Curse

Blackbirdx61 · Mar 04, 2012, 06:22 PM // 18:22

Just Completed Thirsty River,
and the one problem I kept running into is all the Bosses keep spamming some variation of the "Sack O' Infinite HP" spell; which means I have to dedicate my PC to the really fun task of Spamming Lighting Jav. (Honestly Devs give them 10K HP if you want to, but let me have some fun bringing them down, I do hate HATE Infinite HP spells. )

At one point last night I was Dead, and no one was interested in Rezing the Boss- but my two Warriors and the Ghost remained, so I thought I would see how long it took them to take the Mob Boss down; the Stalemate went on for 9 minutes before I resigned. But checking my skills list, I don’t see a anything that would have helped. - Now I could reequip one of the Pair with a Hammer to get the knock down interrupts, but Pandora's Bane Signet wasn't getting anything significant down that way.

Anyhow I've moved away from Hammers and currently run one Axe One Sword; any suggestions for Axe or Sword Skills with an Interrupt element?

Thanks BB.

Lyv · Mar 04, 2012, 06:38 PM // 18:38

Savage Slash is pretty good for sword builds.
Disrupting Chop for Axes, although I'm not sure it will be reliable against 1sec cast spells if used by heroes.
Distracting Blow for any weapon.

I didn't really understand which ennemies/spells gave you a hard time. The monk boss ?

Frangeo Munda · Mar 04, 2012, 06:47 PM // 18:47

First of all, please have ANet make "Sack O' Infinite HP" an actual spell.

I assume the skill you're actually having trouble with comes from the Forgotten's Enemy Priest monsters, who are very capable healers. Their elite is Word of Healing, which is specifically designed to prevent spikes. They have a two-fold job: they both heal party members and, if they're alive after 2:00 elapsed, they rez their entire party. This makes taking them out as soon as possible a really good idea. However, you really need significant damage (or interrupts) to take them down.

Warriors have a few good interrupt options. Savage slash, a swordsmanship skill, interrupts and adds bonus damage if the interrupted skill is a spell (which it will be for a large percentage of the skills used by the forgotten. If you want to go Axe instead, there's disrupting chop, which while it has no bonus damage, has the beautiful effect of disabling your target's interrupt skill for 20 seconds. Squeeze one of those in against the Priests' elite skill and they'll go down in no time.

There are also a few non-weapon-specific interrupts. This includes Distracting Strike (which will also disable, but only if the target has the Cracked Armor condition), and distracting blow (which deals no damage, but can interrupt everyone adjacent to your foe).

Hammers are probably not great for interrupting, IMO. Out of the melee weapons, they are by far the slowest attack speed. You could attempt to "knocklock" an enemy (i.e., keep them permanently knocked down), but I find it easier to stick on a few interrupt skills on sword or axe and run around that way.

The trick to Thirsty River (and frankly to all PvE) is to pull smartly and take your time. If you don't want to go for bonus (and often even if you do), time really shouldn't be a concern in that mission. There are 3 fight "arenas" in that mission - the first has one army, the second has two, and the third has three - but you can fight each of the six armies on its own. Your general plan of attack should be: wait until timer has just passed a multiple of 2:00 (including 0:00), kill all the casters, and then head for the enemy priest. Once that's done, mob up the boss and the other Forgotten.

Lastly, what is your primary profession? I assume if you're using lighting javelin, you're a primary Elementalist. If not, don't use that. On second thought, don't use that even if you are. While Forgotten do take extra damage from lightning damage, that particular skill is too low damage to really make it worth it. It has a high arc (easily dodgeable), relatively low damage, and the interrupt effect only takes place in certain circumstances (i.e., it's pretty much useless against casters). Go for something with a little more oomph.

Blackbirdx61 · Mar 04, 2012, 07:17 PM // 19:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frangeo Munda

First of all, please have ANet make "Sack O' Infinite HP" an actual spell.

I assume the skill you're actually having trouble with comes from the Forgotten's Enemy Priest monsters, who are very capable healers. Their elite is Word of Healing, which is specifically designed to prevent spikes. They have a two-fold job: they both heal party members and, if they're alive after 2:00 elapsed, they rez their entire party. This makes taking them out as soon as possible a really good idea. However, you really need significant damage (or interrupts) to take them down.

Actually not so much as you might think, I had no problem burning down the supporting cast Priests and all most of the time, but the Monk Boss, the Elm Boss; both gave me fits at moments, the Necro boss; not quite so much.(Quick Edit) but not to dis the Idea Above - I definately had one incident where the Boss was being alot of trouble; and just when I realized something was off I spied a Forgotten Monk just outside the Shelter almost hidden by the doorway but casting heals; you are right they are really good; and they are really a pain if you dont take them out. (End Edit.)

Quote:

Warriors have a few good interrupt options. Savage slash, a swordsmanship skill, interrupts and adds bonus damage if the interrupted skill is a spell (which it will be for a large percentage of the skills used by the forgotten. If you want to go Axe instead, there's disrupting chop, which while it has no bonus damage, has the beautiful effect of disabling your target's interrupt skill for 20 seconds. Squeeze one of those in against the Priests' elite skill and they'll go down in no time.

There are also a few non-weapon-specific interrupts. This includes Distracting Strike (which will also disable, but only if the target has the Cracked Armor condition), and distracting blow (which deals no damage, but can interrupt everyone adjacent to your foe).

Will have to check my lists and maybe do some shopping.

Quote:

The trick to Thirsty River (and frankly to all PvE) is to pull smartly and take your time. If you don't want to go for bonus (and often even if you do), time really shouldn't be a concern in that mission. There are 3 fight "arenas" in that mission - the first has one army, the second has two, and the third has three - but you can fight each of the six armies on its own. Your general plan of attack should be: wait until timer has just passed a multiple of 2:00 (including 0:00), kill all the casters, and then head for the enemy priest. Once that's done, mob up the boss and the other Forgotten.

I expect that's true in that I was probably pushing to fast for the Priests; and at least a couple times just mis-read the map, and wound up taking on two mobs at once in the third level; while the first priest was safely unmolested in his cubby hole.

Quote:

Lastly, what is your primary profession? I assume if you're using lighting javelin, you're a primary Elementalist. If not, don't use that. On second thought, don't use that even if you are. While Forgotten do take extra damage from lightning damage, that particular skill is too low damage to really make it worth it. It has a high arc (easily dodgeable), relatively low damage, and the interrupt effect only takes place in certain circumstances (i.e., it's pretty much useless against casters). Go for something with a little more oomph.

Actually Claudia is Ranger Elm, but I've always run her as an archer/ELM.

I know that creates some problems; but I've had such great fun with her; and as I do hate repeating material. So I've been hoping to complete Prophecies with her before either retiring her to Merc only Status, or Deleting her and Rebuilding her as proper E/R in Nightfall and doing that campain from scratch with a new Claudia toon.

I know Rangers are supposed to be Elm Busters, but I don't find any advantage to Distracting shot even with a 10 Marks; and find Honestly I've found I prefer the Lightning Jav; yes it is dodged sometimes but its quick, cheap, and I can usually jam a caster while my guys bring it down. Still it may be time to reconsider that too.

Thanks much for all time and tips. !!
Now if I could only break this Hex of Infinaate Mis-spellings. BB.

enter_the_zone · Mar 04, 2012, 07:38 PM // 19:38

You're a Ranger and you're wondering how to grief an ele or a monk... seriously?

Broad Head Arrow.

Or a Panic Mesmer or Necros with spinal shivers and bring winter. Lock one on the priest and the rest kill the boss.

KotCR · Mar 04, 2012, 08:46 PM // 20:46

Yeah, I was going to say, if you are having that much trouble with a Monk boss, the go-to skill is Broadhead Arrow, especially so if you are a Ranger yourself, though Heroes can run it just fine with a simple target-lock command. Make sure to run it with a Recurve Bow or Shortbow. Avoid Hornbows and Flatbows.

In the case of Thirsty River and the Forgotten Monk bosses, you might want to also bring enchantment removal, as they have Aegis to block 50% of your teams' attacks (possibly stopping you from perma-interrupting them with Broadhead Arrow). Mirror of Disenchantment (Mesmer skill, unlinked) is perfect for Aegis as it'll remove it from all the enemy team if you make a succesful removal with it.

Alternatively you might like to try a regular single-target enchantment removal combined with Well of the Profane (Necromancer, Death Magic) and get a quick spike kill at the start to activate the skill which will stop all enemies in that area from using any Enchantments, Protective or otherwise, and remove the ones they currently have.

If you plan on running the Broadhead Arrow instead of a hero, Asuran Scan is perfect for the job of getting round block enchantments too.

If it was a Warrior you'd rather use for the daze (though a Broadhead Arrow Ranger, or at a larger stretch, a Paragon with Stunning Strike are preferable) as cumbersome as it is, Skull Crack is probably your best choice. Timing the interrupt right shouldn't cause any problems for a hero, though it's possible that Warrior heroes may end up wasting it on a non-spell skill instead (though, I don't believe Forgotten Priests have any skills that aren't spells anyway).

You might also consider Overbearing Smash on a Hammer Warrior, although I wouldn't recommend it as it's hard to maintain the Daze indefinetly with it, and Heroes will just spam it, they won't wait till a target is knocked down to use it and grant the Daze affect, so you'd have to micro it.

If you don't have Skull Crack unlocked yet, you could just bring Stefan, who has it as his elite skill anyway, if you are in a level 20 area. Stefan also has Savage Slash, another strong interrupt (though not a Daze), mentioned earlier. Bear in mind, you can't target-lock henchmen, so you may have to call the Priest boss, then lock-target the rest of your team on other threats.

If facing a dual-enemy Monk team, have your Dazer lock-target one (preferably the one that will take the longest to kill), while the rest of your team all attack and spike-down the other.

Blackbirdx61 · Mar 04, 2012, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by KotCR

Alternatively you might like to try a regular single-target enchantment removal combined with Well of the Profane (Necromancer, Death Magic) and get a quick spike kill at the start to activate the skill which will stop all enemies in that area from using any Enchantments, Protective or otherwise, and remove the ones they currently have.

Actually the last time I ran, (and finally completed) I did run with the Mesmer Hench; and it might have helped; Maybe I don't understand what Mesmers do too well; but I can never tell if the Mes - Hench is actually doing anything. With a Necro you can see them Raise Minions, Ele's, Warriors, and Rangers are pretty obvious; but the Mesmer - I dont ever really seem to see what he's doing.

Many thanks for all the Detailed Notes, gives me a good be to chew on.

BB.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by enter_the_zone

You're a Ranger and you're wondering how to grief an ele or a monk... seriously?

Broad Head Arrow.

Or a Panic Mesmer or Necros with spinal shivers and bring winter. Lock one on the priest and the rest kill the boss.

Not Exactly no, while I certainly had some challanges with the self-healing bosses.* What prompted this thread was seeing how hopeless my Warriors were when I was not there to jam for them; that seems like a whole that just needs filling; and would likely help with the first problem.
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* And do genuinely appreciate the Ranger Tips.

Star_Jewel · Mar 04, 2012, 10:42 PM // 22:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackbirdx61

Maybe I don't understand what Mesmers do too well; but I can never tell if the Mes - Hench is actually doing anything.

Back when we were limited to taking only 3 heroes, I'd often take the mesmer henchmen to help fill my party -- and this was even before the wicked mesmer skill update. Anything to avoid having to take a warrior hench, but they got the job done.

As with anything, you can look up the henchmen on the wiki and it'll tell you which skills they use.

Blackbirdx61 · Mar 04, 2012, 10:52 PM // 22:52

Well I have done that ... but besides Wanding; I just never actually see any visible effect; but as I said above that may just be my not really having a good grasp of them; It's really hard to see say a Back Fire; Unless your the Elm Burger frying himself. (Done that) Still I appreciate the fact you think their carrying their water; that does mean something. BB.

KotCR · Mar 04, 2012, 11:55 PM // 23:55

IIRC, the Mesmer hench is worth bringing in Prophecies simply for the reason that it's the only henchman in Prophecies with hex removal.

I've not really used Prophecies henchman much in a long time, since perhaps before the big henchman skill update over a year ago (years?), but looking at Dunham's page on wiki, it seems it only improved his skillset.

Hex Removal (and own Hex Resistance in Hexbreaker), Enchantment Removal, a strong Interrupt in Leech Signet, and an almost total shutdown from Power Block. If you have a limited Mesmer skillset for your heroes, I'd definetly say Dunham's worth bringing instead.

Blackbirdx61 · Mar 05, 2012, 04:17 AM // 04:17

A little OT but:

Whooo Whooo... I am empowered;
Now if I could only find the Ghostly Hero a Ghostly Throat Lozange. ; ) BB.