Source: http://lopezirl.com/2013/01/07/a-guide-to-fractals-of-the-mists-with-condition-necromancer-tips/
A Guide to Fractals of the Mists, With Condition Necromancer Tips
Introduction
Hello, my name is Lopez. By now, I hope you know me from my guides for condition necromancers in world vs. world and PvE. But if you don’t, here’s some quick background: I’m a big Guild Wars 2 fan and gamer. I’ve been doing lv. 30 and higher fractals since about three weeks after they were launched. I tend to play condition necromancer, which is why this guide will have some condition necromancer tips based on my PvE build. But most of it will be a general guide to Fractals of the Mists in Guild Wars 2 that all classes can use.
The tips and strategies in this guide will be largely based around gameplay at lv. 30 and higher fractals. The same ideas should be applicable to lower-level fractals, but they won’t be as strict. I am absolutely avoiding exploits.They go against the spirit of fractals, as far as I’m concerned. Fractals of the Mists are supposed to be progression content, and progressing further without legitimate play is meaningless to me.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message on Twitter (@LopezIRL), in-game (Lopez), or email me ([email protected]).
Table of Contents
I. Why Do Fractals of the Mists?
II. How Do Fractals Work?
III. Volcanic Fractal
IV. Underground Facility Fractal
V. Swampland Fractal
VI. Cliffside Fractal
VII. Uncategorized Fractal
VIII. Snowblind Fractal
IX. Aquatic Ruins Fractal
X. Urban Battleground Fractal
XI. Solid Ocean Fractal
XII. Frequently Asked Questions
XIII. Revisions and Additions
I. Why Do Fractals of the Mists?
The most obvious answer for me is fun. For me, fractals are by far the most entertaining PvE content in Guild Wars 2. They bring a level of challenge and teamwork not seen in any other PvE content in the game. In effect, they are Guild Wars 2‘s progression content, which should make them attractive to any organized group of players.
The second reason is awesome loot. Higher-level fractals drop rare- and exotic-quality items, which can be salvaged for the pricey globs of ectoplasm, more than any other content in the game. In a good group, high-level fractals are the best way to make a lot of gold.
Of course, there’s also ascended gear. Fractals are the go-to place for getting ascended rings, which have the best stats in the game. They also have exotic-level backpacks that can be upgraded to ascended level at the Mystic Forge.
II. How Do Fractals Work?
To start, a full group must zone into the portal east of Claw Island Portage Waypoint in Lion’s Arch. Before zoning in, the group must pick a level.
The difficulty level, which scales infinitely, sets both the difficulty and rewards. At higher levels, mobs and bosses hit harder, and agony, a damage-over-time debuff bosses apply that can only be negated with the agony resistance stat on ascended gear, does much more damage. But higher levels also mean more loot and rewards.
At odd levels (lv. 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.), groups must complete three fractals in a row to unlock a higher difficulty level. At even levels (lv. 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.), groups must complete three fractals in a row and XI. Solid Ocean to unlock another difficulty level.
Completing the Solid Ocean fractal once a day gives a daily quest reward. This reward always gives some fractal tokens and some silver. At lv. 10 and up, it also gives a token that can be used to buy an ascended ring, and it has a chance at giving an ascended ring and a weapon skin that’s exclusive to fractals. At lv. 26 and up, any ascended ring that drops will always be infused, which means it will always have five agony resistance built-in. The higher the level, the higher the chance of an ascended ring and weapon skin.
Every 10 levels, a new daily quest is unlocked. So if a player is lv. 42 in fractals, s/he can do lv. 18, lv. 26, lv. 30, and lv. 42, and each one will give a daily quest reward. Essentially, unlocking higher difficulty levels unlocks more chances at the daily quest rewards.
Once in Fractals of the Mists, groups begin the fractal sequence by running into the portal in the middle of Mistlock Observatory. Once everyone accepts, the group will be teleported to a fractal. The choice of fractal is completely random, so if a group wants a specific fractal, it will have to exit and try again.
After a fractal is completed, the group is automatically teleported to the next fractal. At odd levels, the group must complete three fractals in a row to finish the difficulty level. At even levels, the group must complete three fractals and Solid Ocean.
The mechanics of Fractals of the Mists sound complicated at first, but it’s something everyone can get used to with some time in them.
III. Volcanic Fractal
Difficulty: Hard
Length: Short
The Volcanic Fractal is one of the most difficult in the game, particularly at higher levels. The final boss alone has likely killed more pick-up groups than any other boss. But it’s not all doom-and-gloom! With a smart, capable group, the fractal can go by pretty fast and result in some decent loot due to the many adds and two treasure chests available.
Achievement: “The Floor is Lava. Don’t Step In It.”
This achievement is pretty easy. Avoid all lava in the fractal, including the small lava pools on the final boss.
Part 1: Many Adds
The first part of this fractal involves killing a bunch of adds.
Immediately after zoning into the fractal, turn right and climb up the hill. It makes the encounter significantly easier by forcing adds to come to the group. From that point forward, just AOE and crowd control the mobs.
Once enough mobs die, walk down the cliff, making sure to avoid any boulders, and the next event will trigger.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or Plague
Condition necromancer really shines on this encounter due to the ability to spread bleeds, poison, and snares by using Epidemic on cooldown. Unlike most encounters, it’s a good idea to use staff as much as possible for the snares and fear. Also, use Well of Darkness on cooldown on a clump of mobs to mitigate any damage.
Flesh golem and Plague each have their strengths. The golem can knock down a pack of mobs, while Plague can help blind mobs for 20 seconds.
Part 2: Save the Humans
In this part, adds are going to spawn and move toward the humans being held captive. The goal is to kill the mobs before they can reach the humans while throwing rocks at the Champion Grawl Shaman to break his bubble.
The normal strategy is to put three or four people on killing and slowing down adds while the remaining people in the group run around, pick up rocks, and lob them at the Champion Grawl Shaman’s bubble. Remember the rocks do have a limited range, so stand close to the shaman before throwing them.
Snares and crowd-control abilities are definitely recommended for the event. Slowing down the mobs can be just as important as killing them, particularly in higher levels, where mobs spawn faster and can quickly overwhelm the group.
If all the captives survive, the group will be rewarded with a treasure chest that can be looted after the sub-boss.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Spectral Grasp, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
This is the only encounter in the game in which Spectral Grasp is really useful because it can be used to pull mobs away from captives. Use it on cooldown to buy the group a lot of time. Otherwise, just kill, fear, snare, and knock down (flesh golem) the mobs as much as possible. Once again, changing to staff as often as possible is worth it for the utility.
Sub-Boss: Champion Grawl Shaman
Champion Grawl Shaman will shoot fireballs and ground-targeted attacks at the group, which can be easily avoided and reflected. The ceiling will also collapse throughout the fight, so watch out for red circles to avoid being knocked down. At a few points in the fight, the shaman will go into a bubble, which can only be broken by throwing a rock at it. The sub-boss also has passive stability, so crowd control will not work on him.
The fight is pretty easy. Just avoid AOE. Reflects can be very useful for dealing with the fireballs, so the group should stay together to make full use of them.
When the shaman goes into a bubble, he’s pretty unintimidating. That’s a good time to heal up while one person throws a rock.
When the boss gets to about 20 percent, the fight will finish.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Power, Blood Is Power, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Since the group should be standing relatively close together during this fight, wells are pretty good. Well of Power in particular is good for dealing with the burning because it converts the burning into aegis, which completely blocks an attack.
One little trick in the fight is that bleeds still damage and can still be applied to the shaman when he goes into his bubble. Ideally, condition necromancers should continue doing damage while someone else picks up a rock to throw it at the sub-boss.
The boss has passive stability, so flesh golem is only there for the damage.
Part 3: Platforming Time
Not much to say about this part. Run by the bats, and don’t fall in the lava.
Boss: Legendary Imbued Shaman
For most of the fight, Legendary Imbued Shaman will shoot agony-applying arrows and drop AOEs. What makes the fight difficult is every time he loses 25 percent of his health, the shaman will go into a bubble that blocks all attacks, begin moving to a human captive, and summon a bunch of elementals. If the bubble isn’t popped before the shaman reaches a captive, he heals for a lot.
The environment also applies burning to anyone who is standing still, so it’s important to constantly stay on the move.
The most important thing the group can do in this fight is stick together. This lets AOE buffs, heals, and reflects work their magic. If done correctly, a group with a good guardian and mesmer can reflect most of the boss’s arrows.
Standing together is also key for gathering the elementals when the boss goes into his bubble, making them much easier to AOE down. That’s very important because the summoned elementals have to be killed as soon as possible. They can wipe the group if they’re allowed to stay around too long.
The bubble is popped by hitting it 39 times.
Fast-attacking classes like mesmer and thief should focus on the bubble, while classes with heavy AOE like engineer and necromancer should take down the adds. However, these roles needs to be flexible depending on any sudden changes in the fight.
One trick for this boss is to have at least one melee run in periodically. The boss will typically do an AOE around himself when someone is in his melee range, but the cast on the boss’s AOE is long enough that it effectively crowd controls the boss for two or three seconds. It’s a nice way to get a break in the middle of the fight.
At higher levels, someone is almost guaranteed to get downed, so any revive abilities are extremely useful.
After three waves of adds, the group just needs to tear through another 25 percent of the boss’s health bar, and the fractal is done.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or Plague
Once again, condition necromancer really shines in this encounter. Since a good group should be relatively close together, wells are very useful. The boss and environment will also regularly apply burning, which makes the conversion to aegis from Well of Power amazing.
When the boss goes into his bubble, traited marks can still penetrate the block. This can used to chill and slow the boss before he reaches a captive, but it shouldn’t be too necessary if fast-attacking classes are on top of breaking the bubble.
The adds can be easily dispatched by a lone condition necromancer with AOE from scepter, dagger, staff, and Epidemic. Waiting for the adds to group up before using Epidemic can greatly speed up how fast elementals go down.
Also, Signet of Undeath is really good in this fight for picking up teammates who are far away or too close to the boss. At higher levels, someone is almost guaranteed to get downed, so any revive abilities are extremely useful.
Flesh golem constantly dies on this boss, so I usually save his summon and ability cooldowns to knock down the elementals. Plague can also be useful for blinding a wave of adds after using Epidemic, but it will only be off cooldown for one wave in the typical encounter.
IV. Underground Facility Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Long
This fractal is probably the most commonly avoided. It’s not too difficult, but it has a lot of gimmicks and takes a really long time. The upside is it has more loot than any other fractal in the game because it has so many mobs.
Achievement: “Carrier Cacophony”
This achievement requires living through the sub-boss and his adds without dying. Most people get it on accident because it’s so easy.
Part 1: Switches
The first part of this fractal is about minimizing fighting to move through gates as quickly as possible. As soon as the group zones in, move up the first ramp and wait in front of the gate. One person in the group should go up the ramp on the left and stand on the switch, which will open the gate and let the group through. After that, the person who got the switch should run down and wait in front of the gate, which will be opened again by the next switch.
Once the group is in the hallway, another person will have to go up the ramp on the right and stand on the switch. That will open up the gate to the final room. After the rest of the group is in the final room, the person up top should run down and wait for the group to stand on the final two switches, which will re-open the gate.
In the final room, two people stand on switches on opposite sides to keep the control panel open, one person activates the control panel through a very long cast, and the other two people in the group kite and control mobs.
Ideally, the person on the control panel should be protected by reflects and stealth, particularly through the Ash Legion Spy Kit. The people kiting need to make sure mobs never face the person on the control panel, or there’s a good chance the mobs will accidentally hit him/her and interrupt the cast.
It does not matter if people on switches die. As long as any body is on the switch, it will stay down. In fact, it is advisable for people to die on the switches before moving from them.
Survivability is a lot more important than damage for this part.
Dredge are immune to blind, so blinding abilities are useless for most of the fractal.
Once the long cast on the control panel is finished, move through the gate and kill the adds. At this point, the fractal can split into one of two events.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Spectral Walk, Signet of the Locust, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or Plague
The idea behind this entire section of the dungeon is to avoid as much damage as possible. That makes the mobility from Spectral Walk and Signet of the Locust amazing. It’s also nice to be able to revive downed players with Signet of Undeath.
Flesh golem and Plague are both decent options. Flesh golem can be used to knock down packs of mobs, while Plague can be used for the extra toughness and to apply weakness since dredge are immune to blind.
Part 2, Option A: Turrets
If the left door is open, it’s time for the turret room.
For this part, the group should slowly move forward while killing turrets and mobs. Once the final three mobs are killed, three people should pick up the guns that drop and begin attacking the door with the No. 1 attack on the gun. The door must be targeted for the No. 1 attack to work. Mobs will spawn as the gate takes damage, but reflects and stealth abilities can help deal with them. The two people not using guns can also help kite and distract the mobs as the others break down the door.
Once the door is down, everyone should run into the next room and jump over the pipes behind the carrier to de-aggro any mobs. Make sure to avoid pulling the sub-boss and his minions while moving to the pipes. This is how the pipes look:
After that, it will be time to engage the sub-boss.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this part, it’s nice to be able to AOE adds down quickly with Blood Is Power and Epidemic. Reviving people with Signet of Undeath is, as always, good.
Flesh golem is ideal here because the mobs tend to bunch up, so knocking them all down is really easy.
Using Well of Blood on the three people using guns to take down the gate is also a good idea. The protection and heal-over-time can keep a group up if something goes wrong.
Part 2, Option B: Bombs
If the right door is open, it’s time for the bomb room.
After killing the initial group of mobs, the group will want to run up the ramp, pick up bombs, and arm them on the gate to tear it down.
At lower levels, it’s possible to kill the mobs and drop bombs at the same time.
At higher levels, hit-and-run tactics are preferable. Having a mesmer with Portal can be hugely beneficial on this part. Ignore the mobs, pick up bombs, arm the bombs by the gate, and run back to the room’s entrance. The mobs should de-aggro, and most the bombs should go off. (Some bombs will be disabled by dredge that pick them up.) Repeat the process a few times and the gate will go down. Remember to wait for bombs to re-spawn before running up the ramp again.
As many survivability cooldowns and crowd control abilities as possible are advisable for this part. All a group has to do is live long enough to drop off the bombs and escape.
Once the gate goes down, clear any remaining mobs (most will de-spawn) and move onto the next room to kill the sub-boss.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility Skills: Spectral Wall, Summon Flesh Wurm, Spectral Walk
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Mobility and survivability are key on this fight, so Spectral Wall and Spectral Walk are ideal. Spectral Wall in particular can be good for the entire group. Summon Flesh Wurm is used for the teleport on the worm; drop the wurm in a safe spot, then teleport after a bomb is deployed.
Signet of Undeath is mostly useless on this part because the cast time is too long to pick up a downed player when there’s so many mobs.
Flesh golem is really good here. At the bottom of the ramp, before the group moves in to pick up bombs, target a mob at the top of the ramp and use the golem’s charge. The charge should knock down quite a few mobs, making the run up a little safer.
Sub-Boss: Rabsovich
Rabsovich stands with a lot of normal mobs and a veteran. His main ability is a penetrating projectile that shoots right in front of him and does a ton of damage. He also periodically hides behind his shield, which blocks any attacks and dazes anyone who attacks him. If the veteran mob dies, Rabsovich will regularly re-summon it. Every time the normal mobs die, another wave will pop out until the “Dredge” health bar on the event window is depleted.
Most groups pull Rabsovich out into the previous room, where the bomb or turret event takes place, and kill him there. The normal mobs will not follow Rabsovich to the previous room, effectively cheesing a huge part of the fight. After Rabsovich is killed, move back to the carrier and finish off the rest of the mobs.
If a group doesn’t want to cheese the extra mobs, it’s possible to stay in the room and kill Rabsovich and the adds at the same time. Focus Rabsovich first to take out the most threatening damage, then clean up the rest of the room.
The only real challenge in the fight is avoiding Rabsovich’s penetrating projectile. It’s very visible and a little slow, but it can one-shot most classes. Avoid it at all costs.
Once Rabsovich and his minions die, the door will open. Fight through the unlocked hallway and into the final boss room.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Standard fight. Bleed the boss and adds, and spread any conditions with Epidemic. Pick anyone up with Signet of Undeath.
Traited marks penetrate through Rabsovich’s block, so it’s a good idea to switch to staff while he’s blocking. It’s an even better idea if he has no stacks of Defiant, allowing the necromancer to interrupt the block with Reaper’s Mark (No. 5).
Boss: Rampaging Ice Elemental or Dredge Powersuit
The final boss of the fractal can be either the Rampaging Ice Elemental or Dredge Powersuit. Each boss has different abilities, but they have a common theme: They need to be hit by lava to gain the “Superheated” debuff for 30 seconds, which makes each boss take a lot more direct damage. (Note: Superheated does not affect conditions, so it’s advisable to replace any bleeding attacks with direct-damage attacks.)
To drop lava on the bosses, one player must pour one of the four buckets of lava in the room on the boss. Under the buckets of lava, there will always be a burned patch of dirt. The objective is to guide the boss so he’s on top of the patch of dirt as the bucket is pouring.
To do this successfully, the player handling the pouring must run up the ramps to the corresponding control panel. Once at the control panel, the player should try to time the activation so the bucket begins pouring as the boss walks through the patch of dirt. There is a two-to-three-second delay between activation and pouring, so the player needs to time it wisely. It’s a good idea to activate the bucket a second or two before the boss reaches the patch of dirt to ensure the pouring hits.
The players at the bottom should position themselves so the patch of dirt is between the group and the boss. This will make the boss walk over the patch of dirt, where he can then be rooted or snared to be kept in place for the pour.
Since each bucket has a cooldown, players have to move between two of the buckets back and forth or move the boss around four buckets in a clockwise or counterclockwise manner. If done quickly enough, the boss should be kept vulnerable for the entire fight. If the boss is ever not Superheated, or vulnerable, it will begin healing over time.
A thief using shortbow is ideal for pouring because Infiltrator’s Arrow (No. 5) allows the thief to shadowstep to the control panel without having to run up the ramp.
The bosses also share a very obvious heal. Every once in a while, the boss will kneel down and begin healing. During this time, the heal can be interrupted by any attack, as long as the boss has Superheated, or by crowd control abilities, as long as the boss does not have Defiant. If the boss does not have Superheated, the heal cannot be interrupted by normal attacks.
Beyond the pouring and healing, each possible boss has slightly different mechanics.
Rampaging Ice Elemental
Rampaging Ice Elemental has three unique abilities: He summons adds, and he summons exploding crystals in a V-shape in front of him. When he kneels, he also applies agony to one person standing near him. Most of the boss’s attacks are easily avoidable by simply moving and keeping distance. The adds, which are also vulnerable to Superheated, need to be killed so they don’t swarm the group.
Dredge Powersuit
Dredge Powersuit has two unique abilities: He plants bombs on the floor, and he does a ground pound that applies agony. The bombs can be reflected back to the boss for a lot of damage, so every class with reflect capabilities should keep that in mind. Also, the red circles showing for the planted bombs can be a little buggy, so take extra precautions to avoid them even if the circle doesn’t pop up. (This is especially true for the bucket pourer, who can be hit by a bomb that’s on the underside of the control panel platform.)
Without enough agony resistance, the ground pound can easily wipe a group, but it can be dodged. Once the boss gets stability, wait one to two seconds then dodge twice. If timed correctly, this will completely avoid the AOE and agony. It is especially important for the pourer to get this right. If the designated pourer dies to the attack, a group can quickly fall apart. It’s advisable to plan for a pourer’s death by having a back-up pourer.
When the boss is downed, the fractal will end.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic or Well of Suffering, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Lich Form
Epidemic is advisable for the Rampaging Ice Elemental since he summons mobs, but Well of Suffering is better for the Dredge Powersuit since no AOE is necessary.
This is one fight in which condition necromancers are kind of bad. Since conditions are not boosted by Superheated, the only damage that matters is direct damage. That’s why Well of Suffering and Lich Form are good on this boss. It’s also a good idea to use Death Shroud for damage as long as life force is above 50 percent to guarantee bigger Life Blast hits.
Try to use Blood Is Power right before using Death Shroud or Lich Form so their auto-attacks hit harder.
V. Swampland Fractal
Difficulty: Easy
Length: Easy
Most groups will hope for the Swampland Fractal. It’s extremely quick, and it’s very easy. The downside is it doesn’t drop much loot outside of the boss’s chest.
Achievement: “Fancy Footwork”
For this achievement, the player has to get through the fractal without triggering any traps. The easiest way to do this is to not participate in the wisp running event. That’s not as bad as it sounds! A group should be able to run the wisps with one man down.
Part 1: Run the Wisps
After zoning into the fractal, run to the marked point on the mini-map. Once the marked point is reached, three wisps will spawn throughout the map. The objective is to split the group up and run the three wisps to the originally marked point before time runs out. The catch is there are traps and mobs all along the way, so navigating back can be tricky.
For this part, groups should load up on condition removal to cancel out the traps, which snare and root. If a mesmer is in the group, Portal can be used to teleport everyone to the goal point after wisps are picked up.
The countdown will begin as soon as anyone picks up a wisp, so make sure everyone in the group is ready to start running before picking up a wisp.
During the event, trees will randomly spawn and block certain parts of the map. Most of the trees can be jumped on and over, so it’s a good idea to find the right spots before the countdown begins.
After the event is completed, players will swim through a little river to one of two bosses.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Consume Conditions
Utility: Well of Power, Spectral Walk, Signet of the Locust
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
The idea is to load up on condition-removing and mobility abilities to run to the goal point as quickly as possible. Necromancers are really good at this part because they have so much condition removal. I will usually run the farthest wisp because I know I have the advantage.
Boss, Option A: Mossman
Mossman has a few abilities worth watching for. He will periodically stealth in the fight, and when he pops out, he will do a slow cast into a big melee attack. He also throws daggers that apply agony, and he summons wolves. Sometimes he will turn into an animal form, boosting his melee damage but taking away his summons, stealth, and throwing daggers.
Most of the fight should be spent kiting Mossman. Having distance on him makes it much easier to avoid the daggers, and it also lets a group kill the wolves before they reach a target.
If Mossman stealths, get ready to dodge. Once he pops up, anyone near him must roll. If his out-of-stealth attack hits, it can one-shot.
Otherwise, the fight is pretty simple. Keep distance when necessary and do damage. When the boss dies, the fractal ends.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this fight, I don’t bother using Epidemic because the wolf adds aren’t threatening enough to warrant it. I’d rather have Corrosive Poison Cloud to apply weakness and poison to Mossman.
Otherwise, just keep distance from Mossman and do damage.
Boss, Option B: Bloomhunger
Bloomhunger is a giant, stationary mossheart. His most notable attack is a shower of projectiles that apply agony. The projectiles are buffed with special effects by mobs Bloomhunger spawns. Bloomhunger also regularly shoots projectiles that drop a small poison field.
The one thing a group needs to look out for when fighting Bloomhunger is his shower of projectiles. The visual cues for the projectiles are really obvious: Bloomhunger will shake, the projectiles will shoot out, and each projectile will drop a red circle on the floor as a warning. The circles are very easy to dodge, so there’s no excuse for getting hit. (Tip: Stand on land, not shallow water, so the red circles are easier to see.)
Otherwise, avoid the poison field and kill the adds, which can be easily one-shot.
A good group chaining reflects or deflects can negate all the threatening mechanics of the fight. I have been in a few groups that bunched up and never had to move due to coordinated use of guardian and mesmer reflects and Smoke Screen.
Even without chained reflects and deflects, it’s a good idea to stay close together for when someone can reflect or deflect projectiles. It also makes reviving easier.
When the boss dies, the fractal ends.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Power, Blood Is Power, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Epidemic isn’t good in this fight because the adds are too spread out and die too quickly for it to be effective.
Since a group shouldn’t be too spread out, wells are very good in this fight. Well of Power is nice to negate any poison and to get protection, and Well of Blood heals and also applies protection.
Signet of Undeath can be nice for reviving someone without getting exposed to AOE or projectiles.
Otherwise, just run around and do damage. Adds should be taken up by the heavy hitters of the group, not the condition necromancer.
VI. Cliffside Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Long
Even though it’s probably the best designed fractal in the game, the Cliffside Fractal is typically avoided because it takes the longest to complete. Even worse, it drops next to no loot. Still, I think it can be pretty fun if I’m not too focused on doing fractals as quickly as possible.
Achievement: “Take a Bow”
Easiest achievement in fractals. At the end of the fractal, do /bow at the freed colossus when he bows at the group.
Sub-Boss: Legendary Archdiviner
Legendary Archdiviner can really hurt. He drops wells on the floor that do damage and apply multiple conditions and agony. He also does a short-range leap that does a decent amount of damage, and he swings his hammer to shoot confusion-applying projectiles and damage whoever he’s focusing from range.
The sub-boss doesn’t necessarily have to be kited. Players should just avoid the big red circles on the floor before they turn into wells and dodge any leaps or projectiles.
Whoever is being focused by the sub-boss should pay extra attention to the swings that shoot confusion-applying projectiles. Even at range, the swing will instantly do about 4,000 to 6,000 damage to whoever the sub-boss is focusing. Most players don’t even know this attack exists because it has no visual indication outside of the swing and damage taken.
After a while, the boss will go down. One player should pick up the hammer he drops and move on to the next part.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this fight, I don’t bother using Epidemic because there are no adds. I replace it with Corrosive Poison Cloud to apply weakness and poison instead.
Otherwise, I just keep distance and do damage.
Hammer Time
Before continuing on, it’s important to explain the hammer mechanic. The hammer is a weapon dropped by the sub-boss that the group must use to break seals with the No. 4 attack.
The catch is the No. 4 attack is only usable after a mob dies near the player carrying the hammer, so anyone carrying the hammer must stand near mobs and, preferably, attack them to help bring them down.
But there’s another catch! As a player holds the hammer, it will stack a debuff every second. As the stacks build up, they will get progressively more dangerous. The first stack, which is applied as soon as the hammer is picked up, does about 5,000 direct damage. At 10 stacks, it applies vulnerability. At 20 stacks, it applies weakness and another stack of vulnerability. At 30 stacks, it stuns. At 40, it kills.
To avoid the big stacks, the group should constantly trade off the hammer. However, dropping the hammer will disable the No. 4 attack, which means whoever picks the hammer up will have to be near another dying mob to use the No. 4 attack.
One trick with the hammer is using the No. 3 ability, which gives stability, at around 26 stacks to avoid the 30th stack’s stun.
Also, it’s a good ideato generally avoid the No. 2 attack on the hammer. It does less damage than the No. 1 attack.
Part 1: Ankle Seals
Once the hammer mechanics are understood, have someone pick it up, run up the ramps while ignoring any mobs, and reach the ankle seals. This is essentially the “learning” portion of the hammer mechanics. Someone in the group should always have the hammer in hand as the group kills mobs. When a mob dies, use the charged hammer to break seals. This part is very easy, even at high levels.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Plague
This instance is heavy on normal and veteran mobs, so I stick to Well of Darkness to blind them, Epidemic to AOE, and Signet of Undeath to revive anyone quickly. Plague is good for blinding the packs of mobs as the rest of the group kills them. (In my experience, the flesh golem dies to the environment and mobs way too easily in this fracatal.)
Part 2: Chest Seal
Before getting to the chest seal, there is a mini-jumping puzzle. The group will have to navigate through statues that blow wind that knocks back. It’s really easy; it just requires patience. The wind can also be avoided with dodge and stability.
After the small climb up, the group will arrive at the chest seal. While engaging the mobs at this seal to build up hammer charges, fire will periodically spawn on the floor. But there is a safe spot right by the chest seal that effectively negates the fire:
The group should bunch up on the section between the two red lines, where the group shown above is standing. From this point, mobs will flow in and can be taken down with AOE and direct attacks to charge up the hammer. A player shouldn’t have to move too far to break the seal because the No. 4 attack has decent range.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Plague
Same deal as the last set of seals. Well of Darkness and Plague to Blind, Epidemic to AOE, and Signet of Undeath to revive. Since the group is really bunched up on this part, it’s really easy to hit the mobs and support the group with wells.
Part 3: Arm Seals
After the chest seal is down, the group will follow a straightforward path up to the arm seals.
These are the trickiest seals in the fractal, but they’re still very easy if done correctly. At the beginning of the event, there will be two chanters at each seal. Once both chanters die at a seal, a swarm of chanters will spawn. When left alone, the chanters can heal the seal, but it’s not a big concern until the big group spawns.
To move between the seals, players will use the tunnel behind the seal. A seal cannot be hit twice in a row, so the hammer-wielders will have to rotate from seal to seal to wear them down.
The first thing to understand is only one mob needs to be killed at a time to charge the hammer. In other words, AOE is a really bad idea at the beginning.
In the most ideal situation, a group will kill both chanters on the left side and leave one chanter alive on the right side. This will make it so the group only has to worry about the pack of chanters on the left side, which can then be dragged to and fought in the tunnel.
Most of the action should take place in the tunnel. The group should remain on the left side of the tunnel while pulling mobs around the left seal. Once the mobs are in the tunnel, kill them to charge the hammer. On top of charging the hammer, this also ensures the chanters aren’t healing the left seal.
Once the hammer is charged, only one person should run the hammer to whatever seal isn’t shielded at the time. It’s important to remember a seal can’t be hit twice in a row, so whoever is wielding the hammer always needs to pay attention to what seal is shielded and which one isn’t.
If, for whatever reason, both the chanters at the right seal die, do not pull the spawning pack of mobs into the tunnel. Instead, only run to the right seal to use a charged hammer. (Another person in the party might need to help escort the hammer-wielder so the now-spawned pack of mobs aren’t overwhelming.) Once the left seal goes down, it will be possible to hit the right seal multiple times in a row, so the group will then be able to move to the right seal and focus more fully on bringing it down.
After both seals are down, the group then moves through a small obstacle course to the boss. In the obstacle course, wait for the timed explosives to go off before moving up the ramp. Otherwise, the explosives will knock players off the platform.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Plague
While dealing with the two initial chanters, don’t use any AOE. Just use scepter’s No. 1 attack to help bring one chanter down.
Once the group is in the tunnel and taking down packs of mobs, unload every AOE possible on cooldown, including Well of Darkness and any crowd control. The large group of chanters can quickly overwhelm a group if they aren’t controlled.
Boss: Legendary Archdiviner
He’s back! But this time he has phases.
Before engaging the boss, the group should pull the chanters near him and kill them. It makes the beginning of the fight a little easier.
Phase 1
In this phase, the boss melees and drops wells that apply conditions and agony. Try to avoid his swings and bring him down to 75 percent.
Transition
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Kill three of the adds, then pick up the hammer and kill the final add. The hammer will be charged, and it can then hit the seal, bringing the boss to his next phase.
Phase 2
At this point, the boss will begin using an AOE that applies agony on top of dropping wells. About one second before the agony-applying AOE goes off, the boss will get stability. Watch for the stability, count to one, then roll. The boss also pulls one person before he does his AOE, and that person can avoid the AOE by rolling as soon as the knock-down from the pull wears off. The AOE can also be avoided with line-of-sight. It is a really good idea to avoid it, particularly at higher levels.
Otherwise, avoid the wells and bring the boss to 50 percent.
Transition
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Kill three of the adds, then pick up the hammer and kill the final add. The hammer will be charged, and it can then hit the seal, bringing the boss to his next phase.
Phase 3
The boss will no longer drop wells, but he will continue using his agony-applying AOE, and he will start summoning scorpion adds and teleporting people to cages. The scorpions don’t do much, but it’s worth killing them quickly.
Players can break themselves out of cages by stepping back in the cage, targeting the cage, and doing direct damage. Everyone can and should help break out teammates by targeting the cage and doing damage to it.
Otherwise, continue fighting the boss as normal until 25 percent.
Transition
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Kill three of the adds, then pick up the hammer and kill the final add. The hammer will be charged, and it can then hit the seal, bringing the boss to his next phase.
Phase 4
As far as I can tell, this is exactly the same as phase 3, except the boss seems to hit a little harder. Continue on as if it was phase 3, and get the boss to about 5 percent.
Final Seal Hits
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Unlike the other transition phases, the seal must be hit twice. So kill two adds, pick up the hammer, kill an add, hit the seal, kill the final add, and hit the seal to break it, finishing the fractal.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
I don’t take Epidemic because the adds are too spread apart for it to be effective. Corrosive Poison Cloud is better for the weakness and poison. Signet of Undeath is crucial for reviving people while avoiding AOE.
When the boss is pulled and everyone is stunned, I always go into Death Shroud and fear him to make sure he doesn’t hit anyone with wells. At this point, he should have no stacks of Defiant, so this should avoid his initial well deployment every time.
After the second phase, I generally save the flesh golem’s summon and tackle for when I get teleported into a cage. The charge one-shots the cage, letting me break out of it almost instantly.
VII. Uncategorized Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Long
There’s not much that’s genuinely challenging about the Uncategorized Fractal, but it can take a long time. There’s also a very limited amount of loot, so it’s much like the Cliffside Fractal in the sense it’s a long tread for little reward.
Achievement: “Hop, Skip, and Jump”
For this achievement, a player must make it through the entire fractal without falling. This is easily obtainable at lower levels because harpies don’t begin knocking back until lv. 10 fractals.
Part 1: Platforming Through Harpies
For this part, players need to jump from platform to platform while killing pesky harpies that cripple and shoot a slow-moving projectile that knocks back. This part can be a massive pain, but the damage and knock-back from harpies can be effectively negated with reflects and deflects.
If anyone is knocked off the platform, they’ll spawn at the bottom of the obstacle course in a downed state. Group members should try to revive each other as soon as possible. Harpies will die more quickly if more of the group is alive.
Really, the only challenge here is a test of patience. Once only two or three harpies are left, it’s possible to jump through them and into the sub-boss room.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this part, I usually stay in the bottom and AOE the harpies. Even if ground-targeted AOEs are placed on the underside of platforms, they’ll still hit the harpies on top of the platforms.
One neat trick is Death Shroud can eat the fall damage. So if I am ever knocked off the platform by a projectile, I can just Death Shroud to avoid getting downed.
Sub-Boss: The Holding Area
In this room, players have to destroy an object and then four mobs are spawned. One is a bunny, which does a surprising amount of damage. The other is a bandit, which can drop bombs and knock back. The third is a charr, which launches fire-based AOE attacks. Then there’s the ettin, which does a ton of melee damage.
The group wants to keep distance from the mobs, particularly the ettin; avoid AOE; and kill the mobs one-by-one. The suggested kill order is the bunny, then the bandit, then the charr, then the ettin. (The idea is killing the lower-health mobs first.)
If the bunny isn’t killed, a treasure chest spawns. I have never seen this happen, and it’s unlikely a group will ever risk it at higher levels.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Condition necromancers are really good on this fight for wearing down and slowing mobs that aren’t being focused. I usually stick in scepter and dagger, focus the right target, and use Epidemic on cooldown to wear down the other mobs even as one is being focused.
As always, try to make AOEs, particularly Grasping Dead, hit multiple mobs. This can keep the mobs crippled and weak on top of bleeding them.
Part 2: Harpies and Lightning
Move through the next room and kill the harpies. Then move into the next room, where there will be a staircase topped by turrets. The turrets will be firing lightning projectiles. The idea is to move up the staircase without getting hit by any of the lightning. Once three players get past the turrets, they can simultaneously activate the control panels to deactivate the turrets. Then it’s time to move to the second sub-boss.
Sub-Boss: Old Tom
Old Tom is a stationary cat-golem that sits in a poisonous room. Old Tom’s big ability is a spinning attack that shoots dozens of green projectiles in a full circle. He also pulls random players and shoots bouncing projectiles that really hurt.
However, the real challenge to Old Tom is the room he’s in. If the fan behind Old Tom isn’t turned on, the room will fill up with poisonous gas. At lower levels, one player just has to turn on the fan every 20 to 30 seconds to cleanse the poison. At higher levels, two additional players will have to keep the fan’s batteries charged by carrying and deploying crystals that initially appear by the fan.
Ideally, players should bring the charging crystals from the fan to the batteries before Old Tom is engaged. To do this, the group should move on the slanted walls at the edges of the room to avoid grabbing Old Tom’s attention. There should be three or four crystals by each battery before Old Tom is engaged.
In short, the fight is all about dodging and moving out of Old Tom’s projectiles while making sure the fan and batteries are activated. Spreading out is a good idea to mitigate the bouncing projectiles. One person should be at the fan, two should be at the batteries, and the remaining two can focus on doing damage or helping out with carrying crystals if Old Tom is engaged before all the crystals are in place.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Summon Flesh Wurm, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Except for the battery and fan mechanics, there isn’t much special about this fight. It’s a typical single-target fight.
However, I use the Summon Flesh Wurm instead of Corrosive Poison Cloud on this boss because I can use the flesh wurm as a shield. By dropping it in front of me, the wurm takes all the projectiles that would otherwise hit me as I do full damage. This can let me avoid damage and makes the fight a little less complicated.
Flesh golem can also act as a shield, although it sometimes runs all over the place and dies because its AI is awful.
Part 3: Platforming Through Harpies
This part is the same as the first part. Get through the platforms, fight harpies, and arrive to the boss.
Boss: Raving Asura
This boss is essentially a mix of five mobs. The first mob is the raving asura, who will regularly fire three projectiles that apply agony. The other four mobs are his cat-golems, which mostly do damage and AOE. The only golem mechanic worth noting is the third golem will apply positive and negative charges; if any player with a positive charge stands by a player with a negative charge, both players will take damage.
The raving asura is immune to damage and cannot be killed. The goal is to take out the golems. Players will have to kill one golem at a time, and then all four golems at once.
The main thing to watch out for in this fight is the raving asura’s projectiles. They can be dodged by rolling right before they hit. If they aren’t dodged, they do a ton of damage and apply agony.
Except for that, it’s a good idea to spread out to avoid opposite charges doing damage to each other. When all four golems spawn, focus one at a time and bring them all down to finish the fractal.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
The first part is a typical single-target fight. Just focus down each golem.
The second part is great for Epidemic. Spam it on cooldown while focusing a golem with scepter and dagger. Staff can also be good in tight situations since the golems are vulnerable to fear.
Also, if dodge is down for any of the raving asura’s projectiles, use Death Shroud to avoid them.
VIII. Snowblind Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Medium
The adequate fractal. It’s not too easy, and it’s not too long. I would say it’s just right, but it’s honestly too much in the middle to be really memorable.
Achievement: “If We Only Had Marshmallows”
Light every bonfire in the fractal. Most people get this achievement on accident.
Part 1: Burning Away
As soon as a group zones in, it should immediately notice the frostbite debuff. This debuff does damage over time and does more damage as it stacks. To cleanse the debuff, players have to light and then stand by a bonfire. The first half of the dungeon is centered around this debuff.
Run down the ramp while lighting bonfires to keep frostbite off. Eventually, the group will reach the ground, where a big stack of bonfires awaits with a swarm of mobs ready to spawn. The idea is to keep the bonfires lit while killing and kiting mobs. After a while, the ice wall will melt, and the group will be able to progress.
It’s very easy for a thief to cheese this by using stealth and Ash Legion Spy Kits. A single thief can keep all the bonfires lit without ever being seen, which can let a group avoid having to fight mobs.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Typical AOE fight. Use Epidemic on cooldown, and switch to staff frequently to chill and fear the mobs. Flesh golem’s knock-back can easily catch all the mobs because they’re almost always bunched up.
Sub-Boss: Ice Elemental
After the ice wall melts, the group moves to the next room to fight a massive ice elemental. The elemental will drop a swirly AOE that does damage and knocks back. It will also shoot a projectile that knocks back and puts out bonfires. Intermittently, the elemental will simultaneously teleport group members to random parts of the room, cause a blizzard that makes it difficult to see anything, and summon adds.
Most of the fight will center around a bonfire. The group should keep a bonfire going while killing the boss and adds. It’s advisable to spread out a little so the boss’s projectile and AOE don’t hit everyone.
It’s a good idea to mark one bonfire on the mini-map and use it as a meeting point after the group is scattered by teleport. When the group is teleported, it’s also a good idea to walk around the edges of the room to the meeting point to avoid pulling any extra adds to the bonfire.
Once the ice elemental goes down, the fight will finish, frostbite will stop being applied, and players will be able to move on. (Make sure any leftover frostbite is removed by bonfires before progressing.)
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Since the ice elemental is an object that can’t be bled or critically hit, condition necromancers do poor damage to it. So a condition necromancer’s main role in the fight is killing adds.
After any pulled adds are down, focus on the ice elemental with scepter attacks. It’s also a good idea to use Death Shroud’s Life Blast for damage if life force is above 50 percent.
Part 2: Dark Forest
There’s not much to say for this part. It’s a dark forest with a bunch of normal and veteran mobs. Personally, I like killing the trash because it can drop very good loot at higher levels, but it’s possible to just run through it all and get right into the boss.
Boss: Son of Svanir Shaman
Son of Svanir Shaman is one of the easiest bosses in the game, even at higher fractal levels.
On the ground, he applies a stack of a freezing debuff with every attack. If the debuff reaches 10, the victim freezes. The biggest attack to avoid is the Son of Svanir Shaman’s ice breath, which fires in a cone in front of him and rapidly applies stacks of the freezing debuff. The shaman also kneels to self-heal occasionally, which can be easily interrupted with an attack. Otherwise, he randomly teleports players and does melee damage.
The shaman will frequently teleport to a platform where he can’t be attacked. From this platform, he’ll drop crystals on players in a very predictable pattern.
Players should keep their distance when Son of Svanir Shaman uses his ice cone attack. If anyone gets frozen by the debuff, it’s possible to break them out by hitting the ice.
When the boss teleports, he will first shower the middle of the room with ice and then the sides. An easy way to avoid the falling crystals is to stand on the sides when the boss teleports, then move to the middle immediately after it’s hit by crystals.
Otherwise, do damage and beat the fractal.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Typical single-target fight. Corrosive Poison Cloud replaces Epidemic for the weakness and poison application since no AOE is necessary. Stay in scepter and dagger for most of the fight.
One trick is swapping to staff and dropping every mark close to the middle of the room when the boss teleports. If placed correctly, all the marks will trigger on the boss as soon as he teleports down, stacking some conditions and doing damage. The boss will always take more than 10 seconds to teleport up then back down, so it’s easy to switch to staff, drop the marks, and change back to scepter and dagger in time for the boss to come down.
IX. Aquatic Ruins Fractal
Difficulty: Easy
Length: Short
Except for the Swampland Fractal, most groups probably will ask for the Aquatic Ruins Fractal. It’s really easy, straightforward, and short. The boss at the end is a great time to finish chores around the house. The fractal has enough mobs at the beginning to be decent for loot.
Achievement: “Flawless Fins Foil Foes”
For this achievement, players have to make it through the dolphin portion without dying. It’s easy if a group sticks together.
Part 1: Kill the Krait
For this part, players will have to move through three cages. At each cage, kill the surrounding krait, then open the cage. Sometimes the krait will get stuck in walls, but ranged should still be able to kill them.
After the three prisoners are freed, a door opens, and players move onto one of two possible paths.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Consume Conditions
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of the Locust
Elite: Plague
AOE as much as possible. Signet of the Locust is only there to make moving from cage to cage a little quicker.
Part 2, Option A: Dolphins
In this part, players are transformed into dolphins, losing all their abilities, and have to sneak by a bunch of krait.
The trick to sneaking by the krait is staying in a group. In a group, it’s possible to deploy multiple decoys with the No. 2 skill and sneak by. Players who try to run through this section solo are a lot more likely to die.
Part 2, Option B: Luminous Plants
For this part, players wander into a dark room, and the only way to survive through it is by staying close to the light. If a player gets stuck in the dark, a swarm of piranhas will quickly devour him/her. Fortunately, limited-duration lamps can be looted from some of the plants in the room to light up the way for a light-carrier and surrounding group members.
The idea is to move as a group from plant to plant. That way the entire group stays close to lamp-carriers.
Even after a luminous plant is looted, it’s possible to stay by it to survive. Eventually, the lamps will re-spawn at plants, letting anyone who fell behind push forward.
Boss: Jellyfish Beast
After one of the two optional events, the group will arrive to the Jellyfish Beast. This boss has a ton of health. Occasionally, the boss will pull in one player, apply agony, and start devouring them. The boss also does a stunning spinning attack and a tail swipe that knocks back. He also regularly spawns small jellyfish adds. Throughout the room, cages will periodically become electrified, doing AOE lightning damage.
The primary mechanic in the fight is moving the Jellyfish Beast and his adds from electrified cage to electrified cage. The cages will do small damage to players, but they’ll do huge damage to the Jellyfish Beast and his adds. Keeping him by electrified cages is one way to make an already-too-long fight a bit shorter.
When a player is pulled in by the boss, the boss will apply agony and begin doing damage to the player. At this point, the player getting devoured must spam No. 1 to break free. After hitting No. 1 a few times, the boss will let go.
During the devouring period, the boss will also get up to 25 stacks of might. It’s a good idea to save boon-removing abilities until after the the player breaks free from the devour to fully peel off all stacks of might. Otherwise, 5 or 10 stacks may remain.
Before the boss pulls a player in, the Jellyfish Beast will always do an upward twirl. If players with sink or float abilities use them as soon as the boss twirls, the Jellyfish Beast will not apply agony or do damage to the player pulled in. The boss will still gain might and the player will still have to spam No. 1 to break free, but the player will not take damage.
After many cages and too much health, the boss will die, and the fractal will be complete.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Consume Conditions
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrupt Boon, Epidemic
Elite: Plague
The fight is a typical AOE encounter. Focus on the boss with trident, and spread bleeds on cooldown with Epidemic.
It’s a good idea to save Sinking Tomb (No. 4) for when the boss does an upward twirl, as mentioned above. This will prevent the boss from applying agony or doing damage when it pulls in a player to devour.
If a mesmer is in the group, try to avoid using Corrupt Boon on the might until the mesmer’s Arcane Thievery is on cooldown. That way the mesmer can get an easy 25 stacks of might.
If the group is overwhelmed by small jellyfish, using Plague is a good idea.
X. Urban Battleground Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Medium
Another adequate fractal. It’s pretty straightforward, not too long, and it drops decent loot. It also has a lot of cool story surrounding it for any Guild Wars 1 players.
Achievement: “Out of Cluck”
This achievement requires killing all the chickens scattered around the fractal. It’s the most time-consuming achievement by far, so I recommend doing it in a lower-level group that will likely have more patience.
Part 1: Dulfy and the Gate
For this entire instance, the group will be followed by an army of NPCs. It’s important to keep these alive and fighting because they do a lot of damage and can tank quite well. Also, they tend to get attached to one player, so it’s important for that player to run into melee range of mobs so the NPCs aggro onto them.
On this part, players will have to fight to the gate, where Siegemaster Dulfy stands with her siege weapons. Most players will walk around the edges of the map to avoid any unnecessary mobs, but it’s possible to fight directly to Dulfy. (The downside with the latter strategy is the mobs don’t drop any loot, so it’s an unproductive risk.)
Once at Dulfy, kill her first and then take out the siege weapons. After that, break down the gate and charge into Ascalon.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Well of Darkness and Epidemic are both nice for any adds that have to be fought on the way to Dulfy. That’s about it.
Part 2: Ascalon
Once in Ascalon, players will have to navigate through a maze to the center. Unfortunately, the maze is filled with deadly mobs.
There are two enemies to watch out for in the pack of mobs: the warriors and monks. The warriors do a ton of damage, and the monks heal. Whenever a warrior charges, it needs to be dodged. The charge alone can one-shot most builds and classes.
Ideally, the group should kill warriors while keeping distance, then move in to kill monks.
Also, at higher levels, the elementalists can do a lot of burst damage. Avoid the fire they drop on the floor and it shouldn’t be a problem.
As should always be the case in this fractal, make sure the NPCs are always alive and fighting any mobs. They make the fractal a lot less deadly.
Once at the center, the group will have to go through a few wave of mobs and siege weapons before the boss appears. In the center room, it’s a good idea to hide behind the statues while pulling mobs. This will make the mobs group up.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Once again, Well of Darkness and Epidemic are great for dealing with the packs of mobs. It’s sometimes a good idea to drop Well of Darkness preemptively so charging warriors are blinded as soon as they reach a group. Just don’t drop the well too early or it will be wasted.
Boss: Captain Amysh
Every quarter of his health, Captain Amysh has a chance to rotate through different weapons. It’s not guaranteed, but it can change the entire encounter. In my experience, Amysh really prefers his staff.
Except for that, he’ll always have a veteran mob with him that gives him might. It’s usually not worth it to engage the mob because it re-spawns too quickly. Amysh also constantly has protection and retaliation that cannot be removed.
For the boss, players will still have an army of NPCs following them, so make sure the NPCs aggro onto the boss by going into his melee range. The NPCs can tank a lot of the boss’s damage, and they do a lot of damage by themselves.
Sword and Shield
This is the easiest weapon set out of all the ones Amysh uses. He’ll be a little more defensive, but he does less damage. Just treat him like any mob while he’s in this weapon set.
Staff
When he has staff out, Amysh will begin casting a bunch of nasty fire attacks. On ranged, he’ll drop a meteor shower that can one-shot even a full-toughness necromancer. He’ll also drop a line of fire that should be avoided.
But the biggest attack Amysh can use is his giant explosion. Before using the attack, Amysh will pause and throw a small ring of fire around himself. That’s the visual cue to get ready to dodge or get out of range (900 range is good enough). The attack is very easily avoidable, but if it’s not avoided, it does a lot of damage and applies agony.
Flaming Greatsword
With this weapon set, Amysh will do a lot of melee damage in a broad swing. Keep distance from the boss during this stage. Otherwise, just do damage.
Once Amysh falls, the fractal is over.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Since the veteran mob is rarely worth killing, I prefer Corrosive Poison Cloud to lower Amysh’s damage with weakness and apply some poison.
Staying in scepter and dagger is ideal for this boss, but I always make sure to stay at max range to avoid Amysh’s agony-applying AOE.
XI. Solid Ocean Fractal
Difficulty: Easy
Length: Medium
This fractal only happens at every even level, meaning lv. 2, 4, 6, 8, etc., after three fractals in a row are completed. The idea is it’s supposed to be the super epic boss fractal. Unfortunately, the fractal is probably the easiest of them all, although it does take longer to complete than a couple other fractals.
Achievement: “Open Grave”
For this achievement, all the mobs in the fractal have to be killed. There are mobs right behind where players spawn into the fractal, so if the group wants the achievement, make sure to turn around upon zoning in and kill those mobs. Otherwise, just go through the fractal and kill everything.
Part 1: Adds
For this part, the group has to run and jump through some platforms. There are a bunch of easy mobs between the starting point and the boss, but most players skip them to rush to the boss. I like killing them for the loot if I’m not in a hurry.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of the Locust
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Blood Is Power and Epidemic are nice for killing the mobs, and Signet of the Locust is nice for the platforming to get to the boss. There’s nothing particularly challenging about this part.
Boss: Jade Maw
The Jade Maw cannot be directly damaged. Instead, he will mark individual players throughout the fight. (The mark will be visible over the targeted player’s head.) If a player is holding a crystal when the mark is triggered, the crystal will be charged and it can then be thrown at the Jade Maw for damage. If a player is not holding a crystal when the mark is triggered, s/he will die in one hit.
It’s possible to avoid the one-shot effect from marks by dodging as soon as the Jade Maw shoots his laser beam. Typically, this will be preceded by the mark vanishing, so once the mark vanishes, it’s a good idea to roll if there are no crystals nearby.
But before players can get marked and throw crystals, they have to make it through the first phase.
Phase 1
For this part, players have to kill the two tentacles sticking out of the ground. Most advanced groups will do some clever platforming to avoid aggroing any of the adds surrounding the tentacles and then kill the tentacles from ranged, but, really, this phase is so easy that it’s possible to just rambo through it.
Phase 2
After the tentacles die, the boss will apply agony to everyone in the group. It’s a good idea for the group to bunch up in a corner to revive anyone who dies to the agony. Before reviving, it’s a good idea to pick up a crystal so marks don’t kill anyone during the revival cast time.
After everyone is up and running, it’s time to focus on the newly spawned Jade Colossi and tentacles. Each of these mobs will drop crystals, so it’s a good idea to keep constantly churning through the mobs to deal with more and more marks.
After all the tentacles and Jade Colossi die, it’s time for the final phase.
Phase 3
Once again, the Jade Maw will apply agony to everyone in the room. Players should stay close together and revive anyone who dies while carrying a crystal.
After that, players will have to deal with more tentacles, except this time, the tentacles will re-spawn. The idea is to keep killing tentacles for crystals to finish off the boss. Once the boss is at 10 percent, he’ll mark everyone in the room at once, drop a big laser beam that can be absorbed by crystals, and die.
Honestly, there are only two challenges during Jade Maw: First, getting enough agony resistance to survive through his AOE agony effect. Second, alt-tabbing as much as possible without the group noticing.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
I stick to my typical load-out for this fight just to kill tentacles and Jade Colossi quicker. Signet of Undeath is nice for reviving people if they die to agony. (People really should not die otherwise.)
XII. Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the ideal group set-up?
As many guardians as possible. Seriously. The reflects, boons, and heals guardian bring to a group make every single encounter a lot easier. It’s not necessarily that guardians are required; it’s that guardians give groups a lot more leeway. It’s probably not ideal to run five guardians, but there are a lot of high-level groups that run with three guardians and two damage dealers. Other classes bring their fair share of utility, but guardians currently bring way more than any other class.
If I had to make the perfect group for a condition necromancer, I would suggest two guardians, one warrior, and one mesmer. For a more support-oriented group, the warrior could be replaced with a supporting elementalist.
For other classes and builds, just try to have some balance. Going in with five glass cannons is a terrible idea. Five support can work a little better, but it’s still bad. The ideal group is two or three support with the rest acting as damage dealers.
Also, make sure to never invite more than one condition build to a group. Condition builds do great DPS, but the bleed cap makes more than one condition build useless.
XIII. Revisions and Additions
Jan. 9, 2013: Added some information to VIII. Snowblind Fractal, partly with the help of Trollhammer on the official forums.
Jan. 7, 2013: Added achievement section to XI. Solid Ocean Fractal. Made some corrections to IX. Aquatic Ruins Fractal, largely thanks to AngelicLoki on Reddit, and IV. Underground Facility Fractal, largely thanks toHadBadDayDoSame2U on Reddit.
A Guide to Fractals of the Mists, With Condition Necromancer Tips
Introduction
Hello, my name is Lopez. By now, I hope you know me from my guides for condition necromancers in world vs. world and PvE. But if you don’t, here’s some quick background: I’m a big Guild Wars 2 fan and gamer. I’ve been doing lv. 30 and higher fractals since about three weeks after they were launched. I tend to play condition necromancer, which is why this guide will have some condition necromancer tips based on my PvE build. But most of it will be a general guide to Fractals of the Mists in Guild Wars 2 that all classes can use.
The tips and strategies in this guide will be largely based around gameplay at lv. 30 and higher fractals. The same ideas should be applicable to lower-level fractals, but they won’t be as strict. I am absolutely avoiding exploits.They go against the spirit of fractals, as far as I’m concerned. Fractals of the Mists are supposed to be progression content, and progressing further without legitimate play is meaningless to me.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message on Twitter (@LopezIRL), in-game (Lopez), or email me ([email protected]).
Table of Contents
I. Why Do Fractals of the Mists?
II. How Do Fractals Work?
III. Volcanic Fractal
IV. Underground Facility Fractal
V. Swampland Fractal
VI. Cliffside Fractal
VII. Uncategorized Fractal
VIII. Snowblind Fractal
IX. Aquatic Ruins Fractal
X. Urban Battleground Fractal
XI. Solid Ocean Fractal
XII. Frequently Asked Questions
XIII. Revisions and Additions
I. Why Do Fractals of the Mists?
The most obvious answer for me is fun. For me, fractals are by far the most entertaining PvE content in Guild Wars 2. They bring a level of challenge and teamwork not seen in any other PvE content in the game. In effect, they are Guild Wars 2‘s progression content, which should make them attractive to any organized group of players.
The second reason is awesome loot. Higher-level fractals drop rare- and exotic-quality items, which can be salvaged for the pricey globs of ectoplasm, more than any other content in the game. In a good group, high-level fractals are the best way to make a lot of gold.
Of course, there’s also ascended gear. Fractals are the go-to place for getting ascended rings, which have the best stats in the game. They also have exotic-level backpacks that can be upgraded to ascended level at the Mystic Forge.
II. How Do Fractals Work?
To start, a full group must zone into the portal east of Claw Island Portage Waypoint in Lion’s Arch. Before zoning in, the group must pick a level.
The difficulty level, which scales infinitely, sets both the difficulty and rewards. At higher levels, mobs and bosses hit harder, and agony, a damage-over-time debuff bosses apply that can only be negated with the agony resistance stat on ascended gear, does much more damage. But higher levels also mean more loot and rewards.
At odd levels (lv. 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.), groups must complete three fractals in a row to unlock a higher difficulty level. At even levels (lv. 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.), groups must complete three fractals in a row and XI. Solid Ocean to unlock another difficulty level.
Completing the Solid Ocean fractal once a day gives a daily quest reward. This reward always gives some fractal tokens and some silver. At lv. 10 and up, it also gives a token that can be used to buy an ascended ring, and it has a chance at giving an ascended ring and a weapon skin that’s exclusive to fractals. At lv. 26 and up, any ascended ring that drops will always be infused, which means it will always have five agony resistance built-in. The higher the level, the higher the chance of an ascended ring and weapon skin.
Every 10 levels, a new daily quest is unlocked. So if a player is lv. 42 in fractals, s/he can do lv. 18, lv. 26, lv. 30, and lv. 42, and each one will give a daily quest reward. Essentially, unlocking higher difficulty levels unlocks more chances at the daily quest rewards.
Once in Fractals of the Mists, groups begin the fractal sequence by running into the portal in the middle of Mistlock Observatory. Once everyone accepts, the group will be teleported to a fractal. The choice of fractal is completely random, so if a group wants a specific fractal, it will have to exit and try again.
After a fractal is completed, the group is automatically teleported to the next fractal. At odd levels, the group must complete three fractals in a row to finish the difficulty level. At even levels, the group must complete three fractals and Solid Ocean.
The mechanics of Fractals of the Mists sound complicated at first, but it’s something everyone can get used to with some time in them.
III. Volcanic Fractal
Difficulty: Hard
Length: Short
The Volcanic Fractal is one of the most difficult in the game, particularly at higher levels. The final boss alone has likely killed more pick-up groups than any other boss. But it’s not all doom-and-gloom! With a smart, capable group, the fractal can go by pretty fast and result in some decent loot due to the many adds and two treasure chests available.
Achievement: “The Floor is Lava. Don’t Step In It.”
This achievement is pretty easy. Avoid all lava in the fractal, including the small lava pools on the final boss.
Part 1: Many Adds
The first part of this fractal involves killing a bunch of adds.
Immediately after zoning into the fractal, turn right and climb up the hill. It makes the encounter significantly easier by forcing adds to come to the group. From that point forward, just AOE and crowd control the mobs.
Once enough mobs die, walk down the cliff, making sure to avoid any boulders, and the next event will trigger.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or Plague
Condition necromancer really shines on this encounter due to the ability to spread bleeds, poison, and snares by using Epidemic on cooldown. Unlike most encounters, it’s a good idea to use staff as much as possible for the snares and fear. Also, use Well of Darkness on cooldown on a clump of mobs to mitigate any damage.
Flesh golem and Plague each have their strengths. The golem can knock down a pack of mobs, while Plague can help blind mobs for 20 seconds.
Part 2: Save the Humans
In this part, adds are going to spawn and move toward the humans being held captive. The goal is to kill the mobs before they can reach the humans while throwing rocks at the Champion Grawl Shaman to break his bubble.
The normal strategy is to put three or four people on killing and slowing down adds while the remaining people in the group run around, pick up rocks, and lob them at the Champion Grawl Shaman’s bubble. Remember the rocks do have a limited range, so stand close to the shaman before throwing them.
Snares and crowd-control abilities are definitely recommended for the event. Slowing down the mobs can be just as important as killing them, particularly in higher levels, where mobs spawn faster and can quickly overwhelm the group.
If all the captives survive, the group will be rewarded with a treasure chest that can be looted after the sub-boss.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Spectral Grasp, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
This is the only encounter in the game in which Spectral Grasp is really useful because it can be used to pull mobs away from captives. Use it on cooldown to buy the group a lot of time. Otherwise, just kill, fear, snare, and knock down (flesh golem) the mobs as much as possible. Once again, changing to staff as often as possible is worth it for the utility.
Sub-Boss: Champion Grawl Shaman
Champion Grawl Shaman will shoot fireballs and ground-targeted attacks at the group, which can be easily avoided and reflected. The ceiling will also collapse throughout the fight, so watch out for red circles to avoid being knocked down. At a few points in the fight, the shaman will go into a bubble, which can only be broken by throwing a rock at it. The sub-boss also has passive stability, so crowd control will not work on him.
The fight is pretty easy. Just avoid AOE. Reflects can be very useful for dealing with the fireballs, so the group should stay together to make full use of them.
When the shaman goes into a bubble, he’s pretty unintimidating. That’s a good time to heal up while one person throws a rock.
When the boss gets to about 20 percent, the fight will finish.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Power, Blood Is Power, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Since the group should be standing relatively close together during this fight, wells are pretty good. Well of Power in particular is good for dealing with the burning because it converts the burning into aegis, which completely blocks an attack.
One little trick in the fight is that bleeds still damage and can still be applied to the shaman when he goes into his bubble. Ideally, condition necromancers should continue doing damage while someone else picks up a rock to throw it at the sub-boss.
The boss has passive stability, so flesh golem is only there for the damage.
Part 3: Platforming Time
Not much to say about this part. Run by the bats, and don’t fall in the lava.
Boss: Legendary Imbued Shaman
For most of the fight, Legendary Imbued Shaman will shoot agony-applying arrows and drop AOEs. What makes the fight difficult is every time he loses 25 percent of his health, the shaman will go into a bubble that blocks all attacks, begin moving to a human captive, and summon a bunch of elementals. If the bubble isn’t popped before the shaman reaches a captive, he heals for a lot.
The environment also applies burning to anyone who is standing still, so it’s important to constantly stay on the move.
The most important thing the group can do in this fight is stick together. This lets AOE buffs, heals, and reflects work their magic. If done correctly, a group with a good guardian and mesmer can reflect most of the boss’s arrows.
Standing together is also key for gathering the elementals when the boss goes into his bubble, making them much easier to AOE down. That’s very important because the summoned elementals have to be killed as soon as possible. They can wipe the group if they’re allowed to stay around too long.
The bubble is popped by hitting it 39 times.
Fast-attacking classes like mesmer and thief should focus on the bubble, while classes with heavy AOE like engineer and necromancer should take down the adds. However, these roles needs to be flexible depending on any sudden changes in the fight.
One trick for this boss is to have at least one melee run in periodically. The boss will typically do an AOE around himself when someone is in his melee range, but the cast on the boss’s AOE is long enough that it effectively crowd controls the boss for two or three seconds. It’s a nice way to get a break in the middle of the fight.
At higher levels, someone is almost guaranteed to get downed, so any revive abilities are extremely useful.
After three waves of adds, the group just needs to tear through another 25 percent of the boss’s health bar, and the fractal is done.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or Plague
Once again, condition necromancer really shines in this encounter. Since a good group should be relatively close together, wells are very useful. The boss and environment will also regularly apply burning, which makes the conversion to aegis from Well of Power amazing.
When the boss goes into his bubble, traited marks can still penetrate the block. This can used to chill and slow the boss before he reaches a captive, but it shouldn’t be too necessary if fast-attacking classes are on top of breaking the bubble.
The adds can be easily dispatched by a lone condition necromancer with AOE from scepter, dagger, staff, and Epidemic. Waiting for the adds to group up before using Epidemic can greatly speed up how fast elementals go down.
Also, Signet of Undeath is really good in this fight for picking up teammates who are far away or too close to the boss. At higher levels, someone is almost guaranteed to get downed, so any revive abilities are extremely useful.
Flesh golem constantly dies on this boss, so I usually save his summon and ability cooldowns to knock down the elementals. Plague can also be useful for blinding a wave of adds after using Epidemic, but it will only be off cooldown for one wave in the typical encounter.
IV. Underground Facility Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Long
This fractal is probably the most commonly avoided. It’s not too difficult, but it has a lot of gimmicks and takes a really long time. The upside is it has more loot than any other fractal in the game because it has so many mobs.
Achievement: “Carrier Cacophony”
This achievement requires living through the sub-boss and his adds without dying. Most people get it on accident because it’s so easy.
Part 1: Switches
The first part of this fractal is about minimizing fighting to move through gates as quickly as possible. As soon as the group zones in, move up the first ramp and wait in front of the gate. One person in the group should go up the ramp on the left and stand on the switch, which will open the gate and let the group through. After that, the person who got the switch should run down and wait in front of the gate, which will be opened again by the next switch.
Once the group is in the hallway, another person will have to go up the ramp on the right and stand on the switch. That will open up the gate to the final room. After the rest of the group is in the final room, the person up top should run down and wait for the group to stand on the final two switches, which will re-open the gate.
In the final room, two people stand on switches on opposite sides to keep the control panel open, one person activates the control panel through a very long cast, and the other two people in the group kite and control mobs.
Ideally, the person on the control panel should be protected by reflects and stealth, particularly through the Ash Legion Spy Kit. The people kiting need to make sure mobs never face the person on the control panel, or there’s a good chance the mobs will accidentally hit him/her and interrupt the cast.
It does not matter if people on switches die. As long as any body is on the switch, it will stay down. In fact, it is advisable for people to die on the switches before moving from them.
Survivability is a lot more important than damage for this part.
Dredge are immune to blind, so blinding abilities are useless for most of the fractal.
Once the long cast on the control panel is finished, move through the gate and kill the adds. At this point, the fractal can split into one of two events.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Spectral Walk, Signet of the Locust, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem or Plague
The idea behind this entire section of the dungeon is to avoid as much damage as possible. That makes the mobility from Spectral Walk and Signet of the Locust amazing. It’s also nice to be able to revive downed players with Signet of Undeath.
Flesh golem and Plague are both decent options. Flesh golem can be used to knock down packs of mobs, while Plague can be used for the extra toughness and to apply weakness since dredge are immune to blind.
Part 2, Option A: Turrets
If the left door is open, it’s time for the turret room.
For this part, the group should slowly move forward while killing turrets and mobs. Once the final three mobs are killed, three people should pick up the guns that drop and begin attacking the door with the No. 1 attack on the gun. The door must be targeted for the No. 1 attack to work. Mobs will spawn as the gate takes damage, but reflects and stealth abilities can help deal with them. The two people not using guns can also help kite and distract the mobs as the others break down the door.
Once the door is down, everyone should run into the next room and jump over the pipes behind the carrier to de-aggro any mobs. Make sure to avoid pulling the sub-boss and his minions while moving to the pipes. This is how the pipes look:
After that, it will be time to engage the sub-boss.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this part, it’s nice to be able to AOE adds down quickly with Blood Is Power and Epidemic. Reviving people with Signet of Undeath is, as always, good.
Flesh golem is ideal here because the mobs tend to bunch up, so knocking them all down is really easy.
Using Well of Blood on the three people using guns to take down the gate is also a good idea. The protection and heal-over-time can keep a group up if something goes wrong.
Part 2, Option B: Bombs
If the right door is open, it’s time for the bomb room.
After killing the initial group of mobs, the group will want to run up the ramp, pick up bombs, and arm them on the gate to tear it down.
At lower levels, it’s possible to kill the mobs and drop bombs at the same time.
At higher levels, hit-and-run tactics are preferable. Having a mesmer with Portal can be hugely beneficial on this part. Ignore the mobs, pick up bombs, arm the bombs by the gate, and run back to the room’s entrance. The mobs should de-aggro, and most the bombs should go off. (Some bombs will be disabled by dredge that pick them up.) Repeat the process a few times and the gate will go down. Remember to wait for bombs to re-spawn before running up the ramp again.
As many survivability cooldowns and crowd control abilities as possible are advisable for this part. All a group has to do is live long enough to drop off the bombs and escape.
Once the gate goes down, clear any remaining mobs (most will de-spawn) and move onto the next room to kill the sub-boss.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility Skills: Spectral Wall, Summon Flesh Wurm, Spectral Walk
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Mobility and survivability are key on this fight, so Spectral Wall and Spectral Walk are ideal. Spectral Wall in particular can be good for the entire group. Summon Flesh Wurm is used for the teleport on the worm; drop the wurm in a safe spot, then teleport after a bomb is deployed.
Signet of Undeath is mostly useless on this part because the cast time is too long to pick up a downed player when there’s so many mobs.
Flesh golem is really good here. At the bottom of the ramp, before the group moves in to pick up bombs, target a mob at the top of the ramp and use the golem’s charge. The charge should knock down quite a few mobs, making the run up a little safer.
Sub-Boss: Rabsovich
Rabsovich stands with a lot of normal mobs and a veteran. His main ability is a penetrating projectile that shoots right in front of him and does a ton of damage. He also periodically hides behind his shield, which blocks any attacks and dazes anyone who attacks him. If the veteran mob dies, Rabsovich will regularly re-summon it. Every time the normal mobs die, another wave will pop out until the “Dredge” health bar on the event window is depleted.
Most groups pull Rabsovich out into the previous room, where the bomb or turret event takes place, and kill him there. The normal mobs will not follow Rabsovich to the previous room, effectively cheesing a huge part of the fight. After Rabsovich is killed, move back to the carrier and finish off the rest of the mobs.
If a group doesn’t want to cheese the extra mobs, it’s possible to stay in the room and kill Rabsovich and the adds at the same time. Focus Rabsovich first to take out the most threatening damage, then clean up the rest of the room.
The only real challenge in the fight is avoiding Rabsovich’s penetrating projectile. It’s very visible and a little slow, but it can one-shot most classes. Avoid it at all costs.
Once Rabsovich and his minions die, the door will open. Fight through the unlocked hallway and into the final boss room.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Standard fight. Bleed the boss and adds, and spread any conditions with Epidemic. Pick anyone up with Signet of Undeath.
Traited marks penetrate through Rabsovich’s block, so it’s a good idea to switch to staff while he’s blocking. It’s an even better idea if he has no stacks of Defiant, allowing the necromancer to interrupt the block with Reaper’s Mark (No. 5).
Boss: Rampaging Ice Elemental or Dredge Powersuit
The final boss of the fractal can be either the Rampaging Ice Elemental or Dredge Powersuit. Each boss has different abilities, but they have a common theme: They need to be hit by lava to gain the “Superheated” debuff for 30 seconds, which makes each boss take a lot more direct damage. (Note: Superheated does not affect conditions, so it’s advisable to replace any bleeding attacks with direct-damage attacks.)
To drop lava on the bosses, one player must pour one of the four buckets of lava in the room on the boss. Under the buckets of lava, there will always be a burned patch of dirt. The objective is to guide the boss so he’s on top of the patch of dirt as the bucket is pouring.
To do this successfully, the player handling the pouring must run up the ramps to the corresponding control panel. Once at the control panel, the player should try to time the activation so the bucket begins pouring as the boss walks through the patch of dirt. There is a two-to-three-second delay between activation and pouring, so the player needs to time it wisely. It’s a good idea to activate the bucket a second or two before the boss reaches the patch of dirt to ensure the pouring hits.
The players at the bottom should position themselves so the patch of dirt is between the group and the boss. This will make the boss walk over the patch of dirt, where he can then be rooted or snared to be kept in place for the pour.
Since each bucket has a cooldown, players have to move between two of the buckets back and forth or move the boss around four buckets in a clockwise or counterclockwise manner. If done quickly enough, the boss should be kept vulnerable for the entire fight. If the boss is ever not Superheated, or vulnerable, it will begin healing over time.
A thief using shortbow is ideal for pouring because Infiltrator’s Arrow (No. 5) allows the thief to shadowstep to the control panel without having to run up the ramp.
The bosses also share a very obvious heal. Every once in a while, the boss will kneel down and begin healing. During this time, the heal can be interrupted by any attack, as long as the boss has Superheated, or by crowd control abilities, as long as the boss does not have Defiant. If the boss does not have Superheated, the heal cannot be interrupted by normal attacks.
Beyond the pouring and healing, each possible boss has slightly different mechanics.
Rampaging Ice Elemental
Rampaging Ice Elemental has three unique abilities: He summons adds, and he summons exploding crystals in a V-shape in front of him. When he kneels, he also applies agony to one person standing near him. Most of the boss’s attacks are easily avoidable by simply moving and keeping distance. The adds, which are also vulnerable to Superheated, need to be killed so they don’t swarm the group.
Dredge Powersuit
Dredge Powersuit has two unique abilities: He plants bombs on the floor, and he does a ground pound that applies agony. The bombs can be reflected back to the boss for a lot of damage, so every class with reflect capabilities should keep that in mind. Also, the red circles showing for the planted bombs can be a little buggy, so take extra precautions to avoid them even if the circle doesn’t pop up. (This is especially true for the bucket pourer, who can be hit by a bomb that’s on the underside of the control panel platform.)
Without enough agony resistance, the ground pound can easily wipe a group, but it can be dodged. Once the boss gets stability, wait one to two seconds then dodge twice. If timed correctly, this will completely avoid the AOE and agony. It is especially important for the pourer to get this right. If the designated pourer dies to the attack, a group can quickly fall apart. It’s advisable to plan for a pourer’s death by having a back-up pourer.
When the boss is downed, the fractal will end.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic or Well of Suffering, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Lich Form
Epidemic is advisable for the Rampaging Ice Elemental since he summons mobs, but Well of Suffering is better for the Dredge Powersuit since no AOE is necessary.
This is one fight in which condition necromancers are kind of bad. Since conditions are not boosted by Superheated, the only damage that matters is direct damage. That’s why Well of Suffering and Lich Form are good on this boss. It’s also a good idea to use Death Shroud for damage as long as life force is above 50 percent to guarantee bigger Life Blast hits.
Try to use Blood Is Power right before using Death Shroud or Lich Form so their auto-attacks hit harder.
V. Swampland Fractal
Difficulty: Easy
Length: Easy
Most groups will hope for the Swampland Fractal. It’s extremely quick, and it’s very easy. The downside is it doesn’t drop much loot outside of the boss’s chest.
Achievement: “Fancy Footwork”
For this achievement, the player has to get through the fractal without triggering any traps. The easiest way to do this is to not participate in the wisp running event. That’s not as bad as it sounds! A group should be able to run the wisps with one man down.
Part 1: Run the Wisps
After zoning into the fractal, run to the marked point on the mini-map. Once the marked point is reached, three wisps will spawn throughout the map. The objective is to split the group up and run the three wisps to the originally marked point before time runs out. The catch is there are traps and mobs all along the way, so navigating back can be tricky.
For this part, groups should load up on condition removal to cancel out the traps, which snare and root. If a mesmer is in the group, Portal can be used to teleport everyone to the goal point after wisps are picked up.
The countdown will begin as soon as anyone picks up a wisp, so make sure everyone in the group is ready to start running before picking up a wisp.
During the event, trees will randomly spawn and block certain parts of the map. Most of the trees can be jumped on and over, so it’s a good idea to find the right spots before the countdown begins.
After the event is completed, players will swim through a little river to one of two bosses.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Consume Conditions
Utility: Well of Power, Spectral Walk, Signet of the Locust
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
The idea is to load up on condition-removing and mobility abilities to run to the goal point as quickly as possible. Necromancers are really good at this part because they have so much condition removal. I will usually run the farthest wisp because I know I have the advantage.
Boss, Option A: Mossman
Mossman has a few abilities worth watching for. He will periodically stealth in the fight, and when he pops out, he will do a slow cast into a big melee attack. He also throws daggers that apply agony, and he summons wolves. Sometimes he will turn into an animal form, boosting his melee damage but taking away his summons, stealth, and throwing daggers.
Most of the fight should be spent kiting Mossman. Having distance on him makes it much easier to avoid the daggers, and it also lets a group kill the wolves before they reach a target.
If Mossman stealths, get ready to dodge. Once he pops up, anyone near him must roll. If his out-of-stealth attack hits, it can one-shot.
Otherwise, the fight is pretty simple. Keep distance when necessary and do damage. When the boss dies, the fractal ends.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this fight, I don’t bother using Epidemic because the wolf adds aren’t threatening enough to warrant it. I’d rather have Corrosive Poison Cloud to apply weakness and poison to Mossman.
Otherwise, just keep distance from Mossman and do damage.
Boss, Option B: Bloomhunger
Bloomhunger is a giant, stationary mossheart. His most notable attack is a shower of projectiles that apply agony. The projectiles are buffed with special effects by mobs Bloomhunger spawns. Bloomhunger also regularly shoots projectiles that drop a small poison field.
The one thing a group needs to look out for when fighting Bloomhunger is his shower of projectiles. The visual cues for the projectiles are really obvious: Bloomhunger will shake, the projectiles will shoot out, and each projectile will drop a red circle on the floor as a warning. The circles are very easy to dodge, so there’s no excuse for getting hit. (Tip: Stand on land, not shallow water, so the red circles are easier to see.)
Otherwise, avoid the poison field and kill the adds, which can be easily one-shot.
A good group chaining reflects or deflects can negate all the threatening mechanics of the fight. I have been in a few groups that bunched up and never had to move due to coordinated use of guardian and mesmer reflects and Smoke Screen.
Even without chained reflects and deflects, it’s a good idea to stay close together for when someone can reflect or deflect projectiles. It also makes reviving easier.
When the boss dies, the fractal ends.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Power, Blood Is Power, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Epidemic isn’t good in this fight because the adds are too spread out and die too quickly for it to be effective.
Since a group shouldn’t be too spread out, wells are very good in this fight. Well of Power is nice to negate any poison and to get protection, and Well of Blood heals and also applies protection.
Signet of Undeath can be nice for reviving someone without getting exposed to AOE or projectiles.
Otherwise, just run around and do damage. Adds should be taken up by the heavy hitters of the group, not the condition necromancer.
VI. Cliffside Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Long
Even though it’s probably the best designed fractal in the game, the Cliffside Fractal is typically avoided because it takes the longest to complete. Even worse, it drops next to no loot. Still, I think it can be pretty fun if I’m not too focused on doing fractals as quickly as possible.
Achievement: “Take a Bow”
Easiest achievement in fractals. At the end of the fractal, do /bow at the freed colossus when he bows at the group.
Sub-Boss: Legendary Archdiviner
Legendary Archdiviner can really hurt. He drops wells on the floor that do damage and apply multiple conditions and agony. He also does a short-range leap that does a decent amount of damage, and he swings his hammer to shoot confusion-applying projectiles and damage whoever he’s focusing from range.
The sub-boss doesn’t necessarily have to be kited. Players should just avoid the big red circles on the floor before they turn into wells and dodge any leaps or projectiles.
Whoever is being focused by the sub-boss should pay extra attention to the swings that shoot confusion-applying projectiles. Even at range, the swing will instantly do about 4,000 to 6,000 damage to whoever the sub-boss is focusing. Most players don’t even know this attack exists because it has no visual indication outside of the swing and damage taken.
After a while, the boss will go down. One player should pick up the hammer he drops and move on to the next part.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this fight, I don’t bother using Epidemic because there are no adds. I replace it with Corrosive Poison Cloud to apply weakness and poison instead.
Otherwise, I just keep distance and do damage.
Hammer Time
Before continuing on, it’s important to explain the hammer mechanic. The hammer is a weapon dropped by the sub-boss that the group must use to break seals with the No. 4 attack.
The catch is the No. 4 attack is only usable after a mob dies near the player carrying the hammer, so anyone carrying the hammer must stand near mobs and, preferably, attack them to help bring them down.
But there’s another catch! As a player holds the hammer, it will stack a debuff every second. As the stacks build up, they will get progressively more dangerous. The first stack, which is applied as soon as the hammer is picked up, does about 5,000 direct damage. At 10 stacks, it applies vulnerability. At 20 stacks, it applies weakness and another stack of vulnerability. At 30 stacks, it stuns. At 40, it kills.
To avoid the big stacks, the group should constantly trade off the hammer. However, dropping the hammer will disable the No. 4 attack, which means whoever picks the hammer up will have to be near another dying mob to use the No. 4 attack.
One trick with the hammer is using the No. 3 ability, which gives stability, at around 26 stacks to avoid the 30th stack’s stun.
Also, it’s a good ideato generally avoid the No. 2 attack on the hammer. It does less damage than the No. 1 attack.
Part 1: Ankle Seals
Once the hammer mechanics are understood, have someone pick it up, run up the ramps while ignoring any mobs, and reach the ankle seals. This is essentially the “learning” portion of the hammer mechanics. Someone in the group should always have the hammer in hand as the group kills mobs. When a mob dies, use the charged hammer to break seals. This part is very easy, even at high levels.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Plague
This instance is heavy on normal and veteran mobs, so I stick to Well of Darkness to blind them, Epidemic to AOE, and Signet of Undeath to revive anyone quickly. Plague is good for blinding the packs of mobs as the rest of the group kills them. (In my experience, the flesh golem dies to the environment and mobs way too easily in this fracatal.)
Part 2: Chest Seal
Before getting to the chest seal, there is a mini-jumping puzzle. The group will have to navigate through statues that blow wind that knocks back. It’s really easy; it just requires patience. The wind can also be avoided with dodge and stability.
After the small climb up, the group will arrive at the chest seal. While engaging the mobs at this seal to build up hammer charges, fire will periodically spawn on the floor. But there is a safe spot right by the chest seal that effectively negates the fire:
The group should bunch up on the section between the two red lines, where the group shown above is standing. From this point, mobs will flow in and can be taken down with AOE and direct attacks to charge up the hammer. A player shouldn’t have to move too far to break the seal because the No. 4 attack has decent range.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Plague
Same deal as the last set of seals. Well of Darkness and Plague to Blind, Epidemic to AOE, and Signet of Undeath to revive. Since the group is really bunched up on this part, it’s really easy to hit the mobs and support the group with wells.
Part 3: Arm Seals
After the chest seal is down, the group will follow a straightforward path up to the arm seals.
These are the trickiest seals in the fractal, but they’re still very easy if done correctly. At the beginning of the event, there will be two chanters at each seal. Once both chanters die at a seal, a swarm of chanters will spawn. When left alone, the chanters can heal the seal, but it’s not a big concern until the big group spawns.
To move between the seals, players will use the tunnel behind the seal. A seal cannot be hit twice in a row, so the hammer-wielders will have to rotate from seal to seal to wear them down.
The first thing to understand is only one mob needs to be killed at a time to charge the hammer. In other words, AOE is a really bad idea at the beginning.
In the most ideal situation, a group will kill both chanters on the left side and leave one chanter alive on the right side. This will make it so the group only has to worry about the pack of chanters on the left side, which can then be dragged to and fought in the tunnel.
Most of the action should take place in the tunnel. The group should remain on the left side of the tunnel while pulling mobs around the left seal. Once the mobs are in the tunnel, kill them to charge the hammer. On top of charging the hammer, this also ensures the chanters aren’t healing the left seal.
Once the hammer is charged, only one person should run the hammer to whatever seal isn’t shielded at the time. It’s important to remember a seal can’t be hit twice in a row, so whoever is wielding the hammer always needs to pay attention to what seal is shielded and which one isn’t.
If, for whatever reason, both the chanters at the right seal die, do not pull the spawning pack of mobs into the tunnel. Instead, only run to the right seal to use a charged hammer. (Another person in the party might need to help escort the hammer-wielder so the now-spawned pack of mobs aren’t overwhelming.) Once the left seal goes down, it will be possible to hit the right seal multiple times in a row, so the group will then be able to move to the right seal and focus more fully on bringing it down.
After both seals are down, the group then moves through a small obstacle course to the boss. In the obstacle course, wait for the timed explosives to go off before moving up the ramp. Otherwise, the explosives will knock players off the platform.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Plague
While dealing with the two initial chanters, don’t use any AOE. Just use scepter’s No. 1 attack to help bring one chanter down.
Once the group is in the tunnel and taking down packs of mobs, unload every AOE possible on cooldown, including Well of Darkness and any crowd control. The large group of chanters can quickly overwhelm a group if they aren’t controlled.
Boss: Legendary Archdiviner
He’s back! But this time he has phases.
Before engaging the boss, the group should pull the chanters near him and kill them. It makes the beginning of the fight a little easier.
Phase 1
In this phase, the boss melees and drops wells that apply conditions and agony. Try to avoid his swings and bring him down to 75 percent.
Transition
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Kill three of the adds, then pick up the hammer and kill the final add. The hammer will be charged, and it can then hit the seal, bringing the boss to his next phase.
Phase 2
At this point, the boss will begin using an AOE that applies agony on top of dropping wells. About one second before the agony-applying AOE goes off, the boss will get stability. Watch for the stability, count to one, then roll. The boss also pulls one person before he does his AOE, and that person can avoid the AOE by rolling as soon as the knock-down from the pull wears off. The AOE can also be avoided with line-of-sight. It is a really good idea to avoid it, particularly at higher levels.
Otherwise, avoid the wells and bring the boss to 50 percent.
Transition
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Kill three of the adds, then pick up the hammer and kill the final add. The hammer will be charged, and it can then hit the seal, bringing the boss to his next phase.
Phase 3
The boss will no longer drop wells, but he will continue using his agony-applying AOE, and he will start summoning scorpion adds and teleporting people to cages. The scorpions don’t do much, but it’s worth killing them quickly.
Players can break themselves out of cages by stepping back in the cage, targeting the cage, and doing direct damage. Everyone can and should help break out teammates by targeting the cage and doing damage to it.
Otherwise, continue fighting the boss as normal until 25 percent.
Transition
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Kill three of the adds, then pick up the hammer and kill the final add. The hammer will be charged, and it can then hit the seal, bringing the boss to his next phase.
Phase 4
As far as I can tell, this is exactly the same as phase 3, except the boss seems to hit a little harder. Continue on as if it was phase 3, and get the boss to about 5 percent.
Final Seal Hits
The boss will then get stunned, drop his hammer, be immune to damage, and spawn four adds. Unlike the other transition phases, the seal must be hit twice. So kill two adds, pick up the hammer, kill an add, hit the seal, kill the final add, and hit the seal to break it, finishing the fractal.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
I don’t take Epidemic because the adds are too spread apart for it to be effective. Corrosive Poison Cloud is better for the weakness and poison. Signet of Undeath is crucial for reviving people while avoiding AOE.
When the boss is pulled and everyone is stunned, I always go into Death Shroud and fear him to make sure he doesn’t hit anyone with wells. At this point, he should have no stacks of Defiant, so this should avoid his initial well deployment every time.
After the second phase, I generally save the flesh golem’s summon and tackle for when I get teleported into a cage. The charge one-shots the cage, letting me break out of it almost instantly.
VII. Uncategorized Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Long
There’s not much that’s genuinely challenging about the Uncategorized Fractal, but it can take a long time. There’s also a very limited amount of loot, so it’s much like the Cliffside Fractal in the sense it’s a long tread for little reward.
Achievement: “Hop, Skip, and Jump”
For this achievement, a player must make it through the entire fractal without falling. This is easily obtainable at lower levels because harpies don’t begin knocking back until lv. 10 fractals.
Part 1: Platforming Through Harpies
For this part, players need to jump from platform to platform while killing pesky harpies that cripple and shoot a slow-moving projectile that knocks back. This part can be a massive pain, but the damage and knock-back from harpies can be effectively negated with reflects and deflects.
If anyone is knocked off the platform, they’ll spawn at the bottom of the obstacle course in a downed state. Group members should try to revive each other as soon as possible. Harpies will die more quickly if more of the group is alive.
Really, the only challenge here is a test of patience. Once only two or three harpies are left, it’s possible to jump through them and into the sub-boss room.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
For this part, I usually stay in the bottom and AOE the harpies. Even if ground-targeted AOEs are placed on the underside of platforms, they’ll still hit the harpies on top of the platforms.
One neat trick is Death Shroud can eat the fall damage. So if I am ever knocked off the platform by a projectile, I can just Death Shroud to avoid getting downed.
Sub-Boss: The Holding Area
In this room, players have to destroy an object and then four mobs are spawned. One is a bunny, which does a surprising amount of damage. The other is a bandit, which can drop bombs and knock back. The third is a charr, which launches fire-based AOE attacks. Then there’s the ettin, which does a ton of melee damage.
The group wants to keep distance from the mobs, particularly the ettin; avoid AOE; and kill the mobs one-by-one. The suggested kill order is the bunny, then the bandit, then the charr, then the ettin. (The idea is killing the lower-health mobs first.)
If the bunny isn’t killed, a treasure chest spawns. I have never seen this happen, and it’s unlikely a group will ever risk it at higher levels.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Condition necromancers are really good on this fight for wearing down and slowing mobs that aren’t being focused. I usually stick in scepter and dagger, focus the right target, and use Epidemic on cooldown to wear down the other mobs even as one is being focused.
As always, try to make AOEs, particularly Grasping Dead, hit multiple mobs. This can keep the mobs crippled and weak on top of bleeding them.
Part 2: Harpies and Lightning
Move through the next room and kill the harpies. Then move into the next room, where there will be a staircase topped by turrets. The turrets will be firing lightning projectiles. The idea is to move up the staircase without getting hit by any of the lightning. Once three players get past the turrets, they can simultaneously activate the control panels to deactivate the turrets. Then it’s time to move to the second sub-boss.
Sub-Boss: Old Tom
Old Tom is a stationary cat-golem that sits in a poisonous room. Old Tom’s big ability is a spinning attack that shoots dozens of green projectiles in a full circle. He also pulls random players and shoots bouncing projectiles that really hurt.
However, the real challenge to Old Tom is the room he’s in. If the fan behind Old Tom isn’t turned on, the room will fill up with poisonous gas. At lower levels, one player just has to turn on the fan every 20 to 30 seconds to cleanse the poison. At higher levels, two additional players will have to keep the fan’s batteries charged by carrying and deploying crystals that initially appear by the fan.
Ideally, players should bring the charging crystals from the fan to the batteries before Old Tom is engaged. To do this, the group should move on the slanted walls at the edges of the room to avoid grabbing Old Tom’s attention. There should be three or four crystals by each battery before Old Tom is engaged.
In short, the fight is all about dodging and moving out of Old Tom’s projectiles while making sure the fan and batteries are activated. Spreading out is a good idea to mitigate the bouncing projectiles. One person should be at the fan, two should be at the batteries, and the remaining two can focus on doing damage or helping out with carrying crystals if Old Tom is engaged before all the crystals are in place.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Summon Flesh Wurm, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Except for the battery and fan mechanics, there isn’t much special about this fight. It’s a typical single-target fight.
However, I use the Summon Flesh Wurm instead of Corrosive Poison Cloud on this boss because I can use the flesh wurm as a shield. By dropping it in front of me, the wurm takes all the projectiles that would otherwise hit me as I do full damage. This can let me avoid damage and makes the fight a little less complicated.
Flesh golem can also act as a shield, although it sometimes runs all over the place and dies because its AI is awful.
Part 3: Platforming Through Harpies
This part is the same as the first part. Get through the platforms, fight harpies, and arrive to the boss.
Boss: Raving Asura
This boss is essentially a mix of five mobs. The first mob is the raving asura, who will regularly fire three projectiles that apply agony. The other four mobs are his cat-golems, which mostly do damage and AOE. The only golem mechanic worth noting is the third golem will apply positive and negative charges; if any player with a positive charge stands by a player with a negative charge, both players will take damage.
The raving asura is immune to damage and cannot be killed. The goal is to take out the golems. Players will have to kill one golem at a time, and then all four golems at once.
The main thing to watch out for in this fight is the raving asura’s projectiles. They can be dodged by rolling right before they hit. If they aren’t dodged, they do a ton of damage and apply agony.
Except for that, it’s a good idea to spread out to avoid opposite charges doing damage to each other. When all four golems spawn, focus one at a time and bring them all down to finish the fractal.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
The first part is a typical single-target fight. Just focus down each golem.
The second part is great for Epidemic. Spam it on cooldown while focusing a golem with scepter and dagger. Staff can also be good in tight situations since the golems are vulnerable to fear.
Also, if dodge is down for any of the raving asura’s projectiles, use Death Shroud to avoid them.
VIII. Snowblind Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Medium
The adequate fractal. It’s not too easy, and it’s not too long. I would say it’s just right, but it’s honestly too much in the middle to be really memorable.
Achievement: “If We Only Had Marshmallows”
Light every bonfire in the fractal. Most people get this achievement on accident.
Part 1: Burning Away
As soon as a group zones in, it should immediately notice the frostbite debuff. This debuff does damage over time and does more damage as it stacks. To cleanse the debuff, players have to light and then stand by a bonfire. The first half of the dungeon is centered around this debuff.
Run down the ramp while lighting bonfires to keep frostbite off. Eventually, the group will reach the ground, where a big stack of bonfires awaits with a swarm of mobs ready to spawn. The idea is to keep the bonfires lit while killing and kiting mobs. After a while, the ice wall will melt, and the group will be able to progress.
It’s very easy for a thief to cheese this by using stealth and Ash Legion Spy Kits. A single thief can keep all the bonfires lit without ever being seen, which can let a group avoid having to fight mobs.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Typical AOE fight. Use Epidemic on cooldown, and switch to staff frequently to chill and fear the mobs. Flesh golem’s knock-back can easily catch all the mobs because they’re almost always bunched up.
Sub-Boss: Ice Elemental
After the ice wall melts, the group moves to the next room to fight a massive ice elemental. The elemental will drop a swirly AOE that does damage and knocks back. It will also shoot a projectile that knocks back and puts out bonfires. Intermittently, the elemental will simultaneously teleport group members to random parts of the room, cause a blizzard that makes it difficult to see anything, and summon adds.
Most of the fight will center around a bonfire. The group should keep a bonfire going while killing the boss and adds. It’s advisable to spread out a little so the boss’s projectile and AOE don’t hit everyone.
It’s a good idea to mark one bonfire on the mini-map and use it as a meeting point after the group is scattered by teleport. When the group is teleported, it’s also a good idea to walk around the edges of the room to the meeting point to avoid pulling any extra adds to the bonfire.
Once the ice elemental goes down, the fight will finish, frostbite will stop being applied, and players will be able to move on. (Make sure any leftover frostbite is removed by bonfires before progressing.)
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Since the ice elemental is an object that can’t be bled or critically hit, condition necromancers do poor damage to it. So a condition necromancer’s main role in the fight is killing adds.
After any pulled adds are down, focus on the ice elemental with scepter attacks. It’s also a good idea to use Death Shroud’s Life Blast for damage if life force is above 50 percent.
Part 2: Dark Forest
There’s not much to say for this part. It’s a dark forest with a bunch of normal and veteran mobs. Personally, I like killing the trash because it can drop very good loot at higher levels, but it’s possible to just run through it all and get right into the boss.
Boss: Son of Svanir Shaman
Son of Svanir Shaman is one of the easiest bosses in the game, even at higher fractal levels.
On the ground, he applies a stack of a freezing debuff with every attack. If the debuff reaches 10, the victim freezes. The biggest attack to avoid is the Son of Svanir Shaman’s ice breath, which fires in a cone in front of him and rapidly applies stacks of the freezing debuff. The shaman also kneels to self-heal occasionally, which can be easily interrupted with an attack. Otherwise, he randomly teleports players and does melee damage.
The shaman will frequently teleport to a platform where he can’t be attacked. From this platform, he’ll drop crystals on players in a very predictable pattern.
Players should keep their distance when Son of Svanir Shaman uses his ice cone attack. If anyone gets frozen by the debuff, it’s possible to break them out by hitting the ice.
When the boss teleports, he will first shower the middle of the room with ice and then the sides. An easy way to avoid the falling crystals is to stand on the sides when the boss teleports, then move to the middle immediately after it’s hit by crystals.
Otherwise, do damage and beat the fractal.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Typical single-target fight. Corrosive Poison Cloud replaces Epidemic for the weakness and poison application since no AOE is necessary. Stay in scepter and dagger for most of the fight.
One trick is swapping to staff and dropping every mark close to the middle of the room when the boss teleports. If placed correctly, all the marks will trigger on the boss as soon as he teleports down, stacking some conditions and doing damage. The boss will always take more than 10 seconds to teleport up then back down, so it’s easy to switch to staff, drop the marks, and change back to scepter and dagger in time for the boss to come down.
IX. Aquatic Ruins Fractal
Difficulty: Easy
Length: Short
Except for the Swampland Fractal, most groups probably will ask for the Aquatic Ruins Fractal. It’s really easy, straightforward, and short. The boss at the end is a great time to finish chores around the house. The fractal has enough mobs at the beginning to be decent for loot.
Achievement: “Flawless Fins Foil Foes”
For this achievement, players have to make it through the dolphin portion without dying. It’s easy if a group sticks together.
Part 1: Kill the Krait
For this part, players will have to move through three cages. At each cage, kill the surrounding krait, then open the cage. Sometimes the krait will get stuck in walls, but ranged should still be able to kill them.
After the three prisoners are freed, a door opens, and players move onto one of two possible paths.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Consume Conditions
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of the Locust
Elite: Plague
AOE as much as possible. Signet of the Locust is only there to make moving from cage to cage a little quicker.
Part 2, Option A: Dolphins
In this part, players are transformed into dolphins, losing all their abilities, and have to sneak by a bunch of krait.
The trick to sneaking by the krait is staying in a group. In a group, it’s possible to deploy multiple decoys with the No. 2 skill and sneak by. Players who try to run through this section solo are a lot more likely to die.
Part 2, Option B: Luminous Plants
For this part, players wander into a dark room, and the only way to survive through it is by staying close to the light. If a player gets stuck in the dark, a swarm of piranhas will quickly devour him/her. Fortunately, limited-duration lamps can be looted from some of the plants in the room to light up the way for a light-carrier and surrounding group members.
The idea is to move as a group from plant to plant. That way the entire group stays close to lamp-carriers.
Even after a luminous plant is looted, it’s possible to stay by it to survive. Eventually, the lamps will re-spawn at plants, letting anyone who fell behind push forward.
Boss: Jellyfish Beast
After one of the two optional events, the group will arrive to the Jellyfish Beast. This boss has a ton of health. Occasionally, the boss will pull in one player, apply agony, and start devouring them. The boss also does a stunning spinning attack and a tail swipe that knocks back. He also regularly spawns small jellyfish adds. Throughout the room, cages will periodically become electrified, doing AOE lightning damage.
The primary mechanic in the fight is moving the Jellyfish Beast and his adds from electrified cage to electrified cage. The cages will do small damage to players, but they’ll do huge damage to the Jellyfish Beast and his adds. Keeping him by electrified cages is one way to make an already-too-long fight a bit shorter.
When a player is pulled in by the boss, the boss will apply agony and begin doing damage to the player. At this point, the player getting devoured must spam No. 1 to break free. After hitting No. 1 a few times, the boss will let go.
During the devouring period, the boss will also get up to 25 stacks of might. It’s a good idea to save boon-removing abilities until after the the player breaks free from the devour to fully peel off all stacks of might. Otherwise, 5 or 10 stacks may remain.
Before the boss pulls a player in, the Jellyfish Beast will always do an upward twirl. If players with sink or float abilities use them as soon as the boss twirls, the Jellyfish Beast will not apply agony or do damage to the player pulled in. The boss will still gain might and the player will still have to spam No. 1 to break free, but the player will not take damage.
After many cages and too much health, the boss will die, and the fractal will be complete.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Consume Conditions
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrupt Boon, Epidemic
Elite: Plague
The fight is a typical AOE encounter. Focus on the boss with trident, and spread bleeds on cooldown with Epidemic.
It’s a good idea to save Sinking Tomb (No. 4) for when the boss does an upward twirl, as mentioned above. This will prevent the boss from applying agony or doing damage when it pulls in a player to devour.
If a mesmer is in the group, try to avoid using Corrupt Boon on the might until the mesmer’s Arcane Thievery is on cooldown. That way the mesmer can get an easy 25 stacks of might.
If the group is overwhelmed by small jellyfish, using Plague is a good idea.
X. Urban Battleground Fractal
Difficulty: Medium
Length: Medium
Another adequate fractal. It’s pretty straightforward, not too long, and it drops decent loot. It also has a lot of cool story surrounding it for any Guild Wars 1 players.
Achievement: “Out of Cluck”
This achievement requires killing all the chickens scattered around the fractal. It’s the most time-consuming achievement by far, so I recommend doing it in a lower-level group that will likely have more patience.
Part 1: Dulfy and the Gate
For this entire instance, the group will be followed by an army of NPCs. It’s important to keep these alive and fighting because they do a lot of damage and can tank quite well. Also, they tend to get attached to one player, so it’s important for that player to run into melee range of mobs so the NPCs aggro onto them.
On this part, players will have to fight to the gate, where Siegemaster Dulfy stands with her siege weapons. Most players will walk around the edges of the map to avoid any unnecessary mobs, but it’s possible to fight directly to Dulfy. (The downside with the latter strategy is the mobs don’t drop any loot, so it’s an unproductive risk.)
Once at Dulfy, kill her first and then take out the siege weapons. After that, break down the gate and charge into Ascalon.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Well of Darkness and Epidemic are both nice for any adds that have to be fought on the way to Dulfy. That’s about it.
Part 2: Ascalon
Once in Ascalon, players will have to navigate through a maze to the center. Unfortunately, the maze is filled with deadly mobs.
There are two enemies to watch out for in the pack of mobs: the warriors and monks. The warriors do a ton of damage, and the monks heal. Whenever a warrior charges, it needs to be dodged. The charge alone can one-shot most builds and classes.
Ideally, the group should kill warriors while keeping distance, then move in to kill monks.
Also, at higher levels, the elementalists can do a lot of burst damage. Avoid the fire they drop on the floor and it shouldn’t be a problem.
As should always be the case in this fractal, make sure the NPCs are always alive and fighting any mobs. They make the fractal a lot less deadly.
Once at the center, the group will have to go through a few wave of mobs and siege weapons before the boss appears. In the center room, it’s a good idea to hide behind the statues while pulling mobs. This will make the mobs group up.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Well of Darkness, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Once again, Well of Darkness and Epidemic are great for dealing with the packs of mobs. It’s sometimes a good idea to drop Well of Darkness preemptively so charging warriors are blinded as soon as they reach a group. Just don’t drop the well too early or it will be wasted.
Boss: Captain Amysh
Every quarter of his health, Captain Amysh has a chance to rotate through different weapons. It’s not guaranteed, but it can change the entire encounter. In my experience, Amysh really prefers his staff.
Except for that, he’ll always have a veteran mob with him that gives him might. It’s usually not worth it to engage the mob because it re-spawns too quickly. Amysh also constantly has protection and retaliation that cannot be removed.
For the boss, players will still have an army of NPCs following them, so make sure the NPCs aggro onto the boss by going into his melee range. The NPCs can tank a lot of the boss’s damage, and they do a lot of damage by themselves.
Sword and Shield
This is the easiest weapon set out of all the ones Amysh uses. He’ll be a little more defensive, but he does less damage. Just treat him like any mob while he’s in this weapon set.
Staff
When he has staff out, Amysh will begin casting a bunch of nasty fire attacks. On ranged, he’ll drop a meteor shower that can one-shot even a full-toughness necromancer. He’ll also drop a line of fire that should be avoided.
But the biggest attack Amysh can use is his giant explosion. Before using the attack, Amysh will pause and throw a small ring of fire around himself. That’s the visual cue to get ready to dodge or get out of range (900 range is good enough). The attack is very easily avoidable, but if it’s not avoided, it does a lot of damage and applies agony.
Flaming Greatsword
With this weapon set, Amysh will do a lot of melee damage in a broad swing. Keep distance from the boss during this stage. Otherwise, just do damage.
Once Amysh falls, the fractal is over.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Corrosive Poison Cloud, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Since the veteran mob is rarely worth killing, I prefer Corrosive Poison Cloud to lower Amysh’s damage with weakness and apply some poison.
Staying in scepter and dagger is ideal for this boss, but I always make sure to stay at max range to avoid Amysh’s agony-applying AOE.
XI. Solid Ocean Fractal
Length: Medium
This fractal only happens at every even level, meaning lv. 2, 4, 6, 8, etc., after three fractals in a row are completed. The idea is it’s supposed to be the super epic boss fractal. Unfortunately, the fractal is probably the easiest of them all, although it does take longer to complete than a couple other fractals.
Achievement: “Open Grave”
For this achievement, all the mobs in the fractal have to be killed. There are mobs right behind where players spawn into the fractal, so if the group wants the achievement, make sure to turn around upon zoning in and kill those mobs. Otherwise, just go through the fractal and kill everything.
Part 1: Adds
For this part, the group has to run and jump through some platforms. There are a bunch of easy mobs between the starting point and the boss, but most players skip them to rush to the boss. I like killing them for the loot if I’m not in a hurry.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of the Locust
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
Blood Is Power and Epidemic are nice for killing the mobs, and Signet of the Locust is nice for the platforming to get to the boss. There’s nothing particularly challenging about this part.
Boss: Jade Maw
The Jade Maw cannot be directly damaged. Instead, he will mark individual players throughout the fight. (The mark will be visible over the targeted player’s head.) If a player is holding a crystal when the mark is triggered, the crystal will be charged and it can then be thrown at the Jade Maw for damage. If a player is not holding a crystal when the mark is triggered, s/he will die in one hit.
It’s possible to avoid the one-shot effect from marks by dodging as soon as the Jade Maw shoots his laser beam. Typically, this will be preceded by the mark vanishing, so once the mark vanishes, it’s a good idea to roll if there are no crystals nearby.
But before players can get marked and throw crystals, they have to make it through the first phase.
Phase 1
For this part, players have to kill the two tentacles sticking out of the ground. Most advanced groups will do some clever platforming to avoid aggroing any of the adds surrounding the tentacles and then kill the tentacles from ranged, but, really, this phase is so easy that it’s possible to just rambo through it.
Phase 2
After the tentacles die, the boss will apply agony to everyone in the group. It’s a good idea for the group to bunch up in a corner to revive anyone who dies to the agony. Before reviving, it’s a good idea to pick up a crystal so marks don’t kill anyone during the revival cast time.
After everyone is up and running, it’s time to focus on the newly spawned Jade Colossi and tentacles. Each of these mobs will drop crystals, so it’s a good idea to keep constantly churning through the mobs to deal with more and more marks.
After all the tentacles and Jade Colossi die, it’s time for the final phase.
Phase 3
Once again, the Jade Maw will apply agony to everyone in the room. Players should stay close together and revive anyone who dies while carrying a crystal.
After that, players will have to deal with more tentacles, except this time, the tentacles will re-spawn. The idea is to keep killing tentacles for crystals to finish off the boss. Once the boss is at 10 percent, he’ll mark everyone in the room at once, drop a big laser beam that can be absorbed by crystals, and die.
Honestly, there are only two challenges during Jade Maw: First, getting enough agony resistance to survive through his AOE agony effect. Second, alt-tabbing as much as possible without the group noticing.
Condition Necromancer Tips
Heal: Well of Blood
Utility: Blood Is Power, Epidemic, Signet of Undeath
Elite: Summon Flesh Golem
I stick to my typical load-out for this fight just to kill tentacles and Jade Colossi quicker. Signet of Undeath is nice for reviving people if they die to agony. (People really should not die otherwise.)
XII. Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the ideal group set-up?
As many guardians as possible. Seriously. The reflects, boons, and heals guardian bring to a group make every single encounter a lot easier. It’s not necessarily that guardians are required; it’s that guardians give groups a lot more leeway. It’s probably not ideal to run five guardians, but there are a lot of high-level groups that run with three guardians and two damage dealers. Other classes bring their fair share of utility, but guardians currently bring way more than any other class.
If I had to make the perfect group for a condition necromancer, I would suggest two guardians, one warrior, and one mesmer. For a more support-oriented group, the warrior could be replaced with a supporting elementalist.
For other classes and builds, just try to have some balance. Going in with five glass cannons is a terrible idea. Five support can work a little better, but it’s still bad. The ideal group is two or three support with the rest acting as damage dealers.
Also, make sure to never invite more than one condition build to a group. Condition builds do great DPS, but the bleed cap makes more than one condition build useless.
XIII. Revisions and Additions
Jan. 9, 2013: Added some information to VIII. Snowblind Fractal, partly with the help of Trollhammer on the official forums.
Jan. 7, 2013: Added achievement section to XI. Solid Ocean Fractal. Made some corrections to IX. Aquatic Ruins Fractal, largely thanks to AngelicLoki on Reddit, and IV. Underground Facility Fractal, largely thanks toHadBadDayDoSame2U on Reddit.