Urgoz Skipway

Urgoz Skipway is typically run in Normal Mode to farm the end chest for Gaki's in about 6 to 8 minutes. Hard mode is possible with the same builds but it is less forgiving of mistakes making wipes much more likely, requires good seed uptime in the drinker room, and the tank needs a slashing armor + shield.

Builds

Tank (1x)

/ Dasher
Shadow: 12+1+3, Earth Magic: 12 OwZS85ET6MBM4OTQ0kfV3ldO

• Stay ahead of the team by maintaining Dash and jumping ahead with Death's Charge and Viper's Defense.

FH (1x)

/ FH
Domination: 12+1+3, FC: 12+3, Shadow Arts: 3 OQdTI4/AYy0BBiuMmkmcJoJIoC

• Activate the right lever in room 3.
• Ping Enchanter's Conundrum on the drinkers in room 10.

Porogon (1x)

/ Porogon
Command: 12+1+3, Leadership: 12+3, Spear: 3 OQejgyljJT7Y0l8YCM4OAh0k1b

• Use "Find Their Weakness!" either on yourself for serpents, drinkers, and Urgoz.
• Activate the left lever in room 3.

Spiker (Fill with as many people as available)

/ Spiker
Domination: 12+1+3, FC: 12+3, Tactics: 3 OQFTAYBXHaJ4Ew0Z6hmsJwmkuE

• The 3 points in Tactics is useful if the Mesmer brings a low-req Tactics shield. This can be changed to Command instead. Make sure you have a secondary other than /A or /Mo so the team can see your role.

Monk (1-2x)

/ Monk
Divine Favor: 12+1+3, Domination: 12 OwUSAZBTLBMEmO5g0kNBAE0l

• Preferably you want 2 of those, but if you don't have enough damage, you can swap out 1 for an additional spiker.

Me/Mo (1x)

/ Me/Mo
Domination: 12+1+3, FC: 11+3, Protection: 6 OQNDIMsvR0k0l2kmONBLBxDMEA

• Maintain "Life Bond" on the tank after room 7 until the end.

Walkthrough

• Try to stay in a tight ball with the team, but run just behind the tank - he may want to use you as a Viper's target.

• If the team is spread out, pause for a moment when you reach a safe area, so everyone can catch up. It's possible to do this after every room except 2, 8, and 11.

• Kill serpents with YMLaD and FH. Ideally each serpent should die before the tank reaches the door, so he never has to stop moving. If damage is lacking because some mesmers are lagging behind or not doing their job properly or you have a small team, use Unnatural Signet followed by ESurge. YMLaD as soon as the serpent starts taking damage, aiming to spike it down before it has a chance to heal.
• Avoid using res scrolls while there are still people with UA alive, unless a lot of people are dead.
• Always wield a martial weapon when in aggro of Thorn Wolves, or they will cast Shroud of Silence on you.

Room 1 (weakness)

• Hit your Arcane Echo key while loading in so it activates immediately. The tank will have gained some distance while you do that, so EE to catch up.
• Before you run past the Kurzick Architect, check that everyone in the team has started moving. If someone loads a few seconds too slowly and the team has already started running, there is no way for them to catch up.
• Use your second EE when the tank jumps over the vampire pops.
• IAU when aggroing the dredge.
• EE when the tank DCs to the Twisted Bark.
• EE to make sure you don't get stuck on the dredge at the top of the stairs.

Room 2 (health degen)

• The tank should be at the door when room 2 opens, and you should be an aggro bubble away, so use EE to catch up.
• IAU when aggroing the dredge.
• Save your next EE until the tank successfully jumps down the cliff.

• If you get stuck at the top, do NOT attempt to run around. Wait for EE to recharge and jump down to the tank.
• If you see someone lagging behind here, do not stop to give them an EE target, unless you are the tank.
• As monk, seed the tank if there are people behind you.

Room 3 (levers)

• Run straight through the middle of the room, taking care not to get bodyblocked by the dredge on top of the bridge.
• Paragon DCs up to pull the left lever.
• FH mesmer uses HoS (make sure to tell your target so they stand in the right spot) to jump up the bridge to pull the right lever.
• The rest of the team should wait at the gate and give the lever pullers EE targets.

Room 4 (bridge)

• Cast Arcane Echo when you reach the bridge.
• Do NOT run in front of the tank here - you will spawn wolves on top of him, getting him stuck.
• Use EE at every wolve pop. Even if you think you are not stuck, rubberbanding is very common here.
• EE again when the tank jumps over the vampire pops.

Rooms 5 (overcast)

• Simply run through this room - nothing needs to be killed.
• If you're using GWToolbox++, turn on "Show extra timers" and make sure your Timer widget is large enough to see the Urgoz gate timer.

• If the gate in front of you will be closed when you reach it, wait before approaching. There are wolve pops at most of the gates.
• If you have wolve aggro and there is a closed gate in front of you, keep running in circles to break the wolves.
• Aim to EE the tank just before the gates close, so you have less chance of being shut out.

Room 6 (no effect)

• There is no clear boundary between rooms 5 and 6; the overcast effect just stops at the 3rd gate.
• After the next gate, the team can either go straight forward or take the right path, depending on the timing:

• If the whole team is ready at the gate at the moment it opens, go straight forward and walk up the hill to the bridge.
• If someone is lagging behind, wait just before the gate (to avoid the wolve pops) for them to catch up and then take the right path. When the gates are open, the tank can jump up to the bridge with Viper's. Save your EE for after the tank jumps, and make sure the gates are still open - otherwise your shadow step will fail.

• At the other end of the bridge, the tank will jump back down, so be ready to EE again before the gates close. If the timing is bad, the team can run across to the next bridge and jump down there instead.

Room 7 (energy degen)

Recall trick

• Just before stepping on the bridge leading to the serpent at the end of room 6, the tank should use Recall on a mesmer (call the target so they know to keep your range).
• The tank waits outside the room (not stepping on the bridge) while the FH uses HoS to jump down the second Bridge; the team then kills the serpent.
• As soon as someone has left the room (halfway across the bridge leading out), the tank can run in. Do not Recall out until the whole path is shown on the compass, or the shadow step will fail.
• Cast Life Bond on the tank and wait to run into the next room.

This tactic allows the team to continue running without stopping, neither popping the enemies in the room nor leaving someone behind. If someone died earlier in the run, the Recall trick is unnecessary, and if you don't have a full team, it's common to bring a hero for this purpose.

fast Recall tactic

If you want to go even faster, replace Unnatural Signet on 2 of the spikers with Recall.

• One mesmer Recalls the other and waits outside the room.
• After killing the serpent and leaving the room, the second mesmer Recalls the tank and waits.
• The first mesmer walks into the room and Recalls out as soon as the path is in range.
• The two mesmers run together - if the team is still in range, they can just EE to catch up.
• When the first mesmer's skills are off cooldown, cast Recall again on the second mesmer.
• The second mesmer Recalls out to the tank.
• The first mesmer Recalls out to the second mesmer.

Room 8 (weakness and overcast)

If the team is not strong (e.g. a smaller party with only one monk), let the tank run ahead and stand on the serpent. Once the Burning Brushes settle on the tank, spike the ball. If the team is strong enough, just run through and kill the serpent. Use IAU when entering the room.

Room 9 (cathedral)

• Wait at the top of the stairs for the tank to pull the wardens out of the way. Do not aggro the wardens until you enter the room.
• The monks should co-ordinate their seeds so one is always up. Save AEcho for the next room though, where it will not get rupted, and there is a higher chance of seed being stripped.
• If someone falls behind, try to give them an EE target.
• When the wardens are clear, use IAU and run along the right wall, avoiding as much aggro as you can.
• After killing the serpent, pop a throwaway summon so the wardens don't follow you.
• Get clear of the wardens as quickly as possible so the tank can Recall out without retaining aggro.

Room 10 (drinkers)

• Stay as far from the wolves as you can. If you get aggro, run around in between casting your skills.
• All of your damage skills are effective against Blood Drinkers:

• If you see a target with no hex, Mistrust it.
• Use ESurge on a central target to hit as many drinkers as possible.
• Unnatural the Enchanter's Conundrum target.
• Use Chaos Storm on single targets and YMLaD the target to keep it from scattering.

• Kill the first group of 4 drinkers.
• Kill the group closest to the left wall, moving along the wall as you do so.
• Kill the group closest to the left wall.
• Kill the group closest to the door.

Room 11 (health degen)

Run straight forward to the bridge. Kill the Twisted Bark if you're waiting for the tank.

Room 12 (Urgoz)

• The tank will bodyblock the enemies from room 11 so the monks can continue seeding the bonder to heal the team.
• Use IAU when entering the room.
• Cast AEcho shortly before getting in cast range of Urgoz. This is to make sure you aren't standing on the first Explosive Growths when they explode.
• Move forward and cast Chaos Storm twice and YMLaD Urgoz. If your team uses Dragon Seals, cast them again.
• Move away from Explosive Growths before they explode.
• When you have no more Chaos Storm to cast, use Unnatural and auto-attack.
• After Urgoz dies, move away from the tank so he can Recall out without bringing aggro to the team.