User:Devos50/Hard Mode Notes/Guardian/Tyria

Hard Mode tips, tricks and guides (by Devos50) (If I vanquish an area again, I try to add it immediately) Tyria Vanquisher notes Ascalon Foothills For this area I took Sab's build with my self as Elementalist with Savannah Heat and Ward of Stability. This one gave me some trouble. The Hydra's can hit amazing hard (about 180 damage from one Meteor)! Take a Ward of Stability and use Pain Inverter on the Hydra's. You can take minions, but they die very fast with the Hydra's attacks. Try to take some DP removers. tip: Start from Yak's Bend for a party of 6 persons. Try to take a Ward of Stability. Diessa Lowlands TBA Dragon's Gullet TBA Eastern Frontier TBA Flame Temple Corridor TBA Old Ascalon For this area I took Sab's build with myself as Elementalist with Savannah Heat. The Elementals are just a push-over but the Devourers to the east gave me a bit of trouble. Besides that everything went great until I saw I was unlucky with a 3 Monk and one Warrior Grawl spawn:(. I stood on the point to resign, but I thought, let's try it! If it works, it's a great exercice for Eastern Frontier. After fighting for about 5 minutes the warrior died and after about 10 minutes, I wanted to gave up, but I saw the monk was low health, and obviously on low energy. I managed to kill him, and so continue. Not long later they were all death. tip: Start from Sardelac Sanitarium and check if there is a Grawl spawn. If that's the case, go back and repeat until Elementals spawns. Pockmark Flats TBA Regent Valley TBA The Breach TBA Iron Horse Mine This area wasn't very hard. I started from Yak's Bend and cleared the eastern part of Iron Horse Mine first. I took the 3 Discord Necro's, a Ritualist healer and Gwen as Panic Mesmer. The eastern part of this area has alot of Stone Summit mobs including Dolyak Riders. Make sure to take enough firepower for then, just like in Anvil Rock. The western part contains loads of Frostdryder spiders that aren't very hard. Make sure you kill every single patrol that you come across. There are some bosses here so you can use these mobs to get you DP away. Tip: start with clearing the eastern part of this area because this has the most Stone Summit mobs. Anvil Rock For this area I took 3 Discordnecro's, Gwen and a Jagged Bones Ritualist, myself equipped with the standard Savannah Heat build. This area can be quite hard if you don't have enough firepower for the Monk boss. I suggest starting from Ice Tooth Cavern and head for the Ranger boss and the Monk boss first. They are accompanied by some big groups of Centaurs: pulling is very, very important here, especially near the Monk boss. Make sure to pull the mobs out of the Monk boss range so they can't be healed by his strong heals. The Stone Summit mobs can also give you some trouble, especially the Dolyak Rider. Make sure to take him out first. But the biggest pain here are the small Minotaur patrols: I spent about 30 minutes searching for the last patrol of 3 Minotaurs, they can literally go anywhere on the map. Also, sometimes a patrol runs through a portal so they can't be reached. Tip: head for the Monk boss first and take enough firepower to take him down! Deldrimor Bowl This area wasn't very hard. I took an ele build with Savannah Heat and Sab's 3-man build. The warrior boss can hit a bit hard, but the rest of the area wasn't a challenge:P tip: Watch your aggro and try to pull. Dreadnought's Drift TBA Frozen Forest TBA Griffon's Mouth I did this area with 2 guildies (can't remember their builds). Try to pull the Ettin's and you're safe. They hit hard, so take a warrior to take the damage. Try to interrupt their Healing Signet for a even faster vanquish:) When we had 4 mobs left (with a Monk boss), the human Monk got an error. We stood on the point to give up, but we tried and we could kill the group with some deaths. Area vanquished. tip: Take an (human) interrupter for the Ettin's Healing Signet for a faster vanquish. Grenth's Footprint TBA Ice Floe TBA Icedome TBA Iron Horse Mine TBA Lornar's Pass TBA Mineral Springs TBA Snake Dance TBA Spearhead Peek TBA Talus Chute TBA Tasca's Demise TBA Traveler's Vale I did this area with another guildie (me as Savannah Heat ele with a ele, monk and MM hero). We started from Yak's Bend and vanquished the area clock-wise. There is one problem in this area: Dolyak Masters. They just won't die! With massive damage we could kill then. Luckily, the Monk boss don't equip Mark of Protection! The big group in the north was the only group where we got a kill. Tip: Don't take the primary quest to the mission Borlis Pass. You have to fight more Stone Summits when you take it. Witman's Folly TBA Cursed Lands For this area took Fire Magic with Pain Inverter. The Undeads are very weak against it. I also took 2 Healing Monks and another ele hero. I started from Bergen Hot Springs, and vanquished Nebo Terrace and this area in one run. Spread out when you encourter the Skeleton Sorcerers, because they do about 100 damage with one earthquake (with 3 casted at the same time = 300 damage for the whole party). They also use Blinding Surge, however I didn't take a Warrior, so that was no problem. Watch out for Spawns, because they are everywhere. Also watch your aggro. Tip: If you're going straight and only for this area, start from the Temple of the Ages for a party of 8. Kessex Peak TBA Nebo Terrace Not a too hard area. I took the build I took for the Cursed Lands. The Tengus can prove a real challenge, but with a Pain Inverter on then, they just fall like flies. Also, try to lure the Tengu because more than 4 can mean a party wipe. The problem here were the Undeads. They are in very large mobs. Pull them and you're safe. Watch out for the Bog Skales in the west (they use SS). Tip: Start from Bergen Hot Springs and begin with the Undeads. They are the greatest danger here. North Kryta Province GREAT problem: Fire Imps. Their Rodgort's Invocation can do about 250 damage per hit, and the imps are often in groups of 2 or more. The strategy I used: -I took Fire Magic with Pain Inverter, Extinguish, Breath of the Great Dwarf and Protective Spirit. I tried to solo then a bit, so they use their Rodgort on me. For mobs of 2 I let then hit my whole party and used a pain inverter on then (6x 80 damage for me), then used Extinguish and BotGD for a small party heal. The hardest group was the group out of 4 Fire Imps. Also, lure the Temgu's from a safe distance. They run over the whole field:P Tip: Take party condition removals with a party heal. Scoundrel's Rise Again I did this area with 2 guildies. Wasn't very hard, just watch out for the Deep Freeze from the Wavebreaker's, except the Bog Skale Blighters. They use Spiteful Spirit and your h/h tend to bunch up. Also, watch your aggro at the center of the area. Tip: Try to pull the Margonites/Skales. Spread out to counter the effect of Spiteful Spirit. Stingray Strand The first time I tried this area, I began north and worked my way to the south. Bad idea because the last group I had left, were a group of 7 Inferno Imps. Next attempt: I took my Savannah Heat build, Discordway and the healer and the mage hencie. I began from Sanctum Cay outpost and the first group I killed were the Inferno Imps. The trick is to take Protective Spirit. Flag your heroes and hencies and run forward to the Imps. Aggro then and use Protective Spirit. They will bunch up and you can use Meteor Shower and AoE nuke. This worked really well for that group and the other imps. Also, south of the big area are some groups of Inferno Imps very close together. Pull then apart! The Lightning Drakes can also hit very hard but you can do the same here as you did with the Inferno Imps. The Bog mobs and the Tengu's are very easy. Tip: take a Minion Master. In case you mess the aggro part up, they can form a wall to protect your party. Talmark Wilderness HARD area! Minor problem: Inferno Imps. In groups of 6 or more they aren't fun anymore:(. I used the same tactic and party as I did with North Kryta Province, but still got alot of party wipes. Pain Inverter is almost necessary here. The res shrine was also populated by imps in combination with Death Penalty. I NEVER do that area again:(. Besides the Imps, the rest is very easy. The Minotaurs have a really large patrol path so it can take a while before you find then. Tip: Take DP removers and begin with killing the Imps in the north of the area. Tears of the Fallen I vanquished this area immediately after Twin Serpent Lakes. At the entrance I almost ran into a group of bog skales. The difference with Twin Serpent Lake here is that there aren't Mergoyles. There are however, many necro mobs with SS, be careful with your attacks. I took the same build as TSL, discordway + Alesia & Stefan (we had some DP when we entered). The area itself is not very hard. There are some very big groups so before engaging then it's better to have some minions. There is a very hard to spot group in the southwest corner, near the collector. Tip: You can start from ToA so you can take 8 people if you want. The Black Curtain Also a little hard area, especially the Phantoms and the Clerics. The Necromancer Skeletons weren't easy either. The Vampiric Nightmares can hit really hard with their Vile Touch and Grenth's Balance. For this area I used myself as Fire Ele and a human Paragon (can't remember his skills) with some monks and eles. I started from the Temple of the Ages and cleared the area in the northwest first (got some deaths there). Watch out for the Stalkers there, because they are very dangerous to melee and often pop-ups there. You can vanquish Talmark Wilderness or Kessex Peak after this area, but if you have a MM in your team, Kessex Peak isn't the real area for him. Tip: Take Holy of Fire Magic. There are many undeads here. Twin Serpent Lakes I can remember that I did this area some months ago and failed hard. This time, I took Discordway + Alesia and Stefan and started from Riverside Province. The groups are very big and the Mergoyles can annoy you to hell with their Power Block, especially if you are a caster. The Tengu patrols are also very dangerous here, make SURE that you always kill the patrols first if you can: i've wiped several times due to a patrol coming in while we were fighting another group. The Tengu Warriors can hit very hard so it's helpful to take Pain Inverter or having some minions in advance. The White Mantle mobs aren't very hard, just make sure to avoid the Searing Heat and kill the Servant first. It's very important here to pull well. There are some very big groups near each other, you don't want to have two groups upon you! Tip: pull every group with a bow and watch for patrols. Watchtower Coast For this area I took myself (^^) and h/h (Sab's build) and the healer henchie and an Elementalist hencie. Not very hard, just lure the Tengu in the begin. Try to begin vanquishing from Beetletun and the area north. Take some hex removers to remove the nasty hexes from the Mergoyles and Mesmer Tengu's. The boss in the middle of the long path gave me some trouble, but we've made it:D Tip: Take hex removers for the Margonites and the Mesmer Tengu's. Dry Top TBA Ettin's Back TBA Majesty's Rest TBA Mamnoon Lagoon TBA Reed Bog This area is very small with about 100 foes (75% are pop-ups). I was going with a guildie who was a warrior with Ursan Blessing. I took Savannah Heat with Pain Inverter and Summon Ruby Djinn. We took heroes: Dunkoro (WoH build), Olias (MM), Livia 1 (SS) and Livia 2 (Restoration healer). A Minion Master really helps because they can soke up some damage from the Moss Scarabs. With their life-stealing spells they can make it very hard to you. Pain Inverter won't work because they don't deal damage, they steal health. In the east we had a pop-up of 2 groups with about 10 Moss Scarabs. The Minions are really handy in such a case. The rest of the area was very easy. Tip: Take some life-stealing prevent skills for the Moss Scarabs. Sage Lands TBA Silverwood TBA Tangle Root TBA The Falls I did this area with the excactly same set-up as for Reed Bog. The really annoying thing in this area are the Wind Riders with 2 (!) Elementalist bosses with Maelstrom! I hate then really, they are just a threat for casters! Because they are very weak against Fire Damage that came handy, and also Pain Inverter did a great job. The Life Pods are very strong healers, but we managed to KD then. The only part where we had a fight for some minutes was the spot with 2 Root Behemoths. We had 6 Life Pods spread there. Tip: Do this area straight after Reed Bog and try to do the Wind Riders before the Root Behemoths.