Thirsty River (mission)

Objectives
Annihilate the opposing enemy teams.
 * Defeat Goss Aleessh's team.
 * Defeat Issah Sshay's team.
 * Defeat Hessper Sasso's team.
 * Defeat Josso Essher's team.
 * Defeat Lyssha Suss's team. (Note: The boss in this team is Custodian Phebus)
 * Defeat Kesskah Shissh's team. (Note: The boss in this team is Custodian Hulgar)
 * Bonus Cleanse the area before King Khimaar's spirit is driven away.

Overview
The primary mission succeeds when the aforementioned six teams in three arenas are defeated. The primary mission fails when the Ghostly Hero dies or the party wipes.

As in other desert missions, the Hero will follow the player who talks to him when he's not following anybody, and will stop following if that player talks to him again. He attacks with a bow and switches to a sword when foes approach him.

The Hero waits outside the first arena and will open the gate when talked to. The Hero will open the gates to the second and third arenas when led to the area of those gates. After defeating the foes in arena 1 and 2 the Hero will immediately run and unlock the gate that exits the arena, but wait there until led down the path to the gate of the next arena.

In the first arena you will meet one team; in the second arena you face two teams; in the third you fight three teams. Each opposing team has 3 groups of 3-4 foes of varied formation, but the last group will include one boss (after whom the team is named) and one Enemy Priest who remain in a small alcove. The routes of the team's two patrol groups are short and predictable and never venture far from that team's alcove; they overlap each other but not those of other teams.

A timer starts when the Hero starts opening the gate to an arena. The timer stops when all foes in an arena are defeated. While in an arena, at each two minute threshold (2:00, 4:00, etc.), each Priest (if still alive) will resurrect all his fallen teammates, who are teleported to the Priest at full health and energy.

The usual scenario for defeating a team is to attack at the start of the arena or just before a 2 minute threshold. Kill the 2 patrol groups (one at a time), and with at least 30 seconds left charge in an focus spike the Priest killing him before the next 2 minute threshold. Then kill the boss and any lingering foes which is often after the threshold.

Walkthrough
There is a fairly long but obvious path to get to the arenas. There are 5 Sand Giants at locations marked A on the map who each provide a +2% morale boost when defeated. 4 of 5 of the Giants are near the obvious path and getting their morale boost is a no brainer, the 5th is out of the way behind Devourers and takes an extra couple minutes. This path is also populated by many Rockshot Devourers, some visible and some pop up with several traps. Normal caution will prevent aggoing more than one group of Devourers.

Continue on the obvious path forward, mostly south towards a passage over a wrecked ship. A few Rockshot Devourers should be in your way. Continue along the path over the ship and you'll fight another set of devourers, and soon make your way into an oasis of sorts. Up the path past the oasis are the arenas.

There is nothing special about the first team in the first arena.

The fight in the next arena is against two teams, so you must focus on one team at a time. When the door is opened and you enter the arena, enemies from both teams will approach you from both sides. Do not fight both teams at the same time; instead, stick closely to the left wall and engage the team on the left (southeast, labeled E2 on the map). Although it may not look like it, you will avoid aggro-ing the team on the right simply by hugging the left wall. After finishing the first of the two teams, wait until the timer is near a two-minute interval (4:00, 6:00, etc.) before proceeding to the next team.

Continue on to the last arena against three teams, again focusing on and taking out one team at a time. You must go either left or right when you enter, as going straight in will likely aggro two teams. Kill the team at E6 first, then proceed to E4, and then to E5. Be sure to engage a team just before a 2 minute threshold.

Specific Advise
More than any other Tyrian mission, winning here is much more about party coordination and planning and individual discipline than it is about specialty party or individual builds. Fight one team at a time and quickly defeat each group of a team one at a time. There are lots of opportunities for a single sloppy sidestep or failure to avoid a patrol to aggro an additional group and wipe the party. For this reason, a low firepower HH team may do better than a high firepower PUG as a single loose cannon will likely cause failure of the mission, no matter how powerful that cannon is.

Recharge and get set before leading the Hero to the gate that opens an arena.

The Hero has some offense and lots of defense. Its tempting to talk to the hero at the start of an arena so he stays safely out of the way, but having him follow a backline caster is probably better for the offense he offers.

When charging the Priest it is usually necessary to flag henchmen and heroes within range of the Priest and specifically target him, so that they do not stop short and attack something else instead.

The party Tank must take care not to pursue a foe aggroing another group.

If you are worried about being unable to finish off a priest before he revives his fallen comrades (timer nearing a multiple of 2 minutes), then retreat. The revived patrols will move out and you can engage them again. Running in and desperately trying to throw everything at the priest, only to be caught in the respawn, is a sure way to fail. Regrouping and redoing a team is easier than restarting a mission.

When moving on to a second or third team judge your team's ability to take down an enemy quickly. You may be able to 'cheat' a bit and engage the next team at anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds before an even two-minute interval, as long as you do not drop the first enemy before the two-minute interval is reached.

Forgotten Arcanists cast Kinetic Armor and Ether Renewal, but are far more vulnerable if these enchantments are interrupted or removed. Forgotten Illusionists strip enchantments and in any event should be high priority targets.

The boss at E4 is Josso Essher, a monk. He is an exceptionally good healer and when combined with the Priest offer massive healing. The priest needs to die first, since trying to kill the monk boss first is likely to fail, as it will probably drag the battle beyond the next multiple of 2:00. While it is possible to kill the priest over the boss's healing by focusing fire on the priest, it is sometimes easier to have one party member distract the boss with interrupts (like Cry of Frustration or Distracting Blow) while the others focus on the priest. Area of effect multiple foe pressure damage compliments the spike damage on the Priest as it spreads out the healing of the Boss.

Don't rush. Unless specifically going for the bonus (see below), the total amount of time spent fighting is of little consequence, other than the 2:00 minute interval resurrection.

Aggroing two groups at once is a very easy way to get defeated. Wait for patrols to spread out and take them on, one group at a time.

Fighting the 2nd group of a team in the vicinity of the Priest will usually cause his healing to drag the battle out beyond the 2 minute threshold. If the 2nd group is close the Priest, draw them away.

Minion Masters do poorly here, partly due to the sparcity of corpses but mostly because Minions routinely disturb the delicate aggro needed to win.

Your Hero Behavior should rarely be Fight Mode to prevent unwanted aggro.

Bonus
The bonus objective is to clear all the enemy teams in the third arena before King Khimaar dies, and before he leaves which he'll do after about 10 minutes. You know the bonus is still achievable if King Khimaar is standing in the central area of the third arena. You cannot complete the bonus without also completing the mission. After you defeat all the teams (in any order), you will receive the bonus 1000 XP, right before the mission ending cut scene.

The King gets attacked by Custodian Hulgar's team (at E6 on the map toward the right of the entrance) about 10-20 seconds after the timer starts and will be killed in less than 1 minute if you do not heal him and kill the foes near him. Rush in to the King counter clockwise to avoid aggroing the left team. The other two teams rarely aggro the King.

The King has some firepower but its probably not worth the time to draw foes into his aggro.

Tip: Since the King does not appear as an ally in your party window, he's a lot easier to target for healing if you cast a maintained enchantment on him (click the maintained icon).

Hard mode
Rockshot Devourers have Barrage, so a group of five of them at a time can deal impressive damage if you don't spread out. The many traps that the devourers lay can even get heroes or henchmen killed when otherwise out of combat, as they can do massive damage in a hurry. You should proceed carefully in the intial area, having one human character leading by an aggro distance the rest of the team, so only one character sets off the traps and the minimum number of Devourer's are aggro'd at once.

Enemy priests casting Word of Healing on themselves are quite potent healers. It helps immensely to daze them, after which they die pretty quickly. Quick recharge interrupts are also useful. Be aware that the enemy rangers have Throw Dirt, which causes blindness and can make most skills that cause dazed miss if not removed.

If you wish to do the bonus, you must rush into the third arena quickly to save the king. If you get there immediately, mobs will attack you and mostly leave the king alone, but if you dawdle, they can focus fire on the king and kill him pretty quickly.

Josso Essher healing his associated priest can also be a problem. Locking a mesmer hero with several interrupts onto the boss while the rest of the group kills the enemy priest can prevent the boss from causing too much trouble. A player mesmer is unlikely to have the necessary reflexes to interrupt the monk boss's heals.

One of the groups associated with Custodian Phebus at E5 won't come out of the small room with the boss and priest on its own. Casting a line of sight ignoring spell on one of the mobs through the wall will get it to come. Pull the group well out of the room, or the enemy priest will step up to heal it. The group has two Forgotten Arcanists that can cause major trouble for your group with Earthquake if you try to ignore them to kill the enemy priest.

NPCs

 * Ghost
 * /20 Ghostly Hero
 * 24 King Khimaar

Monsters

 * Devourer
 * 20 Rockshot Devourer
 * Enchanted
 * 20 Enchanted Sword
 * 20 Forgotten Champion
 * 20 Enchanted Bow
 * 20 Forgotten Avenger
 * Forgotten
 * 20 Enemy Priest
 * 20 Forgotten Sage
 * 20 Forgotten Cursebearer
 * 20 Forgotten Illusionist
 * 20 Forgotten Arcanist
 * Giant
 * 22 Sand Giant

Bosses - elite skill captures

 * Enchanted
 * 24 Custodian Hulgar - Warrior's Endurance
 * 24 Custodian Phebus - Marksman's Wager
 * Forgotten
 * 24 Josso Essher - Word of Healing
 * 24 Hessper Sasso - Order of the Vampire
 * 24 Goss Aleessh - Mantra of Recovery
 * 24 Issah Sshay - Ether Renewal

Dialogues
Briefing from the Ghostly Hero.

Intermediate cutscene
Ghostly Hero: ''Before you can Ascend and enter the Rift, you must first be cleansed. Lead me safely to the Rune Circle at the end of this test, and I will cast the ritual to burn away your earthly imperfections. Your first challenge will be to defeat a single legion of Forgotten. Your opponents will be resurrected every two minutes unless you destroy the priest who tends their shrine. Once you have defeated your foes, lead me to the door, and I will usher you into the next challenge. The challenges will grow harder as you progress. If you defeat all of the foes along your path, we will claim the Rune Circle, and you will be cleansed. Prove yourselves worthy, and you will be one step closer to gaining entrance to the Rift.''

Ghostly Hero: ''Defeat the enemy priests to stop the other team from resurrecting. Once the enemy team is defeated, we will move on. Quickly! Through this door. We face much harder challenges ahead. This last battle will test us all. May Balthazar grant us strength and courage.''

Bonus objective:

King Khimaar: ''The Forgotten defile the resting place of my people. Have we not suffered enough...? I will never fully rest until the memory of my people is no longer taunted by these filthy creatures...My spirits have been weakened by such blasphemy. I must see the Forgotten removed from this place before I slip away...In a matter of moments, I shall leave this world for good, never to see my people's resting place cleansed...''

Ending cutscene
Ghostly Hero: ''Under the scrutiny of the gods, your souls will be pure, your bodies cleansed. You are ready for the next phase.''

Follow-up

 * Upon completion of the mission players will find themselves in: Augury Rock.
 * If you completed Dunes of Despair and Elona Reach you now must defeat the Doppelganger.