Rift Hunting
From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the feature in the Secrets of the Obscure expansion. For the achievement category, see Rift Hunting (achievements). “With the help of the Heart of the Obscure, you’ll find nascent rifts across Tyria. Fully opening a rift will reveal Kryptis invaders who were roaming Tyria while hidden from sight. Defeat enough of them, and a more formidable champion will appear for you to face. Taking down the final Kryptis target will allow you to close the rift and will grant you Kryptis essence: powerful material you can use to craft weapons, armor, legendary armor, and bait to lure out deadlier Kryptis from rifts.
— Official site
Rift Hunting is a feature introduced in the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure expansion, suitable for both solo and group play. Kryptis Rifts appear throughout various parts of the world of Tyria, and the goal is to stop them.
Mechanics[edit]
- Locating and closing rifts
- Kryptis Rifts appear all around the world of Tyria—always in zones from Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure, as well as several other zones that cycle on a weekly basis. The current list of zones with active Kryptis Rifts can be viewed in-game in the
Weekly Rift Hunting achievement category. - After unlocking the Rift Guidance mastery, you can travel to one of the active maps and use the mastery skill Scan for Rift to help locate an active rift. Using the skill will show particles around your character that point in the rift's direction and the associated event will be displayed on the world map. If you use the skill in a zone without active rifts, you will be directed towards those that currently have them.
- When you find and interact with the rift, a pre-event will start which requires you to kill Kryptis that start spawning in the area. Afterwards, you can interact with the rift again with the Heart of the Obscure or a Motivation to start a second event with an elite (Tier 1) or champion enemy (Tier 2 and 3). Killing it will allow you to close the rift with the Heart of the Obscure.
- Only one player needs to interact with the Heart of the Obscure or a Motivation to start the second event.
- Rifts do not have cooldowns, so after closing one you can immediately look for another one.
- Motivations and Rift Tiers
- There are 3 tiers of rifts. The first and easiest tier is, by default, intended to be completable by a solo player. Higher tiers are scaled for groups by default.
- One of each tier of rifts exist simultaneously in a single zone instance, all tracked separately. By default only tier 1 rifts are tracked. Use/activate a "Motivation" item in your inventory to grant an effect that changes the tier of rift Scan for Rift will track. Doing this does not spend the motivation item.
- Motivations can be crafted after unlocking the appropriate Astral Ward mastery and buying the recipe, e.g. from Lyhr in The Wizard's Tower. They can also be traded with other players on the Trading Post.
Common Kryptis Motivation - Re-toggles tracking tier 1 rifts if another rift tier has been toggled.
Uncommon Kryptis Motivation - Toggles tracking tier 2 rifts.
Rare Kryptis Motivation - Toggles tracking tier 3 rifts.
- When you interact with the rift after finishing the pre-event, you can use a motivation of the appropriate tier instead of the Heart of the Obscure, which increases the rewards you'll get for completing the rift. Doing this will spend the motivation item. Applying an available motivation from your inventory is always an option even if another player uses their heart of the obscure to open the rift.
- Spending Common Kryptis Motivations on tier 1 rifts is optional, they can be opened without one, but it increases your personal rewards.
- Higher tier rifts require that at least one player spends a motivation item of the given tier in order to open them. Other players then have several seconds during which they can (but don't have to) spend their own motivations as well to increase their rewards from the event.
- Spending
- Players may receive rewards from participating in pre-events and rift closures even if they do not own, or have not started, the Secrets of the Obscure story. However, these players will not be able to open rifts, spawn the elite or champion enemy, or close the rift (since doing so requires access to the Heart of the Obscure).
Events and location[edit]
- T1 Rifts
TIER 1: Hunt kryptis to lure out their leader (80)
TIER 1: Halt Kryptis rift invaders to draw out their leader (80) (Inner Nayos only)
- T2 Rifts
- [Group Event] TIER 2: Hunt kryptis to lure out their leader (80)
- [Group Event] TIER 2: Lure out the rift target and defeat it (80)
- [Group Event] TIER 2: Halt Kryptis rift invaders to draw out their leader (80) (Inner Nayos only)
- [Group Event] TIER 2: Lure out the rift target and defeat it (80)
- T3 Rifts
- [Group Event] TIER 3: Hunt kryptis to lure out their leader (80)
- [Group Event] TIER 3: Lure out the rift target and defeat it (80)
- Can drop Skyscale weapons when using motivations
- [Group Event] TIER 3: Halt Kryptis rift invaders to draw out their leader (80) (Inner Nayos only)
- [Group Event] TIER 3: Lure out the rift target and defeat it (80)
Rift Spawns By Map[edit]
- Rift Map Auric Basin Complete.jpg
- Rift Map Bloodstone Fen complete.jpg
- Rift Map Desert Highlands complete.jpg
- Rift Map Dry Top complete.jpg
- Rift Map Ember Bay complete.jpg
- Rift Map Fireheart Rise complete.jpg
- Rift Map Frostgorge Sound complete.jpg
- Rift Map Inner Nayos complete.jpg
- Rift Map Malchor's Leap complete.jpg
- Rift Map Seitung Province complete.jpg
Related masteries[edit]
Heart of the Obscure Research mastery track[edit]
- Rift Guidance — The Heart of the Obscure can be used to find small Kryptis rifts.
Astral Ward mastery track[edit]
- Astral Craft — Gain access to purchasing Astral Ward armor and the recipes to craft common and uncommon Kryptis Motivations for use in rift hunting.
- Emotion Control — Gain access to purchasing the recipe to craft rare Kryptis Motivations for use in rift hunting.
- Rift Mastery — Learn to extract greater amounts of Kryptis essence from rifts.
Gallery[edit]
Related achievements[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- Six additional maps were added into the rotation with the Tuesday, 26 September 2023 update.
- Eight additional maps were added into the rotation with the Tuesday, 07 November 2023 update.
- For a summary of the amount of kryptis essences rewarded by rifts, see Kryptis essence#Acquisition.
External links[edit]
- First Contact: The Kryptis and Rift Hunting, Guildwars2.com
- Rift Hunting, YouTube.com
References[edit]
