The Key of Ahdashim

This article is about the raid. For the NPC, see Key of Ahdashim.

The Key of Ahdashim

Map of The Key of Ahdashim

Levels

80

Type

Raid

Region

Crystal Desert

Connects to

Domain of Vabbi

API

1323

Loading screen

“

After the events in the Mystic Forge, Qadim has returned home to the Hidden City of Ahdashim to usurp a great power. Seek the Key and the cardinals for guidance into the hallowed city walls and stop Qadim from destroying not only the djinn, but also the natural balance of the world.

— In-game description

The Key of Ahdashim is a raid consisting of one single wing of the same name, it is the seventh raid wing added to the game and is commonly referred to as W7.

The djinn Qadim has fled to Ahdashim, the home of the djinn, after the events of Mythwright Gambit. Zommoros believes that Qadim might be after a great source of power within the city, and has suggested that you accompany Glenna to talk to Ahdashim's steward.

Getting there

Players must own the Path of Fire expansion and be in a raid-mode (10 player) squad to join. The raid completion state is based on the player that loads into the instance first (not always the first player who generates the raid pop-up).

• Enter the portal north-west of the  Ruins of the Mirror of Lyss — in the Domain of Vabbi (north of  Market Ruins Waypoint — ).
• Enter the respective portal in Lion's Arch Aerodrome ( Aerodrome Waypoint — ).
• Enter or be within Lion's Arch Aerodrome when the raid instance is opened.

Zommoros A Hidden City To Scholar Glenna and the esteemed champions of the Forge: I hope you are doing well, my friends. I myself am thriving at the Mystic Forge, thanks of course to my foresight in recruiting you to stand before that bag of wind, Qadim. I've received word he's entered our home city of Ahdashim. But all my attempts to communicate with the city have since been blocked. I would seek out the monster myself, but the Forge requires my attention. And my exile has not been lifted (a minor bureaucratic oversight, I'm sure...). There is great power within Ahdashim—power that Qadim might seek to take for himself. I implore you to head to the citiy in my stead. If anyone knows what's going on there it'll be the Key of Ahdashim. Seek the Key and the cardinals. Keep Ahdashim safe. XOXO, Zommoros

Locations

Area	Area objectives
Prism Sanctuary	Gates of Ahdashim
Leystone Axis	Key's Fountain
Fractured Conservatory	Nirvana's Ascent
Basalt Arena	Earthen Shrine
Sovereign's Stadium	Well of Ahdashim

Objectives

• Talk to Glenna
• Get Glenna and the Key to Ahdashim's front gate.
• Clear a path through the Branded so Glenna can collect fragments of the Key
  • South Courtyard
    
  • Southwest Courtyard
    
  • Northwest Courtyard
    
  • North Courtyard
    
  • Key Fragments Recovered: 0/4
    • Protect Glenna until she unlocks the gate, or defeat all the Branded champions
    • Scholar Glenna
      
    • Gate unlocked in: 5:00
    • Champion Branded Djinn: 0/3
• Restore the Key of Ahdashim's Body
• Listen in on the conversation.
• Cardinals of Ahdashim Defeated: 0/2
  • Head to either the Basalt Arena or the Fractured Conservatory
• Access the Basalt Arena
  • Earth Elemental killed: 0/1
• Defeat Cardinal Adina.
  • Cardinal Adina
    
  • Time remaining: 8:00
  • Destroy the stone hands: 0/2 (at 75% boss health)
  • Destroy the stone hands: 0/4 (at 50% and 25% boss health)
• Return to the Leystone Axis.
• Access the Fractured Conservatory.
• Wisps killed: 0/4
• Defeat Cardinal Sabir.
  • Cardinal Sabir
    
  • Time remaining: 9:00
• Return to the Leystone Axis.
• Listen in on the conversation.
• Follow the Key of Ahdashim
• Engage Qadim the Peerless.
• Defeat Qadim the Peerless.
  • Qadim the Peerless
    
  • Time remaining: 12:00

Walkthrough

Gate

In order to gain access to Ahdashim, players must restore the Key of Ahdashim. They will have to escort Scholar Glenna and the damaged Key, while collecting fragments of the key to restore it and open the gate. To complete the event, players must capture different areas of the courtyard to make them safe for Glenna and the Key to traverse. Each area is guarded by small groups of miscellaneous Branded Veteran and Elite creatures. In addition to those, there are also several Champion Branded Djinn that roam the area between and near the capture points. They possess hard hitting skills and can pose a threat to the squad if not outhealed or killed fast enough. Each capture point needs to be captured by clearing out enemies while also having at least 1 player in the capture area.

After all 4 capture points have been secured, Glenna and the Key will begin to work on opening the door. At this points most squads split up into 2 unequal groups, one group will continue to kill 3 newly spawned Branded Djinn, while a healer and 1 damage dealer will stay behind near Glenna and the Key to protect them from oncoming waves of branded. Since the Djinn can deal heavy damage, they are most commonly dealt with one by one, starting with the first Djinn which can be found close to where the northwestern courtyard capture point was in the previous stage of the event; while the other two Djinn can be found in the northeastern and eastern part of the courtyard. Killing all three Djinn while also managing to keep Glenna alive will give the squad access to the Leystone Axis, and thereby to the first two bosses of the raid wing: Cardinal Sabir and Cardinal Adina. Alternatively, keeping Glenna alive for the entire 5 minutes without killing the Branded Djinn will also clear the event.

Players can now choose to either head towards the east to fight Adina or towards the west to fight Sabir.

Access to the Basalt Arena (Cardinal Adina)

Prior to reaching Adina's arena, you are tasked with defeating an earth elemental. The elemental uses Boulder Barrage and has 5 slightly damaged pillars nearby. Each destroyed pillar removes 10% of the elemental's health. However, it does not heal and will not reset even if it wipes the group. If the group does wipe or are all dead at the same time, the pillars will respawn if all were destroyed. The elemental will continue to attack even after all pillars are destroyed if there are players in range.

Access to Fractured Conservatory (Cardinal Sabir)

Prior to reaching Sabir's conservatory, the players are tasked with defeating several Paralyzing and Voltaic Wisps. Once defeated one player needs to interact with an air orb found on a small pedestal in front of the wind wall blocking access to the conservatory. Once the wind wall disappears, the squad is faced with another small group of Paralyzing and Voltaic Wisps. After this group has been defeated the players want to head towards Sabir who is standing at the top of a small staircase. When they get close enough, Sabir will begin to jump up several platforms stopping and waiting for the players on the biggest one. To reach Sabir now, the players now have to kill one Voltaic Wisp on each level of the platforms. Once a Voltaic Wisp is defeated it will create a small circular AoE field that allows players to launch themselves to the next level of the platforms. Once the players reach the platform Sabir is waiting on they can choose to start the fight by attacking them.

Cardinal Adina

Health: 22,611,300 (24,872,430 if the Challenge Mote is active)

Enrage Timer: 8 minutes

Enrage Effect:  Enraged - Increases damage dealt by 200%.

Fixation Mechanics: Highest toughness

Adina Arena throughout the fight. It changes every 25% and after the hand phases.

Pillars

Pillars on the arena can be one of 3 stages: undamaged, slightly damaged, or heavily damaged after 1 Boulder Barrage. Diamond Palisade brings any undamaged pillars to be slightly damaged. A slightly damaged pillar is then destroyed after 2 hits of Boulder Barrage. For each damaged pillar on the arena, Adina receives a stack of the buff  Pillar Pandemonium. Each stack increases outgoing damage by 20% and reduces incoming damage by 20%.

• At certain points in the fight, Adina launches the arena-wide attack Diamond Palisade, which damages all pillars as well as all players. An orange circle will expand from underneath Adina, and when the circle fills, Adina throws out Boulder Barrage projectiles targeting each player. They will damage and be stopped by any pillars in their way. Pillars require two Boulder Barrages to be completely destroyed. If a pillar is hit by only 1 Boulder Barrage, it will stay standing on the arena until another pillar is placed next to it, it get's hit by Adina's Perilous Pulse cone attack, it is destroyed with a second Boulder Barrage, or Adina phases.

• Periodically throughout the fight, the five furthest players from Adina (except the designated tank) will be marked with Tectonic Upheaval and receive a message on their screen, as well as an expanding orange AoE circle beneath them. When the circle fills, their current location will be marked to spawn a new pillar on the closest hexagon tile after a few seconds. The pillar spawn will also generate a shockwave around the pillar, which applies  Crippled and  Immobile to any players hit by it. The shockwave from a pillar spawn will destroy any old damaged pillars caught in its way. Standing directly on top of a pillar spawn will instantly kill a player. Additionally, only one pillar can spawn per hexagonal tile of the arena. That is, if multiple pillar spawns are close enough to one another such that they would end up occupying the same hexagonal tile, only one pillar will be spawn on that tile.

• Each stack of  Pillar Pandemonium increases outgoing damage by 20% and reduces incoming damage by 20%. Additionally, Boulder Barrage projectiles will instantly down a player. Hence, it is recommended to stand two players behind each of the pillars, so that they are distributed such that all pillars are destroyed by two Boulder Barrage projectiles. If multiple people are dead in the fight, e.g. two players are dead so there are only 8 remaining, it is recommended to “stack pillars” (i.e. spawn them close enough such that they occupy the same hexagonal tile) so that there are fewer pillars on the arena, and hence they can all be destroyed entirely by the projectiles to remove stacks of Pillar Pandemonium from Adina.

Other Core Mechanics

•  Radiant Blindness: An uncleansable blind that causes all attacks to miss for it's duration. Radiant Blindness can be applied in the following ways: Falling into the sand, facing Adina when she casts Diamond Palisade, or being near Adina when a pillar shockwave touches her. The first apply a 10 second blind, while the latter two apply a 20 second blind^{[verification requested]}.

• Stalagmites: Mines that explode if you touch them. Adina spawns Stalagmites on the field when she is preparing her Diamond Palisade attack. Additionally, when Adina phases, she will explode all Stalagmites on the field. When they explode, they destroy the arena tile they are on, damaging,  weakening, and ₅ Bleeding any players in a small radius of approximately one tile around them. Each hexagonal tile of the arena can only have one Stalagmites at a time.

• Quantum Quake: A lethal sand wall which rotates 360 degrees counterclockwise around the map, similar to Sabetha’s flame wall. Quantum Quake has 2 rays on opposite sides in normal mode, and 3 rays in a tri pattern in challenge mode. Technically multihit

• Terraform: Adina launches an arena-wide shockwave which damages players and reshapes the arena.

•  Eroding Curse: Debuff applied periodically by the Hand of Erosion. Damage and condition damage taken are increased by 15%; stacks in intensity.

Raid Composition

The raid composition for Cardinal Adina may usually include quickness heal or damage Firebrands or chronomancers to provide quickness (and other boons), while having decent utility to provide backup bubbles. Usually a Renegade or Herald is taken to provide alacrity or quickness respectively, as well as Protective Solace to block projectiles when killing Hands in the split phases. Power dps classes, or condi dps classes with fast ramp-up times, are highly preferred for this fight due to the large number of short phases.

Overview

Upon arriving at the platform, players will see 5 pillars placed around Cardinal Adina. Attacking Adina directly, or simply approaching Adina closer than the pillars are placed, will start the fight.

Cardinal Adina will target the player with the highest toughness for her auto attacks. The rest of the players should always stand behind her to avoid getting hit by these attacks. During the fight Adina will continually cast Terraform and change the shape of the arena. The areas of the ground about to be destroyed will be colored yellow/orange right before the attack. Players should also try to avoid falling into the sand or risk dying to the damage.

Phase 1 (100%-75%)

The first phase of Cardinal Adina is a dps phase. Mechanics during this phase include Tectonic Upheaval, Stalagmites, Boulder Barrage, and Diamond Palisade. Adina stands in the middle of the arena and attacks the player with the highest toughness. Her attack chain consists of 3 auto attacks, followed by a charged knockback with spawning pillars, another 5 autos, then spawning mines and destroying pillars. All players other than the tank should stand behind Adina in order to avoid the Stalagmites especially since this explosion will often kill your tank.

The charged knockback (indicated by an orange cone attack) can be blocked or negated with stability. During the charged knockback, the 5 furthest players (not including the tank) from Adina will be targeted with Tectonic Upheaval. A notification appears across the screen and an orange AoE appears under the players who are targeted. A pillar will spawn on their location after a couple seconds (indicated by the orange AoE). These five players should move away from the group to place the pillars. Once the orange AoE changes to a decorative orange AoE that is stationary on the ground (no longer moves with the player) the player should immediately get clear of it. After a short period of time a stone pillar will appear and kill any player still within the AoE. Additionally, a shockwave will spread out from each of these five pillars that deals damage, and applies  Crippled and  Immobile. It is recommended to take the pillars far from the boss, as spawning them too close to Adina will apply  Radiant Blindness for 20 seconds to all players in a small radius around her.

After the knockback, she makes another 5 autos before beginning to spawn mines on the ground, as indicated by small orange expanding circles in a cone arrangement behind the tank. She also gains  Resolution and  Protection during this time. At this time, she will say a line of dialogue while an eye appears above her head, before damaging all players and pillars with Diamond Palisade. Players must face away from Adina or else they will have Radiant Blindness applied for 20 seconds. A large orange expanding circle under Adina will begin to fill the arena, and all players should get behind one of the five pillars (maximum two to a pillar) to avoid getting  Radiant Blindness as well as to avoid the next attack. When it fills, she will launch a Boulder Barrage projectile at each player. Any player not behind a pillar will be downed by this attack. A pillar will be destroyed if two projectiles hit it, hence requiring two players for each. Any pillar remaining after this attack (whether hit by one projectile or none) will give Adina  Pillar Pandemonium increasing her damage.

This sequence of attacks will continue in each of Adina's dps phases. Pillars can also be stacked on top of one another to generate a single pillar (if the decorative orange AoEs are overlapped). This should be avoided at all costs if all players are alive, but if two or more players are dead it becomes beneficial to stack these pillars to avoid having undamaged pillars that give Adina the dps increase from stacks of  Pillar Pandemonium.

Phase 2 (Hand Phase 1)

Once Cardinal Adina reaches 75% health, she will destroy all Stalagmites and pillars on the map and become invulnerable before beginning Quantum Quake, a lethal sand wall which rotates 360 degrees counterclockwise around the map, similar to Sabetha’s Flame Wall. Quantum Quake has 2 rays on opposite sides in normal mode, three with the Challenge Mode on. Stepping too close to these walls, or Adina herself, will cause a player to be killed instantly. These walls rotate counterclockwise around the arena. Players should continually walk forward to avoid being caught by these. The arena also changes shape due to Terraform meaning players will likely have to jump to avoid holes in the ground (see images above). Once Adina stops channeling these walls players should avoid standing on the orange colored ground since those spots will disappear when she casts Terraform again.

After the arena is reformed, a Hand of Erosion and a Hand of Eruption spawn at the northwest and northeast corner of the arena respectively. The Hand of Erosion will apply stacking debuffs of  Eroding Curse, while the Hand of Eruption will periodically fling knockback projectiles at players. Since stacks of  Eroding Curse causing incoming damage to be increased, it is generally recommended to kill the Hand of Erosion first. Furthermore, care should be taken to not be knocked back by the Eruption projectiles into the sand. These projectiles can be blocked, absorbed, reflected, invuln’d, or mitigated with stability. Common mitigations include Protective Solace (ventari bubble), Feedback, "Stand Your Ground!", and Corrosive Poison Cloud.

During the Hands phase, Adina also throws auto attacks in the direction of each of the 4 hand spawn locations, starting at the northwest hand and going clockwise.

Phase 3 (75%-50%)

Once the hands have been destroyed, the arena will once again change shape and another dps phase begins. The arena shape is different from that of the first burn phase, but the same mechanics from (100-75%) are present.

Phase 4 (Hand Phase 2)

When Cardinal Adina's health reaches 50%, she will once again become invulnerable, destroy all mines and pillars, and spawn rock projectile walls that must be avoided. This phase is very similar to Hand Phase 1, above, except that two of each type of hand will spawn in the four corners of the arena. Different groups may choose to start killing these in different orders.

However, since Adina throws auto attacks in the direction of each of the 4 hand spawn locations, starting at the northwest hand and going clockwise, it is recommended to start on the southeast Erosion hand during the 50% and 25% split, and kill hands moving clockwise around the arena. This minimizes damage taken as well as stacks of  Eroding Curse.

Phase 5 (50%-25%)

After the four hands have been destroyed, another dps phase will begin. Again, the same mechanics present during this phase are the same as that in the rest of the dps phases.

Phase 6 (Hand Phase 3)

As in Hand Phase 2, four hands will spawn at the four corners of the arena and must be killed to move on to the final dps phase.

Phase 7 (25-0%)

The final dps phase has all the mechanics of the previous ones with an added difficulty. A Hand of Erosion will spawn in the northwest when Adina's health reaches 20%. A second hand will spawn in the southeast when 10% of Adina's health is reached. Most groups will choose to ignore these hands and heal through the damage in order to continue killing the boss. The additional stacks of  Eroding Curse will cause Adina's auto attacks and damaging aura to start dealing very heavy damage to the squad, so healing pressure will get increasingly high during this phase. Once Adina has been reduced to 0% health, the fight is won!

Bugs:

• Despite  Retaliation having been reworked and changed into  Resolution, Adina might still reflect damage.
• Sometimes pillars might not block or get destroyed by Adina's projectiles despite having enough players standing behind it, or will protect more than 2 players at once.

Challenge Mode

• There's no new mechanic to deal with, however there are a few changes in the existing mechanics:
  • Dropping into the sand will be an instant defeat.
  • 3 walls of rock projectiles will be spawned instead of two.
  • Pillars will now leave behind a hole after they are destroyed. This is where most players tend to forget the hole and accidentally dropping into it will lead to instant defeat. It is recommended to phase Cardinal Adina as soon as possible especially at phase 7 so as not to leave behind too many holes.

Cardinal Sabir

Health: 29,493,000 (32,442,300 if the Challenge Mote is active)

Enrage Timer: 9 minutes

Enrage Effect:  Enraged - Increases damage dealt by 200%.

Fixation Mechanics: Highest toughness

Platforms in the Cardinal Sabir fight. The red arrows show the trajectory of the small (white) Tornadoes. Two on the inner one and four on the outer one. The Titanic Twister only spawns at 50% and persists until the end of the fight.

Overview

The fight consists of multiple platforms that you have to traverse. The main fight happens on three big platforms as can be seen in the image (above), phases are 100-80%, 80-60% and 60-0% per platform. In between there is always a transition over 5 smaller platforms where the squad has to ascend to the next big platform. Starting at 80%, small white tornadoes that can lift players high up into the air are added to the main platform. Their movement pattern can be seen in the image as well. In the third phase, starting at 60%, their movement direction is reversed. Starting at 50% boss HP, a big orange lethal Titanic Twister starts circling the platform as well.

Raid Composition

Any regular raid squad that keeps boon uptimes is fine on Sabir. Sabir does have a toughness tanking mechanic, but since the squad stacks completely together anyways it is considered unimportant. Two healers are recommended as this is a fairly high damage fight. A power warrior, or other dps with high CC, is often used to kill the Voltaic Wisps that spawn. Alternatively, their projectile attacks can be blocked, reflected, destroyed, or converted with a variety of skills.

Overall Strategy

For once in a raid standing in front of the boss is the correct option for the entire raid group. This is caused by  Violent Currents applied through Cardinal Sabir's and the Voltaic Wisp's attacks which give players additional outgoing damage, along with incoming damage, for every stack. The special action skill gained at five stacks of this buff,   Flash Discharge, is required for breaking Sabir's defiance bar at different intervals during the fight. This skill is also a teleport which can be used to move around the arena. All players should stack in front of the boss at all times to gain this attack and out of the path of the tornadoes which will remove the  Violent Currents stacks when touched.

Phase 1 (100-80%)

Cardinal Sabir's first few phases are fairly straightforward, stack in front of the boss to receive  Violent Currents charges for the damage increase and dps him down.

At 90% Sabir will gain a defiance bar of size 15,000, a constant barrier preventing damage, and will push players back continuously with   Electrical Repulsion. Players should always be running towards the boss to avoid falling off the platform. Additionally, Cardinal Sabir will have three orange rotating lines on the platform from Dynamic Deterrent that will knock players back if caught in them. While this defiance bar is affected by normal CC it requires a large amount and the special action key skill   Flash Discharge provides an easy 5 second stun. As long as players remain in front of the boss being hit by Sabir's attacks they will continually gain stacks and get this skill back. All players should use this skill off cooldown only while the defiance bar is active. Once the bar is broken every player gains an AoE beneath them from Bolt Break and must spread out or take a large amount of damage if within multiple AoE's.

After this attack finishes players can return to hitting Cardinal Sabir until he reaches 80% health and phases.

Phase 2 (Wisps 1)

Once Cardinal Sabir reaches 80% health he becomes invulnerable and knocks nearby players down with Walloping Wind (can be blocked or dodged like normal) before moving on to the next major platform. Small platforms with Voltaic Wisps appear and each wisp must be killed to activate the air current to jump up to the next platform. These wisps have defiance bars which can be broken in order to kill them faster but generally die pretty quickly even without doing so. Small red AoE's will appear on the platform from Electrospark and should be avoided to not take damage and get crippled. The wisps also have Electro-Repulsion similar to Cardinal Sabir's Electrical Repulsion that pushes players back continuously.

After killing several wisps and traveling along the platforms a longer platform with small tornadoes is reached. Stepping into a tornado will send the player high up into the air and is used to reach the final wisp platform. There is also a tornado with an orange AoE instead which will instantly kill any player that touches it. Successfully navigating these tornadoes and platforms will bring the players back to Cardinal Sabir and a platform nearly identical to the first one, just higher up.

Phase 3 (80-60%)

Cardinal Sabir will again be in the middle of the platform and players should stand in front of him to receive their violent current stacks. The small tornadoes seen in the previous wisp phase will be traveling around the platform in specific paths (see image above). Touching any of the tornadoes will remove all your stacks of  Violent Currents and cause the tornado to use Shocking Barrage, sending out waves of electricity that apply  Weakness.

At 75% Cardinal Sabir will pulse two orange circles right before releasing Unbridled Tempest which sends out a lethal wall of wind. The wind wall starts in the middle underneath Sabir and travels quickly to the outer edge of the platform, downing anyone hit by it. To avoid the attack you'll want to get to a tornado to get up in the air. You can use your special action key to get to a tornado in order to have no violent current stacks to lose and you can teleport there instantly. If a player goes up too early they can also glide in the air to stay up long enough to avoid the attack. You are able to teleport through the wind wall or use invulnerability to avoid the damage as well.

At 70% Sabir will do the same   Electrical Repulsion skill and the defiance bar must be broken. It gets slightly trickier during this phase as the tornadoes are still present and will remove your  Violent Currents stacks if hit by them. Avoiding the tornadoes and breaking this defiance bar will allow players to resume doing dps.

At 65% Sabir will do another Unbridled Tempest, avoid the wind wall and continue dpsing to phase down to 60% of Sabir's health.

Phase 4 (Wisps 2)

This phase is exactly the same as the previous wisp phase with the addition of a second orange death tornado being present on the long platform. Ascend the floating platforms by killing the wisps to reach the final platform of the fight.

Phase 5 (60%-40%)

After 17 seconds on the main platform Sabir will do another Unbridled Tempest, and right after it will gain a new defiance bar of size 2500 with the  Ion Shield effect. This defiance bar rapidly refills and must be burst down quickly. You'll want to wait till multiple players, usually 6+, have the   Flash Discharge skill active indicated by their icons being highlighted in yellow in the squad UI. Normal CC will work on this bar but since in refills so quickly you need to break it within a couple seconds which requires massive CC. Typically the commander or leader will call out when to do this coordinated CC attack. While this bar is not broken Sabir will continuously gain stacks of  Ion Shield making him take less damage, deal more damage, and become immune to  Vulnerability. As with all of Sabir's defiance bars he will use Bolt Break right after so be ready to spread out.

At 50% the Titanic Twister spawns on the west side of the platform. This is indicated by a very large orange AoE with a tornado above it. It will rotate clockwise around the arena so players must continuously slowly move clockwise in order to avoid being caught in it as it kills any players that touch it instantly. Due to this any players that are downed due to damage should be immediately revived or they will be caught by the tornado and killed.

Below 50% Cardinal Sabir also does a new attack called Fury of the Storm. Players must get to one of the two safety bubbles that spawn in opposite corners of the arena to gain  Eye of the Storm and be safe from the attack. Being above the safe areas still gives you the effect so you can glide to them as well. One bubble will be slightly 'safer' than the other as it is farther from the Titanic Twister. Any players outside of the safe bubbles will be downed and must be revived. Sabir will continue using this attack throughout the rest of the fight. Players coming back or going to kill the Paralyzing Wisps later on in the fight can still be hit by this attack while gliding in the air. This is usually completely lethal as when you down while gliding you then fall to your death. The add platforms apart from the main arena are not hit with this attack.

Sabir will continue to alternate between using Unbridled Tempest with a  Ion Shield defiance bar after and Fury of the Storm with 10 seconds between each (time starts after defiance bar is broken).

Phase 6 (40%-0%)

At 40% a new platform will rise up in the west and a Paralyzing Wisp will spawn on it roughly 5 seconds later. These platforms can be reached by using   Flash Discharge, taking a tornado on the platform and gliding across, or taking the updrafts off the corners of the platform. Each large wisp will have a defiance bar of size 600 that should be broken before attempting to kill them. The player's flash discharge special action key is great for this but any crowd control can also be used. These adds are usually killed to prevent them from attacking the group but the projectiles can also be blocked, etc. as described above. Wisps respawn 40 seconds after being killed. If not killed, they will summon a Voltaic Wisp next to them after they are alive for 32 seconds.

At 30% a new platform will appear north and another Paralyzing Wisp will spawn.

Below 30% the next Unbridled Tempest will have a   Electrical Repulsion defiance bar instead of an  Ion Shield defiance bar. This is the normal push back and beam one from the start so use CC as fast as you can but it doesn't have to be coordinated.

At 20% a new platform will spawn in the east with another Paralyzing Wisp.

At 10% the final platform will spawn in the south with the last Wisp, it's usually best to just focus on killing Sabir and ignore it.

Challenge Mode

With the Challenge Mode activated, five red pushing lines instead of three will be spawned at short time intervals during "chaotic CC", the "coordinated CC" bar is larger, players gain  Stasis Cage for 6 seconds when downed, and occasionally, a Paralyzing Wisp will spawn on the big platforms at three phases at certain time interval. Usually multiple Scourges with Epidemic skills would be able to deal with them easily.

Qadim the Peerless

Health: 47,188,800 (51,000,000 if the Challenge Mote is active)

Enrage Timer: 12 minutes

Enrage Effect:  Enraged - Increases damage dealt by 200%.

Fixation Mechanics: Initial closest player with   Flux Disruptor: Activate turned on

Entropic Distortions' walking patterns in the Qadim the Peerless fight. Note: If a pylon is not broken yet or a player hasn't claimed it yet [verification requested] (tethered to it via special action key), the distortion will walk towards the nearest broken/claimed pylon, or Qadim if no pylon is player-friendly.

Main Mechanics

•   Flux Disruptor: Activate aka Tether (Special Action Key): Players can primarily "tether" to a captured pylon or Qadim.
  • Tethering to a pylon ("good tether", marked by blue line) grants might, quickness, fury and alacrity every second through  Kinetic Abundance. Every "good tether" applies a stack of  Erratic Energy to Qadim, increasing the damage that Qadim takes by 5%.
    • For each orb that is on a pylon, players can add another chain tether to the player currently tethered to the pylon, at a range of about 800. Each chain tether gives boons and applies an additional stack of  Erratic Energy, further increasing damage dealt to Qadim. This means after 3 orbs are on each pylon, there can be up to 12 tethers going on (realistically 10 due to the squad limit)
    • Assuming the main Pylon tether is as close to the boss as possible, the sub-tether should be able to get right up next to Qadim's hitbox without it breaking (assuming a straight line from the Pylon to Qadim).
  • Tethering to Qadim ("bad tether", marked by red line) applies the  Sapping Surge effect. This applies vulnerability to the player and reduces outgoing damage by 25%.
    • Once Qadim consumes a Pylon at 40% of his health the boss tether strengthens, allowing it to sub-tether to nearby players, which applies pulsing vulnerability and reduces outgoing damage by 25%.
    • When Qadim consumes additional pylons at 30% and 20% of his health, he creates more "main" tethers per pylon. Meaning by 20%, 3 players will permanently have the debuff, while also being able to debuff players around them.

• Pylons: The three pylons must have their defiance bars broken at the start of each phase, and must have a tethered player (  Flux Disruptor: Activate) to remain claimed by the pylons. It is recommended that this player can sustain themselves (common choices include Rifle Deadeye with Invigorating Precision, and Condition Scourge with Parasitic Contagion), as the player will continue to take ticking aura damage over time. If no player is tethered in the range of the pylon for several seconds, the pylon will be recaptured by Qadim and must have its defiance bar re-broken.
  • If any of the pylons are not captured, Qadim gains a massive shield around him that renders him untargetable.
  • Every player tethered or subtethered to a pylon will get might, quickness, and alacrity due to  Kinetic Abundance, and add another stack of  Erratic Energy to Qadim, increasing the damage that Qadim takes by 5% per stack.
  • For every orb on a pylon, players can chain tether to another player. Up to 3 orbs can be attached to a pylon.
  • For flanking purposes: pylons face Qadim when friendly. They change directions when they flip from ally to enemy, as indicated by an expanding AoE around them which knockbacks players inside of it. Enemy pylons will face in the direction of the player who was closest when they changed to being an enemy, and remain fixed in that direction until they become friendly again.
  • Pylons have a defiance bar of 1000.

• Orbs (Shower of Chaos): Qadim will periodically (every 5%, but not at 80% or 60%) launch an orb at one of the three locations marked on the diagram where the Entropic Distortions also appear. Three will spawn per phase (100-80%, 80-60%, 60-40%), one at each location per phase.
  • The orb spawn is predetermined for a particular instance. The first orb spawn of the instance starts at the northeast location, and subsequent spawns rotate counterclockwise. If the run fails and the fight is restarted, the orb spawn continues rotating counterclockwise from previous runs in the instance.
  • Standing in the radius of the orb when it lands, or as it is traveling on the ground, will tether the orb to the player. Standing in the circle of a friendly pylon while tethered to that pylon will transfer the orb to the pylon.
    • If Qadim or a distortion is currently channeling to the pylon, the orb may not transfer to the pylon until they are no longer channeling.
  • If the orb hits the ground without being “caught” by a player, this deals damage to everyone in the arena. It slowly moves towards Qadim and applies increasing stacks of vulnerability to everyone as long as it still remains on the ground. If the orb connects with Qadim, Qadim launches Chaotic Surcharge which deals extremely heavy damage to everyone.
  • If the orb touches a distortion, the distortion will explode and deal heavy damage to everyone. If both a player and a distortion are in the orb location when it lands, it will connect to whoever was closer to the center of the orb drop location.
  • It is recommended that the three players on the three pylons catch the orb as it hits the ground. This is commonly done by playing a ranged class with mobility skills that can quickly access the spawn location of the orb when needed, and return to the pylon before the pylon is recaptured by Qadim. Some common classes for pylon kiters are Rifle Deadeye with Shadowstep and Condition Scourge with Sand Swell.

• Fire Drops: Happen at 80% and 60% of Qadim's health phase changes. Players are lifted into the air for several seconds, then dropped back down, with a large lava AoE spawning a few seconds after dropping them the same size as the white AoE. The lava field does extremely heavy damage to any player that steps inside of them. This lava field also does damage to distortions after their defiance bars are broken, but not to Qadim.

• Entropic Distortions aka Anomalies: Anomalies start spawning at 75% of Qadim's health at one of the 3 orb locations (see image above) and every 40 seconds after that. They slowly walk towards a friendly pylon and try to recapture it. While they are attempting to recapture the pylon, they will begin to gain stacks of  Flare-Up, and the pylon will no longer give boons to tethered players through  Kinetic Abundance. If the anomaly get 10 stacks of  Flare-Up, it channels an explosion using Eclipsed Backlash and does massive damage. Anomalies are invulnerable until their defiance bar is broken. When they are CC'd, they can be damaged by players or by any fire drops (2 fire drops is enough to kill an anomaly within a single cc bar break).
  • Distortions spawn in clockwise order.
  • The northeast anomaly walks towards the north pylon by default. The northwest and south anomalies walk towards the southwest pylon by default.
  • When the pylon they would normally walk to is destroyed, unclaimed by a player (enemy pylon), or already has an Entropic Distortion channeling it, they walk to the nearest claimed pylon. Or, if no claimed pylons are immediately adjacent, to Qadim in the center. Channeling to Qadim also gives them stacks of  Flare-Up, and they will explode the same way dealing massive damage.
  • Starting at 40% of Qadim's health, anomalies start spawning every 30 seconds instead.
  • Breaking the defiance bar after the anomaly has already gained 10 stacks will not prevent the explosion from happening.
  • Distortions have a defiance bar of 400.

Other Core Mechanics

• Chaos Called: An electric current (sometimes referred to as an electric shark) runs along the white lines of the arena, dealing damage and applying ₂ Burning and  Weakness to any player it passes through.

• Brandstorm Lightning: Random lightning attacks happen throughout the arena, marked by an orange aoe with thick border. They hit a few seconds later and deal moderate damage.

• Ether Strikes: Qadim points an huge orange cone AoE in the direction of the tank. Everyone in the attack has small orbs barraging them from the sky after a short while, which deal damage and apply stacks of  Vulnerability.

• Force of Havoc: Qadim will lay down a purple electric road in the direction of the tank periodically throughout the fight. The road remains on that position for a long period of time, and deals heavy damage anyone standing in them. If the road passes over any pylon, that pylon is instantly reclaimed by Qadim.

• Rain of Chaos: Triple lightning AoE attack. Qadim will target a player for this attack - a yellow border appears around the player's screen, along with a small sound effect. Three lightning strikes of expanding sizes will target the player's location and damage anyone in their area of effect. It is recommended the player targeted run away from the group in the center to avoid dealing damage to everyone else. The last lightning attack will likely need to be dodged, blocked, etc. as it is slightly too large to get out of without a movement skill.

• Caustic Chaos: Sometimes referred to as the arrow attack. Happens starting at 60%. Qadim tracks one player with an arrow and periodically throws 3 electric attacks at them. If the attack hits any player in its path, it explodes and deals damage in a very large radius around the point of collision while also applying Chaos Corrosion, which further increases damage taken from subsequent hits of Caustic Chaos. Players can evade or jump over the electric attack.

Raid Composition

Squads will need 3 pylon kiters and a tank at the very minimum. Rifle Deadeyes and Condition Scourges are the most common pylon kiters, though other classes will suffice too (Heal Scourge, Heal Tempest) so long as they have a way to self-sustain and quickly travel to and from the orb spawn locations. Condition DPS classes tend to perform best on this boss as the conditions tick whilst Qadim would otherwise unable to take damage, also useful are classes with boon strip to remove the boons Qadim gains when below 30% health, although not necessary.

Overview

Pylon kiters will tether to their pylons and catch the orbs dropped by Qadim throughout the fight. The tank will carefully place the Force of Havoc purple ribbons while surviving Qadim's auto-attacks. Fire drops should be placed carefully to ensure maximum coverage of the Entropic Distortions. The rest of the squad should stay close to Qadim on the opposite side of the tank to avoid his attacks. Either the pylon kiters or another individual with ranged CC will need to break the Entropic Distortions' defiance bars while they are within (at least) two lava AoE's.

Start of Fight

The fight will be initiated when you cross the white circle that passes through the pylons. Qadim will be surrounded by a shield making him invulnerable and untargetable. CC-ing all three pylons will capture them and deactivate the shield. A player will need to remain tethered (i.e. the special action key is turned on) to each pylon, or else they will be reclaimed and need to be CC'd again. Qadim will become targetable and initiate an arena-wide knockback using Force of Retaliation after the pylons have been dealt with, indicated by an expanding orange circle. The knockback can be dodged, evaded, or mitigated with stability or aegis.

Phase 1 (100-80%)

Qadim is vulnerable between 100% to 80% as long as the pylons are tethered to at least one player each. The first player to enter Qadim's range with the tether Special Action key,   Flux Disruptor: Activate, toggled on will be the designated tank. Qadim's attack chain consists of 3 Ether Strikes cones, followed by a Force of Havoc road, then 3 cones, a road, and then the Rain of Chaos triple lightning attack. This attack chain then repeats.

The Ether Strikes cone has a massive range, and will target every player in its AoE with a barrage of attacks after a few seconds. These attacks deal damage and apply  Vulnerability, so it is recommended that the tank points the cone away from other players, including the pylon kiters.

The Force of Havoc road will appear in the direction that the tank is standing. This road lasts for a long time and deals extremely heavy damage, so it is suggested that the tank attempts to place this road in a direction between an orb spawn location and a pylon, see image above. Placing the road on an orb spawn leads to it dealing damage when a pylon kiter attempts to grab an orb, and placing the road on a pylon instantly recaptures the pylon for Qadim.

At 95%, 90%, and 85%, Qadim will launch an orb at one of the three spawn locations, rotating counterclockwise with each. Players (ideally the 3 pylon kiters) will need to catch the orbs and take them to the pylons to tether the orbs to the pylon.

Qadim sometimes gains a defiance bar and starts channeling one of the pylons. During this time, the pylon kiter will no longer gain boons from  Kinetic Abundance, and will instead gain  Enfeebled Force,  Slow,  Weakness, and increasing stacks of  Vulnerability and  Torment every second. Players will need to break Qadim's defiance bar to interrupt his channel.

At 80%, all players will be lifted into the air for a few seconds, with a large AoE circle displayed underneath them, before being dropped onto the ground. The AoE circle will spawn a “lava” field after a few seconds. The fire drops deal extremely heavy damage to any player that steps inside of them, and they will all remain for the remaining of the fight, so it is highly recommended that players do not drop them on the pylons, the orb spawn locations, nor near Qadim. Most groups coordinate fire drop locations to be between pylons and orb drop locations, so that the resulting lava fields will kill any anomalies that are CC'd on top of them. Qadim will also regain his shield and reclaim the pylons at this time. The pylons will need to be CC'd again to let down his shield. Qadim will again become targetable and initiate the same arena-wide shockwave seen at the start of the 100% phase.

Phase 2 (80-60%)

Qadim's attack chain resets and the orb mechanic remain the same during the 80-60% phase, with orbs spawning at 75%, 70%, and 65% in the same order they appeared in the previous phase. Anomalies (Entropic Distortions) will also begin to spawn during this phase at the orb drop locations, and will start walking towards the pylons. Anomalies start spawning at 75% and will spawn again every 40 seconds afterwards in clockwise order. They will need to be CC'd and killed, or else they will channel to the pylons or Qadim and gain stacks of  Flare-Up. If the anomaly get 10 stacks of  Flare-Up, it explodes using Eclipsed Backlash and does massive damage.

At 60%, players will again be lifted up in the air with fire drops. Qadim regains his shield and reclaims the pylons, and after pylons are CC'd, he will again initiate the same arena-wide shockwave knockback seen before.

Phase 3 (60-40%)

Qadim's attacks, the orbs mechanic (at 55%, 50%, and 45%), and anomalies will continue throughout this phase. Starting in this phase, Qadim will also start using Caustic Chaos. Occasionally, Qadim points an arrow at one player and throws 3 electric attacks at them, with several seconds between each one. If a player is hit, it explodes and deals damage in a very large radius around the point of collision, so it is recommended that players evade the attack by either jumping, dodging, or blocking away from the group.

At 40% health, Qadim will rush towards the north pylon with Battering Blitz, knocking down and damaging any players in his path, before destroying the north pylon entirely. This spawns a large lava field on the former pylon, so it is necessary for the kiter at the north pylon to evade Qadim's attack and leave the pylon area before it is destroyed. Qadim will pause for a second, and is vulnerable to damage during this time. He will spin around and place his arms down, before doing a huge arena-wide shockwave about a second after his arms come down. This shockwave should be evaded or mitigated with stability, as it can easily send players flying into a lava field killing them. Alternatively, the shockwave reaches about the distance of the southern ball drop, so if players stand on that location or further away, they will not be affected by the shockwave.

After the knockback, Qadim will then teleport back to the middle and is vulnerable for a short time before doing a second shockwave. This reclaims the remaining two pylons and grants his invulnerability shield back. Players will need to CC the pylons to let down his shield again (this time, he does not do another shockwave after the pylons are CC'd).

Phase 4 (40-30%)

No more orbs will spawn after this point. Furthermore, anomalies will begin to spawn every 30 seconds instead. Qadim will continue to occasionally do his Caustic Chaos arrow attack. Qadim's bad tether to the tank will also have the ability to subtether to other nearby players, applying  Sapping Surge. This pulses vulnerability and reduces damage dealt by 25%.

At 30% health, Qadim will destroy the southwest pylon, and do an arena-wide shockwave knockback as at 40% health. After the knockback, he teleports to the center and does another shockwave which reclaims the southeast pylon and puts up his shield again. He becomes vulnerable again after the southeast pylon is CC'd.

Phase 5 (30-20%)

The burn phase from 30-20% health is similar to the previous phase, with Qadim having an additional "main" bad tether, which can also subtether to other nearby players. While having a bad tether to players, he also starts to gain  Resolution and  Aegis every 6 seconds.

At 20% health, Qadim destroys the final southeast pylon, doing the same arena-wide shockwave with knockback. After this knockback, he teleports to the center and does another shockwave.

Phase 6 (20-0%)

After his usual shockwave, Qadim will also do a very tiny knockback to all players which will remove everyone's Special Action Key. This knockback is different from the usual ones and cannot be mitigated with evades or aegis, only with stability. At this point, Qadim will instead fixate on the first player to walk in his range. The anomalies, arrow attack, and triple lightning attacks will continue throughout this burn phase.

At this point, Qadim can have "bad tethers" to 3 players within range, applying  Sapping Surge to each player. The debuff makes players gain stacks of  Vulnerability and reduces outgoing damage by 25%, and it subtethers onto up to 3 nearby players (as long as they don't have a main tether). As a result, it is recommended that the 3 players with bad tethers stay away from the rest of the group to avoid subtethering to them.

While having a bad tether to players, Qadim also gets  Might,  Fury,  Quickness, and  Alacrity every 6 seconds. This is in addition to (and on a separate timer from) the  Resolution and  Aegis which started at 30%. Again, players can boonstrip him to get rid of his damage mitigation and his increased attack speed and damage. A distortion charging on him will count as a tether for purposes of him gaining boons.

Players should continue to deal with the regular mechanics while doing damage to Qadim. Note, without any pylons present the Entropic Distortions will instead walk to Qadim and channel to him with the same  Flare-Up as before. They will need to have their defiance bars broken and be killed to avoid their explosion and the subsequent damage. Advanced groups may instead choose to place the lava fields such that the anomalies still have to walk through them in order to avoid having to kill them by dps. Instead, as done in the previous phases, they can have their defiance bar broken using ranged CC and be killed by the lava fields.

Bug:

The Force of Havoc's "road" becomes invisible soon after spawning, only reappearing briefly for its despawn animation.

Challenge Mode

Having the challenge mode active for Qadim the Peerless causes three large Titanic Twisters, as seen during Cardinal Sabir, to spawn on the outside of the arena (beyond the pylons) which will circle counterclockwise. Touching any of these twisters is instant death. Additionally, Qadim's Rain of Chaos attack will now cause any players hit by the attack to leave small lava AoE's for several seconds. These lava fields are the same as the large ones and deal high damage to anyone walking through them.

Later on in the fight when Qadim destroys the pylons at 40%, 30%, and 20% of his health small blue safety circles will appear at the south orb drop location. Players will need to be inside the circle to avoid being killed instantly by the now very lethal attack.  Stability is often extremely useful to avoid being knocked outside of the circle and killed. After this attack finishes one player will be lifted up into the air and unable to move or attack (UI interface will disappear and will be forced to watch the incoming meteor illusion). The rest of the players must collect 5 golden orbs which spawn randomly near Qadim the Peerless to enable the lifted player to use the special action skill   Unleash to destroy the "Meteor Illusion". Failure to collect the orbs and to use this special action key will result in a wipe.

NPCs

Allies

Asura

• Scholar Glenna

Djinn

• Air Djinn
• Earth Djinn
• Fire Djinn
• Water Djinn

Elementals

• Key of Ahdashim

Skritt

• Bezzalak

Foes

Branded

• Branded Charr
• Branded Devourer
• Branded Devourer Hatchling
• Branded Earth Elemental
• Branded Griffon
• Branded Human
• Branded Minotaur
• Branded Ogre
• Branded Spark
• Branded Sunderer
• Champion Branded Djinn
• Elite Branded Earth Elemental
• Elite Branded Griffon
• Elite Branded Ogre
• Elite Branded Sunderer
• Elite Branded Forgotten Priest
• Veteran Branded Human
• Veteran Branded Minotaur
• Veteran Branded Ogre
• Veteran Branded Sunderer

Djinn

• Cardinal Adina (boss)
• Cardinal Sabir (boss)
• Qadim the Peerless (boss)

Elementals

• Earth Elemental
• Entropic Distortion
• Paralyzing Wisp
• Voltaic Wisp

Objects

Books

• Ahdashim Royal Decrees
• High Court Precedent
• Proposal for Renovations to Ahdashim
• Qadim's Menagerie
• Secrets of the Ley Line
• The Original Four

Miscellaneous

• Key Fragment
• Ley Rift
• Pylon
• Tomb of Goren the Loyal
• Tornado
• Titanic Twister
• Wall Plaque

Dialogue

See also: Key of Ahdashim#Dialogue, Scholar Glenna (The Key of Ahdashim)#Dialogue

When a player dies anywhere in the raid instance:

Qadim the Peerless: I warned you. Did you think I was joking?

Upon entering the starting area:

Scholar Glenna: Hey! The gang's all here. But the gate's all the way over there. And the front yard's kinda hostile.

Key of Ahdashim: Perhaps a little more respect for the Great City of Ahdashim? I am the Key; and you are on my doorstep, outsider.

Scholar Glenna: There's an orb talking to me. Again. The accounts...didn't describe this accurately. Why aren't you on the gate?

Key of Ahdashim: There was an incident.

Scholar Glenna: Is that incident named Qadim? Zommoros sent us.

Key of Ahdashim: Of course he did. Zommoros has always acted without thinking.

<Character name>: Could we maybe discuss this inside? Those open rifts are making me nervous.

Key of Ahdashim: Gather all the pieces of me Qadim scattered around the courtyard. I must be at the gate to open it.

<Character name>: We'll clear the way and collect your parts as we go.

Reclaiming the Key of Ahdashim's pieces:

Scholar Glenna: Gotcha! Wow, you weren't kidding about your pieces. Qadim must really have an axe to grind with you.

Key of Ahdashim: Tantrums have ever been his style. And now his attempt to drain our ley line can be added to the list.

Scholar Glenna: You're not exactly a djinn, I take it. What are you?

Key of Ahdashim: Consider me Ahdashim's steward. I was made by the djinn as the first foundation stone was laid.

Scholar Glenna: You know, I expected the legendary Ahdashim barrier to be stronger than this.

Key of Ahdashim: Our ecosystem was designed for perfect balance. Qadim's unnatural presence is a catastrophe we did not foresee.

Scholar Glenna: Must've been a lot safer here, back when the Vabbi princes hid from Joko.

Key of Ahdashim: Ahdashim wasn't erected as a refuge for human princes. We were here well before Joko. And after, it seems.

Reaching the door to Ahdashim:

Scholar Glenna: I feel like these rifts are just waiting to spit out more bad guys...

Scholar Glenna: So... knock, knock.

Key of Ahdashim: Qadim sabotaged the mechanism. I cannot repair it in my current state.

Scholar Glenna: Right, lack of hands. Okay, walk me through it.

Scholar Glenna: Guys, buy us time.

Opening the door:

Scholar Glenna: I would love to know how you managed to meld ley and elemental djinn energies without causing a cataclysmic event.

Key of Ahdashim: We have our own way of doing things. Tourists need not be privy to such information.

Scholar Glenna: You do realize we're here to help you, right?

Key of Ahdashim: Take me to the fountain up ahead. It will restore me.

Scholar Glenna: We're inside Ahdashim! Our once-in-a-lifetime chance to see djinn in their natural habitat!

Key of Ahdashim: The djinn are not an exotic species for Priory study, little scholar. Remember, you are but guests in this house.

Scholar Glenna: Well, magically speaking, your house seems to be listing to the side. I'm getting wildly unstable readings here.

<Character name>: Shouldn't your cardinals be trying to stabilize the city?

Key of Ahdashim: Qadim killed Water and Fire. The remaining two have been seduced.

Key of Ahdashim: But do not concern yourselves. It is a djinn affair.

<Character name>: Well, given the crowds of living djinn in here, I'd say we're your best option.

Key of Ahdashim: Wonderful. Now, be on your—

Qadim the Peerless: Oh, Key. Whole again, are we? How did you like being cast aside, the fate of djinn decided by "Qadim the Peerless"?

Key of Ahdashim: Just because you've stolen a chair does not mean the seat at the table belongs to you.

Qadim the Peerless: Your Ahdashim will crumble; my domain will rise from the rubble. Be ready to bow to me in the world that comes after.

<Character name>: What'll happen if he succeeds in draining the ley line completely?

Key of Ahdashim: Devastation. Ahdashim will fall. A void of corruption will spread to every djinn and beyond, to nature itself.

Scholar Glenna: Okay. So, really suboptimal for all of us. How do we restore the power balance?

Key of Ahdashim: Air and Earth. Both traitors must be dispatched before Qadim's hold on the ley line can be loosened.

Scholar Glenna: Good luck. I'll see if I can get the Key to open up a little more.

Scholar Glenna: In be just like talking to my great-aunt Kitta. Only I'm less likely to get whacked with a spoon.

Approaching Sabir:

Cardinal Sabir: I'm your superior. This was the best choice. I saw which way the winds were blowing—and Qadim holds the bellows.

Voltaic Wisp: (whirring chirrup question)

Cardinal Sabir: Sure, the backdraft is destroying the city. But just think of it as a remodel.

<Character name>: You're supposed to protect the air djinn, not help Qadim bring Ahdashim down around their ears.

Cardinal Sabir: Qadim is a foregone conclusion. He's already accessed the Well of Ahdashim...

Engaging Sabir:

Cardinal Sabir: The fracas is finished! You're wasting your time and mine.

After bringing Sabir's health down to 80%:

Cardinal Sabir: Why should I fight and lose when I can acquiesce to the inevitable and survive?

After engaging Sabir on the second platform:

Cardinal Sabir: Why attack me for having the intellect and foresight to keep my position when others lost theirs?

After bringing Sabir's health down to 60%:

Cardinal Sabir: The first to join the winning side reaps the greatest rewards.

After engaging Sabir on the final platform:

Cardinal Sabir: Just look at me now—higher than ever!

When Sabir uses Unbridled Tempest, one of the following:

Cardinal Sabir: You cannot win against this impending tempest!

Cardinal Sabir: Best to be quick in these volatile times!

After bringing Sabir's health down to 50%, one of the following:

Cardinal Sabir: Blow away from here! We are not your concern.

Cardinal Sabir: Bend with the changing winds, or break.

Cardinal Sabir: I am not the one left twisting in the winds!

After bringing Sabir's health down to 40%/30%/20%/10%, one of the following:

Cardinal Sabir: Question my choices, and I will cripple you.

Cardinal Sabir: You cannot move against what's coming!

After bringing Sabir's health down to 5%:

Cardinal Sabir: I'm the Cardinal of Air! You cannot kill me!

Once Sabir (or Adina) is defeated:

Scholar Glenna: You sure impacted the city's energy balance. But I think it's getting more volatile.

<Character name>: The Key did say both cardinals have to be gone to level the field.

Scholar Glenna: Yeah... The Key's definitely keeping something from us...

Scholar Glenna: Stop being evasive! My guys kill a cardinal, and you and this pylon light up like chak.

Key of Ahdashim: Of course. A lesser djinn cannot hope to inherit a cardinal's power to anchor the city.

Scholar Glenna: You mean you've absorbed both the backlash of elemental energy AND a kick from the ley line?

Key of Ahdashim: Would you prefer the released power flow straight to Qadim? Or whip wild through Ahdashim, destroying all in its path?

Scholar Glenna: What I would prefer is that you let me help you! Allies shares information. Or they lose.

Approaching Cardinal Adina

Cardinal Adina: You tread upon Ahdashim's sacred soil? You who are lower even than the lowest of djinn?

Cardinal Adina: Qadim will seal the rightful supremacy of djinn. Our power will shake the very mountains.

<Character name>: Your alliance with Qadim is tearing your city apart.

Cardinal Adina: What he destroys, I shall rebuild.

Engaging Adina:

Cardinal Adina: Come then! You won't live to see Qadim's dominion. Or mine.

When Adina signals her "look away" mechanic, one of the following:

Cardinal Adina: Glory to earth! All others cower!

Cardinal Adina: The new dawn will find you wanting.

Cardinal Adina: You will be blinded by the brilliance of my rise!

Cardinal Adina: (roar)

After bringing Adina's health down to 75%:

Cardinal Adina: Earth shall inherit all. I've already risen above the Cardinals of Water and Fire. Air is no more than chatter.

After bringing Adina's health down to 50%:

<Character name>: Your power play is destroying the balance.

Cardinal Adina: The balance is outworn.

After bringing Adina's health down to 25%:

Cardinal Adina: Why should there be four cardinals when one alone can command the power?

After bringing Adina's health down to 5%:

Cardinal Adina: You idiots! You've ruined everything!

After defeating the second cardinal and returning to the Key:

Scholar Glenna: Head back here. I have a theory I'm gonna test—and I'd rather have you all as backup... just in case...

Key of Ahdashim: Your champions did well. Their tactics—

Key of Ahdashim: (yell)

<Character name>: What did you do?

Scholar Glenna: I knew it! The pylon, the fountain, you, the cardinals—it's all connected to the ley line. And to Qadim!

Scholar Glenna: I've made you a—

Key of Ahdashim: You tamper with energies you do not understand.

Scholar Glenna: But I do understand ley lines. Here, use this flux disruptor on the pylons. It'll break Qadim's connection to them.

Key of Ahdashim: I will not see djinn weaknesses exploited by you inside our own home. The fate of djinn is not for outsiders to determine.

<Character name>: We're ready to do whatever it takes to defeat Qadim and save all the djinn. Are you?

Key of Ahdashim: Our power is only meant to be handed by djinn. But I can dampen the effects on you using the Well of Ahdashim.

Scholar Glenna: Could we reconfigure the well to reverse the flow and drain Qadim of power?

Key of Ahdashim: As long as his stolen power channels to me. If the city is lost, I'll ensure the infection won't spread beyond Ahdashim.

Scholar Glenna: What happens if the Key gets all that power, and we have another Qadim on our hands?

<Character name>: First, let's handle the villain we know. And we'll deal with whatever comes after... after.

The Key opens the final door:

Scholar Glenna: That's Qadim? What the flux has he become?

Qadim the Peerless: Have you come to witness history? To see how I have risen high above the station in which you would have me rot?

Key of Ahdashim: You are an abomination, Qadim. And a disappointment.

Qadim the Peerless: Your words hold sway no longer, Key.

<Character name>: You're definitely bigger and uglier than you were at the Mystic Forge. But you still won't win.

Qadim the Peerless: "Champions" over toys and lesser djinn. You're not playing Zommoros's foolish games today.

<Character name>: You underestimated us last time, Qadim. Didn't work out so well.

Qadim the Peerless: I am something you've never faced before. And never will again.

If control over one of the pylons is lost:

Qadim the Peerless: Your fatal mistake was believing this a game!

If the orb touches Qadim, one of the following dialogues will be spoken:

Qadim the Peerless: Yield! I have already won.

Qadim the Peerless: Look upon true power!

When Qadim uses Rain of Chaos, one the following:

Qadim the Peerless: Not one of you can hope to defeat me now.

Qadim the Peerless: This power is meant for someone greater. Me!

When Qadim reaches 80% health:

Qadim the Peerless: Step aside. Every moment has been leading me to this victory. Over my inferiors, over the Key, over Ahdashim.

Key of Ahdashim: You had great potential once, Qadim, despite your flaws. Now you are not even djinn. You are an outsider.

Qadim the Peerless: Because you passed me over! You preferred lesser djinn. Now reap the seeds you've sown.

When Qadim reaches 60% health:

<Character name>: Are you so ruled by the past that you'd destroy the future?

Qadim the Peerless: Yes.

<Character name>: The Key's right, all the power you've taken has corrupted you.

Qadim the Peerless: I emerged from the Forge with greater vision. The future will be what I deem it to be.

When Qadim uses Caustic Chaos:

Qadim the Peerless: Since you hunger for my power, have a taste!

When Qadim reaches 40% health:

Qadim the Peerless: I would’ve brought Ahdashim to glory!

When Qadim reaches 30% health:

Qadim the Peerless: I would've pulled us into the light!

When Qadim reaches 20% health:

Qadim the Peerless: This is MY power—MY destiny!

When Qadim reaches 10% health:

Qadim the Peerless: It's MINE!

Cinematic upon defeating Qadim:

Qadim the Peerless: (scream)

Qadim explodes, and the Key of Ahdashim gathers his unbound magic seemingly to absorb it before she suddenly unleashes it instead.

Scholar Glenna: Ahdashim's energy structure is completely changed. What's happening?

As it leaves Ahdashim, the unleashed magic clears the Brandstorm around the Domain of Vabbi.

Key of Ahdashim: An evolution.

Some of the magic is absorbed by water djinn at the Palace of Aban.

Key of Ahdashim: Never again will a few djinn control the destiny of all.

Some of the magic is absorbed by fire djinn at the Temple of Atar.

Key of Ahdashim: Now every djinn shall be connected to Ahdashim and its energy.

Some of the magic is absorbed by earth djinn at the Hanging Gardens and Zommoros at the Mystic Forge.

Key of Ahdashim: We will share the burden and the power. As your champions do.

Dozens of newly empowered djinn appear at Sovereign's Stadium and converge around the Key of Ahdashim.

Message upon clearing the raid:

Ahdashim stands—changed, but still strong.

Additional dialogue with djinn hiding as elements

Interacting with a puddle of water near the Cardinal of Water's remains:

*Quietly sobs*

Excuse me...

What has the world come to? Does djinn life mean so little?

This was your friend?

Not my friend, she was my cardinal. The greatest one water has ever known. How dare he!

He? Qadim? You saw him kill her?

Saw it. Felt it. Qadim slaughtered her like an animal.

What do you mean, you "felt it?"

She was cut down, and we were cut off from the pulse of Ahdashim's power. Qadim is killing us all.

I'm sorry for your loss.

That does me no good.

I'll leave you to it then.

You're a djinn? Why are you in this form?

There's solace in our elements. It's also a good way[sic] make us smaller targets.

So Qadim won't attack you if you're in your elements?

Why should he? We pose no challenge and have no hope against him. He even cut down his own cardinal like it was nothing!

Won't you even fight back?

Would you try to fight a flood with a single urn?

You never know what might turn the tide.

Seek destruction then. And leave me to my grief.

As you wish.

I'll leave you to your grief.

How do puddles cry? Sorry. That was insensitive.

Speaking with embers near the entrance to the Sovereign's Stadium before engaging Qadim:

It's the end of days! Qadim will bring the end!

Have some faith. The fight hasn't even begun.

Is there something wrong with your sight? Look at that monster! What are you against that?

Guess you'll just have to watch and find out.

Speaking with a pile of earth near the entrance to the Basalt Arena before engaging Adina:

Who are you? You shouldn't be here!

Why's your cardinal siding with Qadim?

Go away!

I've got work to do anyway.

Speaking with a pile of earth near the entrance to the Basalt Arena after defeating Adina but before engaging Qadim:

Even with Adina destroyed, Qadim's blight still spreads.

How did Qadim get within Ahdashim's guard in the first place?

He's djinn—no matter how...altered. All have the right to an audience with the cardinals or the Key.

You're saying the cardinals had no choice?

Oh, they had choices. They just made those long ago. Now evil has returned to roost. It's a wonder it took this long.

The Mystic Forge made Qadim what he is.

It certainly transformed his power—but the nature it built upon was already there. Qadim is a by-product of the system. In some ways, I understand the rage he's brought to bear.

How can you say that? Your home is falling down around us because of him.

Perhaps. Or perhaps it does so because we've undermined the foundations to begin with.

Regardless, Qadim is the problem we all face now.

Speaking with a tornado at the southeastern corner of the Fractured Conservatory before engaging Sabir:

Can you not see the chaos above you? This is no time to talk!

"Good point. I'll be back in a bit.

Speaking with a tornado at the southeastern corner of the Fractured Conservatory after defeating Sabir but before engaging Qadim:

Do not judge Sabir's intellect or reasoning. He did what he thought was best for us.

Really? He seemed sort of selfish to me.

He was not himself in the end. The deaths of the other cardinals gave Air and Earth more influence than any element should have.

What do you mean by that?

Having too much of our element is just as bad as not having enough. We lose our sense of self and our better judgment.

Who will replace Sabir as your cardinal now?

The Key will evaluate the most likely candidates and decide who is best suited.

You're pretty forthcoming for a djinn...

Considering the extenuating circumstances, I would think the free movement of ideas and information might be our only hope.

We'll take all the weapons we can get for the fight ahead.

Gallery

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Miscellaneous

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  Wallpaper

Notes

• The Key of Ahdashim was released on June 11, 2019.

Trivia

• During the development of the raid wing, discussions included topics such as whether to address the fates of Goren and his dragon ward Shiny from Guild Wars Nightfall and in what manner. Ultimately the designers settled on paying a small tribute to Goren via his grave. They chose to keep Shiny's fate unknown, however, as creating a new saltspray dragon model for Shiny would have been time-consuming, its appearance and lack of involvement in encounters did not thematically fit into the story being told in the raid, and it was not referenced in any of the books due to not wanting to reduce it to an unsatisfying side story in case the dragon ever appears in the future.

See also

•  The Key of Ahdashim

External links

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on The Hidden City of Ahdashim.

• Meet the Key of Ahdashim on June 11, GuildWars2.com
• The Key of Ahdashim, GuildWars2.com

References

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The Key of Ahdashim

Gates of Ahdashim Cardinal Sabir (chest) Cardinal Adina (chest) Qadim the Peerless (chest)

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Raids

Forsaken Thicket (Spirit Vale • Salvation Pass • Stronghold of the Faithful) • Bastion of the Penitent
Hall of Chains • Mythwright Gambit • The Key of Ahdashim
Mount Balrior