Help with veteran Maelstrom Arena - final stage

Maruchim

Hi ! Sorry in advance for my poor english here I go:

The thing is this is my first time at Maelstrom so far, i have read tons of guides and saw many videos, but all of them haven't work at all with my attempts to finish this I have been stuck in that stage since 3 weeks ago T.T)
I'm a breton magsorc with vampire stage 2 and Seducer/Mother's sorrow/Zaan. I have a Siroria set too (the normal one) but many people told me that julianos/seducer is best in terms of sustain so i don't use it. I also have grothdarr and ilambris that i could use, too.

I have learned with many attempts how to get to the final round with no much trouble (using sigils of course), BUT in final stage i die mostly for 2 reasons (besides not knowing too much about mechanics): 1.- crematorium guards fire attacks damages me a lot, and 2.- in platform part sometimes the wall is not there and i receive all damage I got to final stage before the new patch, so I used hardened ward with no problem BUT now with the murkmire patch my shields were nerfed I see no difference in using harness magicka or hardened ward in terms of defense (but i'm an average player and i'm not the testing one )

is there a tip to get improve my chances to beat it (apart from mechanics)? I mean, like enchanting changes or champion points or more appropiate set?
Thank you in advance ^0^

Camb0Sl1ce

Ive heard some people using the ice heart monster set for the extra shield it gives you, could try it.

dpencil1

Key to fighting the Crematorium is to kite him in a tight circle and kill him as fast as possible. Don't run from him after he
breathes fire on you, you'll continue to have a burning dot until he dies anyway.

At the crystals, kill the close one , then after the second skull is thrown, run to wherever the wall appears and hug it. You can do some damage to both remaining crystals as you pass by them. Finish off the second crystal after the wall is destroyed, then if you're dps is high enough you can destroy the 3rd one before the next explosion, but if you can't, chase the wall again and only worry about doing damage when you're close to the crystal.

I'll assume you haven't made it to the last part of the fight, so I'll just warn you now, as soon as you get blown off the top after destroying the 3rd crystal, you need to be ready to interrupt the boss from doing his channel attack. Then focus on getting the 3 gold ghosts while dosing him down. Use the ghost explosion right as the new Crematorium spawns in.

I would personally run Grothdarr in vMA. I think you get the best return out of it there since so many mobs swarm close to you, but Iceheart is certainly a good defensive alternative. You can also slot a psijic skill for the extra shield while blocking.

Good luck. It took me a few weeks to beat the final boss my first time. A few months later I had the flawless conquerer title. Learning the dance is the hardest part.

BuddyAces

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/381682/joys-new-and-improved-guide-to-beating-maelstrom-arena/p1

You're welcome

Maruchim

thank you all!! i'm definitely gonna try with Iceheart and Grothdarr and other useful tips ^^ and also I have read at least 10 times that Joy's guide, it was extremely useful .. until final stage haha, but thank you anyway

the circle around crematorium guards is a thing i already do, but with other 2-3 mobs hitting me it's a hard thing to do, but i'm not gonna give up (:

John_Falstaff

Yup, Iceheart is a great helm, useful even to stamina (I used it while running vMA on stamina DK).

Complementing answer from @dpencil1 , I'd say that you shouldn't chase the wall, especially second and subsequent walls - they move too fast, so instead move counter-clockwise to meet them. Keep DoTs on crystals and damage the closest one. As for last part of the fight, you may find that you don't have resources to interrupt the boss; I'd say you should leave the shield sigil intact for that phase - once third phase starts, grab the shield sigil at once, it will reflect the projectiles. In such case, be sure not to interrupt him, because he'll be smacking himself for considerable damage while you have shield sigil active.

montjie

Maruchim wrote: »

is there a tip to get improve my chances to beat it (apart from mechanics)? I mean, like enchanting changes or champion points or more appropiate set?
Thank you in advance ^0^

To answer this question we kinda have to know more about your build, at what CP level youre at and stuff like that. But I would really recommend sets like skoria or ilambris as they do good range damage. This is especially helpful during the crystal phase.

Since you can reach the final round I would suggest you try to skip the first phase completely by saving up ur most bursty ult in the previous round. As soon as the boss spawns in the final round u unload everything on him. Pre-apply your dots too so they already do damage while the boss is still getting through the portal.

If you can burn the boss fast enough you will skip the Crem guard spawn. If needed you can do some heavy attacks on the clanfear before using the portal to go to the crystals.
Try to hit 2 crystals at the same time, have a dot on one while focusing your main dps on the other. This way when youre done with one the other is already damaged, saving you some time in general.

Make sure to let your dots take out the last crystal so you can drop down yourself instead of getting blasted off. This gives you more time to prepare for the endphase. Buff up and if planning on using the shield sigil position yourself there and again depending on dps you can focus bossand burn (wait until he teleports to go full dps tho) or you can focus the adds if you think your dps is lacking. But at all times make it a priority to catch every gold ghost Because a crem guard will spawn again if the fight lasts long enough so you can get rid of it easily with the ghost stun.

BNOC

Apart from sigils and what others have suggested - I'd simply cure yourself of vampirism to get this done.

This round is heavy on fire damage and on your first go I imagine you're going to have 2/3/4 crem guards to deal with - With the 2/3/4th possibly accompanied by other adds.

Save the defence sigil until you fall down (trying to do crystals and get hit as you're not behind the wall) or even better, for when you've done the crystals and are about to start the last phase (That allows you too collect the first ghost or so in peace and get yourself set up and ready for the boss)

Goodluck

Noldornir

To begin with, get ur vamp level to 3, not for; due to passives you get some more extra fire damage but you get much more resistances back when/if your health drops low (need passive unnatural resistance). In overall i found out (both tanking and DPSing that level 4 is just the best).

Stop thinking gear, setup ultimates or something else is kiling you, you can do it with any sets you listed (i'd rather ilambris or Valkyn in that stage since those can help in nuking crystals while zaan/groth requires to be close to it).

Crematorial Guards are the biggest issue in the whole stage, they will scare you off cause u know they hurt real bad but they become the easiest part once u get the hang of em:

1) they do breath fire which will also put a nasty DoT onb you, the more they live the worst this damage will get so u can't take it easy on em

Preferable way to handle them is to unleash a Destro ultimate on their head of course but, should that not be ready, do like this:

When they spawn you have a few seconds before they'll start breathing fire at you, use these to use power surge drop down all your AOE (liquid lighting, elemental blockade etc.) and any DoT u have, when they start breathing do this rotation:

LA - Harness Magicka - LA - Harness Magicka - LA - Harness magicka

Between this and AoE on ground they'll die without ever touching your health. DO NOT run away from fire, it's pointless and u cant heal/shield while doing that.

If u discover u survive real good u can put another skill in the rotation.

I recomend going up with the speed sigil first time, you'll most likely wont need to come back down again and can just walk outta AoE

Tri-stat potion and food also helps a lot (i use witchmother usually but switch for this level)

---

Upstairs:

You will ALWAYS receive damage in there regardless of phase, u start when u teleport (little damage each second which increase with passing of time. So you dont want to stay there a lot, if u start getting too much punishment go back down (using the inner hole or u'll get in the lava) and when you'll be back the damage will be low again. Being behind a wall only guards you against the "i'll push u down again" attack but will not shield you from the "normal" damage u get just by being up there. I highly recomend going down again with a full ultimate too since there will be a CG down below with a Clanfear too (plus boss AoE ground attacks). If u dont have a ulti use the healing sigil which will help a lot.

Boss Rotation: he'll throw 1 skull then 2 meteors than wall phase, second time there will be 2 skulls, 2 meteor than wall phase. All the other time the latter rotation will repeat (2 skulls - 2 meteors - wall phase).

About walls: you dont want those to rotate faster and faster do you? DO NOT break the crystals then, the speed increases ONLY when u destroy crystals so it's much better to drop all crystal health low to 10-15% then execute em all togheter (u'll always have a slow wall this way)

When you get down again grab the defence sigil, boss will start his "necrotic wave" attack, u usually interrupt this but this time don't (all his hits will be reflected resultin in masive damage to the boss and you can DPS freely while he's busy). After that he'll teleport and after a while CG will spawn, ultimate time again with good DPS you won't even need ghosts

Maruchim

wow, thank you all !! i'm gonna try all of these useful tips

btw this is my build, with witchmother food on:



I know i'm high level so I shouldn't struggle with this kind of things, but I reached that CP lvl only questing

John_Falstaff

@Maruchim , it's a good build, but (keeping in mind that I'm not among the tops), I'd say that, for one, try to track your Siroria uptime during vMA (say, using Combat Metrics) - it has a lot of movement, so it may be hard to stay in the circle. If you'll see that uptime isn't good (it might not be), you can consider using BSW in place of Siroria.

idk

Some great advice in here, and good job for the OP. Almost there.

I do not know if it has been said, but if you are running low on stam in there maybe try using tri-stat pots. That also helps some with health as well.

Jaimeh

For the crematorial guard in the start, it's better to have your ultimate up when he spawns (bonus: if you use negate, his fire breath will stop, otherwise you can just use the destro ulti and burn him), just be mindful of the boss' skull attack when you fight the crem guard, so that you don't get knocked back. If the healer is still alive when the boss goes up, kill him before going up, because he can be problematic afterwards. Get the haste sigil (and the heal sigil if you can) before going upstairs, they help a lot with regen, healing, and mobility. When you go up, start with the crystal sort of to your left, and then move counterclockwise so that you meet the wall, instead of running to it. For the first and second wall, they will reach you anyway, and you don't have to chase so much. When you come back down, grab the defensive sigil, and when the boss does his beaming attack, just let him, it will all be reflected back at him. Now the most important thing is to get the ghosts; if you can't burn the boss then play it safe, grab the ghosts, and use the explosion when the crem guard has spawned (and has preferably moved next to the boss, so you can kill two birds with one stone). The ghosts will either be behind or in front of your field of vision, so always be mindful of them. If you follow this approach, then also make sure to kill the summoner, as you want to avoid having the skeleton popping up. Build-wise, I would suggest getting a little bit more health, until you get comfortable with the mechanics, it will help a lot. Also, you can use the Lover mundus in there, to help with the mobs' resistances, and slot elemental drain, if you're not already using it (also, though it's expensive and not necessary, you can use an oblivion glyph in stages 1,6,8,9 for extra damage to the daedra in these--not necessary but good to know in any case). You will get there, it just takes patience and practice! Best of luck!

md3788

dpencil1 wrote: »

Key to fighting the Crematorium is to kite him in a tight circle and kill him as fast as possible. Don't run from him after he
breathes fire on you, you'll continue to have a burning dot until he dies anyway.

At the crystals, kill the close one , then after the second skull is thrown, run to wherever the wall appears and hug it. You can do some damage to both remaining crystals as you pass by them. Finish off the second crystal after the wall is destroyed, then if you're dps is high enough you can destroy the 3rd one before the next explosion, but if you can't, chase the wall again and only worry about doing damage when you're close to the crystal.

I'll assume you haven't made it to the last part of the fight, so I'll just warn you now, as soon as you get blown off the top after destroying the 3rd crystal, you need to be ready to interrupt the boss from doing his channel attack. Then focus on getting the 3 gold ghosts while dosing him down. Use the ghost explosion right as the new Crematorium spawns in.

I would personally run Grothdarr in vMA. I think you get the best return out of it there since so many mobs swarm close to you, but Iceheart is certainly a good defensive alternative. You can also slot a psijic skill for the extra shield while blocking.

Good luck. It took me a few weeks to beat the final boss my first time. A few months later I had the flawless conquerer title. Learning the dance is the hardest part.

To add to this, once you have the last crystal at 1-2% and you have your final DOT on it drop down in the center. That way you won't get blown off into the lava and you have a second or two extra to grab sigils. Ignore all mobs and focus the boss and get the gold ghosts

SirLeeMinion

There's a lot of good advice above. Some things I have personally noticed that may differ: I bring vamp up to stage 1 for the last round. That plus Harness Magicka make the Crematorial guard survivable. The magicka return morph of that shield skill seems preferable. I also save the ultimate for up top and drop it on the second crystal; destro staff ultimate seems to work well (mages ultimate seems worse, not sure why) Spell power or spell crit potions plus the prismatic onslaught glyph give a DPS edge that makes a real difference - enough to reliably nuke the starting Crem guard without using an ultimate. Oddly, after dying many times from fall damage, I now jump down into the lava rather than into the center. Good luck!

Protossyder

SirLeeMinion wrote: »

There's a lot of good advice above. Some things I have personally noticed that may differ: I bring vamp up to stage 1 for the last round. That plus Harness Magicka make the Crematorial guard survivable. The magicka return morph of that shield skill seems preferable. I also save the ultimate for up top and drop it on the second crystal; destro staff ultimate seems to work well (mages ultimate seems worse, not sure why) Spell power or spell crit potions plus the prismatic onslaught glyph give a DPS edge that makes a real difference - enough to reliably nuke the starting Crem guard without using an ultimate. Oddly, after dying many times from fall damage, I now jump down into the lava rather than into the center. Good luck!

Or you just nuke the boss to the 70% (or was it 60%?) hp that are needed to prevent any add from spawning.. ^^'

SirLeeMinion

Protossyder wrote: »

Or you just nuke the boss to the 70% (or was it 60%?) hp that are needed to prevent any add from spawning.. ^^'

I do that on my stam characters but can't quite manage it on my Magsorc without using the ultimate. As a result, with sorc I throttle back DPS just a bit to avoid hitting the 70% a few seconds after the Crem. guard spawns. Otherwise the first clannfear tends to die with the guard in the wrong place or I die trying to get both the guard and the clannfear to the right place.

Protossyder

SirLeeMinion wrote: »

Protossyder wrote: »

Or you just nuke the boss to the 70% (or was it 60%?) hp that are needed to prevent any add from spawning.. ^^'

I do that on my stam characters but can't quite manage it on my Magsorc without using the ultimate. As a result, with sorc I throttle back DPS just a bit to avoid hitting the 70% a few seconds after the Crem. guard spawns. Otherwise the first clannfear tends to die with the guard in the wrong place or I die trying to get both the guard and the clannfear to the right place.

Then use the ultimate? ^^'
Also, having surge up while damaging the guard and pulling a shield/block should bring you easily through the flameattack.

Maruchim

Thank you all for your kind tips! ^o^

I just wanted to tell you that I'm stormproof I used the power sigil at the beggining, and after crystal phase I used the shield sigil. I used grothdarr/julianos/mother sorrow, but like you all well said, the thing is learning the dance. Thank you again! ^^

John_Falstaff

@Maruchim , congratulations! ^^ Now it'll be much easier for you. ^^

Mureel

Maruchim wrote: »

thank you all!! i'm definitely gonna try with Iceheart and Grothdarr and other useful tips ^^ and also I have read at least 10 times that Joy's guide, it was extremely useful .. until final stage haha, but thank you anyway

the circle around crematorium guards is a thing i already do, but with other 2-3 mobs hitting me it's a hard thing to do, but i'm not gonna give up (:

GZ for getting this far, hunny!