Assault on the Stronghold

Objectives

 * Roan Fierceheart in Dalada Uplands will prepare you for the assault. (disappears from Quest Log after speaking to Roan)
 * Invade the hierophant's stronghold and rescue the Ebon Vanguard.
 * Defeat the Charr guards and gain control of the siege devourers.
 * Target archer groups with siege devourers to cover the armored saurus while it breaks down the front gates.
 * Free the Ebon Vanguard held captive within the fortress.
 * Defeat Hierophant Burntsoul and all hostile forces.

Obtained from

 * Roan Fierceheart in Dalada Uplands (automatic on completion of What Must Be Done)
 * Scrying Pool in Hall of Monuments (after first completion, select "I seek guidance" option)

Requirements

 * What Must Be Done

Walkthrough
Start by exiting Doomlore Shrine to the south, turn right, and talk to Roan Fierceheart. Accept the quest dialogue and you will be teleported to Sacnoth Valley where the mission will begin after a lengthy cinematic.

Run up to your Charr allies and they will assist you with taking the Siege Devourer on the right. They will then hold the siege devourer while you and your party take the one on the left. You will receive a morale boost and then the second phase of the mission begins.

The siege devourers will start to pound the Charr Seekers on the wall, you can interact with them to direct them to either target the Charr Seekers on the bluff or those near the gate. Charr warriors will constantly spawn in threes in the two glowing circles next to the wall, and charge toward the siege devourers and try to kill them, thereby stopping their barrage. In the meantime, an Armored Saurus will spawn behind you and move toward the gate. It will attack the gate while the Charr seekers on the walls try to kill it. The saurus will die before it reaches the wall if all seekers are alive. It can still die if a few seekers are alive, but a new saurus will spawn to take its place. The seekers will constantly respawn on the wall until the gate is breached. Alternating the target of the siege devourers (gate/bluff) will help keep the seekers suppressed.

Defending the siege devourers is not difficult if you kill the spawning Charr quickly. If you let them go, more will spawn and you will soon be overwhelmed. The player's party can defend the left siege devourer while the Charr allies protect the right siege devourer.

Therefore, once the left siege devourer has taken out a few seekers on the left side of the wall, move to the glowing circle where the Charr warriors spawn. Using ranged attacks, take out the seekers as they spawn on the wall. Start from the far left and move inward. You will also need to take out the Charr warriors as they spawn on the ground. They will attack you before they rush the siege devourer, so the siege devourer will be unmolested so long as the warriors spawn in someone's aggro circle. Leave the right siege devourer to your allies. If you can keep the seekers thinned out and Charr warriors from attacking your siege devourer, eventually an armored saurus will break down the gate, and the third phase of the mission begins.

Run through the broken gate and to the right. Clean up any remaining Charr that might attack you from behind, then approach the mission marker in front of the stairs. Once you reach it, a dialogue will begin. Do not climb the stairs. Instead, back away and let the spawning Destroyers wipe out the Charr on the plateau. With luck, they will mostly wipe each other out. Once there is nothing left but Destroyers or Charr, move in to finish the remnants off. Once all enemies are dead, the mission ends. It seems random which 'species' is left standing at the end, Charr or Destroyer.

Hard Mode
The Charr allies alone are not enough to hold the Right Siege Devourer. You will have to split up your party. An MM and a monk on the side of the Charr allies should be enough. The mission is doable by just using the Siege Devourers to take out the Charr on the cliffs, it will just take 10 or so Armored Saurus' to do so. Spiteful Spirit and Pain Inverter can help keep the Armored Saurus alive a little longer. Once inside the fortress, all but the group of Destroyers that attack the front Charr group will be killed. The left side of this area can be tricky as there is a balanced group of Charr that, without careful pulling, can easily wipe your party. The group will likely consist of 5-6 Charr Blademaster/Charr Axemaster, 2-3 Charr Avengers, 1-2 Charr Wardkeepers, 2 Charr Elite Guard (Ranger), and 1-2 Charr Seekers. If pulled correctly, you can eliminate 3 Charr Blademasters/Axemasters and 1 Charr Seeker. Be sure to pull them far enough away from the Charr Avengers so that they do not try to heal them, thus, drawing their group into aggro range. The rest of the area is easy to clear. Putting Pain Inverter on Hierophant Burntsoul while he is using Firestorm will bring him down quickly.

This misson is not very difficult in HM. Bring a monk with mark of protection (can even be secondary ; the mark doesn't have to be very strong ; 9 in protection will do). Use it on the Saurus when it's bar reaches about one third or one fourth. Put the siege devourers to strike the charrs closest to the door. If done correctly, you can break the door with but one Saurus. Two will certainly suffice. Keep you party flagged on the path between the two devourers during this time ; they'll aggro some charrs and do some cleanup while the door is being broken ; defending the devourers is not important at that point. After the door burst open, then you'll do the cleanup around the devourers, set the devourers to destroy the charrs on the cliffs, then proceed inside once the cliffs are secure. Let the destroyers and the charr take care of each others. The result may favor the charrs, except maybe at the top of the stairs, but often only destroyers remain. Just proceed carefully (no aggro) and all will go smoothly as you will only face small (usually 1-5) groups. Just interrupt Hierophant Burntsoul if you want to avoid trouble.

Tips

 * Bringing Broad Head Arrow will easily shut down Hierophant Burntsoul so long as you have a non-magic attacker on him at all times.

Allies

 * Charr
 * 20 Bonwor Fierceblade
 * 20 Roan Fierceheart
 * 20 Cowl Fiercetongue
 * 20 Gron Fierceclaw
 * 20 Seer Fiercereign


 * Devourer
 * 20 Siege Devourer


 * Dinosaur
 * 28 Armored Saurus

Monsters

 * Charr
 * 20(26) Charr Bladestorm
 * 20(26) Charr Axemaster
 * 20 (26) Charr Elite Guard (Warrior)
 * 20(26) Charr Seeker
 * 20 (26) Charr Elite Guard (Ranger)
 * 20(26) Charr Avenger
 * 20(26) Charr Prophet
 * 20 Charr Wardkeeper

Bosses

 * Charr
 * 29 Hierophant Burntsoul (Ether Prodigy)

Dialogues
Briefing from the Scrying Pool.