Dry Top - Tier 6 Guide

[Sithicus 98]

Dry Top is the first zone in the Maguuma Wastes. After the destruction of the Zephyr Sanctum, the Zephyrites crash landed there and are in a constant struggle for survival against the harsh environment and plenty of Inquest.

The Dry Top meta event cycles every hour on the hour. There is a 40 minute Crash Site phase, and a 20 minute Sandstorm phase, at the beginning of each hour the meta (and Favour Tier) reset, and the Crash Site begins anew at Tier 1.

What is "Tier 6"?

When players complete events during the Crash Site phase, it increases the Favour of the Zephyrites and once enough Favour has been earned, the next Tier is unlocked up to a maximum of Tier 6. Completing more events unlocks higher tiers of Favour, up to a maximum of Tier 6. Players have 40 minutes to complete as many events as possible during the Crash Site phase, because at 40 minutes past the hour the Sandstorm begins. During the Sandstorm Favour is locked, Buried Locked Chests appear, and a new set of events will spawn.

Ok so completing events increases Favour, which increases Tiers, but what does any of that actually mean?

The currency accepted by Dry Top vendors is Geodes, and completing an event rewards an amount of Geodes, the higher the tier, the higher the number of Geodes you receive as follow:

• Crash Site: 1 + 1*Favour Tier Geodes (e.g. Tier 3 rewards 4 Geodes)
• Sandstorm: 2 + 2*Favour Tier Geodes (e.g. Tier 6 rewards 14 Geodes)

In addition to receiving more Geodes, merchants offer a higher discount the higher the Favour Tier achieved. There is no constant formula for this, each item has differing discounts depending on what it is, other items remains the same price, and other items cannot be purchased unless a minimum of Tier 3 is reached during the Crash Site phase. A list of items and their discounts at different tiers can be seen here.

How do you get to Tier 6?

This is where we get down to the nitty gritty of things. In short, to get to Tier 6 the map has to complete almost every event that spawns on the map, as quickly as possible. This takes some coordination to achieve, because timing is very important, as well as knowing where to be. Before going further, the imagine below is an annotated map of Dry Top. The events inside coloured bubbles are the Crash Site events, and the events with no coloured bubble are the Sandstorm events. A few events have a * next to them, this indicates that an event can award bonus Favour if certain conditions are achieved (this is indicated on the event dialogue box).

The best way I have found for reaching Tier 6 is to use 3 different teams of people, the East Team, West Team and Special Team. All of these teams can now be nested into a single Squad thanks to being able to assign sub-teams within the squad. Each team targets specific events, I made a simple spreadsheet to highlight the events that each team should pursue at what time, you can see it here. This resource is mostly for the Special Team, because East and West follow a set cycle of events, whereas the Special Team has to tackle events that fall off these cycles, all over the map.

Crash Site Phase XX:00 to XX:40

East Team

The Event cycle for the East Team is as follows:

Race* -> Moa -> Queen (Nochtli) -> South Mine -> Town -> North Mine | Repeat until South Mine on the Third Cycle.

This cycle can be completed 2 and a half times roughly before the Sandstorm arrives. The East team requires the most people, because the Race, South Mine and North Mine events have objectives that require a larger number of people to be completed quickly, and North Mine has a bonus which is difficult to achieve especially in a timely manner; as such, this is the team in which the Commander runs with.

West Team

The West Team has a short cycle which comprises as follows:

Skritt Supplies -> Inquest Suit | Repeat until the end of the third Skritt Supplies.

However there is another cycle on West which requires 1 - 2 people maximum. This is as follows:

Escort Rustbucket -> Collect Beetles -> Inquest Suit | Repeat until the third Collect Beetles.

The reason the second cycle requires 1 - 2 people is because the events scale quite poorly. With more than 3 people, these events can start spawning Elite mobs, which makes the whole thing take longer, and in a Tier 6 run, time is of the essence. Once the Collect Beetles event is finished, the person(s) doing the second cycle can rejoin everyone else for the Inquest Suit event.

Special Team

The special team has a very important job in a Tier 6 run, and that is completing events that fall off the East and West cycles. Special Team should have around 7 or 8 people, but at least 5 at minimum. The Special Team does not move together, but individually or in pairs, to take out events across the map (NOTE: it is highly recommended that you bring a character with all Dry Top waypoints for maximum maneuverability). The list of events to be completed by Special Team, and the times they occur can be seen in the spreadsheet, and their locations can be seen on the map above (also present in the spreadsheet).

As you can see in the Spreadsheet, events spawn every 5 minutes, and events of the same colour spawn at the same time, for example at the beginning of the Crash Site phase, Special Team has Tendril A*, Tendril B*, Crash Survivors and Shaman to deal with. The following events should be prioritized:

• Tendril A*
• Tendril B*
• Basket*

These events are a priority because of the bonus Favour available. To achieve the bonuses for Tendrils A and B, kill the small vines before the big vine. For Basket, ensure the Inquest steal no supplies from the Basket. The number of baskets increases with the number of people present, so again only 1 or 2 people, which makes Special Team ideal.

As mentioned previously, Special Team is less cyclic than East or West, and requires people to react to what events are up at the time. It is a good idea to coordinate in Party Chat so you can split up between events effectively. I realize Special Team sounds daunting for people who have not done it before, but I would encourage you to try it out, as long as there is at least 1 person who is very familiar with Special Team, they will be able to help you get used to it.

So this covers the Crash Site phase...

Sandstorm Phase XX:40 - (XX+1):00

During the sandstorm, there is only one team, everybody follows the Commander. The event cycle is as follows:

Mite Farm -> Haze -> Dev Queen (+Burglar) -> Sand Giant -> Mite Farm -> Haze -> Small Dust -> Skritt Queen -> Big Dust -> Giant Beetle

The main reason everyone should follow the tag here is so everyone receives maximum credit for the maximum number of events, we ask people not to activate any events while the rest of the squad is not there (for example the squad doesn't arrive at Skritt Queen until a little while after she spawns), this extends to Skritt Burglar too (which can sometimes be found near the Devourer Queen) so if you happen to see a random Chest, call it out . After the Giant Beetle there is very little time left in the Sandstorm, so run to the vendor quickly! There is a trick however, the items the merchant displays depends on the Tier active when you opened the window, so even after the Tier 6 sandstorm expires, as long as the merchant window is open, you can still purchase items at the Tier 6 discount.

Rare Event Spawns

There are 5 events each called "Slay the rare creature" followed by the name of said creature, they are Bloodscale, Dune Soarer, Grit, Sand Savage, and Sol Eater. These events spawn only once every 12 hours, within a 6 hour window, so you don't see them very often. Once they spawn, you have 15 minutes to kill them, whether players find them or not. I've seen these pop up a few times while running T6 runs, but to describe them as Rare is pretty spot on!

They recently updated rare spawns, I believe that one will now spawn 5 minutes into each Sandstorm, so keep an eye out!

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Ok hopefully I have covered everything here, I wrote this in a single pass so there's every chance I missed something. Please comment if anything is unclear, or if I have missed anything. I have also seen groups do the events in a slightly different order during Crash Site, so I probably won't add that in, just to avoid confusion

Chat Codes for Map Chat Commanding!

Original post here, credit to reddit user Drant!

:00 Supplies@[&BJcHAAA=] Rustbucket@[&BJYHAAA=] TendrilW@[&BIYHAAA=] Shaman@[&BIsHAAA=] Victims@[&BIwHAAA=] Tootsie@[&BHYHAAA=] Crystals@[&BHIHAAA=] TendrilSE@[&BHMHAAA=]

:05 Beetles@[&BJYHAAA=] Bridge@[&BIkHAAA=] Experiment@[&BIwHAAA=] Golem@[&BIoHAAA=] Nochtli@[&BHkHAAA=] COLOCAL@[&BHwHAAA=] Serene@[&BHQHAAA=] MineE@[&BHsHAAA=]

:10 Suit@[&BJMHAAA=] Leyline@[&BIMHAAA=] Town@[&BH4HAAA=] Basket@[&BHMHAAA=] MineNE@[&BH0HAAA=]

:15 Supplies@[&BJcHAAA=] Rustbucket@[&BJYHAAA=] TendrilW@[&BIYHAAA=] Shaman@[&BIsHAAA=] Victims@[&BIwHAAA=] Tootsie@[&BHYHAAA=] Crystals@[&BHIHAAA=] TendrilSE@[&BHMHAAA=]

:20 Beetles@[&BJYHAAA=] Bridge@[&BIkHAAA=] Experiment@[&BIwHAAA=] Golem@[&BIoHAAA=] Nochtli@[&BHkHAAA=] COLOCAL@[&BHwHAAA=] Serene@[&BHQHAAA=] MineE@[&BHsHAAA=]

:25 Suit@[&BJMHAAA=] Leyline@[&BIMHAAA=] Town@[&BH4HAAA=] Basket@[&BHMHAAA=] MineNE@[&BH0HAAA=]

:30 Supplies@[&BJcHAAA=] Rustbucket@[&BJYHAAA=] TendrilW@[&BIYHAAA=] Shaman@[&BIsHAAA=] Victims@[&BIwHAAA=] Tootsie@[&BHYHAAA=] Crystals@[&BHIHAAA=] TendrilSE@[&BHMHAAA=]

:35 Beetles@[&BJYHAAA=] Bridge@[&BIkHAAA=] Experiment@[&BIwHAAA=] Golem@[&BIoHAAA=] Nochtli@[&BHkHAAA=] COLOCAL@[&BHwHAAA=] Serene@[&BHQHAAA=] MineE@[&BHsHAAA=]

:40 SANDSTORM: Mite Farm -> Haze -> Dev Queen (+Burglar) -> Rare -> Sand Giant -> Mite Farm -> Haze -> Small Dust -> Skritt Queen -> Big Dust -> Giant Beetle

Sandstorm includes a rare somewhere, 4 different spots, you might have to wing it depending on where it spawns!

Hybrid TS/Mapchat Codes

These codes are intended for when you have some folks on Teamspeak who can follow you around on East, and also some people taking care of West, so that other players in the map who aren't on TS can roam and complete some solo events

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :00 TendrilW@[&BIYHAAA=] Shaman@[&BIsHAAA=] Victims@[&BIwHAAA=] TendrilSE@[&BHMHAAA=]

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :05 Bridge@[&BIkHAAA=] Experiment@[&BIwHAAA=] Golem@[&BIoHAAA=] Nochtli@[&BHkHAAA=] Serene@[&BHQHAAA=]

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :10 Leyline@[&BIMHAAA=] Basket@[&BHMHAAA=] 

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :15 TendrilW@[&BIYHAAA=] Shaman@[&BIsHAAA=] Victims@[&BIwHAAA=] TendrilSE@[&BHMHAAA=]

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :20 Bridge@[&BIkHAAA=] Experiment@[&BIwHAAA=] Golem@[&BIoHAAA=] Nochtli@[&BHkHAAA=] Serene@[&BHQHAAA=]

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :25 Leyline@[&BIMHAAA=] Basket@[&BHMHAAA=]

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :30 TendrilW@[&BIYHAAA=] Shaman@[&BIsHAAA=] Victims@[&BIwHAAA=] TendrilSE@[&BHMHAAA=]

Please help us reach Tier 6 by completing these events! :35 Bridge@[&BIkHAAA=] Experiment@[&BIwHAAA=] Golem@[&BIoHAAA=] Nochtli@[&BHkHAAA=] Serene@[&BHQHAAA=]

:40 SANDSTORM: Mite Farm -> Haze -> Dev Queen (+Burglar) -> Rare -> Sand Giant -> Mite Farm -> Haze -> Small Dust -> Skritt Queen -> Big Dust -> Giant Beetle

[Susimusta 48]

Good job. I haven't organized T6 Drytop myself really, so I can't say whether you missed something or not, but for me it seemed like it had everything.  Also a nice thingy I stumbled upon while doing Verdant brink is this: http://gw2.ninja/timer. It shows the sandstorm times.

[Nag 36]

1 hour ago, Susimusta said:

Good job. I haven't organized T6 Drytop myself really, so I can't say whether you missed something or not, but for me it seemed like it had everything.  Also a nice thingy I stumbled upon while doing Verdant brink is this: http://gw2.ninja/timer. It shows the sandstorm times.

While the other timers are very useful (and I use them often), the Sandstorm timer is kinda moot since Sandstorms always start at exactly 40 minutes past every hour and end exactly at the start of the next new hour (so from xx:40 to xx+1:00)  Good for a reminder, though.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Nag

[Ki Ste 29]

Great guide Sithi!

Only thing I've noticed is Serene event (special team) which should be added (it's on the picture but not in spreadsheet!).

[Lelling 402]

On 2/23/2016 at 1:39 PM, Nag said:

While the other timers are very useful (and I use them often), the Sandstorm timer is kinda moot since Sandstorms always start at exactly 40 minutes past every hour and end exactly at the start of the next new hour (so from xx:40 to xx+1:00)  Good for a reminder, though.

Yeah, there's so many people at Dry Top who still say "I have a sandstorm on my map" and it's just like... the sandstorm.. is up... on all maps! And it's a 1 hour cycle so it's really easy to remember

[Sithicus 98]

Added a link to a reddit post which helpfully provides a list of chat codes to post in Map Chat every 5 minutes with which events are up, this way you can probably chat command your way to a T6 Dry Top, since other players can just click on the waypoints and pop over to events and stuff yay  Also this should make things like Special Team Team Rocket more accessible for new players, because the chat codes just link WPs for people to go to.

[Minithra 26]

Reddit post order has Town and North Mine in the opposite order from the guide. Which is best?

[Sithicus 98]

Hmmm well purely out of habit I do the Town first, it takes about 30 seconds to wipe it clean, then everybody can go into Mine without getting distracted by another nearby event to Tag, but either way it's all good I think hehe

[Lelling 402]

On 02/05/2016 at 0:22 PM, Minithra said:

Reddit post order has Town and North Mine in the opposite order from the guide. Which is best?

 

On 02/05/2016 at 1:59 PM, Sithicus said:

Hmmm well purely out of habit I do the Town first, it takes about 30 seconds to wipe it clean, then everybody can go into Mine without getting distracted by another nearby event to Tag, but either way it's all good I think hehe

 

The official tactic we always did was Town (1 veteran) -> North Mine -> Town (if it's still up).

What happens is pugs will clean out the rest of the town event, while the people who are listening can move out and already assist in the mine. Because everyone killed one of the three veterans they'll get participation  

The reason we don't just go into the North Mine first is because pugs will always do the town event, so getting at least one veteran with everyone means everyone gets participation ^^

[Minithra 26]

Ahh, makes sense. 

 

[Ki Ste 29]

What I dont understand is why do we have a ''special'' team? Most of those events are on west and as far as I know all events on west don't need more than 5 people. So instead of making special team, people on west should spread out and cover all of  the events. On the other side all ''special'' events on east are soloable (except maybe for tendril one which is doable by 1 or 2 persons).

[Lelling 402]

On 09/05/2016 at 3:09 PM, Steki said:

What I dont understand is why do we have a ''special'' team? Most of those events are on west and as far as I know all events on west don't need more than 5 people. So instead of making special team, people on west should spread out and cover all of  the events. On the other side all ''special'' events on east are soloable (except maybe for tendril one which is doable by 1 or 2 persons).

The team setup (West, East and Special) comes from before improved squads.

The tactic was, you would tag up with 2 tags so that players (pugs) can see where to go, and they have a choice. We optimized the route for each tag individually, and then the special team was added as a party of 4 to 5 members that did all the other events.

Also, even if the events are soloable, that still means you need to designate someone (and just 1 person, since some of them upscale very badly) to do them.

 

Now we've just absorbed the Western squad into the Eastern one, so that we eliminate the need for 2 commanders, and assimilated the special team into the main squad as well, so that practically the entire map can be easily managed by 1 commander.

 

I think due to the new squad mechanics, we could rethink the tactics for the map, perhaps having the main blob + 2 specialized teams of 3-5 people, with a liutenant each, one for each side.

[Ki Ste 29]

Pugs are more likely to follow commander on east, which I believe needs a lot more people than west does. But I dont understand the need for 10 people to do escort event in west while 'special' team barely gets 3 people to do 4 events at the same time. 
So, West team should merge with special and spread out a bit, while East needs 2 people (from like 30 who are following comm) to do 1 event every 5 mins. Comm can mark locations on east and ask for persons in squad to finish those.

2 squads are more than enough, we just need a little better organization.

[Lelling 402]

54 minutes ago, Steki said:

Pugs are more likely to follow commander on east, which I believe needs a lot more people than west does. But I dont understand the need for 10 people to do escort event in west while 'special' team barely gets 3 people to do 4 events at the same time. 
So, West team should merge with special and spread out a bit, while East needs 2 people (from like 30 who are following comm) to do 1 event every 5 mins. Comm can mark locations on east and ask for persons in squad to finish those.

2 squads are more than enough, we just need a little better organization.

If the escort you're talking about is the Rustbucket Escort event - you are right. It shouldn't be done by 10 people. But this has never been the case, so I don't know where you're coming from.

Rustbucket & Beetles are notorious for scaling up horribly and they have always been done by 1 or 2 people maximum.

I think you may be mixing up some of the tactics. The West events that the tag used to be up on in the old system were the Skritt Supplies & Inquest Suit, with a group of 5-10 people on the tag, and 1 or 2 people would be sent off to do Rustbucket & Beetles.

Part of the distinction between West & Special has also been that the Special team waypoints a lot and micro-organizes itself, and essentially each member of it can do a separate event. Merging West with that could be confusing to people, and it would a way too large amount of events as a responsibility of one team, risking that events may not get done.

1 hour ago, Steki said:

we just need a little better organization.

You are welcome to provide workable suggestions or organize the event yourself.

[Sithicus 98]

Updated the OP with some map chat codes with *just* the Roaming Team events listed to hopefully encourage random map players to go and do them

[Sithicus 98]

Bumping this with a few edits to the map chat codes. I also just gave a tutorial run to some people who are thinking of commanding it. Let me know if you want me to show you how to do it, since it is all very well to read this guide, but sometimes a hands on tutorial is a better place to start