Joy's now updated (Morrowind) guide to beating Maelstrom Arena

Bakven

I love this thread and all the advice on here. I haven't finished vMSA yet as I'm stuck on the frost stage. Specifically round 4(?) where the 2 giants and the mobs spawn on two of the ice islands. I usually can kill the giants by using a meteor and setting down a few AOEs then just blocking and using healing ward to keep from dying, but the problem is the mobs that spawn with them. I can't self heal fast enough to kill them while they just dps me down. I'd appreciate any advice on this.

Also, just a secondary question, which is better? using nerin'eth or using 1 kena and 1 Torug's helm (both my destro and resto staffs are Torug's so I'd get the 2 piece spell damage bonus)?

code65536

Bakven wrote: »

I love this thread and all the advice on here. I haven't finished vMSA yet as I'm stuck on the frost stage. Specifically round 4(?) where the 2 giants and the mobs spawn on two of the ice islands. I usually can kill the giants by using a meteor and setting down a few AOEs then just blocking and using healing ward to keep from dying, but the problem is the mobs that spawn with them. I can't self heal fast enough to kill them while they just dps me down. I'd appreciate any advice on this.

Also, just a secondary question, which is better? using nerin'eth or using 1 kena and 1 Torug's helm (both my destro and resto staffs are Torug's so I'd get the 2 piece spell damage bonus)?

I strongly recommend using a defense sigil at or shortly after the start of that round. You'll be able to go full DPS instead of defensive DPS, and the ranged enemies will just kill themselves off of your sigil's reflect.

Joy_Division

That is correct. If he gets 3 ghosta, which can happen to inexperienced players, he puts out a super high damage DoT (it's not insta-death, but if this happens the player is going to lose).

I did not emphasize this because the truth of the matter is that if the boss gets three ghosts, the player has simply made numerous mistakes. Nothing that happens in the fight gets priority over grabbing the gold ghosts and the player should use the Haste sigal and then the defense sigal (both should be left over no matter how they dealt with the Crematorium Guards) to ensure the first 3 gold ghosts (and an easy daedroth kill) happen. The only way the boss should ever get one is if he happens to teleport right next to it.

ryanborror

Swindy wrote: »

Joy_Division wrote: »

@Swindy -

I think most people will agree that magicka is going to be easier to finish this than stam all things being equal. I always found the second stage to be a pain and if I go a few weeks without doing VMA, I'll die on that stage simply because I'm not use to it.

Despite the dumb nerfs sorcerers got, they still are a solid class for finishing this (although if your are comfortable - that's the key word there, comfort, playing mag templar/NB, those are perhaps a bit easier). Here is my advice for sorcerers, do not rely on bar swap. Hardened ward is on my front bar and it gets cast pretty much on cooldown on that second stage (or at least when I am hit by the blades). If my actual health gets low, then I bar swap (I use hardened ward first if there are enemies around) for healing ward. I have a shield on both bars (and overload bar) so no matter what, I always can immediately cast a skill that prevents me from dying.

The second stage is just a heal/mitigation check. The enemies are neither numerous or deadly. You could put the mutagen skill on you resto bar as you don't need many damage abilities this round. I know the blades are a pain and there will be times when they just kill you, but it's not too bad once you get accustomed to it. Just takes some gtting used to with all the shielding and healing.

Ya my worry is that often there are no blades near me when my health suddenly plummets...potion or heal don't then work and death is imminent.
The bleed, stated on the kill sheet, is always 6-8k per tick, with at least 4 ticks on each kill sheet.
So I'm dying "behind the shield" if you will, perhaps through lag, or perhaps through something I'm missing during the fight giving me so much bleed.

I'm dearly in love with all my 3 toons, and the Templar, in mag or stam, is just a beast in Pve...all 100 lbs of her lol...but if I'm sucking at a mechanic, or simply not getting timely visual feedback, then I need to get that understood & hopefully sorted regardless of toon.
I built the sorc especially for VMA, then got shield nerfs, and I'm also not convinced he likes his TBS as much as his Juli either.
He didn't get this bleed damage in non vet mode, and it's not even a hard stage from all accounts.

Try staying in the outer ring going clockwise behind blade. If the blade on your right is coming toward you, quickly get behind it and outside blade will pass then get back in outer lane and continue. If you focus on avoiding blades this is very easy, practices on normal mode if you have to. Pull lever at start of each round. On the bosses you can slow down right before their hp marks and wait for them to do an animation to get more damage on them before they shield. shielded bosses hurt you if you run into them,

Talemire

As a Magicka NB - This is even more fun now that everything is CP 160. Can't quite squeeze out the ice stage boss with 470 CP. I get within three or four hits and the lack of ice blocks winds up doing me in.

watts320

Would you say the templar build is good enough for veteran dungeons to this day or not?

ryanborror

The

Talemire wrote: »

As a Magicka NB - This is even more fun now that everything is CP 160. Can't quite squeeze out the ice stage boss with 470 CP. I get within three or four hits and the lack of ice blocks winds up doing me in.

Impale early and continuously

Joy_Division

@Talemire - The key with the ice boss is to grab the defensive sigil when the boss is at 35% health (the adds spawn at 30%) so you can do nothing but 100% concentrate on DPS the boss. As a nightblade with an execute, this is definitively managable. Put down the Path DoT and nuke her. If you are still struggling, the Power sigil is on the same island, just grab that after getting the shield.

@watts320 - tough to say. "Good enough for veteran dungeons" doesn't mean much nowadays since vet dungeons were scaled way back in February 2015 and haven't been adjusted since. Someone who is comfortable with their build and has a reasonably effective setup (i.e. no bad gear or bad skills) can do vMA with about 300 CPs I'd reckon, though it will take practice and there will be moments of frustration.

Arthg

Just popping in to say a big THANK YOU for this guide, @Joy_Division .

Just completed my first run as a stam DK, most of it wearing impen heavy armour - dang was it hard, but your guide provided key information that I couldn't find elsewhere - most other guides suggest gear with... Maelstrom weapons!!!

Anyway, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

alexkdd99

Thanks alot for this guide I have been trying vma on and off for a while now. I am stuck on the last boss on final round. I can get up top and damage crystals and have even gotten almost all of them cleared.

Where I seem to be having the most trouble is when I either jump back down or am knocked down by the boss, the CG seems to always be right next to where I land. Is this just unavoidable because I feel like harness is not mitigating enough from the CG fire breath.

By the way I am a sorc with around 480 champion points
I have 5 piece julianos
3 arcane willpower with 2 spell damage and 1 recovery
2 molag kena.
1 torug pact.
The one torug is just there for when I run dual swords which I don't do in vma quite yet.

Any advice is appreciated.

Arthg

alexkdd99 wrote: »

Thanks alot for this guide I have been trying vma on and off for a while now. I am stuck on the last boss on final round. I can get up top and damage crystals and have even gotten almost all of them cleared.

Where I seem to be having the most trouble is when I either jump back down or am knocked down by the boss, the CG seems to always be right next to where I land. Is this just unavoidable because I feel like harness is not mitigating enough from the CG fire breath.

By the way I am a sorc with around 480 champion points
I have 5 piece julianos
3 arcane willpower with 2 spell damage and 1 recovery
2 molag kena.
1 torug pact.
The one torug is just there for when I run dual swords which I don't do in vma quite yet.

Any advice is appreciated.

I actually made a breakthrough when I found the routine enabling me to kill the guard and the clannfer and go back up on demand to finish the cristals (my dps is quite low).

What helped me:
1) killing the healer after the boss's gone up and before going up myself for the first time
2) neutralizing the clannfer as soon as it spawns when going back down. Yes, in my experience too, the guard is always where you fall. What I do is roll dodge, sprint, and fossilize (so agony/rune prison for you, I guess) the clannfer before focusing on the guard.

Hope that helps

Joy_Division

@alexkdd99

Yeah, the CG tracks you movements so when you come down it will always seem to be on top of you (jumping down is advised if you know you cant DPS the crystals - you won't fall in the lava, it will take a bit for the CG to catch up to you, and you can aim your jump toward a power sigal).

Your gear is fine. What I did on my sorc when I was first learning this was voluntarily jump down just as the third wall spawns. Before you jump down, buff up (I would recommend having lightning form, also use a shield), and activate Overload. Don't just jump down anywhere, try to find the healing sigal and jump towards it. When you land, your only goal is to grab that sigal. It doesn't matter if the CG is standing on top of it, grab it!

Between the healing sigal, hardened ward (make sure this is on your overload bar), an occasional dodge, and crit surge, you have enough survivability to kill everything down there - your main threat is standing still and getting hit with a lich crystal. I aimed for the CG but did not discriminate targetwise: the clannfear is also dangerous so it's not necessarily a bad thing if your overloads hit it. It only takes maybe 10 overloads to nuke everything so it's not that difficult provided you don't panic.

Optional: I slotted the rune cage skill to neutralize the healer; makes it much easier.

Duxes

Been stuck on the final round for stage 9 for a few days now. It's so overwhelming lol. I'm using a stam sorc. I always seem to lose my head when I drop down during the crystal mechanics. I think I've died maybe 60 times already..... lost count.

Thanks for this guide Joy! Will be giving it another go tonight!

sluice

This guide has proven a much valuable tool in completing my first vMA run.

Few tips from @Joy_Division that I wish to emphasis.

SPAWN AT THE WAYSHRINE.
Not only for not wasting soul gems but mainly because you need that few seconds break.
Trust me... Respawn at the wayshrine and take those few precious seconds to reflect on why you died.
If you died, it's usually because you did something wrong. Think about it, focus on it.

Also, you may take that time to change skills (if needed be) and come back to read this wonderful guide or watch youtube video of the place you are struggling.

ANIMATION CANCEL
A tip, that I didn't see here..This applies to the game in general: Animation cancel.
If you want to be at the next level, you have to cancel most of your animation. There are no way around it.

I've been light attack + skill, for what seems like forever, but... I didn't always canceled certain instant skills with block (unless I was doing light attack + skill + bash).

For instance, when putting your blockade of fire or your shield up, block: Instant skill (with too long of an animation) + block.
This way you can cast much quicker and get back into the action. Some animation are long and can be the difference between life and death.


FOCUS ON THE MECHANICS, DON'T PANIC!
Or else this might happen to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8jyJIWn0AQ&feature=youtu.be&t=41s



Thanks again to the original poster of this thread @Joy_Division.

vamp_emily

Nikkor wrote: »

501 champion points?

I'm at 421 on ps4. I am debating on wether or not to got back into vet maelstrom today or punch myself in the nuts.

which do you think will be more fun?

That is funny.. as I was reading your comment, I thought you were gong to say "punch myself in the face".

Maelstrom must be pretty bad, you guys make me not even want to go near the place. It almost sounds impossible to beat.

sluice

Duxes wrote: »

Been stuck on the final round for stage 9 for a few days now. It's so overwhelming lol. I'm using a stam sorc. I always seem to lose my head when I drop down during the crystal mechanics. I think I've died maybe 60 times already..... lost count.

Thanks for this guide Joy! Will be giving it another go tonight!

Yeah, I wiped at least 200 times on that boss alone.
You just have to run it over and over and over again. Every X time, you will notice that you are more comfortable in getting farther.

These are my step to get at the second phase of the last boss. I now get up about 90% of the time :

1. Buff up, put ground AOE where the boss spawns
2. Grab Offensive sigil (Keep all others for later)
3. DPS boss until he teleport (with making sure to dodge his first skull)
4. Interrupt boss, immobilize healer (if you have skills that do so.. if not make sure to interrupt him if he heals the boss)
5. Kill Crem guard ASAP. Don't kill the healer yet.
6. Kill Clanfear on portal
7. Kill healer, if possible, then move up.

When up at the crystal.. You don't need to only focus on one..
I mean make sure to always have all your dots on one of them at least..
Your pirmary goal is to avoid his crystal and his explosive, so look at his the whole time (while destroying crystal) and look for that wall that protects you.

When you do get thrown down before destroying all 3 crystals. Don't panic...
Your immediate reaction should be to heal/shield up if needed be and run to the Defensive Sigil.
With the sigil up, and your healing always up (Vigor in your case), you should be fine in simply killing the clanfear again.
You don't need to kill the Crem guard, HE will disapeared once you manage to destroy the 3 crystals.

vamp_emily wrote: »

Nikkor wrote: »

501 champion points?

I'm at 421 on ps4. I am debating on wether or not to got back into vet maelstrom today or punch myself in the nuts.

which do you think will be more fun?

That is funny.. as I was reading your comment, I thought you were gong to say "punch myself in the face".

Maelstrom must be pretty bad, you guys make me not even want to go near the place. It almost sounds impossible to beat.

In is a pain in the @#$.... You will want to quit this game forever while doing it.
It is the most painful thing I have ever done in a game.. but in the end it's so rewarding when you accomplish it.. You feel like you literraly accomplished the impossible.

One thing to note.. the second time you run it, it will be so much easier because you will be accustom to the feel of vMA and it's mechanics. Plus you will be much more confident in your build and rotation.

I probably died 500 times in total while completing my first run. (200+ of those times were on the last boss).
On my second run, I managed to get to the last boss in 1 hour with 10 deaths. Haven't had time to finished it a second time thought.. but I'm confident I will get him under only a few deaths.

So yeah TL;DR, it's a pain. But each run are significantly easier. You will ask yourself : "Why ? How did I die so much here before!?".

SodanTok

Just finished my first run (thanks to this guide) as bow/2h stamblade (bow main). Literally 0 deaths on every boss except big lizard (~10) and then 100 times wiped on last boss.
For anyone out there crazy as I am running bow(ranged) build, give chance to ambush(teleport strike), it makes the difference between getting the golden ghost and letting the boss get it first.
Also had support tree ult. Usually it meant i survived CG with full hp vs dying/lowhp

Wifeaggro13

Joy_Division wrote: »

Never posted a guide before. Don't even know if people even think of consulting this forum. But as Maelstrom is hard and very frustrating, I'll share my advice as I know Maelstrom can make people desperate. This guide is more intended for players looking for a complete as opposed to a top score.

First some general principles:

• Every stage is "hard" until you get accustomed to the fights, opponents, threats and develop a strategy for defeating them.
• Learning this will make you cry and want to quit ESO. We've all been there. You're not alone. That being said, every stage becomes considerably easier once you are knowledgeable of the mechanics.
• Once you develop a strategy, you will wonder how it was you died so many times before.
• I see a lot of "help me, I'm struggling posts" and the first thing they mention is their build and CP setup. If your build is even halfway competent, that's not why you are dying. Switching from infused to divines won't make a difference; treating the arena less like an AA trial and more like PvP where you must self-sustain will. Learn the arena, develop a strategy, then start worrying about how to squeeze out more DPS.
• There is just a lot of unavoidable damage. You need to DPS + heal at the same time. Even if these are not your top DPS skills, they are the most efficient skills for this content.
• Target recognition and prioritization is absolutely essential. When you are dying, you will get frustrated, but it is critical you objectively assess what is killing you. You *cannot* clear these stages without recognizing priority threats.
• I hate to say this and dislike it, but the environmental hazards are often more deadly than monsters. You *have* to watch your feet and where you are going and this makes for a lot of death by RNG. Tip: use Harness Magicka.
• You should take breaks. You will get frustrated. Don't compound the problem playing mad. Eat lunch, call a friend on the phone, stretch out, etc., just move your mouse every 5 minutes or so and you will be fine.
• I HIGHLY recommend using generic blue magicka potions instead of tri pots for every round until you get to stage 9. This will be an EXPENSIVE undertaking and you are just going to have to trust me, a tri-pot will not save you or keep you alive when you are wiping because you have not developed a strategy yet. You don't even need the VR15s (you are just looking for the regen bonus). Many people don't even bother looting this stuff and you can get them just by asking nicely. Alternatively buy VR blue pots from guild stores, they are next to nothing.
• It is generally better to burst down single targets than trying to AoEing them all at once.
• Harness magicka is an amazing mitigator, even for things you wouldn't think (like poison and most environment hazards).
• Don't forget Dawnbreaker on daedra rounds
• Use the power sigals. Don't try to be cool, fancy, or "practice" thinking you want to get used to not using them so you can compete for a leaderboard time. When you master downing a Crematorium Guard while the final boss is channeling a necrotic storm that kills you in two seconds, then go ahead and practice without using the power sigals. All of them are strong and useful.
• Don't waste your soul gems. Just rez at wayshrine. Soul Gems sell for around 80 gold a pop. If you decide to unnecessarily waste your assets because you are too lazy to take the 10 seconds to walk back into the arena, I don't think you have the justification to claim the arena is a gold-sink.

Some more specific comments on the Power Sigals

If you are reading this guide, that means you are going to use these. Period. End of story. They are available every single round. They turn dying into winning. They are that strong. Objectively analyze what is killing you, grab the appropriate power sigal for the situation, and then proceed onto to the next arena. They are not for "noobs" or are "crutches." Pride goeth before a fall.

• The power sigal (the hammer): I think this one is a bit overrated as typically moar DPS is not going to save you from a lethal situation. Obviously always use for main bosses that are DPS races. Otherwise the most effective use for this sigal are to burn mini-bosses, the two-handed Daedra in stages 6 and 9 for example. In general, the other three sigals are better at keeping you alive so I would prioritize them if you find yourself struggling at a particular juncture.
• The Defensive Sigal (the Shield): By far the most useful. It reflects just about just about every ranged attack (key exceptions: the Inferno channels from the spinny mages in Stage 8 and the Final Boss's skull attack). It also increases your overall mitigation so you take less damage. If you have this active you should not die; that's how powerful it is. You get this *every* round of *every* stage. Think about that.
• The Haste Sigal : (the weird looking thingy). Probably the most underrated. It not only increases your speed, but also your regeneration. So if you are running low on resources, just grab this. Any time you are pitted against lumbering dangerous melee adds you or are just tired of dealing with the annoying ever-present snares or just have to get a "safe" zone really quick, this sigal will help more than the others.
• The Healing Sigal : (the Chalice). Not overtly powerful but situationally incredibly useful. Anytime you know there is a lot of unavoidable damage that you just have to eat (e.g. Crematorium Guards on final stage, two troll mini-bosses during the Argonian stage, when the lurcher spawns on spider boss stage, etc.), this sigal can make a decisive difference in a way the power sigal cannot.

It is difficult to overstate how much power all of these grant and the fact that they are all available every single round means that even average players ought to be able to advance all the way up until the Spider Boss in stage 6 as that is the first fight where these sigals are not enough to carry a player through. Yes, you can get that far by intelligent use of these sigals. Here is the difference these sigals made. When I first started doing Maelstrom, I kept wiping and wiping and wiping during the Ice Flows stage. Once I stopped haphazardly grabbing these sigals and instead thought about when was the most advantageous time to use them, every single death became a L2P issue. Some people assert that relying on these as part of an overall strategy is not a good idea because things might go wrong. *No*. Things can always "go wrong." These offer precisely the sort of power that ought to be intelligently and strategically used according to what the situation dictates. When you become better and more experienced at Maelstrom, then take off the training wheels so-to-speak and try not using them to raise your score.

********

As far as classes go, I have completed this on my sorcerer, DK, and templar (all magicka), so here are my observations on them:

Templars:

I mostly PvP so I don't have the "right" morphs according to people who PvE. That does not matter. What is important about a build is that it is competent, the player is comfortable using it, and does what is necessary to survive in the arena: doing DPS + Healing at the same time.

• Two swords
• Toppling Charge
• Puncturing Sweeps
• Radiant Destruction
• Reflective Light
• Harness Magicka
• Consuming Bat Swarm. Dawnbreaker on final boss.

Every templar youtube video you will see runs inner light because it is such a good DPS skill. I don't have that morph (I went with Radiant for PvP reasons), so I use Reflective Light to get major sorcery. The DoT isn't great but it isn't bad and 10% crit is 10% crit. Toppling Charge gives the mobility needed in rounds 3,5,6,7,8,9. You *must* be careful using Radiant Destruction because it locks you in a channel. I have my shield on the front bar because I think it is good sense to have a defensive skill on each bar in competitive situations. Bat Swarm beats the templar ultimates by a mile and gives me a regen bonus.

• Restoration Staff
• Channel Focus
• Rapid Regeneration. Dark Flare for Argonian boss.
• Purifying Ritual
• Honor the Dead
• Structured Entropy
• Nova. Dawbreaker on Daedra stages. Meteor on final boss

I use this because I have a Maelstrom Resto staff and while I don't think Rapid Regeneration is a very good spell, I can get magicka back for using it so I am trying it out for now. I think a staff is a good idea for heavy attack as templars have lousy sustain. Everything else are templar back-bar standards. I have Honor the Dead because Breath is just too expensive for what it does. If you dislike the Honor morph, use Healing Ward instead of Breath of Life. I use Meteor on the final boss as you typically want to wait for a crematorium guard to use an ultimate and sometimes you might have over 200 so might as well go for a bigger one. I know it would be more efficient DPSwise to put Dark Flare on my two swords bar, but I dislike changing my main bar for a single fight and prefer to not mess up my muscle memory.

General Advice for Templars:
By far the best thing to do is just jab EVERYTHING while standing in your purifying ritual.

Ironically the best tactic is to put yourself in the greatest danger and try to jab as many opponents as you can as the more you hit, the more you heal. Even on the last stage with the insane crematorium guards ... hitting them AND another enemy at the same time made them *much* easier to deal with. Dark flare is a difficult skill to use because of the constant pressure you will be under. Be careful when you use radiant destruction. Toppling charge is good for those stages where you need mobility and it's the interrupt you need. Your ultimates are mediocre and situational. Use whatever you are comfortable with but both are terrible compared to what a sorcerer with Overload can do. In sum, don't even bother trying to "tank" or using your bad shield (do use harness when applicable though), just jab-jab-jab-jab, it will keep you alive as long as you are hitting something.

Sorcerer

If you read my guide before, you will notice I sold out and pretty much joined the cookie-cutter Overload club. I find it boring, but everyone except Zenimax's combat team has come to recognize it is so good (and Storm Atronach is so bad), a sorcerer who doesn't use this is just making things unnecessarily more difficult. I PvP so my build is absent several of the "standard" things most PvE sorcs use. I also tend to emphasize a bit more survivability than the typical toggle build.

• Destruction Staff
• Mage's Fury
• Crystal Fragments
• Hardened Ward (switch out for harness magicka for Final boss, it's much more efficient)
• Crushing Shock
• Inner Light
• Overload

Most sorcerers put Mage's Fury on their back bar. It's on my front because I want immediate access to an execute in PvP and I am just comfortable with it being there. If you put Hardened Ward on your back bar, you will die more, it's as simple as that. Some people like Force Pulse because of the extra 10% DPS. If that's what you think you need because of your Trial raids, you will have to run and bash interrupt stuff on stages 8 and 9. I personally don't think the 10% is worth the convenience of an interrupt since most of the DPS you will post in Group chat comes from Overload anyway, but that is just my opinion.

• Restoration staff
• Lightning Flood
• Healing Ward
• Daedric mines (switch out for harness magicka Argonian boss 6 and Boundless Storm for Final boss.)
• Power Surge
• Inner Light
• Overload

Yes they got nerfed. But I still use the same build and while I die a few more times because I'm not running around with a 20K perma-shield, Overload still basically lets a sorc breeze through much of this content. I only use hardened Ward immediately before known damage (e.g. crematorium guard) and as a templar would use breath of life. I always ran resto so while I dislike the surge change, my build can deal with it pretty easily. You folks who run two swords, use boundless storm to ensure you get surge heals on cooldown. Lightning Flood and Mines are all the AoE you need. Use Mines! They are high DPS, efficient DPS (since they can be pre-laid), heal you, and immobilize the stun/snare spamming daedra amongst other enemies. Mines are another reason why my build isn't effected too much by the surge nerf.

I have Overload on both my bars because every sorcerer has repeatedly dropped 1000 ultimate Meteors or Storm Atronachs and I prefer consistent and convenient performance over trying to squeeze out some marginal benefit.

I don't use Bound Aegis because I prefer to actually use multiple skills and I dislike how it looks.

General Advice for Sorcerers:

Sorcerers are accused of being easy mode and although this is an exaggeration, it cannot be denied that a 25K+ shield will completely mitigate an uppercut that might kill a templar.

About the only disadvantage the sorcerer has is that sometimes she won't get healed when she attacks. This is why people struggling to complete the arena should use a restoration staff. Some people use Elemental Drain to help sustain. I find this unnecessary as Overload refills your magicka. On any pull where melee chases you, drop mines. The key to surviving as a sorcerer is to never let your hardened ward go down. PvP players know this by second nature. PvE oriented players accustomed to getting healed *must* learn this principle. If you are low on health, do not swap bars, you have a shield on both.

DKs

Much easier with the TG update because of one skill: Burning Embers. Spamming this skill heals and does decent damage. Don't try to be "tanky" because this class isn't despite what you may have heard. The biggest advantage this class has is that its DoTs allow it to do DPS without attacking. You have no execute, which hurts, so be sure to DoT stuff up so the bad guys die even if you are in panic healing mode.

• Destruction Staff
• Wall of Elements. Be intelligent about placement.
• Draw Essence
• Burning Embers
• Force Pulse. Flame Lash on Final Boss (you don't need range).
• Dragonfire Scales. Harness on Final Boss.
• Ferocious Leap. Dawnbreaker on daedra rounds. Meteor on Argonian Boss.

Wall enemies that just charge at you. Draw Essence should be every other skill you cast if you are taking damage and there are two enemies with 8 meters of you. Burning embers is an amazing spam. It can sustain you through a Crematorium Guard. Dragonfire Scales is the DK's only advantage in the arena; ironically it isn't that useful on the final boss (or the entire last stage because all the dangerous attacks are not reflectable). I know Inner Light is the best DPS, but you want all 5 of these skills on your front bar if you are learning the arena because DKs are not suited for Maelstrom. When you learn the arena and are looking for higher DPS, then drop/move either draw essence or burning embers for inner light. You NEED range so Force Pulse / Crushing Shock (Draw Essence is my interrupt, which is why I use Force Pulse) is better than the extra 10% DPS you get from Flame Lash. In general you don't want to use Ferocious Leap; it's just there as an "Oh ***" button. Dawnbreaker is pretty good Vs. Daedra so I'm not shy about using it.

• Restoration staff
• Mutagen
• Healing Ward
• Flex. *Highly recommend Fossilize for last stage*
• Eruption
• Igneous weapons
• Standard of Might

Put down the sword and shield. Dragon Blood is terrible (seriously, you get, what, 7K heal through that ... Healing Ward will get you 27K). Eruption is *really* strong AoE dot, absolutely put that on the back bar. Igneous gives you major sorcery. Igneous shield or harness magicka in the flex spot will give you needed survivability that DKs need. If you want more damage, talons is a better AoE than impulse (Choking is clever here as Minor Main is an excellent debuff). Volatile armor is another possibility.

General Advice for Dragon Knights:

Use Burning Embers a lot more than your previous attempts before the Thieves Guild patch. Spamming it on a single target is enough sustain so that you don't die. If multiple targets, Draw Essence every other skill. Wings up anytime there are ranged enemies. Eruption is always down somewhere. Slot an extra spell power glyph on your jewelry instead of cost reduction because of Igneous weapons. I love DK standard, but it's probably overkill on daedra rounds (though dropping it Vs. boss enemies on last stage is recommended). Prioritize survival - don't be shy about healing (draw essence on front bar, healing ward on back bar) since your DoTs still do damage even when you aren't casting. Valkyn Skoria is a good set to wear with this setup.

Joy, I play a NB or am stamina, can you offer some advice.

Yes.

• If you are a stam sorcerer, the FENGRUSH technique of walking back 1 step and using Critical Rush as a heal on demand is an excellent strategy.
• If you are a NB, especially stamina, fear is an valuable skill to use when surrounded by enemies.
• If you are a stamina DK, I would not be shy about using Take Flight.
• For stamina in general, I would use vigor just before a dangerous situation arises rather than wait until I am damaged.
• For stamina in general, I would make liberal use of the Defensive and Healing power sigals.
• For a magicka NB, I would play this like my templar, use Sap/Funnel to survive and do DPS at the same time as an absolute priority and only try to get creative with your DoTs when not pressured by enemies. You are going to have to find a creative way to interrupt enemies on the last two stages. As a templar I am comfortable using charge, so I would use Lotus Fan (and then bash the final boss since I don't think he will be stunned by that skill). On the last round, use Agony to instantly neutralize the summoners.

*******

As far as the stages, these are my general observations and strategies:

Stage One:
Sleepwalk through the regular rounds.
Boss: This is a DPS race and this guy can be a pain if you fall behind. Use a disciplined rotation to ensure there is always DPS on him. The adds will combine with the boss and heal him so take the first two out. When the third set spawns, burn the boss (use the power sigal if you need more DPS). Avoid his ground Aoe attack. He has a fairly potent ranged attack so maybe use the defense buff (use harness when not active) when burning him down. This fight can actually be a pain as a DK because he moves and you have no execute. Use Banner immediately and then Dawnbreaker.

Stage Two:
The biggest threat is environmental (boring). You will die from the unavoidable spinning blades more than the dwemer mobs. The switches stop the blades, but the duration was so short and the interactive mechanic such a pain I found the benefit to be marginal. This is going to sound stupid, but I also found it too much trouble to even try to dodge/avoid the blades since they are everywhere and move so fast. As long as you don't move *with* them, they are just annoying rather than lethal provided you use Rapid Regeneration or Mutagen. The only real threat the mobs offer is the centurions slam attack that you will have to block/dodge.
Boss: Three centurions that aren't particularly difficult, but the fight does take some getting used to. Just single target the one that is active. If two are active, tab target the one with lowest health. Again, their main threat is the slam attack, just dodge/block. They do have a ranged attack, but since you got harness, it should be mitigated. Prioritize survival over DPS. Your biggest danger here is the spinning blades: maintain your shield/health and the fight isn't that hard.

Stage Three:
The first stage where the early rounds will start killing you. I personally would have rather the strangler pull/stun me as a 90% snare is a ridiculously dumb mechanic, but I don't make these decisions. Do *not* stand in the water for any length of time unless you enjoy 9k shock damage. The ranged adds are the larger threat, however, as their 7K attacks cannot be kited. I talked about target prioritization before: these dudes have to die first. Note: Remember the defense sigal! You get it every round. When multiple range adds spawn, don't try to impress your dog, just use it! I'd love to say I had some effective strategy, but the truth of it is, I just bounce round from add to add spamming DPS + heal skills and eventually things are dead. Block/dodge the mini-bosses's two-hander attack!
Boss: She is faster than you and has melee attack that hits for 9K. Kiting is hard. Just go toe-to-toe with her and 100% make sure you use your burst heal if you ever go below 50% health, no exceptions. This is why I think heal+DPS at the same time is so strong, you don't have to worry about kiting bosses; my light armor templar laughs at her because jab-jab-jab-jab-jab. The most dangerous part of this fight is being snared by a Strangler and not having the ability to move where you want to go (killing adds, grabing sigals, etc). Having a gap closer is *very* useful here. The second wave of adds has I think a ranged add that will Rek you if ignored; that's a great time to use the defensive sigal. In general this stage will seem hard at first but is pretty easy once you get your strategy down.

Stage Four:
I found it too much trouble to constantly try to kill the sentries. Their shields are neigh impenetrable when up. If you see one without a shield, sure, kill it if convenient, but they are the lowest priority because they just keep spawning. If you DPS and heal at the same time, they won't kill you. There are a lot of mage adds, you really really want to have harness magicka for this stage. In general you want to just get all the adds all in one place and kill them in your AoE method (note: NOT pulsar. Templar jabs spam. DKs draw essence. Sorcs: prelaid mines + lightning flood + Crushing shock mage adds). Be careful of uppercutting two-handed adds. The third wave has *a lot* of adds. If you are struggling, use all four sigals, rotating from one to one, it's so much more manageable.

Boss: Probably the easiest boss in the arena - even more so than the first dude - once you recognize it is a DPS race and nail down the right strategy. As soon as the round starts, grab the power sigal, get *inside* of the boss (the green circle) and do your single target DPS rotation (you will take residual damage, this is why heal + DPS is the way to go). When the boss stops and goes to his fire phase, drop you ground AOE dot and most powerful ultimate (nova, meteor, standard). Ideally, you stay right there, AoE the boss and the adds that spawn. As a DK and Templar, I found this doable because the mitigation offered by nova/standard, plus their DPS is more reliable heals. Here is one instance where the Healing Sigal really shines. With a sorc, I found it easiest to just LOS the boss and kill the two adds separately. Once the adds are dead, buff up and repeat the process. By the time the boss stops, you should have it down to 25% or 30% or so. LOS it, and deal with the battlemage add. She has low health but a dangerous streak-stun in combination of a ground AOE can kill you. When she dies, you do nothing else but DPS the boss. No matter what spawns, burn the boss. Killing the third set of adds (there are three of them), is just not worth it, don't even try. If you find your DPS lacking, tighten up your rotation and make better use of your ultimate. None of my characters are built for DPS (I prefer sustain), so if I can do it, so can you. My healer templar burned this boss down in 55 seconds: it does not require an OP build, it merely requires you to properly execute specific skills in an optimal order.



Rekt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXAc80IQhUc

Stage Five: Ice flows
The difficulty spike is very noticeable. I am of the opinion the third round is one of the hardest in the whole arena. By far the biggest threats are the ranged sets of adds that stand in an environmental hazard tossing out 7K attacks that you cannot dodge. These have to die. Also of note, the ogres enrage and do very high melee DPS almost making it mandatory you DPS + heal at the same time (or consider using the healing sigal Vs. them). What is crazy is that there are sometime 4-5 adds in the middle of your ice island pounding away at you. By this time you need to have discovered your AoE + heal combination. That third round will seem impossible when you first get to it. Learn where and when the adds spawn and make intelligent use of the defensive sigal! (ideally the ones with the most Nereids). It's worth killing the troll if you are able because when they break an island a mini-boss Nereid spawns. Having a charge on the round is *very* convenient.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Xj6-LEGns

Boss: This is extremely *hard* if you do it wrong (too much DPS...the only fight in the game where DPS punishes you) and super manageable once you have a strategy. The key to this fight is the boss destroys the ice and the adds spawn based on health. So YOU control the pace of the fight. Be intelligent and not in a rush. If you are low on resources, just heavy attack and reset the fight so to speak. If you try to burn her too quickly, you will get overrun by adds. K, first priority in this fight are the trolls; if they succeed breaking an ice flow, you will lose because you cannot stop the boss from breaking two ice flows. You need to learn the tell for when the boss breaks an island because it is a one-shot if you are even near the island. I use the following strategy and it works every single time:

• Start on the island you first spawned at (the one with the haste sigal). DPS the boss a little and grab the haste.
• Troll + adds spawn at the same time. You go to the island where the troll goes. Kill the troll. Kite/CC melee (you are hasted, should be easy). Kill archer. If you are on the island with the 2 sigals, MOVE BACK TO THE FIRST ISLAND.
• DPS boss + regain resources.
• Boss will break island
• Troll + nereid spawn. Kill them while kiting boss. Again, if you are on the island with two sigals, get off
• When boss around 55% or so, second adds appear. Kill priority is: troll, mage, Nereid, melee. Make sure you have an AoE ultimate for this situation. If you are on the island with two sigals, get off
• Boss will break island, be sure the last island you have is the one with 2 sigals.
• Go to the 2 sigal island, grab the power boost.
• Deal with troll + nereid, DPS boss.
• TWO ranged adds will spawn the third wave at about 30%. Immediately grab defensive sigal and just LAUGH at how you can ignore this otherwise very difficult tasks of killing the adds, healing yourself, and dpsing the boss before she breaks the third platform. You can just concentrate on boss and execute her (though if a troll sneaks in there, kill it. Neried is also a range attacker so she can be ignored as well).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YyiBWot8S8

Works every single time and turns the most difficult part into a breeze. You need that be on the island with two sigals for last phase.

Stage Six: Spider Daedra.
This round is also hard and not going to lie, the boss is pain because it is full of RNG mechanics and automatic "you lose" mechanics. The regular rounds are doable once you understand the enemies and when the adds spawn. The boss, well, you might want to make sure there aren't children under 13 that can hear you. The key to this whole area is to make sure you have at least 2 and ideally 3 of the obelisks free of webs. You deweb them by killing the horvors near them. You keep them dewebbed by killing the webspinners that try to web your open ones up. If you deweb all of them, every monster is stunned (save this for specific mini-bosses. I think the two-hander in round 3 is the biggest threat). You want 3 of them clear because when the spider swarm appears, you need to go to the lit obelisks; if you only have one or two obelisks free, you might not get a safe zone.

As far as the enemies. They start CCing and snaring you which is a pain. The lurcher adds hit hard and the range adds are super dangerous. Learn when the range adds spawn and grab the defense sigal; it makes otherwise very hard pulls manageable. The 4th round is going to be hard because you have to deal with a lurcher spawn at the start. Kill it before the two hander spawns. Kill the two hander before the two lurchers spawn (you want to grab the defense sigal a bit after the two-hander spans cuz two range adds spawn after him). Kite lurchers while killing them (ideally use the haste sigal here). Through all this don't forget the webspinners!. It isn't easy but once you get the hang of it, you will succeed more often that you die.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJaX7SsyrgA

Boss: I hate this fight. Not because it is hard. But because it is full of RNG deaths. The whole key to this fight is that the boss will enrage and just insta-kill you every 150 seconds you do not stun her by clearing all the obelisks. Nothing is more important than killing webspinners. Nothing else is more important than killing horvers next to the obelisks. Note: you can interact with the grenade and throw it at a webbed obelisk, but a high damaging AOE will spawn under your defenseless character making this something best avoided. If you miss more than 1 webspinner/horver, you WILL LOSE and there is nothing you can do about it.

As for the monsters, the biggest danger are the unavoidable and unkiteable 7K spits the boss and the little spider add hits you with. You just have to mitigate through it. This is extremely mana intensive and it is almost mandatory that you heal and dps at the same time. The little spider add snares you so it has to be killed quickly, but do *not* miss any horvor/webspinners while doing so. Webspinners spawn about every 10 seconds after you kill them so you must remain vigilant. The boss has a large ground AOE that does 25K damage. She will use it while you are standing in the only safe spot when the spider swarm appears and that's why children under 13 should not watch you try to do this fight. It will take you a while to get accustomed to the fight so that you can consistently clear all 5 obelisks and stun the boss.

After you stun the boss, you have to repeat this process all over, with two twists. What kills me the most is that a spider swarm will appear about 10 seconds after the stun: you will only have 1 clear obelisk and of course a webspinner will appear. You must kill the spinner and kill a horvor near a webbed obelisk to ensure you have two clear spots for the safety zone to spawn. It isn't easy because ... a lurcher will probably spawn while you are trying to do this. If you can get past that swarm, at this point you just got to get rid of that lurcher *and not miss any webspinners*. This is hard to do, I make sure I have the haste + defensive sigal active before the boss stun wears away because you will need the speed and a break from the 7K spits. Once you get that lurcher down, it's just a matter of not missing any webspinners/horvors. You cannot miss more than 1 while doing all that because of the YOU LOSE mechanic.

I don't think the fight is "hard" - it isn't - it's just extremely unforgiving, with too high potential for death by random stuff you have zero control over and the YOU LOSE mechanic is a terrible design. If you can get past it, everything in the arena is more manageable until the final boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_JzCBguvNE

Stage Seven: Argonians
This round is noticeably easier than the previous two. The greatest danger is this round is environmental: if a poison plant explodes under your feet, you are going to take very high poison damage every tick and you have to go to one of the green pools at the top or bottom of the map to cleanse it. It's basically death unless you spam harness magicka and sprint to the pool (use harness because it is also a heal debuff). There are three types of adds. The venomcallers that spawn on the platforms will turn the arena into a poison mess, kill them quickly. The archer adds are high damage, but since you have access to the defensive sigal, you can neutralize them every round. The melee adds like to stun you (which in combination with the archers, would normally be deadly). It doesn't take long at all to get accustomed to the rhythm of these rounds and you will find most of the times you die is by carelessly going near a poison plant.

The mini-bosses aren't particularly difficult. But they have mechanics that you have to know. The trolls are annoying because their rocks snare you and hit for high damage ... do *not*, ever, let your health go below 50% Vs. them. The 4th round has two trolls. Sorcerers don't care because of hardened ward. Every other class has to *quickly* burn down one. Jab-jab-jab-jab-jab Having damage mitigation is a must (Nova, DK Standard, Veil is a good idea ... also here is precisely the sort of scenario where the Heal sigal really shines - you probably used the defensive sigal before to deal with the three archer spawns). The Wamasu has two attacks. One is a lightning spit that snares you for 90% (fun times, a plant will spawn under you for sure). It is also a high damage DoT, be sure to harness/heal after it hits. The real danger is he will shake and fire 5 lightning spheres. If they hit you, it's basically a one shot. This attack makes it difficult to melee so I just range it down even on my templar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rDLehGsFUM

Boss: Not hard, just requires correct execution of mechanics and not running into a poison plant. When the adds spawn, they have high damaging lighting attacks. Harness is golden here. Burn one and then move next to the other one as it will put up a shield to protect you from the Behemoth's scream. Be careful not to interrupt either the add or the boss, else the boss enrages and his attacks become one-shots (if crushing shock was your DPS spam, just simply use trapping webs from the undaunted skill-line). Believe it or not, that's the whole fight. Just be mindful where the plants are and the biggest threat is a CC from the boss's ground pound that hits you when the two adds spawn. Once you get use to the rhythm, it's not a stressful fight.

Stage Eight: Daedra Island
I also didn't think this stage was particularly that hard. The first time I got to it, I cleared the four rounds with only like two deaths without even knowing the mechanics. Dawnbreaker is very strong here. You need an interrupt as the most dangerous attack comes from the mage adds who have the spinny fire twirl that is *not* reflected by the defensive sigal. The two-handers have high damaging gap closers, so it's best to melee them. Block / Dodge their wrecking blow! The 4th round can be a bit tricky as 4 fire mages spawn immediately and they will heal each other. I grab the defensive sigal, interrupt the ones healing and then burn.

For the mini-bosses, you need to destroy a totem first, not particularly difficult. Again the 4th round deserves mention as it's a two-handed boss that spawns with two healers adds. This isn't easy. You need to kill the healers while surviving her high damaging melee and fire attacks. She will drop a standard and then try to chain you in. Be sure to hold block when you hear the standard drop. Harness magicka is extremely useful as here as she is a DK who relies on fire damage.

Boss: Easy peasy if you have high DPS. Can be complicated if you do not. If you are a sorcerer, Overload turns this fight into a walk at the park. Basically you got to burn all three totems, which gives you about a 15 second window to DPS the boss. The monkey in the wrench is the fire spinny mage that spawns. He comes after you burn two of the totems. Do NOT burn the third totem. Deal with the add first. While you are attacking the add, the boss will catch up to you and unleash hard-hitting and stunning melee attacks. You have to dodge them. There is a rhythm to DPSing the add, dodgeing the boss, and the killing the add. That's the whole key to the fight. Once you deal with it, you dont have to worry about an Inferno channel; burn the final totem and you have a 15 second window to DPS the boss. The flame atros are just annoying, ignore them while DPS the boss (again why heal + DPS at the same time is so important ... the defensive sigal is also nice). Sometimes a two-hander add spawns. Dunno why but it is a legit threat that needs to die immediately. This is a DPS race of sorts as the boss will eventually have a huge fire wave attack (similar the ash titan in city of ash). This is what I do with my non-sorcerers: destroy 2 totems, grab the power sigal, kill the flame spinny mage, destroy third totem, use high damaging ultimate and DPS the crap out of the boss (ideally an AoE ultimate also kills the flame atros). After this, if the atronachs are still alive, grab the defensive sigal and repeat the process. At this point she will likely only have like 20% health. After this the biggest threat is the next fire-spinny mage spawn. I dawnbreaker him to ensure he dies because the boss is at such low health you don't need an ultimate to finish her off.

https://youtu.be/s177GfKEn0M

Stage Nine: Theatre of Pain

The preliminary rounds are legit hard. You will begin to wipe on round 2 and you will wipe a lot until you learn the cadence of the fight and how to deal with the CC spamming nightblades. SLOT Agony/Fossilize/Rune Prison. I recommend purple food as you need stamina to do all the CC breaking and you're probably going to have to dodge roll every now and then. General stuff to be aware of: Gold Ghosts - prioritize getting these. Even if you have a Crematorium Guard chasing you, get the ghost (this is why you want some stam to dodge roll). Gather 3 of them and you can stun everything on the screen and turn a wipe into a win. White Ghosts - annoying environmental hazards that do 8K damage and snare you. Obviously avoid but it's hard not to run into these things when you are focused on something else. If you stand near the edge of the island, a lava stream will target you and the hit is pretty nasty- upwards of 10K and a stun. Try to stay away from the edges. All the adds are dangerous: the NBs stun and hit upwards of 18K with veiled strike. The mages have fast ticking heals on the adds you need to kill. The DK adds are like DKs of 1.5; their whip attacks are high damage. The Ogrim does a lot of fire damage to players without harness magicka up and is difficult to melee because of its belly stun attack. But by far the biggest threat are the Crematorium Guards. You *have to* figure out a way to kill these things quickly without dying for you to have any hope. Using a gold ghost explosion is highly recommended, although not always available. They are scary but it is totally manageable once you develop a strategy. Here are the ways I dealt with them:

As a sorcerer, you have a 25K hardened ward plus harness magicka will completely neutralize its breath attack. Takes about 6 Overload hits to kill them. Use the ultimate if you don't have a gold ghost. You must refresh your shield if it drops. I usually dodge roll away after casting the shield. With a gold ghost, Overload isn't strictly necessary as Mage's Fury execute comes in real handy here. Note: daedric mines can potentially take away half its health. You will learn when they spawn, drop 5 mines and kite the daedroth over them. Once you get the hang of it, it's not hard at all.

As a templar, you dont have a 25K shield, but you do have jab-jab-jab that will heal you enough to just keep spamming it. Don't try to finesse it by dodging or shielding; face-tank it with puncturing sweep. Just open up with a dawnbreaker and rotate around the daedroth in a circle (which can avoid some of its breath attack) while jabbing it until it dies. If you can get other adds in the sweep spam, do it because everything you hit heals you. You need to be fearless and trust in your jabs. Spamming harness magicka during its breath attack is a more conservative strategy and also does the job, but with a Dawnbreaker ultimate thrown in it can always be burned down through pure DPS.

As a DK, burning embers spam is usually enough to keep you alive if you don't have access to a gold ghost. Use Dawnbreaker if standard isn't up. If there are other enemies in range, blockcasting + an occasional draw breath is good idea. This should do the trick but DKs do not have a very good toolkit for dealing with them so strongly consider using either the healing or defensive sigal when these appear if you don't have access to a gold ghost explosion and you are struggling.

Obviously stam builds can beat these guys since many have done it, but as I never tried I'm the wrong person to ask for advice. I would most certainly use the healing sigal if I was trying this the first time.

I think Round 3 is the most difficult. The entire fight is dangerous and you only have so many gold ghosts + power sigals. You start off with a Crematorium Guard plus a healer. Here is where agony/fossilize/rune prison really shines because in an instant you can neutralize that annoying piece of crap that put a 10K fire-line on you and heals the very thing that keeps making you hit the "rez at wayshrine" button. Templars, you don't have this skill, but even if you did, you wouldn't use it because you want to jab the healer and the daedroth at the same time. You then get 3 annoying and dangerous adds. Neutralize either the soul tethering NB or the 90% snaring DK because one will kill you and the other will prevent you from getting the 3 gold ghosts you want to take out the mini-boss that spawns next. KILL HIM QUICKLY. Once he is dead you get an Ogrim and 2 daedra adds which I think is the most difficult pull. Use the heal or defense sigal here. You need to kill that Ogrim before the next wave spawns, which is a Crematorium Guard + a soul tethering NB. You are going to need the sigal you didn't use in the previous pull and you really really want a gold explosion here. Agony/Fossilize/Rune Prison on the NB - if you can see it through all the fire in your face - makes this much easier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQNkyMM-QM

Round 4 has a special mechanic worth mentioning: summoners will walk to the center and try to conjure a Bone Colossus. If they succeed, you are screwed. There are 4 waves of adds; once you learn where the summoners spawn and correctly prioritize them, the round isn't that hard (but until you do you will wipe a bunch of times). Get those Gold Ghosts!. A crematorium guard spawns at the beginning of wave 3 - use your spectral explosion then.

Round 5 also has a special mechanic, an ash titan spawns during the second wave (the first wave begins with a crematorium guard). After you kill the daedroth, grab the power sigal and do as much DPS on the titan as possible (if you are melee, dodge his slap attack). When the third add wave spawns, grab the defensive sigal (there are going to be two archers). The defensive sigal allows you to keep DPSing the titan and ignoring the adds. It's hard to get the ghosts in this round. If you can't get them, grab the healing sigal after the defensive one wears off - you are going to need it. I'm telling you right now even though the Ash Titan is big and ugly, the last wave of adds is actually the most dangerous since the soul tethering NB will stun you and usually you have no stamina by this point in the fight. That NB will kill you more than the titan. Once again, fossilize/agony/rune prison makes this pull much easier.

FINAL BOSS

This is why you are here, right? The first time you get to him you will have hundreds and hundreds of live. You will lose them ALL trying to beat him. That's just the way it is. You have to learn this fight and you have a chance to die every ten seconds so it's going to take a while. There actually isn't too many mechanics here and executing them is not terribly difficult. So what makes this fight so hard? It is very unforgiving. If you make a mistake, miss a dodge roll, run into a white ghost, lose track of the boss, etc., you will probably die.

Stage 1: The boss will be on the bottom until you get him down to 70% health. You want to do that as quickly as possible because the Crematorium Guards spawn on a timer. If you have high DPS, you only have to deal with one. Trust me here, when the fight begins grab the power sigal. I'm telling you right now, it is extremely difficult to try to burn the Crematorium Guard down while the boss is hitting you with skulls, lich crystals, and necrotic waves. You only want to deal with one of them. You are introduced to the boss's two special attacks in the first 10 seconds. He will throw a skull at you (it's a lot like the Crypt of Heart boss) - dodge or block this - and he will then teleport and then begin to channel a necrotic wave - if you don't interrupt this, you die in like 3 to 4 seconds. When he teleports a healer and a crematorium guard will spawn and until you learn how to consistently beat this, you will *never* finish. Period. End of story. You will get Rekt repeatedly. You will get mad, frustrated, and want to quit. You *must* objectively analyze what is killing you as you develop your strategy. A lot of people advocate killing the healer first. That may be optimal, but it is harder. That healer won't kill you, the daedroth will. This is what I do:

On a templar, you are going to toppling charge to interrupt the boss. If the healer is next to the boss, bash him. As soon as you do, move out of the AoE that will spawn under the boss's feet, apply harness magicka, wait for the daedroth to spawn next to the boss, then use an ultimate. If you have meteor, drop it on the boss (it will hit the daedroth too). If you only have dawnbreaker, be sure to wait until the Crematorium Guard actually spawns and then use it to hit them *both*. Starting jabbing both the boss and the daedroth. A lich crystal will spawn under your feet, move toward the healer and start jabbing it. The daedroth will oblige by coming right into your sweep spam. If you can get the boss in the sweeps, do it! Do this right, the Crematorium Guard and healer will die before the boss teleports. If the CG is still alive after the boss teleports away, in about 2-3 seconds you are going to get hit with a skull attack. Keep the boss in your peripheral vision and dodge the skull. Sometimes I actually get the boss down to 70% before even the daedroth died. *Win*. This is a *highly effective* technique that works because templars can AoE both and heal themselves at the same time. Sometimes you just get rotten luck; a ghost gets in the way, a crystal spawns under your feet, the healer didn't get dawnbreakered and puts a fire line and you die. Don't worry about it. Even sorcerers are jealous of this technique.

On my sorcerer, one word: Overload. When the boss ports and does his channel, interrupt him with crushing shock and then move *away* from him, rune prison the healer, and shield stack. That daedroth now has to run all the way to you giving you time to get your overloads in. The power sigal makes should make short work of it. Do not lose track of the boss and a potential skull attack.

On my DK, This isn't easy. But I found a technique that works. Grab the power sigal at the beginning of the fight. When the boss does his skull attack, block it, grab the healing sigal and apply harness magica. When the boss teleports, move toward the boss, fossilize the healer and then draw essence to interrupt. If you have a standard you are going to drop it right there. If not, you are going to dawnbreaker both the boss and the CG when it spawns. Through some combination of draw essence, burning embers spam, and an occasional blockcasted healing ward if low on health, you will survive, kill the deadroth and get the boss down to 70%. The biggest danger is a lich crystal that will spawn at your feet that can be difficult to see with all the stuff going on. As long as you dodge out of it (and get back so you can draw essence the boss), you will be fine.

Questions/comments:

• "Some other guide said I should use the power sigal during the final stage." Are you usually dying before you reach the final stage? If the answer is yes, then saving it isn't doing you any good, is it?
• "Should I use the healing sigal on my templar?" No. It's not necessary and you'll probably need it for stage 2.
• "I play a NB." I probably would follow the DK technique outline above. Veil will keep you alive better. Meteor/soul tether will get the boss down to 70% better.
• "I'm stamina." Absolutely would grab the healing sigal. Volley/Caltrops where the boss teleports. Single target Vs. Daedroth.
• "The healer is really messing things up." That's a preventable mistake. Just neutralize it. A two-handed build probably could kill it quickly by crit rush-wrecking blow., but it's probably the only spec that can get a quick clean kill off. If you are reading this guide, you want a complete and the easier/shortest way to do that is to neutralize it and make sure 100% of your efforts are devoted to what is actually killing you: the Crematorium Guard.

Once the daedroth is down, you just have the boss to deal with and the healer (one will respawn if you kill the first ... another reason to simply neutralize it). You only care about one thing: getting to the top and stage two. I would ignore the healer except to interrupt him when he tries to heal the boss. You just want to put as much DPS on the boss as possible while dodging skull attacks and lich crystals. This part of the fight is as easy as it gets; do *NOT* be careless as you will get really mad for having died after doing the tough part.

Why ignore the healer?

Because killing him is an advanced technique and even then not strictly necessary. I am telling you right now if the boss is above 80% after you finish the CG, it's not going to be easy to get him down to 70% before the second daedroth spawns and then you don't have the power sigal to help you out. If you are reading this guide, you are going to waste time and resources healing, dodging, surviving than DPSing so it's going to be a real race to 70%. Even as a sorcerer, when I was learning this I couldn't always get the boss to 70% before the second CG spawned. It takes practice. Once you find you can reach the magic 70% threshold, then you should consider killing the healer AFTER the boss teleports to the top.

Stage 2: The boss will go up top. A clannfear will spawn. All you have to do is kill the clannfear next to the glowing portal. Two things to keep in mind. Do not underestimate the clannfear's damage: its regular attack does 6K and has an annoying snare and its tail swipe does 15K. You might have that second daedroth to deal with. If you can kill the clannfear before the daedroth breathes on you, do so and get upstairs. If the daedroth spawns first and breathes on you, you now have a fire dot on you that you cannot purge and does not go away until it dies. That means you are going to have to kill it, which makes things much more complicated (which is why you really want to burn the boss to 70% quickly).

It's hard to describe the top level you have three Crystals to destroy and you must do so dodging random red circles that spawn on you and skull attacks from the boss. There is a pattern to this that you will get that basically involves moving from side to side and keeping the camera on the boss so you know when to dodge (or block) the skulls. All the time you are going to be taking constant soul churn damage that will increase the longer you stay up there. After throwing a skull, the boss will rise in the air and build up an explosion that will knock you off the top if you are not behind the moving wall, so once he does this you are forced to move and follow the wall. The pattern then repeats itself with higher damage and a faster wall. You'd like to destroy the three crystals in one go but that's going to be very difficult because if you spend too much time hiding behind a moving wall as opposed to DPSing the crystals, you won't be able to do it.

General principles:

• First priority, don't get hit by the comets that land in the red circles. It's a stun, snare, and it's not easy to CC break and dodge the skull the boss throws at you. Nothing is more important than avoiding these.
• If you are not DPS + healing while attacking the crystals, you are using harness magicka. MAKE SURE THIS IS ON YOUR BAR.
• DoTs are better than instant casts here.
• Try to still DPS the crystals even during the wall phase. The first wall is slow, move to the Crystal just ahead of it and do your DPS there. When the wall gets near, then get behind it. The second wall is considerably faster - do *NOT* chase it and try to catch up. Instead turn around and get to where it is going. Gap closers are *very* handy in this respect. You are not going to worry about the third wall.
• Be careful where you dodge, it's very easy to fall off. Generally I block the skull attacks if I'm not near a red circle.
• This is very stamina intensive. When you are drained of stamina and die to a comet because you thought a bit extra DPS with blue food was a good idea, remember I recommended purple food for Stage Nine. This stage is the only one I use tri-stat potions for.

Here is the most conservative strategy that ensures the best chance of survival: You are voluntarily going to jump off the top just before the third wall appears. You will do so because the automatic churn damage increases and the walls get so fast you will not be able to keep up with them and wind up having few resources and getting knocked off and stunned into the lava anyway. So you are jumping.


Here is the pattern: You teleport up. Skull attack. Wall. Skull attack. Skull attack. Wall. Skull attack. Skull attack. You jump off. Wall.

You will jump down fully healed, fully shielded, fully buffed because you are going to face the most difficult part of the stage: a clannfear, a crematorium guard, and probably that healer. You *must* *must* grab the healing sigal, or, if you used this to deal with the first CG, the defensive sigal. Even you sorcerers. LOOK for it while you jump down. Immediately get to it ... even if the daedroth is standing right next to it, grab it! Non-templars neutralize the healer first. Templars will move next to the healer, thank it for its healing contributions, and jab-jab-jab everything that comes running toward you. The healing sigal will counter the 6K head butts from the clannfear, so all this boils down to you is not panicking and avoiding the lich crystals. You just got to keep moving. I go in circles. Sorcs: don't let your shields go down. Templars: don't stop jabbing. DKs: don't be afraid to block-cast and be quick with a healing ward. This works every time if executed correctly.

Once the Crematorium Guard is dead, be sure to actually kill the healer add before going back upstairs otherwise he sticks around for stage 3. Final advice, do *not* underestimate the clannfear. It hits hard, snares, and if you kill the CG and then run out of stamina when he hits you with a 15K tail whip or a crystal spawns under your feet, you will be *really* mad (please, just use purple food already).

Stage 3: Again not hard but you will probably wipe repeatedly until you figure it out. Basically it's like a repeat of stage 1 with two added twists: gold ghosts appear (good), the bone colossus summoners also appear (bad). Without question, your biggest priority are the gold ghosts; if you get every ghost, you can always use its power when a daedroth appears. That's the key to the fight: always stun the CGs when they spawn. Get. The. Gold. Ghosts. We never used the speed sigal, right? Grab it! NOTE: easiest way to deal with the summoners is agony/prison/fossilize and completely neutralize them. If you don't do this, I'm telling you right now you will wipe to spawning bone collasi until you become more experienced with this fight.

NBs and Templar use their meteor on the boss as soon as they come down here. If the summoner is neutralized, this isn't difficult: you just got to grab the ghosts and not fall danger to tunnel vision and missing the boss's two special attacks and wind up dying to them. Don't get lazy and stop grabbing ghosts thinking you can just burn the boss down. An unseen lich crystal or skull attack can lead to a deadorht spawn. DKs will drop their standard when they have three ghosts after the boss teleports and the daedroth walks to you to burn them both down. Everyone else uses dawnbreaker/Overload immediately on a stunned daedroth. Then it's just a matter of rinse and repeat. As long as you get the ghosts, you can always stun the Crematorium Guards. Thus it's just a matter of not letting a bone colossus spawn (easily done via agony/fossilize/rune prison) and paying attention to the boss's special attacks.

DK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmOu5kMugZI

Templar - I'll include an unlucky wipe to show the consistency of how this technique works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB1ghCn6UtU

*******

You should start slowly and log off once you start feeling frustrated. I know there is a save feature, but I would recommend not using it at first. Get a solid feel for the first 4 arenas - they aren't that hard. Get accustomed to a build that can DPS and survive at the same time. You are just trying to get experience and a feel for what is necessary to overcome the Arena..

Stages 5 and 6 are real "walls." These are very difficult for the inexperienced. Watching top scoring videos and trying to replicate their strategies is a bit tricky; it is akin to being thrown in a Calculus class before studying Algebra. I can clear these and make it look easy because I know where everything spawns, what to target, and I have a 6th sense that tells me when to grab the defensive sigal. Resist the tempation to use impulse: that's not how PvPers "1vX." Burn down priority targets. On my sorcerer, I will crushing shock those stupid Nereids while kiting the two-hander that is chasing me and rely on hardened ward to mitigate the annoying archer. I know the two lurchers pounding on me is a handful ... so I block cast draw essence and then grab the haste sigal if I sense I am in trouble. Now it's easy. That's experience. Not 501 Champion points or a min-max build.

You do not need max champions points or a cookie-cutter DPS build to complete this. The key to succeeding in this arena is familiarity with the mechanics, correct target prioritization, a build/play-style that blends together your tendencies with what dangers you will have to deal with. I tend to overspam skills so I probably have one more cost reduction/regen glyph on my jewelry than most players. I know dark flare is difficult to consistently use in this arena so I don't even put in on my bar even though it is a very strong skill. Instead I charge and use jabs. Convenience and versatility do not get nearly the amount of attention they should when people publish builds. As long as you have either Twice Born Star, Julianos, or Kagrenacs, you will be fine. What matters in the end is that you sort your spellpower and regeneration / cost reduction to the point where you are *not* running out of magicka.

The last piece of advice I would give is to remember the adage that you need to learn to walk before you learn to run. I'll upload some videos that I used with my PvP builds and just vendor trash pots that use the basic/conservative strategy I outlined so you can actually see them. Before you learn the mechanics, you are going to need more versatile builds and higher regeneration rates because you are going to play inefficiently. Use the buff sigals! They are they for a reason. If I posted my build, exactly zero people would be inspired to use it. I have the "wrong" races, PvP oriented morphs that lower my DPS, more regeneration than typically deemed necessary, etc., yet I have twelve Maelstrom shields in my bank. This is not because I am an "elite" player. It is because I tailored my build too my habits, my preferences, and my tendencies such that I am utterly aware of what it can and cannot do. I have paid attention the when and how I have died and developed specific strategies to overcome those particular challenges as opposed to trying to get a 500,000 score. Get the complete first. Then, if you are motivated, shoot for the higher scores.

Anyway, hope you found this helpful and best of luck.

Thank you for the Guide. but i have no interest in playing a DPS metric , specifcally a DK caster. Just like everything that was designed in the first two years of ESO's development its Caster scrolls on line. Excellent guide though and thank you for it. Its very sad they fired Sage and left the direction to Fior

Banana

I might give it another go some day. But I just bought a new keyboard and don't want to smash it just yet.

Duxes

sluice wrote: »

Duxes wrote: »

Been stuck on the final round for stage 9 for a few days now. It's so overwhelming lol. I'm using a stam sorc. I always seem to lose my head when I drop down during the crystal mechanics. I think I've died maybe 60 times already..... lost count.

Thanks for this guide Joy! Will be giving it another go tonight!

Yeah, I wiped at least 200 times on that boss alone.
You just have to run it over and over and over again. Every X time, you will notice that you are more comfortable in getting farther.

These are my step to get at the second phase of the last boss. I now get up about 90% of the time :

1. Buff up, put ground AOE where the boss spawns
2. Grab Offensive sigil (Keep all others for later)
3. DPS boss until he teleport (with making sure to dodge his first skull)
4. Interrupt boss, immobilize healer (if you have skills that do so.. if not make sure to interrupt him if he heals the boss)
5. Kill Crem guard ASAP. Don't kill the healer yet.
6. Kill Clanfear on portal
7. Kill healer, if possible, then move up.

When up at the crystal.. You don't need to only focus on one..
I mean make sure to always have all your dots on one of them at least..
Your pirmary goal is to avoid his crystal and his explosive, so look at his the whole time (while destroying crystal) and look for that wall that protects you.

When you do get thrown down before destroying all 3 crystals. Don't panic...
Your immediate reaction should be to heal/shield up if needed be and run to the Defensive Sigil.
With the sigil up, and your healing always up (Vigor in your case), you should be fine in simply killing the clanfear again.
You don't need to kill the Crem guard, HE will disapeared once you manage to destroy the 3 crystals.

vamp_emily wrote: »

Nikkor wrote: »

501 champion points?

I'm at 421 on ps4. I am debating on wether or not to got back into vet maelstrom today or punch myself in the nuts.

which do you think will be more fun?

That is funny.. as I was reading your comment, I thought you were gong to say "punch myself in the face".

Maelstrom must be pretty bad, you guys make me not even want to go near the place. It almost sounds impossible to beat.

In is a pain in the @#$.... You will want to quit this game forever while doing it.
It is the most painful thing I have ever done in a game.. but in the end it's so rewarding when you accomplish it.. You feel like you literraly accomplished the impossible.

One thing to note.. the second time you run it, it will be so much easier because you will be accustom to the feel of vMA and it's mechanics. Plus you will be much more confident in your build and rotation.

I probably died 500 times in total while completing my first run. (200+ of those times were on the last boss).
On my second run, I managed to get to the last boss in 1 hour with 10 deaths. Haven't had time to finished it a second time thought.. but I'm confident I will get him under only a few deaths.

So yeah TL;DR, it's a pain. But each run are significantly easier. You will ask yourself : "Why ? How did I die so much here before!?".

Thanks for your tips! I finally beat it last night! I ended up taking a week long break from the game and beat him in two attempts! I got a defensive dagger :-/ it'll do for now lol. Now to do it all over again!

sluice

Duxes wrote: »

sluice wrote: »

Duxes wrote: »

Been stuck on the final round for stage 9 for a few days now. It's so overwhelming lol. I'm using a stam sorc. I always seem to lose my head when I drop down during the crystal mechanics. I think I've died maybe 60 times already..... lost count.

Thanks for this guide Joy! Will be giving it another go tonight!

Yeah, I wiped at least 200 times on that boss alone.
You just have to run it over and over and over again. Every X time, you will notice that you are more comfortable in getting farther.

These are my step to get at the second phase of the last boss. I now get up about 90% of the time :

1. Buff up, put ground AOE where the boss spawns
2. Grab Offensive sigil (Keep all others for later)
3. DPS boss until he teleport (with making sure to dodge his first skull)
4. Interrupt boss, immobilize healer (if you have skills that do so.. if not make sure to interrupt him if he heals the boss)
5. Kill Crem guard ASAP. Don't kill the healer yet.
6. Kill Clanfear on portal
7. Kill healer, if possible, then move up.

When up at the crystal.. You don't need to only focus on one..
I mean make sure to always have all your dots on one of them at least..
Your pirmary goal is to avoid his crystal and his explosive, so look at his the whole time (while destroying crystal) and look for that wall that protects you.

When you do get thrown down before destroying all 3 crystals. Don't panic...
Your immediate reaction should be to heal/shield up if needed be and run to the Defensive Sigil.
With the sigil up, and your healing always up (Vigor in your case), you should be fine in simply killing the clanfear again.
You don't need to kill the Crem guard, HE will disapeared once you manage to destroy the 3 crystals.

vamp_emily wrote: »

Nikkor wrote: »

501 champion points?

I'm at 421 on ps4. I am debating on wether or not to got back into vet maelstrom today or punch myself in the nuts.

which do you think will be more fun?

That is funny.. as I was reading your comment, I thought you were gong to say "punch myself in the face".

Maelstrom must be pretty bad, you guys make me not even want to go near the place. It almost sounds impossible to beat.

In is a pain in the @#$.... You will want to quit this game forever while doing it.
It is the most painful thing I have ever done in a game.. but in the end it's so rewarding when you accomplish it.. You feel like you literraly accomplished the impossible.

One thing to note.. the second time you run it, it will be so much easier because you will be accustom to the feel of vMA and it's mechanics. Plus you will be much more confident in your build and rotation.

I probably died 500 times in total while completing my first run. (200+ of those times were on the last boss).
On my second run, I managed to get to the last boss in 1 hour with 10 deaths. Haven't had time to finished it a second time thought.. but I'm confident I will get him under only a few deaths.

So yeah TL;DR, it's a pain. But each run are significantly easier. You will ask yourself : "Why ? How did I die so much here before!?".

Thanks for your tips! I finally beat it last night! I ended up taking a week long break from the game and beat him in two attempts! I got a defensive dagger :-/ it'll do for now lol. Now to do it all over again!

Congrats!!

I have a thread in my signature regarding probabilities.... if you are curious of the % chance of getting a sharpened dagger for instance!

Bakven

Ok so question for mageblades. Which is better dps, Neiren'eth or Skoria? I ask because I noticed I use a lot of dots. Normally I use Neiren'eth because it procs off my spamable skills.
I use:
Swallow soul
Impale
Sap Essence
Wall of elements
Merciless resolve
Shooting star

Crippling Grasp
Siphoning strikes
refreshing path
Magelight/entropy
Harden ward
Veil of blades

As you can see I have quite a few dots and tend to keep them all up as I spam swallow soul and medium attacks. Does anyone know which would proc more or has overall more dps?

DUTCH_REAPER

Awesome post Joy.

Drevick

Good stuff. I'm getting ready to dive into it and I will definitely refer this post. Thanks

Joy_Division

Bakven wrote: »

Ok so question for mageblades. Which is better dps, Neiren'eth or Skoria? I ask because I noticed I use a lot of dots. Normally I use Neiren'eth because it procs off my spamable skills.
I use:
Swallow soul
Impale
Sap Essence
Wall of elements
Merciless resolve
Shooting star

Crippling Grasp
Siphoning strikes
refreshing path
Magelight/entropy
Harden ward
Veil of blades

As you can see I have quite a few dots and tend to keep them all up as I spam swallow soul and medium attacks. Does anyone know which would proc more or has overall more dps?

I think Valkyn is quite a bit better than Neiren'eth and certainly will be more so next patch.

sluice

Joy_Division wrote: »

Bakven wrote: »

Ok so question for mageblades. Which is better dps, Neiren'eth or Skoria? I ask because I noticed I use a lot of dots. Normally I use Neiren'eth because it procs off my spamable skills.
I use:
Swallow soul
Impale
Sap Essence
Wall of elements
Merciless resolve
Shooting star

Crippling Grasp
Siphoning strikes
refreshing path
Magelight/entropy
Harden ward
Veil of blades

As you can see I have quite a few dots and tend to keep them all up as I spam swallow soul and medium attacks. Does anyone know which would proc more or has overall more dps?

I think Valkyn is quite a bit better than Neiren'eth and certainly will be more so next patch.

How about running Molag Kena x2 instead?

You can manage the sustain with Siphoning Strikes and I bet it provides more reliable DPS than Neiren'eth or Skoria?

Bakven

@sluice I've tried Molag Kena before and it's good on dmg, and I'm decent on sustain, but the biggest issue is the 33% increase to the ultimate too. It's killed me more than once when I needed to use it but it cost more than normal.

HobbesGilly

This sounds like a stupid question even to me... do I need to complete all stages/arenas for my score to count in the weekly leader boards or can I get a place on the boards with a score of 53k after first arena only???

gangrel206

I wanna choose one of my toons (except my tank) to farm vMA, so far i haven't tried veteran mode, just beated normal with my mag sorc and templar healer... which of the following option would be less hard to beat it in veteran mode and be on the top 100 leaderboard?


I've got 4 toons:

-DK Stam Tank
-Templar Healer
-Mag Sorc
-Stam NB


Looking at the mecanincs and leaderboards, the templar seems a better choice to farm the MA weapons... but i also was thinking in leveling a Mag DK with dest/resto (i will do that sooner or later), usually the DK leaderboard does not get 100 ppl on it.

*I'm currently CP 310.

I put below my toons and the sets i have, just for advices on which one would be better.

Magicka Templar:

For dps, i usually run Torugs swords, resto staff and healm, Molag Kena shoulder e 5x Law of Julianos.

Magicka Sorc:

I usually run 2x Molag Kena, 5x Law of Julianos and 5x Elegant

Stam NB:

I usually run 5x VO (1 jew), 5x Night Mother and 2x Dreught King Slayer rings.



Sets that i have:

-SPC
-Law of Julianos
-Healer habbit (w/ 3 jew)
-Worm's cult (w/ 3 jew)
-3 willpower jew
-5 pc IA (lightining staff, 1 jew)
-Torugs swords and staff
-5 pc Elegant (3 jew and 2 swords)
-5 pc VO (1 jew)
-Night Mother
-Hunding Rage
-All monster helms and shoulds (except shadow of the hist helms)

Duxes

sluice wrote: »

Duxes wrote: »

sluice wrote: »

Duxes wrote: »

Been stuck on the final round for stage 9 for a few days now. It's so overwhelming lol. I'm using a stam sorc. I always seem to lose my head when I drop down during the crystal mechanics. I think I've died maybe 60 times already..... lost count.

Thanks for this guide Joy! Will be giving it another go tonight!

Yeah, I wiped at least 200 times on that boss alone.
You just have to run it over and over and over again. Every X time, you will notice that you are more comfortable in getting farther.

These are my step to get at the second phase of the last boss. I now get up about 90% of the time :

1. Buff up, put ground AOE where the boss spawns
2. Grab Offensive sigil (Keep all others for later)
3. DPS boss until he teleport (with making sure to dodge his first skull)
4. Interrupt boss, immobilize healer (if you have skills that do so.. if not make sure to interrupt him if he heals the boss)
5. Kill Crem guard ASAP. Don't kill the healer yet.
6. Kill Clanfear on portal
7. Kill healer, if possible, then move up.

When up at the crystal.. You don't need to only focus on one..
I mean make sure to always have all your dots on one of them at least..
Your pirmary goal is to avoid his crystal and his explosive, so look at his the whole time (while destroying crystal) and look for that wall that protects you.

When you do get thrown down before destroying all 3 crystals. Don't panic...
Your immediate reaction should be to heal/shield up if needed be and run to the Defensive Sigil.
With the sigil up, and your healing always up (Vigor in your case), you should be fine in simply killing the clanfear again.
You don't need to kill the Crem guard, HE will disapeared once you manage to destroy the 3 crystals.

vamp_emily wrote: »

Nikkor wrote: »

501 champion points?

I'm at 421 on ps4. I am debating on wether or not to got back into vet maelstrom today or punch myself in the nuts.

which do you think will be more fun?

That is funny.. as I was reading your comment, I thought you were gong to say "punch myself in the face".

Maelstrom must be pretty bad, you guys make me not even want to go near the place. It almost sounds impossible to beat.

In is a pain in the @#$.... You will want to quit this game forever while doing it.
It is the most painful thing I have ever done in a game.. but in the end it's so rewarding when you accomplish it.. You feel like you literraly accomplished the impossible.

One thing to note.. the second time you run it, it will be so much easier because you will be accustom to the feel of vMA and it's mechanics. Plus you will be much more confident in your build and rotation.

I probably died 500 times in total while completing my first run. (200+ of those times were on the last boss).
On my second run, I managed to get to the last boss in 1 hour with 10 deaths. Haven't had time to finished it a second time thought.. but I'm confident I will get him under only a few deaths.

So yeah TL;DR, it's a pain. But each run are significantly easier. You will ask yourself : "Why ? How did I die so much here before!?".

Thanks for your tips! I finally beat it last night! I ended up taking a week long break from the game and beat him in two attempts! I got a defensive dagger :-/ it'll do for now lol. Now to do it all over again!

Congrats!!

I have a thread in my signature regarding probabilities.... if you are curious of the % chance of getting a sharpened dagger for instance!

Very informative data you have there. Thank you so much! Seems very spot on. On my third run I got a sharpened two handed axe! Second I got a decisive bow.