Strike Mission: Aetherblade Hideout

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This article is about the Strike Mission. For the location in the Echovald Wilds, see Aetherblade Hideout. For the Living World Season 1 dungeon, see Aetherblade Retreat.

Strike Mission: Aetherblade Hideout is the first Canthan strike mission for the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons expansion. It contains story details from the Can't Trust a Pirate story step.

Getting there[edit]

Players must own the End of Dragons expansion and be in a raid-mode (10 player) squad to join.

If the Can't Trust a Pirate story step has been completed by any character of an account:
- Interact with the scrying stone at the Hollow Caves — in Seitung Province; or,
- Interact with the scrying stone or Lyra in Arborstone (south-west of Arborstone Waypoint — ).
Enter or be within Arborstone when the strike mission instance is opened.

Objectives[edit]

Enter the circle to begin the Strike Mission.
Challenge Mode: Inactive / Active (if you accept the Challenge)
Engage Mai Trin.
Defeat Mai Trin and Scarlet.
Captain Mai Trin
Echo of Scarlet Briar
Strike Mission complete!

Rewards[edit]

One Grand Strike Chest (once per day)
One bouncy chest (once per week)
- Mai Trin's Coffer
- Blue Prophet Shard (8-9)
- 2
- 5,000
- 66,675
Blue Prophet Shard (8-9)
If the corresponding elite specialization equipment achievement is active:

Challenge Mode

One additional Challenge Mode bouncy chest (once per week)
- One random FExotic weapon or armor piece
- Mai Trin's Magnificent Coffer
- Antique Summoning Stone
- Blue Prophet Shard (8-9)
- 2
- 10,000
- 133,350
- Possible rare rewards:
  - Imperial Everbloom Sprout

Walkthrough[edit]

This strike mission acts as the next major stepping stone for players tackling instanced content after the The Icebrood Saga (IBS) strike missions. After completing this fight, players can advance to the Xunlai Jade Junkyard strike mission, which is of similar difficulty. These two fights and the Kaineng Overlook strike mission are collectively referred to by the community as the "EOD EZ3" strike missions, due to their relative ease-of-difficulty compared to the Harvest Temple and Old Lion's Court strike missions.

The encounter begins once players stand in the white circle or, if the arena barrier is gone, when players are near Mai Trin.

Captain Mai Trin (Part 1)[edit]

Health: 5,898,600 (8,898,600 if the Challenge Mote is active)

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

Enrage Effect: Defeats all players

Fixation Mechanic: None

100% – 60%

Mai Trin performs a succession of melee strikes, repositioning attacks, evades, and telegraphed area-of-effect damage:

Skill	Notes
Blinding Retreat→ Flanking Strike	Fires a shot that inflicts Blinded then evades backwards. Follows-up by teleporting behind a player, inflicting ₁ Bleeding.
Heartpiercer → Fissure of Torment	Charges toward a direction, inflicting ₃ Bleeding and Knockdown. Follows-up with 4 rectangular AoE's from Mai Trin that each inflict ₁ Torment
Slice → Slash → Crippling Strike	Basic auto-attack with Mai Trin extending her sword for the third attack, inflicting Weakness and Crippled on the initial hit then ₂ Bleeding each hit.
Throat Slash → Nightmare Fusillade	Inflicts ₂ Bleeding then evades backwards to channel a large conal AoE that inflicts ₃ Torment.
Unrelenting Assault	Teleports between players for each attack, evading all damage.

Mai Trin's defiance bar remains unlocked throughout the fight and can be broken to inflict Stun and Exposed to her. She also frequently moves and evades, requiring players to use their skills at the right time and location to hit her.

The first fight attempt starts out with Fissure of Torment. Afterwards and for future attempts, she uses these skills in the following order for the entire fight: Unrelenting Assault → Blinding Retreat → Flanking Strike → Throat Slash → Nightmare Fusillade. The rest of her rotation thereafter varies but she will always complete a skill chain (see above table) before casting a different skill.

Upon reaching 60% health, Mai Trin becomes untargetable but continues to attack.

Anomaly:

Boons are normally removed upon starting an instanced encounter. However for this fight, they are again removed either 12s into the fight (for the first attempt) or 5s into the fight (for subsequent attempts). Players should avoid exhausting all their resources to apply boons until the second boonstrip occurs. Additionally, players can immediately type /gg after the first encounter to shorten the time until boonstrip for future attempts.

60% (Split #1)

A total of 4 Scarlet Phantoms spawn at the edges of the arena and protect Mai Trin:

Health: 19,662 each (unchanged if the Challenge Mote is active)

Skill	Notes
Fissure of Torment	Single rectangular AoE's that extends in front of the phantom, inflicting Torment.
Toxic Orb	Slow-moving orb fired by the phantom, inflicting Torment.

The phantoms each have low health and must all be defeated for Mai Trin to be vulnerable.

60% – 30%

This phase remains unchanged as Mai Trin continues her previous attack until she becomes untargetable again at 30% health.

30% (Split #2)

Similar to the first split phase, a total of four phantoms spawn at the ordinal directions (northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast). However, two of them are now elite Scarlet Phantoms that are positioned opposite of each other:

Health: 1,966,200 each (3,340,200 if the Challenge Mote is active)

Skill	Phantom	Notes
Focused Destruction (Green)	Northeast	Targets a random player with a green circle (about every 40 seconds) that inflicts massive damage to all players within the circle after a delay. A minimum of 4 players (including the marked player) must stand within the circle before it explodes to prevent all players from taking massive damage.
Kaleidoscopic Chaos (Spread)	Southwest	Targets all players with an orange circle (about every 30 seconds) that explodes after a delay, dealing unavoidable damage. Players standing within two or more overlapping circles will take massive damage.

The northeast and southwest elite phantoms each boast a high health pool and defiance bar strength, respectively. The southwest phantom can only be defeated by breaking its defiance bar due to the Immune to Damage and Conditions. effect. Due to this, players should focus on the northeast phantom and periodically use crowd control skills off-cooldown on the other phantom. This also ensures that enough people will be nearby for the Green mechanic.

Mai Trin becomes vulnerable again once all phantoms are defeated.

30% – 10%

This phase remains unchanged from before. Upon reaching 10% health, Mai Trin retreats to the center and manifests her revenant legend.

Echo of Scarlet Briar (Part 2)[edit]

Health: 17,695,800 (40,082,400 if the Challenge Mote is active)

100% – 80%

The Echo alternates between two attacks throughout the remainder of the fight:

Skill	Notes
Electric Blast	Extends her right arm and spins around, dropping multiple AoEs around her that explode and inflict Torment. These originate from the center and rapidly spawn in an outwards spiral until reaching the edge of the arena.
Tormenting Wave	Raises her arms then slams the ground, unleashing a shockwave that inflicts Torment. This can be blocked, evaded, or jumped. She will perform this attack twice before continuing her attack pattern. Standing in the initial AoE only inflicts damage, despite the fancy telegraph circle.
Toxic Bullet	Small, rotating red orbs from the Echo, each inflicting damaging and Torment. These are susceptible to projectile-related skills, such as projectile destruction and reflects.

The Echo's defiance bar remains unlocked throughout the fight and can be broken to inflict Stun and Exposed to her.

The Echo follows a fixed, repeating attack pattern for the entire fight: 2x Electric Blast → 2x Tormenting Wave

As with Mai Trin, the Echo becomes untargetable upon reaching 80% health and continues to attack.

80% (Split #3)

A total of 8 Scarlet Phantoms now spawn, two of which are elite phantoms. Otherwise, this phase remains unchanged.

Defeating all phantoms renders the Echo vulnerable again.

80% – 60%

This phase remains unchanged; however the Echo gains a new skill:

Skill	Notes
Ley Breach (Blue Lightning)	Targets a random player (about every 25 seconds) with a blue beam above them, leaving behind an electric field after a delay. This pulses heavy damage and persists for 15 seconds. Targeted players will also have a blue screen border.

These should ideally be placed at the edge of the arena. This attack can also be interrupted by breaking the defiance bar. Breaking the defiance bar will remove both the blue beam on the targeted player and any existing electric fields.

60% (Laser #1)

The Echo disappears and casts the following skills along with a Scarlet Phantom:

Skill	Notes
Chaos and Destruction	The entire arena is targeted, with three safe zones appearing one by one and rotating around the center. After 10 seconds, all players not within a safe zone are instantly defeated.
Flanking Shot	Scarlet fires a beam, instantly defeating all players in front of her.

Both of these attacks inflict damage at the same time. Two of the three safe zones will eventually overlap with the AoE from Flanking Shot, leaving the remaining circle as the safe spot that avoids both attacks. Scarlet spawns off-center towards one half of the arena. Because of this, the correct safe zone will always be the center of the half opposite to the phantom's half.

The Echo emerges again following both attacks.

60% – 40%

Starting at 55% health, Mai Trin reappears at the arena edge and periodically uses the below skill:

Skill	Notes
Nightmare Fusillade	Channels a large conal AoE about every 15 seconds, inflicting ₃ Torment. The activation time for this skill is longer than for the same skill used in the first half of the fight.

This phase is otherwise unchanged from the previous ones.

40% (Split #4)

The Echo becomes untargetable and eight Phantoms reappear. Players must again defeat all phantoms, which include the two elite phantoms.

40% – 20%

The Echo and Mai Trin continue their attacks like before. Players should avoid all attacks while taking care to drop the blue beams away from the group.

20% (Laser #2)

A simultaneous attack is channeled again, identical to the previous arena burst.

20% – 0%

The Echo and Mai Trin emerge a final time. Their attacks remain unchanged compared to the previous phases.

At 10% health, a normal Scarlet Phantom spawns every 5 seconds throughout the arena. However, these can largely be ignored by players.

Challenge Mode[edit]

Overview[edit]

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

General

Players have 10 minutes to complete the encounter.

Monster buffs

Increased boss health and elite phantom health
Additional and altered boss mechanics

Mechanical changes

Mechanic	Notes
Updated Skills
Chaos and Destruction	Two random players are now targeted and tracked with an X-shaped AoE. Both AoE's are offset relative to each other. Three Ferrous Bombs simultaneously spawn and occupy the final location for all three safe zones. Destroying a bomb protects a safe zone and renders the remaining two bombs immune to damage due to the Fail-Safe Activated effect. The targeted players must tether their AoEs onto the correct bomb using the Reverse the Polarity! special action skill. Using this skill permanently locks in the AoE onto the nearest bomb. Each AoE must be tethered to the correct bomb to avoid overlapping them with the safe zone on the destroyed bomb. After 30 seconds, all players not within a safe zone are instantly defeated.
Focused Destruction (Green)	Instantly defeats the group upon failure. Upon hit, inflicts Photon Saturation to all players and instantly defeats players already with this effect. A minimum of 3 players (including the target) are now required, indicated by the green circle with either inward arrows (not enough players), swirling orbs (enough), or outward arrows (too many).
Ley Breach (Blue Lightning)	An additional player is now targeted at the same time, for a total of two targeted players. The fields now last for 30 seconds and the attack cannot be interrupted by breaking the defiance bar. These can be stacked on top of each other
Nightmare Fusillade (both variants)	Inflicts ₁ Exposed (60s).
Tormenting Wave	Inflicts ₁ Exposed (60s). The fancy AoE now instantly defeats players on-hit.
New Effects
Exposed	Effect on players that increases damage taken by 25% per stack. Obtained from Nightmare Fusillade and Tormenting Wave.
Photon Saturation	Permanent effect on players from Focused Destruction. Players with this effect and hit by Focused Destruction are instantly defeated.

In-depth guide[edit]

Stub. Key elements of this pve article are incomplete. You can help the Guild Wars 2 Wiki by expanding it.
Reason: Add more

Both lasers are in a cross-shaped pattern, but one laser is slightly offset compared to the other. If the lasers are placed on the incorrect bomb, they will overlap with the safe spot and defeat all players. Marked players should therefore wait until a bomb has been destroyed then position themselves at one of the remaining bombs. If their laser does not overlap with the safespot, this is the correct bomb for them to activate the special action skill on. Otherwise, they should reposition, reassess, then activate the skill.

NPCs[edit]

Foes[edit]

Objects[edit]

Stats of encounter relevant enemies[edit]

Enemy	Health	Health (CM)	Defiance Bar	Defiance Bar (CM)
Captain Mai Trin	5,898,600 ¹	8,898,600 ¹	3,500	3,500
Echo of Scarlet Briar	17,695,800	40,082,400	3,500	3,500
Scarlet Phantom (invulnerable)	1,966,200	1,966,200	9,000	9,000
Scarlet Phantom (green)	1,966,200	3,340,200
Scarlet Phantom (weak; all phases)	31,459	31,459

¹ Mai Trin becomes invulnerable at 10% of her health, which means her effective health is 5,308,740 in normal mode and 8,008,740 in Challenge Mode.

Dialogue[edit]

Approaching Mai Trin: Mai Trin: Wow. You just—you just brought everyone, huh?

Starting the strike: Strike Initiator: A glint in Mai Trin's eye leaves little doubt to the outcome of confronting her. Is your squad prepared?; Let's do this.; We're still waiting for more people to show up.

Scarlet Phantoms spawning as Mai Trin reaches 60% health: Mai Trin: Spend a few years in the Mists, you meet the most fascinating people.

Mai Trin reaching 10%: Mai Trin: I need your power. I need more. Please! I can't lose again!

Mai Trin initiating Nightmare Fusillade: Mai Trin: We should finish this. Now.

Defeating all foes (one of the following)

Echo of Scarlet Briar: Ow, that hurt. (laugh)

Echo of Scarlet Briar: How did you...?

Related achievements[edit]

End of Dragons: Aetherblade Hideout — Complete the Aetherblade Hideout Strike Mission. (5)
Daily Strike Mission: Priority Cantha Strike: Aetherblade Hideout — Complete the Aetherblade Hideout Strike Mission. (0)
End of Dragons: Weekly Cantha Strikes — Complete 4 unique Canthan strike within a week. (0)
End of Dragons: Leaps Abound — Defeat the Echo without dying or taking damage from Tormenting Wave. (5)
Specialization Collections: Dichotomy — Collect these 14 items and skins to receive the vindicator's greatsword, Dichotomy. (3)
Specialization Collections: Gravity — Collect these 14 items and skins to receive the catalyst's hammer, Gravity. (3)
Specialization Collections: Prima Donna — Collect these 14 items and skins to receive the virtuoso's dagger, Prima Donna. (3)

Requires challenge mode

End of Dragons: Legendary Aetherblade Hideout — Complete the Aetherblade Hideout Strike Mission with challenge mode active. (5)
End of Dragons: Total Coverage — While challenge mode is active, defeat Mai Trin and the Echo without dying or being afflicted with the Exposed condition. (5)
End of Dragons: Triangulation — Each time bombs are placed on the battlefield during the encounter, destroy a ferrous bomb before placing either of the magnetic bombs. Then successfully defeat the Echo. (5)

Gallery[edit]

Version history[edit]

Patch	Changes
August 22, 2023	Secrets of the Obscure release: (Undocumented) End of Dragons strike missions now reward Blue Prophet Shards instead of Green Prophet Shards.
June 28, 2022	Increased the rewards for the normal mode from 1 to 2 . Increased the rewards for the challenge mode from 2 to 4 , Antique Summoning Stone (1), and a chance for an Imperial Everbloom Sprout.
May 10, 2022	Increased rewards for completing the challenge mode. Increased the duration of the Stun applied to the Echo of Scarlet Briar and Mai Trin when their defiance is broken from 5 seconds to 10 seconds. Fixed an issue that caused portions of the telegraph for Focused Destruction to scale incorrectly. Fixed an issue that caused the Exposed effect on players to be removed after downing.
April 20, 2022	Fixed an issue that allowed one of the enemies to die sooner than intended. Fixed an issue that prevented achievement eligibility effects from remaining active.
April 19, 2022	Added the challenge mode to the game.
March 03, 2022	Fixed an issue that could cause an NPC to reset.
March 01, 2022	Two attacks that were intended to be unblockable are now actually unblockable.
February 28, 2022	End of Dragons release: Strike Mission: Aetherblade Hideout has been added to the game.

External links[edit]

Challenge Mode teaser, Twitter.com

Strike Missions

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

Strike Mission: Aetherblade Hideout

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