Curse

syphonus · Jul 27, 2010, 03:54 PM // 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Life Bringing

The whole tank and spank thing would be extremely difficult to work in BLA considering half the mobs have shadow steps and the other half have rupts/enchant removals etc.

Not any more difficult, really, than any other team setup. I was able to hold aggro effectively despite shadow steps and enchant stripping and whatnot. I'd even say that tank and spank is probably the most likely way it'd be pulled off. But, as far as I know no one has made it past perfected armor H/H, so it's kind of hard to judge.

Quote:

Another question is has anyone been able to do this in HM with a full player party? It seems like it would be beyond the capabilities of a player team even if they were to resort to some kind of gimmick.

No way.. Even with one other human player and heroes I'd feel a lot more confident.

kanuks · Jul 27, 2010, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Life Bringing

And even if he was able to bodyblock them, the amount of damage, rupts, enchant stripping they put out is ridiculous. Not to mention half of them have shadow steps of some kind. Oh, and i think some have rending aura too, so you better hope everything dies in one whirlwind or you're screwed.

Was this with or without cons? And what was the team setup?

Same question, with or without cons and what was the team setup?

No cons of course. I tried different hero setup i'm not sure with which one i managed to kill the jade armor boss. I'm a warrior and the heroes i used are some combination of channelling spirit spammer, communing spirit spammer (offensive spirits), panic mesmer and aotl necro. As a warrior, a big problem is empathy.

Coney · Jul 27, 2010, 11:26 PM // 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apok

Guys, guys, stop brainstorming.

In a while, CE Devilman will post here with a clutch bar that allows you all to H/H HM this mission. It's his thing.

Just sit back, relax, and let nature take its course, 'k?

LOL, so much hate!!!

He eats BU/celerity - which seems to be the *KEY* to defeating this quest.

I have to agree with the guy, who flags his heroes - yet they run 2 aggro circles away, only to all cluster in proximity... Maybe avoid skills that make them run so far?!... (GL with that)

Mustache Mayhem · Jul 28, 2010, 12:40 AM // 00:40

it's the wave right before the last boss.. that's the doozy

best way to h/h is flag them off to the right out of line of sight behind the first bridge.. then body block the bridge for the tank and spank.. even then it gets too much to handle- I don't see doing it without cons

maybe someone will get lucky =] finished the quest on all my chars already

the thing with the heros running around.. found flag the healer as passive- then careful with the spells you bring on the others.. like if you bring anything half distance or touch ect.. your heros will run around trying to use that skill

wish had a character with the mission to run this again.. give it a shot

Chthon · Jul 28, 2010, 01:58 AM // 01:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Life Bringing

Was this with or without cons?

The ele used an essence, and someone used a dreamrider or two. Don't recall if anything else got used.

Essence probably wasn't essential (pun, sorry), since ele build could use glyph if you're a total con-hating purist.

Quote:

And what was the team setup?

ER ele
Panic mesmer
Ineptitude mesmer (hero)
Barrage+SY! ranger
Generic Attack Spam dervish
SoS+SoH+Splinter rit (hero)

Dervish blocked the stairs and hit things.
Ranger and rit's spirits rained down damage from extreme range using height advantage from cliff by stairs. Also grabbed aggro earlier and kept it off the NPC rangers. (Also tended to draw AoE elemental spells to the ranger's position, who was (a) well-armored against them, and (b) quite able to simply step back out of them to avoid damage.)
Rit buffed ranger and derv to get real damage out of them.
Ranger and derv abused lack of true Z axis to overlap SY! and put derv in ranger's EBSoH.
Mesmers either cast from cliff or rubberbanded down stairs to cast. Solid shutdown and very surprising damage from Wandering Eye, ClumsySig, Mistrust, etc.
ER kept people bonded and alive and (importantly) stayed the hell back so that he didn't eat Palm Strike when the shadow steppers showed up. (Also another reason to keep the NPC rangers alive, so the shadow steppers have something to go after that isn't your backline.)
We did stick Gaze of Fury on the rit in anticipation of Tranquility (which would have utterly hosed the ER), but properly aimed Panic stopped literally every attempted cast of Tranquility. (ER also brought AoS as backup in case Tranquility got ER, but that was also unnecessary.)

Life Bringing · Jul 28, 2010, 02:54 AM // 02:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

The ele used an essence, and someone used a dreamrider or two. Don't recall if anything else got used.

Essence probably wasn't essential (pun, sorry), since ele build could use glyph if you're a total con-hating purist.

ER ele
Panic mesmer
Ineptitude mesmer (hero)
Barrage+SY! ranger
Generic Attack Spam dervish
SoS+SoH+Splinter rit (hero)

Dervish blocked the stairs and hit things.
Ranger and rit's spirits rained down damage from extreme range using height advantage from cliff by stairs. Also grabbed aggro earlier and kept it off the NPC rangers. (Also tended to draw AoE elemental spells to the ranger's position, who was (a) well-armored against them, and (b) quite able to simply step back out of them to avoid damage.)
Rit buffed ranger and derv to get real damage out of them.
Ranger and derv abused lack of true Z axis to overlap SY! and put derv in ranger's EBSoH.
Mesmers either cast from cliff or rubberbanded down stairs to cast. Solid shutdown and very surprising damage from Wandering Eye, ClumsySig, Mistrust, etc.
ER kept people bonded and alive and (importantly) stayed the hell back so that he didn't eat Palm Strike when the shadow steppers showed up. (Also another reason to keep the NPC rangers alive, so the shadow steppers have something to go after that isn't your backline.)
We did stick Gaze of Fury on the rit in anticipation of Tranquility (which would have utterly hosed the ER), but properly aimed Panic stopped literally every attempted cast of Tranquility. (ER also brought AoS as backup in case Tranquility got ER, but that was also unnecessary.)

zzz how did i forget about ER. =\ Anyways, interesting. It's a shame you can't really use a human ER in a h/h setup because you'd never have the damage to kill everything.

Tranquility was definitely a problem in my attempts as i couldnt keep prots up to keep shit alive. Can't really do anything about it in a h/h setup though.

Did you wipe at all?

Chthon · Jul 29, 2010, 01:52 AM // 01:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Life Bringing

Did you wipe at all?

I think we wiped twice, mainly out of carelessness and unfamiliarity with the mobs. I'm sure it could be done without any wipes after a few practice runs. Shame it isn't repeatable...

Jeydra · Aug 08, 2010, 01:02 AM // 01:02

My friend beat the Perfected Armour wave ... I'm so impressed, especially since he ran completely unorthodox builds. Pity he thought I went further than him and didn't take screenshot.

Player: Warrior with Triple Chop, Whirlwind Attack, Cyclone Axe
2 Splinter Barrage heroes (!?!?)
1 ER
Alesia + Claude (!?)

The NPC MM, pets and himself tanks as much as possible. The Perfected Armour wave still wipes him, but after ressing the wave can be finished off. He tells me after that it gets even harder with Jade Cloaks etc that have Sandstorm Deep Freeze Ward Against Harm, and he hasn't any idea how to beat that.

And then of course he finishes the quest with a friend in NM, and can't experiment with it anymore. Sheesh.

maxxfury · Aug 08, 2010, 04:39 AM // 04:39

Cant say that splinter barragers are a bad or odd choice at all... Infact a pretty good choice here...

you get the extra range using the stairs, huge armour ignoring damage spikes and huge mobs to really let barrage shine..pretty easily as well to be fair..

2 Barragers and the lawnmower axe warrior all with splinter on is pretty hefty Armour ignoring aoe damage...sy and ps/sb abuse for your defence and infooze + alesias redbar.. pretty solid setup really for this clucterfunk of a quest.

Aoe really is monstrous with such big packs in bla

Chthon · Aug 08, 2010, 04:29 PM // 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

My friend beat the Perfected Armour wave ... I'm so impressed, especially since he ran completely unorthodox builds. Pity he thought I went further than him and didn't take screenshot.

Player: Warrior with Triple Chop, Whirlwind Attack, Cyclone Axe
2 Splinter Barrage heroes (!?!?)
1 ER
Alesia + Claude (!?)

The NPC MM, pets and himself tanks as much as possible. The Perfected Armour wave still wipes him, but after ressing the wave can be finished off. He tells me after that it gets even harder with Jade Cloaks etc that have Sandstorm Deep Freeze Ward Against Harm, and he hasn't any idea how to beat that.

And then of course he finishes the quest with a friend in NM, and can't experiment with it anymore. Sheesh.

Hmmm...

I'd think that a 100B build with WWA would have better damage output than the axe, and still provide ample triggers for Splinter. IMO, multi-hit axe builds really only come into their own when GDW is in play. For that matter, if doing an axe build, why not use WE over Triple Chop?

Splinter Barrage makes a lot of sense. I do question not making at least one of them Rt primary. The fifth trigger is worth a ton of DPS.

Very surprised by ER hero. How the hell did he keep it from getting trashed by Tranquility?

Alesia makes sense. You need heals and this is the only option that doesn't involve spending a second hero slot for them.

Claude. Not really sure why he made the cut, but I'm going to float 3 theories:
1. Soul Leech kills casters fast.
2. BR is how he gets ER hero past Tranquility?
3. No particular reason to bring him, but other hench are worse.

I Hate Chips · Aug 08, 2010, 11:13 PM // 23:13

Cant u go for a build like SC's? in sc manly spike 100b are used, some good highend pve guilds use dervishes for really fast clears :P if u just go for the tank spike AoE dmg QUICK then maybe its doable.. needs to be allot microing though for 2 hero spikers to micro at the same time >.<

Jeydra · Sep 02, 2010, 11:25 AM // 11:25

The real sad part about my friend's achievement is that he didn't save any screenshots

Anyway here's a catalogue of stuff I've tried against this mission, so sue me for sticking blindly to spiritway and not trying out new stuff:

Standard spiritway + Alesia + Orion + player E/A Air (also tried Earth)
Minion bomber + pure Channeling SoS + Me/Rt Panic with heals + Alesia + Orion + player E/A Air (and Earth)
Minion bomber + Rt/R SoS with Volley and Splinter and Comfort Animal + N/R Spiteful Spirit with Volley and Well of Darkness and Comfort Animal + Alesia + Reyna + player ER
The same build as above, but with Orion instead of Alesia
Minion bomber + Rt/R SoS with Volley and Splinter and Comfort Animal + R/Rt Barrage with EoE and Favourable Winds + Alesia + Reyna + player ER with EBSoH
The same build as above, but with Orion instead of Alesia
Rt/R SoS with Volley and Splinter and Comfort Animal + R/Rt Barrage with EoE and Favourable Winds + N/R Spiteful Spirit with Volley + Alesia + Reyna + player ER with GDW
The same build as above, but with Orion instead of Alesia
Minion bomber with Dwayna's Sorrow + E/R Savannah Heat with EoE and Comfort Animal + Me/Rt Panic with heals + Alesia + Orion + player Savannah Heat with EBSoH
Minion bomber with Dwayna's Sorrow + E/R Savannah Heat with EoE and Comfort Animal + Rt/E with SoS and Ward Against Foes and Life and Kaolai + Orion + Alesia + player Savannah Heat with EBSoH
Minion bomber with Dwayna's Sorrow + E/R Savannah Heat with EoE and Comfort Animal + Rt/E with SoS and Ward Against Foes and Life and Kaolai + Orion + Alesia + player E/A Fire

Lots and lots of variations in the exact builds, e.g. with player ER I tried LA + VB, then I tried Protective Bond, then I tried 16 Energy Storage + full energy armour, I tried 7 enchanments without Infuse, blah blah blah yada yada yada.

All these builds failed. Some of the builds got to the same Perfected Armour wave easily, others not so easily. Some lived on a knife edge, dealing huge damage but also dying really easily. Others were more resilient but dealt much less damage. All of them died to the same Perfected Armour wave. I've wiped more times to my own EoE than I can count, and I've also watched huge Mantle mobs disappear to the same EoE more times than I can count. Given the massive damage potential that is EoE, right now I believe the best way to do this would be via EoE and then having some way to ensure that you don't bomb yourself. How, though, is a question I can't answer yet.

Anyone else made any progress?

Xenomortis · Sep 02, 2010, 03:26 PM // 15:26

Edge of Extinction always makes me nervous when facing human enemies.
The damage is high enough to make it threatening, but it's low enough to make Spirit Bond and Prot Spirit useless.
How high are you speccing it? If you can squeeze in Union it might prevent sudden health spikes if teammates are caught below 90% as you're killing. Trouble with Union is that it'd probably be killed very quickly.

Outerworld · Sep 03, 2010, 12:57 PM // 12:57

You could just disable EoE and save it for the jades if you were worried about the mantle mobs.

maxxfury · Sep 03, 2010, 03:06 PM // 15:06

Havent tested EOE my self, as i cleared this quest a while back...

But didnt someone say that EOE doesnt proc on your when you kill the 'huma' white mantle?!
Im sure someone noted that they dont seem to be classed as the same race as human heroes & players?!

Maybe im just having a brain fart recalling something i didn't see

Jeydra · Sep 25, 2010, 04:12 AM // 04:12

This looks like a breakthrough!

It is 2-man and Life Bringing cheated (lol, but it was only with personal consumables), but it was also only our second try. The setup I had are on the screen, while Life Bringing ran WotA Sin with "I Am Unstoppable!", Panic Mesmer with a couple of heals and SoS with a bit more heals. We didn't have Strength of Honour and had only one hard res - Flesh of my Flesh.

The Perfected Armour wave still wiped us, but enough of them died such that we finished off the wave on reviving. After that we didn't wipe at all until the very last wave. The monsters would've killed Salma if they had been aggressive, but they weren't; they were perfectly content to hang out while we did pulls.

I believe a H/H team who gets past the Perfected Armour wave will also manage to get to the second last wave (Perfected Aegis), and if the team clears that wave it's a clear run to the finish. The moment the mob can be pulled, H/H aggro techniques run like clockwork.

Life Bringing · Sep 25, 2010, 05:20 AM // 05:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

This looks like a breakthrough!

It is 2-man and Life Bringing cheated (lol, but it was only with personal consumables), but it was also only our second try. The setup I had are on the screen, while Life Bringing ran WotA Sin with "I Am Unstoppable!", Panic Mesmer with a couple of heals and SoS with a bit more heals. We didn't have Strength of Honour and had only one hard res - Flesh of my Flesh.

The Perfected Armour wave still wiped us, but enough of them died such that we finished off the wave on reviving. After that we didn't wipe at all until the very last wave. The monsters would've killed Salma if they had been aggressive, but they weren't; they were perfectly content to hang out while we did pulls.

I believe a H/H team who gets past the Perfected Armour wave will also manage to get to the second last wave (Perfected Aegis), and if the team clears that wave it's a clear run to the finish. The moment the mob can be pulled, H/H aggro techniques run like clockwork.

Rawr, i only used 1 war supply and 3 pumpkin cookies! I also had death's charge, but i only used it ~3 times for enforcer waves behind the barricades. Perfected aegis was definitely a bitch. The sheer amount of elemental damage was incredible. Definitely harder than the perfected armor wave. The last wave would have given us trouble but lolAI made it easy, because, as jeydra said, they don't attack salma for quite a while.

Myotheraccount · Sep 27, 2010, 12:23 AM // 00:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by syphonus

Pretty much this.. you can get to his group every time with no deaths, but then it's just

Like getting hit with a hammer. I dunno about impossible, but it sure is hard.

Holy shit, that sure is helluva big mob for just 6 people. I remember those Armors were quite tough back when I played GW, facing a wave this big of them must be near impossible with your averege lolc+space build.

Hoorray for tank + spank? =/

JimmyTyme · Sep 27, 2010, 01:34 AM // 01:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by syphonus

Pretty much this.. you can get to his group every time with no deaths, but then it's just

Like getting hit with a hammer. I dunno about impossible, but it sure is hard.

WELL THERE'S UR PROBLEM! you dun have a single healer....

also... lure them up and around so they fight on top of the Hill, where everything attacks them and they're spread out for easy killing and often clumped in small groups for easier AoE

I honestly just used a prepared shot turret with discordway the healer and a mes and i was actually bored..

Xenomortis · Sep 27, 2010, 01:41 AM // 01:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyTyme

WELL THERE'S UR PROBLEM! you dun have a single healer....

Alesia is a healer. She's not a very good one, but she's still a healer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyTyme

I honestly just used a prepared shot turret with discordway the healer and a mes and i was actually bored..

In Hard Mode? I'd be impressed if you could verify that.