Heart of the Volcano (story)
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This article is about the Living World Season 3 story instance. For the hero point in Mount Maelstrom, see Heart of the Volcano. Heart of the Volcano
- Year
- 1330 AE
- Storyline
- Living World Season 3
- Chapter
- Flashpoint
- Location
- Inner Titan's Throat
(Draconis Mons)
Primal Kiln
(Draconis Mons)
Titan's Throat
(Draconis Mons) - Level
- 80
- Preceded by
- Elder Druid Protection
- Followed by
- "Where's Balthazar?"
- API
- 464
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Loading screen |
Heart of the Volcano is the final part of Flashpoint.
Objectives[edit]
Into the Volcano
- Follow Balthazar into the volcano's chimney.
- Explore the caldera.
- Take the scanner from Scruffy.
- Use your special action skill to scan the barrier.
- Give Scruffy your scanner.
- Scan the barrier again to expose an energy anomaly.
- Glide up and collect the anomaly.
- Destroy one of the barrier's anchors with an anomaly.
- Rescan the barrier to generate another anomaly.
- Use anomalies to destroy the barrier's remaining anchors.
- Descend into the volcano.
- Scan the second barrier to expose an energy anomaly.
- Use anomalies to destroy the second barrier's anchors.
- Descend farther into the volcano.
- Scan the third barrier to expose an energy anomaly.
- Use anomalies to destroy the third barrier's anchors.
- Descend to Taimi's machine.
- Scan the machine.
- Defeat Balthazar's hounds.
- Scan Hound's corpse.
- And again, defeat one of the hounds.
- Defeat Balthazar's hounds.
- Rescan machine to leak more dragon energy.
- Glide up and collect both fragments of dragon energy.
- Taint hound corpse with combined dragon energy.
- Destroy the hounds by tainting their corpses with dragon energy.
Rewards[edit]
Empyreal Fragment (5)
Gilded Strongbox (3)
Unbound Magic (consumed automatically for 50 Unbound Magic)
Pamphlet of Wisdom (2)
Bag of Loot (5)
Fire Orchid Blossom (5)
Volcano's Heart
Walkthrough[edit]
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On entering the instance, you find yourself in a caldera with a variety of roaming Destroyers, an energy barrier (a dome-shaped structure) in the center, and (3) Barrier Anchors around the edges. Taimi provides you with a scanner that enables the release of balls of Dragon energy from the barrier which can be collected and used (with the Redirect Anomaly gliding skill) to destroy the anchors. While numerous, the Destroyers are nuisances that distract from the main task. Once the anchors have been destroyed, the barrier vanishes and allows you to drop to the next lower level of the caldera. This sequence occurs 3 times. At the third level, all remaining Destroyers vanish on the destruction of the first anchor, making completion of this level much easier. On dropping down to the lowest level, you find a central platform with Taimi's Machine being manipulated by Balthazar. After a short cut-scene, Balthazar unleashes his hounds against you. Both hounds need to be killed (from the ground) and then destroyed by using Dragon energy from the air. This energy is released from Taimi's device via the scanner, with the energy balls collected in air, then targeted to the "dead" hound before its health can be restored. Once both hounds and Taimi's device have been destroyed, the instance ends.
Within the caldera, the gliding mechanic changes due to the hot air in the caldera. You will not lose endurance and instead slowly accelerate upward. The longer you glide without cancelling the glide, the faster you will rise. Leaning forward will cause you to accelerate forward and upward more rapidly while leaning backwards will result in moving forward and upward slowly.
Achievements[edit]
| Heart of the Volcano | Flashpoint | 1  0
|
|---|---|---|
| Enter the caldera, and venture deep into the heart of the volcano.Journal: Heart of the Volcano Completed | Completed the Heart of the Volcano | 0
|
  Fancy Flying
|
Flashpoint | 5
|
|---|---|---|
| Descend the chimney in the Heart of the Volcano instance without being hit by destroyer fireballs.Story Instance: Heart of the Volcano "Like a moth to the flame."
|
Descended the Chimney While Avoiding Destroyer Fireballs | 5
|
- Make it to the bottom without being hit by any Destroyer fireballs, including both on the ground and in the air.
- Achievement qualification may be tracked via the
Achievement Eligibility: Fancy Flying effect. - The easiest way to get this achievement is by partnering with another player, with the helping player opening the story instance. Only the owner of the instance can interact with the scanner to release the energy anomalies. The helping player can open all three barriers (the Destroyers can be ignored) with the other player waiting next to Taimi. When all barriers are gone, it will be safe to descend in order to get the achievement, which is awarded upon landing on the final platform. Note that the second player does not need to kill all Destroyers. Instead, they can pass through all three barriers and on destroying one of the links, all Destroyers will insta-die, and the other player can safely glide down.
| Go Nuts with the Scanning | Flashpoint | 5
|
|---|---|---|
| Find all unique objects and creatures in the Heart of the Volcano instance that respond to Taimi's scanner.Story Instance: Heart of the Volcano "A Scan a Day..." |
Scanned 1 Object or Creature in the Heart of the Volcano Instance | 0
|
| Scanned All 9 Objects and Creatures in the Heart of the Volcano Instance | 5
|
- You will need to scan: Taimi, Barrier Anchor, Energy Barrier (x3), any Destroyer (easiest to do as soon as you begin your descent), the machine, and both of Balthazar's Hounds, Tegan and Temar.
- Only the person who opens the instance can use the scanner and hence progress this achievement.
| Excess Energy | Flashpoint | 3
|
|---|---|---|
| Find all the lingering fragments of Primordus and Jormag energy in the Heart of the Volcano instance.Story Instance: Heart of the Volcano "Leaving stray Elder Dragon energy around probably won't cause any problems...but better safe than sorry." |
Found 1 Fragment of Primordus and Jormag Energy in the Heart of the Volcano Instance | 0
|
| 12 Found All Fragments of Primordus and Jormag Energy in the Heart of the Volcano Instance | 3
|
- There are six blue orbs of Jormag energy leading from the entrance to the volcano core to where Taimi's machine was located, and there are six red orbs of Primordus energy located above the lava where Primordus was emerging that must be collected.
| Return to Heart of the Volcano
|
Return to Flashpoint | 0
|
|---|---|---|
Complete the mission Heart of the Volcano in Living World Season 3 Episode 5.
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Completed Heart of the Volcano | 0
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NPCs[edit]
Allies[edit]
Foes[edit]
Objects[edit]
Dialogue[edit]
- Upon exploring the volcano's caldera
- <Character name>: Taimi. I've reached the volcano's chimney. The druids' ward is...holding. I am feeling some heat, though.
- Taimi: I'd expect you to work up a little sweat, but let me know if you experience a fiery death.
- <Character name>: Thanks. There's... Looks like there's some sort of energy barrier here. Any ideas? I can describe it for you if you want.
- Taimi: How about if I just take a look myself?
- <Character name>: You—! Scruffy! He's fixed?
- Taimi: Not completely... This is my fault. I wasn't going to let you go it alone.
- <Character name>: Balthazar's doing this, not you.
- Taimi: But I gave him the gun.
- Taimi: Anyway, Scruffy's mobile and heat-shielded, but he's still lacking weapon capabilities, so I won't be much good to you.
- <Character name>: It's just great to have you here. Facing a god of war and all...
- Taimi: We're sure in it deep, Commander! Here. Take this scanner and use it on the possibly deadly energy barrier.
- Taking the scanner
- Taimi: Go nuts with the scanning.
- Scanning Scruffy 2.0 and Taimi
- Scanner: Boundless—intellect—with—infinite—cognitive—capacity—detected.
- Scanner:Designation: Taimi—the—Magnificent.
- <Character name>: Funny; it didn't say anything about how humble you are.
- Taimi: Hey, it's just a scanner. It only sees the world as objective data. Who am I to argue?
- Scanning one of the anchors of the energy field for the first time
- Scanner: The—energy—barrier's—structure—is—fragile—here.
- After scanning the first energy field
- Scanner: Volatile—energy—field—detected.
- Scanner: Field—is—not—naturally—occurring—for—this—geographic—location.
- Taimi: Gonna guess that means Balthazar or one of his people set it up.
- Taimi: In that case, maybe it's not perfect. I can modulate your scanner to find any cracks in the armor...
- Taimi: Let me see it again for a second.
- Giving the scanner to Scruffy
- Taimi: Try it now.
- After scanning the energy field again
- Scanner: Assessing—weakness. Defect—discovered. Please—stand—clear.
- Taimi: Hooray! You didn't die! That's scientific progress! It looks like the field tried to purge its weaknesses.
- Taimi: Collect those anomalies and use them against the field. That should do the trick.
- Taimi: I'd glide up there myself, but, you know... I'm in two tons of steel.
- Taimi: The heated air in here should give you a lift.
- Talking to Scruffy 2.0 (Taimi)
- I got this figured out, Commander. Me brains, you brawn. Look up for the anomalies. If you glide up, you can collect one. Once you've got it, shoot it at a vulnerability. That'll take care of it.
Glide up? Really?
- Yesss. The hot air in here will lift you if you glide out over it. Close your glider, and you'll fall though. Don't forget to curb your momentum before you hit the ground or Commander goes squish!
Okay, I got this.
- Okay, thanks.
- When taking too long to grab the anomaly
- Taimi: The anomalies are above you, so you'll need to glide up to collect one.
- Taimi: Once you've got one, you can fire it down at one of the field's vulnerabilities.
- Taimi: The air in there is so hot that you'll naturally glide upward.
- Taimi: When you're ready to descend, close your glider, but be sure to reopen it before you go splat!
- When taking even longer
- Taimi: If you need to expose more anomalies, you can always scan the center of the field again.
- If landed after touching anomaly and did not use them
- Taimi: Huh. The anomaly dispersed when you touched down.
- Taimi: Guess you'll need to stay airborne to use them against the field's vulnerabilities.
- After disrupting the first energy field by destroying all three anchorsq
- Taimi: Nice work! I'll monitor your descent and stay in touch over the communicator.
- Taimi: Have a good...uh...plummet!
- Talking to Scruffy 2.0 (Taimi)
- What? Is something wrong? Why are you back here? Need I remind you that time is of the essence? The great and powerful god of Not Caring Who Dies could activate the device at any moment!
- I just wanted to check on you before I made my run.
- Upon scanning any destroyer for the first time
- Scanner: Destroyer—detected. Entity—is—magma—and—rock—animated—by—Elder—Dragon—spectrum: Primordus.
- While descending the vulcano
- <Character name>: You'll never guess what's down here.
- Taimi: Please tell me it's not a second, even angrier, god of war...
- <Character name>: No. Another energy field. And some destroyers who don't like me airborne.
- Taimi: Well, standard annihilate-or-avoid tactics should work on the destroyers, and the scanner should disrupt the barrier.
- Upon scanning the second energy field for the first time
- Taimi: Have you thought about...you know...?
- <Character name>: There's really no other way to kill Primordus or Jormag?
- Taimi: They're each other's weakness. Like Mordremoth's was its mind. And without my machine...
- Taimi: I don't think they're going to duke it out physically. Feels like that would be a disaster anyway.
- <Character name>: I can't believe we're seriously considering saving them.
- Taimi: I know, but magic is so out of whack. If one more goes, all of Tyria might just collapse in on itself.
- <Character name>: If...IF we keep them alive, how do we keep them from killing us all anyway?
- Taimi: Hey, one problem at a time. At least we'd be alive to solve it...
- After destroying the second energy field
- Taimi: Looks like you broke through. Down you go!
- While descending towards the third energy field
- Taimi: My sensors show you nearing the base of the chimney, but let me guess... Another barrier?
- <Character name>: You got it. And more destroyers. Many more!
- Taimi: Well, you know what to do!
- After destroying the first anchor of the second energy field
- <Character name>: Taimi, all of the destroyers... They just... dropped.
- Taimi: Uh... Okay... So you've probably guessed...
- Taimi: That roar was Primordus. We've passed the event horizon. The machine's on.
- Taimi: We either let Balthazar kill the dragons and absorb the magic or destroy the machine...
- <Character name>: (growl) Don't plan on Braham ever talking to us again if we take Jormag off the table.
- Taimi: I love that big dummy, but I'd rather be alive to try to explain myself.
- After disrupting the third energy field
- Taimi: That did it! Go! Go!
- Upon reaching Balthazar and the machine
- Taimi: Are you fighting him? What's happening?
- <Character name>: He's here, but...not here. If that makes sense. Above the machine. In the channel of magic.
- Taimi: What? Can you scan him?
- Upon scanning Balthazar
- Scanner: No—life—detected. Only—magic—energy—present.
- Taimi: Nooooo...! Is the coast clear? Can I come down?
- <Character name>: There's a god and an Elder Dragon down here, but you're welcome to join.
- Taimi: Whoa. Hotter down here. Is that...? That's Primordus! Right there! I've never been this close to an Elder Dragon!
- <Character name>: Should we be worried about it...I don't know, moving and killing us all?
- Taimi: I theorized the machine would put it in a state of paralysis... Looks like I was right.
- <Character name>: So what's going on with Balthazar?
- Taimi: He's somehow inserted himself into the system... And he's so magically adept... So in order to absorb...
- Taimi: Okay, I'll admit it. I don't really know exactly what's happening. But...here we are. Clock's ticking. What do you think?
- <Character name>: Destroy it. A murderous, overpowered god of war is too dangerous to keep around.
- <Character name>: Even if you're wrong about the deaths of more dragons devastating the planet.
- Taimi: Agreed.
- Balthazar: Your kind will not stop my campaign.
- <Character name>: Balthazar! What you're doing... You'll destroy Tyria!
- Balthazar: Your home is a trivial concern.
- Balthazar: They abated me; dimmed my light... But they will see me now.
- <Character name>: If you won't stop, then at least face me! For the honor of battle! Of war!
- Taimi: Good thinking! A certain death sentence, but good thinking!
- Balthazar: I've learned there is no honor in war. But if you crave the glory of the fray...
- Balthazar: Temar! Tegon! Feast!
- Taimi: Ah! You take care of them, and I'll start the overload process!
- Scanning Tegon during battle
- Scanner: Canine—signature—detected. Designation: Tegon.
- Scanner: Good—dog.
- Scanning Temar during battle
- Scanner: Canine—signature—detected. Designation: Temar.
- Scanner: Bad—dog.
- After killing one of Balthazar's hounds
- Taimi: Uh, why is it still burning after you just killed it? Try scanning it.
- Scanning the slain hound
- Scanner: Entity—corpse—is—concentrating—heat—for—revival.
- Taimi: Gimme a second! I'll figure something out!
- Taimi: Try this! No...! Actually, yes. Try using your scanner to disrupt my machine!
- Alternating when killing one of the hounds again
- Taimi: It's down! Use the scanner to disrupt the machine!
- Taimi: Scan the machine when one of the hounds is dead!
- After rescanning the machine
- Taimi: You're going to have to glide to get the dragon energy.
- Taimi: Glide! You need to grab both of those clusters of dragon energy!
- Grabbing the first energy cluster
- Scanner: Energy—channel—disrupted.
- After grabbing both clusters
- Taimi: Quick, hit the hound's corpse with the dragon energy before it revives!
- Taimi: Shoot it!
- Taimi: Hurry!
- If landed after interacting with the clusters and did not use them
- Taimi: The dragon energy dispersed when you landed.
- Taimi: You need to fire it at one of the hounds' corpses while you're still airborne.
- Upon hitting a hound with the dragon energy
- Taimi: The machine is reacting! Nice work!
- Taimi: Keep it up and the machine will think they're part of the dragons!
- Taimi: Another blast like that should do it!
- After hitting a hound with the dragon energy again
- Taimi: Another reaction from the machine! Do it again!
- After finally defeating the first hound
- Taimi: You did it!
- Balthazar: That was a dire mistake.
- <Character name>: Step out then! Stop me!
- Taimi: Good one, Commander!
- Taimi: Anyways, one more to go!
- Taimi: Getting close with the overload!
- After defeating the second hound
- Taimi: Good timing! I'm ready to overload the machine! You sure about this?
- <Character name>: Am I sure? Are you sure?
- Taimi: Guess we'll find out! But...
- Taimi: What is Balthazar doing?
- Taimi: Aargh!
- Balthazar: I was weak... I'm feeling much better now.
- <Character name>: Taimi, do it now!
- Balthazar: The...power!
- <Character name>: You okay?
- Taimi: Yeah, yeah. The machine... It...survived.
- After overloading the machine (in-game cut scene)
- Taimi: Whaddya know? I was wro—
- Taimi: Aaaaaaah!
- After the cut scene
- <Character name>: What was that?
- Taimi: That was what I thought was going to happen. Just took a little longer.
- <Character name>: Tyria seems intact, so at least there's that... You see Balthazar?
- Taimi: No. Looked like he was vaporized in the explosion, but...he apparently doesn't like to follow the rules I know.
- <Character name>: And Primordus?
- Taimi: Let me check...
- Scanner: Elder—Dragon—spectrum: Primordus, energy—subsiding—to—pre-awakening—level.
- Taimi: Night, night, sweet dragon! Guessing the same thing happened to Jormag too.
- Taimi: Uh, still... we should vacate this hot hole ASAP.
- <Character name>: We just spared two Elder Dragons, Taimi. I had to say that out loud; I don't really believe it.
- Taimi: Paradigm: shifted. But I'm relieved I'm not responsible for the death of everything I know and love.
- <Character name>: Confirm that theory as soon as you can. I'm sure we'll have a lot of convincing to do when word of this gets out.
- Taimi: I won't sleep until I... On second thought, maybe a little nap before I get started will be good for me.
- <Character name>: Definitely do that. I'll try to find out what happened to our divine friend.
- <Character name>: With any luck he's been scattered to the Mists.
- Taimi: At least we won the day, Commander. Score one for Dragon's Watch.
- <Character name>: True. And maybe one day we'll be a guild that can field a full team.
- Taimi: Ha-ha. Hey, don't be too hard on yourself. Rata Sum wasn't built in a day, you know? We'll get there soon enough...
- Talking to Scruffy 2.0
- Well, plug me in and call me zapped. That was intense. I wish the others had been here to help. I feel like I never see Braham, Rox, Kas, or Jory anymore.
- Agreed. Let's get out of here.
- Great idea. I want to run some tests on Scruffy 2.0. I hadn't planned to bring him into the field so soon. The smell of burning hair...not leaving his air-intake system anytime soon. (cough)
- Your new design looks good.
- You don't know the half of it! It has internal phalange arrays, TWO pulpless propulsion systems, and a heated seat—for a cozy factor that's off the charts.
- Sounds wonderful.
- I wish Marjory hadn't run off to spy on Lazarus, but she meant well.
- If she hadn't, we'd never have known about the mirror, and we'd have had no warning that he was on his way. I'm just glad she wasn't killed when Kasmeer started drooling in front of Balthazar.
- It's a human thing...the gods. Kasmeer couldn't help herself.
- I suppose you see more of Kas and Jory than I do. They were with you in the battle of Divinity's Reach, right?
- No, actually, they weren't. Jory was with Lazarus, and Kas...I don't know.
- You don't know? I guess you were kinda busy. And Kas has been doing all that work for Countess Anise and the queen. I bet she was behind the scenes somewhere, being all "sneaky mesmer."
- Likely. As for Braham, he's...trying to find his footing. Rox is with him.
- I've tried to get in touch with him, but he's avoiding me. Rox told me he broke one of Jormag's teeth, and the norn in Hoelbrak have been celebrating ever since. They won't give him any peace.
- He's determined to go after Jormag. But...
- I know. In light of what I discovered, considering how...wrong I was, going after Jormag isn't a good idea. I haven't told him that yet. It's going to be hard to be heard through the norn cheers.
- And you'll triple-check your new theory on the Elder Dragons, please?
- That's my plan. We have no more room for error. I'll be in touch as soon as I know anything new.
- Get home safely.
- That must be it. C'mon, let's get out of here.
- Me too. C'mon, let's go.
- After leaving the instance
- Druid Spirit: You have done a good deed. Thank you. The protection from the elder druids is at an end. Go in peace.
My story[edit]
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Notes[edit]
- Throughout this instance, "gliding" is impacted by hot air updrafts that exist everywhere in the caldera. You can only descend by falling, if you try to glide, you will find yourself in an uncontrolled ascent, which very often will leave you "out of range" of your targeted foe. The platform itself is a stable surface, and there are a "few" floating islands that also provide stability and allow for needed health recovery.
- There are two types of Vine-Touched Destroyers in this area. Some move around, while the majority are stationary. The stationary ones will shoot fireballs at you if you are airborne and ignore you while you are grounded (although there might be a slight delay in their non-aggressive nature depending on the timing of your landing compared to their next attack cycle). The mobile ones will attack you regardless of your location in the air or on the ground. Conversely, the Rotting Destroyers attack when you are grounded, but do not attack you while you are airborne.
- Jumping is considered to be airborne.
- The fireballs can travel through the ledges where the destroyers are stationed.
- The Destroyers will not respawn, so it is possible to remove all of the aerial threats.
- There is an intermittent energy beam that will shooting out from the center area of the lowest level as a red beam, and a few seconds later return down as a blue beam. The red beam causes Burning damage, while the blue beam does Chilled damage.
- Approaching Primordus will cause up to 20 stacks of
Burning. Ignoring the burning and continuing to approach Primordus results in 40 or more stacks of Burning. - Your character will be under the
Druid's Protection effect for the duration of the instance. - The Combat/Movement UI option Snap Groud Target to Current Target may prevent aiming at the anchors, automatically targeting one of nearby destroyer instead. It's recommended to switch this option off while doing this part.
Trivia[edit]
- Falling from the highest point (maximum elevation with gliding) to the lowest point (lava floor) takes 58 seconds, making it one of the longest falls in the game. With a Jade Tech Gliding Booster this can be increased to comfortably over a minute by climbing well above where the updraft effect ceases before starting the fall.
