Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons content

Siege Turtle

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Disambig icon.png This article is about the mount. For the NPC, see Siege Turtle (NPC). For the rented mount, see Siege Turtle (Siege Turtle Rental).
Siege Turtle.png

The Luxon Armada’s descendants have raised and trained these massive turtles for over two hundred years. Each mount can bear two riders: one to handle the Turtle, and another to operate the weapons strapped to its shell. Raise your own walking war machine and take a friend out for combat adventures!

— Official description

Siege Turtle (overhead icon).png

The Siege Turtle is a combat mount that can be used by two players at once: a driver and a gunner. It can be exclusively unlocked through End of Dragons, and can be freely borrowed during multiple events within the expansion maps. This mount, along with an upgraded skimmer, is the only one that can be also used underwater.

Upgrades to the Turtle mount increase its health, improve combat efficiency and grant additional health to other unlocked mounts.

Unlocking[edit]

Siege Turtle unlock banner.
  1. First, acquire a Turtle Egg by either completing the Dragon's End meta event The Battle for the Jade Sea, or by buying it from Peddler for 200 Writs of Dragon's End. This will reward you with a turtle egg (not an inventory item) that unlocks the Stomping Around achievement.
  2. You will be prompted to talk to Rota in Arborstone. This will unlock the first collection Turtle Unlock: Starting Small, complete it by trading in the required items to Fidget.
  3. Talk to Rota again to unlock the second collection Turtle Unlock: Getting Stronger. Complete it the same way as the previous one.
  4. Talk to Rota again to unlock the third and final collection Turtle Unlock: Suiting Up, which will take you around Cantha gathering items from events and vendors.
  5. Complete the collection and gain your Siege Turtle by talking to Rota again.

Unlock achievements[edit]

Mechanics[edit]

  • A Siege Turtle has 40,000 base health.
  • The Turtle has a defiance bar. When broken, all riders will be dismounted.
  • When dismounting, the mount skill will go on a 1 to 90 seconds cooldown depending on the Turtle’s health. The cooldown increases by 1 second per 2% health lost.

Movement/Controls[edit]

The Siege Turtle’s first movement mechanic is momentum: unlike most mounts, the Turtle does not have a fixed running speed. Instead, it slowly builds up momentum until it reaches its maximum speed (588u/s). When you start running from a standstill on flat ground, it takes approximately 6 seconds to reach maximum speed : 2.5 seconds to fill the blue part of the speed bar, and 3.5 more to fill the orange part. The Turtle can then sustain its max speed until it stops or crashes into terrain, both of which will slow the Turtle down.

The second movement mechanic is drifting: unlike Roller Beetle, the Turtle can’t go in and out of drift mode. The driver has to manage their rotation speed in order to control their drift. Turning too fast will slow you down a lot, turning too slow will get you off course.

The last mechanic is flying: using its Jump Jets, the driver can get the Turtle in the air to get over obstacles or to hover above water and canyons.

The Turtle can also go underwater, although it doesn't have the ability to swim. Instead, it walks slowly on the aquatic floor, and uses its Jump Jets to ascend in water and fly above it until the endurance bar is depleted.

Driving advice[edit]

There are 4 different ways of managing turns :

  • Using turn keys (default Q and E). These can be hard to handle since it makes the Turtle turn quite fast. The longer a turn key is held, the harder it is to stop turning to face the right direction. Consider tapping them instead of holding them.
  • Using strafe keys (default A and D)). Very easy to use to correct the trajectory or take small turns without changing the direction you’re facing.
  • Turning the camera (holding the right mouse button or using Action Camera). Very efficient, although it doesn’t turn as fast as with turn keys. It’s probably the easiest way to control the Turtle. For sharper turns, the driver may have to turn the camera fast and further than the direction aimed for.
  • Combining all three depending on the situation. Camera and strafe turning work especially well together.

Pressing S for a very short time and going forward again will result in a small speed loss, allowing the Turtle to approach a hard turn with less speed.

The passenger can trigger Overdrive to accelerate 5 times faster, neutralize all drifting and reduce the angle of rotation. As this is not a mastery-linked skill, any passenger can use it.

Your passenger has triggered Overdrive. The Siege Turtle's speed, acceleration, and handling are improved for a short period of time.

— in-game hint

Fighting[edit]

The driver controls movement and can attack with the Slam skill and with the burning that the Jump Jets inflict (2 stacks of burning on activation, then 3 per second until you stop or get too far from the enemy’s hitbox). Activating Bond of Vigor, using Slam on top of stacked foes and moving around fast enough can help recharging the gunner’s ammo and makes the difference between a good driver and a bad one, especially in Siege Stampede adventures.

The gunner controls the cannons and can attack with the Turtle Siege skill. Using Hunker Down to protect the mount from incoming damage and recharging ammo requires the gunner to have unlocked the Power Shell mastery.

While food, utilities, gear and most boons don’t affect the Turtle’s DPS, fury does. Traits increasing the base crit chance of fury (Roiling Mists, Vicious Quarry, Quiet Intensity and Furious Burst) carry over when mounted to give a 5–25% increase to crit chance depending on the trait.

If the Turtle’s health is nearing zero or if your breakbar is almost broken, using the Bond of Faith skill before the Turtle dies will cancel its very long cooldown.

Underwater, the Turtle Siege skill becomes foe-targeted instead of AoE-targeted.

You've received Siege Turtle ammo. Ammo is usable by the passenger for siege attacks and is accrued over time. Ammo generation can be accelerated through high-speed movement.

— in-game hint

Teleporting[edit]

  • Using a Waypoint as a Siege Turtle driver will transport both the driver and the gunner to the new location (so long as that location allows for mounts), but only the driver has to pay the waypoint fee. Both will remain mounted. Volunteering to move to a different map will not affect the gunner, who will be dismounted. The same happens when using a Waypoint in a different zone (assuming the driver is the forward most character).
  • Using a Portal while mounted as a Siege Turtle driver will port both the driver and the gunner to the portal exit as long as it is in the same map.
  • Unlocking waypoints from within the gunner seat has been addressed by Senior GM Diceflip here.

Related masteries[edit]

Turtle Mount[edit]

Mastery XP required Points Description
Turtle Health Boost Turtle Health Boost 381,000 End of Dragons mastery point Bond with your turtle to increase its health by 50%.
Slam Mastery Slam Mastery 635,000 End of Dragons mastery point Learn how to generate ammo after successfully hitting a target with Slam.
Improved Jump Jets Improved Jump Jets 1,016,000 End of Dragons mastery point Learn how to get your turtle to make the most of its jump jets.
Power Shell Power Shell 1,524,000 End of Dragons mastery point Master your skill as a gunner, learning to convert incoming damage into ammo.
Sharing Is Caring Sharing Is Caring 2,159,000 End of Dragons mastery point Learn how to teach the turtle health boost to all your other mounts.
Total 5,715,000 20 End of Dragons mastery point

Other masteries[edit]

List of Siege Turtle skills[edit]

Siege Turtle Driver[edit]

# Skill Activation time Recharge time Description
Turtle (skill).png Turtle Summon and mount your turtle.

Cooldown increases by 1 second per 2% health lost.
1 Mount skillSlam.png Slam 40.5½ Leap and knock nearby foes back.
5 Mount skillActivate Jump Jets.png Activate Jump Jets Hold to hover using the turtle's jump jets.

Applies burning to nearby enemies.
6 Mount skillBond of Life.png Bond of Life 180 Temporarily grant your mount the use of your own health pool at the risk of being downed in your mount's place.
7 Mount skillBond of Vigor.png Bond of Vigor 60 Increase your mount's endurance regeneration.
8 Mount skillBond of Faith.png Bond of Faith 30 Launch off of your mount!
9 Mount skillStealth (mount).png Stealth 2.0 30 Grants stealth to you and your mount.
Mount skillDismount.png Dismount Dismount your mount
# Skill Activation time Recharge time Description
F1 Open Access.png Open Access 1 Click to allow anyone to mount your turtle in the passenger slot.
F1 Redirect Arrow.pngRestrict Access.png Restrict Access 1 Click to restrict your mount passenger slot to party or squad members only.

Siege Turtle Gunner[edit]

# Skill Activation time Recharge time Description
1 Turtle Siege.png Turtle Siege Launch a siege attack that explodes on impact, damaging and burning foes.

Turtle movement accelerates siege ammo acquisition.

3 Hunker Down.png Hunker Down 25 Empower your turtle with a shell of energy, converting incoming damage to ammo and incoming conditons to boons
5 Overdrive.png Overdrive 25 Boost the turtle's acceleration, max speed, and turning ability.
Bond of Faith.png Bond of Faith 30 Launch off of your mount!
Notes: NPC version Siege Turtle will not have Bond of Faith.

Related equipment[edit]

Jade Bot equipment that improve this mechanic[edit]

Lore[edit]

History[edit]

Specifically a breed simply called Giant Turtle, in the past, Siege Turtles were the staple of the Luxon Armada in their war against the Kurzicks. Tamed and raised by the Turtle Clan, they were cared for in hatcheries, the largest of which being Gyala Hatchery that was used for other aquatic life as well. The Luxons had mounted cannons atop of the turtles' shells via scaffolding, and used magical jade as ammunition, trained at the Leviathan Pits[1][2] to fire at smoke cannister signals.[3] Not all of the turtle breed were trained for warfare, however, as some Hauler Turtles were instead trained to move heavy shipments, such as large piles of jade out of quarries. These turtles were also used by the Turtle Clan as opposed to Luxon Leviathan ships, which the other two clans, Crab and Serpent, preferred using to move around the solidified Jade Sea.[4]

Modern times[edit]

Siege Turtles are still used by Canthans today as mounts, though equipped with higher technology, and a second cannon.

List of Siege Turtle skins[edit]

See also: Gallery of Siege Turtle skins

(*) The mounts in the marked rows either don't appear in API:2/account/mounts/skins and API:2/mounts/skins and/or don't have an ID set. Therefore it cannot be checked if they have been unlocked.

Gallery[edit]

Screenshots
Concept art and renders

Notes[edit]

  • The Siege Turtle gunner is unable to open loot bags or consume items.
  • Latent Magic in SotO maps also reset your height cap, allowing you to fly longer and higher.
  • Direct damage is per player, but condition damage is shared. If no condition damage is dealt, the driver and the gunner’s participation will not be shared.
  • The driver can mitigate fall damage by using the Turtle's Jade Jets, but instead of resetting immediately like the Jackal, the Turtle's fall has to be slowed first. No need to entirely stop falling to reset it. Even one or two brief taps just before hitting the ground after falling from a great height will result in no fall damage.
  • Using Slam underwater allows you to sink faster. If you press Slam before entering the water however, you won't get that speed boost.
  • Running before mounting lets you start on the Turtle halfway through the blue part of the speed bar.
  • If your passenger isn't in your group, toggling the access rights back to "restricted" will dismount them.
  • The gunner and driver body movements are symmetrical.
  • If two players manage to win a Mount Race in a Siege Turtle, the driver is awarded First Place and the gunner is awarded Second Place (assuming the driver is the forward most character).

Trivia[edit]

  • If you toggle the walk animation, the speed of the mount is almost the same as the walk speed of real life turtles.[5]
    • The Siege Turtles walking speed is ~28 in/sec (= ~71.12 cm/sec).
  • Siege Turtles like to eat carrots and fish. [6]
  • This mount is simply referred to as Turtle in at least, but probably not limited to, the mount selection menu, the skill used to summon them and the API.

Related achievements[edit]

External links[edit]

Gwwlogo.png The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Siege Turtle.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Endre
  2. ^ Arion
  3. ^ Gyala Hatchery
  4. ^ An Empire Divided
  5. ^ End of Dragons First Look
    Brian Walter: If you actually toggle the walk animation in game, it kinda maps out to more or less a turtle's walk speed. I actually did the calculations and it was like, oh my gosh. That's like the exact speed.
  6. ^ Guild Chat Episode 115 - Siege Turtle Preview