Curse

Mervil · Dec 01, 2009, 10:14 PM // 22:14

So, I can't find anywhere a guide that explains the nuances of being the main tank for a manly way FoWsc. I could use some advice.

I've done FoWsc many times as UA and 100b. But those roles are pretty easy and straight forward. After watching the MT do his thing so many times, I thought I could do it. I attempted my first run as MT today, and it was harder than I thought it would be...

The first parts of the run were simple enough, aggroing mobs and balling them up, and then pinging EBSoH (although I did get a comment from the MoP necro that he didn't get a clean MoP off the entire run... Not sure what he meant, as the mobs were thoroughly demolished once the 100b's beamed in...)
Everything was simple enough until I got to the forest. I was aware of the Rock Borer Worm's choking gas skill, so I made sure not to get in a situation where SF could get interrupted, but I was NOT aware of the Spirit Shepherd's lightning touch skill (ouch!). Once we got through them, I attempted to aggro and ball up the banshees and skeletons on the bridge, but there were some traps that nearly took me out, and I couldn't seem to get everybody balled up into one spikable group. Next, I headed over to the shard wolf, and took care of him easily enough. Then, after I was rezzed and the griffon quest was taken, I had a really tough time a) balling up the skeletons and b) staying alive (those traps are brutal!).

Please give advice on how to do forest as MT. I'm assuming that the MT just needs to try to aggro all the spirit shepherds into one group, not get into touch range and therefore not worry about putting up EBSoH. Next, how does the MT manage to ball up all the enemies on the bridge?
I also need advice on how to ball up the skeletons and not get killed by traps after the Griffon quest is taken.

Thank you!
/end wall of text

Axeman002 · Dec 01, 2009, 10:54 PM // 22:54

different shield mods for different area's like +10 vrs piercing/fire/slashing helps alot...and lots of practice...go as a nuker and watch there tank and what he/she does, that's the easiest solution.

Songbringer · Dec 01, 2009, 11:02 PM // 23:02

Ok, so to stop from getting hit by lightning touch. You should be doing like 2 big pulls of the sheperds. Run back and forth along the wall and get them into a grp. Then stand away from them so that the wars jump in they will body block the sheperds on the wall and you don't actually go near them.

The traps are pretty easy to avoid. Take notice of where they are standing by the bridge right before you aggro and don't go on that spot. If you can do that you are usually safe.

Now I pull the skele's and banshee's to 2 different spots depening on how I feel. 1 Spot is right on the edge of the bridge(the corner closest to you when you come up on the bridge) This requires you to pull the skel's across the bridge and then back so they run along the side of the bridge and can be body blocked on the wall.

Another good spot is there is a wonderful little part of the ground that sticks out just far enough that you can stand against it and the war's can jump the cavern and spike the stuff. It is kind of hard to explain where it is. The part that sticks out isn't very big and is about in the middle of the area along the cavern.

It's only going to add like 4 seconds to do this in 2 pulls. If you are having trouble, it is a bad run, the war's suck or you are new then do it in 2 pulls. Aggro the skele's and then the banshee's. Skele's can be tough to ball because they are ranged and the distance to pull them isn't as big as it is with the shadow army when you can get 3-4 grps aggroed together and pull them around rocks to ball.

A lot of the little things a sin does and the techniques he uses are hard to notice by watching. Practice is going to make you better. Also look at some utube vids. Some tricks that you learn to help you some sins might not do. In my opnion every mt pulls differently. I tend to go with bigger pulls and using my enviroment to body block to compensate and help to stop scatter.

Finally, use blessed and use spear/shield!

prey monkie · Dec 01, 2009, 11:05 PM // 23:05

dc into a group works for easy ball. and for traps. ss / feigned + ur earth armor spell ( can't come up with the name now) and traps are no problem at all make. personally i think most of the thcs members are crap but anyway they have a cool core team. check this mt vid might help u with ideas: http://www.guildwars-thcs.com/fow_tank.htm

Life Bringing · Dec 02, 2009, 01:59 AM // 01:59

In the lightning forest, after passing the initial worms, you come to an area with spider popups and 2 possible paths to take. Coming down both paths will be shepherds. Agro the right group immediately, and then take the left path and wait until the 6 shepherds get closer to you. If you go out to get them immediately, the first 3 shepherds will break off. Once you've grabbed that group of shepherds, turn around so you're facing the wall of agro you just grabbed(should be looking somewhere between where the shard wolf is and where the forest entrance is), and hug the right wall until all the shepherds form a nice ball on that corner. Be careful that you dont go too far along that wall, as the shepherds have a weird agro and can possibly agro onto the rest of the main team.

To avoid lightning touch, just try to stay about 3/4s of your agro bubble away from them. When it comes time to spike them, dont bother getting near them, the spike is perfectly fine with you at longbow range.

As for the bridge and skeleton groups in general, dont even try to get EVERYTHING in a ball. On the bridge, some understanding of what is there is needed to know how to ball them. The general composition is 2 groups of 2 berserkers and an impaler in front of the bridge, a patrolling group goign back and forth over the bridge, and a large amount of berserkers and banshees on the other side. There are also 2 icehands and 2 bonds on the other side, as well as a popup impaler.

The goal in this spike is to get the icehands and all the melees killed. To do this, run across the bridge and near the wailing lord. In this position, everything will run towards you and agro on to you. Circle around the wailing lord and stand near the bridge(avoiding the traps), and wait for the berserkers to come back over the bridge from the front groups. Hit IAU and run in between the 2 impalers that came onto the bridge from the front groups and keep running until the icehands are positioned in such a way on the bridge that they have a decent distance from the impalers. If you're too close, the spike will be somewhat screwed up by the traps.

Once you get good at the bridge pull, you can use EoE to your advantage. While sitting with the 2 icehands and all the melees on you, drop EBSoH and take out a staff(either earth or inspiration, depending on your MT build). Proceed to wand the impalers until they are under 90% hp, and then switch to the next one. This simple wanding while waiting for the main team to catch up will end up killing off the impalers, provided that EoE is in range. While doing this, use IAU on recharge, and tell the monk to throw you a Heal Party if needed.

For Griffons, remember that everything does not need to be balled. Bonds will rarely be in the ball on the spike, unless you manage to wall hug them(don't worry about this when you're starting out). For example, ont he first griffons group, position the berserkers and the one caster in a ball, and then spike. After the first two mobs, you will not HAVE to kill another until the top of the hill, where the shadow army part starts. Depending on the spawn, hug the wall to the right to get past the third group, or circle wide to the left. If you circle left, make sure that the wars kill the impaler patrol. Skipping these mobs until the hill is HIGHLY recommended, as the spikes are usually very messy due to the common dual impaler and very few things to actually make a spike out of.

Theres my wall of text. Send me a message or something if you need help with it.

Volo · Dec 19, 2009, 12:16 PM // 12:16

nice guide ^.^ btw the 1 big pull for shepherds is better
but mt can take a few lightning touch from shepherds. if your health is low pop iau + fn and gg. oh and on the bridge there is always a bond that wands so you are able to ball that up with icehands.