On Earth, turtles are known for being slow-moving, land- and sometimes water-dwelling reptiles with tough shells. In Guild Wars 2’s upcoming End of Dragons expansion, however, they will be known for carrying giant laser cannons on their back and hovering with their jump jets. I am not making this up.
A new video released today has given us our first look at the new two-seater mount. It opens with a shot of what looks like a herd of turtles roaming the sea floor, then walking right up onto dry land. While Guild Wars 2 updated the skimmer mount to swim underwater last year, this will be the first time players can actually touch ground while submerged.
“Now you can raise your own turtle from an adorable hatchling to a cannon-carrying mount. Modern siege turtles are equipped with the latest jade tech advancements, including powerful jump jets and health boosters.”
The video also gives us a glimpse of the turtle’s engage skill, a jet-assisted bodyslam accompanied by a powerful-looking jade energy beam, and shows a second player hopping on the turtle’s back to fire its cannon.
PC Gamer demo’ed the siege turtle ahead of the video drop, saying, “It does a little bit of everything, but not as well as the mount custom designed for that particular role,” noting that it speeds up when it runs in a straight line but won’t outpace a raptor. Interestingly, while the mount has a massive health pool of 40,000, it also has a defiance bar, similar to the ones champions enemies generally have, that can be broken by CC.
If you’re still having nightmares about that Skyscale grind and are worried the turtle unlock will be similar, fear not, as apparently the quest to unlock the Siege Turtle will take longer than the Raptor’s, but it’s shorter than the Griffon or Skyscale, more along the lines of the Roller Beetle. ArenaNet also clarified that turtles would not be enabled in WvW when End of Dragons launches this February, but it could be in the future if players want it.
