Kaineng Overlook (CM)

Enrage: 16 minutes. Once enraged, everyone dies
Required: Swiftness, Crowd Control, Stability, Protection, Direct Healing
Recommended: Damage reduction food

Kaineng Overlook’s Challenge Mode updates most Normal Mode mechanics by increasing the deadliness and relevancy of each. While there aren’t too many new additions and each incremental change does not completely turn the fight upside down, the combination of ramping intensity and an ever increasing amount of overlapping mechanics makes this a very difficult fight to master.

Coordination here is very important; this is one of the very few fights in Guild Wars 2 that strongly benefits from voice communication. The encounter itself has a relatively generous enrage timer, allowing you to focus solely on executing mechanics properly. As a group, prioritize working together, remaining calm, and above all else: staying alive.

Upon enabling the CM, the railings on both platforms will disappear. This encounter has a number of knockback and push mechanics, which make it easy to fall off the platform and instantly die. As such, having Stability readily available and on a low cooldown in both subgroups is invaluable.

While there are a ton of mechanics across the encounter, they always occur in a consistent sequence in each phase. This makes it very important to be familiar with the Normal Mode encounter before trying the Challenge Mode.

Kaineng Overlook

Select difficulty

Take on an elite squad of treacherous MinSec officers up on the rooftops of New Kaineng City. This encounter has a more targeted focus on proper player positioning over other mechanics and can be sped up considerably with builds that can cleave multiple bosses at once.

The split phases with Minister Li’s Elite Guard will require a dedicated player or two for kiting/tanking; because of the relatively low damage pressure and the fact that most attacks can be avoided outright, these roles are best filled by ranged DPS classes. Due to its 1200 attack range and its ability to pierce through enemies, Virtuoso is a great pick for this task, but any class can fill the role if required.

More information on Tanking and Kiting can be found in the Enforcer and Tanking the Mech Rider sections of this guide.

Minister Li: 100% – 66%

The first phase of Kaineng Overlook CM is very similar to Normal Mode, with each mechanic (with the exception of his Dash) being updated to be more threatening.

Li’s attack pattern is the same as in the Normal Mode with the addition of one Green mechanic:

1. Green+Cleave in the center towards a random player
2. Dash to the corner
3. Green+Cleave towards the middle
4. Dash to the middle
5. Numbers

Having skills like "Stand Your Ground!" or Mantra of Concentration on demand for each subgroup is almost mandatory in the later phases. Heal Firebrands have enough boon duration to take Mantra of Liberation and still provide permanent Quickness with Stalwart Speed. DPS Firebrands should also take Mantra of Liberation.

While the explosions can be blocked or dodged, their damage is minimal, making it easier to tank the hits instead. Furthermore, dodging will often lead to misplacing the AoEs, since they will still be placed after a delay; don’t drop them on the group!

Once the AoE is dropped, players can simply walk out of it and toward the group; the damage doesn’t activate immediately.

Until the last phase, marked players should avoid the corners and place the red AoEs on the flat edges of the platform, as Minister Li can dash to any corner after this mechanic. Marked players should also make sure to spread out from the other Numbers, as the explosion that applies Extreme Vulnerability is wider than the wave animation suggests, making it very easy to get hit twice and downed or defeated in the lethal red AoE.

Note: In CM, the waves will not explode on unmarked players, so as long as these players stay towards the center of the platform (and away from marked players), they will be safe even if a wave passes through them.

Greens

Known as: Stack

In CM, the stacking Green Circle mechanic from the last phase of NM will spawn from the start of the encounter. If there are fewer than three players inside of the green circle when it closes, it will explode, downing the entire squad.

The player marked with the Green should always stay with the group behind the boss. If Minister Li is in a corner, this is self-explanatory, but if he is in the center of the platform, be prepared to use Stability to counter the Cleave’s knockback. You can also rotate with Minister Li to stand behind his Cleave, but make sure that the required number of players is also rotating with the Green.

The Enforcer, Ritualist and Mindblade

There are a few new additions to the mini-bosses’ arsenals in this phase, but as with the rest of the fight, it ends up being very similar to its NM iteration, with most mechanics being updated to be deadly or simply deal more damage.

Due to these similarities, squad positioning and tanking strategies are essentially the same as NM: the squad should keep The Mindblade and The Enforcer out of tether range to prevent them from gaining the Lethal Inspiration buff, while cleave damage between The Mindblade and The Ritualist should be facilitated by The Mindblade’s Tank.

Attacks performed during this phase are “queued”: this means that once you eliminate one of the bosses, the other bosses’ attacks will occur more frequently in accordance with the phase’s predefined pattern.

The best order of priority for the bosses is exactly the same as in NM:

1. Mindblade (while cleaving the Ritualist)
2. Ritualist
3. Enforcer

This order is the most convenient as it allows you to damage two mini-bosses at once, while also nullifying the most coordination-sensitive mechanics first.

Enforcer

In CM, The Enforcer won’t instantly teleport to the middle like in NM, so one player must Kite him by taking his aggro (by being the nearest player) and holding him in his initial spawn spot to keep him away from The Mindblade, which prevents them from stealing life and gaining boons from Lethal Inspiration.

Ideally, the Kiter will be a DPS player with self-sustain and long-range cleave potential, such as a Virtuoso or a Scourge.

The Kiter can return to the group when The Enforcer starts Dashing but should return to Kiting once the Bladestorm attack is finished.

After teleporting to the middle, the Enforcer will perform a series of Dashes, leaving flames behind in an hourglass pattern. These flames apply a stack of Infirmity for every second that a player stands in them, which reduces incoming healing by 25% per stack. You can Dodge, block, or (if in a pinch) jump over the flames if you must go through them to deal with other mechanics.

Each Fireball AoE has a small radius and lands along the edge of the outer Taunt AoE preceding the Bladestorm.

It is very common for groups to stand on the edge of the platform to avoid getting hit by Fireballs, but it is safer to simply stack slightly behind the black lines on the floor or stand behind The Ritualist, closer to the center (be careful of The Enforcer’s fixation once the Bladestorm ends, though).

Mindblade

Of the three mini-bosses, The Mindblade’s auto-attacks are the most threatening, which can make it difficult to tank her without healing. The group should stick with The Mindblade’s tank and focus damage on her.

She will fixate on the closest target at the start of the phase and at regular intervals. Make sure she is moved to the proper tank spot before using skills that apply Immobilize, as it currently roots her in place (even though she has a defiance bar).

Healers are a very good choice to tank the Mindblade. If you’re aiming to Tank, ensure you’re the closest person to The Mindblade to gain her fixation, then bring her to The Ritualist (preferably closer to the wall to avoid tethering her to The Enforcer). This allows your group to cleave both the Mindblade and the Ritualist together.

Targets of this mechanic should place the AoEs along the shorter sides of the arena. Ideally, the two players should stack the AoEs together on one side to allow for the most space on the platform, but they must move as one unit; if one player falls behind they will likely die to the other player’s AoEs.

Furthermore, targeted players should start from one of the far corners of the arena, if possible, while moving towards the group, as subsequent mechanics require the group to stack up. They should always prioritize their own safety, however – there is always adequate time to reach the group even if the final pool is placed in the furthest corner instead.

Note: The Timed AoEs are extremely deadly and take priority over other mechanics. Even if you are currently fixated by one of the mini-bosses, you must prioritize moving with your AoE.

Ritualist

Ghosts + Green

In CM, The Ritualist’s Ghost mechanics cover a much larger area of the platform. He will alternate between casting two versions of this attack: the first version has five Ghosts that will down and launch you if you fail to move out of their AoEs, while the second version with four Ghosts will only down you.

Standing in any overlapping areas of either version of this attack will instantly kill you.

During both Ghost attacks, two random players will also be targeted by the Green mechanic. As in other phases of this fight, at least three players must be inside each Green at detonation. Failure to do so will down every player.

Note: The players stacking in the Greens don’t have to be unique. This means that at minimum, having the two players with Greens and one additional player is sufficient to handle both circles at once.

During the five Ghosts variant of this attack, the group can stay at the Ritualist’s spawn spot, while the Kiter moves The Enforcer to the opposite safe spot (unless they have a Green). Stack in Greens there and continue with the encounter. During the four Ghosts variant, you will have to move. There will be small safe zones under each of the Ghosts – stack in one safe zone with the Greens until the Ghost attack finishes.

Strategy

To be efficient in this phase, the group will be positioning themselves exactly as they would in Normal Mode. This only requires players to be extra careful during Fireballs and react quickly to Timed AoEs.

Here is a quick summary of ideal positioning and reaction to each of the initial mechanics. After finishing this sequence, the squad should be left with only The Enforcer and his mechanics to contend with; if your squad’s DPS is lower, however, you may have to handle more of the other mini-bosses’ mechanics. If this happens, the loop of mechanics will simply restart with the Bladestorm:

1. At the start of the phase, the Kiter should stand near The Enforcer and hold him at his spawn point. Everyone else should stack on The Ritualist, while the Tank should stand near The Mindblade, grab her fixate, then bring her to the group. The squad should focus on The Mindblade but cleave The Ritualist with AoEs like Scourge shades and skills that pierce.
2. Once The Enforcer teleports for his Dashes, the Kiter can return to the group.
3. Players should use Stability, Dodge, or step out from the large Taunt AoE just before the Bladestorm, then avoid the Fireballs landing around the arena by standing on the edge of the platform or slightly to the side.
4. After the red Bladestorm AoE disappears, The Mindblade and The Enforcer will refixate on the closest player to each.
5. Players must quickly react with Timed AoEs and place them along the shorter side(s) of the platform, starting from the farther corner and stacking them if possible.
6. The two players should return to the group after placing the last Timed AoE and stack in the Greens. If The Enforcer’s Kiter is targeted by a Green, either two players should run toward them or the Kiter should return to the group.
7. The Enforcer will do his Slam after the Ghosts disappear, and refixate afterwards. At this point, if The Mindblade is very low (5-10% HP), quickly finish her off while The Enforcer’s Kiter brings him to The Ritualist. Otherwise, move The Mindblade instead to The Ritualist and finish them off together.
8. The phase mechanics loop at this point, sans the mechanics from any killed mini-bosses: Bladestorm Timed AoEs (if The Mindblade is alive) Ghosts+Greens (if The Ritualist is alive).

Minister Li: 66% – 33%

The second phase of Minister Li in CM is mostly the same as NM pattern-wise, with the addition of a Cleave+2x Green combo replacing a few of the Cleave+Spread mechanics in the corners.

The phase starts with Minister Li Dashing to the far-left corner (from the Zip Line), then moving clockwise between the corners while interchangeably performing these two combos in each of the corners, before Dashing to the center for Numbers. The whole rotation looks as follows:

1. Dash to the corner
2. 2x Green+Cleave towards the middle
3. Dash to the corner
4. Spread+Cleave towards the middle
5. Dash to the corner
6. 2x Green+Cleave towards the middle
7. Dash to the corner
8. Spread+Cleave towards the middle
9. Dash to the middle
10. Numbers

The Spread mechanic makes the knockback on Cleave much more threatening, as part of the squad needs to stand in front of the boss while being unable to dodge or block the Cleave due to the Challenge Mode changes.

You will have a few seconds from the moment the Spread AoEs appear before the Cleave happens. Cast Stability in both subgroups at this point to ensure no one is knocked back into other AoEs or off of the platform.

"Stand Your Ground!" or Mantra of Liberation are great picks for this fight, as the Stability from them lasts for at least 5 seconds. Mantra of Concentration is also a good choice if timed properly. Mantra of Liberation can be taken with minimal loss by DPS Firebrands or by Healbrands taking Stalwart Speed.

You can leave the distribution of this mechanic completely to chance, or you can assign specific players to bait the AoEs. Healers and support players can go to the boss first to bait the AoEs, quickly distribute offensive boons and Stability, and move out to handle the Spread.

Advanced Positioning

If your group is well-coordinated, or you are trying to get the achievement A Test of Your Reflexes for more than six players at once, you can assign four players to get to Minister Li first to bait the Spread mechanic.

Those players should then pick between three spots safe from Minister Li’s Cleave for their AoEs, while the fourth person will have to either stack in front of the Minister and tank the Cleave with Stability (sacrificing eligibility for the achievement) or wait for the Cleave and Dodge or teleport out of the group before detonating.

One person with the Spread will stand in the corner behind the boss with the group, while the two other safe-zone Spread players will stand on the sides of Minister Li’s Cleave attack.

The platform itself has two side safe spots “engraved” in each corner that can be used as markers for where to stand:

The Mech Rider and Sniper

This phase of the fight is often the trickiest to learn and execute on due to the many varied and deadly mechanics overlapping across the phase. Thankfully, the phase can be simplified significantly with proper Mech tanking and good positioning of Ricochet shots.

The general mechanic of a shared health pool for the two mini-bosses remains the same. Their HP difference is still indicated by the number of stacks of Equalization Matrix on each, and upon reaching over twenty stacks (i.e. going over a 20% difference in HP), the bosses will equalize their health bars and gain Enhanced Destructive Aura.

The ticking damage from Enhanced Destructive Aura is much higher than in NM. Additionally in CM, the whole squad will have their boons corrupted on equalization. Corrupted Stability turns into Fear, which can cause players to run off of the platform or into deadly AoEs. Other corrupted boons such as Chilled, Immobilize, and Crippled make the squad unable to escape damage while damaging conditions heavily chunk players’ health pools.

Avoid going over 20 stacks of  Equalization Matrix at all costs.

If the group is trying to get The Great Equalizer title, you should DPS both enemies down to slightly below 30% HP, then kill The Sniper. This will ensure you only get equalization at the end of the phase.

The entire squad should be aware of  Equalization Matrix – at 18 stacks, get ready to spam condition cleanses as soon as the boon corrupt occurs. Any source of Resistance on the group after the boon corrupt, especially AoE skills like Chapter 4:Stalwart Stand, will give the squad much-needed breathing room to cleanse all conditions.

If, as a DPS player, you have condition cleanses in your kit (like Nefarious Favor), you should avoid using them as part of your rotation and instead use them for cleansing at this point. For example, Purging Flames and Cleansing Flame preceded by Chapter 4:Stalwart Stand can single-handedly control this mechanic.

Plan ahead for when you’ll trigger equalization – avoid having it stack with other difficult mechanics. One option is to trigger it when The Mech Rider marks players with Numbers. This mechanic has a bit of downtime before activation, within which you can trigger the  Equalization Matrix, cleanse all conditions, heal back up, and reapply boons before The Mech starts rushing the group.

Mech Rider

In CM, all but one of The Mech Rider’s attacks are inherited from Normal Mode, but are made more threatening. Its melee attacks now do more damage and apply Debilitated (reducing outgoing damage by 25%), while its Barrage applies a 50-second Exposed.

There are other Spread and Green mechanics during this phase that will be detailed later, but this deadly combo only occurs during the Pushback and is very high priority.

Handling these overlapping mechanics is not too bad, as long as the group is not affected by The Mech Rider’s Pushback.

Players are only pushed back if they are within about 400 range of The Mech when it starts the Pushback proper, so the group should start this phase stacked near The Sniper, as she always spawns out of range of the attack. From here, the group should focus DPS on The Mech Rider from range while cleaving the Sniper. Watch out for  Equalization Matrix!

Tanking the Mech Rider

This phase becomes much more managable when a player Tanks The Mech Rider properly.

Any player can take the role of the Tank, as this role only requires you to sidestep the Mech’s highly telegraphed auto-attacks. Usually the Enforcer Kiter will also Tank the Mech, as this role also benefits from ranged piercing damage or cleave: Virtuoso‘s piercing attacks or Scourge‘s shades and ranged cleave will allow for minimal DPS loss while freeing up the healers and support players to stack with the rest of the group to maintain buffs.

The Mech Rider has a pseudo-proximity fixate. It will aggro on a player in front of it within about 400 range, prioritizing Line of Sight (LOS). This means that The Mech will fixate on a farther player standing in front of it over a closer player behind it.

At the start of the phase, The Mech Rider will spawn facing the upper platform; to capture the initial fixate, stand on this side while being inside its hitbox.

The Mech Rider’s melee auto-attacks always come in sets of two, so the Tank can reposition The Mech in any direction after the first auto-attack without breaking fixation.

Do not move too much between these sets; always move slightly toward the edge of the auto-attack cones. Moving at too far an angle, or excessively wiggling, is what causes The Mech’s fixation to break even when a player is in melee range.

Note: If the Tank understands the fight’s pattern well, they can move out right before the Pushback occurs (meaning that they won’t be affected), then dodge back in right before it ends, avoiding any Barrages without the need for a teleport. This requires some practice, but means any class can tank quite comfortably.

Due to the random nature of targeted mechanics in this encounter, there are a few situations which can disrupt your flow as a tank: namely, if you are targeted by The Mech’s or The Sniper’s Greens or by The Sniper’s Ricochet. In both cases, communication with your team will allow you to cleanly adapt.

1. Mech’s Green:
   If you are targeted by the Mech’s Green, let yourself be pushed back into the group. Communicate that the Mech needs a temporary tank while you handle the Green. It’s better to have the group deal with a Barrage than for the entire squad to go downstate from failing the Green, so always prioritize the Green.
2. Sniper’s Green:
   If you are the target of the Sniper’s Green, your group will be running towards a Zip Line. Communicate that the Mech needs a temporary Tank, group with the squad to complete the Green, then move back to The Mech.
3. Ricochet:
   If you are the target of the Sniper’s Ricochet attack, you have two options: either stay by the Mech while keeping the Ricochet AoE away from the group and ask someone (preferably a healer) to “bait” the next shot by standing closer to the Sniper, or ask for a temporary tank while you move towards the Sniper and wait for heals.

Sniper

The Sniper will alternate between her Jade Ricochet and her Snipe (and the extra mechanics associated with each) for as long as she’s alive.

As a non-fixated player, never enter the red AoE for any reason. Even if you mean well (like trying revive the fixated player if they’re down), the only thing you will accomplish is outright killing the targeted player, especially on the quicker second and third shots.

The Sniper will always pick her target based on proximity. When she initially teleports (randomly) to one of her seven perches, she will fixate on the player closest to her. Her fixate will update after each shot, again on the closest player (whether that’s the same player or a new one).

Additionally, The Sniper will jump to an adjacent platform after refixating on her 2nd and 3rd targets; the refixation always occurs before she moves. She will only jump in one direction in one Ricochet sequence, meaning you can predict her movement after seeing where she jumps the first time, and position yourself accordingly.

Note: The Sniper can jump the gap made by Minister Li’s platform (which is not a valid perch for her) during Ricochet, so players on the opposite side need to be prepared to deal at least one of the shots if she decides to jump in the direction of the gap.

There are two ways to handle the Ricochet targeting. First, your squad can choose to distribute its damage by positioning new players closer to the Sniper than her current target, to bait out subsequent fixates. This strategy can be dangerous, however, as it requires players to move towards the Sniper without entering her Ricochet radius.

A more efficient and less chaotic strategy is to keep one player as the focus of her Ricochet and simply outheal its damage. As this strategy only requires the targeted player to move, it is the easiest strategy to execute, making it the most popular way of handling this mechanic. If you choose to outheal the Ricochet, the target of the attack should move out of the group to the corner closest to the Sniper while the squad’s healers spam ranged heals on them. To further simplify the strategy the healers can equip toughness gear and then completely handle the mechanic themselves; after the two green circles during pushback and also during mech numbers the healers can take up positions on the north-east and south-west sides of the platforms so that one of them is guaranteed to be targeted by the sniper, they can then simply outheal themselves and endure the damage thanks to having toughness and damage reduction.

While this strategy is the most straightforward, it requires excellent ranged healing and benefits heavily from ranged barrier, making Heal Firebrands and Condition Scourges very strong. Ranged resurrection skills are especially useful; utility skills such as Scourges’ Signet of Undeath, Scrappers’ Function Gyro, or Guardians’ Signet of Mercy can save the Ricochet target without entering the attack’s range.

Heal Quickness Firebrand

Support

Select difficulty

Mace & Shield
Staff

Condition Scourge

• Recommended

Damage

Select difficulty

Scepter & Torch
Pistol

Note: The Green AoE may not register players as stacked if they are in transit on the Zip Line at detonation. This means the group should first stack and wait for the Green to explode, then take the Zip Line up to break the Sniper’s defiance bar. To maximize CC time, stack in the corner closest to the Sniper so you can go up as soon as the Green has detonated.

Strategy

At first, this phase may be overwhelming. However, the mechanics always happen in a set pattern (which repeats), allowing the group to position properly before a mechanic starts, rather than having to react every time:

1. Mech: Pushback (+ Greens + Spread)
2. Sniper: Ricochet (+ small Spread)
3. Mech: Laser at the end of Ricochet, on 3rd snipe
4. Sniper: Red Snipe (+ Green)
5. Mech: Numbers (+ Spread)
6. Sniper: Ricochet (+ small Spread) at the end of Numbers, on IV
7. Mech: Laser at the end of Ricochet, on 3rd snipe
8. Sniper: Red Snipe (+ Green)

This phase starts with The Mech Rider spawning in the middle, facing the upper platform. The Tank should stand directly in front of The Mech, while the rest of the group moves to The Sniper, wherever she spawns.

The group, while stacked on The Sniper, should focus DPS on The Mech Rider while cleaving The Sniper. This prevents equalization from being an issue, and also prepares the group for the Pushback; by stacking on the Sniper, the group avoids the pushback, allowing them to easily handle stacking the Greens on the group and separating the Spreads away.

Handling the Snipe is as easy as stacking in the Green and taking the Zip Line up to break the Sniper’s defiance bar. If the Tank is properly handling the Mech, the only truly threatening mechanic is the Ricochet, which can be negated with positioning and overhealing the Sniper’s target.

Minister Li: 33% – 0%

The mechanics are in a consistent sequence, so if multiple mechanics are up handle them in order: Spread  Greens Numbers.

Remember is to use your Stability wisely – it’s your most valuable resource here. For example, if it’s time for the Number mechanic Li will never cast his Cleave. This means you can save your Stability for the Greens+Spread combo.

Note: If you don’t have enough players alive to properly distribute players with all the mechanics, you can still handle the Green. Go out for the Spread detonation, then quickly stack back up in the Green.

The order of the attacks is as follows:

1. Dash to the corner
2. Spread+Numbers towards the middle
3. Dash to the corner
4. Greens+Cleave+Spread towards the middle
5. Dash to the corner
6. Greens+Numbers towards the middle
7. Dash to the corner
8. Greens+Cleave+Spread towards the middle
9. Dash to the middle
10. Greens+Spread+Numbers
11. Loop resets here, but Li stays in the middle for the first attack, which is Spread+Numbers

During the Numbers+Greens attack, it’s always best to place the Number AoEs far from the group, giving players ample room to handle other mechanics.

The higher number values have enough time to stack in the Green and spread out safely afterward, but the players marked with I and II should move out in preparation for the wave attacks on the Numbered players which will follow Green shortly after it’s completed.

If you have Numbers I or II and a Green you may need to move slightly out of the group, but ensure three people move together to handle the Green.

If players get stacking mechanics, for example, if one player gets Numbers + Spread, or Numbers + Green, prioritize handling the Spread first, then the Green, then Numbers. The same rule applies if there are only a few players alive, prioritize having players in the Green and prepare to get out as fast as possible afterward to handle other mechanics.

There are a variety of scenarios that may occur with overlapping mechanics – we can’t give you a strategy for every one of them. Simply stay calm, communicate with your team, and prioritize keeping yourself and your squadmates alive while handling each mechanic in sequence.