VMA Stage 9, Boss fight - Crematorial / Shard issues

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Stam DK here , CP405. Getting to round 9 in vet arena has been quite a journey , this has so far been the hardest conent i have done in any game in my life - loving it!

I am currently stuck at final boss fight. I have wiped around 600 times in there, and im finally getting close to developing a working tactic - i need some input though.

What kept killing me over and over is the spawn of the Crematorial Guard right after boss teleports in the beginning of final round. With a ultimate charged up, or by using shield sigil i SOMETIMES manage to kill the crematorial guard ( the skulls boss cast is what made this so hard ) but nowhere NEAR a consistent strategy. Yestarday i had a breakthrough, i buffed myself up before the spawn of the boss and with a power sigil managed to get him down to 70% before the crematorial guard spawns. My questions are:

1. I get him down to 70% after he teleports first time, however - the Crematorial guard spawns about 50% of the time. Is he on some sort of fixed timer? How does that work?
2. Im having problems destroying all the crystals before the DOT kills me and im out of stamina. Is there a strategy to destroying them? Should i focus on 1 at the time or set up dots on all and just go with the flow?

Help is appriciated

Kagalii · April 2018

So I'm no Expert, but i have cleared vMA on a stam DK without Vigor (using 2Hander and Rally in Heavy Hundings, 1 K'raghs and 5 Spriggans).

What i have found works is instead of getting the Power Sigil i grab the defense sigil when the boss spawns, this reflects his interrupt-able ability so there is no need to interrupt him, just keep DPS'ing, then when Crem Guard Spawns change targets to it and burn it down (i save my ultimate)

Then i kill the crystals one at a time, full DPS and ultimate's on the crystal you spawn next to till it goes down, then head to the crystal on the right and stay on it, when i have to hide behind the wall i make sure i DPS the closest one with range.

Once your figure out how hard you can go at the start, and what it takes to kill a crystal and the Crem Guard you should be fine.

Morgul667 · April 2018

Mariusghost84 wrote: »

Stam DK here , CP405. Getting to round 9 in vet arena has been quite a journey , this has so far been the hardest conent i have done in any game in my life - loving it!

I am currently stuck at final boss fight. I have wiped around 600 times in there, and im finally getting close to developing a working tactic - i need some input though.

What kept killing me over and over is the spawn of the Crematorial Guard right after boss teleports in the beginning of final round. With a ultimate charged up, or by using shield sigil i SOMETIMES manage to kill the crematorial guard ( the skulls boss cast is what made this so hard ) but nowhere NEAR a consistent strategy. Yestarday i had a breakthrough, i buffed myself up before the spawn of the boss and with a power sigil managed to get him down to 70% before the crematorial guard spawns. My questions are:

1. I get him down to 70% after he teleports first time, however - the Crematorial guard spawns about 50% of the time. Is he on some sort of fixed timer? How does that work?
2. Im having problems destroying all the crystals before the DOT kills me and im out of stamina. Is there a strategy to destroying them? Should i focus on 1 at the time or set up dots on all and just go with the flow?

Help is appriciated

1. It is based on a timer
2. I prefer to go with the flow and put dots while I screen from skulls. It is better to attack the shards that are available for you to hit rather than focus on one. Another valid tactic is to go down from the platform when the DOTS are too strong but to do that you must master the crematorial guard killing as a new one will pop.

It is advised to keep vigor up, good self heal and invest some champion points in the tree that protect you from DOTS. Also if you are a vampire, you can go batch to stage 1 or 2 for this arena

Sixty5 · April 2018

My strategy tends to be to just facetank the crem guard with heals and shields and then outdps it.

As for the crystals, keep heals up and and focus one at a time. If you are having troubles, try Soul Assault for them.
It sounds goofy, but it makes you CC immune, so you don't need to avoid the knockbacks, and as long as you have HOTs ticking, you'll live.

xRIVALENx · April 2018

What are you running for weapons and skills? Those Crematorial Guards can be killed by spamming brawler and using rally while strafing around them if you are really desperate.

Beardimus · April 2018

Look up @Lukums1 he's the man!

At start tho you can take the damage sigil, to help the burn (when you improve you won't need it) but burn him as he teleports get the defence sigil and he channels himself so don't interrupt so you can.focus healer and CG. Ideally you need a consistent strategy for CG, kite them with boss and drop ultimates or run backwards whatever works

Up top isolate what kills you.

Random meteors? Then don't back track. Skull throw? Watch for him to go into shut out mode and roll dodge to miss it. When a crustal pops the wall speeds up so one strat is to not finish one off and.get them all lol.

I personally burn all crystal sin one hit. Others drop down.after one or two.

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Thanks a lot for all the tips guys. Really appriciate it. Holy mother of god, i swear i have died nearly 1000 times here now over the last 4 weeks. Im slowly closing in but there are so many factors that make this insanly difficult.

My current strategy:

Phase One:
Grab power sigil and DPS boss down to 70% right after first teleport. ( Works around 50% of times i try, when CG spawns i manage to survive only if i take defencive sigil). Alternatly i grab defence sigil and do the first stage the "regular way" but i found out getting him to 70% quickly is a lot faster and smoother.
Problems this round:
Often the CG spawns even though i got boss down to 70% right after teleport. This messes up the strategy.

Phase 2:
Upstairs phase is hard. What happens more often than not, is that i run out of stamina after spamming abilities and self heal to stay alive. Im starting to get a hang of it, but so far i have only completed this stage top 10 times. At this stage i feel like my single target DPS isnt optimal. There is so much going on i dont have time to hail/razor and buff up on each crystal.
Problems this phase:
The DOT ticks to hard towards the end and i dont have enough stamina , AND i get superstressed towards the end. I fear my DPS i a tad low. I spent to much stam on sprinting.

Phase 3:
Last stage. By the time i get to this stage my heart is pumping like crazy and i tend to panic. I managed to get boss down to 3% and by that time i was out of stamina and i died , followed by a ROAR that all my neighbours must have heard.
Problems this phase:
The few times ive gotten this far, im nearly out of stamina and pretty much panicking. I picked up the ghosts and got the explosion, but my dps wasnt high enough to burn through the boss. No real issues except getting a grip and keeping calm really.

Overall, and im dead serious - in my 34 years of life as a gamer, i have never , EVER, died nearly 1000 times on a boss. This is absolute insane, im obsessed with getting this done and improving my charecter in every way possible. I love challanges and this is a BIG one.

My build (DW/Bow):
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=55344

Beardimus · April 2018

Love your attitude @Mariusghost84!!! It's a great challange right. But so many at your stage come here and want it nerfed, you mindset is perfect!
And oddly, once you crack it, the next pass is SO much easier its uncanny. I died LOADS on my first clear and took hours but 2nd run was like 3 hours its utterly mad. The majority of it is learning the mechanics and what works for you.

I break it down just as you are. Sort my strategy for the first stage so I'm.consistently getting up top, sort my crystal strategy, then the last section I personally find easy but you need to come down prepared I.e. I pop a potion and HA for resources on last crystal.

Last stage I drop down and get power sigil and interior boss asap. Then i go mad on him, and collect the gold ghosts. If you can get these it saves you dealing with anything else, CG etc. But if you aren't quick enough you need to kill the summoner and handle one CG.

On crystals, i pop up, drop AOE on first crystal (i run right) and just focus on AOE down and good DPS. Clear one, move around. Look for shot out animation to rill dodge the skull that knocks you off. Don't back track as random meterors hits you, and after first wall don't run after it, it's too fast go other way.

Where i cant help you is stamina build as i only have magika toons really.

Having a CG strategy really helps. If you have a method for killing then consistently it helps in all phases. And transitioning cleanly is important, i don't move it on unless I'm calm and my resources are full else trouble ensues!!

CG fire dot continues until you kill him, just a tip.

I hope someone comes here with stamina build help, as for me the auto heals I get are key. You running potions too right? And decent food?

Brrrofski · April 2018

Ok, so mechanics aside, maybe there is something you can change on your build.

What sets and skills are you running?

beetleklee · April 2018

I play StamDK in vMA all the time.

You pretty much have to get him to 70% before he teleports to reliably avoid the Crem Guard. You can avoid the Crem Guard after he teleports if you're quick enough to keep DPSing him to 70%, but once the portal spawns there's nothing you can do but deal with it.

I run Corrosive Armor instead of Standard at this stage. Also having a Prismatic enchant on one front bar weapon will add a lot of DPS to everything since they're all Daedra.

You can also run Ballista and spam it at range to take the Crem Guard down.

If you don't have the DPS to burn all 3 crystals at once before the Soul Churn damage kills you, take down 1.5-2 of them, pop Corrosive Armor, drop down to the bottom quickly, heal with Vigor (optional: grab Defense or Heal Sigil if available, it'll help) and kill the Crem Guard. Once it's dead, kill the Clannfear and teleport back up. This will reset the Soul Churn damage and the boss's skull attacks, and the wall will be slow at the start again.

Also, super important, it helps to run Vicious Ophidian for sustain in vMA. A must have pretty much.

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Beardimus wrote: »

Love your attitude @Mariusghost84!!! It's a great challange right. But so many at your stage come here and want it nerfed, you mindset is perfect!
And oddly, once you crack it, the next pass is SO much easier its uncanny. I died LOADS on my first clear and took hours but 2nd run was like 3 hours its utterly mad. The majority of it is learning the mechanics and what works for you.

I break it down just as you are. Sort my strategy for the first stage so I'm.consistently getting up top, sort my crystal strategy, then the last section I personally find easy but you need to come down prepared I.e. I pop a potion and HA for resources on last crystal.

Last stage I drop down and get power sigil and interior boss asap. Then i go mad on him, and collect the gold ghosts. If you can get these it saves you dealing with anything else, CG etc. But if you aren't quick enough you need to kill the summoner and handle one CG.

On crystals, i pop up, drop AOE on first crystal (i run right) and just focus on AOE down and good DPS. Clear one, move around. Look for shot out animation to rill dodge the skull that knocks you off. Don't back track as random meterors hits you, and after first wall don't run after it, it's too fast go other way.

Where i cant help you is stamina build as i only have magika toons really.

Having a CG strategy really helps. If you have a method for killing then consistently it helps in all phases. And transitioning cleanly is important, i don't move it on unless I'm calm and my resources are full else trouble ensues!!

CG fire dot continues until you kill him, just a tip.

I hope someone comes here with stamina build help, as for me the auto heals I get are key. You running potions too right? And decent food?

Thanks man, i enjoyed reading your post! The challange factor in every game has always been a HUGE motivational factor for me, and im simply loving how insanly difficult the Arena is to me right now. I believe i am becoming a much better player with a far better grasp of tactics, sustain and knowledge about DK class just because of the arena.

I dont think my spec is the problem anymore, its pretty meta and my gear is good aswell. I have made it untill last boss afterall. I use potions (crit) and buff food (stam and health) aswell. I dont have a consistent CG strategy yet, not without the protection sigil (dodging skulls and handling the healer at the same time is a lot to handle) but im closly getting there i think. Before i learned how to get to the crystal stage, i spent LOTS of time downstairs so i havent really practised that much on the later stages. As of now, every time i get to last phase my heart is beating like crazy and last time i got boss down to under 5% my hands were shaking and i froze for a sec and missed my rotation. I need more tries to become more comfortable with the entire fight and keep my cool towards the end, that comes with practise im sure.

I will use the tips you gave me on the crystal stage and work on my CG strategy. Im putting in 6 hours into Arena this evening. This will be interesting!

GrigorijMalahevich · April 2018

If you are really bad, you can take magma armor as your back bar ultimate and use it when CG spawns and just kill the bad boi with ease.

Do more heavy attacks and less panick.

I always take power sigil at the start and then shield sigil when I get down from crystal phase. Then just pay attention to golden ghosts and it is very easy

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

beetleklee wrote: »

I play StamDK in vMA all the time.

You pretty much have to get him to 70% before he teleports to reliably avoid the Crem Guard. You can avoid the Crem Guard after he teleports if you're quick enough to keep DPSing him to 70%, but once the portal spawns there's nothing you can do but deal with it.

I run Corrosive Armor instead of Standard at this stage. Also having a Prismatic enchant on one front bar weapon will add a lot of DPS to everything since they're all Daedra.

You can also run Ballista and spam it at range to take the Crem Guard down.

If you don't have the DPS to burn all 3 crystals at once before the Soul Churn damage kills you, take down 1.5-2 of them, pop Corrosive Armor, drop down to the bottom quickly, heal with Vigor (optional: grab Defense or Heal Sigil if available, it'll help) and kill the Crem Guard. Once it's dead, kill the Clannfear and teleport back up. This will reset the Soul Churn damage and the boss's skull attacks, and the wall will be slow at the start again.

Also, super important, it helps to run Vicious Ophidian for sustain in vMA. A must have pretty much.

Thats just brilliant man! I love the specific advice you just gave me. I will definetely try out Corrosive Armor and ballista and try to integrate them into the final stage. As for the Prismatic enchant, is it really worth changing the disease/poison enchants for? I mean, poison aplllies to all mobs not just deadra? Is there something i am missing here?

Vicious Ohidian is a dream of mine. I understand i have to start running VET(can i get it on normal) trials? Is there hope to PUG these trials? I have no idea how i will be able to actually get a hold of this set. Again, awsome post!

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Brrrofski wrote: »

Ok, so mechanics aside, maybe there is something you can change on your build.

What sets and skills are you running?

This is me:

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=54844

Im using spriggans and hundings rage / NMG, with gold weapons.

Front: Venomous Claw, Blood crazye, Vigor, deadly cloak, FoO,
Back: Poison Injection, Hail, Razor, Trap, Molten armaments

I heard some people are running razor on frontbar, but im not sure what i could switch it with?

Septimus_Magna · April 2018

For the Crystal Phase there are several tactics. If the DoT is getting too much you can just jump down, kill the glowing Clannfear near the portal and continue destroying the crystals. Once you get used to this phase its actually quite easy to save resources, place DoTs on the crystal and get in some heavy attacks. Just keep an eye on the boss and dodge the charged skull attack.

I save my ult for the phase after the crystals. The good thing is that the CG follows you so he will die in your ult while you dmg the boss. Keep an eye on the gold ghosts, the spectral explosion deals about 100k dmg so its really helpful to get that in the final stages.

The only difficult thing about the final stage is the Crystal phase which you dont have to hurry. Dps the crystal, dodge the charged attack and hide behind the wall when its up. Dont sprint to catch up to the wall, just drop down to save your stamina and go back up again.

DeadlyRecluse · April 2018

I highly advise NOT grabbing any sigils in the first phase--the last phase is basically the same as the first, but with the addition of gold ghosts you need to grab, extra add spawns to manage, and the excitement of having the boss so close to dead...for my first clear, I drilled the first stage+crystal stage until I could do them without sigils--that leaves you the option of grabbing all sigils in final phase (shield sigil in final stage helps a ton for ignoring the machine gun skulls if you need to go grab a ghost, haste sigil helps with ghost grabbing, damage sigil helps with add management.

The best thing, imo, you can learn is how to stand kind of on the shoulder of the Crem Guard and circle-strafe him. Done right, you keep him and the boss in your ground dots, stay close enough to the boss to bash if you have to, and avoid the fire breath 100%. It takes some practice, but if you really learn that little trick it makes the first stage trivial (which gives you more attempts at dialing in crystals).

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

For the Crystal Phase there are several tactics. If the DoT is getting too much you can just jump down, kill the glowing Clannfear near the portal and continue destroying the crystals. Once you get used to this phase its actually quite easy to save resources, place DoTs on the crystal and get in some heavy attacks. Just keep an eye on the boss and dodge the charged skull attack.

I save my ult for the phase after the crystals. The good thing is that the CG follows you so he will die in your ult while you dmg the boss. Keep an eye on the gold ghosts, the spectral explosion deals about 100k dmg so its really helpful to get that in the final stages.

The only difficult thing about the final stage is the Crystal phase which you dont have to hurry. Dps the crystal, dodge the charged attack and hide behind the wall when its up. Dont sprint to catch up to the wall, just drop down to save your stamina and go back up again.

What ultimate are you refering to? The bow one? Dropping down in the crystal phase isnt that easy... i have to deal with CG and the clannfear does legit damage as well. I will give it a try though later today! Thank you

DeadlyRecluse · April 2018

Another hint for crystal phase it to learn how much it takes to kill the crystals AFTER you move on--

What I mean by that is, if you have rearming trap and endless hail on a crystal, you can move on to the next crystal and let your dots finish the one behind you. Additionally, you can drop down, under control, to the bottom with DoTs finishing the last crystal rather than waiting for it to die and eating the boss stun when he knocks you down.

ZettaVC · April 2018

I found on a stam build I can go right up to the CGs face slightly to the left or right side and kite him in a tiny little circle in that direction and avoid taking any fire damage at all. No vigor needed.

Kanar · April 2018

Crem Guard is so easy on stamDK. Just pop Corrosive armor and kill it. Boss usually stays next to CG during first phase, so when CG is dead the boss is already going upstairs.

Upstairs I suggest doing it in two passes for an easy victory. Put dots on every crystal, then after first wall and your ulti is up, then jump down and kill CG + clannfear on Portal (corrosive armor). Go back up, finish crystals, jump down before he blasts you.

On bottom grab defense sigil right away, this gives you time to get the gold ghosts. Kill the summoner while doing boss and dodging skulls. Boss should die fast.

kylewwefan · April 2018

I haven’t done it yet on DK, but every other stam toon.

if he teleports on me, you know the cream guard is coming. I grab the healing sigil saving defense for last stage. Run up and bash him.

Endless hail, Pinject, Trap, rending, circle the cream guard in the AOE attacking more. By now he’s gone upstairs. And I kill the spectral clanfear on portal.

It took me forever to learn how to circle the guard right but it does make it a lot easier once you get it down.

If my resources are low, heavy attack the healer a few times while dodging the crystal blasts. then port.

Upstairs...remember to buff and Vigor. Endless, Trap, dodge Pinject, blood craze, heavy attack, head for wall. Bow attack moving with wall. Get to next crystal.

The first wall you have one dodge the rest there’s 2. You can also block. Remember to Vigor. I actually put Vigor on both bars when learning.

Not sure what your CP is set up at this level, but I stack a lot into the damage over time reduction in red tree and about 50 into penetration and a bit into Damage over time blue and a good bit into tumbling in the green.

Double damage poison on bow made a huge difference for me. Fleshfly Larve, Nightshade, Nirnroot .

Maybe go with a Kraghs head and bone pirate or Chudan shoulder or complete Chudan set. I use full Chudan/VO/NMG on warden and Templar and probably will do the same on DK.

Yes, you get all the same Vicious Ophidian stuff from normal trials, just blue. Honestly it only loses a little max Stam from jewelry. VO drops from all craglorn Trials and you can get TFS from Sanctum Ophidia. TFS/ VO has been amazing for my StamBlade.

Last, I actually left 2 jewelry enchants Stam recovery. I had plenty enough of damage, just needed more sustain.

When you get to the bottom, if the defense sigil is left, grab it straight away. If not run to him quick and bash. Endless, Pinject, blood craze, get that golden ghost! He ports. Get the next ghost, Vigor dodge skull attack, set your dots.

Here is a judgement call. Kill the narkanz or keep DPS boss. Depends on his health if you can pull it off. You have 1.5 seconds to decide.

Grab next ghost. Vigor. Synergy, and focus boss and cream guard together

Also note, the bow ulti is super strong in here and will hit moving targets. It will melt the cream guard. And Dawnbreaker is also really strong. Not much stays in place long enough for standards full effect.

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

I DID IT! I FREAKING DID IT! Kyle, thanks for your contribution, it helped! I will sum this up later, just need to gather my thoughts. Im shaking right now XD

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Mariusghost84 wrote: »

I DID IT! I FREAKING DID IT! Kyle, thanks for your contribution, it helped! I will sum this up later, just need to gather my thoughts. Im shaking right now XD

Edit: Got a crappy staff. Anyways, holy mother of god - after a THOUSAND rounds i beat this. This was pure definition of PRORGESS.

kylewwefan · April 2018

Congrats Dude! I spent forever stuck on that boss.

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

I managed to do vet arena TWICE now, and the hardest round is definetely round 5. I obvioulsy dont fully understand all mechanics as i cant get pass it the thrird time lol. Thanks to everyone who helped me in this thread!

Edit: Got a crappy Resto staff with defencive both times. Is this 100% random?

Farscape76 · April 2018

Mariusghost84 wrote: »

I managed to do vet arena TWICE now, and the hardest round is definetely round 5. I obvioulsy dont fully understand all mechanics as i cant get pass it the thrird time lol. Thanks to everyone who helped me in this thread!

Edit: Got a crappy Resto staff with defencive both times. Is this 100% random?

Congrats nice work

For detailing mechanics I have yet to find a better guide then Deltia's Guide. He really breaks down the mechanics for each stage well.
This is what helped me with my first clear.

Great job on the Maelstrom clear

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Mariusghost84 wrote: »

I managed to do vet arena TWICE now, and the hardest round is definetely round 5. I obvioulsy dont fully understand all mechanics as i cant get pass it the thrird time lol. Thanks to everyone who helped me in this thread!

Thanks man. It was a wonderfull journey. Now i will get more into the mechanics of each stage, i got stuck again at round 5 and after 3 hours of beying pissed off i took a day off and came back with a calm attitude and went over tactics. Cleared in under 45 minutes. My goal is to do arena in 1 sitting. Stages 5 and 7 are definetely the most difficult ones. Cant imagine doing entire arena without dying, but after 100 runs maybe this starts to look possible?

How many runs do i have to do to get the bow you think? :P

SirCritical · April 2018

If you have sustain issues, you can pop stamrec potion right after getting up to the platform, and you always can hvy attack crystals. Once you'll finish the arena, you'll enjoy it

Ah, just read you're done. Gz then

kylewwefan · April 2018

It’s supposed to have better drop rates for bows and staffs now. I got 5 or 6 bows in a row. Well after every stam toon I have has already had their bow. I did get another battle axe last night. It’s not so great damage wise, but I think it’s by far the coolest looking weapon in the game. It’s only my second one.

It will get a bit easier after you get the bow, and it is probably already getting easier. Memorize the priority targets starts settling in. I’m not even in the hundreds of clears yet, but gettting it down to about 1 1/2 hour.

I was stuck at the last boss for over a year.

You also start to recognize when the arena is bugging out rather than just you messing up. Last night, my endless hail was refusing to work, then bash didn’t work. Then starts rubber banding out of control and my toon is ping pong around.

You can type /reloadui into text chat and that fixes things sometimes.

Mariusghost84 · April 2018

Update. I finally for my nirnhoned maelstrom bow! Took 5 runs. So happy right now!

beetleklee · April 2018

Mariusghost84 wrote: »

Update. I finally for my nirnhoned maelstrom bow! Took 5 runs. So happy right now!

Grats! Best trait too, no need to transmute.
I still need to go back and get an Inferno staff. I've gotten every weapon but that lol.