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Strike Mission: Xunlai Jade Junkyard

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Strike Mission: Xunlai Jade Junkyard

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Strike Mission: Xunlai Jade Junkyard is the second Canthan strike mission for the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons expansion, taking place in the Xunlai Jade Junkyard. It contains story details from the Empty 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 Empty story step has been completed by any character of an account:
    • Interact with the Strike Mission (map icon).pngscrying stone at Point of interest (map icon).png Dump Site 3 in The Echovald Wilds; or,
    • Interact with the Strike Mission (map icon).pngscrying stone or Strike Mission (map icon).pngLyra in Arborstone (south-west of Waypoint (map icon).png 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 Ankka.
  • Defeat Ankka.
  • Ankka
    Event bar.jpgEvent boss (tango icon).png
  • Strike Mission complete!

Rewards[edit]

Challenge Mode

Walkthrough[edit]

As with the Aetherblade Hideout strike mission, this strike mission acts as the next major stepping stone for players tackling instanced content after the The Icebrood Saga (IBS) strike missions. 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.

Players must glide down and be close enough to the boss to start the encounter.

Ankka[edit]

Health: 29,393,280 (52,173,072 if the Challenge Mote is active)
Enrage Timer: None (6 minute soft enrage timer if the Challenge Mote is active)
Enrage Effect: Vengeance (Mordrem).png Enraged until phased
Fixation Mechanics: Random (Lich Hallucination), furthest player (Reanimated Hatred)

Phase 1 (100% – 75%)[edit]

Ankka frequently applies Poisoned.png Poisoned and Torment.png Torment, so group condition cleanses and Resolution.png Resolution are recommended. She uses the following skills:

Skill Notes
Backflip Backflips behind the closest ally every 18–20 seconds, evading all attacks. Teleports to the center if backflipping close to the edge of the arena. Will not occur during Reanmimated Spites (the split CC phase) or Death's Embrace.
Death's Embrace
(Pull)
Summons a large AoE in the center then teleports to it, Pull.png Pulling all players towards her. Damage increases additively per hit. Players can apply Swiftness.png Swiftness and Superspeed.png Superspeed, teleport, or run towards the opposite direction to escape.
Death's Hand
(Spread)
Targets 3 random players with an orange circle (also indicated by a yellow screen border). After 5 seconds, an AoE drops below each target that then activates and pulses medium damage, Poisoned.png6 Poisoned, and Torment.png6 Torment. These AoEs can be stacked prior to dropping them.
Embalming Barrage Multiple indestructible, unblockable, piercing shots at all players. Applies Poisoned.png1 Poisoned only to unaffected allies on-hit.
Embalming Shot Single indestructible, unblockable, piercing shot at all players, inflicting Poisoned.png1 Poisoned.
Grasping Horror Three AoEs spawn in a triangular pattern near Ankka, with additional ones spawning on each player far away from her. The AoEs pulse moderate damage, Poisoned.png1 Poisoned, Torment.png1 Torment, and Crippled.png Crippled.
Hallucinating Shot
(other variant)
Single unavoidable shot fired at all allies, inflicting the Hallucinations.png Hallucinations effect. Manifests one of three hallucination types throughout the fight.

She begins the fight by firing Hallucinating Shot at everyone before leaping down from her airship. Players should quickly stack together close to her to avoid spawning additional Grasping Horrors. Players targeted by Death's Hand should ideally move away from the group and stack on top of each other to drop the AoEs in a single spot.

Additionally, one of the following three hallucination types will periodically spawn:

Skill Notes
Terrifying Apparition
(Lich)
A lich surrounded by an AoE fixates on a random player, Pull.png Pulling them towards it via a white tether (only visible to the fixated player). The lich fixates on a new target if the existing one is downed or defeated. The AoE inflicts damage every tick.
Wall of Fear
(Krait)
Three Kraits surrounded by an AoE spawn on one end of the arena and move straight towards to the other side, continuously Pull.png Pulling in nearby players.
Wave of Torment
(Quaggan)
Spawns an orange circle near a random players that explodes after a delay, dealing unavoidable damage.

Attacks from all three hallucinations deal damage that increases additively per hit. Players should thus avoid these attacks because the damage can quickly ramp up if hit multiple times.

After casting Death's Embrace, Ankka unlocks her defiance bar. Breaking it will inflict Stun.png Stun and Exposed.png Exposed to her; however failure has no effect.

This phase otherwise follows a fixed, repeating pattern: Grasping HorrorDeath's HandHallucinating ShotGrasping HorrorDeath's EmbraceHallucinating Shot. Ankka will periodically cast Embalming Barrage and Embalming Shot in between.

Upon reaching 75% health, Ankka becomes invulnerable before teleporting away and removing the barrier to the exit path. Players must then reach the next location while avoiding or surviving the Death's Hands. The AoEs despawn and all players are teleported to Ankka after a player reaches her for the first time.

Phase 2 (75% – 40%)[edit]

Ankka awaits at the center and begins with the Golem-Powered Shielding.png Necrotic Ritual effect, rendering her immune to all damage. She simultaneously summons a swarm of Reanimated Malices at each cluster of players and 3 Reanimated Spites at the arena edges. Players must defeat all Reanimated Spites within 20 seconds, either by depleting their health or breaking their defiance bar.

If players fail to defeat them within the allotted time, Ankka gains Power of the Void.png1 Power of the Void (60s) for each one that survives. This effect empowers her with +25% outgoing damage and -25% incoming damage per stack. Additionally, the empowered Ankka inflicts the Debilitating Void.png Debilitating Void effect on-hit, reducing incoming healing by 50% for several seconds.

Whether the ritual succeeded or was interrupted, Ankka follows up with a barrage of shots at each player. She will eventually reattempt the ritual, but groups with sufficient damage will generally only experience one ritual per phase.

Untargetable Zhaitan's Reaches will also periodically spawn around the arena as a group, Pull.png Pulling (donut AoE) or Launch.png Launching (full AoE) players. They can be defeated, or naturally despawn after completing the following attack chain: PullLaunchPull. Otherwise, players should either avoid these AoEs or apply Stability.png Stability to avoid them altogether.

This phase is otherwise similar to the previous one, aside from a skill update:

Skill Notes
Death's Embrace
(Pull)
Now summons a large AoE at four corners and teleports to the one with a green ray of light, Pull.png Pulling all players towards her.

Ankka follows the initial attack pattern for this phase: Necrotic RitualZhaitan's ReachesHallucinationGrasping HorrorDeath's EmbraceHallucinationNecrotic RitualHallucinationDeath's HandZhaitan's Reaches. Afterwards, she follows a fixed, repeating pattern: Death's EmbraceDeath's HandHallucinationGrasping HorrorDeath's Embrace

Ankka teleports to a new location upon reaching 40% health. As before, players must reach the next area while assailed by Death's Hands along the way.

Phase 3 (40% – 1%)[edit]

This phase is similar to the previous one, however the arena is smaller which makes the Hallucination and Death's Embrace attacks harder to avoid.

During the necrotic ritual, a Reanimated Hatred (resembling a Risen Wraith) will also spawn and fixate on the furthest player from Ankka. It periodically inflicts Immobile.png Immobile to the target if it reaches them.

In addition, two skills are slightly changed for this phase:

Skill Notes
Death's Embrace
(Pull)
Summons a large AoE at four corners and now teleports to a total of three AoEs that have a green ray of light, Pull.png Pulling all players towards her.
Wall of Fear
(Krait)
Only two Kraits now spawn, continuously Pull.png Pulling nearby players.

Ankka follows the initial attack pattern for this phase: Grasping HorrorHallucinationNecrotic RitualGrasping HorrorDeath's EmbraceHallucinationZhaitan's ReachesGrasping HorrorDeath's HandHallucinationNecrotic RitualGrasping Horror. Afterwards, she follows a fixed, repeating pattern: Zhaitan's ReachesDeath's EmbraceGrasping HorrorHallucinationDeath's EmbraceHallucination

Ankka will be defeated and yield upon reaching 1% health.

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.
  • An Inevitability of Death bar is added that fills up in about 6 minutes.
    • Resets to near-empty at the start of every phase.
Monster buffs
  • Increased boss health and elite phantom health.
  • Increased defiance bar strength for most enemies.
  • Additional and altered boss mechanics.
  • Zhaitan's Reaches spawn during all phases and persist until defeated.
  • A Reanimated Hatred spawns during the Necrotic Rituals in Phase 2.
Mechanical changes
Mechanic Notes
New Skills
Imminent Death Inflicts low damage to all players targeted by Death's Hand. Instantly defeats any player attempting to stack them on top of each other.
Inevitability of Death When Vengeance (Mordrem).png Enraged, Ankka tethers to all players with a green beam, inflicting damage every second. Damages increases additively per hit. Interrupted when the effect is lost upon phasing.
Updated Skills
Death's Embrace
(Pull)
Teleports between more AoEs.
Death's Hand
(Spread)
Inflicts the Skill.png Imminent Death effect on targeted players upon dropping the AoE, instantly defeating those that attempt to stack them. The AoEs are larger, activate much faster after dropped onto the ground, and deals lethal damage per tick. Running too close to the edge will teleport players a short distance back into the arena.
Embalming Barrage Inflicts Poisoned.png1 Poisoned per hit.
Grasping Horror Three mini Grasping Horrors will spawn from each of original AoE.
Terrifying Apparition
(Lich)
Instantly downs players on-hit.
Wall of Fear
(Krait)
Instantly downs players on-hit and deals unavoidable damage.
Wave of Torment
(Quaggan)
Instantly downs players on-hit. A total of 5 AoEs will now spawn but with a much larger radius. Downed players struck by an AoE will not be defeated.
New Effects
Devouring Void (Prototype XJ-1).png Devouring Void Inflicts ticking damage that increase additively to targets without the Gift of True Sight.png Sanctuary effect.
Vengeance (Mordrem).png Enraged Applied to Ankka when the Inevitability of Death bar is full. Removed upon phasing. Grants her the Inevitability of Death skill.
Skill.png Imminent Death (2s) Applied to players upon dropping the Death's Hand AoE. Instantly defeats players attempting to stack these AoEs.
Gift of True Sight.png Sanctuary (10s) Applied to players standing within a Sanctuary Prism. Protects players from ticking damage.
Updated Effect
Power of the Void.png Power of the Void Stacks are now permanent, however the stacks gained during Phase 2 are removed upon phasing.

In-depth guide[edit]

General
  • The encounter window now has an Inevitability of Death bar, which serves as a de facto enrage timer that lasts about 6 minutes. Ankka becomes Vengeance (Mordrem).png Enraged when the bar is full then channels Inevitability of Death that hits all players, with damage increasing every second. This attack ends either when the entire squad is defeated, or when Ankka is phased or defeated. This bar resets to near-empty at the start of every phase.
  • Stacks of Power of the Void.png Power of the Void no longer time out. Any stacks that Ankka gains in phase 2 will be removed after phasing.
  • The CM is a crowd control-heavy fight, requiring each Reanimated Spite to be broken in a short amount of time while also CCing or killing the Antipathy. Players should bring large amounts of heavy CC, and should not disregard their soft CC skills when attempting to break a spider's bar.
    • The crowd control check is far lower if attempting the Gazed into the Void achievement, especially compared to the DPS check. Take only as much crowd control as needed to break the Reanimated Spites during the second phase.
  • Ankka's standard attacks (shot and barrage) apply high stacks of poison much faster.
Phase 1
  • Zhaitan's Reaches will spawn in a circle and will not despawn on their own. These are now targetable can be defeated either by direct damage or breaking its defiance bar.
Phase 2
  • Reanimated Malices will no longer despawn on their own. A Reanimated Hatred will also spawn alongside them during the necrotic ritual.
  • Ankka will now teleport between a total of three Death's Embrace AoEs, as in the third phase.
Phase 3
  • Phase 3 of the fight incorporates multiple changes:
    • Four Sanctuary Prisms indicated by white circles and crystals spawn at the midpoints of each side of the arena (north, south, east, and west). Players not inside a sanctuary will be affected by Devouring Void (Prototype XJ-1).png Devouring Void, which will turn their screen dark and deal gradually increasing damage. Standing inside these sanctuaries removes the debuff and grants Gift of True Sight.png Sanctuary for 10 seconds.
    • During each split CC phase, a Reanimated Antipathy (resembling an Eye of Zhaitan) will spawn at the west sanctuary, destroying it after a few seconds. Players may CC and kill the Antipathy to prevent this from happening. The Reanimated Antipathy will move to the next crystal once one is destroyed in the order West → North → South → East. Note that damage to a crystal's health persists between CC phases.
Tips
  • Ankka's movement can and should be tightly controlled, particularly in phase 3. She should be lured to one of the sanctuaries and the squad should stack such that she can never backflip out of the arena. This will allow the squad to remain in the sanctuary, maintain high DPS uptime, and stop Ankka from teleporting to the center and spawning overlapping Grasping Horror AoEs on the group.
  • Players should be prepared for each possible hallucination:
    • Quaggans can be controlled through good squad movement. A solid strategy is for the squad to stick together and move in a slow, wide circle around Ankka. This will drop the AoEs behind the group, rather than spawning them chaotically, and will also allow healers to concentrate their healing and cleanses in one place.
    • Krait hallucinations in phase 3 will move from south to north. If the squad is at the east or west sanctuary, they can simply back out to the edges of the arena until the krait pass. If the squad is south or north, there will be a small gap between the krait that can be moved/dodged through. Extreme care should be taken particularly at south, as this location requires the fastest reaction time for krait.
    • The lich can spawn in each of the arena's four corners. If the lich spawns at one of the corners closer to the squad, the fixated player must leave immediately to avoid dragging it across the group. If the lich spawns at one of the further corners, the fixated player may not need to leave until the very end of the lich's lifetime, if at all.
  • Death's Hand AoEs should never be dropped in the center of the arena; this will cut off a large amount of movement space, particularly if the quaggan or lich hallucinations spawn next. Players should instead drop these AoEs at the edges of the arena, overlapping them as much as possible.

NPCs[edit]

Foes[edit]

Asura
Nightmares

Objects[edit]

Stats of encounter relevant enemies[edit]

Enemy Health Health (CM) Defiance Bar Defiance Bar (CM)
Ankka 29,393,280 52,173,072 ? 3,000
Reanimated Spite 236,003 236,003 800 2,000
Reanimated Malice 38,498 38,498 none none
Reanimated Hatred 82,502 82,502 ? 3,000
Reanimated Antipathy 354,005 3,000

Dialogue[edit]

Starting the strike
Strike Initiator: Ankka is waiting for you. Is your squad prepared?
Talk ready option.png Let's do this.
Talk end option tango.png We're still waiting for more people to show up.
Summoning Hallucination(s)
One of the following:
Ankka: Just let go.
Ankka: Don't look away.
Ankka: I wouldn't blink.
Casting Death's Embrace
One of the following:
Ankka: Why are you fighting it?
Ankka: Close your eyes.
Summoning Reanimated Spite
One of the following:
Ankka: This power... Feels good.
Ankka: Get up.

Challenge Mode exclusive[edit]

Casting Inevitability of Death
Ankka: It'll only hurt the first time.

Related achievements[edit]

Requires challenge mode

Notes[edit]

  • Strike Mission is partially on the day and night cycle. The time of day is set and locked to the current Tyrian time of day upon the creation of the instance. The time of day inside of the instance does not advance once created. Day and night cycle follows the Canthan day/night schedule.

Version history[edit]

Patch Changes
August 22, 2023 Secrets of the Obscure release:
June 28, 2022
May 11, 2022
  • Fixed an issue that prevented achievements for the challenge mode from being awarded to all eligible players in the squad.
May 10, 2022
  • Added the challenge mode to the game.
February 28, 2022 End of Dragons release:
  • Strike Mission: Xunlai Jade Junkyard has been added to the game.

Trivia[edit]

  • Originally, the normal mode Golem-Powered Shielding.png Necrotic Ritual could happen an infinite amount of times in each location. This was changed with Challenge Mode release, and it may now only occur twice in each location.