Never my people and never my god (quoted by Arylos)

I recently realised something... well, funny for the lack of a better word. In this post, I should have thrown in this song below instead of the Ciri fight scene (and together with it, two vids of Geralt).

Now don't get me wrong. The only reason why I made... well, the wrong reason was that I chose to bind myself under a knight's oath like some bastard son of Gawain. So no, it got nothing to do with liberals and feminism. I have Facebook when it comes to airing the more serious stuff, but definitely not this blog. Hence, there's no need to disturb AWARE over this. In fact, I tend to judge songs based on the tune and the relevance of the lyrics to the related plot. That's all. Which is why I don't base my preference on genre and names.

At this point in time, by upping the video, it means I have officially broken my oath. Or released from it. Or whatever. Since this post about OmuRice, I might as well up this image for fun.

Note: Will we see the likes of Park "definitely a better Choi-Park than the previous Choi-Park" Shin-hye and Aragaki "#TeamGaki but not this #TeamGaki" Yui for the next campaign?

[http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Kara-Tur]

Before I start...

Since I've decided to do some writeup on whatever gameplay ideas in my head, I might as well up the image above here. This part will be really brief, though.

Rolling the D20:

In pen and paper, you live and die by the D20. Or whatever you wanna call a 20 sided die. In combat, encounter powers will be executed on a random basis per every 20 seconds with each such power having its own cooldown period. What this means is that any encounter power can be used. However, which one will be triggered depends on the rng. In other words, every encounter power is usable. Which in turn results in the power tray interface becoming redundant. When it comes to the random execution rule, standard attacks and at-will powers will not be affected (i.e. you can pull them off as many times you want without the rng and cooldown).

During combat, two dice will be in play. The first die is called the hit die. The number rolled is an indication of how much damage is dealt. If the die score is 20, then it's counted as a critical hit. A critical hit deals twice the maximum damage possible. Why I say "maximum damage possible" instead of just "maximum damage" is because of AC. Armor class is a universal right given to characters, allies and enemies. This universal right indicates damage resistance. While the most common source of armor class is the gear, other sources of AC are also available in the form of feats, powers, and consumables. However, it must also be noted that the hit die also applies to buffs and heals. In this case, only the die score counts.

For daily powers, they can only be triggered once the character's hit points drop below 50%. For every such moment in combat, a daily power will be triggered. Like encounter powers, each daily power will have its own cooldown period.

The second die in play is the save die. This indicates three types of saves: Fortitude, Will, and Reflex. Fortitude affects the duration of any debuff from physical sources while Will saves affect debuff effects from magical sources. As for Reflex saves, they affect damage taken from area attacks.

Note: I need to sit down and brainstorm the part on spell preparation and how to incorporate magic usage into the above combat system.

I might have discovered the... well, magic formula

Definitely not literally because I don't believe in magic when it comes to real life (let alone things like tarot cards and ouija boards). In fact, I won't be surprised if my gaming design ideas above will have to be shelved for a reason. I'm not going to tell you the reason, but let's just say the possibility is very real. I do have an individualistic streak (albeit a tempered one), but it doesn't mean I don't have a brain. In fact, I have to admit doing my own stuff is a better option as I can have the total say on what to add and what not to put in.

Enough about the digressing. Let's get back to the tactical formula. Ever tried pairing Aspect of the pack with Twin-Blade Storm if you're running the game as a combat stormwarden? Recently, I discovered that this may well be the best combination. More specifically my ideal combination. To make this work, however, I need to do one thing. And that to get the correct roll where the off-hand artifact weapon is concerned. As it turned out, it's Aspect of the Pack. There's no point rolling for a Twin-Blade Storm since it would create an imbalance between single-target dps and multi-target dps.

Now, all that is needed is to get the main hand pioneer weapon since I already got the off-hand one.

Which now comes to...

...the fact that pairing the off-hand pioneer with the main hand aboleth might just be the revelation of the moment for me. Originally, I assumed the damage caused by the aboleth set bonus should result in a higher overall damage. Then I decided to experiment like an Edison. Surprisingly, the damage was actually better. To test this out, I need to test-run it via a raiding instance. It cannot be too easy, though. So Master of the Hunt and Dread Legion were out of the equation. The best way to test-run this was Merchant Prince's Folly since it's the hardest non-epic raid available in-game. Suffice to say, the experiment was proven a success. For whatever reason since there's no set bonus in play.

So what might be the kingmaker factor here? Aboleth set bonus triggers a 4% damage bonus upon proc. Going by the power maths, that should be like +1600 power (i.e. 400 power=1% bonus damage). So to make sense out of the apparent anomaly, the only stats which can make difference should be power and crit. Coupled with the fact that Arylos' raiding loadout includes Skirmisher's Gambit at rank 5, it means an effective power-crit synergy numbers wise was quite likely the reason. If not, then how would such an otherwise half-baked combination rack up enough damage to overcome the so-called 1600 power bonus? Also, it must be stated that before doing the gear switch, I made sure the off-hand pioneer weapon was already upped to epic.

Imagine what may happen once I get the main hand pioneer weapon. And by that, I mean also upping it to epic.

Note: Right now, my immediate aim is to up the main hand pioneer to epic with the off-hand maxed out at legendary. This is because only the off-hand weapon damage is accounted for when it comes to melee damage. Any off-hand weapon for the HR is definitely much lower than that of the main-hand. Using a combat HR is still fun, though. At least you know the importance of using buffs/debuffs/both together with the dps end. Definitely not a hdps build, but decent enough to run raids like Tomb of the Nine Gods and epic Spellplague due to more reliance on dps buffing while trying to keep everyone alive. Just use Oak Skin. No melee HR can ever survive without that.

Add note: For some funny reason, the off-hand pioneer weapon(s) resembles(?) Kanshou and Bakuya.

Correct progression?

Right now, I need to do two things: Get the full pioneer set and qualifying myself for the tier 1 Omu hunts. Initially, I was hesitant in going solo against 1-star hunts due to pragmatism. That plus the rng for the better loot isn't exactly the BFF of... well, 99% of the instance server population. Thanks to whoever at the NWO blog, I decided that it's time for me to start burning the life scrolls because I deemed them surplus anyway. At this point in time, I'm planning 4 hunting trips. One at Soshenstar (i.e. Spli-Ti) and three at Omu.

Unlike what is written on the blog, my personal preference lies in getting the pioneer set first. Afterwards, it's 1-star hunt and middle path progression. While the pioneer set is inferior to the primal weapons obtainable in Cradle of the Marshmallow Dude. When it comes to dps, I'm pretty sure pioneer set trumps the lower level sets (not sure of this if we're to compare it to the relic set due to a 10% damage jump that is equivalent to 4000 power). Either way, pioneer set should be a decent option until you get the primal version. If we're to see this from a 5 member raid, it means you're effectively given 1000 power bonus (together with 1000 increase in armor penetration, crit, and recovery). While not the most ideal for the dps (or in Grazilaxx's own words, this is sub-optimal), it should be quite okay for hybrid dps builds like any combat HR, scoundrel TR, and oppressor CW.

Unless something happens, I'll most likely be running Fane of the Night Serpent only after I obtain the gloves and body armor gear from Makos' weapon store (because that's what it exactly is). Not to mention all the boons as well.

Which boons to get?

Right now, I put 3 points into Overgrown and 1 point into Impenetrable Jungle for open world. This is to create a balance between multi-target and single target boss fights. The problem with the final Chult boons is that any dps boon is quite literally a multi-target boon. Which makes single target fights a bit tricky. Then again, duelling isn't exactly the hardest part of the game. At this point in time, I'm sticking with Aspect of the Pack and Twin-Blade Storm. Basically the same stuff as the raiding loadout. At the same time, running solo with a cat means you're effectively fighting solo instead of the standard leader/defender/striker/controller format. Since I've invested so much into getting a legendary cat, I might as well stick with that legendary critter all the way. To make Impenetrable Jungle worth the point, I opted for Aberrant Power to pull off a boon stack. By now, it should be clear for all to see that boons are never meant to operate on a standalone basis. Rather, an effective boon synergy is the difference between a shrewd player and a... well, n00b. This is also the reason why I opted for another boon stack in the form of Frozen Reflection and Fey Thistle when it comes to open world.

Unless something crops up, my plan for the Consecrated Harrier loadout (i.e. open world loadout) should be a maxed out Overgrown and a maxed out Fight Not Flight. This is to maximize the efficiency of the Impenetrable-Aberrant and Frozen-Fey synergies respectively. Wait, the whole sentence sounds weird... okay, never mind that paranoia of mine.

For Sword of Kelemvor (i.e. raiding loadout), currently it's 1 point each for Tyrant's Terror, Shamanic Grace, and Overgrown with Soul Syphon as the final boon (note: this boon should be the BFF of every mid-dps build due chances of high AoE damage dealt in any high-end raid. Lingering Curse for hdps imo). Upon doing all the Omu boons, it should look like a maxed out Tyrant's Terror, rank 1 Shamanic Grace, and rank 2 Overgrown. This is to create a balance between survival value and dps value. And trust me when I say the HR has the worst press-Shift game. Like ever. Note that Shamanic Grace does give the highest HP out of all the boons in-game, not just in Chult. Coupled with Oak Skin increasing the defense, it means a better overall defensive game. Hopefully, that is.

For the final boon point, I'm of two minds in one spot. On one hand, putting 2 points in any final boon reads like less of a common sense choice than throwing 3 points into the final Tyranny of Dragons boon of your choice. The increment number wise doesn't look good at all. Mediocre should be the correct word if you're to ask me. For Consecrated Harrier, I'd say Soul Syphon. For Sword of Kelemvor, it's a 50-50 between Death's Blessing and Lingering Curse. See what I mean when I say two minds in one spot?

The correct order of questing?

For those still with mid-tier gear (i.e. any gear with level of 440 to 460), it's advisable/compulsory to get your ideal Makos/Eku gear. My recommendation is very simple: For defensive gear, go with Eku. For dps gear, go with Makos. In particular, the gloves and body armor you get from Makos' stash do pack a punch in the dps dept, be it effect or stats. The boots are good for the stand-and-dps artillery approach. For Eku, the only gear of note would be the Boots of Drafting for the dps end. The reason why being that so long you're not the slowest person in the group, you get to run faster like a Korean running man. Compared to the boots from Makos' stash, it's definitely much more melee friendly. All the great weapon fighters and scourge warlocks would like it, I'm sure. Move faster=dash faster=dash shorter. The gloves you can buy from Eku's warehouse, however, is... well, dodgy I guess. If your tank has got nothing better than a pilgrim arms slot gear, then you can consider it. Otherwise, you have to decide whether the 200 power per ally bonus for pioneer gear is worth the decision to burn 25 Eku's favor for that thing. It does give crit, though.

When you start taking jobs from the NPCs (because that's how MMOs reflect real-life), getting the right job means approaching the right NPC. Because getting the daily lich's lore quest item is a must (unless you have no need for the Makos/Eku gear), it's advisable to take holy dwarf's offer first instead of the old catwoman beside him. Once you enter Omu, only two NPCs are available in terms of offering you a job. Namely, the holy dwarf and the old catwoman. Don't take the old catwoman's offer first because if you complete her tablet quest first, you'll have to make a longer trip to get a lich's lore from any Thayan wizard in the West Undercity map. At the same time, tablet hunting can take a long time since your job is not to retrieve tablets with ancient Hebrew text. That type of stone tablet comes only in a pair, not five in a series. Of course you can try finishing the tablet quest via getting 2-3 of those in the West Undercity zone. However, this option should be for those more familiar with the map. If you have trouble navigating the ruins of Omu in order to take down that dead Rex walking, then it means you're better off taking the easier path instead of the shorter path.

To summarize the shorter path here:

Grab the heist job from old catwoman>get some tablets in West Undercity zone>kill all Thayans>get the lich lore>get all 5 tablets>turn in 2 quests in a go.

This is the longer albeit the easier path:

Grab your extermination order from the holy order dwarf>execute the extermination order>turn in the quest>agree to Eku's proposal to woo three gods out of any nine>go to West Undercity because one of the gods is there>kill all Thayans>grab lore>finish Eku's quest>turn in 2 quests in a go.

Note: West Undercity contains a shrine with four pits at the four corners of the altar. This fight calls for fighting smart instead of trying a dodge spam. The red wizards will always pull off a fireball blast which can easily toss you off into dead man's land. Stay put and try not to move from one side to another. So long the fireblast doesn't get you, you're safe. You'll need an effective AoE offense to make it count, though.

Add note: Take out the Thayan knights on both sides of the entrance before engaging the wizards. This is to ensure you won't catch the aggro. If the Thayan knights start running down, please run away asap from the altar platform. A single shield smash can toss you off into dead man's land. Also, try fighting the Thayan knights with your back against a solid wall in order to minimize the risk of a fatal pitfall.

Gonna end this on a...

...high? Or legal high? Well, whatever. So far so good, the overall difficulty level in Omu is decently okay. When the mod first came out, the AI was surprisingly easy. Apparently, the devs had to mobilize their mod squad. Yes, you've guessed it right. The mod squad has only one job and that is to make things (i.e. life) more challenging for the gamers. The damage, I believe, has been upped. Although it's nothing more than a mere inconvenience. The defensive end of things is where the difference made its call. It's harder to kill stuff now. Which makes you wonder how difficult it will be to clear the Fane of the Night Serpent.

Which now comes to two types of critters. You got Harambe's BFFs and the occasional other Rex. On Harambe's BFF squad, they can be... well, either annoying (if you're good enough) or outright lethal (if you're not good enough). Dealing with the ape squad requires getting out of the way once you take them on. Don't ever try to nail the first hit. Because they will be the ones striking first, not you. As a matter of fact, their favorite leisure activity is jumping.

You're the red guy, the rest belong to Harambe's BFF squad.

Either shield first or dodge first. Otherwise, dash away first. The primate jump can take out like around 1/4 of your HP. And I'm not about to test and see whether it'd result in getting knocked down. Another favorite move from them is a single fist that will knock you backwards. Even with a decent to good control resist, it'd take like a few seconds for you to recover from the prone status. So once you get nailed by a monkey's fist, just try moving into the nearest open space. Engaging them in constrict space is never a preferable option. However, I actually did one crazy trick. And that is taking them on in a constricted space, after which I finished them off in a nearby open space. I won't say all the time, but at times (please note that open space in Omu tends to be available at a premium). Once you take the mob down till the very last gorilla, it should be easy. Even if you stand and get hit, so long it's not a prone hit, you can just stand, fight, and win. Just make sure you got your healing potion on standby.

As for the two living Rexes, please note that only one is the hunt mark type. And that is the blue one. The red one is a normal Rex. This is very important due to the first weekly Omu quest requiring a hunt mark kill. Otherwise, both look the same apart from the color. And both fight the same apart from... well, the color. I'm not sure if the blue one has better defensive stats, though.

It must be noted that only the Rexes and Harambe's BFF squad are the ones notably harder to kill with the newly adjusted difficulty level in place.

Lastly, I just need to say something about the House of Buaya. When I say buaya, I don't mean the ones ogling at bikini-clad girls in Siloso Beach (if I've accidentally offended any girl working in SGH, be she an ex-employee or current employee, I apologize). More specifically, the living buaya in that temple is actually an ular (i.e. the most annoying creature known as a yuan-ti). Seriously, this ular is challenging in the sense that a solo fight would always result in a prolonged duel in an enclosed arena. It's like fighting a hulking gladiator with lions and bear released as his allies on a fixed interval. Effectively a case of virtual reality in the Colosseum. High defensive stats with an annoying preference to do an AoE attack like once every half a bloody minute. This is a fight that will guarantee a stamina burn every now and then. Make sure you have a card in hand in case you get yourself into a potentially sticky situation. At the same time, please be prepared for the occasional purple skull halo above your head. For me, it's always an Oak Skin. Press Shift and move fast. There's this one attack where the ular will teleport to the middle of the arena. This is to prepare a nuke spanning half the arena. For dashers, it should be easy in terms of covering the ground to the other side. Otherwise, please run to the other side while dodging forward at intervals. I don't want to find out what happens if the nuke got released. For some funny reason, I always end up on the correct side instead of the other side whenever the ular teleported. In other words, the ular never nuked me even once. Won't be surprised if the mod squad will rectify this after I up this post.

P.S: The (verbal) usage of legal high was inspired by the Japanese even though I'm pretty sure Abenomics will never tolerate the presence of cannabis in the same way Imam Zul is anti-ganja.

Gonna try something here (not the omurice)

Before I get started, let me just say that I've started doing this post like 2-3 weeks ago with some of my Omurice views here and there. However, I decided that maybe I should have a hand in video analysis. It's not exactly a case of VAR. But still, video analysis is fun. Or at least I guess so.

Before I start, however...

I realised something... well, weird. As a monocultural nation, you don't expect Japan and/or South Korea to have anyone saying "hi" to my website. Yes, I did include the Google translate option (just don't ask me how efficient because I can't be bothered to find that out). But when it's monocultural, you can be very sure it's really monocultural.

This was last week.

This was yesterday

I don't want to speculate why (let alone whether the likes of BoA and Park "why always Park?" Shin-hye does consider themselves gamers like Jaedong).

Spoiler: Both Flash and Jaedong share the same surname as that Samsung guy. 

I still find it amusing, though. I mean, you don't expect South Koreans to speak English instead of their native Korean tongue. If you don't know what this means, go understand a wee bit of sociology.

Note: Kids, your role models shouldn't be people and things you don't know. I'm pretty sure this had spread to the correct half of the Korean Peninsula.

404 raid success not found

A couple of days ago or so, I went for another round of epic Spellplague. This time around, I failed to clear the second boss.

The people in NWO did an article on Spellplague N ages ago, so I just need to list down my observations Basically, my analysis will focus on four aspects. Namely, the mob, Kabal, the steiner, and Nostura. At the same time, please ignore whatever relevant stuff you read here.

Mob tactics in this game tend to be very one dimensional. The close combat ones would play zerg while the ranged ones would stay behind. As a result, it's very easy to deal with any given mob under the standard 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 dps standard format. However, it also means any mob can maximise the damage dealt in the shortest way possible. At the same time, taking out the artillery first isn't that easy since any epic raid instance would involve the AI having very high defensive stats (Grey Wolf Den, in particular, involves physical hard hitters with stormcallers being the most annoying artillery one can get in end-game). Which makes taking out the archers a viable aspect of the gameplay since the damage stacking would be reduced. Not to mention as well archers tend to die the fastest. In any party without a TR, taking out archers can be tricky since dealing with any mob requires the dps to be concentrated in one area. TRs tend to excel in single target damage with AoE attacks as support. As such, all you need is to throw in an AoE attack or two to soften the mob, after which you can just take a short detour to take out the archers. Two things done in a go. If we're talking about stormcallers, then Cloud of Steel plus either Smoke Bomb or Path of Blades.

In Spellplague, it's the same. However, the fight would most likely be littered with AoE minefields, no matter whose army your party gets to fight. This is a raid where you'd need two buffers and a tank to perform well. This is not to say the standard 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 dps party format won't work. Rather, the standard format would pose a challenge in staying alive due to an insanely high mob damage. In fact, any raids of the highest end would most likely require more buffers and less dps (Fangbreaker is another classic example of this end-game logic). So long you have a DO pulling off Terrifying Insight with Hallowed Ground spam, the raid would be made easier. Trust me when I say while HG is now less spammable, it remains as the most spammable move in any DC's arsenal. Ofc you can try the raid with an AC as your party cleric. AC clerics tend to have better survival game and survival is very important to any DC in the party. Anointed Armor goes well with either Anointed Action (survival and dps), Light of Divinity (mass heal), and Hastening Light (less cooldown=better party damage). Blessing of Battle is also good, but DO remains one of, if not the best, party buffer with the major drawback being DOs having a higher risk of death than the AC (unless the AC is dumb enough not to use a rank 4 Anointed Armor).

For melee dps (apart from great weapon fighters), Spellplague presents a great challenge. The presence of multiple AoE bombing means one thing: You can't just go in there, whack the opposition, and hope to survive by not getting out. Ranged dps characters won't have it hard so long the tank is good enough and their attack range is long enough, but TRs and combat HRs would end up with a massive handicap as such players would have to get out of the way more often than not. GWFs have Unstoppable, but you don't get to see an unstoppable TR or HR in the same way you don't expect Gambit, Nightcrawler, or even Deadpool for that matter to fight like Juggernaut. If you're wanting to raid Spellplague as a TR, please make sure you have either Smoke Bomb (for CC) or Path of Blades (for AoE support damage) together with Cloud of Steel. If you're a combat HR, please come up with either an effective buff-dps game or an equally effective CC-dps approach. If possible at all, try including all three. Unlike any TR, combat HRs are able to hold their own when it comes to the triple approach strategy. Go with Oak Skin as it boosts both your survival chances and that of the entire party. Even if there is an effective tank-healing in your party, there's a need to keep the healer alive so that the tank can stay alive. This is especially important given that DCs now have their defense stat nerfed (basically the same story as the TR nerf). If the DC is a DO, then that's even more important. If you're a trapper, however, go with Hawkeye in order to create an effective stance switch game (i.e. stance switch>Hawkeye>Disruptive Shot bazooka>go back to ranged mode and keep opening fire). A dps based Aspect of the Serpent build is also viable, but the fact remains that the HR does have the worst dodge game. Like ever.

I personally find Fox's Shift to be quite effective. However, CC from this move is not enough as the combat HR is still primarily a dps build. Which now comes to Seeker's Vengeance. I know a lot of gamers may say this is a useless class feature, but that's because a consistent attack-from-behind game is needed to make this class feature worth its 4 ranks. No other move can do this job nicely like Fox's Shift. This is because whenever this move hits twice on any target, one hit can easily land at the front and the other hit landing from behind. In fact, the cooldown of this move is an indication of successful proc per every X seconds where X refers to the cooldown. By itself, it's not a big deal. If you can unlock the off-hand artifact weapon power for SV, the damage over time can go a long way. Not just in any epic raid, but more importantly raids like Spellplague where only great weapon fighters are able to stand their ground and fight as the melee dps. If you're a pathfinder, set your off-hand artifact weapon power to Aspect of the Pack instead as the PF doesn't have many options in terms of damage dealing. If you're a stormwarden, then the equation should be easy: Twin-Blade Storm with your artifact weapon power set at Seeker's Vengeance.

At this point in time, let me give an advice to any TR or combat HR crazy enough to run epic Spellplague: Damage over time is your BFF here. Without an effective DoT, your dps is as good as zero due to the cluster bombing preventing you from sustaining the damage dealing. For any TR, it should be Cloud of Steel due to its accumulative damage. Also, please engage whoever is the one behind in charge of the artillery while pulling off AoE attacks on the mobs.

Against Kabal, I realised one thing: To grab the fireball and use it on him, you'll need to connect the chain to the ball. In other words, there should be two types of fireballs. The first type is used to melt the chain. The other is used to blast open Kabal's super armor. It should be easy to know which one is which. If the chain doesn't break, then it means you can use the fireball against Kabal (just make sure the fireball doesn't get you first). Otherwise, just deal with the adds after the chain breaks. Once you get how the fireball mechanic is being done, dealing with Kabal should be easy. That is provided you got a guardian fighter-healer combo (note: Knight's Valor is a must) or a tankadin (note: tankadins are good for solo tanking, so please plan accordingly since tankadins have some challenges in maintaining aggro-grab beyond using Aura of Radiance).

Against the steiner mid-boss, just stand outside the reddest circle. Once it decided to pull off a mega AoE attack, there should be either a massive red circle or one redder circle inside a bigger (not so) red circle. The former is easy to deal with. Hulk Smash, but no one will die if decent mass-protection is done. Yes, it will prone everyone within range, so get your control resist ready if possible. Either that or please have Oppressor's Reprieve ready. For the latter, just don't stand far away from the boss. If my guess is right, there should only be one redder circle. Standing just outside its edge should result in a lesser pushback compared to anywhere else beyond the circle. However, this also means only 1-2 party members can afford to position themselves this way. Let the tank have it first followed by the melee damage dealers. As for the ranged members (DCs and the rest), just dodge (or dash for that matter) towards the boss. So you don't end up standing in the wrong circle, all you need is to move forward once the law of physics gets triggered. Spellplague is definitely a raid where you can't do without a tank. In other words, the redder circle should appear closer to the boss if things go right.

Against Nostura, just a few things to note. Once the stonehenge portals open, Nostura will trigger a high damage move which is the nearest thing to an offensive Taepodong. Suffice to say, Nostura is nowhere to be seen at this stage. However, the interval nuking won't just stop at a single blast. The eyes of Sauron must be passed through asap. Tanks and great weapon fighters should just go ahead since they're pretty much the most durable members of any party. As for the rest, make sure they stay within the healer's range. If you have a combat HR using Oak Skin, it means one more member being able to split off so that passing through the eyes of Sauron can be made faster (i.e. easier). Please note that any buff done by the HR has an insane reach. So long the allies are within eyeshot, there's no such thing as reach limitation.

Once all the eyes of Sauron have been passed through, Nostura is officially fightable again. At this point in time, it's better for her to baited towards a planar tear (or whatever you wanna call that blue piece of fire on the ground). One personal observation I've made during my first Spellplague run was that any blue piece of fire has a chance of being damage-immune. On the first glance, it's a bug. A glitch like how any party can exploit against Traven Blackdagger in epic Cragmire Crypts. However, this may possibly be a tactical mechanic since the devs would review the game difficulty at certain intervals (something which was already done during mod 7). Either way, try getting Nostura near any blue piece of fire (read: the nearest one, okay?). Once your party manage to pull it off, every blue piece of fire should lose its damage immunity.

One thing of note is that if any party member fails to enter even one eye of Sauron, that fellow would be effectively locked out from Nostura's Feywild zone. However, this doesn't mean nothing should be done where that odd one out is concerned. In this case of tactical friendzone, the outsider (I'm making this sounds like a yeth hound) should target the tentacles. Being tactically friendzoned doesn't mean you can't impress the Khaleesi (or whoever is your party leader since I'm sure Emilia "404 Jon and Daario not found" Clarke won't have the time to play MMOs). Just kill the Japanese tentacles because those things won't get you. Like ever. Use the rules to your favor if you can't do anything about them. Don't laugh. I got tactically friendzoned before and that's how I proved myself to be more useful than Jorah Mormont. I'm not someone who would stand there and do nothing if nothing can be seemingly done. Unless of course there's really nothing to be done, that is.

Then you have the moment where the ritual goes haywire. The same thing applies where the blue pieces of fire are concerned (but no stonehenge portals). In this case, the party can afford to move as one in a single direction since there's no point risking death by splitting up the party (read: Nostura will just do another Taepodong albeit a faster one). If possible, the DC should pull off a Hallowed Ground. Otherwise, do an Astral Shield near the edge where the blue pieces of fire are situated. Beyond an effective mass-protection and mass-heal game, there's nothing any party can do without getting wiped. Which means the healer cannot die (read: the correct way to create a healer lies in an effective buff game rather than going for a pure heal faithful DC or a pure light Healadin). Whether Knight's Valor can negate the nuke is beyond my knowledge because I don't have a guardian fighter as my alt.

Once your party manage to navigate things this far, killing the boss should be much easier than the previous two-thirds of the fight. However, Nostura is capable of doing a Thanato gambit. Once her HP drops to the lowest point possible, she will do something like a last-ditch Taepodong. This move can easily kill just about any party member apart from the tank. The only way to prevent this from happening is to ensure Nostura dies before she sets off her bomb. This is where damage over time comes into the picture since it can stack very well with direct high-end damage.

Note: It seems that Nostura would always curse those facing her just like how her steiner eye works. This makes tank healing and protecting even more important. So long your healer stays at the side instead of the front, things should be safe. Just don't get me started on the yuan-ti. That thing is super annoying since circling around the eye won't guarantee the attack will miss. Pulling off a William Tell has never been so crazy before.

Current changes and how I may end up approaching the raid

I spent 116K+ worth of astral diamonds to rejig Arylos' feats and boons for the raiding loadout. I ended up doing 4 key changes.

1. I maxed out Battlewise (6% reduced threat).

2. I opted 1 pt for Titan's Affinity and 1 pt for Chill of Winter instead of two pts for the latter.

3. I allocated 1 pt each for Tyrant's Terror, Shamanic Grace, and Overgrown.

4. Instead of Death's Blessing, I now opted for Soul Syphon.

On the offensive slots, I decided to focus on azures and a couple of brutals instead of brutals and radiants. As for the class features, I've officially switched the artifact class feature buff to Aspect of the Pack instead of Seeker's Vengeance with Blade Storm as the second class feature.

The reason why is that I'm now going for a more crit-based build. The problem with too much power is never about being corrupted (after all, this is a fictional game, not real-life politics). Rather, the damage return for power does scale down as the power rating gets bigger. This is to ensure critical hits and armor penetration do have a major role to play instead of... well, absolute power. If your guild doesn't have barracks, it means you're better off slotting radiant in every offensive slot. Otherwise, you may need to start thinking whether 30K power or so should be the correct cap. Arylos now got like 31K power. This is taking into account the post-enchantment switch. This is a number which I felt more comfortable with. With the radiant enchantments (all on rank 9) in the defensive slots, it's a case of higher HP and lower defense. With Assassin's Covenant still a choice in my active mount insignia bonuses, what it means is that the power bonus given by AC is officially reduced. However, there's a catch in this equation: I have Oak Skin. This encounter power is a must for ever combat HR. Not only does it give a decent defensive-heal over time boost to every party member in a single area (something which only a HR can do buff-wise), it's also a life-saver. You can try running through any epic without it, but you're most likely screwed if your party decided to do a speedrun. Seriously, there was one time where no one told me the party was about to speedrun epic Grey Wolf Den. Miraculously, someone died in the process while I managed to survive. As the last man running behind, no less. It was crazy to see that despite circumstances stacked against me (note that every single critter in this raid, half or full, can deal insane damage with the half-critters having high mobility and good defense for an unarmored mob). If not for a combination of healing potion, stone of health, healing potion guild boon, and Oak Skin, I'd have died at least twice or thrice. In fact, this was the reason why I decided to do a feat- boon respec (read: Titan's Affinity).

For Soul Syphon, I need to have better dps. Even though the combat HR is still counted as a dps build, it must be stated that it's still considered a mid-tier dps. Hence, buffing and CC are more important compared to the dps. Seriously, you think a thaumaturge CW, executioner TR, or even a saboteur TR would deal less damage? Soul Syphon adds some much-needed muscle. But to make that thing work, I may need more HP regeneration. This is where Shamanic Grace. With a higher HP per rank together with the fact that this is a HP regen boon, I can strike a better balance between defense and offense. Which is definitely the hardest thing to do for any combat HR unless Oak Skin is factored in (some may even say impossible at all due to poor dodge distance and high mob damage in any epic raid).

Concerning the switch in class features, it means more of a stand-and-fight approach. Something which shouldn't be problematic in any raid so long Oak Skin is active. In Spellplague Caverns, however, this may prove to be a bit dodgy. Most likely I'll favor taking on the artillery with Plant Growth triggered on the main mob when it comes to Kabal's fire and iron army. For Gyrion's blue army, the easiest ones to kill are the floating eyes. Get rid of them, then go after the teleporting mages. Apply plenty of damage over time and see those annoying trolls bleed to death. For Nostura's mother nature army, just target the dryads. They tend to stay as one behind the main mob, unlike Gyrion's case where the mages would stay behind while the floating eyes should be deployed nearer to the main mob. Unlike Kabal's fire and iron army, you can be very sure there's more than just 1-2 of them. Maybe like 3-4 of them. Simply put, it's easier to rack up the damage. No matter whether which/whose army I have to deal with, I need to ensure Soul Syphon can be proc'd. If there's any part of my plan more important than just the dps, it's this.

For Myrreas, it's pure damage over time. Smoke the main mob with Smoke Bomb and Duelist's Flurry the Nine Hells out of the artillery. Red zone? Just dodge since the TR has the longest dodge distance. Against Gyrion's blue army, this should be very easy since the Smoke Bomb can cover both the floating eyes and the main mob, after which Duelist's Flurry can just DoT the Nine Hells out of those annoying mages (seriously, their teleporting skill is the gaming equivalent of trolling). Against Kabal, it should be Smoke Bomb and Cloud of Steel with Duelist's Flurry applying the bleeding on Kabal once he drops his plot armor. Steiner mid-boss should be okay so long the tank is doing his/her job. In other words, all I need is to resist the law of physics at work once it triggers with Duelist's Flurry being spammed on that thing. Against Nostura, it's pure Duelist's Flurry and Smoke Bomb combo with Shadow Strike refreshing the stealth and Blitz acting as the secondary encounter damage source. Against the blue pieces of fire, it's Cloud of Steel so that I don't have to move around much in order to tear those blue things down.

For Cyrea, it's Astral  Shield and Divine Glow with Searing Light on standby due to encounter power cooldown. Due to her sun elf lineage and the fact that I pretty gave her every action points boon available in-game (apart from Soothing Zephyr since I've yet to use her for the River District), the AP gauge can fill up very fast. This also gives me a legit reason to slot in Tiamat's Orb of Majesty where a single roar can fix a mob in no time. Hallowed Ground spam is a must unless you don't know how to use a DC properly in any given raid. It's the same for Kabal and the steiner. Against Nostura, it's either using Break the Spirit or using the Divine Glow-Astral Shield combo. Searing Light can also be used as the secondary source of healing. Again, Hallowed Ground. Use it in Nostura's Feywild zone and when she starts screaming something about a ritual epic fail. Then use it again when her HP drops to... like, nigh tiefpunkt since you know that's the real sign of a last-ditch nuke. Given that I've got no intention to change the Prophetic Action-Terrifying Insight class features combo, that should say something.

Some more omurice and a bit of raiding

Previously, I did a post on the next mod involving snakes (no Taylor "(swiftly) gone in 60 secs again?" Swift jokes pls) and Omurice.

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.

Out to supplant Myrkul/Out to usurp Kelemvor/Both

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.

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.

3. I'm just making a guess or two for teh lolz.

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).

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?

Dude, where's my omurice?

Once the end of February says hi, we'll be looking at a new mod. Well, not really a new mod since the plot is still at Chult. The reason why the title says omurice is very simple. It has got nothing to do with any kind of rice. Rather, it's all about the Omu. Apparently, one of the key players within the four walls of Omurice is her.

At the same time, I've got a very bad feeling about a new D&D movie. Suffice to say, movies adapted from fantasy works do have that weird tendency to go 50-50. Either you nail it like Peter "unrelated to Michael, be it genes or DNA" Jackson and create the next Emma "unrelated to Mary-Jane, hence also unrelated to Spider-Man" Watson or... well, we all know the Eragon movie did crash and burn as if the movie got smote by Brisingr. Not a fun thing to say if I say so myself.

On an unrelated sidenote, I'm currently in the process of doing a proof-read on my current chapters for A Requiem From Winter Past. It shocked me to see the extremely poor standard of my writing back then (okay, it may not be that bad, but I prefer to exercise my First Amendment rights to be self-critical). A humbling experience, yes. A good thing, definitely so. Despite my insane manner of self-expression, trust me when I say I'm the last thing nearest to a decently sharp tool in the shed. At this point in time, I only ended up finishing 3 chapters in total. Of course, it's not just a matter of technique. There are also other things I need to change or modify.

Before I start on my Omurice...

I'll admit to something every feminist would love (?) to hear. Namely, I had a blast in using Cyrea Durothil. Not in a perverted sense since the world has been seeing too many perverts of late. I'm referring to the recent double Tyranny of Dragons currency event. I still remember an honest mistake done by my guild boss Vraelin. Apparently, he typed too fast and Treasures of Tyranny got warped into Treasures of Tranny. That was really a crazy episode involving an honest mistake. Also, that's like 1-2 years ago. Hence, I'm pretty sure Vrae doesn't remember that episode.

That event was the reason why Cyrea is now on the fast track to completing the ToD campaign faster than expected. In fact, her boons progression is officially faster than Myrreas. The main reason why? Arylos purchased a campaign token as a token of affection to his Lady (Cyrea Durothil) love.

Mathematically speaking, this decision made sense as well. Myrreas has now earned Linu's affection 11 times. Once Arylos decides to create another ToD token (this time around as a token of respect) for Myrreas, it means a surplus of 3 Linu's Favor (since you only need 8 Linu's Favor to get the last two boons after using the token).

As of now, Cyrea, got one boon left for taking. Believe it or not, I actually tossed both boon points into Dragon's Fury. On the first glance, that looks like a retarded move. After all, I am not Sam. However, it is my decision to create a crit-based devoted cleric. And to do that, I need to make sure the crit chance can hit at least 50% on a consistent level. Therefore, I decided to transfer that Ring of Sudden Precision +4 from Myrreas to her. Without that ring, her crit would be at around 39-41%. With that ring, the crit would go like 49-51% consistently even though it won't be on a 24/7 basis. To max out the crit efficiency, I threw two points into Dragon's Fury. Once the last boon point comes, Cyrea will be having 8% bonus crit severity. And for a DC, crit severity is vital if I say so myself.

Running the dragonmother temple (i.e. not to be confused with the real Khaleesi herself) was quite fun. Previously, Cyrea was running around as an anointed champion. Right now, I did a Total Recall on her and created a divine oracle instead. It must be stated that the AA will always have a better survival game than the DO. That is so long you slot in Anointed Armor (read: the only effective means of self-defence due to AC bonus and extra deflect). For the DO, survival becomes more dodgy. The closest thing to Anointed Armor would be Prophetic Action. The only catch? Prophetic Action does grant you total immunity like a holy diplomat, but only once every 60 seconds. So which one is better for a DO? Prophetic Action or Foresight? It depends. If you're running as a faith spec, then I'd say Foresight. If you're doing a virtuous spec, then I'd recommend Foresight as well. If you're running as a righteous spec... well, I'm running both loadouts on a DO righteous build and Prophetic Action is my choice of self-defence for Cyrea.

Prophetic Action, however, can be quite deceptively useful. You don't have to worry about manual trigger (something which Foresight will force you to do, hence the need to use Bastion of Health with a brutally nerfed Astral Shield). However, it's an auto-proc per 60 sec. What this means is that your mass protection game will hit a quantum improvement in terms of the AoE range (Foresight, on the other hand, is concentrated version with a much-lowered reach). Preventing damage equalling up to 25% of your BFF's max HP for one single attack isn't a big deal. In fact, it's the worst stand-alone deal any DO can afford to have, sun elf or no sun elf. Synergise the DO with Terrifying Insight and that's where the fun part comes. Terrifying Insight is meant to increase the dps of every BFF by a considerable amount. And by that, I mean a whopping 20% damage bonus at rank 4. By unlocking the off-hand artifact power for Terrifying Insight, it means Cyrea's base crit severity bonus has reached 11.5%. Once the third boon point arrives, it's gonna be Taylor 13 for her (i.e. bonus will hit 13%). Throw in the crit severity boon for The Cloaked Ascendancy campaign and it should go like 15% base crit severity bonus.

Of course, an alternative would be put one point into Dragon's Grip. However, I find this boon to be more useful for CC builds with Wisdom as a secondary stat instead of the primary stat. Unless something did go terribly wrong, your character should have the primary stat as the highest one numerically. As for Dragon's Revival, I don't see the relevance when it comes to any DC build apart from the dps ones (something better suited for the AA due to Anointed Action).

Since Prophetic Action isn't meant to be relied on as a core class feature, it means one must make the most out of the 60 sec rule. And to do that, a class feature granting some manner of bonus minus any cooldown is a must. Simply put, there needs to be a class feature granting a decent bonus on a 24/7 basis. If there's any reason why I'd recommend DC users to go DO, it'd be Terrifying Insight. 120 feet radius AoE with 20% damage bonus, we're talking abt a bonus of 8K power mathematically speaking (i.e. 400 power=1% damage bonus, this is even crazier than a Ring of Brutality +5). Once the mass dps buff is applied to all your BFFs, Prophetic Action becomes a strong case for vital support. The 60 sec rule is still a matter of damage prevention. Not enough to survive any raid 24/7, but enough for all your BFFs to max out whatever dps they can muster with a minimum risk of getting wiped. In fact, using a DO most likely means a need to strike a balance between the offensive and defensive mass buffing. Because unlike the oathbound paladin, the average DC can only do this much when it comes to surviving via self-sufficiency (again, any AA using Anointed Armor is the exception to this rule).

Believe it or not, all of Cyrea's dragonmother raids were done via the worst form of pugging. Namely, matchmaking queue instead of answering any lfg call to arms. Believe it or not, every party with a sun elf DO named Cyrea Durothil emerged victorious against that dragonmother boss. Considering the actual risk of getting idiots via this most dangerous gamble, it really meant something. At least for me, that is. In fact, the matchmaking pug resulted in a single round wipe. Not against us, but the dragonmother. No need for Linu and her two BFFs to start a round two (albeit I won't discount having a renegade control wizard or two/three for that fight).

If there's anything vital I still need to learn, it'd be knowing when to use Hallowed Ground before Linu and her BFFs manage to weaken dragonmother Tiamat. I mean, it's very easy to use Hallowed Ground whenever fighting with any dragonmother head. Correct usage of Hallowed Ground would most likely save your entire raid party some precious time plus better survival chances (read: the mob from Nine Hells would always zerg here and there instead of staying put every now and then). Slotting in Tiamat's Orb of Majesty into your active artifact slot would help a lot, though. After all, a well calculated Khaleesi battle roar can easily wipe a mob if Hallowed Ground is active. Otherwise, it'd still do a decent job of giving Linu or any of her BFFs some extra time to charge the blue metre. If you don't have the Khaleesi orb, it should mean you should be intelligent enough to slot a Sigil of Devoted into the active slot.

Also, sun elves do make for a deceptively good DC build. Control resistance helps a lot (even more so than for control wizards). Then you have bonus action point gain, arguably the most vital aspect of the DC gameplay. Because I opted for action points gain boons where Cyrea is concerned, it means a default action points gain bonus of 11% (3% from Tiamat amulet+6% in total from the boons+2% race bonus). If you're a hallowed spammer like yours truly, sun elf is a very fun race to use once you chuck in all the action points gain boons.

Plot twist: Ariel Manx still loves Kelemvor Lyonsbane

I decided to mess around with Arylos' build for no reason at all beyond the urge to experiment. Long story short, I decided to eschew the Gondhammer. My stance was very simple: Can I try increasing the dps output without affecting whatever control resist bonus that comes with Mjolnir's BFF? In other words, it's called changing an artifact.

Initially, my choice was to get a Manticore Talon. I'll be frank about this thing: The dps was really good. During an Illusionist's Gambit alliance raid run, my party did give Lukan a Gone in 60 Seconds. He didn't have time to create illusions, that was how fast the fight was. And guess what? Arylos blew the Manticore horn. At epic rank, the damage is already 10K+ per second. Given that the blast effect lasts for 4 seconds, it means a whopping 40K damage. This is definitely a case of high-end artifact damage. However, the push-back effect never felt right to me. The reason why is that knockback and pushback effects have a real tendency to mess up your tank's aggro management. The fact that Manticore Talon deals a much higher damage than stuff like Sun Burst and Relentless Avenger is there for all to see. One single usage can result in any mob getting wiped so long your party can maintain the dps for like 2-3 seconds or so. My only problem is whether this is a decent tradeoff. I didn't want to annoy people just because attempting to play hero does feel good to me (and many other players as well). I'm not interested in risking people scolding me in the middle of any raid, teamspeak or no teamspeak.

If blowing the manticore horn is the only reason why people would want that thing, it means I'd need a better alternative. And that alternative is a Sigil of the Controller since Sigil of the Hunter is good for direct damage (albeit it's still inferior to Manticore Talon in this dept). I need the dps, so power and crit are much welcomed. I need the control resist as well. Most notably in Chult where getting dino-jumped is a constant reminder of reality.

A self-reminder that this year's national budget is nearing.

Right now, the plan is to get a Champion's Banner. The new refinement system means the need to use more feeder artifacts if I want to max out the CW sigil asap. Then again, a mythic artifact (i.e. the Gondhammer) is worth around 150K refinement points.

Now starting on my Omurice...

So far so good, it seems that Omurice is running smoothly. At least Hannah (i.e. the most famous oathbound paladin in my guild) commented that the next mod preview was a good ride. No details since the first two rules about the Fight Club is You do not talk about Fight Club multiplied by two (read: Hannah wasn't authorised to leak anything). Therefore, I can only afford to say very little. In fact, the only mod preview session I had the honour to test out was Maze Engine. Which is a good thing since my timezone has never been friendly towards this kind of Tesla car testing.

Two fixtures which I'm very sure Cryptic will be implementing on a pre-mod release basis are the resurgence of the Resurgence lockbox (pardon the pun) and bonus refinement points events. The former is clear for all to see since they've been doing this since... well, I don't know when. For the bonus refinement points event, it's a replacement for the double refinement points event due to the new RP system kicking in.

Now let me just say that the new system is much better than the original one. Much much better. At the expense of the RP worth per stone, the overall refinement progress is now much faster. At the same time, it also did away with one of the most annoying aspects of the previous system. Namely, the possibility of spillover refinement points once you maxed out the rank. Imagine getting a six-figure sum surplus RP once you maxed out your artifact to mythic rank. Basically, it means the surplus amount is as good as burnt away. So no more surplus refinement points once any of your artifact gear reaches max. This is very important because every drop of RP counts. Under the new system, the surplus RP is retained since RP conversion is now done in the form of storage instead of direct feeding. The only downside? Artifact feeding now gives much less. Which explains why artifacts are experiencing a massive deflation in the auction house. Previously, the average price in the auction house for a Cragmire artifact could fetch you like either a 5 or 6 figure sum. Now, it's around... 5000? The rarer ones like Tiamat's Orb of Majesty are now at 10-20K. Which is definitely mass deflation in the name of MMO socialism. Not that it matters anyway since games are not real, hence only idiots will treat GTA as something very real. Scarily enough, though, Natalie "Biologist is of Asian descent+same goes for the Jews=Biologist is a Jew" Portman did receive a letter from an idiot. Apparently, that idiot had just finished playing his Hot Coffee mod. (Note: This is NOT to say that every idiot is a danger to the society. Then again, there are indeed idiots graduating with a university degree. Just that not all idiots are that lucky)

So far, only one aspect of the new mod has said hi.

Now expecting my Omurice...

Right now, I can only afford to do speculations. I'm not Hannah, so I can't tell you all what to expect. And even if I was given access to the Tesla car test-driving session, it means Cryptic would have enforced the first two rules of the Fight Club. I'll be touching on two things.

The first is the tier 3 masterwork gear. At the pace the whole system is going, this may be where Cryptic is going in the future development of the gear system. Arguably the most problematic aspect of any MMO isn't about new content. Rather, it's the gear system. You have to make the end-game gear decently accessible because players are expected to slog for rewards. However, it should be clear by now that unless you own a Forgehammer of Gond (otherwise known as the Gondhammer), there's no point for you to try crafting masterwork gear. Unlike the current system, though, the much-touted (?) tier 3 version for the Omurice looks... well, decent shouldn't be the correct word. While masterwork is more of an income earning machine, the tier 3 version looks much better than the previous two tiers where no set bonuses and perks are to be seen. What this most likely means is this: The pricing for tier 1 and 2 masterwork will hit a dive like a peregrine falcon with its wings clipped. This is good news for gamers out to explore Chult either with their alts or as newcomers to a land of dark-skinned people, jungles, paladins, and snake people (no offence intended to all Swifties and the real Swift. I'm referring to the yuan-ti who are known to be so annoying with their insane AoE ability to CC the Nine Hells out of anyone. More specifically the most annoying mob you can ever hope to fight).

One thing I'm interested to know is how the new recipes can be obtained. For tier 2 recipe, it's 20 pieces of hard aberrant leather for me (i.e. leatherworking profession). I won't be surprised if some tier 2 profession assets will be involved. Which means more incentive to run Fangbreaker Island (insanely enough, I've only run the raid once. Malakut was also there. Also, I've yet to run my first Svardborg and Tomb of the Nine Gods).

Which now comes to the most worrying aspect of Omurice: Will the difficulty level hit an increase? My guess is both yes and no. Yes, because new content for every mod should involve a tweak or two. No, because any increment will most likely be a matter of different mobs, different tactics, and minimal adjustment where the actual difficulty level is concerned. If there's anything to go by from Sea of Moving Ice mod, that should be the case. In this sense, it means Swords of Chult should be seen as mod 12.5 alpha while Omurice will most likely be mod 12.5 beta. Simply put, the new mod shouldn't be too steep a mountain to climb for those who have braved the reptiles, snake people, and those goblins high on locally grown weed.

The other thing will be the possibility of any new raid. To be honest, I'd call it a 50-50 call. In Tomb of Annihilation, we have another tomb which Lara Croft would like to try out. For Swords of Chult, we have a new skirmish which goes by the tactical format instead of a free-for-all (note that Merchant Prince's Folly isn't the first tactical skirmish to grace Neverwinter due to Throne of the Dwarven Gods for Underdark). Therefore, to include a new dungeon or skirmish doesn't seem right to me. Ever since mod 6 (i.e. the most disastrous mod in Neverwinter's history and even more so than Icewind Dale and Storm King's Thunder+Sea of Moving Ice), new epic raids have been coming out on a slower basis. The most accurate gauge should be 1-2 new raids per campaign instead of a new raid per mod. However, it's also likely that we'll get to see a new epic trial since the Soulmonger looks like a shiny excuse to start one. Lest we forget, Storvald did that before and that's how we get both versions of Svardborg. Should a new epic trial pop up, either it's going to be a normal-master format or a single version format like Temple of Tiamat. Give me a choice and I'll choose the latter. Makes life easier for the devs and newer gamers.

Of course, there's also the matter of new boons. With a new campaign comes a new set of boons, right? Which now comes to my next point.

A new direction?

Omurice may well be an indication of Cryptic's shift from the tried and tested module planning since that day players were given the chance to impress those beautiful fey maidens of the Feywild by killing other fey. Starting from The Cloaked Ascendancy (which imo is the best mod so far since Underdark managed to defy critics and cynics alike), Cryptic has been going on a 2 mods per campaign strategy. This was most likely for the sake of giving the devs more time to assert quality control instead of letting people criticise them for not doing a decent job. And when I say quality control, I also include the review and adjustment of difficulty level as and when needed. In fact, the whole review-and-adjust decision was already implemented starting from mod 7 where an otherwise broken game started its rehab process.

For two campaigns, Cryptic has been adopting this approach. Come Feb and beyond, it may well become a future scenario where it's 3 mods per campaign instead of 2. What Cryptic is now doing is something it has never done before. And that is expanding a campaign into 3 mods. For the Tyranny of Dragons campaign, Cryptic first adopted the 2 mods strategy (although for some reason, this strategy was scrapped for Elemental Evil and Stronghold). For Tomb of Annihilation, it's now 2 mods plus one more.

If this is to be Cryptic's vision in a sustainable run, then I have to say it's a good move from a studio saddled with accusations of sub-standard quality control (although efforts to reverse the criticism is now going in full force). I'll give credit where it is due, Cryptic is really trying to rectify things since The Cloaked Ascendancy. The changes to the business model is now making much more sense than last time around where the bulk of real cash would most likely come from lockbox keys (a strategy which didn't sit well with the gamers due to the lottery nature of lockboxes). Expanding the campaign to 3 mods should give the devs more leeway to exercise and maintain quality control.

If indeed this is to be Cryptic's new direction, then chances are that the campaign boon system will follow the Rise of Tiamat and Sea of Moving Ice format where the only notable addition would be 2 more boon points reserved for the final boon. Given the fact that the mod 12 boon system was very well-done (at least more players now have a decent incentive to chuck 3 boon points into a single boon), I won't put it past Thomas "you now have to wait for Christmas to buy his BFF" Foss making the same decision. If so, then I believe the boon system change will be here to stay for the subsequent campaigns. Next stop, Waterdeep?