Grandmaster cartography guide

Overview

The Cartographer titles are gained per character by exploring the primary map of each continent. Any area viewable when viewing the world map counts towards the title. This includes the following:

Explorable areas
Mission zones (cooperative, challenge and competitive)
Arenas not on the Battle Isles
Towns and Outposts including exclusive areas for Canthan outposts

It does not include any area which is not shown on the world map of either continent. This includes the following:

In Tyria:
- The Dragon's Lair mission area
- Pre-Searing Ascalon (this area has its own explorable map)
- Ruins of the Tomb of the Primeval Kings
- Sorrow's Furnace
In Cantha:
- Dragon's Throat (Mission)
- Elite Missions
- The Undercity
In Elona:
- Command Post
- Dajkah Inlet (Mission)
- Moddok Crevice (Mission)
- Bahdok Caverns
- Jennur's Horde (Mission)
- Nightfallen Garden
- Realm of Torment
- The Hidden City of Ahdashim
Core areas: Any area that appears on The Battle Isles or shows the Battle Isles map, this includes:
- The Battle Isles themselves
- The Fissure of Woe
- The Underworld

Note: The Undercity in Cantha now functions like the Fissure of Woe and The Underworld, all exploration in it is reset upon return trips, and it no longer impacts the percentage explored.

To gain the Grandmaster Cartographer title, a character does not need to explore every single point on the map. Some margin of error is allowed. As a result, even though some characters may never be able to access some portions of the map, they may still earn 100% explored. Unreachable zones would most likely be arenas that have been rendered inaccessible due to a game update (such as Fort Koga) or due to level limits (such as the Shing Jea Arena) but may also be training areas for characters local to the continent (such as Monastery Overlook which is only explorable for non-Canthan characters during the Dragon Festival and special weekend events). Again, these zones do count towards those who revealed them, but they do not make it impossible for those who cannot to obtain the grandmaster title.

The Maps

Check out the Maps section in this wiki for general maps of Cantha and Tyria. If stumped, search online for maps posted by those who have reached grandmaster. Compare them with yours to fine detail for differences along edges. Using an image editor (such as Photoshop for example) can greatly help in revealing missing areas when comparing maps. Some related forums may provide support to help look.

Comparing Maps

Comparing your in-game map to a complete map you downloaded side by side often will not suffice to spot tiny missing parts along the edges of areas. Use the following processes to make them visible (note that this may not work on computers with low performance):

Download a map. They’re often quite big, best not to open in a browser.
Open the image in a graphics editor or image viewer program of your choosing.
Open up Guild Wars in windowed mode, keeping the image still open in the background.
Open your minimap (default key is 'U'), and make it as large as you are comfortable with.
Move to an area you want to check by click-dragging the map.
Swap between Guild Wars and your image viewer, and adjust the position of your minimap and/or the image until they line up.
Once you have the maps perfectly lined up, rapidly switch back and forth (i.e. by using alt-tab or by clicking on the Windows Task-Bar) and note where the differences are (they should be easily discerned using this technique).

There is also another, more complex but also more effective method:

Note: This technique works well when used on Tyrian maps, but as Canthan maps have small color difference between explored and unexplored areas, you may have to change your gamma around to make it work properly.

Open Guild Wars. Set the resolution to the maximum.
Open your map (default key is M) and take a screenshot (to do this, press the print screen key, labelled "PrtScn" on the upper part of the keyboard. Pressing shift at the same time will hide the map markers, making the map easier to analyse).
Download a 100% explored map. They’re often quite big, best not to open in a browser. IMPORTANT: Make sure that it is the same resolution as the map screenshot from the previous step.
Open the 100% map in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or Gimp. Insert your map as a new layer on the same image.
In the "Layers" panel, select the layer containing your map and click on the popup menu that should say "Normal". Set it to "Difference".
Most of the map will now go dark. However, the areas that are different on your map to the 100% map will appear much brighter, close to white. Zoom in and look for these areas. These patches on the map are areas you have not yet explored. If the two maps are not the same resolution, this will not work.

The Math

A fully explored area equal to the size of the radar around a player equals roughly 0.1% of Cantha. The percentage is less for Tyria (about 0.07%) as it is a larger continent.

Exploration Tips

Scrape! Working towards the grandmaster cartographer title (when you have already achieved 90%) will most likely require you to revisit every explorable area on the continent. Small, trivial regions of map can be revealed by 'scraping' (hugging the outside wall of) the area while periodically facing the wall. The top of your compass will show a lighter area, representing your view. You should expect to spend hours scraping, usually with henchmen, as human players typically want to move towards a specific target.
It adds up: While each of these regions may seem small and insignificant, they easily add up to entire percentages towards the title. Scraping the outside wall of an area you have not scraped before may produce 0.1 to 0.2% even though it may not actually reveal any fog on the map.

Speed: Using a speed spell helps when travelling to unmapped areas, but increases the likelihood of server lag. Your position ends up patchy on the server side, even though your computer shows it to be fluid.

Nooks and crannies: Some map edges are quite convoluted, and the typical automatic run facing 45 degrees will not be enough. Areas like the south-east corner of Ettin's Back require constant mouse movement to negotiate the nooks and crannies.

Missions: Mission explorable areas usually have a lot of space that players miss due to a few factors:
- Time: Some missions require players to race against the clock to complete an objective. This causes most parties to just rush through the mission area and not explore it.
- Unlocking: Events in missions may often open up areas previously inaccessible. Keep track of opening doors and dropping bridges.
- Stand-offs: Some missions require that the party holds out against a siege to protect an NPC. Such missions will usually have explorable areas outside the siege area that players will not be capable of exploring while the siege is taking place.
Do not neglect towns and outposts: Some areas of the map can only be revealed by scraping the edges of larger towns, outposts, and mission heads. Often, large portions of the map may be uncovered by exploring an empty but accessible part of a town.

Often missed

These are specific areas commonly missed by cartographers. It has recently been reported that it is easier to get the title than before. You do not need to explore all of the secret areas to get the 100% title.

Tyria

Great NW Cartography — Great Northern Wall: Path with numbers indicating areas not to be missed

The Great Northern Wall: After the timer starts in the final part of the mission, the entire Charr camp can be explored. The western road from which Charr come at you while approaching the bridge can also be used to reveal all the map between the mission area and Piken Square. It was once possible to use teleporting skills, such as Necrotic Traversal to explore the area without starting the timer. This is now very hard, as the skills can no longer be used to appear on top of bridges by exploiting a corpse below. There is a minor chance that a Moa bird can be found along the border between the regular mission area and the area found after the final cutscene. If so, the Moa could be killed with spells and Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse used to travel to the area. Skills such as Rebirth can be used by a Monk/Necro or Necro/Monk to bring a whole party over for exploration. Otherwise, you will need repeated attempts with as many speed-enhancing skills as possible. When exploring the area, there are three places where you can explore westward. All three must be explored in order to fully de-fog the map. In addition, players can explore northward. To do this, they must trigger the cutscene at the end, then run towards the approaching Charr. Running speeds are important, though exploration can be done over several missions as well. The Charr bunch up as they exit, allowing a player to go wide and run past them. Also, some Charr may run past you and let you go explore. At least 0.3% can be cleared, as compared to a normal mission run with some exploration westward. The total if no westward exploration has been done would be much higher.

The Wilds Cheat — The Wilds: An image of a player standing in an area he is normally unable to access

The Wilds: Start the mission with a Ranger who has the following nature rituals and skills: Lacerate, Toxicity, Predatory Season, Winnowing, Quickening Zephyr, Serpent's Quickness and Troll Unguent (optional). Bring along another player with Favorable Winds, and make sure you bring Consume Corpse or Necrotic Traversal. After seeing the last cutscene in the mission (at the point where you have to rescue the Chosen), all party members should step back. Then send the spirit ranger in. Position them at a location where Evennia will be in range of the spirits, but the Ranger won't be attacked by the spiders. (Either side of Evennia will work, since spiders will be obstructed). Once you reach Evennia, either you or the Ranger (depending on if you are using heroes or not) should make an attempt to lure all of the spiders to begin attacking her. It is perfectly fine if you are unable to get the first or even the second spawn of spiders to be able to hit her, but realize you MUST have the aggro correct before the third spawn. Have the Ranger repeatedly spam the spirits, and keep them all up as much as possible. This will tack on additional degen in the form of +2 degen from Toxicity, Bleeding when Lacerate dies, and +2 when Lacerate is up again. The Quickening Zephyr will also make Evennia's only heal (Heal Area) recharge faster and cost more energy. She will also have to use it a little more often. Predatory Season causes Evennia's Heal Area to heal for less, and heal the spiders when they hit with an attack. The Other spirits are to keep the spiders alive longer and do more melee damage. When all spiders are attacking Evennia, kill the group that is alive for all except one, and run out of range, so Evennia will kill the last one. The third and final spawn of spiders will have a Ranger boss. Keep all spirits up as much as possible except Lacerate, which you want to die, (and quickly replace once dead). You will need to witness Lacerate die 2-3 times before Evennia will run out of energy and cease healing herself. Exploit Evennia's corpse and go exploring! (It's a good idea to exploit the chosen corpses beforehand, if you are worried about missing your chance to exploit Evennia's).

Frost Gate Cartography — Frost Gate: Path with numbers indicating various options

The Frost Gate: You can use either of the necromancer skills Necrotic Traversal or Consume Corpse to reach the road used by Rurik. There are several options, with the number corresponding to the location on the map: 1) getting one or more of Rurik's guards killed by Ice Golems or rampaging minions; 2) killing a Snow Wolf or the second group of Ettins under the bridge in the ice cave where Rornak Stonesledge and the Bonus are located; ** As of 3/27/07 this option no longer works - both Rebirth and Necrotic Traversal will teleport you to the same height of the caster or corpse instead of onto the bridge above ** 3) a Snow Wolf may appear near the exit of the ice cave by a cliff. Regardless of the option chosen, the corpse is used to teleport onto the path. Additionally, the skill Rebirth can allow more party members to travel onto the path if there are not enough corpses. Option 1 can be achieved by pulling the Ice Golems beyond the bridge to attack the guards - however the spawns seem to vary a lot and you need at least 2 Ice Golems or the guards won't die. Alternatively you can use a minion master hero with Bone Fiends and make him over-sacrifice on the edge just past the bridge. This will make the fiends hostile and kill 1 or more of the guards and possibly even Rurik. It is recommended to backtrack to explore the path northward first, then head southward. Watch out, as towards the end (point 5) there is a single enemy on Rurik's path. Resist the temptation to kill him and simply run by, as an ever-growing series of spawns appears (that usually kill off Rurik if you take too long at the end of the mission). Taking one of the earlier teleportation options has an advantage, since Rurik will stay put, fearing the catapult. Using later options may cause the mission to fail if Rurik dies. By using option 1 it is possible to return back to the normal mission path - with Rurik still at the first bridge the mission will not end if he dies (a cutscene will move him forward, but his death does not cause mission failure). Players can explore all the way to the end, killing all mobs and bosses and doing everything except placing the third gear. The best point to return to the main path is point 3, by targetting one of the Engineers (the south-western is best). (Note that point 4 looks appealing but will be a dead end at this time). At the end of the mission a door opens up allowing access to the south-eastern corner of the mission area. Roughly 0.4% of Tyria was uncovered this way, as compared to a fairly thorough mission run. Players can then place the final gear and even end the mission with full success despite Rurik's death. Note: After thorough wall-hugging of the rest of the mission map, this trick only uncovered about 0.1% of the total map.

Gates Kryta Cartography — The #1 indicates the area where one can slip behind the house where Oink is found and take a back way to uncover a bit more territory

Griffon's Mouth: South of Aidan is a series of interconnecting tunnels, and includes an Ice Drake to fight.
Gates of Kryta: A typical mission run leaves a fair amount of coastline unexplored. Scrape the edges along the coast. In addition, at the very beginning, near Oink, it is possible to slip behind the nearby house and reach an area where undead gather. After a battle that is possible through patient pulling or the right build, you can uncover a bit more area. The image shows the coastline scraping as well as the #1 indicating the rear passage to the undead mobs.
Lion's Arch: The southern tip of the city can reveal some of the coastline (some players think it's part of the Gates of Kryta mission). Cantha characters who arrive in Tyria for the first time should explore the little area that they are in before actually entering the city as it will be your only chance. Or Tyrian characters traveling to Elona can speak to Lionguard Bedo to explore Lion's Gate.
Kessex Peak: Scrape the southernmost and westernmost borders of this area carefully, as it is difficult to clear all of the clouds.
Bloodstone Fen: Run past Justiciar Hablion and his group to explore a small area past them for 0.1%. (Generally the Justiciar won't even follow you, and you can come back to finish the mission).
Aurora Glade: Before entering the mission, explore the hidden area to the north/north-west behind a hut. This is an easy to miss area but reveals a fairly large section. Once in the mission, avoid tuning all three of the crystals while you fight off the White Mantle until you have completely explored the area east of the portal. There is a path (often used for the bonus) past the right most gate that can be used to sneak behind the White Mantle forces.
Henge of Denravi: The western and northern edges of the city can reveal some map. If you have not scraped this area before you have received the Defend Denravi quest, you may need to abandon the quest until you have mapped this area completely. After you have mapped this area, you can return to Droknar's Forge and reactivate the quest.
Tangle Root: The area east of where Old Joness is can be explored.
Riverside Province (Mission): Many players miss the large swamp area (along the south-eastern side) and path leading to the river bed (on the north-eastern side) after you receive the staff! The riverside on both sides of the bridge where the end boss is, can be explored. If you have not picked up the Scepter of Orr, you can kill the boss at your leisure and cross the bridge (crossing the bridge with the secpter in hand triggers the end of the mission). Scraping all the mission area as described nets about 0.8%.
Sanctum Cay: The groups that come after Vizier Khilbron at the end of the mission come from exporable but densely populated shorelines to the south and the north-east. If you go into these areas and do not kill all of the enemies there, large numbers will go stand on the dock with Vizier making it impossible to complete the mission. In order to explore the areas to the south and north-east you will have to stay as far from the dock as possible by scraping the ridge just west of the dock to delay furthering the mission until you are ready.
The Amnoon Oasis: The coastline of the city can be explored.

Dunes of Despair explored — explorable paths behind the bridges

Dunes of Despair: One of the trickier missions to explore. You will likely need a friend to stay with the Ghostly Hero along with henchmen to keep him alive while you explore. Alternatively, a single properly configured bonder monk hero will be able to keep Ghostly Hero alive for the entire 10 minute period, giving the rest of the party a chance to explore the area. Remember to flag the hero in the entrance corridor to avoid aggro. You can also try avoiding the enemy ghost altogether and using Necrotic Traversal to jump across the northern bridge. There are three enemy bases to explore at the southern end of the map, the western one will have a draw bridge drawn up. You can still walk through it. In addition, there is a very large area to explore east of the eastern most base accessible through a tight tunnel slightly north of the south-eastern base. Beware of the large number of Jade Scarabs that crawl out of the ground. The area north of where the second Siege Wurm spawns can be explored. Roughly 0.7% was uncovered doing this.
Augury Rock (Ascension mission): Providing you do not step on all three runes, you can explore parts of the area.
Tomb of the Primeval Kings: Accessable once you have ascended. (Take the north exit from The Dragon's Lair (Location)). Note that you are only required to explore the outpost; the tombs themselves do not count towards the title.

Talus Chute Cartography — Talus Chute: An example of the crazy sights as well as the route taken

Talus Chute: The north-eastern corner of the area can be explored by climbing hills along the eastern edge between the Icedome and Ice Caves of Sorrow. The spot you climb into this area from is in a nook of land you reach from the river. This uncovers about 0.1%.
Thunderhead Keep: Delay talking to the king at the end of the mission to explore the area outside the keep. Also, there is a path to the east from the beginning that is infested with Avicara. Another method is to, after clearing the keep, take your entire party and leave the keep, scraping the entire area. Giants will spawn and surround the king, but they will not attack him until the party circles around and they reappear on the mini map. In this way, you can clear the area at your leisure.
Hell's Precipice: The cinematics in the mission will cause the party to skip some areas of the map. Backtrack to reveal them.

Cantha

Shing Jea Monastery: During the Dragon Festival, Shing Jea Boardwalk, Canthan New Year and Gamer Weekend events, the normally Canthan-exclusive starting area beyond the monastery gate was open for characters born on other continents.
Zen Daijun (Explorable): Some doors will be open which were closed during the mission.
Kaineng Center: There are stairs down to the long pier along the western side of the city past the armor smiths.
Vizunah Square: This is one of the only missions that does not offer a matching explorable area. You will need to scrape the mission while doing it. Also, try to gain access to the other starting point to scrape there too. Canthan-born characters can accompany foreign born characters in doing the quest Welcome to Cantha to access Vizunah Square (Foreign Quarter) and foreign characters can accompany Canthan-born characters in doing Mayhem in the Market to access Vizunah Square (Local Quarter). Note that after thoroughly scraping Xaquang Skyway and the Vizunah Square (Foreign Quarter) mission, access to the Vizunah Square (Local Quarter) will not add any percentage of the map to your title.

Eredon Bug Map — Map of the area explorable by going behind Eredon Terrace

Eredon Terrace Cartography — The view of the end of the world from the glitched area of Eredon Terrace

Eredon Terrace Glitch — Standing on the end of the world from the glitched area of Eredon Terrace

Eredon Terrace: If you are part of the alliance that owns this town you can access a glitched area behind the exclusive area that allows you to enter the outskirts of the town. Although the area explored is permanently in fog on the map, it counts for a about 0.4%.

If you are of the opposite faction then the one controlling the town, you can use a trick to enter the exclusive and the glitched area: Change, if necessary, your secondary profession to Assassin and equip Aura of Displacement or Death's Charge. Leave Eredon Terrace through the zone portal into Maishang Hills. On your left you will see a shrine. Talk to the Priest and choose to fight him (Note: You will not have this option if you are of the Priest's alignment). Do not kill the Merchant. He will run into Eredon Terrace. If he doesn't, start over again. Once he is inside the town and you are still outside, place him just in your aggro circle and cast your shadow step skill. If everything goes right you will now find yourself inside Eredon Terrace. Keep Aura up all the time, because if you don't you will teleport back to where you were! Also, stepping into the zone portal from either side will send you back to Eredon Terrace, so avoid it until you are finished. You can now walk right through the gate of the exclusive area, although it looks closed, and explore the glitched area. To get there, go across the bridge, and near the Jade crane, there is a hill you can walk up.

If allied with the controlling faction, but not part of that alliance, bring Return, Recall, Shadow Meld or Death's Retreat and lure the nearby wallows to the shrine to force the merchant to flee, and then Shadow Step on him.

Lutgardis Conservatory: There is a bug that can be exploited in here at the warp to Melandru's Hope, at the left side of the portal animation (the big blue swirly thing) there is a small "hole" that'll lead into the "unloaded" version of Melandru's Hope, in-town speed boosting items are recommended as the map can be pretty big, stretching from the Brauer Academy to the Jade Flats. Here's a poorly recorded video to show some parts of it.
Arborstone (Explorable): On the journey from Tanglewood Copse to Arborstone, there is an area down in the ravine that can only be explored from this direction via teleportation skills such as Necrotic Traversal. However, this area can be more easily explored (if not a farther way to go) by entering the area from the northern exit of Altrumm Ruins.
Unwaking Waters: There is a small cul-de-sac just north of the exit on the Kurzick side. Don't miss it. Scrape the northern wall of this area carefully, especially near the saltspray dragon boss.
Fort Aspenwood: This competitive mission can provide about 0.6% by doing a cursory scrape to a person who has already mapped surrounding areas.
Jade Quarry: Good luck getting into this area, as it is nearly always empty of players. It will yield about 0.5%.
Tahnnakai Temple (Explorable): Has a large northern region open for exploration that is inaccessible during the mission.
All of the Challenge Missions except Dragon's Throat allow you to explore small amounts of the map inaccessible by the surrounding zones.
Raisu Palace (Explorable) has a large area to the north which can only be reached after the mission, leaving from Imperial Sanctum (Location).
Don't forget to scrape the edges when banished during the Imperial Sanctum mission. You can kill the spirits there, or bring some defensive and healing skills, and scrape carefully. A cloud to the north-east is cleared by scraping an area to the north-west, so again, scrape carefully. Shiro never banishes a human player if he's the only human in the party so doing the mission solo or with henchmen won't work. The easiest way to get banished is to enter the mission with a friend and and him to take of any health decreasing runes and items, since Shiro tends to banish the player with the lowest health within his aggro range. Note that, although there are several portals visible at a distance from the center battle area, Shiro will always banish players to the same portal, towards the north-west. The other portals can't be reached.

Elona

The Sunspear Arena, which is accessible only to characters who are level 10 and under (its outpost can be explored by anyone, however), is easily missed. It can be accessed by talking to the Arena Guard near the Consulate portal in Kamadan, in the north-east corner.
While most Challenge missions in Nightfall do not count towards the title, Remains of Sahlahja does, contributing up to 1.6%.