Kaineng Overlook Strike Mission Guide

GW2. A guide to the Kaineng Overlook Strike Mission from End of Dragons.

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Getting There

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Use the Asura Portals in Lions Arch to reach Arborstone. Speak to Lyra in Arborstone and say you’d like to enter a Strike Mission, then clarify an End of Dragons Strike mission.

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Team Compositions

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Aegis or other blocks are extremely helpful because many hard hitting attacks can be blocked, preventing players from being instantly downed by them.

Cleave and/or Piercing damage can be valuable when dealing with the multiple enemies of the lower platform phases.

Dedicated Kiters/Tanks can be great for positioning the Enforcer/Mindblade or the Mech Rider. A full tank build may not be necessary, but someone who will take the responsibility of purposefully getting fixated and positioning the enemies appropriately can help make things go much more smoothly.

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Boss Mechanics

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Take the Zip Line to the Upper Platform to meet Minister Li. You do not need a Jade Bot to use this Zip Line. Li’s attacks resemble those of a Bladesworn and so you can expect to play around the charging animation of three different Dragon Slash attacks.

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Dragon Slash: Force – This is a wide slashing attack that will hit everything in front of Minister Li. Watch the large orange section of the platform and then stand behind Minister Li. This attack can also be dodged or blocked.

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Dragon Slash: Boost – unlike the large area of the Force attack, the Boost is much more precise and Li moves in the direction that the arrow is facing. It can be hard to see which direction he is facing a lot of the time, so keep an eye on the arrow beneath Li.

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Dragon Slash: Reach – Three players will be chosen as targets of a ranged attack. They will have either I, II, or III above their heads and their screen border will glow yellow if they are one of the chosen ones. The roman numerals indicate the order that Minister Li will shoot the attack at them. These three players should go to one side of the platform and then split up slightly while the rest of the group stays behind Minister Li. Do not stack with the group when you are one of the targets. Dodge, block, or sidestep the attack and return to the group.

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At 66%, Minister Li will knock all players to the lower platform and they must defeat three of his guards to be able to return to fight him.

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The Mindblade

The player closest to either the Mindblade or the Enforcer when they choose a target will gain a purple icon above their character which will indicate that the Mindblade is focusing them. This player is in charge of positioning the Mindblade but may also want to kite it away from the group depending on the strategy and order of targeting. Their attacks are simple but can add pressure over time to unsupported players:

• The Mindblade will shoot a fan of projectiles at the fixated target which can be reflected.
• They also will create three blade tornados which will spiral outward. Stick close to the Mindblade so these pass by quickly.

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The Enforcer

This enemy will fixate to a different player than the Mindblade depending on who is closest to it after it finishes its initial series of attacks. It does not do much to the fixated player, but it will occasionally return to the center of the room and do a series of three attacks in a row:

• The Enforcer will dash to all four corners of the platform, leaving behind flames. Do not stand in these flames.
• Afterwards they will perform a whirling kick which will deal high amounts of burning to players inside the red circle.
• Finally a few orange circles will spawn around players which will cause damage. Split these up and dodge before they fill.

After this series of three attacks, The Enforcer will fixate to a new target.

NOTE: The Enforcer and Mindblade MUST be split up or they will take reduced damage and gain buffs. The players closest to the Mindblade or the Enforcer will be their next target when they decide to change fixate to a new target. Players can purposefully become fixated with proximity so they can kite one of these enemies away from the other.

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The Ritualist

Unlike the other two enemies, the Ritualist does not fixate to a specific player. It will stay in the center of the platform and ocassionally create large orange damaging areas of effect. These can be dodged or the squad can position near the edges of the platform to avoid them.

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Once all three enemies have been defeated, take the Zip Line back to Minister Li. He will have the same abilities as before but with one added mechanic.

Orange Circles – Five players will get an orange circle beneath them. They must spread out to avoid stacking these on top of each other, otherwise the overlapping players will go down. This mechanic is normally simple, but due it happening at the same time as the Dragon Slash: Force, it can be dangerous.

Players cannot all hide behind Minister Li to avoid the Dragon Slash because they will stack the orange circles. The five players with the orange circles must spread out in front of Minister Li, meaning they will be in the way of his Dragon Slash. However, the attack can be dodged or blocked. The timing of the slash is slightly before the orange circles activate, meaning you must also not dodge towards anyone else with a circle. Prioritize spreading the circles before avoiding the Dragon Slash since it is easier to revive one player than multiple if you run an orange circle into someone else.

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At 33% Li will once again knock players to the lower platform to fight two more enemies.

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The Mech Rider

The Mech Rider will briefly spin, creating a field that pushes players away from the Mech Rider and spray mines across the platform. These do decent damage to players, but not lethal amounts. They can be dodged or blocked or simply tanked with health, but don’t run through too many in a row.

Four players will be targeted with a number ordering for a charge attack. The Mech Rider will rush at each target and smack them. Similarly to the Dragon Slash: Reach, these targeted players should split from the group but also not split up too much because there is plenty of time to move out.

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Laser – A large red rectangle will indicate the laser beam is charging. Stand at the very back of the Mech Rider’s hit box to avoid this attack. It’s range is deceptively larger than the animation, and it will continuously pulse heavy damage.

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Jade Mortar – When players are distant from the Mech Rider, it will shoot many AoEs around them. Dodge out of the ones that have a green effect because they can leave behind a pulsing damaging field for a while that will be extremely difficult to revive allies through.

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The Sniper

While very weak and easy to focus on the main platform, the Sniper will ocassionally teleport to one of the roof tops and channel a shot at a single player, indicated by the scope light connecting the two. The targeted player can dodge or block the attack or players can take a zip line up to the Sniper and break her defiance bar with CC to stop the attack. The shot will down players hit by the attack and will pierce, meaning the target should move away from their allies.

NOTE: The Mech Rider and Sniper will equalize in health pools if they diverge more than 20% from each other and become empowered, damaging all players on the platform. This means you should swap targets to keep them within 20% health of each other if you want to be safe.

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Green Circle – A single player will get this mechanic around them. Other players must stack with them in the green circle by the time it fully activates.

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Once finished with the Sniper and Mech Rider, take the zip line back up to Minister Li and finish him. This time the Green Circle mechanic will happen as well as all previous mechanics.

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Strategy

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This fight is complex but not very punishing so long as you avoid these mechanics:

• Don’t stack orange circles on the group
• Don’t stand in front of the Mech Rider’s laser
• Don’t stand in the Jade Mortar that the Mech Rider leaves on the platform
• Don’t stand in the Enforcer’s flames
• Stay behind Minister Li

There are a lot of things that can go wrong in the fight, but since Minister Li’s Dragon Slash mechanic is slow, there is plenty of time to revive allies who down to it. Players should be ready to revive others quickly to recover from any mechanics. Sustain is much more important to success than DPS here.

During the first phase against Minister Li, everyone will stack behind the boss and keep repositioning after each attack. Watch for the arrow to show which way he is facing rather than his animations. The only reason to split is when three players get targeted with numbers for the Reach attack. Take the time to position away from the group to avoid getting the entire party slashed by your attack.

There are multiple ways to handle the group of the Ritualist, Enforcer, and Mindblade. The Enforcer and Mindblade must always be separated, so the players fixated by them should always separate. However, the order in which each target is focused varies in strategy.

Focusing the Mindblade first allows the party to stack on top of the Mindblade kiter to allow them support since the Mindblade pressures their fixated target the most. The Enforcer will deal minimal damage to it’s fixate and will do an attack in the center of the room at the start, regardless of its positioning anyway. For this reason I recommend the Mindblade first strategy because it is the most reliable and safe.

Focusing the Ritualist first allows the party to cleave both the Enforcer and the Mindblade when possible and also keep the two separated at opposite sides of the Ritualist. However, the Ritualist cannot be kited, meaning the Enforcer will often get close to the Mindblade and receive the buff. While this is riskier, it can save time by getting good value for damage spent and will not split the party up much, allowing boons to be shared.

Focusing the Enforcer is not suggested because they move around uncontrollably and you want to get a kill on the first target as soon as possible to relieve the pressure of three enemies.

In the second Minister Li phase, positioning becomes much more relevant due to the orange circles. All players without orange circles should stack behind Minister Li. All players with orange circles beneath them should spread out in front of him and time their dodge right before the circles activate. Dodge backwards not forwards so you don’t stack the circles.

Focus the Sniper in the next phase, but change target to the Mech Rider while the Sniper is on top of the roof. This should allow the most balanced damage spread between the Mech Rider and the Sniper to prevent them from equalizing their health pools and becoming empowered. Be careful to stay far behind the Mech Rider when the laser happens and revive anyone who goes down quickly or the laser will finish them off.

The final Minister Li phase is the same as the one before with the only addition being the Green Circle mechanic. Prioritize spreading out for the Orange Circles before stacking together for the Green Circle because it finishes right before the Green, meaning you can split the Oranges and then stack the Green with the same players if done quickly.

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Challenge Mode

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Acknowledgement: This challenge mode guide was written by Vallun as exclusive content for guildjen.

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Compositions

You will need to share stability to both parties and have at least one dedicated tank/kiter to complete the CM.

Mechanics

On challenge mode, there are no longer guard rails along the edges of each platform. You can much more easily fall, dodge, or be knocked off. Falling off of the platform is instant death. Also, failing to get at least three players in each Green Circle will down the entire squad. This can be recovered from, but very difficult to do so. There may also be two green circles at the same time. These can be stacked together. Prioritize fulfilling the green circle over every other mechanic.

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Minister Li’s Dragon Slash: Force (the large cleave that does not move him) is now unblockable and undodgeable and will knock back players. It is important to have stability or stun breaks in your composition to prevent players from being instantly killed by getting knocked off. However, it is unavoidable sometimes, and players will get hit by this attack. They need to be at maximum health and have the protection boon to not go down. Otherwise they will lose their boons and be knocked off. The group should always share stability and protection when players may be in front of Minister Li during his Dragon Slash. In the first phase this is when he is in the middle with Green Circles spawning. In the 2nd phase it is when the Orange Circles spawn and the group must stack behind Li.

His Dragon Slash: Reach (roman numerals above five players’ heads) will now leave behind a red circle at the location of the player it hits which deals heavy damage. As is done in normal mode, players should split up around one side of the boss, but as soon as they are hit by the Dragon Slash (which won’t kill them if it hits no one else first) they must run straight towards the boss being careful to not get in the line of sight of any other players with numbers over their head. If multiple players are hit by one slash then it will down them in the damaging AoE and then kill them. Designate places where all of the players without a roman numeral can stand such as by the zip line, then have the players with them spread out on the other side.

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Enforcer/Mindblade/Ritualist Phase

As usual the Willbender/Enforcer will want to be separated from the Mindblade. It goes through the same pattern as normal mode: Willbender Flames > Whirling Light > Heaven’s Palm however all of these attacks will be amplified.

Willbender Flames – standing in these will pulse damage and a debuff that reduces healing by 25%. At 4 stacks you cannot receive any healing and therefore cannot be revived. Jump over the lines if you must cross them, but stay away from them.

Whirling Light – There will be an extra circle around this whirling attack. Players in the 2nd larger circle will be taunted at the start, then the 2nd circle disappears and the 1st circle will pulse heavy burning damage. Also while the first circle is pulsing, there will be very subtle flames arcing far from the enforcer. You want to avoid these because they will give a damage reduction debuff to you. Standing just outside the inner circle will put you in a safe spot to avoid being hit by them. The enforcer fixates to a new target after this.

Heaven’s Palm – All players will have an orange circle around them and they must spread out. If hit by this, players gain a stacking debuff that reduces outgoing damage by 25%. Block or dodge the end of this animation as well as spread out from each other. The enforcer fixates to a new target after this.

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Bladestorms will surround the Mindblade and then spread outward. Back off when these occur and then dodge inwards when they begin to spread.

Blade Rain – Also there will be an orange circle that players get. This one can be distinguished from the Heaven’s Palm because only two players will get it and the duration of this circle is very long. Once the circle fills, a red AoE will spawn on them, pulsing intense damage in that area for a while. A total of five of these AoEs will spawn in succession, so it is important to place them along the edges of the platform, away from the group. Make sure to move out of the group briefly during this time to see if you are the one who has this mechanic.

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Spirits – The Ritualist’s attacks will cover most of the platform, but there are safe spots that you can stand in. Make sure to keep the Mindblade and Enforcer separated by using the separated safe spots. Also you may notice that the Green Circles will spawn during this phase at the same time as this large attack. Stacking in the same spot is very important.

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In the Sniper/Mech phase some of the mechanics will be super-charged. Both enemies should be kept within 20% health of each other to prevent them from equalizing. If they diverge more than 20% they will equalize their health percentages and corrupt all boons as well as pulse damage on your entire party until both are killed. The mech has a higher health value, so 1% damage on it is much more than 1% on the sniper. Try to focus the mech but cleave both when possible.

The auto attack which creates a cone in front of the Mech does heavy damage and will give the stacking damage reduction debuff. One player should serve as a tank and bait these attacks away from the group by standing close to and in front of the mech then sidestepping the orange cones. Slowly face the Mech away from the sniper to give your team the most space possible while not losing the attention of the mech.

The tanking role can be done on any self-sufficient build that can either deal damage to the Mech with little boon support, or a support that can provide to its team while separated from them. If no one is tanking the boss, it does the Jade Rain ability which is much more deadly and will often target your allies at range.

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Mine Deployment – At the start of the phase and rarely afterwards, the mech will spin around and summon mines which can be dodged over or blocked to create more playable space. During this time the mech will also push players towards the edge of the platform. Run towards the mech and dodge inwards to avoid being pushed off the platform. You will only get pushed if you are close to the mech, so the tank must use movement skills to get back in, and the rest of the squad should maintain distance at the start.

While the mines are being deployed and the tank is being pushed, orange and green circles will spawn on the squad members. The players with the orange circles should separate from the stack and everyone who can should stack in the center with the green circles.

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The Sniper will teleport to a tower and target players with more powerful attacks. It will alternate between two types of attacks:

Orange Rifle: The orange laser will be three shots that will not instantly kill the target it hits, but it will kill them if it hits multiple times without any healing to counteract it. The sniper will retarget to another player if they are closer to the sniper before aiming the next shot. The targeted player can move away from the direction of the sniper and another player can move closer to the sniper. However, players must be careful not to get close to the player targeted with the orange rifle attack because it will ricochet and instantly kill them, shown by a large but subtle red circle.

There are multiple methods of dealing with this:

• Rotate players in and out of the line of fire to share their health pools and spread the damage. This strategy requires a bit of coordination and is high risk because the 2nd and 3rd shots are much faster, but requires no healing to do.
• Rotate a kiter in after the first shot to take and heal through the 2nd and 3rd shots. This is much less risk because a dedicated role is assigned to the mechanic, but there is still some coordination required to move away from
• Two kiters will position at opposite ends of the platform to bait the sniper shot on them when they know it is about to occur (the alternating pattern is predictable). They receive ranged healing from their team and tank all 3 shots. This strategy can be safer and requires much less coordination, but it requires more of an investment in the composition to do so.

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Red Rifle: The shot with the red laser will instantly kill the player it hits. The only way to stop it is to take the zip line up to the sniper and break their defiance bar. The defiance bar takes around 1,000 defiance break to deplete. After breaking the bar, do some damage to the stunned sniper and take the teleporter back.

When this attack occurs, a green circle will also spawn. The party should move together towards the zip line to CC the sniper, but wait at the zip line for the green circle to finish before taking the zip line.

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In the final phase against Minister Li, many mechanics will overlap forcing some quick decision making.

The order of all the mechanics happens Orange Circles > Green Circles > Numbers. Therefore, players with lower numbers will not want to stack because Li will shoot his projectile slash at them shortly after the green finisher. Higher numbers can stack then spread out because there is a bit of time. When spreading, do not move into one of the corners of the platform because it will complicate stacking later on when Li moves places. Instead put the red AoEs near the center of the platform to give the most room.

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Here are some of the potential situations that can occur and how to handle them:

Orange and Green Circles – Give stability and stack the green behind Li. Only one orange circle can stack if necessary, otherwise they should spread out.

Orange and Numbers – Don’t waste stability. Spread out. There is no need to stack

Numbers and Green Circles – Don’t waste stability. Stack in the green if you have one of the larger numbers like 3,4,5. Spread out if you have one of the earlier numbers like 1,2.

Numbers, Green, and Orange Circles – No stability required. Stack in the green if you have a higher number 3,4,5 but move out quickly after. Only one orange can stack. Try not to stack with 1,2 but if you have a green and a number try to move out quickly afterwards.

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The ability to make quick decisions in this last phase is important, but the more players there are left alive, the easier these decisions are to make. Essentially surviving until this phase is half the struggle and you should pay extreme attention to your positioning.

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Achievements

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Kaineng Overlook – 5AP – 1MP

Complete the encounter on normal difficulty.

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Legendary Kaineng Overlook – 5AP

Complete the encounter after enabling the challenge mote.

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Out of Focus – 5AP

Break the defiance bar of the Sniper by taking the zip line up to it when it charges the red rifle shot.

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A Test of Your Reflexes – 5AP

Complete the encounter on challenge mode without taking damage from Crouching Dragon Wave or Dash. These are the Dragon Slash abilities that Minister Li does. The dash is easily avoided, but the other which is unblockable and undodgeable is harder to manage due to the Orange Circle mechanic which forces some players to get hit by it. You can manipulate who gets the orange circles because those who move closer to Li first will get that mechanic on them. In other words, if you want to get this achievement, be one of the last players to follow Minister Li when he changes positioning so that you have the least chance of getting an orange circle, or be the one player who stacks with an orange.

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The Path of Most Resistance – 5AP title:  The Great Equalizer

Complete the encounter on challenge mode after triggering the Equalization Protocol. This occurs when the Sniper/Mech Rider diverge in health percentage more than 20%. When doing so, their health pools will converge and all boons will be corrupted on all players, and they will suffer pulsing global damage. It is best to trigger this by killing the sniper first when the Mech Rider is around 30% health because the sniper has the least health and can be taken out quickly afterward to relieve some of the pressure.

The squad will need to stack tightly after the equalization occurs to heal through the damage and restack buffs, but depending on the current state of the encounter this may be inconvenient. Controlling the equalization may be hard, but if possible the best time to trigger this is during the mechanic where the Mech Rider charges at the five roman numerals since this is the time when the squad has the least pressure.

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