The Dragon's Lair (mission)

Mission Objectives
Gain audience with the prophet Glint.
 * Defeat the Facet of Light.
 * Defeat the Facet of Nature.
 * Defeat the Facet of Chaos.
 * Defeat the Facet of Darkness.
 * Defeat the Facet of Elements.
 * Defeat the Facet of Strength.
 * BONUS Defeat Glint.

Primary
To complete the Dragon's Lair mission, you must talk to Glint at the end of a series of six distinct areas, called "facets", one for each profession. Each of these facets has its own distinct disadvantage. At the end of each, you have to defeat a boss to open a portal to the next facet. Note that every facet boss has an elite skill that can be captured, so you may want to bring two Signets of Capture on this mission. The mission takes some time to do, but it is not very difficult and can be done easily with henchmen.

At the beginning of the mission, you will find yourself in a small crystalline chamber with one Forgotten Gate Keeper. Talk to him to have him open a portal. Proceed to the Facet of Light.

Facet of Light
While you are in this area, all party members will be under the spell Domain of Health Draining and suffer a Health degeneration of &minus;3. This will put your healers under constant stress, so advance carefully and give them time to actually heal. You will encounter solitary Forgotten Sages and pairs of Enchanted Swords and Enchanted Hammers here. Defeat the Facet of Light to open a portal to the Facet of Nature. It's wise to bring Heal Party with you for this Facet.

Facet of Nature
Here, you will be under the influence of Domain of Slow, which will decrease your movement speed. You have to fight your way through trios of Enchanted Bows and pairs of Enchanted Swords and Hammers. Defeat the Facet of Nature to open a portal to the Facet of Chaos

Facet of Chaos
In this area, you will not be under the influence of a permanent effect. Instead, you will have to deal with the fact that the Crystal Spiders you will encounter in large numbers have the skills Shatter Enchantment and Hex Breaker. There are areas that are divided from the main path by clear crystal walls. Behind those walls, pairs of Forgotten Illusionists wait for players to come too close. It is possible to cast spells that don't have a projectile through those walls. Similarly, the area at the end of this facet is divided by many low walls, allowing spellcasting and ranged attacks. Melee fighters will have to run around the obstacles; be careful not to aggro too many enemy groups at once when doing so. Defeat the Facet of Chaos to open a portal to the Facet of Darkness.

Facet of Darkness
Here you will be under the effect of Domain of Energy Draining. Everyone will suffer from Energy Degeneration of &minus;1. In addition, everyone (both players and enemies) will be enchanted with Death Nova. You will encounter Forgotten Cursebearers and Rock-Eater Scarabs. Defeat the Facet of Darkness to open a portal to the Facet of Elements.

Don't kill the Rock-Eater scarabs too fast or death novas could finish you.

Facet of Elements
This is the first area where you will encounter Forgotten Arcanists and Crystal Guardians, both opponents that are capable of serious damage-dealing. Watch the nearby pairs of Arcanists when attacking a group of Guardians; they will often attack you from behind while you are engaged in a fight. There are also areas in this facet where the elements are going crazy; you will be bombarded by Elementalist spells while passing through (Fire Storm, Maelstrom, Eruption or Chain Lightning). These areas are easily recognizable by their glowing circles (similar to Elementalist's Wards). Obviously, you should not stay inside those areas while fighting; leave them as quickly as possible. Defeat the Facet of Elements to open a portal to the Facet of Strength.

Facet of Strength
Every player (but not monsters) will be knocked down every 25 seconds for 3 seconds while in this area. Warrior skills that prevent knockdown (like Dolyak Signet or Balanced Stance) are very useful here. You will have to fight pairs of Enchanted Swords and Hammers. There are also groups of one Enchanted Sword, one Crystal Guardian and three Crystal Spiders; these can usually be avoided. Defeat the Facet of Strength to open a portal to Glint's chamber.

Note: If you skip this cinematic, you will miss an important part of the story. Unlike the six previous cinematics, where all that is seen is the party walking through the portal, this time Glint will explain what is going on, so you may want to watch it.

Glint's Chamber
When you have arrived in Glint's chamber, you have finished the mission. You can either end it by walking through the portal, which will take you to Droknar's Forge, or try the mission bonus.

Bonus
After you meet Glint, do not go through the portal. Instead, pick up a dragon egg. Enraged, Glint will attack you. Kill her to complete the bonus. But, be warned, she is by far the hardest single opponent in the game. However, should you fail, do not worry; she will resurrect you and send you to Droknar's Forge anyway.

Glint's Skills
Glint has a set of very powerful skills that you have to deal with:
 * At the beginning of the battle, Glint will cast a hex, Crystal Haze, that can cause a massive energy shortage. Anyone who can should bring a hex removal spell. Because this is an AoE hex, your entire party will be affected by Crystal Haze.
 * When Glint's health drops to about 50%, she will cast Crystal Hibernation, which gives her +7 health regeneration and converts all non-physical damage dealt to her (including any from weapons that do elemental damage) into healing for 20 seconds. This skill has a relatively long activation time, so it is susceptible to interrupts. You should try to interrupt it by any means possible. If you do not manage to interrupt it, all spellcasters should stop attacking her immediately; Warriors and Rangers should switch to weapons that deal physical damage.
 * During the fight, Glint will activate her Jagged Crystal Skin. When hit with a physical damage, it will deal about 100 damage to nearby foes. At this point, warriors and rangers should switch to elemental weapons, or else the massive amount of damage will overwhelm the healers in your party. Jagged Crystal Skin lasts for 10 seconds.
 * Glint may also use Crystal Bonds, so don't rely too heavy on enchantments when fighting her.

Tips
The most straightforward method to defeat Glint goes as follows:
 * One monk has to bring solid protection skills: e.g., Protective Spirit and Reversal of Fortune.
 * One member of the party, preferably a warrior with Sprint, should grab the egg. This person must then turn and face Glint, but stay as far away from her as possible.
 * Glint will throw fireballs at the egg-bearer. The egg-bearer should dodge them (with the keyboard) and dodge them well. If this is done correctly, with sufficient protection and healing for the occasional fumble, the egg-bearer should stay alive for a very long time, giving the party enough time to take out Glint. Be prepared for Glint's skills, as described above.
 * It is extremely useful if the egg-bearer is a secondary necromancer who has Grenth's Balance (captured from the Facet of Darkness on the same mission). When the egg-bearer is hit, this skill can be used to and easily steal 200 health from Glint while getting healed for the same amount.
 * A warrior with Disrupting Chop works very well. Interrupting Crystal Hibernation is essential for victory.
 * Empathy is also recommended.
 * Skills that inflict blindness are extremely effective against Glint.
 * Since a Deep Wound reduces both current and maximum HP by 20% of maximum HP (to a minimum of 1 HP), Deep Wound skills can be used to reduce the last fifth of Glint's health bar to a sliver and then finish her off before the duration of the Deep Wound expires.
 * Spinal Shivers is a good way to constantly interrupt Glint.
 * Inspired Hex is an excellent way to remove Crystal Haze. The caster will only suffer from exhaustion once, and Inspired Hex does not become Crystal Haze, allowing all hexes to be removed from the party very quickly, with great energy gain.
 * Hexes and Conditions last half their stated duration against Glint. Keep that in mind when choosing HP Degen spells.  Illusion Hexes such as Conjure Phantasm and Phantom Pain are advised when combined with a high Inspiration Stat and Mantra of Persistence.

Egg Baiting
Another strategy for defeating Glint is to keep her from attacking, by distracting her with the eggs:
 * There are two eggs in the lair. Have two members of your team take turns holding an egg.
 * The two egg-bearers should position themselves as far apart as possible.
 * When Glint gets near to an egg-bearer, they should drop their egg.
 * Every time an egg is picked up or dropped, a message is broadcast to the group. The egg-bearer who is not currently holding an egg should pick up their egg as soon as they see a message that the other egg has been dropped.
 * If this is timed correctly, Glint will run back and forth between the egg-bearers, without attacking anybody, and can be killed without too much trouble.

Note: As of the April 25, 2006 update, this strategy may not work. This update lessened the effectiveness of the book trick.

Elite Skill Capture
Known elite skills in this area:
 * [[image:Mesmer-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Chaos: Mantra of Recall
 * [[image:Necromancer-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Darkness: Grenth's Balance
 * [[image:Elementalist-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Elements: Lightning Surge
 * [[image:Monk-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Light: Shield of Regeneration
 * [[image:Ranger-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Nature: Melandru's Resilience
 * [[image:Warrior-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Strength: Gladiator's Defense

Additional Notes
The players will be in Droknar's Forge at the completion of this mission.

The player is advised to bring two Signets of Capture, as there will always be two elite skills that they can capture on their first run through the mission.

Warning: The portals that open when a facet is killed are all very close to the initial position of the facet and have a rather large activation radius. Very often it happens that a player accidentially steps into the portal before the rest of the party can capture the elite skill from the facet. To avoid this it is recommended to lure the facet away from its initial position before attacking it. Also, the Signet of Capture can be activated from a reasonable distance away from the facet's corpse. Be sure to ask your party members if any of them need to capture a skill before approaching the portal.