A guide to all the achievements in Heart of Thorns Auric Basin map. This is a work in progress with Adventure achievements coming later.
Meta Event Achievements
These achievements are only doable at certain stages of the meta event, which has a repeating timer. Check the timer here to see which stage the meta event is on so you know which achievements you can do. The achievements are listed in chronological order.
Powered Up – 3 AP
Participate in powering up each of the outposts around Auric Basin. You need to do the three events in North/West/South that power up the outposts and precedes the Pylon events. These events occur immediately after the meta event cycle restarts but will stall until players complete them. Completing these events will allow each of the outposts to proceed to the Pylon events. There are several events in powering up each outpost but I believe you just need to complete one qualifying event at each outpost to receive credit for the achievement.
Northwatch Descent
Westwatch Patch
Southwatch Creep:
Vinetooth Hunter– 1 AP, 1 Mastery
For this achievement you will need to defeat the legendary Vinetooth Prime, which only spawns after the 3 pylons at Eastwatch Outpost are activated. It is basically the 4th event in the Eastwatch Outpost chain. Eastwatch does not have a powering up phase so it goes into the pylon events right away after the meta resets. Vinetooth Prime spawns immediately after the 3rd Pylon is activated so you may want to hold off on activating the Eastwatch pylons until all the other Outposts are finished and there is sufficient people to kill Vinetooth Prime.
You have 10 minutes to defeat Vinetooth Prime before the event fails. The main thing with Vinetooth Prime is thebreakbars. He will jump around and then down a player. He will then try to consume this downed player. During this consume process his breakbars are active. You need to break Vinetooth Prime’s breakbars before he finish the consume or he will gain a stack of Soul Consumption that makes him deal more damage per stack. Crowd control abilities are very important for this fight. If he keeps gaining stacks due to failed breakbars, he will deal more and more damage, causing more players to get downed and you will basically fail the event due to the timer running out.
Tarir Challenge Winner – 1 AP, 1 Mastery
During the challenge phase that occurs 15 minutes before the Octovine phase of the meta event, participate at Northwatch, Eastwatch, Southwatch or Westwatch challenges and place first in one of them. You get 6 rounds of challenges in North/West/South but usually only 3 rounds in east (unless the map has defeated the Legendary Vinetooth Prime, which is a fairly rare occurrence). Challenges are unlocked by doing the pylon event powering up each outpost.
Westwatch Challenge: This is the easiest challenge, requiring no skill, only aurillium. The bidding starts at 100 Aurillium and goes down by 10 Aurillium every couple of seconds. If you have Aurillium to spend and need this achievement, just do this one here.
Northwatch Challenge: Kick mushrooms into the Tyrant King three times to win. Use your #1 skill to kick the mushroom serfs into the king. The king teleports around and has a reflective shield up sometimes so don’t kick mushrooms into him when you see it on him. This challenge is easier with less people as you have more shots at kicking the mushrooms. If you need to pin a mushroom down so you can aim your kick, use the #3 skill.
Southwatch Challenge: This is a race challenge where you race alongside other players to reach the top. There are a couple routes you can take but ideally you want to have the bouncing mushroom mastery to make it faster. The left path has a chain of 3 mushrooms with very little jumping while the right path has just one mushroom with more jumping. Most people tend to pick the right path as it is faster if you are good at jumping.
Eastwatch Challenge: Last One Standing Wins. This is basically a battle royale type of challenge. You get three skills (punch, kick w/knockdown, and block). Your goal is to be the last one to survive the arena until the time limit runs out by killing other players. There is a small hole behind one of the wall structures that holds the torches so be sure to check behind those as some people like to hide there until the timer expires.
Ultimate Challenge Winner – 1 AP
For this achievement you have to place first at the challenge in each of the four outposts. This achievement may take a few maps to complete depending how good the other players are.
Saving the City of Gold – 27 AP
You will need to successfully complete the Octovine phase of the meta event 100 times. The best way is to use theHoT map timer to figure out when the Octovine phase occurs, taxi to a good map via the LFG tool a few minutes before that. If you need lots of Aurillium or any of the achievements for each of the individual lanes I would recommend starting on the east lane, and then rotate counterclockwise (east –> north –> west –> south). You want to participate in the burn/vulnerable phase at least once in each lane. East lane is usually the easiest, with south usually taking the longest. You get the title The Golden Child if you complete this achievement.
Droppin’ Bombs – 1 AP, 1 Mastery
Participate in the assault on the eastern octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Eastwatch Waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Retrieve a bomb and then use the glider to drop the bomb on top of the octovine when it is covered by layers of protection (you will need updraft mastery for this). When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Mordrem Begone – 3 AP
Participate in the assault on the northern octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Northwatch Waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Retrieve a turret from the NPC and deploy it in front of the Octovine. Deploy the turret and use the #1 skill on the turret to remove the layers of protection. When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Mushroom Power – 3 AP
Participate in the assault on the western octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Westwatch Waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Run into the gas cloud to turn into a mushroom bomber and then make your way to the octovine. Use your #2 skill to jump up in the air to glide and your #1 skill explode on top of the octovine to remove the layers of protection. When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Ba-Boom– 3 AP
Participate in the assault on southern octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Southwatch waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Use knockbacks to push the Exalted Bomb towards the octovine and help it explode to removed 5 layers of protection. When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Misc Achievements
A Study in Gold/Where Exalted Dare – 21 AP
See the guide here. This is a scavenger hunt for 17 tablets that grant you Herta, a Bloodstone Dust consumer.
No Mask Left Behind – 25 AP
See the guide here. This is another scavenger hunt for 25 Exalted Masks that give you the Aurillium Node in your home instance that you can mine daily.
Strongboxes – 10 AP, 5 Mastery
See the guide here. Doing them will grant you 10 AP and 5 Mastery points. The box can be opened daily after.
Egg Bearer – 5 AP
This jumping puzzle is basically the identical route as the Sanctum Scramble adventure. To access the adventure, you need to complete the City of Hope chapter in Act 2 and then drop down below Tarir to access the portal that will bring you to the Inner Chamber. You get the achievement at end of Sanctum Scramble adventure.
Forgotten City Arches – 3 AP, 1 Mastery
Very easy achievement obtainable with just basic gliding. Head to the Eastwatch waypoint and then glide west towards inner Tarir. You want to glide below each of the three arches. You can fold your glider between the arches to drop your height and conserve your gliding stamina as needed. If you don’t get all three arches the first try, you can just do the arch you missed next time.
Hidden Amphibian – 5 AP
You can find this frog named Veteran Witzel at end of the A Fungus Among Us adventure. Go up the big tree that lead you to the start of the adventure and follow the adventure route until the end. Once you reach the end, take a right and you will find this little frog hiding in a ledge you can climb up. You will need to kill the frog to get the achievement but he is easily soloable.
Highest Gear – 5 AP
This is a jumping puzzle in the golem chess cave west of the Falls near the Hero Challenge. It is only accessible viaLey Line gliding or mesmer port if someone completed it and is willing to port you up. To get to the start of the jumping puzzle, you will need to use bouncing mushrooms at the indicated position on the map. Once you get up on the area with the bouncing mushrooms, you can get to the golem cave either via ley line gliding or you can cheese itwith just lean gliding. However keep in mind that the actual puzzle requires Ley Line Gliding so even if you cheese if, you will need someone with Ley Line to port you up to the end.
The path is fairly straightforward, just follow the jump pads and look for places where the next Ley Line gliding section occurs. There are two places that can be confusing. I have noted them below incase you can’t watch the video for whatever reason.
Invisible King – 3 AP, 1 Mastery
You will need Nuhoch Stealth Detection for this (Nuhoch Lore IV). Go east from the waypoint and drop down all the way to the jungle floor. You will see named Mushroom called Mushroom King Tyranus roaming around. He is invisible unless you have the mastery and he will not attack you. Just attack him once to get the achievement.
Tarnished Traitor – 1 AP
Exalted Purification (Exalted V) is required to summon this Tarnished Traitor located just below Tarir. He is a champion that requires 2+ players to defeat and is usually done after the Octovine event as someone will usually activate it on the way to the chests. If you don’t get the achievement for defeating him you may need the mastery to be eligible.
The Golden Chicken– 3 AP
You will need bouncing mushrooms and basic gliding for this achievement. Head to the west gate from inside the Tarir city and take the portals. Once you are out of the portal. take a left towards the great hall and you will see some bouncing mushroms on your right. Go up with the bouncing mushrooms and run past the mastery insight to jump out.
Once you are in the air, drop down until you are near the circular red dotted structure below. There is a little opening covered by some leaves. Glide through that opening and you will a ledge with the golden chicken. Glide on to the ledge and you will get the achievement automatically.
Treetop Retriever – 10 AP
1. A female asura researcher was last seen north of Wanderer’s Waypoint.
You can find her just north of the waypoint. No gliding or jumping needed.
2. Since he went on an upper ledge to examine the Exalted portal, the asura researcher hasn’t been heard from.
This guy is on the ledge where all the exalted portals are, you can either take the bouncing mushroom if you have that mastery or climb up.
3. Someone overheard the Zintl boasting about finding the remains of a female charr explorer
She is in the canopy just a bit south of the hero point. You can glide to her directly from #2. w
4. Echoes of a male charr explorer fighting a large colony of vampire beasts filled the canopy the other night
This Fallen Priory Explorer can be found near a tree root on a platform that is below and near the platform with the Exalted portals.
5. A human explorer bailed from the airship too early. She was lost near Capitzel Grounds
You can glide to here directly from the waypoint. Head SW and you will see a circular platform with a mushroom pad nearby.
6. Heading east, the explorer was cornered by a jaguar. The human never made it down from the canopy.
The Fallen Priory Explorer is just east of the Exalted portals.
7. An injured norn historian held off the bonebreaker so others could escape. Her sacrifice won’t be forgotten.
This corpse is just below the platform with the Exalted portals. If you are at #6, just waypoint to reach this one fast.
8. A lower ledge broke his fall, but then the norn explorer was surrounded by Tengu scouts.
One level below #7. It is on a ledge guarded by some Coztic frogs. Just go west a tad from #7 and drop down. You will spot it easily.
9. A Sylvari historian got trapped along the northern cliffside of Tarnished Treetop. She had little chance to survive.
Go east from the waypoint, it is on a ledge with a bouncing mushroom nearby.
10. An explorer tried to find his way south and down from the canopy. The sylvari only found a Coztic ambush.
Go south from the waypoint past a bunch of Coztic frogs.
Adventure Achievements
Coming soon
Meta Event Achievements
These achievements are only doable at certain stages of the meta event, which has a repeating timer. Check the timer here to see which stage the meta event is on so you know which achievements you can do. The achievements are listed in chronological order.
Powered Up – 3 AP
Participate in powering up each of the outposts around Auric Basin. You need to do the three events in North/West/South that power up the outposts and precedes the Pylon events. These events occur immediately after the meta event cycle restarts but will stall until players complete them. Completing these events will allow each of the outposts to proceed to the Pylon events. There are several events in powering up each outpost but I believe you just need to complete one qualifying event at each outpost to receive credit for the achievement.
Northwatch Descent
- Collect sediment from the fallen Exalted for Arcanist Mariette
- Protect Burnisher Kengo as she activates the mirrors around the Northwatch Post.
Westwatch Patch
- Defeat the vine crawler to recover the mirror pieces
- Defend Tarocheeki as he searches his stashes to find the missing mirror piece
- Protect skritt foragers as they return with supplies from the jungle.
Southwatch Creep:
- Destroy the Mordrem breachers, and secure Southwatch
- Defeat Overseer Rannik and rescue Adanich
- Clear Mordrem near Exalted mirrors while Adanich powers-up Southwatch
Vinetooth Hunter– 1 AP, 1 Mastery
For this achievement you will need to defeat the legendary Vinetooth Prime, which only spawns after the 3 pylons at Eastwatch Outpost are activated. It is basically the 4th event in the Eastwatch Outpost chain. Eastwatch does not have a powering up phase so it goes into the pylon events right away after the meta resets. Vinetooth Prime spawns immediately after the 3rd Pylon is activated so you may want to hold off on activating the Eastwatch pylons until all the other Outposts are finished and there is sufficient people to kill Vinetooth Prime.
- Defeat vine tenders and defend Sage Korin so he can activate the pylon
- Ward Mordrem away from Sage Korin as he activates the Eastwatch pylon
- Protect Sage Korin as he activates the final Eastwatch pylon
- Defeat Vinetooth Prime
You have 10 minutes to defeat Vinetooth Prime before the event fails. The main thing with Vinetooth Prime is thebreakbars. He will jump around and then down a player. He will then try to consume this downed player. During this consume process his breakbars are active. You need to break Vinetooth Prime’s breakbars before he finish the consume or he will gain a stack of Soul Consumption that makes him deal more damage per stack. Crowd control abilities are very important for this fight. If he keeps gaining stacks due to failed breakbars, he will deal more and more damage, causing more players to get downed and you will basically fail the event due to the timer running out.
Tarir Challenge Winner – 1 AP, 1 Mastery
During the challenge phase that occurs 15 minutes before the Octovine phase of the meta event, participate at Northwatch, Eastwatch, Southwatch or Westwatch challenges and place first in one of them. You get 6 rounds of challenges in North/West/South but usually only 3 rounds in east (unless the map has defeated the Legendary Vinetooth Prime, which is a fairly rare occurrence). Challenges are unlocked by doing the pylon event powering up each outpost.
Westwatch Challenge: This is the easiest challenge, requiring no skill, only aurillium. The bidding starts at 100 Aurillium and goes down by 10 Aurillium every couple of seconds. If you have Aurillium to spend and need this achievement, just do this one here.
Northwatch Challenge: Kick mushrooms into the Tyrant King three times to win. Use your #1 skill to kick the mushroom serfs into the king. The king teleports around and has a reflective shield up sometimes so don’t kick mushrooms into him when you see it on him. This challenge is easier with less people as you have more shots at kicking the mushrooms. If you need to pin a mushroom down so you can aim your kick, use the #3 skill.
Southwatch Challenge: This is a race challenge where you race alongside other players to reach the top. There are a couple routes you can take but ideally you want to have the bouncing mushroom mastery to make it faster. The left path has a chain of 3 mushrooms with very little jumping while the right path has just one mushroom with more jumping. Most people tend to pick the right path as it is faster if you are good at jumping.
Eastwatch Challenge: Last One Standing Wins. This is basically a battle royale type of challenge. You get three skills (punch, kick w/knockdown, and block). Your goal is to be the last one to survive the arena until the time limit runs out by killing other players. There is a small hole behind one of the wall structures that holds the torches so be sure to check behind those as some people like to hide there until the timer expires.
Ultimate Challenge Winner – 1 AP
For this achievement you have to place first at the challenge in each of the four outposts. This achievement may take a few maps to complete depending how good the other players are.
Saving the City of Gold – 27 AP
You will need to successfully complete the Octovine phase of the meta event 100 times. The best way is to use theHoT map timer to figure out when the Octovine phase occurs, taxi to a good map via the LFG tool a few minutes before that. If you need lots of Aurillium or any of the achievements for each of the individual lanes I would recommend starting on the east lane, and then rotate counterclockwise (east –> north –> west –> south). You want to participate in the burn/vulnerable phase at least once in each lane. East lane is usually the easiest, with south usually taking the longest. You get the title The Golden Child if you complete this achievement.
Droppin’ Bombs – 1 AP, 1 Mastery
Participate in the assault on the eastern octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Eastwatch Waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Retrieve a bomb and then use the glider to drop the bomb on top of the octovine when it is covered by layers of protection (you will need updraft mastery for this). When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Mordrem Begone – 3 AP
Participate in the assault on the northern octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Northwatch Waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Retrieve a turret from the NPC and deploy it in front of the Octovine. Deploy the turret and use the #1 skill on the turret to remove the layers of protection. When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Mushroom Power – 3 AP
Participate in the assault on the western octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Westwatch Waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Run into the gas cloud to turn into a mushroom bomber and then make your way to the octovine. Use your #2 skill to jump up in the air to glide and your #1 skill explode on top of the octovine to remove the layers of protection. When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Ba-Boom– 3 AP
Participate in the assault on southern octovine during the Battle in Tarir. Go to the Southwatch waypoint during the Octovine phase of the meta event. Use knockbacks to push the Exalted Bomb towards the octovine and help it explode to removed 5 layers of protection. When the octovine becomes vulnerable after all the layers of protection are removed, attack it.
Misc Achievements
A Study in Gold/Where Exalted Dare – 21 AP
See the guide here. This is a scavenger hunt for 17 tablets that grant you Herta, a Bloodstone Dust consumer.
No Mask Left Behind – 25 AP
See the guide here. This is another scavenger hunt for 25 Exalted Masks that give you the Aurillium Node in your home instance that you can mine daily.
Strongboxes – 10 AP, 5 Mastery
See the guide here. Doing them will grant you 10 AP and 5 Mastery points. The box can be opened daily after.
Egg Bearer – 5 AP
This jumping puzzle is basically the identical route as the Sanctum Scramble adventure. To access the adventure, you need to complete the City of Hope chapter in Act 2 and then drop down below Tarir to access the portal that will bring you to the Inner Chamber. You get the achievement at end of Sanctum Scramble adventure.
Forgotten City Arches – 3 AP, 1 Mastery
Very easy achievement obtainable with just basic gliding. Head to the Eastwatch waypoint and then glide west towards inner Tarir. You want to glide below each of the three arches. You can fold your glider between the arches to drop your height and conserve your gliding stamina as needed. If you don’t get all three arches the first try, you can just do the arch you missed next time.
Hidden Amphibian – 5 AP
You can find this frog named Veteran Witzel at end of the A Fungus Among Us adventure. Go up the big tree that lead you to the start of the adventure and follow the adventure route until the end. Once you reach the end, take a right and you will find this little frog hiding in a ledge you can climb up. You will need to kill the frog to get the achievement but he is easily soloable.
Highest Gear – 5 AP
This is a jumping puzzle in the golem chess cave west of the Falls near the Hero Challenge. It is only accessible viaLey Line gliding or mesmer port if someone completed it and is willing to port you up. To get to the start of the jumping puzzle, you will need to use bouncing mushrooms at the indicated position on the map. Once you get up on the area with the bouncing mushrooms, you can get to the golem cave either via ley line gliding or you can cheese itwith just lean gliding. However keep in mind that the actual puzzle requires Ley Line Gliding so even if you cheese if, you will need someone with Ley Line to port you up to the end.
The path is fairly straightforward, just follow the jump pads and look for places where the next Ley Line gliding section occurs. There are two places that can be confusing. I have noted them below incase you can’t watch the video for whatever reason.
Invisible King – 3 AP, 1 Mastery
You will need Nuhoch Stealth Detection for this (Nuhoch Lore IV). Go east from the waypoint and drop down all the way to the jungle floor. You will see named Mushroom called Mushroom King Tyranus roaming around. He is invisible unless you have the mastery and he will not attack you. Just attack him once to get the achievement.
Tarnished Traitor – 1 AP
Exalted Purification (Exalted V) is required to summon this Tarnished Traitor located just below Tarir. He is a champion that requires 2+ players to defeat and is usually done after the Octovine event as someone will usually activate it on the way to the chests. If you don’t get the achievement for defeating him you may need the mastery to be eligible.
The Golden Chicken– 3 AP
You will need bouncing mushrooms and basic gliding for this achievement. Head to the west gate from inside the Tarir city and take the portals. Once you are out of the portal. take a left towards the great hall and you will see some bouncing mushroms on your right. Go up with the bouncing mushrooms and run past the mastery insight to jump out.
Once you are in the air, drop down until you are near the circular red dotted structure below. There is a little opening covered by some leaves. Glide through that opening and you will a ledge with the golden chicken. Glide on to the ledge and you will get the achievement automatically.
Treetop Retriever – 10 AP
1. A female asura researcher was last seen north of Wanderer’s Waypoint.
You can find her just north of the waypoint. No gliding or jumping needed.
2. Since he went on an upper ledge to examine the Exalted portal, the asura researcher hasn’t been heard from.
This guy is on the ledge where all the exalted portals are, you can either take the bouncing mushroom if you have that mastery or climb up.
3. Someone overheard the Zintl boasting about finding the remains of a female charr explorer
She is in the canopy just a bit south of the hero point. You can glide to her directly from #2. w
4. Echoes of a male charr explorer fighting a large colony of vampire beasts filled the canopy the other night
This Fallen Priory Explorer can be found near a tree root on a platform that is below and near the platform with the Exalted portals.
5. A human explorer bailed from the airship too early. She was lost near Capitzel Grounds
You can glide to here directly from the waypoint. Head SW and you will see a circular platform with a mushroom pad nearby.
6. Heading east, the explorer was cornered by a jaguar. The human never made it down from the canopy.
The Fallen Priory Explorer is just east of the Exalted portals.
7. An injured norn historian held off the bonebreaker so others could escape. Her sacrifice won’t be forgotten.
This corpse is just below the platform with the Exalted portals. If you are at #6, just waypoint to reach this one fast.
8. A lower ledge broke his fall, but then the norn explorer was surrounded by Tengu scouts.
One level below #7. It is on a ledge guarded by some Coztic frogs. Just go west a tad from #7 and drop down. You will spot it easily.
9. A Sylvari historian got trapped along the northern cliffside of Tarnished Treetop. She had little chance to survive.
Go east from the waypoint, it is on a ledge with a bouncing mushroom nearby.
10. An explorer tried to find his way south and down from the canopy. The sylvari only found a Coztic ambush.
Go south from the waypoint past a bunch of Coztic frogs.
Adventure Achievements
Coming soon