Hardest round in VMA?

akl77

In your opinion, and why?

f047ys3v3n

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

At the start it will be round 9 because there are 7 different mechanics going on and missing one is often fatal. Eventually though you will get good at these and round 7 will be the most challenging because there is some nasty rng with the shrooms sometimes spawning under sheilds as well as great variability in when the praying poison chicks spawn based on exactly when you killed one last. This can lead to some bad coincidence of mechanics there. I would rate round 5 right behind this because again the trolls spawning can coincide badly with other things and also sometimes enemies just all fire very close to at the same time.Of course what you are playing it on matters a lot too. Round 5 is relatively and easy one for a flappy flap dk.

aLi3nZ

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

Vault of umbridge. Quite a few annoying things. Boss stuns and bites and it is extremely easy to get insta killed by either the stun at long range or close up bite. Boss roar can kill you if you are busy killing poison caster or cleansing yourself.

akl77

Still yet to complete VMA

Yea I agree, the rng in this game and vma makes the game hard, not so much about skills.
I've beaten every dark souls game and latest Nioh and got platinum trophy for bloodborn, the chalice dungeon soloing is some real challenge, the boss fight took me for hours over 2 days. Souls series is know for its difficulties and discipline, ESO is nowhere called a difficult game, but the difficulties is at RNG!

Didgerion

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

The mechanic on level 7 is too RNG

sometimes the poison and the archers that charges at you stay in the same spot and as soon you want to interrupt the archer the poison pops.

Also the flowers sometimes pops in the shield when the boss screams.

Also sometimes you are disoriented/snared/stunned and the poison flower pops.

Sometimes you are outside AOE circle when the poison pops but you get poisoned anyway.

My last 2 runs were with 14/15 vitality bonus and both times I died on level 7.

Just too much bad rng on that level.

Also the round 5 is very difficult on stamina builds. The archers hit very hard and on some levels there are few of them that shoot at you at the same and your vigor ticks cannot keep you alive. You need to time your rolldodge properly and pop vigor often on that stage...also trying not to drain your stamina at the same time.

Ch4mpTW

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

For me it's a tie between 5 and 7. However, I choose to go with 5 for 1 reason in particular.

While they both are pretty frustratingly bs stages, 7 is a stage of RNG. Meaning that there is a chance that you can do the stage, and have little to no issues at all regarding getting hit by an exploding plant. There's a chance that a mender won't die, and the boss will enrage mid-attack. Resulting in a smooth run.

However... On the flip-side of things, Stage 5 is just pure frustration and bs. I hate that stage. I always have hated that stage, and always will. It's something about video game developers, and making ice/snow stages bs. Always. But in any event, that's the stage where my perfect streak would end at. 99.9% of the time, if I don't get gimped during Stage 5 — it'll be a flawless run. If I do get gimped to stage 5's bs, then it's usually a sign that I'll have 1 to 5 more F-ups awaiting me. This is because I get tilted, and my patience immediately wears thin.

Damn stage is literally amongst the most horribly designed video game forms of content I've ever experienced. And I've played tons of games that'll make you rage, from Dark Souls to Mega Man. Devil May Cry to Ninja Gaiden. Contra to Mortal Kombat 2's AI. Nothing compares to VMA's nonsense. Not even close.

akl77

Still yet to complete VMA

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

For me it's a tie between 5 and 7. However, I choose to go with 5 for 1 reason in particular.

While they both are pretty frustratingly bs stages, 7 is a stage of RNG. Meaning that there is a chance that you can do the stage, and have little to no issues at all regarding getting hit by an exploding plant. There's a chance that a mender won't die, and the boss will enrage mid-attack. Resulting in a smooth run.

However... On the flip-side of things, Stage 5 is just pure frustration and bs. I hate that stage. I always have hated that stage, and always will. It's something about video game developers, and making ice/snow stages bs. Always. But in any event, that's the stage where my perfect streak would end at. 99.9% of the time, if I don't get gimped during Stage 5 — it'll be a flawless run. If I do get gimped to stage 5's bs, then it's usually a sign that I'll have 1 to 5 more F-ups awaiting me. This is because I get tilted, and my patience immediately wears thin.

Damn stage is literally amongst the most horribly designed video game forms of content I've ever experienced. And I've played tons of games that'll make you rage, from Dark Souls to Mega Man. Devil May Cry to Ninja Gaiden. Contra to Mortal Kombat 2's AI. Nothing compares to VMA's nonsense. Not even close.

Oh then I've past the chocking point, hopefully...

Unfadingsilence

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

I would say the poison round seems to get me from time to time

FLuFFyxMuFFiN

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

It's kind of hit or miss. Sometimes I get lucky and beat it fairly quickly. Other times I get bad RNG with the poison and it takes me a lot longer. But 7 is the stage that always gives me the most trouble. 2nd hardest would be stage 5.

D0ntevenL1ft

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

Umbrage. Honestly I've also been hit or miss sometimes i can beat frozen blood for the life of me and others i cruise through it no death. Depends on the day lol.

Kammakazi

Where's the "DC/Bluescreen" option when entering a portal to the next stage?

Leogon

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Hardest? Stage 5
Most infuriating? Stage 7 when the RNG is against you.

MissBizz

Round 9 – Theater of Despair

Round 7 is RNG. It can be pretty easy, or it can be terrible RNG. I don't think it's actually more difficult than round 9 at all, but yeah the RNG of it is brutal.

I found round 5 easy But mag builds have crushing shock = ranged interrupt. It's a beauty in there.

Ch4mpTW

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Kammakazi wrote: »

Where's the "DC/Bluescreen" option when entering a portal to the next stage?

You get DC's and blue screens in VMA? Damn. My blue screens always comes from 12-man trials, and I won't even mention MoL. It's to the point that I don't even bother with that trial anymore, unless specifically asked by a friend to help with getting someone a skin.

MissBizz wrote: »

Round 7 is RNG. It can be pretty easy, or it can be terrible RNG. I don't think it's actually more difficult than round 9 at all, but yeah the RNG of it is brutal.

I found round 5 easy But mag builds have crushing shock = ranged interrupt. It's a beauty in there.

@MissBizz You do Maelstrom? Seriously?

MissBizz

Round 9 – Theater of Despair

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

Kammakazi wrote: »

Where's the "DC/Bluescreen" option when entering a portal to the next stage?

You get DC's and blue screens in VMA? Damn. My blue screens always comes from 12-man trials, and I won't even mention MoL. It's to the point that I don't even bother with that trial anymore, unless specifically asked by a friend to help with getting someone a skin.

MissBizz wrote: »

Round 7 is RNG. It can be pretty easy, or it can be terrible RNG. I don't think it's actually more difficult than round 9 at all, but yeah the RNG of it is brutal.

I found round 5 easy But mag builds have crushing shock = ranged interrupt. It's a beauty in there.

@MissBizz You do Maelstrom? Seriously?

@Ch4mpTW don't worry. I still have my Magicka Templar who uses a greatsword and loves to fish too Oh, and she has treasure hunter. I'm a scrub at heart.

Yeah, did my first complete a few months ago and have steadily been getting better. I don't have flawless and I don't do leaderboards, but I can and do, do it oh yeah, and I'm the person people keep mentioning that complains I can't get it done on pts. I know I'll be able to... But it feels like it's my first time all over again.

Kammakazi wrote: »

Where's the "DC/Bluescreen" option when entering a portal to the next stage?

That's... Brutal. I notice performance steadily drops the longer you're in there, so I quickly restart the client to get it up to snuff (if you're fast enough it doesn't reset the round of the arena on) but never blue screens.

Ch4mpTW

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

MissBizz wrote: »

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

Kammakazi wrote: »

Where's the "DC/Bluescreen" option when entering a portal to the next stage?

You get DC's and blue screens in VMA? Damn. My blue screens always comes from 12-man trials, and I won't even mention MoL. It's to the point that I don't even bother with that trial anymore, unless specifically asked by a friend to help with getting someone a skin.

MissBizz wrote: »

Round 7 is RNG. It can be pretty easy, or it can be terrible RNG. I don't think it's actually more difficult than round 9 at all, but yeah the RNG of it is brutal.

I found round 5 easy But mag builds have crushing shock = ranged interrupt. It's a beauty in there.

@MissBizz You do Maelstrom? Seriously?

@Ch4mpTW don't worry. I still have my Magicka Templar who uses a greatsword and loves to fish too Oh, and she has treasure hunter. I'm a scrub at heart.

Yeah, did my first complete a few months ago and have steadily been getting better. I don't have flawless and I don't do leaderboards, but I can and do, do it oh yeah, and I'm the person people keep mentioning that complains I can't get it done on pts. I know I'll be able to... But it feels like it's my first time all over again.

Kammakazi wrote: »

Where's the "DC/Bluescreen" option when entering a portal to the next stage?

That's... Brutal. I notice performance steadily drops the longer you're in there, so I quickly restart the client to get it up to snuff (if you're fast enough it doesn't reset the round of the arena on) but never blue screens.

Wow. That's pretty damn inspiring, to be honest. An insightful is definitely in order for you from me.

akl77

Still yet to complete VMA

Oh yea, we have some serious female gamers here, we tend to have more patience.

MissBizz

Round 9 – Theater of Despair

akl77 wrote: »

Oh yea, we have some serious female gamers here, we tend to have more patience.

On my first attempt/clear I only did 1 round per week. Seriously. Went in, completed round one, and logged off. Next weekend... Round 2. I think only once or twice I did two rounds in one weekend. I felt that way I didn't bring the frustration forward, rounds seemed easier with a bright fresh mind

Blackfyre20

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

RNG in round 7 can be frustrating.

On a side note, I remember one time a while ago, I had completed VMA multiple times already and was trying to get a run in one week before leaderboards reset (this was back when pretty much all you had to do was complete it to get on PS4 leaderboards). Idk what happened but I had some sort of massive mental/physical block on the final round. I probably died 25 times trying to do round 9, and as much as I would have loved to blame it on lag or something, that had nothing to do with it. Missed the leaderboard reset and that was the closest I've come to actually breaking my PS4 and/or TV.

akl77

Still yet to complete VMA

MissBizz wrote: »

akl77 wrote: »

Oh yea, we have some serious female gamers here, we tend to have more patience.

On my first attempt/clear I only did 1 round per week. Seriously. Went in, completed round one, and logged off. Next weekend... Round 2. I think only once or twice I did two rounds in one weekend. I felt that way I didn't bring the frustration forward, rounds seemed easier with a bright fresh mind

True, can't do it if brain is not happy. Nice VMA utube videos btw, your play style is very calm and steady paced.

Juhasow

RNG from last round chest is the hardest one to beat.

grim_tactics

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Guess it depends on what you are running.

As a MagSorc running shields - I can step on a mushroom and just spam shields until I can cleanse.

To me it is round 5 because there are times where if you mess up 1 thing the mobs will just melt you and you don't have anywhere to run.

I've had round 5 mess up more flawless tries than any other round.

mr1sho

Round 7 – Vault of Umbrage

Round 5 was a pain at first but Round 7 is really something too much bs can happen at once

Ch4mpTW

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Blackfyre20 wrote: »

RNG in round 7 can be frustrating.

On a side note, I remember one time a while ago, I had completed VMA multiple times already and was trying to get a run in one week before leaderboards reset (this was back when pretty much all you had to do was complete it to get on PS4 leaderboards). Idk what happened but I had some sort of massive mental/physical block on the final round. I probably died 25 times trying to do round 9, and as much as I would have loved to blame it on lag or something, that had nothing to do with it. Missed the leaderboard reset and that was the closest I've come to actually breaking my PS4 and/or TV.

Yeeeeah, I've had 1 particular moment with Stage 9 that resulted in a broken coffee table. Lmao. I'm sure anyone who's a veteran on these forums can remember my story in that regards.

VMA will make you 'snap'. Seriously. I know people who you seldom ever hear even raise their voice in casual conversations, let alone ever get angry or cuss absolutely lose it from VMA. Had a guildie who everyone rarely ever heard a peep from 1 day just let out a savage scream, followed with a barrage of profanity from VMA. Lololol. It happens. The place is absolutely horrible for your blood pressure.

BuddyAces

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Round 5...I have never wished any ill will on a game Dev in any game before I played this round. There's a special room in hell for the ones who designed this, right next to folks who play with their cell phones at the theater. I don't know what it was with this stage but by God did it not want me to pass it. Wouldn't doubt it if I spent more soul gems here than the other entire 8 rounds combined. I also had this lovely glitch when I would first zone in here that all mobs would be invisible unless I died and re spawned. F' this round.

rhapsodious

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

5 I feel is the most generally difficult, and 7 has the most opportunity to get screwed by RNG.

I don't usually have issues in 7 so long as I burst down one of the 3 archers that spawns at once, and keep track of the venomcallers.

5, meanwhile, I have the giants quake thing screw me over, the casters that turn around and blast you with a scream screw me over, the giants fearing screwing me over, the nereids generally being annoying screwing me over, getting Quick Shotted to death screwing m... you get the idea. I almost always grab the defense sigil on the boss round just to make it safer.

HarlotsLoki

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Stage 5 is the hardest for me, it's just an all around unpleasant experience.

Stage 7 comes second, it's not a difficult stage but the random of the poison is just too unforgiving.

Stage 8 after that. I really don't like Tephra and the dragonknight mini boss. There is a few unpleasant mob spawns on that stage.

MissBizz

Round 9 – Theater of Despair

akl77 wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

akl77 wrote: »

Oh yea, we have some serious female gamers here, we tend to have more patience.

On my first attempt/clear I only did 1 round per week. Seriously. Went in, completed round one, and logged off. Next weekend... Round 2. I think only once or twice I did two rounds in one weekend. I felt that way I didn't bring the frustration forward, rounds seemed easier with a bright fresh mind

True, can't do it if brain is not happy. Nice VMA utube videos btw, your play style is very calm and steady paced.

Don't use those videos as ideas/guides. That was actually videos of my attempts/first clears of VMA. I'm much better now :P

[EDIT] I just watched the final fight (where I beat it) of Round 9 of that series. My first ever clear and I didn't even kill the boss... my Illambris proc killed him while I was running away for a gold ghost

Ch4mpTW

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

HarlotsLoki wrote: »

Stage 5 is the hardest for me, it's just an all around unpleasant experience.

Stage 7 comes second, it's not a difficult stage but the random of the poison is just too unforgiving.

Stage 8 after that. I really don't like Tephra and the dragonknight mini boss. There is a few unpleasant mob spawns on that stage.

Here's a fun fact about Tephra from Stage 8 that a lot of people don't know (I don't think). As of recently (Homestead patch), she can actually animation cancel her attacks on you. Yes, you read that correctly. I'll even say it again. She can animation cancel her attacks on you, as if she's another player. Her Burning Embers and whips literally can fly out at ridiculous speeds, which she will sometimes use back-after-back. Thus resulting in a death. Sometimes she does them so fast, that it doesn't even register the correct animation. It'll just show her use a single whip, and you'll die. Only for you to read the Death Recap, and see that she also apparently did 2 and or 3 attacks in unison.

BuddyAces

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

HarlotsLoki wrote: »

Stage 5 is the hardest for me, it's just an all around unpleasant experience.

Stage 7 comes second, it's not a difficult stage but the random of the poison is just too unforgiving.

Stage 8 after that. I really don't like Tephra and the dragonknight mini boss. There is a few unpleasant mob spawns on that stage.

Here's a fun fact about Tephra from Stage 8 that a lot of people don't know (I don't think). As of recently (Homestead patch), she can actually animation cancel her attacks on you. Yes, you read that correctly. I'll even say it again. She can animation cancel her attacks on you, as if she's another player. Her Burning Embers and whips literally can fly out at ridiculous speeds, which she will sometimes use back-after-back. Thus resulting in a death. Sometimes she does them so fast, that it doesn't even register the correct animation. It'll just show her use a single whip, and you'll die. Only for you to read the Death Recap, and see that she also apparently did 2 and or 3 attacks in unison.

I should have said this in my first post in this thread but I just literally completed VMA for the first time ever the other night. That's awesome to know now. On the other hand, round 8 was just as easy as round 1 for me. Once I figured/googled out how the boss worked I breezed through her. I seriously derped so hard on her. I never noticed the pillars you had to beat down to damage her so I just ran around in circles wondering if my game was glitched or not =\ I ended up googling it after she killed me and was wondering what *** pillar things the guide was talking about. I think I beat her on my second attempt.

edit:
typing errors cuz keyboard derps out cuz one of my kids spilled something on it

code65536

Round 5 – Rink of Frozen Blood

The three contenders are Stages 5, 7, and 9.

Most difficult stage for a beginner: 9--There is simply no substitute for practicing and getting used to the choreography of the Voriak fight. It's very unforgiving, and newcomers who have not yet "paid their dues" will find it very difficult.

Most difficult stage for an experienced player going for a no-sigil score run: 5--The difficulty is one of brute force, so whereas stage 9 benefits a lot from practice, experience and practice has a relatively smaller impact on Stage 5. Also, the defense sigil makes a larger difference on this stage than on any other stage.

Most difficult stage for a stamina build: 7--Because mechanics that unfairly screw stamina.



Stage 5: The difficulty of this stage is one of sheer brute force. There is a lot of incoming damage--particularly strong ranged damage. It's very easy to get overwhelmed.

The mitigating factor, though, is that the round is not very mechanically challenging, and the defensive sigil is very strong in Stage 5. With some careful planning of sigil use, Stage 5 is pretty easy.


Stage 7: The poison plants are an annoying RNG difficulty, and it's particularly frustrating to die to bull---t mechanics like having a plant spawn under a shield.

But with practice, you will develop almost an instinctive ability to avoid the flowers, and if you're a magicka spec, poison plant mistakes are easy to correct with Harness.


Stage 9: The final boss fight is very unforgiving and very exacting. There is a carefully-choreographed dance that you must execute.

But with practice, the choreography becomes second nature, and the fight will feel very easy.