Guild Wars 2

Today I tried to run fractal level 11 for the first time. Things were a bit harder than 10 but manageable. That is until the Fire Shaman. Three times today, in three different groups we failed over and over again until we gave up. It’s not that we didn’t know the strategy or weren’t capable. After the first 2 times I was thinking maybe it’s the agony and put together a group where everyone had agony resist. Three of us had 10, the other 2 had 5 and we still failed miserably.

I afraid I’m going to have to give up on fractals all together until they fix this. It is just way too aggravating and discouraging and no fun at all.

You can dodge it. You can also reflect the shots he is firing to put agony back on him.

FotM is the ‘hardest’ end-game content that exists in the game. You’re choosing to go past the first tier, which means you want the harder content. Keep that in mind; if you can’t handle the harder content, call it quits and stick where you are. The Grawl boss is one of the most satisfying boss fights in the game, and is very doable with a group who has any semblance of an idea of what to do. I hope that they do not nerf it.

I could understand your frustration if it was 20 or 30+ and still, it’s very possible to pug this everyday without any issue.

Agony resists isn’t required at all for this whole fight even at higher difficulties, watch the boss and when he turns toward you and fires his arrow, dodge it. If you get hit, with 5 or 10 agony resists, the arrow does very negligible damage.

Other things that might help you are the reflect spells and mass pull spells to grab the elemental grubs toward you and kill them asap while being protected from fire arrows with the reflect.

Of course you don’t need any of these to suceed but it might help.

Be creative, be clever, and don’t give up after two tries.
It will become easy as hell afterward.

By the way, I’m interested if someone has any video or nice done tutorial on its moves.
I’m especially interested in spotting the animation of his insanely OP dot (fire ticking + agony) and, as a bonus, the shots that can be reflected.
I need that to improve and dodge the kittening dot.

You can glitch the agony arrow by strafing left and right in quick succession. Remember to stay a little bit far back though.

Forward to 2:25 and you’ll see it. Even though I don’t abuse it, I still use it from time to time.

Fun fact: I was in a group where 3 members died at approx. 40%. We 2-manned it.

You need to keep moving, and keep an eye out for the arrow. Once you get the hang of it, I’m sure we can all agree that you can probably 2-man it from 100% if you were skilled.

How much immobilize you bring and how well you position him before he puts his shield up can make a huge difference in whether he heals himself or not.

The reason people fail on this one is poor teamwork, bad profession composition in the party and poor player skills.

If you dont have agony resistance you need the skills to back it up with to dodge agony attacks, and not count on the group to cover for you. Also having a tactic on how to kill the boss is needed. you can no longer just jump the boss with mass attacks and kill them as you could below level 10.

pretty much of what can be said is already said above me.

That video was lvl 20. Of course it’s not that hard.

Stridix.4260:

That video was lvl 20. Of course it’s not that hard.

Way to miss the point. I was just saying that you can glitch the arrow by strafing left and right. The video is just there to demonstrate.

higher difficulties are not for randoms.Who knows what will you get.3 glass canons for instance.
Pugs can’t do something?Well the world won’t end.You have a choice.
Deal with it or lower the dificulty.It’s that simple.

Oh oops yeah I did miss the point.
Well there is always 101 classes so here is one. Don’t Rez if u have aggro. It will just make it worse.

And every class has a different skill set that can make it easier. But if 2 of the party effs up then yeah u might have a harder time defeating it.
Bring potions and food if u can. Be prepared.

Zenpo.5962:

Today I tried to run fractal level 11 for the first time. Things were a bit harder than 10 but manageable. That is until the Fire Shaman. Three times today, in three different groups we failed over and over again until we gave up. It’s not that we didn’t know the strategy or weren’t capable. After the first 2 times I was thinking maybe it’s the agony and put together a group where everyone had agony resist. Three of us had 10, the other 2 had 5 and we still failed miserably.

I afraid I’m going to have to give up on fractals all together until they fix this. It is just way too aggravating and discouraging and no fun at all.

i think you should remain at lvl 10 until you can handle the “heat”

At higher difficulties the Shaman fractal IS harder than the others, which is not good game design.

Easy… level 10 is what everyone including those HIGHER level do for dailies. Level 11 is only for people who need to level up and to help others so you’re left with a larger pool for noobs, newbs, or 13khp 1900 armor glass cannons.

When I was going from 10 to 20 I noticed my groups having more trouble than I remembered having at earlier levels. The agony can be dodged with a little practice, and another thing which made a big difference is getting people to rally those who go down instead of trying to revive them. Rally is much faster and it doesn’t make anyone else more vulnerable by being rooted.

Shaman is actually easy. Tha hardest part is those elementals that spawn when his shield is up.
They drop most people really fast.

Once they are dead, the shaman itself is easy.

OP, I understand your frustration, but as others have stated, Fractals of the Mists is currently the only place in the game where one might find difficult content. Lower level fractals are actually more difficult because players are generally less skilled. That’s right – it takes skill to progress in Fractals. My suggestion to you would be to keep yourself from getting frustrated. It’s when groups are negative and frustration arises that people make mistakes, and you can’t finish a run.

As for shaman being too difficult at lvl 11+, let me put your worries to rest by explaining why you are incorrect. I’m currently at level 41 fractals myself, and am forced to find pug groups in order to progress (had computer problems for a few weeks and my friends passed me up). I can tell you right now that at level 40+ you will have much greater fears that just Shaman. Such as the ridiculous Maw agony (instant death), but even that is passable with any group makeup if you are clever (it actually is not that difficult). I, and many many others, am living proof that the shaman is, in fact, not that difficult at level 11+.

My purpose for posting is not to brag (41 may seem high, but I assure you there are many who can trump that), or to insinuate that you are a less skilled player. I simply urge you and anyone else who has difficulty in Fractals of the Mist to realize that having difficulty is it’s purpose! Right now, FotM is the only place in GW2 that skilled players can find a challenge (other that WvW or sPvP, it is honestly a very easy game). Furthermore, I urge you to never give up if progressing in any aspect of the game is something you want to do. The problem with such a great company as ArenaNet is that they try to keep everyone happy, which is a problem when people ask for a fix to something that isn’t broken. In about a month, you may also find all your worries put to rest with the changes coming to FotM. Just a few things to keep in mind, and good luck ingame.

If you think that boss is hard at 11…. you might want to just stop doing that dungeon now….

Cliffside even is too easy now at 40+… Grawl is all we have, please don’t take that away from us ;(

BRAiNZ.7480:

Cliffside even is too easy now at 40+… Grawl is all we have, please don’t take that away from us ;(

One Fractal should NOT be harder than another at the same difficulty scale.

I am all for FotM being hard as hell, as long as it is on an even field across every fractal.

I realize this is really hard to do, but I mean comparing some of the fractals to the Grawl shaman at one specific level is just impossible, the difference in difficulty is just too big.

like all aspects of all fractals, certain tactics work better than others. Why do people keep expecting Anet to “fix-the-game” instead of paying their dues learning what tactics are required? Things do get harder at 10+ for most simply because they have to adjust to agony and they also cant just keyboardsmash their way though every part of every dungeon

Oh and

If you think that boss is hard at 11…. you might want to just stop doing that dungeon now….

this

Zenpo.5962:

It’s not that we didn’t know the strategy or weren’t capable.

I afraid I’m going to have to give up on fractals all together until they fix this. It is just way too aggravating and discouraging and no fun at all.

let’s hear your strategy and then perhaps we can help you

I think it’s kind of funny how a couple of days ago, I 3-manned this boss with ease on level 13 I think. One person fell into lava during the jumping part and the other died in the beginning of the fight. I don’t think I even went down the whole fight.

Yeah well that’s what happens when you don’t bother to learn to dodge the whole time while you’re leveling.

Writetyper.1985:

Yeah well that’s what happens when you don’t bother to learn to dodge the whole time while you’re leveling.

this is as true as it gets.
Odd levels below 20 are extremely hard because, believe it or not, there are people who don’t know what dodge is, which is also the reason they’re stuck at those levels.

Please do not complain about a level 11 fractal. Just makes most people lol.
A properly built team with players who know their class and with a little experience even at difficulty 39 the shaman can be a walk in the park. 40 however I guess it’s where it actually get’s annoying, (NOT 11 lol) since at 40 you can have max resist and still get downed every time he hits you with agony.

Aphix.9846:

Please do not complain about a level 11 fractal. Just makes most people lol.
A properly built team with players who know their class and with a little experience even at difficulty 39 the shaman can be a walk in the park. 40 however I guess it’s where it actually get’s annoying, (NOT 11 lol) since at 40 you can have max resist and still get downed every time he hits you with agony.

Do you feel that the Underwater or Swamp fractal is equally hard at level 40? I doubt you do, and as such there is a problem with the Grawl fractal.

Sadly different classes can make it much easier.

Take party of guardians for example.

They have multiple reflect skills which help reflect both shaman agony and the immobilization effect from the lava sluggies.

The theives blindness aoe wall also works but I doubt the cooldown is as low as guardians skills.

The theif and guardian aoe reflect helps the whole party where as my reflect I dont even use as it is horrible.
This is coming from a ranger,I looked through my skills and wep skills and found a reflect on my axe skill.though it doesn’t work some of the time and only absorbs the attack.

Back to shaman tips.

The boss is easy to dodge agony or reflect it with guardians.The hard part is when the eles come in the 3 times (or more if he heals)

If the shaman is far from the man who he is aiming for(the one who yells out)
you dont have to take his shield straight away,positioning in the centre can take out the guess work.
Next you take out as many eles as possible,reflects help.
Aoe skills help damage them when they bunch up.Also you can rally off them and target one when you are downed for the party to kill.
When the shaman gets within 8-10 seconds from the man(depending on if he is crippled or not) take out his shield.
Now the next part you need the clear the eles before returning to beating the boss.
Maybe have one keep attacking as boss sometimes can reset.
Also if someone downs,dont all rush to him as 1 fire storm could wipe the party.

I think ive typed enough to be of some use.

Chinnaru (ranger,lvl 39 scale)

This to me is actually one of the easier fractals when done properly. The only really annoying thing is the short immobilizes the adds repeatedly throw at you, but that isn’t even a huge deal.

Most parties fail because they DPS the boss too hard during non-add phases. Take your time to regen and regain any cds you may have had to blow if you have to. The only race to this is when adds are up, and that isn’t even a sprint when done properly.

LOL at people saying the “endgame” content is to hard LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Gab Superstar.4059:

Aphix.9846:

Please do not complain about a level 11 fractal. Just makes most people lol.
A properly built team with players who know their class and with a little experience even at difficulty 39 the shaman can be a walk in the park. 40 however I guess it’s where it actually get’s annoying, (NOT 11 lol) since at 40 you can have max resist and still get downed every time he hits you with agony.

Do you feel that the Underwater or Swamp fractal is equally hard at level 40? I doubt you do, and as such there is a problem with the Grawl fractal.

Actaully the 2nd group of Kraits can totally obliterate the whole group if you don’t have a good composition of classes and people who actually know how to survive this pack.So yes for pugs this will be hard.
In my opinion 40+ fractals are not meant for pugs.

Zenpo.5962:

It’s not that we didn’t know the strategy

I think that’s exactly it, at least partly, if everyone knows how to strafe dodge agony and everyone is prepared to execute the add phase correctly any grp composition can do it at this lvl. Pugs usually fail with not timing their phase transitions correctly, aka not waiting for full hp-ish phases while reaching 75,50,25% etc. Also everyone in the group being a glass cannon can make it a whole lot harder. I play a glass cannon ranger in fractals, but I have a survival set for encounters like this one and it helps greatly.

moiraine.2753:

Gab Superstar.4059:

Aphix.9846:

Please do not complain about a level 11 fractal. Just makes most people lol.
A properly built team with players who know their class and with a little experience even at difficulty 39 the shaman can be a walk in the park. 40 however I guess it’s where it actually get’s annoying, (NOT 11 lol) since at 40 you can have max resist and still get downed every time he hits you with agony.

Do you feel that the Underwater or Swamp fractal is equally hard at level 40? I doubt you do, and as such there is a problem with the Grawl fractal.

Actaully the 2nd group of Kraits can totally obliterate the whole group if you don’t have a good composition of classes and people who actually know how to survive this pack.So yes for pugs this will be hard.
In my opinion 40+ fractals are not meant for pugs.

Oh please no one fails to complete the lvl40 underwater fractal. Even if the pugs wipe on that krait grp, they will manage to kill enough kraits on the first try to make the second try trivial.

Sina.9208:

moiraine.2753:

Gab Superstar.4059:

Aphix.9846:

Please do not complain about a level 11 fractal. Just makes most people lol.
A properly built team with players who know their class and with a little experience even at difficulty 39 the shaman can be a walk in the park. 40 however I guess it’s where it actually get’s annoying, (NOT 11 lol) since at 40 you can have max resist and still get downed every time he hits you with agony.

Do you feel that the Underwater or Swamp fractal is equally hard at level 40? I doubt you do, and as such there is a problem with the Grawl fractal.

Actaully the 2nd group of Kraits can totally obliterate the whole group if you don’t have a good composition of classes and people who actually know how to survive this pack.So yes for pugs this will be hard.
In my opinion 40+ fractals are not meant for pugs.

Oh please no one fails to complete the lvl40 underwater fractal. Even if the pugs wipe on that krait grp, they will manage to kill enough kraits on the first try to make the second try trivial.

Don’t say things that you can’t support with 100% certainty.I was in many random groups.And you won’t believe how many people there are who could wipe you only because they don’t have a steady raiding group from which they could actually learn.That is the reason why when I reached level 30 i stoped pugging and found myself a group to make progress with.
In my opinion FotM is good as it is and should never be balanced arround pugs.The reason is the levels.Any way lets give a look at something else.Now I will give you 4 examples:

1st is the crystal in the Ice fractal and it’s snow phase.Pugs can fail with miserably at it even at higher fractals(even with Guardian’s and thief’s walls,bubbles,Smokes and invisibility).They keep pulling elementals and you have to corps run it.
2nd is the char fractal where you are in the last room.There pugs can keep running inside with the veterans and wipe the group.You may think that people already know to stay at the door and to wait only 1 of you to pull?mhm i will say it agai pugs are unreliable.
3rd is the krait group which i already mantioned.
4th is the shaman which is hard for random groups only because they may have 3 warriors or 2 glass cannons or someone who can’t dodge the agony or what ever reason.

Now i will return to the Shaman boss again.For pugs he is hard.For proper groups it’s not a problem at all.But I will repeat again.FotM should never be balanced around random made groups.For that you have levels.

moiraine.2753:

Sina.9208:

moiraine.2753:

Gab Superstar.4059:

Aphix.9846:

Please do not complain about a level 11 fractal. Just makes most people lol.
A properly built team with players who know their class and with a little experience even at difficulty 39 the shaman can be a walk in the park. 40 however I guess it’s where it actually get’s annoying, (NOT 11 lol) since at 40 you can have max resist and still get downed every time he hits you with agony.

Do you feel that the Underwater or Swamp fractal is equally hard at level 40? I doubt you do, and as such there is a problem with the Grawl fractal.

Actaully the 2nd group of Kraits can totally obliterate the whole group if you don’t have a good composition of classes and people who actually know how to survive this pack.So yes for pugs this will be hard.
In my opinion 40+ fractals are not meant for pugs.

Oh please no one fails to complete the lvl40 underwater fractal. Even if the pugs wipe on that krait grp, they will manage to kill enough kraits on the first try to make the second try trivial.

Don’t say things that you can’t support with 100% certainty.I was in many random groups.And you won’t believe how many people there are who could wipe you only because they don’t have a steady raiding group from which they could actually learn.That is the reason why when I reached level 30 i stoped pugging and found myself a group to make progress with.
In my opinion FotM is good as it is and should never be balanced arround pugs.The reason is the levels.Any way lets give a look at something else.Now I will give you 4 examples:

1st is the crystal in the Ice fractal and it’s snow phase.Pugs can fail with miserably at it even at higher fractals(even with Guardian’s and thief’s walls,bubbles,Smokes and invisibility).They keep pulling elementals and you have to corps run it.
2nd is the char fractal where you are in the last room.There pugs can keep running inside with the veterans and wipe the group.You may think that people already know to stay at the door and to wait only 1 of you to pull?mhm i will say it agai pugs are unreliable.
3rd is the krait group which i already mantioned.
4th is the shaman which is hard for random groups only because they may have 3 warriors or 2 glass cannons or someone who can’t dodge the agony or what ever reason.

Now i will return to the Shaman boss again.For pugs he is hard.For proper groups it’s not a problem at all.But I will repeat again.FotM should never be balanced around random made groups.For that you have levels.

You don’t get his point do you?

So what if you wipe once on the Krait group? You will still have killed enough of them to make the second try a breeze.

Seriously keep getting stuck on this one and this one only. Even really solid dungeon runners groups 6k archivers… We can make it thru all except this one. Unless a party has like 1 or 2 guardian this one is just too stupid hard.

There’s just too much going on at lvl 30 for this one to not wipe. It level of whipping is so much higher than the rest of the fractals and it’s turning me off them.

Volcano fractal does get over the top difficult, but not until 30+, at that point the amount of slugs that spawns are a tad over what is reasonable, pre 30 however it is fine.

The thing that people who have trouble with Grawl fractal need to remember is that there are 2 distinct dangers:

Shaman’s arrows/attacks.

Spawning elementals

If you’re at 50% health and have no heal available because you did poorly on #1, the second becomes a whole lot more dangerous.

So you really need to dodge the shaman attacks and keep your health up to properly prep for elementals spawning.

Level 48 Grawl boss is one of the most entertaining fights in the game. It totally epitomizes team composition, team skill, and just about everything else related to skill in this game, and I love it. Just make sure you’re planning for it when you build your group, or this fractal will stop you flat. It’s beatable, you just need to have everyone on the same page and be good players.

The other thing that ppl fail to realise or consider is that really you should try and complete every fractal instance before you get to lvl 10 and probably multiple times so that you are more aware of what goes on and is required. It isn’t just about stringing a whole bunch of fractal instances together and suddenly you’re at lvl 15 having done less than 50 fractal instances and possibly not having seen all 9 of the variations. Suddenly you come up against Shaman at lvl 20, you’ve only done him 3 times at lower lvls and struggled and now he’s impossible and needs a nerf.

As others have said, FoTMs is the more difficult dungeoning experience. Accept that it is so and prepare and improve your gameplay accordingly.

i hope you can play with the lvl 48 shaman some day
noob ppl should farm lvl 10 until they learn the ropes, then try lvl 20, stick there for a while, move on when mastered
simple