Strike Mission: Cosmic Observatory

Strike Mission: Cosmic Observatory

Levels

80

Type

Strike Mission

Zone

Skywatch Archipelago
(Horn of Maguuma)

API

1515

Loading screen

Image(s)

Cosmic Observatory map

Strike Mission: Cosmic Observatory is a strike mission for the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure expansion. Its challenge mode was released in a subsequent quarterly update after the expansion, and increases Dagda's health along with adding a 10-minute time limit to the fight. The strike contains story details from Mother of Stars story step.

Getting there

• Using the Strike Mission Portal in The Wizard's Tower near Halbera at  Hall of Gallantry — .
  • The option to open the strike is unlocked after completing the Mother of Stars story step.

Objectives

• Enter the circle to begin the Strike Mission
• Challenge Mode: Inactive
• Engage the enemy.
• Subdue possessed Dagda.
• Defeat Dagda, Wizard of the Celestial.
  
• Strike Mission complete!

Rewards

• One bouncy chest (once per week)
  • Dagda's Coffer
  • Green Prophet Shard (8)
  • 2 
  • 5,000 
  • 66,675 
• Green Prophet Shard (8) (on repeat, until weekly cap is reached)
• Sample of Kryptis Possession (if achievement A New Look is active)

Challenge Mode

• One additional Challenge Mode bouncy chest (once per week)
  • One random FExotic weapon or armor piece
  • Dagda's Magnificent Coffer
  • Green Prophet Shard (16)
  • 2 
  • 10,000 
  • 133,350 
  • Possible rare rewards:
    • Vial of Cosmic Energies

Walkthrough

Players must stand in the white circle to lower the barrier shielding the arena.

Short version

1. Dagda will occasionally select a player as the target of a beam attack. A large green arrow on the ground will follow that player. Players can split and absorb the damage by stacking in front of the chosen player. The chosen player can easily position themselves a few steps back, leaving their team between Dagda and themselves.
2. Dagda will occasionally spin, launching projectiles from herself and creating a damaging AoE underneath herself. She may also teleport before doing so. This is the only time she teleports. Players don't need to follow her as she will eventually return back to the center of the arena.
3. At 90%, 75%, 50%, and 25% health, Dagda becomes untargetable and fires 8 cones of diffractive energy at once, marked by AoE cones. Getting hit by it applies stacks of  Residual Anxiety and  Debilitated.
4. At 10 stacks of Residual Anxiety, players become mind controlled and hostile to other players.
5. Every time Dagda becomes untargettable she will spawn additional enemies that the players have to kill.
6. When a moving Soul Feast spawns, players should pick up the white orbs that fly out of Dagda, select the puddle, and then use the Special action skill (  Purifying Light) to destroy the puddle. The puddle may linger for a bit after its destruction.
7. Touching the Soul Feast Puddle applies a stack of  Residual Anxiety.
8. After reaching 50%, she will start covering half of the arena in AoE. Run/Dodge out of it.
9. Use crowd control abilities on her Defiance bar when it appears, or the squad will be hit by a large AoE.

Dagda

Health: 47,188,800 (56,626,560 if the Challenge Mode is active)

Enrage Timer: None (10 minutes if the Challenge Mode is active)

Enrage Effect: Defeats all players

Fixation Mechanic: None

Phase 1 (100% – 75%)

The encounter begins once players attack Dagda, who uses skills of celestial and demonic nature:

Skill	Notes
Demonic Blast (Red Cone)	At 90%, 75%, 50%, and 25% health, Dagda becomes untargetable then fires 8 cones of diffractive energy at once. Each player hit by this will spawn one The Tormented and be inflicted with 1 Debilitated (20s).
Demonic Fever (Spread)	Between 90% and 25% health, the 7 players closest to Dagda will be targeted with an orange circle that explodes after a delay, dealing unavoidable damage. Players standing within two or more overlapping circles will take massive damage.
Shooting Stars (Green Line)	Until 25% health, a random player is tracked with a large green arrow and receives the game message: Beware the Shooting Stars. Hide behind your allies! At least 5 players must stand between the target and Dagda to reduce the unavoidable damage and 1 Infirmity (30s) application to all players (the target will not receive this effect). The damage is evenly distributed among all players and can be mitigated with invulnerability.
Spinning Nebula (Spin)	Dagda spins in place and hurls projectiles that are susceptible to projectile destruction and reflects. Starting at 90% health and below, she may instead teleport before channeling this skill then teleport back to the center.
Strike → Vengeful Strike → Starburst	Three-part auto-attack chain that targets the closest player, with the third attack launching a projectile susceptible to related skills.

The Infirmity effect from failing the Shooting Stars mechanic reduces all incoming healing by 25% per stack. At 4 stacks, players can no longer heal or be revived. This is one of the two mechanics during the normal mode that inflicts this effect.

Upon reaching 75% health, Dagda casts Demonic Blast and creates a damaging field in the center of the arena that pushes players away. Players should quickly move out of this field during these phase changes. The Demonic Fever and Shooting Stars mechanics can each occur at the same time as the push, requiring players to spread out for the former, and stack together for the latter.

A mix of two Veteran and Elite The Tormented will spawn and must be defeated to progress to the next phase.

Bug:

If Dagda's health is pushed to a phase transition threshold while she is performing Spinning Nebula at any spot other than the center, she will use the spot where the Spinning Nebula was performed as her default position (instead of the center) until another Spinning Nebula teleports her to another spot.

Phase 2 (75% – 50%)

Defeating the Kryptis renders Dagda vulnerable again. She returns with an additional skill:

Skill	Notes
Soul Feast (Red)	Two orbs will spawn in addition to a Soul Feast, which targets and spawns on top of a random player who receives the message: You are targeted by Soul Feast. Run! The Soul Feast pulses 1 Residual Anxiety and 1 Infirmity on-hit and expires after either 15 seconds or when targeted by the   Purifying Light projectile from touching an orb. This skill deals minimal damage to Dagda.

Soul Feast is the second mechanic in the normal mode that applies the Infirmity effect. It applies this effect much easier and should thus be avoided and handled quickly.

At 50% health, Dagda casts Demonic Blast as a mix of four Veteran and Elite The Tormented spawn. They must be defeated to progress again.

Phase 3 (50% – 25%)

Dagda obtains two additional skills during this phase:

Skill	Notes
Planet Crash	Dagda unlocks her defiance bar and channels an attack that deals massive damage when complete. Breaking this bar will interrupt the channel and launch a weaker version of this attack.
Rain of Comets	Dagda covers half of the arena with comets.

Upon reaching 25% health, Dagda casts Demonic Blast and a mix of six Veteran and Elite The Tormented will spawn. Rain of Comets can also occur at the same time as the push, but will remove the Demonic Blast telegraph.

Phase 4 (25% – 0%)

Until defeated, Dagda will continue to use all prior skills, except for Demonic Blast, Demonic Fever, and Shooting Stars.

Challenge Mode

There are several differences between the normal and challenge mode versions of the fight:

General

• Players have 10 minutes to complete the entire encounter.

Monster buffs

• Increased boss health and damage
• Additional and altered boss mechanics
• A mix of Elite and Champion The Tormented now spawn at 75%, 50%, and 25% health
  • Champions may spawn an additional 5 Veteran Tormented Phantoms, indicated by a red-black charging ability that will explode.

Mechanical changes

Mechanic	Notes
New Skills
Charging Constellation (Numbers)	Targets 5 random players, indicated by a roman numeral (, , , , ) and an orange screen border. A constellation is fired at each target in sequential order, exploding upon impact and inflicting the  Extreme Vulnerability effect in an area. This attack is both a slash (line AoE) and explosion around all hit players, both of which can be blocked, evaded, or sidestepped. It is imperative not to be in the path of this attack. This attack deals lethal damage to players affected by  Extreme Vulnerability: alive players will be downed whereas downed players will be defeated.
Demonic Pools	8 large red pools spawn around the outer perimeter of the arena with small gaps between, each pulsing moderate damage and 1 Residual Anxiety.
Meteor Crash (Greens)	Targets 2 random players with a green circle, each requiring at least 3 players in them to avoid massive damage. Failure applies 1 Planetary Weight to Dagda.
Updated Skills
Planet Crash (CC)	Dagda will begin the encounter with this attack. Each break grants Dagda 1 Planetary Weight. Failure inflicts lethal damage, which can be mitigated with invulnerability.
Shooting Stars (Green Line)	Instantly defeats the targeted player if they are not hidden behind at least five players. Failure applies 1 Planetary Weight to Dagda.
Spinning Nebula (Spin)	The projectiles are now indestructible and inflict 1 Debilitated to players and allies. They will bypass blocks but can be avoided with evades and invulnerability. Players can additionally body-block them.
Soul Feast (Reds)	A Soul Feast spawns every second up to 5 times, for a total of 5 that follow the targeted player.
New Effects
Demonic Aura	Stacking effect applied to Dagda that reduces damage taken by 10% per stack (max 10 stacks). The number of stacks is affected by the following: (-5) Using the   Purifying Light (15s) special action skill on Dagda (+1) Every tick that a Soul Feast hits Dagda (+10) Upon expiry of the Demonic Aura Timer effect (+10) Upon phase change at 90%, 75%, 50%, and 25% health
Demonic Aura Timer (20s)	Timed effect applied to Dagda upon removing all stacks of the Demonic Aura effect. Regenerates 10 stacks of the Demonic Aura effect upon expiry.
Planetary Weight	Permanent effect applied to Dagda that increases each subsequent defiance bar strength. This effect comes from: (+1) Breaking their defiance bar (+1) Failing either the Meteor Crash or Shooting Stars mechanics
Updated Effect
Residual Anxiety	This effect on players no longer decays and is now permanent.

Bugs:

• Standing within or near Dagda's hitbox prevents players from getting hit by the Charging Constellation attack. This attack does not hit until players are far enough away from Dagda.
• The green circles during the Meteor Crash attack can be stacked together with no punishment, despite the arrows indicating too many people are inside.

General tips

The  Demonic Aura effect, Champion The Tormented enemies, and the  Debilitated effect from the Spinning Nebula attack increase the difficulty in maintaining high damage uptime on the boss.

Upon breaking Dagda's defiance bar, players should hold off on their burst until all stacks of the Demonic Aura effect are removed. Condition stacks however can still be applied.

The limited supply of Purifying Lights requires players to be conservative with them. They now spawn during Charging Constellation and Shooting Stars, and after Spinning Nebula. They should only be used when the Demonic Aura effect is active on Dagda. Because the  Demonic Aura Timer expires after 20s and the Purifying Light expires after 15s, players should delay grabbing a light to ensure it does not expire by the time Dagda regains the Demonic Aura effect.

At 90% health, Dagda becomes untargetable and casts Demonic Blast. She then regains max stacks of the Demonic Aura effect. Players should ideally hold onto a Purifying Light prior to 90% health to use immediately afterwards.

During the splits phases at 75%, 50%, and 25% health, all players should stack together to lure all enemies to one location. Pets and minions should also be recalled to the group. Meanwhile, the player targeted by Soul Feast should move away.

The Demonic Fever and Meteor Crash mechanics can each occur at the same time as the push from Demonic Blast, requiring players to spread out for the former, and stack together for the latter.

Players should again hold off on their burst until all stacks of the Demonic Aura effect are removed following each split phase.

Starting at 75% health and below, players can listen to Zojja's voice lines to predict future Spinning Nebula attacks. This attack is normally paired with Demonic Pool.

Starting at 50% health and below, Dagda will start channeling Planet Crash.

Enemy players can be quickly broken free by targeting them with hard crowd control (CC), such as  Daze and  Stun.

NPCs

Allies

• Zojja

Foes

• Champion The Tormented (Challenge mode only)
• Dagda
• Elite The Tormented
• Soul Feast
• Veteran The Tormented
• Veteran Tormented Phantom (Challenge mode only)

Objects

• Challenge Mote
• Purifying Light

Dialogue

Before engaging, repeated at random

Dagda: You cannot...take my power.

Dagda: Keep them away!

Dagda: Get away from me...

Starting the strike

Strike Initiator: Defeat Dagda to cleanse her Kryptis possession.

Let's do this.

We're still waiting for more people to show up.

Dagda casting Planet Crash

(One of the following):

Zojja: A-Alchemy—stun her or we're done.

Zojja: If you don't stun her... We have no other options!

Dagda spawning Purifying Light

(One of the following):

Zojja: She's dropping more orbs!

Zojja: Gather as many of those as you can!

Zojja: Pick those up!

Dagda casting Meteor Crash

(One of the following for both Dagda and Zojja):

Dagda: Collide!

Dagda: I'll turn this ground to crater!

Dagda: Let the stars strike!

Dagda: Rain down!

Zojja: Alchemy... Don't be shy!

Zojja: Get together!

Dagda casting Demonic Pool

(One of the following):

Zojja: Don't stand in that or we'll lose you!

Zojja: Get out! Get out!

Zojja: Get outta that! It's making you vulnerable!

Dagda reaching 85%, 60% and 35% health

(One of the following):

Zojja: Come back to us!

Zojja: Dagda, listen to me!

Zojja: Hang in there!

Zojja: Remember when I first got here? When you told me that I was safe? Let me do the same for you.

Zojja: Wake up!

Dagda reaching 25% health

(One of the following):

Dagda: Do not...please...!

Dagda: No... Get away!

Dagda: I... don't want to hurt you, Zojja!

Dagda reaching 15% health

(One of the following):

Zojja: I... I don't know how much longer...

Zojja: D-Dagda, come on...

Related achievements

• Secrets of the Obscure: Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission — Complete the Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission. (5)
• Amnytas: Jotun Skypiercer — Learn more about the Bastion of the Celestial and the jotun to acquire a powerful and ancient weapon. (3)
• Daily Strike Mission: Priority Horn of Maguuma Strike: Cosmic Observatory — Complete the Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission. (0)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Weekly Secrets of the Obscure Strike Missions — Complete 2 unique Secrets of the Obscure Strike Mission within a week. (0)

Requires challenge mode

• Secrets of the Obscure: Danced with the Stars — Complete the Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission with challenge mode active and without being hit by Spinning Nebula. (5)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Legendary Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission — Complete the Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission with challenge mode active. (5)
• Secrets of the Obscure: Precision Anxiety — Complete the Cosmic Observatory Strike Mission with challenge mode active and with all players being possessed by Residual Anxiety exactly one time and having survived. (5)

Notes

• Despite the purported mission objective of subduing Dagda, she is killed at the conclusion of this instance.
• Surprisingly enough, the in-game position of this strike isn't at Dagda's Perception, where the model for the arena exists in the world, but rather at the southwestern wing of Southern Wizard's Tower, an area normally only accessible during The Missing Facet and Tower of Secrets missions and after completing the Skywatch Archipelago meta-event.
• The November 7, 2023 game update reduced Dagda's health by 20% during the normal mode. Additionally, a hidden update on November 8, 2023 increased her attack damage during the challenge mode.
• The March 19, 2024 game update fixed an issue that awarded the Precision Anxiety achievement even if the entire party did not meet the requirements.

References

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Strike Missions

Living World Season 1	Old Lion's Court
The Icebrood Saga	Shiverpeaks Pass Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen Fraenir of Jormag Boneskinner Whisper of Jormag Forging Steel Cold War
End of Dragons	Aetherblade Hideout Xunlai Jade Junkyard Kaineng Overlook Harvest Temple
Secrets of the Obscure	Cosmic Observatory Temple of Febe
Wintersday	Secret Lair of the Snowmen (temporary)