Assault on the Stronghold

Team up with Pyre Fierceshot's warband to rescue the captured Ebon Vanguard soldiers.

Objectives

 * Roan Fierceheart in Dalada Uplands will prepare you for the assault.
 * Invade the hierophant's stronghold and rescue the Ebon Vanguard.
 * Defeat the Charr guards and gain control of the siege devourers.
 * Target archer groups with siege devourers to cover the armored saurus while it breaks down the front gates.
 * Free the Ebon Vanguard held captive within the fortress.
 * Defeat Hierophant Burntsoul and all hostile forces.

Reward

 * Ebon Vanguard reputation points
 * First time: 1,000 (1,500 in hard mode)
 * On repeat: 100 (150 in hard mode)
 * 2,500 Experience

Walkthrough
Roan Fierceheart and the rest of the warband will be on the hill above a field. You will see one of two Siege Devourers just below and another off to the left; the warband will offer to take care of the closer one while your group handles the one farther away. You can leave your allies alone at the right side until you break down the gate.

Siege devourers
Once you have captured a Devourer, you can command it to attack either the archers (Charr Seekers) at the left bluff or the ones to the left of the gate. At each of these two points, there are four Seekers, which it will then attack. Around every 10 seconds, three melee Charr will spawn at the teleporter located below the first group of seekers. These will move to your Devourer and attack it.

Saurus at the gate
An Armored Saurus will move to the gate in an attempt to break it. With all of the 16 Charr Seekers alive (two groups of 4 on each side of the gate), the saurus will be unable to come close to the gate. If it dies, another one will spawn shortly thereafter and give it another try. The seekers also have their numbers maintained by spawning.

The hardest part of the mission is making sure that a saurus survives long enough to batter down the gate, allowing you to enter the camp itself. You are hindered in this attempt by the seeker groups on the cliffs around you; party and warband members that stray within range of these foes can be killed within seconds. Regardless of how you proceed, the following points are important in getting through the gate:


 * The stone arch over the gate will provide some protection to the party (including the saurus).
 * The Siege Devourers cannot be relied upon to clear the stronghold defenses on their own.
 * Once the gate is broken, the defenders around the gate areas will cease to spawn.
 * If a Siege Devourer is destroyed, seekers will cease to spawn on that side of the entrance area.

Strategies
There are a variety of techniques that you can use (including many on the talk page), which fall roughly into three categories:


 * 1) Keep the cliffs cleared of seekers;
 * 2) Protect the saurus and party members;
 * 3) Bypass the area entirely.

Clearing the cliffs
As soon as you claim the Siege Devourers, target each of them to fire at the Bluffs. Fight off the first wave of ground reinforcements, then head towards the gate, scraping the edge of the bluffs on the right; this puts you out of reach of left-side archers and provides some protection from those on the right. From the protection of the arch, use AoE skills to take down the right-side archers closest to the gate, followed by any remaining bluff archers, and then repeat for the left side. By the time you are done, the saurus should have been able to take down the gate; if not, keep killing the seekers as they respawn until the gate is finally destroyed.

Protecting the saurus
Use strong protection skills to limit damage on the saurus as it approaches the gate (a bonder works well; see below for other skill suggestions). While the tank is moving, alternate the targets of both siege devourers from bluffs to gate and back until the beast reaches the gate, then point the siege units at the Charr at the gate. Until the gate is broken, leave the party (and the warband) back to defend the devourers (and the party members responsible for protection).

Bypassing the gate
Kill the Charr on the right-side bluff and use Consume Corpse or Necrotic Traversal to teleport there. Carefully avoiding foes, approach and activate the second resurrection shrine and then let everyone on the party commit suicide. The party will resurrect at the shrine.

Stronghold proper
Once the gate is broken and you enter the stronghold proper, you will find several groups of Charr waiting for you. All but two of the groups will retreat as you approach; finish them off and then have the bulk of your party wait while one player heads up the stairs. As you come close to the ceremonial center (and the Charr hordes), Hierophant Burntsoul will command the Destroyers to be released. Move just close enough to trigger them and then retreat. (If there are multiple players in the party, make sure that those further back keep moving, to prevent the warband from approaching the center area too soon.)

The Destroyers and Charr will be hostile to each other; lean back and watch them destroy each other. Once they are finished, quickly jump in to finish off the remaining Destroyers while they are still damaged.

Hard mode
The techniques are basically the same, but there is less room for error: protections need to be strong (for the party and saurus) and/or you need to be able to defeat the Charr quickly on the field. With heroes and henchmen, it can be difficult to defend both devourers, so ignore the left-side one and focus your attention on the right, where you have the warband to assist. Although one of the siege units will be lost, the left-side ground forces will also stop spawning, making defense of the remaining unit much easier. Wait for the Armored Saurus to appear and proceed as in Normal mode.

The remainder of the mission can be done following standard techniques: move forward slowly, pull groups individually, and keep spread out to avoid AoE damage (especially from the Elementalist boss).

Saurus protection
Use damage reduction or health regeneration skills, e.g. Spirit Bond, Protective Spirit, Shield of Absorption, or Life Bond. Consider using Life Bond with Shield of Deflection and 1 well timed Healing Seed/Seed of Life. Protection spirits are also helpful, e.g. Union and Shelter.

In Normal mode, Life Barrier is probably sufficient. (When using a hero, disable the skill, target the saurus, and then manually force the hero to use the skill). The bond should protect the first Armored Saurus, allowing for a quick completion of the mission.

Another way is to have a monk with Healing Prayers cast Healing Hands and Healing Breeze on the Armored Saurus with both devourers targeted on the gates. The healing and health regeneration should be enough to keep the saurus alive long enough to break the gates even in Hard mode.

Killing Charr
Ebon title track skills are useful as always against Charr, especially Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support. AoE and skills that do not require line of sight are required to take down the rangers on the bluffs, allowing you to avoid their attacks by staying close to the cliffs.

Dealing with Ignite Arrows
The vast numbers of Charr rangers can cause serious damage to a balled up party, quickly overwhelming monk energy if you are using heroes or henchmen; there really isn't much chance to micromanage in this mission. Use of Healing Seed can mitigate this damage, and sometimes even outheal it; due to the fact that Ignite Arrows cause many little bursts of damage, often smaller individually than the repair Healing Seed causes as a result of each packet of damage. As arrows are projectile, remember to use obstacles such as cliffs to your advantage.

Other skills

 * Minion masters help during the beginning and end of the mission to stall approaching foes and to soak up aggro.
 * Wards are useful for defending the devourers, for protecting the party as it kills the bluff rangers, and inside the stronghold as you pull Charr towards the stairway.

Allies
Charr Devourers Dinosaurs Humans
 * 20 (20) Bonwor Fierceblade
 * 20 (20) Roan Fierceheart
 * 20 (20) Cowl Fiercetongue
 * 20 (20) Gron Fierceclaw
 * 20 (20) Seer Fiercereign
 * 20 (20) Left Siege Devourer
 * 20 (20) Right Siege Devourer
 * 28 (28) Armored Saurus
 * 20 Captain Langmar (Revolution cinematic only)
 * 20 Anton (Revolution cinematic only)
 * 20 (?) Captured Vanguard Soldier

Foes
Charr Destroyers
 * 20 (26) Charr Axemaster
 * 20 (26) Charr Blademaster
 * 20 (26) Charr Bladestorm
 * 20 (?) Elite Charr Guard
 * 20 (26) Charr Seeker
 * 20 (?) Elite Charr Guard
 * 20 (26) Charr Prophet
 * 20 (26) Charr Dominator
 * 20 (26) Charr Wardkeeper
 * 20 (26) Charr Flameshielder
 * 20 (26) Charr Avenger
 * 28 (30) Destroyer of Bones
 * 24 (26) Destroyer of Sinew
 * 24 (26) Destroyer of Deeds
 * 28 (30) Destroyer of Hordes
 * 24 (26), 28 (30) Destroyer of Thoughts

Bosses
Charr
 * 24 (30) Hierophant Burntsoul &rarr; Ether Prodigy

Initial dialogue
Roan Fierceheart
 * Did you have something to say to me, human? I didn't think so.
 * Yes I am ready to attack the hierophant's stronghold


 * The assault command has been given. We must take the armored saurus into Sacnoth Valley posthaste! The warband awaits you there. Are you ready to attack the hierophant's stronghold?
 * Yes Burntsoul's reign ends today.
 * ingame I'm not ready yet.

Intermediate dialogue
At start.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: Capture those siege devourers and break down the gate! The enemy awaits our blades!
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: We'll assault the right devourer. Let's hope you can handle the other side.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: For the warband! Charge!

After taking the right devourer.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: Right side secured. When you are ready, get over here and direct this devourer.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: Prepare for battle! Protect the saurus at all costs!

If the saurus dies.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: Another armored saurus will soon join the battle.

When a new saurus arrives.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: Protect the armored saurus! Break down the gate!

On smashing the gate.
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: The gate has fallen! Move out! Clear that fortress!
 * Bonwor Fierceblade: Gron, you and the rest of the warband stay here and make sure no one escapes through the front.

Encountering Burntsoul.
 * Hierophant Burntsoul: You will not escape with your lives. Release the Destroyers!
 * : Those Destroyers are your enemies too. They'll kill us all!
 * Hierophant Burntsoul: Then we shall die together, human! You will not win!