Curse

AlfredW · Oct 11, 2005, 09:40 AM // 09:40

Hi, I hope that my experiences with these quests may help some. I've beaten the Titan quests with both my W/E (Tempest Black) and my E/N (Nocturna Solace).

I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything like that on them and there may be other strategies successfully used by others, but I hope that my experiences with these missions can help those who are struggling with them regardless of their class. Also please forgive if I can't recall NPC or boss names or get a few specifics wrong....it's an age thing....my teenage kids make fun of my lousy memory all the time!

So here goes;

Defend Droknars (out of Granite Citadel):

I went with a party w my W/E and it wasn't too hard. There are stone summits along the way, we all know how to deal w those by now I hope. The main titan enemies are the Titan's hearts (healers), the titan's malices (mesmers), the frost titans and the icy brutes. The order of battle are the hearts first, the malices second, the frost titans third and the icy brutes last. The brutes will spawn frost titans then the hearts, deal w them as they appear. Once in Mineral Springs (which is a big rectangular path with no towns) we went the southerly route. It's a standard pick and focus on a target slog through. We died a couple of times but the DP was quickly worked off. At the east end in the path is the Necro-titan boss, defeat him and return to Glint's vision for the next defend quests.

With my E/N I went with the henchmen, I died once getting to Mineral Springs but the henches finished off the group for me by themselves then rezed me. Once in Mineral Springs I decided to go the north route. It was a bit easier, I found. I didn't die until we got to the boss, died once but returned to finish him. Really not too bad at all.

Defend Denravi:

This is the easiest of the defend quests. You get 6 ppl out of the Henge, really other than the requisite monk it's all open. The trick is NOT to talk to Evennia when you come out. It's hard keeping her alive. But this mission otherwise has no time pressures. The mistake some ppl make is that they give up after dying a couple of times, but just keep wearing down the monsters, one at a time if you have to. We died first time when the multiple groups converged and rezzed and went back down the path. I found that the ranger-pulling tactic worked well here. We were able to pull most of the monsters one at a time down the path. The monsters here are water bournes, earth borns, wind bourns, wild growths. The waters are healers and are the first priorities. The wild growths spawn the others and are last targets. But since we were able to pull successfully here anything we pulled we killed. We did die a few times but again, it matters not here. The titan boss is a necro and killing him ends the quest.

Last Day Dawns:

Thsi is definitely a brutal one. You have to protect King Aberdeen. You start at Frontier Gate with only 4. IMHO 3 of the spots are not options; they MUST be a monk, a nuker and a warrior, with the last spot for anyone else. Everyone except the monk MUST bring a rez signet, with 4 anyone who goes down in battle must be rezed immediately. Expect the warrior to die at least once.

Out of the Gate you turn left through the arch and head down the path on your right. Stick close to the wall to avoid aggroing the Charrs on the hill on your left. At the break in the wall is a group of static Charrs, 3 lvl24 casters and 2 low-lvls. From both the hill side (left) and the wall side there are patrols. WAIT patiently until both patrols move away then act fast. Kill the static group, high lvls first. Keep an eye on the hill-side group, they come back and they have 2 lvl24 axe lords that are going to spoil your day if they get close. The wall side group you probably won't avoid, their patrol route is shorter, but you should ba able to deal with them when they come in as well. go through the wall breach. There are 3 low lvl Charrs to kill. Stay to the left path, at this point you see the King and his 3 men, 2 lvl20 warriors and a lvl20 priest (healer). The King himself is a lvl24. They will now run into battle ahead (no option to not engage him). They will engage a group of low-lvl Charrs; IGNORE THEM! Go straight past them to the first titan group behind the Charrs. (There will be 5 titan groups). There is a titan, a lvl24 Charr, 2 low-lvl axe charrs and a spark of titan. The order of battle is spark first, then the high Charrs w the titan last. The ele should use a firee storm on the Charrs.

Now, all the players that can cast elemental storms should save their most powerful (meteor shower, for ex) for the hand and fist of titan that will rise once the Titan and it's hulk spawn are killed, this is because they need to be taken down FAST!!! Once the Titan goes down the next group is wading in, so the faster you kill the risen hulk and the hand and fist the better! The king will also be already going to engage the new group, so speed is critical here. So anyone who can cast an AOE storm do it!

In almost all my attempts at this I saw the King go for the high lvl charrs in the groups so they are priority. The king is pretty tough and if his men are alive they can handle things for a bit. The second group does not have a spark, so concentrate on the high Charrs then the titan.

Repeat this process, the third and fourth group are tougher and have 1 then 2 sparks, those are again the priorities, Charrs next, titans last.

The last group consists of 2 titans and a few charrs, this time kill the titans first because they specifically target the king. The few Charrs behind them can wait. Once that group is killed the quest is over.

The best group I did this with consisted of my E/N, a warrior, a blood necro and monk. My blood skills along w the necro primary really made a difference. All the king's men were still alive at the end and I didn't die once. I used fire storms on the charrs and meteor storms on the titan hands and fists, alternating w life transfer and vampiric gaze.

Defend North Kryta (out of Lion's Arch):

This is really tough, so the best way is to come out of Temple of Ages where you can assemble a party of 8. A warrior can run the group to Bergens Hot Springs in 5 minutes, where he/she can change skills then the group can fight to Ascalon Settlement easily. (Make sure everyone has talked to Sergio in Lion's Arch and the NPC just outside Lion's Arch once, you won't need to do it again.) IMHO, in this mission necros and elementals really come into their own, the more of these you can get the better. My group had my W/E, 3 nukers, 1 blood necro, 1 minion master and 2 monks, it was ideal. The monsters here are vulnerable to fire so equip all fire weapons and skills. Rangers should bring Greater Conflaguration and distracting shot. You enter Ascalon Settlement from the rear and go straight through, out the gate into the fields where you will find Capt. Greywind and a bunch of stragglers. This will trigger 4 waves of titans. They come in quick succession so speed is essential to avoid becoming too overwhelmed. Focus on one at a time. The order of battle is wind born, then water born then earth borns. The wild growths are last because they spawn those 3 titans when killed. The growths have brutal interrupt skills so the nukers need to have glyph of concentration.

Once you beat the monsters in the field Greywind will lead you back to the settlement where you will have to defend against 5 waves of monsters. In the first wave there is a necro boss that can lay down a massive array of hexes. Warriors will have the roughest time here. Some ppl have said that the warriors should be full tank mode here but since so many conditions are placed on you including blind, I made sure I had enough fire magic to blast out an inferno when I was physically weakened and blinded. Warriors should also use "I will avenge you" because there are a lot of Ascalon guards that die here and they all count as allies. The Necros need to use the corpses ASAP because the boss uses them and the battle becomes more and more difficult. The next waves comes in quik succession so speed is crucial. Greywind must stay alive and everyone should have a rez sig to revive fallen party members ASAP.

Don't venture too far out of the settlement, the key is to stay TIGHT together, huddled around Greywind to keep him from running around and getting killed and focused. The warriors are the only one who needs to run around a bit but not too far. The last 2 waves are the hardest because they also have rotting titans, and their poison shots are real killjoys. Even parties that have done well up to now often fall here.

The nukers really earn their stripes here. If they can time their attacks well the monsters fall much faster. If you fail your group will reform in Lion's Arch still with 8. You can thread your way through the fields between the roving titans back to Greywind, and if you do it right you should only have to kill a small group of 3 titans early on. It's important to avoid aggroing the roving titans to avoid death and DP before you get to Greywind.

After the 5 waves are killed the quest ends and Glint gives you the last titan quest; "Titan Source".

I've now also completed this quest with my E/N. Our gorup consisted of 3 nukers, a minion-master, a ranger, 2 monks and a warrior. It took us 2 tries. One thing I want to add is that the last 2 groups are brutal, but totally kill one group, including the wild growths, before moving on the the last group. It's a common mistake to rush over and start fighting the last group before the previous group is totally gone, so you often end up with your party in disarray and 4 wild growths left (2 from each group) making mincemeat out of your party. So totally finish the 4th group before engaging the last, and remember to call targets, this is key!

TiTan Source (Out of Grendich Courthouse):

I finished this final titan quest with my W/E on my first try, in fact, 3 of our party of 5 were newbies at this. The key to this quest is simply patience, and lots of it. As long as the group stay tight and no one rushes into the mobs this is not a hard quest at all. And quite frankly, it was a relief not having to race or protect anyone after the gruelling quests to get here.

We started out from Yak's Bend so we can have 6 in the party. It was very hard trying to assemble a PuG for this, very few are doing it, I suspect mant ppl are still stuck at the lead-up missions like N Kryta or Last Day Dawns. This last titan quest is a simple hunt and destroy mission but it is VERY LONG! It took us over 2-1/2 hours to finish, taking into account pee breaks. So make sure everyone in the party knows this before starting out so leavers can leave now.

Our party consisted of my W/E, another warrior, 2 monks and a nuker. A ranger would be very useful on this one since there will be LOTS of pulling of the dense mobs. A minion master would also have been nice to have. We started with 6, and ran to Grendich to reset skills. This is not that easy a run. You have to go south fromYaks into the Foothills, dodging the hydras and into Diessa Lowlands. At one point we got stuck in a mob of low-lvl Charrs in the narrow passages, everyone died trying to run except me. I found out that a mob of lvl 6-8 Charrs are no match for a lone lvl20 warrior!

So I killed them and ran into the Courthouse.

At the Courthouse one player left so we were down to 5. Only the other warrior and the ele had any exp w this but we went anyway, make sure everone takes a rez sig. It's an easy fight to Dragon's Gullet, then you start running into huge mobs of high-lvl Charrs! So again, patience and slow-going is the key. A ranger should pull to loosen up the mobs then it's one target at a time, calling is very important. We didn't have a ranger so I did the pulling w my staff. Remember to stay tight and focused. The only time we died getting to the climax was when us warriors got too far ahead of things.

So you just keep beating on the mobs, there will also be groups of Titan's Hands, Fists and risen hulks and their spawns. Make sure the ele saves a meteor storm for those spawns. Always attack the hulks last. There's plenty of Charr bosses to boost your morale too. Our 5-member group had no real problems getting there.

Eventually you get to a large tar pit where the 3 Titan bosses (a necro, ranger and mesmer) are in the middle of the tar with a huge mass of minions, there are high lvl Charrs, rien hulks, sparks of titans amidst the 3 bosses. Clear some of the Charrs on the edges of the tar pit first. This will make it easier when you respawn because you will die a few times here, especially the warriors. Remember, PATIENCE. Just stand in the tar pit on the western side and observe the mob for a while. You'll notice that the rien hulks and the sparks have patrol routes. They will leave the mob, so wait for them and take them out a group at a time, sparks first. Also, occassionally you'll need to deal with lone titan's hands or fists that spawn out of the tar, but it's no big deal. Remember, Patience. Regroup often to rest.

Eventually, the only thing left in the mob are a lvl24 axe lord, a lvl24 shaman lord and the 3 bosses. You won't be able to pull these, they don't venture far from the group so it's direct assault time. The shaman is the priority, have everyone unload everything on him because he heals the monsters. Make sure the monks stay back to stay alive. You may need a couple of tries but you'll get him. The next is the axe lord, then the bosses one at a time. As long as everyone focus on the same target it's not hard. Our 2 warriors died a few times but the casters only once or twice here.

I've now also finished this with my E/N. This time we did keep the group of 6 intact from Yak's Bend. It went faster but still took 2 hours. We had a minion master and it was indeed easier. So with both characters I was able to do this one on the first try.

Hope this info is helpful.