Abaddon's Gate (mission)


 * This is a mission entry. For more information about the location see Abaddon's Gate (Location)

Objectives
Destroy Abaddon.
 * Destroy the Graven Monoliths to power the chains of Abaddon.

Walkthrough
Players start in a dark corridor that turns right and leads to the chamber where Abaddon is held. Players will be able to see Abaddon's hands and his head. His wrists and neck are bound by magical restraints. As soon as players approach him, he will break free from his shackles and the objective is to bind him again and then weaken him.

At the end of every manacle there will be a pair of Graven Monoliths. So, in total there will be 6, two on the left, two on the right and two in the center below his head. When players kill a pair of Monoliths, the shackles at that spot are renewed. Once all three shackles are in place, Abaddon will be damaged, and will be subdued and vulnerable for a short while (roughly 15-20 seconds). If you leave right before Abaddon goes into his invulnerable state and go to the monoliths on the right then the skill Words of Madness will not start. His head will drop, allowing players to target him and damage him. The Monoliths at the middle re-spawn if Abaddon is not fully bound soon after they are killed. Thus it is best to take out the groups to the left and right first, leaving the Graven Monoliths in the middle for last.

After that short period, Abaddon will free himself and become invulnerable. The party must repeat the same steps to be able to damage him again. However, the biggest challenge of the mission is not in destroying the Monoliths, but in withstanding Abaddon's fury while he is free. The closer the party is to the angry god, the more damage they will take. While attempting to bind and damage Abaddon, players will be subject to the following skills:
 * 1) Corrupt Power: Skill. All foes take 30 damage 5 times over the next 3 seconds. Each strike also removes one Stance or Enchantment from foe.
 * 2) Earth Shattering Blow: Attack. All foes in the area of target take 100 damage and are knocked down. Surrounding foes also take 80 earth damage.
 * 3) Words of Madness: Skill. Target foe takes 120 damage, is knocked down and suffers from dazed for 10 seconds.

Conditions can also take a tremendous toll on the party, as they tend to affect everyone at once. Someone should bring Cautery Signet or Restore Condition or Martyr and stay back, out of the worst of the knockdowns, to cast it.

Every now and then, a Torment Claw will sprout from the ground in the middle of the party. These can be very dangerous if left unattended. Destroy these fragile claws quickly, rather than having the back line of the party take 100+ damage every few seconds.

So after damaging Abaddon and hastily retreating to the bridge to regroup, repeat the process of killing Monoliths and then damaging Abaddon. Fortunately, he does not heal himself between attempts. It will probably take 3 or 4 attempts to reduce his life to zero.


 * If enough monks are in party, retreating to the bridge is not advised, since the knockdown storm never ends, even if you run all the way back to the beginning of the mission. Retreat only to the left or right Graven Monolith areas, to begin attacking them immediately after they respawn. Once Abaddon has been reduced to zero, a cutscene will play. Having 4 monks (hero, hench, or real players) will make this a very easy mission to get masters reward.


 * Note that sometimes, a glitch occurs, and the last pair of Monoliths will never stop spawning, resulting in an eventual party wipe. This glitch has also been known to occur with the Torment Claws.

Strategies

 * In almost all cases, focus on removing Torment Claws as soon as they are spotted, as they can easily decimate your backline of casters if left alone. Lightbringer's Gaze works well to interrupt them, but cannot be used on the monoliths and only does moderate damage to Abaddon himself.
 * While Abaddon cannot be targeted while unbound, he can be damaged. Area of Effect spells that target the monoliths closest to him may hit Abaddon as well. Furthermore, the monk skill Reversal of Damage and the Ritualist skills Weapon of Remedy and Vengeful Weapon will damage Abaddon. (A small team with multiple players spamming these damage-reversing skills can in fact defeat Abaddon without unbinding him. In fact you can easily achieve the masters timing using a single player controlling 2-3 heroes to spam Reversal of Damage )
 * Abaddon's skills cause party-wide damage and inflict Daze on everyone, thus party-wide healing skills such as Light of Deliverance, Aria of Restoration, and Heal Party as well as party-wide condition removal such as Cautery Signet (which being a signet ignores Dazed), Martyr, Extinguish, and Recovery are extremely useful. Words of Comfort is useful if you do not plan on removing the dazed condition.
 * Abaddon has high armor, so armor ignoring sources are very useful against him. Among these, hexes and conditions that cause health degeneration are useful (although they last a short time on him) as well as hexes such as Wastrel's Worry work well. Spammable +damage attacks (such as chaining Moebius Strike with a Dual Attack) also work well as do offensive Ritualist spirits.
 * Since killing monoliths grants a morale boost thus refreshing skills, everyone should take either Resurrection Signet or Sunspear Rebirth Signet in lieu of other resurrection spells. Likewise, typically long recharge skills such as Dervish Forms and spells cast under Auspicious Incantation or Glyph of Sacrifice will be available much more often.
 * Ward of Stability or other skills to prevent knockdown are useful against Abaddon's frequently used Words of Madness skill. Also be forwarned that about three seconds after becoming vulnerable, Abaddon will use Words of Madness once more, so either be prepared to prevent the knockdown or try not to cast anything with a long (or even medium with daze) cast time until after he unleashes this skill.
 * A necromancer equipped with Grenth's Balance can do incredible damage when coupled with skills to raise maximum health and quickly sacrifice most of it.
 * Once Abaddon become invulnerable again, rush the party away from him to avoid aggro with the center group of monoliths. Skills such as "Fall Back!" are very useful for this. If using heroes/henchmen, be prepared to flag them away as well.

Follow Up

 * Upon completion of this mission, players will be taken to the Throne of Secrets area to celebrate their victory as well as get access to special items and crafters. See the area article for details.
 * Return to Honur Hill and speak to Korvus to get the quest Norgu's Nightfall to see Norgu's play about your journey.

Easter Egg
This mission contains an easter egg: if all human party members use the /dance emote at the start of the mission before Abaddon breaks free of the chains, Abaddon will start "dancing" with you (as much as a floating head and two arms can dance). After a few seconds, the entire party will then instantly die, while the message, "You got served!" appears over your bodies.

This death will not count against your /deaths count or affect progression towards the Survivor title.