Guild Wars 2 Samarog Guide

Welcome to my guide for the Guild Wars 2 raid boss, Samarog (often shortened to Sam), the third encounter in Bastion of the Penitent (Wing 4). This is a detailed guide on the mechanics of the fight including various strategies that cater to everyone from beginners to experienced raiders. If you’re brand new to raiding, I recommend reading my Path to Endgame guides first.

Know Before You Go

Samarog

29,493,000

1374

420

4,500

5

11:00 min

Soft

No

Fixation

◆◆◇◇◇

Samarog, despite being the third boss in Wing 4, is a good introductory raid boss. It has a couple of well-telegraphed mechanics you need to pay attention to, distinct phases, and a hefty break bar with a loophole. Generally speaking, power damage is better for this fight because of the short phases.

Requirements

• Knockback or Launch: You need pushes to knock Rigom into Samarog's alcove during the add phases.
• Heavy CC: You must break Samarog's defiance bar eight or nine times, and since the bar has 4,500 strength, it is the most CC-demanding raid boss.

Recommendations

• Immobilize: You’ll likely want to stop Rigom in Samarog's alcove so you don’t have to keep pushing him in.
• Stability: This is useful for players who struggle to avoid Samarog's attacks.

General Mechanics

Spikes and spears line the rectangular arena. Before and after the fight, they have no collision and you can walk through them, but during the fight, running or being knocked into them kills you.

Spears

Every 20 seconds, an expanding AoE will appear at a random location in the arena. Three seconds later, when the dark orange circle meets the outer yellow ring, a spear will impact the area, dealing massive damage to anyone standing in it. These spears have large pulsing PBAoEs called Effigy Pulse.

There are two types of spears: aggression and revulsion. Both kinds can damage and Daze players who stand in their AoE, but Spears of Aggression will Taunt while Spears of Revulsion will Fear. Both are dangerous since you’ll be taking damage over time in a Spear of Aggression and might go down, while a Spear of Revulsion could Fear you into the border spikes.

You can destroy the spears either by breaking their defiance bar or reducing their ‘health’ to zero. Generally, groups will ignore spears on the outside of the arena and destroy those in the center if they start to bunch up or inconvenience movement.

Sometimes Samarog will pull the spears in, indicated by several large red arrows pointing toward it. These deal massive damage to any players caught in their path, but are easily avoided by strafing a little since the arrow’s width is not indicative of the projectile’s actual diameter.

Phase 1

You can enter the arena and skirt around the edges inside the spears before you aggro Samarog, but there is no reason to do this in normal mode. When you get close to the boss, the fight will begin and spikes will erupt from the entrance (and exit), closing off the area.

Fixation

Tells: Purple diamond icon overhead (), purple crosshairs icon on buff bar (), on-screen message: “You’ve been fixated by Samarog.”

Samarog does not have a Toughness tank, but rather a Fixate mechanic like Slothasor. Unlike Slothasor, Samarog's Fixate is not random. The first person Fixated will be the player who is furthest in the arena when the fight starts.

Every 10% of Samarog's health and after the intermediate 66% and 33% phases, it will Fixate on the player who is farthest away from it at the time. If the Fixated player is Downed or Defeated, Samarog will immediately re-fixate on the farthest living person.

Many groups will choose two players to alternate Fixate baiting, while some will only dedicate one. If you choose one person, try to make it someone with little CC. The Fixated player should bring Samarog to the middle of the arena and try to remain stationary, facing the same direction at all times. If they’re constantly moving or circling around, the boss might rotate erratically, causing people to get hit by its auto-attacks and some players to lose their flanking bonuses. Everyone else should stack behind the boss under the base of its tail.

Samarog has two main attacks. The first is an auto-attack chain in which it will swipe with its right claw, then left claw, doing moderate damage with each one. It will then rear up on its back legs and use Impaling Stab, slamming both spears into a single impact point in front of it. Anyone hit by this stab will take a lot of damage.

A shockwave will expand outward from the impact point, Knocking Back anyone hit a great distance. It is unblockable, but you can Dodge, Evade, use Stability, or jump it (like you would Tequatl’s waves). I recommend everyone stacked in the back practice timing their jump as this will have the least impact on your rotation. The Fixated player can run halfway into Samarog's hitbox when it starts clawing and Dodge or jump back to avoid the shockwave.

The second attack is Prisoner Sweep. Samarog will rotate 180° from the Fixated player, lift its right arm, and whip the spear left and then right in a wide arc. The sweep does damage and a long-distance Knockback. Players can be hit by the first swipe and caught again in midair by the second, launching them even farther. The stack can run through the boss' hitbox toward the Fixated player to avoid this. You can Dodge or Block it but considering the lengthy telegraph, this is unnecessary.

Brutalize

Every 10% of Samarog's health, it will turn to the Fixated player and pounce, repeatedly stabbing them with its spears. The player will be stunned, lose access to their skills, and take continuous small packets of damage. Samarog's defiance bar will also unlock at this time, enabling other players to use CC to break it and free the player.

Samarog gains Fanatical Resilience during this mechanic, giving it 100% incoming damage reduction while the player is pinned. Conditions it had before starting the mechanic will remain on it but it cannot receive new conditions or stacks, so soft CC will only tick if applied prior to the beginning of the attack.

If the brutalized player loses all health during the assault, they will be Defeated. If they are pounced on while standing in a spear’s AoE, they will die instantly. The player can receive boons, Barrier, and healing while pinned, and healers should try to keep them topped up if possible, especially if they were low health before the attack began. But because of the constant damage and Samarog's buff, you should still try to break the bar as soon as possible. If the bar is not broken but Samarog does not manage to kill the player either, it will stop attacking 15 seconds later.

Samarog has the strongest break bar of any raid boss (tied with Gorseval), requiring 4,500 defiance bar damage to break. Since you’ll want to break it every 10% or else risk losing DPS or utility, it is the most CC-demanding raid boss. Here are some tips to make sure you break it every time:

• Since it occurs so often, consider having players with long-cooldown CC skills like ( Mesmer Elite) trade-off.
• If you have multiple Thieves with , make sure they’re in separate subgroups (or they trade) so all ten players can get the effect.
• You generally don’t need to save your skills at the 70% and 40% break bars since you’ll have 30+ seconds for them to recharge during the intermediate phases.
• Some Fixated players might be able to preemptively CC themselves to help break themselves out right before Samarog pounces. These skills might not contribute depending on timing and positioning, but any little bit helps.
  • You can place a delayed or lasting AoE such as , (Legendary Renegade Stance), or ( Mesmer Elite).
  • A Mesmer can use their / shatters.
  • A Ranger can command their pet to use an F2 CC skill like the electric wyvern’s or rock gazelle’s .
  • Necromancer minions die when their master is brutalized, so any preemptive commands will be wasted.

If you want one player to maintain Fixate the entire fight, they’ll need to Dodge backward immediately after being freed from Brutalize. As long as everyone stacks close to Samarog, they can reacquire Fixate.

When Samarog reaches 66% health, it will become Invulnerable and charge into the alcove opposite the entrance, doing moderate damage and knocking away anyone in its path.

Phase 2: Guldhem & Rigom

Inside the alcove, Samarog will create a large orange bubble around it and two prisoners will spawn: Guldhem, a jotun, and Rigom, a human. Guldhem has over 3 million health while Rigom only has 10% of that. You need to kill both of these adds to progress. Like Samarog, they will both fixate on a player and follow them around.

These adds will tether to one another and gain orange shields. If these shields overlap, they will gain Strengthened Bond, which increases Guldhem's damage and Rigom's health.

Guldhem will transfer any damage or conditions to Rigom. When Rigom reaches 0% health, he will use Anguished Wail, which does massive AoE damage, and regenerate as long as Guldhem is still alive.

To be able to kill Guldhem, Rigom needs to be inside Samarog's bubble. If Rigom is in the alcove when he reaches 0%, Guldhem's shield will be disabled and you have a 10-second window to damage him. The goal is to quickly push Rigom toward the alcove using Knockback, Launch, or Pull, damage and Immobilize Guldhem until Rigom ‘dies’, and then do as much DPS as possible until Rigom regains his health. You may need to push Rigom a few times before Guldhem dies.

The player Rigom Fixates on will have a small orange diamond over their left shoulder. They should stand squarely in front of Samarog's bubble, giving other players a clear shot to push him in. The player Guldhem Fixates on will have a larger yellow diamond over their right shoulder. They should stand off to the side to ensure he doesn’t body block any pushes meant for Rigom.

Good options to push are ( Ranger Longbow 4), (not in Celestial Avatar), ( Warrior Utility), and ( Guardian Hammer 4). After that, use long-lasting Immobilize skills like ( Ranger Elite), , and ( Druid Celestial Avatar 5) to prevent him from coming out before he loses all his health.

Sometimes Guldhem will cast Anguished Bolt. He will raise his greatsword to summon a projectile that arcs to the farthest player. When it lands, it does a little AoE damage and Stuns for three seconds. It’s generally not worth it to have a player bait this attack, but you can use Stability to avoid the Stun.

When Guldhem is at around 10% health, you can allow Rigom to exit the bubble. Otherwise, Pull Rigom out or let him come to you to kill him one last time after Guldhem dies.

Phase 3

Samarog will Fixate on the farthest player as before. This phase is similar to the first, with one addition.

Inevitable Betrayal

Also called: greens, kissing, friends

Tells: On-screen message: “Choose your allies wisely…”

Every 25 seconds, two random non-fixated players will receive a small shrinking green AoE at their feet. One player will also have a larger expanding orange AoE. These players need to get together, overlapping their green AoEs. Five seconds later, when the orange circle meets the outer yellow ring, the player with the big circle will explode, going Down unless they’re protected by the presence of their chosen friend. (They will also get the message “You chose poorly,” in their chatbox.)

The large AoE will also affect any other players inside it, doing about 80% of their maximum health in damage. For this reason, the two players want to move away from the group as well. As long as the small AoE player is near their buddy, they won’t take damage.

Contrary to what the on-screen message would have you think, you don’t get to choose your ally, so you must rely on one another. Usually, the small AoE will go to the larger one, but both players can move freely. Be careful to jump Samarog's shockwave if you get this mechanic since being launched can be fatal while Dodging will move you away from your friend.

Inevitable Betrayal will continue to occur in Phases 4 and 5.

When Samarog reaches 33% health, it will again become Invulnerability and charge into its alcove.

Phase 4: Guldhem & Rigom

This phase is exactly the same as Phase 2. Deal with it using whichever strategies you used before.

Phase 5

Samarog will Fixate on the farthest player as before. There is one new mechanic in this phase.

In addition to its other attacks, Samarog will sometimes use Bludgeon. It will raise its right spear and then slam it down, inflicting massive damage and Knockdown to anyone under it. You can Block, Dodge, or Evade it. Instead of walking out of the alcove immediately, the boss will use this attack first, so be careful of the initial boop after killing Rigom.

If you don’t kill Samarog within 10 minutes, it becomes Enraged and does 500% more damage. This includes all its attacks and the passive areawide damage aura. It’s not technically a hard enrage, but your squad likely won’t survive very long. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t hit enrage unless you spent too long in the intermediate phases or lost a few players to the spikes or Brutalize.