Gyala Hatchery (mission)

Walkthrough
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.

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.

Tip: slow the Juggernauts down with Ward Against Foes, Water Magic hexes, the crippled condition, and so on.

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 figth and defeat a group of afflicted to complete mission.


 * Standard - 1 baby turtle left at the end.
 * Expert - 2 baby turtles left at the end.
 * Master - 5 baby turtles left at the end.

This mission requires the smoke canisters to be moved all the time. Completing it with less than 3 players and henchmen is very difficult.

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 will more or less guarantee the Master rank and 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 southwest. You will just miss the Kurzick patrol running in from the north. Wait for them to conglomerate 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. Rinse and 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, they will move a short distance and stop. Immediately grab a smoke canister and plant it at the center of the Young Turtles. Then grab another and drop it on the path of the Juggernauts coming in from the south. You should take out the Juggernauts as soon as possible, then run to the center and take out the other Kurzicks. This is the only battle where the Young Turtles are at risk, but the healer henchmen are more than up to the task of protecting them.

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. Enjoy the slow trek to the pits.

Party Composition and Skill Recommendations

 * Protection Monk: Aegis is a must have skill for protection monks. More than half of the enemies in this mission are warriors and rangers.  Guardian are great to have to protect turtles, it will block attacks from Juggernauts, Warriors, and Rangers.  Shield of Deflection is an alternative to Guardian, though not really worth the elite slot.
 * Curse Necromancer: Spiteful Spirit and Reckless Haste are just awesome in this mission. The Rangers and Warriors will just kill themselves with it.