Abaddon's Gate (mission)


 * This is a mission entry. For more information about the location see Abaddon's Gate (Location)

Objectives
Destroy Abaddon.
 * Destroy the Graven Monoliths to power the chains of Abaddon.

Walkthrough
Players start in a dark corridor that turns right and leads to the chamber where Abaddon is held. Players will be able to see Abaddon's hands and his head. His wrists and neck are bound by magical restraints. As soon as players approach him, he will break free from his shackles and the objective is to bind him again and then weaken him.

At the end of every manacle there will be a pair of Graven Monoliths. So, in total there will be 6, two on the left, two on the right and two in the center below his head. When players kill a pair of Monoliths, the shackles at that spot are renewed. Once all three shackles are in place, Abaddon will be damaged, and will be subdued and vulnerable for a short while (roughly 15-20 seconds). If you leave right before Abaddon goes into his invulnerable state and go to the monoliths on the right then the skill Words of Madness will not start. His head will drop, allowing players to target him and damage him. The Monoliths at the middle re-spawn if Abaddon is not fully bound soon after they are killed. Thus it is best to take out the groups to the left and right first, leaving the Graven Monoliths in the middle for last.

After that short period, Abaddon will free himself and become invulnerable. The party must repeat the same steps to be able to damage him again. However, the biggest challenge of the mission is not in destroying the Monoliths, but in withstanding Abaddon's fury while he is free. The closer the party is to the angry god, the more damage they will take. While attempting to bind and damage Abaddon, players will be subject to the following skills:
 * 1) Corrupt Power: Skill. All foes take 30 damage 5 times over the next 3 seconds. Each strike also removes one Stance or Enchantment from foe.
 * 2) Earth Shattering Blow: Attack. All foes in the area of target take 100 damage and are knocked down. Surrounding foes also take 80 earth damage.
 * 3) Words of Madness: Skill. Target foe takes 120 damage, is knocked down and suffers from dazed for 10 seconds.

Conditions can also take a tremendous toll on the party, as they tend to affect everyone at once. Someone should bring Cautery Signet or Restore Condition or Martyr and stay back, out of the worst of the knockdowns, to cast it.

Every now and then, a Torment Claw will sprout from the ground in the middle of the party. These can be very dangerous if left unattended. Destroy these fragile claws quickly, rather than having the back line of the party take 100+ damage every few seconds.

So after damaging Abaddon and hastily retreating to the bridge to regroup, repeat the process of killing Monoliths and then damaging Abaddon. Fortunately, he does not heal himself between attempts. It will probably take 3 or 4 attempts to reduce his life to zero.


 * If enough monks are in party, retreating to the bridge is not advised, since the knockdown storm never ends, even if you run all the way back to the beginning of the mission. Retreat only to the left or right Graven Monolith areas, to begin attacking them immediately after they respawn. Once Abaddon has been reduced to zero, a cutscene will play. Having 4 monks (hero, hench, or real players) will make this a very easy mission to get masters reward.


 * Note that sometimes, a glitch occurs, and the last pair of Monoliths will never stop spawning, resulting in an eventual party wipe. This glitch has also been known to occur with the Torment Claws.

Strategies

 * Group healing spells like Light of Deliverance and Heal Party are very useful.
 * Health degeneration works against Abaddon, but beware that hexes and conditions last a shorter time.
 * You cannot target Abaddon when he is in an unbound state, so trying to interrupt his attacks is futile.
 * While bound, Abaddon will still use the Words of Madness skill. So make sure your casters brace themselves and be wary of the spike.
 * Group condition removal (such as Martyr, Extinguish and Cautery Signet) are excellent counters to the dazing effect. It's best to have at least 2 of these skills in the group, as the dazing effect refreshes faster than any of these skills recharges. Be aware that as the first two are spells, activating them under the dazed condition will be problematic. The latter is immune to this difficulty because it is a signet.
 * The Mesmer skill Wastrel's Worry is very effective against Abaddon. Since hexes last half duration on Abaddon, it will trigger every one second or so, just enough time for you to recast them. They stack up an incredible amount of armor-ignoring damage. Be careful not to overspend your energy though.
 * Although spirits are unlikely to last long, Pain and Bloodsong can inflict a considerable amount of armor-ignoring damage while they last.
 * Paragons can help in many ways. First, bring "Fall Back!" and high Command for escaping Abaddon's fury, and also to escape Torment Claws as you run from one set of Monoliths to the other. Second, bring Aria of Restoration with high Motivation and use it as often as possible, since many effects in this mission damage the entire party at once. Third, bring Cautery Signet with Remedy Signet to remove the masses of conditions that affect the entire party at once. Signets are not affected by being Dazed. The Paragon henchman Sogolon has Cautery Signet and Aria of Restoration.
 * Time your approach by using Lightbringer's Gaze (use it immediately when he becomes vulnerable, and immediately when it resets) and leaving the center area before he becomes invulnerable again. Move back to the position of the right or left Graven Monoliths, to begin attacking them as soon as they respawn. If you wait too long and aggro the center pair also, dragging them with you, it becomes very difficult to maintain your health, especially if a Torment Claw spawns also. Lightbringer's Gaze is also useful for interrupting the Torment Claws.
 * Equip everyone with Resurrection Signet, Sunspear Rebirth Signet or both. Rebirth, Resurrect, etc., all take too long to activate. Dazed will make them a 16 second activation, which is impossible to use, since you are knocked down and dazed every 6-8 seconds.
 * Anticipate the knockdown, and do not start any high energy, high activation time skills, until after it has occurred.
 * Each time you defeat a pair of Graven Monoliths, you get a morale boost, so Dervishes should consider bringing a good form skill since it will recharge often. Avatar of Melandru works very well, since it grants immunity to dazed and grants extra health, both of which are very useful in the mission. Essentially any skills that normally have prohibitively long recharge times (such as Signets) become unusually useful here.  In particular, Ether Signet can be a helpful source of energy even for secondary mesmers with no ranks in Inspiration Magic. This is also what makes Resurrection Signet and Sunspear Rebirth Signet the best resurrection skill choices.
 * Grenth's Balance has also proven effective when used in conjunction with skills that boost max health and skills that reduce actual health to 1/3 to almost dead. This is most effective on a Warrior with a Necromancer secondary (or the other way around) so that you can use the larger Warrior health boosts (i.e. Endure Pain, Signet of Stamina and the Necromancer's Demonic Flesh) and the sacrificial skills of the Necromancer to maximize the effect of Grenth's Balance when done properly it can yield hits of 1,000+ damage in a single use.
 * Even though the Daze effect is debilitating, you can live with it and successfully complete the mission. Your healers' main task should be to heal the massive amount of damage. Take care of conditions if and only if they can spare the energy (unlikely).
 * Note that this mission can be easily soloed with henchmen and heroes. But do keep in mind that the current AI will cause most hero and henchmen to immediately activate Resurrection Signet whenever a party member falls during battle. This three-second long pause in skills use can be particularly problematic with Monk heroes, and may contribute to a party wipe.
 * Be sure to kill the Graven Monoliths on the left and on the right of Abaddon (near his hands) first, and then the ones near his mouth last. If you kill the two near his mouth first, they will continue to respawn, until the others are eliminated. However, if you are in dire need of multiple morale boosts, killing the two near his mouth first could prove to be a useful strategy.
 * If you are an Earth Elementalist, be sure to bring Ward of Stability as it helps against the constant knockdowns.
 * Words of Comfort can heal quite well in this mission as all party members are going to be dazed almost all the time.
 * To get the Masters in Hard Mode using only heroes and henchmen, bring two healing heroes with Light of Deliverance, Heal Party, and heavy damage-dealing spells. Switch off the latter. Manually activate the healing spells in combat with Monoliths and Claws, and the damage spells when attacking Abaddon. The rest of the party should contain a tank, an interrupter (preferably one who can also tank), a damage-dealer, a paragon and both monk henchmen. With practice the mission can be finished in under 20 minutes.
 * If you have Reversal of Damage, it helps out a lot to kill the two groups of monoliths to the side of Abaddon. Then go to the top center of the map, just cast the spell and he'll hurt himself.

Follow Up

 * Upon completion of this mission, players will be taken to the Throne of Secrets area to celebrate their victory as well as get access to special items and crafters. See the area article for details.
 * Return to Honur Hill and speak to Korvus to get the quest Norgu's Nightfall to see Norgu's play about your journey.

Easter Egg
This mission contains an easter egg: if all human party members use the /dance emote at the start of the mission before Abaddon breaks free of the chains, Abaddon will start "dancing" with you (as much as a floating head and two arms can dance). After a few seconds, the entire party will then instantly die, while the message, "You got served!" appears over your bodies.

This death will not count against your /deaths count or affect progression towards the Survivor title.