The Departing SPOILERS

Too Long. I'm on my 3rd try and the two previous tries lasted for two hours each at a minimum. I am a dedicated gamer and love this game which is why I would waste FOUR PLUS hours (so far) of my life on this game. Now on this , my third and most likely final try, I am a lost soul in a region where I am supposed to be looking for weapons that I am pretty sure aren't available. I have spent 1.5 hours now roaming around the region of lost souls looking for the trigger to release the doves that mark past acquaintances. Its taken so long to get here that I dread the thought of starting over. I for some reason just can not beat the Eater of Souls. I get him down in health but i am so squishy that I inevitably fall and he sucks the life right back.Please Help !!!!

Stay at range if you can. There's one chain of attacks he'll do that heals.

Small AOE jump - tether - big AOE. The first and third have a defiance bar though the window for the first attack on the defiance bar is pretty short. The strategy that seems to be pretty successful so far (but not mine, someone else posted it on the board) is to watch out for the small AOE and make sure you're not in it by running, not dodging, then immediately dodge roll twice away from the boss. This will limit the amount of damage/healing he does with his tether and should put you well out of range of the third attack. The third attack has a longer lasting defiance bar, so try to CC him here.

If you can manage to CC him on the first attack, I believe that will negate the entire chain and daze him so you can wail on him for a couple of seconds. His other attacks are weaker and don't heal. So take at least two CC's that are preferably insta-cast for best results. There's been a few threads on this topic and some have class specific advice if you're still having trouble.

Good luck!

Thank you MMAI. As if by providence, as soon as I returned to the game after i initially made this post I triggered the long long list (30?) of doves that symbolized my purpose. It was as if someone heard me and fixed my situation. Now after meeting the Eater of Souls, I am in the familiar death respite. I am dead and the decision to retry from a previous checkpoint or leave the instance altogether. Not Now ! There is something about this game that gets into my spine. It vice grips my back bone and won't let go until I've overcome the instance. I may have met my match.

Hello, hello

From my experience with this event: When you are told to collect your weapons - turn 180 and walk towards the crates and cargo sitting on the ground (a short distance from your position). I immediately found my weapons, followed by the spirit who stole my name - follow accordingly.

I beat the Eater of Souls using Guardian class (sword/shield); stunning with #5 (shield bubble).

Overall, a really great event.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, :)

I finally beat him. I used (on my Mesmer) a combination of Diversion and Chaos Storm to keep him from refilling his bottomless pit of souls. God I am so glad to get that bad boy behind me ! Note to Anet. If you're going to make bosses that tough don't draw it out into such a long instance. I literally have spent all day on that one and have a few baubles to show for it.

If you are a pet class (ie ranger, necro), you can just set your pets to attack and then just hide on the opposite side of Joko's cage (like literally, always keep the cage between you and the boss). It never casts any abilities and your pet wears it down.

That's how I did it.

What to bring?

• Range DPS
• Conditional Damage
• CC
• Speed buffs (food, utilities, etc.)
• Use a pet for distractions (probably won't last long since the EOD will likely drain the pet's health fast)

What to do?

• drag EOD around Joko's cage (might get stuck)
• There's a spot next to the stairs where EOD can get stuck and you have freebie shots
• When the telegraphing circle appears start dodging. EOD can't health drain when you're evading. Afterward you can quickly interrupt its healing ability.
• While you're running away from EOD drop ground damage stuff like AOE, traps; basically anything that does DPS (works well against Elites)

What not to do?

• Give up! :)

I had to kill Balthazar before this SIX times. Two were my fault, I had to leave once and the other I left to come to this thread, but I'm ready to stop pve altogether because of my frustration. I've wasted 5 hours on this now. I am SO SICK of that fight.

I left the first two times, see above. The 3rd AND fourth I got stuck in places nobody should just roaming looking for tools, and had to /stuck to get out. the fifth I got to the "present yourself to the judge" and just stood in front of him. He never reacted except the 1st line of his then just stood there and looked at me. So now I have to leave and come back again, and I haven't even started the boss fight yet.

Devs, PLEASE create a save point after the fight w/Balthazar to return to so this doesn't happen to others if they have to leave or have an issue.

(edit) I went through it all, and didn't get the achievement for watching all of the stories, although I knew it was coming and absolutely stood there for every one... but the boss fight was easy, took 3-4 minutes.

Watch the judge and after he's done talking he'll point to where the weapons are, follow that. They're boxes near the anvil.

@Michael Conrad.6704 said:I finally beat him. I used (on my Mesmer) a combination of Diversion and Chaos Storm to keep him from refilling his bottomless pit of souls. God I am so glad to get that bad boy behind me ! Note to Anet. If you're going to make bosses that tough don't draw it out into such a long instance. I literally have spent all day on that one and have a few baubles to show for it.

Should have seen it before the nerf.

@Michael Conrad.6704 said:Too Long. I'm on my 3rd try and the two previous tries lasted for two hours each at a minimum.

Because you are doing it wrong and din't think about adjusting your approach, maybe?

This fight is easy and has been made even easier when ANet decided to nerf it. :( All you have to do is not let your opponent touch you for healing etc. Stay at range, avoid his attacks (run and dodge), use ranged attacks. He'll be down in less than two minutes.

The weapons are always in the same crate, the one far left in a line of crates. All the crates are piled up in the same spot (center?), you can't miss them.

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Michael Conrad.6704 said:I finally beat him. I used (on my Mesmer) a combination of Diversion and Chaos Storm to keep him from refilling his bottomless pit of souls. God I am so glad to get that bad boy behind me ! Note to Anet. If you're going to make bosses that tough don't draw it out into such a long instance. I literally have spent all day on that one and have a few baubles to show for it.

The OP of this thread made said thread less than a week after PoF launched, which was pre-nerf I'm pretty sure.