Curse

Nighthawkeye · Feb 03, 2008, 10:38 AM // 10:38

I am a Sin and trying to finish the Prophecies mish with HH and have really run into a snag here with the crystal attunement.

Started with an Ursan build and 3necs, plus the mes and ranger hench. Didn't work.

Then dropped the SS nec for a BHA/el with Frozen Burst as a snare. No dice there either.

Keep getting a runner through and party wiped before I can kill him.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

**Marty Silverblade** · Feb 03, 2008, 10:56 AM // 10:56

Afaik if you have good heroes then you should have them (henchies too) hold off that small gorup that goes around capping while you attune the crystals. As long as the H/H manage to kill one mantle guy each time, it'll be fine.

For a more detailed description, keep the H/H at the closest shrine to the crystal stand thing/the one furthest away from the demogogue (i think), then just run back and forth on the left one. You may need a speed boost to keep up with the mantle. I saw a monk do it with storm djinns hast, so that'll work.

MagmaRed · Feb 03, 2008, 02:07 PM // 14:07

Take a hero with a ranged snare (Cripple Shot, Pin Down, Crippling Anguish, Imagined Burden, Mind Freeze, etc.). Flag the heroes/hench at the crystal pedestral closest to the crystal spawn spot. Run the first crystal to the one on the far left - but don't change it until the Mantle have already done so. If you wait, they will have started to the one on the far right side, ignoring your heroes/hench. While they change the one on the far right, run back and grab a new crystal, and change the one where the heroes/hench are at. This is where it takes some good observation skills.

At this point, you should control the one in the middle, and the one on the left. Grab a crystal, and head to the one on the left, as the Mantle will be changing that one. Wait until they change it, and go back for a new crystal. DO NOT CHANGE THAT CRYSTAL YET. With only 1 crystal left to change, they will head for your hero/hench group. Watch as they go past, and find and target the one with the crystal. When you have that one targeted, have your snare hero use the skill to slow them down. CALL THE TARGET so the hero/hench attack and kill it (ctrl+shift+space). While they are killing the Mantle, swap the crystal on the left side, in case they get through and change the middle crystal.

Now, if all went well, they won't have made it through, and the Mantle will be sending a new group in to change the left crystal again. Grab another crystal, and repeat the process. Do this until no more Mantle come, then kill the Demagogue in leisure.

Improvavel · Feb 03, 2008, 05:53 PM // 17:53

Get urself a few running skills.

You keep packing the closest and the left shrine.
Your heroes, a monk, can be lod with some interrupts like leech signet (to make him use them, put him on guard) and 2 fire eles. I went with searing flames builds. I also went with orion and alesia (?) and flagged them at the first shrine, allowing them to mow down the white mantle.

Nighthawkeye · Feb 04, 2008, 12:43 AM // 00:43

Thanks. I'll give these tips a whirl.

Shyft the Pyro · Feb 04, 2008, 01:44 AM // 01:44

You could definitely H/H this with Necrotic Traversal. Before entering the area with the three crystals, kill the warthog that spawns behind the wall with projectile attacks (or draw it close and melee it through the roots) and use its corpse to get through. The only enemy you have to face this way is the demagogue, and I doubt you'll have any problems soloing him if my Ele managed to. After he dies, attune the portals and you're good to go.

It may feel like cheating, but countless attempts to run the crystals while my H/H try to handle the White Mantle have gotten me nowhere. AoE rapes both minions and henchies, and the crystals still slow you down just as all carried items did when Prophecies came out, even though they were supposed to lose that property when they were updated to not cause aggro focus (before Factions came out).

Longasc · Feb 04, 2008, 08:01 AM // 08:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade

Afaik if you have good heroes then you should have them (henchies too) hold off that small gorup that goes around capping while you attune the crystals. As long as the H/H manage to kill one mantle guy each time, it'll be fine.

For a more detailed description, keep the H/H at the closest shrine to the crystal stand thing/the one furthest away from the demogogue (i think), then just run back and forth on the left one. You may need a speed boost to keep up with the mantle. I saw a monk do it with storm djinns hast, so that'll work.

/signed.

The trick is splitting the Mantle groups. You can do this by just running crystals to the left shrine over and over.

Get help of a friend, makes it even easier, and use an Essence of Celerity.

Do this till you notice no more Mantles are coming, this does not take long at all. Then you can go and kill the lonely Demagogue...^^

distilledwill · Feb 04, 2008, 12:34 PM // 12:34

I found that camping at a shrine and identifying the crystal runner early means you can slow push your way forward to their camp.

Ping the carrier and attempt to spike them down, you're right that a snare is useful as they move faster in HM. But as a sin and having the 3 necros you should be able to take him down pretty fast. Make sure your curses necro casts barbs on him and then pound him to the ground, in the time it takes for the next carrier to come, push forward killing as many of his friends as posible.

Then do the same for the next carrier.

sdcmgs · Feb 04, 2008, 12:53 PM // 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shyft the Pyro

You could definitely H/H this with Necrotic Traversal. Before entering the area with the three crystals, kill the warthog that spawns behind the wall with projectile attacks (or draw it close and melee it through the roots) and use its corpse to get through. The only enemy you have to face this way is the demagogue, and I doubt you'll have any problems soloing him if my Ele managed to. After he dies, attune the portals and you're good to go.

It may feel like cheating, but countless attempts to run the crystals while my H/H try to handle the White Mantle have gotten me nowhere. AoE rapes both minions and henchies, and the crystals still slow you down just as all carried items did when Prophecies came out, even though they were supposed to lose that property when they were updated to not cause aggro focus (before Factions came out).

I tried this last nite and it worked like a charm. I had been discussing with a guildie how we were going to finish this mission successfully. I am glad I saw this. lol. I am an SS and just put NT on my bar as well. It was easy to take him out. Alot easier than I expected. Thanks for adding your tip to the OP's post

Nighthawkeye · Feb 05, 2008, 06:06 AM // 06:06

Well, finally! I tried all these tips at one point or another.

I never could get the warthogs to spawn beyond the last vine gate (until I gave up, and re-skilled my nec to drop NT! THEN they show up).

What finally worked was a variation on MagumaRed's post. I took all 3 booster shots (Essence, Grail and Armour) just after entering the 3 Crystal area, grabbed 1 and headed to Left, just after Mantle finished taking it. Re took that one and Flagged H+H there. Ran back for another crystal, attuned the center shrine, got another crystal, just as the L one had been retaken by mantle but the H+H had engaged and killed the take over party of mantle (but had let their runner slip through). Then it was just rinse and repeat with the left shrine until all mantle were killed.

Then killed Demagogue, grabbed one of the "mantle's crystals" and took it to the Rightmost shrine. Done. Well, done after the henge guardian, but that part is anticlimactic.

Mantle just kept coming back to the L shrine, but never went to the center one once.

I tried the same deal earlier with only using Essence, but had flagged the team in the center. They were overrun while I was out running crystals. With Grail and Armour as additional boosters, they handled everything fine by themsleves and all I had to do was just keep running crystals.

Thanks again for the tips. Sometimes you just have to fiddle around enough until you get something, ANYTHING, to work. All these ideas helped.

Oh, and I used the 3 necs in Sabway builds plus Orion and Dunham

NH

Trvth Jvstice · Feb 18, 2008, 12:26 AM // 00:26

An easy way to kill the Demagogue is, while your team is working the crystals, run around the bottom to the Demagogue. He stands off a little way away from the rest of the mantle. He's easy to draw away from the group and solo kill. If you're with a pug, be sure to warn your team to not attune the last crystal before you're done.

EDIT: Saw this is with heroes and henchies--So, Never mind. Though you should be able to go around like I said and pull the Demagogue and kill him before the mantle wipes your crystal flagged henchies, but you'll probably end up doing the Mission separately.

Numa Pompilius · Feb 27, 2008, 03:31 PM // 15:31

Had some difficulty with H/H'ing the bonus of this mission in hardmode, but finally cracked it.

I started with the "flag henches to the first altar, then run crystals to the northeast pedestal while the henches fight" tactic, but it never worked.
What happened was that the Abbots, who kite like crazy, would kite back halfway to base and attract more Abbots - and my heros/henches could not overcome the chain-healing of 2-3 Abbots, and eventually they'd be overwhelmed.

The key to avoid Abbots kiting back is to not bring minions. It's the minions which cause the Abbots to kite so far back.

Actually not only minionmasters but also curse and blood necros are bad here, as the Abbots spam Convert Hexes, meaning necro hexes do nothing but give free armor to the enemy, and even if you bring multiple enchant removal you wont be able to keep two or more Abbots from spamming enchants all over the place. So necro hexes are no good, and enchant removal insufficient: leave the necros at home.

The next obvious problem is killing the Abbots. They kite and are good healers, and supported by necros and mesmers.
Solution: bring a shutdown mesmer. I brought Gwen as a Me/R with Serpents Quickness, Powerblock, Powerlock, Powerdrain, Empathy, and then filled up with skillstealing and enchant removal. She shut down the abbots healing, and thanks to Serpents Quickness could do a decent job of shutting down all other casters as well.

So my tactic was this:

1) Myself (warrior/ranger) runner with speedboost, keeping the closest altar and the altar to the northeast under our control. Timed captures of the northeast pedestal so that my henches only need to fight one group of White Mantle at a time (ie if my henches were idle I'd wait until a group was heading towards the henches, if they were fighting I'd capture the northeast as quickly as possible to avoid adds).

2) Flagged heros & hench about halfway between the closest pedestal and our crystal pedestal. Placement was so that the enemy needed to pass through their aggro zone, but the risk of Abbots kiting back towards the White Mantle base was minimized. Heros set to "guard", not "aggressive", to minimize Abbot kiting.

3) Team: Gwen shutdown & enchant removal, Tahlkora hybrid healer, Zhed SF-ele with Ward against Elements (because multiple Searing Heat hurts bunched-up henches).
4) Henches: Thom and Alesia.

Then it was simply a question of wearing the White Mantle down, one group at a time. When all runner groups were dead I took the team and killed the Demagogue.

I didn't use any consumables or PvE skills.

The Meth · Feb 27, 2008, 04:04 PM // 16:04

The groups that roam the area with the attunement things can be tough to take down. Their monks heal quite well and often come in pairs and if you take too long to kill one, a third gets in the game and you are pretty much screwed. They also have haxxored rank 20 prot and heal, along with infinite energy to spam convert hexes and shield of regeneration.

The easy way to get around it is to go the back way. Even with full h/h you can get back there quick enough and kill the demagogue. Then, if you have some speed buffs, send the heroes in as a distraction while you steal and get away with their crystal. Then just outcap them. As soon as the cutscene ends, all of your party is ressed again so you are fine. This strategy makes it very easy. You just need a good constant speed buff.

Cowboy · Feb 28, 2008, 05:10 PM // 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

...guide...

worked like a charm. thanks

Citadel Runner · Mar 04, 2008, 04:31 AM // 04:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade

Afaik if you have good heroes then you should have them (henchies too) hold off that small gorup that goes around capping while you attune the crystals. As long as the H/H manage to kill one mantle guy each time, it'll be fine.

For a more detailed description, keep the H/H at the closest shrine to the crystal stand thing/the one furthest away from the demogogue (i think), then just run back and forth on the left one. You may need a speed boost to keep up with the mantle. I saw a monk do it with storm djinns hast, so that'll work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

Had some difficulty with H/H'ing the bonus of this mission in hardmode, but finally cracked it.

I started with the "flag henches to the first altar,.............

As described above, this is the single best way to do this mission in HM. Flag all at closest shrine. Run back and forth replacing crystals on this shrine, and the far left one. Dont replace the far left crystal until just after the foes pass the midpoint and are well on their way to the shrine with Hero Henchies flagged.
Don't depend on slowing or stopping the crystal runner. Dont try to chase the foes who run away. Just let the HH kill whoever comes to their flagged position. Just replace the crystals after they put them down.
the Hero Henchies should be able to kill all the foes coming to that first closest shrine.

When there is only one runner left, chase him and kill him. Then go for bonus, then place crystals.

Alternatively, you can simply run all three crystals while the HH are flagged there fighting, but you will miss the bonus that way.

Citadel Runner · Mar 04, 2008, 04:34 AM // 04:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Meth

The groups that roam the area with the attunement things can be tough to take down. Their monks heal quite well and often come in pairs and if you take too long to kill one, a third gets in the game and you are pretty much screwed. They also have haxxored rank 20 prot and heal, along with infinite energy to spam convert hexes and shield of regeneration.

The easy way to get around it is to go the back way. Even with full h/h you can get back there quick enough and kill the demagogue. Then, if you have some speed buffs, send the heroes in as a distraction while you steal and get away with their crystal. Then just outcap them. As soon as the cutscene ends, all of your party is ressed again so you are fine. This strategy makes it very easy. You just need a good constant speed buff.

In normal mode this is my favorite method.
In Hard mode, this method can leave your entire group dead. Even if you get away with their crystal (unlikely, they spike you dead), the minute you place it or drop it, they start running again. So even if your the only one alive, you cannot outcap them.

crazybanshee · Mar 04, 2008, 04:47 AM // 04:47

I literally did this mission hard mode at least 30 times until that dang warthog spawned where I could nt to his corpse. after that it was a cakewalk.

KennyC · Mar 04, 2008, 07:15 AM // 07:15

1.Cap the shrine closest to you at the start. Get a crystal.

2.Wait for the enemy to cap the shrine on the left and move then you cap it immediately. Kill that group if they loiter. Dont waste a second, move fast!

3.Flag your heroes slightly forward of the left shrine. Get a Crystal.

Go cap the last shrine.
Be quick, keep moving, trust your HH to hold them off for a few minutes - they can do suprisingly well without you.

For the bonus come back and do the mission up to point 1, then run past the right Shrine around the back of the mob and kill the demagogue. Job done.

Bront · Mar 04, 2008, 09:54 AM // 09:54

Having not tried this in HM, but in NM...

I had no problem as a Mesmer using Crippling Anguish and Imagined Burden to stop the runner and then get my Heroes and Henchies to pound him. You could try to bring a Mesmer Hero (primary or secondary) and manualy control those skills when the time comes, or take them yourself. Then sit back and defend your shrine, using the center bridge as a choke point.

Phoenix Tears · Mar 04, 2008, 02:55 PM // 14:55

Ursan + 3 Sabway necros, + 1 Monk Hench + 1 Ele hench did very well for me...

Me = Ranger, beside ursan I also had Ebon Sin and 1 Ritualist Ghost for additional support

Flagged the bunch at 1 side, where the enemy runner will pass ever through, while I as ursan rushed ever from crystal to crystall to go sure, that the white mantle will never get all crystalls.

When first group come,s kill ever first the crystal runner, they are totally defenseless, then kill the monks, the rest is then regardless, cause your minion factory will do the work for you.
Every now and then, when you as ursan have not to rush, u recast your ghost and your ebon sin into soem foes and help fighting them.

When you've then fighted some first waves and you see, that a group of them is running back to Demagogen to get a new crystall, delete the flag and rush with your group to them to force them into a battle at a point, where they can't flee from you (those crystal runners like to ignore you), but a small points where your minions and your party can good body block,this won#t help them, there you fight then all all, until only you and the Demagogen is left, - kill demagon, then rush your crystals, till you own all points.. mission finished with bonus.

I found that mission as easy as in NM ...