Changes: Boss

Revision as of 18:01, 9 September 2009

Soulwhisper, Elder Guardian, a Plant Ritualist boss

Description

Bosses are bigger and tougher versions of regular mobs, clearly distinguishable by the fact they usually have a proper name rather than a generic one, as well as a glowing aura signifying their profession color. In most cases they have a slightly higher level than the corresponding mob (i.e. if a regular Grawl is level 4, a Grawl boss might be level 6). There are bosses for almost every type of opponent in the game. Bosses usually have the same skills as their conventional counterpart. When a boss is killed for the first time, the party gets a 2% Morale Boost and all the party members' skills are recharged, including Resurrection Signets. This happens even if the boss is killed by other monsters, without interference of the players. Killing a resurrected boss will not grant another Morale Boost and will not recharge skills.

The corpse of a boss will not disappear after some time, as regular corpses do, but will stay visible. This is to allow for the use of Signet of Capture to capture skills from dead bosses. For PvE characters, this was the only way to acquire elite skills until Elite Tomes were introduced.

Special Abilities

In all campaigns, Bosses possess a natural +3 Health Regeneration.
In the Prophecies and Eye of the North, bosses have Natural resistance: conditions and hexes expire more quickly.
In the Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, they activate skills twice as quickly and they deal double damage (on top of other bonuses).
- Example: a non-boss Assassin with 12 Deadly Arts causes 85 damage using Impale; a boss with the same rank of 12 would do 170 damage.
Although not technically a special ability of bosses, their naturally higher levels also enables them to deal greater base damage; see the Damage calculation article for more details.

Aura

Bosses have a colored aura around them which denotes which class they are:

Profession
Profession	Warrior	Ranger	Monk	Necromancer	Mesmer	Elementalist	Assassin	Ritualist	Dervish	Paragon
Color	Orange	Light Green	Blue	Dark Green	Magenta	Red	Lavender	Cyan	Gray	Pale Yellow

Notes

Non-fleshy bosses don't leave visible corpses but it is still possible to capture skills from them in the normal way. These bosses will however, leave a small shadow on the ground in some areas making it easier to find their general location.

Bosses drop up to four items when slain. They have an increased chance to drop high quality items and they are the only creatures that can drop experience Scrolls. Some bosses drop unique items.

It is also important to be mindful of the corpse in some advanced areas where players will encounter monsters who can resurrect. They may revive the defeated boss. Defeating resurrected bosses will not yield additional morale boosts or additional loot, and will not recharge skills again.

In the Factions campaign, if you kill a boss, but allow the rest of the monsters in the group to go back to patrolling, moving into the the aggro range of the boss will aggro the other monsters back to you.

If you can't capture a boss's skills, or if you get a morale boost from a beast with no aura, you may be dealing with a boss-like foe.

For a list of all bosses, see Category:Bosses.

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 == Special Abilities ==
 * In all campaigns, Bosses possess a natural +3 [[Health Regeneration]].
-* In the [[Prophecies]] campaign and [[Eye of the North]] expansion, [[condition]]s and [[hex]]es last for a reduced span of time on a boss (see [[Natural resistance]]).
+* In the [[Prophecies]] and [[Eye of the North]], bosses have [[Natural resistance]]: [[condition]]s and [[hex]]es expire more quickly.
+* In the [[Factions]], [[Nightfall]], and Eye of the North, they activate skills twice as quickly and they deal double damage (on top of other bonuses).
-* In the [[Factions]] and [[Nightfall]] campaigns and Eye of the North expansion, bosses' skill activation times are halved and their damage is doubled. For example, if a [[Mesmer]] with 16 [[Domination Magic]] uses [[Cry of Frustration]] which would normally deal 46 damage at 16 [[Domination Magic]], the boss deals 92 damage. The double damage is not including for the level difference of the boss, which will also increase the base damage of the boss's attacks and increase the damage due to the level ratio (armor is considered lower vs high level enemies).
+** Example: a non-boss [[Assassin]] with 12 [[Deadly Arts]] causes 85 damage using [[Impale]]; a boss with the same rank of 12 would do 170 damage.
+* Although not technically a special ability of bosses, their naturally higher levels also enables them to deal greater base damage; see the [[Damage calculation]] article for more details.
 == Aura ==