Abaddon's Gate

It is time to destroy Abaddon once and for all, and to save the world from Nightfall. This mission has a simple objective; to kill Abaddon before he breaks completely free from his bindings. Compared to the previous mission, Gate of Madness, this mission is simpler.

Objectives
Destroy Abaddon.
 * Destroy the graven monoliths to power the chains of Abaddon.
 * Attack Abaddon while he is vulnerable.

Reward
The reward for the mission depends on how long you take to kill Abaddon (See Normal mode reward /Hard mode reward for details).

In addition to the experience and gold rewards, you now gain 50 Lightbringer title points for each level of completion in Normal mode and 100 in Hard mode.

Walkthrough
Run along the passage until you get to the end, there is only one way you can go. You'll come to a bridge which looks down on the spot where Abaddon is imprisoned. There are three paths down to Abaddon from here, two to the binding points for each of his hands which are situated to the left and right and one which leads to where his head is bound in the middle. Two Graven Monoliths guard each of the binding points, a maximum of six are on the map at any one time.

Abaddon will break free as you approach and you must kill the Monoliths to rebind him and get the opportunity to attack him. It is best to attack the Monoliths at the hands first, as killing those at the head first, without first rebinding the hands means the Monoliths will respawn at the head, wasting your effort.

When the Monoliths at each of the binding points are destroyed Abaddon will take about 1000 damage, his head will be lowered and you will have a short while to lay down as much damage on him as possible before he breaks free and you have to start over again at rebinding the hands to get another opportunity to attack. It will take several cycles of binding, damaging and breaking-free before Abaddon is killed. Get into a rhythm, agree before-hand which side you will go to first each time so your party can kill off the Monoliths with least effort. Each time you rebind part of Abaddon by defeating a pair of Monoliths you will receive a morale boost.

Abaddon isn't entirely defenseless while you complete this ritual, he has a number of attacks which can be rather frustrating and damaging for a party. Of particular note is Words of Madness which causes the party to be knocked down, dazed and to take damage; key to coping with this is timing your skill use to avoid getting interrupted. Of particular note is when Abaddon is in his prone state, invariably this skill is used about 5 seconds after he is bound just when you're launching into your best spell. The party has to be prepared to remove daze or to operate with it on. Party healing is a good counter to the area of effect damage which Abaddon deals.

Finally, Torment Claws appear from time to time during the battle. They have a nasty area of effect attack which can devastate your party if they're not noticed and taken care of. Keep a wary eye out for them to interrupt their attack skill and kill them.

Skill recommendations

 * Bring Lightbringer's Gaze for the Torment Claws. Alternatively, any skill interrupt will do.
 * The real premium is not in dealing inordinate damage, but in staying alive. An additional healer instead of a damage dealer can make the difference. The healers should concentrate on party-wide condition removal and heals, such as:
 * Light of Deliverance, Heal Party, Recuperation, Protective Was Kaolai
 * Martyr, Extinguish, Cautery Signet, Recovery, Pure Was Li Ming
 * Healer's Boon is very effective when coupled with Heal Party to counter Words of Madness as it also halves casting time allowing the dazed effect to be minimal.
 * Heal Area is a cheap and very effective spell in this mission, as even a secondary monk with a rank of 3 Healing Prayers will counter a lot of the AoE damage (60 health per adjacent creature).
 * Secondary monks can be very effective using Extinguish, Purge Conditions, Martyr, or Empathic Removal.
 * Resurrection Signet or Sunspear Rebirth Signet are preferable to hard resurrection skills, as you will be receiving many morale boosts throughout the mission. Or even better, a hero with Unyielding Aura, to resurrect you instantly with full health and energy. Avoid resurrection spells as they will be affected by dazed caused by Words of Madness.
 * Bring plenty of direct damage and armor-ignoring damage.
 * Consider spells with short activation times to avoid getting interrupted.
 * A Paragon with "Fall Back!" or a Warrior with "Charge!" helps a lot when Abaddon breaks free and your party needs to move away from him before being attacked by the recently spawned Monoliths.
 * Hexbreaker Aria works when the Monoliths are in their Mesmer form where they cast Conjure Phantasm on each party member and Song of Purification helps when cripple and dazed occurs. Having two Paragons, one casting Hexbreaker Aria and the other casting Song of Purification with different skill bars is recommended instead of having one Paragon with both of these skills.
 * Wastrel's Worry is quite effective against Abaddon.
 * Area damage over time skills (see Nuker), such as Chaos Storm and Fire Storm, work very well against Abaddon.
 * Powerful skills with long recharge times work well here, because frequent morale boosts recharge them instantly.

Completing the mission
Upon completion of this mission, the players will end up in the Throne of Secrets.

If this is the first time your character has completed this mission, remember to talk to Keeper of Secrets in Throne of Secrets. There will not be any quest or reward indicator over his head. Keeper of Secrets will give you the Book of Secrets. You can then go to one of the nearby keepers and trade the book for a unique item. You can only receive this book once per character. If for some reason you forget to talk to Keeper of Secrets and leave the Throne of Secrets, you can perform the mission again and talk to Keeper of Secrets to receive the book. Note completing the mission in hard mode does not give the Book of Secrets again.

Allies
Human
 * 20 Kormir

Foes
Demons (Torment creatures) God (Torment creature) Monoliths
 * 24 (26) Torment Claw
 * 30 (32) Abaddon
 * 22 (26) Graven Monolith

Opening cinematic

 *  : "Abaddon abides within. His power is that of a god, and his madness threatens to destroy everything."
 *  : "No matter what happens, remember one thing:"
 *  : "We never fight alone."
 * Dunkoro: "It's a good plan."
 * Morgahn: "Varesh's madness ends here."
 * Tahlkora: "I've never fought a god before."
 * Melonni: "There's a first time for everything."
 * Koss: "Ready whenever you are!"
 *  : "Kormir? Are you ready?"
 * Kormir: "Yes. I think so."
 * Kormir: "Lead on. I will follow."

Initial dialogue

 * Kormir: All our efforts and sacrifices have brought us to this point. Now is the time for heroes. Prepare yourselves...today we end this nightmare once and for all.
 * Kormir: Remember, we fight together...and not just for our own lives, but for the life of every man, woman, and child in Elona...for all the people of the world.
 * Kormir: ''We cannot fail. We shall not fail. March forth to victory, Sunspears! For Istan! For Elona! For the Five True Gods!

End cinematic

 *  : "Abaddon is breaking up!"
 * Kormir: "Incredible! All that knowledge!"
 *  : "It's running wild! It will destroy everything!"
 * Kormir: "I'm going into it!"
 *  : "You can't do that!"
 * Kormir: "Yes I can! I can contain the power. This is the gift the avatars gave me!"
 *  : "Kormir! No!"
 * Kormir: "You said it yourself - it's about a choice! A choice that only a mortal can make!"
 *  : "Kormir?"
 * Kormir: "No. Yes. Kormir. And much more."
 *  : "Abaddon?"
 * Kormir: "No. His power. His knowledge. But not him. His will is broken. There is a new god of secrets. There is a new day."
 * Kormir: "Nightfall has come and gone. I have much to do...Much must be repaired."
 * Kormir: "This will take you home, or to wherever you desire."
 *  : "Kormir, if you need help..."
 * Kormir: "Yes. Yes, I will, but for the moment, you have your world back. The gods spoke the truth. It is your world. Use it wisely."
 *  : "Of course."
 * Kormir: "And remember my friend - you never fight alone."

Trivia

 * Until the August 16, 2007 update, it was possible to defeat Abaddon easily using damage reflection skills. This strategy has now been nerfed, but it has been kept on this article's Talk Page as a historical record.
 * Enter the mission, Once your party is close enough (at least to the bridge), type the "/dance" emote (every non-NPC in your party must dance for this to work). Not only do you start dancing, but Abaddon joins in, with a dance of his own. This includes a "Shimmy" like the warrior dance followed by a "raise the roof" and finally he will "mosh" out; however, after this point your party will die and the message "You Got Served!" will appear on the screen. Beware that if your entire party dances when Abaddon is half dead, Abaddon will start dancing and you will fail the mission. This is most likely a reference to the film "You Got Served".
 * The ending dialogue and the situation seems to be a reference to the Helios ending from Deus Ex.