Talk:Imperial Sanctum (mission)

Henchie Walkthrough
I posted the solo henchie method i used under "strategy", i finished it in 1:56 with this setup. I tried to keep it uniform, but i'm still fairly new at this. Cheers! 75.3.161.157 16:00, 16 December 2006 (CST)

Annoying glitch
Can someone explain this to me please:



By the way, in case you were curious, the Envoys are not world objects. I saw a construct walk right rhrough where Emissary Heleyne was standing. &mdash; Stabber &#x270d; 17:36, 3 May 2006 (CDT)
 * Glitches like that happen all the time. I've seen tons of those, spirits, minions, etc attacking and doing stuff in the middle of cutscenes.  This is why I really think ANET should have just gone with movies instead of in game animations.  They dont glitch up and you see exactly what you're supposed to see everytime without the random bugs and extra fighting. | Chuiu 17:50, 3 May 2006 (CDT)
 * I personally feel that the game takes up enough hard disk space without another several dozen megabytes for FMV. It would require longer D/L's when new content is developed, or having to wait for a CD to arrive in the mail.  As a last point, its nice when the party is included in the cut scenes in real time.  Makes more sense to me to report the bugs, have Anet fix it as they see fit, and send a small patch. | Rohar 13:30, 18 May 2006 (EDT)

Yet another glitch I just discovered: the henchmen can get stuck on the wrong side of the door after the cutscene. &mdash; Stabber &#x270d; 08:34, 4 June 2006 (CDT)



I've had a brilliant glictch though. He went into meditation, and then somehow we (7 henchies and I) broke the meditation's effects, while he was still meditating (not the effect, more like the emote). Basically he just sat in the air as we continuously chopped at him. Masters with henchs. Awesome. Silk Weaker 08:33, 13 July 2006 (CDT)

Honestly, a strange and perplexing glitch happened to me today, with screenshots as proof... "Sister Tai" was banished, and she managed to make it out of the portal at the top. However, she was teleported to the SE corner, rather than back to where everyone else was. (though I wish I knew HOW she did it, I'd like to explore that area)
 * Obviously, Panaku taught her how to Shadow Step anywhere she wants, whether or not there are available targets. Did you never notice how Sister Tai has two daggers hidden in her socks?
 * (PS: I am just kidding about the daggers. But she totally knows how to Shadow Step) --MagickElf666 17:03, 8 June 2007 (CDT)

Master
I believe you need to finish in under 2:30 minutes to get master. | Chuiu 17:52, 3 May 2006 (CDT)


 * 2:28 was enough to receive masters, so that's probably accurate. --Xylia 09:39, 31 July 2006 (CDT)


 * I removed the note about Expert because it said the level was achieved at 2:00 which is less than Master. --Karlos 00:05, 8 June 2006 (CDT)

Expert
An anon edit in the article claimed that: (We did expert in 4.37). Foo 12:55, 23 June 2006 (CDT)

I did it in 2.35 min with henchmen and only got standard and expert rewards. Ramlov 05:06, 25 September 2006 (CDT)Ramlov
 * oops, nevermind my post --Mooseyfate 12:13, 23 April 2007 (CDT)

Echo
The note says E/Me's should bring echo to copy celestial storm. I think this should be edited, since it applies to all other professions as well, exept maybe the ritualist, who gets Celestial Summoning


 * Why not ritualist? -- [[Image:Ritualist-icon-small.png]] Cwingnam2000 22:33, 6 September 2006 (CDT)
 * Well, you can get only one Celestial Horror, but you can copy the celestial skill, cast the original. and the recast the copy to get 20 seconds of extra endurance for the creature... I think that all classes can bnefit of copying. Mithran 05:27, 25 October 2006 (CDT)


 * Actually, it's pretty useless for the necro - the summon lasts a heck of a long time even without botm (honestly, i think it's one of the most useless celestial skills.)

Even though it's the assassins that get the Celestial Horrors...

"warrior body-blocking" technique
I am strongly against this section being within the article. I have gotten Masters for all my characters, and have only used this method once (where, incidentally, it failed - but that may be because some teammates were not following the instructions). As a general rule, I am against any "tips" that lock into a team build. There are many possible team builds for this, we should most certainly not get into the habit of listing all possible combinations that will work within a mission. If the author feels strongly about this section, have him create it as a team build article. I do not believe that it belongs in the mission article. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 10:33, 20 August 2006 (CDT)
 * I think the general idea is the easiest way to do the mission although I don't like the writeup. The way I'd put it is simply "bring two warriors (only in case one gets banished), body block, and watch him die."  If you actually body block as opposed to just stand next to him, he won't move and the warrior skill will splatter him.  Anything else you bring will just speed it up.  Necros are in no way necessary if your team is actually cooperating with the body blocking.  --68.142.14.32 11:04, 20 August 2006 (CDT)
 * The described technique does not lock anyone into a specific team build. All that is required is one warrior.  One.  That leaves 7 possible slots for any type of "unbalanced" team you like.  Heck, even 7 assassins could accompany the warrior and get the masters. Other mission articles in this wiki have very detailed strategy walkthrus that prescribe very specific team structures.  The Raisu Palace mission, for example.  I added a short bit with enough detail for any newcomer to understand how to get the job done.  Masters reward, every time, if everyone on the team understands and applies the technique.  Is that so egregious, given that most people repeat this mission over and over because you have to go through it to get to the end-game crafters and amulet NPCs?  Please leave the detail in this article.  I sat by for literally 2 months hoping someone would add this bit to the article, because I got tired of explaining over and over to teams how to get through the mission quickly.  I've done this mission literally 20+ times now.  I've patiently stood by and let PUG leaders try it their way; failing multiple times.  I've seen no other technique that is as easily communicated, and as consistent.  Everytime I explain this to a PUG that has failed two or three times, the comments are "wow!" when we breeze the mission on the very next try.  These days, if I ask a PUG that I'm forming "who is familiar with the warrior-body-block technique?" At least 2-3 people already know of this.  It's not big secret; it's effective enough to be fairly well known by the experienced players.  Is not this wiki's purpose to help folks who are struggling with the game?--Shaktiboi 01:02, 21 August 2006 (CDT)
 * Step 1: "Start with 1-3 warriors, 1-3 necros, and the rest doesn't really matter except that one monk might be useful. 2 warriors and 2-3 necros is ideal." From experience with past articles, I know that a large number of users of this wiki will read this to be 3 warriors and 3 necros.  That only leaves two available slots.  I have no problem with a mention of the technique, it's the attempt to specify a team build that bothers me - if other articles have it, point them out to me - I've actively worked to purge that where I see it.
 * I like 68.142's recommended abbreviated version, as that seems adequate. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 08:43, 21 August 2006 (CDT)
 * The abbreviated revision looks fine by me; all the relevant info is there. Thanks all.--71.145.182.59 09:39, 21 August 2006 (CDT)

Article rework
I cleaned up the article a bit following the reworking of it. I think that the tactics section could be restored closer to its pre-rework format, but I'm leaving it for now. I am also unsure if the summary of Shiro's skills should remain in the article, as links exist to where they are spelled out in their own articles. However, those articles could be beefed up with some of the skills detail from here. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 11:34, 21 August 2006 (CDT)

Knockdown
The artical mentions that all knockdowns fail unless they come from a warrior. I just tried shock on my W/E but it didn't have any effect at all? This was during normal combat and during his meditation. --SK  12:13, 5 September 2006 (CDT)
 * I tried Shove with my warrior as well and wasn't able to knock him down, nor could I knock him out of Meditation with it. I don't know of anyone that has knocked him down successfully, so I doubt the veracity of the "only wars can knock him down" comment.  I'd like some specific examples that people have seen. --Dfscott 11:36, 5 October 2006 (CDT)
 * backbreaker and Counter Blow had no effect either. --I Follow The Blind 09:22, 5 October 2006 (CDT)

I think there are enough people commenting that KD does not work (even with a warrior) that I've added a dispute tag to the article. There are too many warriors bringing useless KD skills into this mission. --Dfscott 11:36, 5 October 2006 (CDT)

He could be knocked down in the beta event. This is just old text left from then &mdash; Skuld 11:46, 5 October 2006 (CDT)

Killing bound spirits?
There seems to be a bit of a debate whether or not to kill the bound spirits (that replace the banished people). Many parties I've been in tend to ignore the spirits, but I'd argue that killing them greatly aids the party. The elementalist's celestial skill deals enough damage to kill a bound spirit (water magic skills can be helpful in holding the spirit in place), and the whole party's celestials will recharge the moment the spirit dies. Perhaps this article needs a note about this?
 * Personally I favour killing them, as the recharge to all skills can really be a boon mid-battle. However if the banished player can make it to the portal then the bound spirit dies anyway, so perhaps that is why all groups seem to spam "omg ignore the spirits!1!" RossMM 16:11, 16 September 2006 (CDT)
 * Also i really doubt that using a celestial storm on a bound creature is wasteful, as it can be put to much better use when used on Shiro--user;Kurzspear 19:56, 6 March 2007 (CST)
 * You use it on the spirit, it dies, and then you get Celestial Storm recharged. Yes it would be better to use it twice on Shiro by killing the spirit another way, but using Celestial skills against a spirit (so long as it dies) is not a waste. RossMM 09:17, 7 March 2007 (CST)

Playing my ele, the most common frustration is that the first bound spirit is killed too early. I want to complete my initial chain of celestial storms *before* the skills are all reset. In any case, ele ftw. ;-) Krissy 03:37, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

Dispute

 * "The Necromancer elite skill Wail of Doom can interrupt Shiro and disable all his attack skills. With Soul Reaping of 10 or higher, one can effectively keep him without his attack skills constantly."
 * "Skills such as Diversion and Blackout will not disable Shiro's skills."

So can Shiro's skills be disabled or not? Does Wail of Doom work while other disabling skills don't? -- Gordon Ecker 03:40, 18 September 2006 (CDT)


 * I can only testify that Diversion does not work. --[[Image:TurningL sml.gif|Tetris L]] 03:55, 18 September 2006 (CDT)


 * GG, Shiro doesn't have any attack skills. :( --Karlos 05:30, 18 September 2006 (CDT)

Also, Meditation of the Reaper is NOT a Stance. -- Gordon Ecker 23:40, 25 November 2006 (CST)


 * Not in my experience; Wail of Doom does jack. -Scyfer 19:20, 11 December 2006 (CST)

Possible with henchmen?
Is it possible with henchmen? They don't do enough damage, and they don't return after being banished, forcing you to kill the bound guys, and they take so long to do that so that Shiro's meditation heals him to full health, and just about wipes out the whole team. It goes on like that for ages until the DP gets too high, and Shiro wins. When I did it with a real team it took about 1 min and hardly anyone got hurt.. ridiculous that it's such a different story with henchmen. --Carth 22:44, 9 October 2006 (CDT)


 * Yeah, I agree. I've tried almost a dozen times with heroes+henchmen, using all the hints/tips in this page and nothing helps. Wail of Doom doesn't interrupt Shiro.... Grenth's Balance isn't doing much at all imo, when run on heroes. Something's off with this mission. The lack of hero celestial skills doesn't help. Scyfer 18:57, 11 December 2006 (CST)

Have to disagree. Decided to test viability and just got expert's (3:34) using hero and hench only. Considered Grenth's Balance but realised it wouldn't be much use as Shiro's hp dropped towards the level of mine and Koss's so instead opted for Spoil Victor. My char was W/N, with Blood attrib at 12, and I also set Koss as a W/N, with Spoil Victor as his first (left hand) skill; his Blood attrib was at 11. Redemptor Karl and Devona were both banished and the Bound Monk and Bound Warrior were easily dealt with. I also used Life Siphon between Spoil Victor casts, while waiting for it to recharge. I used Storm of Swords and Life Siphon to deliver the coup de grace. Didn't bother with the body blocking technique outlined in the article - the Spoil Victor spamming was more than adequate. Fox Bloodraven 21:55, 22 December 2006 (CST)


 * the strategy in this article worked like a charm! as long as there are no monk spirits it's easy! &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.157.140.68 (talk &bull; contribs) 07:07, 5 January 2007 (CST).
 * I used a N/Me with echo SV, 2 SF heroes, a hero monk, 2 monk hench, 2 war hench. Shiro went down in about 30 seconds :) When he was at about 1/3 he used impossible odds and I saw about 20 "-115"s on the screen and he was dead. --Jogden 01:08, 5 January 2007 (CST)


 * I'll second that. I found the top of the dais where Shiro initially stands to be the best spot, simply because the henchmen bottleneck better. Having as many clumped around Shiro when he activates Impossible Odds is the key, because once that Spoil Victor kicks in, your screen is going to fill with pretty yellow numbers :) Infinity 02:03, 18 February 2007 (CST)


 * I defeated Shiro with a party of 4: Me (A/R),Olias(SS),Master of Whispers(SV) and Dunkoro in 2:39. Glenn 11:16, 6 January 2007 (CST)

I just tried following the henchmen advice, and I have a major problem with the suggested henchmen to bring. I tried it with master of whispers, Olias, Dunkoro, 2 warrior hench, and 2 mesmer hench, and the problem is the mesmer hench. When they get banished, the bound mesmers have shatter hex making it very difficult to keep spoil victor, spiteful spirit, and empathy on Shiro. Much better to bring 2 ranger henchmen instead of the 2 mesmer henchies. You can run olias as a Blood/domination N/Me to get spoil victor and empathy, and run master of whispers as a curse/blood necro with SS and barbs, and they can both bring awaken the blood for a damage boost Alinius 11:35, 4 February 2007 (CST)

2:30
Finished this mission on 2:30 exactly, got masters. Jebus 14:39, 28 January 2007 (CST)


 * My team did it in exactly 2:30 and got Expert's. -- Gorfax Silverdale 00:48, 2 February 2007 (CST)
 * [[image:shiro-230.jpg]]
 * Maybe Jebus was under 2:30.5 and Gorfax was over 2:30.5 . Ghost1 18:55, 5 February 2007 (CST)

Echoing Banishment for other campaign characters
What happens when Echoing Banishment is used for Elonian characters and other new campaign characters? I did it on my dervish and I think a bound spirit was put in my place because I was teleported back to the fight without going through the portal. Ghost1 19:02, 5 February 2007 (CST)

I did this as a Dervish and was replaced by a Bound Warrior. Would be an idea to test it further, as I was set as D/W, so not entirely sure whether the bound spirit was based on the second profession.

EASY!!!
This was so simple, we had a group of 8, with 1 hero monk, I did all the work basictly, with a touch ranger in less than 30 secs

Shiro updated ?
I also killed Shiro in less than 3 minutes, with heroes and henchmen, something like one week ago. I retried it today, with the exact same team and lost... I'm not sure wether Shiro has more hp than before, or more armor, but I'm quite sure he's tougher. (I suppose, if Shiro has indeed been changed, that the update came between 10 and 15 March 2007). Aoku 19:33, 14 March 2007 (CDT)
 * I think Shiro has had a MAJOR boost. I remember passing him a few times a month or so ago, and some time before that, and it was difficult, but not impossible. I just did a bunch of back-to-back runs with some top players from my alliance, and we failed several times in a row (we have yet to pass him, actually). Were talking GOOD players, with excellent armor and equipment, excellent ability. If a hero or henchman is brought along, Shiro becomes INSANE, and is impossible not only to beat, but half the time the party is wiped within the first minute (impossible odds followed by meditation wipes out the team every time). If ANET has changed Shiro, I'm here to say, this is screwed up in the extreme. This is not fun, not entertaining, not enjoyable in any sense of the word. For a mission that players are FORCED to play over and over to get to the Divine Path and reach endgame armor and weapons, this is really, really screwed up. It needs to be fixed. Jrista 02:26, 17 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Shiro is the final boss in Factions, and should therefore be the most difficult foe to face, not one that you easily pass through again and again and again, abaddon isn't too easy either, and you have to pass him for primeval. Complain less and adapt more.
 * With respect, Abaddon is a push-over compared to Shiro, you certainly don't have to take as much of a gimmick team build for Abaddon as you do for Shiro. BramStoker 03:46, 30 May 2007 (CDT)
 * Just got Master's @ 1:49 with 3 heroes and 3 henchmen. Was run 3 of 3. The run before this was around the same time but we just couldn't knock down the last sliver of health (I got excited and missed my timing). It just comes down to the skills being brought and a little luck that Shiro does what you want (IE: staying put, heh). (May 31st, 2007)

Extremely useful tip against Echoing Banisment
I just tried it and it worked wonderfully! I set my second proffesion to Assassin and used Death's Charge on a spirit on the top of the hill, and it teleported me directly in the portal. I stayed only 3 seconds in the Mists!
 * Are you sure you weren't using Spirit Walk? RossMM 21:19, 21 April 2007 (CDT)

Why would you ask a such a stupid question?


 * I was under the impression that Death's Charge didn't work on spirits, but I tested it since then and found it does. You also might want to read GW:NPA before being so rude in future. RossMM 19:23, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

Strange Glitch
Well, I am a mm necro called Erienne Nix with a flesh golem and I joined a party to finish the mission...we ran in to attack him, and i think there was a body nearby (I can't remember exactly if there were any bodies around so it might just have been a strange occurance...) so I started to summon a flesh golem but he banished me. They killed the spirit and I was transported back...but I had summoned around 9 flesh golems and we killed him within around 20 seconds because of it...not sure why it happened but it might work for hard mode.


 * If you had an assassin in your party it's likely the result of their Star Strike celestial skill, as the creatures it summons look identical to Flesh Golems. If you didn't have an assassin then it sounds like a weird bug indeed. RossMM 19:23, 4 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Necromancer celestial skill brings in a creature that looks like a Flesh Golem, but has nice effects for the party (+25HP/+3 energy per hit it makes), Assassin celestial skill calls in an ally every time a party member hits a target. That also has the look of a Flesh Golem. Lastly, the Warrior celestial skill affects all adjacent allies, making a Warrior and Assassin the deadliest combo for Shiro. --Kale Ironfist 20:14, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

Meditation
His Meditation skill description says he absorbs up to 500 damage. What if you are able to use tons of life-stealing and degen, will that 500HP mark never be reached and in turn, Shiro will be kept asleep throughout the process? --MagickElf666 17:05, 8 June 2007 (CDT)