Issah Sshay, a Forgotten Elementalist boss
Description[ | ]
Bosses are bigger and tougher versions of regular mobs, clearly distinguishable by the fact they usually have a proper name rather than a generic one, as well as a glowing aura signifying their profession color. In most cases they have a slightly higher level than the corresponding mob (i.e. if a regular Grawl is level 4, a Grawl boss might be level 6). There are bosses for almost every type of opponent in the game. Bosses usually have the same skills as their conventional counterpart. When a boss is killed for the first time, the party gets a 2% Morale Boost and all the party members' skills are recharged, including Resurrection Signets. This happens even if the boss is killed by other monsters, without interference of the players. Killing a resurrected boss will not grant another Morale Boost and will not recharge skills.
The corpse of a boss will not disappear after some time, as regular corpses do, but will stay visible. This is to allow for the use of Signet of Capture to capture skills from dead bosses.
Special Abilities[ | ]
- Bosses possess a natural +3 Health Regeneration.
- In Prophecies and Eye of the North, bosses have Natural resistance: conditions and hexes expire more quickly.
- In Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, they activate skills twice as quickly and they deal double damage (on top of other bonuses).
- Example: a non-boss Assassin with 12 Deadly Arts causes 85 damage using Impale; a boss with the same rank of 12 would do 170 damage.
- Although not technically a special ability of bosses, their naturally higher levels also enables them to deal greater base damage; see the Damage calculation article for more details.
Aura[ | ]
Bosses have a colored aura around them which denotes which class they are:
| Profession |  Warrior |
 Ranger |
 Monk |
 Necromancer |
 Mesmer |
 Elementalist |
 Assassin |
 Ritualist |
 Dervish |
 Paragon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color | Yellow | Light Green | Blue | Dark Green | Magenta | Red | Lavender | Cyan | Gray | Pale Yellow |
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Notes[ | ]
- Bosses drop up to four items when slain.
- Most bosses have a unique item that they can drop. In Prophecies, only the bosses in Grenth's Footprint and Sorrow's Furnace have unique items; in other campaigns, nearly all bosses have one.
- They can drop multiple trophies or salvage items.
- They have an increased chance to drop rare items.
- They are the only creatures that can drop Insight Scrolls and Passage Scrolls.
- Non-fleshy bosses don't leave visible corpses but it is still possible to capture skills from them in the normal way. These bosses will however, leave a small shadow on the ground in some areas making it easier to find their general location.
- Be careful of boss corpses where their allies have resurrection abilities. As with all enemies, defeating a resurrected boss will not yield additional loot, but it will also not boost morale or recharge skills.
- In Factions, returning to the aggro range of a dead boss will frequently attract any of the boss' allies that escaped the party's aggro.
- If you can't capture a boss's skills, or if you get a morale boost from a beast with no aura, you may be dealing with a boss-like foe.
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Historical note: Until Tomes were added to the game, PvE characters could only learn Elite skills through capturing them from boss corpses. |