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.

Walk-through
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 subdued for a short while (roughly 15-20 seconds). If you leave right before Abbadon 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 droop, 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.

The best strategy is to stay away from him as much as possible, by taking out the Monoliths on the left and right, then quickly rushing in to kill the two in the middle. The worst danger to the party, and the cause of many party wipe-outs, occurs right after he frees himself and unleashes his fury in a storm of damage and knockdowns. As soon as he is invulnerable again, beat a hasty retreat back up the middle to the bridge you came over and wait for the knockdown storms to end. Because of the knockdowns, the party can take a tremendous amount of damage in retreating. Party members can easily get left behind and die out of reach of their comrades, making mission failure certain. Thus a warrior with "Charge!", or better yet, a Paragon with "Fall Back!" is vital here.

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. Once his life is zero, you need to repeat the process of hasty retreat and killing Monoliths one last time. Then once the sixth Monolith drops, the mission is over.


 * If enough monks are in party, retreat 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.  Also, the situation of having to defeat more monoliths when Abaddon has been reduced to zero has not been witnessed by this editor.  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.

Strategies

 * Lightbringer's Gaze is of limited use. It works on Torment Claws and Abaddon himself, but not on the Monoliths which you spend most of the time fighting. In addition, the Area of Effect damage is wasted as the above enemies are alone. Consider bringing skills more useful for fighting enemies in singles or in groups of two.
 * Bring 2 heal monks and keep spamming Light of Deliverance (also use Heal Party when needed) then your team can survive very easily.
 * 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 not waste the valuable window of opportunity to weaken him to this skill.
 * 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 refresh faster than any of these skill's recharge.
 * The Mesmer skill Wastrel's Worry is very effective against Abaddon. Since hexes last half duration on Abaddon, WW 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. Also be aware that WW drains energy fairly fast if you're spamming it. A full tank of 50 energy is not enough to keep the spam for the full duration while Abaddon is vulnerable. Pain and Bloodsong can also inflict a considerable amount of armor ignoring damage, although the spirits are unlikely to survive for their entire duration due to the constant damage spamming.
 * This mission is much easier with a well-built Paragon. First, bring "Fall Back!" and high Command skill 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 skill 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. With these skills the Paragon has little left for offense, so he fills mainly a support role, but a vital one. He will save the healers a tremendous amount of energy, making a third monk unnecessary.
 * Another good strategy to use, if your choice of real players is limited, and you only have 2-3 people, is to bring 4 hero monks, and 4 damage dealers. Abaddon's knockdown and daze skills will put a huge strain on only 2 healers if you have multiple low armor damage dealers, such as dervishes, necro's, and ele's.  The graven monoliths and torment claws drop very easily, so more damage dealers are irrelevent.
 * Two huge keys to defeating Abaddon, is to time yourself while attacking him, 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.  Second huge key, is to 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 re-dazed every 6-8 seconds.  Also, anticipate the knockdown, and do not start any high energy, high activation time skills, until after it has occurred.  Using the four monk method, and timing, this editor was able to complete the mission for masters two times in a row, at around 14 minutes for each attempt.  Team makeup was 4 hero Monks, one hero fire Elementalist, one player Paragon, one player SS Necro, and one player Dervish.
 * Each time you defeat a pair of Graven Monoliths, you get a moral boost, so Dervishes should consider bringing a good Avatar since it will recharge often. I recommend Avatar of Melandru
 * A good strategy if you're on your own is to make sure that you stay alive. Bring Koss, Goren and a Monk as your Heroes (if you don't have Goren, take someone with much life and armor) and take Devona, Mhenlo, Kihm, and Sogolon or Gehraz. Bring some skills to heal yourself or to prevent damage and to do as much damage at once as possible. The Torment Claws are not much of a threat if you avoid them, but if you don't kill any, they'll keep spawning and are likely to get in your way. It possible to kill Abaddon within 15 minutes like this, I did it in 14:42.

Team Build for Solo with Hero + Henchman
This mission can be solo with hero + henchman easily. Bring 2 henchman monks and a paragon hero with this setup : Motivation 12 or higher, Leadership 12 or higher, Command 2 or higher Skills : Aria of Restoration, Aria of Zeal, Ballad of Restoration, Leader's Zeal, Zealous Anthem, "Never Surrender!", Signet of Synergy, Song of Restoration {E} or Cautery Signet {E} (optional)

You can change your 2nd job to paragon to buy the above skills(except elite) in Gate of Torment so that these skills are unlocked. Give your paragon a +10 en staff then he can keep your team alive in most of the time.

The choice for the teammate slot left is totally depends on you, but I suggest you to bring a tank(devona is OK) and some fire ele (hero & henchman) to give high damage to Abaddon.

Strategies
 * When Abaddon is subdued, command your elementalist hero to use the fire spells to attack him, or else the ele may spend the time on casting something like Fire Attunement and Glyph of Lesser Energy.


 * When Torment Claw's appear, you have to move away from it so that your NPCs will follow you to move away from it. Then kill the claw when you have time.


 * This build works better solo. If you use two players, ensure the players move away from Torment Claws together. If not, non hero NPCs may not move and hero NPCs may not react fast enough.


 * When bringing 2 hero Monks make sure to disable all other hero skills so that Light of Deliverance is your hero's only enabled skill. This will force them to spam the skill with little management.  You can then force them to Heal Party while Light of Deliverance is recharging.  This makes hero management much easier for a single player.


 * Timing when Abaddon will recover from being shackled is key, as your heroes and henchmen are hard to have them heal while on the move.

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.

Trivia

 * This mission contains an easter egg. If all party members use the /dance emote at the start of the mission before Abaddon breaks free of the chains, Abaddon will begin dancing and then wipe out the party.