Legendary Alliance Stance
Legendary Alliance Stance
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“Legendary Alliance StanceInvoke the power of the legendary champions Archemorus and Saint Viktor.
— In-game description
Legendary Alliance Stance depicts the collaboration between two rival Canthan champions—Saint Viktor zu Heltzer of the Kurzicks, and Archemorus of the Luxons.
Skills[edit]
| Skill | 
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|
|
|
Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selfish Spirit | 1½ | 10 | 10 | Legendary Alliance. Channel your rage into the nearby area, healing and empowering yourself for each enemy struck. | |||
 Selfless Spirit
|
1½ | 10 | 10 | Legendary Alliance. Heal allies in an area. | |||
| Nomad's Advance | ¾ | 10 | 3 | Legendary Alliance. Lunge forward, damaging foes and gaining might for each target struck. | |||
| Battle Dance
|
¼ | 15 | 3 | Legendary Alliance. Evade backward, granting boons to allies. | |||
| Scavenger Burst | ¾ | 15 | 3 | Legendary Alliance. Unleash your rage at foes in the area, gaining boons and endurance for each foe struck. | |||
| Tree Song
|
1 | 15 | 3 | Legendary Alliance. Grant regeneration and cleanse conditions from allies in the targeted area, healing them for each condition removed. Gain endurance for each affected ally, and gain additional endurance for each condition removed. | |||
| Reaver's Rage | ½ | 15 | 10 | Legendary Alliance. Break stun and attack nearby enemies, gaining stability for each target struck. | |||
| Awakening
|
15 | 10 | Legendary Alliance. Break stun on nearby allies and grant protection. | ||||
| Spear of Archemorus | ½ | 20 | 12 | Legendary Alliance. Call upon the spirit of Archemorus to hurl his spear at your foe, dealing significant damage. | |||
| Urn of Saint Viktor
|
-5 | 2 | Legendary Alliance. Become the Urn of Saint Viktor, taking continuous damage while healing nearby allies. You take reduced damage while in this state, but you cannot be healed. | ||||
| Drop Urn of Saint Viktor
|
1 | 1 | Legendary Alliance. Slam your Urn into the ground, ending the ability. Grant boons and heals[sic] allies based on your health threshold. | ||||
Related traits[edit]
Corruption
Invoking Torment — Release a burst of torment energy when you switch legends.
Retribution
Spiritual Reckoning — Gain resolution when you use invoke a legend.
Salvation
Invoking Harmony — Healing done to other allies is increased for a short duration after invoking a legend.
Invocation
Invoker's Rage — Gain fury when you invoke a legend.
Cleansing Channel — Invoking a legend removes a condition.
Spirit Boon — Invoking a legend grants boons to nearby allies based on the legend that was invoked.
Song of the Mists — Invoking a legend casts a skill based on the legend you invoked.
Charged Mists — Invoking a legend while at or below the energy threshold grants extra energy to your new legend.
Vindicator
Balance in Discord — Gain health and boons when swapping legends or by using Alliance Tactics while attuned to the Legendary Alliance.
Dialogue[edit]
Upon activating Legendary Alliance Stance:
- Saint Viktor: I have no time for weak opponents.
- Saint Viktor: Make them concede!
- Archemorus: Raise your weapon!
- Archemorus: Been itching for a fight.
Idle conversations[edit]
- Archemorus: Viktor and I were somewhat famous, back in the day. We also conquered a god.
- Saint Viktor: Correction: Shiro thought he was a god, but I assure you he was not.
- Archemorus: Eh, what's the difference?
- Archemorus: We didn't save Cantha standing around, did we, Viktor?
- Saint Viktor: We certainly did not. Though I'd prefer it if you called me by my full title.
- Archemorus: Apologies, most revered Saint Viktor of zu Heltzer.
- <Character name>: I thought the Luxons and Kurzicks didn't get along, but you two seem pretty friendly.
- Saint Viktor: Oh, it wasn't always this...cordial. After we awoke in the Mists, Archemorus was angry.
- Saint Viktor: It took a long time for him to accept death. But we did what lost souls should: we stayed together.
- Archemorus: Oh, Vikky... I—
- Saint Viktor: I hate him—I meant to say that I hate him.
- While in Seitung Province
- Saint Viktor: Shing Jea... It hasn't changed much, has it?
- Archemorus: In some ways, it has. But the grass is as green as I remember—the sky just as blue...
- Saint Viktor: My thoughts exactly. It's too bright; I miss the shadow of Echovald. Can we go there instead?
- While in New Kaineng City
- Saint Viktor: "New" Kaineng? Too many Ministries, eh? Did they run out of room?
- Archemorus: The system needed to fall apart to be rebuilt. And it was. Only took a tsunami to set the record straight.
- Saint Viktor: And then some.
- Archemorus: I welcome the change. The city needed more color.
- While in Arborstone
- Archemorus: You're very still, friend.
- Saint Viktor: I never thought I would feel lonely in Arborstone.
- Archemorus: It may not be the same, but it breathes. Does that not bring you joy?
- Saint Viktor: Some, perhaps.
- While in the Echovald Wilds
- Saint Viktor: It's so... quiet.
- While in Dragon's End
- Archemorus: This isn't my home. This is a battlefield.
- Saint Viktor: At least the battle is nearing its end.
- Atop the Harvest Temple
- Archemorus: This place...
- Saint Viktor: We will never forget.
- While invoking Legendary Alliance Stance with Shiro equipped
- Archemorus: Was that Shiro's voice I heard?
- Saint Viktor: Shiro? Did you say Shiro? Who invited that filth?
- Archemorus: At ease, my friend. He's as dead as you or I. And somewhere close, perhaps! Shall we pay him a visit?
- When boarding a Skiff
- Archemorus: That's more like it. The sound of the waves, rocking back and forth...
Lore[edit]
Protectors of Cantha[edit]
- Primary articles: Archemorus, Saint Viktor
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The Kurzicks and Luxons had been bitter enemies in Cantha for centuries. However, Emperor Angsiyan managed to sign new treaties of cooperation with the two vassal states, bringing them further into the imperial fold than they had been for hundreds of years. Though it was never publicly acknowledged by the imperial government, let alone Emperor Angsiyan himself, his bodyguard Shiro Tagachi deserved much of the credit for bringing the Kurzicks and the Luxons to the negotiating table. The deadly assassin spoke a language that the warring cultures could understand, and even their champions—the Kurzick Saint Viktor zu Heltzer and the Luxon Archemorus—stood side by side to pledge their allegiance to the one true emperor. This renewed cooperation with the empire extended so far that the Kurzicks and Luxons declared peace with each other, and Archemorus and Saint Viktor, along with their respective retinues, joined the emperor on his visit to the Harvest Temple in 1382 CC (872 AE) for that year's Harvest Festival as honored guests. At some point, the temple had been the site where the two champions had received their power from.[1][2]
The champions respectfully stayed outside unarmed as per custom while the emperor walked into the temple's innermost sanctum during the ritual in the company of Shiro whom he somehow allowed to enter the sanctuary armed against tradition. As Angsiyan gave thanks to the Five True Gods for another bountiful year and was about to receive the second blessing of Dwayna, however, Shiro unexpectedly betrayed the emperor and slew him and the ritualists in the entourage. The last surviving ritualist fled and managed to ring the ceremonial gong of the temple before being struck down by the treacherous bodyguard. She fell down with an agonized scream, alerting people outside that something was amiss. The two champions of the vassal factions heard cries that the emperor was in trouble, and did not hesitate. They left their ceremonial positions at the head of their own faction's delegations and charged after the guards to Angsiyan's side, soon followed by their respective factions' kinsmen.
After dispatching the ritualists, Shiro began using dark magic to tear Angsiyan's soul from his body, consuming it with his raw will and feeding on the emperor's life force as it drained through the conduit of the assassin's enchanted swords. Historical records differ on what happened next.[3] Some sources claim that the assassin Vizu, who had also been alerted to the scene, managed to reach Shiro well before the two champions and the guards, and disarmed him before the Betrayer retaliated and disarmed her in return until the other champions entered the sanctuary to lend her their aid. In other tellings the emperor's guards and a group of armed Kurzicks and Luxons burst into the sanctum first and battled Shiro head on, only to be cut down by the magically empowered Betrayer until Vizu arrived to distract and weaken Shiro long enough for Archemorus and Saint Viktor to finally arrive and face the treacherous bodyguard in combat.
Before the wounded and dazed Shiro could recover his blades and continue to consume the emperor's soul, the unarmed Archemorus and Saint Viktor took the opportunity to take up the Betrayer's discarded swords. Shiro raised himself to his knees, but the Luxon and the Kurzick champions met him with his own blades and nearly cut him in half. As the twin swords sliced into his form, Shiro screamed. This enchanted death wail unleashed the magic of Dwayna which he had stolen from the emperor. It caused the Jade Wind which turned all it touched into stone, including the two champions who were its first victims.[4]
Legacy[edit]
Some time after the Jade Wind, Saint Viktor's ashes were placed in the Urn of Saint Viktor which was held within Cathedral zu Heltzer, also known as Arborstone, while Archemorus's bones were made into the Spear of Archemorus. They became important, magical relics of their respective peoples who turned hostile towards one another once again. According to tradition, the Luxon clan that won the annual Convocation was awarded with both the right to possess the Spear of Archemorus for that year and the honor to slay the magical kraken Zhu Hanuku.[5]
In 1072 AE, heroes managed to win the trust of both the Kurzicks and the Luxons and recovered both relics to use them in battle against Shiro who had returned as a vengeful spirit. Although the heroes managed to set Shiro back at first, it cost them the two relics which were destroyed in combat.[6][7]
Version history[edit]
For a detailed skill history, see here.
| Patch | Changes |
|---|---|
| March 15, 2022 |
|
| February 28, 2022 | End of Dragons release:
|
| November 30, 2021 |
|
| September 21, 2021 |
|
Trivia[edit]
- All of the Legendary Alliance category skills reference lore of Cantha, particularly the Kurzicks and the Luxons, from Guild Wars Factions.
- Archemorus is voiced by Liam O'Brien, and Saint Viktor is voiced by Paul Nakauchi.
References[edit]
- ^ Elder Oxis
- ^ Redemptor Iszar
- ^ The Guild Wars Factions cinematic trailer shows that Shiro fought a force of Kurzicks and Luxons head on before Vizu came to the champions' aid, while the An Empire Divided document states that Vizu was the first champion to reach and weaken Shiro before the other champions managed to enter the sanctum.
- ^ An Empire Divided: A Selected History of Mysterious Cantha for the Traveling Scholar
- ^ Boreas Seabed
- Elder Rhea: You have bested our champions and earned the right to fight Zhu Hanuku.
- Elder Rhea: I believe this is what you came for. The Spear of Archemorus is yours.
- <Character name>: Thank you, Elder Rhea. We accept the spear and the honor of fighting the kraken.
- ^ City Under Attack
- Emperor Kisu: I understand that you have procured both the Spear of Archemorus and the Urn of Saint Viktor. Master Togo believes that together, these weapons might have the power to bring Shiro to his knees, just as the heroic spirits within them did so many years ago. I pray that he is correct.
- ^ Sunjiang District
- Brother Mhenlo: Is he...?
- Togo: Gone? I do not know.
- Togo: The Spear of Archemorus and Urn of Saint Viktor were destroyed.
- Togo: Let us hope Shiro was, as well.
- Messenger Vetaura: He has left this place, but he is not gone.
- Emissary Heleyne: You have dealt Shiro a great blow, but he will return.
