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

boombazookajd

ccmedaddy wrote: »

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.

Ironic, given your forum name! lol!

Thanks for the tips, I do think that crushing shock has been working better for me than molten whip. I do like the bump in ardent flame damage that comes from it, and its marginally cheaper than crushing but burning embers already puts me in melee so it's nice to be able to have a destro skill on that bar and the mag return off a kill using a destro staff is nice.

I'm still trying to work on the bars, i'm not a big fan of coagulating because of its cost. Does cauterize heal you? Im assuming it does but it sounds like it aims itself at allies rather than you. Coag has saved my butt on many occasions though!

But yes, it really does suck being so dang slow in this arena. I'm almost ALWAYS grabbing the haste sigil

ccmedaddy

As far as healing abilities are concerned in this game you are considered an 'ally'', so yes cauterize will heal you. Not only does it heal you over time, you can also use it as an on-demand burst heal since the first heal occurs when you activate the skill. Between this and burning embers (+harness magicka) I didn't really feel the need for coagulating blood at all.

boombazookajd

Update for 16 Aug:

Gave Round 7 a full-on try, got through the regular rounds pretty well, lots of deaths from poison plants. {insert RNG rant here}

I got the boss to ~15k health twice, and both times died from a poison plant spawning right under my feet. I don't need to explain how I feel about that, I'm sure it's happened to everyone.

The more I went on the worse I seemed to do. I tried several things but one strategy seemed to work above all the others;

Camp the boss spawn and burn him with an ulti if available while grabbing the healing sigil. That let me go toe to toe with him until the first adds spawned. From there I dropped off and went to deal with one of them. The tricky part is if the add that is supposed to stay alive wanders over to the boss and my DoTs, it dies along with the intended first add.

And of course, a poison plant doesn't spawn. I've got the order down, I just don't have the DPS to burn the boss after the first scream, I always wind up at a second or third. I think tomorrow I am going to grab the power sigil before the first burn on the boss, then deal with the minders, then go back to smacking down the boss with the defense sigil/healing sigil.

boombazookajd

Also a build update:

I felt froggy on my healer and healed Vaults of Madness and picked up Grothdarr. Such a good set for a DK! I'm now running a 5-1-1 setup and am still working on acquiring Destruction Mastery this weekend for that juicy amount of magicka.

As it stands right now I now sit at 34,642 magicka/12,128 health unbuffed.

After setting my bars up for pure damage and sustaining Ele Drain myself I was able to hit for 22k.

When in Maelstrom my bars are:
1: Eruption, Blockade, Ele Drain, Coagulating Blood, Inner light
2: Embers, Whip, Engulfing Flames, Harness, Wings

kylewwefan

There’s something with having a Destro skill on each bar. So, put standard on blockade bar and destro Ult on the other. If that can help.

The minders spawn somewhat random, but set locations. It’s great when it spawns right next to the boss where he comes in. But when they spawn far away, it screws me up still.

You know, as soon as the scream is done, poison caller is coming in. And towards the end of the scream you should start killing the minder because.

While running to kill the first poison caller, grab a sigil. Maybe grab 2. Get back to whooping up on the boss.

He should be almost dead by now. Minders come out. Kill one and play the mechanics. Also a poison caller may come out a bit quicker now, but it will die to the scream. Don’t forget to start killing the minder towards the end of the scream. Kill that poison caller if it’s still alive.

Them flowers are a big pain.

boombazookajd

kylewwefan wrote: »

There’s something with having a Destro skill on each bar. So, put standard on blockade bar and destro Ult on the other. If that can help.

Oh yes, I forgot to list the Ulti's but that's how I have them set-up. Actually, I've got Meteor on the blockade bar and elemental storm on the whip/flams/ember bar.

The problem I have with Standard in vMA is that it lasts so long and I have to stay in it to fully utilize the damage which is tough, especially in this round. It's great in relative stationary fights but I've not had much luck with it in vMA.

kylewwefan

Wish I could help, but I’m not that familiar with Mag DK.

Maybe take eruption off and add harness so you have it on both bars.

Try opening up with the standard, just for this fight. You camp the entrance and he stays there for a good 10 seconds or more before stuff starts spawning in.

Big part of learning this place is when to drop ulti and nuke things down.

Donny_Vito

Just know that if you've made it through Stage 6, then you have the Skill / DPS to make it through the end. Stage 7 is my worst stage as well - even worse than the final boss. At least with the ghosts on the last stage, you can see them coming and limit the RNG factor. But on Stage 7, those plants are just annoying and can totally ruin a good run. I'll sometimes grab the Power Sigil right after the boss does his first/second scream phase, and then just power through with the DPS to finish him. I also like to put a few hits on both the DPS guys that spawn (who provide the shield for the scream) before killing one. It lets me really focus on DPS'ing the boss during the scream phase, instead of having to cut out short to start killing the mage.

Trying to take it slow from the beginning to the first/second scream phase is your best bet, and then balls to the wall when it comes times to execute. As long as you keep up your resources and stay away from the pesky plants, you'll be fine!


Good luck.

boombazookajd

kylewwefan wrote: »

Wish I could help, but I’m not that familiar with Mag DK.

Maybe take eruption off and add harness so you have it on both bars.

Try opening up with the standard, just for this fight. You camp the entrance and he stays there for a good 10 seconds or more before stuff starts spawning in.

Big part of learning this place is when to drop ulti and nuke things down.

Taking off Eruption wouldn't do me much good tbh, especially since casting it returns stamina for me. I'm less stuck on this stage than I was 6. I know I can get through it, having the boss down to just a handful of HP twice only to be thwarted by poison plants.

Maxdevil

It’s always the 9th stage the most difficult for me I done it 3 time lol

boombazookajd

Maxdevil wrote: »

It’s always the 9th stage the most difficult for me I done it 3 time lol

I just arrived to stage 9 and I'm sure its going to take me many attempts to clear this round but it's so much better knowing that this is it, this is the final stage and I've just got to get through this bad boy and I get Stormproof on my DK.

Made a few edits to the OP.

Noldornir

Hello!

I'm a fellow magDK and cleared the arena after 3 days holed in (mkostly spent on last stage); here's some class specific advice (even tho Joy's guide cover this already):

1) MUST HAVE skills for protection: Reflective plate, harness magicka, Ember Claw and for first runs i'd really recommend dragon blood as well

2) MUST HAVE skills for damage: Elemental Blockade, Eruption, for some stages (5-8-9) I'd really recomend crushing shock

here's the bars sets I used for my first clear and my consideration:

Main: (Siroria inferno staff/infused/flame damage glyph):

Skill1: Whip/Crushing Shock (depending on level, where i want interrupt i put CS where i dont need it i put Whip)
Skill2: Ember Claw= One of the best skills in here, burst dmg, high DPS and great heal once it expires (or once u re-apply it if you need more healing
Skill3: Harness Magicka= this one must stay almost always on, 6secs cooldown and rarely expires before, need to get the hang of it, after a while u will know without thinking/checking that it expired
Skill4: Dragon Blood= sometime u WILL need healing and will not have enemyes to cast Ember Claw twice (to trigger the heal); this can be a lifesaver
Skill5: Reflective Plate= almost worthless skill everywhere BUT here, it last as long as harness magicka so u can cast them one after the other and have a good timing. This one is THE best DK skill in there, ignore target priority (usually archers/mages are the heaviest problem) and let them kill themself while u hold melee guys.

Ulti: Destro

Backbar: (Kagrenac Hopes*/infused/wpn-spell glyph)

*I did use kagrenac because while wielding Siroria set u have a 1000+ bonus in magicka as 4th set bonus. When you switch weapons you will loose it but Kagr. will give it back to you since it's 2 set bonus it's just the same. If u want to use another staff put Meteor as ultimate to have some magicka back from passives.

Skill1: Engulfing Flame; cheap, AoE, Dot, Debuff
Skill2: Elemental Blockade: THIS is how they die, whatever happens this must always be hitting someone
Skill 3: Harness magicka**
Skill 4: Eruption: same as Elemental blockade, less effective but also slow and deal burst damage as well.
Skill 5: Reflective Plate**

Ulti: Destro/Meteor - See explanation above

As you can see i dual-slotted not one but 2 skills, the damage prevention ones.

Truth is Adds and boss here are pretty squishy so you wont likely need a ton of DPS skills but u need to survive and they hit pretty hard (ranged especially), dual slotting abilities can save you time and prevent to mess up (wanted a shield, casted a spammable cause using wrong bar).

If you feel up to it you can swap these dual slotted skills also remember that some skills are great in most levels but should be changed in others (reflective plate can walk you to stage 9 but you shouldn't keep it there, slot elemental drain instead on one bar and flame of oblivion on the other to DPS faster and get resources back).


Oh and about crematorial guards.... yeah those little ones are just adorable^^

But you know what? They do scare more than they actually hurt; they kill you only if you try to run/block/roll away (which is what your instinct will tell you to do). Ignore instinct and try this:

-When they spawn they will run at you, here you should try and put down Blockade AND Ele Drain them (if they spawned far away you can also put eruption) when they do reach you they will NOT breath fire immediatly, you have about 1-2 secs to do this:

1) Harness Magicka
2) Ember Claw
Here they start spitting fire so u:

Harness Magicka-LA-Ember Claw (get first heal)-LA-Harness Magicka-LA and so on.

Actually depending on CP and fire resistances you dont even need to cast shield so you should be able to survive just by weaving LA/Ember Claw.

That is, assuming, you can't use ultimate; if u can the strategy is the same but it will die in much less time.

I'd recomend to train a lot with this guys, they will kill you more than the boss otherwise (which will also hit/stun you so you need to handle CG blindfolded while checking the boss and NOT them) If my memory is not failing me wave 3 of stage 9 begins with one of them. Face it and die willingly regardless of the outcome to repear him. You'll know that you'll be ready when you won't sweat too much getting him (without ulti/super stun since it's training).

Most important hint:

Getting rekt repeately? have a coffee/cigarette/whatever u want and start over. Sometimes you will need a break since the place is a rush of adrenaline. Take 10 mins and don't be hasty.

I think that you cant just walk the place easily to begin with, it's just so much different from other ESO content that it feels like another game.

My first clear required 3 days, my second not even 3 hours and got in board as well (which is very easy with DK) with the very same build. But i knew the mechanic by then and so knew what was about to hit me.

P.S.

In stage 9 use tri-stat food and tri-stat pot; the more u fall/have to go down the more CG you will face, usually i bring all crystals to 50% or so, whack one, go down, unleash ulti on CG if present, go back up, whack 2 more crystals and ulti is ready for when i'm done again (you will need it later after the boss teleports)

Edit: forgot to mention i was wearing Siroria+ElfBane+Zaan, even if Valkyn and Burning SpellWeave are probably better there but i was not feeling to drop them in good trait, sets helps here but what is heavily needed are knowledge of this particular place and it's "rules"

boombazookajd

Update for Round 9.

Today was my second attempt, but first real whole hearted go. Round 3 and 5 gave me a few issues but surprisingly, I made it to the boss without much frustration.

The boss, oh boy. First off, Joy's guide mentions that you can fall down willingly off the top...something must have changed because I take 5k fall damage from doing this and 5k fall damage, on top of the soul churn damage, and then compounded by the hits you take from the aoe up top and to quote alcast "you're just F*&^ng dead man".

I eventually nailed down a strategy for burning the boss; drop dots on him when he spawns, then dodge roll his first heavy attack, keep hitting him and follow him to his first teleport spot. It is CRUCIAL that you follow him and interrupt him IMMEDIATELY. Drop dots on him and the healer, then pop ulti when the CG spawns. At that point, it's just about staying alive before you get dead.

I was able to get up top 3 times, the last of which I lasted the longest and was able to almost drop one crystal. However, it's extremely unforgiving up there and one wrong move and "you're just dead".

I can tell this final round is going to take a long time.

boombazookajd

Gave it another shot after a break. Like all previous attempts, I actually got worse on the second time. I really struggled to get back to the boss but once there, I actually saw some progression. Getting to the top wasn't as hard as it had been and I actually managed to get a crystal down.

It's still pretty rough up top. I guess it's just a matter of getting there and practicing.

John_Falstaff

@boombazookajd , I would say, when you get up top, try to keep your health topped off - there is a fall damage when you jump down, but I've noticed it's only dangerous when you're low on health, so if soul churn starts overcoming your incoming healing - don't wait, pop Vigor (if you're stamina) or shields (if magicka) and jump. What kills is the Crematorial Guard waiting below, have to start consistently taking him down. If you still have shield glyph available after you jump down, head straight for it; if you have two or almost two crystals down by that moment, good chances you won't need to go up top again more than once.

Noldornir

There are a few tricks in that but the fall damage is there, here's how i did it (requires much patience it's easily said but hard to do).

When the boss teleports and start his "Necrotic Wave" keep in mind that those are just many projectile cast at you in rapid succession, if u grabbed the defence sigil DONT interrupt him (he'll get damaged since u are reflecting those). Those hits are a lot tho so it's really hard to reflect those back with reflective scales (require like a cast every 2-3 secs and i wouldnt advise it even if it does work).

Usually I swap some skills here tbh to prioritize DPS, these i consider a must: engulfing flame, Elemental Blockade, Eruption, Flames of Oblivion, Ember Claw, Elemental Drain).

At first it's you and the boss, before he spawns i start placing AoE on ground, as soon as the portal where he comes is out he's vulnerable to AoE instant attacks (engulfng Flame on portal debuff boss), as soon as i can target I eledrain+claw (by this time you should roll dodge/block).

He will then teleport and start necrotic wave attack.

This is the hardest part, you have to include in destro ultimate radius the boss AND the healer (the CG will come whatever you are), if this is not possible the healer will try to heal boss and MUST be interrupted. Survive the CG when he's there and heal via ember claw on him/boss. If boss teleports again watch out; he's going to throw another skull at you and you have to dodge (stun+CG fire= instadeath).

Once done you can have respite ignore the healer if still there (or if respawned) and kill Clanfear near portal.

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ADVISED SPEED BUFF NOW

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UPSTAIRS:

head toward one crystal, when u reach it it's about time to roll dodge away (always look toward boss up here).

The first time he does: 1 skull - 1 Comet - 1 Comet - WALL

From the second on it's 1 skull - 1 comet - 1 comet - 1 skull again...


What you want to do imho is NOT destroying crystals, just bring them very low on health, place DPS after rolls/comet avoiding and let them work out.

When wall rotation start leave the crystals (with the DPS there) evaluate it's health and decide if renew some DPS, dont be hasty tho u want to stay here as long as your ulti is not ready at minimum.

SWAP crystal now, start damaging others while u rotate, the best thing u can have is bringing them all 30% then rapidly mash em one after another because the wall rotate faster only if crystals have been broken, by destroying them all in one round you should avoid faster rotating walls.

Depending on DPS you are actually doing you may manage to break them all without coming back down but it's not likely to happen, after 2 crystals are almost broken go back down (the damage you are receiving every second increases). If you are managing DPS the 3rd crystal as well and break one (the first wall after you go up is always slow).

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BACK DOWN: (if you got smashed down but somehow survived or if u willingly got down again it's the same). Remember this whole phase is avoidable if u manage not to fall and can get those crystals in one go. It REALLY helps not to having another CG to deal with, they are the real hassle here not the boss.

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ADVISED HEALING BUFF NOW

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As I told the ultimate REALLY helps in here you will be welcomed by another CG+Clanfear+Boss AoE on Ground. Kill the CG as before (dropping ultimate and including everyone else who's here). This is the second worst phase.

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BACK UP:

Go back up, mash crystals and come back down, boss will be alone, teleports after some sec and start his "necrotic wave".

What I usually do here is grabbing the DEFENCE sigil and NOT interrupting him, I instead just DPS him (but i dont ulti yet).

Summoners will spawn so i get them (ember claw+WoE+eruption kills them snared in a few secs, but in engulfing flame if they really close. Remember they need time to summon even if they reach the center. Another skill that can help out is destructive reach/clench which knocks them back.

Just focus on getting golden ghosts now. After you get the 2nd one grab power sigil, when 3rd ghost spawn another CG comes but both sigils should still be up.

Grab 3rd ghost, power stun and ulti on boss this time you can ignore the CG probably but if you want to be sure get it first (always stay to keep boss and CG near so they'll both get damaged in the whole fight).
Should the boss be getting a ghost drop ulti on him+CG like you did the first time and get rid of that crocodile fast.


With higher DPS you should be able to ignore summoners and just nuke him in the place especially if u didnt interrupted him (he gets a lot of dmg back from necrotic wave+your DPS+your ultimate and he wont do anything else since it's a focused skill). This makes it easier but tbh the worst part are 1 and if you have to come back down since even with low DPS if you get ghosts you can kill the CG before it unstuns.

boombazookajd

@Noldornir wow man thanks for taking the time to help me! I appreciate the tips! I did not know that the wall only speeds up as you kill the crystals.

I figure I have to learn the three stages of the fight and I seem to have a pretty decent understanding of the first phase. I drop my AoE's on the spawn point, hit him with a few attacks, roll dodge, then travel to his teleport spot, interrupt, and drop dots again. The CG spawns and I drop my ulti just as the portal opens because the boss is getting close to teleporting out of my aoe.

I usually ignore the healer if she didn't get caught up in my aoe's. Then I drop the clannfear (The portal doesn't stay in a fixed location so if you drag your feet on this, it will move) near the portal and go up. Then from there I was dps'ing the first crystal next to me, dropping dots on it and trying to break it. Then I tried moving on to the next crystal to the right as the wall starts there, dps'ing that crystal as I move back towards the other remaining one. When the wall breaks, I go back to the crystal I was killing and then finish it off. At that point my strategy was to drop down and then deal with the CG+clannfear, then go back up.

I'm not too scared of the CG's, they are relatively easy to beat, just moving in a small circle around them avoids that massive flame damage.

Speaking of which, does the defense sigil reflect the flame damage back at the CG?

kylewwefan

There was some ol tactics to grab the defense sigil after boss first teleport. Don’t interrupt, let the reflection burn him down real quick so he goes up and you murder the guard real quick.

Upstairs it’s important to keep an eye on boss and block the skull attack. Dodge the meteors. The walls are gonna get faster the longer you’re up there. After 3 walls you should just about have the third totem down. If not, heal up, shield up and walk off the edge. Then work on going back up to finish the totems.

If you used the defense sigil, it’s important to bash the boss interrupt instantly. DPS a little. Collect golden ghosts. Shield up before using the ghost synergy after the third teleport. Kill the guard and boss or just the boss if you think you can.


But no one does that anymore. They save the defense sigil til coming down from crystal phase. Then nuke the boss.

Noldornir

Yeah I also prefer to save the defence for last phase and no, it won't reflect the CG attack but it will reflect the boss "necrotic wave" so when you come back down DO NOT interrupt him and let him slap itself it's also a good moment for dropping ultimate since he's not going anywhere while channeling (after the channels he attacks u some more and only then he TP, the more he channels the more he stays there)..

I manage sigils like this:

1) Speed sigil, i grab this before going up first time, i never need to run and get a lot of recovery bonus very helpful in stamina

2) If I need to go back down during crystal phase or if i'm knocked down by boss by accident i grab health sigil before engaging CG if possible, if he runs on me before i can reach the sigil i just face him, it's a good thing if u learnt how to deal with this guys, i find round 3 to be a very good opportunity since 1 spawn in first wave

3+4) all the others as soon as i get down

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I figure I have to learn the three stages of the fight and I seem to have a pretty decent understanding of the first phase. I drop my AoE's on the spawn point, hit him with a few attacks, roll dodge, then travel to his teleport spot, interrupt, and drop dots again. The CG spawns and I drop my ulti just as the portal opens because the boss is getting close to teleporting out of my aoe.

I usually ignore the healer if she didn't get caught up in my aoe's. Then I drop the clannfear (The portal doesn't stay in a fixed location so if you drag your feet on this, it will move) near the portal and go up.

Very good, u seem to know what to do here very well, good thing to drop destro ulti when u see portal as it takes 2 secs to build up. Also I noticed that mobs in portals ARE vulnerable (try engulfing flame on a portal and u'll see your enemy debuffed as soon as he spawns). You can't target them but the following skills will start damaging him even before u see its ugly face:

Engulfing Flame on a portal
Eruption
Wall Of elements
Any other AoE

You dont even need to wait for portal for ulti tho; place all your ground AoE on boss, the CG is melee and WILL come there regardless of it's spawn point (which also appear to be next to boss). As a DK always keep up burning ember on boss OR cg which gives a big DoT and the chanche to heal you on demand (you can cast it again before it expires, second cast will interrupt first effect giving u healt back for the 70% of damage inflicted. Weaving this skill alone on a WoE CG brings it down pretty easily without the need to circle around him).

As for the portal i'm not 100% sure but i think they are timed and rotate. They DO shift anyway, I think they start "pulsing" faster and faster the closer they are to shift.


You can ignore the healer just interrupt her if she heals boss

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Then from there I was dps'ing the first crystal next to me, dropping dots on it and trying to break it. Then I tried moving on to the next crystal to the right as the wall starts there, dps'ing that crystal as I move back towards the other remaining one. When the wall breaks, I go back to the crystal I was killing and then finish it off. At that point my strategy was to drop down and then deal with the CG+clannfear, then go back up.

You should start closer to the crystal left to u, I usually put these DPS in this order:

While approaching -> Elemental Drain - Flames of Oblivion - Eruption - Wall of Elements

While approaching with a speed sigil you dont need to roll dodge meteors, just keep moving they'll fall FAR behind you (this is also true without the sigil). Just roll dodge skull attacks (block only when getting good at this or if very low on stamina.)

By the time u did this u should be next to crystal so it's time to engulf it in flames and then burning ember.

Boss should call first wall now.

I then move toward the right crystal and DPS it the same way. You might need to adjust yoir position and could manage NOT To put ebers and engulfing flames on second crystal but it's ok even if u dont.

NOTICE: while the first time the boss threw only 1 skull at you he will shoot u twice from now on. It's an easy pattern tho and meteors actually helps you to know when the boss is about to throw a skull, with training you wont need to look at boss to dodge this:

- Skull
- Meteor
- Meteor
- Skull

Boss will call second wall (just as slow as the first one since all 3 crystal are still up) so it's "easy" to do the same again.

Now i head to the only untouched crystal and DPS it.

Here you should check on life, mag, stam, ulti and so on. Remember that you are Dragonknight and ultimates are not just damage tools for us they are great sustain tools so it might be better to go down, face CG+ clanfear (dropping ulti) and then go back up (the damage you receive every second will be reset and it will increase the more time you spend there).

Also go down again if: you accidentaly broke a crystal so that next wall will be slow again (first wall is always slow).

Just remember it's not a piece of cake: you will get fall damage like 3-4k and suffer 1 sec animation, CG will run to you probably breathing and clanfear follows + stun AoE from boss. So shield up and dont jump (you'd get more damage) just "drop" in the middle.

This can be very hard to do cause there are many thing to do and you are hardly going to be forgiven if you mess up. Sometimes you can get even a boss skull and break free BEFORE falling but it's more a luck thing that something u can rely on.

The last part is the same than first, even easier with pwr+def sigils (GET THIS ASAP, defence MUST be picked up before necrotic wave, so it's your priority); ignore boss charge attack drop ulti+timed DPS ASAP instead when u see him channeling

Do not rush and do not spam skills at him, but u should know already since u got this far.

Getting ghosts helps A LOT but it's not a must summoners are more an issue, when u see them place Eruption (for slow) and Wall of Elements on their path then breath fire on em and leave them to rot (you can also do this while chasing ghosts).
Just mind that 3rd wave will have 2 summoners, focus 1 at a time even if one reach the middle it will take time to summon and cant make in time if u prioritize them.


After 3 Ghost it's CG time again but if you super stun you should be able to bring it down (stun it when it's near to boss and can AoE DPS both) you'll most likely kill boss now but if you dont and he's 5% or so there will be no CG to bother you.

If you missed one ghost you'll get another after some time in CG company just dont use this when CG is breathing fire (super stun has a channeling time).

If you missed 2 ghosts you'll likely have to manage without but my first clear was like this because i *** up a lot so it's doable xD

Wish you good luck

boombazookajd

So I spent about 3 hours on the final boss round, probably 2:45 of that on the actual boss. I breezed through the first 5 rounds with like 2 deaths. I got him down to 15% at one point but was so far behind that the bone colossus spawned AND the CG and well, I was duly destroyed.

Across all of my runs, I was able to get up to the crystals quite consistently but my issue now is executing the process in the third part of the fight. In the 5 or 6 times I got to the final part, I think 2 or 3 of them he teleported directly into a gold ghost, leaving me all but screwed.

My problem right now is getting the crystals in one go. I did it a few times but more often than not I am getting knocked down and having to use the defense sigil to fight off the CG and clan fear.

I've got the top understood, I just forget to dodge a skull attack after the wall; I get too focused on the crystal and forget. Then I get whacked with a skull.

I've also been CC'd by the meteors when I'm not even in the circle; I dodge roll out and I wind up kneeling on the ground outside of the circle. It's total BS.

Anyway, I've gotten much better at it. I'm going to look into trying to burn the boss to 70% right off the bat, maybe I can completely skip the first CG entirely.

boombazookajd

I BEAT ITTTTTT!!!!!!!!


AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Omg. 5 1/2 hours total on the final boss between today and yesterday and I finally took him down!

Crazy thing was, I had fallen off the top TWICE! I had to go back up top TWICE!! I had to beat a daedroth and a clan fear twice!

After I went down I was like, ok I can do this. I grabbed the defense sigil and oriented myself to what was going on. The boss even grabbed one of the gold ghosts on me but I dropped my ulti on him and the daedroth, and made sure to grab the very next ghost after killing the daedroth, I hit the spectral explosion and then grabbed the weapon sigil and bam! I dropped him!! There's no better feeling that killing him when he is stunned, like mother*&^%er, your life is in my hands and i'm going to take it from you!

I was duly awarded a Lightning staff for my efforts, which gives me good reason to level my sorc up and gear him for a dual pet build so I can really farm vMA.

Donny_Vito

In case other people read this, and not sure if it was mentioned before or not....

When you portal up top to the 2nd phase: you are constantly taking a DOT from the boss and it increases over time. The longer you stay up there, the more health/shields you'll have to cast to stay alive.

Donny_Vito

Also, when you first portal up the boss throws one skull at you 5 seconds after you enter. He then summons the large AOE that needs to be blocked by the wall. After that, he'll throw skulls two times before the next wall is summoned. It's the same pattern from here on out, except the walls keep moving faster each time.

I sometimes run clockwise or counter-clockwise to get to the wall depending on it's speed/spawn point. This takes a little bit of experience and timing.

pattyLtd

Congrats OP!

ccmedaddy

Congrats! It took me 40+ runs to get my first lightening staff (back when everyone used lightening staff) so I'm pretty jealous haha.

boombazookajd

ccmedaddy wrote: »

Congrats! It took me 40+ runs to get my first lightening staff (back when everyone used lightening staff) so I'm pretty jealous haha.

I think that will be my luck with the fire staff. It's given me good reason to level my sorc who will quite likely be my vma farmer with a dual pet build.

I've gone right back in and took a break at stage 7, I was well worn out by that point and the spider round took enough out of me. I've also started watching videos of the top scores, and man, they melt through this stuff like it was nothing. The best players are completely skipping the first CG on the final boss and going right up top, and then nuking him before the next CG spawns. That's pretty amazing.

I'm sure I will eventually get my fire staff and also a bow. I guess that will have me rerolling my magblade back to a stamblade lol I do miss having a stam toon

Noldornir

Congratulations!

Yeah isn't that feeling amazing? My first time I also f**ked up a lot, but eventually crushed him.

That boss in particular will get very much better (my second time i got it in 1 try) since it's big mechanic!

Nice drop too^^

So glad u have emerged Stormproof

Septimus_Magna

boombazookajd wrote: »

As it stands right now I now sit at 34,642 magicka/12,128 health unbuffed.

Just to be sure, you are running some kind of food/drink buff right?
Most magicka builds run Witchmothers Potent Brew in vMA which is really nice for magicka sustain.

Unbuffed generally means stats without active buffs like major sorcery.
The food/drink buff is a long duration buff that should always be up.

Stage 9 becomes pretty easy when you get used to the timing of the dodge on top. You just have to lay down dots on the crystals and focus on dodging in time. When the wall comes be sure to have some dots on the crystals so they continue to take dmg while you take cover behind the wall. Once you drop down wait for the first teleport and drop your destro ult, after that the boss should be low on health so you can finish the fight quite easily.

boombazookajd

Noldornir wrote: »

Congratulations!

Yeah isn't that feeling amazing? My first time I also f**ked up a lot, but eventually crushed him.

That boss in particular will get very much better (my second time i got it in 1 try) since it's big mechanic!

Nice drop too^^

So glad u have emerged Stormproof

@Noldornir Thanks! Honestly, your breakdown of the final round, especially the crystal phase made it much easier to understand, so thank you!

I liked the drop, I'd have preferred a fire staff but I have a sorc in waiting that is now getting leveled to make use of the staff. I will probably use him to farm the fire staff on a dual pet build.

@Septimus_Magna, yes I use blue food, tristat food, or witch mothers depending on the situation. That unbuffed reference was to just standing around with nothing on me for a baseline reference.

ccmedaddy

boombazookajd wrote: »

The best players are completely skipping the first CG on the final boss and going right up top, and then nuking him before the next CG spawns. That's pretty amazing.

Check out this witchcraft (starting at 0:46):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89vd5kiK294