Ring of Fire

The Door of Komalie is not far off. Establish a foothold on the island and begin to work your way towards it.

Objectives
Establish a foothold on the Ring of Fire Island Chain


 * Gain access to the Citadel Guardhouse
 * Open the main gate to the Citadel Guardhouse
 * Clear the Guardhouse of Mursaat
 * *BONUS* Defeat the Eidolon

Walkthrough
You'll begin by watching Brechnar Ironhammer lure the Mursaat away from you. Do not engage them and they will go away. You cannot save Ironhammer, as he is scripted to die without even being attacked. Head northeast, following the coast. It's best to wait in the corner before engaging the Mursaat in order to take out the patrol of Jade which will inevitably catch up to you anyway.

Clear the Mursaat Elementalists and Mursaat Mesmers and go to the top of a hill looking down upon a Mursaat tower and a number of Jade Bows. Keep the party on the hill while a player uses a long/flat bow to pull the Jade away from the tower. If done correctly, the Jade should be able to be defeated with only melee players entering the draining effects of the tower. Once the Jade are clear, rush the Ether Seal to deactivate the tower. Sometimes, a pair of Nightmares will spawn from the ground around the tower. From here, the easy way is to continue up the northern path, avoiding the Drakes. You may choose to fight them and battle the Igneous Ettins through the cave, but it is entirely unnecessary.

To your left, you'll eventually see a lava pool with one or two groups of ettins waiting on the other side. Occasionally, the ettins will engage the Mursaat and lose, but usually, you will have to deal with them yourself. Either pull the ettins across the lava or have the team rush to the other side to battle them. It is not recommended to fight them while standing in the lava if you can help it. If you rush across, try not to engage the Mursaat by the tower until everyone is healed and ready. From here, you can either have a player rush past the tower to trigger a cutscene on the other side (and moving the party past the tower) or attempt to defeat the forces there (recommended for the bonus). As before, if you wish to fight, pull the foes away from the tower, defeat them, then finish off the seal.

Vizier Khilbron appears and warns the party the front gate is heavily guarded and that it might be better to take the back route. However, with proper pulling techniques, the front gate is often easier to tackle than facing the fire spewing, lava-loving foes encountered along the back route. Either way, you must first push through a few groups of Breeze Keepers one of which includes a boss.

Front gate
The front gate is guarded by numerous Mursaat and towers. The hill along the right side facing the gate gives enough height for most bows as well as attacking Ritualist spirits to hit the rightmost Ether Seal as well as pull the patrols of Mursaat away from the towers. After the Mursaat patrols are clear, take out the 2 nearest towers. If your party has sufficient capability of dealing damage without line of sight, you can also clear a number of the Mursaat patrols from behind the gate as well. When ready, break the gate seals to open the gate.

Two more Mursaat towers stand a distance behind the gate, but their effective radii overlap just past the stairs. If you haven't cleared the roaming patrols, have someone use a bow to pull them to the stairs to be defeated. The Ether Seals on these two towers face away from the gate, so the safest way to approach them is to run past them and to the right. (keeping away from the Mursaat that may be back there) Stand just outside the range of the rightmost tower to heal and regenerate energy. If there are Mursaat dangerously nearby, engage them now so they don't become a problem later. Once everyone is healed, take out the right tower followed by the left. If the bonus has been initiated, an Eidolon will appear at this time and should be easily dispatched.

Now that the draining towers are out of the way, break the seal to the lever for the main gate and defeat the boss guarding it. Touch the lever to open the main gate. Clear out any remaining Mursaat and proceed down the bridge. Follow the path to the final Mursaat boss. Defeat it and the nearby Mursaat to complete the mission.

Back road
This is the blue way on the map. You should see a lone Lava Spitter marking the entrance to the back road. Following this path, you'll be confronted by many more spitters. Their Incendiary Arrows burn and do quite a bit of damage, thus healers should stay away. They also use Dryder's Defenses, so skills such as Wild Blow are useful for finishing them quickly. Keep an eye on the spider patrols when the cave opens up, as it is not uncommon to aggro more spiders than you would like.

Past the spiders, you'll find numerous Lava Imps. They have strong nuking capabilities, especially in groups. Luckily, they tend to bunch together, making interrupts such as Cry of Frustration or Maelstrom effective in mitigating the damage. They have relatively low armor thus fall quickly if the party isn't being rained on with Meteor Showers. Watch the compass carefully to avoid the attention of extra imp patrols while fighting a group.

Following the path, you'll run across numerous pools of lava, dotted with islands guarded by imps. Keep pushing through to finally reach an Ether Seal to open the guard house. Clear out the Mursaat inside, break the seal to a room containing a lever, and defeat the boss guarding it. Touch the lever to open the main gate. Clear out any remaining Mursaat and proceed down the bridge. Follow the path to the final Mursaat boss. Defeat it and the nearby Mesmers to complete the mission.

Bonus
To activate the bonus, you'll need to talk to the Ancient Seer in the cave east of the first lava pool. While you can reach him by fighting through the drakes and ettins on the southern side, you can easily just fight the ettins on the northern side and work your way back to him. The Ancient Seer will tell you to bring him the Spectral Essence from an Eidolon who will appear once the towers to the guard house are deactivated.

Defeat the Mursaat and Ether Seal after the first lava pool but before the cutscene, as you will need to be come back through this area, carrying the Spectral Essence (thus slowing your movement). You can complete the bonus by entering through the front or the back gate, but you will need to deactivate the four towers at the front gate before the Eidolon will appear. The Eidolon appears between the two far gates. Defeat the Eidolon and return the Spectral Essence to the Ancient Seer to complete the bonus. You may use this Ancient Seer to infuse armor.

Skill recommendations

 * Rangers should consider bringing Melandru's Resilience; if used while standing in lava, they will gain +2 energy regeneration and +1 health regeneration (4 from crippled and 4 from burning, with -7 from fire). Warriors might want to consider "I Will Survive!", although this is less effective and doesn't last as long. It is advised not to stand in lava for too long.
 * Taking the front gate places the party against numerous Mursaat and Jade along with Ether Seals.
 * Prepare for energy drain from the Mursaat Tower effect; good counters include: Glyph of Lesser Energy for casters, signets, and bringing adrenaline-based damage dealers.
 * Healers can stand outside the tower's range and use party healing spells.
 * Ether Seals also have health regeneration, so ensure the party can deal enough damage per second to take them out. Offensive Ritualist spirits are very effective.
 * An alternative technique against the towers is to sacrifice an animal companion next to a seal, then use multiple Signets of Sorrow (which recharge instantly) to spike the tower.

Allies

 * 24 (24) Brechnar Ironhammer
 * 10 (20) Dwarven Soldier
 * 30 (30) Ancient Seer

Foes
Arachnids
 * 24 (26) Lava Spitter

Drakes
 * 24 (26) Drake (creature)

Ettins
 * 24 (26) Igneous Ettin

Ghosts
 * 24 (26) Phantom

Imps
 * 24 (26) Lava Imp

Mursaat
 * 24 (26) Jade Armor
 * 24 (26) Jade Bow
 * 24 (26) Mursaat Monk
 * 24 (26) Mursaat Necromancer
 * 24 (26) Mursaat Mesmer
 * 24 (26) Ether Seal
 * 24 (26) Mursaat Elementalist

Nightmares
 * 28 (30) Nightmare (Ring of Fire Islands)

Riders
 * 24 (26) Breeze Keeper

Bosses
Arachnids Ettins Ghosts Mursaat Riders
 * 28 (30) Casses Flameweb &rarr; Incendiary Arrows
 * 28 (30) Ferk Mallet &rarr; Backbreaker
 * 28 (30) Vulg Painbrain &rarr; Spike Trap
 * 24 (30) Eidolon &rarr; Mist Form
 * 28 (30) Cairn the Smug &rarr; Devastating Hammer
 * 28 (30) Cairn the Troubling &rarr; Oath Shot
 * 28 (30) Coventina the Matron &rarr; Aura of Faith
 * 28 (30) Odelyn the Displeased &rarr; Life Transfer
 * 28 (30) Melek the Virtuous &rarr; Energy Surge
 * 28 (30) Maida the Ill Tempered &rarr; Thunderclap
 * 28 (30) Grun Galesurge &rarr; Shield of Deflection
 * 28 (30) Pytt Spitespew &rarr; Migraine
 * 28 (30) Jyth Sprayburst &rarr; Ether Prodigy

Objects
Chests Levers
 * Darkstone Chest
 * Lever (open gate to final area)
 * Lever (same, other side of gate)

Initial dialogue

 * Brechnar Ironhammer: "I will buy you enough time to get off this boat, and a flagon of ale when we meet in the Rift."
 * Dwarven Soldier: "It will be much hotter where you are going!"
 * Brechnar Ironhammer: "Taste my axe!"
 * Brechnar Ironhammer: "For Deldrimor and King Ironhammer!"
 * Brechnar Ironhammer: "Your magic rags are no match for Dwarven steel!"
 * Brechnar Ironhammer: "Back to the Rift you foul thing!"
 * Brechnar Ironhammer: "For the Great Dwarf!"

Intermediate cinematic

 * Vizier Khilbron: "The Mursaat have covered the volcano with potent anti-magics. Even now I can feel them draining my power away."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "I would suggest we find another way around this fortress."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "The Mursaat are prepared for an assault on this door. Best we do not strike at their strongest point."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "We head for the top of the volcano."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "Be on guard. We are growing close."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "The Mursaat have no intention of allowing us to reach our goal."

End cinematic

 * Vizier Khilbron: "Do not grieve for the fallen. They have passed into the next life."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "Somewhere in the Rift, deep within the Great Forge, Brechnar Ironhammer begins his long journey to the Hall of Heroes."
 *  : "Gods speed you on your journey, brave Dwarf."
 *  : "May the heroes of old call out your name when you join their company."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "Brechnar has given us a gift. The gift of his life."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "Let us not squander it."
 * Vizier Khilbron: "The prophecy is upon us. We make for the teeth of Abaddon's Mouth, for the Door of Komalie."