First Time vMA run; A Journal and Place to Woosah [BEAT:9 Sept]

boombazookajd

First, I'm cp430-ish and a magDk so I'm not taking the easiest way through.
Currently, I'm running:

2pc Ilambris, 5 pc Julianos (2 of which are Julianos Inferno staves; one with fire enchant, other with weapon enchant both gold), 5pc Mothers Sorrow. I can also switch to Skoria but it isn't a light helm, it's medium. I also have BSW to switch to as well. Everything but weapons (which are gold) is purple. Divines for armor with mag enchants, jewelry is arcane with spell damage enchants.

Health buffed with blue food is 18k, Mag is 37k, stamina is: never enough for that next dodge roll. Spell damage is 2453 and spell crit is 65.2%

Front bar: burning embers, crushing shock, coagulating blood(or flame whip), harness magicka, Flames of Oblivion (or reflective wings) ULTI: Dk Std of Might OR magma shell (the one that deals fire back)
Back: Eruption, Blockade, ele drain, engulfing flames, molten armaments ULTI: Elemental Rage

On my 6mil dummy I can almost hit for 16k, 14.5k more reliably.

I have watched several of Alcast's videos and AndyS' strictly just for research. The one video I really hone in on is Alcast's video that is 3 hours long and he breaks down the mechanics on his stamblade back when it was VR16. I usually study both a video and Joy Division's walkthrough prior to a round.

ROUND 1: The first round went pretty well. Died a few times just from not paying attention to shields and such. I was also very laid back, it was like "lets see what I can even do". I was surprised to only have died a couple times and honestly, to even clear it.

Round 2: things got a little wonky. It took me a good minute to figure out how to handle the spinning blades as well as the dwemer adds, let alone the stinking Centurions. For some reason two of the three would attack at once, I was certain that it should have only been one but once I learned their attacks and how to mitigate the spinning blades, it got easier.

Round 3: Holy swear words. This one took a good minute. I'd like to say, who ever thought up the stranglers and the snare, I hope you stagger into the bathroom at night to use the can and sit down on a lifted seat and fall in. This round really got frustrating because of those stranglers. As everything, it took many runs to get used to but I got my clear. Many a swear word was uttered during this run and I'm willing to guess that I died somewhere around 20 times here.

Round 4: Still continuing. I NEARLY cleared it my first time but died with the boss at about 6%. Very frustrated at that but oh well. The round is so much better without those INCREDIBLY aggravating snares that slow you down. Honestly, it's easily the most frustrating part of the game I've ever encountered thus far. Anyway.. I'm getting better and I'm looking forward to the rest of the challenge. (Dear future me: yes you actually want to do this. don't give up). UPDATE Beat it once I actually managed to hit the boss with my ulti and grab every single sigil after he stopped the first time. He didn't get to stop a second time as I successfully burnt him down. Of note: It helped me by dropping coagulating blood for the flame whip. I didn't need the heal while standing under the boss, i just kept a shield up and spammed burning embers when needed. ON TO ROUND 5!

Round 5: I found this round to be surprisingly easier than I had expected. Across all waves, I probably died 10 times, 5 of which were to the boss. A few were clearly lag induced deaths as well. It took me a minute to figure out the strategy of kiting her and dealing with the mobs, and avoiding her attacks. However, I screwed up and she destroyed the power and defense sigil platform before I could get her off it (actually, she was following me and was halfway between that flow and the beginning flow with the haste sigil, the one I wanted her to break, so I guess her health dropped to "break sh*t" level and she went to the closest flow, the power and defense sigil. SO, I had two flows remaining and welp, wouldn't you know it I got her to break the right one and was left with the healing sigil island. I grabbed the healing sigil (because I knew I was likely screwed) and kept my reflective wings up, shields, and just ignored the insane adds and I think I even dropped my ferocious leap and BAMO! BIG UGLY DROPPED! ON TO ROUND 6! I really though I was in trouble here because not only did the adds spawn from her health dropping but a troll came over too. So now I have a troll trying to break the ice, big momma trying to smash me, archers shooting me, and i knew I only had once choice: DoT's. I threw em down, hit englulfing flames, kept shields up and watched the troll die to a Skoria flame ball. A quick glance at tall and ugly and she was at 10%, I CAN DO THIS! So, I just beat her down the best I could with embers and crushing shock.

Reflective wings and crushing shock really worked well here thanks to the reflect and interrupt of the skills.

Round 6: Did a quick recon without having done much studying and promptly got my butt kicked. Gotta study Joy's and Alcast's runs. update 26 JulyWent back at it today and got nowhere thanks to the obelisk bug showing up. The obelisks were not displaying the webs correctly and therefore, I had no clue which ones to attempt to deweb. I'll retry on my next day off.
UPDATE CLEARED!! FINALLY!!!!!!! It's taken me so long to finally beat this stage and I am so effing happy! I had her down to 60k health at one point; I had burned her in two phases. The first phase I burned through her fast enough to spawn the Lurcher who went down rather easily. The second phase I burned through her but ran out of magicka, then stamina dodge rolling a few lightning bursts and when the spider swarm appeared, I duly died. I was hell bent on not giving up though and I've finally cleared the round.

I don't remember exactly how everything went down but I took my time clearing obelisks and didn't go ham on her, just kept dots down and kept my magicka up while dealing with the adds (namely, her stupid sidekick). I took each sigil as I needed it; healing first, then haste when the lurcher spawned. After he spawned I lucked into clearing the final obelisk, I did a mini-rotation and ulti drop on each of them, then used the remaining stun to heavy attack some resources back. From there I hunted down a hoarver to clear an obelisk and kept my DoTs down. The spider swarm came and I had her at 45k, I shielded up and heavy and light attacked her from the relative safety of a lit obelisk. ON TO ROUND 7!!!!

Round 7: Finished! It took me about two days to beat this round, the first day I twice had the boss down to about 10% health, only to be foiled by an unfortunate poison plant. Not really much to say about this round other than the poison plants.

Round 8: Much easier than the previous two. In fact, I think it's probably the easiest round after Round 1. I died a few times but mostly from not really understanding the mechs. Once I picked up on who to kill and when, it was cake. The final boss is a total joke tbh, she was easy to kite and burn after the stun.

Round 9: After two days, 6 cumulative hours of fighting this guy, once getting him to 15% health (with a bone colossus and CG spawned) only to die; attempt after attempt only to be thwarted by anything and everything, I have FINALLY beat vMA. I beat him on one of the ugliest runs I had. I got up top pretty nicely, but was knocked off twice. The first time I went down, I was like welp here we go again, another death. I had decided that it wasn't worth picking up the defense sigil when falling off because it made the last part of the fight incredibly difficult. Somehow, I managed to drop the CG and the clan fear and get back up top. Then I got knocked down a second time, and at this point, I was just thinking "stay calm, it's all good". After getting back up top again, I was able to drop the little bit of health in the final crystal and when back down, I grabbed everything but the power sigil AFTER disrupting that first channeled attack.

Then, after orienting myself to the boss, I grabbed two ghosts and he got the third. I was like "sh&*t!" but again, i thought just stay calm and we are good. So the CG spawns and I'm getting pretty worried at this point. The boss and the CG were standing together so I dropped my destro ulti, and just spun around the daedroth, spamming burning embers and keeping my shield up. He died and I found the boss, attacked him a few times with dots (minding the STUPID summoners) and then grabbed that final ghost and immediately used that dang explosion. I thought to myself, "THIS IS IT! I DID IT!" And took the opportunity, for just a split second, to stand over him and take in the fact that I was about to kill him. A few whacks later and that sonofagun was on the ground.

A month and a half later, I have finally conquered the Maelstrom Arena.I picked up my decisive Lightning Staff....and then went right back in 5 minutes later. Breezed through the first 5 rounds and then remembered just how god awful that spider round was.

---

Notes: Depending on how I am feeling (frustrated, hands hurt, in the groove, worn out) I will either rez or take it back to the way shrine and walk in. Walking back in helps me reset and take a breath, it also lets me charge weapons or eat food and repair equipment. It is also a bit easier to restart from the wayshrine as the level doesn't begin quite as quickly. It seems like when you rez in place, theres a very short time before the wave comes and it's difficult to get my bearings on where I am in the level (and thus, where the sigils are).

All in all, it's still challenging and quite rewarding when I kill the boss.

build update Hit 18.1k with Ilambris on the above mentioned "base setup" and hit 17.5k with molten whip slotted instead of crushing shock. It would likely have been higher had my backbar weapon not lost its charge. I also did a run for a light Skoria helmet, and have paired that with a heavy Skoria shoulder (I only have a heavy and a medium Skoria shoulder). I know small things like this won't make or break your vMA run but I've included it for those who might be curious. With food I now sit at 18.2k health, 36k mag, and 9k stam. Skoria also hits things way more than Ilambris did, not necessarily in proc % just the fact that things run out of Ilambris.

25 July note: Took a break and went back to my stamblade for an hour or two. Managed to gather a group of guildies to run vCoA2 for a light Skoria helm. Thinking on it, that might have helped my playstyle on the magDK. I just seemed to be smoother, calmer, and more relaxed on the controls. Not only that but on my stamblade in CoA i felt more relaxed; going in I was like this is easy! I don't have 4 mobs coming at me, an ice flow about to break, or a strangler snaring me with poison spit. Then when I did get to Skoria, him breaking the platforms was not as scary as I remember it back when I got my first Skoria helmet.

25 August (A full month has gone by!) I've gotten considerably better at the game as a whole. My dps is now up to 24k and I've completed several trials. I now have an Asylum Inferno staff! I've done nMoL, nCR, nHoF, and nAS. I've decided to gold out Grothdarr set and have picked up a full set of Destruction Mastery. The plan is to run DM with BSW once I get the traits corrected.

FINAL NOTES:

So for the final round and complete I switched over to using Destruction Mastery along with BSW and a Julianos fire staff in a mock vma setup. With this setup I am hitting for 27k on witch mothers. This was the build that got me through vMA. I also switched from my flame whip to crushing shock, this allowed me to save stamina from bashing and allowed me to interrupt the boss from range, rather than having to run over to him.

My final build: Grothdar Heavy helm/Med Shoulder, Destruction mastery on the body, bsw jewelry, bsw fire staff/flame damage front bar, julianos fire staff/spell damage back bar.
Skills: Front bar- Eruption/WoE/Engulfing Flames/Coag Blood/Inner Light Ulti-Shooting Star
Back bar- Embers/Crushing Shock/Ele Drain/Harness/Inner Light Ulti- Destro

What I have taken away from vMA is that it has made me far and above a better player. At the beginning of this thread, I was hitting for maybe 15k, now I'm hitting for 27k. I've gone to solo world bosses, Skyreach, and a few normal dungeons. It's made me completely forget about crappy healers or fake tanks in PUG's. I've also completed all trials on normal except AA and HRC. If you've read this far, I absolutely encourage you to try and stick with vMA, despite the pain and frustration.


Thanks so much for following along!

Sleepersword

Just a quick hint, if your only doing 15k on a dummy you should definitely watch out for a good rotation. 25k should be easily possible after summerset patch even without weaving and that will really help you in vMA cause the difficulty does a huge jump at the ice arena, where the game forces you to do a certain dps otherwise you'll die.
And I'll recommend to use Reflective Scales, that skill really helps with any incomming projectiles

boombazookajd

Sleepersword wrote: »

Just a quick hint, if your only doing 15k on a dummy you should definitely watch out for a good rotation. 25k should be easily possible after summerset patch even without weaving and that will really help you in vMA cause the difficulty does a huge jump at the ice arena, where the game forces you to do a certain dps otherwise you'll die.
And I'll recommend to use Reflective Scales, that skill really helps with any incomming projectiles

I've practiced my rotation up and down, left and right. The 15k is my average parse, give or take a bit, with the outlined skills. No Flame Whip and not using my Dk Standard.

But i'm open to videos of magdk rotations if you know solid ones

LadyNalcarya

boombazookajd wrote: »

Sleepersword wrote: »

Just a quick hint, if your only doing 15k on a dummy you should definitely watch out for a good rotation. 25k should be easily possible after summerset patch even without weaving and that will really help you in vMA cause the difficulty does a huge jump at the ice arena, where the game forces you to do a certain dps otherwise you'll die.
And I'll recommend to use Reflective Scales, that skill really helps with any incomming projectiles

I've practiced my rotation up and down, left and right. The 15k is my average parse, give or take a bit, with the outlined skills. No Flame Whip and not using my Dk Standard.

But i'm open to videos of magdk rotations if you know solid ones

Well, that probably means you either dont have high uptime on your dots or you might be replacing them too early.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-4GpXCo0h0
Now, of course they have magicka support, and in vMA you'd need more sustain, but it still should be a bit higher than 15k.

Sleepersword

You should be able to hit 25k even with crushing. I'd also recommend switching mothers sorrow for burning spellweave. Btw I stick with the whip in vMA on my magDK most of the time, I only switch it out for crushing in ice arena. Everywhere else you dont need ranged skills, might be a bit harder in terms of movement cause you stay melee but once you get used to it, your dps is way better so you can shorten or skip some mechanics

huschdeguddzje

I did it on my magdk for the first time as well, my tip is go against your instinct and get right up their faces, drop crushing shock and only use flame lash, that no cost heal and damage is a God send in vma.
Another thing, molten armaments is incredible so good call there, you get major sorcery and increased heavy attack damage, most adds will drop after two heavies and you'll get magicka back. So try to focus adds down with heavies.
For example I dealt with the archer on the ice arena using two heavies.

reiverx

I wouldn't get hung up on dummy parses. VMA is too mobile.

Here's my setup:

5 BSW, 5 Julianos, 2 Skoria. I run 5L/1H/1M.

Spinners is a good set too.

I also run duel destro. I've tried running a resto on my backbar but I find weapon swapping to be too unreliable if I'm scrambling for a heal. I also got lucky with an infused VMA destro on my fourth/maybe fifth run. I've been doing a run almost every night for two weeks and it definitely gets easier as you get more familiar with the mechanics. I had beaten it a couple of times last year with a heavy attack/off-balance build but that got nerfed to the dust so I didn't bother going back until recently.

My skills:

Harness, Searing Strike, Coagulating, Crushing Shock, Inner Light, Meteor
Wings, Molten, Engulfing Flames, Eruption, Ele Blockade, Elemental Rage

I tried to switch it up a little and use potions so I could shelf Molten Armaments and Inner Light, and also use Ele Drain.

Harness, Searing Strike, Coagulating, Crushing Shock, Ele Drain, Meteor
Wings, Flames of Obl, Engulfing Flames, Eruption, Ele Blockade, Elemental Rage

This wasn't bad. I cleared it with losing 5 lives, which is my best so far. The problem I had is Molten Armaments was apparently feeding my stamina so I found myself constantly rooted or stunned. So annoying. And even with Ele Drain, magicka sustain is just so bad. Having Inner Light and Meteor on the front bar gives a much needed boost to magicka courtesy of the Mages Guild line.

I would absolutely recommend @Joy_Division's guide for stage five. It contains all you need because things get very real on stage five. I would also slot wings as the other poster mentioned.

When you get it down in a single session, you'll get on the leaderboard. Guaranteed 100%. With supposedly 11 million players spread even between platforms, why are there less than 20 DKs on the leaderboards? Only Pepperidge Farm knows.

boombazookajd

UPDATE First, thank you all for following along, sharing your experience, and providing tips/tricks!!

So I decided to give my parses another try, and really focus on keeping a high up time on my dots, and really focus on light attack weaving and animation cancelling. I hit 17.7k! Now, that's standing still and not using and heals or shields to further drain my resources (something that I admit I was including in my previous parses, which really challenged my resources.

I'm using dummy parses just as a gauge on how well can I burn something, which is helpful in situations like with the dwemer robot, the final part of Matriarch Runa. I'm not too hung up on getting a really high parse though.

Question: crushing shock not only interrupts but it also is a nice destro kill, giving me that coveted 3600 magicka back; why drop that for flame lash that requires the enemy to be stunned or interrupted, something i won't be able to do from range anyway and will I just burn stamina bashing? Flame Lash took a big hit in update 17, so is it really viable now?

LadyNalcarya

boombazookajd wrote: »

UPDATE First, thank you all for following along, sharing your experience, and providing tips/tricks!!

So I decided to give my parses another try, and really focus on keeping a high up time on my dots, and really focus on light attack weaving and animation cancelling. I hit 17.7k! Now, that's standing still and not using and heals or shields to further drain my resources (something that I admit I was including in my previous parses, which really challenged my resources.

I'm using dummy parses just as a gauge on how well can I burn something, which is helpful in situations like with the dwemer robot, the final part of Matriarch Runa. I'm not too hung up on getting a really high parse though.

Question: crushing shock not only interrupts but it also is a nice destro kill, giving me that coveted 3600 magicka back; why drop that for flame lash that requires the enemy to be stunned or interrupted, something i won't be able to do from range anyway and will I just burn stamina bashing? Flame Lash took a big hit in update 17, so is it really viable now?

Thats a nice improvement. Keep practicing and you'll be hitting 25-30k soon enough.
Dont know about the lash, but for Matriarch Ruma you can pick the platform with a shield sigil as your last platform. It completely negates the nereids and archers, giving you some time to burn the boss.
If you're struggling with specific mobs/situations, sigils are very helpful.

boombazookajd

LadyNalcarya wrote: »

Thats a nice improvement. Keep practicing and you'll be hitting 25-30k soon enough.
Dont know about the lash, but for Matriarch Ruma you can pick the platform with a shield sigil as your last platform. It completely negates the nereids and archers, giving you some time to burn the boss.
If you're struggling with specific mobs/situations, sigils are very helpful.

Just hit 18.1k slotting whip and ferocious leap as a quick ulti. So, looks like a little bit of rest was all I needed. Now, I'm going to try the parse with BSW rather than Mothers Sorrow.

boombazookajd

UPDATE

Stuck on the boss on Round 6. After looking through a few videos, it seems like round 6 is currently bugged for me. All 5, yes ALL. FIVE. pillars are free of webs and no stun. I am 100% absolutely certain the pillars are free of webs. Again, yes, I am 100% certain the pillars are free of webs.

So. maybe another time but like many others, my vMA career looks set to end on round 6.

Thanks for tuning in.

ReachHalo

@boombazookajd this has happened to me on a few occasions. What platform do you play on? It happens to me on xbox

I have been able to complete the level with this bug, as you can still kill the hoarvors next to the pillars, you just have to be really switched on as to what pillar has been 'dewebbed'

Other than that, just leaving the arena momentarily and returning has worked to fix the bug, dying has also worked... if it is happening all the time, though, then that is so not good!!

Have you tried logging out?? I know its a pain to do the levels again but i have found with this bug it is usually fixed after a few attempts

Don't end your career here lol... just keep at it, and hopefully the bug issue is resolved. You can do it!!!!!!!

Merlin13KAGL

boombazookajd wrote: »

UPDATE

Stuck on the boss on Round 6. After looking through a few videos, it seems like round 6 is currently bugged for me. All 5, yes ALL. FIVE. pillars are free of webs and no stun. I am 100% absolutely certain the pillars are free of webs. Again, yes, I am 100% certain the pillars are free of webs.

So. maybe another time but like many others, my vMA career looks set to end on round 6.

Thanks for tuning in.

Yeah, that monumentally sucks. Sometimes it will bug out and not show webs when present. Sometimes it will show webs when there are none.

Best tip I can give you on this one is to throw grenades methodically, starting at center and then around the circle. You might get lucky and hit the right one.

Worst case, you don't find it, and end up getting one shot from the empower anyway.

And save your self the trouble of /help. They'll tell you the usual, no Addons, lower your video settings, completely unrelated to the bugged instance B.S.

Anyway, sounds like you're moving right a long. Good luck!

boombazookajd

Thanks for the support y'all! I died many, many times and it seemed like the more I died the more the level became confused. Soon the pillars were not lighting up at all and they were dewebbed. The spiderling swarm audio cue would play but no spiderlings showed (I actually got close to burning straight through the boss on this one, but died from a 52k spit. I tried everything; I kept at range, dropped dots on the boss, killed her little sidekick, focused on hoarvers and web spinners but if it wasn't the poison snare, it was the spiderlings. If it wasn't the spiderlings, it was the lightning. If it wasn't the lightning, it was the bosses one shot. Just talking about it drives me nuts.

There's always just ONE thing too many going on at once in that dungeon. I'm not trying to fall back on blaming the game for being bugged but I ran it so many times and towards the end I purposefully made an effort to absolutely ensure the obelisks were dewebbed but I couldn't keep track of them as they were all dewebbed. I just couldn't figure it out in a bugged state. Eventually I just logged off and will retry on my next day off.

I don't think I will quit on it. I am worried though, if this level is this hard the Argonian stage must be a complete nightmare with RNG, let alone the final boss. And then, after all that, watch me get an ice staff or a mace. I'm left questioning whether the bow, a lightning staff, or an inferno staff is even worth the run, let alone more of this madness.

Sleepersword

boombazookajd wrote: »

Thanks for the support y'all! I died many, many times and it seemed like the more I died the more the level became confused. Soon the pillars were not lighting up at all and they were dewebbed. The spiderling swarm audio cue would play but no spiderlings showed (I actually got close to burning straight through the boss on this one, but died from a 52k spit. I tried everything; I kept at range, dropped dots on the boss, killed her little sidekick, focused on hoarvers and web spinners but if it wasn't the poison snare, it was the spiderlings. If it wasn't the spiderlings, it was the lightning. If it wasn't the lightning, it was the bosses one shot. Just talking about it drives me nuts.

There's always just ONE thing too many going on at once in that dungeon. I'm not trying to fall back on blaming the game for being bugged but I ran it so many times and towards the end I purposefully made an effort to absolutely ensure the obelisks were dewebbed but I couldn't keep track of them as they were all dewebbed. I just couldn't figure it out in a bugged state. Eventually I just logged off and will retry on my next day off.

I don't think I will quit on it. I am worried though, if this level is this hard the Argonian stage must be a complete nightmare with RNG, let alone the final boss. And then, after all that, watch me get an ice staff or a mace. I'm left questioning whether the bow, a lightning staff, or an inferno staff is even worth the run, let alone more of this madness.

I can guarantee that vMA gets much easier after the first completion and you'll also get weekly rewards if you do it in one run, cause the DK score list never gets filled

reiverx

Round six is where the magDKs lack of sustain really shows through for me. I hate it. You just have to be selective about flapping those wings and burn down adds as a priority. Don't spam the boss. Rely on dots and get in heavy attacks for some resources if you can.

I've also had the web bug. It started on one of the earlier rounds and persisted through to the boss round where it reset after I died and wayshrined.

Keep going. You can do this. The round six boss was one of my biggest stumbling points.

AndyMac

I run vMA with my mDK

I find an infused resto with an absorb magicka enchant is helpful in this round for getting back magic.

boombazookajd

reiverx wrote: »

Round six is where the magDKs lack of sustain really shows through for me. I hate it. You just have to be selective about flapping those wings and burn down adds as a priority. Don't spam the boss. Rely on dots and get in heavy attacks for some resources if you can.

I've also had the web bug. It started on one of the earlier rounds and persisted through to the boss round where it reset after I died and wayshrined.

Keep going. You can do this. The round six boss was one of my biggest stumbling points.

There was one run where separate from the one mentioned above where I had her pretty low, maybe 25k. It might have been my best single target burn ever, even managed to avoid the lurcher and had shields and wings up and then, bam out of resources. I think I really frustrated myself for no reason because of the web glitch. Thinking back on it, there was more than one occasion I was looking for a obelisk to free with a poison grenade only to find they appeared to be dewebbed.

The worst part about this boss is dying because you then start out with only one open obelisk and have to free the other 4. It's almost as if when you die, you might as well just start the entire round over again just to go into the boss round with 4 pillars free.

boombazookajd

gave it a shot today from scratch, round 6 that is. I got back to the boss and actually managed to get her stunned but I completely screwed the pooch. I was actually surprised by the stun, didn't have the power sigil, wasn't quite to my ultimate and after getting the power sigil and dumping my ulti, I tried burning her the best I could. All that happened was the lurcher spawn, her sidekick spawned, and I duly died.

So. Another time then.

Thanks for tuning in.


p.s. I have nothing nice to say about this level.

ReachHalo

@boombazookajd it's all about timing, and keeping your eye on the boss, hoarvors and the obelisks, while keeping your damage on the boss up, and avoiding swarms- which until you complete it sounds almost impossible.
A good strategy for completion is to save the defensive sigil until after the stun. Then, after you have burned her while stunned, you have a good 30 sec of damage reflection from the sigil, during which you should be able to finish her off, or very close to.

Overall, it sounds like you're close. You'll get it soon!!!

boombazookajd

@ReachHalo The fact that I got her stunned shows that I'm approaching it better going through the mini-rounds and ensuring 4 of the pillars are free at all times, and then hitting her with the 5th pillar. I'm going to try to avoid using my ultimate on the Toxicoli mini-boss, that way when I get into her round I've got it ready to drop.

I may also slot my standard of might ulti for this round as it could potentially help me out while burning her. First, it lasts quite a long time and second, it not only raises my damage output but helps mitigate damage taken as well. So, the plan is to set her up with some DOTs, kill the final hoarver (not next to the obelisk) this way I can grab the power sigil quick, then go over and throw the poison grenade at the obelisk, drop my standard, and then put down the best single target rotation i've ever done, grab the defensive sigil quick and then hopefully put her down.

That's the plan. But you know what they say about plans and first contact with the enemy...

Koensol

Not trying to be that guy, but 18k dps in vma will make it very hard tbh. When you manage at least 25k it just becomes that much easier. Killing adds and minibosses fast gives you time to focus on mechanics which is what it is all about. Last boss final round even starts with a dps race. If you fail it and don't get boss below a certain % in a certain time, it will spawn a crematorial guard which will give you a hell of a time. So I would figure out first how to increase your dps before continuing, because in the later rounds it will become all the more important. Round 6 already has some dps races in it.

Look up a proper guide, and don't take it in too general as in ooh I can drop that skill and just use this in stead. I have seen people just not using wall of elements for no reason at all... No. Rotations are very precise and even using skills in the wrong order can drop your dps by a lot, because the dots do not align in terms of duration.

Also I read you are using blue food? Maybe switching to witchmother's brew is what you need. You will lose a bit of magicka, but the extra regen could actually increase your dps and survivability. Also are you using spell power + crit + regen pots on cooldown? They are a massive contribution to dps and regen. Don't use your own sorcery buff as an excuse to not use potions. That is what I once did and I was a fool. Potions are the way to go.

boombazookajd

Koensol wrote: »

Not trying to be that guy, but 18k dps in vma will make it very hard tbh. When you manage at least 25k it just becomes that much easier. Killing adds and minibosses fast gives you time to focus on mechanics which is what it is all about. Last boss final round even starts with a dps race. If you fail it and don't get boss below a certain % in a certain time, it will spawn a crematorial guard which will give you a hell of a time. So I would figure out first how to increase your dps before continuing, because in the later rounds it will become all the more important. Round 6 already has some dps races in it.

Look up a proper guide, and don't take it in too general as in ooh I can drop that skill and just use this in stead. I have seen people just not using wall of elements for no reason at all... No. Rotations are very precise and even using skills in the wrong order can drop your dps by a lot, because the dots do not align in terms of duration.

Also I read you are using blue food? Maybe switching to witchmother's brew is what you need. You will lose a bit of magicka, but the extra regen could actually increase your dps and survivability. Also are you using spell power + crit + regen pots on cooldown? They are a massive contribution to dps and regen. Don't use your own sorcery buff as an excuse to not use potions. That is what I once did and I was a fool. Potions are the way to go.

Not trying to be that guy to that guy; Higher DPS is really the solution to all of my problems!? How come I didn't think of that! Ok, let me try higher DPS. Do you get that in guild traders? Or the crown store?

Seriously though, thanks for the input. Yes, I'm using blue food. I am contemplating switching to witch mothers, though I've been trying to save my limited supply of that for the later rounds. I'm also not suing spell power pots, just trash pots right now. Again, if that's something that I have to switch to so early, then I will.

I've been practicing on the dummy to work on my dps but again, I'm not hung up on dummy parses. Again, this has been done by folks when 18k was considered top notch.

boombazookajd

So the latest update:

I tried Stage 6 again. This time, for whatever reason, I couldn't even get past the first round. The flesh atronach seemed to have double the melee range. Seriously. I was quite far from him and was still getting hit with his melee. I was definitely outside of melee range. On top of that, my death recaps never exceeded 17k. There were no multipliers on the left side of the attacks. It would be two attacks, neither adding up to more than 17k.

So, my frustration too high and I've left the game for a few days. I'm contemplating leaving it completely in all honesty. This is just silly. really, is a stupid bow that ups your dps by 3k REALLY worth this? I think not.

I was so angry, so tired of it, i dropped the quest and will have to start from the beginning. Maybe that will help me out in a way, approaching it completely fresh.

I really want to do this on my stamblade. I hit way harder with him and can parse closer to 22k. The only issue is the rap that stamina characters have going through maelstrom.

I'm still rather annoyed that I haven't been able to beat it and I will likely try in the upcoming week to beat it one more time.

AndyMac

Ridiculous mob telegraphs are all part of the fun in vMA - they don't call it Lagstrom arena for nothing.

If you run it early in the morning or late at night, you may find that it's less laggy.

Mag clears are much easier than stam clears afaik.

boombazookajd

I've started over, currently at round 4 after a dinner break. Tomorrow is a day off and I'll at least try to get back to 6. So far I've found it quite easy compared to the first go around. I cleared 1 through 3 in no time at all.

The_Tarantian

I advice you use the Alliance Spell Draught - the pots you can buy for AP in Cyro/gold in guild stores. They are MUCH cheaper (about 20-25 gold per 1 usually) than the spell power pots, while the only difference between them is that Draught effects last about 6 seconds less. It will boost ur dps for good, certainly.

Also, you may hate the arena, but it will make you a better player in terms of PvE, especially when u are getting through without having insane dps. That's why I still like doing arena even though I got both Inferno staff and bow in first 4 runs. After completing vMA everything will feel so ez, I'm tellin' ya.

Do not give up, mate, I have no doubts you can do it.

boombazookajd

Been working at Round 6 for a good hour and a half. I cannot beat this round. I'm ok with that though. So far, it's made me much better player and I know my DK pretty dang well now.

Seriously, on the level, this level is too much.

I'm not going to get bent out of shape over vMA. I'll come back to it another time. For now, I'll join the list of those stuck on round 6.

boombazookajd

Hey everyone. So I'm sure by now you, like me, are all Maelstrom'ed out by now. But I do have an update on my progress, but sadly, not in the arena itself.

I've made a few tweaks to my build. I've swapped my light Julianos legs out for a set of heavy and a shock enchant on my back bar instead of flame.

So the build is now:

Weapon 1: Julianos Flame Staff, Gold, Infused with weapon damage enchant
Weapon 2: Julianos Flame Staff, Gold, Infused with Shock enchant

Head: Skoria Light helm, divines, mag enchant
Shoulder: Skoria Hvy, divines, mag enchant
Chest: BSW, divines, mag enchant
Waist: Julianos, divines, mag enchant
Hands: BSW, divines, mag enchant
Legs: Julianos, infused, mag enchant
Feet: Julianos, divines, mag enchant

Jewelry: BSW rings and neck, arcane, spell damage enchants.

Front Bar: Eruption, Blockade, Burning Breath, Coagulating Blood, Molten Arm
Back Bar: Burning embers, molten whip, ele drain, harness mag, FoO (wings in vMA)

I've also gone out and nabbed Longfin Melon Pasty and made more Witchmothers. I'm guessing when I run Witchmothers I will have to put a health enchant on my leg piece as my health will likely be too low.

I've been working on my parses and hit 19.8k today. Granted, this was not a full MA setup as I dropped wings for Flames of Oblivion.

I've decided to take a break from the arena, mainly due to the high traffic there and I'm not dealing with lag induced frustration. I've been off clearing some dungeons that I haven't completed on this character and working on leveling undaunted and mages guild. I've also been clearing world bosses and public dungeons solo!

I do want to leave a note here for those who doubt vMA. This place has made me a better player, without a doubt. I can now solo content that I thought was impossible before. Skyreach, world bosses, public dungeons, and the early group dungeons are all within my ability to run solo. I absolutely love how much better I've become at the game. Whether or not I get a vMA weapon is inconsequential to me (especially since they really don't have the same punch they used to) but I absolutely want to be Stormproof.

I've also swapped my stamblade over to a mag blade in preparation for his run.

I WILL BEAT vMA

boombazookajd

Update for clearing Round 6!!!!!

ccmedaddy

Congrats, you're so close! I ran VMA on my magdk for the first time last weekend and it was definitely much harder to pull off than on my other mag toons.

I started with a bar setup that was similar to yours and ended up making some changes along the way:

1) swapping out coagulating blood + FOO for cauterize. Much easier to manage than using an expensive burst heal, and burning embers is your main burst heal anyways. This also frees up a lot for you to run Inner Light on the front bar for extra magicka.
2) force pulse instead of whips. Or crushing shock to interrupt ranged adds. Either works so much better than whips.

Before I take my magdk back there I'm probably gonna level psijic order skills so I have channeled acceleration for major expedition. Being melee AND slow just feels so awful in there.