Curse

Thac0 · Jun 19, 2005, 09:37 PM // 21:37

LOL, I guess for once I did get lucky with a PUG for a mission. By the time we got to the Lich (which the only issue I had is the name- COME ON, couldn't they have been a little more creative?) all our party was +10 morale except one lame N/W who somehow thought he made teh UBER-1337 tank and was at a constant -60dp.

My experience was that he does teleport himself across the lava, does teleport you into the lava, AND (maybe this has been changed since, it's been a couple weeks since I beat him) if you kill him OFF the Bloodstone he does not rez-----at all. That's right, we beat him down one time while he was returning from one of his cowardly lava runs, he never rezzed and we got the final cutscene. I was pretty disappointed actually as to me at least the RoF and Abbadons' Mouth missions were IMHO much harder than the finale.

Zeru · Jun 20, 2005, 05:44 AM // 05:44

The final mission is just really long. I mean, pve really isn't hard if you've mastered the concept of focus fire but hells precipice missions tend to get screwed up by rambo people more than others simply because it takes way longer than the previous two.

theclam · Jun 20, 2005, 06:29 AM // 06:29

You think Guild Wars is more frusturating than Devil May Cry 3? Are you insane? To beat the Lich boss, you actually have to think a little bit and adapt to changing situations (although if you can do this, then many supposedly hard missions are pretty easy). To beat a DMC3 boss, all you have to do is memorize patterns. The Lich boss was well designed, I thought.

Weezer_Blue · Jun 20, 2005, 08:54 AM // 08:54

I missed the part where this mission was excessively hard. Especially the Lich fight. That was anticlimactic and really just too easy. Woo... 2 minions. And ya know, you can dodge the teleport spell? Didn't any of you notice little flashy things of light flying towards you? Didn't anyone try to interupt him when he cast it? Hmm... Appearantly not. The entire PvE experience in this game was far too easy. You just slay tons of random monsters that are never hard.

Lewick · Jun 20, 2005, 10:14 PM // 22:14

I've beaten this mission twice with only henchmen. Each time I've played the mission the following occured:

- He teleported either himself or one of my party members into the lava at random intervals. It's generally a random party member, as I actually got teleported there once myself.

- He died 3 times. Prior to the first kill, he has several fists of the titans around him. I just killed the fists of the gods then "killed" the lich. When he resurrected, 2x fist of the titans spawned in the lava and ran over to the fight. I pulled all of my henchmen back out into the entrance corridor and then pulled the fists over to the corridor and kill them. Then killed the lich. Same thing occurs for the third fight.

- The objective of the beginning of the mission is to minimize deaths as much as possible. This means ignoring unnecessary fights if possible, and in particular ignoring the spark of the titans as much as possible. The titans and their splits aren't too bad. The sparks, well they can get really nasty, especially with henchmen. If you get through to the gatekeeper area with only a couple deaths, you can generally recoup the deaths in the gatekeeper area by selectively pulling and killing. With 6 bosses in that area, that's at least 12% DP reduction. All of my party members, in both runs through, were at least at 0% DP after the gatekeeper area, and I was capped at 10%.

- When you reach the gatekeeper area, you can pick out fist of the titans as they emerge from the lava pool to prevent them from going into the center area and roaming around. First time I won I let them roam into the center but noted how they spawned. Second time I won, I picked off at least 8 of them as they spawned and killed them off.

- The undead boss (you know who) was a much more difficult fight than the lich. For that kill I had to get sparks of the titans killed first so they didn't nuke my party to oblivion. Getting henchmen to NOT follow was tricky, but it was doable. I think I only lost Mehnlo during the first time through, and didn't lose anyone second time through.

I thought it was a very creative final fight, personally. It presented a completely different aspect of their gaming engine and it's something I wish they'd used more often. Mobs that teleport can cause serious disorientation and it really made me consider how I was approaching the fight. The biggest difficulty of the teleportation was when Stefan, Little Thom, or either of the healers got teleported. Not because it was difficult, but because they have a tendency to stop and try to heal themselves while coming out of the lava, which ultimately leads to their death. The casters also tend to stop inside the lava and start casting on the lich, which I had to counter by running up on the approach walk to pull all the henchmen up to.

I know it's a frustrating mission for some, but try it again. With the added knowledge you have now, you shouldn't have many problems at all finishing it.

One word of caution: I tried to kill the fist of the titans on the bloodstone, but the lich keeps them very healthy. Best suggestion is to pull them away from the lich up onto the walkway that leads up to the bloodstone and kill them up there, out of the lich's healing range. They die very rapidly when you do that.

kleps · Jun 21, 2005, 06:18 AM // 06:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeru

The final mission is just really long. I mean, pve really isn't hard if you've mastered the concept of focus fire but hells precipice missions tend to get screwed up by rambo people more than others simply because it takes way longer than the previous two.

agreed. henchies are much easier to use because of their focus fire. most of the time, your teammates are just plain dumb and the henchies are better healers and protectors.

Divinus · Jun 21, 2005, 06:22 AM // 06:22

When the party I was in killed him I thought it was a joke. Beyond easy. We killed him once time on the bloodstone and viola, end of game.

Although I never did get teleported he DID teleport people. He'd say something like "away with you" and then someone would end up in the lava.

I never did experience the multiple fights like you guys did with him, although it may have been more interesting like that. IMO the entire mission was a joke. I did have a great group, though (which is RARE).

Jia Xu · Jun 21, 2005, 11:34 AM // 11:34

you want to stop the Lich casting the teleport on you? take a mesmer who knows what they are doing. makes the whole final battle ridiculously easy, and a necro with curses rips rurik apart too. You just have to make sure that you have a balanced team. The main weakness in this game with powerful bosses is that the focus fire can rip any single char down - necros with weakness/barbs/faintheartedness make rurik a joke, and my mesmer simply stopped the Lich casting anything useful (and a Grenth's Balance from the necro helped :P)

Lewick · Jun 21, 2005, 05:55 PM // 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jia Xu

you want to stop the Lich casting the teleport on you? take a mesmer who knows what they are doing. makes the whole final battle ridiculously easy, and a necro with curses rips rurik apart too. You just have to make sure that you have a balanced team. The main weakness in this game with powerful bosses is that the focus fire can rip any single char down - necros with weakness/barbs/faintheartedness make rurik a joke, and my mesmer simply stopped the Lich casting anything useful (and a Grenth's Balance from the necro helped :P)

I just wanted to make sure to include rangers in the "shut them down" bit here. A well played ranger can also shut down the lich. I hit him with concussion shot that kept him interrupted for 15 seconds. When he recovered, I hit him with distracting shot to disable his teleporting capability (my 2nd time through) and then hit with another concussion shot afterward and kept him shut down until he died. Rinse/repeat for the rest of the 2 deaths I had to kill him on.

I'm not sure how people are killing him only once and he's permanently dying. Both times I fought him I killed him directly on the bloodstone and he came back to life with his new fists.

Jwh6913 · Jun 22, 2005, 06:30 AM // 06:30

you may be fighting on the solidified lava not the actual blood stone itself force him to move on the black circle surrounded by red obsidian flaming spikes that's where he'd die for sure.

Feli · Jun 22, 2005, 06:59 AM // 06:59

I went there and wanted to complete the mission yesterday. Having completed it several times (to get elite skills or to help guildmates), i was kinda surprised to see the Lich reviving himself while he was atop the circle.
And no matter how often we tried, the Lich just did not die even though his position was correct.

Something is awfully bugged about this mission. At least by now. I do not remember having those problems back a few weeks. But they are there now....

Heart · Jun 22, 2005, 02:45 PM // 14:45

I thought it was fairly easy as well. I mean, I did the mission my first try. Thats tellin you something right there. IT was a veryyyyyyy long mission, but easy.

Sorry for ruining the game with my elitist attitude ;-)

GW Monkey · Jun 22, 2005, 03:53 PM // 15:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lewick

I've beaten this mission twice with only henchmen.

Same. Lots of us have. I did it for a challenge with a primary monk, with healing spells only. I guess the only harder thing to do with all hench would be take those TotA lvl15s into UW. Initiating combat is rough, as is directing them. It's quite annoying the way the henches lose focus if you stop attacking, so they spread damage all over the place... but eventually they killed every boss (6?) the armageddons, everything on the map including one particularly annoying undead. It takes about an hour... But it wasn't that hard. Those little flashy purple will-o-wisps he's casting? Don't let them touch you. That is what is teleporting you into the lava. And yes, 3 kills (all on the stone) before he stayed down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heart

Sorry for ruining the game with my elitist attitude ;-)

!!!! (whistles nervously while slipping away)

Billiard · Jun 24, 2005, 11:09 PM // 23:09

I just did the last mission with my Monk and some henchmen. I posted this for my guilds and thought I would share it. BTW 3 times in a row killing the lich in the center of the bloodstone still lead to a respawn of him:

Okay after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at this mission with
PUGs, including a couple good ones, I decided to run with henchmen
to work out the strategy better. I do this because henchmen are
really patient and will wait for you when need to work something out
or go afk. Anyway I tried it like 3 times and had varying success.
The fourth time I figured it out. One of the big keys is luring as
small of mobs as possible, and to do this its best to have a ranger
do it. Well my henchman ranger was a crap puller (he won't after
all) so I would do it all. This worked well at clearing the 3
portals, but when I got to a certain undead warrior, my ranged
attack was not far enough to pull him without the 10 Titan hands and
2 Sparks with him. So the next time I took a bow and my monk pulled
like a ranger - and it worked like a charm. Anyway, here are some
key points:

1. If you can, bring a ranger with spirit of winter. This converts
all damage to cold damage and really hurts the stuff there.
Otherwise fire elementals are not as effective. Also someone should
have Rebirth for safe resurrections.

2. Each Burning Titan spawns (after a brief delay) a Risen Ashen
Titan. Each Ashen Titan spawns a Hand of Titan and a Fist of
Titan. Its best to focus on one thing and kill all its subsequent
respawns. If you don't then you could end up with a lot more things
to kill.

3. The Sparks (fire imps) really get you with their ranged attacks
while you are engaged with the melee guys. Sparks need to be killed
FIRST. Have your caller target them and stay on them. The
protection monk (Lina) will keep up with the melee enough so the
healer can take care of you. If you ignore them its like sitting in
a nuker blastzone and 2 of them will wipe out a whole party.

4. When you finally get to the portals there will be a lava field
to your right. Around 20 Titan Hands will slowly spawn out of
this. Stay back in the passage and lure these to you as they spawn
and kill them fast one at a time. Do this with a bow and run back
so that you don't aggro other things.

5. As you work the portal area simply lure with a bow one thing at
a time until they are all gone. Only then attack the portal
guardians. This part alone takes around 30 minutes, but if you do
it patiently its really pretty safe.

6. After you destroy the final of 3 portals you will get a cut
scene. Skip this immediately and run away from the enemy mob or you
can get overwhelmed by 10 Hands, 2 Sparks and an undead uber
warrior. After you are in the clear, use your bow to slowly lure
Sparks and or the undead guy. Again focus on the Sparks first then
the warrior. You'll get another cutscene after this. If you get
mobbed, run back up the hill immediately. The mobs will go back to
where they were and you can use Rebirth to rez. If you are using
henchmen monks rez them last as they tend to want to run into mobs
to rez.

7. Okay after you do that and the cut scene, you get to the final
battle. You'll have a bunch of hands and a lich to kill. Lure and
kill all the hands first. Then you can target the lich. WARNING:
Lich will teleport you into the lava and you can get disoriented.
Also, he needs to be in the middle of the bloodstone to die for
good. Finally, he can respawn up to 2 times and thus might need to
be killed between 1 and 3 times. Apparently this varies.

8. Once you kill him once he *might* respawn. If he does he will
bring a mob of new Titan Hands. Fall back away from the center of
cavern and lure and kill these first. After that focus on lich
again. If he ports you into the lava just find him again and select
for attack - this will re-orient you. If you are a ranged attacker,
hang back far enough to avoid the teleportation blobs he throws
out. If you are with henchmen only keep calling the lich as target
and people ported to the lava should run out and attack him. If you
are healing, wait til things run out of the lava else you'll have to
heal yourself as well.

All in all I liked running with henchmen on this because they focus
fire well and don't drop out of the party half way. The fighters do
tend to rush things so you have to try to lure stuff to you before
the fighters engage. With some practice you can do this.