Curse

Bront · May 06, 2008, 01:23 AM // 01:23

I feel embarrassed about this.

I'm having the hardest time getting though Shards of Orr in Normal Mode in order to get to the Sparkfly Swamp with my Paragon.

I don't have SY! yet with her, but I was going to the Sparkfly Swamp to grab the other Paragon hero.

About half-way though, I get nuked by the group of undead wizards and priests, and it's not pretty. Even while keeping up TNTF and They're On Fire, it's just not working.

I've been using Olias as an MM bomber (running with Barbs and Mark of Pain, though I guess I could run the Sabway MM instead), Acolyte Jin as a Barrage ranger (Attack skills synergy with some of the paragon shouts), and Talkhora as a fairly standard WoH Hybred monk build. I don't have a second necro, so I can't run an SS or N/RT healer (I could try an RT/? healer build, but not sure if that'd be as effective as a well built monk), I've tried replacing Talkhora with Vekk as a Rodgorts dual attunement spammer and running the 2 hench monks, but that worked out painfully worse.

Been running with Zho, Cynn, Menlho, and either Devona, Aiden, or Lina as henchies.

I don't have my build at the moment, but I believe it's something along the lines of [Spear of Lightning][holy spear][cruel spear][go for the eyes][anthem of flame][they're on fire][There's nothing to fear][aggressive refrain].

Any tips? I've had no problems getting though this part with my Mesmer and my Monk.

MisterT69 · May 06, 2008, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Run with people. Ursan always pwns in shards, or just bring a lot of condition removal, cuz thats wat shards is known for.

Richardt · May 06, 2008, 01:31 AM // 01:31

If you're having a hard time with Shards, there's a back way you can go.

Enter Heart of the Shiverpeaks, and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay at the bottom is a portal to Bogroot Growths. Just go into Bogroot, then there is a portal to Sparkfly.

It's longer, but it's easier.

Another option is to drop Olias for a smiter hero-something along the lines of:

[signet of judgment][signet of rage][castigation signet][mantra of inscriptions][judge's insight]

And then add Judge's onto your Barrager and you should be good to go.

lordheinous · May 06, 2008, 01:33 AM // 01:33

I know you're not doing the dungeon as a whole, but when I WAS doing the whole dungeon, I remember that I set up my three monk heros as smiters with [Ray Of Judgment], and then manually ordered them to cast in the middle of groups while I ran in and used [Light Of Deldrimor] and [Eternal Aura] along w/ the hero monks having some other random smiting stuff to clean up anything left. As I remember, the first floor was cleared blazingly fast, so if you just do that, you should be fine. [Eternal Aura] and [Light Of Deldrimor] aren't even necessary, but they definitely made things easier.

Bront · May 06, 2008, 01:47 AM // 01:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richardt

And then add Judge's onto your Barrager and you should be good to go.

I love this idea.

I should cap Signet of Judgment. My monk is at the Mines.

Thanks for all the tips so far. I won't get a chance to try them till tomorrow morning, but I will certaintly give it a go.

And Richardt, why no bane signet?

Koricen · May 06, 2008, 01:48 AM // 01:48

If you (or anyone else) is having that much trouble getting through there (it's a pain, I know), message me in game and I can run you through.

Performance Pudding · May 06, 2008, 02:30 AM // 02:30

2 barrage rangers + judges insight pwns that dung

Richardt · May 06, 2008, 04:26 AM // 04:26

Cause I forgot about bane signet

Basically with the build I posted, you just stock up on smiting signets, max both smiting and inspiration and they're able to spam those sigs pretty nicely.

MisterB · May 06, 2008, 05:08 AM // 05:08

Don't put [[Judge's Insight] on the rangers; use [[Heart of Holy Flame] instead. It does the Holy damage conversion much cheaper, lasts longer, casts much faster, and the armor penetration from Judge's isn't worth the expense.

You can take [[Sight Beyond Sight] on your bar as well, and/or [[Spear of Redemption] instead of [[Holy Spear]. [[Sight Beyond Sight] will remove blind as well as making you immune for long enough to kill whoever is blinding you.

Using 3 smiting monks makes it a breeze.

Bront · May 06, 2008, 05:11 AM // 05:11

No one's blinding me.

I swaped from Spear of Redeption to Holy Spear thinking Holy was Holy damage. It wasn't, so I should probably swap back. Holy Spear is godly vs spirit summoners though

MisterB · May 06, 2008, 05:20 AM // 05:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bront

No one's blinding me.

You're lucky.
I mostly play warrior, hence my comment. There's a ridiculous amount of Blind spam in there.

http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Skeleton_Wizard
http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cursed_Brigand
http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Skeleton_Archer

I wish [[Holy Spear] did Holy damage like [[Spear of Lightning] does lightning, that would be fun. I never took my Paragon in there; I ran around like others have said.

Laylat · May 06, 2008, 06:27 AM // 06:27

Keep in mind that the boss in this dungeon is a pain in the ass. The build mentioned by Lordheinous's seems very effective for most of the groups. I would definitely give it a shot. Don't forget Pain Inverter :P If things go downhill with the boss, just PI him as soon as his second form comes out and he *should* cast Chillblains before the hex wears off. Get him to the middle of the bridge of further back if possible so that the spawns don't screw you over. Even with 60% DP, Chillblains should damage him on average 400 damage per spawn. Good luck!

Bront · May 06, 2008, 06:37 AM // 06:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laylat

Keep in mind that the boss in this dungeon is a pain in the ass. The build mentioned by Lordheinous's seems very effective for most of the groups. I would definitely give it a shot. Don't forget Pain Inverter :P If things go downhill with the boss, just PI him as soon as his second form comes out and he *should* cast Chillblains before the hex wears off. Get him to the middle of the bridge of further back if possible so that the spawns don't screw you over. Even with 60% DP, Chillblains should damage him on average 400 damage per spawn. Good luck!

Pst, I'm not doing the dungeon, just walking though it with my Paragon to get to Sparkfly swamp

I'll keep that in mind though if/when I ever do try the dungeon. I'm sort of in a "Get most of these characters I started ages ago fairly well set up" mode after I spent a lot of time focusing on my Mesmer.

Laylat · May 06, 2008, 07:19 AM // 07:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bront

Pst, I'm not doing the dungeon, just walking though it with my Paragon to get to Sparkfly swamp

I'll keep that in mind though if/when I ever do try the dungeon. I'm sort of in a "Get most of these characters I started ages ago fairly well set up" mode after I spent a lot of time focusing on my Mesmer.

Oh! I'm sorry. I missread your original post. I just saw "Shards of Orr" and thought "Oh God, that was a nightmare!"

Good luck getting your characters through, in that case!

Longasc · May 06, 2008, 07:56 AM // 07:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterB

Don't put [[Judge's Insight] on the rangers; use [[Heart of Holy Flame] instead. It does the Holy damage conversion much cheaper, lasts longer, casts much faster, and the armor penetration from Judge's isn't worth the expense.

You can take [[Sight Beyond Sight] on your bar as well, and/or [[Spear of Redemption] instead of [[Holy Spear]. [[Sight Beyond Sight] will remove blind as well as making you immune for long enough to kill whoever is blinding you.

Using 3 smiting monks makes it a breeze.

I second these suggestions. Heart of Holy Flame with Dervish secondary or Splinter Weapon / Sight Beyond Sight are really helpful.

@OPI do not understand that you do not have problems with blindness, as the only thing you have to do in this dungeon to succeed is to deal with blindness and maybe exploit the weakness of the undead against holy damage.

distilledwill · May 06, 2008, 10:39 AM // 10:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richardt

If you're having a hard time with Shards, there's a back way you can go.

Enter Heart of the Shiverpeaks, and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay at the bottom is a portal to Bogroot Growths. Just go into Bogroot, then there is a portal to Sparkfly.

It's longer, but it's easier.

...lifesaver.

!!!!

Ive been putting off getting my survivor para through SoO (750k exp and still going!) as every time ive gone through theres its been tough.

Thanks loads for bringing this up!

jackerduud · May 06, 2008, 05:13 PM // 17:13

When i had to run to Sparkfly Swamps through the dungeon, i didn't kill a single group. Most can be avoided by waiting them to patrol away from you, and for the ones that you just cannot avoid, flag your whole party in there and just run through.
LF Shards of Orr CowardWay plZ!?

Carinae · May 06, 2008, 09:41 PM // 21:41

Triple Monk, Dual Boon Smiters

Bront · May 07, 2008, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Ok, I managed to make my way though there.

I thought about what was causing problems, and it was the wizards with AoE spikes, so I brought a Mesmer.

I ran the bar I ran (forgot to swap out Holy Spear for Spear of Redeption)

I brought Gwen with a modification of a 3 man team build I user her in:
[build prof=Me/Rt Dom=12+1+1 Fas=10+1 Ins=8+1 res=2][CoF][Power Lock][Power Spike][Power Drain][Hex Eater Signet][Empathy][Mantra of Recovery][Death Pact Signet][/build]
I had Olias as Sab's Necro Restorer with a minor modification (I don't have a RT elite, so I had Splinter Weapon and 10 in Channeling, which was effective)

And I ran an RT/N minnion bomber (worked suprisingly well):
[build prof=Rt/N Spawning=12+1+1 dea=12 Resto=3][Jagged Bones][Death Nova][Animate Bone Minions][Taste of Death][Blood Of the Master][Boon of Creation][Explosive Growth][Spirit's Gift][/build]
I also had a Protection and healing Monk, Zho, and Cyn.

Rolled though, only person who died was Olias (who died a lot for some reason).

BTW, I did appreciate the advice, but I also wanted to give the MM Rit a try, and thought extra healing might help. It did, was easier than it had ever been. Thanks again though

Feel free to continue to offer tips on Shards too, I'm sure someone else can use them, or I might when I do the dungeon.