Ruins of Morah
From Guild Wars Wiki
This is a mission entry. For information on the corresponding mission outpost, see Ruins of Morah (outpost).
| Ruins of Morah | |
|---|---|
| |
| Campaign | Nightfall |
| Region | The Desolation |
| Type | Cooperative |
| Party size | 8 |
| Required hero | General Morgahn |
| Duration | Short |
| Preceded by | Horde of Darkness |
| Followed by | Uncharted Territory |
The objective of Ruins of Morah is simply to kill Varesh in one last attempt to prevent her from bringing about Nightfall.
Varesh has two forms: a dervish (level 29) and a paragon (level 30) form. Destroy any monsters who spawn with her then kill Varesh herself.
Contents |
[edit] Mission information
[edit] Requirements
General Morgahn must be in your party to enter the mission.
[edit] Objective
Kill Varesh.
[edit] Reward
The reward is based on the time it takes for you to kill Varesh.
| Reward | Time taken (minutes) | Hard mode |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | > 12 | > 14 |
| Expert | < 12 | < 14 |
| Master | < 8 | < 10 |
[edit] Walkthrough
The following strategy is most successful for completing the mission, achieving Master's reward without too much trouble.
Varesh is situated in a crater in her Prophet Varesh form, which is a Dervish level 29. When you enter, take note of where you entered the mission, and then head straight for Varesh. Three Margonite Clerics accompany her in the middle of the crater. Kill the clerics first while trying to stay out of Varesh's way.
Once the clerics are dead, start working on Varesh - she takes a long time to kill. If you can stage your fight out of the crater towards where you spawned for the mission, it'll make the next stage a little easier. Keep her blinded or slowed, and you can seriously impede her ability to damage using her scythe in dervish form. Watch for Earth Vortex and Frost Vortex and try to stay out of their area of effect while you work on Varesh.
When you've killed Prophet Varesh, head straight up the hill to where you spawned and stand against the gate blocking the way. Flag your henchmen and heroes right on the gate. This is because Varesh's skill Enemies Must Die! makes it so that any enemies in the area will target the one character resulting in a rather scary spike. To prevent this, the demons are taken care of first. Soon Torment creatures will start to spawn around the crater and Varesh will be reborn in the middle of the crater as Commander Varesh, a Paragon level 30.
Three Demon groups of two each will spawn in front of you, one group after the other. Pull the first group which spawned up to where you are standing - the others will start a circuit of the crater. This is the first encounter with Torment Demons which all use Call to the Torment. This skill allows the demon to duplicate once it reaches under about 1/3 of its health. It is important to focus fire on a single called target to quickly and efficiently kill the demon before it duplicates. Eliminate the group you pull, and continue pulling the wandering groups one at a time to the place where you stand. Varesh may come occasionally, but with two enemies, her skill isn't as deadly because the pressure isn't as great.
When the demons are dealt with come down the hill slightly to fight Varesh in a spot where she doesn't run away all the time. Use your anti-attack skills while killing Varesh to finish the mission.
A similar strategy is to run straight ahead to the other end of the map instead of back to the entrance and start eliminating groups from that direction before fighting Varesh. This is effective, but it will make it unlikely to get Masters as you will have to wait until all groups spawn and walk in your direction. The previous strategy is harder, as the enemy groups will spawn very close to your party, but it is faster since you don't have to kill all enemy groups, only those closer to you and Varesh.
Alternative Method
With this strategy, you can gain Masters by only killing Varesh twice, without the need to bother yourself with those pesky Demons and Margonites.
This method is most effective if you can tank. Otherwise, use a tanking hero and make sure you put his/her status to "Guard". Also, avoid using melee henchmen like Devona because they will run too far ahead and aggro the patrols even if you flag them close to the gate.
At the beginning, flag your heroes and henchmen as close to the gate where you zoned in as possible. If you are not the tank for the group, flag your tank hero at a close distance from your backline, though not too close. After that, move towards Varesh but do not contact the clerics. Varesh will be aggroed and move towards you. Walk slowly backwards to pull her towards you until she comes into contact with your tank. Take her down at a comfortable distance, without worrying about the clerics at all. Remember to unflag your heroes and henchmen if Varesh's spells hit the area.
Once Varesh is dead, flag your heroes and henchmen as close to the gate again as possible. Now move towards the centre of the circle while avoiding the patrolling Demons. If you employ the same method as before (walking slowly backwards), you should be able to draw Varesh towards you. Once she gets into contact with your backline, position your tank forward, but take note not to place him/her too forward to avoid aggroing any Demon patrols. With Varesh focused on your tank (or you if you are the tank), it should be easy to take her down.
If Using Hero/Hench
If you are using hero/hench and find that you have trouble completing masters with the above methods, the following may work. Instead of posting heroes at the top of the hill, keep your heroes on you and proceed to kill all three Margonite Clerics in the center. Once this is done, kill Varesh in the center as well, making sure that when the killing blow is struck, all heroes and henchmen are as close to the center of the map as possible. Once the Demons spawn, but before Commander Varesh does, flag your heroes and henchmen in the center of the map. If done correctly and ranged heroes and henchmen are used, no Demons should aggro your party in the middle (if they do, try restarting the mission and flagging your heroes in a slightly different place, it may make the difference). This frees you up to take down Varesh by herself at your leisure using the skills mentioned in the recommended section below, earning masters fairly easily.
[edit] Skill recommendations
- Bring Lightbringer's Gaze (rank 2 Lightbringer to get this buff)
- Anti-attack skills such as blind, Ineptitude or Blinding Flash slow the rate of attack like Faintheartedness. Shadowsong is especially effective.
- Spoil Victor is effective against Commander Varesh, but is not effective against Prophet Varesh because she usually runs around creating vortices rather than continuously attacking.
- An assassin with the unblockable anti-stance/anti-enchantment chain is very good to get rid of the torment creatures faster (Golden Fox Strike -> Wild Strike -> Shattering Assault combined with a long duration enchantment).
- Bring Inspired Hex or Revealed Hex. Since Varesh's hexes cannot be copied, these two skills are excellent hex removals because they will recharge instantly, thus making them spammable without any energy loss.
- Bring healers with hex removals
- Bringing an elementalist with ward against foes, melee, or elements is slightly helpful
- Spiteful Spirit + Spoil Victor + Empathy + Insidious Parasite on two necromancer heroes, combined with Signet of Lost Souls, should be perfectly compatible with Morgahn. This skill combination will guarantee that Varesh in either of her forms will be struck down very quickly. Of course, Pain Inverter works great as well.
- The best option to negate her vortices are Sympathetic Visage and Ancestor's Visage.
[edit] Mission NPCs
[edit] Foes
- Margonite
24 (26) Margonite Cleric
29 (32) Prophet Varesh
30 (32) Commander Varesh
- Torment creature
28 (30) Arm of Insanity
28 (30) Shadow of Fear (monster)
28 (30) Herald of Nightmares
- 28 (30) Spear of Torment
[edit] Dialogue
[edit] Opening Cinematic
- Morgahn: "The Mouth of Torment. Varesh's mentor, Kahyet, spoke of it."
- Morgahn: "It was here that the Five Gods defeated Abaddon."
- Morgahn: "Here that the walls of his prison are the weakest."
- <player name>: "Here that Varesh Ossa will finish her ritual."
- Morgahn: "She will turn the world into Torment, and unleash Abaddon into that world."
- <player name>: "Are you up for this?"
- Morgahn: "Yes. No. I just remember Varesh as she was. She did so much for Kourna. She was a good leader."
- <player name>: "She has been touched by Abaddon."
- Morgahn: "We have all been touched by Abaddon. Our entire world. We must stop it now."
- <player name>: "When the time comes, you have to strike."
- Morgahn: "I know. But I will strike her down only because I remember what she was."
- Morgahn: "I will redeem her memory."
- <player name>: "That will be good enough."
[edit] Initial dialogue
- Prophet Varesh: Abaddon reclaims his possessions, soon his true power will be revealed and the door to his prison opened.
[edit] Intermediate dialogue
When Commander Varesh spawns.
- Commander Varesh: I have returned! Abaddon's sword has been drawn, and he sends me back to you with tokens of his renewed power!
[edit] Combat dialogue
Commander Varesh
- The gate to Abaddon's prison is nearly opened!
- Welcome to your end.
- You will not live to see the sun rise. If it ever rises again.
- Your arrogance has doomed you!
[edit] Ending Cinematic
- Morgahn: "I am sorry, Varesh. Both for you and for Elona."
- <player name>: "What now, Morgahn? We stopped the ritual. Does it end with Varesh's death?"
- Morgahn: "I don't know. Each part of the ritual, at Gandara, at the Temple of Lyssa, and now here, was to weaken the walls of Abaddon's prison."
- <player name>: "If the walls are weakened too much, could something breach them from the other side? From the Realm of Torment itself?"
- Morgahn: "I don't know..."
- <player name>: "Everyone! Out of the area! Now!"
- Night has fallen on Elona.
- The heroes must confront the dark god Abaddon...
- In the Realm of Torment itself.
| Missions in the Desolation |
|---|
| Gate of Desolation • Remains of Sahlahja • Ruins of Morah |
| Towns and outposts • Explorable areas • Landmarks |
