Gyala Hatchery (mission)



''This is a mission entry. For information on the location Gyala Hatchery, see Gyala Hatchery (Location). For information on the explorable area Gyala Hatchery, see Gyala Hatchery (Explorable).''

Objectives
Escort the young turtles to the leviathan pits. At least one young turtle must survive

Direct Strategy
Most enemies will go directly for your Young Turtles, so make sure to try to stop the incoming enemies before they are even in range of the turtles.

Petras will give you up to three Smoke Canisters. Siege Turtles will aim their siege fire at the location where you drop the canisters. Make sure to position the canisters slightly ahead of the enemies' path, as the siege weapons have a firing delay on the order of 10 to 15 seconds. The knockdown area of the siege attack is huge, so your enemies will spend lots of time on the ground. Bringing skills that profit from knockdown will have a big advantage. If you want to be safe, you want to put the canisters where the young turtles are (it won't hurt them).

Be especially careful about the Kurzick Juggernauts. If they get within melee range, they will toss the turtles on their back using their special ability Juggernaut Toss. Turtles on their backs have no firepower and are easy kills for the Juggernauts. Use the siege power of the turtles on the Juggernauts as much as possible. Needless to say, if your Siege Turtles die, completing the mission will become next to impossible.

You will often get attacked from multiple sides, so coordinating the defense will be key. Decide who will carry the smoke canisters before starting the mission.

After you reach the gates of the Leviathan Pits with the turtle caravan a cutscene will trigger. The mission doesn't end here. After the cutscene you will have to fight and defeat a group of afflicted to complete mission.

This mission requires the smoke canisters to be moved all the time. Completing it with fewer than 3 human players can be difficult.

Tips:
 * Slow the Juggernauts down with Ward Against Foes, Water Magic hexes, the crippled condition, and so on.
 * Prot Monks should bring Aegis, Guardian and other counters to physical damage sources, as most of the Kurzick you will encounter will be warriors or rangers.
 * Curses necromancers should bring Spiteful Spirit and Reckless Haste for use on the Kurzick rangers, who will often be clumped. Another alternative is to use the minions of 2 minion masters as shields for the incoming attacks. Using Enfeebling Blood on Kurzick warriors attacking the young turtles is also very effective.
 * Bringing a Ritualist with Shelter, Union and Displacement will prove to be quite helpful, as the Young Turtles are also affected by the positive effects of these spirits.

Alternative Strategy
An alternative strategy for completing the mission is to leave the turtles in their starting position and clear the path ahead using a different route. This method takes more time but can even be completed with henchmen.

At the start of the mission, don’t walk to the NPCs standing in front of you. Run to the right of the map as fast as you can towards the western wall of the mission area until the face of Petras no longer appears in the dialogue. Make sure no one stays at the start of the mission or walks to the NPCs. The AI for the turtle caravan will not trigger and they will stay in their place. This allows you to clear the path ahead and return afterwards.

Run to the end of the mission until just before the Leviathan Pits area (use the map to the right). You will not encounter any Kurzicks until the group right in front of the gates of the Leviathan Pits. Killing Kurzick groups will often spawn two other very large groups that run to your location. Follow this guide to avoid them all.

Gates of the Leviathan Pits

Kill the group with the two Kurzick Juggernauts, and immediately run far to the west. You will just miss the Kurzick patrols running in from the north and south. Wait for them to gather at the gates of the Pits, then pull carefully. You can usually turtle in such a way that a fragment of the huge group breaks off and comes for you but the rest stay put (each of these huge groups is composed of several smaller groups).

After clearing the huge group, don't rush into the gates to clear out the Pits. Another huge group of Kurzicks will come in from the northeast, which you have to clear. When you're done with that group, clear the Kurzick group inside the pits (with the Juggernauts), then head northeast to the beach.

Under the shell

As you approach the beach just past the gates, you will notice several Kurzick groups run in and take control of the beach. This will be a long battle full of careful pulling and running away, but you will eventually whittle them down and leave just one group with Juggernauts to the west. Kill that group at your leisure.

Killing the last Juggernaut group will spawn two more waves of Kurzicks who conglomerate under the shell ahead of the beach. Repeat your earlier strategy, and be sure to take out all the Juggernauts you find. Once you have cleared out the area under the shell, you are nearly done.

The path to the turtles

You will now encounter several small groups of Kurzicks as you run towards the turtles. Kill the groups with abandon, including the ones with Juggernauts. There are no huge waves to worry about until the very last group, which will spawn a group on the hilltop beyond the corals. You will probably not have time to run away from them, so this battle can get tricky, especially if you don't have a minion master to back you up.

At the turtles

When you make it to the turtles, you will trigger a fairly large Kurzick assault: a group of 4 Juggernauts will attack from the south, while two groups of 8 (6 warriors and 2 monks) will attack from either side. Immediately talk to Petras to get a Smoke Canister and drop it next to the forward Siege Turtle to take out the Juggernauts. Plant the other two canisters at the center of the Young Turtles. You should focus on the Juggernauts first, then return to the center and take out the other Kurzicks. This is the only battle where the Young Turtles are at risk, but with good monks in the party, they shouldn't be in any real danger.

Trek to the pits

You will now begin a long trek south to the Pits. You will encounter only one additional Kurzick patrol coming in from the north right before the big shell, but they will pose no threat.

The Afflicted
After arriving at the Pits, a cinematic will play. The mission is not yet over at this point. Small waves of afflicted will attack through one of the gates. Players may either let them close in, allowing use of the siege turtles, or fight the battle outside the gates, keeping the afflicted far from the turtles. Any Luxon or Kurzick NPCs that survived the cinematic will join in the fight as the afflicted approach them.

Supplementary note When following the above strategy and pulling groups, keep in mind that once the Kurzick Juggernauts are aggroed, they tend to follow the party much more tenaciously than the Kurzicks they accompanied. This can be used to your advantage, as it means the Juggernauts can be pulled out and destroyed when away from their support.

Summary of Alternative Strategy

 * Upon beginning the mission, hug the right wall and avoid the turtles.
 * 1) Small group of Kurzicks with two Juggernauts. Killing them causes two dozen or so Kurzicks to pincer attack your location.
 * 2) Another small group of Kurzicks with Juggernauts. Again, killing them causes two dozen or so Kurzicks to attack your location.
 * 3) Clear out the Leviathan Pits. Alternatively, you can clear out the beach first.
 * 4) Killing this small group and then walking onto beach (#5) triggers the invasion.
 * 5) Beach: Killing the small group to the south triggers the invasion. Warning: This is a very large group.
 * 6) Underneath the shell: two dozen or so Kurzicks and two Juggernauts.
 * 7) Killing the dozen or so Kurzicks spawns an extremely large group of Kurzicks and six Juggernauts to attack from all directions. Run south (retreat) as fast as possible and begin picking the giant mob apart. Start by pulling away the Juggernauts, which pursue you relentelessly.
 * 8) Arrive back at the turtles. Be sure to drop Smoke Canisters on the Young Turtles.

Hard Mode

 * It is advisable to take a Powerstone of Courage, Essence of Celerity and an Armor of Salvation as deaths can rack up quickly when choosing to do the alternative route.

Allies

 * 20 Pet - Elder Crab
 * 15 Young Turtle
 * 20 Endre
 * 24 Siege Turtle
 * 20 Argo

Foes
Afflicted Kurzicks Juggernauts
 * 24 Afflicted Warrior
 * 24 Afflicted Monk
 * Afflicted Necromancer
 * 24 Afflicted Mesmer
 * 24 Afflicted Elementalist
 * 24 Afflicted Assassin
 * 24 Afflicted Ritualist
 * 20 Kurzick Warrior
 * 20 Kurzick Ranger
 * 20 Kurzick Necromancer
 * 20 Kurzick Mesmer
 * 20 Kurzick Elementalist
 * 20 Kurzick Monk
 * 28 Kurzick Juggernaut

Follow-up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: Leviathan Pits
 * To continue the storyline, take on the following Primary Quest: Journey to the Whirlpool