The latest content patch is live and we have some hints to taking down Tequatl.

The latest content patch for Guild Wars 2 is live. Tequatl Rising is appropriately centered on the revamped Tequatl boss and its all new boss achievement category.

ArenaNet originally showed off the Tequatl fight at PAX including some tips for taking down the evolved beast. In time for the new patch, ANet has posted the cut footage from PAX which you can find below. If video isn't your cup of tea, we have outlined some of the major information you need to know.

The first thing players might notice is the addition of a 15 minute time limit. If Tequatl the Sunless isn't defeated within that time frame the event will fail. Failing the event however, does not mean players will lack any rewards for the fight. Much like the Scarlet invasions, players will be awarded for completing the secondary events that start at every 25% damage done to Tequatl. Defeating Tequatl will then reward an additional bonus chest.

No mobs will drop rewards during the fight. Instead they will collect and be distributed at the end of the event so players don't need to worry about picking up all those loot bags during the fight. In addition to the normal mobs rewards, the Tequatl rewards are being updated. Among the things that players can get from Tequatl are exclusive re-skins of the Ascended weapons and a Mini Tequatl the Sunless.

The Ground Game

Players who want to attack Tequatl directly, melee or ranged, will have a few abilities to look out for. Tequatl's Fingers have been upgraded. They will launch poison pools that will remain on the field effectively removing play space from the players. The new Shockwave ability will look familiar to veterans of the Flame and Frost dungeon. Players will need to time their jumps to get over this expanding AoE attack.

After Tequatl's health drops 75% health he will enter a new phase which includes a new ability. Vortex is a ground-based AoE that will suck players into a new deadly environment. Within the vortex players will have to swim toward the light to be teleported out of the room, but players need to be fast as they will take continual damage while in the area. A brief glance at the new achievements however, hints that anyone brave enough to stay in the vortex might be able to find a sunken treasure chest. Find the chest once for the appropriately named I Found It! achievement.

At 50% health, Tequatl gets another buff in the form of an enlarged Shockwave. While players were previously able to jump over the shockwave, this new and improved form will be too tall for players' jump skills and require them to instead retreat until the wave subsides.

The Back Field

The Hylek Turrets and Megalaser remain part of the fight and have been buffed to be more important for players to use. The Hylek Turrets now have a full 5 skills. The first skill is a basic damage skill. The second skill will remove a stack of Hardened Scales from Tequatl. Hardened Scales is a stacking buff that Tequatl will slowly build over time. The buff does nothing until it reaches the max of 20 stacks at which point Tequatl will summon a Bone Wall and become impervious to all sources of damage until the wall is destroyed. Keeping Hardened Scales under control and the bone wall unsummoned will greatly aid defeating the boss within the time limit. It also appears that one of the new achievements might be for defeating Tequatl without him summoning the bone wall at all during the fight.

The last three skills on the turret are support skills. The third skill on the bar will cleanse an area of the poison that the Tequatl Fingers lay down. The fourth skill will give allies in an area offensive boons while the fifth skill will give them defensive boons.

The turrets are not completely out of the fight as minions will swarm the turrets trying to destroy them. The turrets are so important that a tally has been added to the event UI updating all players on the remaining turrets. If you are on the front line and see this number dropping, it might be a good idea to fall back and support them. In the event that a turret is destroyed, players can find Boxes of Repair Hammers that they can use to repair the turrets.

2-Minute Break

At every 25% health, Tequatl will get bored and fly off. This doesn't mean a complete break for the players as a new event will kick off. Players will need to protect the Megalaser and three different Batteries charging it for two minutes, Failing this event will cause the entire boss fight to fail, so players will need to split up between the different locations. Each location comes with its own design, some of which might benefit from control skills to prevent enemies from reaching the defending location.

To help players get around to all of the locations, jump pads have been added to send players back and forth between the megalaser and all the major points including the Tequatl fighting area. If this side event succeeds, the Megalaser will fire at Tequatl, dropping him from the sky and leaving him stunned and vulnerable to player attacks.

Rest of the Patch

If you are reading this, the patch should already be live. The revamp to Tequatl the Sunless is not the only thing coming with the patch. Players will get to try out the new LFG tool, but in the interest of it not breaking immediately ArenaNet will release access to the tool slowly throughout the week. So if you get on and can't use the LFG tool, it is not a bug but a planned beta release of the system. Along with this beta release, the system will be disabled for use in forming WvW parties.

The WvW Borderlands are also getting updated with the new Ruins of Power. If you are interested, check out ZAM's article about the changes here.

Matt "Mattsta" Adams

Follow me @MattstaNinja