The Last Hierophant

The Last Hierophant
Section	Depths of Tyria Quests
Campaign	Eye of the North
Given by	Veth the Storyteller in Slavers' Exile (Depths of Tyria)
Type	Secondary quest  (Difficulty: Elite)
Map(s)
Entrance level
Justiciar Thommis' level
Selvetarm's level
Forgewight's level
Duncan the Black's level

Quest information

Objectives

• Defeat Justiciar Thommis.
• Defeat Rand Stormweaver.
• Defeat Selvetarm
• Defeat Forgewight.
• Destroy Duncan the Black
• See Veth the Storyteller for your reward.

Reward

• 15,000 Experience
• 2,750 Gold

Walkthrough

General tips

• This quest automatically appears in your quest log when entering the dungeon.
• Quest progress is saved even when exiting the dungeon. This allows you to modify your party's build(s) for each boss, if required.
• Unlike most dungeons, Slavers' Exile is not linear, and you can kill the first four bosses in any order. The initial room leads directly to each sub-level, with Duncan's room opening once the others are complete.
• You don't need to defeat all of the bosses in Hard Mode to get the Hard Mode page for the dungeon book, only Duncan.
• If striving to complete all the sub-quests in one go, consider bringing a few Identification Kits. There is a Weaponsmith in the main area to whom you can sell your items.
• Most of the Stone Summit have some type of resurrection skill, consider bringing Frozen Soil.

Justiciar Thommis' level

There are two bosses on this level, Justiciar Thommis, and Rand Stormweaver. It is recommended to do both during the same run, otherwise the exit will be blocked. The main difficulty is the large number of Dwarves that tend to aggro at the same time. Be prepared to do hit and run, or to manage large groups.

Selvetarm's level

Aside from large groups of Dwarves (see above), there are three additional difficulties here. (1) Some places have chained clerics and reavers popups, which may overwhelm groups already engaged in a fight. Pulling is recommended, as well as tactical retreats. (2) At the door right before the boss, there are popups. Each time you kill them, a larger groups spawns. There are a limited number of groups, but unprepared groups may suffer a wipe. Pulling is recommended to avoid the new group appearing on top of you. Also, these use life-stealing skills. Focus fire and general caster-shutdown is recommended against them. (3) Selvetarm and his group use Jagged Bones and Death Nova to produce a self-renewing supply of undead bombs. Using Verata skills to steal his minions will help, or some form of spike AoE damage such as splinter barrage.

Forgewight's level

Enemies primarily consist of large groups of fire elementals and large groups of Stone Summit.

A general strategy against this is to have a dedicated Tank/Aggro manager, a Protection or bonder monk, and a few AoE damagers. Cast protective spells on tank, have them hold the aggro, then do as much AoE damage as possible to thin out the group. A ranger with Frozen Soil is highly recommended against Stone Summit to prevent resurrection, and Gaze of Fury to remove spirits when needed.

Duncan the Black's level

The mobs in this area are composed entirely of Stone Summit and Restless Dead popups. The Restless Dead use Vampiric Touch and Vampiric Bite quite a bit, which can be countered with "Can't Touch This!". Refer to the other sections for skills and tactics to counter Summit dwarves.

Duncan the Black awaits in a large room full of Restless Dead popups. Sweeping the room to popup and killing all foes makes the following fight easier.

When approaching Duncan, several groups of Spirits will appear. Not only will these spirits damage, blind and disenchant you, several of Duncan's skills profit from having a spirit within earshot as well. These spirits will respawn when killed, but it is possible to move them away using Swap before engaging Duncan.

Duncan himself uses Duncan's Defense, which deals twice the damage he takes back to you. Don't damage him too quickly, or your healers will struggle to keep you alive. This can be circumvented by using life stealing or health loss instead of damage. Due to his large amount of health, Spoil Victor works great.

Once Duncan is dead, the spirits will disappear.

Dialogue

Initial dialogue

Veth the Storyteller: I have many stories. This unfortunate tale began only a few weeks ago...my brothers received word that the last of the Stone Summit Hierophants has gathered a force of enslaved creatures.

Veth the Storyteller: One of his slaves chafes enough at his collar to risk a message to his master's enemies and has told us that the Hierophant Duncan seeks to harness the power of the recently defeated Great Destroyer's soul.

Veth the Storyteller: My brothers rejoiced at these tidings, resolving to wait until the Hierophant has completed his ritual so that they may stage a glorious battle.

Veth the Storyteller: You may say it's not very Norn of me, but it might be wise for someone to confront Duncan the Black before he has the chance to harness the power of this dread creature.

Duncan the Black

When he turns hostile:

Duncan the Black: By the blood of the fallen!

Duncan the Black: I will destroy you, and your wretched soul will reveal which of my minions betrayed me!

Reward dialogue

Veth the Storyteller

You have done us a great boon, <Character name>. We thank you.

Notes

• You can leave the dungeon at any time between completing the rooms of the bosses. The game records any killed bosses as killed in the quest log. The log will not be reset.
• This quest also rewards 5000 Norn reputation points for first time completion. 2500 Norn reputation are awarded upon repeat.
• To gain access to Duncan's dungeon, all party members must kill the preceding four bosses Justiciar Thommis, Rand Stormweaver, Selvetarm and Forgewight as shown in The Last Hierophant quest. The 4 "defeat" lines must be crossed off leaving only "Destroy Duncan the Black" left undone. This situation is frequently abbreviated "4/5". Once you have completed the quest, you will need to retake it and kill the other bosses before you can face Duncan again.