Whisper of Jormag Strike Mission Guide

GW2. A guide to the Whisper of Jormag Strike Mission from The Icebrood Saga.

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The Whisper of Jormag is a strike mission which is a 10 player boss encounter from the Shadow in the Ice episode. This Strike Mission introduces more mechanics compared to the others from the Icebrood Saga, but is a good entry point for players who want to get into instanced content.

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Getting There and LFG

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Access the Whisper of Jormag Strike Mission from the Eye of the North portal or the Rime Glen in Bjora Marches.

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If you don’t have a static group to run this, you might want to find a group using the LFG tool. Usually, you can find groups advertising in LFG with the name “IBS EZ5” which will also include the rest of the strike missions from the Icebrood Saga.

The most common squad composition will ask for 2-3 healers, quickness and alacrity and the rest DPS. Check the builds here: Strike Mission Builds.

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Team Compositions

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The Whisper of Jormag can be a complicated encounter with many mechanics, and learning how to handle them is essential to your victory. Having the right composition for Whisper of Jormag is about having each member of the party be able to handle themselves when isolated.

There are many mechanics which force players to either split up or to change their positioning. As a result, classes that do not require melee to deal damage or can support allies from afar are preferred.

• A single Healing Tempest is very valuable for this fight because it has ranged heals for when the party must split up. They can also use Rebound to soak the Green Circle/Frozen Orb mechanic.
• Classes with burst damage that can be placed out initially like venom Thieves or trap Dragon Hunters can get their damage in between mechanics while letting their cooldowns recharge during the mechanics.
• Any Necromancer with Flesh Wurm can help to handle one of the mechanics in the final phase by placing it in the center of the boss.
• Scourges can often deal maximum damage from range so they are a great pick for handling the split mechanics while also maintaining DPS.
• CC can be important to break the defiance bar of the boss, but this can be supplemented by the special action key ability obtained from the Icebrood Saga mastery.
• Build for your normal quickness/might application in your composition to maximize damage output, but classes that can provide extra support to themselves and won’t die if cut off from the support of their allies immediately can be much more valuable here.

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Boss Mechanics

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There will be three types of circles to watch for in this fight. The red circles which will create gusts of wind that move around dealing damage, the orange circles which indicate the split up mechanic, and the green circles which indicate the stack mechanic.

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• The Red Outlined Circles will just deal damage and expand out from the boss, so just stick near the boss to avoid them.
• The Orange Circles will damage other players near you if they are within your circle when the circle fills. Split up to avoid downing each other, but also dodge the end of the animation because you will avoid taking some damage yourself. You can only dodge your own circle, not other party members’ circles.
• The Green Circle indicates who a frozen orb will drop on. Stack on this player to soak the damage among other players rather than letting them take all the damage themselves and get downed. At first this mechanic is easy to handle, but later on when you have to split up, decision making can be difficult. If you can get at least 4 people in the green circle it is best to do it, but if only two people soak the frozen orb, both will still get downed, so it would be best for the second player to allow them to down and then have others revive them.

• Once the boss gets to 75% health, every player will be isolated into a 1v1 with their own doppelganger. These doppelgangers have very low health so sometimes even support builds can solo them, but once other players get out of their isolation they can kill the doppelgangers to free the rest of their party. This will also occur at 25%, signaling a phase change each time.

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• After finishing the doppelgangers off, all of the previous phase mechanics will continue, but a new mechanic will be added. The chains will target three players and each player will be chained to the boss. The chains do nothing to the players unless one goes in between the boss and a player with a chain, essentially standing inside the chain. These will do tons of damage over time, so players must avoid others who have chains, and those with chains should stay still and as close to the boss as possible to reduce the amount of space the chains take up. Also players should NEVER stand inside the boss as that would hit you with all 3 chains at once.

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• The boss will also channel a blizzard that pulses a good amount of damage to your party. To stop this you must break their defiance bar with CC and the special action key ability.

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• Another mechanic is that the boss will smash the ground and knock all players into the air. They will take a small amount of fall damage from the height which can instantly kill them if they are low enough health. Gliding can prevent the falling damage.

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After the 25% doppelganger phase, the boss will use one new mechanic. They will shoot many frozen orbs out which when making contact with a player will explode and expand to damage nearby players. Avoiding these is important, but by this point, the boss will be stacking many other mechanics on top of this and while dealing with the other mechanics it can be hard to focus on one. A Necromancer with the Flesh Wurm utility can place the wurm in the middle of the boss, which will soak all of the orbs and make them explode immediately, making it safe to attack the boss from a medium range.

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Strategy

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Because there are many mechanics that promote players splitting up such as the orange circles, the chains, and the many orbs of the final phase, there is a good reason to stay mobile and be aware of your positioning. However, there is also the green circle mechanic that requires your party to stick together to soak. Generally the green circle mechanic is less punishing than the other mechanics because the green circle is a one time impact that only downs a player. The other mechanics can really pressure your party if not handled properly. If your party struggles with decision making, it may be best to let the green circle mechanic down the player and then revive them, or use a Heal Tempest with Rebound to counter that mechanic.

Your survival is key to this boss encounter because the phases get gradually more complex and difficult to survive as the boss piles more and more mechanics on. Being there to help your team during the final 25% is much more important than anything you can do before then, so prioritize your life before anything else. The chains can be easier to focus on if you turn your camera facing downwards, and you should stay as close to your party as you can without killing them.

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Achievements

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Legendary Whisper of Jormag – 10AP – 1MP

You will earn this achievement by just defeating the Whisper of Jormag for first time.

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Reflections in the Ice – 5AP

During the fight with the Whisper of Jormag at each phase 75, and 25%, you will be teleported into the void arena, and you will fight your doppelganger. You need to defeat it in under 10 seconds.

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Slither-less – 5AP

To earn this achievement, during the last phase of the fight, under 25% of his health bar, the Whisper of Jormag will shoot orbs around them, you must avoid all the orbs entirely. The further you are from the boss, the more space you have between orbs to avoid them. The Flesh Wurm strategy also makes this achievement much more doable.

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Vortex, Interrupted – 10AP

To complete this achievement you simply need to break the Whisper of Jormag Defiance bar during the blizzard attack a total of 5 times.

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Gameplay

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