Grandmaster cartography guide

Overview
The Cartographer titles are gained per character by exploring the primary map of each continent. Any area viewable when viewing the world map counts towards the title. This includes the following:
 * Explorable areas
 * Mission zones (cooperative, challenge and competitive)
 * Arenas not on the Battle Isles
 * Towns and Outposts including exclusive areas for Canthan outposts.

It does not include any area which is not shown on the world map of either continent. This includes the following:
 * In Tyria:
 * The Dragon's Lair mission area
 * Pre-Searing Ascalon (this area has its own explorable map)
 * Ruins of the Tomb of the Primeval Kings
 * Sorrow's Furnace
 * In Cantha:
 * Dragon's Throat (Mission)
 * Elite Missions
 * The Undercity
 * In Elona:
 * Dajkah Inlet (Mission)
 * Moddok Crevice (Mission)
 * Bahdok Caverns
 * Jennur's Horde (Mission)
 * Nightfallen Garden
 * Realm of Torment
 * The Hidden City of Ahdashim
 * Core areas: Any area that appears on The Battle Isles or shows the Battle Isles map, this includes:
 * The Battle Isles themselves
 * The Fissure of Woe
 * The Underworld

Note: The Undercity in Cantha now functions like the Fissure of Woe and The Underworld, all exploration in it is reset upon return trips, and it no longer impacts the percentage explored.

To gain the Grandmaster Cartographer title, a character does not need to explore every single point on the map. Some margin of error is allowed. As a result, even though some characters may never be able to access some portions of the map, they may still earn 100% explored. Unreachable zones would most likely be arenas that have been rendered inaccessible due to a game update (such as Fort Koga) or due to level limits (such as the Shing Jea Arena) but may also be training areas for characters local to the continent (such as Monastery Overlook which was/is only explorable for non-Canthan characters during the Dragon Festival and special weekend events). Again, these zones do count towards those who revealed them, but they do not make it impossible for those who cannot to obtain the grandmaster title.

The Maps
Check out the Maps section in this wiki for general maps of Cantha and Tyria. If stumped, search online for maps posted by those who have reached grandmaster. Compare them with yours to fine detail for differences along edges. Using an image editor (such as Photoshop for example) can greatly help in revealing missing areas when comparing maps. Some related forums may provide support to help look.

Comparing Maps
Comparing your in-game map to a complete map you downloaded side by side often will not suffice to spot tiny missing parts along the edges of areas. Use the following processes to make them visible (note that this may not work on computers with low performance):


 * Download a map. They’re often quite big, best not to open in a browser.
 * Open the image in a graphics editor or image viewer program of your choosing.
 * Open up Guild Wars in windowed mode, keeping the image still open in the background.
 * Open your minimap (default key is 'U'), and make it as large as you are comfortable with.
 * Move to an area you want to check by click-dragging the map.
 * Swap between Guild Wars and your image viewer, and adjust the position of your minimap and/or the image until they line up.
 * Once you have the maps perfectly lined up, rapidly switch back and forth (i.e. by using alt-tab or by clicking on the Windows Task-Bar) and note where the differences are (they should be easily discerned using this technique).

There is also another, more complex but also more effective method:

NOTE: This technique works well when used on Tyrian maps, but as Canthan maps have small color difference between explored and unexplored areas, you may have to change your gamma around to make it work properly.


 * Open Guild Wars. Set the resolution to the maximum.
 * Open your map (default key is U) and take a screenshot (to do this, press the print screen key, labelled "PrtScn" on the upper part of the keyboard. Pressing shift at the same time will hide the map markers, making the map easier to analyse).
 * Download a 100% explored map. They’re often quite big, best not to open in a browser. IMPORTANT: Make sure that it is the same resolution as the map screenshot from the previous step.
 * Open the 100% map in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or Gimp. Insert your map as a new layer on the same image.
 * In the "Layers" panel, select the layer containing your map and click on the popup menu that should say "Normal". Set it to "Difference".
 * Most of the map will now go dark. However, the areas that are different on your map to the 100% map will appear much brighter, close to white. Zoom in and look for these areas. These patches on the map are areas you have not yet explored. If the two maps are not the same resolution, this will not work.

The Math
A fully explored area equal to the size of the radar around a player equals roughly 0.1% of Cantha. The percentage is less for Tyria (about 0.07%) as it is a larger continent.

Exploration Tips

 * Scrape! Working towards the grandmaster cartographer title (you have already achieved 90%) will most likely require you to revisit every explorable area on the continent. Small, trivial regions of map can be revealed by 'scraping' (hugging the outside wall of) the area. You should expect to spend hours scraping and you will find most of the time it will be accomplished with henches because people players will not usually want to spend the time uncover map to this level of detail. While scraping, be mindful of two factors:
 * It adds up: While each of these regions may seem small and insignificant, they easily add up to entire percentages towards the title. Scraping the outside wall of an area you have not scraped before will produce 0.1 to 0.2% even though it may not actually reveal any fog on the map.
 * Go slow: It's better to scrape using the keyboard and walking into the wall (if you character faces the wall at a 90 degree angle, he will walk) all along the edge. An important find is a narrow path that leads you into a previously unexplored area; over a hill or ledge; on the crest of a hill or out cropping; up the face of a cliff or a hill along the perimeter of an area. While this is slower than simply clicking, it will add more value to the (rather boring) scraping process. Another reason for this is server delay. Sometimes quickly stepping into and out of a spot will not register with the server because of a slight lag.
 * Don't miss Missions. Mission explorable areas usually have a lot of space that players miss due to a few factors:
 * Time: Some missions require players to race against time to complete an objective. This causes most parties to just rush through the mission area and not explore it.
 * Unlocking: Events in missions may often open up areas previously inaccessible. Keep track of opening doors and dropping bridges.
 * Stand-offs: Some missions require that the party holds out against a siege to protect an NPC. Such missions will usually have explorable areas outside the siege area that players will not be capable of exploring while the siege is taking place.
 * Do not neglect towns and outposts. Some areas of the map can only be revealed by scraping the edges of larger towns, outposts, and mission heads. Often, large portions of the map may be uncovered by exploring an empty but accessible part of a town.
 * Running skills may greatly expediate the mapping process, as it takes much longer to fight everything that comes across your path compared to running past it. However, running in and out of a nook quickly may not register properly with the server.

The Nooks and the Crannies
These are specific areas commonly missed by cartographers. It has recently been reported that it is easier to get the title than before. You do not need to explore all of the secret areas to get the 100% title.

Tyria

 * The Great Northern Wall: After the timer starts in the final part of the mission, the entire Charr camp can be explored. The western road from which Charr come at you while approaching the bridge can also be used to reveal all the map between the mission area and Piken Square. While the timer may not allow enough time to fully explore the western road, there is an exploit players can use to reach the area without setting off the timer. Change your character's secondary profession to a Necromancer if needed and bring a corpse teleportation skill (such as Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse). Near the overlook of the Charr camp, there should be a Charr boss who patrols nearby. Position the boss underneath the bridge and kill it. Using the one of the necromancer skills previously mentioned teleports you to the corpse but warps you to the bridge above. ** This appears to have been nerfed - as of 2/10/07 using Necrotic Traversal brings you just to the the corpse BELOW the bridge ** Alternately, killing yourself via the Charr or a Vampiric weapon and having a monk stand under the bridge and use Rebirth will accomplish the same thing. This way you are able to skip the cutscene that triggers the timer countdown and explore at your leisure. When exploring the area, there are three places where you can explore Westward. All three must be explored in order to fully de-fog the map. In addition, players can explore Northward. To do this, they must trigger the cutscene at the end, then run towards the approaching Charr. Running speeds are important, though exploration can be done over several missions as well. The Charr bunch up as they exit, allowing a player to go wide and run past them. Also, some Charr may run past you and let you go explore. At least 0.3% can be cleared, as compared to a normal mission run with some exploration Westward. The total if no Westward exploration has been done would be much higher.
 * The Frost Gate: You can use either of the necromancer skills Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse to reach the road used by Rurik. There are several options, with the number corresponding to the location on the map: 1) pulling an ice golem to kill one of Rurik's guards; 2) killing a snow wolf or the second group of Ettins under the bridge in the ice cave where Rornak Stonesledge and the Bonus are located; 3) a snow wolf may appear near the exit of the ice cave by a cliff. Regardless of the option chosen, the corpse is used to teleport onto the path, either appearing on the path or in option 2 on the bridge which is part of the path. Using the skill Rebirth can allow more than one party member to travel onto the path. It is recommended to backtrack to explore the path Northward first, then head Southward. Watch out, as towards the end (point 5) there is a single enemy on Rurik's path. Resist the temptation to kill him and simply run by, as an ever-growing series of spawns appears (that usually kill off Rurik if you take too long at the end of the mission). Taking one of the earlier teleportation options has an advantage, since Rurik will stay put, fearing the catapult. Using later options may cause the mission to fail if Rurik dies. By using option 1 it is possible to return back to the normal mission path - with Rurik still at the first bridge the mission will not end if he dies (a cut scene will move him forward, but his death does not cause mission failure). Players can explore all the way to the end, killing all mobs and bosses and doing everything except placing the third gear. The best point to return to the main path is point 3, by targetting one of the Engineers (the southwestern is best). (Note that point 4 looks appealing but will be a dead end at this time). At the end of the mission a door opens up allowing access to the southeastern corner of the mission area. Roughly .4% of Tyria was uncovered this way, as compared to a fairly thorough mission run. Players can then place the final gear and even end the mission with full success despite Rurik's death. Note: After thorough wallhugging of the rest of the mission map, this trick only uncovered about .1% of the total map.
 * Griffon's Mouth: South of Aidan is a series of interconnecting tunnels, and includes an Ice Drake to fight.
 * Gates of Kryta: A typical mission run leaves a fair amount of coastline unexplored. Scrape the edges along the coast. In addition, at the very beginning, near Oink, it is possible to slip behind the nearby house and reach an area where undead gather. After a battle that is possible through patient pulling or the right build, you can uncover a bit more area. The image shows the coastline scraping as well as the #1 indicating the rear passage to the undead mobs.
 * Lion's Arch: The southern tip of the city can reveal some of the coastline (some players think it's part of the Gates of Kryta mission). Cantha characters who arrive in Tyria for the first time should explore the little area that they are in before actually entering the city as it will be your only chance. Or Tyrian character traveling to Elona, can speak to Lionguard Bedo to explore Lion's Gate.
 * Kessex Peak: Scrape the southernmost and westernmost borders of this area carefully, as it is difficult to clear all of the clouds.
 * The Wilds: Northeast (where the bonus takes place by the lake) and northwest are spots missed by many players.
 * Bloodstone Fen: Run past Justiciar Hablion and his group to explore a small area past them for .1%. (Generally the Justiciar won't even follow you, and you can come back to finish the mission).
 * Aurora Glade: Before entering the mission, explore the hidden area to the North/Northwest behind a hut. This is an easy to miss area but reveals a fairly large section. Once in the mission, avoid tuning all three of the crystals while you fight off the White Mantle until you have completely explored the area east of the portal. There is a path (often used for the bonus) past the right most gate that can be used to sneak behind the White Mantle forces.
 * Henge of Denravi: The western and northern edges of the city can reveal some map. If you have not scraped this area before you have received the 20,000 XP Defend Denravi Quest, you may need to abandon the quest until you have mapped this area completely.  After you have mapped this area, you can return to Droknar's Forge and reactivate the quest.
 * Tangle Root: The area east of where Old Joness is can be explored.
 * Riverside Province (Mission): Many players miss the large swamp area (along the southeastern side) and path leading to the river bed (on the northereastern side) after you receive the staff! The riverside on both sides of the bridge where the end boss is, can be explored. If you have not picked up the Scepter of Orr, you can kill the Boss at your leisure and cross the bridge (crossing the bridge with the secpter in hand triggers the end of the mission). Scraping all the mission area as discribed nets about .8%.
 * Sanctum Cay: The groups that come after Vizier Khilbron at the end of the mission come from exporable but densely populated shorelines to the South and the Northeast. If you go into these areas and do not kill all of the enemies there, large numbers will go stand on the dock with Vizier making it impossible to complete the mission. In order to explore the areas to the South and Northest you will have to stay as far from the dock as possible by scraping the ridge just west of the dock to delay furthering the mission until you are ready.
 * The Amnoon Oasis: The coastline of the city can be explored.
 * Dunes of Despair: One of the trickier missions to explore. You will likely need a friend to stay with the Ghostly Hero along with henchmen to keep him alive while you explore. Or you can try avoiding the enemy ghost and using necrotic traversal to jump across the nothern bridge. There are three enemy bases to explore at the southern end of the map, the western one will have a draw bridge drawn up. You can still walk through it. In addition, there is a very large area to explore east of the eastern most base accessible through a tight tunnel slightly north of the southeastern base. Beware of the large number of Jade Scarabs that crawl out of the ground. The area north of where the second Siege Wurm spawns can be explored. Roughly .7% was uncovered doing this.
 * Augury Rock (Ascension mission): Providing you do not step on all three runes, you can explore parts of the area.
 * Tomb of the Primeval Kings: Accessable once you have ascended. (Take the north exit from The Dragon's Lair (Location).)
 * Talus Chute: The northeastern corner of the area can be explored by climbing hills along the eastern edge between the Icedome and Ice Caves of Sorrow.
 * Thunderhead Keep: Delay talking to the king at the end of the mission to explore the area outside the keep. Also, there is a path to the east from the beginning that is infested with Avicara. Another method is to, after clearing the keep, take your entire party and leave the keep, scraping the entire area. Giants will spawn and surround the king, but they will not attack him until the party circles around and they reappear on the mini map.  In this way, you can clear the area at your leisure.
 * Hell's Precipice: The cinematics in the mission will cause the party to skip some areas of the map. Backtrack to reveal them.

Cantha

 * Shing Jea Monastery: During the Dragon Festival the normally Canthan-exlusive starting area beyond the monastery gate was open for Tyrian players. Shing Jea Boardwalk reopened from Noon PDT Friday, Oct 20/06 to Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
 * Zen Daijun (Explorable): Some doors will be open which were closed during the mission.
 * Kaineng Center: There are stairs down to the long pier along the western side of the city past the armor smiths.
 * Vizunah Square: This is one of the only missions that does not offer a matching explorable area. You will need to scrape the mission while doing it. Also, try to gain access to the other starting point to scrape there too. Canthan-born characters can accompany foreign born characters in doing the quest Welcome to Cantha to access Vizunah Square (Foreign Quarter) and foreign characters can accompany Canthan-born characters in doing Mayhem in the Market to access Vizunah Square (Local Quarter). Note that after thoroughly scraping Xaquang Skyway and the Vizunah Square (Foreign Quarter) mission, access to the Vizunah Square (Local Quarter) will not add any percentage of the map to your title.


 * Eredon Terrace: If you are part of the alliance that owns this town, or if the kurzicks own the town, you can access a glitched area behind the exclusive area that allows you to enter the outskirts of the town. Although the area explored is permanently in fog on the map, it counts for a few tenths of exploration (about 0.4%). If you are not part of the alliance, you can use a trick to enter the exclusive and the glitched area of the town: Change, if necessary, your secondary profession to Assassin and equip Aura of Displacement or Death's Charge. Leave Eredon Terrace through the zone portal into Maishang Hills. On your left you will see a shrine. Talk to the Luxon Priest (or Kurzick) and choose to fight him (note: you will not have this option if you are not of the Priest's allignment). Do not kill the Merchant. He will run into Eredon Terrace. If he doesn't, start over again. Once he is inside the town and you are still outside, place him just in your aggro circle and cast your shadow step skill. If everything goes right you will now find yourself inside Eredon Terrace. Keep Aura up all the time, because if you don't you will teleport back to where you were! Also, stepping into the zone portal from either side will send you back to Eredon Terrace, so avoid it until you are finished. You can now walk right through the gate of the exclusive area, although it looks closed, and explore the glitched area. To get there, go across the bridge, and near the Jade crane, there is a hill you can walk up. You can stop maintaining Aura of Displacement or use Death's Charge again on a shrine guard outside the town return to Maishang Hills, or step into the portal to return to Eredon Terrace. Edit: This doesn't work anymore with henchies since they will now teleport back if they run in a portal. Edit2: You can set a flag a bit away from portal. Henchmen don't follow you and you can still get iit explored. Edit3: If allied with the controling faction bring Return and lure the nearby wallows to the shrine to force the merchant to flee, and then cast return on him.
 * Arborstone (Explorable): On the journey from Tanglewood Copse to Arborstone, there is an area down in the ravine that can only be explored from this direction via teleportation skills such as Necrotic Traversal. However, this area can be more easily explored (if not a farther way to go) by entering the area from the northern exit of Altrumm Ruins.
 * Unwaking Waters: There is a small cul-de-sac just north of the exit on the Kurzick side. Don't miss it.  Scrape the northern wall of this area carefully, especially near the saltspray dragon boss.
 * Jade Quarry: Good luck getting into this area, as it is nearly always empty of players. It will yield about 0.5%.
 * Tahnnakai Temple (Explorable) has a large northern region open for exploration that is inaccessible during the mission.
 * All of the Challenge Missions except Dragon's Throat allow you to explore small amounts of the map inaccessible by the surrounding zones.
 * In Raisu Palace (Mission) you can get to a normally unreachable area by using Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse. Go to the gate that leads from the stairs after the first room ("Argo's room") to the second room ("Talon's room"). High above, a little behind that gate is a bridge crossing the way. Lure some monsters there and kill them under the bridge. If you use one of the aforementioned skills, you will teleport on top of the bridge. Now you can explore a path leading along the side of the mission area, on top of the palace walls. You will come to a closed gate and what looks like a zone portal. You can walk through those without being blocked or transported to a different zone. However, be aware that Togo and Mhenlo will try to follow you down in the regular mission area and will most likely die quickly, if they run into enemies.
 * Raisu Palace (Explorable) has a large area to the north which can only be reached after the mission, leaving from Imperial Sanctum (Location).
 * Don't forget to scrape the edges when banished during the Imperial Sanctum mission. It is best to kill the spirits there if you can, and scrape carefully.  A cloud to the northeast is cleared by scraping an area to the northwest, so again, scrape carefully.  Shiro never banishes a human player as long as there is only one human player in his aggro range so doing the mission solo or with henchmen won't work. The easiest way to get banished is to enter the mission with a friend and let him aggro Shiro first as he will banish the second person entering his aggro range. Note that, although there are several portals visible at a distance from the center battle area, Shiro will always banish players to the same portal, towards the north-west. The other portals can't be reached.

Specific Tips and Strategies
These are specific tips and strategies for mapping mission or explorable areas.

Tyria

 * North Kryta Province: Having The Ascalon Settlement quest active will allow you to pick up the "Ascalon Heroes" as added henchmen, allowing you to explore the area with ease. (Note that the heroes will leave you if you leave North Kryta Province.)
 * Kessex Peak: It is easier to explore this area if someone in your party has The Villainy of Galrath quest active – there will be fewer members of the Cult of Verata to fight.
 * Divinity Coast: Exploring the coastline north of the village of Loamhurst can be difficult as the Eye of Janthir can trigger the end of the mission if it hovers above the shrine that is located in the center of the village – for this reason try to avoid having all your party members approach the shrine while mapping the coastline. Exploring the coastline at the end as well as scraping the Northern and Western areas of the swamp and the Northern wall of the Mantle's keep can yield at least 0.1% of the map. Another strategy to use is right before the end of the mission, go back to the swampy area where there are multiple gates. Have one person move the eye behind one of the wooden gates. This will trap the eye so that it will not follow you as you explore the mission's end.
 * Iron Mines of Moladune: Join a party whose primary interest is completing the bonus for the mission; depending on the route taken by the party you should be able to map most of the path along the eastern side of the mission area. Warning – your armor must be infused.
 * Ring of Fire: The western side of the island can be difficult to map with a full party of henchmen, and since most people who attempt the mission or bonus by going through the front gate, the best strategy for mapping this area is to join a skill-capping party as some of the bosses spawn on that side of the island.
 * Abaddon's Mouth: The best way to map this area is to join a bonus and/or skill-capping group as either activities will allow you to map most of the area in the mission.

Cantha

 * Nahpui Quarter (Mission): Do not kill the four Celestials -- instead pull the Star Tengu away from each Celestial creature and deal with them instead. This strategy will make mapping the area easier as you do not have to deal with any of the celestial spawns that appear after killing each Celestial.
 * Wajjun Bazaar : While having the Seek out Brother Tosai quest active -- the Am Fah will not attack you. (See quest for exceptions.)
 * Boreas Seabed (Explorable): Most of this region can be easily mapped by doing the first part of Boreas Seabed  mission – after defeating the three teams, simply head out the gate, go north and start scraping the edges/walls, working your way clock-wise around the region.  You will not encounter the usual mobs that frequent the area.

Elona

 * The Sulfurous Wastes: During the Gates of Desolation (Mission), the western areas of the zone are clear of foes, making them easy to explore.
 * Dynastic Tombs: During the Challenge Mission Remains of Sahlahja, be sure to explore all the zones, which is hard considering you have to open them all and evade the Maddened Spirits at the same time. Beware that this challenge mission is almost a different game by itself; you may find it quite frustrating if your only purpose is to get the Grand Master title.
 * Consider only mapping one zone at a time. While it may seem tedious to restart the mission over and over, this is actually a very efficient strategy, as you won't be wasting time trying to gain enough points to open all the doors in one go.
 * Use Junundu Tunnel as often as possible, and bring skills which increase your speed for mapping rocky terrain by foot; this will help compensate for the delay caused when your Junundu swallows you/spits you out.
 * If you really hate mapping the Dynastic Tombs, note that it's possible to reach 100% without mapping the entire area: this editor was able to achieve the title with two full zones unexplored.
 * Garden of Seborhin: During the Tihark Orchard mission when the skree attack, the Vabbi Guards blocking the stairs near Zilo the Drunkard will move aside to fight. You will then be able to travel up the stairs and explore the entire Garden of Seborhin zone without encountering any monsters.
 * Not all areas are mappable ; unlike Tyria or Cantha, you won't have to reach the end of the game to get that title, making it much easier to get this title than both others. (However it has been known for people to find themselves at 99.9% complete, and notice a small nook at the end of game part of Chantry Of Secrets, it is possible to get the title without it however.)