Guild Wars 2

Hi All:

Athena Nova @ Sea of Sorrows here, PvE / WvW lover. This thread may exist somewhere else but I decide to put some thoughts here and maybe gather more creative ideas. Let’s start:

Daily bonus: You can get your daily bonus once on every even level in 10+, 20+, 30+ … respectively. So if you’re at 20+ you can have 2 dailies.

Underwater adventure fractal: This is consider to be an easy one since the final boss’s agony is totally avoidable at ease. Use sparks as much as u could since it’ll greatly expedite the process of cutting down boss’s hp. Some tips: you maybe able to rez yourself in dolphin mode if you are just about to die, I’m able to do it once but don’t depend on it. Use the skills is way better

Subzero condition / snowfield: Again, this is a giveaway. The blizzard statue will put an air field which crack lightning in 3 ticks and launch you in air. When ice elementals come up kill the elementals first. And if you pay attention, the final boss’s ice storm is a parallel 3 wide line, middle, then left, then right. If you are late to the party, use the flag to port in.

Jungle, moss man / bloom hunger: The tree walls can be jump across at certain point. There is also a way to jump through spider eggs without break any of them (through rocks). You may want a member to clear the trap a head of you if it’s far away. Moss man fight: mass spread, range him. His axe is no longer than 900 so if you stay ranged and scattered (since the axe will jump around with agony) you’ll be okay. This is a good kite battle. Bloom hunger: take care for agony, don’t be in the water since it’s hard to identify the red circle. Else this boss is a cookie.

Ascalon: I always like the charr form. One thing to remember, don’t use repair canister here or you’ll crash all your team’s client. If you’re lucky to know a good mesmer will save you 5 min at the gate. Vets always follows the last person so check your group before initiating assault. Use tree/statue to block the balista, stay ranged and stay far. In higher level, those veteran warr can instant down u if you’re multi-targeted. Warrior’s battle standard can rez vet npc at the captain fight so use it.

Asuran: I hate the jump after lvl 10. Anyway… I got nothing to say about ettin champion. You can stock up energy cell before initiating the poison boss. Keep the fan going is most important. And if you’re lucky with a super ranger he would know another “awesome way” to do it but still wont’ be better if u just go by normal. Final boss: again and again, agony is short ranged and he’ll run around to local the closest target. You can kite him around pillar as it’ll help to block his projectile. Kite is a must as well as good dodges.

Dredge: After you find a way to the top (I suppose you know how). And after you break the reinforced door, you can lure the boss in out side the wall so that you don’t need to deal with the newly spawned vets. Champion suit / elemental is just a cake. We always go back and forth to better utilize the banner and also with shorter run distance.

Chained colossus: Let’s just talk about the arm. So initially there will be 2 novice in the left, try not to kill them too fast (or just not kill them at all) so that left will not respawn vets. You can always get the charge in the tunnel and do breaks. We always break the left 1st and then focus on the right only. Boss battle we all know how, after u saved the colossus, when he thanks to you, /bow back to him for some good manner

Grawl: This is not quite as easy, use the slope / platform when u enter to avoid being “outmanned”. Try to focus on vets 1st to save all 4 so that u get an extra chest at the place where shaman initially standing. Finally when u fight the legendary shaman. Try not to break his bubble too quickly so that you got some time to deal with the lava. Keep distance. Again he’s range is no more than 900 and he’ll raise his bow when he shoots the agony shot.

Jade maw: Nothing much to say. Crystal has unlimited range once charged. You don’t have to use it when u get the charge so that it buys you time to stock up. And never try to fight tentacles in the field. Or you’ll be infinitely launched in the air. Try to stock up some crystals before u end the fight.

Thanks all and more ideas is mostly welcome.

Thanks for the guide, really enjoyed reading through this

I do have a couple of queries though, i presume by ‘daily’ you mean the chest that comes just above the minimap once you have beaten the Jade Maw?

If this is correct then it starts from 0 – I was helping out a friend on lvl 2 yesterday and after the Jade Maw we both recieved a cest containing 20 relics and some other useless item.

Could you please clarify if this is what i see people referring to as a daily? The way i see it is that the ‘daily’ is available on ANY scale so long as it is even number and involves defeating the Jade, presuming this is the case, i could do it at 2 -12 – 22 – 32… etc?

I am aware that the ring only drops 10+.

Basically, is the daily that keeps being referred to the chest you get after beating Jade for the first time that day in each tier?

Prezzy.2783:

Basically, is the daily that keeps being referred to the chest you get after beating Jade for the first time that day in each tier?

That is correct. Most people are more concerned with tier 10+ onward dailies since that’s where the ring might drop. If you’re farming tokens then tier 0+ would also serve the purpose

thanks for this guide! i’ve only done the fractals up to the monthly. i.e. first jade maw. and have gone back to map completion and original dungeons. but i would love to at least experience all the fractals once each.

just to follow-up and further clarify on the daily question – so for e.g. if i got up to say.. level 22. i could choose to go do level 12, finish the 3 fracs, take out jade maw, get chest and that counts as one daily, which has a chance to drop the ring?

and then.. i can leave instance, reenter at level 22, repeat and have another shot at the ring?

so on and so forth, the further i get. i.e. if i’m past 30+, i get three chances a day.

this is based on the assumption that.. after each “even” number level, you get to fight jade maw, which spawns the chest. and also that you are able to adjust your level each time you enter into the fracs, as long as you’ve passed that level at any given point in time.

I belive the 2,4,6,8,10,12 is wrong I did lv 10 got my Chest then I did Lv 12 and afther That I did not get a Chest At all so im not sure wtf is up? or whats the deal but I did a lv 6 to help a guildie and I got a chest so im not fully sure what is wrong can anyone comment?

You forgot some bosses on alternative paths, for example dredge’s ones. 2 of them, similar because of lava, but different agony behaviour. I guess this is a guide for newbies where those encouters are not available.

Demeron.5423:

I belive the 2,4,6,8,10,12 is wrong I did lv 10 got my Chest then I did Lv 12 and afther That I did not get a Chest At all so im not sure wtf is up? or whats the deal but I did a lv 6 to help a guildie and I got a chest so im not fully sure what is wrong can anyone comment?

Refer to dev people. every 10 level is consider a “factor”, you can receive a daily bonus on each factor per day. In your case you’ve received the daily on factor 1, so no more daily for you. but you can do a lvl 8 to receive a factor 0 daily bonus.

Also if you check it I said you can get daily “once” every …

There is no much difference between the ice elemental or the dredge suit for battle dynamics. However, for the dredge suit his agony attack is clearly animated (the aoe pumping air). For the ice elementals I still couldn’t figure out what’s the animation for his agony attack.

Jericho.5940:

1 ] Ascalon: ….. If you’re lucky to know a good mesmer will save you 5 min at the gate.

2] Dredge: ….. We always go back and forth to better utilize the banner and also with shorter run distance.

3] Jade maw: Crystal has unlimited range once charged. You don’t have to use it when u get the charge so that it buys you time to stock up. …… Try to stock up some crystals before u end the fight.

Thanks for the tips. Questions re:
1] How does a mesmer get you through the gate/ save you 5 mins? It can portal you through a closed gate?

2] which banner are you referring to? The warrior one you previously mentioned? (dont think ive been in an fotm that used banner at dredge yet). Is that banner placed right in the middle between the two cauldrons?

3] I still dont understand the crystal respawn/despawn times. I swear the game despawns crystals just as soon as i get the red death icon xD. What causes crystals to spawn (the vet adds?). Once a crystal is on the ground, how long does it stay there before despawning? If u pick one up and carry it for a bit and then drop it… does that fully reset the despawn timer or instead just where the timer was before you had picked the crystal up?

ty ty ty

I should have videos up soon of fractals to go with the other dungeon guides I have in my sig, but here are a couple of things you missed that make things alot easier:

Ascalon: Don’t stand behind trees/statues, pull the mobs out to the gate you come in. The reason being, at high levels if you stand directly behind the statues, your NPCs will get hit by arrow carts, which will agro them to the middle area, and will pull every single mob, will eventually die, and then you’re stuck finishing off hard mobs at fractals 20+ without your veterans. Plus you have to res them all during the next event. Also use LOS around corners in the area after Dulfy and before the middle area to group up all the mobs nicely for your NPCs to take care off.

Swamp: Only one thing can hit you in melee range on Bloomhunger if you stand inside his body (it’s poison bolt agony attack), and you should have more then enough evades to not get hit by it if you pay attention. I regularly do this full fight while pumping out 2.5k crit auto attacks on my War and never getting hit.

Asuran: Guardian with Wall of Reflection, Spirit Shield, and Stand Your Ground is god for this. You have near 100% uptime on either projectile reflection or stability meaning you should never get knocked down. My group just goes full melee and clears the jump paths super fast. This is even better for the last boss fight, especially with 2 guardians. You can actually reflect the bosses agony attack back onto the golems and instantly kill them. Just set up everyone in the back area, use wall of reflection, then spirit shield, then wall of reflection should be back up for when you fight all 4 which you can use to instantly kill them. I do this fight in under 1 min. at 20+ fractals.

Colossus: The point of the mobs is to get a hammer charge. I see too many noob groups just trying to kill everything quickly. Also you don’t need to stand directly in front of the seal to hit it, especially useful for the 2nd and 3rd seal event. Get mobs to low health, let the hammer get a hit in, and then kill it.
You can complete the first seal with the initial 6 mobs in about 10 seconds.
Everyone can stand in the smaller safe spot right to the left of the seal at the 2nd seal and kill mobs there and hit the seal without every moving.
At the 3rd seal, make sure you only kill one mob at a time on either side. You can get 2 hits on either side before the big pack spawns, since they spawn after both initial chanters die. Then you want to drag the mobs into the hallway, LOS them around the corner, and leave one at low health for the person with the hammer to hit as he runs by to get a charge. The hammer person shouldn’t be stopping to fight mobs, just hit low health mobs as he runs in the hallway. This event can basically be done as fast as it takes to run back and forth between the hallway. I can get 3 hits with one 39 sec debuff. Again, you don’t need to run directly in front of the seal to hit it stand on the side, which lets you hit it quicker and not get knocked back by the shield. You can do this event extremely fast if you are organized. This fractal is by far the one most people don’t know how to do effectively and is really pretty easy overall if your group is smart about things.

Shaman: This one is super easy as well that most people find hard. For the first event, go up on the hill on the right where the flaming boulders eventually come from, you can range and funnel the mobs up the hallway so they are easy to kill. For the last boss, just stay at 1200 range and strafe back and forth quickly, you will never get hit by it’s agony attack. The only other attack at range is the hail of fire he casts which can easily be dodged out of.

Again, should have videos up soon explaining most of this stuff.

Strifey.7215:

I should have videos up soon of fractals to go with the other dungeon guides I have in my sig, but here are a couple of things you missed that make things alot easier:
…..
Again, should have videos up soon explaining most of this stuff.

Thank you so much for sharing. One general thing worth for agony, also as we all stated repeatedly in those notes. 900 is the distance for bosses agony shot other than jade maw. Bring out your 1200 weapon if you’re not fully agony resist equipped (10 for 10+, 20 for 20+, 30 for 30+, etc…)

I totally agree for those tips, especially for the Ascalon, the key to this fractal in the higher level is to save ur veteran to tank only one wave of mobs, so it is better to use the gate and lure them out. You may need to be patient since some ranger mob will just not come out of that red circle. When that happens just target one and nuke them down one by one. We need to take it carefully because sometimes our veteran will not properly respawn after the wipe which would eventually made it nearly impossible to progress with bad mob positions.

The hard thing about shaman is when the lava comes out, you need to find a really efficient way to mass AOE those lava down or at least cut them into lower health, and then break the boss’s bubble before he go eating a villager to regen the 25% hp. Yesterday I found one method to be very effective. Which to stack together in one side and put defensive / projectile reflection while aoe. The good thing about this is since you stacked together, lava will tend to gather towards you which makes the aoe very effective, while all of your party enjoy that defense wall. So a good guardian is pretty helpful on this one.

LemurTron.9261:

Jericho.5940:

1 ] Ascalon: ….. If you’re lucky to know a good mesmer will save you 5 min at the gate.

2] Dredge: ….. We always go back and forth to better utilize the banner and also with shorter run distance.

3] Jade maw: Crystal has unlimited range once charged. You don’t have to use it when u get the charge so that it buys you time to stock up. …… Try to stock up some crystals before u end the fight.

Please see my answer in line.

1] How does a mesmer get you through the gate/ save you 5 mins? It can portal you through a closed gate?

It would portal you through through the wall and go behind the gate, saving your time to knock down the good looking lady guard Dulfy. It doesn’t really matter that much since it’s anyway a easy fight up there.

2] which banner are you referring to? The warrior one you previously mentioned? (dont think ive been in an fotm that used banner at dredge yet). Is that banner placed right in the middle between the two cauldrons?

Yes. Myself being a banner regen build warrior will constantly pull it out for the team. Sorry for the ambiguity here. Another thing to add to this. So in the lower level when boss doesn’t pull out agony that frequent, going back and forth would save quite some time. However, since going back and forth will force you to have more interaction with the boss’s “agony effective zone”, in higher level I sense it is more viable through going circles. Again it all depending on the team and good team mates will make everything so much easier.

3] I still dont understand the crystal respawn/despawn times. I swear the game despawns crystals just as soon as i get the red death icon xD. What causes crystals to spawn (the vet adds?). Once a crystal is on the ground, how long does it stay there before despawning? If u pick one up and carry it for a bit and then drop it… does that fully reset the despawn timer or instead just where the timer was before you had picked the crystal up?

I’m not so sure about the despawn time for the crystals, pickup and drop may help as I do that and I see my team do that (but still can’t be sure of it). I would like to talk more about how u can dodge the shot: You want to dodge when the skull above your head disappear. With this tip I believe you can manage a quite high chance to dodge his shot (except for the last one…). I’m sure you’ll soon realize that jade maw is the easiest one after all, even with some lack of agony resist.