Curse

Shiishii Momo · Nov 06, 2007, 05:16 PM // 17:16

Hi all, I'm getting my Canthan Guardian title, I need only Arborstone and Eternal, but I have stalled at Arborstone. For the last several days, I can only seem to get experts at around 32 minutes or so. I can't seem to shave any time off anywhere. I am doing it h/h because groups seem to wipe here with an uncoordinated pug, but I am thinking it's my team build that is lacking for a quicker run time.
Me - MoP/SS
MoW - Jagged MM
Melnonni - Balth Tank
Olias - Resto Nec
Devona
Jamei
Aidan
and that sin hench

I'm dying here folks, besides the obvious suggestion (get a guildie to run it with) what can I do to H/H this mish??

Thanks for the ideas

Trueslash Noobfoot · Nov 06, 2007, 05:59 PM // 17:59

Replace Melonni with Livia and make her an SS, then go whatever you wanna go as. Maybe a smiting monk

NOTE: Haven't actually done this, just a suggestion.

lennymon · Nov 07, 2007, 03:24 AM // 03:24

Personally I'd drop either devona for cynn, or me-loony for something like a fast casting mes/ele with fire damage.
If you weren't aware, Aidan has no interrupts... Either Lo Sha (or my fave) Eve would in my opinion be superior. Eve runs a mean Grenth's Balance, just pin her on something big and prot her up

tmakinen · Nov 07, 2007, 06:42 AM // 06:42

The most obvious thing is to drop the MM. While a MM provides passive defense by the bone cushion s/he raises, it's also something that considerably slows down your progress. MM is a particularly bad choice for Arborstone because of constant interrupts and several high level non-fleshy monsters (especially at the end, the stone things will eat through minions in a split second, leaving the poor MM necro twiddling his thumbs.

Since you're using MoP (take Barbs, too), keep Melonni and take Morgahn and Hayda if you have her, else either Tahlkora or Dunkoro as a hybrid heal/prot with LoD. From henches take Jamei, Professor Gai, Devona and either Lo Sha or Eve.

I assume that you are already using the middle route, and the left side of the main hall, and during the final battle leaving the Stone Judge last?

bungusmaximus · Nov 07, 2007, 06:58 AM // 06:58

Ha, you play SS necro? me too and I had a ball in arborstone just because of [wiki]glyph of concentration[/wiki]. Also be sure to take [wiki]enfeebling blood[/wiki] with all the melee in there, stone judge will poo in your face if you don't bring shutdown.

The trick is something like: wait till ceiling has fallen->glyph->enfeebling->SS and watch then die. Maybe put a few pointies in earth magic and bring [wiki]ward of stability[/wiki] for the end fight (gale BLOWS).

Paragon with a couple of shouts like [wiki]"Stand your ground!"[/wiki] is also pretty good, shouts can't get interrupted and the extra armor comes in very handy.

Cebe · Nov 07, 2007, 09:40 AM // 09:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiishii Momo

Melnonni - Balth Tank

No. We don't "tank". We also don't use Avatar of Balthazar. Why? Look here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiishii Momo

I'm dying here folks, besides the obvious suggestion (get a guildie to run it with) what can I do to H/H this mish??

Thanks for the ideas

The MM becomes useless at the final battle since all the creatures are made of stone. I'd take a Ele hero, possibly with Blinding Flash / Blinding Surge and Epidemic to spread the love.

Also, the Arborstone Top-Tip is to kill the Stone Judge after everything else has been killed. As soon as the Judge is dead everything runs over to the door where Danika tries to open it. If there's nothing left when the stone judge is dead you only have to protect her from the two stone creatures which appear either side of the door.

Chthon · Nov 07, 2007, 04:36 PM // 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmakinen

The most obvious thing is to drop the MM. While a MM provides passive defense by the bone cushion s/he raises, it's also something that considerably slows down your progress. MM is a particularly bad choice for Arborstone because of constant interrupts and several high level non-fleshy monsters (especially at the end, the stone things will eat through minions in a split second, leaving the poor MM necro twiddling his thumbs.

I disagree. OK, you definitely don't want the heroes doing Minion Master, since their AI just can't do it right, but you do want a Minion Bomber -- something the AI does extremely well. Since OP said it's a "Jagged MM," I suspect s/he meant "minion bomber" and just used the wrong term. Hero MB's move along at near full speed, and you can always just flag them forward if they dwaddle. The damage synergy between 10 minions and Mark of Pain and Barbs is just so big it will save you far more time through faster kills than the MB's rate of movement will cost you. (For that matter, a good player MM can also do far more than enough DPS during battle to offset their slowness between battles, too.) Of course, the MB will get pretty worthless in the final fight, but its help in getting you to that final fight quickly and alive is probably worth it.

Shiishii Momo · Nov 07, 2007, 06:39 PM // 18:39

Lot of great suggestions, yes I go center/left side on the run, getting to the judge is not a problem really, i just keep getting whiped by the judges buddies. Well, in actuality, it's the judge whiping us while i try to kill his mob, so Enfeebling would be a great addition. Beaver, do you think an AoM build with ebon dust aura would be better?

hotman · Nov 12, 2007, 11:16 PM // 23:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiishii Momo

Beaver, do you think an AoM build with ebon dust aura would be better?

if we could have 2 elites, just have everyone take glyph of renewal and shadow form, but if we cant, just a b-surge ele with epidemic, you run enfeebling blood, then use and LoD person, and i use a BHA with empidemic too, thats just crazy shutdown everywhere, you could also take enfeeble, iwth all the empidemics running around, but i dont like it too much

MrGuildBoi · Nov 13, 2007, 07:03 AM // 07:03

You can try going the Ancient way, as in the left side. The undergrowths sorta ball up and are kinda squishy even for warriors. Use Devona, Cynn, Jamei and Gai.

arsie · Nov 13, 2007, 09:20 AM // 09:20

Each of the Stone Judge's cronies comes out of a pillar, after that, they tend to clump together in the back. It helps if you dash for the two nearest pillars and try to kill them ASAP.

Once they clump together, they work together a lot better.

tekDragon · Nov 15, 2007, 08:13 PM // 20:13

I remember getting master's relatively easily on this one back when we only had henchies. Middle way is definitely the fastest and also probably the easiest. Watch for the Oni at the top of the last set of stairs.

bifter · Nov 15, 2007, 10:52 PM // 22:52

Big problem in Canthan missions is that the hench selection is very defensive. Arborstone and Boreas Seabed are the worst offenders IMO. I'd say drag in a second person if at all possible - the addition of 4 good, balanced HM bars over the crappy hench bars should make all the difference you need.

I had the same problem on this mission (could only get fast enough for experts reward in HM), and eventually finished in a team with 2 other people. Problem with the judge's mob is that they need to be spiked down - they're a balanced group and don't really bunch up for AoE. This means that you either need to absolutely Leeroy them and hope for the best, or consider whether to cut off the assault part way, gank the judge and pray for luck when Danika starts to try to open the door. I have had a good experience putting up a ward of stability over her - I won't swear to it, but it seemed to prevent interrupts against her (assuming that one or two of the attacks on her connected), and the mission finished for me pronto. Obviously I laid some serious blind / weakness spam on the mobs attacking her at the same time.

I did this mission pre-EoTN, and it's worth considering that the warden eles (one of the more annoying parts of the mission) are instakillable with pain inverter, particularly if you do bring a MM. It may be worth bringing one for this reason alone, particularly if you're using a death nova minion bomber build for him. Be a good idea to bring one or two spike damage skills on his bar too though for the atrium fight so he isn't totally useless when you get there.

nechronius · Nov 15, 2007, 11:36 PM // 23:36

My generic recipe for arborstone is:

Me(whatever)
hybrid monk (party and point healing, protection)
searing flames elementalist
searing flames elementalist

healing henches (healer and spirit I think)
ele hench (whatever is available)

Generally speaking it hasn't mattered too much what the combo was. The end result has been 25 minutes or less. The Searing Flames/Glowing Gaze can be considered cheap or cookie cutter, but it inflicts massive amounts of damage.

I've never bothered with any of the melee henches except on rare occasions during questing (not missions).

Actually last night I helped someone who was still wearing starter armor (yes, armor 5 starter armor). They brought their heroes (including one MM) and imperfect builds ("good enough" by my standards, which aren't all that great) and I brought mine. Arborstone was owned in under 19 minutes (was using my axe warrior primary).

bifter · Nov 16, 2007, 07:26 AM // 07:26

Are you talking about HM though? I don't think anyone is likely to face too many problems with masters for Arborstone in soft mode. But... 19 mins in HM... O_o