The Shadow Nexus (mission)



The Shadow Nexus is a 4-person Challenge Mission. The goal in this mission is to close the Torment Rifts before a hole is torn in the dimensional fabric. This is done by killing the Margonite Portal Mages that guard each rift. As long as a rift stays open, the rift progress bar will continue to fill (one pip per open rift). Once it is full, the mission will end.

Initially, each portal mage will be guarded by 2 enemies. As the mission progresses, more enemies will accompany them, making subsequent battles more difficult. You receive 10 points for killing portal mages and 1 point for all other enemies.

Rewards
Mysterious Armor Pieces are randomly awarded to players in the party after killing a Margonite Portal Mage. Note that these items do not drop in the normal way; they simply appear in a player's inventory.

If the inventory is full, the armor pieces will drop on the ground, so make sure you have at least one empty slot in your inventory before entering.

Mysterious Armor Pieces can be used to upgrade the visual appearance of hero armor to "Mysterious armor". This upgrade is available for Zenmai, Olias, Norgu, Goren, and General Morgahn.

Tactics

 * The "U" map shows the location of all the potential rifts with gray flags (similar to the Alliance Battle map). An open rift shows as a red flag.  Use this to optimize your path to the next open rift.
 * Like most challenge missions, speed buffs are very important to get to the next rift quickly.
 * The portal mages are not only in charge of the rifts, but they are also powerful elementalists, so it's important to kill them as quickly as possible. Although the other creatures around the rift don't have to be killed, they will remain and make it harder the next time a rift opens at that location.
 * There are a number of skills that can prove useful in mitigating damage, which is very important as you only have a 4 man party. Monks should consider taking Protective Spirit or Spirit Bond. Mesmers should consider Elemental Resistance or Mantra of Lightning. Ritualists should consider taking Shelter or Union for party wide protection over a large chunk of the area (the Rifts are quite close together). Bringing a paragon with Song of Restoration or Ballad of Restoration could also help.
 * Interrupts are very important in this mission, as preventing the damage is much easier than healing it. Rangers should consider taking Broad Head Arrow and Needling Shot with them to keep the Portal Mage shut down. Savage Shot and Distracting Shot also work well.
 * Characters with a mesmer secondary (especially heroes, due to their insane interrupting ability) should consider taking Power Drain for an interrupt and energy management.
 * The monsters / mob in the rift are not in the same group, so you should consider killing them separately.
 * Because every Portal Mage is a boss, each one defeated will give you a Morale Boost&mdash;recharging all skills. Disabled skills (such as Sunspear Rebirth Signet) and skills with long recharge times (such as Ether Signet and Forms) will be available very frequently during this mission.

Monsters
Torment creatures Margonites
 * 28 Blade of Corruption
 * 28 Arm of Insanity
 * 28 Word of Madness
 * 28 Shadow of Fear
 * 28 Herald of Nightmares
 * 28 Rain of Terror
 * 28 Spear of Torment
 * 28 Scythe of Chaos
 * 24 Margonite Executioner
 * 24 Margonite Bowmaster
 * 24 Margonite Cleric
 * 24 Margonite Warlock
 * 24 Margonite Seer
 * 24 Margonite Sorcerer
 * 24 Margonite Ascendant
 * 24 Margonite Reaper

Bosses (Elite Skill Captures)

 * 24 Margonite Portal Mage (Invoke Lightning)