Volcanic Fractal
Volcanic Fractal
Map of Volcanic Fractal
- Levels
- 80
- Type
- Fractal
- Dungeon
- Fractals of the Mists
- API
- 954
Loading screen
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“Eliminate a grawl cult that resides inside a volcano.
— In-game description
The Volcanic Fractal is one of the Fractals of the Mists. The Volcanic Fractal occurs at levels 1, 19, 28, 52 and 92.
Objectives[edit]
Stop the grawl from completing their ritual.
- Fractal Difficulty Scale: x
- Personal Fractal Level: x
- Defeat the grawl guards.
- Grawl
- Break the shaman's bubble to stop the ritual before the captives are sacrificed.
- Shaman Bubble: x
- Captives remaining: x
- Defeat the champion grawl shaman.
- Champion Grawl Shaman
- Kill the imbued shaman.
- Destroy the imbued shaman.
- Legendary Imbued Shaman
- Fractal stabilized. Depart when ready.
- Fractal Difficuly Scale: x
Rewards[edit]
- Primary article: Fractals of the Mists#Rewards
Walkthrough[edit]
A skippable cut scene triggers once players near the initial grawls and captives. Afterwards, players must defeat waves of grawl to progress the event bar. Falling rocks indicated by orange AoEs periodically spawn and inflict 
Knockdown (2s) on-hit.
The remaining grawl retreat once enough have been defeated. Players must then travel through a corridor to the next area while avoiding the falling rocks and rolling, flaming boulders. The boulders inflicts lethal damage on-hit and leave behind flaming tracks that inflict 
Burning. Players can use speed boosts, mobility skills, condition cleanse, and the several side alcoves to survive the trek. Reaching the Mistlock Singularity at the end of the corridor unlocks the first checkpoint.
Champion Grawl Shaman[edit]
The shaman puts on a 
8 Protective Bubble once players near him, rendering him invulnerable. Additionally, 4 immobilized captives appear near the edge of the cliff. Rocks continue fall from the ceiling, however some AoEs leave behind an Infused Stone. These can be thrown at the shaman to remove a stack of the shield effect. Players must ensure they are within range and line of sight of the boss; otherwise the stone may not hit. If the stone is thrown to a valid location, it can be picked up again at its new location.
As players attempt to break the shaman's shield, a Veteran Grawl Shaman periodically spawns opposite to the boss. They will at first ignore players and walk towards a captive. Upon reaching a captive, the shaman pushes them off the cliff then focuses their attacks on players. The entire party is defeated if all captives are sacrificed. Conversely, saving all the humans will spawns a Magnificent Chest that contains either a Fractal Encryption or Fractal Encryption Key along with other minor rewards.
Some players can focus on breaking the boss's shield and the remaining players can focus on the veteran grawl with a mix of damage and crowd control, such as 
Crippled and 
Immobile.
The second checkpoint unlocks once all stacks of the shaman's shield have been removed, rendering them vulnerable to damage. Defeating any remaining veterans may reduce the damage pressure. The boss can inflict 
Knockback at melee range but otherwise primarily casts fireballs at range. The shaman may also reapply a weaker Protective Bubble (30s) that only requires 1 Imbued Stone to break. Defeating the shaman triggers another skippable cutscene and unlocks the third checkpoint.
Broken tracks[edit]
Players must navigate through a linear, abandoned mineshaft jumping puzzle to reach the final area. Several Veteran Vampire Bats can be found along the path as players avoid falling into the environmental lava below. If players fall to the bottom, they can jump up on the rocks and platforms.
A fedora-wearing skeleton near a chest decoration (possibly a reference to Indiana Jones) marks the final section of the jumping puzzle. Reaching the Mistlock Singularity at the end of the mineshaft unlocks the fourth and final checkpoint.
Players can skip the entirety of this jumping puzzle by jumping down the rock face where the Champion Grawl Shaman was fought. Once far enough below, players can use a mix of healing and mobility skills to reach the final boss platform to unlock the checkpoint. All player can then type /gg to defeat themselves and respawn at the checkpoint.
Legendary Imbued Shaman[edit]
The platform applies the 
Hot Foot effect to players that are either not moving or jumping, periodically inflicting Burning. It is recommended to strafe left and right to both maintain one's basic position as well as counter the nature of projectiles to over shoot to the player's side. There are also "lava pits" on this arena that will unexpectedly fill with lava and damage players inside them. This may happen even when there is no lava due to a visual bug. This platform is quite spacious and can oftentimes allow a player to run away from the boss on the platform, remain burn free, and get out of combat. The boss has six skills:
- Flaming arrow — Can be easily blocked, dodged, or zig-zagged. He faces a player and then shoots an arrow. Timing is relatively unpredictable to new players. Attack is a projectile, but often times projectile reflects/absorbs are saved to be used later.
- If a player is hit by a flaming arrow, they are enveloped in flames which will tick a burning effect on them as well as those around them. Inflicts agony on scales 10+.
- Dive — The boss will fly up in an arc quickly. Only used on melee targets. The attack is actually bigger than the circles shown on the ground and often hits before the circles even appear. Should be dodged very quickly as it deals enormous damage. Can be avoided by simply staying at range as well.
- Wings attack — Again only used on close targets, the boss will fly up slowly with a red circle on the ground. This also does considerable damage but also knocks players back. Try to stay at range, evade, or block this attack.
- Firestorm — An AoE that has very little aftercast. The boss can oftentimes do this and another attack very quickly afterwards. Again, evade out.
- Transition — For every 25% the boss loses health, it will envelop itself in a shield, summon grubs, and start hovering over to an imprisoned NPC (villager) to steal its health.
- The boss cannot be hit directly in this transition unless using unblockable effects. (Signet of Might on Warrior, Traps on Thief, Temporal Curtain on Mesmer, traited unblockable Marks or Epidemic on Necromancer). Other hits will affect the shield.
- 40 hits are necessary to break the shield. Cleave attacks still count as one hit. For instance, engineer grenades don't remove shield stacks very quickly, but the flame thrower is an effective tool. Other suggestions are to use Symbol of Punishment on guardian, or sneak attack on thief (since the boss is invulnerable, you will remain in stealth and be able to use the sneak attack again), as well as dagger auto on thief (as you can't hit the boss, you will be unable to advance your attack chain, staying on the quick hitting double strike).
- When the shield breaks, the boss "enrages" for a short time.
- It is possible to anticipate the transition and save the breakbar's depletion until just after the transition, stunning the boss for five seconds to give more time before it reaches its target villager.
- In addition to this, elemental grubs will spawn. The amount is based on the scale of fractal you are on. It is safer for the party to activate projectile reflect/absorbs and to slot condition clearing to remove immobilize. It is also helpful to AoE multiple grubs at the same time, as killing one of them while downed will cause a player to rally. Helpful skills to use are Toss Elixir U on Engineer, Smoke Screen and Dagger Storm on Thief, Wall of Reflection and Shield of the Avenger on Guardian, Feedback and Null Field on Mesmer, Whirling Defense on Ranger, etc..
- If the boss is allowed to reach a villager before players break his shield, he will regain 25% health and summon more lava elementals, but the next transition will only trigger at the next 25% health mark.
- If the party is fully at range he will often times shoot two arrows and then a fire storm at a player.
Tips
- At higher levels it can be beneficial to slow the shaman in the shield phase and lower his stacks, but deal with the lava elementals before breaking the boss out.
- If a player is downed or defeated, it can often be easier to help them during the grub phase while the boss is still shielded.
- It can be helpful to slow attacks before a transition if an important skill (stability, reflection, etc.) is on cooldown. Communication helps here.
Achievements[edit]
| Volcanic Fractal Stabilizer | Fractals of the Mists | 5
|
|---|---|---|
| You've completed the Volcanic fractal inside the Fractals of the Mists.It might be time to get a new pair of shoes. | 1 Fractal | 5
|
| Volcano Hero | Fractals of the Mists | 5
|
|---|---|---|
| Defeat the Imbued Shaman on scale 51 or above without losing any captives. | All Captives Survived the Volcanic Fractal Boss Fight on Scale 51 or Above | 5
|
| The Floor Is Lava. Don't Step In It. | Fractals of the Mists | 1  5
|
|---|---|---|
| You've completed the Volcanic fractal inside the Fractals of the Mists without falling in the lava.All those childhood games finally paid off. | 1 Challenge | 5
|
- The lava pools in the final boss arena also count when filled with lava.
NPCs[edit]
Allies[edit]
Foes[edit]
Objects[edit]
Dialogue[edit]
- Upon arrival
- Dessa Observation Mode: Okay, reading a number of... Hey, what are they... Those grawl just threw those humans into the volcano! Get them!
- During fight with Champion Grawl Shaman
- Champion Grawl Shaman: Our god demands sacrifice!
- Champion Grawl Shaman: Don't falter! Our god will slay the intruders!
- Champion Grawl Shaman: Die!
- Champion Grawl Shaman: You can't break this magic. Our god will crush you all.
- Upon defeating the shaman
- Dessa Observation Mode: There, that shaman's in the soup now. That should—wait. Reading a new fractal disturbance!
- During fight with Imbued Shaman
- Villager: I can't take this. Help!
- Villager: Help! Heeeelp!
- Villager: Help me! Oh, gods!
- Upon defeating Imbued Shaman
- Dessa Observation Mode: Ugh, grawl make my skin...crawl. (laughs) Sorry. This is no time for jokes. Just let me know when you're ready to depart.
Related achievements[edit]
Upon completion[edit]
Ad Infinitum III: Unbound: 
Volcanic Challenge Mote
Nevermore IV: The Raven Spirit: 
Ancient Grawl Relic — Found in the chest in the Volcanic Fractal.- Astralaria III: The Mechanism:
Fire Imbued Heart — Gathered by looting the Legendary Imbued Shaman in the Volcanic Fractal while having the Mists Imbued Jar in your inventory - Sunrise I: The Experimental Daysword:
Sacrifice Savior — Save the captives from sacrifice and defeat the grawl shaman in the Volcanic Fractal. - The Flameseeker Prophecies III: The Chosen:
Rescuing the Sacrifices — Bring an Anthology of Heroes to the defeat of the Grawl Shaman in the Volcanic Fractal. - Meteorlogicus III: Storm:
Ritual Captivity - Quip I: The Experimental Pistol:
Birding with the Grawl Shaman — Throw a Jar of Harpy Pheromones at the Champion Grawl Shaman in the Volcanic Fractal. - Incinerator III: Spark:
Cryo Dust — Use the Boiling-Hot Magma in the Volcanic Fractal to blend 10 Piles of Bloodstone Dust with a Corrupted Ice Shard to form Cryo Dust.
Objective during[edit]
Trivia[edit]
- There is a possible reference to the movie "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in the form of a skeleton with Indiana Jones' hat (A "Fedora") next to a cart at the broken tracks.
