What reward do you get at the end of the normal arena?

I tried nMA back when I was a low vet level and only got as far as stage 4 (the ice level) before giving up. I recently went back with my CP's in the 400's and it's a doddle. The mechanics on that stage 7 did get me a couple of times (mainly when I needed to go to the healing circle and the boss started his one shot and without a ranged interrupt I couldn't get to him in time.

I completed nMA on my new Templar this weekend, was directed there because of the nice XP you get there when you are running Training on all items and the XP boost scroll. Did also wipe on the poison part but then found out if you kill those argonians in the corners which summon the plants it gets very very easy. Last boss is nuke and get in the shield when he goes bananas.

After that it was all ok only wiped once on last boss, took I while before I figured out that you need to teleport up to kill the stones.

Now i need to go there with my main as I never finished it due to the poison event but now i know how to complete it

Technically, you start feeling the difficulty bump starting at Stage 5.
I guess even normal MA quand be a pain if you don't understand the mechanics of each stage.
Because that is the important thing to know in Maelstrom Arena : the mechanics.
There are no builds, no gear and no potions that will save your bum if you don't understand what is going on.

And yes like @Arundo has mentioned, the Argonian summoners in the corners are priority kills for this stage... You have a few seconds to kill them once they start summoning, otherwise you are dead. When they start summoning, your screen tints greenish.

If that can motivates you to continue... the stage 8 is one of the easiest. (Well, way more easier than stage 3-5-6-7-9 in my opinion, once you have done it once.)

Also, another great guide, can be found here.. (It's for vMA but still explains some tips about certain stage / rounds)

Normal can be beaten naked, without any weapons.
Hilariously easy.

I was the same, but I figured it out and got through the last two pretty easy. I can now do normal without death pretty easily... I think you're doing well for your first shot!! 7 is the hardest.

But the gap between normal and Vet is insane. VMA I'm stuck on the ice stage, stage 5. I think I need better skills and more CP or something because I struggle to stay alive. I watch videos of people doing it and it's like they take no damage and kill everyone so easily. I don't know how they do it!

Stage 7 isn't really that difficult once you get the hang of it...it's similar to stage 5 in that you need to be mindful of the Mage spawning (like the troll does) what's nice about 7 is the room turns green so atleast you have a visual cue if not watching the portals. Just try not to fight by spores then locate and kill the Mage.

Another thing you can do is fight in front of a green circle as spores usually don't AOE directly in front. If you do get hit atleast you're close to cleanse.

Don't fight in the green tho cuz enemies within the green whether the circle is there or not WILL NOT take damage.

Hope this helps a little. Keep at it!

I remember my first time on stage 7; it took me an hour before I just looked up what to do.

On normal mode it isn't too hard once you know what you're doing.


My 1st run on veteran stage 7, I passed the boss with no deaths (on the boss round; I wiped nearly every round because of my resource issues). I was on my Sorcerer, so I Overloaded away. Got to be really close when my Ultimate ran out, and my magicka dropped to 0 after I spammed abilities. The boss and I were in our final moments. One attack from me, and he died, and one attack from him, and I died. I was able to clutch it and kill him. Much adrenaline and excitement.

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Stage 7 is the only place in nMA (maybe last boss too) that should cause someone issues that doesnt know mechanics, as they are still one-shots. I would expect it to take a skilled player brand new to the arena about 1-2.5 hours to clear it the first time. Most things die so fast that you probably didnt even realize 50% of the mechanics were even happening. I actually got stuck on round 6 the first time for like 30 minutes before I figured out how the pillars worked.

FYI, nMA and vMA are night and day. I would get to the point that you are clearing nMA in about 30-40 minutes before you attempt vet. And when you do, come prepared, potions, soul gems, gold for repairs, and a proper build, or you will have a bad day.

Well said.. but make sure to use the Soul Gems only for re-charging your weapon..
Not for reviving, because you will wipe hundreds of time.

When you die, spawn at wayshrine and take those precious few seconds to look back on how you died and adjust your strategy. Maybe your are not prioritizing the right target. Also use that time to re-read a guide or watch a video of someone explaining the mechanics. (Deltia's has good ones)

Totalitarian wrote: »

sluice wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Stage 7 is the only place in nMA (maybe last boss too) that should cause someone issues that doesnt know mechanics, as they are still one-shots. I would expect it to take a skilled player brand new to the arena about 1-2.5 hours to clear it the first time. Most things die so fast that you probably didnt even realize 50% of the mechanics were even happening. I actually got stuck on round 6 the first time for like 30 minutes before I figured out how the pillars worked.

FYI, nMA and vMA are night and day. I would get to the point that you are clearing nMA in about 30-40 minutes before you attempt vet. And when you do, come prepared, potions, soul gems, gold for repairs, and a proper build, or you will have a bad day.

Well said.. but make sure to use the Soul Gems only for re-charging your weapon..
Not for reviving, because you will wipe hundreds of time.

When you die, spawn at wayshrine and take those precious few seconds to look back on how you died and adjust your strategy. Maybe your are not prioritizing the right target. Also use that time to re-read a guide or watch a video of someone explaining the mechanics. (Deltia's has good ones)

On your first few clears, make sure to take plenty of breaks so you don't punch holes in walls, monitors, or computing equipment!

Thankfully, vMA is like giving birth, the more times you do it, the easier it is.

Best tip ever.

I have honestly thrown my controller (at the sofa), at least 3 or 4 times on the last boss alone.
And I was at 1 second to punch my monitor.

A quick exemple of my experience with the last boss in vMA:

• First run: 250+ death (not kidding...)
• Second run: ~20 death (I struggled during the last, aka, easiest phase of the fight because of lack of experience there.)
• Third run: 1 death
• 4th to 9th run: 1 death (by RNG.. bad place at wrong time.)

As much as the learning curve is a painful experiment, it, relatively speaking, doesn't take that much time for you to become very comfortable in that Arena.

Tonight, I will go for my 10th run, and I'm so comfortable in some stages (including the last boss), that I almost feel like I could do it with my eyes closes.

Jazbay_Grape wrote: »

Docmandu wrote: »

aldriq wrote: »

What reward do you get at the end of the normal arena?

A headache and frustration... same as in vet mode.

You get heartache. That's what you get when you're a genius like me who didn't realize he was doing it on regular mode until he opened that chest and got a blue ring of some sort. I left it in there in shame.

LOL

You know what else gives you a heartache?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8jyJIWn0AQ

Yeah, stage 7 is the wall everyone hits. On my first run of nMA, I made it to level 7 without a problem. Pretty much sure that's a common experience.

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Milvan wrote: »

Im very proud of myself that I was able to reach the final boss fight on vet, but I'm totally stuck on those Daedroth Crematorial Guards. Their fire damage cone attacks hurts too much.

They are a bit of a DPS check. You do need to kill them fast. You can also circle around them while attacking in an attempt to stay out of cone. Once you do get hit by fire, the DoT sticks to you until the Crematorial Guard dies. So even if you do not completely avoid fire, the more damage you do before getting hit by it, the closer he will be to dead (and getting rid of DoT). Another option is to collect enough gold ghosts to do the spectral explosion thing. Save that for Crematorial Guards so you can stun them.

Yeah, and I would add that the hardest thing to do in vMA is possibly to take down the Crem Guard with the boss attacking you.

Your primary goal here is to find out how to nuke that guard ASAP, and then bring down the boss to 70% so he teleports up to the crystals.

If by any chance you fall down from the Crystal phase.. then you want to make sure to get a Defensive Sigil and kill the Guard ASAP again, before the clanfear.

Until you find a way to get rid of those Crematorial Guard, you won't be able to accomplish Stage 9, I'm afraid.

-For a Magicka Sorcerer, the answer is OVERLOAD!
-For a Magicka Templar, it's Meteor (preferably hit the guard with the boss, since he spawn right beside the boss) and Sweeeeeps.

I won't speak with any other class, as I haven't adventure them into vMA, yet..

@Milvan, are you able to get up to the crystal phase or you are stuck on the first Crem Guard?