Battle for Ashaya

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The Battle for Ashaya (also known as "BFA" for short) is a dungeon accessible from the North Entrance of Ashaya Village, and just a bit to the east of Tanja's Bakery. It is one of the major dungeons found within the game. You will finish off what the demons have started in the Kingdom of Elyssia by putting an end to Sakkara's wrath.

The recommended level for Battle For Ashaya is 24-25, and adventurers above level 28 will be scaled down to that level for the dungeon. It is also recommended that you have at least 3-5 adventurers before starting the dungeon - as denoted by Jacob as you walk closer to where Baldarr the Cruel is. The group set-up should at least include one healer, a damage dealer and a tank.

Battle For Ashaya has two difficulty modes, but by default, the dungeon is set to Easy mode. Talking to Jacob to withdraw the elders from the crystal will set the dungeon to Hard mode. Note that in Easy mode, you will not encounter Sakkara (the final boss of the dungeon).

If opting for the trophy route for One Moment In Time, you must scale down to the dungeon's level and choose Hard mode. It is highly recommended that if pursuing this trophy, you should not focus on obtaining the other trophies (because it will waste your time). You will need to clear the entire dungeon within 30 minutes after engaging Baldarr the Cruel (a timer can be found if you click on this trophy and select "Track Trophy"). The witch will disappear if you reach Sakkara after 30 minutes have past, another way of indicating that you have failed the trophy.

Baldarr the Cruel

Baldarr the Cruel is the first boss you'll face to start off the Battle for Ashaya. He is accompanied by two lesser bodyguards which are fairly easy to defeat. Engaging these bodyguards separately will also pull Baldarr. A damage dealer's priority is to take care of these bodyguards first, unless they want the Tunnel Vision trophy (defeat Baldarr without defeating any of his bodyguards). If aiming for the trophy route, watch out for the bodyguard's spells, such as Ice Spikes and Frost Nova. They also possess wind spells to counter a group from using water vials to reduce the damage.

His attack pattern does not change, regardless of difficulty. Here are his spells used:

  • Thunderbolt (Lv. 2): Baldarr will frequently use Thunderbolt to inflict damage to allies. This can be dangerous if one of your allies fail to dodge Frost Nova from one of the two bodyguards.
  • Wind Gust (Lv. 2): Baldarr will also use Wind Gust to try and push the damage dealers or healers away from him. This can be followed up with Blizzard to cut off one of your players from aiding in the battle or to surprise inattentive members that don't move away from it.
  • Blizzard (Lv. 2): Several times in battle, Baldarr will use Blizzard. A warrior should attempt to Smite this spell to prevent it from doing any harm to your group.
  • Summon Elemental (Lv. 1): He will summon a Greater Frozen Elemental. The elemental should be dispatched quickly by your damage dealers, or else they will take additional damage from it's Frost Breath spell.

After Defeating Baldarr

Once Baldarr is defeated, Jacob will ask you to defeat groups of monsters that he will spot between the two maps. The clues as to where the group will spawn are within his speech. A group of monsters will spawn in the first map if Jacob says that demons are approaching the village, or the old bench. If Jacob mentions an old bridge or over at the forest, then likely a monster group will have spawned in the second map. Do this for a couple of times, until you hear Frostbite shouting. This means you have now reached the second boss within the dungeon.

Frostbite

Frostbite is the second boss in the dungeon. He will spawn in the second map, patrolling over a large area. It is very easy to pull the boss, so you should stay away if one of your group members are taking a short break. Frostbite's defending element is Dark, meaning that fire, earth or light attacks are optimal against him.

In EM, most of his gimmicks in his attack pattern are lost. Frostbite's main skill is Call of Grave (regardless of difficulty), and can deal heavy damage to the ally being targeted if it isn't prevented by a warrior. In HM, he possesses an aura that will add on stacks of the Freezing Cold debuff over time. Fortunately, the archers from the village will randomly cast a fire area on the map itself. Standing in it will remove all of the stacks of Freezing Cold that you have, but you will take increased damage during the fight should you try to stand in the fire area again. Not only that, he will call an energy cloud from either side that will enhance his abilities if you fail to defeat it before it gets to him.

The main abilities that Frostbite have are as follows:

  • Freezing Cold: This is Frostbite's aura in HM. During the fight, each player will accumulate these stacks until they stand in the fire area to extinguish them.
  • Call of Grave: This is Frostbite's main attack that deals heavy damage. The person that receives this attack will have the edges around their screen darkened. Use Smite to counter this.
  • Summon: Not shown in Frostbite's monster record, but Frostbite will summon an Energy Cloud during the fight that deals damage to players near it. If the Energy Cloud reaches Frostbite, it will enhance him.

The strategy for Frostbite is to keep attacking him as normal until he calls one of the energy clouds. The damage dealers should be in charge of dealing with the cloud, while the tank focuses on the boss, particularly the Call of Grave skill. Once each of your group members reach about 4 stacks of Freezing Cold, only then will you go to the fire area. Once all four stacks are removed, you should leave the fire area immediately to prevent taking any more damage from it. This strategy is repeated multiple times during the fight until Frostbite is defeated.

If opting for the trophy route, being Weathermaker and Cold Feet, at one point in the battle you'll have to lower one of the energy cloud's health and have your healer use Nightfall to stop it. Then, wait for the next energy cloud to appear and defeat both quickly. In addition, you have to make sure that your group immediately tries to extinguish their Freezing Cold stacks when it reaches 4.

After Frostbite

See above for details. Rinse and repeat to clear groups of enemies until you reach the third boss in the dungeon.

Lucy and Sian

Lucy and Sian are two bosses that you'll have to face at the same time in the second map, representing the third boss fight within the dungeon. When you approach them, they will get into an altercation with Sakkara. In EM, you will only be facing Lucy, as Sakkara easily finishes off Sian, forcing Lucy to teleport him away and Lucy herself gets possessed by Sakkara. In HM, you will face both Lucy and Sian under Sakkara's control. In this situation, you'll have to face bosses which your current element will only be strong against one of them (with the exception of Earth). Sian is Water 4, while Lucy is Wind 1.

While two bosses do seem much of a threat, one advantage is that both bosses have their health tied to each other. Reducing them down a set amount of health will defeat both bosses simultaneously.

On HM, the group should evenly divide themselves into two teams, one of them dealing with Sian while the other has to deal with Lucy. These two teams must focus on their assigned boss and stay close together to build up several stacks of a special debuff (by being hit by the boss's regular spells). Once the bosses begin to cast their storm AoE spells, the two teams must switch positions and rotate to attacking the other boss. Sian will be casting his AoE on Lucy, while Lucy will be casting her AoE on Sian. The more stacks you accumulated over the boss you were focusing, the lesser the damage you'll take from the boss's AoE (however you will take even more damage because of that debuff if you fail to switch places properly).

If going for the trophy route, being High Voltage, you will need a DPS priest in addition to your healer (both having Nightfall), or a mage that uses Flash Freeze as part of their skill set. In addition, the three spirits must come from the same direction (if they come in opposite directions, you will need a Mage to knockback the spirits with Thunderbolt and a Charm of Thunder/hat that gives the knockback effect to Thunderbolt). The group will have to try and slow the spirits down as they attempt to get closer to Lucy, until the third one comes. Then, once all three are roughly in the same area as each other, defeat all of them and have your teammates at least stand in the area before it dissipates.

Facing Sian

The team that focuses on Sian will have the greater DPS advantage (because Sian is Water 4, using an effective element against him will deal 50% or 100% more damage), given that they have a wind or poison element spell. Unlike Lucy he is much easier and does not have any sort of gimmicks.

Facing Lucy

The team focusing on Lucy has to attack and prevent an energy cloud (similar to Frostbite) from reaching her. Since Lucy is Wind 1, only fire or earth attacks will be effective. When the energy cloud is defeated, it will temporarily leave behind a small area that once standing on it will give you a +100% casting speed buff. Note that if you defeat the cloud while it is close to Lucy, she will receive the buff as well, speeding up her attacks.

After Lucy and Sian

After defeating Lucy and Sian, Jacob will ask you to return to him. Once you talk to Jacob and click on the option presented, Tanja will show up, talking about Timothy and the witch's whereabouts. At this point, groups of monsters will have spawned in towards the forest. Defeat them and you'll eventually get to the open bridge that was previously locked. Clear the monsters in the third map and proceed to the next portal. You will finally end up at Sakkara, channeling a Blizzard on the witch (or ground where the witch used to be) with Timothy sitting a bit to the east.

Sakkara

Sakkara is the final boss of the dungeon. You cannot face Sakkara in Easy mode (due to the bridge being cut off), and only in Hard mode. Unlike the other bosses, where their defending elements were water, wind or dark element, Sakkara is Fire 1. However, most of the minions will be water element, so it is recommended that you stick with wind attacks. Sakkara utilizes a variety of minions and water spells in an attempt to stop you in your tracks.

Some of the minions that Sakkara will throw at you are:

  • Spirits of fallen Ashaya Guards: As you begin the battle, there will be at least a few ghostly like dormouses that come to attack the group. Get rid of them quickly.
  • Bodyguards: Only during the initial part of the battle, Sakkara will swing his scythe, stunning your entire group until he summons three bodyguards to channel a shield on him. At this time, Sakkara will be immune to damage and won't attack until you've started attacking the third bodyguard (or a certain amount of time has passed). This causes the shield to dissipate, allowing your group to deal damage again.
    • The trophy Full On requires you to have all of Sakkara's guards intact so they can be enraged (after 5 minutes of not attacking them). You should knock down Sakkara's health to a low amount before letting the guards enrage. Each bodyguard alive provides a damage buff to Sakkara.
  • Snow Bats: During the battle, many of these snow bats appear as friendly and hover at the top of the map. Sakkara will possess some of them to attack your group members, particularly to interfere with your healer. The tank should growl the bats so that the damage dealers can take care of them with their AoE spells.
    • The trophy Friendly Fire requires that the group cannot kill any of the bats during the battle. The tank should continue to growl these bats, but the damage dealers should refrain from using any AoE spells.
  • Disoriented Spirits: At one point, Sakkara will call several spirits to spawn into the map. Eliminate these spirits as quickly as possible with AoE spells, before Sakkara can drain them and recover health.
    • The trophy Down the Drain requires the group to eliminate every spirit that was called before Sakkara can drain them.

The main spells that your group should watch out for are:

  • Swipe: The tank should have Sakkara facing away from the rest of the group, or else group members will take additional damage being in front of Sakkara while he is spamming this skill.
  • Frost Flames: As Sakkara uses his spells, there will be an area with blue flames on it. Avoid these as much as possible, as failure to do so will result in you obtaining a debuff that increases damage taken from water spells.
  • Ice Spikes: The healer and damage dealers of the group should watch out for a cast underneath them, as ice spikes can deal serious damage to someone not paying attention to them.
  • Blizzard: One of the main spells to look out for, as Sakkara can scatter group members by putting a Blizzard directly on himself. If someone doesn't move from the blizzard, it will cause them to be knocked out.
  • Possess: During the later half of the battle, Sakkara will randomly target one of your group members to be possessed. Have a healer use Nightfall on the possessed player, or if the healer is possessed, use a damage dealer with Bash or Flash Freeze. Many groups fall victim to this trap because the possessed player will likely finish off one ally in your group or starve the group to death from lack of healing.

All of Sakkara's spells cannot be smited or disrupted against. Take caution of all of these spells, and act accordingly to when they are about to happen. The tank should never have the boss facing toward the rest of your group members, while your group members should always stay behind the boss.

Upon defeating Sakkara, he will drop loot as well as three ice splinters, which are combined together (just by using the splinters) to obtain the Guardian Stone of Ice. The Guardian Stone of Ice permanently increases your health, mana (or fury/endurance) and increases the experience gain from monsters level 25 or higher. Not only that, it's special effect causes Enchanted Vials of Water to apply Water 2 instead of Water 1 instead. Saving Alexandra provides an additional reward, such as tokens and treasure (only on first time clear or when scaled to a much lower level), such as Bolt of Cloth (needed to craft fancier pieces of furniture).

A first time clear of the dungeon will award you the trophy The Battle for Ashaya Village.

Notes

  • If your group is scaled to the appropriate recommended dungeon level, while following the One Moment In Time trophy requirements, you will receive a Snow Bat Whistle, which is used to obtain a Snow Bat Pup pet (with a pink brooch hairpin) after defeating Sakkara in the treasure chest left behind by Sei (as part of the additional rewards).