GW2 Aspect Arena Cutthroat Politics guide

A guide to the GW2 Aspect Arena introduced with the Cutthroat Politics patch.

• How to access
• Basics
• Skills
• Maps & Crystals
• Achievements
• Rewards

How to Access

• Talk to Ellen Kiel to start the Aspect Arena activity.

Basics

• Run through Aspect gates at the start to select a Sun, Wind or Lightning skill set. You can switch up to another skill set during the game by running back to the gates. 
• Sun: Short range attacks with a powerful pull.
• Wind: High movement based skill sets with a powerful knockback and invulnerability.
• Lightning: Heavy close range attacks that focus on stunning enemies.
• Return crystals to charge your conduits at your base and earn points.
• Once timer is up, the team with the highest score wins.
• Each game lasts for 5 minutes.
• There is a rare chance for the Zephyr Rucksack to drop from this minigame. 
• Look for painting on the wall that corresponds to a specific (Sun, Lightning, Wind) skill as they will open up secret passages/shortcuts.

Skills

Lightning

Icon	Name	Description	Recharge
	Lightning Strike	Blast your foe with lightning 190 range
	Electromagnetic Pulse	Release a massive blast of electromagnetic energy, disabling nearby foes. Damage 25 Daze 2 seconds.	6s
	Energy Shield	Counter the next attack with a stun. Duration 4 seconds.	12s
	Electrical Storm	Create a lightning storm. Foes cannot cross the threshold of the storm. Damage per pulse: 2. Duration 5 seconds Radius: 240 Range: 1200	20s
	Lightning Tether	Use Lightning to pull yourself to the target location Range: 900	1s

Sun

Icon	Name	Description	Recharge
	Sun Beam	Shoot a beam of light at your foe. Heal allies it passes through. Damage increases the closer you are to your foe. Damage if range less than 300: 8 Damage if range is greater than 900: 2 Heal: 2 Range 1200
	Sun Burst	Release a burst of sunlight that blinds nearby enemies. Damage: 5 Blindness: 5s Range: 300	6s
	Bastion	Create a bastion at your target location, damaging enemies and assisting allies. Damage per pulse: 2 Duration: 5s Stability: 5s Radius: 240 Range: 1200	10s
	Unstable Nova	Release a small star that damage any foes it hits and that can collapse into a black hole Damage: 10 Damage per pulse: 1 Radius: 480 Range 1200	15s
	Speed of Light	Dash Forward at the speed of light	1s

Wind

Icon	Name	Description	Recharge
	Wind Slash	Throw a blade of air that returns to you, slowing enemies it hits Damage: 1 Range: 900
	Tornado Strike	Create a tornado that knocks back foes Damage: 5 Knockback: 400 Range: 1200	8s
	Like the Wind	Become like the wind-unstoppable and uncatchable Duration: 3s Breaks stun	10s
	Wind Sphere	Throw a bouncing sphere of wind at your target. Hit the sphere a second time to deal massive damage. Damage: 10 Damage: 10 Range: 900	20s
	Assisted Leap	Use the aspect of wind to leap extremely high	1s

Map & Crystals

There are about 5-6 possible locations for the crystals to spawn. You will to look at your map to determine their exact spawn locations. The ones in the middle tend to be a bit easier to reach and therefore hotly contested while ones on the two sides are more higher up on top of buildings.

Once you reach a crystal, you can activate and channel for a few seconds to grab the crystal. While you are channeling, you can be interrupt by your opponents. Once you have the crystal, your position will be marked on the map as a crystal carrier. Your movement speed will be significantly reduced but you can still use all of your abilities to fend off attackers.

Throughout the map are markings on the walls that reveal shortcuts only for players that use the specific skill set. On the left for example is a shortcut marking for users of the Sun skills. On the right is a marking for users of the Wind skills. Players with the corresponding skill can use their #5 skill to activate the shortcut.

Achievements

Aspect Arena is hosted by Ellen Kiel so you will earn achievements in her category.

Aspect Arena Frequenter (5 pts)

• Play 15 games of Aspect Arena.

Aspect Arena: Crystal Capper (5 pts)

• Capture 10 crystals for your team in Aspect Arena

Aspect Arena: Crystal Breaker (10 pts)

• Defeat 15 Crystal Bearers in Aspect Arena

Aspect Arena Regular (0 pts)

• Play 12 rounds of Aspect Arena
• You get a loot bag containing 1 rare

Rewards

Winning team get a splendid chest containing

• Bag of Coins (couple silvers)
• 2 Support Tokens
• Sip of Liquid Karma (1040 karma)
• Random green/blue item (maybe rares if you lucky)

Losing team get  anormal chest containing

• Bag of Coins (couple silvers)
• 1 Support Token
• Thimble of Liquid Karma (728 karma)
• Random green/blue item

If you are lucky, you have a chance to get the rare Zephyr Rucksack which has an animated bird.