Curse

Coney · Feb 20, 2009, 09:34 PM // 21:34

Just messing with this today, sooo close. Can't quite seem to kill the Boss, tho.

[build=OQQUc44RxKSdFWCpFqM9Fpi5F7gA]
(sword=8+1 tactics=8+1 strength=7+1+1; e.g. [email protected])

Any ideas? It seemed to work better with curses at 12 than with sword at 12...

Mega Storm · Feb 22, 2009, 03:07 PM // 15:07

Spiteful Spirit+Signet of Stamina instead of Hundred Blades+Whirlwind Attack maybe? max out Curses/Strength, you'de need an offhand with alot of energy just for casting then swap to a good defense setup.

Nechtan Thaumaturge · Feb 25, 2009, 05:50 AM // 05:50

Ok, here it is:

[build prof=W/N name="Raptor bomb" strength=10+1 sword=7+3+1 curses=12 tactics=4+1][Mark of Pain][Drunken Master][Dolyak Signet][Endure Pain][Hundred Blades]["By Ural's Hammer!"][Wary Stance][Whirlwind Attack][/build]

There might be other optimizations that can be made or corners that can be cut, but right now I'm setup with:

Maximum armor, obviously, with Knight's insigniae and runes of Superior Vigor, Superior Absorption, and Minor Tactics. I've also got a Superior Swordsmanship rune on a Swordsmanship helm and a Minor Strength, although you can fiddle the attributes and switch them around -- you should have 11 in both.
A Sword Pommel of Defense (Shelter would probably be better) and a 16 AL Strength-based shield of Fortitude +30 with a "Through Thick and Thin" inscription (+10 armor vs. piercing).
I've got only 1 rank on my Deldrimor title and 6 of Sunspear, although more is better.

You have to be drunk when you activate Drunken Master to get the extra speed boost out of it. I don't think you can get away with using Sprint, although Mindbender at high Asuran ranks might be feasible.

The tricky part of the run is, as usual, the aggro. You have to get at the very least 33 of the 34 Raptors aggro'ed or else you won't spike hard enough. Also, when you stop to enter battle, you have to work it so that the Nestling you hexed with Mark of Pain ends up being adjacent to Rekoff. Also, you don't want to have to wait too long for all the Raptors to get to you, because you can't tank forever, so keep running until you're fairly in the middle of them. Lastly, make sure you get Wary Stance up before Rekoff gets within attack range because you don't want any part of that Unsuspecting Strike.

Runs take just under a minute, something like 57 seconds, on average.

impulsion · Mar 14, 2009, 04:10 PM // 16:10

This works with sprint if you change the attributes a little:
[build prof=W/N name="Raptor bomb" strength=9+3 sword=8+1+1 curses=12 tactics=5][Mark of Pain]["By Ural's Hammer!"][Dolyak Signet][Endure Pain][Hundred Blades][Wary Stance][Whirlwind Attack][Sprint][/build]
Takes a bit of practice to get it down, but it's worth it for sub-minute runs+boss. I find that you have to aggro every single raptor for this to work, however my SS rank is 1 so with a higher rank you may not need all 33.

Fuzzy Taco · Mar 21, 2009, 04:00 AM // 04:00

After a bit of experimentation on my ugly warrior to finish off my Wisdom title, this is the best setup I can find to Hundred Blades-ificate the baby dinosaurs to death.

[HB Warrior;OQQUc4ISzaRpFbFqM9Fpi5F7gWCA]

[Para hero;OQCiYyo8Yivx84dMAAAAAAAA]

Panic not at the sight of a hero - the hero is flagged well out of the way at the point of the kill, so the player does not lose any drops. All the player loses is half of his gold piece drops, which is such a pithy sacrifice for such a wonderful build. Inclusion of [Protector's Defense] greatly decreases casualties, and use of ["Make Haste!"] over [Sprint] makes for an easier, cleaner, quicker aggro job. Everything is done as normal, just micro the hero to activate ["Fall Back!"] and ["Incoming!"] en route to the cave, then micro your [Enduring Harmony] and ["Make Haste!"] combination, precast Mark of Pain, run and aggro, kill. Done safely in under a minute, on a VERY consistent basis.

Call me terrible, but I couldn't get the hang of the solo bar(s). I admit I only tried the version posted above by impulsion, but for the brief moment that all of the Raptors beat me up while I was forced to idly put up Dolyak Signet and Endure Pain so all of the Raptors could gather 'round I was often murdered by the massive amounts of damage taken, even with perfectly optimal equipment. To compensate for my sheer lack of ability to execute that build properly, I tossed in Hayda to solve all of my problems. The sacrifice is astronomically small - for a really consistent, easy run, all one must relinquish is half one's gold coins (~50gp every once in a while, be still my beating heart!) as well as micromanagement easily within the capabilities of the baby on the E*Trade commercial.

Questions? Comments? Improvements? (Final Note: I use the optimal equipment posted above as well as a Strength helmet of Superior Strength, though equipment need not be perfect with [Protector's Defense] as compensation.)

Nechtan Thaumaturge · Mar 21, 2009, 05:20 AM // 05:20

I like it.

As I was building up my Deldrimor rank, I found that even a 1% difference in speed would improve the surviveability of the build. Having ~25 seconds of 33% improved speed via "Make Haste!" should make the aggro relatively simple. Add in Protector's Defense to tank better, and the build suddenly looks pretty bullet-proof.

To be honest, my success rate with Sprint was no better than 50%, even with impulsion's improvements, so don't feel as if you're the only one. So long as I have Grog left in storage, I'm going to stay with Drunken Master, but I think you've got the long-term answer there.

Just one clarification, you're flagging the hero somewhere around the mouth of the cave, I assume?

Fuzzy Taco · Mar 21, 2009, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Once I apply ["Make Haste!"], I flag Hayda back towards the resurrection shrine just outside of Rata. That makes sure she's WAY out of the way when I'm doing the killing, so she doesn't steal any drops. She's often killed by the big boy Raptors patrolling around when I flag her this way, but her death is really inconsequential.

Coney · Mar 21, 2009, 08:54 PM // 20:54

Nice! This is great, the 33% run speed (as stated already) really makes a HUGE difference over [sprint] at 25% from what I've seen on my ele. You can basically avoid ever getting hit (while at 25% they seem to continuously tag you the entire pull), and you don't have the 2 second downtime (13/15 sec).

I had tried using a necro hero, having it cast 16 curse [mark of pain], but the microing was a major pain (wouldn't cast often when I told it to) along with the aggro issues...

EDIT: My war has both paragons (YaY!), so got the 3 missing skills and tested it. 3 golds and an elite assn tome - gotta love it! The microing takes me a couple seconds or so over the old non-boss run, but the non-stop 33% run speed prolly makes up for most of that - definitely the fastest raptor farm including boss in HM. Can be a bit tricky trying to pull all raptors before [mark of pain] wears out (don't have to pull that 1 way east). Double rep is nice too (26k from max rank)!!!

impulsion · Mar 21, 2009, 11:32 PM // 23:32

I found also that sometimes Mark of Pain runs out. Solution:
BiP on a hero, could do instead of incoming on the para, or add a 2nd hero so you get 33% speed boost all the time before reaching the cave (only saves a few secs). Get it to cast on you at the same time as make haste, then don't cast mark of pain, but run into the cave and aggro a few before hitting wary stance/mark of pain and continue as normal.

dr love · Apr 23, 2009, 10:34 PM // 22:34

I used Fuzzy Taco's idea but added "finish him" instead of protector's stance. this is to kill the boss after you whirlwind in case he doesn't die. The other thing i changed was to put 11 tactics (sup tactics on helm) for 5 second wary stance. that is a key skill. if it runs out, you're done. 1s can make a big difference at getting all the raptors to ball on you, ensuring all the raptors die, except maybe rekoff. then quickly finish him as he runs away and recast endure pain (otherwise you'll die). finally pick up the drops and /resign.

[HB Warrior;OQQUc4ISx6R9FpFbFpi5F7gxkWCA]

[Para hero;OQCiYyo8Yivx84dMAAAAAAAA]

i noticed there is a possible bug. i tried using a vamp sword to fill up my health using whirlwind, but it doesn't work. this maybe because the raptors die from HB and mark of pain before whirlwind attack, which is too bad. so i suppose sundering is the way to go. i also use a +30hp instead of +7armor on the sword, but i haven't tested if +7 is better.

_Nihilist_ · Apr 24, 2009, 07:23 AM // 07:23

No, dbulger, it's not a bug. The Nestlings have [Critical Defenses], and in most of the runs I've done (r4 -> r9 Asura, halfway to r10), almost every single one of the buggers BLOCKS [Whirlwind Attack]. [Hundred [email protected]] triggers anyways, since it's on attack, not on hit, which in turn drops multiple packets from [Mark of Pain] (which I don't use, I kill Nestlings only, screw Brood and her f'ing Claws) for massive AoE (on top of 100 LOLS).

impulsion · Apr 24, 2009, 07:38 AM // 07:38

Surely having two sup runes and no protector's makes it very difficult to survive. If you ball up the raptors properly then whirlwind will kill them every time.

dr love · Apr 24, 2009, 12:41 PM // 12:41

no i only use sup tactics.
the spread is 11 tactics, 9, 9, 12 curse after runes
are you guys using protectors as soon as you stop, then wary, then whirlwind, then protectors again?
i just stop use wary, then whirlwind, then finish him if the boss is alive.

dr love · Apr 25, 2009, 03:56 AM // 03:56

k so i messed up a little. i thought protectors was a stance, but its a skill. protectors is definitely ftw. so now my skill bar looks like this:

[HB Warrior;OQQUc4ISx6RqMpF9Fpi5F7gxkWCA]
or endure pain instead of dolyak. havent figured out which is better - both work well.
finish him usually isnt necessary, but 1/10 runs and it seems handy.

Archaic · Apr 25, 2009, 10:20 AM // 10:20

This seems interesting, tell me, does it kill the raptors as well as other, caster builds?

Super Igor · Apr 25, 2009, 09:26 PM // 21:26

no it doesnt, it does it better.

100LOLs

dr love · Apr 25, 2009, 09:37 PM // 21:37

ya its the best build hands down. aggro, wait for them to ball around you, and BOOM! collect drops

snodaard · Apr 26, 2009, 09:21 AM // 09:21

indeed, it works brilaint. Too bad my pc sucks and I can't cast of all my skills 1/2 of the time

:P

Edit:
take no leeechers:P ppl keep asking for the build and don't believe it's faster then anything else

A11Eur0 · Apr 27, 2009, 03:01 AM // 03:01

meh, i always die the first time gathering aggro, and the second tiem I can never pick the right nestling to use MoP on so that it hits the boss...she's always at full HP after I kill everything else. I also use tons of candy to boost my HP, run speed, and atts....still doesn't help. Any specific tips?

starian · Apr 27, 2009, 05:07 AM // 05:07

So how long does it take a perma sin to finish the run on average? It seem to take me >3 mins. I wonder if that because I run so slow ...