Imperial Sanctum (mission)


 * This is a Mission entry. For information on the location Imperial Sanctum, see Imperial Sanctum (Location).

Mission Objectives

 * Destroy Shiro

Note: Mhenlo is not required to survive, he can be killed and have the mission continue to completion.

Primary
The mission is very straightforward. Proceed to the small island up ahead and destroy Shiro.

Make sure all your human party members speak to Kuunavang to pick up their celestial skills from her before proceeding. If any party member gets to the end of the bridge, it will trigger the cutscene which will close off the way back to Kuunavang.

Shiro possesses many powerful skills, but the three that will most tip the scales to his favor are Echoing Banishment, Meditation of the Reaper and Impossible Odds. (Note that you cannot disable these skills using skills like Arcane Thievery - it will tell you that the targeted party has no skills.)

With Echoing Banishment, Shiro will send off a party member into the Mists and he/she will be replaced by one of Shiro's bound spirits. This spirit will fight alongside Shiro until destroyed. The spirit will always be of the same profession as the banished player, but will use a fixed skillset, not the skills of the banished player. The player who was banished can run back to the fight through a round dark passage that ends with a glowing portal.

It is best to destroy the bound spirit as soon as it spawns. This not only removes an ally of Shiro, but also return the banished player immediately as well as give the party a Morale Boost, which recharges all skills including Resurrection Signets and the skills obtained from Kuunavang. It is, however, also important to keep the pressure on Shiro, as he heals himself too quickly.

Shiro's other devastating skill, Meditation of the Reaper, prevents him from taking damage worth 500 dealt to him. After this damage has been absorbed, the skill ends and he steals 20 health from each party member for every second he was in his stance. Therefore, if Meditation of the Reaper was active for over 20 seconds, he will all but kill the entire party. Therefore it is imperative that damage output be fully directed to him to end this skill quickly. Final Note: This is a skill, which means this cannot be removed by stance removing skills such as Wild Blow or Wild Strike. If a warrior knocks down Shiro during Meditation of the Reaper it ends immediatly.

Note that Shiro appears to be immune to knockdown effects from any other class than warrior. Thus spells like meteor, gale will not work unless they come from a warrior.

The party thus needs to keep an eye on two events at the same time: a member getting banished, and Shiro entering his meditation. Banishment will show immediately as the party member's name will be greyed out. Meditation will show in the Target Display and by visual animation (Shiro hovering in cross-legged tailor posture).

Shiro's third powerful skill is Impossible Odds, where for 10 seconds, he does mass amounts of damage to all foes in the area everytime he hits. Note that this is also a skill like Meditation of the Reaper and cannot be removed. Shiro will use this skill at near death to deal huge amounts of damage allowing him to quickly dispose of the entire party in a couple of strikes. It is imperative that everyone scatter to avoid the AOE damage from this skill.

A good way to counter this skill is to use blinding skills such as Blinding Flash or Blinding Powder. If ever the party survives this skill, it will most likely be the end of Shiro.

The following are useful tactics:
 * Elementalists with Mesmer as a secondary profession can use the Elite skill Echo, (not Arcane Echo) to copy the Celestial Storm Skill (40 dmg per sec storm for 15 seconds)and use it twice per boss, which stack for double the damage.
 * Elementalists with Mesmer as a secondary that do not have Echo can use Arcane Mimicry to copy the Elite from another person in the team who does have it.
 * Anti-warrior hexes work great against Shiro. This includes Clumsiness, Faintheartedness, Empathy, Spiteful Spirit, and Spoil Victor.
 * The elementalist special skill Celestial Storm is very effective in dealing huge amounts of damage to Shiro for a long time as well as helping to quickly end the skill Meditation of the Reaper by reaching its 500 damage absorption limit.
 * Blinding, Ward Against Melee, and Aegis chaining are useful tactics in evading Shiro's attacks.
 * The party should designate a few members to apply constant damage and conditions to Shiro to prevent the fight from dragging on.
 * Primary or secondary rangers should bring Charm Animal to replace with Kuunavang's special skill. The pet will remain with you, effectively giving you a ninth skill.
 * If you have a few Warriors on the team, have some Ritualists or Rangers create some Spirits around Shiro. Then, have the Warriors stagger the usage of their skill Storm of Swords. This skill works on any ally.

Expert Level
Complete the mission in under 5 minutes. Reward: 1,500 XP, 150 Gold and 1 Skill Point.

Master Level
Complete the mission in under 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Reward: 2,000 XP, 200 Gold and 1 Skill Point.

Additional Notes and Tips

 * Upon completion of this mission, players will be taken to the Divine Path area to celebrate their victory as well as get access to special items and crafters. See the area article for details.


 * This mission is actually quite easy using just the henchmen. Take along both warriors, both necromancers, both monks, and the elementalist.  The trick is to switch targets to the bound servant that appears whenever Shiro banishes a party member.  The mission can typically be finished in about two minutes.