Last week, we laid out the basic premise of the story in Guild Wars 2®: Janthir Wilds™, including an introduction to the lowland kodan who live in the Janthir isles. This week, we thought we'd take a closer look at the area you'll be exploring, plus another fuzzy denizen of the Janthir region: the warclaw, which the lowland kodan call "journeykin."
Arriving at the Lowland Shore
This blog was originally published with an earlier draft of this section. It has been updated as of July 18.
Your first steps into Janthir will take place in the Lowland Shore map, home of the Lowland Kodan. Here you will be given the chance to immerse yourself amongst them to get a glimpse into their culture by assisting in daily tasks, engaging in sporting competition, and dealing with localized threats. During your time here, you will also learn of their relationship with your soon-to-be mount the Warclaw, which they call the “Journeykin”. These Journeykin play a pivotal role for the Kodan of Lowland shore as they are instrumental in their ability to traverse the terrains of Janthir as well as be the “work-Waclaw” of the Kodan to assist in the needs of utility and contest.
We’ve also heard your feedback around our more recent maps over the years being meta heavy, so for Lowland Shore we’ve decided to not include a meta. Instead, we’ve aimed to create a map without a sense of time pressure or urgency where players can focus on exploration, discovery, and world immersion similar to core Tyria maps with inspiration from more recent places like Grothmar Valley and Seitung Province.
Into Janthir Syntri
As you push deeper into the wilds, you'll encounter more reminders of the region's dangerous reputation. Deep forests transition into sulfurous swamps that give way to volcanic terrain. Ruins left by the ravages of time and a bloodstone crater speak of the White Mantle occupation in the time of the original Guild Wars ®. The barrier between this world and the Mists has grown thin in Janthir Syntri, resulting in magical storms called Mists Tides that sweep the area. And strange creatures, known to scholars of Tyria's past as titans, have begun appearing in greater numbers.
Warclaws in the Wilds
While in Janthir, you'll have the opportunity to forge a bond with a warclaw mount and train a new Mastery line that grants your warclaw new skills in PvE maps! The warclaw is a highly mobile mount that can navigate with precision and agility over all kinds of terrain, and it also boasts some unique combat and exploration abilities:
- Chain Pull: Deals damage and pulls enemies closer.
- Battle Maul: Commands the warclaw to leap forward and perform an area attack, stunning enemies at the center of the attack.
- Sniff: Enhances nearby allies while detecting nearby enemies. With Mastery training, Sniff also detects nearby treasure, which your warclaw can help you dig up.
- Lance: Throws a spear to deal damage and knock down an enemy.
And here are the warclaw's Mastery tiers:
- Nine Lives: Take no fall damage while mounted on your warclaw (the base warclaw already has decreased fall damage).
- Feline Reflexes: Extend your jump by hitting the spacebar again in midair.
- Wild Claws: The warclaw performs a hit on enemies when dodging through them. Hitting at least one foe gives you endurance at the end of the dodge.
- Feral Fury: Increases damage while mounted on the warclaw. The Lance skill now stuns enemies and deals increased defiance bar damage.
- Well Rested: Increases the endurance regeneration rate for all mounts.
WvW Changes
When designing the warclaw mount for PvE, we saw some opportunities to improve how the warclaw works in WvW. This refresh of the warclaw experience comes from our evolving understanding of our mount system since we first implemented mounts. Whether you're taking over or defending your territory, the warclaw will continue to be your steadfast companion with these updated skills:
- Chain Pull: Added a new effect, Weakened Frame, which amplifies damage inflicted on gates and walls. This will stack with Structural Vulnerability.
- Sniff: In addition to its abilities, it will also highlight damaged gates and walls for both allied and enemy structures when you're in range.
- Lance: Increased to 2 charges.
Prepurchasing any edition of Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds before the expansion launches will grant you the “Homesteader” title, the Whispering Serpents Pauldrons skin, and a box with your choice of one Serpent’s Wrath weapon skin.Visit the official store page for full details on the items included in the Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate editions.