Curse

Engage · May 13, 2008, 08:45 AM // 08:45

There are a few threads about this already but nothing that really indulges the situation much and I don't feel the need to bump a thread months old. On my quest to get Guardian of Cantha I came across Eternal Grove. I haven't really done anything in Cantha since I bought it about 1.5 years ago lol. Only lately in the last little while have I indulged in it. This mission surely wasn't easy. Tried this and that. Really the most difficult thing about it wasn't even its difficulty, it was how random each situation could end up, especially with an all AI team. I eventually got it with some revisions so all in all it wasn't to bad.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...rEaK/gw999.jpg

I did make it to the end here but lost a singer, bleh :/. Did it again, swapped SoLS with Enfeebling Blood and it worked a bit better and finally got it.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...K/GW1000-1.jpg

I wanted to get some sort of synergy between a tank and actually dealing some damage. Knowing when and where to tank is crucial and takes awhile to get a hang of. Most of the time if one of the large groups gets into the grove they can wipe out the party fairly quickly. So, tank @ corner, IWAY works wonders here because of all the potential dead allies. Dispatch quickly, ala splinter. Cynn has fireball, nice AoE which is also nice. Brutus, Icy Veins, Rising Bile. All to great effect here once the afflicted are cornered nicely. The bottleneck when doing this with H/H is huge because you want to take this and that but in actuality your choices are extremely limited.

Anyways, I am sure the R/Rit build can be improved. The main features of it were expertise, recup, life and EoE. I don't know much about rits so I am sure it can be improved upon and still contain those essential features. Shelter dies to fast to be of any use, prot spirit on each bomber is of course superior and coupled with aegis. Massive amounts of projectiles and meelee pressure make aegis almost priceless here. I am sure most of you are familiar with the bomber build just make sure to take out Signet of Lost Souls and replace it with Enfeebling Blood this is quite crucial, I had curses @ 4. If Maaka passes the gate it really helps and as well relieves a lot of pressure even if it lasts only 9 seconds per cast, easily spammed as well.

I am posting this because while I was there trying this and that and sometimes randomly banging my head against the wall I saw others occasionally come and go wanting to get this done in HM with H/H.

Anyways, I am sure this method can be improved upon and my hope is that others will post their ideas and suggestions as well so that others can have more assistance with respect to resources while trying to get through this.

Anyways,I hope this helps anyone out there who is having difficulty with this. I can also provide a much better split setup one can use if playing with others, feel free to pm me and ask for some advice about this mission.

miskav · May 13, 2008, 09:37 AM // 09:37

Seeing as EoE only triggers on foes under 90% all I could think of is make acolyte jin a trapper/EoE hybrid (And put the spirits on one of the necro's)
Not only would it make it safer, but also it'd put most of the melee/rangers below 90% for EoE to work.

NYC Elite · May 19, 2008, 02:18 AM // 02:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by miskav

Seeing as EoE only triggers on foes under 90% all I could think of is make acolyte jin a trapper/EoE hybrid (And put the spirits on one of the necro's)
Not only would it make it safer, but also it'd put most of the melee/rangers below 90% for EoE to work.

The combined damage from splinter weapon, nukes, minions, and the juggernaughts does more than enough for that.

blue.rellik · May 22, 2008, 07:03 AM // 07:03

I dunno if it's been changed but packing someone with [skill]Life[/skill] with a high spec into Restoration is more than capable of healing any damage the siege turtles did, even HM

When I did it in HM, I left the two side groups alone and only killed the ones that came to me and the middle ones. When the afflicted came, the side Luxons (including the Siege Turtles) joined in the base defense

Scown-dog · May 27, 2008, 02:06 AM // 02:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue.rellik

I dunno if it's been changed but packing someone with [skill]Life[/skill] with a high spec into Restoration is more than capable of healing any damage the siege turtles did, even HM

When I did it in HM, I left the two side groups alone and only killed the ones that came to me and the middle ones. When the afflicted came, the side Luxons (including the Siege Turtles) joined in the base defense

Using [skill]Life[/skill] still works like a charm, just need to place it in the middle of all 3. On occassion, i've had one singer out of range; This has rarely happened, but it does. How exactly did u get the siege turtles to ally with you? I couldnt get the afflicted to come until all of the turtles + archers were dead.

NYC Elite · May 27, 2008, 02:14 AM // 02:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scown-dog

Using [skill]Life[/skill] still works like a charm, just need to place it in the middle of all 3. On occassion, i've had one singer out of range; This has rarely happened, but it does. How exactly did u get the siege turtles to ally with you? I couldnt get the afflicted to come until all of the turtles + archers were dead.

You only need to kill the center ones. The rest join you after the cutscene on the sides. Sometimes one or two turtles from the sides won't go friendly though and will continue to siege.

Fionn Falaich · Jun 13, 2008, 03:52 AM // 03:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiddenDelight

Really the most difficult thing about it wasn't even its difficulty, it was how random each situation could end up, especially with an all AI team. I eventually got it with some revisions so all in all it wasn't to bad.

QFT. First, thanks to HiddenDelight for the helpful tips. I hadn't been bothered to try this mission on HM with H/H until recently, and after reading this thread. Many may already know this, but I post here just to say that H/H'ing this mission in HM is possible even without the one human being a warrior/tank. I just completed it H/H as an air ele. It only took a few tries to get masters.

[IMG][img=http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8415/gw448rd3.th.jpg][/IMG]

As you see in the screenshot, for PvE-only skills, I had Pain Inverter, which I used a small number of times (mostly on afflicted eles), and Technobabble, which I don't think I ever used (maybe once on the monk in the last group, but it can certainly be done without).

I basically used HiddenDelight's team build. Heroes were Margrid as in the OP, with almost the same build, except with Death Pact Signet, Flesh of My Flesh, and Res Sig. Yes, three resses.

That was her purpose (after a few failed attemps, wiping with only 3 or 4 groups of afflicted left). Also, I positioned her much closer to the western tree than in the OP's screenshot - otherwise she couldn't reach or res any of the other team members if they happened to die. She was almost - but not quite - in a direct line between the two gates to the grove.

The two necros (Livia and MoW) were also almost as in the OP, but I removed Blood of the Master and replaced it with Shambling Horror (I think), for an additional minion generator. For hench, I used the two monk hench, Cynn, and Brutus (who was worse than Devona for reckless aggro'ing).

Getting past Afflicated Maaka with all the singers alive wasn't too hard (yes, sometimes I had to re-start). The harder part was allocating party members after Maaka's group was dead. I usually kept the three heroes flagged and let the hench roam with me, but after Maaka, it usually is best to flag the hench at the south gate and you, as the lone human, go help the MM hero at the north gate when the north gate gets a large wave of afflicted. It sometimes (often?) is necessary at some points to unflag the hench to come help at the north gate when they have the south gate under control. For me, the hardest part was allocating team members at this part, during the final 3 or 4 waves of afflicted.

Once you are down to 3 or 2 groups left, you are doing fine. Judging from posts in various threads, many are surprised that a few afflicted attack the south gate after all waves seem to be over. Don't be surprised. They always (or almost always) come. Leave one of your MM heroes flagged to the south gate and, with his or her minions, he or she will be more than able to deal with them. The rest of your party can deal with the last wave with the two bosses who come from the west to the north gate. When the south gate is safe, you can feel free to release the flag for the other MM to come help.

All in all, yes, it was annoying with H/H and somewhat difficult. But honestly, it was not nearly as difficult as I had expected, and clearly doable even as a caster class.

Thanks again to the OP and good luck to all.