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| http://konigsmorder.blogspot.com/2018/01/dude-wheres-my-omurice.html |
Now that new posts have been outed from Cryptic's closet, I'm gonna write a few things about them.
Depending on how you see this epic trial, you can either say Dendar the Night Serpent will be the biggest winner or... well, nothing will happen. I know it sounds like people predicting the world will still end in 2018 since there are still like 10 more months before 2019. Whether the world will end at 2020, however, is beyond my knowledge.
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| Disclaimer: Above show of satire is NOT part of my guild. So please don't bother my guild boss Vrae over this guy. |
In my previous post (URL below the omurice pic), I commented on the possibility of an epic trial coming to the upcoming mod. Before I get myself into some trouble non-existent, let me just say that:
1. I don't work for Cryptic.
2. Cryptic is not my boss.
4. I'm not the BFF of Thomas "he got a BFF in your local stronghold" Foss.
Because I find it amusing to write a strategy guide before the real fracas starts rumbling (i.e. I mean the epic trial, not this), I might as well do one for the first phase. Actually, the only reason why I'm far crazier than many others in this world lies in the terrain. I may be crazy, but I'm definitely not insane enough to try doing a post for the next two phases.
Click the link and you'll know the first phase involves an elevator going down. This is most likely going to be a repeat of the last boss fight in Tomb of the Nine Gods (the only dungeon I've yet to run). In other words, it's possible the platform will dip at intervals.
Secondly, this will most likely be a straightforward mob rush. Because you can see it's an enclosed space, what it means is that every melee party member has to be in the centre with the ranged party members (DCs included, DO or no DO) deployed to the side (i.e. nearer to the shaft wall). Since this phase is all about surviving till the timer runs out (I mean seriously, you should have figured that out already due to the fundamental laws of physics at work), please expect progressive difficulty for every few number of mob waves. At the same time, the mobs will most likely come in random types (i.e. go play the Merchant Prince's Folly if you want to know more). If you got like 1-2 DOs in your party, this shouldn't be a problem. Seriously, getting a DO in your raiding party is basically the best thing you can ever have. Cyrea Durothil is now a DO, ofc I should know.
Note: If you're a DO, please be intelligent enough to max out Terrifying Insight. You won't get to be like Melisandre, but at least the night won't be full of terrors for your party.
Fashion police
This reminds me of the most recent Golden Globes award due to Operation Take The Black. It has got nothing to do with how sexy was Emilia "404 Daario and Jon not found" Clarke, but rather this.
Tbh the change was minor enough for me to say "okay". This is because fashion to me is only of secondary importance beyond getting the free courtesan set every Simril (for some funny reason, the devs just keep throwing at you the same thing). If there's any purpose for me using this new interface, it'd be to use the fashion wardrobe as a means to complete any specific fashion collection (i.e. Ctrl+J). So no, I'm not going to comment on how cool this new interface is because I'm not exactly the ideal boyfriend for the daily fashion girl, local Singaporean or not. Trust me when I say I treat fashion in the most Singaporean manner possible. After all, my country's government has always placed importance on pragmatism since 1965 when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was still alive.
What I'm going to talk about is the reworked companions interface. Suffice to say, I love it. It's not just a good change, but rather an awesome tweak to an otherwise cumbersome companions switching system. Right now, you need to open your inventory, click on the companions tab, then hold+drag+place. It's a waste of time if you got like 6 idle companions or more. There are those who'd like to level up their idle comps for no reason at all (i.e. crazy people like me). Therefore, this awesome rework is an awesome gift for the chaotic neutral (again, I mean crazy people like me). For those who have a tendency to switch active comps, this is even better because that's where practicality comes in. I won't say do the switch in the middle of any fight, but I'd say it's easier to customise your anti-boss strategy upon reaching the final lap. At the very least, I'm sure your teammates won't scold you over a wee bit of time wasting as a result. And that's not considering the need to tweak the move set as well.
Note to self: Maybe I'll see how nice the black ice body armour looks on Arylos. The hands and feet actually looked nice on Cyrea the last time I checked. Gear preview ain't entirely useless even for a Singaporean like me.
Running Woman, Running DO
Cyrea Durothil is fast proving to be an accidental experiment made badass. When I first started out doing a Total Recall on her, I did a paragon switch just to see how good a DO can be. The scary fact is that once she went DO, there's no going back. Not ever. If Anointed Champion is more solo-friendly, then Divine Oracle is the reason why people would want your DC on their team. Just PM something like "DO with Terrifying Insight" and chances are that you'll get an invite. While this is purely a guess, I'm actually basing this guess on factual experience caused by a trait no sane Singaporean is ever known for. Trust me when I say I'm not exactly sanest Singaporean alive right now. Can you believe my schoolmates in Gan Eng Seng used to call me siao just because they're far saner unlike yours truly who is still much less sane?
So just last night, I was running Castle Never with 4 other alliance mates. Cyrea isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the dps shed. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only way you can create a dps DC is using Anointed Champion with Anointed Action plus dps-based gear. Running Castle Never was fun in the sense that as a sun elf, Cyrea got another trick up her mailed sleeve. 2% action points increment plus Tiamat set bonus. Coupled with every action points gain boons in the game so far and she went like... 10% action points gain bonus so far? I need to check whether I did a reroll on her action points gain for the artifact off-hand weapon.
At this point, I need to mention another thing: I decided to do another Germanic experiment by buying a Ring of Hellig for Arylos. This is to justify the fact that he's going to loan Cyrea his Ring of the Hunter +3. More than Arylos, Cyrea has a need for speed. Fast enough to run as one entire team because I realised, for some funny reason, that any team I've been part of always enjoy running ahead more oft than not. And I'm not talking about normal dungeons. In the odd event where I have to make the first move, however, my team always win. Even though it's not PvP. Weird if you're to ask me.
So the sun elf girl is moving fast enough like a running woman and... well, the raid was quite straightforward. With a ring borrowed from Arylos together with a Ring of Sudden Precision +4, the crit ended up at 50-51% per interval. Since the DC is a ranged class, it means pulling off a crit game is much safer than... say, doing the same as a TR or combat HR (since no trapper HR should ever be crazy enough to play melee in any raid instance. Not even yours truly). Coupled with my choice of Terrifying Insight and Prophetic Action, it means a more than decent survival game (after all, there's a tank and his name is Sir Green. Just don't ask me whether he's the real Bruce Banner).
The effect was especially telling during the Orcus fight. Whenever that pig demon (seriously, that's how Orcus looks like to me) did a room explosion, it's a case of 404 damage not found. As a result, Terrifying Insight kept plugging away. 20% damage increment on a 120 feet radius is no joke. Coupled with the fact that Orcus in CN is now far tankier and less damaging after the devs tweaked him, taking him down ended up becoming a case of faster than expected. Quite literally since I went like "huh?" when he went down to the floor like Demogorgon and Baphomet. Just to further demonstrate how insane the raid was, there were two party members entering the rift when Orcus activated it. In other words, it's three party members versus one Orcus with two party members versus one demonic rift. In every aspect, no one had a problem.
Note: Actually, part of myself said, "enter the rift". My tactical common sense prevailed, however. It's much better to have two members splitting off than to risk a wipe just because Orcus got 4 fellows going against while I have to contend with the fact that Cyrea's dps worth is far less than her buff-debuff worth. Moral of the story? DCs are NOT supposed to enter the rift unless the party got two of them. In this case, do the same three by two.
#killallspiders
In the same day, I ran the epic version of Temple of the Spider Queen. This time, it's a running man by the name of Myrreas. This is the kind of epic raid where you can easily survive a no-heal run, but not a no-tank run. Malakut once said in the alliance chat that he finished this one without a tank or healer. Granted this was way like before the first part of Chult (if I recall it correctly). But still, to do it prior to the major tweaking was an act of insanity in terms of accomplishment and the question of "why did you ever do that in the first place". Then again, Malakut was/is crazy enough to play like control wizard tank. I'd like to include the Gandalf multiclass meme, but then I suddenly remember a knight's oath sworn.
Long story short, running a no-tank run with a TR can be very testing at times. Thankfully, the one with the highest total item level was a control wizard who was most likely an oppressor. At least I guessed so since the elf was doing max stack freeze on a consistent basis. This gave Myrreas some much needed time to pull off a Duelist's Flurry whenever this happened. However, it must be stated that there were moments where I just went crazy and DF'ed a random drow without the CW police saying freeze. On a hindsight, that's the craziest thing I might have ever done so far as a gamer. Either that or my brain was half-asleep.
No matter what, the raid was all about Myrreas going 50-50 between Duelist's Flurry and Cloud of Steel. Under normal circumstances (read: having either a tank or both a tank and healer), Myrreas would be DF'ing any random drow (or spider as well for that matter) CC or no CC. The problem was... well, you've read it: 'tis a no-tank run. Without the DC, this raid would be effectively... well, unraidable. It's really that crazy.
Apart from the occasional hiccup where Myrreas had to be rez'ed twice, the raid went surprisingly well. Surprisingly well enough given three members were at a disadvantage where total item level was concerned. The part about EToS lies in high CC and dps (Grey Wolf Den is high dps and defensive stats while Cragmire Crypt is high on mob variety). If you're a TR, good luck because the devs nerfed the defense stat. Period. In other words, any hit from a random enemy can and will kill you. Considering the fact that Myrreas was the only melee member, it means quite a bit of challenge. Okay, maybe not that bad since Cloud of Steel deals progressive damage. But still, Myrreas ended up doing a 50-50 between DF and CoS.
The first rez was warranted during the first boss fight. One single swing of the sword and Myrreas needed a rez. This is definitely the kind of fight where having a tank means having an easier life. Sadly, my team didn't have one. Twas a dumb move, I'm sure of that. And I'm referring to myself, not the rest of my party.
The second rez was... well, long overdue. Against the final boss, I was dumb enough to dodge away from Syndryth in drider mode. I still do not know why I did that apart from my brain gone half-asleep. I mean assuming the spider laser really did fly home, Myrreas would still need a rez either way. That thing is a lock-on laser beam. This is NOT to say you can't avoid it. Actually, you can. But you'll need to enter stealth mode. Once your stealth metre is gone and you get targeted, however... well, that's fatality certified and confirmed prior to the execution. Which makes Shadowy Strike so useful. Maximising stealth chances is the only way for any TR to avoid being locked on by the spider beam. I should have used Shadowy Strike more sparingly (i.e. only using it when the spider beam was readied).
Note: When we arrived at the temple gates, I ended giving a strategy which no Singaporean could ever think up of. Simply put, all four ranged members engaged Syndryth at the front while I stabbed her repeatedly from behind. Granted I was talking about drider Syndryth instead of normal Syndryth, but... well, I have to say it worked. A seemingly risky strategy actually worked. I won't be surprised if a truly sane Singaporean would otherwise go like this black dude below.
Fangbreaker Island and the return of Spellplague Caverns
And now for Arylos. I remembered running my first Fangbreaker when mod 12 first came out. A much belated first attempt, I have to say. In fact, Malakut was utterly surprised to know the truth. Either way, all I can say is that the giants were experts in damage dealing. Physically, their level was too damn high. This definitely calls for a good tank and an equally good healer. In other words, this definitely calls for intelligent gamers. The moment the aggro grab broke, your party might as well restart the whole damn thing. You'll need an effective AoE buff-debuff game to make this count. This is taking into account the fact that you definitely need a tank and healer.
The first time Arylos fought the manticore boss was a disaster. Whatever you do, run to the back of the cliff first. Otherwise, the avalanche will shoot you over the edge. Which gives your party one less member. The avalanche will be the first thing coming out in the beginning of the fight, so please take note. The only/best way to kill the first boss would be to force its behind to the cliff. Once your party can do that, the fight will be easy (or at least much easier). If the avalanche is coming again, at least run to the back of the cliff (note that I never said to the edge of the cliff in case your English is worse than mine).
The dragon turtle was the same deal as the one in Sea of Moving Ice. Erm... sorta I guess. There's this geyser thing going on and getting shot by it is no joke. It won't injure you. Rather, it will kill you. When taking on that giant ninja turtle, please look out for the red circles. Once there's one below you, please get out of it. For dps, it should be easy since dashing means getting away faster (you need to time the braking correctly, though) while dodging give a brief invincibility window post-execution. The tank will need to aggro grab and move out of the way fast enough. Which is a bit of a challenge since tanks are not exactly known for being fast enough. If your tank is a guardian fighter with Into The Fray, please make sure he/she isn't dumb enough to try pulling it off when the red circles are below him/her. The 50-50 risk is not worth it since any fight with the tank gone means restart by default. Just move away. For one, ITF won't be whiffed for sure. Secondly, make every second count. Not to mention as well ITF does have a bit of start-up lag. Then you got the horn blowing and darkness ensues. Run around in circles because geyser blasts are on the way. Interestingly, doing an oak skin means a decent chance of surviving (if you're a HR, that is). If you got decent control resist, then it's not that bad (albeit it's alrdy bad enough). Otherwise, don't get hit. If a red cricle appears while you're moving, you got two options:
1. Dodge or dash while still moving. This works 100% of the time unless you mess up the timing in the most absurd way possible. In this case, it means you're a n00b.
2. If you cannot dash or dodge, then just keep moving. If the geyser hit you, you won't die. At the same time, the geyser won't strike twice at the same spot. Erm, at least not on a successive basis anyway.
The ninja turtle fight should be a rinse and repeat combat with plenty of mass protection/heal/buff/CC needed. In fact, your party will need at least either two out of the mass AoE options listed here. Ideally a mass protection-heal or mass protection-buff with the CC coming from one of the dps dealers (i.e. the mid-dps members because hdps isn't exactly the best CC option).
Once you reach the lady boss, that's where the interesting part comes. Assign the task to break the ice to a dps member who has a certified track record of surviving in open-world. A hdps alternative is also doable, but the risk is too much if you're to ask me. I mean imagine the big boss woman chasing you around like the Big Boss Man. Your party will be screwed because you'll be screwed first. This is one of those moments where a combat HR can (and will if he/she is good enough) easily become the hero of the moment. Just make sure the Rey Mysterio of your party has an effective AoE damage arsenal. And I'm not referring to the 619.
Note: Once the tell-tale sign pops up saying "the big boss woman is gonna do her blizzard slam!", please look for the nearest ice pillar to hide. So long the pillar is the only thing between you and the sea, you won't die. Otherwise, one shot fatality. At the same time, it means you shouldn't be destroying her towers of ice unless any member of your party gets trapped.
And now on Spellplague Caverns. I remember my alliance mates saying that one is more difficult than Fangbreaker. After running it once, I was like "you serious?"
Seriously, am I the only insane fellow who thinks Spellplague Caverns is easier than Fangbreaker once you get the mechanics right? Okay, perhaps it's an exaggeration. However, it must be noted that any party with at least 2 members having Aberrant Slaughter boon can easily clean the house of unnatural horrors. To make this work, however, please make sure your tank got Aberrant Power. For Arylos, it's a combo of AS and HR sigil activated. Ouch.
My party was truly unorthodox. It's a tag-team tanking setup. In name, there's no tank. The tag team comprises of a healadin (most likely a justice spec) and a tactician guardian fighter with Knight's Valor (note: Knight's Valor is a must for every decent guardian fighter, let alone a truly good one). Two members at the centre, one DC to maintain the buff and heal support, and two dps members to round off the damage. It's unorthodoxy at its finest and guess what? It worked. It really worked. That is so long the healadin and GF tactician stick together with a DC watching their backs. I was actually expecting a tougher fight, but apart from Kabal and Nostura, it's a walk in the park. So long Knight's Valor is spammed in order to draw aggro towards the super tanky duo, everything is easy. And I use present tense because... well, it's still workable I guess.
Ultimately, Aberrant Slaughter and Aberrant Power are the two most important boons ever. Without either (let alone both), your party will most likely have a harder time. This is because aberrant mobs are experts in AoE cluster bombing. Add to the fact that warping spellplagued wizards are the most annoying thing alive so far in the game and you'll need to kill the mob asap. Like the random drow mob in EToS, aberrant mobs are high on CC and dps. Which makes for a deadly overall cluster bombing for any party. Nostura's mother (nature) army is more about troll zerging with the dryads being the only ones behind the main ranks (please note the nothic steiner, though). As for Kabal's fire iron army... well, it's pure damage with little to no CC.
On the first glance, the two As are no big deal. However, an effective crowd clearing tactic matters. Even if it's only one-third of the equation. At the same time, aberrant mobs are, like I've said, masters of CC-dps. Which makes them the most dps'y enemies in an overall sense. Try eating damage while taking a stun-loop. I dare you.
Against Kabal, I died like a few times due to me not knowing the mechanics. However, some things would never change. Like the normal version in River District, the vault would either flood the arena at the edge or everywhere apart from the edge. Kabal will start the fight by standing in the middle. So what this means is that the magma flooding would cover the entire arena apart from the edge. Once this happens, get out of the fire asap and prepare to use the best healing potion in the game. Or at least please get a50x stack of potions of exalted healing. If possible, dash out of the fire. Otherwise, try dodging continuous in order to extend the invincibility window as long as possible.
This will be a fight where everyone must engage the aggro at the same area. Otherwise, Kabal won't come to you. And if Kabal doesn't get bombed by his own army, he's literally indestructible. Once his super armour gets blown up, just nail as much damage as possible. Giving away dps is the best way to do that since the damage tradeoff (i.e. your own dps vs the team's dps) is worth every power point. Melee damage dealers should cluster together (a mistake which I actually committed by not doing so). As for ranged damage dealers/healers, stay at a distance, but be prepared for the magma flooding. Also, this fight should be separated into two teams. One team in front, they're the melee. Another team behind, they're the ranged ones. Do NOT split the team in any other way unless you want a wipe.
Kabal will have three lives. Once he spent all three, it means he's officially expired. A tricky part of the fight lies in the chains snaring you. If you don't know how the damn system work, you're most likely damned. Even if you tried going towards the centre (because following the law of physics at work will most likely mean one-shot fatality), your role will be effectively screwed because you won't be doing anything else apart from defying the most obvious law of physics. Try pulling your chain towards the stationary ball of fire at the centre. There's way more than one of them, so you should be able to break free by touching the chain with the nearest fireball. If the tank gets caught (basically something that will be happening if he/she is doing the right thing), then just keep calm and grab aggro. So long the tank is deployed near the stationary fireball, it should be easy. And besides, the empty hole you see surrounding the anvil... yeah, that's where the fireballs will pop up.
Nothic boss was much easier after Kelly (i.e. the DC) explained the mechanics to me. The thing with the steiner boss is this: It's the same push-back thing its manticore BFF would do in Fangbreaker. However, the push-back speed is most likely way faster. Party deployment should be the same as the Kabal fight, but the ranged members must be fast enough to dodge forward to the centre. This may be quite tricky for the DC for a reason. It's either you get pushed off the edge or you eat a ground slam. With proper protection and healing, this shouldn't be a problem. However, this requires timing of execution. You can only pull off one move once the red zone comes, so try doing Astral Shield spam with an effective healing spell focused at the centre. Once the orange eye appears, just run behind asap. It will only either pull off the stoning eye or the dual AoE shock.
Once its HP nears zero, that's where the dangerous part comes. Instead of doing a dual AoE shock, it will just do a push-back. The law of physics at work will ensure you'll fly off from the face of the Earth itself. Quite literally. It's like comparing the speed of a Singaporean MRT train and a bullet train in Japan or China. It's a no-contest, so better start dodging. Not continuously lest a stamina burn renders your efforts useless, but rather doing a dodge with a few seconds interval in between.
Off to the last zone. That is, Nostura. Before we reached he, we had to deal with her mother (nature) army. For some reason, the healadin-tactician tandem was broken. One guy went too far ahead and the entire party wiped as a result. That was apart from him. I tried typing the correct strategy. And guess what? I died as a result. Thankfully, I managed to get my message across (i.e. GF and OP please stick together). The paranoid freak in me ended up suspecting that my team was trying to grief me 4 teh lolz. It's like suspecting whether BoA's newest song Nega Dola was about me. Ofc the key word here is paranoid. However, this doesn't explain why my team decided to aggro pull mob after mob towards the final campfire where in fact this was the dumbest thing any party could ever do at this point. Seriously, I didn't know what's going on. I mean my party, not Nega Dola.
Against Nostura, I was informed of one thing: If you get cursed, please get yourself stoned. While it'd result in getting stoned, at least your curse would be removed as a result. Thic makes tanking easier. The reason why being that so long Nostura is facing the front, only those at the front will get stoned. And because of this, the ones in front have the highest chance to get cursed. So the strategy is much more straightforward than one might imagine.
Once she phases into her Neverland (i.e. the real version done by J.M Barrie, not the other real-life version), there will be portals encircled by rocks/stones. Enter the correct one and portals looking like Sauron's eye will pop up. Cover ALL the portals asap once this happens. In fact, the correct stone portal MUST be entered asap. There's some sort of bomb timer where failure to make it on time means getting bombed. Either you die in the first blast or the subsequent blast(s) will make sure of that. Once Sauron's eyes pop up, it's better for the party to split and cover. Once Nostura is engaged in her Neverland, someone needs to take care of the tentacles. If every party member has been phased into her Neverland, then it's more difficult to kill the tentacles. If any member of the party fails to enter a Sauron's eye on time, yet the party is still able to take her on, then the odd one out will be outside of the Neverland boundary. This is where the odd fellow can proceed to kill the tentacles because they don't have Nostura's planar immunity. Just make sure that odd one out isn't a tank or healer. The party will be screwed.
To finish the fight asap, the planar tears must be killed. For some reason, this part was bugged last time I ran it. There would be times where the tears wouldn't eat damage. However, there's a way to kill them. To do so, Nostura must be engaged near any of them. Once this is done, the planar tears can be destroyed. And how did I know it? By noticing Nostura fighting near a planar tear and the fact that the planar tears could be damaged thereafter.
Lastly but not the least, there's her final shot. There's no way to avoid it by my guess. Either you kill her fast enough or her last-ditch nuclear bomb will kill everyone. However, it must also be noted that those with higher defense (most notably tanks) are able to survive the attack and kill Mother Nature Nostura herself.
Note: Using Seismic Shot has never been more fun even for a combat HR. Due to consistent aggro grabbing for 90% of the raid, half of my daily powers were spent on SS. Also, the final campfire should be seen as the best spot for ranged sniping once the last mob got pulled towards the tank (i.e. away from the campfire).
Note: Using Seismic Shot has never been more fun even for a combat HR. Due to consistent aggro grabbing for 90% of the raid, half of my daily powers were spent on SS. Also, the final campfire should be seen as the best spot for ranged sniping once the last mob got pulled towards the tank (i.e. away from the campfire).
Add Note: Damage over time is an effective means against Nostura even though DoT in any raid can easily result in damage giveaway. Again, the Rule of Equivalent Trade applies, Sounds familiar?
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