Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns content
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Raid

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Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™, introduces the ultimate challenge: our first raid, which is made up of three distinct raid wings. Raids are 10-player, instanced, elite dungeon content that's a challenge unlike anything we've previously released in Guild Wars 2. These raids are meant to put you and your teammates to the test and challenge you to grow your skills as Guild Wars 2 players. Raids are our answer to what skilled PvE players have to look forward to at endgame—the ultimate test to overcome and defeat.

Official website

Raids offer the ultimate challenge for you and nine of your friends.

— Level 80 rewards.

Portal to enter a raid.

Raid (map icon).png Raids, or raid wings, are 10-player squad-based PvE instances for level 80 characters. Unlike strike missions, raids are a sequence of boss and non-boss encounters with weekly rewards. Any encounter completed for the week can only be repeated after weekly reset or by joining an uncleared instance.

Each encounter typically involves multiple phases with several unique mechanics to test squad coordination, damage output, positioning, and player builds. Encounters may also include an enrage timer where the encounter fails or incoming damage greatly increases when time expires.

Certain masteries are required to participate in, complete, or simplify some encounters (see table notes). As with strike missions, downed allies can be revived or rally, but defeated allies cannot be revived during the encounters. Unlike fractals, Revive Orbs are disabled, along with other similar consumables such as boosters.

Special rewards for finishing each encounter are limited to once per week, with a weekly reset at Monday 07:30. Progress within a raid wing is saved for players even after leaving the instance, and it's reset weekly along with the rewards. Restarting the raid instance later will recall the progress made by the instance opener, allowing you to continue with the same raid wing across multiple sessions in a week. There are no waypoints inside raids, but instead they use a checkpoint system which players can use to revive themselves and which most of the times resets skill recharges when everyone is defeated. The /resign command or one of its alternatives can be used to restart an encounter faster.

The first raid, Forsaken Thicket, was split into three different wings, with the first one released on November 17, 2015. While corresponding wings tell a progressing story in a specific order, each wing can be entered and completed independently and in any order. After the third wing was released, future raids are now singular rather than multiple wings. It also introduced the first challenge mode boss encounter, a harder version with more punishing mechanics. The Mount Balrior raid wing from Janthir Wilds introduced a new pinnacle difficulty setting with the legendary mode.

Accessing raids[edit]

Raiding is intended to require certain amount of time and dedication to learn and overcome each boss's unique mechanics, but in return it offers a large variety of rewards. Strike missions are a great introduction to 10-player encounters and common mechanics, bridging the gap between open world and raid difficulty with some strike missions surpassing raid difficulty.

Many solo players begin their raiding journeys by joining raid-training guilds or groups, or by joining dedicated training groups listed in the LFG tool (under Raids (Training)) in order to learn the basics of each encounter and accrue kill proof.

Expansions required
  • PoF Texture Trans.png Path of Fire raids are accessible by entering their respective portals in the open world or Lion's Arch Aerodrome.
    • The Path of Fire expansion is required.
    • Automatically unlocked upon owning the expansion.
  • Janthir Wilds logo.png The Janthir Wilds raid is accessible by entering the respective portal in the open world or Lion's Arch Aerodrome.
    • The Janthir Wilds expansion is required.
    • Automatically unlocked upon owning the expansion.

Difficulty tiers[edit]

Challenge mode activates a more difficult version of the encounter

All squad-based raids (except for Mount Balrior) are unique encounters not found in story episodes.

  • Story version: initially fought as a part of a story intended for solo play, only found for the Mount Balrior raid wing.
  • Emboldened mode: 10-player squad, opt-out Emboldened.png Emboldened effect active in a new raid wing each week that increases player durability and power per failed attempt.
  • Normal mode: 10-player squad.
  • Challenge mode: 10-player squad, additional mechanics, only found in Stronghold of the Faithful and later raid wings.
  • Legendary mode: 10-player squad, additional mechanics, additional boss health, currently only found in the Mount Balrior raid wing.

List of raids[edit]

(CM) = Optional Challenge mode available
(LM) = Optional Legendary mode available

# Raid / Wing Encounters Achievements Currency Main masteries
HoT Texture Centered Trans.png Heart of Thorns
1 Forsaken Thicket:
Spirit Vale
(November 17, 2015)

Mini Vale Guardian.png Vale Guardian
Soul River Glider.png Spirit Woods
Mini Gorseval the Multifarious.png Gorseval the Multifarious
Mini Sabetha.png Sabetha the Saboteur

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Spirit Vale
Legendary Armor (achievements).png Envoy Armor I: Experimental Armor

Magnetite Shard.pngMagnetite Shard

Legendary Insight.pngLegendary Insight

Glider Basics.pngGlider Basics (required)
Updraft Use.pngUpdraft Use (semi-required)
Explosive Launch.pngExplosive Launch
2 Forsaken Thicket:
Salvation Pass
(March 8, 2016)

Mini Slothasor.png Slothasor
Mini Berg.pngMini Zane.pngMini Narella.png Prison Camp
Mini Matthias Abomination.png Matthias Gabrel

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Salvation Pass
Legendary Armor.png Envoy Armor I: Experimental Armor

Updraft Use.pngUpdraft Use (semi-required)
Nuhoch Stealth Detection.pngNuhoch Stealth Detection (recommended)
Forsaken Thicket Waters.pngForsaken Thicket Waters (recommended)
Glider Basics.pngGlider Basics
Explosive Launch.pngExplosive Launch
3 Forsaken Thicket:
Stronghold of the Faithful
(June 14, 2016)

Mini McLeod the Silent.png Siege the Stronghold
Mini Keep Construct.png Keep Construct (CM)
Bloodstone-Infused Ectoplasm.png Twisted Castle
Mini Xera.png Xera

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Stronghold of the Faithful

Legendary Armor.png Envoy Armor I: Experimental Armor

Ley Line Gliding.pngLey Line Gliding (required)
Bouncing Mushrooms.pngBouncing Mushrooms (required on at least 1 player)
Explosive Launch.pngExplosive Launch
Forsaken Thicket Waters.pngForsaken Thicket Waters
Forsaken Magic.pngForsaken Magic
4 Bastion of the Penitent
(February 8, 2017)

Mini Cairn the Indomitable.png Cairn the Indomitable (CM)
Mini Mursaat Overseer.png Mursaat Overseer (CM)
Mini Samarog.png Samarog (CM)
Mini Ragged White Mantle Figurehead.png Deimos (CM)

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Bastion of the Penitent
Legendary Armor.png Envoy Armor II: Refined Armor

Glider Basics.pngGlider Basics (required)
PoF Texture Trans.png Path of Fire
5 Hall of Chains
(November 28, 2017)

Mini Desmina.png Soulless Horror (CM)
Silver River of Souls Trophy.png River of Souls
Silver Statue of Grenth Trophy.png Statues of Grenth
Mini Dhuum.png Dhuum (CM)

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Hall of Chains
Legendary Trinkets.png Coalescence I: Unbridled

Magnetite Shard.pngMagnetite Shard

Legendary Insight.pngLegendary Insight

Glider Basics.pngGlider Basics / Any mount
6 Mythwright Gambit
(September 18, 2018)

Gold Conjured Amalgamate Trophy.png Conjured Amalgamate (CM)
Mini Sand Shark.png Sorting and Appraisal
Mini Nikare.pngMini Kenut.png Twin Largos (CM)
Mini Qadim.png Qadim (CM)

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Mythwright Gambit
Legendary Trinkets.png Coalescence II: The Gift
Rare Collections.png Ultra Shiny

Shifting Sands.pngShifting Sands (recommended)
Glider Basics.pngGlider Basics / Any mount
7 The Key of Ahdashim
(June 11, 2019)

Mini Key of Ahdashim.png Gates of Ahdashim
Mini Air Djinn.png Cardinal Sabir (CM)
Mini Earth Djinn.png Cardinal Adina (CM)
Mini Qadim the Peerless.png Qadim the Peerless (CM)

Spirit Vale (achievements).png The Key of Ahdashim
Legendary Trinkets.png Coalescence III: Culmination

Updraft Use.pngUpdraft Use (recommended)
Glider Basics.pngGlider Basics / Any mount
Janthir Wilds logo.png Janthir Wilds
8 Mount Balrior
(November 19, 2024)

Greer's Blighted Touch.png Greer, the Blightbringer (CM)
Mini Lucid Boulder.png Decima, the Stormsinger (CM)
Mini Ventshot.png Ura, the Steamshrieker (CM) (LM)

Spirit Vale (achievements).png Mount Balrior

Gaeting Crystal.pngGaeting Crystal

Legendary Insight.pngLegendary Insight

Any mount

Emboldened mode[edit]

Primary article: Emboldened

The Emboldened.png Emboldened effect becomes active in a new raid wing each week, effectively reducing the difficulty of each encounter by negating the heavy reliance on damage and healing. This gives players the chance to familiarise themselves with each boss's mechanics. This effect is automatically applied but can be deactivated by interacting with the Emboldened Mote near the entrance of each wing. Rewards are unaffected by Emboldened mode.

Upon entering a raid wing, players gain their first stack of Emboldened, which grants additional health, damage output, and improved healing to aid in their battle against each encounter. Each failed boss encounter attempt adds a stack of Emboldened (max 5), providing up to 100% additional health, 50% increased damage, and 50% increased healing output. This resets to 1 stack upon successfully completing the boss encounter.

Icon displayed above raid wing portals denoting that the Emboldened effect is active in that wing.

Emboldened mode schedule[edit]

Raid Next up
Spirit Vale June 9, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Salvation Pass Emboldened portal icon.png Active
Stronghold of the Faithful April 28, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Bastion of the Penitent May 5, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Hall of Chains May 12, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Mythwright Gambit May 19, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
The Key of Ahdashim May 26, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Mount Balrior June 2, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00

The effect rotates among the raids every week on Monday 08:30, effectively changing one hour after raid rewards reset.
Click here to purge the server cache, this forces the server to update the contents.

Rewards[edit]

Normal mode[edit]

Most of these rewards are once per week (per boss/encounter):

Challenge mode[edit]

In addition to normal mode rewards, once per boss per week:

Call of the Mists[edit]

Primary article: Call of the Mists (raid effect)
Icon displayed above raid wing portals denoting that the Call of the Mists effect is active in that wing.

Call of the Mists is an effect that doubles the amount of gold and experience gained from raid boss kills, rotating every week between each raid wing in order of release date.

Raid Next up
Spirit Vale June 2, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Salvation Pass June 9, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Stronghold of the Faithful Call of the Mists portal icon.png Active
Bastion of the Penitent April 28, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Hall of Chains May 5, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Mythwright Gambit May 12, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
The Key of Ahdashim May 19, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00
Mount Balrior May 26, 2025 08:30 UTC+00:00

The effect rotates among the raids every week on Monday 08:30, effectively changing one hour after raid rewards reset.
Click here to purge the server cache, this forces the server to update the contents.

Related achievements[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • Race specific damage bonuses on slaying sigils, e.g. the 7% bonus on Superior Sigil of Demon Slaying, do not apply to raid bosses. Slaying potions, e.g. Powerful Potion of Demon Slaying, get removed upon entering the raid and cannot be applied once inside.
  • Many raid bosses have different lore and mechanical races, e.g. Vale Guardian is mechanically considered a plant.
  • At this time players cannot use transformation tonics or potions whilst in raids.
  • It is possible to enter the raid with a player who has already cleared the wing to do certain achievements that do not involve combat, such as Loot Finder, Piecing It Together or My Hero!.
  • A squad can concede defeat faster by using the /resign, /surrender, /concede, /forfeit, /gg, /qq, or /ff commands.
  • In the LFG tool, players often advertise in shorthand what other players they seek. Common codes include:
    • "xx li": Players with at least that many Legendary Insights, to indicate raiding experience. Players can "show" the number of Legendary Insights they have to others in chat by ctrl or shift-clicking on them in the inventory, but this can be faked by manually inputting the appropriate chat link format codes. Some commanders require spamming them in the chat with ctrl-click or splitting the stack with alt-click to mitigate the chances they are faked. Players posting this requirement will usually also accept Perfected Envoy armor or the precursor sets, since the collections required to get them include items that drop from almost all of the raid bosses.
    • "kp": Players with "kill proof"--one of the items that can only be looted by someone who has defeated a boss, to prove they've beaten it at least once before. This can include the decoration token received from that boss, or any of the gear items (such as these) that can drop from that boss's chest (or unlocked as purchases from Scholar Glenna only after defeating it).
    • "w1", "w2", etc... : While technically only 3 raids are wings of Forsaken Thicket, raids are commonly shortened to w# with # being the number of the raid in release order, as shown in the list above.
    • "fc": LFG group intends to do "full clear" meaning clearing every boss starting from first boss/event in that particular wing.

Version history[edit]

Patch Changes
February 14, 2023
  • Fixed an issue that prevented encounters from resetting and raid enrage timers from appearing.
October 04, 2022
  • Fixed an issue that caused Emboldened mode to reactivate after defeating challenge mode bosses, preventing some players from receiving the correct rewards for the encounter.
July 20, 2022
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving credit for defeating challenge mode raid bosses if the Emboldened effect was removed by activating challenge mode.
July 19, 2022
  • Completing any raid encounter with challenge mode active now awards a bonus event chest containing 2 Gold coin, 10 Magnetite Shard.pngMagnetite Shards, 2 Provisioner Token.pngProvisioner Tokens, bonus experience, and a random exotic item.
    • This reward can be obtained once per week per encounter.
    • The weekly achievement for completing 5 unique challenge mode raid encounters, Top-Tiered Terror Toppler, has been removed.
    • Players will need to manually disable Emboldened from the new Emboldened mote or they will not receive Challenge Mode rewards. We are working on a fix for this and will update as soon as the fix is live.
  • Gaeting Crystal.pngGaeting Crystals have been retired and players will automatically have any Gaeting Crystals in their possession exchanged for an equal amount of Magnetite Shards.
  • The weekly Magnetite Shard currency cap has been doubled.
  • Raids and achievement rewards that previously awarded Gaeting Crystals now award Magnetite Shards.
  • Merchants who previously traded items for Gaeting Crystals now accept Magnetite Shards in their place.
  • The Portable Gaeting Crystal Exchange item has been renamed Qadim's Portable Magnetite Shard Exchange.
  • Legendary Divinations have been retired and replaced by Legendary Insights. You can consume your existing Legendary Divinations from your inventory to exchange them for Legendary Insights.
  • Legendary Insights will now be added directly to your wallet. You can add your existing Legendary Insights to your wallet by consuming them from your inventory.
  • Scholar Glenna now sells Gifts of Prowess and Gifts of Compassion, which you can purchase for the same number of wallet-based Legendary Insights used in their Mystic Forge recipes.
June 28, 2022
  • Emboldened Mode
    • Each week, one of the seven existing raid wings will be set to Emboldened mode. Upon entry, raid members will gain their first stack of Emboldened, which grants additional health, damage output, and improved healing to aid in their battle against each encounter. Each time the raid group fails a boss encounter, they’ll receive another stack of Emboldened.png Emboldened, granting players up to 100% additional health, 50% increased damage, and 50% increased healing output. Upon successfully completing the boss encounter, the stacks of Emboldened will reset.
      • Players may vote to disable Emboldened by interacting with the Emboldened mote inside each raid.
      • Activating challenge mode will disable the Emboldened effect.
  • General
    • Call of the Mists is no longer permanently active in the Key of Ahdashim raid.
    • Call of the Mists now rotates on a weekly cadence.
      • The Raid categories in the Looking for Group tab have been updated:
      • Raids (Training): This group is for players looking to learn or teach raid encounters.
      • Raids (Experienced): This group is for players looking for other experienced individuals to clear and tackle more challenging encounters.
      • Both categories now only accept listings from players in a squad.
March 29, 2022
March 15, 2022
  • Glenna's Mystic Clover weekly trade has now also been added to the Exchanges tab on the Basic Magnetite Exchange Operative in the Lion's Arch Aerodrome.
February 28, 2022 End of Dragons release:
October 05, 2021
  • As of September 21, the effect reset that occurs when players begin a raid or strike removes the same effects as the reset that occurs when players change traits or templates.
  • When engaging a raid or strike boss, the druid's Celestial Energy resource is automatically set to 100%.
September 15, 2020
  • A new achievement category, Spirit Vale (achievements).png Weekly Raids, has been added to the Raids achievement category.
  • A weekly raid challenge mode achievement, Top-Tiered Terror Toppler, has been added. Players must complete five challenge-mote based raid encounters on the achievement's objective list.
March 31, 2020
  • Fixed a bug that caused several gathering tools to fail to gather materials in raids or Strike Missions.
August 28, 2019
June 11, 2019
  • The Mute Player Alerts sound option will now mute the alert chime accompanying some targeted skills (mostly found in raids and story instances) and the alert chime that accompanies the application of many special action skills.
  • (Undocumented) Raid bosses now award 10,000Karma each when killed for the first time that week.
  • (Undocumented) Raid boss rewards have been moved to bonus chests and no longer require players to represent a guild to get decorations.
May 14, 2019
  • Fixed a bug that allowed continued access to the Glyph of Empowerment effect.
September 18, 2018
  • Path of Fire™ raids have a new currency: Legendary Divination.pngLegendary Divinations.
  • Path of Fire raids will use Legendary Divinations for its components instead of Legendary Insight.pngLegendary Insights.
  • Players who have participated in completing at least one Path of Fire raid encounter prior to this patch will be able to trade in a limited number of Legendary Insights for Legendary Divinations.
  • All toy chairs can now be used in raid locations where mounts can also be used.
March 28, 2018
  • Raids: Mesmer and necromancer portals will now correctly detonate when an encounter begins.
March 06, 2018
  • Updated the Call of the Mists marker in the Lion's Arch Aerodrome.
February 06, 2018
  • New stolen skills for thieves have been added to all encounters:
    • Unstable Artifact.png Unstable Artifact: Shadowstep to an area and deliver a large immobilizing strike. If a downed ally is in your targeted area, you will instead shadowstep that ally to your location and partially revive them.
    • Detonate Plasma.png Detonate Plasma: Activate this skill to apply many boons to nearby allies.
    • Soul Stone Venom.png Soul Stone Venom: Use a corrupted soul stone to immediately remove all conditions from nearby allies, converting each unique condition removed into an instance of Soul Stone Venom on that ally. When attacking while this venom is active, an additional strike that's sourced from the applying thief will be applied to all of your successful hits.
    • Throw Magnetic Bomb.png Magnetic Bomb: Throw a magnetic bomb that continuously damages and pulls enemies to a point.
January 09, 2018
  • Call of the Mists.png Call of the Mists will now persist indefinitely in the most recent raid release. Additionally, Call of the Mists will now rotate every two weeks between all the previous raids.
December 15, 2017
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from reviving in raids and fractals.
November 28, 2017
  • The Raid Mastery track, if locked, will now be hidden. This has been done to allow players who do not participate in raids to gain experience toward Spirit Shard.pngSpirit Shards. Completing any encounter inside of a Heart of Thorns™ raid will unlock and make visible the Raid Mastery track.
  • Various bosses now apply Revealed.png Revealed directly to fixated targets and high-toughness targets through attacks.
  • Boons, barriers, and mounts are now removed more expediently when an event starts.
  • Event failure now refills astral force for  Celestial Avatar.png Celestial Avatar and life force for  Death Shroud.png Death Shroud.
  • The Rift Traveler Mastery has been renamed Rift Forger. Travel via Ley Rifts is now available to all players, and the Rift Forger Mastery will allow players to repair their armor.
  • All bosses are no longer immune to weakness.
  • Boss encounters had incongruent toughness values across the board. With a few exceptions, all encounters have had their toughness normalized.
    • Vale Guardian, Keep Construct, and McLeod the Silent remain unchanged.
July 25, 2017
June 22, 2017
  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from receiving loot from raid encounters.
March 28, 2017
  • (Undocumented) Raid boss tokens (e.g. Vale Guardian Fragment.pngVale Guardian Fragment) can now be consumed to automatically add to your guild.
February 22, 2017
  • Added confirmation windows to the Exchanges tab on all raid vendors.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Magnetite Shard.pngMagnetite Shards from being awarded when salvaging some infused and attuned raid reward rings.
August 09, 2016
  • Fixed a bug in which hostile creatures could become invulnerable during raids.
July 26, 2016
  • Added a new chat command to assist squads in conceding defeat faster. The command instantly applies your currently equipped finisher to yourself. It can only be used in raids.
    • English: /surrender /concede /forfeit /resign
    • Spanish: /rendirse /renunciar /capitular
    • German: /kapitulieren /resignieren /ergeben /aufgeben
    • French: /capituler /abandonner /renoncer /concéder
  • Added a new "Mute Dynamic Combat Music" option to the Sound Options tab. When enabled, this option will suppress the nonscripted combat music system that plays when players are in combat and below a certain health threshold. Combat music that is specifically tied to content such as quests, dungeons, raids, events, and fractals will not be affected by this option.
April 26, 2016
  • Fixed a bug that prevented party-member and squad-member health bars from displaying in PvP, WvW, and raids.
April 19, 2016
February 23, 2016
January 26, 2016
  • Update 3:
    • When each player in a raid enters combat, their boon prioritization will be locked in based on the composition of the subgroup they are currently in. That prioritization will not change until the player has left combat, even if their subgroup composition changes while they are in combat.
December 15, 2015
  • It's no longer necessary to leave a raid to activate Experience Boosts, Item Boosts, or Heroic Boosts.

External links[edit]

References[edit]