Whats the most challenging part of VMA?

CheepsNSalsa

Made it to round 8 first try. Wondering if im past the hard part .

Edited title for Callous2208

ForsakenSin

Rink of Frozen Blood

LOL im so happy to know im not the only one here who thinks the same

redspecter23

Rink of Frozen Blood

Your first time through is probably going to be rough on round 9. However, the more you play it, the more likely your deaths will come on round 5. Just my experience with it.

Kutsuu

Rink of Frozen Blood

I died probably 100 times on the 9th round my first time through, but it's pretty easy now. The huge amount of ranged mobs sitting in water always give me trouble in round 5 no matter what.

Mic1007

The final chest.

Banana

The whole learning experience.

bottleofsyrup

The bugs.

Juhasow

Forcing Yourself to go there again knowing You'll get garbage.

Strider_Roshin

RNG

Silver_Strider

Vault of Umbrage

Hardest part is not chucking my controlling at my TV afterwards.

Other than that, RNG poison plants in my safety bubble that results in untimely death by BS

Mojmir

No option for RNG

William_21

Seht's Balcony

Personally I don't have any problems with all 9 stages.
However, I don't like the feeling that spinning razor blades are constantly rotating to cut me. I feel uncomfortable completing that stage .

Mettaricana

Hardest part was working up the patience to begin vmsa again and try being excited for the next charged weapon..

RedReaver

Rink of Frozen Blood

Ignoring stages with RNG/Bugs such as the Vault of Umbrage having a chance to spawn a flower beneath your shield, I have to say Rink of Frozen Blood. Theater of Despair is a close-ish 2nd though.

silky_soft

Lag

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Vault of Umbrage

I vote round 7, but only because it has more RNG. There is definitely more coming at you in stage 5, but it's not as bad when you get the hang of it.

Buffler

Vault of Umbrage

First time you hit final boss its a huge learning curve but once you figure it out it becomes easy.

Round 7 is just luck and it annoys me greatly

DRXHarbinger

Round 8 flame knight only.

Typically zos gave it the...super lag switch, op standard+chain pull+reverse slice+engulfing flames instakill combo...and it generally happens as soon as you pop the pillar.

strikeback1247

Rink of Frozen Blood

DRXHarbinger wrote: »

Round 8 flame knight only.

Typically zos gave it the...super lag switch, op standard+chain pull+reverse slice+engulfing flames instakill combo...and it generally happens as soon as you pop the pillar.

Animation cancelling bosses. Thanks ZoS.

Alucardo

Rink of Frozen Blood

When stage 5 is harder than the final round you know there's a serious problem with the arena.

FloppyTouch

Rink of Frozen Blood

Had a hard time voting bc I did not finish it yet but I clear first 4 vma spots fast no issues at all but damn this 5th stage is hard

Vildebill

Vault of Umbrage

7 by far, the RNG is horrible with the mushrooms. Countless deaths under a mender just because of shroom spawn.

5 is really easy when you get to know the spawns.

Skinzz

No stage is too hard. But the lag/bar swapping and animation canceling bosses is annoying as F.

leepalmer95

Rink of Frozen Blood

The RNG.

The RNG gear or the RNG mechanics that just rekts you.

Izaki

Vault of Umbrage

I originally put Vault without thinking too much... Although that not long ago I kept asking myself why I used to find this stage so horrible. Aside from the RNG, this round is dead easy. So yes, I do agree that the Rink of Frozen Blood is the hardest stage in the arena. Its not really the mechanics, rather the massive damage you take every second from a crap ton of adds. The boss fight is just another burn with a few spin-to-win's to take the adds out on a stamina build, or just a flat out burn on a magicka build. Awareness in this stage must be turned all the way up. Usually if I make it deathless past this stage, its a flawless run (unless the RNG screws me in the Vault).

Izaki

Vault of Umbrage

strikeback1247 wrote: »

DRXHarbinger wrote: »

Round 8 flame knight only.

Typically zos gave it the...super lag switch, op standard+chain pull+reverse slice+engulfing flames instakill combo...and it generally happens as soon as you pop the pillar.

Animation cancelling bosses. Thanks ZoS.

Gives us a taste of our own medicine I guess!

Seriously though the hardest part of the arena is the lag.

Alucardo wrote: »

When stage 5 is harder than the final round you know there's a serious problem with the arena.

Its not. Just remember the first time you cleared the arena and the amount of hours you've spent on the final boss fight. And every time you ran out of potions, you had to start the stage over again. Compare that to the amount of hours you've spent on the stage 5. I spent around 20 hours on the final stage stretched over 5 days. I spent 2 hours on stage 5. So you basically got 10 times more training on stage 9 than you did on stage 5. Makes a difference.

dsalter

Seht's Balcony

William_21 wrote: »

Personally I don't have any problems with all 9 stages.
However, I don't like the feeling that spinning razor blades are constantly rotating to cut me. I feel uncomfortable completing that stage .

those things are the only thing that give me trouble tbh, they move to damn fast and there are so many of them

Hand_Bacon

Rink of Frozen Blood

The other day, according to my screen information I had no lag and I had high fps. However during round 3, for some reason, as soon as the mobs spawned I was killed...no matter where I spawned. After 15 deaths, the bug stopped.

Flameheart

Rink of Frozen Blood

Theater of Despair wasn't easy and it was like achieving progress in very small steps, but after a few dozen deaths I killed the boss the first time. Meanwhile I get him down even when he catches a golden ghost.

... but everything pales in compare to Rink of Frozen Blood. I have no idea how many deaths I had there. It's somewhat easier now while using Iceheart, but it's still a pretty good Flawless Conquerer buster.

SublimeSparo

The rng?

Alucardo

Rink of Frozen Blood

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

Its not. Just remember the first time you cleared the arena and the amount of hours you've spent on the final boss fight. And every time you ran out of potions, you had to start the stage over again. Compare that to the amount of hours you've spent on the stage 5. I spent around 20 hours on the final stage stretched over 5 days. I spent 2 hours on stage 5. So you basically got 10 times more training on stage 9 than you did on stage 5. Makes a difference.

Well for me, it is. I watched A LOT of videos on how to complete vMA before I actually began, so when I got in there the mechanics were OK by me. It took me around 15-20 attempts at the rink, and 5 attempts on the theatre of despair.
The problem I had with the rink was never the mechanics; it was the number of ranged adds standing in the ice, the animation cancelling boss, and trying to keep my eye on the troll. On stamina builds that round is just plain brutal. If I die in vMA, it's generally always going to be that one stage.
The theatre has never caused me to rage quit before, but the rink has on several occasions.