Curse

Bodock · Sep 09, 2009, 03:05 PM // 15:05

what is the limit on minions? is it 8?

deluxe · Sep 09, 2009, 05:10 PM // 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bodock

what is the limit on minions? is it 8?

11 @ 18 death (masochism)

Catchphrase · Sep 09, 2009, 05:17 PM // 17:17

There used to be a reason to do ToPK, urgoz and kanaxai when stuff aren't inscriptable. Inscriptable items pretty much defeats the whole purpose of soloing boss and doing those dungeons or w/e you call it to farm those green drops.

hallomik · Sep 11, 2009, 01:03 AM // 01:03

In the old days, I used to B/P this one all the time. This past weekend, I decided to try to hero/hench it with a discord + Spirit Spammer (me) combo.

I wiped the first couple of trys, but finally got the hang of it. Winning strategy seemed to be to drop the spirits first, flag the H/H team behind me, Pull the baddies into the spirits, and then unleash the H/H.

It was pretty fast, but the cool part came at the end. After killing everyone around the Darknesses, I flagged the H/H off screen and soloed the Darkness trio - easy with a spirit spam build - and got all greens for myself.

Good times.

Monster. · Sep 11, 2009, 03:15 AM // 03:15

They really ought to just add a chest at the end, and maybe up the difficulty a bit if the chest was good. Could drop sigils or something, so you don't just have to buy them from the trader or off of an HoHer.

Mr. Undisclosed · Sep 11, 2009, 05:28 AM // 05:28

Would be a cool little project for the devs, maybe add an end chest or something and voila something to keep people busy. I myself have never even bothered to do ToPK because it just didn't sound profitable and I'm sure a great deal of other people haven't or have only done so once.

Dazzen · Sep 11, 2009, 05:24 PM // 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallomik

In the old days, I used to B/P this one all the time. This past weekend, I decided to try to hero/hench it with a discord + Spirit Spammer (me) combo.

I wiped the first couple of trys, but finally got the hang of it. Winning strategy seemed to be to drop the spirits first, flag the H/H team behind me, Pull the baddies into the spirits, and then unleash the H/H.

It was pretty fast, but the cool part came at the end. After killing everyone around the Darknesses, I flagged the H/H off screen and soloed the Darkness trio - easy with a spirit spam build - and got all greens for myself.

Good times.

Lol i've done the exact same thing when it was on zbounty, didn't get all grens (even if H/H were flaggued away) but it was ok.

On the other hand i was hoping to get at least one ecto and erm.... no not even a single ecto. Drops are bad, like in SF, you're just after some greens and it takes a long time.

I won't redo ToPK in a lonng time...

zwei2stein · Sep 11, 2009, 06:07 PM // 18:07

Hmm, no title, no statue, some loot, but less valuable and desired than in other areas, long and fairly boring, easy to wipe in pug (dungeon without res shrines, oh my!), final reward being decent thou (wtb wenslauss staves in bulk, 3k a piece!)

Something you do several times for fun, but never return to.

Snograt · Sep 12, 2009, 01:17 AM // 01:17

Hmm, I tried (and failed - have I ever mentioned how much I suck?) to clear Tombs with just my spirit-spammer and standard Sab's necros.

Would you guys say that discord is the way to go for someone wanting to do this?

- I still love Tombs - sue me

hallomik · Sep 12, 2009, 02:43 PM // 14:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snograt

Hmm, I tried (and failed - have I ever mentioned how much I suck?) to clear Tombs with just my spirit-spammer and standard Sab's necros.

Would you guys say that discord is the way to go for someone wanting to do this?

- I still love Tombs - sue me

Can't say for sure, as I haven't tried it with Sab, but I'll add a couple of other tips.

1) I took the 2 healer plus 2 mage henches.

2) Always kill the Terrorweb Dryder first. In the second area where they line the raised area on either side, be patient and clear out all popups before you take them on. Pre-cast your spirits outside of range, run near the first one and teleport all your spirits in with the Kurz/Lux skill. If they meteor shower your spirits, back off and try again. There is a long recharge on meteor and they don't seem to cast it the 2nd time.

3) Also, you need to flag your H/H way off screen so they are all greyed out. If they are sufficiently out of range, you will get every green.

Snograt · Sep 12, 2009, 05:03 PM // 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallomik

Can't say for sure, as I haven't tried it with Sab, but I'll add a couple of other tips.

Sweet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallomik

1) I took the 2 healer plus 2 mage henches.

Doh. For some reason I totally forgot about the henchmen in TotPK. I remember using the healers and rangers when I used to run my ranger and 3 ranger heroes through there. Sort-of worked a bit...

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallomik

2) Always kill the Terrorweb Dryder first. In the second area where they line the raised area on either side, be patient and clear out all popups before you take them on. Pre-cast your spirits outside of range, run near the first one and teleport all your spirits in with the Kurz/Lux skill. If they meteor shower your spirits, back off and try again. There is a long recharge on meteor and they don't seem to cast it the 2nd time.

Yeah, that's the nasty bit whatever team configuration you use. Summon Spirits is great for pulling them out of a Meat Shower - as long as it's not hitting me at the time (which would be carelessness on my part, right?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallomik

3) Also, you need to flag your H/H way off screen so they are all greyed out. If they are sufficiently out of range, you will get every green.

Ah, I know that part. I'm good at that part

Thanks for the tips!

hallomik · Sep 12, 2009, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snograt

Sweet.

Doh. For some reason I totally forgot about the henchmen in TotPK. I remember using the healers and rangers when I used to run my ranger and 3 ranger heroes through there. Sort-of worked a bit...

Yeah, that's the nasty bit whatever team configuration you use. Summon Spirits is great for pulling them out of a Meat Shower - as long as it's not hitting me at the time (which would be carelessness on my part, right?)

Ah, I know that part. I'm good at that part

Thanks for the tips!

I just did it again to see if there was anything else I forgot to mention.

The main thing that wipes a party is being all bunched up when they hit you with their AOE skills (meteor shower, fireball, and energy surge). When I'm dealing with the dryders, as I said, I flag the H/H behind me (just close enough so my healers will toss a heal on me if needed). I pre-cast spirits and then summon them to attack the Dryder. I then step away from the spirits but not back to the H/H. Depending on how the battle goes, when the Dryder launches Meteor shower, they will either target me or the spirits (and sometimes the h/h). If they target the spirits, I cast summon spirits to save as many as I can. If they target me, I step out of the shower. Takes a bit of practice, but it quickly becomes second nature. I wiped again today the first time I tried because I ran all the way back to the H/H when the meteor showers started raining. As long as you have 3 separate targets -- yourself, spirits, h/h -- you should be in decent shape.

If you want to be extra cautious, you could spread out your heroes from the henches a bit to really make sure the AOE damage is really minimized. I haven't found this necessary if you do the above technique.

One other thing is I make two of the discord nec's also MM's. Once they break through the lines of your spirits, you'll have up to 20 minion targets to divert and deal damage.

Lastly, a word on soloing the three darknesses at the end. I use the following build: OACjAuiKpSfT+glTXTRbVT7i0gA

To kill the darknesses, I cast in the following sequence.

First I pre-cast spirits outside of aggro range in this order:
Pain,
Vampirism,
Bloodsong,
Signet of Spirits
Anguish

Then wait until my energy is back up to 30.
I cast Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support on nearest Darkness immediately followed by Summon Spirits and then Painful Bond.

I run back out of aggro range and that should be enough to take down the first of three Darknesses. Sometimes he'll have a tiny bit of health left and I'll need to do it again. I use the same technique on the last two which is easier since spirits will survive longer against fewer of them.

Then, collect 6-9 greens as it appears that Darkesses will drop either two or three greens each.

Good Luck.

Atro · Sep 12, 2009, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Awesome, this sounds interesting, Ive done ToPK with a friend it was pretty fun but that was ages ago, I need to try this, thanks for the info.

AlsPals · Sep 13, 2009, 05:22 AM // 05:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catchphrase

There used to be a reason to do ToPK, urgoz and kanaxai when stuff aren't inscriptable. Inscriptable items pretty much defeats the whole purpose of soloing boss and doing those dungeons or w/e you call it to farm those green drops.

Story of the game...inscriptions tanked the perceived value of most of the stuff in the game.

Snograt · Sep 13, 2009, 08:49 AM // 08:49

Thanks hallomik - just completed my first-ever H/H clearance of Tombs ^_^

Did it as a trial run - so inventory was full (damn that 30 second timer - lose it please, ANet; it serves NO purpose!) The drop box at the end was full of blues and whites - with just Victo's Blade and Milius' Pillar to show for my troubles. I missed out on Victo's Maul and Illyana's Staff, so no major loss.

Still love Tombs

Fay Vert · Sep 13, 2009, 11:45 AM // 11:45

While I agree that the time to next mission timer serves no purpose, and the one in tombs is mindlessly short. Gotta ask, what are you doing with your inventory that you can't fit the drops from Tombs in?

hallomik · Sep 13, 2009, 12:59 PM // 12:59

Gratz Snograt. I took one mercantile summoning stone with me and popped him out in the fourth chamber. I knew I forgot something!

Snograt · Sep 13, 2009, 12:59 PM // 12:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

While I agree that the time to next mission timer serves no purpose, and the one in tombs is mindlessly short. Gotta ask, what are you doing with your inventory that you can't fit the drops from Tombs in?

Potential Nicholas drops, of course

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallomik

Gratz Snograt. I took one mercantile summoning stone with me and popped him out in the fourth chamber. I knew I forgot something!

I thought I had some - I've got tons of the damn things spread over every character except my damn Rit, apparently.

(edit) I think I'm getting the hang of it now ^_^

gw_poster · Sep 14, 2009, 05:59 PM // 17:59

^^ that's sweet, gz. I think I might just do ToPK again because I'm bored shitless of the rest of this game...sabway, merc summoning stone, ele and monk hench, flag them away at end, r/rt spirit spammer build (i'm a ranger), anything I've missed? Oh yeah, B/P used to take about an 1h 15min...how long is this taking you guys with h/h?

Snograt · Sep 14, 2009, 07:34 PM // 19:34

Probably a bit longer than B/P - this method is more like surgical precision rather than a steamroller.