The Icebrood Saga content

Weekly Strike Mission: Boneskinner

From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Weekly Strike Mission: Boneskinner

The Invitation loading screen.jpg
Loading screen

Image(s)

Weekly Strike Mission- Boneskinner.jpg

Click to enlarge.

One of Havroun Weibe's shamans, Hallveig, has reported that the Raven Sanctum has recently been taken over by the boneskinner. Raven Shaman Hallveig is looking for volunteers to enter the sanctum and cleanse it of this menace.
or
The fearsome boneskinner has taken over Raven Sanctum. Cleanse it of this menace.

— In-game description

Weekly Strike Mission: Boneskinner is the fourth strike mission introduced into the game, taking place in Sanctum Arena.

Getting there[edit]

After selecting one of the modes, either Public or Squad, players will be put into a new instance with up to 10 players. If a Public mission engages the boss with fewer than 10 players, it will be locked down and no more players will be able to join.

  • Portal in the middle of Bjora Marches.
    • Only available during its appropriate weekly rotation.
  • Strike Mission portal in Eye of the North.
    • Available at any time, no matter the weekly rotation.

Objectives[edit]

  • Speak to the Raven shaman to begin the Strike Mission.
  • Players in Strike Mission: x (if public)
  • Draw Out the Boneskinner
  • Defeat the boneskinner
    • Boneskinner
    • Event bar.jpgEvent boss (tango icon).png
    • Strike Mission ends in: 10:00
    • Silver rewards disappear in: 5:00
    • Gold rewards disappear in: 3:00
  • Strike Mission complete!
    • Mission closes in 2:00
    • Bonus rewards obtained: x/2

Rewards[edit]

Walkthrough[edit]

This strike mission is the next progression after players complete the Shiverpeaks Pass, Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen and Fraenir of Jormag strike missions, which are collectively referred to by the community as the "IBS EZ3" strike missions. As with the Whisper of Jormag strike mission, this fight is significantly more difficult. These two encounters along with the EZ3 strike missions are collectively referred to as the "IBS Fast 5" strike missions due to their relatively quick completion speed compared to the Cold War and the Forging Steel strike missions.

General[edit]

This encounter has a lot more healing pressure and heavily punishes players that get hit by mechanics. It is thus recommended to have at least two dedicated healers and skills that help reposition downed players, such as  "Search and Rescue!".png "Search and Rescue!".

Players with the Essence of Resilience mastery can attack the nearby pylon to collect orbs to gain the Power of Resilience.png Power of Resilience effect. This grants players the  Spirit Nova.png Spirit Nova special action key to deal significant damage to the boss and its defiance bar.

An orange-black field encircles the arena shortly after players near the center of the arena. Players standing on the field gain the Overcharged (Gate Golem).png Unrelenting Pain effect, which inflicts heavy damage every second.

Boneskinner[edit]

Health: 20,979,420
Enrage Timer: 10 minutes
Enrage Effect: Defeats all players
Fixation Mechanic: None

100% – 90%[edit]

Six torches surround the arena and are periodically extinguished by the boss. Players can interact with an unlit torch to relight it. The boss begins by extinguishing a torch and uses the following skills:

Skill Notes
Cascade Launches cascading rectangular AoEs that rapidly deal medium damage. Players standing near the boss cannot be hit by this attack.
Death Wind Spews a noxious cloud in a cone that extinguishes torches and inflicts Knockdown.png Knockdown and Weakness.png Weakness.
Grasp Raises its right leg and spawns AoEs below all players that persist for a while, inflicting Torment.png Torment on the initial hit then pulsing damage and Weakness.png Weakness. Players should ideally stack together tightly to stack together the AoEs, then move slightly clockwise or counterclockwise to position the next set.
Unnatural Aura Pulses low damage every three seconds.
Tormenting Aura Pulses every second if a torch is unlit, with damage increasing per stacks of Darkness.png Tormenting Aura on players. This starts out as a small, orange-black AoE around the boss that expands for each extinguished torch.
  • At 1-2 torches extinguished, players alternate between 2 and 4 stacks.
  • At 3-4 torches extinguished, players alternate between 3 and 6 stacks.
  • At 5-6 torches extinguished, players alternate between 4 and 8 stacks. This is generally the breaking point and will require at least two dedicated healers to outheal the pulsing damage.

Although the intended strategy is to have designated players relight the extinguished torches, the most common strategy is to have all players stacked together near the boss and outheal the damage with dedicated healers. However, the general process is the same for both strategies aside from how the torches are dealt with.

Players attempting the Hold onto the Light achievement will find it easier with the second strategy. Because the group will allow all torches to be eventually extinguished by the Boneskinner, the wisps will be unable to extinguish them. Players should allow all torches to be extinguished by the boss before reaching 85% health, then continue the fight as normal.

This phase follows a fixed, repeating pattern: Death WindGraspCascadeGraspCascade

90% – 75%[edit]

At 90% health and about every 35 seconds (can be delayed if other skills are prioritized), it will stand on its hindlegs, unlock its defiance bar, and summon Veteran Aberrant Wisps. Breaking the bar inflicts Stun.png Stun and Exposed.png Exposed to the boss; failing it has no effect. Wisp attacks can be negated with projectile-related skills, such as projectile destruction and reflects.

Players with the Power of Resilience.png Power of Resilience effect will gain access to the  Spirit Nova.png Spirit Nova special action skill to deal large damage to the bar and enemies. Hitting the wisps will generally unlock this skill, allowing players to massively increase their damage through multiple uses of this skill.

This phase follows a fixed, repeating pattern: Death WindGraspCascadeGraspCascade

75% – 0%[edit]

At 75% and every 25% health, the boss will use the following skills:

Skill Notes
Charge
Crushing Cruelty
Charges towards and permanently destroys a torch, then leaps to the center inflicting heavy damage. Players should position away from the targeted torch and evade the leap attack.
Douse in Darkness Jumps out of the arena and Pull.png Pulls all enemies into the center and extinguishes all torches. Leaps back to the center after a delay and deals heavy damage. Players should evade the leap attack.

The timing for these skills may be delayed if other skills are prioritized. The pattern for this phase is less fixed, however the boss will generally alternate between Death Wind and Grasp, and cast Death Wind after leaping.

NPCs[edit]

Allies[edit]

Foes[edit]

Objects[edit]

Dialogue[edit]

Raven Shaman Hallveig: Thanks for the assistance, Commander. Is your squad ready to go?
If public:
(Advancing will lock your party and prevent any other players from joining the Strike Mission.)
Talk ready option.png Let's do this.
Talk end option tango.png We're still waiting for more people to show up.
If fewer than 10 players
Raven Shaman Hallveig: Could still use more bodies. You sure you're ready?
(You have fewer players than recommended for this Strike Mission. Choose to go forward anyway, or wait for more help.)
Talk ready option.png We're ready.
Your party has been locked.
No new players will be able to join the Strike Mission. Work with your party to complete the goal!
Talk end option tango.png We'll wait for more help.
Interacting with the gate
Raven Shaman Hallveig: Do you want to return to Bjora Marches?
Talk more option tango.png Yes.
Talk end option tango.png No.

Related achievements[edit]

Version history[edit]

For a detailed location history, see here.

Patch Changes
February 27, 2024
  • Post-victory achievements will now be rewarded much faster in Icebrood Saga strike missions to prevent the achievements from being missed if a player left the map too quickly after receiving their first rewards.
February 28, 2022 End of Dragons release:
April 27, 2021
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Eye of the North's prompt for daily strike achievements to be out of sync with the daily strike.
August 11, 2020
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Boneskinner Ritual Vials from dropping after certain conditions were met.
  • Fixed a bug that awarded 30 Boneskinner Ritual Vials instead of 9 on gold-level completion.
March 17, 2020
  • Added a universal strike access portal in Eye of the North, from which any of the current strike missions can be launched.
  • Added Prophet Shards as a reward from all strikes. Prophet Shards and Crystals can be traded with vendors in the Eye of the North for powerful rewards.
  • One strike per day is now promoted as a Priority Strike, with its public version available from the Eye of the North and a daily achievement that rewards the new Prophet Crystal currency.
January 30, 2020
  • Damage from the boneskinner has returned to intended levels.
January 29, 2020
  • Fixed an issue with the strike mission timers in Bjora Marches.
December 05, 2019
  • Fixed a bug that caused players to be kicked out of the instance at the beginning of the fight.
  • Adjusted the stats and damage of the boss to closer match its intended difficulty. Changed how damage is inflicted by Tormenting Aura to preserve the integrity of the intended fight mechanics.
November 21, 2019
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the boss's health from scaling as intended.
November 19, 2019
  • Weekly Strike Mission: Boneskinner has been added to the game.

Trivia[edit]