Ember Isle Guardian Quest Guide: Part 1

Ember Isle is a pretty amazing place to quest. The island’s got it all– dailies, story quests, reputation to grind, resources to gather, and plenty of zone events, rifts, and invasions to distract you along the way. To help you out, here’s an introductory guide to the Guardian-side quests (see, it isn’t just about you, Defiants!), and a suggested walkthrough. You don’t have to follow my suggestions, of course. Half the fun in exploring new content is blazing your own trail through it. Speaking of blazing, let’s get started.

Area One: Fort Zarnost

Okay, let’s assume that you’re still in Sanctum, and haven’t grabbed any quests yet. There’s a wandering guard who will give you:

For us, that’s right outside Sanctum. Cross the bridge, head toward the quest hub, then hop down to the alcove along the shore. Your teleport awaits.

Ah, greenery. Now this is a place I could imagine spending my vacations in. Follow the wooden bridge and turn your quest in to the dwarf guy. Get used to this guy, because he’ll be your quest return friend for a while.

Now we find out about the lore of the island. Don’t worry, I won’t go into spoilers. For the quest, walk by the pillar. While buffed, scout out sneaky dwarves and use the item on them.

For many of these story quests, all of the steps won’t be visible on your quest log until you complete the previous step. The Sigils drop off the neutral mobs running around.

Wander toward the shore to find the Corrupted Spirits.

Story: Fire Shall Fall

• Awaken a Farclan Malgam
• Uncover and kill Angered Cinders 0/3

Awaken the Malgam by attacking it, then use the item when it’s at 50% health or less. Run him over to the yellow patches as shown in the screenshot. He’ll find more things for you to kill. The reward for this quest is a Spirit Infusion, which grants you a PA level. Before you leave Fort Zarnost after grabbing the next quest, make sure you have the following quests:

Area Two: Abundant Wilds

Head south of Fort Zarnost toward the shoreline. As you explore the area, you’ll run into your first Travel Stone. While killing gators, grab the following quest:

Here’s what the gator eggs look like. Now you’ll start seeing quests that offer Inscribed Sourcestones as rewards. There’s a ton of these spread out over the island. Finish up Source of Power while exploring the area. You’ll soon find your first Sourcewell, its turrets, and your first daily quest. Each major area of Ember Isle has a Sourcestone and matching daily quest.

While you’re killing invasions, be on the lookout for Sourcewell Fragments, which most elemental plane enemies drop. As soon as you loot it, you’ll gain 2 notoriety for The Keepers. All these dailies offer a Ember Isle Reward Bag, which has a chance of containing additional platinum, potions, Sourcewell Fragments, and Inscribed Sourcestones. While you’re near the Sourcestone, make sure you grab the following quest which is at a book:

We’re not quite done in Abundant Wilds yet. As you wander around, you’ll come across a pile of spider webs with a quest:

The Webbed Keepers look like white blobs on the ground. When you kill the first spider that gets in your way, you’ll get an item which grants you:

Once you finish everything, head back to Fort Zarnost.
 

Area Three: Nykantor Ruins

Head east to the ruins. As with other areas, there are many quests to grab as you explore. Make sure and grab the Onslaught daily. This area’s also where the Ember Isle puzzle is located. Along the road, you’ll find a vine-covered altar:

I missed this one my first time around, so here’s what the altar looks like along with a map. My character’s location is where the quest starts. Use the Ember Watch island for a point of reference. While in the area, make sure and kill a Manifested Shadow to get:

When you turn in the first step of Accursed and Profane, a nearby torch has:

Use the torch by the statues to find the Sneaks. When you’ve finished up everything here, I’d suggest taking a detour over to Ember Watch, which is the medium-sized dark island to the right of The Stranglewood’s island. The outpost is on the right side of Dormant Core.
 

Area Four: Ember Watch Detour

Ember Watch is where the Keeper Quartermaster is located. Turn in your quests and grab the daily quests if you wish. There’s only one that you need right away:

That’s for the next quest area. Now, grab the story quest from Darius:

This is one of the easiest story quests ever. Run around the outpost and talk to the stones. As a reward, you’ll gain the ability Nexus Infusion, which can be used to upgrade defenses near Sourcewells on Ember Isle. You’ll then get:

Another easy quest. Here you learn about Planar Anomalies. When you destroy one, you can stand in its energy waves to gain Planar Charges. Easily one of the best things about Ember Isle. Use the ability that pops up on your screen when you target a Turret to upgrade it. If you do this around the island as you complete your Onslaught quests, you’ll power up the Turrets to help you fight invasion enemies, and even cause them to call upon extra invading forces. Turrets can be upgraded through level 4.

Back to our quests. You can grab the next story quest from Darius, but for the purpose of this walkthrough, we’re headed back to Fort Zarnosh, then over to The Stranglewood.
 

Area Five: The Stranglewood

As you approach the island, kill a Stranglewood Shambler along the shore. You’ll get:

After you gather feet, head toward the top of the hill. You can gather Living Wood by either picking it off the ground or by killing treants. Make sure you approach the Sourcewell area to grab your Onslaught quest. Also, make sure to run to the south side of the island, where you’ll find a quest from a defeated spirit:

Kill the plants that can be attacked in the area. Bugs will pop out to annoy you. Kill them, too. As you wander around, check the eastern part of the island. Behind a tree, you’ll find a dead Keeper with the quest:

These look like well, vines. Now that you have all the random quests, it’s time to go back to Natural Resources. Make sure you open your pods for Portentous Pods as you explore.

If you need help finding Rhetta Stonejaw, here’s a screenshot of the dwarf and her location. Everything else is pretty straightforward. Locate the Cairns. Kill the mob you summon. Hoof it back to the fort.
 

Area Six: Wellspring Flats

This one’s a bit of a journey. You can teleport over to Ember Watch for a bit of a shortcut. As you travel along the road, you’ll find an orb-like lantern with a quest:

Click more orbs that look just like the first. Feel free to complete Pride of the Farclan before these other quests, because you’ll get a group of three Malgams to keep you company in your massacring. Make sure you grab your Onslaught quest and this quest from a local body:

Stand in the circles and kill what pops out. Finished with this area! Grab the Wellspring Flats Travel Stone and head back to Fort Zarnost when you’re done here.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and Area Seven: Forlorn Fen next time.