Hell's Precipice

The Lich is revealed, and now you must stop him before he unleashes his titan army across all of Tyria. Seek the Lich and destroy him!

Objectives
Stop the Lich from destroying the world.
 * Disable the Titan portals.
 * Defeat Undead Rurik.
 * Destroy the Lich.
 * *BONUS* Destroy all three Armageddon Lords.

Walkthrough
Certain Titans have the unique attribute that upon their death will spawn a new titan (or multiple titans) in their place. For this mission, know that Burning Titans are reborn as Risen Ashen Hulks. The Ashen Hulks further are reborn as a Hand of the Titans and a Fist of the Titans. Hands and Fists are not reborn into anything. Imps called Spark of the Titans join the titans groups and can deal massive area fire damage due to Rodgort's Invocation. Luckily, they are not reborn. Also, being adjacent to Burning Titans or Risen Ashen Hulks will apply Burning to players.

Players should agree to prioritize those foes first that do not respawn above those that do; and then prioritize those that do more damage over those that do less. Specifically, Sparks should always have top priority due to their massive damage. Hands and Fists are next, followed by Bosses, Burning, and finally Risen titans.

The first group gives you a taste of what fighting titans is like. Although you see a mere two titans, you'll quickly notice how much trouble they can cause when reborn. In general, the Risen Ashen Hulks are the least dangerous, so focus on the Burning Titan. Now you'll have two Ashen Hulks. Focus on one and wait for it to give rise to the Hand and Fist pair. Dispatch these before moving on to the other Ashen Hulk. Take out the Fists before the Hands, as the Fists use Hundred Blades and as such are more damaging to your party than the Hands.

Proceeding down the path, you'll see the Lich, but he will disappear, replaced with a level 1 Quickening Zephyr. You'll run into more titans. Take them out as you did the first two, focusing on one at a time to help control what spawns you face. At this point, you can continue south or across the bridge to the east where you run into Titans and Sparks.

Both paths rejoin eventually at the location where a boss will spawn out of a lava pool (start of the yellow path on the map). Several patrols containing hulks and sparks will then rush towards him. It is highly advisable to wait for them to disperse before proceeding as their combined forces are enough to annihilate any party, especially in hard mode. If you want to initiate the bonus, head to the Ancient Seer in the southeast. To continue with the mission, follow the path southwest. You'll run across the Lich again, and he'll repeat the disappearing act as before. The path will wrap around to the north and open into a large open area with three portals and numerous groups of foes reasonably close together, some with short overlapping patrol zones. Reasonable prudance is required as is following the party bosses movement commands.

If you initiated the bonus, you'll see the three Armageddon Lords in the lava to the east. You'll also see a patrol of titans, a spark, and a titan boss along the western half where the portals are. Leave all these alone for now. Take out isolated foes that are scattered across the field while taking out spawns that emerge from the lava. Eventually, after two bosses have spawned out of the lava, the spawns will cease and it is safe to continue on. If doing the bonus, pull the Armageddon Lords out of the lava and dispatch them one at a time. When ready, pull the patrol away from the portals and take them out as well. At this time, all that should be left are the portals and the three defending wraiths around each one. Take out each group one at a time to continue. Optimally, you can avoid the patrol and time your attacks to take out the wraith groups before the patrol comes back. It is only necessary to kill the wraith groups to proceed to the next section. The Portal Wraiths are dangerous, but are definitely the easiest enemy you will find in this mission. When all 3 groups of 3 Portal Wraiths are killed you are presented with a cinematic and teleported quite a bit further north to face the Rurik Group.

It would be beneficial to make sure everyone is completely energy regenerated and skills recharged before taking the last portal since if everyone doesn't skip the cinematic you will spawn right in front of the first group of Fists protecting Rurik and they will begin attacking immediately. If everyone skips the cinematic the Fists spawn up the hill close enough to Rurik and the Sparks that pulling any of them could aggro all if you're not using a long bow or not careful. It is possible to kill Rurik, the Sparks and this 1st group of spawns in any order and then the next cinematic of finishing off Rurik will start. Rurik will be fast and harder to kill than the Sparks but does not do as much damage as the Sparks so as always, the Sparks take top priority. Only Rurik needs to be killed to set off the cinematic, though killing the Sparks and some of the Fists makes this part much easier. This Rurik group is the most difficult and can wipe the party so back up the hill and pull them separately.

If you skipped the cinematic that occurs after closing the portals, the Lich will already be on the "blood stone inside the caldera" so cleaning up the Fists in there is not as easy. Usually you will pull the first set away from the Lich, killing them, and try and avoid aggroing the second set although if or when the Lich casts you into the fiery lava it may be unavoidable. If you did not skip the portal cinematic the Lich will walk a long path from the back of the caldera so it is possible to pull all the Fists first before he gets on the Bloodstone.

The Lich can transport players to the lava usually with large pink bubbles but also upon instant command. He also will transport himself there to break up the team attack but gains very little health or energy except that which normally accrues over the time it takes to get to his location and recommence the attack. He can be blocked by one or more players, preferably at the edge of the lava, where the attack may continue. If your party has heroes or henchmen, be sure to flag them into the center of the Bloodstone when fighting the Lich, so that they don't run right into the lava and place unnecessary strain on the monks. The Lich rarely uses melee, so this should be a safe anchor. If needed, the best place to retreat is up the stairs from where you came.

If the Lich does resurrect, he will return with full hp, and 2 or more Fists will also spawn in the lava, and should be taken care of immediately before starting on the freshly revived Lich again. 2 is the average number of lives for the Lich, 3 lives is the next most frequent and just 1 life is occasional. The Lich can be killed anywhere and 1 life Lich kills occur anywhere just as much as on the Bloodstone. Contrary to Rurik's cinematic dialogue, the Lich does not have to stand on the Bloodstone to be defeated. His death will recharge some of the soul batteries around the Bloodstone, and the mission is over if they are all recharged. His location at the moment of his death has absolutely no effect on the number of batteries recharged (it appears to be random).

Eventually, the Lich will go down and not be resurrected. Congratulations, you have completed the final mission of the Prophecies campaign!

After completing this mission, your party will be teleported to the Droknar's Forge (explorable area). There each character will receive, only once, a Deldrimor Talisman from Jalis Ironhammer. Before leaving this area remember to talk with your profession's artisan to exchange the talisman for a unique item. The only way to return to this area is to complete the mission once more.

Bonus
To initiate the bonus, you must first talk to the Ancient Seer along the southeastern portion of the map. A Burning Titan and a Spark patrol roam near him. These groups will attack the Seer and the Seer will move to engage them; however they do not usually interact until you have them on your radar, at which point you will need to quickly kill whatever group is blocking your path to the Seer. Once you have initiated the bonus, it is important that the Seer does not die or you will fail the bonus, even if you kill the Armageddon Lords.

If you took the eastern path across the bridge, you'll likely come from the north. This path (indicated on the map) involves fighting a spark group and a hulk, and then a group containing two Burning Titans and two sparks after a second bridge. Some parties find it easier when doing the bonus because it is possible to ignore both the boss spawning from the lava pool and the patrols rushing towards him. As soon as they gather, take a turn to the east through the passage just used by a patrol (northern start of the yellow path), carefully keeping every enemy out of your aggro bubble. Proceed south then to engage the group near the Seer. On the way to the Seer there is another group east of the path (on the small "peninsula" just north east of the Seer) that initially can be passed without getting it inside the aggro bubble. If you wait too long before running to the Seer they will have moved out on the path and will rush to attack the Seer when you approach. So, after the boss spawn and the patrols rushing to him it is possible to quickly run to the Seer without having to fight anything on the way except the few mobs next to him.

If you continued south earlier, you need to head east once you reach the path containing Spark patrols and will come up from the south to find the Seer. In this situation you will have to fight the boss, as well as any group that still remains in his vicinity.

Usually, two Hulks and three Sparks are near the crest of the hill, which can be the hardest part of this whole level. A Burning Titan roams near the Seer and if someone gets too close (about 3 circles distance) the Burning Titan begins attacking the Seer. A good idea is to have a monk heal the Seer while everybody else keeps the rest of them busy. The Seer is level 30 so he should be able to survive for quite a while.

Special note: There is a "bad spawn" that appears to be developer-tweaked every once in a while (new build) from 1 in 20 times to about 1 in 10 times where all the Hulks and Sparks are very close to the seer and are proximity aggroed much more easily. Unless the team is aware of this possibility, and a good team at that, it is near impossible to save the Seer once your team gets mid-way up the hill.

Once you talk with the seer, the Armageddon Lords will spawn in the lava by the portals. It's best to let the spawns cease before attempting to lure the Lords in, otherwise you might unexpectedly be battling both the Armageddon Lord and a Titan boss. A longbow should have sufficient range to lure each Armageddon Lord one by one out of the lava where it can be safely dispatched. If you have a hero/henchmen team, you will need to flag them a safe distance away from the lava. If you don't, they might go into the lava, causing too much damage for party healers to handle. Be aware that the Armageddon Lords will be reborn into Risen Ashen Hulks after they are defeated. Defeat all three to gain the bonus. If you defeat all the Portal Wraiths and initiate the cut-scene before killing the Armageddon Lords, you can still backtrack after respawning and polish off the Armageddon Lords for the bonus before returning to engage Undead Rurik.

Skill recommendations

 * Foes here do massive damage yet have little healing ability. It is therefore generally a sound strategy to bring extra healing figuring to beat the enemy groups with slower pressure than faster spiking.
 * Some Party Wide healing will counter the Sparks massive AoE damage.
 * Most titans are not fleshy and thus immune to conditions such as Bleeding, Poison, and Disease. These titans will also not leave a corpse that could be exploited by Necromancer skills. Minion masters, minion bombers and any build that includes skills relying on corpses, such as wells or Putrid Explosion, are therefore not recommended for this mission.
 * Risen Ashen Hulks will nevertheless create minions using Aura of the Lich. Since these titans are usually not priority targets, Verata's Gaze on a secondary Necromancer with a rank of 5 in Death Magic may be useful to reduce the pressure on your healers coming from their extra damage. You may also use Verata's Aura, but keep in mind it may be stripped by the Risen Ashen Hulks if not covered.
 * Since Risen Ashen Hulks can Strip Enchantments, have the lowest priority and thus will often be killed last, bringing 2 cover enchantments (or 3 in hard mode) to cover key enchantments, such as attunements and maintained enchantments, is a good idea.
 * Extinguish or Breath of the Great Dwarf may help alleviate the Burning caused by being adjacent to some titans; however, Burning will be reapplied if players remain adjacent to the titan.
 * A tank with Frigid Armor is a good idea.
 * Cold damage works better than fire against titans. Winter is very effective; however, bear in mind that strategies designed around the enemy using fire damage must be modified as they will now be dealing cold damage.
 * Since the Titans use Fire damage, it can be useful to bring an Insignia with bonus armor against Fire and/or Elemental damage such as Pyrebound, Dreadnought, Wanderer's, or Pyromancer. If using Winter, bring Frostbound Insignia and Hydromancer Insignias instead.
 * Mesmers can bring Mantra of Flame to reduce damage taken and as a powerful energy-management skill. If using Winter, bring Mantra of Frost instead.
 * Elementalists can bring Ward Against Harm or Ward Against Elements to reduce damage from Spark fire spells, and Maelstrom to interrupt Sparks clumped together.
 * Rust will leave the Hand of the Titans and Fist of the Titans open while they use Healing Signet. Often, they can be defeated before completing activation due to the lower armor.
 * To help mitigate damage from multiple Hands and Fists of the Titans, bringing along a skill that induces AoE Weakness, such as Enfeebling Blood, would help alleviate pressure for the healers.
 * Having a couple of party members carrying Rebirth can be extremely useful for resurrecting fallen allies too close to foes.
 * It may be worthwhile bringing a Signet of Capture seeing that there are a number of elite skills available only from this mission. This may also simplify the mission, as the experience reward will (partially) remove any death penalty.
 * Pain Inverter is, as usual, a very powerful skill. It's best for taking down Sparks, which deal large AoE damage, and Fists, which use Hundred Blades and so will trigger it multiple times, but also effective at taking down any direct-damage dealing foes; however, it is less useful against Risen Ashen Hulks and the Lich.

Allies
Seer
 * 30 (30) Ancient Seer

Foes
Titans (arranged in spawning pattern order)
 * 28 (30) Burning Titan
 * 24, 28 (26, 30) Risen Ashen Hulk1
 * 24, 28 (26, 30) Hand of the Titans
 * 24, 28 (26, 30) Fist of the Titans
 * 28 (30) Armageddon Lord
 * 24, 28 (26, 30) Risen Ashen Hulk1
 * 24, 28 (26, 30) Hand of the Titans
 * 24, 28 (26, 30) Fist of the Titans
 * 28 (30) Spark of the Titans1

1 considered a fleshy creature

Phantoms (Undead)
 * 24 (26) Portal Wraith

Boss-like foe
Undead Lich (Undead)
 * 30 (32) Lich Lord

Bosses
Titans
 * 28 (30) Tortitudo Probo &rarr; Eviscerate
 * 28 (30) Valetudo Rubor &rarr; Greater Conflagration
 * 28 (30) Maligo Libens &rarr; Aura of the Lich
 * 28 (30) Moles Quibus &rarr; Panic
 * 28 (30) Scelus Prosum &rarr; Mind Burn

Zombie (Undead)
 * 28 (30) Undead Prince Rurik &rarr; Hundred Blades

Intermediate dialogue
When the Undead Lich appears the first time.
 * Undead Lich: "Ah, my friends, how nice of you to stick around."
 * Undead Lich: "You see I have much work to do. I bid you all adieu."

When approaching the first boss.
 * Burning Titan: "Shith Mal Hacto!"

When the Undead Lich appears the second time.
 * Undead Lich: "The Mursaat are being quickly swept away as will all those who stand before my legions."
 * Undead Lich: "Soon you will all be crushed."

When speaking to the Ancient Seer.
 * Ancient Seer: "Unchecked, the Titans will rend Tyria asunder. Stopping the Lich is the only real way to defeat them. But there is more to this problem than you know."
 * Ancient Seer: "Among the Titan horde are their champions, the Armageddon Lords. If they are not stopped, these demons will surely bring an end to both man and beast. Most likely, the Lords will be the last ones through the portals that have been opened."

If speaking to the Ancient Seer after obtaining the Bonus Objective.
 * Ancient Seer: "I wish to see this to its end. Over the eons, much has changed in Tyria. But not these Titans."

When the Undead Lich appears the third time.
 * Undead Lich: "Soon you will all be crushed."

Intermediate cinematic

 * The Lich laughs.
 * Lich: "This meddling is nothing more than a minor annoyance. You're only delaying the inevitable."
 * The Lich laughs.
 * Lich: "Thanks to you, I command an army powerful enough to conquer all of Tyria. And now I intend to use it."
 * Lich: "But before I go, I have someone here you might like to talk to."
 * Lich: "Perhaps this will slow you down long enough to let me finish my work."
 *  : "Rurik."
 * Lich: "I'll leave you to get reacquainted. I'm sure you have much to talk about."


 * Lich: "I am the Flameseeker. All of Tyria shall bow to me or be destroyed."


 * Undead Rurik: "Forgive me."
 * Undead Rurik: "It is not my will to fight you. But I have little choice in the matter."

Intermediate cinematic (2)

 * Undead Rurik: "Listen to me."
 * Undead Rurik: "The Door of Komalie must be closed."
 * Undead Rurik: "Kill the Lich while he stands atop the Bloodstone inside the caldera."
 * Undead Rurik: "If you do this, his spirit will recharge the soul batteries, and the Door will be closed again."
 * Undead Rurik: "You have served Ascalon well. I beg of you...do one last duty for your prince."
 *  : "Anything, my prince."
 * Undead Rurik: "End my misery. Release me from the Lich's spell."
 *  : "If that is what you wish."
 *  : "Travel well, Prince Rurik. Until we meet you again in the Hall of Heroes."

Intermediate dialogue (2)
When approaching the Bloodstone.
 * Undead Lich: "You are no match for my almighty power."

End cinematic

 * Glint: "Long into the Season of the Scion, Tyria is revived again."
 * Glint: "Over the bones of the bird of prey, the fire is put out and the diabolic gathering is closed off once again."
 * Glint: "The Flameseeker Prophecies are now complete."
 * Glint: "The Door of Komalie is closed, and the Titans are once again safely locked away behind it."
 * Glint: "You have saved Tyria, but now you must also save yourselves. The volcano is about to erupt."
 * Glint: "There is a ship in the dock just inside the Mursaat stronghold."
 * Glint: "Unless you wish to suffer the same fate as Vizier Khilbron, then I suggest you make a run for it."
 * Glint: "Your deeds have earned you a place among the heroes of legend."
 * Glint: "Let us hope today is not the day your spirit joins those ensconced in the Hall."