Archival Assault is a brand new delve introduced with Patch 11.2 Ghosts of K’aresh. It is located near the center of the K’aresh area near an Ethereal camp.
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There are 4 versions of the Archival Assault Delve:
- Ritual Retrieval
- Smash and Jab
- Shadowed Wings
- Waygate Wiles
Archival Assault Delve Overview
This section will cover all things that are relevant to all versions of the delve.
Delve Mechanic
The delve mechanic for Archival Assault is Phase Skimming, this gives you access to the Phase Cutter Extra Action ability. Using this will cause your character to dash forward a short distance, dealing damage to enemies and reducing damage you take. This can be used to cover gaps and avoid falling damage.
Delve Mobs
Shadowguard Soulbreaker are ethereals they have 2 abilities: Umbral bolt, which deals minor damage, and Soul Siphon which is a channeled ability that will heal the Shadowguard Soulbreaker based on the damage it deals. We recommend making sure to interrupt Soul Siphon to stop them from healing.
Shadowguard Phasecutter are melee etherals that have a large frontal cone called Vorpal Cleave, this deals heavy damage to anyone caught inside.
Shadeye Observer are observers that have one ability, Observe, this summons an eye nearby players, after a short duration the eye will fire a beam at the location it was spawned.
Delve boss
The boss for this delve changes depending on the variant so see individual sections for each delve.
Ritual Retrieval
In the Ritual Retrieval version of Archival Assault you will assist Assessor Falnor recover stolen artifacts. Afterwards you'll confront the boss Captain Nil’hatan. More Information Coming Soon!
Smash and Jab
In the Smash and Jab version of Archival Assault you will be fighting Etherals who have installed their own technology inside the Azure Archives. To start this delve you will need to first speak to Vault Warden Gandrus, you can then start making your way through the Azure Archives, you will need to defeat ethereals and sabotage the equipment. You can either click the barrels or interact with the pipes to destroy them.
Once you have completed both objectives you should be on the centre rings of the Azure Archives. An Ethereal Commander will spawn on each level and you need to defeat 3 of them, once this is done a portal spawns near you taking you to the treasure room. There is no boss for this version of the delve.
Shadowed Wings
In the Shadowed Wings version of the Archival Assault you will be saving Blue Drakes that are being corrupted by Ethereals.
In the first stage you will need to rescue 5 drakes; these are easily spotted and you simply need to click and cast on each one.
Once you have rescued 5 drakes a portal will spawn near you teleporting you to Xeronia, you will be able to ride Xeronia this will start the next section, where you will use a blue drake vehicle to kill 100 Ethereal reinforcements.
Once done you will be teleported to the final boss Voidripper and Voidrider Challnax. At the start of the encounter you will only be able to target Voidripper, at 40% Voidrider Challnax will dismount Voidripper and become attackable.
Voidripper has one ability, Null Breath, which is a frontal cone that deals heavy shadow damage if you stand in it.
Voidrider Challnax has two abilities the first is Impale he does a small charge and deals physical damage, the second is Cosmic Tranquilization this is an interruptible cast which puts a damage over time on the target and reduces their movement speed by 70%.
Waygate Wiles
Coming soon
Archival Assault Discoveries
There are 4 Sturdy Chests located in Archival Assault, you will need to use the Phase Cutter Extra Action ability to reach all of them. We have included pictures on how to get to them as some are difficult to reach or not immediately obvious. The coordinates are the locations where we recommend jumping from rather than the location of the treasure.
The first chest is actually located at the very top of the delve, however, you need to locate the teleporter that is at the very bottom to be teleported to the top. The image below shows the location of the teleporter and not the sturdy chest.
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The second sturdy chest is located on a pipe at the very bottom of the delve, we recommend landing on the platform and dropping on to the pipe below. Use the Phase cutter to land on the platform then do a small jump to land on the pipe from the location shown in the image.
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The third Sturdy chest is located on the very top floor of the delve. In order to reach this you need to do a small jump then use the Phase Cutter ability to clear the gap. This is a very tight jump and might take a couple of attempts. Once across you just follow the path up the stairs to locate the chest.
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The final Sturdy chest is located on the middle floor, you need to drop down onto a platform. We recommend doing this from the platform above and using the Phase Cutter ability to avoid fall damage. You will need to use the Phase Cutter ability to pass the shield protecting the chest.
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We hope this guide helped you clear the Archival Assault, especially some of the tricky sturdy chests. If you are looking for more Season 3 content, then check out War Within Season 3 Guides.
