This achievement unlocks once you've completed the Arc 3 in the Infinite Archive.
Since the Archive is random, it's impossible to give a step-by-step guide of what you'll see in your run. Instead, I'll walk through the Infinite Archive structure, frustrating ways you can die -- hopefully you'll learn about them faster than I did! -- and some general tips. This guide won't contain any build recommendations. There are plenty of resources on the internet for that already.
Infinite Archive Structure
The Infinite Archive consists of a never-ending number of Arcs. Each Arc consists of 5 Cycles, and each Cycle consists of 3 Stages. Throughout this guide, I'll indicate specific stages with numbers, like 1.5.2 (Arc 1, Cycle 5, Stage 2) or 2.4 (beginning with Arc 2, Cycle 4).
In each cycle, the first two stages consist of 3 waves of adds / trash mobs. The first wave comes from a random group of enemies around ESO, and the second wave comes from a second group. The third wave has enemies from both groups, plus an elite enemy (spiky health bar) from one of the groups. Completing one of these stages grants you a
Verse, which is a bonus that lasts only through the next stage.
The third stage in each cycle is a boss. In Cycles 1-4, the mini-boss is a random selection of over 60 bosses from all around ESO. In Cycle 5, the boss is Tho'at Replicanum. Completing the third stage grants you a
Vision, which is a buff that lasts through the duration of your Endless Archive run.
By default, you have 3 "Threads of Fate." You lose a thread each time your party wipes (or, if you're playing solo or with a companion, each time you die). So for this achievement, you have to get to the end of Arc 3 dying as little as possible.
Frustrating Ways to Die
The name of the game is to not die. So what are the trickier parts of the Archive that you might die on?
End-Stage Elite Enemies
These enemies usually aren't too bad, but can contribute to being overwhelmed at the end of a stage. A couple to watch out for:
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Ascendant Bulwark: Giant cat man. Hits hard and has a painful, large AOE.
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Silver Rose Realmshaper: Tall shirtless guy. Buffs other enemies, and has an interruptible heal.
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Bristleback: Giant boar. Charges around the field and knocks you down; the charge can be interrupted before it starts, if you're fast enough.
Fabled Enemies
Fabled enemies start showing up in 1.4 in trash mob stages. They are larger enemies that hit a bit harder, buff and/or heal other enemies. Focus them if you can. They all carry staves that glow green at the top, but may still be hard to spot. They tend to spawn far away from the rest of the wave, even up or down stairs from the bulk of the other enemies.
A couple callouts:
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Fabled Flameshaper: Channels an attack to shoot fireballs at you. Watch for it and interrupt it quickly, it can take you out fast!
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Fabled Infuser: Has an interruptible ability to buff and berserk other enemies. This can cause you to die faster than you expect, so make sure to take out the Infuser fast, or interrupt him!
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Fabled Totem Master: Has an interruptible heal ability. Left alone too long, he'll summon totems that spray the field with large elemental AOEs. The stages aren't that big, so these totems can really make it hard to move around.
Starting in 1.4.1, the first wave will
always have a fabled enemy. Starting in 2.4.1, and ending in 2.5.2, the second wave will have a fabled enemy. Starting in 3.4.1, the last wave will have
two fabled enemies. These pulls can be challenging, since you're dealing with two fabled and an elite. Moving around and kiting is your best bet.
Marauders
Beginning in Arc 2, a random trash mob stage will also spawn a marauder. A marauder is a boss enemy (health and drops are similar to Tho'at Replicanum). If you die to a marauder, they will vanish, and you won't see another one for the rest of the Arc. It's important to have a plan for these enemies, since otherwise they will take 2 of your 3 threads, leaving you with very little room for error. If you can, leave one enemy alive in the first wave and then focus the marauder to avoid too much activity in the room at once.
There are 3 different marauders:
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Gothmau: Four armed red guy straight out of the Deadlands. His worst move is a series of rapid fire heavy attacks that cause bleed. Unless you're a tank, you cannot block these and survive, so your best bet is to dodge roll and keep distance between you. Be ready with self-heals, you'll need 'em!
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Hilkarax: Hilkarax's annoying move is summoning tornadoes all around the stage. You can buy yourself some time by kiting him to one end of the stage, then the other, so that the center of the tornado casts are on the very edge of the stage. If there is nowhere free of tornadoes, the key is to find a spot between tornado paths not move around a bunch. Hilkarax has a heavy attack that's well-telegraphed and can be dodge rolled, but doesn't need kiting as much as Gothmau.
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Ulmor: In my opinion, the easiest of the three. Ulmor's strongest attacks are two big water AOEs. They have really clear telegraphing and are easy to dodge roll -- just be careful if stairs are nearby, as it can be hard to watch the growing AOE on stairs. Dodge roll the heavy attacks, and you shouldn't have too much difficulty.
Mini-bosses
Cycles 1-4 end with a random boss from around ESO. The stage is not very large, and you can fall off! Fight in the middle to avoid knockbacks taking a life unexpectedly.
This section won't cover all mechanics for each possible boss. Other guides (esp. xynode) have done this well already. I'll just focus on some possibly lesser-known mechanics that are hard to recover from, and one-shot mechanics that you should know about before going in.
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DRAGONS: There are three dragon bosses, Yolnahkriin (fire), Laatvulon (ice), and Mulaamnir (lightning). A wing slap from a dragon will send you flying off the edge, so best to fight them face to face. Yolnahkriin will occasionally do a 180 degree fire attack in front of him (definitely after landing from flight), so step to the side to avoid that. A wing slap will follow quickly, so once it's clear, move back in front of him.
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Lady Thorn: She has a phase where she flies around and the stage will get darker. Stay inside the ring in moving around the stage to avoid constant damage. To end this part of the fight, you need to kill scamps and synergize on them (
+
) four times.
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Lord Warden Dusk: When he flies in the air and starts building a glowing ball, that move hits very hard. To avoid it, jump in one of the swirling portals. You'll fall from the ceiling when the explosion hits and not take damage.
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Symphony of Blades: Watch for the ring of yellow glowy ghosts around the outside of the stage. Focus one of the ghosts down and step outside to avoid getting one-shot.
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Zhaj'hassa the Forgotten: There are two one-shot mechanics that trip up a lot of players. First, if your screen starts to glow blue, you are cursed. There are four pads around the edge of the stage, step on one of them to remove the curse. Second, Zhaj'hassa will summon pillars around the stage. He'll start to glow blue when he's about to cast his explosion ability. Position yourself on the other side of the pillar, and you will not get hit.
Tho'at Replicanum
At the end of each Arc, you face the boss of the Infinite Archive: Tho'at Replicanum. Each Arc adds a different Tho'at form that you have to kill, up to four. I'll cover the first three, since that's what's needed for the achievement.
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Human form: A couple tricky attacks. If you attack her when shielded, bits of the shield will chip off, then fly at you. You can block or dodge roll these, or just pause your attacks while she's shielded. She'll occasionally pick up a sword. The sword phase ends with a heavy attack with a
very long telegraph. The hit comes after a mini teleport and a swing. Tough to block, so timing the dodge roll is crucial.
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Ice Atronach form: Starting in Arc 2, once the Human form gets to 70%, the stage will transform and the Ice Atronach form will appear. The Ice Atro teleports around but doesn't move far from where it lands. It summons 3 small tentacles with a stomp, and one large tentacle per player / companion per teleport that has a pretty wide range. Other than that, relatively easy to avoid attacks.
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Mantikora form Starting in Arc 3, once the Ice Atronach form gets to 70%, the stage will transform and the Mantikora form will appear. This form is a bit more aggressive. Watch for mirror shards gathering above your head. After a time, you'll see an AOE under your feet where the mirror ceiling will fall. A second later, the AOE will freeze and you'll be clear to dodge roll out of the way.
On 3.5.3, the key is to handle the targets one at a time. Kill the Human form before starting on the Ice Atronach form, to avoid having 3 bosses on the field at once.
General Tips
Upgrades
If you find yourself struggling to progress, one tip is to work on the achievements under No Book Left Unread.
Each of those achievements will unlock an upgrade at Filer Tezurs's shop in the IA lobby. Prioritize completing the two quests for Destozuno's Library. The related upgrade costs 30k Archival Fortunes, and will grant you an extra thread of fate! That extra life can make all the difference in getting to the end.
Mystery Verses
You get one of each Mystery Verse (Offense, Defense, Utility) after you clear the initial story quest in the Infinite Archive, and a random Mystery Verse drops each time you kill a Marauder. They are also only 200 Archival Fortunes to purchase, and can be purchased at the end of any stage.
You can use one Mystery Verse per
cycle. Especially in Arc 3, make sure you're giving yourself an extra boost when you need it. If you reach stage 3 of a cycle and haven't used a Mystery Verse yet, use it for the boss fight. Some players also recommend slotting Mystery Verses on your quick access wheel, to pop one if a Marauder shows up in a trash mob stage.
Visions to Prioritize
The visions that make the most sense will vary depending on your build. However, there are 3 sets of 3 avatar visions that contribute toward "transformation" abilities. Collecting all 3 means that when completing a stage, you may get a
verse that transforms your character into a different creature, which will make the following stage much easier. The transformation visions are:
- Crystalline Strikes, Crystalline Fortification, and Crystalline Support for the Ice Avatar Transformation verse. You'll maintain your abilities with buffs and a special synergy.
- Ferocious Strikes, Ferocious Fortification, and Ferocious Support for the Werewolf Behemoth Transformation verse. Werewolf Behemoth swaps out your abilities.
- Scorching Strikes, Scorching Fortification, and Scorching Support for the Iron Atronach Transformation verse. You'll maintain your abilities with buffs and a special synergy.
Even if it doesn't look like you'll get all three, the Support visions in particular can be very helpful in later stages. Crystalline Support snares enemies -- great for putting some distance between you and them, to get in some heals -- and Scorching Support summons a lava pool under your feet that puts out respectable damage on enemies that are swarming you.
Lastly, there is a rare vision called
Supplemental Thread which will grant you an additional thread of fate. If you see this in your run, grab it! Combined with the upgrade, you can have 5 threads of fate in one run.