Hell's Precipice (mission)

Objectives
Stop the Lich from destroying the world.
 * Disable the Titan Portals.
 * Defeat Undead Rurik.
 * Destroy the Lich.
 * BONUS Destroy all three Armageddon Lords.

Primary
The mission itself is straightforward, but requires much preparation. Your main foes in this mission will be the Burning Titans, which you first met at the end of the previous mission. Unlike that docile creature, which you probably dispatched quickly, these Burning Titans are trouble. They inflict massive damage, and when destroyed, a Risen Ashen Hulk rises in their place. When that is destroyed, a pair of warrior creatures spawn: a Hand of the Titans and a Fist of the Titans. In addition, members of your party adjacent to these monsters will burn and suffer health degeneration.

A typical battle will consist of fighting a few of these creatures, but each battle will drag on for a long time, as each creature breaks into smaller creatures.

General tips:
 * Tip 1: It is imperative that you tackle the Titans and their spawns one by one. Good party organization is very important. If different party members fight a different monster, you'll end up with four or five Hands and Fists running around, and they will be tough to beat. Instead, focus on a Burning Titan and break it down to a Hulk. Then break that down to a Hand and a Fist, dispatch them, and move on to the next Hulk or Titan. It is generally best to dispatch Burning Titans first, as they are much more dangerous than Risen Ash Hulks.
 * Tip 2: If your party does not carry any interruption, Spark of the Titans should be the priority target in any mixed group. With Mind Burn and Rodgort's Invocation, the party will be devastated if these are left alive too long.

Profession-specific tips:
 * Tip 1: It is useful to have someone with Winter, as it turns all elemental damage to cold; most enemies in this mission have a weakness against cold damage. Therefore, elementalists should bring water spells instead of fire attacks. Also, warriors should use normal weapons (or better yet, icy weapons). Something seems to prevent winter to allow other elements to do extra damage, check the notes.


 * Tip 2: Any damage-absorbing or health-enhancing skills can give extra time for the monks to heal, which is greatly advised in this mission. Monks should certainly bring condition removal skills.
 * Tip 3: The necromancer's Well of Blood works well on this mission. It can be used when the Risen Ash Hulks die and the Fists/Hands of the Titans appear. This can negate the effects of burning on the players, which will free up a lot of energy for the monks. It's also useful on the Sparks that are running about. If there is a Minion Master, a Flesh Golem can be useful in tanking the Titans when other players need a short break.
 * Tip 4: An excellent way of ensuring a full spread of elemental damage is to have a Ranger who has not capped Greater Conflagration bring a capture signet and get it off the boss. Ensure that the Ranger also has Winter equipped. Greater Conflagration will make all physical attacks into elemental attacks and Winter will convert the damage into cold damage. For those who are already carrying elemental weapons, Greater Conflagration will have no effect. For first time Rangers who also have Barrage, this is an excellent way of doing this mission with 2 elite skills equipped which have maximum effect. The Ranger must ensure that the spirits are cast upon entering battle and that remain alive should the fight be prolonged or if the Titans kill them. A full team doing cold damage regardless of what weapons they carry can clear this mission out very easily. This will also combine very effectively with Conjure Frost for those who equip it, but will work with any of the Conjure spells since Winter will convert the damage into cold damage anyway.
 * Tip 5: The Enchantment Frigid Armor, available in Nightfall, is excellent for any melee-based characters with an Elementalist secondary. It not only increases armor, but it also prevents the Burning caused by standing near the Titans.
 * tip 6: Almost all, if not all, enemies in this mission deal Fire Damage instead of Physical Damage. It would be wise to be properly equipped. Mesmers should consider Mantra of Flame. Ward Against Harm is a great choice for water Elementalists looking to do extra damage with their cold magic and protect the party at the same time.

When you start the mission, just follow the path on the map in red. Beware of overlapping patrols of Spark of the Titans, as they are easy to dispatch in small numbers but can be devastating in large groups. As you fight your way along, the Lich Lord will be waiting and will usually summon Quickening Zephyr and then teleport away after a short time.

Continue on your path until you get to point 2 on the map, which is guarded by two Ashen Hulks. Make sure to lure them away up the path from which you came, because the pool of lava to your right will spawn quite a large number of Hands and Fists and also two bosses (fortunately one-by-one or in small groups only). The second boss may not spawn until after two of the portals are destroyed. They will walk by and gather in the area around the portals. Lure them away and take them out one or two at a time. If you do this effectively, you can clear out the whole area, and be left with only one large patrol, which moves in front of the three portals (points A, B and C) you want to destroy. You can either:
 * Time the patrol and destroy the portals after they leave, tackling only the Portal Wraiths.
 * Lure the patrol and engage it. Then destroy the portals at your leisure.

After destroying the portals, you will see a cutscene where the Lich Lord will seem to be having a good time; he will then introduce you to Undead Prince Rurik. The key here is not to panic. If you stay where you are or back off a bit, you will be attacked by four Hands. Call them out one target at a time, and you should be fine. Next, either lure the four Fists on the other side of the ramp, or just have a Ranger lure Rurik himself off the ramp down to you (he has two Sparks with him).

Note: On a rare occasion it's possible that Rurik will charge down the hill towards you, dragging the Sparks and/or some of the Hands with him as well. Try to move far enough back so that you only have to fight one group of enemies at a time.

Note: The Hands will spawn atop the ledge if you skip the cut scene, making it potentially very difficult to pull them without getting the Sparks and Rurik as well. Don't skip the cut scene if your party cannot pull effectively.

Rurik takes a lot of damage but is not a big threat. Make sure to kill the two Sparks and you will be off to another cut scene. If you kill Rurik and the Sparks, the Fists will go away.

Now, cross the bridge and go full circle back to where you began. There, at the bloodstone, you will confront the Lich Lord. You must kill him in the center of the bloodstone to charge the Soul Batteries and close the Door of Komalie. The Lich Lord will respawn, often teleporting into the nearby lava, if he is not killed in the center of the bloodstone. Player accounts differ as to how many times the Lich Lord must be killed, from 1 to 3, and whether or not all or some of those deaths must be in the very center of the circle. The most common observation is that one death in the very center is enough to complete the mission, or three deaths within the circle but not at the center. For the latter circumstance, you will notice some of the Soul Batteries recharge and light up when he is killed away from the very center. You can slowly recharge all the Soul Batteries this way to complete the mission.

The Lich is not an overpowering foe. With a little bit of organization and focus, he can be taken out without too much trouble. The best advice is to deal with him quickly and not be overwhelmed by the Hands and Fists he spawns. Note that he does not run from AoE spells. However, he does a few annoying things that make killing him harder than it otherwise would be:


 * He summons two Hands each time he revives after being killed somewhere other than the center of the bloodstone. You should leave him alone for a moment and concentrate on eliminating the two Hands. If you are not careful, they can cut through your backline of spell casters. You should also take caution not to aggro the two Hands wandering the area beyond the bloodstone.
 * He teleports himself to the middle of the lava next to the bloodstone and then walks back to the center. This gives him a respite from the beating he is taking.
 * He teleports members of your party randomly into the lava.

Bonus
Acquiring the bonus in this mission is harder than completing it. To acquire the bonus you need to follow the green path to point 1 on the map. At the point where the green path splits from the red one you will encounter a Burning Titan and a Titan Boss who will walk towards you shouting strange words ("Shith Mal Hacto!"). This will summon mobs from the immediate surrounding area to their position, clearing the path towards the bonus. Just stay well away from the now very strong group of opponents who will slowly wander southeast.

At point 1 you will find a Burning Titan and an Ancient Seer who will give you the bonus. You need to take it slowly; make sure to take out the group of Ashen Hulks and Sparks in front before getting near to the Burning Titan and the Seer. Do not rush for the Seer. Upon approaching, the Seer will engage the Burning Titan. Although the Titan doesn't fight back, the Seer will take damage from burning. If you don't take care of the group of Hulks and Sparks before this happens, the Seer will very likely die.

Speak with the Seer and you will get the bonus objective.

Tip: When you save the Seer, you do not need talk to him immediately. This will cause the bonus to be triggered earlier than you may want it. At the area where the Armageddon Lords appear, there is a pool of lava which will spawn several hands and fists of the titans and three bosses, over a long period of time. If you do not trigger the bonus, the Armageddon Lords will not be there and you can kill the normal titans as they spawn. Then you can return to the seer and trigger the bonus, which causes the lords to spawn, then you can kill them. If you do not do this you may have to wait for the monsters to stop spawning to kill the Lords. All the creatures that spawned will gather en masse at the portals making them take slightly longer to kill.

Note: If you let the Seer die, you will not receive credit for the bonus, even if you kill the Armageddon Lords.

Tip: You can approach the Seer from the south-west, keeping to the regular track then backtracking to point 1 north-east. Dispatch the Burning Titan and his spawn but do not talk to him then as noted above. => Contrary to this tip, if you bypass the green bonus path to the seer and come up from the southwest, moving from downhill to uphill, you may frequently be too late. The Seer will have died mysteriously before you ever aggroed any mobs on the green path.

When you have acquired the bonus you will find three Armageddon Lords in the pool of lava next to point 2. Their damage-dealing capacity isn't much to worry about and they drop quite quickly. As the Armageddon Lords are not bosses, you can expect them to have the usual chain of spawning (Armageddon Lord &rarr; Risen Ashen Hulk &rarr; Hand+Fist of the Titans) after they are defeated. Note that the three Armageddon Lords are not linked, and that their spawns need not be killed to achieve the bonus.

Beware of the spawning Fists and Hands that come out from the same lava pool and head to the portals. They can make an easy fight much more difficult. The spawns will eventually stop after two bosses have been spawned if you choose to wait. You cannot lure the Armageddon Lords very far away but you can lure them just outside of the lava that they spawn in, making your melee characters much more effective. So make sure the coast is clear before taking them on.

Hard Mode
All monsters are boosted 2+ levels with the Undead Lich at level 32. Sparks are deadlier and their fire magic is high enough that Mind Burn or Rodgort's Invocation can kill the majority of an unprepared party with 3 or 4 casts, especially if they focus on the caster backline instead of the tank or puller.

Also since the Hands and Fists damage has been increased, it's imperative not to release more than just a pair as they don't usually focus on the same target and can kill the more vulnerable party members quickly if left unchecked.

Another mission that can be done with only heroes and henchmen. Control your spirit summoning hero manually and be sure to focus fire every target.

When you're fighting the Lich, if you're with heroes and henchman then be sure to flag them near the Lich. Otherwise if you get teleported into the lava then they'll stop what they're doing and rush to join you in the lava.

Extra Profession-specific tips:


 * Tip 1: High amounts of spike damage occur very often so monks must be well-prepared. Protective skills that provide damage reduction are very important as the constant high damage inflicted will cause a healer monk to run out of energy when a fight ensues for too long. Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond are recommended.


 * Tip 2: Bringing a third monk as a healer is beneficial, although this will reduce the damage dealing capabilities of the party. Having one of the monks maintain Life Bond for the tank can be helpful. This however would require some recasting since the Risen Ashen Hulks use Strip Enchantment.


 * Tip 3: Interrupts work wonders against the Sparks, so bring a Ranger with Broad Head Arrow and similar interrupting skills to daze them. Mesmers may also work as well with Power Drain or Power Leak. Ward Against Harm can also help if you bring a Water Elementalist, as they do massive fire damage.


 * Tip 4: Water Elementalists with Rust can slow the Hand's/Fist's abilities to use Healing Signet and make them very susceptible to damage. An Air Elementalist can also help by spamming Blinding Surge or Blinding Flash on them.

NPCs

 * Avatar
 * Vision of Glint (cutscene only)
 * Seer
 * 30 Ancient Seer

Monsters

 * Titan
 * 24,28 (26,30) Fist of the Titans
 * 24,28 (26,30) Hand of the Titans
 * 28 (30) Burning Titan
 * 28 (30) Risen Ashen Hulk
 * 28 (30) Armageddon Lord (bonus only)
 * 28 (30) Spark of the Titans
 * Undead
 * 24 (26) Portal Wraith
 * 30 (32) Lich Lord

Bosses (elite skill captures)

 * Titan
 * 28 (30) Tortitudo Probo &rarr; Eviscerate
 * 28 (30) Valetudo Rubor &rarr; Greater Conflagration
 * 28 (30) Maligo Libens &rarr; Aura of the Lich
 * 28 (30) Moles Quibus &rarr; Panic
 * 28 (30) Scelus Prosum &rarr; Mind Burn
 * Undead
 * 28 (30) Undead Prince Rurik &rarr; Hundred Blades

Dialogues
Briefing from Jacob Salinger.

Follow-up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: Droknar's Forge.
 * To continue the storyline players should take the quest Defend Droknar's Forge from the Vision of Glint in Droknar's Forge. Though this is not technically part of the main plot of Prophecies, it does continue the story.