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Ire of the Forgotten: A Serpent's Ire Meta Guide


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Welcome to the meta event that will destroy your soul!

Important Update!!!

As of the 28th of May, 2019, Arena Net did the unthinkable! The ACTUALLY improved Serpents' Ire!!! Below are the changes they made to meta. You can also click this link to check out the full updates!

Domain of Vabbi

  • Increased rewards for all events in the Serpents' Ire meta-event in the Domain of Vabbi.
  • Reduced the base amount of control effects required to break the defiance bars of Branded Forgotten zealots in the Serpents' Ire meta-event by 33%.
  • Reduced defiance-bar scaling of Branded Forgotten zealots by 50%.
  • Increased the cooldown before the defiance bars of Branded Forgotten zealots are active again from 10 seconds to 30 seconds.
  • Champion loot rewards in the "Defeat the Branded Forgotten zealots before the Branded crystal detonates" event have been moved from the creatures themselves to the event rewards to ensure all participating players receive loot for all five champions.
  • Ysshi Hessani's base health has been reduced by approximately 15%.
  • Pek Rakt Grag's base health has been reduced by approximately 10%.
  • Increased rewards in the chest dropped by the Legendary Forged Hounds.
  • Significantly increased the drop rate of the Mini Air Djinn, Mini Fire Djinn, Mini Water Djinn, and Mini Earth Djinn from the "Defeat the grand elder djinn" event in the Domain of Vabbi.

Serpents' Ire is the meta event that takes place in an area known as, "The Brand", within the Path of Fire map, "The Domain of Vabbi".

It contains three (3) different phases each lasting 20-30 minutes and requires a full, or close to full, map to complete as of Sunday, January 28, 2018.

The event is on a ninety (90) minute restart time that begins one (1) hour after server restart. Server restart is at Zero (0) Hour UTC (00:00/01:00 UTC | 7pm/8pm EST/EDT | 6pm/7pm CST/CDT | 4pm/5pm PST/PDT) thus, the start times for the event are as follows.

UTC: 1am, 2:30am, 4am, 5:30am, 7am, 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am, 1pm, 2:30pm, 4pm, 5:30pm, 7pm, 8:30pm, 10pm, and 11:30pm.

UTC: 2am, 3:30am, 5am, 6:30am, 8am, 9:30am, 11am, 12:30am, 2pm, 3:30pm, 5pm, 6:30pm, 8pm, 9:30pm, 11pm, and 12:30pm.

EST: 8pm, 9:30pm, 11pm, 12:30am, 2am, 3:30am, 5am, 6:30am, 8am, 9:30am, 11am, 12:30pm, 2pm, 3:30pm, 5pm, and 6:30pm.

EDT: 9pm, 10:30pm, 12pm, 1:30am, 3am, 4:30am, 6am, 7:30am, 9am, 10:30am, 12am, 1:30pm, 3pm, 4:30pm, 6pm, and 7:30pm.

CST: 7pm, 8:30pm, 10pm, 11:30pm, 1am, 2:30am, 4am, 5:30am, 7am, 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am, 1pm, 2:30pm, 4pm, and 5:30pm.

CDT: 8pm, 9:30pm, 11pm, 12:30pm, 2am, 3:30am, 5am, 6:30am, 8pm, 9:30am, 11am, 12:30am, 2pm, 3:30pm, 5pm, and 6:30pm.

PST: 5pm, 6:30pm, 8pm, 9:30pm, 11pm, 12:30am, 2am, 3:30am, 5am, 6:30am, 8am, 9:30am, 11am, 12:30pm, 2pm, and 3:30pm.

PDT: 6pm, 7:30pm, 9pm, 10:30pm, 12pm, 1:30am, 3am, 4:30am, 6am, 7:30am, 9am, 10:30am, 12am, 1:30pm, 3pm, and 4:30pm.

It is wise for the commander(s) to start getting a map set up for the event thirty (30) minutes early. By this I mean: going from map to map, advertising for your squad; placing the markers, setting up the groups for phase 2, explaining the meta to everyone, and getting a taxi set up for the map.

With all of that said, here is what you should expect when attempting this event.

How To Set Up The Map:

When in a squad, the leader of the squad has access to eight (8) different icons with which they can use to mark the map: Arrow, Circle, Heart, Square, Star, Swirl, Triangle, and X.

You do this by using the specific key binds provided by the game. Go to the location you wish to mark and simply use your key bind to place the marker.

If you wish to mark an object, there are key binds for that as well! First, select the object to target it then use your key bind specifically for marking objects and the object will be marked with the desired icon.

You'll want to use five (5) of those markers for phase two (2) so your groups know where to go and the remaining three (3) for the general locations in which the zealots in phase one (1) spawn.

The general locations for the zealots are as follows:

Dehwan Expanse, Dzasha Uplands, Zagonur Cliffs, Kodash Bazaar, and Resplendent Trace.

Since these are general locations and not exact, be aware that the zealots can spawn all the way to the north of the map, near the mastery insight, and all the way to the south of the map in Resplendent Trace.

Note: I have yet to see a zealot spawn directly in the Grand Court of Sebelkeh or Yahnur Plateau, but don't rule them out.

However, there is some certainty to the spawning of the zealots. When the zealots do spawn, they always spawn near a Djinn safe zone. So be on the look out for said safe zones and you should find the zealots with ease.

I use the following markers to mark the general spawn locations in P1:

  • Swirl to mark the northern part of the map (Dehwan Expanse and Dzasha Uplands).
  • Triangle to mark the middle part of the map (Kodash Bazaar and Zagonur Cliffs).
  • X to mark the southern part of the map (Resplendent Trace).

I then use the following markers for P2:

  • Arrow to mark the NW corner of the Grand Court of Sebelkeh (GCoS).
  • Circle to mark the exact Northern (middle) part of the GCoS.
  • Heart to mark the NE corner of the GCoS.
  • Square to mark the SE corner of the GCoS.
  • Star to mark the SW corner of the GCoS.

The Phases:

NOTE: Use your Skimmer mount to move around in The Brand as the Skimmer floats over the ground and actually prevents you from being hit by the lightning.

Phase One (1) - The Hunt:

To start this event off, you'll literally be hunting down and killing five (5) branded, forgotten zealots.

On the right of your screen, you'll see an empty bar and a counter that reads zero of five (0/5).

In order to find all five (5) zealots, you first have to flush them out of hiding. To do this, you need kill veteran branded within The Brand.

When a zealot spawns, a notification will appear on your screen for a brief time, so pay attention and start hunting the moment you see this notification.

NOTE: It is wise to continue killing vets even when a zealot has spawned as not to run out of time and fail the event.

When you spot a zealot, hit it! Yes. Hit it; Smack it in the face! When the zealot becomes damaged, its location will be revealed on the world map to all players in the Domain of Vabbi.

This makes it a lot easier, for the rest of those participating in the hunt, to find them.

Once all five zealots are dead, phase two (2) will begin after a short two (2) to three (3) minute respite.

Phase Two (2) - Immortal? I Think Not!:

This is hardest phase in the event as it relies more heavily on CC (Crowd Control) then damage.

When this phase begins, the five (5) zealots you thought you killed earlier will respawn. Remember the five (5) markers from earlier? These are where the zealots will respawn for this phase.

When they respawn, they'll immediately begin channeling a giant bomb that spawns in the middle of the GCoS as indicated by a constantly depleting bar on the right side of your screen.

To prevent the bomb from going off and killing everyone, you must kill all five zealots once more. However, it's not so simple this time.

Each zealot will spawn with a very hefty defiance bar that you MUST break in order to deal any damage to them what-so-ever, thus EVERYONE participating in the event MUST bring CC. No exceptions.

NOTE: See below for a detailed breakdown of the CC abilities each profession Should bring.

Phase Three (3) - Is That... A HYDRA!?!?:

Immediately upon completing phase two (2), Ysshi Hessani, another branded, forgotten zealot..., and Pek Rakt Grag (Greg as I like to call him) will spawn where the Circle marker is (but in the water), in the northern part of the GCoS.

Ysshi Hessani:

Like the other five (5) zealots, Ysshi will also have a defiance bar however it isn't imperitive that you break his bar as he takes full damage even with it up, it just makes the fight easier as he's not hitting you in the face as you're trying to kill him for however long, so break it as often as possible.

Ysshi will switch between ranged immunity and melee immunity throughout the fight, making damaging him difficult, but not impossible.

Ysshi will also revive Greg if he dies. Ironically, Ysshi's usually the reason why Greg dies as Ysshi will also siphon 50% of Greg's health from him to heal for 25% health.

Therefore, the strategy here is to stack on Ysshi so that Greg stacks on the zerg much in the same way that you stack on the Jade Bow in Bloodstone Fen to get the Jade Armor to stack on the zerg, so you can cleave them down.

Ignore Greg completely until Ysshi dies as, like I said before, Ysshi will just revive Greg if he dies.

When Ysshi gets to 25% health, he will phase and start summoning Branded Sparks on the southern side of the GCoS.

During this time, Ysshi will become invulnerable and start channeling an explosion to hit the group with. To reduce the amount of damage this explosion does, KILL THE SPARKS.

Each spark that reaches Ysshi will empower this attack by 2%, so the more sparks that reach him, the harder this explosion will hit, eventually one-shotting everyone, wiping the group.

NOTE: It is possible to mount up to avoid the damage of the aforementioned explosion. Also, you don't fail the event if you wipe, only if you fail to defeat Ysshi/Greg before time runs out.

After the Sparks phase ends, head back to Ysshi and continue damaging him until he dies.

I don't know how often Ysshi actually does the sparks phase, but he does it very often; what seems to be every 2% hp lost to every 5% hp lost, so be prepared to kill a lot of sparks.

Once Ysshi dies, you FINALLY can focus on Greg.

Pek Rakt Grag (Greg):

Yes... Greg is a massive, purple hydra...

Greg enjoys: taking long walks on the beach, singing in the brandstorm, cozy nights by the fire, and...

  • Summoning meteors that damage the group and knock anyone down that it hits.
  • Summoning minions.
  • Charging the group, damaging and knocking back anyone he hits.
  • Bullet-Timing your computer by using an ability called, "Magically Unstable Breath".
    • Magically Unstable Breath, "miniaturizes", everyone it hits: reducing their size, reducing their outgoing damage by 90%, and increasing the damage they take by 50%.

Isn't he lovely? Once Ysshi dies, he's very easy to kill, just stack on him and burn him down.

NOTE: Greg's abilities don't change at all throughout the entire fight.

The Strategies:

There are two strategies to this phase: Zerg and Split. Regardless of the strategy a full or nearly full map is required in order to successfully complete this phase.

The Zerg:

The zerg strategy is quite simple. The commander place five (5) high CC Damaging professions in four (4) different groups. These, "CC Groups", do nothing but make sure the zealots are well controlled (health damage isn't as important hear as CC damage is).

The remaining thirty (30) players remain in the zerg. The zerg will start out in the NW corner of the GCoS (Arrow) and kill that zealot as quickly as they possibly can. Once that zealot dies, they'll move to circle, then to heart, then to square, and lastly to star.

If successful, it will seem as though you're going to fail at first, but the moment you kill that first zealot, killing the other zealots gets faster and faster until you kill all five (5) of them and phase three (3) begins.

The squad groups should look as follows:

  • Arrow (NW Corner) = Zerg starting location.
  • Circle (Northern part of the GCoS) = CC Group One (1)
  • Heart (NE Corner) = CC Group Two (2)
  • Square (SE Corner) = CC Group Three (3)
  • Star (SW Corner) = CC Group Four (4)

NOTE: Also try to have five (5) high CC damage dealers in the zerg as well to make killing that first zealot as easy as possible.

Split:

This strategy is very similar to the zerg strategy but differs in the size of each group. Instead of having one (1) big group and four (4) small CC groups, the commander should divide the squad evenly between all five (5) groups, having ten (10) people in each group.

In this strategy, there is no main group like with the zerg strategy. instead, each group is responsible for both the controlling (CC) and damaging (DPS) of their zealot, so the commander should try to divide the high CC damaging professions between all five (5) groups evenly as best they can to give each group the best possible chance of killing their zealot.

However, when one group does kill their zealot that group should move clockwise (to the right) to the next zealot and help kill it. Here is what the rotation would look like: Arrow to Circle - Circle to Heart - Heart to Square - Square to Star - Star to Arrow.

Basically, no group should ever be sitting around doing nothing; everyone should be unleashing every ounce of Krytan wrath they possess on the zealots so they stay down for good this time!

And there you have it! That's the event. Although this is a very difficult meta, it's very fun to do, and when you do complete it, it's very exciting.

CC breakdown:

NOTE: This is not a comprehensive list. I've listed only hard CCs and the CCs I think each profession should bring to the fight based off of individual recharge times and the CC damage they deal. Also. for the professions I didn't mention, they use the same CCs as the, "vanilla", version of their profession.

Warrior:

  • Tremor (Mace 5)
  • Pommel Bash (Mace 3)
  • Skull Crack (CORE Mace Burst)

    Berserker:

  • Headbutt (Elite)
  • Wild Blow(Utility)
  • Plus Tremor & Pommel Bash

    Guardian:

  • Bane Signet (Utility)
  • Banish (Hammer 4 (Optional))

    Revenant:

  • Jade Winds (Shiro Elite)
  • Surge of the Mists (Staff 5)

    Herald:

  • Chaotic Release (Dragon Elite)

    Renegade:

  • Scorchrazor (Shortbow 5)

    Engineer:

  • Big Ol' Bomb (Bomb Toolbelt)
  • Overcharged Shot (Rifle 4)

    Scrapper:

  • Big Ol' Bomb (Bomb Toolbelt)
  • Blast Gyro Tag (Utility)

    Holosmith:

  • Holographic Shockwave (Photon Forge 5)
  • Big Ol' Bomb (Bomb Toolbelt)

    Ranger:

  • Call Lightning (Utility)
  • Concussion Shot (Shortbow 5)
    • Pets: Electric Wyvern & one of the following:
    • Rock Gazelle
    • Pink Moa
    • Smokescale
    • Any porcine – Soulbeast Only

      Thief:

  • Tripwire (Utility)
  • Basilisk Venom (Elite)

    Daredevil:

  • Hook Strike (Staff 1)
  • Basilisk Venom (Elite)

    Deadeye:

  • Binding Shadow (Utility)
  • Basilisk Venom (Elite)

    Elementalist:

  • Gale (Focus 5 Air)

    Weaver:

  • Gale (Focus 5 Air)
  • One of the following:
    • Pile Drive (Earth+Air Staff 3)
    • Mud Slide (Earth+Water Dagger 3)

      Mesmer:

  • Signet of Domination (Utility)
  • Diversion (Shatter 3)

    Chronomancer:

    • Signet of Domination (Utility)
    • Gravity Well (Elite)

      Necromancer:

  • Wail of Doom (Warhorn 4)
  • Charge (Flesh Golem Elite)

    Scourge:

  • Oppressive Collapse (Torch 5)
  • Charge (Flesh Golem Elite)

**NOTE: For a more comprehensive list of CC abilities, please follow the below link:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Defiance_Bar#Control_effects

In closing. If you got this far, I want to thank you for reading this post. If you have any suggestions/criticisms, don't hesitate to leave a comment. I hope this helps everyone!

Let the hunt begin!

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I can see why you made this thread. Last few times I was on a FIRE run the players were... aggressively stupid. Demanding answers, yet not having the patience to listen. Demanding action, but not listening to what to do. That said, paragraphs and sections are a good things. Having a double space after every two sentences makes this a bit hard to find stuff.

Also, I wonder if the zerg should be split between two squads. The reason is that the zealots don't scale up too much when the zerg approaches, so a group with a whole lot of players can break the bar fairly easily. The issue is, breaking one bar easily is nigh useless. But if there were two zergs and three CC groups, you could much more consistently have two barriers broken, and thus have better overall damage than if one group just focused down one zealot.

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CC ratings here are... questionable. Both Mesmer and Revenant (at least Renegade) can do a lot more CC than is listed here.Not listed are:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Darkrazor%27s_Daring does 600 defiance damage on a stationary target, because it hits 6 times.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Surge_of_the_Mists does 450-750, depending on how many hits you score.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mirage_Thrust does 400 via Illusionary Ambush when you have 3 illusions up (which is trivial to do).https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Diversion does 400 when you have 3 illusions up.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Humility does 1000 in one hit, by far the strongest defiance breaker in the game, and for some reason wasn't listed.

I'm not so familiar with Necromancers, but with the amount of chill they can stack I have a very hard time imagining they don't CC well.

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@"Ben K.6238" said:CC ratings here are... questionable. Both Mesmer and Revenant (at least Renegade) can do a lot more CC than is listed here.Not listed are:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Darkrazor%27s_Daring does 600 defiance damage on a stationary target, because it hits 6 times.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Surge_of_the_Mists does 450-750, depending on how many hits you score.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mirage_Thrust does 400 via Illusionary Ambush when you have 3 illusions up (which is trivial to do).https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Diversion does 400 when you have 3 illusions up.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Humility does 1000 in one hit, by far the strongest defiance breaker in the game, and for some reason wasn't listed.

I'm not so familiar with Necromancers, but with the amount of chill they can stack I have a very hard time imagining they don't CC well.

Thank you for your comment. It's greatly appreciated. While I do appreciate the heads up on some abilities I missed, a few of the abilities you mentioned aren't correct from what I can tell.

  • Darkrazor's Daring - Although it does hit six times, it only does a 1/4s daze per hit totalling only a 1.5s daze for 150 CC damage.
  • Surge of the Mists - I'm not exactly sure how they calculate knockback damage, it does seem to deal 450-750 CC damage so I will add it to the list.
  • Mirage Thrust - From what I can tell, it only deals 100 CC damage at most simply because that's the base amount of damage any hard CC can deal. I can't find any information that states this ability gains more ticks or deals more CC damage via: traits, utility skills, or amount of illusions.
  • Diversion - It does deal 400 CC damage but is very situational as: you have to have 3 illusions up, they all have t be focusing your target, and you have to be within melee range of the target for the shatter to hit it.
  • Signet of Humility - This does deal 1k CC damage. I'm not quite sure why it deals that much damage as it only lasts 6 seconds, but it will make the list now.

If I'm in fact incorrect on the above, please let me know and I will make the necessary changes. Thank you once again.

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@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:I can see why you made this thread. Last few times I was on a FIRE run the players were... aggressively stupid. Demanding answers, yet not having the patience to listen. Demanding action, but not listening to what to do. That said, paragraphs and sections are a good things. Having a double space after every two sentences makes this a bit hard to find stuff.

Also, I wonder if the zerg should be split between two squads. The reason is that the zealots don't scale up too much when the zerg approaches, so a group with a whole lot of players can break the bar fairly easily. The issue is, breaking one bar easily is nigh useless. But if there were two zergs and three CC groups, you could much more consistently have two barriers broken, and thus have better overall damage than if one group just focused down one zealot.

Hey! Thanks for your comment. I've since revisited the spread out (Divide & Conquer) strategy and came a conclusion. Regardless of the strategy, a full/nearly full map is the key to success with this meta. You NEED a ton of people. With that said, yes... it is wise to have two squads on the map participating in the event. :D

I also updated the post to add sections like you suggested. Hopefully everything's easier to find now.

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@"Ben K.6238" said:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Humility does 1000 in one hit, by far the strongest defiance breaker in the game, and for some reason wasn't listed.

Tbh I find that barely useful in this fight because of the extremely long CD. It's slightly better if you run Domination with Blurred Inscriptions, but with the default 3 minutes you'll probably use it exactly once in this fight.

Chrono would most likely be better off with Gravity Well, too. Should be roughly 550/90 sec vs. 1000/180 sec. Well I guess 1000/144 sec with Dom/Chrono but it's kinda always on cooldown when you want to use it. :) Skills with low cooldowns are much more useful here.

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@Kiza.5630 said:

@"Ben K.6238" said:

does 1000 in one hit, by far the strongest defiance breaker in the game, and for some reason wasn't listed.

Tbh I find that barely useful in this fight because of the extremely long CD. It's slightly better if you run Domination with Blurred Inscriptions, but with the default 3 minutes you'll probably use it exactly once in this fight.

Chrono would most likely be better off with Gravity Well, too. Should be roughly 550/90 sec vs. 1000/180 sec. Well I guess 1000/144 sec with Dom/Chrono but it's kinda always on cooldown when you want to use it. :) Skills with low cooldowns are much more useful here.

You're forgetting continuum split. You use Signet of Humility twice is a row.

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I didn't. But it's only Chrono and there is still a lot of time before you can use them again. I've been there many times. And for every successful event it's rarely used more than once or twice. Right at the start and then maybe once more but if the fight drags that long it rarely succeeds. For Chrono Gravity Well might work better here since you can actually contribute cc to every 3rd or 4th breakbar.

I would equip it in a heartbeat if I could turn stuff into moas every 60 seconds! On this fight while it's an incredibly strong CC it suffers from the long CD.

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Right now, I'm just wondering who at Anet sat back, made an event that requires 75 people, and said "This is fine". In theory the event shouldn't be too hard, but because it doesn't scale down the amount of people you need is obscene.

BTW, for anyone unaware, [FIRE] organizes this event an hour before server reset every day. The event itself starts half an hour before server reset. Mostly what we need is bodies.

Has anyone experiment with killing the elite forgotten next to the zealots before? It says on their description that they give buffs, so maybe they're playing a role that we currently do not understand.

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@Kiza.5630 said:I didn't. But it's only Chrono and there is still a lot of time before you can use them again. I've been there many times. And for every successful event it's rarely used more than once or twice. Right at the start and then maybe once more but if the fight drags that long it rarely succeeds. For Chrono Gravity Well might work better here since you can actually contribute cc to every 3rd or 4th breakbar.

I would equip it in a heartbeat if I could turn stuff into moas every 60 seconds! On this fight while it's an incredibly strong CC it suffers from the long CD.

I agree that the long cooldown makes it questionable if you have multiple CC phases - if you're running a Chrono you'll be able to cast every 90ish seconds though, which makes it comparable with some of the other long cooldown skills listed.

I wouldn't be entirely surprised if some of the CC ratings on the wiki are long, and haven't done any exhaustive testing myself. My main game mode is WvW where PvE optimization isn't important, but running a power block Mirage myself, I was pretty surprised to see the initial rating for mesmer all the way down the bottom given the demolition job it can do on keep/tower lord break bars.

If I'm awake during that time frame, I'll see if I can stop by. I've yet to see a completed Serpents' Ire, so it'll be neat to get a co-ordinated run.

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  • 2 years later...

great guide. too bad that 2 years later, no one does it anyone unless there is the vabbi event daily if you are lucky that do it or if you are in a very rare, friendly, helpful guild that form a squad of 20+ or 30+ guildies or a very, very rare commander player, who can rally 20+ players to join the organized squad. currently, there is no reason to do the exaltation of the guardians and the main funerary all armor sets' gear pieces collection achievements, and lws 4 golem backpack achievement that might be a story stopper.

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