Scrambled Reinforcements
From Guild Wars Wiki
| Scrambled Reinforcements | |
|---|---|
| Section | Depths of Tyria Quests |
| Given by | Commander Hixx in Magus Stones (Depths of Tyria) |
| Campaign | Eye of the North |
| Type | Secondary quest 
|
| Maps | |
  (Click to enlarge) | |
Contents |
[edit] Quest information
[edit] Objectives
- Help Hixx and his troops secure the Arachni's Haunt.
- Destroy 3 spider matriarchs.
- Kill Arachni.
- Use the Asura flame staff to burn through the web gates.
- Use the Asura flame staff to set ablaze the egg sacs.
[edit] Obtained from
Commander Hixx in Magus Stones
[edit] Reward
- 7,500 Experience
- 1,500 Gold
[edit] Walkthrough
Beware of the Ooze! They're fast and dangerous.
On the first level, you need to take out a number of groups of Needling Lavastrider and Lifeweaver Spider. If you kill the Lifeweaver, the rest of each group is much easier. The Ooze should be avoided if possible; they tend to swarm quickly and effectively.
This area also includes a map showing the location of two Spider Matriarch targets. (Follow the Left-hand wall to find the map site, guarded by a trio of Needling Lavastrider and Lifeweaver spiders). Once you have the map, you can ignore anything off the direct map route. Following the map, you will find an Asura Flame Staff which must be carried (Note: While holding the Flame Staff the effects of any weapon or focus item is cancelled - i.e. health or energy - so when facing mobs it is a good idea to drop the staff and then pick it up again when they have been cleared). To reach the first target, you need to use the staff to burn a web, again guarded by a trio of Needling Lavastrider and Lifeweaver spiders. The web MUST be burned before this group can be effectively killed.
On the second level you follow the path to the last room. There are several kills on the way but none too hard. There are large groups, so make sure you have plenty of inventory space before you go in!
In the final room there are many spiders, from Level 14 Spiders to Lifeweavers of Level 24. There are three groups of eggs to burn here. Two on the left side of the room and one on the right but that group is not very obvious. After you've burned the last group of eggs, Arachni spawns. She takes a long time to kill, so make sure to kill the other spiders first!
The Ooze can be beaten, attract 1, and kill it and then the others as they swarm, they swarm in mass, but can be beaten without you dying
[edit] Level 1
This level is not very difficult, just fight your way to the second level. Try to aggro mobs one by one, because there are plenty of pop ups. Even if a prepared party can handle 2 mobs of Spiders, the poison traps can be potentially dangerous when you're in fight. Be wary of the Fire Bombs that Lok sends down the passage with the Forge Masters in. If a party misses the first matriach by running straight past the eggs, then the key will not drop at the matriach near the entrance to the next level. The party must run back to the first matriach and kill it. This will cause the key to spawn in the location of the matriach near the entrance to level 2, this had been mistaken for a bug but can be avoided by simply killing the first matriach as you pass the eggs.
[edit] Level 2
The area map is located in the northeast corner of the dungeon. Like the first level, fight your way to the boss, but it's better to kill the Flame Guardian, located in an alcove in the southeast corner of the map, because of the multiple fire traps in this level. When you're in Arachni's room, kill all the spiders before starting to burn the eggs, because of the pop ups. You have to kill the matriarch and then Arachni to complete the quest; it doesn't matter which one you kill first.
[edit] Killing Arachni
- Read the Arachni article.
- Blinding skills, or skills such as Price of Failure, Reckless Haste, and Spiteful Spirit make the final boss battle much easier. The damage from Arachni comes from Barrage. If you use Diversion to stop Barrage then Arachni will simply stop attacking except to try to use Troll Unguent.
- Arachni uses Whirling Defense, which can be turned to your advantage with Pain Inverter.
[edit] Skill recommendations
- Because of the large number of Ranger and Paragon enemies in this dungeon, consider taking a skill like "Shields Up!" or Winds to reduce the damage you and your party takes. The henchman Talon Silverwing uses "Shields Up!". Bonelace Insignias may also be useful.
- Minion Masters are extremely useful, as they are very efficient in killing the many weaker mobs. There are enough corpses to easily support two Minion Masters. Consider using a Curses Necromancer with Barbs and Mark of Pain to boost the damage output considerably.
- AoE damage is extremely useful against the large groups of low level spiders.
- It is useful to the party if you light the eggs one at a time due to a spawn of spiders per group of eggs. Also on the fourth group of eggs the spawn of spiders is delayed.
- If you do this dungeon alone, keep carrying the Asura Flame Staff for a while if you don't want to go back and look for that staff to burn some web gate or egg sacs (these staves are far away from each other, especially in level 1).
- When trying to do this dungeon, remember that your NPC allies are warriors as primary, and they'll rush to attack anything crossing their aggro bubble. This can be extremely dangerous when trying to pull the oozes on level 1, because the NPCs following you will attack your target and aggro all the others. For this reason, it's highly recommended to bring along with you at least one running skill to break NPCs' aggro on foes.
[edit] NPCs
[edit] Allies
20 (20) Commander Hixx
- 20 (20) Hudd
- 20 (20) Vask
[edit] Bosses
28 Brood Warden → Crippling Shot (Level 1)
28 Spider Matriarch → Stunning Strike (Level 1 & 2)
28 Lok The Mischievous → Savannah Heat (Level 1)
[edit] Boss-like foes
[edit] Dialogue
[edit] Initial dialogue
- Hixx
- "You are a sight for sore eyes, bookah! Arachni's Haunt is home to powerful veins of energy we need in our defenses against the Destroyers. We've been fighting an unending Battle against the matriarchs and are in need of some reinforcements. These spiders lay large egg sacs and spin webs that no normal fire can burn through. They've enslaved other nasty beasts to help protect their brood. Manp developed a super-heated staff capable of doing the job. I'd find you one, but the last troops that went in took the remaining ones. I'm sure you'll find what you need on their bodies..."
Accept: "I'll burn everything. It's the only way to be certain."
Decline: "And just how long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue?"
Ask: "Have you found the breeding grounds yet? What are you waiting for? Get cracking."
[edit] Trivia
- This quest contains several references to the motion picture Aliens. The three Asura accompanying you, Commander Hixx, Hudd and Vask, are named after the characters Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez. They use quotes from the film, for example "Now all we need is a deck of cards" or "Anytime, anywhere". You torch egg sacks on your way into the lair to kill the spider queen which resembles scenes from the film.
