GW2. Cliffside Fractal Guide.
Starting
As soon we start, we will see a bunch of fanatics protecting the Cultist Hammer, this weapon is the main mechanic of the entire fractal, so pay attention to this.
Cultist Hammer
One player needs to carry the Hammer in order to break the Seals to free the Colossus. Its fourth skill, Seal Breaker is required for the fractal’s puzzles. If the hammer wielder is downed from a fall, the hammer will spawn near them. If it cannot be found or is left behind, talk to a Displaced Researcher or Displaced Agent to retrieve it.
- The three basic skills are a standard attack, a knockback with weaker damage, and an AoE shield which provides stability
- The hammer’s fourth skill, Seal Breaker will be offered only after an enemy is defeated near the hammer.
- The wielder of the hammer needs to be within range and have tagged the mob; It is unnecessary to deliver the final blow.
- The hammer loses the charge whenever it is dropped
- Initially, picking up the hammer will cause damage to the player (At higher levels, about ~5k health’s worth instantly)
- It applies a condition called Hammer Corruption every second. Stacks decrease quickly after the hammer is dropped.
- If a player picks up the hammer while she/he still has stacks of Hammer Corruption, s/he will take increased damage and gain multiple conditions.
- The player who wields the hammer receives a hammer marker over its head. The color of the marker changes with the number of stacks of corruption. (from yellow to orange to red)
The cultist hammer applies a condition called Hammer Corruption. Corruption stacks in duration and can only be removed by dropping the hammer. (One stack is applied and removed every one second.)
- For every 10 stacks of corruption, the wielder is affected by 1 stack of vulnerability
- When corruption reaches 20 stacks, the wielder is affected by 1 stack of weakness and the hammer marker turns orange.
- When corruption reaches 30 stacks, the wielder is stunned and the hammer marker turns red.
- This stun can be evaded prior to reaching 30 stacks with a Dodge
- This stun can be mitigated via the Hammer 3 skill (Use it around 26 stacks of corruption)
- This stun can be broken via stun break skills
- When corruption reaches 40 stacks, the wielder is downed and drops the hammer
Knee Seals
This is the first time where you have to destroy Seals using the hammer. There are 4 enemies here. Extra enemies spawn after the original four are defeated.
- If the party is very careful they can charge the hammer four times, twice for each seal, thus defeating this stage without spawning any extra enemies.
- To charge the hammer, you must defeat an enemy with the Cultist Hammer.
- Avoid using AOE attacks here, so you can charge the hammer four times using only the original 4 enemies.
- After the seals are broken, your party can leave the hammer on the ground. There will be a Displaced Researcher available to replace the hammer after the next section.
To progress, the party will pass some spike traps on the ground. Look at the ground for trap indentations. Some traps are decoys and do not trigger.
At the end of the tunnel, there is more scaffolding. This scaffolding has gargoyles that push air out of their mouths. Use timing to run past the traps. In addition, the wind can be dodged, blocked with Aegis, or a player can use Stability to run through them. If you fall off, you will be downed between the wooden bridge and the tunnel prior to this scaffolding. At the end of the scaffolding, there will be 1-4 switches to deactivate the gargoyles. Interacting with a switch will Immobilize you. At higher tiers, it’s suggested you bring condition clearing skills to be able to hit multiple switches.
If your party has dropped the hammer, talking to the Displaced Researcher ahead can provide another.
Climb the last scaffolding to reach the chest seal.
Chest Seal
There are AoE fires burning on the floor. The fires are both preceded and followed by a small fire (the size of the red circle will not change). The Colossus will blow out one of the flames at a time. There will always be one safe spot and two burning ones. Keep moving onto the safe parts, charge the hammer, and destroy the seal. The initial mob spawns here include a decent amount of veterans. It’s recommended that you clear these out before beginning to move with the fires. Later spawns include fewer veterans, in more manageable numbers.
Afterward, continue following the path upwards to the arm seals. There are no enemies or traps for the scaffolding to the next level.
Arm Seals
On this level, there are two seals separated by a hallway. The hammer needs to alternate between hitting each arm seal, as when one seal is hit it becomes protected by a purple bubble. Accordingly, the other seal loses its purple bubble and can be hit with the charged hammer.
After the initial veteran is killed, foes respawn indefinitely until the seals are destroyed and apply heavy stacks of vulnerability.
Chanters on each side will regenerate that seal’s health. The seals’ repair rate is the same at all difficulty levels. Keeping the foes aggro’ed on one side will minimize the healing done to that seal, but the healing can also be ignored if your party moves quickly between the two seals.
At the first (north) seal, defeat the veteran cultist. Hit the seal with the charged hammer.
The entire group heads to the second (south) seal. Defeat the veteran cultist and hit the seal with the charged hammer.
Everyone continues to run back and forth, dropping the hammer in the hallway when Corruption is too high.
Swiftness, blinks, and portals can help reduce the travel time between arm seals.
After both arm seals are broken, a gate to the right of the first seal will open. The scaffolding to the final seal is trapped with timed explosives that will knock you off. Wait for them to clear at each landing or follow behind the explosions as they go up the ramps. The shorter ramps with explosives can be dodged. Speed boosts or a well-timed Stability can be helpful. At the end of the scaffolding, there are 1-4 switches to deactivate the bombs. Again, these may be cleared by one person as long as they have condition clearing skills.
Legendary Archdiviner
The Legendary Archdiviner is the main boss of this fractal. He uses the Cultist Hammer. Prior to entering the final chamber, there are chains on the wall. If you are locked out of the room, these chains can be activated to allow you inside.
- Attacks
- Corrupted Ground Channel — Red AoEs on the floor. You have about a second or two to leave these circles before they apply conditions and corrupt your boons.
- Conic hammer slam attack — Deals massive damage and activates faster at higher difficulties.
- Defiance bar – Only active during the conic attack and Corrupted Ground area-of-effect attack. Break it to stun the Archdiviner and deal increased damage.
- Rush/Teleport Attack (scales 25–100) – Uses only when players are at a ranged distance.
- Projectile-blocking Wall (scales 51–100) — Active for the first 50% of health.
- Backbreaker heavy attack (scales 51–100) — Replaces the basic attack for the last 50% of health.
- Caged – The Archdiviner places an orange circle on the ground. Standing in the circle will deal damage and teleport the player into a cage at the side of the room. Circles grow in size with the scale of the fractal.
- Transition
- In between each phase, there is a transition phase. They occur at 75%/50%/25%/0% health. He will become invulnerable to damage and will drop the hammer.
- The purple protection on the seal in the center of the room will be removed and four Chanters will spawn on the circle around the seal, giving you an opportunity to charge the hammer by killing one of them. At fractal levels below 10, the mobs will despawn after you hit the seal, but will not in later levels. They apply conditions quickly, so it is advisable to clear them out first before using the charged hammer on the seal.
- After the seal has been hit by the hammer, the Legendary Archdiviner will stun the party for 1 second and take his hammer back.
Once the final seal has been broken the Colossus will break his chains and walk away from the cliff. Once he is on his way, he will turn around and bow to the players. To obtain the achievement, use the /bow emote to bow to the Colossus in return. The timing is quite lenient – if you start to bow as he is walking away then you may be too early but you can simply repeat the emote until the achievement is received.
