Dunes of Despair

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This is a mission entry. For information on the outpost, see Dunes of Despair (outpost).
Dunes of Despair
Campaign Prophecies
Region Crystal Desert
Type Cooperative
Party size 6
Duration Short
Preceded by Sands Of Souls
Followed by Augury Rock

*Elona Reach and
Thirsty River
must also be completed to continue
the mission at Augury Rock.

Dunes of Despair is one of the missions required to achieve ascension in Prophecies.

Contents

[edit] Mission information

[edit] Objectives

Help the Ghostly Hero reclaim his throne.

  • Escort the Ghostly Hero to the Temple of Ascension.
  • Defeat the Enemy Ghostly Hero.
  • Hold out while the Ghostly Hero performs his ritual.
  • Bonus Gain more glory by defeating the three forgotten generals and their minions within their forts

[edit] Walkthrough

After talking with the Ghostly Hero, he will drop the gate, allowing the party to proceed. Note that he will follow the first player to talk with him. If that player talks to him again, he will stay put until someone talks with him again. Following the path, you'll run into small groups of Losaru Bladehands. After the bladehands, you'll see a group of Losaru Bowmasters. When attacking the bowmasters, you'll be under constant attack from a distant Siege Wurm. From here, you can either continue down the path towards a suspension bridge across the gorge, or you can take a short cut by leading the Ghostly Hero to the edge across from the drawbridge near the wurm. In any case, proceed across to the other side of the gorge.

Once on the other side, you may choose to continue the mission by proceeding south and killing the boss there, or you can proceed to the west to get the Slow Totem (Point E). When on the ground, the totem will create an effect much like Ward Against Foes, snaring any foe that attempts to pass through. While slightly useful, it is not necessary. Eventually, make your way south towards the fortress looking building and defeat the boss and his cohorts to trigger a cutscene.

After the cutscene, approach the drawbridge. You may choose to have the Ghostly Hero hold back, allowing the party to kill off the Enchanted Bows guarding the gate. The Ghostly Hero will lower the drawbridge when he approaches it. Afterwards, have the party hold back in the gateway. If you have the Slow Totem, drop it slightly ahead of where the party is waiting. Four waves of Enchanted Swords and Enchanted Hammers will eventually attack. The only foe left in sight should now be the enemy Ghostly Hero at the altar (Point D). Defeat him and have your Ghostly Hero approach to capture it and begin the last stage of the mission. You must defend him for the next ten minutes.

If you have the Slow Totem, drop it near the Ghostly Hero to help delay melee approaching him. But before any melee troops appear, Forgotten Arcanists will come in pairs from the west, east, and south. Afterwards, a Siege Wurm will start pelting your party with attacks from the east. After the Arcanists are dead, there is sufficient time to kill the siege wurm before the first melee group attacks, but it may be possible to simply heal the damage and ignore the wurm.

At the five or six minute mark, groups of forgotten will approach the altar, including a boss. Another pair of siege wurms will appear on the west, and then another siege wurm on the south. If you defeat the Forgotten, there will be no more groups attacking the altar, and you can use the time to kill off the wurms. After the ten minutes has passed, the mission ends.

[edit] Bonus

The bonus for this mission is often regarded as one of the more difficult ones.

During the final siege where you defend the Ghostly Hero, you must kill three bosses (and their groups!) located south of the fortress without letting the hero die and before the ten minute timer hits zero. The first boss is to the south behind the drawbridge (which drops when you lead the Hero to the altar). The second and third bosses are in the building behind the first boss.

To make things even more fun, killing a general and its group spawns a small group of Forgotten outside the temple who approach the altar to attack the hero.

You still get credit for the bonus if the Ghostly Hero dies as long as you kill all three generals first.

Method one: Just focus on the mission first

The simplest method is to first focus on eliminating the foes attacking the Hero, and then go for the bonus.

If all goes well (and you're not up against the Forgotten monk boss), you'll have three or four minutes left in which to complete the bonus (but don't forget about the group of Forgotten that spawns and starts attacking the Hero when each general is killed).

Method two: Use the pause

After the Arcanists are clear, there is a time delay before the Forgotten attack the altar again. If you're not using this delay to attack the siege wurms, a party with a high damage output may be able to rush the southern fort and take out the generals before the Ghostly Hero dies.

Variations of this include a monk staying back to heal the Ghostly Hero, allowing the party more time to finish the bonus. A bonder monk is usually chosen for this task.

Method three: Some now and the rest later

After the Arcanists are clear, you can use the time delay to kill just one general, then pull back to defend against the remaining attacks on the Ghostly Hero, then try to kill the last two generals with the couple of minutes that remain.

Note that you can sometimes kill the first general even before the timer begins by having the Ghostly Hero wait before capturing the altar and using distance attacks from the southern cliffs next to the drawbridge.

Method four: Teleport

This method is difficult to use, and may take a couple of mission restarts to work. Before leading the Hero to the altar and starting the timer, teleport across the ravine while the drawbridges are still up using spells like Necrotic Traversal, Consume Corpse and Rebirth. The generals can then be killed without time constraints or danger of the Hero dying. If using Rebirth, have party members kill themselves with sacrifice skills, vampiric weapons, or by letting themselves die from foes.

One problem is that there might not be a corpse within reach. Sometimes Jade Scarabs will spawn if you run along the edge of the ravine, and you can kill these using distance attacks. Sometimes you will be able to kill the first general or his party; the best place to attempt this from is the little overlook to the left of the southern gate. Neither method is guaranteed to work every time, so you may need to restart the mission and try again, but make sure you check the eastern and western gates for corpses before restarting.

If you want to do the mission in the same run, there are various methods to get back across the ravine:

-- 1. Have a party member stay back with the Hero. After the bonus is complete, lead the Hero to the altar to cause the drawbridges to drop.

-- 2. Try to find some corpses to use. On the north-east side of the temple is an area in the sand dunes with a chest that usually spawns a few Jade Scarabs. Running along the edge between the outside of the temple and these sand dunes should make the scarabs spawn -- kill them and the necro can teleport back over and lead the Ghostly Hero to the altar. If the necro is a hero (eg Olias), get him to Rebirth you back across so you can lead the Ghostly Hero yourself.

This method allows a single person with an all hero/hench team to complete mission and bonus, providing that the person is either a necro themselves or has access to a method of suicide for their own character and a necro/monk hero with Rebirth (need to be able to control the character, so a henchman is no use). Note that any henchmen on your team will "magically" cross over the ravine without any assistance, once you and the heroes are across. Note also that you don't need Rebirth at all as long as you and your heroes have necro as secondaries and are equipped with Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse.

If you make it outside using the method described above, you will notice two different gates with groups of Enchanted Bow in front of them. Kill the Enchanted Bow then walk out over the ravine. The bridge is invisible, and the door is fake.

[edit] Skill recommendations

[edit] Mission NPCs

[edit] Allies

Undead

[edit] Foes

Centaurs

Forgotten

Scarab

Wurm

Undead

[edit] Bosses

Forgotten

[edit] Notes

Bug Bug.
Even after you die, the timer continues to count down
  • There is a large amount of desert to uncover for the cartographer title beyond and around the fort, which makes using Necrotic Traversal even more beneficial, if not a must-do, for cartographers. The large area is at least 0.6% of Tyria.
  • Even though Enemy Ghostly Hero has the appearance of a Ghost, his corpse is in fact exploitable.
  • The Enemy Ghostly Hero uses Axe Mastery skills even though he carries a sword.
Prophecies missions
The Great Northern Wall » Fort Ranik » Ruins of Surmia » Nolani Academy » Borlis Pass » The Frost Gate » Gates of Kryta » D'Alessio Seaboard » Divinity Coast » The Wilds » Bloodstone Fen » Aurora Glade » Riverside Province » Sanctum Cay » Dunes of Despair and Elona Reach and Thirsty River » Augury Rock » The Dragon's Lair » Ice Caves of Sorrow » Iron Mines of Moladune » Thunderhead Keep » Ring of Fire » Abaddon's Mouth » Hell's Precipice
Missions in the Crystal Desert
Augury Rock • Dunes of Despair • Elona Reach • The Dragon's Lair • Thirsty River
Challenge: Glint's Challenge
Towns and outposts • Explorable areas • Landmarks
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