VMA - Theatre of Despair

gamerguy757

So I run through VMA every week to farm Purple/Gold stuff. And I've come to a realization...

DOES ANYONE FIND THEATRE OF DESPAIR (THE LAST STAGE) TO BE ONE OF THE EASIEST STAGES???????

If I were to rate the easiest stage to the hardest stage, this is how I would do it.

Vale of Surreal (Stage 1) EASIEST
Theatre of Despair (Stage 9)
Seth's Flywheel (Stage 4)
Spiral Shadow (Stage 6)
Drome of Toxic Shock (Stage 3)
Seht's Balcony (Stage 2)
Igneous Cistern (Stage 8)
Vault of Umbrage (Stage 7)
Rink of Frozen Blood (Stage 5) HARDEST

Agenericname

Once I figured out the "cadence" and beat it, it doesnt seem like it's hard, just more moving parts. I find it to be one of the more enjoyable stages now.

5 may actually be harder than 7, but 7 is easily the most frustrating to me. I hope who ever designed those mushrooms runs out of coffee creamer on a Monday morning.

El_Borracho

I'm convinced 7 was made by a dev whose girlfriend cheated on him the night before with his best friend and dad.

code65536

That's a common sentiment.

Stage 9 (or rather, the final boss) is initially the most difficult, but once you "learn the dance", it becomes very easy. So it benefits from practice more so than any other part of the arena.

Stage 5, on the other hand, is difficult because of the sheer amount of incoming damage, which is why it doesn't really get any easier with practice.

ccmedaddy

Definitely the most enjoyable part of VMA for me. The machanics are dynamic and engaging enough for me to have fun in it despite having done it gazillion times.

I hate the rest of the arena though.

Donny_Vito

So true. Round 9 is easy now, but it definitely did not start out that way. The last boss gave me so many problems at first, but as other said... once you learn "the dance" it becomes easy to master. On the other hand, Rounds 5 - 7 always give me the most problems when doing my flawless runs due to the sheer amount of RNG involved in them, especially 7.

AndyMac

Round 7 is the hardest for me as well. Round 5 can seem crazy in parts, but you learn to play it. On 7 RNG is a big difficulty factor and there's nothing you can do - just got to hope for the best.

The last round is 100% learn to play really. Once you have it down, it's not a big deal.

Daedric_NB_187

Wouldn't know. Been stuck on five for the last four months. On a long break from that hell.

SirAndy

El_Borracho wrote: »

I'm convinced 7 was made by a dev whose girlfriend cheated on him the night before with his best friend and dad.

Devs don't design levels/maps/stages/dungeons/whatchamacallit ...

Haquor

I feel that once im past stage 7 then ive completed vma.

Shawn_PT

Last boss is where my Flawless runs go to die. Still find it one of the worst if not the worst one for me.

Others that are bad are the poison argonian due to the crap RNG, although once I learned to stop attacking stuff and actually think about how to reduce the chance of RNG screwing me, I've yet to be poisoned by a plant.

The spider one, some of those minibosses hit hard It's easy to lose focus one second looking for the webspinner and getting whacked from behind.

The ice stage, there's one round for sure where there's a ton of ranged damage coming all of a sudden. I've learned to do the whole arena (except the boss round) standing on the third platform with the shield sigil. When I see those ranged hits coming I grab it, spam heals between dodges and try to deal with stuff ASAP.

Those Crem Guards though, I swear. I always find a way to wedge myself between stuff and unable to move. By the time I dodge out of there I'm generally dead.

Colecovision

In a sense, I never figured out the final stage and just cheesed it. Infused ring with fire protection glyph for the win. Until it's easy for me without that cheese, I'm gonna call it a tough stage.

But if I didn't catch a @Joy_Division comment regarding stage 5, I simply never would have finished. I was convinced I was just a patato that needed more damage. Nope, slow down and control the fight. Still hardest stage imo and the only stage I always use sigils on.

I would say stage 6 is hard, but when the shield guy is far from the green poison clense pools and poison shows up under the shield, that's not hard. It's just random insta death, which is bad design imo. Hard and easy needs to involve more than pure luck. I agree with those saying it's the most frustrating. The entire vma requires me to play well to stay alive, so random luck deaths just put my tv at risk of having a controler go right through it.

FrancisCrawford

gamerguy757 wrote: »

So I run through VMA every week to farm Purple/Gold stuff. And I've come to a realization...

DOES ANYONE FIND THEATRE OF DESPAIR (THE LAST STAGE) TO BE ONE OF THE EASIEST STAGES???????

If I were to rate the easiest stage to the hardest stage, this is how I would do it.

Vale of Surreal (Stage 1) EASIEST
Theatre of Despair (Stage 9)
Seth's Flywheel (Stage 4)
Spiral Shadow (Stage 6)
Drome of Toxic Shock (Stage 3)
Seht's Balcony (Stage 2)
Igneous Cistern (Stage 8)
Vault of Umbrage (Stage 7)
Rink of Frozen Blood (Stage 5) HARDEST

What's so hard about Round 8? The amount of DPS you need to do (in a build with VMA survivability, of course)?

Oreyn_Bearclaw

It depends on what you mean by easiest. The hardest part of the arena for a first time clear is unquestionably the last boss IMO. That said, and as others have said, it becomes very simple once you learn it. Stage 5 is probably the most common place for people to hit their first wall in progression.

As an experienced VMA runner, I basically consider an run that isnt flawless to be a bad run. So for me, difficulty is measured by which stages are likely to cause a random and unexpected death.

Stage 7 is probably the hardest by that metric. I wont say 9 is easiest, but it's definitely lower on the list. A mistep on the boss is still death most likely, however. Stage 5 is probably second on the list because of the sheer amount of damage you can take at once. I actually think stage 3 is pretty high on that list because a bad pull by a strangler can kill you in a hurry in the water, same with the last mini boss in stage 8 that can chain at a bad time into her ulti.

MilwaukeeScott

7

Tryxus

It's a scripted battle, like a play. Hence we're in the Theatre of Despair . Iirc, it wasn't even supposed to be the final stage of Maelstrom.

Anyways, the hardest stages for me during my first clear were, surprisingly, not 5 or 7. But 4 & 6

FrancisCrawford

Tryxus wrote: »

It's a scripted battle, like a play. Hence we're in the Theatre of Despair . Iirc, it wasn't even supposed to be the final stage of Maelstrom.

Anyways, the hardest stages for me during my first clear were, surprisingly, not 5 or 7. But 4 & 6

Whereas I found 4 so easy I checked to see whether I was still in vet mode -- and then found 5 so hard I haven't gone back to try to finish my first clear yet.

LadyLethalla

I don't find stage 9 particularly easy but I put that down to Australian potato internet (ie lag). Stages 5 and 7 though, I know if I can't get through those I might as well give up.

Just once... just once I'd like to do a run without lag... but that won't ever happen. Ever.

MissBizz

code65536 wrote: »

That's a common sentiment.

Stage 9 (or rather, the final boss) is initially the most difficult, but once you "learn the dance", it becomes very easy. So it benefits from practice more so than any other part of the arena.

Stage 5, on the other hand, is difficult because of the sheer amount of incoming damage, which is why it doesn't really get any easier with practice.

Stage 5 I feel does get easier. What doesn't get easier is terrible RNG in Stage 7.

MythicaLMeddLer

Just recently beat the arena for my first time a week or so ago..my first play through..the theater of despair..it was by far the most difficult for me to get through..since then..I have beaten the arena another five times..and I now find it one of the more easier but fun stages..the stage that always slows me down on my way through the arena is the ice stage

Mudcrabber

I found 6 a lot harder than 2 or 3. I'm still on stage 7.

Beardimus

Agreed once you can do it its a mild one.

I'm surprised you have 6 so high tho.

In terms of going for flawless I feel 1-4 are way easy. 5 up a gear untill you really learn it, 6 can catch you out, 7 definitely a ***. 8 used to feel very easy but something changed, migt have been my overload Nerf but def felt a bit tougher the last year. And 9 year, hardest first pass, but mellow once known

gamerguy757

Beardimus wrote: »

Agreed once you can do it its a mild one.

I'm surprised you have 6 so high tho.

In terms of going for flawless I feel 1-4 are way easy. 5 up a gear untill you really learn it, 6 can catch you out, 7 definitely a ***. 8 used to feel very easy but something changed, migt have been my overload Nerf but def felt a bit tougher the last year. And 9 year, hardest first pass, but mellow once known

I have 6 higher bc the mechanics aren’t very difficult. Plus the enemies really don’t hit very hard and easy to survive a mistake and comeback.
8 is hard because of how spread out everything is plus the lurcher backhand hits crazy hard. Then the incoming damage from the other mini bosses are insane. I always die on the second to last one.
Stage 5 can rot in a sack

kylewwefan

I would go.

1
2
3
4
6
8
9
7
5

The 9th round is a pain to me because it’s so long and has enough mechanics I start losing focus. 5th round hard mechanics must be obeyed and 7 just because of RNG.

gepe87

Yeah theatre of despair is easy as long you learn to endure on upper level and realise how important are golden ghosts. For me is vault umbrage: Those archers make me mad. Spiral Shadow is sooooo fun.

emilyhyoyeon

I only play and only ever played VMA using a stamina nightblade and stage 9 is one of the easier ones for me, but it was the only stage I got stuck on for more than 10min the first time I did VMA so I always psych myself out when it comes up. So idk if it's actually easy for me.
but I also think stage 7 is easier than 9 by far. The mushrooms are easy to avoid 99% of the time even when I play on EU from NA and I burst adds down quickly. The boss fight is super straightforward and fast enough that I don't need to worry about sustain.

Lady_Sleepless

Rink is one of the easiest for me because you control the stage/progress. All stages have their quirks but once you get a grasp on them it's rather simple.

spartaxoxo

gamerguy757 wrote: »

So I run through VMA every week to farm Purple/Gold stuff. And I've come to a realization...

DOES ANYONE FIND THEATRE OF DESPAIR (THE LAST STAGE) TO BE ONE OF THE EASIEST STAGES???????

If I were to rate the easiest stage to the hardest stage, this is how I would do it.

Vale of Surreal (Stage 1) EASIEST
Theatre of Despair (Stage 9)
Seth's Flywheel (Stage 4)
Spiral Shadow (Stage 6)
Drome of Toxic Shock (Stage 3)
Seht's Balcony (Stage 2)
Igneous Cistern (Stage 8)
Vault of Umbrage (Stage 7)
Rink of Frozen Blood (Stage 5) HARDEST

For me its

Vale of Surreal (1) Easiest
Seht's Balcony (2)
Seht's flywheel (4)
Spiral Shadow (6)
Rink of Frozen Blood (5)
Igneous Cistern (8)
Drome of Toxic Shock (3)
Theater of Despair (9)
Vault of Umbrage (7) Hardest

spartaxoxo

Lady_Sleepless wrote: »

Rink is one of the easiest for me because you control the stage/progress. All stages have their quirks but once you get a grasp on them it's rather simple.

Yeah you just need target priority. I wouldn't say it's the easiest just because of the sheer damage, and because any lag can completely screw you more than most stages, but it's a very controllable battle.

Uviryth

Hardest parts for me are the Spiderboss that poops webs at those safezones, and the endboss. In fact, as of this day I´ve never beaten the endboss. I cant get the hang of the running around on his platform.

fred4

I disagree. What's so hard about stage 5? The earlier rounds or the final boss? There are some parts in the earlier rounds where the mobs spawn think and fast. It's a question of having enough damage and staying on top of them. The boss round, though, is entirely predictable:

90% Two adds
75% First island destroyed
60% More adds. Make sure you got rid of the Neried before them.
45% Second island destroyed

If you want to be safe at that point, take the two sigils on the final island and burn. The pacing of that fight is entirely up to you. Heavy attack and make sure you are at full resources at each of the above percentages and you shouldn't have a problem.

I should say I mostly play vMA as a magicka templar. Make of that what you will. Sweeps is great against mobs, as long as you don't get CCd, but I don't use a ranged interrupt. I have to run after the trolls and mobs that stay on the ice can be a problem. The thing that is most likely to kill me in this stage is when the targeting flakes out and I can't bash the troll in the middle of a bunch of mobs. I've had a clear view of him, yet sometimes the targeting still flakes out.

I'd rank the stages as follows:

Stages 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 = Easy (in so far as vMA is ever easy)
Stage 5 = Moderate
Stage 6 and 9 = Intricate, but fair.
Stage 7 is just nasty for randomly screwing you.

If you have problems with the snares in stage 3, run Forward Momentum.