vMA for Dummies

amasuriel · February 2017

I finished vMA for the first time last night, so I thought I would collect a few thoughts and tips for anyone who is still working on their first complete, or thinking about making the attempt.

A couple non-round specific notes in no particular order:

I have no idea how stam chars do this, so many places are so much easier with range. I don't play any stam DPS, so if you are looking for tips on how to be a total masochist and do vMA with a stam character, look somewhere else
Yes you probably can complete it on low CP, but it will be so much harder. Another breed of masochist I would say. If you can beat vMA at CP 160 you don't need this guide, you don't need any guide. Go back to your supersoldier program and leave us normals alone. I completed at 480 CP FYI.
If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc
Reinforcing above, definitely do on normal a few times to help learn mechanics. Watching a video != learning mechanics, it's good to be prepared in advance, but doing is better than watching, and normal is 10x easier than vet at least, so anyone should be able to complete it and practice
Probably you will need different gear / CP. Unless you are omgwffbbq amazing ESO machine, your regular DPS build will be too fragile until you know all the mechanics and spawns in your sleep. You need more survivability
You know how one line ago I said you need more survivability? Well you need more DPS :P Not really compared to DPS for vet trials etc, but you need to pull about 15k DPS even after making some sacrifices for survival and sustain. Probably some droid will reply that he did a flawless run on his healer tank doing 2k DPS and L2P, but there are many places that are super impossible pretty dang tough if you don't pull ~15k or so
Use the sigils. I am one of those people who started out treating them like potions (aka never use unless desperate), but they are super powerful, and all 4 refresh every wave of every round, so except for the final boss waves you can be rocking a sigil pretty much non stop. Since if you are reading this, you are very far away from caring about the score you get, use them freely.

Lots of full round guides, so I'm not going to do into a lot of detail except for specific tips I didn't see or were less obvious to me

Some round specific tips:
Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

Round 6 - Stupid Spiders. The guides all say to make sure you keep the obelisks clear by killing the spiders that web and using the haorvers to clear them, but seriously this fight will either be easy or hard depending on whether you do that. The final boss gets stronger the less clear obelisks there are. One other tip is that if you kill the Haorver close enough to an webbed obelisk, you don't need to run over and throw the grenade, it will automatically clear it

Round 7 - http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/10/06/maelstrom-arena-guide/#7 doesn't even mention that if you interrupt the final boss channel attack, his melee attacks to silly damage after. Don't use this guide at all frankly, even though it's high in the search results. Kill one minder, the other will cast a dome. Run INTO the dome and get 10 free seconds of DPS on the boss while he channels. I died like 30 times on this boss before reading this

Final Round - You will die a lot, don't get discouraged and remember you can always leave and come back later, the waves will be reset at the start, but you will still be on the final round.

The videos show it, but the text guides don't. If you run in a tight circle around the crematorial gaurds you can avoid most of the damage from the flame breath. This is hard to do if the guard is tight with the boss / healers so as nice as an idea as it seams to lay down some AOE, I find it easier to fight the guard a little away so I only need to dodge ghosts and go in a circle
Probably 30% of winning this phase is about learning when to dodge the damn skulls, they do a lot and knock you down, and if you are fighting a guard at the time you will die
Respec your destro staff to crushing shock so you have a ranged interrupt for the boss, the healers etc. If you don't you are a crazy person, and should probably go back to whispering nonsense to you collection of dolls with no eyes
Of the 3 phases, the third is the easiest. You have to practice getting the gold ghosts, because its bad when the boss gets them and good when you do, so if you get them it's pretty easy, and if you don't you will probably die. The only real reason phase 3 is hard is because phase 1 and 2 are hard, so usually by the time you get there you are amped up from 5 minutes of frantic fighting and will make some dumb mistake and die.
I like to save my ultimate for the crystals. It's really advantageous to kill the crystals in 1 or 2 trips up, because every trip down you have to fight at least 1 Crem guard and a clannfear, and every crem guard you are one mistake from death. I cannot kill them in 1 trip, but if I save my ultimate I can do it in 2 usually, it's much better.
You 100% do not need all the sigils for phase 3 (see above). Having 1 or 2 is nice (especially haste to help catch ghosts), but don't be shy about using them in phase 1 and 2
If you cannot kill all the crystals in 1 go, make sure you shield before you get knocked down. I know ideally you can actually roll down into the middle yourself before the explosion, but I don't have the timing down well enough for that. I have died a lot from getting knocked down, taking some lava damage and being at 2k health when I start my fight with the crem guard. Doesn't apply as much to templars who can BoL I suppose

Build Advice
The most important piece of advice is to play to your strengths. Everyone naturally plays differently, and the arena about about versatility more than strictly maxing DPS. If a build online isn't working for you, think about what is killing you and try to adjust. You only need 15k or so DPS, so you have room to experiment.

I played a pretty standard magicka sorc DPS build for stages 1-8 with Hardened Ward and did fine, but the final stage I really had to tweak for. I am absolutely not suggesting this as any kind of ideal vMA build (see above in case you have some kind or weird short term memory issues), but this worked for me.
I ended up with 5 Julianos, 3 Willpower, 2 Ice Heart for gear.
Ice heart is a pretty terrible set for raw damage, but a free 10k shield every 6-10 seconds was really nice.
I also re-enchanted a couple armor pieces so I had 19k health instead of 17k.
I made my staves defending instead of sharp. I still had enough DPS and 5k resists was very noticable. I also put a prismatic glyph on them since all the baddies on the last stage are Deadra.
Jewelry was 2 damage enchants and 1 reduce cost.

CP the red constellation I put 100% into spell resist and the remaining left into physical rather than splitting them. Much of the damage is magic based.

I use Witchmothers Brew (gives less magicka and health than food, but also 400 magicka regen, which meant I didn't have to worry too much about heavy attacks to keep topped up.

Use normal, cheap magicka potions, not tri pots. The chances a tri pot will save you are low 90% of the time, and you don't want to be shy about chugging them. Unless you are super rich, in which case use tripots and get bent.

Skills:
Front bar was Crystal Frags, Crushing Shock, Endless Fury, Hardened Ward, Bound Armaments Shooting Star Ult
Back Bar Critical Surge, Liquid Lightning, Healing Ward (yes my back bar is resto, hater), Boundless Storm, Bound Armaments Shooting Star Ult

Yeah no mage light. Bound armaments gives more and resist, and the extra damage didn't keep me alive. I tried rapid regen on my back bar, but it didn't do it for me, the healing ward was better. Boundless Storm I used rarely, and often for the 7.5 second major expedition, with the resists as a bonus. Most people don't put the execute on their bar, because 20% of health even on the end boss in vMA is only 200k, but I liked it a lot for finishing off crystals and guards, and for DPSing the last bit of phase 3. The morph is the magicka regen morph though, since rarely is the AOE relevant.

Rotation:
Keep crit surge up at all times. Try to keep liquid lightning up on a stationary target (don't bother putting it on crem guards unless you are sure that is the circle you will be running in). Bar swap. Panic. Spam crushing shock and light attacks until frags pop. Panic. Hit the wrong button 3 times, ward twice in a row wasting magicka. Repeat.

Don't be shy about over-warding a bit, you don't want to run dry of resources, but the last stage is rough for it's ability to kill you after 3 minutes of panicking kicking butt, so don't push the limits unless you are sure you can pull it off.

If you practice, keep calm, and play well you too can get a Nirnhoned Maelstrom Resto staff! Good luck out there!

Parafrost · February 2017

amasuriel wrote: »

I finished vMA for the first time last night, so I thought I would collect a few thoughts and tips for anyone who is still working on their first complete, or thinking about making the attempt.

A couple non-round specific notes in no particular order:
I have no idea how stam chars do this, so many places are so much easier with range. I don't play any stam DPS, so if you are looking for tips on how to be a total masochist and do vMA with a stam character, look somewhere else

Yes you probably can complete it on low CP, but it will be so much harder. Another breed of masochist I would say. If you can beat vMA at CP 160 you don't need this guide, you don't need any guide. Go back to your supersoldier program and leave us normals alone. I completed at 480 CP FYI.

If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc

Reinforcing above, definitely do on normal a few times to help learn mechanics. Watching a video != learning mechanics, it's good to be prepared in advance, but doing is better than watching, and normal is 10x easier than vet at least, so anyone should be able to complete it and practice

Probably you will need different gear / CP. Unless you are omgwffbbq amazing ESO machine, your regular DPS build will be too fragile until you know all the mechanics and spawns in your sleep. You need more survivability

You know how one line ago I said you need more survivability? Well you need more DPS :P Not really compared to DPS for vet trials etc, but you need to pull about 15k DPS even after making some sacrifices for survival and sustain. Probably some droid will reply that he did a flawless run on his healer tank doing 2k DPS and L2P, but there are many places that are super impossible pretty dang tough if you don't pull ~15k or so

Use the sigils. I am one of those people who started out treating them like potions (aka never use unless desperate), but they are super powerful, and all 4 refresh every wave of every round, so except for the final boss waves you can be rocking a sigil pretty much non stop. Since if you are reading this, you are very far away from caring about the score you get, use them freely.

Lots of full round guides, so I'm not going to do into a lot of detail except for specific tips I didn't see or were less obvious to me

Some round specific tips:
Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

Round 6 - Stupid Spiders. The guides all say to make sure you keep the obelisks clear by killing the spiders that web and using the haorvers to clear them, but seriously this fight will either be easy or hard depending on whether you do that. The final boss gets stronger the less clear obelisks there are. One other tip is that if you kill the Haorver close enough to an webbed obelisk, you don't need to run over and throw the grenade, it will automatically clear it

Round 7 - http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/10/06/maelstrom-arena-guide/#7 doesn't even mention that if you interrupt the final boss channel attack, his melee attacks to silly damage after. Don't use this guide at all frankly, even though it's high in the search results. Kill one minder, the other will cast a dome. Run INTO the dome and get 10 free seconds of DPS on the boss while he channels. I died like 30 times on this boss before reading this

Final Round - You will die a lot, don't get discouraged and remember you can always leave and come back later, the waves will be reset at the start, but you will still be on the final round.
The videos show it, but the text guides don't. If you run in a tight circle around the crematorial gaurds you can avoid most of the damage from the flame breath. This is hard to do if the guard is tight with the boss / healers so as nice as an idea as it seams to lay down some AOE, I find it easier to fight the guard a little away so I only need to dodge ghosts and go in a circle

Probably 30% of winning this phase is about learning when to dodge the damn skulls, they do a lot and knock you down, and if you are fighting a guard at the time you will die

Respec your destro staff to crushing shock so you have a ranged interrupt for the boss, the healers etc. If you don't you are a crazy person, and should probably go back to whispering nonsense to you collection of dolls with no eyes

Of the 3 phases, the third is the easiest. You have to practice getting the gold ghosts, because its bad when the boss gets them and good when you do, so if you get them it's pretty easy, and if you don't you will probably die. The only real reason phase 3 is hard is because phase 1 and 2 are hard, so usually by the time you get there you are amped up from 5 minutes of frantic fighting and will make some dumb mistake and die.

I like to save my ultimate for the crystals. It's really advantageous to kill the crystals in 1 or 2 trips up, because every trip down you have to fight at least 1 Crem guard and a clannfear, and every crem guard you are one mistake from death. I cannot kill them in 1 trip, but if I save my ultimate I can do it in 2 usually, it's much better.

You 100% do not need all the sigils for phase 3 (see above). Having 1 or 2 is nice (especially haste to help catch ghosts), but don't be shy about using them in phase 1 and 2

If you cannot kill all the crystals in 1 go, make sure you shield before you get knocked down. I know ideally you can actually roll down into the middle yourself before the explosion, but I don't have the timing down well enough for that. I have died a lot from getting knocked down, taking some lava damage and being at 2k health when I start my fight with the crem guard. Doesn't apply as much to templars who can BoL I suppose

Build Advice
The most important piece of advice is to play to your strengths. Everyone naturally plays differently, and the arena about about versatility more than strictly maxing DPS. If a build online isn't working for you, think about what is killing you and try to adjust. You only need 15k or so DPS, so you have room to experiment.

I played a pretty standard magicka sorc DPS build for stages 1-8 with Hardened Ward and did fine, but the final stage I really had to tweak for. I am absolutely not suggesting this as any kind of ideal vMA build (see above in case you have some kind or weird short term memory issues), but this worked for me.
I ended up with 5 Julianos, 3 Willpower, 2 Ice Heart for gear.
Ice heart is a pretty terrible set for raw damage, but a free 10k shield every 6-10 seconds was really nice.
I also re-enchanted a couple armor pieces so I had 19k health instead of 17k.
I made my staves defending instead of sharp. I still had enough DPS and 5k resists was very noticable. I also put a prismatic glyph on them since all the baddies on the last stage are Deadra.
Jewelry was 2 damage enchants and 1 reduce cost.

CP the red constellation I put 100% into spell resist and the remaining left into physical rather than splitting them. Much of the damage is magic based.

I use Witchmothers Brew (gives less magicka and health than food, but also 400 magicka regen, which meant I didn't have to worry too much about heavy attacks to keep topped up.

Use normal, cheap magicka potions, not tri pots. The chances a tri pot will save you are low 90% of the time, and you don't want to be shy about chugging them. Unless you are super rich, in which case use tripots and get bent.

Skills:
Front bar was Crystal Frags, Crushing Shock, Endless Fury, Hardened Ward, Bound Armaments Shooting Star Ult
Back Bar Critical Surge, Liquid Lightning, Healing Ward (yes my back bar is resto, hater), Boundless Storm, Bound Armaments Shooting Star Ult

Yeah no mage light. Bound armaments gives more and resist, and the extra damage didn't keep me alive. I tried rapid regen on my back bar, but it didn't do it for me, the healing ward was better. Boundless Storm I used rarely, and often for the 7.5 second major expedition, with the resists as a bonus. Most people don't put the execute on their bar, because 20% of health even on the end boss in vMA is only 200k, but I liked it a lot for finishing off crystals and guards, and for DPSing the last bit of phase 3. The morph is the magicka regen morph though, since rarely is the AOE relevant.

Rotation:
Keep crit surge up at all times. Try to keep liquid lightning up on a stationary target (don't bother putting it on crem guards unless you are sure that is the circle you will be running in). Bar swap. Panic. Spam crushing shock and light attacks until frags pop. Panic. Hit the wrong button 3 times, ward twice in a row wasting magicka. Repeat.

Don't be shy about over-warding a bit, you don't want to run dry of resources, but the last stage is rough for it's ability to kill you after 3 minutes of panicking kicking butt, so don't push the limits unless you are sure you can pull it off.

If you practice, keep calm, and play well you too can get a Nirnhoned Maelstrom Resto staff! Good luck out there!

Or a defending destro staff

Rawst · February 2017

A very insightful guide. I actually laughed at the rotation part, then got sad because I realised that's exactly what I'm always doing.

trinimacNcheese · February 2017

Good advice for beginners, but having a sharpenes destro staff is a MUST. Defending resto is better.

MissBizz · February 2017

If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc

Disagree. On my first clear, round 2, 6 and 9 were absolute killers. Funny enough, I didn't have that hard of a time in round 5 or 7, which are normally the "OH NO" rounds for folks.

Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

This round is actually the opposite of a DPS check (except final platform). If you don't do damage to the boss you can lolly gag all day killing adds and doing nothing. She breaks platforms at set health percentages.

Different point of view from a beginner

[EDIT] Oooh, if you can handle it I found harness much better than ward for my shield. mmm mmm magicka.

amasuriel · February 2017

trinimacNcheese wrote: »

Good advice for beginners, but having a sharpenes destro staff is a MUST. Defending resto is better.

You will do ~7.5% less DPS, but also take ~7.5% less damage. For me taking less damage was better, it might be better for others who are struggling as well. Of course ideally you want to strip as many of the defenses I have above as possible in favor of DPS, but it takes a lot of practice. I spend a lot more time on my front bar, so having defending only on back helps me less personally.

Gedalya · February 2017

I'm struggling with vMA myself; I'm curious which add-ons people are using for monitoring their buffs.

amasuriel · February 2017

MissBizz wrote: »

If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc

Disagree. On my first clear, round 2, 6 and 9 were absolute killers. Funny enough, I didn't have that hard of a time in round 5 or 7, which are normally the "OH NO" rounds for folks.

Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

This round is actually the opposite of a DPS check (except final platform). If you don't do damage to the boss you can lolly gag all day killing adds and doing nothing. She breaks platforms at set health percentages.

Different point of view from a beginner

[EDIT] Oooh, if you can handle it I found harness much better than ward for my shield. mmm mmm magicka.

Interesting about the rounds, especially #2! What about it tripped you up if you don't mind sharing?

I know about the percents, but it doesn't apply for the final platform break :P That happens on a timer, which means the final phase you have a hard time limit.

I agree about harness ideally, it's not as strong as ward, but if I wasn't using Witchmother I would run very dry. #heavyattacksareforlosers

amasuriel · February 2017

Gedalya wrote: »

I'm struggling with vMA myself; I'm curious which add-ons people are using for monitoring their buffs.

S'rendarr is the awesome. It does everything you want, and 10 things you will want in 6 months, it's just that good.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2017

It will be interesting to see your thoughts on this in a month or 2 after you have it on farm. People have a tendency to limp to the end the first time (I know I did). But hey, grats on your clear; I sincerely mean that. It is a daunting task to say the least. I will pushback on a few things, take them for what they are worth (this is a discussion thread afterall).

First, Round 5 boss is absolutely not a DPS check just FYI. In fact it is the only boss in the entire arena where a straight nuke can get you into trouble. If you want to be fast and risky, nuke away. If you want to be safe, there are several times you should actually hold DPS. There is not a true DPS check in the entire arena. True DPS checks will enrage after a certain point and kill you. (I guess technically if you cant take him from 5% to 0% fast enough, you will be standing on ice, but that is about it. Even that is not a true one shot.)

Second, I wouldn't even suggest a resto staff on a sorc and if i did, I would certainly suggest rapid regen. Its just not needed with surge and a shield. Also, Boundless storm is frankly OP in there. Very underated. A none sharp staff is a DPS loss of 8-10% (bad), and IMO over-warding is a big no no. Once you get better, you will back bar it and trust surge.

What basically happens is that you will go from reacting to damage, Shield and ward spamming, to anticipating damaging and preemptively dealing with it. For example, Lets say you are about to take a big 15k hit. The reactive player, eats the damge, then casts a shield and a few self heals, and goes back to DPSing. The preemptive player casts a shield before the damage and doesnt miss a beat. That only comes with practice.

Third, Crem guards are vulnerable to lighting damage. Learning to deal with them is essential to getting a clear. If you arent going to overload them, then the best strategy is to put down your ground AOE wait for them to come to you and circle. Lastly, Blockade is probably the most powerful skill you have in your arsenal. I would run it over either Wrath or Frags. Wrath is really only potentially handy on bosses, and IMO shouldnt be on your bar in here.

As far as I am concerned, any setup that gets you your first clear is 100% okay. My push back is there are a lot of things in this thread that could potentially lead someone to some bad habits.

Didaco · February 2017

Something I never see in guides for beginners is the importance of skills with a long-term disorient effect.
Every class has one: NBs have Agony, DKs Petrify, Sorcs Rune Cage and Temps I don't remeber the name.

Use them on the enemies you identify as major threats and it will be a cakewalk.

For example: that three archers wave on round seven? Disorient one of them and take care if the rest.

Or the summoners in the final stage.

Alpheu5 · February 2017

Round 5 is a DPS suppressant, like the first boss in Vaults of Madness when someone in the group gets chained. If you over-DPS you'll likely end up in a bad place or dead.

amasuriel · February 2017

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

It will be interesting to see your thoughts on this in a month or 2 after you have it on farm. People have a tendency to limp to the end the first time (I know I did). But hey, grats on your clear; I sincerely mean that. It is a daunting task to say the least. I will pushback on a few things, take them for what they are worth (this is a discussion thread afterall).

First, Round 5 boss is absolutely not a DPS check just FYI. In fact it is the only boss in the entire arena where a straight nuke can get you into trouble. If you want to be fast and risky, nuke away. If you want to be safe, there are several times you should actually hold DPS. There is not a true DPS check in the entire arena. True DPS checks will enrage after a certain point and kill you. (I guess technically if you cant take him from 5% to 0% fast enough, you will be standing on ice, but that is about it. Even that is not a true one shot.)

Second, I wouldn't even suggest a resto staff on a sorc and if i did, I would certainly suggest rapid regen. Its just not needed with surge and a shield. Also, Boundless storm is frankly OP in there. Very underated. A none sharp staff is a DPS loss of 8-10% (bad), and IMO over-warding is a big no no. Once you get better, you will back bar it and trust surge.

What basically happens is that you will go from reacting to damage, Shield and ward spamming, to anticipating damaging and preemptively dealing with it. For example, Lets say you are about to take a big 15k hit. The reactive player, eats the damge, then casts a shield and a few self heals, and goes back to DPSing. The preemptive player casts a shield before the damage and doesnt miss a beat. That only comes with practice.

Third, Crem guards are vulnerable to lighting damage. Learning to deal with them is essential to getting a clear. If you arent going to overload them, then the best strategy is to put down your ground AOE wait for them to come to you and circle. Lastly, Blockade is probably the most powerful skill you have in your arsenal. I would run it over either Wrath or Frags. Wrath is really only potentially handy on bosses, and IMO shouldnt be on your bar in here.

As far as I am concerned, any setup that gets you your first clear is 100% okay. My push back is there are a lot of things in this thread that could potentially lead someone to some bad habits.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but I tend to notice the vMA guides are for people who have it on farm (full DPS layouts etc). People who can use those builds do not need a guide in the first place

It's certainly possible to practice with a more aggressive build until you know every spawn well enough to pull it off, but for me it was a lot easier to go more defensive. Same goes for a lot of what you said, elemental blockade will for sure do more damage if you know where to place it. If you are running around like a crazed chicken 75% of the time like most new clears, it will be on the ground with no enemies

. This is why I started to emphasize direct damage even though it's much less efficient.

Any I appreciate the feedback, and I hope nobody takes this post as a "this is how you should run vMA" post, I tried to be clear it wasn't. Just trying to note what helped me that was missing from other guides in case it helped others.

amasuriel · February 2017

Didaco wrote: »

Something I never see in guides for beginners is the importance of skills with a long-term disorient effect.
Every class has one: NBs have Agony, DKs Petrify, Sorcs Rune Cage and Temps I don't remeber the name.

Use them on the enemies you identify as major threats and it will be a cakewalk.

For example: that three archers wave on round seven? Disorient one of them and take care if the rest.

Or the summoners in the final stage.

I tries rune cage, but for me it was actually easier to just kill them than remember to track cage duration and come back to them. For sure it's an option to help keep the pressure off, for stuff like summoners in the final round as well.

MissBizz · February 2017

amasuriel wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc

Disagree. On my first clear, round 2, 6 and 9 were absolute killers. Funny enough, I didn't have that hard of a time in round 5 or 7, which are normally the "OH NO" rounds for folks.

Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

This round is actually the opposite of a DPS check (except final platform). If you don't do damage to the boss you can lolly gag all day killing adds and doing nothing. She breaks platforms at set health percentages.

Different point of view from a beginner

[EDIT] Oooh, if you can handle it I found harness much better than ward for my shield. mmm mmm magicka.

Interesting about the rounds, especially #2! What about it tripped you up if you don't mind sharing?

I know about the percents, but it doesn't apply for the final platform break :P That happens on a timer, which means the final phase you have a hard time limit.

I agree about harness ideally, it's not as strong as ward, but if I wasn't using Witchmother I would run very dry. #heavyattacksareforlosers

I have no idea to be honest with you. I think I was too busy with the panic part of my rotation to flip the levels to stop blades and grab the sigils honestly. Now that I have run VMA a few times I don't have any troubles on that round anymore, lol.

On my first clear, the boss broke the final platform.. but I beat her. GO defense sigil. lol. Now I'm good enough she doesn't though

Yeeah. My first clear was TBS (mmm health) with 3pc willpower, illambris and 2 random sharpened staves. I had a shield on each bar (conjured on one, harness on the other). It was nice because I had a shield on both bars so I always had one available, plus the randomness of when I used it helped ensure I had magicka return so I could appreciate the extra health from a standard blue food.

Now I've switched to Julianos 5 pc, 3 pc willpower, illambris, VMA lightning staff back bar (infused) with random sharpened front staff (fire). I use standard magicka/health food. Using only harnessed and due to knowing the arena better I'm fine.

SquareSausage · February 2017

On my first clear i tried being defensive, even going 1h and shield, but was getting nowhere, id definately suggest sharp weapons instead of defending (except maybe for your buff bar or back bar if its not a dps heavy bar), as the faster you kill things, the less damage you take.

With a sharp weapon/s and harness magicka you can easily take down the crystals in 1 go when up top on round 9.

Danksta · February 2017

"The only real reason phase 3 is hard is because phase 1 and 2 are hard, so usually by the time you get there you are amped up from 5 minutes of frantic fighting and will make some dumb mistake and die."

This is completely true. When learning the arena if I managed to get to the third phase my adrenaline would be pumping like crazy and would often result in a stupid, very avoidable death. The best piece of advice I'd ever gotten on vMA was for the final boss. You do your DPS and when he teleports grab the defensive sigil and DO NOT interrupt him as his channeled attack will reflect back to him. This makes the first phase the easiest and makes getting to phase three so much easier, which also makes the whole fight easier because you didn't need to work so hard to get there.

amasuriel · February 2017

SquareSausage wrote: »

On my first clear i tried being defensive, even going 1h and shield, but was getting nowhere, id definately suggest sharp weapons instead of defending (except maybe for your buff bar or back bar if its not a dps heavy bar), as the faster you kill things, the less damage you take.

With a sharp weapon/s and harness magicka you can easily take down the crystals in 1 go when up top on round 9.

I didn't find this to be true, personally (that with sharpened you can kill the crystals in one go), but my DPS isn't amazing (I only started DPS recently, tank and healer are my 2 primary characters). Chances are many newer contestants will get knocked off by skulls or blasts regularly before they get practiced enough to dodge or block every skull, and hide behind the wall for every blast.

amasuriel · February 2017

Danksta wrote: »

"The only real reason phase 3 is hard is because phase 1 and 2 are hard, so usually by the time you get there you are amped up from 5 minutes of frantic fighting and will make some dumb mistake and die."

This is completely true. When learning the arena if I managed to get to the third phase my adrenaline would be pumping like crazy and would often result in a stupid, very avoidable death. The best piece of advice I'd ever gotten on vMA was for the final boss. You do your DPS and when he teleports grab the defensive sigil and DO NOT interrupt him as his channeled attack will reflect back to him. This makes the first phase the easiest and makes getting to phase three so much easier, which also makes the whole fight easier because you didn't need to work so hard to get there.

Not interrupting the channel is interesting, it's one of those things I keep meaning to try, but always manage to be far away from the defensive and healing sigils when it happens.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · February 2017

MissBizz wrote: »

amasuriel wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc

Disagree. On my first clear, round 2, 6 and 9 were absolute killers. Funny enough, I didn't have that hard of a time in round 5 or 7, which are normally the "OH NO" rounds for folks.

Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

This round is actually the opposite of a DPS check (except final platform). If you don't do damage to the boss you can lolly gag all day killing adds and doing nothing. She breaks platforms at set health percentages.

Different point of view from a beginner

[EDIT] Oooh, if you can handle it I found harness much better than ward for my shield. mmm mmm magicka.

Interesting about the rounds, especially #2! What about it tripped you up if you don't mind sharing?

I know about the percents, but it doesn't apply for the final platform break :P That happens on a timer, which means the final phase you have a hard time limit.

I agree about harness ideally, it's not as strong as ward, but if I wasn't using Witchmother I would run very dry. #heavyattacksareforlosers

I have no idea to be honest with you. I think I was too busy with the panic part of my rotation to flip the levels to stop blades and grab the sigils honestly. Now that I have run VMA a few times I don't have any troubles on that round anymore, lol.

On my first clear, the boss broke the final platform.. but I beat her. GO defense sigil. lol. Now I'm good enough she doesn't though

Yeeah. My first clear was TBS (mmm health) with 3pc willpower, illambris and 2 random sharpened staves. I had a shield on each bar (conjured on one, harness on the other). It was nice because I had a shield on both bars so I always had one available, plus the randomness of when I used it helped ensure I had magicka return so I could appreciate the extra health from a standard blue food.

Now I've switched to Julianos 5 pc, 3 pc willpower, illambris, VMA lightning staff back bar (infused) with random sharpened front staff (fire). I use standard magicka/health food. Using only harnessed and due to knowing the arena better I'm fine.

I actually think that the round 2 fight is the most difficult in the arena. Some people might think I am crazy. It's not that the damage is insane, but I find it to be the biggest test of resources. If I try a new build, I know it will work if I can get past round 2. Round 1 is also probably the closest thing to a DPS check and for good reason; it's right at the start. It wont one shot you or anything, but if he ports a third time, you are going to have issues down the road. Any new build I try, I make sure I can burn him before he ports a second time, or I scrap it and start over.

amasuriel · February 2017

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

amasuriel wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

If you have trouble in rounds 1-4, you ain't going to make it probably. I only died once on round 1-4 (having done it twice on normal to prep), and still spent ~7 hours over 3 weeks trying to final boss. That isn't to say you should give up, but maybe tune your build, get some CP, run on normal to learn mechanics in a more laid back way etc

Disagree. On my first clear, round 2, 6 and 9 were absolute killers. Funny enough, I didn't have that hard of a time in round 5 or 7, which are normally the "OH NO" rounds for folks.

Round 5 - Ice. This round is basically a straight DPS check, and the first one in the arena. Save ultimate for the final boss. Move to the next island before the boss finishes the shatter to save yourself some pain

This round is actually the opposite of a DPS check (except final platform). If you don't do damage to the boss you can lolly gag all day killing adds and doing nothing. She breaks platforms at set health percentages.

Different point of view from a beginner

[EDIT] Oooh, if you can handle it I found harness much better than ward for my shield. mmm mmm magicka.

Interesting about the rounds, especially #2! What about it tripped you up if you don't mind sharing?

I know about the percents, but it doesn't apply for the final platform break :P That happens on a timer, which means the final phase you have a hard time limit.

I agree about harness ideally, it's not as strong as ward, but if I wasn't using Witchmother I would run very dry. #heavyattacksareforlosers

I have no idea to be honest with you. I think I was too busy with the panic part of my rotation to flip the levels to stop blades and grab the sigils honestly. Now that I have run VMA a few times I don't have any troubles on that round anymore, lol.

On my first clear, the boss broke the final platform.. but I beat her. GO defense sigil. lol. Now I'm good enough she doesn't though

Yeeah. My first clear was TBS (mmm health) with 3pc willpower, illambris and 2 random sharpened staves. I had a shield on each bar (conjured on one, harness on the other). It was nice because I had a shield on both bars so I always had one available, plus the randomness of when I used it helped ensure I had magicka return so I could appreciate the extra health from a standard blue food.

Now I've switched to Julianos 5 pc, 3 pc willpower, illambris, VMA lightning staff back bar (infused) with random sharpened front staff (fire). I use standard magicka/health food. Using only harnessed and due to knowing the arena better I'm fine.

I actually think that the round 2 fight is the most difficult in the arena. Some people might think I am crazy. It's not that the damage is insane, but I find it to be the biggest test of resources. If I try a new build, I know it will work if I can get past round 2. Round 1 is also probably the closest thing to a DPS check and for good reason; it's right at the start. It wont one shot you or anything, but if he ports a third time, you are going to have issues down the road. Any new build I try, I make sure I can burn him before he ports a second time, or I scrap it and start over.

Yeah probably it didn't effect me as much because I ran Witchmother right from the start. I basically beat round 2 with Liquid Lightning, Blockade, Heavy attacks and Ward every 6 seconds :P slow, but the ward spam kept me alive

soll · February 2017

@MissBizz

oh, you even made topic where asked if it is make any sense to run non-sharp vMA stave. And everyone there answered, that is clear dps lose comparing to random sharp stave.

not every vMA stave is good to use. there is only one trait in this game, which can be used by DD – sharp.

MissBizz · February 2017

soll wrote: »

@MissBizz

oh, you even made topic where asked if it is make any sense to run non-sharp vMA stave. And everyone there answered, that is clear dps lose comparing to random sharp stave.

not every vMA stave is good to use. there is only one trait in this game, which can be used by DD – sharp.

@soll I did, but I tried it out and did pretty fantastic with it as a back bar staff. And as I was told and from what I see... it takes the trait from your current weapon. Well, I'm not on my back bar much so it takes the sharpened trait from my front bar for a longer duration.

amasuriel · February 2017

soll wrote: »

@MissBizz

oh, you even made topic where asked if it is make any sense to run non-sharp vMA stave. And everyone there answered, that is clear dps lose comparing to random sharp stave.

not every vMA stave is good to use. there is only one trait in this game, which can be used by DD – sharp.

I plan to keep my Nirnhoned Resto so when they introduce mannequins for your house I can give it to a giant troll mannequin to hold as decoration

Danksta · February 2017

amasuriel wrote: »

Danksta wrote: »

"The only real reason phase 3 is hard is because phase 1 and 2 are hard, so usually by the time you get there you are amped up from 5 minutes of frantic fighting and will make some dumb mistake and die."

This is completely true. When learning the arena if I managed to get to the third phase my adrenaline would be pumping like crazy and would often result in a stupid, very avoidable death. The best piece of advice I'd ever gotten on vMA was for the final boss. You do your DPS and when he teleports grab the defensive sigil and DO NOT interrupt him as his channeled attack will reflect back to him. This makes the first phase the easiest and makes getting to phase three so much easier, which also makes the whole fight easier because you didn't need to work so hard to get there.

Not interrupting the channel is interesting, it's one of those things I keep meaning to try, but always manage to be far away from the defensive and healing sigils when it happens.

You don't even need to get the healing sigil. With the defensive sigil you will take no damage from the channeled attack and a huge damage reduction from the crem guard. If you can't do the second phase without dropping down that's when I'd use the healing sigil. That leaves you with the speed and damage sigils, which if someone is going for the first clear, I'd recommend taking those before the boss ports down for phase three if possible with the speed sigil being a priority for getting the gold ghosts.

When I get to that last boss fight there's two things I do, switch out my trash pots for speed pots (they're huge for phase two)and find that defensive sigil and make sure it's right behind me so I can get to it as soon as he teleports.

amasuriel · February 2017

Danksta wrote: »

amasuriel wrote: »

Danksta wrote: »

"The only real reason phase 3 is hard is because phase 1 and 2 are hard, so usually by the time you get there you are amped up from 5 minutes of frantic fighting and will make some dumb mistake and die."

This is completely true. When learning the arena if I managed to get to the third phase my adrenaline would be pumping like crazy and would often result in a stupid, very avoidable death. The best piece of advice I'd ever gotten on vMA was for the final boss. You do your DPS and when he teleports grab the defensive sigil and DO NOT interrupt him as his channeled attack will reflect back to him. This makes the first phase the easiest and makes getting to phase three so much easier, which also makes the whole fight easier because you didn't need to work so hard to get there.

Not interrupting the channel is interesting, it's one of those things I keep meaning to try, but always manage to be far away from the defensive and healing sigils when it happens.

You don't even need to get the healing sigil. With the defensive sigil you will take no damage from the channeled attack and a huge damage reduction from the crem guard. If you can't do the second phase without dropping down that's when I'd use the healing sigil. That leaves you with the speed and damage sigils, which if someone is going for the first clear, I'd recommend taking those before the boss ports down for phase three if possible with the speed sigil being a priority for getting the gold ghosts.

When I get to that last boss fight there's two things I do, switch out my trash pots for speed pots (they're huge for phase two)and find that defensive sigil and make sure it's right behind me so I can get to it as soon as he teleports.

Great tips.

Bobby_V_Rockit · March 2017

I still cant beat stage 2... lol. Thats with 5 legendary (3 jewellery) VO, 5 legendary Spriggan (and sharp daggers) and Velidreth...

I just plain suck haha

SquareSausage · March 2017

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

I still cant beat stage 2... lol. Thats with 5 legendary (3 jewellery) VO, 5 legendary Spriggan (and sharp daggers) and Velidreth...

I just plain suck haha

Dude, the gear isnt the biggest issue here, its just learning it man, once you do it a few times its a walk in the park, I honestly find final boss a lot easier than stage 5,6 and 7 bosses. Once you nail it, it will be an epiphany.

amasuriel · March 2017

Bobby_V_Rockit wrote: »

I still cant beat stage 2... lol. Thats with 5 legendary (3 jewellery) VO, 5 legendary Spriggan (and sharp daggers) and Velidreth...

I just plain suck haha

Also take your time and use the sigils, no need to worry about score at this point. For most rounds just stay alive and you will finish eventually, though some rounds there are adds that pile up or various other timers.