Shadow in the Ice, the trailer of which advertised the third tier of Boreal Weapons and the Raven Ceremonial Armor set, was already an exciting release for the fashion collectors among us. Surprisingly, the update also came with the three Boneskinner-themed weapons, a helm based on the Ice Construct and a fishing rod staff, and suddenly, my transmutation charges were burning a hole in my wallet. Here’s a guide to collecting all the new skins introduced in this episode.
Illuminated Boreal Weapons
Start by purchasing the recipe for the weapon you want from Humble Stone, the kodan karma merchant close to the Still Waters Speaking Waypoint [&BDkMAAA=]. The recipes will be in the second tab of his merchant window, each costing 1g and 150 Eternal Ice Shards.
Consume the recipe and log into your level 400 weaponsmith, huntsman or artificer, depending on your weapon of choice.
Each recipe is as follows:
The Restored Boreal Weapon will of course need to be the same weapon-type as the Illuminated Boreal Weapon you’re trying to craft. These can be bought off the trading post or crafted. If you were like me and salvaged your Restored Boreal Weapons before knowing they would be needed here, talk to Humble Stone again. In the fourth tab of his merchant window, he’ll have account-bound spares costing 2s 64c and 10 Eternal Ice Shards each.
The Amalgamated Draconic Lodestones are a new item introduced with this episode. These can be bought on the trading post or created in the Mystic Forge. Here are the two recipes you can use if you’re making them through the forge. They both give 1 Amalgamated Draconic Lodestone each.
- 10 Destroyer Lodestones
- 10 Crystal Lodestones
- 10 Corrupted Lodestones
- 10 Mordrem Lodestones or 10 Piles of Putrid Essence
There are also large scale versions of these recipes where you put in 250 of each item and get out 25 Amalgamated Draconic Lodestones.
Eitrite Ingots are account-bound. To be efficient at gathering them, it’s best to have the Essence Manipulation Masteries as these will allow you to open the Chests of Valor, Resilience and Vigilance. Tier 1 of the mastery allows you to open small and large chests. Tier 2 allows you to open medium chests. Tier 3 gives you more rewards from large chests. Here’s a map of all the chests from the Guild Wars 2 Wiki:
Squares with white borders are for chests which spawn after the Storms of Winter and Drakkar metas.
The Bjora Marches strike missions also spawn essence chests after beating them.
You can also go and get a daily blessing from the Raven Sanctum. After completing Raven’s riddles, keep going to the room where you fought the Fraenir in Episode 1 for more chests. Completing that story instance also counts, so go ahead and run to the loot room afterwards. No masteries are needed to open these chests.
Broken Voice Weapons
These ascended weapons were added on 11th February, along with the World Boss Drakkar’s mechanical update. As you can imagine, you must Defeat Drakkar in the Champion of the Ice Dragon Meta Event for the chance to get it. The meta occurs every two hours, starting from 1:05 UTC. This update also adds the Winter’s Heart Infusion as a possible drop.
Bonus tidbit: The rotating letters on the Broken Voice Weapons spell “OWL”. How intriguing.
Raven Ceremonial Armor
Note: Boxes containing armor pieces can be bought from the trading post. There is no shoulder skin for the armor set.
Gloves, Leggings, Boots
Most pieces of this armor set can be obtained through the Gilded Reliquary of the Raven, which gives you the choice to unlock the bracers, gown (legs) or sandals. Picking any of these unlocks the skin for all armor weights. They look identical across weights, except for the gown, which is different on medium armor where the usual ‘gown’ part of the outfit is attached to the garb (chest) skin.
The Gilded Reliquary of the Raven can be obtained in three ways, but only once with each method.
You might have noticed it in Humble Stone’s merchant window, back in the kodan settlement, possibly greyed out. To make it available for purchase (1g and 75 Eternal Ice Shards), the Trials of Koda Mastery achievement must be earned. The achievement requires you to complete 20 Trial of Koda events with gold participation. There is a special symbol shown on the map/minimap to mark out these special events.
When you reach the symbol, you may see one of the map’s normal events, but with a primer: an additional objective. Complete the primer and the event, then the real Trial of Koda will spawn. These are group events so remember to call out in map chat if you see one.
Another Gilded Reliquary of the Raven can be found in the Great Gift of the Ancestors, along with a Sweet Campfire Treat and a 32-slot bag, which will be awarded to you once you’ve crafted 11 Illuminated Boreal Weapons.
Lastly, it can be earned through the Sanctifier achievement. This involves finishing Sanctum Arena strike missions 20 times, which means defeating the Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen, the Fraenir of Jormag, or the Boneskinner.
Headgear, Chest
The last two skins in the chest are found through RNG-drops, so good luck!
The hood can be dropped from the Drakkar World Boss. Make sure you loot the Drakkar’s Hoard chest which spawns after its defeat.
The garb (chest) drops from the Whisper of Jormag strike mission. Warning: It is super rare.
Boneskinner Weapons
These boneskinner weapons could fit a necromancer’s style well. There is a staff, scepter and focus to collect, all of which can be bought on the trading post.
Boneskinner’s Spine
The staff can be made through the mystic forge. Throw in the following:
- 1 Exotic Staff
- 10 Globs of Ectoplasm
- 50 Eitrite Ingots
- 10 Amalgamated Draconic Lodestones
Boneskinner’s Rib
The scepter can drop from the Whisper of Jormag strike mission and Drakkar.
Boneskinner’s Totem
The focus can drop from the Voice of the Fallen and Claw of the Fallen strike mission and the Boneskinner strike mission.
Ice Golem’s Maw
This Icebrood Construct-themed helm has a chance of dropping from Large Essence Chests. These chests can be found around the map, and spawn after the Bjora Marches’ Storms of Winter and Drakkar metas as shown in the map above.
They also spawn after strike missions.
Lastly, they can be found at the end of certain light puzzles. A Large Chest of Valor can be found in the Mystery of the Hidden Tower. Large Chests of Vigilance can be found in the Mystery of the Labyrinth and the Mystery of the Raven Gate Ruins.
Or you could buy the helm cheap off the trading post.
Still Waters Fishing Rod
And now, the fishing rod! This can be bought from Humble Stone for 2g and 250 Eternal Ice Shards, once you’ve completed the Reel It In achievement. To do this, earn gold participation in 20 fishing events. They can be found in the following spots on the map:
This concludes the Shadow in the Ice Skins Guide. There was certainly a wide range of weapons and armor pieces to go for in this episode, with a variety of acquisition methods too. I hope you have fun collecting all the shinies!
