Thirsty River 101

Just wanted to post some observations, based on my recent experiences with Thirsty River. While reading this post, keep in mind that I have played through the game with many characters and I know how to beat the mission.

I recently started a new N/W tank, using blood, curses, and some adrenal skills. Let me tell you, getting into parties is a difficult process now since everyone wants level 20's and specific characters only, when doing certain difficult missions such as Thirsty River.

So, I got into a few groups where other people claimed to know how to play the mission, so I let the group leader "lead" the mission...90% of those groups rushed in and tried to take out the priest and the boss first, leaving all the other enemies to beat on the casters. And most of them did not call their targets or use the "T" key.

That doesnt work, it is suicide.

As usually happens in those situations, blame gets thrown all around and people leave or get kicked from the group, blah blah blah...

So I finally got into a group last night that was made up of a W/Mo, Mo/?, R/?, Me/E, E/Mo, and me (N/W).

Right after we started, the W/Mo left, so I took charge of the group. Let me just say that this group of 5 people was fantastic! They actually knew how to use the "T" key to target the enemies that I called, and they followed instructions!

So, to put it simply, the mission was a breeze with only 5 people. We attacked the outlying groups of enemies until about 1:15 into each session, then we would hit the Priest. After the priest was dead, we took out the boss and any remaining peons.

In the 2nd and 3rd areas, where there are multiple enemy teams in close proximity to each other, we would kill a group, then rest until 10 seconds before the next ressurect point, then we would start attacking (example: 3:50). This gave time for everyone to regen health and energy. Even on the infamous monk boss, which we saved till last, the strategy worked flawlessly.

The order in which we attacked each team was as follows:

In the 2nd area, we hit the left side group first, then the right side.
In the 3rd area, we started on the right side and worked counter-clockwise, ending up at the Monk boss.

This post might be a bit difficult to follow, but it works. Hope it helps any of you who are stuck on this mission.

It's pretty easy to get to the last part, but the monk boss really kicks a lot of peoples' butts, even mine sometime. The best thing to do is bring an elementalist who can knockdown, or a mesmer who can fastcast and mantra of recall meteor shower. Just keep the monks down

The way you described it is the way I've ALWAYS played and beat that mission. AND bonus

Man, I miss the old thirsty river

Being able to "snipe" all the non-boss groups before the counter started made it sooo much easier (pathetically so)

Anyways, that strategy seems to work the best, but almost anythign will work in a group that can coordinate their attacks.

this is one mission where a mesmer would make things 50 times easier. but because mesmers are shunned by almost everyone in pve, they simply cease to exist in the later missions.

McNasty, that is certainly a good description of the way it is done. Our guildies have become experts at it, it is no longer the bane of ascension it once was. (Though we usually GO GO GO at 3:45 and it seems to work out well, and we still get the bonus.)

Couple more points for those who may be having trouble...

One or two casters can safely make it behind the pedestal where the priest is, and be free of aggro, your mesmer and necro casting their interrupts and hexes in comfort.

When you get to the warrior boss (ONLY the warrior boss has this option), make sure everyone tries to go ALL the way in to the priest's tent. People tend to get stuck in the doorway and get sandwiched between the outside group and the inside group. If everyone goes all the way in, the priest will be dead before you know it, you'll avoid the outside group altogether, and you can take care of them at your leisure.

Mod Savio: Moved to appropriate forum.

Gamer Savio: I still don't see what's so hard about this mission. Kill the minions, kill the priest, kill the boss. Rinse and repeat.

Hard part is stopping the boss from keeping the priest alive before the timer resets

I dunno, I've helped many guildies with this mission, and it's with a warrior/ele

Why ele?
Because I've discovered the awesomeness that is MAELSTROM.
Honestly, the monk boss is the ONLY tough part of this, but maelstrom just rapes anything. Cast it on the priest, and he'll be interrupted and with his pitiful AL he'll go down like a sack of doorknobs.
I had someone run another maelstrom, so we were running double maelstrom. During the monk boss, we killed all the minions, casted one maelstrom on the boss and the priest, and they just stood there getting interrupted, killed the priest within 10 seconds, and the monk boss died shortly after.

If you have ANY E/X or X/E, make them bring this skill. Even if it's for the monk boss it's for the hardest part of the mission.
Always get the warriors to tank the Avengers because concussion shot owns casters.

Never rush the priest right off the bat, kill him at around :30.

I dunno, but my answer to this mission is Maelstrom.

This is without question the easiest ascension mission. So long as you only aggro one "team" at a time, and kill the priests before the 2 minute cycle, it's a total walk in the park. I've ascended 4 characters, and each time I've finished this mission with bonus on my first run.

Now finding a team to complete Elona without running it... that's a bit more difficult.

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