Guild Wars 2 Silverwastes Guide

Guild Wars 2 Silverwastes Guide by rashdanml

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the Silverwastes, and I think I have a fairly decent grasp of the map and how the events work. There are probably still a few gaps that need filling, and I’m hoping I can fill those in with discussion. Some of the content here is probably discussed in separate threads, but it’s a good idea to have a single location covering the entire map, events, bosses, and various strategies for the bosses. This should also be beneficial for future players going to the Silverwastes for the first time, and want a detailed overview of the map before jumping in.

The guide is titled “semi-organized” due to not requiring as organized a group as Dry Top.

Introduction

The Silverwastes is a new map introduced on November 4th as part of Living Story Season 2. The map introduces WvW-style siege mechanics against the minions of Mordremoth, in an attempt to gain control of key locations to perform a full-scale assault on Mordremoths champions. The siege mechanics are a bit simplified, as players fight against NPCs. For someone familiar with WvW, the Silverwastes should be very easy to grasp.

Meta events

There are three main Meta events in the map. The first is called Foothold, where the Pact attacks and defends four fortresses: Red Rock Bastion, Indigo Cave, Amber Sandfall, and Blue Oasis. As you defend the fortresses, you can also help an NPC upgrade the fortress for extra defence against waves of Mordrem.

The second phase of the meta event is called The Breach. This occurs when the Pact Assault progress bar is completed, by doing various events in the map (as far as I am aware, attack and successful defence counts towards progressing Pact Assault – upgrade events and bull escorts may not count towards Assault progress). Once The Breach event triggers, all four fortresses will have a pit where players can jump in and face off against Mordrem champions: Champion Husk Copper at Red Rock, Champion Terragriff Gold and Silver at Indigo Cave, Champion Troll Iron at Amber Sandfall, and Champion Thrasher Platinum at Blue Oasis. The Breach only lasts for 5 minutes, and all of the Champions need to be defeated for the full reward (partial reward also exists). It is also interesting to note that you do not need to have all four forts held and fully defended for the Breach to appear. As long as the Pact Assault bar is full, the Breach event will trigger regardless of number of forts held/defended. I have a personal opinion on this, but I will leave it out.

The third phase of the meta event occurs upon success or failure of the Breach: the Pact regroups at Camp Resolve for 5 minutes, and the meta event restarts with Foothold.

Key events for each fortress

The first phase of the events at each fortress is simple: you clear out the area of all Mordrem, then kill the Vine crawler in the middle of the fortress to seize the location for the Pact.

Right after the attack phase is complete, several things can happen:

• A supply bull will leave Camp resolve to go to the nearest fort. The supply routes will be detailed in a later section. The bull needs to be defended a total of three times along the supply route for the event to succeed.
• An event to clear out nearby Mordrem pops up. This usually involves killing a Veteran Mordrem nearby.
• A defence event pops up. Players will need to defeat waves of Mordrem NPCs. There will also be several Vine crawlers to take out, as these give a buff to the Mordrem, and a debuff to the players in the vicinity. During the defence, a torch can be picked up along the way to a signal fire – lighting the signal fire calls in an Air support which is 1) totally badass, and 2) clears out Mordrem NPCs around the fortress. Arrow carts are also available to rain down on Mordrem NPCs in or outside the fortress.

If the bull event fails, another will be sent out from Camp resolve or the starting fortress. If the NPC dies during the defence, players will have about 2 minutes to resurrect the NPC; failure to do so will allow the Mordrem to retake the fort, therefore failing the Defend event. If that happens, players will need to wait a few minutes before being able to retake the location (attack phase).

If the defence succeeds, the Supply Master will move outside the fortress, and players would need to collect 25 pieces of rubble. This is needed to upgrade the fortress to the next defence level (I believe). The defence level is capped at level 3, while the supply level can go higher. Supply level is dependent on the number of successful bull escort events (I’m assuming).

Supply routes

The supply routes I’ve been able to deduce so far are:

• Camp Resolve to Red Rock
• Camp Resolve to Indigo Cave
• Red Rock to Indigo Cave
• Red Rock to Amber Sandfall
• Indigo Cave to Blue Oasis
• (Possibly) Amber Sandfall to Blue Oasis – need confirmation as I haven’t seen this one happen, or may have missed it.

Legendary Bosses

Legendary bosses spawn randomly at each fort, as detailed below:

• Legendary Annihilator (Husk) at Red Rock
• Legendary Demolisher (Terragriff – I think) at Indigo Cave
• Legendary Tormentor (Thrasher) at Blue Oasis
• Legendary Executioner (Troll) at Amber Sandfall

The Legendary bosses are fairly easy to kill with enough numbers. It’s possible the spawn rate is higher when the fortress is at Level 3 Defence, but I’m not sure about this.

Organization tips

The strategy is quite simple: pick a fort, stay at that fort. That way, you can continuously defend the location and make sure it doesn’t flip over to the Mordrem. If the other locations need assistance, a couple of people can split off to go help, leaving the majority behind. Colour coded commander tags work great for organization as well. As far as numbers go, 10-15 players per fort is plenty for defending the fort (5 really good players will be able to successfully defend forts). In addition to that, supply routes and bull escort events would require about 2-3 players. It is possible to solo the escort, but certain points of the escort can be tough depending on the class. 2-3 should trivialize the escort mission to ensure supply goes around to the further locations.

The Breach

Once the Breach event appears, everyone can jump into the Sarlacc pit (couldn’t help it >.>). For this phase, the number of people needed will have to change due to one of the Champions being a duo. I would start with 10-15 players for Red Rock, Amber Sandfall, and Blue Oasis, and 15-20 for Indigo Cave.

Players looking to complete the collection for Luminescent shoulders should also pop the Mordrem Dissector buff before entering the Breach. These can be purchased at any Crest vendor for a fairly low price.

Red Rock – Champion Mordrem Copper

Since the boss is basically a giant husk, bring condition damage to melt him down fairly quickly. There is a semi-safe spot where it’s easier to shoot down the boss from, but this may be considered an exploit or may no longer work – climb up onto a root near the boss. I believe the mini adds around the boss shoot projectiles that causes bleeding (need confirmation on whether it’s the boss or the adds that cause bleeds), and I’ve had up to 20 stacks of bleed on me, so try to dodge the projectiles.

Indigo Cave – Champion Terragriff Gold and Silver

The first strategy to these bosses is to keep them separate. If they are together, they perform an AOE attack that instantly kills everyone; however, the attack can be avoided by staying ranged. The bosses also charge around the room (the room is circular). The second strategy is to pop the gas bubbles as the boss charges into the bubble. This causes the boss to be stunned for ~10s, allowing players to DPS down the boss fairly quickly. The stun may also cause the boss to charge in the opposite direction as well. As with all Terragriff mobs, avoid the trail it leaves behind when it charges, as it will cause damage.

Once one boss is downed, the second is easier to deal with. Repeat the bubble popping strategy and DPS him down.

Amber Sandfall – Champion Troll Iron

Probably the easiest boss to kill. The AOE circles are very easy to either step out of or dodge (safe areas are easy to spot). The boss also has a cone attack which needs to be dodged (believe it’s a knockback/down attack). DPS is the only necessity to kill the boss.

Blue Oasis – Champion Thrasher Platinum

This boss teleports around the room to four corners. Around the boss are poison bubbles, which can be popped to make the boss do a spinning projectile attack. Reflects work really well here to cause the boss to damage himself. The boss also has an AOE pull (large area), which is easy to dodge out of. Even if you do get pulled, you can dodge out of the smaller attack area almost immediately. Not sure if there’s any way to delay the teleporting – immobilize may work. This boss takes a bit longer to kill as well, due to the boss teleporting around, but isn’t as hard as Gold/Silver.

Miscellaneous Events

To cover all possible bases, there’s a collection event at Camp Resolve where you can donate Bandit crests to an NPC. Once the funds are raised, you gain access to a merchant: Bank, Trading Post, Laurel Merchant (ones I’ve seen so far), etc.

Conclusion

Overall, not too difficult for an organized group. The lack of timers like Dry Top makes it easier, and even if the Mordrem retake a location, it’s still possible to get to the breach.

Any extra information on fighting the bosses or general tips are appreciated.