Siren's Reef

Introduction

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

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

Recommended Utility: Reflects

The fractal starts on a beach with the recently shipwrecked Captain Strohm and Cabin Boy Weyandt, and your first task is to secure the area by killing the local wildlife.

There are three groups of saurians on the beach: a pair of Bristlebacks, a Bonebreaker, and a pair of Smogscales. There is also a pack of Pocket Raptors roaming around and while they do not need to be killed, avoiding them is likely to be more trouble than it’s worth. The Bristlebacks are by far the most dangerous, but reflects will make short work of them.

Having defeated the dinosaurs, head to the northwest corner of the beach where you will be ambushed by a Champion Stonehead. As it is reduced to 75% and 50% health, a group of Pocket Raptors will spawn nearby and attack. When it is reduced to 25% health it will roar, Fearing players and destroying the nearby wall. It then flees along the newly opened passage right into some mines.

Beyond the set of mines that the Stonehead cleared for you is another set of three mines. These deal heavy damage to players after a short delay (downing you in higher tiers) and will respawn shortly after exploding. To clear the way, you must use the nearby cannon – aiming at the mines will destroy them for good, along with the wall behind.

A pile of ghosts wait for you on the other side. Defeating (most of) them will spawn the first boss: Blasting Black Peter.

Note that the ghosts in this fractal are considered outlaws for the purposes of Sigil of Justice, but not potions.

Note that this guide is predominantly for the tier-four version of the fractal, so some mechanics will be much less dangerous at other tiers. An effort has been made to indicate where entirely new mechanics are added at higher tiers, but it is not exhaustive.

Notable Instabilities
Mistlock Instability Boon Overload	The extra boon duration means that the party’s boon supports can run more offensive gear/traits.
Mistlock Instability Hamstrung	Hamstrung can prevent you moving with the treasure much sooner than usual, and as you lose health it will become increasingly difficult to handle the mechanics at the final boss, or return to the ship if you fall off.
Mistlock Instability Social Awkwardness	It will be much more difficult to stack on the bosses in the final encounter, and to avoid the Phantom Drafts.
Mistlock Instability We Bleed Fire	Due to the huge number of adds in this fractal, projectile defense becomes even more valuable than it already is.

Blasting Black Peter

Recommended Sigils: Sigil of Superior Sigil of Jceustice and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

Recommended Utility: Boon Removal

When the boss appears, a few more ghosts will spawn that might attack you, though the boss will not be aggroed yet. Kill the ghosts if you need to and pre-stack boons at the nearby Mistlock Singularity. You should notice that several mines have spawned around the arena with the boss, and there is a convenient shadow cannon aimed at them. More mines will spawn throughout the fight, so one player should man the cannon for the encounter. It may be preferable for the cannon player to be one that can provide some support to the group from range (e.g. warrior banners, or revenant’s Protective Solace)

This cannon has three skills:

Ripple Shot – Launches a cannonball that bounces forward, destroying mines in a line and knocking enemies back.

24px Scatter Shot – Hits over a wide area, inflicting Bleeding, Stun, and damage. This skill is more powerful the more enemies it hits.

Ice Shot – Applies Chill and freezes normal enemies in place (ideal for lining up scatter shot).

All three skills clear mines and do heavy defiance bar damage, so should be used constantly to break the boss, kill enemies, and clear mines.

If no player enters the arena with the boss, he will channel Cinder Cyclone on all players in the area, stacking up to 10 times and dealing damage each second per stack. It should be noted that there is an area towards the back of the fort (near where you came in) where players are no longer within range of Cinder Cyclone, but not far enough away for the boss to reset, so players could retreat there in an emergency.

As players enter the arena, the boss will spawn mines underneath players. Throughout the fight, he will continue to spawn mines under players approximately every 12 seconds. Additionally, at 25% health intervals a set of randomly placed mines will spawn. If Blasting Black Peter stands in one of the mine AoEs, he will gain Swiftness, Protection and Stability. Because of this, boon removal skills are very useful for stripping the Protection and Stability.

In addition to the mines, groups of ghosts will spawn around the edge of the arena at 10% health intervals and join the fight. Some of these will launch dazing attacks from range, while others apply boons to the boss, so projectile defense and/or boon strip will be useful. The cannon player can attempt to kill as many of these mobs as they can (as long as mines are cleared around the boss). Be aware that some ghosts will aggro on the cannon player, so they might need to leave the cannon to sustain themselves. In an emergency, players can also leave the arena to assist the cannon player, provided at least one stays behind to prevent Cinder Cyclone.

Killing Blasting Black Peter will cause all remaining ghosts to despawn. Players can now progress down the path and clear a group of Pocket Raptors, then carry on and clear another group of Pocket Raptors. A stone head will open up to reveal your prize – more Pocket Raptors!

Cursed Treasure

Take the Mistlock Singularity and head through the stone mouth and into a maze. Within the maze are three bags of Cursed Treasure (indicated by a gold coin icon on the map), and all three must be brought to a treasure chest at the end. The longer a player holds on to a bag of treasure, the slower they will move, until eventually they become stuck in place. The treasure will also apply Agony to the player that holds it. While dodges and movement skills will still work, you cannot use skills while holding the treasure nor do you regenerate endurance. The treasure can be thrown forward, and if another player catches it by standing in the white AoE that appears, that player will gain Lighten Curse Lighten Curse – a buff that reduces the slowing effect of the treasure. Should the treasure land on the ground, picking it up will deal a small amount of damage to the player. Players are unable to interact with portals while holding the treasure, so they cannot be used to speed up this process.

Further complicating matters are a number of spectral orbs that float around the maze. Stepping into the white AoE surrounding these orbs will cause them to disappear and spawn multiple ghosts. The orb will respawn a short while later. The orbs move in a straight line until they hit a wall, then randomly choose a new direction and move until they hit another wall. This can mean that there is no way past them for long periods, so teleport abilities will be greatly useful. At higher tiers, the spectral orbs will reset the position of treasure if they move over them, and extra orbs will spawn as the treasures are deposited. This means it may be worth stacking up the treasure behind the chest so they can all be dropped in at once.

The best method then is to have players form a “chain” and throw the treasure from player to player, avoiding the spectral orbs. The fastest method will be to send two players right to pick up the westmost treasure, and the other three players left to deal with the two near the entrance. If this proves challenging, it might be safer to just send all five players to deal with one treasure at a time.

Once all three treasures are placed in the chest, the door will open. Unfortunately, any spawned ghosts will remain active, so you may need to kill them first. Completing the maze also will not remove the effects of the curse, so consider /gging to regain full movement, though the checkpoint is back at the start of the maze.

Maintain Control of the Ship

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

Condition builds should use their standard sigils.

Recommended Utility: Boon Removal, Cleave, Reflects and Template:Gw2skill

For the next section, you will need to convey treasure onto the Kraken’s Pride while fending off a series of mini-bosses and ghostly cohorts.

First, carry the treasure onto the ship. When placed on the plinth, a new treasure will appear on the beach to the south along with a group of ghosts. Therefore, it may be beneficial to have one or two players head to the beach before depositing the first treasure so that it can be picked up immediately. At the same time, two shadow cannons will spawn on the deck facing south. Two players should use these to kill the ghosts on the beach, as they will not despawn when the mini-boss appears. Pay attention to the two Phantom Marksmen, as they can hit the ship from their spawn locations. If players take too long to recover the treasure, then more ghosts will periodically spawn and move towards the ship, though the Phantom Marksmen do not respawn. Should the treasure be left on the ground, then Ghostly Swindlers will attempt to grab it and take it back to its original location.

Depositing the second treasure will spawn the first mini-boss – Mad Jack Squall. The shadow cannons will disappear at the same time, so it may be worth ensuring that the ghosts from the beach are dead first.

Wiping or /gging at any point will despawn all ghosts, and spawn a new set of five on the ship. Progress will also be reset to the start of the section leading up to the next mini-boss.

Mad Jack Squall

This mini-boss only has a few basic attacks, applying (as his description suggests) Chill, Daze, and Protection to allies.

Every 25% health, a new group of ghosts will spawn near the ship and join the fight. The gangplanks will naturally force them to cluster together, which can make cleaving them down easier if needed.

At 50% health, Phantom Drafts will start to blow across the deck in a series of rectangular patterns moving either from west-to-east or east-to-west, until the full length of the deck has been covered. Then a new set of drafts will blow. These drafts do not cause any damage, but players will be pushed off the ship if they do not move out of the AoE immediately. While off the ship, players will continually be afflicted with Confusion and Poison from Fetid Fog, and if they are knocked into the water, they will also be attacked by Piranhas of the Deep Piranhas of the Deep. The safest method is thus to stay in the center as much as possible, so that if you are hit, you land on the beach or gangplank, and can quickly get back on board.

After the boss dies, another treasure will spawn on the beach to the north, along with some more ghosts. Depending on how secure the group feels, one or two players could head to the north beach shortly before Mad Jack Squall dies in order to immediately pick up the treasure. If there are still a lot of ghosts alive on the ship, it could be preferable to /gg here and deal with the small group that spawns instead.

As before, two players should man the cannons and cover those running with the treasure. Depositing this treasure will spawn the next mini-boss.

First Mate Calix

This mini-boss has two attacks: The first is – a conal AoE that launches players hit by it. This AoE does not track players, so it should be possible to sidestep it if you are close to the boss. The second attack is – a random player is targeted with an AoE that fills over four seconds, dropping a pool that lasts for 8 seconds, applying Chill, Vulnerability, Blind, and Agony to players, and Aegis, Protection, and Quickness to enemies. Players should therefore try to drop the pools to the side of the ship where no-one will be standing. Once again, boon removal will be valuable if the pool is dropped on the boss.

As before, at 25% health intervals, a new group of ghosts will spawn near the boat. At 50%, Phantom Drafts will also start to blow across the deck as before. At 25%, a second pattern of Phantom Drafts will spawn such that there are now simultaneous patterns moving east to west and west to east. The easiest way to avoid these is to stay in the center until they are next to you, then dodge past the drafts, then back to the center once it is clear again.

After this assault, there is now a lengthy defense phase. All four shadow cannons appear, and ghosts spawn at both north and south beaches. It is recommended that four players man the cannons, while the other (ideally some kind of support) stays to heal the people on cannons and/or kill any remaining ghosts (a small number of ghosts will spawn directly on deck during this phase as well).

After killing the majority of ghosts, the final boss of the fractal will respawn. Ghosts not yet on the ship will despawn after the defense, but those that are on board will remain and a small group of ghosts will also spawn on either side of the ship. It can be highly advantageous for the group to /gg at this point, as it will cause all the ghosts to disappear, and a much smaller group of ghosts will instead spawn next to the boss, making the start of the fight much less complicated.

Captain Crowe

Arabella Crowe adds another layer of mechanics to the previous bosses. Her basic attacks are – a cone AoE similar to that Dazes those hit by it, and .

Additionally, Arabella will sometimes use a second mechanic that resembles : . The player is targeted with a similar AoE, but this one fills with a green color. When it hits, the player inside will take heavy damage, but this damage is shared between all players stood inside the AoE so it should be dropped on the group.

Like Blasting Black Peter, every 10% of her health, a group of mobs will spawn near the boat.

At 75%, Arabella will teleport to the east side of the ship and Phantom Drafts will start blowing across the deck. Because of this, players should avoid dropping on this side to prevent her immediately gaining boons.

At 50% health, Arabella teleports to the west side of the ship. As before, players should avoid dropping here as she approaches 50%. A second set of Phantom Drafts will begin to blow at this point, but due to her positioning, you will not be able to avoid them in the same way as at Calix.

At 25% health, she will return to the middle of the ship. Thankfully, no new mechanics are added at this point (beyond the additional ghost spawns).