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.

''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. (Note: Skills such as Diversion and Blackout will not disable Shiro's 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 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 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. 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. 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 stances (especially the ranger's celestial skill, celestial stance) to evade or block the attacks. Note that blinding Shiro while he uses this skill will NOT work, as Impossible Odds also removes all conditions from Shiro.

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

The following are useful tactics:
 * Elementalists with Mesmer as a secondary profession can use the Elite skill Echo, in conjunction with Arcane Echo to copy the Celestial Storm Skill (40 dmg per sec storm for 15 seconds)and use it three times per enemy, which stack for triple the damage. Make sure to Arcane Echo the Echo first. Then Echo the Celestial Storm Skill.
 * 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.
 * The Necromancer elite Wail of Doom seems to interrupt Shiro and disable all his attack skills as per it's description. This can prove quite effective at stopping his fearsome Meditation of the Reaper.

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.
 * You can bring a pet without using Charm Animal. Bring Charm Animal in your skill bar, and replace it with Kuunavang's skill. You will have the pet, but no Charm Animal skill in your skill bar.
 * You can easily earn the Master's reward by using the "warrior body-blocking" technique. Shiro consistently drops in under 2 minutes with this technique, usually in 1:45 with 2 warriors in the group. This technique can be done with only one warrior in the group, but works best with 2 or 3 warriors. Also quite valuable for this technique are 1 to 3 necros in the group, since their special skill summons durable minions that provide additional body blocking. One monk is sufficient; I'm not even sure you need a monk.
 * 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.
 * 2) Wait for the entire party to grab their special skills from Kuunavang, then head for the cut scene.
 * 3) Immediately after the cut scene, the entire party should rush Shiro at the top of the stairs, ignoring all other foes. Every member of the party should surround Shiro and "body-block" him in.
 * 4) Warriors should immediately start spamming their special warrior skill gotten from Kuunavang, recasting as quickly as it refreshes. This skill creates damage from every team member in adjacent proximity to Shiro, causing massive damage from the team that is body-blocking him. Necros should also summon their special skill's minion for additional body-blocking and damage.
 * 5) Ignore every other foe. If Shiro moves, immediately move to continue body-blocking him.
 * 6) If you get banished, just run back up as fast as possible and continue to help body blocking him.