Curse

tmr819 · Dec 04, 2007, 01:53 PM // 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Meth

Knockdown was provided by Great Dwarf Weapon. Essentially all 3 or 4 of my warriors had a 40% chance to knock down every hit while getting a +20 damage boost and with Flail they attacked once every .825 seconds. Just tested in isle of the nameless, Jora alone with a 15% enchanted Cold weapon along with conjure and Great Dwarf Weapon averaged about 100-110 damage per second.

Make sure to max Leadership, its a very energy intensive build to keep putting up great dwarf weapon on recharge along with the other energy shouts.

Which will provide ample party wide protection and healing vs the boss while adding some damage to the party. Feel free to toss in anthem of envy in place of signet of return if you feel like it.

So, use two warriors with:

[skill]Dragon Slash[/skill][skill]Standing Slash[/skill][skill]Sun and Moon Slash[/skill][skill]Savage Slash[/skill][skill]Flail[/skill][skill]Enraging Charge[/skill][skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

and a Paragon with:

[skill]"Go for the Eyes!"[/skill][skill]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill][skill]Song of Restoration[/skill][skill]Ballad of Restoration[/skill][skill]"They're on Fire!"[/skill][skill]Burning Refrain[/skill][skill]Aggressive Refrain[/skill][skill]Signet of Return[/skill]

and back the warriors up with Great Dwarf Weapon. I tried this dungeon again with my earth Elementalist a couple of days ago using Gwen/Pyre/Anton in an interrupt/daze-heavy combination, plus Herta, Devona, Lina, and Menlo. Basically, it was just not enough to shut down Ilsunder.

I like the idea of using my warrior/paragon Heroes, since I almost never bring them along otherwise. I'm still considering working in [skill]Spinal Shivers[/skill] and [skill]Winter[/skill] somehow or other. I'll let ya know how it goes.

El Presidente · Dec 06, 2007, 03:59 AM // 03:59

Used the above 2 W's and Para builds along with the earth, interrupt, prot and healer henchies...used 1 set of consumables at the shrine nearest Ilsunder (all h/h had 60% DP by that time and I was at 19%).

Me - R/Mo Hit him with Pain Inverter, immediately used Breath of the Great Dwarf...then went into Ursan for the knockdown(s) and damage on Ilsunder. Stood right in front of it, in between the fireball paths. Took it down the first try...got Legendary Master, an onyx and Ilsunder's fire staff for the effort.

Yes, it was in HM, Il Bruto. I found there was a lot of degen aimed particularly at the warriors and not much help for them from the prot/healer henchies...though they kept me alive almost all the time; however, when they wiped, the rest of the h/h's were soon to follow unless they could get back to where I reflagged them.

bifter · Dec 06, 2007, 09:57 AM // 09:57

That was in HM El Presidente? Interesting! This is one of 6 or so I have left to do in HM, and haven't got around to trying yet. Might give that build a whirl.

Lady Lozza · Dec 06, 2007, 11:06 PM // 23:06

Odd, I went with my sister the other day in NM and while I think we would have been able to take him down eventually, he was still regening a touch too fast for the required bathroom and drink breaks which were required by the end of the dungeon. I think we wouldn't have any problem if we had more human players in the team. Spinal shivers + soul bind worked wonders for interrupts, but the hexes broke far more quickly than before half time. Spinal shivers which should have been lasting for around 30 seconds - 15 on the boss, was lasting around 5. And yes I timed it. This made it very hard to keep the degen I had on him. After about half and hour of wiping and coming back we managed to get him down about a 5th of health, meaning another 2 hours would have been spent taking him down. We reached the boss with a bit of dp and quickly clocked up 60%. Approaching him from either side seemed to work best because - no matter how far apart we put our henchie, his aoe (when he got it off) ALWAYS hit ALL of us on the one side.

I don't think we had the best team. My sister's warrior is a little limited in her choice of heroes, the technique though should work but like I said - the hex duration just didn't seem right. I couldn't keep my degen on him and I've never had that problem before really. Degen was how I finally managed to take down Cyndr with hh (normal and hard mode) so the hexes dropping off so quickly is just plain odd. Does he have a skill that strips them or something?

Chiyachan · Dec 07, 2007, 03:15 PM // 15:15

The important question now is... Does anyone want to do the dungeon on NM?
I've been trying to get a party for the last three days... NO-ONE is interested. =(

bifter · Dec 09, 2007, 09:18 PM // 21:18

Did it with the 2 warriors and paragon too. Ugh... messy, but got there in the end. What a total drag of a dungeon this is.

Trevor The Wave · Dec 10, 2007, 03:26 AM // 03:26

Ummm...The end boss died in 5 seconds with pain inverter when he used Savannah heat, except my whole team died at the same time xD.

That dungeon=piece of cake with pain inverter.

bifter · Dec 10, 2007, 08:53 AM // 08:53

Try it in hard mode - it ain't so easy, and it isn't the boss that's the problem... <_<

tmr819 · Dec 10, 2007, 01:42 PM // 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by bifter

Did it with the 2 warriors and paragon too. Ugh... messy, but got there in the end. What a total drag of a dungeon this is.

Was that in Normal or Hard Mode, bifter? Just wondering.

And I agree, this dungeon is a bit of a drag no matter how you slice it.

Still, it might actually be fun, imho, but for the final boss.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor The Wave

That dungeon=piece of cake with pain inverter.

Were you in a player team or with just henches/heroes?

For some reason, Pain Inverter seems to have very little effect on the final boss for me in NM. It almost seems like wasting a skill slot to bring it along.

bifter · Dec 10, 2007, 01:58 PM // 13:58

It was in HM. That build is basically set up to completely own any single caster enemy (concentrated knockdowns + burning refrain / they're on fire), so Ilsundar is the absolute easiest part of the trip. He went down with no fuss at all, in record time.

The rest of the dungeon is a PITA though. Fire eles are never fun to play against with H/H because of bunching in AoE, and the problem is compounded here by narrow, twisting tunnels full of lava - almost impossible in level 2 to stop your hench from fighting bunched up at a corner, standing in a lava pit ><. The forge masters (bull's charge + crushing blow, so squishies can't kite easily) are just the cherry on the cake. Even more annoying are the becalmed djinns on lvl 3, which hench are too stupid not to attack. Mine had killed one, rendering all other mobs enraged, before I'd even finished loading.

Anyway, I'd recommend taking consumables, although I don't think you need to waste a set on Ilsundar, unless a party wipe would kick you out. They'd definitely help at parts of level 2 + 3 though.

tmr819 · Dec 10, 2007, 03:25 PM // 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by bifter

It was in HM. That build is basically set up to completely own any single caster enemy (concentrated knockdowns + burning refrain / they're on fire), so Ilsundar is the absolute easiest part of the trip. He went down with no fuss at all, in record time.

OK. Thanks. I still haven't gotten through this dungeon in NM with h/h's since the NM Ilsunder got buffed in November, let alone HM. (I must confess I've been reluctant to try. It's a long way to go just to find you still can't defeat the end boss.) I was also puzzled about the benefit of [skill]"They're on Fire!"[/skill] and [skill]Burning Refrain[/skill] in the paragon build, since I had thought most of the denizens of this dungeon (including the boss) were resistant or immune to fire spells/burning. (I guess I'm demonstrating my noobiness here, but oh well.

) I wonder how well this approach would work with Magmus...

As for the Becalmed Djinn, as long as none of my henches/heroes uses an aoe, I can usually get by without enraging them -- although I often end up killing them anyway just because they irritate me. MUST KILL RED DOTS...

bifter · Dec 10, 2007, 03:52 PM // 15:52

Well, it doesn't really matter if they're resistant to fire damage - the burning condition is applied solely to trigger "They're on Fire", which gives mammoth damage reduction from that enemy. So, it's a defensive rather than offensive measure. Also - I'm not sure on this - but I believe that the burning condition isn't modified in any way, even for enemies resistant to fire (ie it's always -7 degen).

I heard that the boss was bugged in NM, but is fixed now. Can't speak to the truth of that, as I did it a long time before the bug was reported, and in a guild group. Still, I imagine you will own the boss in no time with this build in NM, so if you can get there, it's worth a try.

Ralena~ · Dec 12, 2007, 08:25 PM // 20:25

NM = Nightmare Mode w/ H/H

I ran a [card]Ward Against Harm[/card] Elementalist.
3 DPS Heroes
Mhenlo
Lina
Talon/Devona
Zho

Getting to the boss was easy enough, killing him was another story.

He is still unchanged from his buffed state, still has a billion health, and health regen.

You will need degen on him for the countless times you will wipe on him if you decide to go with H/H to slow his health regeneration. I used Putrid Bile/[card]Rising Bile[/card]

If you try to [card]Broad Head Arrow[/card] him, it will stop most of his spells, except his firebomb, which is deadly because henchmen don't know how to drop it, it explodes, you wipe. Keep in mind if you interrupt all his spells Pain Inverter will do nothing.

Disable Hero ressurection skills.

I employed a "zerg" tactic.

The first time, I sacrificed a hero to spawn his fireballs, then I went in, Pain Inverter, get heroes to put degen on him, wipe as fast as possible, then repeat.

Flag all your caster henchman so they clump up and are all killed at the same time, otherwise you give the boss a couple more seconds of health regen and Pain Inverter damage will suffer.

Sometimes I got lucky and he would use his spells on my warrior henchmen buying us about 5-10 seconds to pile on the damage.

A couple of times I was unlucky and H/H kept ressurecting each other letting him regen more health.

Once I got to 60% DP, a firebomb explosion would instantly drop the entire party and it does not count for Pain Inverter since it's self-induced death.

7/8 times the bomb will hit a henchman and they won't drop it.

Boss eventually dropped, probably added 40 to my death counter or something.

Doing this mission with competent humans recommended.
Bring [card]Protective Spirit[/card]/[card]Shelter[/card]
A lot of interrupts/knockdowns.

or

People who know how to drop firebombs.

What a pain.

The Little Viking · Dec 15, 2007, 09:16 AM // 09:16

I love this dungeon. Not just the challange but the scenery. I hate the long trek down to it, but its worth it in the end. As for the end boss: if you go with heros, theres and area in the center of the ring that you can stand at where both rolling fire balls will just barly miss you. Flag your heros on top of you and fire away. Be sure to activate the rez site at the entrance of the boss area before going after the little bugger for just in case you dont get your position just right. I usually get balled over at least once before getting my position just right, but after that, the boss goes down easy since it dosent really move around. or at least it doesnt for me....

bhavv · Dec 17, 2007, 01:33 AM // 01:33

I did this mission for the first time on NM today with a guildie and 6 heroes, prepared fully and it was a piece of cake the first time around. Our only problem was learning to avoid the fire boulders. I used 3 necros realising after that an MM was a waste with all the burning, but he had extinguish, my other two were SS and an SV N/rt healer. My build was ward against harm, maelstrom, snow storm, breath of the great dwarf, pain inverter, and my guildie was a warrior with a BHA ranger with needling shot, woh healer and motivation paragon. Once we avoided the boulders the boss went down fast and easy.

The reason why it is hard with H/H is because henchmen cant drop the bomb he passes you so it just blows up.

You really really need to pack ward against harm and a couple of breaths or extinguish into this mission to make it a lot easier. I use my ward against harm, snowstorm, maelstrom build in all the dungeons now, im also going to change ice spikes to arcane echo for maelstrom.

Mineria · Dec 17, 2007, 02:02 AM // 02:02

We did it as a very random group..
1 warrior, 2 necros, 1 ele, 2 monks, 2 rangers.
Only made sure that the ele wasn't fire and that the rangers brought interrupts.

bhavv · Dec 17, 2007, 01:52 PM // 13:52

My guildie first had an SF elly instead of a BHA ranger and I was pretty much like WTF kick that nub fire elly XD. He didnt even know why and asked 'Why, is this dungeon full of destroyers?' O.o

Heres the full elly build you should use in this dungeon if you can:

[skill]arcane echo[/skill][skill]maelstrom[/skill]snow storm[skill]glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]ward against harm[/skill][skill]water attunement[/skill]breath of the great dwarf
And an optional slot where I put Pain inverter

Bibblenorn · Dec 17, 2007, 10:53 PM // 22:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmr819

So, use two warriors with:

[skill]Dragon Slash[/skill][skill]Standing Slash[/skill][skill]Sun and Moon Slash[/skill][skill]Savage Slash[/skill][skill]Flail[/skill][skill]Enraging Charge[/skill][skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

and a Paragon with:

[skill]"Go for the Eyes!"[/skill][skill]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill][skill]Song of Restoration[/skill][skill]Ballad of Restoration[/skill][skill]"They're on Fire!"[/skill][skill]Burning Refrain[/skill][skill]Aggressive Refrain[/skill][skill]Signet of Return[/skill]

and back the warriors up with Great Dwarf Weapon.

I had first tried this dungeon a few days ago, using Sab's Team, Lo Sha, Herta, Lina, and Zho. That is my usual team for GW:EN. I am a Dervish, BTW.

Needless to say, I found the dungeon easy, but the boss was impossible.

So I started reading this thread, and used the above team instead of Sab's. I also replaced Zho with Mhenlo.

I added Pain Inverter, Great Dwarf Weapon, and Light of Deldrimor to my usual Scythe build.

The Dungeon itself was a bit harder than with Sab's Team, but I managed to get through it okay, with a 7% Morale boost upon reaching the boss.

For the Boss, I would stop back out of aggro, put GDW on Jora and Koss, then rush in and apply pain inverter. Usually I died, but often was rezzed in time to put GDW on the warriors a second time. Managed to get the boss 3/4 dead by the third party rez.

However, on the next rez, it put me back to a different shrine, in that room with the lava river. By this time, most of us have 60% DP, and can't keep up with the regen anymore. So I used a Powerstone of Courage I happened to have, and we all rushed back in there, and finished the job.

I got a gold flamberge from the chest.
This was NM, H/H.

A thought. I don't think that this boss is too over-powered really. I would just like to be rezzed at the appropriate shrine, and possibly, this guy should have slightly less life, or be placed slightly closer to the shrine. I think it is just that he is so difficult compared to the rest of the dungeon that makes him seem bad.

Something I noticed: Jora (although I didn't see Koss doing it) upon getting the Fire bomb, would run a bit away. At lower DP, it killed her (or that one fun time when she got run over by a fire ball), but at little/no dp, she would run back in and start fighting. Could have been my imagination though.

T. Drake · Dec 18, 2007, 02:18 AM // 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bibblenorn

Something I noticed: Jora (although I didn't see Koss doing it) upon getting the Fire bomb, would run a bit away. At lower DP, it killed her (or that one fun time when she got run over by a fire ball), but at little/no dp, she would run back in and start fighting. Could have been my imagination though.

This could also be the Shield of Fire the boss uses: http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Shield_of_Fire

The AI treat it as it would be AoE Damage and try to get away from it.

They also run away from Charr Seekers, because of their Ignite Arrows preparation. Very annoying and makes warrior henchmen/heroes nearly useless, because in almost any Charr group you can find a Seeker and then your H/H start to run around like headless chicken.

I'm not sure if you can force them to attack despite of the AoE Damage they suffer, if you order them to engage your target by selecting the attack button in the hero control window.

I tried this dungeon a few days ago. It was easy with my ranger, with the dervish though it was another story.

Went down to 60% DP very quickly, the biggest drawback in this dungeon is the inability of the henchmen to drop the fire bombs.

tmr819 · Dec 18, 2007, 04:17 AM // 04:17

I have to say this dungeon is near the top of my "not fun and really not worth the effort" list. I tried the warrior/paragon combination described above and it worked, but only just. Even with the knockdowns Ilsunder kept spamming Fire Bombs. It was just ... very irritating.

Most of this dungeon is OK, but the end boss is overpowered with respect to the rest of the dungeon, imo. The fire bomb monster skill is weighted heavily against solo players because the NPCs are usually bunched up between the paths of the two fireballs and can't get rid of the damn things.

I would imagine Catacombs is an OK dungeon to run with other players, but with an all-h/h team ... ick, not again.