The aptly named Dragon’s End map is host to a “meta event” in Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons‘ expansion, one of the tougher ones yet, partly due to the expansion being really new at time of writing. Here’s an overview to get you prepared for the fight ahead. If you’re somehow here before reaching the associated story steps, then be warned there are spoilers!

Unless it gets changed, the True Ending achievement for the story quests will be obtainable even if the event fails.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Masteries you are recommended to have include:

• Heart of Thorns
  • Gliding
• Icebrood Saga
  • United Legions Waystation Synchronization, up to at least Remote Charge
• End of Dragons
  • Jade Bots. Rescue Protocol can work mid-air as well

When you reach this point, you should have most of the previous Mastery tracks complete, but this would be the recommended minimum. Do also have 1 to 2 hours set aside. The Battle for the Jade Sea in Dragon’s End is one of the longest Guild Wars 2 meta events yet.

PREPARATION PHASE 1

You simply have to complete events across the map. You will stack the “Dragon’s End Contributor” buff up to 10%, which grants one extra chest per point on a successful completion. Preferably, all areas will hit Readiness Level: High by the time the timer counts down. This will go through some of the events you may encounter.

XUNLAI JADE SHIPMENT

You need to find these Unsorted Jade Samples strewn around. Bring it to the Jade Bot to scan. If it’s entirely green, you can load it onto the sled marked on the map. If it’s got dark splotches on it, you need to deposit it on the pile.

KAOLAI TOWER NAGA

You don’t need to fight the Naga Looters. Find the items strewn on the ground and toss it at them to chase them away, while you can freely kill the ones marked with swords.

ESCORT SISTER SANGSA

This is a three-parter event, with the achievement available from the escort half.

JADE MAW

Defeat the Void Corrupted Jade Colossi to get a Reflecting Crystal. With a crystal, you can either stand in this AOE or when you get marked to charge it up, then throw it to the Maw.

While you wait for the timer, events will continue to occur. Take this time to:

• Get your Dragon’s End Contributor buff up to the maximum 10%
• Mine Jadeite Veins for Chunk of Pure Jade, required for crafting. A number are concentrated at the Jade Swirl
• Use the Jade Tech Defensive / Offensive Protocol for buffs, can be extended up to 90 minutes

Dragon’s End Contributor stacks can only be obtained during this phase. Duration is refreshed when you do any event.

PREPARATION PHASE 2

Everyone will gather up at the quarry here and be split into 3 groups. The majority of players should evenly split to follow Captain Fa or Navan, with a smaller group accompanying Caithe. Each “lane” will have their own respective champions to kill.

Caithe’s first phase unlocks the Harvest Complex Waypoint. From here, you can split off to help out the other two lanes.

Captain Fa and Navan have similar progression. Defeat the enemies to get Crystallized Void Magic, which you then throw at the Prismatic Crystal in the middle.

Continue fighting your way forward. Captain Fa unlocks the Brotherhood Waypoint, while Navan unlocks the Speakers Waypoint. You can pick up the Remote Charges from a United Legions Waystation and use them on the Rubble to deal more damage to it. You need to break down shields as well, in a similar manner, with Electromagical Pulses. If you have a Siege Turtle mount, or were able to get a Rental from near the Brotherhood / Speakers Waypoint, you can use its attacks to break the rubble / shields too. Once a shield goes down, you need to kill the Void creatures that were tethered to it.

When all 3 teams are in place, there’ll be another split on the West and East sides to fight off 2 champions each. Defeat enemies to get Purified Void Magic and walk over them. Once the 4 champions are down, use the Harvest Complex Waypoint to fight one more.

Next, you need to fill up 5 Prismatic Crystals with the respective magics. You will need to throw them at the corresponding symbol type, and they need to be filled at roughly the same time or there will be a 60 second timer window to fill up the rest before it resets. You can throw the crystallized magic onto the ground for others to pick up, handy when 10 stacks of Void will instantly Down you if you hold on to one for too long.

Once done, use this zip line to reach to the top. Try to have on hand Electromagical Pulse charges from the United Legions Waystation. Now, the real battle begins.

SOO-WON

Bring your DPS, dodge and try not to die! You may be suggested to stay on Soo-Won if you’re running a Condition Damage build. You can try a portable waypoint using your Jade Bot if you need to get back to the fight even quicker. Classes with resurrection skills may run them to bring up Downed people en masse. She has phases every 20%.

Get out of this slam attack!

Her Acid Breath will stack Void on you, which will make your character move as though on ice when it hits 10 stacks.

Break her Defiance bar. This is where your Electromagical Pulse charges come in. Use whatever crowd control skills you have. This phase is typically after her Acid Breath.

This “green circles” phase is no longer skippable. However, it is still recommended that you know what you’re doing as the traversal may be finicky depending on your ping / depth perception. You can follow the Commander’s instructions in the instance you’re in. Kill Thornhearts, and use the crystals to “block” any waves.

Everyone at the top has to hold out for 75 seconds until the wisps return. Your second skill sacrifices your HP for more jumps in an emergency. Successfully returning to your body grants you a damage increase buff, and not getting hit on going up gets you the Untarnished Spirit achievement. Portable waypoints will not work. Failing to return on time will have Soo-Won summon a tsunami that will instantly kill all who remain on the platform, unless you hide behind the crystals. You can also hop off the platform when the timer ends, and glide back to the platform once the tsunami subsides.

If you die, use the Pact Emergency Waypoint and glide / fly back into the fight. Any Glider skills you obtained from Bloodstone Fen are usable here.

Defeat her tail first when it becomes targettable. The tail grants her main body a buff that reduces her damage taken. Besides the buff indicator on the main body, a red indicator will also be on your mini-map for the tail.

She will enter a phase where she summons a wall of water that will continuously pull you towards the edge. You need to defeat enemies on the platform, walk over Void magic and use the special action to spear her down.

You’ll get another special action, to jump clear of the platform. You will need to fight 2 champions, later 3, and all must die at around the same time within a 30 second window. For the Void of Fire and Conflagration in particular, the champion will always return to the center so you do not need to chase it.

When she uses this dive attack, the main body and tail will swap positions. Head to the opposite direction at once to continue damaging her. Mesmers may choose to run Portals for quick swaps. This is the ONLY time the Tail and Head hitboxes will move. Other animations do not affect their positions.

Caught in a whirlpool? It’s much easier to let yourself die. For bubbles, try to help your buddies where you can, while you break out yourself.

ON COMPLETION

The map will then be open for another 15 minutes. There’s things to do! At time of writing, the Diving Goggles are bugged.

Your Dragon’s End Contributor stacks will be consumed to open all the red chests at the center of the platform.

From the southern most waypoint, this area will finally be safe to enter. Head to the bottom and listen to the conversation between Soo-Won and Aurene. You can use the Pact Emergency Waypoint and fly back down here repeatedly to attempt to trigger more dialogue.

Use the Argo Crawler zipline to reach Albax to unlock a collection.

Last but not least, if this is your first completion, head to Arborstone and find Rota to start raising your Siege Turtle.

There’ll be plenty of new people heading into Dragon’s End as they go through the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons expansion. The Guild Wars 2 team has made adjustments to the Dragon’s End event, but it pays to know these for success. Good luck, and have fun!