Xera
Xera
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Xera's illusionary form. |
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“For hundreds of years we have hidden in plain sight, living in your cities, manipulating your politics. Soldiers, farmers, scholars—all swearing allegiance to the cause...all waiting for the moment to strike. Our time is now. We rise from the shadows to claim what is ours!
— Xera
Xera is the High Inquisitor of the White Mantle. She serves as the final boss of the Stronghold of the Faithful raid wing.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Xera was a faithful servant of the White Mantle cult, loyal to the mursaat or Unseen Ones, and whose main goal was to resurrect the last of them, Lazarus the Dire. She eventually learned what had really happened to the last mursaat. Lazarus had been betrayed, his power turned against him and, to survive, he had to split his soul into five aspects. Each of those aspects had been hidden and scattered across the Maguuma Jungle and sites sacred to the White Mantle.[1]
While Xera went to search for these aspects, Caudecus Beetlestone, Legate Minister, worked to undermine Queen Jennah's leadership of Kryta and secretly orchestrated centaur and bandit attacks, rising as a political rival to Jennah. In Xera's absence, Confessor Esthel, supreme leader of the White Mantle, named Caudecus her second-in-command for discrediting Jennah.[1]
High Inquisitor Xera was dedicated to her task, and purged nonbelievers among the White Mantle, many of whom worked under Justiciar Caudecus. Xera's investigations prompted her to write to Caudecus to express her concern over how many of the Justiciar's followers were straying from the goal of serving the Unseen Ones.[2]
In 1325 AE, the Shining Blade and the Hero of Shaemoor raided a White Mantle hideout in Kryta and killed Confessor Esthel. Caudecus succeeded her, becoming Confessor and leader of the White Mantle, angering Xera.[3][4][5]. While Xera was loyal to the original goal of the White Mantle, Confessor Caudecus was more focused on the Krytan throne.
The White Mantle further splintered into those loyal to High Inquisitor Xera, who wanted to serve the mursaat and were focused on Operation Rebirth to restore Lazarus; and those loyal to Confessor Caudecus, who wanted the White Mantle to rule Kryta. Once the five aspects of Lazarus were found, Xera, Matthias Gabrel, and other like-minded zealots decided to continue working on Operation Rebirth as their primary objective behind Caudecus's back, as they relocated to the Stronghold of the Faithful in the Forsaken Thicket.
Stronghold of the Faithful[edit]
By 1329 AE, Scholar Glenna and a group of raiders assisting the Pact entered Forsaken Thicket while investigating strange disappearances in the region and discovered a heavy White Mantle presence. They fought their way past sentries to the Stronghold of the Faithful. Xera's attempts to stop them by sending both the cultists and her creation, the Keep Construct, to fight them proved to be futile. She even accidentally slipped up during her gloating by revealing the White Mantle's plans to revive Lazarus, which clued the raiders in on what she and the cultists were really up to.
As the raiders fought the Keep Construct, Xera realized that killing them was not working, and proceeded to stall them. She drew power from nearby Bloodstone shards to enhance her mesmer magic and, when the Keep Construct was defeated, she used her power to amplify the resulting explosion to destroy the stronghold. She used her magic to levitate fragments of the stronghold in the air to create the Twisted Castle, a labyrinth. The raiders had to fight their way through the maze that defied reality, teleporting from platform to platform, while Xera's magic twisted their minds.[6][7] When the raiders managed to navigate through the twisted castle, Xera finally confronted them herself and fought them as a last resort to buy more time for Lazarus to be fully revived. Although she perished in battle, the High Inquisitor had ultimately succeeded in stalling the raiders long enough so that they did not find any mursaat in the revival chamber by the time they got there.
However, unbeknownst to Xera and the raiders at the time, before Xera had left for the Stronghold of the Faithful, one of Caudecus' lackeys had secretly swapped one of the artifacts imbued with Lazarus's aspects with a fake to ensure that the ritual to revive the mursaat would fail even if Xera could carry it out.[8] Without this artifact, the real Lazarus could have never been resurrected. Despite Xera's fall, her ominous words about an uprising ultimately came to pass once Caudecus led the White Mantle assault in the Siege of Divinity's Reach in 1330 AE.
Location[edit]
Walkthrough[edit]
- Primary article: Stronghold of the Faithful#Xera
Combat abilities[edit]
- Abilities
- High Inquisitor of the White Mantle
- Behavior
- Summons Phantasms and soldiers
- Twists reality to her will
- Effects
Confusion - Damage received on skill activation; stacks intensity.
Torment - Deals damage every second. Deals additional damage to foes that aren't moving. Stacks intensity.
Vulnerability - Damage and condition damage taken are increased; stacks intensity.
Bloodstone Blessed - Creatures under this effect gain an additional 100% damage output and convert conditions to boons.
Derangement - Proximity to Xera and her bloodstone shards causes ill effects. Destroying nearby shards—especially while possessing the Forsaken Magic mastery—may help.
Intervention - Protected from Xera's deadliest attack.
Stability - Cannot be Pushed back. - only on Xera's initial clone
- Effects applied only to bloodstone fragments and players not on the center platform.
Bending Chaos - Magic penetrates your body, causing internal chaos. After ten stacks, you will be overpowered.
Shifting Chaos - Magic penetrates your body, causing internal chaos. After ten stacks, you will be overpowered.
Twisting Chaos - Magic penetrates your body, causing internal chaos. After ten stacks, you will be overpowered.
Bloodstone Protection - The imbued bloodstone is being shielded by Xera and is immune to damage.
- Skills
- Cerebral Slash - Xera's physical attacks sing with magic, cutting and affecting all before her.
- Xera slashes at players cutting straight into their minds.
- Confounding Frenzy - Ripples of magic from Xera's whirlwind of attacks ravage your flesh and mind.
- Xera unleashes a flurry of attacks, each hit stacking Confusion
- Xera unleashes a flurry of attacks, each hit stacking
- Temporal Shred - Your thoughts blur as Xera's confounding magic penetrates your being.
- Temporal Vortex - Your thoughts blur as Xera's confounding magic penetrates your being. The vortex applies 2 stacks of derangement.
- Tormenting Dredge - Horrific illusions fill your mind. Applies 2 stacks of derangement.
- Stolen skills
Quotes[edit]
- Your life is mine.
- Who wants to die first?
- What are you waiting for?
- Go ahead—make the first move.
- How does it feel to make it so far only to fail?
- You will answer for that!
- I've waited years for this day to come, no one can stop what I've set in motion.
- Your efforts are in vain.
- I'll stop at nothing!
- Soldiers, armies, scholars, all swearing allegiance to the cause, all waiting for the moment to strike!
- He is almost complete...even if I die, he will live!
- My power is limitless!
- Our time is now, we rise from the shadows to claim what is ours.
Drops[edit]
- Event Rewards
- 2
(doubled with 
Call of the Mists active) - 200,025
- 10,000
Magnetite Shard (20)
Xera's Coffer
Compendium of Knowledge (with Call of the Mists active)
The Lost Art of Armor Crafting (drops if the Envoy Armor I: Experimental Armor collection hasn't yet been unlocked)- 1 random piece of equipment of Exotic rarity
- A chance at the following unique drops (more than one can drop at a time):
Chest of White Mantle Armaments
Assaulter's White Mantle Staff- Defender's White Mantle Staff
- Healer's White Mantle Staff
- Malicious White Mantle Staff
Assaulter's White Mantle Hammer- Defender's White Mantle Hammer
- Healer's White Mantle Hammer
- Malicious White Mantle Hammer
Assaulter's White Mantle Rifle- Defender's White Mantle Rifle
- Healer's White Mantle Rifle
- Malicious White Mantle Rifle
Assaulter's White Mantle Gladius- Defender's White Mantle Gladius
- Healer's White Mantle Gladius
- Malicious White Mantle Gladius
Assaulter's White Mantle Axe- Defender's White Mantle Axe
- Healer's White Mantle Axe
- Malicious White Mantle Axe
Assaulter's White Mantle Icon- Defender's White Mantle Icon
- Healer's White Mantle Icon
- Malicious White Mantle Icon
Assaulter's White Mantle Rod- Defender's White Mantle Rod
- Healer's White Mantle Rod
- Malicious White Mantle Rod
Assaulter's White Mantle Slicer- Defender's White Mantle Slicer
- Healer's White Mantle Slicer
- Malicious White Mantle Slicer
Assaulter's Xera Scepter- Defender's Xera Scepter
- Healer's Xera Scepter
- Malicious Xera Scepter
Assaulter's Xera Backpiece- Defender's Xera Backpiece
- Healer's Xera Backpiece
- Malicious Xera Backpiece
Mini Xera
White Mantle Portal Device
Stats of encounter relevant enemies[edit]
| Enemy | Health | Defiance Bar |
|---|---|---|
| Xera (after 50%) | 25,560,600 1 | 3,000 |
| Xera | 22,611,300 | 3,000 |
| Xera's Phantasm | 737,325 | |
| Bloodstone Shard (side platform) | 343,620 | |
| White Mantle Knight | 162,684 | |
| Bloodstone Shard (main platform) | 104,580 | |
| White Mantle Seeker/Battle Mage | 74,259 |
- 1 Xera's maximum health goes up after 50% but she spawns with half of that value in the second phase so 12,780,300 HP.
Gallery[edit]
Concept art by Tsveta Komaticheva.
Related achievements[edit]
Stronghold of the Faithful: Dismantled — Defeat Xera. (15
)
Envoy Armor I: Experimental Armor: 
White Mantle Ritual Goblet — Collect a White Mantle Ritual Goblet from the chest after defeating Xera.
Notes[edit]
- Xera has 2597 armor (1374 toughness and 1223 defense), yet the Xera clone on the first platform (which has to be killed to start the fight) has 3208 armor (1985 toughness and 1223 defense).
- Xera has a 48 range diameter hitbox, which is considered small.
Trivia[edit]
- Xera is voiced by Kathryn Cressida.[9]
See also[edit]
- Associated items
- Mini Xera
- Xera's Backpiece
- Xera's Scepter
Xera's Mask Skin
Xera's Ribbon Scrap- White Mantle Portal Device
References[edit]
- ^ a b Master of Puppets
- Confessor Esthel: Justiciar Caudecus, the Unseen Ones smile upon us. After years of searching, High Inquisitor Xera has found a lead on the refuge of our injured god, Lazarus. It would appear that, after he was betrayed by Justicar Naveed over two centuries ago, Lazarus was forced to re-split himself into aspects to contain the corruption. Once imbued into artifacts, these aspects were scattered across the Maguuma Jungle and sites sacred to our order. And it is now our charge to gather these aspects. In her absence—and in light of your success discrediting the impostor on the Krytan throne—I am naming you second-in-command of the White Mantle. Do not disappoint me.
- ^ Master of Puppets
- High Inquisitor Xera: Justiciar Caudecus, my inquisitors have found yet another nonbeliever among your forces. We've purged her by fire as an example to the others, but I am doubtful she'll be the last. It concerns me deeply that so many among our order—and specifically, those under your command—seem to have forgotten our true purpose: to serve the Unseen Ones. If I didn't know better, I'd be questioning just how dedicated you are to the cause.
- ^ Caudecus's Correspondence (Incomplete)
- ^ Guild Chat episode 41: Out of the Shadows story
- Andrew Gray: Xera was a High Inquisitor. Caudecus is the actual Confessor. Confessor is the highest rank of the White Mantle. [...] Caudecus is the leader; Xera was prolly directly under him.
- ^ Guild Chat episode 41: Out of the Shadows story
- Andrew Gray: The thought process was Caudecus was [Confessor Esthel's] successor.
- ^ Post by Bobby Stein in "*Raid Spoilers* Wing 3, Season 3, Expansion 2", Old Guild Wars 2 Forums (Archived)
- ^ Post by Bobby Stein in "*Raid Spoilers* Wing 3, Season 3, Expansion 2", Old Guild Wars 2 Forums (Archived)
- ^ Master of Puppets
- Justiciar Bauer: Confessor, It wasn't easy, but I managed to swap the artifacts as you requested—just in time, too. Xera took off north without so much as a word. I wish I could be there when the smug zealot's ritual fails, when her followers turn on her and come crawling back to us. Perhaps I'll allow some to return. But most will be fed to the bloodstone. I'm sure you've delayed your relocation to the queen's palace for as long as you can, so I'll find a way to get in touch with you there going forward. Until then, Confessor.
- ^ Comment by Bobby Stein, Reddit.com
