Assault on the Stronghold

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Assault on the Stronghold
Section Primary Ebon Vanguard Quests
Given by Roan Fierceheart
in Dalada Uplands
(Charr Homelands)
Part of The Missing Vanguard
Preceded by What Must Be Done
Campaign Eye of the North
Type Primary quest Repeatable quest
Maps

(Click to enlarge)

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

Contents

[edit] Quest information

[edit] 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.

[edit] Reward

[edit] Walkthrough

First of all, you will meet Roan Fierceheart and the rest of the warband right after loading. They will tell you to take care of the left Siege Devourer while they handle the right one. Do as they say and kill the Charr group guarding the left Devourer; the warband will have no problems with the right one. You can leave them alone at the right side for the rest of this part.

Once you have captured the 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.

An Armored Saurus will move to the gate in an attempt to break it. If there are all 16 Charr Seekers (two groups of 4 on each side of the gate), it won't even reach 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.

In order to progress with the mission, you need to enable a saurus to batter down the gate, allowing you to enter the camp itself. You are obviously hindered in this attempt; principally by the seeker groups on the cliffs around you. If a group member strays within range of these without protection they will almost certainly be killed in seconds, so various techniques exist for achieving your aim. The broad methods are either to clear and keep cleared the seekers on the cliffs, to protect the saurus and team members sufficiently, or to bypass this area entirely by activating the shrine inside the fort. See the discussion page for a full description of player suggestions for getting into the charr stronghold, which is generally considered the hardest part of this mission.

Bug Bug.
The Spawning Charr in this Part of the Mission do not give Experience.

There are some salient truths which hold whichever technique you choose to employ:

  • Once at the gate, the saurus and any team members will be afforded some protection by the arch over the entrance itself.
  • While the Seige Devourers will help you, they cannot be relied upon to clear the stronghold defence if left to their own devices.
  • Once the gate is broken, the defenders around the gate areas will cease to spawn.
  • If one of the seige devourers is destroyed, seekers will cease to spawn on that side of the entrance area.

Generally speaking, the most basic method of completing this quest is to combine protection of the saurus with attacks on the defenders. The quest is generally considered to be easier if you concentrate on only one of these to allow entry.

Once the gate is broken, you can go inside. There will be a huge group of Charr waiting, which will retreat once you come close. They will leave two parties to the left and the right of your way. Simply finish them off and go on.

At the ceremonial place, the Charr hordes will be waiting. Hierophant Burntsoul will command the destroyers to be released. Move to the quest target to cause the destroyers to come and then immediately go back again. Note that sometimes it takes a moment for the quest to activate. If you have more than one player in the party, it is advisable to have them "strafe dance", by moving left and right quickly, so the NPCs do not grab the destroyers. Now lean back and watch the imposing fight Charr vs. Destroyer. Once they are finished, quickly jump in to finish off the remaining destroyers while they are still damaged.

[edit] Hard mode

In hard mode, when using heroes and henchmen, it may be difficult to split the team and defend both Devourers while surviving attacks of constantly respawning Charr. There is however an easy solution. Flag your team at one Devourer (the one on the right, so you get help from friendly NPCs) and leave the other one alone. The other Devourer will die quickly, however the Charr on its side will just wander around and will cease spawning on that particular side. Just defend the remaining Devourer and wait for Armored Saurus to appear.

With several Charr archers on the left flank it is impossible for the Saurus to reach the gate. Mark of Protection or other very strong damage reduction is recommended to keep the saurus alive, and players with only NPCs in their team may consider delegating this task to a hero. You can use the Devourers to kill remaining Charr archers once the gate is broken and proceed into the base.

The rest of the job is done similarly to other hard mode missions with proper pulling of targets (make sure to let the Charr kill the spawned Destroyers before you engage). Watch out for heavy AoE damage from the Elementalist boss. Try to lure his initial wave of spells on a single puller. Additionally, bring a Minion Master to make the initial part of this mission even easier.

[edit] Skill Recommendations

To Protect the Saurus: damage reduction or health regeneration skills - Shield of Regeneration, Mark of Protection, Shield of Absorption, Life Bond

To Kill the Charr Defenders: ebon title track skills are useful as always against charr, with Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support being particularly so. If you choose to attack the seekers on the cliffs, skills that do not require line of sight will be very useful - allowing you to remain sheltered by the cliff as you cast. General AoE elemental skills are recommended for this.

General Skill Recommendations: minion masters can prove very useful as during the start of this mission it is likely that your attack front will become considerably more diffuse than is comfortable - the minions help stall approaching foes and to soak up aggro. All of the suggested techniques on the discussion page have their own skill recommendations listed with them.

Dealing with explosive 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 henchies; there really isnt 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 exploding arrows cause many little bursts of damage, often smaller individually than the repair Healing Seed causes as a result of each packet of damage.

[edit] Dialogue

[edit] 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.
No I'm not ready yet.

[edit] 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!
<Party leader>: Those Destroyers are your enemies too. They'll kill us all!
Hierophant Burntsoul: Then we shall die together, human! You will not win!

[edit] NPCs

Warning: This key section of the article is incomplete. You can help the Guild Wars Wiki by expanding it.

[edit] Allies

Charr

Devourers

Dinosaurs

Humans

[edit] Foes

Charr

Destroyers

[edit] Bosses

Charr

[edit] Notes

Eye of the North primary repeatable quests and missions
Asura arc: Finding the Bloodstone and The Elusive Golemancer » Genius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestation
Ebon Vanguard arc: Against the Charr » Warband of Brothers » Assault on the Stronghold
Norn arc: Curse of the Nornbear » A Gate Too Far and Blood Washes Blood
Deldrimor arc: Destruction's Depths » A Time for Heroes
Challenge: Glint's Challenge
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