Gliding into Ogre Camp
Tangled Depths is Heart of Thorns at its most unapologetic: a beautiful, hostile knot of jungle roots and caverns where getting from A to B is half the challenge. Introduced in 2015 as part of Guild Wars 2’s first expansion, it quickly earned a reputation for leaving new arrivals lost within minutes, and for rewarding anyone stubborn enough to learn its routes.
The map’s structure is layered rather than flat. At the top, scraps of canopy and surface jungle cling to ledges and plateaus, linked by narrow paths and gaps that make gliding feel less like a convenience and more like essential climbing gear. Below that, a mid‑level of bioluminescent caverns and Nuhoch warrens glows in greens and blues: this is where you find Teku Nuhoch and the lanes that lead towards the central Ley‑Line Confluence. Deeper again, the Ogre lane runs through a long, rocky trench and into the Ogre Village, an outpost clinging on amid Chak tunnels and Mordrem incursions. At the very bottom lie the Chak hives and waterlogged tunnels: tight, twisting spaces full of lethal insectoid enemies and submerged passages that feel claustrophobic even by the map’s own standards.
Moving between these layers depends heavily on masteries. Basic Gliding is the entry ticket; Updraft Use and Ley‑Line Gliding then add lateral options, letting you surf air currents and energy streams between platforms and lanes. Nuhoch Lore is the zone’s real key. Nuhoch Wallows—organic tunnels used by the local hylek—serve as fast‑travel points between hubs such as Teku Nuhoch, SCAR Bivouac and the Ogre Village once you unlock the relevant mastery. Navigation guides often recommend treating the Ley‑Line Confluence as a central hub, moving along one of the four main “lanes” to reach an outpost, then using Wallows and connecting tunnels to loop across the map rather than slogging back through the middle every time.
The Ogre camp itself sits in the northwest, reached via the Ogre lane from the Confluence or via Nuhoch Wallows that cut across from other hubs. Ogres and their pets hold a small pocket of relative safety there, but even inside the camp, events about taming beasts, fending off Chak or escorting ogre leaders remind you how precarious that foothold is. For many players, the camp becomes a waypoint rather than a destination—a place to regroup during hero point trains, or to stage one flank of the Chak Gerent meta.
Meta‑events and hero points sit on top of that geography. The Chak Gerent encounter, part of the King of the Jungle meta, runs down all four lanes at once: each lane has its own Legendary Chak Gerent to lure out using a local mechanic, then burn down within a time limit. If any lane fails, the entire meta fails, which is why organised squads split into Ogre, Rata Novus, SCAR and Nuhoch groups and coordinate via commanders. Hero points are scattered along the lanes and in side pockets—Chak hatching grounds, Nuhoch trials, odd rubble‑strewn chambers—and are difficult enough that most players tackle them as part of commander‑led trains rather than solo. Adventures, from beetle‑racing through mushroom forests to timed combat gauntlets, add small, focused challenges for anyone who has time between metas.
For newcomers, practical survival tips have become almost part of the zone’s oral tradition. Players advise unlocking the Ley‑Line Confluence waypoint first, then learning one lane at a time instead of trying to memorise the entire map in one go. Following NPC escorts, personal story instances or commander icons is recommended as a way of discovering paths you might never find on your own. Keeping an eye on the big map rather than the minimap helps make sense of the vertical layering, and investing early mastery points into Gliding and Nuhoch Lore pays off many times over in reduced backtracking.
All of this makes Tangled Depths one of Guild Wars 2’s most divisive, and most memorable, maps. For some it remains a tangle to be endured for achievements and collections; for others, it’s a favourite precisely because it refuses to flatten itself into a simple loop. Either way, it embodies Heart of Thorns’ commitment to layered exploration and cooperative play: a place where gliding routes, Wallows, lanes and meta‑events are interwoven so tightly that the zone only really opens up once you learn to read it in three dimensions and, occasionally, trust a tag and jump.
