GW2 Sanctum Sprint activity guide with detailed writeup and video. Sanctum Sprint is a new racing minigame introduced with the Bazaar of the Four Winds patch.
Getting started
Sanctum Sprint is a mini game in Labyrinthine Cliffs/Zephyr Sanctum that challenge players against 11 other players for a race to the finish. Along the way, players must gather crystals and powerups to use their abilities that allow them to navigate around obstacles and bypass opponents.
The designers of this game drew their inspiration from Rollerbeetle Racing in the original Guild Wars, an activity that first opened up during Canthan New Year celebration back in 2007.
The race itself is around 8 minutes but most players will finish it in 4-5 minutes. This minigame is only available for the month of July and will be removed once Zephyr Sanctum has departed.
The following video was recorded on an empty track and does not demonstrate use of the power-ups. It is mainly used to show off the track.
You are given abilities 1-3 by default but must collect power ups to activate skills 4-0. The powerups you get are randomized and depends on your position in the race so you don’t really have control over which powerups you get.
Racers in the front tend to get more abilities like 5 (Fake Power-up) and 6( Grounded) while racers in the back tend to get more abilities such as Gale, Lightning Rod or Blinding Light.
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Leap | Use Aspect of Wind to Leap really high |
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Light Dash | Dash Forward at Speed of Light (1s recharge) |
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Lightning Pull | Use Lightning to pull yourself to the target location (900 range, 5s recharge) |
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Aspect Master | Power up all of your movement skills for a short time (i.e. you can leap higher, dash longer, jump further with skills 1-3) |
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Fake Power- up | Place a fake power-up that launches competitors and remove their power-ups |
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Grounded | Learn the next skill you’re hit with and gain stability |
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Gale | Slow down your competitors with a mighty gust of wind. Knocks down airborne competitors (900 range) |
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Lightning Rod | Call down bolts of lighting to stun other racers (1200 range) |
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Blinding Light | Blind competitors with the sun’s brilliant light (1200 range) |
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Light Travel | Teleport to the next checkpoint |
Blue Crystals: Light Dash here uses endurance so you must recharge your endurance by collecting blue crystals you encounter along the way. There is also an achievement for collecting 500 of these crystals, which is fairly easy to get.
Orange Crystals: Not far into the race you will also get orange crystals. These crystals will grant you swiftness and vigor for a few seconds, allowing you to move faster and regenerate your endurance faster.
Generic Powerups; These brown bags are divided into two categories: defensive Powerups marked by a blue shield and offensive powerups marked by a red crossed sword. These grant you random defensive and offensive abilities respectively depending on your position in the race. (Players in the front tend to get offensive skills such as Fake Power-up while those in the back can get Gale, Lightning Rod of Blinding Light).
- Defensive abilities: Aspect Master (#4), Grounded (#6)
- Offensive abilities: Fake Power-up (#5), Gale, Lighting Rod, Blinding Light
Aspect Master enhance all of your 1-3 abilities for a short period of time, allowing to to basically move faster. Fake Power-Up is a really good tool against players that are lagging behind you. Place them on narrow beams or tight areas and some sucker behind you will run into it and get even more behind.
Ability specific powerups: You will also encounter powerups that are specific for your 1-3 abilities along the way. Beware that some of these are fake powerups placed by other players so if you run into one you may get knocked back. These specific powerups specifically enhance the corresponding skill, allowing you to either leap higher, dash further, or pull yourself further. Shown below are the powerups for Light Dash and Leap.
If you played around abit in Labyrinthine Cliffs, these track markings should be familiar to you. Basically they tell you what skills to use to get around the obstacle.
The cloud marking tell you to use #1 Leap to get up top.
The lightning marking tell you to use your #3 Lightning pull to get around.
Every single time you finish the race, you can open a chest at the end. The chest contains a number of Quartz crystals and a random item (usually green). Anyone that finishes the race get the same chest, there are no additional rewards for finishing first or second etc.
- Very rarely you can get a Catcher backpiece skin from this chest
The score you see up top are calculated by how many checkpoints you cross and how many other players you have outrun. A typical match has 12 players and 13 checkpoints so you maximum score should be 175 if you come in first place.
You will get a title Sanctum Sprinter for placing first in the Sanctum Sprint activity.
Unlike rewards, there are achievements for coming out on top.
Sanctum Sprint – Find the Aspect Master – 1 achievement point
- Find and speak with the Sanctum Spirit activity master in Zephyr Sanctum. Talk to the Aspect Master just south of Sky Docks waypoint (crossed flags on your map) will complete this achievement.
Crystal Obsessed – Collect 500 crystals in Sanctum Sprint – 21 achievement points
- In Sanctum Spirit, collect as many (blue) crystals as possible
- Tier 1: 1
- Tier 2: 50
- Tier 3: 100
- Tier 4: 250
- Tier 5: 500
Crowd Favorite – Complete Sanctum Sprint 25 times – 10 achievement points
- Complete Sanctum Sprint multiple times
- Tier 1: 1
- Tier 2: 5
- Tier 3: 15
- Tier 4: 25
Pickup Completionist – Use 7 unique pick up items – 9 achievement points
- In Sanctum Sprint, use every possible pickup item at least once.
- Tier 1: 1
- Tier 2: 3
- Tier 3: 7
Speedy Sprinter – Place top 3 – 5 achievement points
- Place among the top three racers in Sanctum Sprint
Sanctum Sprinter – Place first – 10 achievement points
- Place first in Sanctum Sprint
- Title: Sanctum Sprinter
Frequent Sprinter – Run 15 races of Sanctum Sprint – 0 achievement points
- This achievement can be completed infinite times until Sanctum Sprint goes away. You get a loot bag for its completion, which contains a rare item.
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