Lonely Tower Fractal
“Immediately following the foundation of the Astral Ward, Eparch finally returned to Tyria to strike back against Isgarren's "betrayal"–this time, with a full entourage. Help Isgarren, Mabon, and Dagda navigate the crumbling halls of the Wizard's Tower and push the Kryptis back where they came from.
— Official description
The Lonely Tower Fractal is a fractal dungeon at scales 25, 50, 75 and 100. The fractal relives a past event occurring within The Wizard's Tower.
Objectives[edit]
- Fractal Difficulty Scale: x
- Personal Fractal Level: x
- Defend the tower.
- Dispel the Kryptis corruption powering the barrier by repairing astral purifiers.
- Astral Purifiers Repaired
- Track down the other enemy.
- Dispel the Kryptis corruption blocking the way forward.
- Drive out the demons.
- Deimos
- Cerus
- Regroup with Isgarren.
- Incarnation of Judgment remaining: x
- Defeat Eparch.
Meet Dessa and assist with her experiments.
Rewards[edit]
- Primary article: Fractals of the Mists#Rewards
Challenge Mode[edit]
- Rare chance at the following:
- Additionally, completing the Defeat Eparch objective awards:
Walkthrough[edit]
Astral Purifiers[edit]
Players must interact with each purifier and complete the minigame before the Time Running Out effect runs out. Additionally, three Avatar of Spite will spawn (only a single one will spawn at the lone purifier after the second hazard filled corridor) and will explode and interrupt these players upon reaching them, this can be mitigated with stability or by killing the Avatar of Spite. Each purifier requires 10 correct inputs to complete.
Note - This maybe a bug but it works everytime you try it for now even in CM.
The Purifiers work as an on/off switch when you first interact with it. If one player interacts with it and starts doing the puzzle and spawns the mobs while another player interacts with the same purifier then the mobs will despawn for that purifier. The second player does not need to do the minigame. It can be failed or the bundle can be dropped.
Cerus & Deimos[edit]
The player closest to each boss will receive either the Cerus's Focus or Deimos's Focus effect. The fixated players must separate both bosses to prevent them from gaining the Brothers United effect.
Achievement Eligibility: Brothers, Together
- Potential strategies
- Stacking them both is a possible strategy. The black oil from Deimos does minimum damage even in T4, though the oil does also hide AoEs indicators from other attacks like Deimos's Demonic Shockwave or Cerus's puddles. When Cerus gives a player a timed bomb on their head they must run far away before the timer expires. Hands spawn on the player furthest from Deimos. Take special care if the Mistlock Instability: Afflicted mistlock is active, as each tick of damage from the hands gives conditions(in addition to 5 stacks of torment per damage tick from the hands).
- In Challenge Mode: Prebuff, enter and stack behind the first pillar to drop off the Cerus puddles. Stack at Cerus or Deimos. However if you stack at Cerus, the hands will spawn and will take some time to move to Deimos causing your team to get hit by the hands. If you stack on Deimos, the hands spawned will be taken up by Deimos instantly.
Eparch[edit]
Downing removes all attunements from said player.
The fight starts with Eparch doing one of the two patterns, the spiral AoE or the Fire Shockwave Slam. If no player is in close proximity (inside/touching the hitbox) then he does the Spiral AoE else he does the Fire Shockwave Slam.
- General pattern
- If players are in melee range of boss - Fire Shockwave (Red) -> Spiral AoE (Blue) -> Arrow (Green) -> Spin (Orange) -> Arrow (Green) -> Shard AoE (Purple)
- If players are out of range of boss -> Spiral AoE (Blue) -> Fire Shockwave (Red) -> Arrow (Green) -> Spin (Orange) -> Arrow (Green) -> Shard AoE (Purple)
Globules of emotion will spawn after Eparch uses attacks. Each attack has a corresponding emotion. Collecting globules of one emotion will provide the respective attunement effect. Collecting globules of other emotions will each remove a stack of any existing attunement before granting the respective attunement.
If there is a never a player touching the hitbox of Eparch, he will never do Fire Shockwave (Red) attack. The general pattern becomes same as above but without Red orbs spawning. The boss will attempt to move towards a player(for ~3 seconds), if Eparch comes close to the player's hitbox then he does the Fire Shockwave (Red) attack.
The arrow attack corrupts boons on-hit. Eparch raises his hands and throws the attack towards the arrows diagonally downward. It may be dodged by dodging forward into Eparch or by staying far away between the arrows(Jumping may cause you to get hit by the arrow attack if you are close to the boss). Stability is corrupted into Fear, so be careful with boons.
The pull only does damage if it's pulling you, i.e if you're at the center of his hitbox it will do no damage. But this will not work with certain Mistlock instabilities (like Toxic trail, Flux bomb). It is possible to outheal the pull if he has fewer than 5 stacks of Rage (Red) even in CM. The pull seems to be doing a lot of damage but actually that is not the case, since he pulls you into his other AoEs (Like Spiral AoE that spawns Despair (Blue) orbs) hence amplifying the damage and reducing healing received due to a combination of Eparch's own attunement, Agony applied from Spiral AoE and sometimes Mistlock Instabilities (Like Toxic Trail).
The slam portion of the shockwave cannot be blocked, but invulnerability, dodge or distortion can be used. There's is a small delay between the animation and damage instance, so you must jump/dodge early(When he's just about to bring his hammer down from the top of his head, not when it's about to touch the ground). It is player targetted with no indicator, if you dodge through the boss and you're the target, the boss will turn around and hammer you.
Shard AoEs, the attack where he stabs the ground and spawns small circles under you while spawning Malice (Purple) orbs, hits for 9 times. You must keep moving. This pattern can overlap with other patterns, i.e it will continue while he's doing a different pattern.
Eparch does ~7 patterns before entering a breakbar phase. (In Challenge Mode, this count is carried over between phases, i.e if he did 4 attacks before phasing, when he returns, he will do 3 patterns before entering a breakbar phase.)
When his defiance bar unlocks, Eparch gains permanent barrier and consumes all current globules, gaining the respective empowerment listed below. Successfully breaking the bar will remove varying stacks of each empowerment depending on the fractal tier. Concurrently, Eparch will target the player that is the furthest away from him with the Consume effect. The targeted player's attunement stacks will first be depleted before applying permanent stacks of the Consumed effect. Interacting with any globule removes one stack each. Eparch has a 3000 defiance bar.
- Challenge mode changes
- Clearing the breakbar does not remove stacks of attunement from Eparch.
- The Consume debuff cannot be removed by interacting with globules. The longer it takes to clear the breakbar, the more stacks of Consume will be applied to the player, thus reducing more attributes and making it more difficult to survive.
- Each breakbar cleared makes subsequent breakbars harder due to stacks of Determination.
- At 65%, Eparch flies up and becomes Invulnerable. Two rifts open to the left and right of Eparch. Each rift spawns one Champion Incarnation of Cruelty or Champion Incarnation of Judgement with many other lesser mobs. If the mobs reach the area close to Eparch's flying body, a tether is created towards Eparch, causing the mob to be absorbed and giving him stacks of attunement. Players need to kill the champions first and then close the rifts by going to the white AoE that spawn next to them. The phase ends when both rifts are closed.
- At 35%, the same phase repeats but instead of two, now there are three rifts that need to be closed.
- Tips and tricks for Challenge Mode
- It's recommended to aim for fewer than 3 stacks of either Envy (Green) or Rage (Red) before 66%.
- It seems that Eparch prefers targeting the same person for Consume (You can see a tether towards said player).[verification requested]
- Different attacks spawn different orbs. Knowing/tracking which attacks spawn which orbs and moving early can make it easier for him to have fewer stacks of attunement.
- When he does Consume he takes the stacks of attunement from said player, i.e if player had 6 stacks of attunement it will be taken by the boss. That is why sometimes you will see him get stacks even when there's no orbs on the ground.
- It is essential to remove any stacks of Envy (Green) and Rage (Red) by interacting with either Despair (Blue) or Regret (Yellow) or Malice (Purple).
- Maths session tips - If you took 6 stacks of Envy (Green) then you must take a total of 6 stacks of other attunements to make sure you don't have any left of Green. Same for Rage (Red).
Mechanic | Attunement (Player) |
Description | Empowerment (Eparch) |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spiral AoEs | Despair (Blue) | Decreased incoming damage. Decreased outgoing damage. |
Despair | Decreased incoming damage. |
Arrows | Envy (Green) | Increased effect of boons and conditions. Take more damage from conditions. |
Envy | Attacks corrupt boons. |
Pull | Gluttony (Orange) | Gain bonus life-stealing to attacks. Take periodic damage. |
Gluttony | Gain health when consuming emotions. |
PBT Shard AoE's | Malice (Purple) | Control effects last longer and deal more defiance damage. | Malice | Attacks inflict conditions. |
Fire Shock Wave | Rage (Red) | Increased outgoing attack damage. Increased incoming damage. |
Rage | Increased outgoing damage. |
Adds | Regret (Yellow) | Decreased skill activation and recharge time. Take damage when using skills. |
Regret | Reflects incoming damage. |
Achievements[edit]
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Fissure Walker — Defeat Eparch in the Lonely Tower fractal without taking damage from his rage fissures. (3 )
- This achievement may be tracked via the Achievement Eligibility: Fissure Walker effect. If failed, you have to reset the instance entirely.
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Brothers, Together — Defeat Cerus and Deimos within 5 seconds of each other in the Lonely Tower fractal. (3 )
- This achievement may be tracked via the Achievement Eligibility: Brothers, Together effect on either Cerus or Deimos after the other is killed. The tracker does not appear on players.
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Emotionless — Defeat Eparch in the Lonely Tower fractal without allowing him to reach 20 stacks of any emotional attunement. (3 )
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Wayfind Yourself Out — Complete the Lonely Tower fractal on the Master tier. (3 )
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Wizard's Tower Is Ours, Eparch — Complete the Lonely Tower fractal on any tier. (2 )
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Secrets of the Tower — Accept the harbinger's challenge and defeat the final boss in the Lonely Tower fractal. (5 )
- Lonely Tower Fractal: Wavering Ward — Accept the harbinger's challenge and complete the Lonely Tower fractal without anyone in your group being defeated. (5 )
- Must reset instance entirely if wiped at last boss. There is no tracker for this achievement.
NPCs[edit]
Allies[edit]
Foes[edit]
- Avatar of Spite
- Cerus
- Deimos
- Eparch
- Veteran Incarnation of Judgment
- Veteran The Craven
- Veteran The Tormented
Objects[edit]
- Astral Purifier
- Astral Purifier Node
- Despair Globule
- Envy Globule
- Gluttony Globule
- Malice Globule
- Mistlock Singularity
- Rage Globule
- Regret Globule
Dialogue[edit]
- Entering the fractal
- Dessa: Careful, this one is active.
- Dessa: What... What is this place? I can't place it anywhere in Tyria...
- Dagda: Mabon. Isgarren. Pick a god and thank her for your survival...
- Mabon: Where are the others?
- Dagda: Dead.
- Isgarren: All of them?
- Dagda: Akeem and Vass. Waiting Sorrow is fine, but... She's in shock. Won't speak. Or move.
- Mabon: Isgarren, I'm so—
- Isgarren: We don't have time to mourn. If this wound continues to hemorrhage, we're all dead.
- Isgarren: I'll look for the rotten imp. Carve a path forward.
- Mabon: Ward, with us. Dagda, come.
- Encountering the magic barrier
- Mabon: I don't know this magic that blocks our path...
- Entering the purifier room
- (Deimos and Cerus were briefly seen in the room before disappearing)
- Dagda: There they are. The ones that killed Vass.
- After clearing the purifier room and going back to your allies
- Mabon: Ah, you all made it. Good.
- Mabon: Stay close. Eyes up.
- After the final purifier
- Mabon: Whenever you're ready.
- After driving out Deimos and Cerus
- Dagda: Turn your own realm to blood and bone.
- Mabon: Isgarren is higher in the tower. Dagda, a portal? I'm still collecting my strength.
- Dagda: There. I'll look for Waiting Sorrow and check on the rest of the ward. Go.
- Regrouping with Isgarren
- Isgarren: This place does not belong to you. Tyria belongs to no one! They've bowed to selfish deities for far too long.
- Eparch: You refuse to harness its power, but you can feel it. I know you can, Isgarren.
- After clearing out the Incarnation of Judgment
- Isgarren: Mabon, we need to expel them from this plane. I hate to ask more of you, but please. Lend me what little strength remains.
- Isgarren: The rest of you: protect your world. Protect Tyria!
- After completing the fractal
- Eparch: Cling to your valiance, Isgarren. One day I will rip it from your fingers.
- Mabon: Eparch...? That was Eparch? You described a monster, not an army of them.
- Isgarren: He's been busy.
- Mabon: Will he come back?.
- Isgarren: With even more fodder. But there's no telling what that might be.
- Isgarren: We should tend to our wounded- where is Dagda?
- Mabon: Isgarren-
- Isgarren: No. There's nothing we can discuss that will make these next moments easier.
Related achievements[edit]
Notes[edit]
- The June 25, 2024 game update implemented the following changes for the Eparch encounter:
- Reduced the boon corruption Eparch causes with Envy Empowerment.
- Eparch's Consume skill will only absorb emotion globules that are 5 or more seconds old.
- Reduced Eparch's health further.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Wave of Envy from hitting enemies if they were standing too close to Eparch.
- Reduced the boon corruption dealt by Wave of Envy. The skill no longer corrupts boons on players who evade the attack.
- Reduced the health of the rift guardian champions summoned during the encounter in challenge mode.
- Gluttony attunement can no longer be used to directly attack and close the rifts.
- The June 4, 2024 game update implemented the following changes for the Eparch encounter:
- Eparch's total health has been reduced.
- Fixed an issue that caused Eparch to gain conditions from Malice Empowerment instead of inflicting them when hitting enemies.
- Fixed an issue that caused Regret Globules to apply Gluttony Attunement.
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to kill Eparch when he was unable to fight back.
Trivia[edit]
- This fractal was announced in the Secrets of the Obscure launch blogpost on August 22, 2023, and released on May 21, 2024. The challenge mode was released on June 4, 2024.
External links[edit]
- New Fractal Dungeon - The Lonely Tower, YouTube.com
- Studio Update: Guild Wars 2 in Spring and Summer 2024, GuildWars2.com