’ve noticed that they all look easier. The videos show that, for example, running up the bridge there are next to no enemies… However, the four runs that I did yesterday had 5-10 enemies sitting on the bridge for you to break through, and then another mob sitting not too far away. The acolytes, also, were always already spawned by the time we reached that area.