Which Arena in Veteran Maelstrom Arena is the most difficult to complete?

taugrim

As I just started in MA / VMA this week, I wanted to resurrect an old poll and hear your thoughts.

rrimöykk

Poison as it is purely based on rng.

Cundu_Ertur

I dunno the names of them, sheesh. The one with the poison mushrooms that pop up everywhere and the boss is the angry crocodile guy with halitosis. You know the one I mean.

Djennku

The hardest ones I have bashed my head against the most are the Rink of Frozen Blood, Vault of Umbridge, and Theater of Despair, but I hate Umbridge the most.

Rudrani

From 5 on it’s tough for first timers. (8 is easier). I think 7 is the hardest to do no death.

SydneyGrey

I had to look up which names were which because I couldn't remember. Here's a guide for people who can't remember:
https://alcasthq.com/eso-maelstrom-guide/

The Argonian Behemoth one, definitely (The Vault of Umbrage). I always have trouble with that one.

Cundu_Ertur

Vault of Umbridge makes me think of Harry Potter for some reason.

Casul

5 or 7. 5 when you start, 7 when you need flawless.

Lord-Otto

I think Voriak Solkyn demands the most mechanical finesse from you. There are a lot of mechanics, a lot of adds and it's a long fight.
Umbrage is just BS RNG, it's not mechanically hard.
Frozen Blood is mechanically harder than Umbrage, I think. And it punishes you for too high dps. *facepalm* Its saving grace, which makes it less annoying than Umbrage, is that there's just no RNG.

tsaescishoeshiner

rrimöykk wrote: »

Poison as it is purely based on rng.

I've never understood why people say this? I've always found it really doable to avoid the mushrooms or to cleanse. I have a strategy of running towards them to "pop" them early and fighting in the same clear space the whole fight. It was certainly difficult the first time around, about the same as Rink of Frozen Blood was, but not as hard as the final stage boss fight was.

Then I learned from watching a video of someone running vMA to fight NEAR the cleansing pools so that you can have little bath in case you step on a mushroom. If I get 1 death per run, it's more likely to be on Frozen Blood or from the Dragonknight Standard -> chain combo in the lava stage

sekou_trayvond

For first timers? 5. Stage 5 will have you question your sanity until you figure out the rhythm of the fight.

Seven is not fun either, but somehow, if I'm doing the mechanics but the poison rng gets me, I'm kinda okay with the place.

But first time? At the end of the day, Boss round of the final stage will drive you mad til you figure out all the intricacies of boss interrupt, crem guards, crystals, ghosts, etc etc

Lord-Otto

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

rrimöykk wrote: »

Poison as it is purely based on rng.

I've never understood why people say this? I've always found it really doable to avoid the mushrooms or to cleanse. I have a strategy of running towards them to "pop" them early and fighting in the same clear space the whole fight. It was certainly difficult the first time around, about the same as Rink of Frozen Blood was, but not as hard as the final stage boss fight was.

Then I learned from watching a video of someone running vMA to fight NEAR the cleansing pools so that you can have little bath in case you step on a mushroom. If I get 1 death per run, it's more likely to be on Frozen Blood or from the Dragonknight Standard -> chain combo in the lava stage

A mushroom can grow inside your mender bubble or the menders can teleport onto one. In that case there's nothing you can do, you WILL die from the mushroom poison or the scream.

tsaescishoeshiner

Lord-Otto wrote: »

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

rrimöykk wrote: »

Poison as it is purely based on rng.

I've never understood why people say this? I've always found it really doable to avoid the mushrooms or to cleanse. I have a strategy of running towards them to "pop" them early and fighting in the same clear space the whole fight. It was certainly difficult the first time around, about the same as Rink of Frozen Blood was, but not as hard as the final stage boss fight was.

Then I learned from watching a video of someone running vMA to fight NEAR the cleansing pools so that you can have little bath in case you step on a mushroom. If I get 1 death per run, it's more likely to be on Frozen Blood or from the Dragonknight Standard -> chain combo in the lava stage

A mushroom can grow inside your mender bubble or the menders can teleport onto one. In that case there's nothing you can do, you WILL die from the mushroom poison or the scream.

F

That sounds maddening, even though it wouldn't happen every time. Not sure if I've had it happen before. I think the mushroom AoE is as big as the mender bubble, no? It might be smaller?

Astrid

Jacked up Behemoth round grinds my gears everytime.

Lord-Otto

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Lord-Otto wrote: »

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

rrimöykk wrote: »

Poison as it is purely based on rng.

I've never understood why people say this? I've always found it really doable to avoid the mushrooms or to cleanse. I have a strategy of running towards them to "pop" them early and fighting in the same clear space the whole fight. It was certainly difficult the first time around, about the same as Rink of Frozen Blood was, but not as hard as the final stage boss fight was.

Then I learned from watching a video of someone running vMA to fight NEAR the cleansing pools so that you can have little bath in case you step on a mushroom. If I get 1 death per run, it's more likely to be on Frozen Blood or from the Dragonknight Standard -> chain combo in the lava stage

A mushroom can grow inside your mender bubble or the menders can teleport onto one. In that case there's nothing you can do, you WILL die from the mushroom poison or the scream.

F

That sounds maddening, even though it wouldn't happen every time. Not sure if I've had it happen before. I think the mushroom AoE is as big as the mender bubble, no? It might be smaller?

It's as big. Technically smaller, but your hitbox will touch it. And it happens a lot more often than you'd think. In fact, I have concluded that the best way to survive this round is to nuke the behemoth down before it can scream.

CaffeinatedMayhem

Umbrage, because successful completion has a lot to do with RNG (where the mushrooms spawn)

Tho, Frozen blood is the most technically difficult for me, other than the *&#^$% Crematorial guard (NO THAT FIRE DIDN'T HIT ME WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M DEAD)

Lord-Otto

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

Umbrage, because successful completion has a lot to do with RNG (where the mushrooms spawn)

Tho, Frozen blood is the most technically difficult for me, other than the *&#^$% Cermatorial guard (NO THAT FIRE DIDN"T HIT ME WHAT DO YOU MEAN I"M DEAD)

Circle around it or stun it with spectral explosion or kill it on spawn. Preferrably all three at once. Wear asbestos trunks.

idk

It is a toss between poison and ice arena. Poison due to the chance of getting a shroom under the shield and ice because I sometimes push boss to fast which is a personal issue of focus.

Ironically the final arena is one of the easier once one gets the pattern down.

Vevvev

While the poison is RNG based I just stand in the sand at the center and don't move a whole lot. It ends with me clearing it with ease, but the Rink of Frozen blood is a DPS race. Nereids have to die, adds have to be burned down, and the Matriarch is constantly whittling down your available space. The cold water also does exponential damage the longer you stay in it so the whole thing is a race against time.

spartaxoxo

Poison for sure. All of the others can be hard for first timers but even experienced people will die to the mushrooms a lot on their quest to flawless. It's brutal.

mairwen85

5 catches a lot of people for a good while, constantly overwhelmed until they learn the flow of it. Umbridge (7) isn't really difficult, just some nasty rng. I personally think theatre of dispair is the most technically demanding fight, especially in the fatigue of all previous stages. That said, after a few successful runs, none of it really poses much difficulty as you begin to learn and memorise the spawns, mechanics, and muscle memory starts kicking in. VMA is a classic example of something that is only hard until it isn't.

Thechuckage

Lord-Otto wrote: »

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

rrimöykk wrote: »

Poison as it is purely based on rng.

I've never understood why people say this? I've always found it really doable to avoid the mushrooms or to cleanse. I have a strategy of running towards them to "pop" them early and fighting in the same clear space the whole fight. It was certainly difficult the first time around, about the same as Rink of Frozen Blood was, but not as hard as the final stage boss fight was.

Then I learned from watching a video of someone running vMA to fight NEAR the cleansing pools so that you can have little bath in case you step on a mushroom. If I get 1 death per run, it's more likely to be on Frozen Blood or from the Dragonknight Standard -> chain combo in the lava stage

A mushroom can grow inside your mender bubble or the menders can teleport onto one. In that case there's nothing you can do, you WILL die from the mushroom poison or the scream.

Had that exact scenario happen, and until that point a flawless run. Then came the MA weapon changes and normal farm is good enough.

Joy_Division

The poll says most "difficult," not most "annoying" or "RNG ruined my no death run."

Stage 7 is easier than 5,6,8, and 9. The only difficult mob pull is in the final round with the 3 archers that can be easily neutralized by the shield sigil. The only threatening thing the final boss can do is scream when a plant just happens to be next to the shield add.

Stage 5 is (or more accurately was back in 300 CP) very difficult for a person who has not completed this as every round past the first forces the player to deal with multiple high damaging adds in deadly terrain. Stage 6's Boss made people quit the game. These are much higher hurdles for a complete.

Back in the days of low CP, nothing came close to stage 9 and the crematorium guards, when we did not have enough DPS to skip that mechanic.

MaddPowered

there is absolutely 0 rng involved in doing vMA, anyone who says that just dont know how to do it.

jm42

can't remember name so mb missvoted but poisonous lizards are pain in the arse

Jaimeh

It depends on whether you are familiar with vMA or not... I think when you first clear it 9 is the hardest, and afterwards 5/7 become the hardest.

gatekeeper13

Umbrage, because surviving the Arena is 90% of the time pure RNG.

notyuu

between the 1 shot wamasu and the rng mushrooms of "you loose" it's not much of a question

Varana

In my experience, you'll bang your head for a good while on the Frost arena (Rink of Frozen Blood) until you figure it out and stop doing damage.

The Poison arena (Vault of Umbrage) is hard to survive reliably because of the RNG and several one-shots but for pure completion, it doesn't stand out that much compared to the Spider or the Final one.

I find the Fire arena (Igneous Cistern, the penultimate one) to be one of the easiest.

The Final one is a load of stuff in a long fight. Imho, it comes second after the Frost one.

Lord-Otto

Joy_Division wrote: »

The poll says most "difficult," not most "annoying" or "RNG ruined my no death run."

Stage 7 is easier than 5,6,8, and 9. The only difficult mob pull is in the final round with the 3 archers that can be easily neutralized by the shield sigil. The only threatening thing the final boss can do is scream when a plant just happens to be next to the shield add.

Stage 5 is (or more accurately was back in 300 CP) very difficult for a person who has not completed this as every round past the first forces the player to deal with multiple high damaging adds in deadly terrain. Stage 6's Boss made people quit the game. These are much higher hurdles for a complete.

Back in the days of low CP, nothing came close to stage 9 and the crematorium guards, when we did not have enough DPS to skip that mechanic.

The spider made people quit? Really? Why? (o_0)
Crema wasn't too bad back then. You would just overload them down, no need to shatter all three crystals in one go.

gepe87

The last is tricky but its very funny once you know the mechs.