Beta Disclaimer

The info in this dungeon primer is not final. A lot can change from now till release, and we will try our best to update the content when the changes come rolling in. We expect the fundamental dungeon design and boss line-up to remain intact, but the difficulty level that will most likely be tinkered.

Lore

The Ascalon Catacombs are the ruins of the once-mighty human kingdom of Ascalon, ruled formerly by King Adelbern. It suffered from constant attacks from the Charr, and a climactic battle in the distant past resulted in the Foefire, a cataclysmic event that decimated the area into a cesspit of malevolent ghosts.

The Charr say King Adelbern had grown mad, and in his misguided pride to wipe out the invaders, he plunged his legendary sword, Magdaer, and brought ghastly ruin to his kingdom. At the start of the dungeon in Story Mode (more on that below), your mission is to chase after the Norn hero Eir Stegalkin who plans to retrieve Magdaer, possibly upsetting the spirits even more.

Watch this Guild Wars 2 Ascalon Catacombs opening cinematic to learn of the dangers lurking in the haunted dungeon: >>> CLICKY <<<

What to Watch Out For

Puzzles

A carry-over feature from the original Guild Wars, environmental puzzles in Ascalon Catacombs involve relatively simple tile activations. Coordinate with your teammates to unlock the path to the deeper sections.

Traps and Cliffs

The dungeon routinely activates environment maps that are often lethal if you do not disable or avoid them. You can also fall to your death. Watch out for knockback attacks and be aware when evading so you don’t roll off a cliff. (This is in contrast to player hubs like Divinity’s Reach where gaping chasms are guarded with invisible barriers for your own safety.)

Repairs

If you haven’t heard yet, Guild Wars 2 doles out systematic armor breakage with each death. Rack up enough, and you will be forced to play naked and without gear buffs. Your team will need to be vigilant in keeping allies alive, especially since anyone can hand out support spells and channel heals when a teammate is in the downed state.

Not Completely Predictable AI

The developers have been trumpeting the downfall of the tri-class system, and one of the thrilling boons this has given us is that boss fights are a tad more unpredictable — and fun in that “this dude will wipe us if I’m not paying attention” kind of way. Bosses in Ascalon Catacombs, and the whole game in general, react to a whole set of stimuli aside from threat and uses this intel to launch attacks.

Mob packs

True to the dungeon’s eerie environments, much of the enemy spawns here are wrathful Ascalon soldiers who died on the eve of Foefire. The more sinister mobs are the so-called gravelings, which attack in a seemingly endless swarm unless their mound pit is located and destroyed.

Objectives and Boss Progression

1. Find Eir Stegalkin

2. Clear the mausoleum of ghosts
– Defeat 1 Ascalonian Captain
– Defeat 15 Ascalonian Ghosts

3. Defeat Master Ranger Nente
- Profile: The spirit of the Ranger trainer from the first Guild Wars and now a geist in Ascalon Catacombs.
– Stats: N/A
– Attack Pattern: Shoots from a distance and occasionally comes close when you use the environmental triggers
– Strategy: Ranged classes have a damage advantage in this fight, but those who prefer the melee way will need to throw rocks at Nente to lure him to fight in close range. Proceed to beat him down until he zooms back to his perch.

4. Defeat Ralena and Vassar
– Profile: A pair of previous trainers for Elementalists and Mesmers, respectively, now in spirit form.
– Stats: N/A
– Attack Pattern: Gains significant buffs when the two bosses are near each other.
– Strategy: Pull each boss away from the other. One teammate can keep Ralena preoccupied, for example, while the rest can gang up on Vassar. Then finish off Ralena.

5. Defeat Kasha Blackblood
– Profile: Former Necromancer trainer who specializes in draining health via blood magic.
– Statistics: N/A
– Attack Pattern: Summons pet minions that she sacrifices to restore her HP.
– Strategy: Cut off her healing source. Focus fire on pets so she cannot regain HP, and then proceed to damage Kasha. Rinse and repeat every time she raises new adds.

6. King Adelbern.
– Profile: The final boss of Ascalon Catacombs is none other than the ghost of the last monarch himself, King Adelbern, who has stood sentry over the desolate catacombs throughout the years.
– Statistics: N/A
– Attack Pattern: Pushes and pulls the team in a fight area with instant death borders.
– Strategy: Distance awareness is crucial here. Keep away from the falling edges and proceed to roll out the damage rotations after running back within range.

Story Mode and Explorable Mode

Dungeons have two difficulty levels – Story Mode and Explorable Mode. The playtest version of Ascalon Catacombs was in Story Mode, which is easier and focuses on telling the gripping tale of the fallen kingdom.

What ArenaNet has not shown is the harder Explorable Mode version (more info here), which is unlocked after the Story Mode and basically places you in a choose-your-own-adventure type of dungeon crawling. Each team choice offers a set of different bosses, objectives and rewards. Explorable Mode version should be available in a beta weekend soon.

Data Sources

We’d like to thank and acknowledge the following sources

Guild Wars 2 Ascalon Catacombs Dungeon Experience David North | MMORPG.com
Guild Wars 2 Preview Crawling through the Ascalonian Catacombs Leah Jackson | G4TV.com
Ascalon Catacombs | Guild Wars 2 Wiki