VMA, I'm Ready to go Back

kylewwefan · February 2017

After some time off from failing on my StamBlade, I'm trying it out on my StamSorc. Last night I got to the 6th round. The fifth round boss had me ready to cry. When I finally beat her nasty giant self, it felt like more of an accident and I wasn't supposed to have done it.

I'm running a Dark Elf converted from MagSorc with legendary gold VO/TwiceFanged/Veledrith all medium. Stamina, Speed, weapon Power potions. Near the end of the boss fight, I was running so low on resource...I switched to Wrothgar food. I use every freaking sigil in the arena and feel like I'm barely scathing by.

The difficulty on normal is a joke. Just faceroll the whole thing and learn nothing. Even on Vet, I kill the adds very fast...one at a time. Problem is they usually come in multitudes and the ones that stay at a distance and I have to stand in water to get them...I hate that.

I messed around in the spider round for a few minutes but it got too late. I don't think it's gonna be much of a problem later today though.

I've seen videos and read guides. Saw yesterday someone on console just cleared it with a 600k score. Far as I'm concerned, there is no easy mode VMA build. I'd have to admit, I made it pretty far rather quite fast for me, so I must be getting a little better.

Wish I felt more confident about beating the bosses, but it feels more like dumb luck.

DRXHarbinger · February 2017

5th boss is all about timing and practice. 90% adds come. 75% 1st platform breaks. 60% next adds come. 45% platform breaks. 15% a few seconds until final platform is broken. Don't cross those thresholds and you can literally just heavy attack and regen to your hearts content.

Odd to struggle for stam on a sorc. I use stormfist for extra regen and hits just as hard as Veli plus it's aoe. No game changing difference but what are your stats? Do you have all you CP in reduced cost and importantly the sorc passive for 5% reduced cost. Most people ignore that. I very rarely go below 50% stam on mine and don't use 5x VO either.

kylewwefan · February 2017

Stam regen was at almost 800wrothgar food put me to about 1350. I took some champion points of regen and put them into get more back on light/heavy attack.

I'm thinking about taking caltrops off. They cost too much and don't do very much for me.

Chrlynsch · February 2017

Easy mode, werewolf... Makes vma a breeze even on poison levels. It's not the fastest clears, but deff the most carefree. You can light attack your way through most enemies fear or agony if things get too harry. The more enemies the more claws of life heals you... Simple rotation, great dps, great survivability, no VMA weapons needed. You can do the whole run in one transformation/no deaths once you get comfortable.

DRXHarbinger · February 2017

kylewwefan wrote: »

Stam regen was at almost 800wrothgar food put me to about 1350. I took some champion points of regen and put them into get more back on light/heavy attack.

I'm thinking about taking caltrops off. They cost too much and don't do very much for me.

Yeah don't bother with caltrops. Waste of time and cost. Generally I double bar hurricane as that is my heal. My stamsorc never been to Cyro yet and I solely relied on bloodcraze and surge to keep me alive for my flawless run lol. Go with basics and it works best.

Surge and hurricane up, trap down and spam rapids and rending (healing morphs of course) and drop bow attacks in. Job done. I know I pull 38k self buffed on this set up and perfectly self sustaining for up to 3M health. Have you also got alchemy maxed out for the 30% duration passive? It makes a huge difference.

Lukums1 · February 2017

I would strongly suggest you watch my vma Bible guide version 1/2 on my twitch page it's helped tons of people with tricks you normally won't see on other guides.

Pallio · February 2017

Stam anything is harder after this patch, still do able just prepare for more incoming damage and less outgoing dps.

kylewwefan · February 2017

Thanks Luke. I've seen your videos.....maybe need to watch again haha.

I got stuck at the spider boss. I get to her real quick through the level. I have issues when she becomes empowered. Trying like crazy to kill those hoarvers near the lamps...and the little spiders seem to have some ridiculous resistance.

I can murder most everything in there with a heavy attack and flurry, but them little spiders are much tougher for some reason.

I'm limiting myself to no more than 45 minutes a go to cut back the frustration. There's lots of things to do in tamriel right now.

kylewwefan · February 2017

Well, I beat the spider boss. Just like the last one; it didn't feel like I was supposed to. I used all the sigils, kept pressure on her and killed the adds. For the life of me couldn't find a way to keep all the totems lit. Didn't matter, she died anyways.

On to the beloved poison round 7. Made it to third round before dying to crazy strong plants.

Oh well. Spent enough time in there, try again later.

WarpigFunk · February 2017

I've cleared VMA 5 times now - all in the last 3-4 days.

I'll be honest with you, my first clear a few of the bosses felt like I just "got lucky" on, like yourself. Like I didn't really adjust strategy or anything, just plugged away at it, and suddenly where I would normally die, the boss did instead. It can feel like that sometimes, especially the first time.

But the thing is, you know now that you can do it - contrary to what some people have experienced, my second clear wasn't "a breeze" either - still had plenty of deaths, still used plenty of potions, etc ... but it was far quicker than my first clear.
3rd time through, same thing, slightly quicker - but still this is difficult content, and if you make one small mistake, miss one thing, it means respawning. So don't sweat it.

Even now after 5 clears, it still takes me a couple hours to get through a VMA - I'm nowhere close to these 40 minute runs everyone does - but every time I go through it I get closer. Spider boss still can hang me up for a long time - Argonian boss can be a tool, ice round might give me multiple deaths ... but I'm clearing it consistently now. And the more I get used to the fights, spawns etc ... the easier it is.

Keep in mind, most of the videos you see online are made by people who have cleared this content literally 1000+ times. They could run the sequences blindfolded by now, and most have BiS gear with BiS traits and absolutely perfected rotations - so don't feel like you need to be blazing through these fights like they do. You'll get there though.

darthsithis · February 2017

Take your time, it's rewarding to get your stormproof!

It is all mechanics and muscle memory I get 15/15 with purple gear (some prosperous) and nirnhoned staves. Don't feel like you ever 'got lucky is my point, because you actually just simply learned how to do it.

Protips- 1.) press and hold weapon attack button immediately after you press flurry and when flurry ends, let go- free heavy attack. 2.) if you have trouble getting out of overload quickly (assuming u use it), slot a weapon ability in overload that is from the weapon tree where overload is. Press the button while in overload and you cancel out REALLY fast. 3.) hurricane is really good.

Best of luck, take a screen shot when you beat it!

kylewwefan · February 2017

Thanks for the encouraging words. I broke my rules a little last night and beat the argonian behemoth level. Took me hour fifteen.

One time the nasty spores came up with me under the bubble. Two or three times, I accidentally killed the minders while hiding in the bubble. That darn veledrith just procs at the wrong time and hurricane ticks do more damage than I realized.

This time it felt like I actually did kind of learn the boss a little and not so much a random luck to pass the level.

I really wish this StamSorc had a better execute than poison injection and steel tornado.

I took overload off and start using Bow ultimate. I hated using overload because it felt like I could never get out of it til ran out of Ultimate. Thanks for the tip.

Made it to the third round of the 8th level fairly easy before dying. I'll knock that one out tonight if all goes well.

Dimillian · February 2017

I'm converting my sorc mag rushing shock DPS build to a pet build, I'll be trying it soon, wish me luck.

Did nMA 2 days ago, it was a joke, first time, never died, from start to finish.
But I'm really fearing the veteran run...

kylewwefan · March 2017

Finished off the igneous cistern! I hate to say this is the easiest round, because none of it is really easy like normal. I actually felt like I was in control and knew what to do. It went quick.

Made it to Voriak Solkyn. Fought that clown for a long time but I had to give up. I only made it down from the crystal phase a few times from several tries. I can consistently get to the crystals up top grabbing the defense sigil, but things get crazy when back on the bottom.

Really hate that necrotic swarm.

Joy_Division · March 2017

WarpigFunk wrote: »

I've cleared VMA 5 times now - all in the last 3-4 days.

I'll be honest with you, my first clear a few of the bosses felt like I just "got lucky" on, like yourself. Like I didn't really adjust strategy or anything, just plugged away at it, and suddenly where I would normally die, the boss did instead. It can feel like that sometimes, especially the first time.

But the thing is, you know now that you can do it - contrary to what some people have experienced, my second clear wasn't "a breeze" either - still had plenty of deaths, still used plenty of potions, etc ... but it was far quicker than my first clear.
3rd time through, same thing, slightly quicker - but still this is difficult content, and if you make one small mistake, miss one thing, it means respawning. So don't sweat it.

Even now after 5 clears, it still takes me a couple hours to get through a VMA - I'm nowhere close to these 40 minute runs everyone does - but every time I go through it I get closer. Spider boss still can hang me up for a long time - Argonian boss can be a tool, ice round might give me multiple deaths ... but I'm clearing it consistently now. And the more I get used to the fights, spawns etc ... the easier it is.

Keep in mind, most of the videos you see online are made by people who have cleared this content literally 1000+ times. They could run the sequences blindfolded by now, and most have BiS gear with BiS traits and absolutely perfected rotations - so don't feel like you need to be blazing through these fights like they do. You'll get there though.

I don't know who told you the second clear was going to a breeze, but they are braggarts and liars.

It's going to take you about 2 hours until you get the spawn positions memorized and the boss mechanics down perfect such that you can know how to all out DPS them without dying.

WarpigFunk · March 2017

Joy_Division wrote: »

WarpigFunk wrote: »

I've cleared VMA 5 times now - all in the last 3-4 days.

I'll be honest with you, my first clear a few of the bosses felt like I just "got lucky" on, like yourself. Like I didn't really adjust strategy or anything, just plugged away at it, and suddenly where I would normally die, the boss did instead. It can feel like that sometimes, especially the first time.

But the thing is, you know now that you can do it - contrary to what some people have experienced, my second clear wasn't "a breeze" either - still had plenty of deaths, still used plenty of potions, etc ... but it was far quicker than my first clear.
3rd time through, same thing, slightly quicker - but still this is difficult content, and if you make one small mistake, miss one thing, it means respawning. So don't sweat it.

Even now after 5 clears, it still takes me a couple hours to get through a VMA - I'm nowhere close to these 40 minute runs everyone does - but every time I go through it I get closer. Spider boss still can hang me up for a long time - Argonian boss can be a tool, ice round might give me multiple deaths ... but I'm clearing it consistently now. And the more I get used to the fights, spawns etc ... the easier it is.

Keep in mind, most of the videos you see online are made by people who have cleared this content literally 1000+ times. They could run the sequences blindfolded by now, and most have BiS gear with BiS traits and absolutely perfected rotations - so don't feel like you need to be blazing through these fights like they do. You'll get there though.

I don't know who told you the second clear was going to a breeze, but they are braggarts and liars.

It's going to take you about 2 hours until you get the spawn positions memorized and the boss mechanics down perfect such that you can know how to all out DPS them without dying.

LoL I've had people on forums and guild chat tell me that when I was pluggin away at my first clear. They said dont worry the first time takes forever but your second time through will be a breeze you'll be amazed.

Now worries though. Like I said I clear it consistently now at least, and I dont mind that it still takes me over an hour.

I'm at the point now though where the only rounds that I tend to die on are ice, spider, and argonian... sometimes round 3 poison - but only rarely.

One run this week I made it to Argonian boss with no deaths - and then died stupidly from poison... I went on to blow my 15 lives in round 8 lol. It happens.

But it does get easier and easier with each subsequent run.

The only thing I can say as far as being a "relative" breeze the second time through is the final boss. Voriak Solkyn took me like 6 hours of ego crushing wipes to learn - and now he's one of the simplest fights in the arena.

GrigorijMalahevich · March 2017

If you are running a sorc and struggling on last boss - use suppression field when crematorium guard spawns and it will be super easy. For that boss channel use bow ranged interrupt - venom arrow morph or something.

Adenoma · March 2017

Running a stamsorc through VMA - was always intimidated by the spider rounds but ended up finding it incredibly easy and didn't even die the first time. The RNG flowers on the argonian behemoth level nearly gave me an aneurysm though.

darthsithis · March 2017

Voriak is still kinda hard even after many flawless runs. Makes my heart pound up on that second floor...

darthsithis · March 2017

Can't wait to see the screenshot when u beat it!!

kylewwefan · March 2017

After seeing more videos and paying closer attention now, I think I see what I was doing wrong. Standing close to Solkyn and not interrupting. Gonna give it another shot tonight. I'd like to upload a screenshot, but have no idea how to do that from iPad

darthsithis · March 2017

haha you are playing on an ipad thats amazing

(xbox you double tap home and hit y, then google xboxclips and your image will be there)

yeah solkyn only does the channel after he teleports the first time in his cycle- but skips if you are too close. so let him warp, then go bash, resume range.

after you kill the crystals uptop the first thing he does on the ground floor is channel btw.

mr_wazzabi · March 2017

kylewwefan wrote: »

Thanks Luke. I've seen your videos.....maybe need to watch again haha.

I got stuck at the spider boss. I get to her real quick through the level. I have issues when she becomes empowered. Trying like crazy to kill those hoarvers near the lamps...and the little spiders seem to have some ridiculous resistance.

I can murder most everything in there with a heavy attack and flurry, but them little spiders are much tougher for some reason.

I'm limiting myself to no more than 45 minutes a go to cut back the frustration. There's lots of things to do in tamriel right now.

You're not supposed to kill the spider swarm. You're supposed to run to a glowing obelisk. I'm pretty sure thise spiders are immortal.

WarpigFunk · March 2017

Generally Solkyn's pattern is this:

Phase 1:

starts with necro spears, then quickly begins channeling a skull.
Teleports
If you are near him he will do his AoE blast, then immediately begin channeling necro, If you are far he immediately channels necro after teleporting. He will then summon a CG.

He will then throw necro spears for about 5-10 seconds, then teleport, and immediately channel a skull. He will then go back to necro spears. When he teleports again he will channel the necro stuff. rinse repeat ... but he should be at 70% long before any of that if you're executing properly.

Phase 2:

Within 5 seconds of teleporting up there he will begin channeling a skull.
About 90% of the time he will then go into the rotating wall AoE blast channel, however be mindful because about 10% of the time he will channel a second skull. This may or may not be tied to your damage on the first crystal, not sure.

After AoE blast he will channel a skull, then he will channel a second skull - Then AoE blast again.
He will repeat this pattern of 2 skulls then blast until you break all 3 crystals.

Phase 3:

He teleports down and immediately channels a necro - unless you are close to him, in which case he might do his AoE attack first, then channel necro. He will then throw some necro spears, followed by a skull. He will then teleport and summon a CG.
He will throw spears until teleports - then immediately channels necro - followed by spears and a skull. And that's his basic pattern for that whole phase.

Teleport - Necro - spears - skull - teleport - Summon - spears - skull - teleport - necro - etc ...

SquareSausage · March 2017

Theres nothing for it but practice, took me 2 nighst before finally beat him.

Learning to run around the CG was what took me a while and would die to his flame immediately.

For any char up close and melleing, and on PS4 which i see you are, id suggest binding your spammable attack to r1 as that frees up your thumb to use the R3 to easily move around the CG, as if its on square triangle etc then you need to realease and adjust movement all the time making it easier for CG to apply the fire.

WarpigFunk · March 2017

2 things to keep in mind.

If a CG is up in second phase and hits you with the fire you will get a dot on you that does NOT go away no matter what you do, and increases in damage until either you die, or the CG dies. Therefore... kill the CG before teleporting up to crystals.

Also when youre up top for crystals there is a constant AoE dot on you than you need to shield or heal through - the longer you are up there the more damage it does - also, with every subsequent AoE blast attack, the rotating walls get faster and faster, until you cant keep pace with them. Therefore ... burn those crystals fast.

kylewwefan · March 2017

I'm getting a little better but this fight just blows. I can consistently get upstairs, and most times get the crystals in one go up, but if I have to go to the bottom again its a major pain. The few times I make it back up it's much easier to get the remaining crystals.

I haven't made it very far in the third phase. It's way hard to interrupt him, avoid the large AOE and watch for the flying skull attack while taking out a crematorial guard and the bone colossus summoners while collecting golden ghosts.

I've missed the flying skull attack so many times, and that's where it usually ends. Or don't see the AOE explosion growing under me and can't get out in time.

This is so freaking frustrating.

darthsithis · March 2017

I feel you- third phase for the first time I srsly recommend saving the speed sigil till then. Grab it, run to him and bash, grab ghost, kill summoner (have aoes on boss), go crazy on him while getting ghosts, when CG spawns it will be the third ghost so USE THE GHOST STUN BEFORE KILLING THE CG!!!

Melt guard, hurt him a lot, repeat.

He won't cast ground aoe if you are ranged. So wait till channel starts before getting close to interrupt. Then run away real fast lol.

darthsithis · March 2017

Try to get to third stage with no sigils, then use them all throughout the last stage and you're pretty much guaranteed a win

I know the pain, my first time took ~300 soul gems just on him lmao (I'm flawless now don't laugh at me) but srsly I get the grind. Had him down to 0.1% once and lost. I lost my mind when that one happened hahaha

kylewwefan · March 2017

I must be missing something. Still can't get it done. I've got to the third stage a handful of times and once I hit the ground I'm like insta killed by dumb stuff.

I'm on my way to interrupt Solkyn then he like instantly goes from the machine gun to ground AOE while I'm right next to him from the interrupt. There's no time to get out of it.

I need more practice with this stage of the fight, it's just such a pain getting here. I'm sticking to my time limits hard now, it's too frustrating to keep going at it.

Dimillian · March 2017

Was stuck at stage 2 for a long time, the spinning things was just too much.
But last night it just clicked, now I'm at stage 5, and I've made from stage 2 to 5 without dying, can't wait to try to finish it tonight!