Power Player needs a rework.

This achievement is just plain infuriating. The mobs spawn way too often, are near impossible to kite. The veterans you need to kill show up way too late to be of any use to get the crystals charged. I have spent almost 17 hours across 4 different classes trying for this achievement, and it is a massive headache. The mob mechanics need to be slowed down; stall the wave spawn from the last one being killed by at least 15 seconds. Each and every time I try to burn the vet down inside a crystal, I get a couple mobs spawning right by me, and they die first to the burst, even though I have targeted the veterans, causing the crystal to charge and nullify the achievement. Only one video seems to exist on YouTube on how to do it, and even then it is impossible to replicate due to the nature of the random mob spawn locations, as well as Aurene's rogue AI wanting to demolish everything in her path. I would almost go for a "Call Back" special action for Aurene, much like the Ranger's "Return to me" F3 skill.

There are people who have completed the achievement successfully - it's definitely doable. But I agree that Aurene can be very annoying in that instance and being able to call her back would help a lot.

Once you know what to do, however, she's not that big an issue.

What you can do is pick a crystal you want to charge and position yourself in a spot closeby (but outside the charging range of the crystal). Aurene will kill one or two mobs but should still follow you. Kite the mobs and Aurene outside the charging range of the crystal and then kill the mobs there.

At this point, the crystal might have 1 or 2 charges from random kills by Aurene on her way to you -that's fine. Now charge the crystal up to half the charge bar by throwing Branded Shards (dropped by normal Branded mobs) onto it (while still standing ouside the charge range). Reaching half the charge triggers the Veteran to spawn.

Option 1: Make sure to kill everything but the Veteran and then quickly move inside the crystal charge range with the Vet and burst it down there. Now you can charge up the rest with normal mobs.

Option 2: If you have problems bursting down the Veteran before the next mob spawn, you can try leaving one of the normal mobs alive. That might delay the next mob spawn (not sure about it but seemed like it), but you risk that Aurene kills the mob on her own inside the crystal charge range, so I would only do that if your crystal is really only half full so that one mob can't charge it to full before you kill the Vet.

Repeat the above for all crystals.

Once you have charged one crystal it gets easier, since you have more room to kite the mobs away from the remaining crystals.

I hope this helps - at least that's how I got the achievement on my Weaver (Sw/F Condi at that time, so not much single target to work with either).

EDIT:Forgot to mention that throwing Branded Shards at Branded mobs pulls them, which can be used for a bit of mob control - just be careful not to accidentally charge a crystal more than you intended to by using the Shards close to a crystal.

I gave up. I don't need it anyway for my 30.

It took me a few hours, too. To be honest, it's a crapshoot. Sometimes things go your way, but most of the time they don't.

If it's any help: I deduced that full glass power reaper would be the best class do to this with. Why? The axe skills don't cleave. So long as you are patient, you can run in small circles while axing the vet down. It helps to unload a whole lot of burst on his face, so I like to use greatsword 5 to yank it into the center of the circle, then unload a bunch of DPS skills before the other adds get there.

Took us 3 tries as group of 4 once we figured out the mog and Aurenes mechanics. Easiest way to do this as group, adaptable to solo but will be more difficult:

1. Kill enemies outside the crystals range, use the shards to charge the crystal to 50% (this makes a huge difference since it allows for 1-2 normal enemies to die by accident near the crystal. Given that you have been fighting outside the crystal, it also reduces this chance.)
2. this causes the veteran enemy to spawn. Pull the veteran enemy into the crystal area and burst it down with minimal cleave
3. Rinse and repeat.

What makes this so much easier as a group is that other players can stand outside with the normal enemies. This prevents the respawn and allows 1 person to pull/position the veteran.

Isn't that a pretty basic achievement? When you kill the first wave of enemies near a crystal, you charge it to around 80%. Then the veteran comes, you kill it near the crystal and it is completely charged. Just do this for all three. I'm a bit confused that people seem to struggle with it, as i got it when i casually played the story for the first time.

I had to repeat this trial several times in solo, before completing it (with a revenant). Following what Dulfy says can be a problem if you are alone and don't have such a high dps (you are right, if you kill all the adds far from the crystal, you have only few seconds to burn the veteran down, before a new wave spawns).What I found though, is the following:

• you don't need to kill the veteran at last to charge the crystal. It's enough that you use the veteran to charge the crystal, even if it's not the final charge
• you can use any veteran to charge any crystal (that you didn't charge yet)

So after trying to follow what Dulfy said in solo (and failing), I did it this way:When the veteran spawned at the first crystal, I brought it inside the second crystal (that wasn't charged at all yet) and killed him there. The crystal remained not fully charged but spawned the second veteran. Here you can judge whether to bring this new veteran to the third crystal or back to the first one (it depends on his HP and on the amount of adds).

My tips for this achievement: Bring a PULL utility

• Thief scorpion wire
• Necro spectral grasp
• Engi tool kit
• Mesmer focus off hand
• Ranger axe off hand
• Warrior Kick (not a pull, but if you're solo, this could work)
• Ele Staff or dagger offhand for knocking back or launch skill.

Step 1: Start clearing adds outside of the circle. When they die outside of the crystal area, they will spawn Brand Shards. Charge a crystal with 3 shards. A vet will spawn in the middle.

Step 2: Stand in the middle, bring the vet HP down to 15% and cleave any mobs coming to the next wave. I did this achievement with a daredevil so Vault and Dagger Storm are a godsend. Other classes have their burst skills, too. Learn your own rotation.

Step 3: Pull the vet to the crystal and kill it. Then finish charging the crystal. Now you have a bigger empty space to clear the mobs. Repeat for the next two crystals.If the mobs engage Aurene inside the crystals and risk charging it? Pull them out.

@Rayti.6531 said:There are people who have completed the achievement successfully - it's definitely doable. But I agree that Aurene can be very annoying in that instance and being able to call her back would help a lot.

Once you know what to do, however, she's not that big an issue.

What you can do is pick a crystal you want to charge and position yourself in a spot closeby (but outside the charging range of the crystal). Aurene will kill one or two mobs but should still follow you. Kite the mobs and Aurene outside the charging range of the crystal and then kill the mobs there.

At this point, the crystal might have 1 or 2 charges from random kills by Aurene on her way to you -that's fine. Now charge the crystal up to half the charge bar by throwing Branded Shards (dropped by normal Branded mobs) onto it (while still standing ouside the charge range). Reaching half the charge triggers the Veteran to spawn.

Option 1: Make sure to kill everything but the Veteran and then quickly move inside the crystal charge range with the Vet and burst it down there. Now you can charge up the rest with normal mobs.

Option 2: If you have problems bursting down the Veteran before the next mob spawn, you can try leaving one of the normal mobs alive. That might delay the next mob spawn (not sure about it but seemed like it), but you risk that Aurene kills the mob on her own inside the crystal charge range, so I would only do that if your crystal is really only half full so that one mob can't charge it to full before you kill the Vet.

Repeat the above for all crystals.

Once you have charged one crystal it gets easier, since you have more room to kite the mobs away from the remaining crystals.

I hope this helps - at least that's how I got the achievement on my Weaver (Sw/F Condi at that time, so not much single target to work with either).

EDIT:Forgot to mention that throwing Branded Shards at Branded mobs pulls them, which can be used for a bit of mob control - just be careful not to accidentally charge a crystal more than you intended to by using the Shards close to a crystal.

Using your advice, I got it my first attempt on my Mesmer (Chrono) using Greatsword and Focus. I pull all the mobs away with my Focus, use the shards to power the crystal, then range the Veteran with my Greatsword, and when he was down to 15%, I would push him with Greatsword skill 5, and then shatter all my clones on him to kill him.

Is the veteran spawning anymore? I've just started doing this achievement, and no matter how far my crystal is - 50% or higher, the veteran is not spawning. Just regular mobs :/ 

3 hours ago, Sunblood.5896 said:

Is the veteran spawning anymore? I've just started doing this achievement, and no matter how far my crystal is - 50% or higher, the veteran is not spawning. Just regular mobs 😕

 

You should spawn a veteran each time one of the three crystals gets to 50%.

Are you sure you are at the three crystals and not the first one (which does not count)?

Since this post came up in a search on this achievement, I figured I'd add my grievances too. *sigh*

I'm trying this now and Aurene is just an absolute hinderance. She literally won't get out of the circles. No matter where we stand before mobs spawn, she runs TO A CRYSTAL and stands under it to fight all the mobs that spawn at it. So wtf am I supposed to do? I can't drag her dumba$$ away. Even if I pull the mobs, they're still powering the crystals until I can bc of her.

Also, in every instance thus far, the crystals are getting charged from the mobs that are standing outside of the boundary of the crystals. IDK why the boundary isn't a boundary but it's making me have to try and not only pull them from Aurene but also pull them to practically Narnia just to get them to not charge them even though they're clearly outside the barrier.

And, just a question, are there no indicators on the crystals? Were there ever? I can see that they light up from within as they charge, but is there no % indicator, like if when you click on typical mobs/items to see their "life?" IDK, I'm frustrated at the randomness of dealing with Aurene fking up the achv which she has done every single run so far.

So, for the people who say "OMG it's sooo simple," you all must just be super lucky then and didn't get a kitten Aurene in your story. 

So I know it'll never happen but if there's any chance, PLEASE just add a "stay command" to Aurene so you can park her, or just take her out of the fight all together. I don't need her. She's just making things harder than they need to be and for no reason other than bad coding or bad luck.😒