Imperial Sanctum (mission)

Mission Objectives

 * Destroy Shiro

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

Walkthrough
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.


 * Note: If your party includes henchmen, do not skip this cutscene before you see the gate close behind the party! If you do, some of the henchmen may be caught outside the gate, unable to contribute to the fight.

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.


 * 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. The spirit will always be of the same profession as the banished player, and will use a fixed skillset. It is best to destroy the bound spirit as soon as it spawns. This will return the banished player immediately and recharge all skills. The player who was banished can run back to the fight through a round dark passage that ends with a glowing portal.


 * Meditation of the Reaper, Shiro absorbs up to 700 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. if Meditation of the Reaper is active for over 20 seconds, he will kill the entire party. It is imperative that this skill is ended quickly. If a warrior knocks down Shiro during Meditation of the Reaper it ends immediatly. However, Shiro appears to be immune to knockdown effects from class other than warrior. Thus spells like meteor, gale will not work unless they come from a warrior.


 * Impossible Odds, for 10 seconds Shiro 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 stances to evade or block the attacks, especially the ranger's celestial skill, Celestial Stance.  Note that blinding Shiro while he uses this skill will NOT work, as Impossible Odds transfers all conditions from Shiro.

Other skills Shiro may use include Battle Scars, and Riposting Shadows.

Useful tactics

 * Echo chain Celestial Skills. This is especically effective with Celestial Storm.
 * Anti-warrior Tactics, such as Clumsiness, Faintheartedness, Empathy, Spiteful Spirit, Blinding, Ward Against Melee, Aegis, and Spoil Victor, work great against Shiro.
 * The elementalist skill Celestial Storm can quickly end the skill Meditation of the Reaper by reaching its damage absorption limit.
 * The party should designate a few members to apply constant damage and conditions to Shiro to prevent the fight from dragging on.
 * Rangers should bring Charm Animal to replace with Kuunavang's special skill. The pet will remain with you.
 * The Necromancer elite Wail of Doom can interrupt Shiro and disable all his attack skills. With Soul Reaping of 10 or higher, one can effectively keep him constantly without his attack skills.
 * All players can Body block Shiro, while warriors use the skill Storm of Swords. This skill benefits from any creature blocking Shiro, including allied spirits, pets, and minions. This tactic is quite effective for getting the master's reward, as it usually kills Shiro in under 2 minutes. Bringing two warriors is advisable in case one is banished.
 * Skills such as Diversion and Blackout will not disable Shiro's skills.

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.