The Dragon's Lair (mission)

Mission Objectives
Gain audience with the prophet Glint.
 * Defeat the Facet of Light.
 * Defeat the Facet of Nature.
 * Defeat the Facet of Chaos.
 * Defeat the Facet of Darkness.
 * Defeat the Facet of Elements.
 * Defeat the Facet of Strength.
 * BONUS Defeat Glint.

Primary
To proceed through the Dragon's Lair mission you must talk to Glint at the end of a series of six distinct areas, so called "facets", one for each profession. Each of these facets have their own distinct disadvantage. At the end of each you have to defeat a boss to open a portal to the next facet. Note that every facet boss has one elite skill that can be captured, so you may want to bring two Signets of Capture on this mission. The mission takes some time to do, but it is not very difficult and can be done easily with henchmen.

At the beginning of the mission you will find yourself in a small crystalline chamber with one Forgotten Gate Keeper. Talk to him to have him open a portal. Proceed to the Facet of Light.

Facet of Light
While you are in this area, all party members will be under the spell Domain of Health Draining and suffer a Health degeneration of -3. This will put your healers under constant stress, so advance carefully and give them time to actually heal. You will encounter solitary Forgotten Sages and pairs of Enchanted Swords and Hammers here. Defeat the Facet of Light to open a portal to the Facet of Nature.

Facet of Nature
Here you will be under the influence of Domain of Slow, which will decrease your movement speed. You have to fight your way through Enchanted Bows (groups of three) and pairs of Enchanted Swords and Hammers. Defeat the Facet of Nature to open a portal to the Facet of Chaos

Facet of Chaos
In this area you will not be under the influence of a permanent effect. Instead you will have to deal with the fact that the Crystal Spiders you will encounter in large numbers have the skills Shatter Enchantment and Hex Breaker. There are areas that are divided from the main path by clear crystal walls. Behind those walls pairs of Forgotten Illusionists wait for players to come too close. It is possible to cast spells that don't have a projectile through those walls. Similar to this, the area at the end of this facet is divided by many low walls, allowing spellcasting and ranged attacks, but melee fighters will have to run around the obstacles. Be careful not to aggro too many enemy groups at once when doing so. Defeat the Facet of Chaos to open a portal to the Facet of Darkness.

Facet of Darkness
Here you will be under the effect of Domain of Energy Draining. Everyone will suffer from Energy degeneration of -1. In addition, everyone (both players and enemies) will be enchanted with Death Nova. You will encounter Forgotten Cursebearers and Rock-Eater Scarabs. Defeat the Facet of Darkness to open a portal to the Facet of Elements.

Facet of Elements
This is the first area you will encounter Forgotten Arcanists and Crystal Guardians, both opponents that are capable of serious damage dealing. Watch the nearby pairs of Arcanists when attacking a group of Guardians! They will often attack you from behind while you are engaged in a fight. There are also areas in this facet where the elements are going crazy and where you will be hit by a different Elementalist spell every other moment while passing through (Fire Storm, Maelstrom, Eruption or Chain Lightning). Those areas are easily recognizable by their glowing circles (similar to Elementalist's Wards). It is obvious that you should not stay inside those areas while fighting but leave them as quickly as possible. Defeat the Facet of Elements to open a portal to the Facet of Strength.

Facet of Strength
Every player (but not monsters) will be knocked down every 25 seconds for 3 seconds while in this area. Warrior skills that prevent knockdown (like Dolyak Signet or Balanced Stance) are very useful here. You will have to fight pairs of Enchanted Swords and Hammers, but there are also groups of one Enchanted Sword, one Crystal Guardian and three Crystal Spiders. Those can usually be avoided, though. Defeat the Facet of Strength to open a portal to Glint's chamber.

Note: If you skip this cinematic you will be left with no clue what to do in Glint's chamber. Unlike the six previous cinematics where only the party is shown walking through the portal, this time Glint will explain what is going on, so you may want to watch it.

Glint's Chamber
When you have arrived in Glint's chamber, you have finished the mission and can either end it by walking through the portal (it will take you to Droknar's Forge) or try the mission bonus.

Bonus
After you meet Glint, do not go through the portal. Instead, pick up a dragon egg. Enraged, Glint will attack you. Kill her to complete the bonus. But, be warned, she is by far the hardest single oponent in the game. However, should you fail, do not worry; she will resurrect you and send you to Droknar's Forge anyway.

Helpful Tips
Glint has a set of very powerful skills which you have to deal with:
 * At the beginning of the battle, Glint will cast a hex, Crystal Haze, that can cause a massive energy shortage. Anyone who can should bring a hex removal spell. Because this is an AoE hex, your entire party will be affected by Crystal Haze.
 * When Glint's health drops to about 50%, she will cast Crystal Hibernation, which gives her +7 health regeneration and converts all non-physical damage dealt to her into healing (including weapons that do elemental damage). This skill has a relatively long activation time, so it is susceptible to interrupts. You should try and interrupt it by all means possible. If you do not manage to interrupt it, all spellcasters should stop attacking her immediately. Warriors and Rangers should switch to weapons that deal physical damage.
 * During the fight Glint will activate her Jagged Crystal Skin. When hit with a melee attack, it will deal ~100 damage back to the attacker. At this point you should have no more than one Warrior attacking Glint, or else the massive amount of damage will overwhelm the healers in your party.
 * Glint may also use Crystal Bonds, so don't rely too heavy on enchantments when fighting her.

The Egg Bearer
The most straightforward method to defeat Glint goes as follows:
 * 1) One monk has to bring solid protection skills... Protective Spirit and Reversal of Fortune to name a few.
 * 2) One member of the party (preferably a warrior with Sprint) should grab the egg. This member must then turn and face Glint but stay as far away from her as he/she can. Glint will throw a fireball at the egg-bearer. The egg-bearer should dodge it (with the keyboard) and dodge it well.
 * 3) If this is done correctly, with sufficient protection and healing for the occassinal fumble. This egg-bearer should be alive for a very long time. Giving the party the time to take out Glint with some of the tactics above.
 * 4) It is extremely useful if this egg-bearer is a secondary necromancer who has Grenth's Balance (captured from the Facet of Darkness on the same mission). When the egg-bearer is hit, he/she can invoke it and easily steal 200 health from Glint while getting healed for the same amount.

Egg Baiting
Another strategy for defeating Glint is to keep her from attacking, by distracting her with the eggs. Glint will only attack the egg-bearer if he/she is still carrying it. But if the egg is dropped, Glint will attack the entire party:
 * There are two eggs in the lair. Have two members of your team take turns holding an egg.
 * The two egg holders should position themselves far apart, so that Glint has to run back and forth between them.
 * When Glint gets near to you, drop your egg!
 * Everytime an egg is picked up or dropped, a message is broadcast to the group. If you are an egg holder, you should pick your egg up right after you see a message that the other egg holder has dropped his egg.

Elite Skill Capture
Known elite skills in this area:
 * [[image:Mesmer-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Chaos: Mantra of Recall
 * [[image:Necromancer-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Darkness: Grenth's Balance
 * [[image:Elementalist-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Elements: Lightning Surge
 * [[image:Monk-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Light: Shield of Regeneration
 * [[image:Ranger-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Nature: Melandru's Resilience
 * [[image:Warrior-icon.png|15px]]Facet of Strength: Gladiator's Defense

Additional Notes
The players will be in Droknar's Forge at the completion of this mission.