Updated:
  • Proving Ground is a side-quest in Divinity: Original Sin 2
  • You can acquire this quest from Ghechswol the Arena Master
  • Suggested level: 17
  • Act 3

Summary

Summary

NPC

  • Ghechswol the Arena Master
  • The Great Guardian

Walkthrough

  1. Enter the portal.
  2. Speak to the Spirit Bird "Ghechswol the Arena Master".
  3. Kill the Great Guardian.
  4. Report back to the Spirit Bird "Ghechswol the Arena Master".

Proving Ground Walkthrough

In the Teacher's Hall at the Academy, there is a door that can be lockpicked. Entering the room beyond, which is called "Armaments of the One", you will immediately be awarded 27,900 Exploration XP. Head towards the portal and enter it.

Upon entering the portal, you will gain another 41,850 Exploration XP. Continue onwards and you will see the body of a dead bird. Cast Spirit Vision to see the spirit of the bird, and speak to her. Agree to her challenge to fight some battle-hardened construct.

Enter the vast chamber, and you'll find a huge guardian there called "The Great Guardian", along with 2 Eternal Protectors and Eternal Sentinels. He will demand you leave, and if you try to move closer, he will initiate combat. It is not a difficult fight, and if you kill the Great Guardian, all the smaller constructs will be destroyed. The Eternal Protectors and Eternal Sentinels are worth 27,900XP each, while the Great Guardian himself is worth a whopping 97,650XP. All the smaller constructs will award XP upon death regardless if they were killed by your hand or because the Great Guardian died, so needless to say the most optimal way is to simply focus fire and destroy the Great Guardian. When killed, the Great Guardian drops the "Blade of the Swornbreaker", one of the pieces to craft the Swornbreaker weapon, as well as several Divine-quality loot.

If you are having difficulty with this fight, there are Eternal Reflectors here that can be moved, with a phase conductor that is located behind the Great Guardian. Placing a Phase Capacitor on the conductor can shoot a beam forwards onto the reflectors. Directing the beam at the boss will stun it and keep its magic armor at 0 for as long as the beam is focused on it. You can use invisibility potions or spells to do all this without being noticed. Ultimately though, the simplest solution is to cast a powerful source spell such as Meteor Shower or Hail Storm, and since the Great Guardian is so big, nearly all the shards will hit it, resulting in a quick one-shot kill move.

In any case, once the Guardian is a pile of trash heap on the ground, report back to the Spirit of the Bird, and you will be deemed worthy of being "The One". The quest is not removed from the journal, though.

Journal

  • Start
    The spirit of a bird, seemingly some form of Arena Master, has bid us to prove ourselves in battle against a battle-hardened construct.
  • Defeated Monolith
    We have defeated the construct - a large automaton known as the Great Guardian.
  • End
    The spirit of the Arena Master congratulated the victor amongst us, deeming them worthy of being called the 'One'. A good omen for the final challenges before the Well of Ascension, perhaps.
  • Close Left C O S
    We have continued on our journey, without pursuing the Arena Master's challenge.