This guide provides tips and strategies for the second strike mission and how to defeat The Voice and the Claw in the Sanctum Arena of Bjora Marches. This mission is simple enough to not require a specific group composition. However, if your group is struggling, the guidelines in the Guide:Introduction to Raiding will apply here as well. Check out the glossary page if you're not familiar with a term used in this guide.
The encounter will start once the first player approaches either boss. This encounter is split up into multiple “phases” of 30 seconds. The Voice and the Claw will fight for 30 seconds and then teleport to new positions, where they will re-engage players for another 30 seconds and so on. When the first boss falls, the second will teleport to the center of the arena and enrage, becoming far more dangerous. For this reason, it is common to attempt to kill both bosses at the same time.
Throughout the fight, players will receive a small amount of damage every three seconds from . The outside of the arena will be covered by a dangerous field that inflicts Unrelenting Pain, causing a player to take 20% of their maximum health as damage every second.
– an attack that deals low damage and bounces between targets, and may occasionally use to move away from players.
Ghostly Grasp
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A few seconds into each phase, the Voice of the Fallen targets all players (and minions) with a small tracking AoE that fills with color. After two seconds, an arrow hits the location, creating a trap on the ground that deals a small amount of damage and Template:Gw2wiki any players hit. The trap lingers for 10 seconds and will Template:Gw2wiki any player that moves into it. The arrow itself is a projectile and may be negated with projectile defense, preventing the creation of the trap.
All of the Voice’s attacks are projectiles, so projectile defense is highly effective at mitigating her damage. This is especially useful for , and as it is only used once a phase numerous skills can block each one.
The Claw of the Fallen
If there are targets in melee range, the Claw will alternate between – a three-part attack that ends in a cascading knockdown. Each strike deals increased damage, though all are relatively weak – and Hammer Slam – an AoE attack that deals moderate damage. If there are no targets in range, the Claw will use Flying Hammer to leap a great distance towards players.
Strategy
The Voice deals ranged damage, while the Claw attacks in melee. Because of this, the Claw will move to players at range, so sticking close to the Voice in each phase will pull the two bosses together so they can both be cleaved at the same time. The problem with this approach is that the Claw does not immediately move to the squad, so the Voice will end up taking far more damage, potentially resulting in an enraged Claw with a lot of health. Alternatively, the squad may end up having to chase the Claw around the arena as he changes position with each phase.
The best approach will depend upon the damage of the group. Fast groups may be best engaging the Voice first, and switching aggro to the Claw once he approaches. With sufficient damage and cleave, the group will kill one of the two bosses at the western location, then move to the center for what is hopefully a short enrage phase. Very slow groups will also benefit from engaging the Voice first, as they will be more able to keep the damage between the two bosses consistent, and are likely to need the extra DPS from having the bosses on top of each other. For groups in between, it may be better to engage the claw first. This will provide a “head-start” on the Claw, and by the end of phase 2, both bosses should be on similar health. Using this approach the squad can stay at west until phase 4 or enrage. Additionally, in phase 0 the Voice will usually be close to melee range if the Claw is engaged first, negating much of the benefit of engaging the Voice first.
At the start of each phase, the Voice and the Claw will perform a special dual attack. The Voice will then shortly follow up with . Both kodan will then continue with their regular attacks until the end of the phase.
Phase 0
The Voice and the Claw begin with the Voice to the south, and the Claw to the north.
Phase 1
Voice to the west and Claw in the center.
Hammer Spin
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The Claw takes up a position in the center of the arena and begins spinning, dealing heavy damage to nearby players and launching them back. At the same time, the Voice fires arrows towards the Claw that ricochet and ignite, leaving a series of highly damaging fields radiating out from the Claw’s position that linger for 10 seconds.
makes the center of the arena very difficult to stand in, thus it is much easier to head to the Voice at the start of this phase. This will also create the maximum distance from (and space between) the damaging fields, allowing them to be more easily avoided. The area slightly clockwise of the Voice’s position will be clear of the AoE and will allow the squad to melee the boss in safety.
Phase 2
Voice to the west and Claw to the north.
Groundshaker
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The Claw smashes his hammer into the ground, creating a wall of fire. The Voice then fires arrows into it, igniting the entire eastern half of the arena with a highly damaging field for 10 seconds.
This attack is trivial to avoid by simply not entering the wrong side of the arena.
Phase 3
Voice to the east and Claw to the west.
Doubled Deluge
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The Claw hurls his hammer through the air and the Voice fires an arrow into it, causing a detonation that erupts from the center of the arena, and deals extreme damage to players hit.
Like all the attacks the kodan perform, this attack can be evaded or blocked, and the animation gives ample warning that it is about to occur.
Phase 4
Voice and Claw in the center.
Deadly Synergy
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The Voice and the Claw combine their power, gaining a defiance bar and creating pairs of conal attacks that leave behind heavily damaging fields. These fields linger for five seconds, and a new pair of fields are created clockwise of the previous ones every two and a half seconds. The first fields appear to the east and west of the kodan. The attack continues until the defiance bar is broken, or the phase ends.
The visual effect of the fields can last longer than the damage, but there will always be a clear space, allowing the squad to rotate clockwise around the bosses to avoid damage. When broken, the kodan will separate once more and attack as normal for the rest of the phase. The Voice and the Claw combine their current health when in this form, and “killing” them will end the attack, but return both bosses at their previous health.
Phase 5
Voice to the west and Claw to the east.
There is no dual attack in this phase.
After phase 5, the phases will repeat in order, starting with phase 1.
Enrage
Once the first kodan dies, the other will teleport to the center of the arena and begin launching Ghostly Barrage – an attack similar to Deadly Synergy but each attack covers a quarter of the arena. These attacks all deal heavy damage but can be avoided by rotating clockwise around the boss. Every fifth attack (after a complete revolution) the boss will instead release a torrent of energy similar to Doubled Deluge called Vengeful Nova and gain five stacks of Enrage – further increasing their damage.
