The Ruined City of Arah (explorable)

This article is about the explorable mode of The Ruined City of Arah dungeon. For the historic story mode that was superseded by the personal story step Victory or Death, see The Ruined City of Arah (story).

“

After Zhaitan's defeat, the Pact is exploring the human City of the Gods to gain more knowledge about the Elder Dragons.

— Description at the dungeon's entrance

This page covers information for the explorable mode of the The Ruined City of Arah dungeon in Cursed Shore. Scholars of the Durmand Priory have come to Arah to study the ancient secrets of the ruined city. Players cooperate with one of these scholars to learn about how ancient civilizations survived the threat of the Elder Dragons.

The dungeon features four paths:

Path 1: Scholar Varra Skylark and the Jotun.
- In path 1, players have to prove their worth to the Jotun to find an ancient Jotun telescope that the Jotun Stargazers of millennia ago used to watch the stars and learn about the life cycles of the Elder Dragons.
Path 2: Scholar Yissa and the Mursaat.
- In path 2, players race against the Inquest in a search for artifacts that may explain how the Mursaat were able to hide from the Elder Dragons.
Path 3, Scholar Warden Illyra and the Forgotten.
- In path 3, players explore Arah to find the exact location in which the Forgotten were able to free Glint from Kralkatorrik's influence.
Path 4, Scholar Randall Greyston and the Seer.
- In path 4, players recover fragments of the original Bloodstone that the Risen have been using to increase their power.

In terms of length, path 4 is considerably longer than the other paths, and features more mechanics. Paths 2 and 3 are the shortest, with path 2 having the most one-shot mechanics, and path 3 having the easiest bosses. Path 1 is of average length, but features an optional boss fight that most groups choose to skip, shortening its length.

Dungeon information[edit]

Objectives[edit]

All paths

Help the Pact investigate Arah.
- Choose which elder race to investigate.
- Speak with Ogden.
- Choose which researcher to aid.

Jotun

Locate and open the jotun observatory.
- Search for keys to the jotun observatory.
- Defeat the crystalline entities.
- Investigate the jotun monument stone.
- Drive the shoggroth to the surface and defeat it.
- Navigate the labyrinth of Arah
- Defeat the undead temple guard.
- Giganticus Lupicus
- Defeat Korga, Lord of the Orrian gorillas
- Korga
- Investigate the jotun monument stone.
- Defeat the jotun stargazer.
Good job! You've discovered a secret of the jotun

Mursaat

Discover the secrets of the Mursaat.
- Meet up with Yissa's scouts
- Belka
- Continue the search for Mursaat artifacts.
- Berserker Abomination
- Race against the Inquest for Mursaat Artifacts.
- Navigate the labyrinth of Arah
- Defeat the undead temple guard.
- Giganticus Lupicus
- Alphard, Serpent of the Waves.
- Stop the Inquest in their research of the Mursaat.
- Operative Brie
Congratulations! You've foiled the Inquest and found the secret of the mursaat[sic].

Forgotten

Discover how the Forgotten restored Glint's free will.
- Locate artifacts of the Forgotten.
- Navigate the labyrinth of Arah
- Defeat the undead temple guard.
- Giganticus Lupicus
- Take the chicken to the Altar of Glaust.
- Prevent the Wraithlord's servants from disrupting the ritual.
- Ritual progress
- Defeat the Wraithlord.
- Wraithlord Health
Excellent! You've uncovered the Forgotten's secret!

Seer

Hunt for evidence of the Bloodstone's shattering.
- Breach the gare and press deeper into Arah.
- Break open the gate.
- Accompany the Pact troops into the ruins.
- Risen Knight
- Search for shards of the Bloodstone.
- Activate the Balthazar statue.
- Corrupted High Priest of Balthazar
- Activate the Melandru statue.
- Corrupted High Priest of Melandru
- Investigate the statue of Lyssa.
- Corrupted High Priest of Lyssa
- Navigate the labyrinth of Arah
- Defeat the undead temple guard.
- Giganticus Lupicus
- Orrian Air Tower destroyed: x/3
- Activate the Grenth statue.
- Corrupted High Priest of Grenth
- Activate the Dwayna statue.
- Corrupted High Priest of Dwayna
- Clear the undead from around the altar.
- Bloodstone Shard
You have found the secret of the Seers. Congratulations!

Events[edit]

Repair the cannon and defeat the giants.
- Cannon gears turned in: x/3
- Pact cannon
- Defeat the undead giants

Rewards[edit]

70% experience towards the next character level
26
Bonus Gold (first time each day per account)
- Jotun Path: 1
- Mursaat Path: 1
- Forgotten Path: 50
- Seer Path: 1
20 Tales of Dungeon Delving for the successful completion of a path
- 80 Tales of Dungeon Delving as bonus for the first completion per path per day

Unique Loot[edit]

Walkthrough[edit]

Useful items[edit]

The following items are bought from NPCs in the open world, and are very useful in this dungeon because of the benefits they provide. They are not mandatory but do offer a considerable quality of life improvement. These items are used for running past enemies without fighting them, a strategy almost always employed in this dungeon.

Ash Legion Spy Kit - 10 seconds of camouflage, ends prematurely if the player moves. 60 seconds of recharge.
Harpy Feathers - 3 seconds of stealth. 6 seconds of recharge.
Order of Whispers Spy Kit - 3 seconds of stealth. 60 seconds of recharge.
Pot of Hylek Poison - 10 seconds of swiftness. 15 seconds of recharge.

Common mobs[edit]

These enemies can be found in several locations around Arah:

Oozes

Primarily found in the Jotun path. Oozes hit quickly for high damage in melee and applying a plethora of conditions. Vile Oozes are particularly obnoxious; when these enemies are low on health, they will fire 2 unblockable projectiles while despawning. Each projectile creates a Lesser Ooze, which will then attempt to move towards each other to recombine. If allowed to recombine, the Lesser Oozes will return as a full-health Vile Ooze. Although this mechanic will not work if the fired projectiles create the Lesser Ooze in a location where they cannot move towards each other because of pathing issues, such as walls.

Risen

The Risen are found in all paths. There are several types:

Illusionist: fire a long-lasting beam on a single target that deals moderate damage per tick while inflicting vulnerability. They also summon Chaos Storms, which inflict massive damage and multiple conditions. These are the most dangerous type of Risen in this dungeon because of the massive damage of their chaos storms, and should always be prioritized.

Elementalist: primarily attack by throwing a spread of green wheels that fly out and return, dealing damage both ways. Individual hits from the wheels do minor damage, but getting hit by the entire spread going out and back will deal massive damage, making melee impractical. Can be killed very quickly by using reflect skills. Low priority.

Mage: summon water geysers that heal Risen on them, and deal moderate damage to players inside their area. They also launch players in melee range. Low priority, their heals are annoying but not too strong.

Hunter: periodically spawns non-elite Risen Eagles, and attacks for very high damage with an axe. The axe can hit one single target for moderate damage, or it can be a bouncing axe that deals massive damage to several targets. Second-highest priority target after Illusionists because of their damage.

Plague Bearer: found primarily in the Mursaat path. Suicides on players for low damage, spawning a large number of non-elite Risen Grubs that spam projectile attacks for negligible damage. Grubs are a low threat, but concentrated fire can slowly add up to eventually down a player. Grubs are hostile to Inquest mobs.

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

The Giganticus Lupicus is a boss common to every path in Arah's explorable mode, located at the midpoint of each route. The fight takes place in a large circular area. Giganticus Lupicus has 3 phases; during the transition, Giganticus Lupicus will briefly turn invulnerable. Its attack cadence is slow, but all attacks do high to massive damage.

Phase 1[edit]

In phase 1, Giganticus Lupicus barely moves, has few attacks, and will attempt to increase its power by consuming Risen Grubs.

Mighty Kick: Lupicus kicks players in melee range, dealing massive damage, likely oneshotting players, and launching them. The animation for this attack is very short, so players are advised to not use skills that will lock them in an animation, making them unable to dodge, while Lupicus itself is not doing another attack. Otherwise, they might be oneshot by a surprise kick.

Summon Locust Swarm: Lupicus vomits and spawns from 0 to 3 fairly fragile Elite Locust Swarm enemies that cause Bleeding and do high melee damage, especially if allowed to accumulate in numbers. Groups can dispose of them while focusing Lupicus, as they will easily die to cleave attacks.

Summon Risen Grub: Lupicus gathers green energy with its hand, slowly rising it, while creating a green plague aura around one player. The animation ends when the hand reaches the highest point, at which point the targetted player can dodge the attack. Should the player fail to dodge this attack, they will be knocked down a couple seconds later, and a Risen Grub spawns. No Grub spawns if the targetted player dodges this attack.

Consume Risen Grub: after spawning, Grubs will attempt to rapidly move towards the boss, who will consume them. Each consumed Grub grants Lupicus a stack of Empowered. Each stack mitigates damage received by 2% and increases damage dealt by approximately 4%, for a maximum of 50% incoming damage reduction and 200% extra damage dealt at 25 stacks.

Groups with low dps might want to fight at range. The dps loss from ranged combat is balanced with Grubs taking longer to reach the boss. Skills that break stuns, and skills that provide stability, can be useful if players can't dodge the Summon Risen Grub attack.

Grubs are very fragile, and competent groups will annihilate them while focusing Lupicus. Whether the group manages to deal with this mechanic or not, the best strategy in this phase is to do enough damage to push Lupicus into his second phase to limit the number of Risen Grubs Lupicus could possibly consume. If the whole group fights at melee, both Risen Grubs and Locus Swarms will be dealt with while focusing the boss.

Phase 2[edit]

Once the boss goes below 75% health, and finishes its current animation, it summons a Risen Grub that can't be avoided, and turns invulnerable for a few seconds to start phase 2 - the deadliest phase. This unavoidable Grub can be denied should it target a summon that disappears before the attack finishes, such as a mesmer clone (shatter it), a ranger pet (change pet), etc. There are two strategies that can be employed in this second phase, choosing one or the other depends on party composition and their ability to recognize Lupicus' attacks.

Ranged option: only advised for groups completely unfamiliar with the dungeon, who can't recognize when Lupicus is about to do its deadly projectile attack.

Melee option: the most recommended and most commonly employed. Players stack inside Lupicus hitbox, and use skills that block or reflect projectiles (more on that below) to deny Lupicus' most dangerous attack in this phase. This only works if the player(s) using the skill(s) that blocks or reflects projectiles knows Lupicus' animations and can read the animation for the projectile attack. This melee tactic also allows players to evade most of Lupicus basic attacks simply by moving around it, resulting in higher dps, and removes one attack from Lupicus' arsenal.

Lupicus has 4 attacks in this phase:

Lupine Blast - Lupicus dissolves into smoke and quickly runs towards a player. When it reaches them, it materializes again, dealing heavy damage and knocking down in a moderately large area around it. Lupicus will not use this attack if all players are within range of its other attacks.

Necrid Bolt - Lupicus casts a powerful projectile at a single target, exploding on contact to cause Poisoned and moderate damage to all nearby players.

Necrid Barrage - Lupicus casts an extremely deadly rain of projectiles, covering the area around it. The landing area of these projectiles is marked by red circles on the ground, they explode upon hitting the ground, doing damage in an area. This dangerous attack can be completely ignored by using skills that block or reflect projectiles, creating a safe zone that allows the group to keep doing damage to Lupicus during this attack. Reflects are extremely useful, as they turn this dangerous attack back at the boss for great damage. Since projectiles explode in an area upon hitting the ground, they can still possibly damage players standing inside skills that block or reflect projectiles if they land near the walls of said skill. If Lupicus is standing extremely close to the arena's wall when doing this attack, reflect skills can be placed on the wall so that they cover the spawning point of the projectiles (above Lupicus head), reflecting every single projectile, potentially killing Lupicus in the spot, completely skipping phase 3. If the projectiles are not reflected or blocked, they will fly out in an outwards random pattern. Projectiles fired further away take longer to land, so players are advised to dodge towards Lupicus.

Melee claw attack - Lupicus hits players in front of it with its right claw, inflicting extremely high damage, Knockback, and three stacks of Bleeding.

The animation for Necrid Barrage consists of Giganticus Lupicus briefly bending, and crossing its arms like it's hugging itself. Then, it quickly rises and opens his arms above its head.

Phase 3[edit]

Once the boss goes below 50% health, and finishes its current animation, it turns invulnerable for a few seconds to start phase 3.

During phase 3, Giganticus Lupicus will start to attack players more directly, and some attacks can leech health to heal itself. This phase is significantly easier if fighting at melee range. Lupicus has 5 attacks during this phase:

Life Drain - Lupicus targets one player, points at them, and drains their health. This attack hits 2 times for moderate damage, being faster than what the animation suggests. Movement does not dodge this attack, but it can be dodged as normal.

Necrid Bolt - Lupicus casts a powerful projectile at a single target, exploding on contact to cause Poisoned and massive damage to all nearby players.

Necrid Trap - Lupicus targets one player and summons a dome around them. Any player caught inside will have its health drained with each pulse for 5 seconds, receiving massive damage. The walls of the dome Knockdown, but players can teleport out of the dome or use Stability to dodge through its wall. Lupicus will not cast this extremely deadly attack if players are strictly in melee range.

Frenzied Blast - Lupicus fires several extremely deadly short-range projectiles as an AoE attack aimed at a nearby target. The projectiles explode upon contact, potentially dealing damage in an area larger than the indicator shows. If reflected, this attack can deal significant damage to Lupicus.

Life Drink - Lupicus levitates in the air for a few seconds, creating an ~900 range field around it that inflicts 3 ticks of damage that drain health. Players are advised to get out of range of the attack, or dodge its ticks of damage, to prevent Lupicus from regaining any health. Afterwards, Lupicus violently lands, causing Knockback on a ~300 range around it. Lupicus will drain health from any unit, including summons and pets, it might be wise for mesmers to shatter their clones during this attack.

Lupicus has one final attack:

Lupine Death - Upon defeat, Lupicus will fall, causing a moderate amount of damage to any players nearby, knocking them back.

Once more, the easiest way to deal with Lupicus in this phase is to fight strictly in melee range, since this prevents Lupicus from using the extremely deadly Necrid Trap. Lupicus does not shadow walk in this phase, but it retains the ranged abilities Necrid Bolt, the homing projectile that deals massive damage, so players need to take care if attempting to revive a downed player away from the boss, as they might end downed themselves as well, and defeat the other downed player, if hit by this exploding projectile.

Players should note that, should Lupicus regain enough health via life drain attacks, it will revert to an earlier phase, repeating the animation of changing phase, and becoming invulnerable during it. E.g. if Lupicus was in phase 3, but it drains enough health to return above 50% health, it will briefly turn invulnerable while reverting to phase 2. Once players drop its health below 50% once more, it will again briefly turn invulnerable while returning to phase 3.

Path 1: Jotun[edit]

Jotun path through The Ruined City of Arah

Ancient Ooze[edit]

Getting there: The path to the first boss is populated by several Risen groups and multiple ooze and spider spawns, as well as several Orrian Turrets. The first group of Risen can be cleared out or stealthed through. The ooze spawns can be skipped, and the turrets cleared out using the nearby Reflecting Crystal or with reflecting skills. The Risen group can be circumvented entirely. All other mobs will leash before the party reaches the first boss. When skipping, try to avoid being hit by the oozes; they inflict multiple conditions with their attacks, including cripple, so getting hit at all by an ooze will likely result in being chased down and killed quickly. The ooze have an abnormally large aggro range; if they aggro a player who turns invisible, and the ooze are not allowed to come into range of the stealthed player, the oozes will continue to chase down the player once their stealth runs out. This is commonly known as pathing. To circumvent this, simply allow the Oozes to get into melee range of the players they aggroed, even if those players are currently in stealth, and continue running afterwards. If done correctly, the oozes will not chase those players after they exit stealth.

Ancient Ooze

After speaking with the first Jotun Stargazer spirit, you will have to fight a giant ooze. The ooze has two attacks:

The ooze charges up, then bounces three times toward its target. It only uses this attack if its target is more than 200 range away (outside of melee range).
The ooze charges up, then bounces six times in place. It only uses this attack if its target is less than 200 range away (melee range).

Because of the ooze's attack pattern, there are two approaches to this fight:

Kite the ooze: not recommended, players fight the ooze from range while continuously running away while the ooze chases them bouncing and knocking down nearby players.

Melee the boss. If every player is in melee range of the ooze, it will only use its second attack (bounce 6 times in place). Simply dodge out as you see it glow yellow to charge up, then run back in after its 6th bounce. If all members of the party do this, the boss fight becomes very trivial. This method does not work if not all party members are in melee range, even if they're using a ranged weapon.

Once killed, the ooze splits into two smaller Vile Oozes with an annoying poison spray attack, and drops a Blood of the Ancients. Players can either kill the Vile Oozes (who in turn split in regular silver Vile Oozes, who then split into Lesser Oozes) or simply ignore them and carry the Blood back to the jotun to spawn the chest, create a waypoint, and have the dungeon objective advance.

Whatever strategy the group employs, players are advised to pull the ooze out of its spawning position and have it chase them to a location near the jotun spirit. That way, the Risen and Orrian Turrets are no longer a problem, and players have to run less to give the jotun the Blood.

9 Champion Crystalline Entities[edit]

Getting there: The next area is a small cliff slope filled with Risen, drakes, and oozes; most groups elect to run past these mobs to save time and energy. The most difficult part of the run are the Risen and Orrian Turrets at the Ancient Ooze spawning point. The nearby reflecting crystals can be used to clear the turrets, and reflect the poison projectile attack of the drakes. Once the group reaches the next Jotun stone, they should keep running towards the end of the room to break aggro on the mobs chasing them. Some mobs will remain near the second Jotun Stargazer, but this time there's no need to return and talk to it, so they can be safely ignored.

Crystalline Entities

There are nine Crystalline Entities in this area, and they receive extremely reduced damage from players. To kill them, players have to stand in the lighted areas, where they will gain the Green Light effect. This effect massively increases their damage, while dealing 100 damage per second. The effect stacks the longer a player stands in the sunlight, further increasing damage done, and the speed at which the effect deals damage to them. The group should decide whether to pull all the entities at once, or kill them in smaller groups. Once killed, the dungeon objective advances.

Legendary Shoggroth[edit]

Getting there: After the entities are cleared, drop off the cliff to the east (try to avoid landing in the middle of the Risen Drakes at some places along the base) and use the detonator to clear out the giant mob of Risen on the way to the next boss.

Legendary Shoggroth

Once the third Jotun Stargazer spawns, the group will find 4 "endless" spawning points of tar elementals. One member of the party has to stand on each geyser to stop lesser tar elementals from spawning. Once all 4 geysers are clogged, the boss will spawn and players can step off the geyser. Every 25% of the boss's health, the boss will return to the hole and the geysers must be reclogged.

This boss is notorious for the extremely long stun that it can apply on players whenever they step on one of the tar pools it spits out. However, if the boss is Burning, these pools will not stun, although they will do damage to players standing on them. Competent groups can simply pay attention and not step on the tar pools, dropping the need to keep the boss on fire.

A nearby 300 Year Old Whiskey bottle near the Jotun can be used to help keep the boss ablaze, but players should be careful, as it will burn allies aswell. This is highly discouraged, as the animation is ridiculously long and the burning effect extremely short, so players are better off just doing dps.

Note that the boss does not regenerate health between fights. If for any reason the party wipes, Shoggroth can simply be worn down over repeated attempts.

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Getting there: The first two groups of Risen can be killed easily. Once the group enters The Grand Temple of the Pantheon, they will find a very large group of Risen patrolling the stairs. Players can simply stack on the ledge on the north side of the room, then drop down and run standing close to the north wall. The reflecting crystal at the entrance of the room can help with killing the Orrian Turrets. Then, players can simply wait in the northeast corner of the room, aggro the two Abominations, and kill them once they charge at them in the corner. After killing them, the door to the boss arena will open. The group should be careful not to aggro any of the patroling Risen. Should the group aggro any of the Risen, they are advised to enter the newly open area, where it will be much safer to kill them.

Giganticus Lupicus

See above for the Giganticus Lupicus walkthrough.

Korga the Mighty, Lord of the Orrian Gorillas[edit]

Getting there: The way to the next boss is protected by Risen and spiders. Most groups choose to simply skip all of them and run, the Risen at the beginning are the hardest part to run through, so the group should consider killing them.

Korga the Mighty

Korga is a completely optional boss that the vast majority of groups choose to skip.

This gorilla has the ability to periodically resurrect the nearby gorilla corpses, so groups that choose to kill it should try and stay in the same area to prevent the boss from getting in range of more corpses. This can be hard as the boss's main attack consists of charging across the room. There's a nearby Staff of Radiance that can be used to inflict crowd control on the boss.

The only real reason to kill this boss is to unlock the waypoint in this area, which is useful if the group believes they might struggle with the final boss.

Legendary Jotun Stargazer[edit]

Getting there: A large group of spiders guards the way to the last boss, but they can be easily skipped. If the group lacks reflection skills and/or dps, players are advised to take the 2 reflecting crystals in the spider room and carry them to the boss room ahead. Unlike other reflecting crystals throughout Arah, these ones do respawn after a while of being picked up, so the group can drop them in the boss room, then go back to take more. After the spider room, there's a corridor with Jotun stones that will light up and fire projectiles at players, the group should simply ignore them and keep running.

Jotun Stargazer

The final Jotun Stargazer will test the group's worthiness by having them defeat it. Reflection skills are pretty much mandatory for this boss. It only has 2 attacks, a nameless slow-moving blue projectile that one-shots players, and a fire field (looks like Elementalist Lava Font) that deals very high damage to players that stand on them.

The fight becomes very trivial if the group has access to projectile reflection. If the group lacks reflection skills and/or dps, the reflecting crystals from the previous spider-filled room can be carried to the boss room, there are 2 crystals in that room. A player (preferably one with high precision because of how reflection works) can take that crystal and stand inside the Jotun to reflect all the projectiles it fires, even if the projectiles are targetting other players, dealing massive damage to the boss. That player has to stay alert and be ready to dodge away quickly, since those crystals break after a random number of projectiles is reflected.

The blue projectiles can be outrun with Swiftness, which allows running around the boss while waiting for the recharge of a reflection skill, or a dodge or block. If the groups has little access to reflects, it might be better to run in circles around the boss and stack several projectiles following players, then using an AoE reflect skill like Feedback or an AoE Magnetic Aura like "Aftershock!" to reflect all projectiles at once. Players can reflect any projectile, even if it wasn't aimed at them.

The room will be covered by a ring of fire that will instantly kill players that touch it. As the fight drags on, a smaller ring of fire is created inside the previous ring, further limiting the safe area around the boss, and the previous ring disappears. This process can repeat itself up to three times, severely limiting the fight area. These rings persist for a few seconds after the boss dies. The rings can be crossed with invulnerability.

See also : Reflect#Related skills

Once the boss dies, Scholar Varra Skylark opens the door to the Jotun telescope, and the dungeon path ends. Players can interact with the telescope to watch a short mysterious cinematic. Some players believe it shows the star that represents Zhaitan fading off after the dragon's death.

Go back to the table of contents.

Path 2: Mursaat[edit]

Mursaat path through The Ruined City of Arah

Notable mobs[edit]

Path 2 features 2 unique types of enemies, Dominated Risen and Inquest Technician, these are only found in this path.

Dominated Risen: These Risen have been dominated by Inquest, and often accompany them. They are not hostile to each other. There are three types:
- Deadeye: They aim at one player, indicated by the placing of a red reticule under them, while firing a lighting beam that does no actual damage, and inflicting the Challenged effect as a countdown indicator. 2 seconds later, the Deadeye fires an unblockable shot that will hit all players on its way, knocking them down. The damage of the shot massively scales with distance, and will instantly down players far away from the Deadeye. In melee range, Deadeyes can kick players, knocking them back. They can also plant an Orrian Explosive on a player in melee range, which detonates after few seconds for massive damage in an aoe. This Risen is the most dangerous, since both the snipe shot and the bomb can oneshot players. Players should try their best to dodge their lethal shots, and any attached bomb right as it would explode.
- Berserker: Attacks using the warrior's axe chain Chop, and spins in place dealing tremendous damage over the long casting time. Its attacks root them in place, making it easy to kite or skip them.
- Defiler: Surrounded by a constant poison cloud that poisons players and deals steady low damage. Attacks by throwing a spread of axes similar to the ranger's Splitblade attack, which together with the poison cloud makes them very deadly in melee range. They are much easier to fight at range.

Inquest Technician: Usually accompanied by Dominated Risen. They attack with a stun beam that rapidly pulses stun on players for a long period of time. They deal very little damage, but the extremely long stun duration means that players caught are likely to be downed by other Risen mobs in the process. Because their attacks hit several times, they will quickly consume stacks of stability. Stunbreaks, while undeniably useful, will not save players unable to get out of range of the attack before the next stunning attack hits.

Operative Belka[edit]

Getting there: The route to the first boss is populated by a large number of Risen spiders and Dominated Risen. The spiders can be easily pulled together and killed quickly, or simply skipped for convenience. If skipping, be careful of the Dominated Defiler and the pulsing Crippled aura around them, and the Dominated Deadeye before Belka, who can easily kill inexperienced runners.

Belka

Belka is a ranged immobile boss. The area around her is filled with explosive barrels that deal moderate damage over time, so players should stay away from them. Belka has one extremely dangerous attack, Pulsing Orb, in which she shoots a slow ball of lighting at a player's location that will instantly down all players caught in its landing area, she only aims this attack at players away from her, so if the whole party is in melee range she will not do this attack.

While she is permanently immobilized, she does teleport around the area, although always to the same exact six spots. She also often gets an effect that reflects all projectiles for a moderate amount of time. Because of her uptime of projectile reflection, Belka should be fought using melee weapons. All of Belka's attacks are projectiles, so projectiles blocks, and especially projectiles reflection, are very useful against her.

Players should note that, since all projectiles can only be reflected a maximum of 2 times, using a reflection while Belka has her reflective shield up will cause all projectiles to be reflected twice, and then hit the group of players. Players should be careful of Belka's Knockback attack, as it will push players hit outside of melee range, which often causes Belka to target them with Pulsing Orb.

Berserker Abomination[edit]

Getting there: The cave after Belka is populated by a large number of Risen Spiders and Abominations with the Determined buff, and features an Inquest Power Suit at the entrance and Recharger Devices scattered throughout. There are two ways through the cave:

Not recommended: one player can ride the power suit and push back the spiders using the Repulsion Field skill, while his allies stay close and recharge it using the nearby devices. The Abominations cannot be pushed back due to the Unstoppable buff, but may be killed using the Discharge skill on the bundles. This approach is far slower than just running.

Recommended: because both the spiders and the Abominations are relatively slow, players are advised to simply run through the cave, dodging should an Abomination charge at them. All the enemies that chase them will be forced to aggro an electric turret-like device at the end of the cave, and stop chasing the group. If any of the spiders do chase the group, it might be better to keep running, or kill them, than to try and make them aggro the turret as intended, because with all the enemies attacking the turret, players walking near the turret will likely get vaporised by all the cleaving attacks.

After this electric turret, the group should continue left through the Risen. If the group goes forward before continuing left, players should take care of not aggroing another group of spiders hiding in a cave between the aggro turret and the Risen.

The next path is populated by more Dominated Risen, Risen Spiders, and Risen Drakes which can be cleared or skipped at the group's discretion. If skipping, stealth is highly recommended since there are several Dominated Deadeyes in this area.

Berserker Abomination

This Abomination is surrounded by three respawning Inquest that need to be killed to deal with a key mechanic of this fight. These Inquest drop rifles when they die, which players should pick up and use against the Abomination to tranquilize it when it goes berserk, indicated by it growing larger and turning red. The abomination is easiest when the entire party melees; its slow melee attacks are easily avoided simply by running through it whenever it swings (turning off Melee Asisst in Options helps). Its most dangerous attack is a jump-and-stomp AOE with a very clear animation, players should try their best to dodge this attack, or they will be knocked back and receive heavy damage. Players at range will likely be targetted by a throw rock attack that deals massive damage, instantly downing them.

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Getting there: The first two groups of Risen can be killed easily. Once the group enters The Grand Temple of the Pantheon, they will find a very large group of Risen patrolling the stairs. Players can simply stack on the ledge on the north side of the room, then drop down and run standing close to the north wall. The reflecting crystal at the entrance of the room can help with killing the Orrian Turrets. Then, players can simply wait in the northeast corner of the room, aggro the two Abominations, and kill them once they charge at them in the corner. After killing them, the door to the boss arena will open. The group should be careful not to aggro any of the patroling Risen. Should the group aggro any of the Risen, they are advised to enter the newly open area, where it will be much safer to kill them.

Giganticus Lupicus

See above for the Giganticus Lupicus walkthrough.

Alphard, Serpent of the Waves[edit]

Getting there: The path to Alphard starts with a few groups of Risen and Inquest Mines, which explode 1 second after running over them, dealing massive damage, likely instantly downing players caught in the blast radius. Then continues through an underwater minefield. The underwater section consists of two portions; a large, open area filled with mines that shoot exploding projectiles at players, and a narrow tunnel with four Risen Sharks. The minefield is easily navigated so long as the group keeps moving; even if one person downs, players can still swim while drowning, and safely revive themselves. The Risen Shark are the most deadly part of the run, so the group should beware them. After the underwater section, players will have to navigate through The Rotten Armada. This section is filled with more Inquest Mines, but now there are also turrets that shoot immobilizing nets that can cause players to die to the mines because of the immobilization. Fortunately, mines take a while to respawn, so players can almost always revive themselves if they get downed.

At the beginning of this section, players can stick to the right wall to go on an alternative path that goes above the normal path, allowing them to dodge all mines and turrets, this path leads straight into the group of enemies right before the waypoint. After the waypoint, the group can walk south across the patrolling Inquest, then turn and go north to find the next boss. Skills that shadowstep or teleport can be used on the boss to teleport over the wall and skip a considerable amount of running.

More often than not, only one player will make this run and unlock the waypoint while the rest of the group waits at the Grand Temple of the Pantheon.

Alphard

Refer to the bugs section if a bone wall blocks the way.

Alphard is a Risen boss that combines mesmer and thief skills; it has a total of five attacks:

Vital Shot:. Low damage shot that bleeds.
Unload: Alphard fires multiple bullets at one player.
Throw Anchor: Alphard throws a hook resembling Scorpion Wire that Pulls all players hit towards it. If it hits, Alphard always follows up with:
- Big Ol' Bomb: Alphard lays a bomb that deals massive damage and Knockback when it explodes. The bomb is indicated by a red circle on the ground, players can just roll out of the AOE when they see the red circle. This attack only happens if Alphard hits a player with Throw Anchor.
Dagger Storm: Alphard teleports back to the center of the arena and begins spinning, firing lightning bolts that hit for extremely high damage. These bolts cannot be negated by projectile blocks or reflected, and they bounce after hitting a target.
At at 75%, 50%, and 25% health, Alphard summons 6 clones that attack with its pistol attacks.

The easiest way to kill Alphard is to hide behind the crates in the area, attack the boss to aggro it, then break line of sight by hiding behind the crate, which forces the boss to go into melee range of the party. This way, when Alphard summons its clones around the arena some of them will not have line of sight, which will force them to walk into melee range of the group where they will be easily disposed of with cleaving attacks.

Since Alphard, and its clones, attack only using pistols, skills that block projectiles -or even better, that reflect them- will completely destroy most of Alphard's attacks. If Thrown Anchor is reflected, the Big Ol' Bomb created will be allied to players and will only damage Alphard. Reflecting skills are best used when the clones spawn, so that they will kill themselves.

The only attack players should beware of is the Dagger Storm, as its projectiles cannot be blocked nor reflected. If players are hiding behind a crate, as recommended, they will be safe from this attack, as the terrain will destroy the projectiles. Players should beware that this attack's projectiles bounce upon hitting a target. For this reason, any type of summon, like minions or turrets, is discouraged for this fight, and mesmers should shatter their clones when Alphard starts this attack. Otherwise, the lighting bolts may bounce off of the summons and kill players who thought themselves safe hiding behind a crate.

Operative Brie[edit]

Getting there: After killing Alphard, the barrier to the nearby caves disappears and players can enter an area full of Inquest Technicians and Risen Plague Carriers. The Plague Carriers will chase down players and suicide on them, spawning large numbers of grubs. The Technicians stun for long periods of time, preventing players from dodging dangerous attack from the nearby risen. Parties that are having trouble with the Inquest can intentionally let the Risen Plague Carrier suicide near the Inquest, since the spawned grubs are hostile to the Inquest and they will start attacking each other and ignore players. There are several groups of Risen on the way to the final boss so, if the group decides to skip, stealth will be almost mandatory.

Operative Brie

The terminal

Brie is the final boss, she is Phase-Shifted. Phase-Shifted targets have very high damage reduction from non-Phase-Shifted targets. The fight is extremely short and has two phases.

Phase One: One player, preferably with high damage, has to interact with the nearby terminal to become Phase-Shifted, which allows them to enter the barrier surrounding Brie. Brie receives massively increased damage from Phase-Shifted players while she is above 50% health. The selected player remains Phase-Shifted for 30 seconds, and has to do enough damage to push Brie below 50% health; if they do not succeed, another player will have to use the console to become Phase-Shifted and finish the job. Groups of risen will spawn and attempt to destroy the terminal. Because of how short the fight is, the risen can be fully ignored. Players that are not Phase-Shifted will be knocked back by the barrier surrounding Brie; players can abuse this by walking backwards into the barrier to be knocked back inside the barrier.

Only the Phase-Shifted player deals significant damage to Brie. That player's pet, illusions, turrets, minions, etc. do not become Phase-Shifted and do not do extra damage to her.

Phase two: When Brie goes below 50% health, all players become Phase-Shifted. Brie now receives normal damage, but the fight should nevertheless be short enough for players to keep ignoring the risen trying to destroy the terminal and just kill Brie to finish the dungeon before the terminal is destroyed.

Brie herself only has three attacks:

Brie summons small lightning storms that deal damage in small circles around her. The indicators appear well before the explosions actually hit, so players have plenty of time to avoid them.
Brie charges a big laser that pulses massive damage and confusion, quickly killing players who don't get out of the way. The laser itself is very narrow and takes time to charge, and Brie does not adjust her aim after she begins charging, making it very easy to avoid this attack by simply moving to the side or behind her.
Brie fires a big ball of lightning that hits for massive damage, just like the first boss Operative Belka before. She only does this attack on distant players, so it can be avoided simply by having everyone melee her.

If the risen manage to destroy the terminal, the entire party will be teleported back to The Shipfall area and the fight resets.

Players using the console receive Phasic Instability and cannot use the console again for 2 minutes. The console can only be used once every 15 seconds.

It is technically possible to skip phase 2 by stacking enough damage modifiers on a single high-damage skill, but this requires considerable preparation and it is often better to do the fight normally. The exception is Dragon Slash—Force, which easily one-shots Brie.

Go back to the table of contents.

Path 3: Forgotten[edit]

Forgotten path through The Ruined City of Arah

The Forgotten Path with Warden Illyra is the shortest and easiest path.

Wraithlord's Crusher and Wraithlord's Hunter[edit]

Getting there: The path to the first boss is populated by a very large group of Risen; the group should prioritize killing the Elite Risen Mages, as they can heal the other Risen. As the group approaches the gate, it will close down and another smaller group of Elite Risen will spawn. The door will open after killing these Risen.

Alternatively, players can use stealth to skip the first large group or Risen, and finish choosing the dungeon path after they reach the gate. Since the gate opens at the beginning of the path, players can simply run through it before the second smaller group of Risen spawns, saving a considerable amount of time.

Wraithlord's Crusher and Wraithlord's Hunter

This encounter consists of two bosses: the Legendary Wraithlord Crusher and a Champion Hunter. Players should prioritize the Crusher, as it has the ability to revive the Hunter.

The Hunter will regularly shoot poison clouds at the player's position, plant traps that will trigger on anyone attempting to melee it, and apply conditions to the party. Its most dangerous attack is an arrow that immobilizes for a long time.

The Crusher has two attacks, a slow well-telegraphed charge-up shockwave attack that will down in one hit all players hit; and an AoE revive that will resurrect any Risen in the area, even if their corpses have been looted and disappeared. Players are advised to fight these bosses on their spawning spot, to prevent the Crusher from resurrecting any nearby Risen the group might have killed before.

The easiest way to kill these bosses is to aggro them and pull them to the corner, away from the patrolling risen. Players should focus the Crusher, constantly running around it to flank it and easily get out of the way of its one-shot attack. Players should beware of the immobilization from the Hunter, as it can prevent them from dodging the Crusher's deadly shockwave. The immobilizing arrow can be reflected, or blocked. Otherwise, players can bring skills to cleanse this condition, or skills that allow them to dodge or block the deadly shockwave while immobilized.

Wraithlord's Mage Crusher[edit]

Getting there: The path to the next boss consists of a large run with many Risen, Risen Hands, spiders, and drakes. The Risen Hands throw rocks that knock down, which might pose a problem to players being chased by other enemies. The Champion Risen Spider at the end of the path is the most difficult part, the group should consider using stealth or simply killing it before engaging on the boss.

Wraithlord's Mage Crusher

The Mage Crusher is a very easy boss. The area around it contains several Risen Hands that knockdown players, but their projectile attacks can be reflected or blocked. If reflects or blocks are not available, the Mage Crusher can be pulled east, toward the statue of Lyssa and away from the hands, for a smoother fight. The Crusher will summon large marks on the ground, which it may later explode using another attack signalled by a glowing hand animation. Players have plenty of time to get away from the marks before the boss explodes them. It can also cast a weak life steal attack at one player, and apply some poison.

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Getting there: The path to Lupicus starts with an underwater cavern filled with Risen Fish that fire slow-moving bubbles that inflict low damage and poison when they explode upon colliding with a player. At the end of the underwater cave, the group will encounter a small group of Orrian Gorillas that are easily disposed of.

Following that, the group will encounter a puzzle featuring sealed doors and Corrosive Light Globes. Interacting with the globes gives players an orb of light bundle. Carrying the orb deals damage to the player for as long as it is being held, but it can be thrown at other players, who can catch it. The group has to carry the orb to the Sealed Gate, where they will have to interact with the nearby Inactive Corrosive Light Globe to open the door. This process has to be repeated for the second door, although this time the distance between the active Globe and the inactive one is much larger.

Once the group enters The Grand Temple of the Pantheon, they will find a very large group of Risen patrolling the stairs. Players can simply stack on the ledge on the north side of the room, then drop down and run standing close to the north wall. The reflecting crystal at the entrance of the room can help with killing the Orrian Turrets. Then, players can simply wait in the northeast corner of the room, aggro the two Abominations, and kill them once they charge at them in the corner. After killing them, the door to the boss arena will open. The group should be careful not to aggro any of the patroling Risen. Should the group aggro any of the Risen, they are advised to enter the newly open area, where it will be much safer to kill them.

Giganticus Lupicus

See above for the Giganticus Lupicus walkthrough.

Wraithlord[edit]

Getting there: Unlike the other three paths of Arah, there is only one boss remaining after Lupicus. Players will continue their run, coming across some easily skipped, or killed, small groups of Risen and Risen Spiders. After those, Warden Illyra will find a Risen Chicken, and a waypoint appears. The way to the last boss is populated by a group of Risen and Risen Spiders, their proximity makes this section rather deadly, so players are encouraged to skip them. After them, the group has to jump down, and walk towards the rock footbridge that takes them to the last boss, while avoiding the Risen Giants. Once the group reaches the Altar of Glaust, Illyra will commence the ritual to cleanse the Risen Chicken.

Wraithlord

The battle with the Wraithlord happens in two 'phases'. At first, the Wraithlord will be protected by Deathly Aura, and the group has to perform a cleansing ritual. In phase 2, players face the Wraithlord.

Phase 1: the ritual: Players need to complete a ritual to remove the boss's Deathly Aura, which gives it invulnerability, and deals great damage in a radius around him. To complete the ritual, players must stand inside the capture zones, similar to an open-world event. There are 3 capture zones. The Wraithlord, and the Wraiths that it summons, will deter players from completing the ritual. Ideally, one player will go in while the other 4 wait on the stone bridge. This player will wait about 20 seconds for the wraiths to spawn, then will aggro all of them, and start kiting them all and keeping them away from the ritual circles. Swiftness and healing might be needed to successfully kite all the wraiths. At this point, the other 4 players should enter the arena and simply stand inside the circles without attacking the wraiths to finish the ritual. Players are discouraged from killing the Wraiths, as they have high health and killing them only causes more Wraiths to appear. At least 2 of the 3 circles need to be captured by players, indicated by the color blue, to progress the ritual. Capturing the 3 circles completes the ritual faster. The Wraithlord will teleport to these circles at random. When it teleports to a circle, players on that circle are advised to hide behind the pillar in the centre of the circle, this keeps them safe since the boss's Deathly Aura requires line of sight to deal damage. The boss may also attack players in range by briefly summoning hands, just like necromancer's Grasping Dead.

Phase 2: the Wraithlord: Once the ritual is finished, the Wraithlord becomes vulnerable to normal damage. Primarily a melee attacker, the Wraithlord can also shadow walk -much like Giganticus Lupicus- to players. Its normal attacks are not particularly damaging and have long casting animations, but they apply Corruption. This effect stacks in intensity, increasing the amount of damage taken from the Wraithlord. If a player receives many stacks of Corruption, they should stand in the columns of light that will periodically appear on the ground with a corresponding combo circle. Standing in these circles will remove the player's Corruption stacks and act as a Condition Removal combo field as well. As the fight drags on, the Wraithlord will summon undead tendrils and more minions; these are hindrances at worst. Once the Wraithlord is dead, it will spawn a chest, and the dungeon will be completed.

Go back to the table of contents.

Path 4: Seer[edit]

Seer path through The Ruined City of Arah

This path is considerably longer than any other dungeon path, featuring a total of 7 bosses.

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar[edit]

Getting there: The path to the first boss is populated by a large group of Risen Spiders that are easily killed. Upon reaching the door, the nearby Pact allies will blow it up, and a few Risen will walk through it. At the end of the corridor, a Champion Risen Knight spawns, scaring the pact allies away. Once killed, the group can continue into the first boss's room.

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar

First, players must activate Balthazar's statue by killing the 3 Hounds of Balthazar in the area, then placing the Flame Orbs they drop on the braziers around the statue. After that, the boss spawns.

Kaisar only has 2 attacks: it summons small firestorms that players should get away from, and it spins while slowly chasing a player doing high damage. Getting hit by the entire spinning attack is enough to down players.

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru[edit]

Getting there: The path to the next boss features unnamed green energies patrolling the area. These will knockdown players they hit and deal little damage. After that, a group of Oozes will spawn, these are best skipped as their basic attacks inflict a plethora of conditions, and when their health drops below 25% they split into two smaller oozes that will attempt to recombine. Past the oozes is a small group of spectral enemies, then more green energies, and finally a big group of risen.

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru

To activate Melandru's statue, players must use the buckets of poison, found around the room, on the stumps in the nearby secondary rooms. This will cause tress to grow from the stumps, which then start to spawn moving green energies that knockdown. The statue itself is surrounded by three Orrian Gorillas, these will respawn after a few minutes of being killed until the boss is defeated.

The fight against Vahid is notoriously annoying, but not too difficult. Vahid will continuously summon small trees, inflicting poison where they sprout, and then rooting nearby players. Several green energies patrol the room, knocking down players they hit. There are some spots where these energies never go, players can find and stand on them while they kill the boss from range. If the fight takes too long, the Gorillas will respawn, and threaten the group. The boss itself does not move.

The best strategy is to stack in melee range, finding a spot safe from the green energies. Trees will continue to spawn, but they can be cleaved down or ignored. Players only need to dodge one attack (or use Stability): when the boss lifts one leg, then stomps the ground, dodge 1,5-2 seconds after it stomps to not be launched back.

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa[edit]

Getting there: Past Vahid, players will encounter Surrat, a mysterious Order of Whispers agent, who needs to be rescued from the nearby Risen. There are many risen in the corridor, but only the ones near the door must be killed, so the others can be skipped with stealth. After killing the risen near the door, Surrat will blow it open, leading to an open space with a large group of Risen Spiders. Afterwards, the group should continue south, avoiding the Risen Hands, and across a group of Risen Spiders, including a champion that the group might want to consider killing before facing the next boss. Once Surrat reaches the Statue of Lissa, she is revealed to be a clone, as she shatters and the boss spawns.

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa

Farnaz is a Risen mesmer wielding a staff. Her attacks bounce, inflicting torment and confusion just like Winds of Chaos. It will periodically summon five clones of itself that auto-attack and which, if not killed, will shatter and inflict stacks of confusion to players in range of the shatter. Farnaz will also occasionally turn one party member into a moa bird, although this attack can be dodged by paying attention to when her hand glows yellow. The High Priestess can also create a hostile Elite copy of any party member. After killing the boss, the nearby door opens and the dungeon progresses.

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Getting there: The path to Lupicus starts with an underwater cavern filled with Risen Fish that fire slow-moving bubbles that inflict low damage and poison when they explode upon colliding with a player. Afterwards, the group will encounter a small group of Orrian Gorillas that are easily disposed of.

Following that, the group will encounter a puzzle featuring sealed doors and Corrosive Light Globes. Interacting with the globes gives players an orb of light bundle. Carrying the orb deals damage to the player for as long as it is being held, but it can be thrown at other players, who can catch it. The group has to carry the orb to the Sealed Gate, where they will have to interact with the nearby Inactive Corrosive Light Globe to open the door. This process has to be repeated for the second door, although this time the distance between the active Globe and the inactive one is much larger.

Once the group enters The Grand Temple of the Pantheon, they will find a very large group of Risen patrolling the stairs. Players can simply stack on the ledge on the north side of the room, then drop down and run standing close to the north wall. The reflecting crystal at the entrance of the room can help with killing the Orrian Turrets. Then, players can simply wait in the northeast corner of the room, aggro the two Abominations, and kill them once they charge at them in the corner. After killing them, the door to the boss arena will open. The group should be careful not to aggro any of the patroling Risen. Should the group aggro any of the Risen, they are advised to enter the newly open area, where it will be much safer to kill them.

Giganticus Lupicus

See above for the Giganticus Lupicus walkthrough.

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth[edit]

Getting there: After Lupicus, the group will enter an area protected by 3 Risen Antiair Cannons that they need to destroy. These cannons are surrounded by enemies but they can be destroyed from range without aggroing any enemies. The gate to the next boss is guarded by 2 Orrian Guard Turrets.

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth

The group doesn't actually directly face Ghasem itself. Instead, this encounter is divided into 2 phases.

Activating Grenth's statue requires killing the Elite Undead Wraith first. There are 5 dark wells in the Crypts of the Dreaming Dead (they look like Necromancer wells), they will be important throughout the fight. There are various groups of enemies in the room that should be killed first to make things easier, they spawn when approaching the dark wells. Grubs attacks with projectiles that can be reflected or blocked. The group of 4 elite risen is the most dangerous enemy in the room, approach the south-most well with caution.

Phase 1: After killing the mobs, the group is ready for phase 1, facing the Wraith. Each party member has to stand in one of the wells, and wait. The Wraith does not move, and always stands on the Grenth wells. Every time its health decreases by 10%, it will teleport to the next well, always following the same order, and gain the effect Grenth's Blessing (Arah), which removes all conditions affecting it. The wraith must be attacked within 2 seconds to remove Grenth's Blessing, or it will heal it to 100% health and it will teleport back to the first rune. The Wraith also summons 2 mobs every time it teleports away. The Wraith has Grenth's Protection, making it completely immune to projectile attacks, so the whole group has to use weapons without projectiles like most melee weapons. If the Wraith is pushed outside of the Grenth runes, it will reset.

The Wraith always follows the same teleportation order. It starts in the Eastmost rune, then teleports the southmost rune, then to the northmost rune, then to the westmost rune, then to the center rune, and repeat.

Phase 2: After the undead wraith is killed, the Grenth statue will activate, and phase 2 starts. Ghasem, the High Priest of Grenth, can't be directly damaged. Instead, the priest will spawn undead wraiths which the group has to kill. In this phase, it is no longer necessary to stand on the wells, although that's where the wraiths will spawn. Each wraith places a debuff, Grenth's Mark, on one random group member. This debuff deals little damage each second, but it will instantly down its target if it's allowed to expire. To cleanse this debuff, the group has to kill the wraith that placed it. Players can also evade just before the debuff ends to prevent getting downed, but it is easier to just kill the Wraiths before the debuff runs its course. Ghasem's health will decrease by 5% every time one wraith is killed. At first, only one wraith will be active at a time. Then, two, and even three. For the final 25% health, a wraith spawns at the same time in each well, so it is better to spread.

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna[edit]

Getting there: The path to the next boss is a long run but there are no enemies directly on the way. On the first cavern, the group can stick to the right wall and jump off the ledge, taking care of the falling rocks, and skip the entire room. Then, continue south after the cave.

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna

To activate the statue, the group has to aggro the invulnerable Sparks (lightning elementals) all throughout the room, and have them walk over the runes near Dwayna's statue. The rune activates and traps the Spark. Spread throughout the room, the group will find several Dwayna's Tears, it is a good idea to carry them near the statue to deal with a mechanic later on.

When all the runes are activated, Simin spawns. The High Priestess only has 1 attack worth mentioning, Dark Pact, which curses 1 player with the Dead-Eyed Stare effect for a few seconds. Once the effect expires, that player is Petrified for a very long period of time. The petrification can be removed at any time by having another party member throw a Dwayna's Tear at the affected player. Simin also summons small lightning storms that deal moderate damage.

Once the group damages Simin below 50% health, it will stealth and become invulnerable. To reveal it and continue the fight, the group has to repeat the process of placing the invulnerable Sparks on the runes around the statue. This process has to be done quickly, as Simin continuously heals while invisible. A good strategy is to divide the group and have each player aggro one of the Sparks. Once Simin is revealed, it will repeat this stealth attack after a while and until the fight ends, so the group needs to be quick with the Sparks. If the group takes too long to trap the Sparks, Simin will return after having healed for a very large amount of health.

Bloodstone Shard[edit]

Getting there: To reach the final boss, the group has to follow the path by the Champion Orrian Drake, a mini-boss surrounded by Orrian Drake Eggs that spawn several baby Orrian Drakes when players get near. Past the drake is a group of Orrian Spectral weapons, and then another mini-boss, the Champion Undead Knight. To the east is an optional bonus event where players safe a stranded Pact team from the risen, and to the west is a hole that players can jump in to land in water with a few Undead Sharks, and to the north the road continues. Regardless of path chosen, the group will arrive at a cave filled with spiders, and more Orrian Spectral weapons. Players then enter The Heavencrystal Palace, where a few Orrian Gorillas patrol, and finally reach The Bloodstones' Unmaking.

Veteran groups will, more often than not, instead choose to break out of the map and skip directly from Simin to the last boss.

Bloodstone Shard

The Bloodstone Shard is the easiest boss of Arah. After killing the four risen guarding it, Randall Graystone inadvertently activates the Bloodstone Shard, receives Power of the Bloodstone, becomes a ghost with its head on fire, and claims to hear the voices of the Six Human Gods, and the Bloodstone starts to attack the group.

The boss is stationary and will attack the group by copying mechanics from previous bosses: casts firestorms like Balthazar's High Priest, summons moving green energies that knockdown and trees that root like Melandru's High Priest, creates Elite copies of party members like Lyssa's High Priestess, summons an Elite Wraith like Grenth's high Priest, and Petrifies like Dwayna's High Priestess.

All of these mechanics, except petrification, can be completely ignored by a party which stays in melee range, on the platform where the Bloodstone Shard rests, and has moderate damage output. If the latter is not the case, assign one person to throw Dwayna's Tears, found around the Bloodstone Shard, to cleanse Petrification on people. Grenth's wraith can be completely ignored and, should the group not kill the Bloodstone Shard fast enough to despawn all these additional mobs, the player downed by the Wraith's debuff can be quickly revived before continuing the fight.

After killing the Bloodstone, Randall stops being a ghost, says he's going to seek out the gods themselves, and disappears into thin air as the path ends.

Go back to the table of contents.

NPCs[edit]

Allies[edit]

Asura

Scholar Yissa

Dwarves

Ogden Stonehealer

Humans

Norn

Varra Skylark

Plants

Sylvan Hound

Risen

Twitchy (appears initially as "Free-Willed Risen Chicken")

Sylvari

Warden Illyra

Various (Pact)

Foes[edit]

Inquest

Constructs

Bloodstone Shard

Elementals

Ghosts

Legendary Jotun Stargazer

Oozes

Plants

Vahid's Flora

Risen

Objects[edit]

Environmental weapons

Dialogue[edit]

Initial dialogue[edit]

Speaking to Ogden

Thank you for coming to help us uncover the secrets of Arah. Is this your entire group here with you?

We're all here. let's begin.

We'll all be here soon. Please be patient.

Initial cinematic

Ogden Stonehealer: This isn't the first time the dragons have risen.

Ogden Stonehealer: The Tome of the Rubicon speaks of the dwarves fighting the dragon's champions.

Ogden Stonehealer: We have since learned of other races fighting the dragons long ago—mursaat, jotun, Forgotten, and Seers.

Ogden Stonehealer: Their secrets are to be found within this ruined city of the human gods.

Ogden Stonehealer: We have experts on each race, all seeking this lost knowledge.

Ogden Stonehealer: Choose one of them, and help us discover how to better fight the remaining dragons.

Talking to the scholars

Warden Illyra: I have a theory about the Forgotten and Glint. I believe I can show how Glint was freed from the control of the Elder Dragon.

I'm ready to choose a scholar to help.

Have you chosen a scholar to help?

I choose Varra Skylark and the jotun.

I choose Scholar Yissa and the mursaat.

I choose Warden Illyra and the Forgotten.

I choose Randall Greystone and the Seers.

I need more time to decide.

The Forgotten?

They were a race of serpent people. Legends connect them to Glint, and I think they were in part responsible for freeing her.

What can you tell me about Glint?

How exactly do you believe Glint was freed?

That's an intriguing theory. Thank you.

Glint?

Glint, once known as Glaust, was a champion of the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik. She was, until recently, a friend to all living things.

How did a champion of an Elder Dragon became a friend to living things? (same as "How do you believe Glint was freed?")

You said until recently. Is she dead?

Yes. When Kralkatorrik awoke, it hunted her down and killed her. Even Destiny's Edge could not protect her.

What was it that brought you here to begin with?

What a loss for our people.

Thank you for the information.

How do you believe Glint was freed?

The Forgotten discovered a great spell that granted Glint a will free from control by the Elder Dragon. She then concealed many of the elder races from the dragons.

Who were the Forgotten?

What can you tell me about Glint?

Do you know the spell that they used?

Not yet, but I am close. I believe the spell must be worked here in Arah. I must find that location.

I'm sorry, but can you remind me again what the point of your theory was?

That sounds like a worthwhile quest.

That's an amazing story.

That sounds intriguing. Good Luck.

Scholar Yissa: I study the mursaat, and I have a theory about the origin of their powers.

I'm ready to choose a scholar to help.

Have you chosen a scholar to help?

I choose Varra Skylark and the jotun.

I choose Scholar Yissa and the mursaat.

I choose Warden Illyra and the Forgotten.

I choose Randall Greystone and the Seers.

I need more time to decide.

What can you tell me about the mursaat?

The mursaat, also called the Unseen Ones, were a race of powerful spellcasters. They have not been seen for centuries, and I think they are now extinct.

What can you tell me about mursaat magic? (same as "What is your theory?")

What are you investigating here in Arah? (same as "What do you hope to accomplish here?")

That's too bad.

What is your theory?

I believe they used their spellcasting to slip beneath the skin of the world, out of phase with Tyria.

Who were the mursaat?

What are you investigating here in Arah?

That's an interesting theory.

What do you hope to accomplish here?

I have agents already combing the ruins here for ancient mursaat artifacts.

What can you tell me about the mursaat?

What are you setting out to prove here?

These artifacts are necessary for the process?

I hope they uncover somethinmg for you.

That sounds interesting. Good luck.

Varra Skylark: The jotun were once a powerful and magical people, knowledgeable both in sorcery and philosophy.

I'm ready to choose a scholar to help.

Have you chosen a scholar to help?

I choose Varra Skylark and the jotun.

I choose Scholar Yissa and the mursaat.

I choose Warden Illyra and the Forgotten.

I choose Randall Greystone and the Seers.

I need more time to decide.

Knowledgeable in spells?

They were great spellcasters once, but sacrificed that knowledge in blood.

What can you tell me about jotun philosophy? (Same as "Knowledgeable in natural philosophy?")

Why is there jotun magic here in Arah?

That's tragic.

Knowledgeable in natural philosophy?

They understood the ways of the sky and the movements of the heavens. Many of their monument stones are stellar maps, and their stargazers were legendary.

What can you tell me about jotun magic? (Same as "Knowledgeable in spells?")

Why is there jotun magic here in Arah?

That's intriguing.

Why is there jotun magic here in Arah?

There are ancient jotun legends of a sky-sweeper, a great magical observatory. I believe that the human gods brought that mystic telescope here and rebuilt it.

What can you tell me about jotun magic? (Same as "Knowledgeable in spells?")

What can you tell me about jotun philosophy? (Same as "Knowledgeable in natural philosophy?")

What should we do if we come across that telescope?

The jotun believed that the coming of the Elder Dragons was reflected in the heavens. If I can find their telescope, I can prove that.

What can you tell me about jotun magic? (Same as "Knowledgeable in spells?")

What can you tell me about jotun philosophy? (Same as "Knowledgeable in natural philosophy?")

Your goal sounds like a worthy one.

That sounds worth seeking out.

They're an interesting race.

Randall Greyston: I study the Seers, an enigmatic, magical race. I believe they were responsible for the forging of the Bloodstone.

I'm ready to choose a scholar to help.

Have you chosen a scholar to help?

I choose Varra Skylark and the jotun.

I choose Scholar Yissa and the mursaat.

I choose Warden Illyra and the Forgotten.

I choose Randall Greystone and the Seers.

I need more time to decide.

What can you tell me about the Seers?

Not much is known. They were an elder race, alive when the Elder Dragons first awoke. They allied with the Forgotten, the dwarves, the jotun, and the mursaat to resist the Elder Dragons and survived.

Weren't the Seers and the mursaat enemies?

Indeed. They worked together once, but the mursaat betrayed the other races and fled from the world, returning as the Unseen Ones.

What can you tell me about their Bloodstone? (same as "Tell me more about the Bloodstone.")

What is your mission here in Arah?

I believe the gods broke the Bloodstone here in Arah. I think there are pieces from that shattering [sic] are still here, and I aim to find them.

What can you tell me about the Seers? (see above)

What can you tell me about their Bloodstones? (same as "Tell me more about the Bloodstone.")

That sounds like a challenge.

I see. Thanks for the information.

What can you tell me about the Bloodstone? (same as "Tell me more about the Bloodstone.")

What brings you to Arah? (back to the start of this dialogue)

Interesting. Thank you.

Tell me more about the Bloodstone.

I believe that the Seers gathered up the uncorrupted magic, including that of the jotun, and put it within the original Bloodstone.

I thought the human gods created the Bloodstone.

The gods found the stone and used it to give magic to my people. When humans couldn't handle it, the gods broke it into parts.

What brought you to this place to begin with?

That's an interesting new perspective on the human gods.

What can you tell me about the Seers? (see above)

What brings you to Arah? (back to the start of this dialogue)

That's an intriguing theory. Thank you.

That's an exciting idea.

Ogden Stonehealer: With Zhaitan's defeat, we can explore the city of the human gods and uncover its secrets.

What secrets are those?

The human gods built this repository of ancient knowledge of the races that preceded us in Tyria. Our scholars here are specialists on those four ancient races."

Who are you? (same as Who is this "we" of whom you speak?)

What's your role here? (same as below)

I look forward to working with them.

Who is this "we" of whom you speak?

Pact forces are still engaged with Zhaitan's minions throughout Arah. The Priory believes it is vital to preserve the ancient knowledge here from destruction.

What ancient knowledge is that? (same as What secrets are those?)

What's your role here? (same as below)

Understood. Let's get to it.

What's your role here?

I am the last of the dwarves. Most of my people have gone down into the depths of Tyria to fight the Elder Dragon Primordus. I have remained here to help the Priory.

What can you tell me about this place? (same as What secrets are those?)

Who's here with you in Arah? (same as Who is this "we" of whom you speak?)

Glad you're still with us.

There's probably no shortage of wonders and secrets to find here.

Jotun[edit]

Choosing to help Varra Skylark (cinematic)

Varra Skylark: The jotun are now primitive brutes, but they were once brilliant and highly magical.

Varra Skylark: They studied the world and the heavens, and inscribed their discoveries on their great monument stones.

Varra Skylark: My study of those stones in the Shiverpeaks leads me to believe they knew when the dragons would awaken.

Varra Skylark: That knowledge was found by the human gods and brought here to Arah.

Varra Skylark: Our scouts have found old monument stones here among the wreckage. I think they point to where an ancient jotun observatory may be found.

Varra Skylark: Come with me and together we can learn the secret of the jotuns.

At the first monument stone (cinematic)

Varra Skylark: There! A jotun monument stone, uncorrupted by the Elder Dragon's influence!

Varra Skylark: Hold on, something is manifesting. Yes!

Jotun Stargazer: I know your desires. You seek the wisdom of the jotun.

Jotun Stargazer: Speak with me, and if I find you worthy, a mystic jotun stone will be your reward.

Talking to the Legendary Jotun Stragazer

Within this vale lives a beast that has fed on blood for centuries. Bring me a vial of its blood to prove your worth, and I shall grant you the wisdom you seek.

What kind of creature do we hunt?

It's an amorphous beast that has lived since the sinking of Orr, feasting on the dead.

Sounds nasty. Let's go get it.

We will return with the vial

After returning to the first monument stone upon defeating the Ancient Ooze:

Varra Skylark: I have the stone. Let's go!

At the second monument stone

Legendary Jotun Stargazer: I know your desires. You seek the wisdom of the jotun.

Legendary Jotun Stargazer: Speak with me, and if I find you worthy, a mystic jotun stone will be your reward.

Talking to the Legendary Jotun Stragazer

The light filtering through this toxic sky has turned the beasts here to unbreakable glass. Slay them all to prove your worth and I will grant you the wisdom you seek.

How do I break the unbreakable?

The light that made them what they are still shines on Orr. Perhaps it will light your way.

That sounds vaguely clue-like.

These crystaline monsters don't stand a chance.

After defeating the Crystalline Effigies

Varra Skylark: I have the mystic jotun stone.

At the third monument stone

Legendary Jotun Stargazer: I know your desires. You seek the wisdom of the jotun.

Varra Skylark: We have met with your brethren. We will speak with you, and if you find us worthy, we will be rewarded.

Talking to the Legendary Jotun Stragazer

Beneath this place lies a fetid creature of bubbling, protoplasmic ichor. Slay it to prove your worth, and I grant you the wisdom you seek.

How do I bring that thing to the surface?

You must find your own path to that end.

Fine. Be difficult.

I'll gladly put an end to that monstrosity.

Upon defeating Legendary Shoggoth

Varra Skylark: I've got the mystic jotun stone.

Approaching the Giganticus Lupicus (cinematic)

Varra Skylark: This looks like an obsolete arena.

Varra Skylark: And that body is a Giganticus Lupicus! I recognize it from the old texts!

<Character namne>: Be careful. It may not be quite dead.

Varra Skylark: The Giganticus Lupicus died out over ten thousand years ago. Wait a minute! I think you're right!

After defeating the Giganticus Lupicus

Varra Skylark: You've slain it!

Varra Skylark: (sigh) I only hope it's not the last one.

Approaching the final monument stone

Legendary Jotun Stargazer: I know your desires. You seek the wisdom of the jotun.

Varra Skylark: Yes, you will speak with us, and we will be worthy.

Legendary Jotun Stargazer: And the final challenge is to battle me!

Varra Skylark: Wait, what?

After defeating the Jotun Stargazer

Varra Skylark: Beyond this gate should be the secret of the jotun.

Varra Skylark: Let me place the mystic stones the jotun ghosts have provided.

Varra Skylark: Success! We have found it!

Varra Skylark: There! The telescope of the jotun!

After defeating the Legendary Jotun Stargazer and gaining access to the The Mystic Telescope (cinematic)

Varra Skylark: Excellent. I've checked the runes. Now let me examine the device itself.

Varra Skylark: Yes, yes! This clearly shows some new stars in the firmament. And they line up with the jotun designs!

Varra Skylark: The appearance of the Elder Dragons is reflected by the stars themselves. When they awaken, so do these new stars!

Varra Skylark: This will be most helpful for our future work!

Talking to Varra Skylark

This is an amazing discovery! The jotun's sky-sweeper shows a stellar match with the last time the dragons awoke.

What does this prove?

It shows that the awakening of the dragons is a natural and cyclical thing. The stars only indicate the passing ages. They do not determine events here.

When did it last happen? (same as "When was that last time?")

Maybe this can help us prepare for the next time.

When was that last time?

Around ten thousand years ago. You know what this means? The Elder Dragons may have been responsible for the extinction of the Giganticus Lupicus!

What can we learn from this? (same as "What does this prove?")

That huge, undead creature was ten thousand years old? Amazing.

So this happened before, in the age of the jotuns? Interesting.

Mursaat[edit]

Choosing to help Scholar Yissa (cinematic)

Scholar Yissa: Excellent. Someone else as interested in the mursaat as I!

Scholar Yissa: The mursaat are a lost race, but once they ruled humans as the Unseen Ones.

Scholar Yissa: What legends I have uncovered say they used powerful magic to shift themselves out of phase with this world.

Scholar Yissa: I believe they used this as a way to escape the Elder Dragons.

Scholar Yissa: Come! The secret of the mursaat must be somewhere in these ruins!

Discovering the research team has been murdered by Inquest (cinematic)

Operative Belka: So, you're finally catching up with us, eh?

Scholar Yissa: That asura. I recognize her. (gasp) She's Inquest!

Scholar Yissa: She was talking to my scouts earlier. I knew they were interested in the mursaat.

Operative Belka: Your scouts are dead, scholar, and soon you will be as well!

After the cinematic

Operative Belka: Time to launch an ambush!

Defeating Berserker Abomination (cinematic)

Scholar Yissa: There were mursaat artifacts here, but they have been plundered.

Scholar Yissa: They are ahead of us.

Scholar Yissa: I fear these ancient writings will reveal the secrets of the mursaat.

Approaching the Giganticus Lupicus (cinematic)

Scholar Yissa: That's the corpse of a Giganticus Lupicus!

Scholar Yissa: Their extinction matches the possible last time the Elder Dragons awoke.

Scholar Yissa: Hold on, now. I think it's stirring!

Defeating Alphard, Serpent of the Waves (cinematic)

Scholar Yissa: They have plundered this site as well.

Scholar Yissa: If the Inquest discover the secrets of the mursaat, they could become unstoppable.

Approaching Operative Brie (cinematic)

Scholar Yissa: Stop right there! You've stolen enough mursaat relics.

Operative Brie: We've only just begun. With this knowledge, we can become like the mursaat themselves!

Operative Brie: We will leave this world to the Dragons, and then return and rule once they sleep again.

Scholar Yissa: Not on my watch. Your madness ends here!

At 75% HP

Operative Brie: Some assistance would be appreciated!

At 50% HP, when every player gets "out of phase"

Operative Brie: I didn't see THAT coming.

Defeating Operative Brie (cinematic)

Scholar Yissa: Amazing! These artifacts reveal the full story.

Scholar Yissa: The races gathered together to fight the dragons, each contributing something.

Scholar Yissa: Hmm. Yet the mursaat took their knowledge and fled into a half-world, out of phase with our own.

Scholar Yissa: They would have let the rest of the world die just to save themselves. Huh. Just like the Inquest.

Forgotten[edit]

Choosing to help Warden Illyra (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: The Forgotten were an ancient race of serpents.

Warden Illyra: I have learned that the last time the Elder Dragons came, the Forgotten worked with Glint, who hid the old races from the dragons' power.

Warden Illyra: Glint was a champion of the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik, but somehow she shook off his yoke.

Warden Illyra: Our scouts have reported ancient artifacts, which may be tied to the Forgotten.

Warden Illyra: Perhaps they hold the key for freeing creatures from the control of the dragons.

Investigating a Forgotten Vase (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: This artifact once belonged to the Forgotten. The golden seal matches those from the Crystal Desert.

Warden Illyra: More importantly, it has remained uncorrupted either by Orr's long immersion or by Zhaitan.

Warden Illyra: This is important. It means that some sort of protection is possible!

Nearing a Forgotten Tome

Warden Illyra: Careful! More of Zhaitan's minions are about.

Warden Illyra: They cannot corrupt the old Forgotten artifacts, but they can prevent others from using them.

Investigating a Forgotten Tome (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: Yes. Yes! Look at these runes. The Forgotten were able to remove Kralkatorrik's control over Glint.

Warden Illyra: Glint remained in crystalline form, but she regained her free will and identity.

Warden Illyra: If we can re-create the process, this will help in fighting the dragons.

Warden Illyra: The spell requires a location near here. We need to find a likely place to replicate the experiment.

Interacting with Corrosive Light Globe

This sphere glows with corrosive light. The light seems[sic] control a nearby door.

Take a bit of corrosive light.

Corrosive? Leave it alone.

Interacting with sealed door

The gate is secured. Something nearby much[sic] control it.

Let's go look.

Interacting with Unactivated Corrosive Light Globe

The entrance seems to be secured with a mystic lock.

Look for something that would be a key.

Approaching the Giganticus Lupicus (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: That body looks like a Giganticus Lupicus, corrupted by Zhaitan's power.

Warden Illyra: They became extinct long before the first sylvari fell off the tree.

<Character name>: It doesn't look extinct. It's moving!

Warden Illyra: Is it? Amazing!

After defeating the Giganticus Lupicus

Warden Illyra: A pity. Such a titanic creature leashed to Zhaitan's power.

Warden Illyra: Perhaps we may free its brethren, if they still exist.

Talking to Illyra after defeating the Giganticus Lupicus

(additional dialogue option)

What are you planning to do with this chicken?

Warden Illyra: I've learned from our asuran friends that a good theory must be tested. To restore the free will of an individual…creature, we need to bring it to the site where Glint was freed.

What's that theory that you want to test, again?

We should take it to the altar.

Approaching the chicken

Warden Illyra: This looks very interesting.

Upon reaching the chicken (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: This creature is perfect!

<Character name>: It's a chicken. An undead chicken.

Warden Illyra: Yes, yes it is. But it is clearly tainted, while still small enough to contain.

Warden Illyra: Place the undead chicken into this cage and we'll take it to the altar described in the spell.

After opening the cage

Warden Illyra: Okay, I've got the chicken in the cage.

Warden Illyra: We must press on to the altar, and work the spell that freed Glint.

Upon entering the Altar room

Warden Illyra: There! Up there is the altar!

Upon reaching the slope

Warden Illyra: Up the slope! We need to reach the altar.

Discovering the Altar of Glaust (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: This is the altar. It was here, before the human gods came, that Glint was freed of the Elder Dragons.

Warden Illyra: With luck, we can reproduce the original spell.

Warden Illyra: Protect me and the chicken while we perform the ritual!

After cleansing the Risen Chicken and defeating the Wraithlord (cinematic)

Warden Illyra: Excellent! Look at the clarity in its eyes. The lack of murderous rage!

Warden Illyra: I will call it "Twitchy."

Warden Illyra: Ogden will be so impressed!

A long while after

Warden Illyra: What's that, Twitchy? You want some worms?

Seer[edit]

Choosing to help Randall Greyston (cinematic)

Randall Greyston: The seers were a magical race, once close allies to the mursaat.

Randall Greyston: When the Elder Dragons first awoke, they gathered the unspoiled magic in the world and locked it within a great artifact—the first bloodstone.

Randall Greyston: The human gods recovered this bloodstone, and gave magic to the human race. When humanity could not handle that power, they split it into five parts.

Randall Greyston: The first bloodstone was broken into pieces in Arah.

Randall Greyston: I've modified an asuran device to follow divine energies. I think we can find shards from that event, and perhaps its location.

Beginning the path

Vigil Tactician: Stand clear, she's about the blow!

Vigil Tactician: We have enemy inbound!

Vigil Tactician: Onward! Into the fray!

When Champion Undead Knight appears

Vigil Tactician: Hold position, troops!

Vigil Marksman: (screaming)

Vigil Tactician: Mission aborted!

Approaching the first altar

Randall Greyston: Lord Odran once sought out the gods. Perhaps we need to seek them out again.

Activating the altar of Balthazar

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar: Zhaitan will enslave you!

Randall Greyston: Balthazar would be outraged to see his priests corrupted so.

Fighting Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar: For Zhaitan!

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar: You cannot defeat the Elder Dragons!

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar: No! My power betrays me!

After defeating Kaisar (cinematic)

Randall Greyston: Look there! That gem upon the creature's head!

Randall Greyston: That's a shard of the bloodstone. It matches my research.

Randall Greyston: I knew there had to be small pieces from when the human gods sundered it.

Randall Greyston: We must recover it!

After the cinematic

Randall Greyston: This looks interesting.

Randall Greyston: I think Zhaitan's minions are attracted to the power of these stones.

Talking to Randall after defeating the corrupted priest of Balthazar

(additional dialogue option)

What was that creature?

A corrupted avatar of Balthazar, the god of war. Zhaitan's power was immense to have corrupted an aspect of the gods.

What brought you to Arah to begin with (back to the start of this dialogue)

No question. Zhaitan was a monstrously powerful entity.

Reaching Melandru's altar

Randall Greyston: That font of light. I sense that it is strongly divine!

Activating Melandru's altar

Randall Greyston: Look! There's another one!

Randall Greyston: And again, it has a shard of the bloodstone!

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru: Die, in Zhaitan's name!

During the fight

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru: Opposing Zhaitan is sacriledge! [sic]

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru: Bow before Zhaitan's power!

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru: The pain! It is too much!

After defeating the corrupted priest of Melandru

Randall Greyston: This corrupted spawn of Zhaitan would sadden Melandru. Let me uncover the bloodstone shard.

Randall Greyston: Do they seek to consume the power of the bloodstones or to corrupt it?

Talking to Randall after defeating Vahid

(additional dialogue option)

What did we just fight?

A corrupted avatar of Melandru, the god[sic] of nature. How powerful are these Elder Dragons?

What brought you to Arah to begin with (back to the start of this dialogue)

Their power is terrifying.

In the next room

Surratt, Whispers Agent: Hey, I need your help!

Surratt, Whispers Agent: We're in for some trouble.

After defeating the incoming Risen

Surratt, Whispers Agent: Thank you for lending me a hand.

Surratt, Whispers Agent: Ready your weapons and move in!

More enemy encounters

Surratt, Whispers Agent: Couldn't have done it without you.

Surratt, Whispers Agent: Look out!

At the statue of Lyssa

Surratt, Whispers Agent: We're here.

Surratt bows at the statue.

Surratt, Whispers Agent: (evil laughter)

Randall Greyston: By the Six Gods!

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: You must die!

During the fight

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: Zhaitan eats gods!

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: This is Zhaitan's land!

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: Death welcomes me!

When defeating the clones

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: Rally to me! It's Her will!

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: Life is an illusion.

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa: I see through your bravado!

After defeating Farnaz

Randall Greystin: The corrupted Lyssan priestess is down! These shards! They feel warm now.

Randall Greyston: Perhaps the bloodstones are still connected to the Six Gods.

Talking to Randall after defeating the corrupted priestess of Lyssa

(additional dialogue option)

Do you know what that was?

A corrupted avatar of Lyssa, the twin god[sic] of beauty and illusion. No wonder my gods fled this world.

What brought you to this place to begin with (back to the start of this dialogue)

That really was disturbing.

Approaching the Giganticus Lupicus (cinematic)

Randall Greyston: Amazing! This dead creature predates the human gods here.

<Character name>: Look out! It's moving!

Randall Greyston: By the Six Gods! Now it's one more slave to Zhaitan!

Fighting Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth: None dare oppose Zhaitan!

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth: Zhaitan will eat your world!

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth: None escape Zhaitan's rule!

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth: Noooooo!

After defeating Ghasem

Randall Greyston: We have sent Grenth's fallen priest back to the Mists. These shards are beginning to react.

Randall Greyston: The gods left Tyria to the humans centuries ago. If we could only seek out their wisdom!

Talking to Randall after defeating the corrupted priest of Grenth

(additional dialogue option)

What did we just fight?

A corrupted avatar of the death-god, Grenth. Someone must find our gods and tell them of this atrocity!

What brought you to this place to begin with (back to the start of this dialogue)

If only we could. In the meantime, we should press on.

Fighting Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna: You will pay for your trespass!

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna: In Zhaitan's name!

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna: Worship the power of Zhaitan!

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna: Zhaitan, save me!

After defeating Simin

Randall Greyston: Dwayna's corrupted servant is at last laid to rest. She would be pleased.

Randall Greyston: Is there no end to such horrors?

Talking to Randall after defeating the corrupted priestess of Dwayna

(additional dialogue option)

That last creature was an abomination.

That was a corrupted avatar of Dwayna, goddess of life and the air. I must find a way to speak with my gods and seek their help.

What brought you to this place to begin with (back to the start of this dialogue)

I hope you find that way.

When approaching the Bloodstone Shard (cinematic)

Randall Greyston: This must be where the bloodstone was sundered.

Randall Greyston: This is a holy place, overwhelmed by the corruption of the Dragons.

Randall Greyston: Clear this, and let me read the elder runes.

After defeating the Risen surrounding the Bloodstone Shard

Randall Greyston: Each of the bloodstone shards has been captured by a corrupted servant of a human god, yet this one is not. I wonder why.

Cinematic after Randall interacts with the bloodstone

Randall Greyston: Fantastic! The human gods not only sundered the seer's bloodstone here—they increased its power.

Randall Greyston: They pulled from the energies of Zhaitan himself, even though they did not know of the sleeping Elder Dragon.

Randall Greyston: They only knew that this was a place of great magical power, and built their godly city here.

<Character name>: Greyston! What is happening to you?

Randall Greyston: I hear the stones calling me! I hear the voices of the Six Gods!

After the cinematic

Randall Greyston: (whimpering)

Randall Greyston: (screaming)

After defeating the Bloodstone Shard.

Randall Greyston: I go now, to seek out the gods themselves!

Optional event dialogue[edit]

Upon approaching

Vigil Tactician: Hey, need some help over here!

Talking to Vigil Tactician

Vigil Tactician: Those blasted giants knocked our chopper out of the sky. Our cannon has the firepower to take them down, but it's broken. I need three cogs to make the necessary repairs.

I'll see what I can do.

When handing gears in

Vigil Tactician: Thanks. I needed that.

Vigil Tactician: Thanks for pitching in.

Vigil Tactician: This should do it.

When repairing the cannon:

Vigil Tactician: Cover me!

After repairing the cannon:

Vigil Tactician: Excellent!

Vigil Tactician: Prepare to bleed!

After completing the event, when repairing the Pact chopper:

Vigil Tactician: Time to get a move on.

Notes[edit]

The floating Vulture Raptor seen high in the skies of Arah.

Early design of Zhaitan's corpse resting in Arah as seen in one of the game's trailers.

Zhaitan's Rest concept art.

Early design of Zhaitan's corpse resting in Arah as seen during any cinematic dialogue in the dungeon.

Map of Arah during the Beta tests.

A Vulture Raptor can be found floating in the air in one of the areas of this map.
Arah used to have a story mode until the Game Update of 23rd June 2015. The story mode was replaced by the step Victory or Death of the Personal Story.
- Victory or Death commences in Nave of Arah and The Vaults of Holiness, before players board an airship and fly south. The points of interest Salvage of the "Lady Livia", Salvage of the "Riannoc's Dream", and Salvage of the "Whitebear's Pride", all make reference to crashed Pact airships only seen during Victory or Death, but are also present in the map for The Ruined City of Arah, showing completely unremarkable locations.
With the information that has been, or still is, available in-game, it is possible to make an educated guess about how Arah was originally designed to be:
- During the Beta tests of the game, the corpse of Zhaitan could be seen in Arah, possibly after having fallen to its death after the events of the story mode of Arah. The corpse would've likely been seen during Path 4, with the head being marked with the Zhaitan's Rest Point of Interest. However, Zhaitan received a model redesign very shortly before release, and the old Zhaitan model was removed from Arah. Players can still see concept art of this first Zhaitan's corpse model during cinematic dialogue in the dungeon. The Zhaitan's Rest Point of Interest was not removed, and now shows a completely unremarkable location.
- Scholar Trueclaw's history lesson teaches players about the ancient races that populated Tyria during the last Dragonrise: the jotun, the mursaat, the Forgotten, the Seers, and the dwarves; and that the Durmand Priory has taken an interest in researching how these ancient races survived the Elder Dragons. During the Personal Story step The Source of Orr, players first come across the scholars researching each of these races: Varra, who researches the jotun; Yissa, who researches the mursaat; Illyra, who researches the Forgotten; Randall, who researches the Seers, and Calogero the Elder, who researches the dwarves. Varra, Yissa, Illyra, and Randall are the four NPCs that accompany players in the four paths of Arah, but Calogero is nowhere to be found. This suggests that, during development, Arah was envisioned as having 5 paths, with Calogero leading the fifth path to learn more about the dwarves. This is further supported by Captain Scott's dialogue, which also mentions the 5 races. This fifth path could've begun below the starting area where the NPCs stand, as there is an underground collapsed tunnel past the swarm of spiders, and dwarves are known to like living underground.
- During Path 3, players can come across some cells in The Rotten Armada sharing appearance with krait cells found around the world. This detail, together with the design of The Shipfall area reminiscing a krait deep (the structures the krait construct and live in), suggests that krait might have been present in this area of Arah at some point of development. Additionally, the name of the boss in The Rotten Armada: "Alphard, Serpent of the Waves", could be a more fitting name for a krait than the Risen human female seen in-game.

Bugs[edit]

Bugs:

General

During the Corrosive Light Glove puzzle, if the second sealed door is opened before actually choosing to run Paths 3 or 4, Lupicus will bug and remain friendly, blocking progress. This can only happen when using out of bounds skips.
Some groups of enemies in dungeons have the ability to chase players they aggro all around the map if not allowed to come into attack range of the players they aggro, or melee range if those players are in stealth. These enemies will teleport, go out of bounds, traverse the entire map, and chase players until they manage to reach them, at which point they stop. This behavior is unofficially called "pathing". To prevent it, those enemies must be allowed to come into melee range of the players they walk towards, even if those players are in stealth. In Arah, the enemies capable of pathing are:
- The large group of Risen at the start of the dungeon, to the right.
- The large group or Risen between the second boss and Lupicus of Paths 1 and 2.
Some enemies have an abnormally large de-aggro range, and will chase players for very long distances before breaking aggro. These enemies are:
- The first group of Oozes that spawn at the start of Path 1, after the initial gate.
- The large group of Oozes and the Risen Drakes right before the second Jotun Stargazer in Path 1.
- The three Risen Gorillas right before the Corrosive Light Glove puzzle in Paths 3 and 4.
- The Champion Risen Knight at the start of Path 4.

Path 1

After reviving at a waypoint, players may lose all their skills if they were covered in tar when they died. This can be fixed by returning to character select screen.
There is a hole on the ground in the area where players fight Korga the Mighty, Lord of the Orrian Gorillas. If players fall on it, they will have to use a waypoint to return above ground.
Against the Legendary Jotun Stargazer final boss, once the first ring of fire appears, existing and new mesmer illusions cast on it instantly disappear without effect.

Path 2

If the party wipes against Alphard, a bone wall will appear at the entrance to the boss room, blocking progress. The bone wall will disappear only after the party wipes a second time, such as to the mines and Inquest/Dominated Risen in the previous room. Players might need to remain dead for a couple of seconds.
On rare occasions, Alphard may fail to teleport back to its spawning position before doing its deadly Dagger Storm in place, likely wiping the group instantly.

Path 3

If players reach the last boss's arena and Warden Illyra, the path NPC, teleports to them before walking through the areas that trigger her voice lines "There! Up there is the altar!" and "Up the slope! We need to reach the altar.", she might bug and fail to start the final boss fight, blocking progress. On rare occasions, players might fix this by wiping and having Illyra walk all the way from the chicken waypoint to the altar, but it's not guaranteed to fix it.
On extremely rare occasions, no wraiths will spawn during the first phase of the final boss, the cleansing ritual, massively decreasing the difficulty of this first phase. This has no effect on the second phase of the fight.

Path 4

When fighting Simi, the priestess of Dwayna, if a player negates the petrification effect with stability, further applications of petrification may fail to stun said player, behaving as if they had stability.
- This same behaviour can occur with the final boss, the Bloodstone Shard.

Dungeons

Permanent	Ascalonian Catacombs (s • e) • Caudecus's Manor (s • e) • Twilight Arbor (s • e) Sorrow's Embrace (s • e) • Citadel of Flame (s • e) • Honor of the Waves (s • e) Crucible of Eternity (s • e) • The Ruined City of Arah (s • e) • Fractals of the Mists
Seasonal	Ascent to Madness • Super Adventure Box • Tixx's Infinirarium
Historical	Molten Facility • Canach's Lair (s • e) • Aetherblade Retreat • Scarlet's Playhouse

The Ruined City of Arah (explorable)

Dungeon information[edit]

Objectives[edit]

Events[edit]

Rewards[edit]

Unique Loot[edit]

Walkthrough[edit]

Useful items[edit]

Common mobs[edit]

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Phase 1[edit]

Phase 2[edit]

Phase 3[edit]

Path 1: Jotun[edit]

Ancient Ooze[edit]

9 Champion Crystalline Entities[edit]

Legendary Shoggroth[edit]

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Korga the Mighty, Lord of the Orrian Gorillas[edit]

Legendary Jotun Stargazer[edit]

Path 2: Mursaat[edit]

Notable mobs[edit]

Operative Belka[edit]

Berserker Abomination[edit]

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Alphard, Serpent of the Waves[edit]

Operative Brie[edit]

Path 3: Forgotten[edit]

Wraithlord's Crusher and Wraithlord's Hunter[edit]

Wraithlord's Mage Crusher[edit]

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Wraithlord[edit]

Path 4: Seer[edit]

Kaisar, High Priest of Balthazar[edit]

Vahid, High Priest of Melandru[edit]

Farnaz, High Priestess of Lyssa[edit]

Giganticus Lupicus[edit]

Ghasem, High Priest of Grenth[edit]

Simin, High Priestess of Dwayna[edit]

Bloodstone Shard[edit]

NPCs[edit]

Allies[edit]

Foes[edit]

Objects[edit]

Dialogue[edit]

Initial dialogue[edit]

Jotun[edit]

Mursaat[edit]

Forgotten[edit]

Seer[edit]

Optional event dialogue[edit]

Notes[edit]

Bugs[edit]

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