Guide:Lonely Tower

WIP

Introduction

As you start, a short scene between Dagda, Isgarren and Mabon plays out, but there is nothing to stop you from leaving the room and taking the right corridor away from the glowing barrier (don't forget to grab the Mistlock Singularity first). The corridor is covered in Despair AoEs that inflict Agony, five stacks of Torment and minor damage [more at higher tiers?]. They're less threatening than they look so you can just power through and heal later.

In the room at the end, you'll catch a brief glimpse of an old antagonist and be presented with four Astral Purifier Nodes. Each one must be channeled while you complete a button-matching puzzle like those used to unlock [Astral Chests?] in the open world. A total of 10 correct buttons must be pressed in a row to activate each purifier, but as you begin interacting, three [Avatars of Spite] will spawn nearby and move towards you. Around each one is a field that pulses poison, and if they reach the player they will interrupt the channel and force them to start again.

The most obvious solution is to take either one or two at a time, and have the remaining players skill the Avatars as they approach. There is an easier way, however, as both Stability and Stealth will negate the interruption entirely, so with enough of either the group could do all four at once.

Regardless of the approach you choose, once all four are active, the Despair AoEs will disappear and you can return to the starting room - though its much faster just to /GG to reset there.

Back at the start, the barrier will drop and you can head down the left corridor instead. Down this corridor, the Despair AoEs are joined by some familiar-looking Grasping Hands that move towards you and inflict Cripple, Poison, five stacks of Torment and minor damage.

There is a single Astral Purifier Node at the far end that has to be turned off as before. The rubble makes the Avatars of Spite a little more awkward to deal with, but everyone can defend a single person now so it shouldn't be much trouble.

With the air purified, the next barrier drops and you can progress forward. There is another Mistlock Singularity in the next room. Through the blue barrier is the first encounter of the fractal (you can just walk straight through).

Cerus and Deimos

Players familiar with the strike and raid bosses should immediately recognise the mechanics in this encounter, though even in CM both of the bosses are significantly less formidable.

A few seconds after engaging them, each will fixate on the [closest?] target for 20 seconds, following that character. Around five seconds after losing fixation, they will fixate on a new player [closest again? or has to be new?]. If the two bosses are allowed to get too close to one another, they will gain the [something] buff, which increases their outgoing damage by 50%.

Even at t4, their base damage is rather low, so it's not too dangerous to stack them together if the group is strong enough.

As the two bosses' mechanics are practically identical to their original versions but much less dangerous, not too much time will be spent describing their mechanics. Players wishing to know more can see the individual guides for Cerus and Deimos.

Cerus

• Wail of Despair - summons a Despair AoE over each player that hits after five seconds.
• Malicious Intent - Tethers to a [distant?] player and after [???] seconds spawns a [Malicious Shadow] that walks towards Cerus. If it reaches him, it will be absorbed and give Ceus five stacks of [empowered] and some [barrier].
• Cry of Rage - A large AoE that Cerus channels over five seconds and deals heavy damage to players who don't dodge it. Unlike the strike version, this can also be 24px Blocked.

Otherwise, Ceus will perform an [AoE?] Smash attack that deals moderate damage.

Deimos

• Grasping Hands - A series of stationary AoEs that spawn in sets of three underneath the furthest player. The time the hands last for increases with tier, up to 15 seconds at tier 4. This is similar to the Soul Feast mechanic in the raid encounter. If Deimos is allowed to touch these hands, he will absorb them, giving himself the [Devour] buff that [increases his damage by 2% per stack?].
• Rapid Decay - Deimos places an orange AoE under the [closest?] player that becomes a black puddle on the floor lasting for ~28 seconds. Touching this puddle causes it to rapidly expand until it covers a large portion of the room, ticking for a small amount of damage.
• - At [50% health?], Deimos will start using - a cascade of conal AoEs that trigger in a circular pattern from front to back, launching players who get hit backwards. The attack can be blocked or evaded [does stability work here?]

Once they are dead, Dagda will summon a portal taking you to the final area. There is a Mistlock Singularity near where you arrive, and you must defeat a number of kryptis to progress. When the last [Incarnation of Judgment] falls, the final boss will appear.

Eparch

Recommended Sigils: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact

Condition builds should use their standard sigils and enhancements.

Recommended Utility: Boon Removal (CM only), Condition cleanse and Crowd Control

The fight against Eparch revolves around orbs that are spawned from each of Eparch's attacks. Collecting these orbs provides stacking effects to the player, usually in the form of a thematic buff and debuff. At a certain point in the fight, Eparch will consume any orbs that remain on the ground, receiving buffs (but not debuffs) for each one. Success in this fight involves having people collecting these orbs as the fight continues, emphasising classes that can fulfil their role at range. Depending on how each group divides responsibility for collecting these orbs, it may be possible for one or two players to remain on the boss for DPS.

The most essential orb to collect is Envy (green), as this adds a boon corruption effect to Eparch's attacks which very quickly makes the fight overwhelming.

There are six types of orb. The table below lists their effects, the attack that creates them, and the recommended role(s) that should collect them.

Orb name	Orb colour	Created by	Effect on players	Effect on Eparch	Recommended role
Rage Globule	Red	Enraged Smash	Increases outgoing strike damage Increases incoming strike damage	Increases outgoing damage	Power (DPS or boon)
Despair Globule	Blue	Rain of Despair	Reduces incoming strike damage Reduces outgoing strike damage	Reduces incoming damage	Healer or condi (DPS or boon)
Envy Globule	Green	Wave of Envy	Increases condition damage Increases condition duration Increases boon duration Increases incoming condi duration	Attacks corrupt boons	Condi DPS or boon supports
Gluttony Globule	Yellow	Inhale	Attacks steal life Take periodic damage	Heals when consuming orbs	Anyone
Malice Globule	Purple	Spike of Malice	Increases defiance break damage	Attacks inflict extra conditions	Anyone
Regret Globule	Yellower?	???	Degreases skill activation and recharge times Take damage when using skills	Reflects damage	Anyone

Players can only hold one type of orb at a time - picking up an orb of a different type will remove a stack of your existing effect. This means that players can pick up some orbs, then "delete" them by picking up another orb afterwards. The order Eparch uses his attacks in is not consistent, so players may not be able to guarantee they can keep their favoured buff.

During Eparch's Consume attack, he will absorb the orbs of a random player. Thus it is highly recommended that you "delete" the Envy orbs, in order to prevent them being stolen by Eparch.

Challenge Mode
There are several changes that immediately come into effect in the Challenge Mode of this encounter:

• The Unknown Demon begins the encounter with instead (see Phase 2) and uses it throughout the phase.
• The ability for the boss to steal Quickness and Alacrity from players can significantly alter the timings of this encounter.
• Falling off the platform will result in instant death, making the Fear particularly deadly.
• Players cannot be revived if they are defeated.

Enraged Smash - Eparch targets an area in front of him and emite three expanding ring indicators. Immediately after the third one, he slams his greatsword into the ground, dealing very heavy damage in the impact area and launching out a shockwave that knocks players down - the shockwave can be jumped. At the same time, <rage fissure>s spread across the ground in a roughly hexagonal pattern that [???]. This attack cannot be blocked.

Challenge Mode only: Getting hit by Kanaxai's will apply Extreme Vulnerability. This will cause you to be killed instantly if you are also hit by one of the Aspect's s.

Rain of Despair - Eparch holds his greatsword above his head and fires out a multiude of Despair AoEs that form a spiral pattern around him. These AoEs inflict Torment, and last for approximately 15 seconds.

Challenge Mode only: All other Rending Storm AoEs apply a stack of Exposed to you with each tick. Your own AoE can be identified by a thicker "targeted" indicator around the storm (similar to that applied by scouts in WvW).

Wave of Envy - Four arrow indicators come out of the boss and shortly after, he spins, firing thick beams of enegy in each direction that corrupt boons. Players at range can avoid them by moving to a 45-degree angle from the indicators, while players in melee are actually safe from the attack if they are within his hitbox. This attack is unblockable.

Inhale - Eparch spins in place, pulling all players towards him, while creating a dangerous red AoE that ticks for a [small] amount of damage.

Spike of Malice - Eparch thrusts his greatsword into the ground, creating a series of AoEs that track all players and deal a small amount of damage for 3-9 seconds, depending on tier.

Regret - Eparch spins his greatsword in front of him, summoning a number of [Veteran The Craven].

Consume - Eparch targets a random player and gains a defiance bar. All orbs that remain on the ground will be stolen by him, and every second, he removes three stacks of any active buff from the targeted player, gaining one stack of the corresponding buff each time while also draining 5% of the targets max health. When the player runs out of stacks, he will apply a stack of a debuff (also called Consume) that reduces the players max HP by ~605 per stack. Picking up a new orb will remove one stack of this debuff.

When broken, Eparch will lose an amount of stacks that depends on the tier. At tier 1, all stacks are removed, in challenge mode, no stacks are removed. At tier 4, if he has three or fewer stacks, all will be removed, but for any number of stacks above this, only one stack will be removed for every four he has (i.e. if Eparch has 4-7 stacks of a buff, he will lose one; if eparch has 8-11 stacks of a buff, he will lose two and so on).

Finally, as long as the defiance bar remains active, he will gain pulsing barrier that is not removed when broken, which will seriously cut into the bonus damage you can do after breaking him. After being broken, Eparch will be Stunned for five seconds, and Exposed for 10 seconds.

Eparch will repeat this attack 35-40 seconds after being broken.

Eparch does not have a fixed attack pattern, rather seeming to operate on a priority list that somewhat depends on the positioning of players. The further into the fight, the more unpredictable his attacks will become. However, to start with, it will look something like this:

1. Enraged Smash and Rain of Despair - Eparch will almost always use these two attacks first, typically preferring Enraged Smash if his target is in melee range, and Rain of Despair otherwise.
2. Wave of Envy ⇒ Inhale - After the first two attacks, he normally uses Wave of Envy followed by Inhale. The predictability of this pattern (at least early on) means that players can start to get distance from the boss as soon as Wave of Envy occurs.
3. The next set of attacks is very unpredictable. Enraged Smash and Wave of Envy seem to have shorter cooldowns than the other attacks, so it is very likely that you will see one or both of these attacks again. He may also use Spike of Malice or Regret, but these appear to be the lowest-priority skills and are often skipped entirely. Very occasionally, Eparch may use Rain of Despair a second time as well.
4. Consume - After 35-40 seconds, Eparch will use consume again. The pattern usually resets after this, but the longer combat continues, the further his cooldowns will drift apart.

Adding further variance is Eparch's aggro mechanic. He seems to target a random player every 10 seconds or so, and will attempt to move into melee range of that character for many of his attacks. As such, he runs about a fair amount, which can lower the number of attacks he performs if he consistently ends up targetting players at range.

Gathering Shadows - Every 10% health, the Demon gains a defiance bar and attempts to summon another Aspect onto the platform. Breaking it will Stun the Demon and leave it Exposed for five seconds, but give it a stack of Dread Defiance - a buff that makes the next Stun duration shorter and the defiance bar larger (technically it reduces the strength of incoming CC). If you fail to break the bar, an additional smaller demon is summoned on the platform, and the next time the defiance bar appears it will resume from the strength it was at. Breaking the bar will slightly increase the cooldown of his other mechanics.

Note: It is possible that additional Aspects summoned in this way are able to use Phantasmagoria (see Split Phase 1).

Other mechanics will not happen until after the defiance bar finishes, and appears to take priority over Rending Storm. This means that depending on your group's DPS these mechanics might "queue", resulting in them happening less frequently.

Split Phase 1

At 66% health, the Demon goes invulnerable and reveals its true identity: Kanaxai! It teleports to the middle of the platform and prepares . Players will be targeted by each of the smaller demons with a beam attack called Phantasmagoria. This applies an effect to the player (indicated on their buff bar) that reduces outgoing and incoming damage. Shortly after, the Aspect will relocate to one of five smaller platforms surrounding the main one, providing you with two Grappling Hook charges as well as leaving behind a glowing blue orb with a bag icon inside that provides more. Then, the ghostly figure of Captain Thess appears in the middle of the platform and fires a beam of light towards the platform the Aspect retreated to. There is also see a red crossed sword icon on the minimap indicating the location. Only the affected player can see the Aspect, the ghostly figure, or the crossed swords icon.

The player should use their special action key to switch to their Survey Gear, grapple across to the small platform, and kill the demon (they have very low health). The Unknown Demon's attack will be canceled if all Aspects are killed, otherwise everyone takes heavy damage and Agony for each remaining Aspect.

Challenge Mode only: Failing to kill all aspects will cause an instant wipe.

Notes

• In some cases, people will be able to see others' Aspects and attack them. If they kill someone else's Aspect, then the targeted player will be unable to remove Phantasmagoria, so this is not recommended.
• If you are slow, the next phase can start before you get back to the platform. The bouncing mushroom will land you directly in the middle of the arena, which can make it impossible to avoid . You may be better off waiting on the platform until it is over (you will eventually be teleported back).

Phase 2

Now the fight resumes with another attack, but this time there are four Aspects on the platform.

Challenge Mode only: From Phase 2, rather than remain on the platform, Kanaxai will teleport to one of the outer platforms and use from there - this reduces the directions that are safe to look in, but looking east will always be safe.

- Immediately after ends, all players will be targeted by a large AoE and a Roman numeral, as at First Mate Dolus. Each attack will hit eight times, each dealing 6.25% of the player's max health (for 50% total). These attacks cannot be avoided by invulnerability or dodging, but they can be blocked.

has the same cooldown as , so one will typically follow the other, but they can become desynced over time.

Challenge Mode only: Getting hit more than once by an AoE other than your own will kill you (preventable by invulnerability or damage inversion).

Kanaxai's version of this attack is far more dangerous than Dolus's, so players should be particularly wary of the final vortex when the boss returns to its starting location.

Challenge Mode only: Between 50-10%, Kanaxai will use Gathering Shadows at 5% intervals instead of 10%.

Split Phase 2

This Split Phase is identical to the first, except that there are now four Aspects to deal with.

Phase 3

In addition to there being five Aspects on the platform, they are now able to use Phantasmagoria. One player will be targeted every 40 seconds, and the effect will end automatically if it is not dealt with within 30 seconds (with the Aspect returning to the platform).

In addition to the effects of the debuff, the Aspect being on a platform will make significantly more dangerous (facing east will remain safe). An Aspect that is in the middle of applying Phantasmagoria will not gain the eye over their head and so is safe to look at.

It seems that Phantasmagoria will not overlap with certain mechanics, which means a fast team may end up not getting this attack at all in the final phase. Per the earlier note, it may also be that only Aspects summoned by failing to break Gathering Shadows are able to use this attack.

Challenge Mode only: In this last phase, is combined with . Shortly after teleportation, Kanaxai will fear any player looking at him. To prevent your character automatically turning during this attack, you can stand facing out of the platform and take a series of small steps towards the edge until the attack is complete.