Cold as Ice

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Cold as Ice
Section Far Shiverpeaks Quests
Given by Sif Shadowhunter
in Sifhalla
(Far Shiverpeaks)
Preceded by Anything You Can Do
Campaign Eye of the North
Type Secondary quest
(Difficulty: Master)
(Solo Quest)

Prove your worth once and for all by single-handedly defeating a Glacial Griffon.

Contents

[edit] Quest information

[edit] Objectives

  • Speak to Sif when you are ready to face the Glacial Griffon.
  • Destroy the Glacial Griffon and prove your valor to Sif. Earn your song!
  • See Sif Shadowhunter for your reward.

[edit] Reward

[edit] Walkthrough

Cleanup This article needs to be cleaned up, see Guild Wars Wiki:Formatting for details.

The Glacial Griffon is a level 28 spirit-spamming ritualist. There are several viable strategies to defeating him listed below. Many of them include cross-campaign skills, so if you don't have access to the skills mentioned here, feel free to check the talk page for alternatives.

[edit] Skill Recommendations

Skill interrupts will successfully shut down the Griffon’s binding rituals. Note that skills that only interrupt spells, such as Choking Gas, will not work.

55 builds can be effective, but beware of Bloodsong taking large chunks of your life.

Bring a self heal to help counter any damage you receive from the spirits. (There are plenty of options listed here or on the talk page.)

Use the terrain to your advantage. After he has finished casting his first round of spirits, consider pulling the Griffon near the cliff wall to the left of the portal. It is possible to trap him there, then use ranged attacks and interrupts to kill him in safety. (He normally attempts to cast his spirits in a line, not in one big pile, so trapping the Griffon can result in him getting stuck and therefore, summoning less often.)

The Glacial Griffon has natural health regeneration. Skills or spells that cause degeneration are the key to countering his powerful self healing.

Many PvE skills apply a number of different conditions or provide an extra target, for example:

Pain Inverter can be used to deal significant damage.

Summon Ruby Djinn spreads burning.

Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support causes bleeding and has the potential to deal a massive amount of damage.

[edit] Primary Assassins

[edit] Primary Elementalist

For primary Elementalist, secondary Mesmer with the following skill template works well. Stone Striker, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Stoneflesh Aura, Mantra of Earth, Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support, "You Move Like a Dwarf!", Conjure Phantasm, and Conjure Nightmare with 12 Attributes in Illusion Magic, 12+3 Attributes in Earth Magic, 3+1 Attributes in Energy Storage.

When Glacial Griffon pops up, target it, and cast Stone Striker, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Stoneflesh Aura, and Mantra of Earth to reduce the damage you take. Then, cast Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support, "You Move Like a Dwarf!", Conjure Phantasm, and Conjure Nightmare on Glacial Griffon in that order. Move away from the spirits to the other corner of the zone.

Watch the target's HP bar. When the Health degeneration Hex spells run out (indicated by the purple downside arrow on the right end of the HP bar) and you have sufficient HP and energy for another run, cast Stone Striker, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Stoneflesh Aura, and Mantra of Earth on yourself, run back to the target, cast Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support, "You Move Like a Dwarf!", Conjure Phantasm, and Conjure Nightmare on Glacial Griffon in that order. Again, move away from the spirits to the other corner of the zone. If Glacial Griffon follows you, cast "You Move Like a Dwarf!" on it to knock it down and keep running away. Repeat until Glacial Griffon is dead. The battle should last only a couple minutes at the maximum.

An additional tactic would be to use Glimmering Mark and kiting.

[edit] Secondary Ranger

This build works well if you can afford the energy costs. Use Apply Poison, and hit him from a distance, from high ground, where it is safe. If he moves towards you, use You Move Like a Dwarf! immediately followed by Hunter's Shot, doing damage, as well as causing bleeding and poison. Move out of his way so he doesn't chase you. Repeat as necessary.

[edit] Primary Monk

For a primary Monk, use a normal 55 hp build. Only take one energy gain skill such as Balthazar's Spirit. Bring Shield of Judgement and Ear Bite. Ear Bite not only does damage, but also makes him bleed. You will gain enough adrenaline to keep him bleeding so he will never gain hp back.

A 55 build with Spoil Victor instead of Shield of Judgement also works just as good if not better.

If you dont have a 55 build, you can use a full signet bar,Mending, for health regeneration, Mantra of inscriptions and You Move Like a Dwarf!. Just lure the griffon from corner to corner, strafe spirits attack, and keep him crippled; it takes 6-7 minutes to kill him.

[edit] Primary Ranger

Choose Necromancer as your secondary. This skill set up goes as follows:

Have Death Magic at 12 and have Beast Mastery and Expertise at 9 (Naturally before buffs.)

Just get as many Bone Minions as you can, summon Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support, Poisonous Bite. Jagged Horror when needed. Raise extra bone minions from extra bodies left over (Because you can't get them all before it raises.) and voila it's dead. Just make sure the minions are attacking it. Easy, keep up ebon vanguard and turn bone minions manually into jagged's. This build can be improved but it worked excellently. Just stand and watch. That good.

[edit] Primary Dervish

As you can see from the other classes the most successful and easy way to kill the glacial griffon is degen. I recommend using either necro life stealing degen skills or mesmer illusion degen skills. I went for the mesmer degen skills as it is cheaper to buy Mes Tomes.

Recommended skills are "you move like a dwarf", Conjure Phantasm and Conjure Nightmare, I also liked shrinking armor as a mesmer degen skill, used bathazar form + eternal aura to maintain it, for quick pop in to cast degen and get away. The rest don't really matter as long as they can keep you healed and the energy up to cast. Since it isn't practical to melee the glacial griffon due to the spamming and relatively strong melee attacks, I didn't use any weapon mastery, and used the bonus illusion wand for 5 more energy and a spare shield I had that included the -5 absorb bonus. So it was likley 12 illusion magic, and the rest spread between earth and mystic depending on what your using.


[edit] Primary or Secondary Necromancer

A way to win as a primary OR secondary necromancer is put 12 into Death Magic. Your skill bar will utilize only 4 skills; Animate Flesh Golem, Animate Shambling Horror, Animate Vampiric Horror, and Death Nova (Template Code: OQSjUwHc5MAtjaJDNAAAAAAAAA). The trick is to keep on summoning as much as possible and watch your minions closely, when they are about to die, cast Death Nova on them. Ensure you stand behind your minions so you aren't being targetted. If you do get targetted, your Vampiric Horrors will aide in giving you hitpoints. Your Shambling Horrors is what will win you the battle. The Flesh Golem is a meat shield for incase you run out of mana for the warrior types. This build has been tested on a primary Paragon class (2 mana regeneration) and has worked perfectly.

Couple Animate Bone Minions with Spoil Victor. Max out Death Magic and equip a Death Magic wand / offhand set or staff that halves casting time of Death Magic.

Animate as many bone minions as possible prior to the Griffon's arrival. There are 6 exploitable corpses available, allowing you to create your maximum amount of minions before the fight begins. Aura of the Lich is useful, as you can easily create your maximum amount of minions in the ten seconds before the Griffon arrives.

When the Griffon arrives, the minions will swarm and body block him. Since he must take 2-3 steps to summon another spirit, he will only be able to spawn one or two at a time. The Griffon will be too busy with the minions to attack you, so focus on keeping Spoil Victor on him and he will chip away at his own health with each swing he takes at the minions. Consider using one of the Asuran summoning skills or Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support to add an additional target to the fray. Blood of the Master and a self-heal are optional but are not a necessary part of this strategy, as if enough minions are summoned, the Griffon will be dead before he is able to kill all of the minions.

Instead of Spoil Victor, Minion Masters with Barbs and Mark of Pain can take him and his spirits down in a similar fashion.

Also consider bringing Great Dwarf Weapon to use on your minions. The combination of knock-down, additional damage, and body blocking is lethal to the Glacial Griffon.

Grenth's Balance, Animate Bone Minions, and Blood of the Master is a viable combination for Primary classes with low energy reserves. (Equip a Death Magic wand / offhand set or staff for extra energy.) Summon 6-8 minions while you wait for the Griffon to appear. Use Blood of the Master to heal your minions and lower your own health, then use Grenth’s Balance to quickly damage the Griffon and heal yourself. Faintheartedness can also quicken the battle considerably. Repeat as necessary. Once he's too low to Balance any further, finish him off in whatever manner best suits you. Bring an extra self heal to use after Balancing him has no effect.

Note: Be careful not to use Blood of the Master too often in-between Grenth's Balance, or you'll sacrifice yourself to death.

Another way to win with a Necromancer is to use YMLaD, Necrosis, EVAS, an elite knockdown(see page for knockdowns from each profession.), and three additional skills that may be of some use, any "spirit destroyer" is good, as are skills such as Unnatural Signet. When the Griffin spawns, use YMLaD, Necrosis, EVAS, Necrosis, "elite knockdown", Necrosis, and then repeat. Use additional skills as necessary. (Inspired by Norn Tournament Farmer build.)

Consider taking Weaken Knees, YMLaD combined with Animate Bone Minions, EVAS and any degeneration skill. Using this method the Griffon takes damage every time it tries to walk and dosen't get very far with the minions and EVAS body blocking him. The minions do have a tendancy to attack the griffons spirits and die rather quickly but they do give you time to run away from the griffon, making him follow you. The degeneration spell like Faintheartedness is great, but all the combined skills use lots of energy, so make sure you have a wand/ offhand combo or staff that gives enough energy to pull it off.

[edit] Primary or Secondary Mesmer

Conjure Phantasm and Conjure Nightmare in conjunction with the Mesmer Sunspear skill Cry of Pain can be extremely useful. If energy is a problem, take Auspicious Incantation and use it before Conjure Nightmare. Also consider bringing Echo and/or Arcane Echo, and cast it right before you cast Cry Of Pain. This way you will be able to cast Cry Of Pain twice, for maximum damage.

[edit] Primary or Secondary Ritualist

Ritualists can beat this boss fairly quickly by raising damaging spirits like Vampirism, Bloodsong, and Pain before the Griffon appears. Combine with Painful Bond, Warmonger's Weapon, Dissonance and Signet of Midnight (or Shadowsong if SoM is unavailable) to keep the Griffon down. Gaze of Fury and/or Consume Soul will easily banish his spirits. Essence Strike and/or the Elementalist skill Glyph of Lesser Energy can be used for any energy management.

[edit] Primary Warrior

Warriors can use the Grenth's Balance strategy above. Bring Lions Comfort or Healing Signet to keep your health up while your energy regenerates or to use after Balancing no longer works. Consider bringing Ear Bite or Summon Ruby Djinn for easy sources of bleeding and burning.

An alternate strategy is to go secondary Elementalist with 12 in both Tactics and Earth Magic. Bring Gladiator's Defense, Riposte, Deadly Riposte, Sliver Armor, Bonetti's Defense, Healing Signet, Signet of Infection, and Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support. Maintain Gladiator’s Defense, Bonetti's, or Sliver Armor for blocking, and use Riposte and Deadly Riposte when available. Always run away from the Griffon's spirits. Use Signet of Infection and Deadly Riposte to apply disease and bleeding. Use Sniper Support whenever available.

[edit] Ebon Vanguard Attacks Only (any profession)

This sequence requires minimal melee attack

Any character with any profession can use this build providing they have the necessary skills associated with Ebon Vanguard ranks. Equip Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support, Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support and Signet of Infection along with some type of self-healing ability and any long-range attack of your choice.

Using the terrain around the griffon's spawn point to your advantage and keeping your distance away from the spirits first summon your Ebon Vanguard Assassin to occupy the spirits. Immediately summon your Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support whose attacks will cause bleeding. When the griffon begins to bleed use your Signet of Infection to cause Disease. During this health degeneration stage you can feel free to lob attacks from a distance. Be prepared to turn and run should he pursue you or should the spirits start attacking. Use your self-healing ability to gain health anytime you aren't being attacked.

If you are pursued retreat far enough to be out of range of the spirits before using any close-range attack and summon Ebon Vanguard Assassin and Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support at every opportunity.

[edit] NPCs

[edit] Foes

[edit] Bosses


[edit] Dialogue

[edit] Initial dialogue

Sif Shadowhunter

"Are you ready to tackle a worthy quest, <Player Name>? In the highest icy reaches live the glacial griffons. They are deadly and prey mostly on wolves, bears, and other large game. I have spread wolf carcasses around the village to attract one of these beasts. Your task is simple: single-handedly slay a glacial griffon. Only then will your deeds be worthy of song; only then will your fame rise to the level of a true Norn."
Yes Accept: "I'll put that beast on ice."
No Decline: "Do I get a song for NOT killing things?"
Ask Ask: "You will be removed from your party to face the glacial griffon alone. Are you ready?"
Yes I am ready.
No I am not ready.

[edit] Reward dialogue

Sif Shadowhunter

"What a welcome sight! I didn't expect you to return, <Player name>. At least, not in one piece. Slaying the glacial griffon is a deed worthy of many songs, starting with this one.
Hail! Hail! Witness the skill!
Body parts stewn, fresh from the kill
<Player name>, you are second to none
May your legend ring true from dusk 'til sun
Catchy, eh? Well... it's a work in progress."

[edit] Notes

  • During the quest, there are six exploitable White Wolf corpses.
  • If, in the process of killing the Griffon, you also die, you will still get credit for this quest.

[edit] Trivia

Retrieved from "http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cold_as_Ice"