Cold as Ice
From Guild Wars Wiki
| Cold as Ice | |
|---|---|
| Campaign | Eye of the North |
| Region | Far Shiverpeaks |
| Type | Secondary (Difficulty: Master) (Solo Quest) |
| Given by | Sif Shadowhunter in Sifhalla |
| Preceded by | Anything You Can Do |
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
- 500 Norn reputation points
-
"I Am Unstoppable!"
- Perfect Salvage Kit
- Uses Remaining: 5
[edit] Walkthrough
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The Glacial Griffon is a spirit-spamming level 28 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.
General Tips:
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 on the battlefield, 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.
Primary or Secondary Ranger:
Max out Marksmanship and Wilderness Survival attributes. Equip Hunter's Shot, Poison Tip Signet, Poison Arrow (or Apply Poison) and "I Am The Strongest!". Skills such as Troll Unguent, Read the Wind and Toxicity can be used for support. A Longbow will provide the best range. (Consider using a Poisonous Bowstring to increase poison duration.) Keep the Griffon poisoned as much as possible. The best place to fire from is the hill to the right when you enter the area. This will give you a longer range and most importantly, keeps you out of the spirit’s ranged attacks. Avoid firing while blinded, run away to lose aggro and let your skills recharge. Keep away from the spirits as much as possible. The poison will counter his natural health regeneration, allowing you to whittle him down with bow attacks.
Primary Paragons can utilize the above strategy much faster by using Anthem of Flame, Poison Tip Signet, Quick Shot and "I Am The Strongest!. 12 ranks in Leadership will add 3 seconds of burning (an additional 7 pips of health degen) to each Quick Shot, on top of the poison and normal damage.
Primary or Secondary Necromancer:
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 for up to 12 minions total.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ebon Vanguard Attacks Only:
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.
This sequence allowed me to defeat the griffon with a W/Mo build with an Ebon Vanguard rank of 4 without ever swinging my hammer.
[edit] NPCs
[edit] Foes
[edit] Bosses
28 (30) Glacial Griffon → (Ritual Lord)
[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."
- Accept: "I'll put that beast on ice."
- Decline: "Do I get a song for NOT killing things?"
[edit] Intermediate dialogue
Sif Shadowhunter
- "You will be removed from your party to face the glacial griffon alone. Are you ready?"
[edit] Reward dialogue
Sif Shadowhunter
- "What a welcome sight! I didn't expect you to return, <character 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
- <character name>, you are second to none
- May you 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 Snow Wolf corpses.
[edit] Trivia
- The quest name is a reference to the song "Cold As Ice" by Foreigner.
