Curse

Bastard Son · Apr 26, 2006, 06:51 PM // 18:51

So, my buds and I (I play with 2 - 3 other players on a semi-regular basis) are in Abaddon's Mouth. We try fighting, down and dirty, right on through the very first gate without looking at any strategy guides or anything just to see what it's like. We get our asses handed to us. So, we rethink our builds and strategy and go again. All the tips I've seen say to use Elementalist skills and Rangers to knock out the Jades and Mursaat along the walls at both this point and later in the mission just before you meet up with the two Mursaat bosses (one of them is Optimus Caliph... can't remember the other one's name) guarding the door that leads to the six seals to destroy. Our Ranger can't seem to hit any of them, no matter what angle, skill, or bow he chooses (obstructed view). Is there something he is doing wrong? Has this been changed from when the strategies were written? I change my secondary to Ele and throw a few spells around, but it takes forever since I was the only one who was able to actually do any damage (we even had henchie Cynn along with us and she was about as useful as bringing along a bag of turds).

My questions to you fellow PvEr's is threefold:

(1) What skills/bows should the Ranger take along to help knock out the bastards along the walls?
(2) What skills/spells should the Ele take along for the same question?
(3) How the hell do you beat those two bosses guarding that last gate before the six seals?!?! The henchmen were so low in their DPs at that point that they were useless and three human players (a warrior, a heal monk, and a ranger) just couldn't beat them. We were fighting them for so long without getting anywhere, that we literally gave up -- just up and quit. Without exaggerating, the fight against those two probably took a good 20 - 30 minutes and neither of them were going down. But, then again, we weren't either. We had to give up to rethink our strategy... and this is where you guys come in.

I know interrupts help a lot against all the Mesmer and Ele skills being thrown our way, but what kinds of Ranger, Ele, Monk, and Warrior (in particular) skills worked the best for you?

EDIT: And yes, we all have all the pieces of our armor infused.

LoKi Foxfire · Apr 26, 2006, 07:09 PM // 19:09

Quote:

(1) What skills/bows should the Ranger take along to help knock out the bastards along the walls?

As for a bow, I recommend you either have a Longbow/Flatbow to pull some of the mobs (when possible, some are chained). Ranger should bring Distracting Shot (best interrupt for any general given situation, especially if you run into the Monk Mursaat!) and perhaps Concussion Shot to take care of those spellcasters. Other than that, you have your pick of what kind of damage you want to be dealing.

Quote:

(2) What skills/spells should the Ele take along for the same question?

Before the AoE update, I would have said MS and Firestorm. Now, I recommend any non-LoS spells so you don't need to worry too much about where you're aiming from. (Air is a good choice, Chain Lightning perhaps)

Quote:

(3) How the hell do you beat those two bosses guarding that last gate before the six seals?!?!

If you mean the very last gate before you get to the Seals, just run by them. I've done it before with my group first time through because of some rumor that an insane amount of guys spawned if they died. If not, you need to bring interrupts for any healing skills and enough DPS skills.

As for specific skills, Ranger should at least have Distracting Shot and other Bow skills. Monk is self-explantory since they should be healing. Warrior just needs Disrupting Chop/Distracting Blow and DPS skills.

Bastard Son · Apr 26, 2006, 07:23 PM // 19:23

Thanks for the advice!

The biggest issue with the ranger (and he has quite the selection of skills and bows) is that no matter which one he tries and no matter where he fires from, the walls are too high or something. He can't get a single clear shot off on anyone on any of those walls (view obstructed). Any suggestions there?

Regarding the two bosses towards the end (Optimus Caliph being one of them) guarding the last door before the six seals.... I thought that door was closed off? You can just run by them?!?! If so, we're bigger idiots than I thought we already were.

LoKi Foxfire · Apr 26, 2006, 07:27 PM // 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bastard Son

Thanks for the advice!

The biggest issue with the ranger (and he has quite the selection of skills and bows) is that no matter which one he tries and no matter where he fires from, the walls are too high or something. He can't get a single clear shot off on anyone on any of those walls (view obstructed). Any suggestions there?

Regarding the two bosses towards the end (Optimus Caliph being one of them) guarding the last door before the six seals.... I thought that door was closed off? You can just run by them?!?! If so, we're bigger idiots than I thought we already were.

Rangers have never been able to hit any of the enemies up there as far I have tried.

Also, the boss spawns change every time you attempt it. As far as the last two bosses go, yes you can run by them if you make sure to lose agro before the end. :]

Cherno · Apr 26, 2006, 07:27 PM // 19:27

Loki, I am not sure you are talking about the same place.

For Abaddon's Mouth.... Rangers won't be able to hit any of the mobs up along the parapets. I've usually taken an ele, blood spike necro or SS or a mes to clear the first wall before attacking the seal.

Any spells that don't require line of site work fine, in this case even firestorm, although it would be somewhat useless as they will run out of it but will come back. Meteor shower works fine, immolate, maelstrom etc.

As for the bosses at the last gate... the bosses always show up in twos but the spawn is random. Just treat them like any other, they are usually the easiest one. You probably had the monk boss with them. Willa is such a pain. A necro with spinal shivers and a cold weapon (and a warrior with an icy sword) can help make quick work of her. Also a ranger with good interrupt skills or mesmer work well.

If you have wastels worry, it can make quick work of many bosses.

Conventional wisdom will usually say to take out monk bosses first, but it can be tough when you have an ele boss laying waste to your team at the same time. Best I've handled it was to have someone keeping the monk distracted or shut down while killing the other boss, then everyone concentrate on the monk.

Cherno · Apr 26, 2006, 07:29 PM // 19:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoKi Foxfire

Rangers have never been able to hit any of the enemies up there as far I have tried.

Also, the boss spawns change every time you attempt it. As far as the last two bosses go, yes you can run by them if you make sure to lose agro before the end. :]

You can't run past them. There is an ether seal on that door.

Bastard Son · Apr 26, 2006, 07:29 PM // 19:29

Yep... the last two bosses we ran into were the Necro and the Monk.

I don't remember seeing an Ether seal on that particular doorway. Looked more like a cave entrance with a closed door... but perhaps there was.

EDIT: Just to make sure we're on the same page: there is an area with two Mursaat bosses guarding a doorway. Just after you walk over what looks like an energy field bridge (that crosses over a chasm full of lava) there is an uphill ramp that you can go up either on the left or right side (the middle has a small pool of lava). At the top of that ramp is the doorway with the two bosses that I'm talking about. Just wanted to clear that up.

frickett · Apr 26, 2006, 07:38 PM // 19:38

You can try traps with the ranger, if you get right up against the wall. I dont think traps have a verticle limit, but im not sure.

LoKi Foxfire · Apr 26, 2006, 07:47 PM // 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cherno

You can't run past them. There is an ether seal on that door.

That is why you kill the seal and leave the bosses behind. ;P

I assumed he knew how to deal with the seals... that being said, I don't know if they heal the Seal. :]

Also, I know that Rangers can't hit mobs from the walls (*cough* avatar *cough*)

Bastard Son · Apr 26, 2006, 07:52 PM // 19:52

Since I don't even remember there being a seal on that door, we must have decided to destroy it anyways at some point. Took so long to fight the bosses, I wouldn't be surprised if we either (1) forgot about the seal or (2) forgot that we destroyed the seal. I'm telling you... we sat there fighting those two bosses for nearly half hour before we agreed to just go down in a blaze of idiotic glory. The ranger just walked into the lava. I stopped healing and stood still. The fighter just clicked on one of the bosses without using skills just to see how long it would take. Funny stuff.

But, now it's time to take those guys out and get to those last seals... and what lay beyond.

Thanks for all the help and tips!

Cherno · Apr 26, 2006, 08:09 PM // 20:09

Well your response to his question about taking out the mobs on the walls way to bring a long bow to pull although some are chained (which didn't make any sense for this mission)

Ok I was working from a couple of assumptions based on how most will handle the mission:

When you start, you don't attack the first ether seal. You kill the items from on the walls first, then go after the seal. If you don't you will be horribly mobbed by mesmers, necros and eles as well as the rangers from above.

Once the parapets are cleared and the seal is killed, get the remaining small mobs from the doorway.

Head towards the main body of the fort and kill the mursaat and jade patrols on the right first. Then go after the loose patrol inside the area that is suken down. Ignore the two bosses and everything beyond for now.
Then go kill the ether seal with the armors and bows around it.

Doing so will usually cause one of the bosses to come up by himself. If you get him body blocked, you can keep the bosses separated (a good tactic throughout the mission).

Once the bosses are killed and the remaining bows and seal, go out over the bridge. Try to get to the lone mursaat monk as soon as possible and kill him before he gets to the jades. If you get the monk first, the armors will just stand there and never attack.

Now work your way down to the left, kill the armors, then the two by the seal. (going to the right where the hydras are will take you along the path to clear for bonus, skill capping and infusion)

Once inside, you will face two more bosses. There is usually a mursaat monk wandering around in there to make things even more difficult. Be careful if trying to separate and body block to not agro the armors further up.

Once the bosses are dead and then the armors, move ahead. You will run into another wall with archers on a parapet. Take them out the same way you did at the beginning, then kill the seal and move forward.

Another set of armor mobs and then the spirit bridge. Your last set of two bosses and a seal. While it is possible I suppose to just kill the seal and run past, I haven't tried it.

Kill the bosses, then the seal and move into the final portion of the mission. Kill one of the towers, then kill the spirit guards that come out before attempting the next tower. Don't start on another tower until you are sure you have cleared out any close mursaat guardians. Rinse and repeat.

Clear all the towers and you will get a cutscene. Cutscene ends, kill one titan and mission complete.

If doing the bonus...
After clearing out the fort, monk and two groups of armors, instead of going after the group by the seal, head to the right. Take out the golems and hydras and cross the lava pool. Head to the left and take the rightmost path.
Clear out everything you can as you continue to head that direction.

You will be fighting flame dryders which die pretty easily and a few bosses.
You will come to a small stone bridge where across it you will see the eidolon and some burrowers. Kill that group, then kill the group on the right. Be very careful here as a chaos wurm will pop up.

You can ignore the burrowers (and hidden wurm) on the left if you want.

Then make your way back into the first fort you entered. Clear out the remaining mobs there and the seals. This will make the spirit Leah appear. She moves veeeeeery slow. She will walk out of her area, take a right, head along the wall a bit, then backtrack and finally out the door. Once she is past the bridge she will start to run.

The reason you cleared the path first is that she must stay alive and will aggro/attack anything along her path. Once she makes her way to the grassy knoll on the isle with the wurm and eidolon that you killed, bonus is complete. Backtrack and continue with mission.