vMA is ruining my life

PapaGhosty · June 2018

This may be the single most frustrating content in a game I've ever tried to conquer. I've gotten to the boss on stage 5 with no advice. And it was PAINFUL. I need to do something differently, but I'm not sure what.
I've been running stamblade with combinations of Hundings, Griffon, Tava, Briarheart, Red Mountain sets. I've gotten furthest with Briar/griffon with a thief boon. I seem to be fine as long as I can constantly deal damage, but mechanics often keep me from doing so, and I get melted quickly.
Any successful stamblades out there with tips on gearing/strategy?

WrathOfInnos · June 2018

Try the defense sigil on stage 5 to reflect everything from the mages and archers. Ambush is useful for getting between islands quickly to kill trolls.

LiquidPony · June 2018

Maelstrom is about prioritization, and stage 5 in particular is about prioritization, positioning, and pace.

You need to either be far enough away from the ranged adds (archers, mages) that they can't hit you, or you need to be on top of them when they spawn for an instant burn.

Ideal gear is probably still 5 x Twice-Fanged Serpent (Spriggan's would be the alternative) and 5 x Vicious Ophidian (really no good alternative to that set), with 2 x Velidreth. From the sets you've got listed, I'd probably roll with Hunding's and Briarheart but you'll be severely lacking in both penetration and sustain.

Watch some videos for strategies for that boss in particular. It is important to plan your movements so that you can easily take out ranged adds as they spawn, and it is also important to remember that you can control the pace of the fight as the boss will bust platforms at 75% and 45% health.

Aurielle · June 2018

Make sure you’re killing adds, not wailing on the boss. Kill adds ASAP, starting with trolls. If you don’t kill the adds, you’ll get overwhelmed really quickly, as they spawn based on the boss’s health IIRC. Save the power sigil and your ultimates until the boss is nearing the execute phase.

PapaGhosty · June 2018

Good tips. If trial sets truly make that much of a difference, maybe I'll focus on those for a few weeks.
I imagine if I'm struggling here, I'll have even more problems later.

mr_wazzabi · June 2018

PapaGhosty wrote: »

This may be the single most frustrating content in a game I've ever tried to conquer. I've gotten to the boss on stage 5 with no advice. And it was PAINFUL. I need to do something differently, but I'm not sure what.
I've been running stamblade with combinations of Hundings, Griffon, Tava, Briarheart, Red Mountain sets. I've gotten furthest with Briar/griffon with a thief boon. I seem to be fine as long as I can constantly deal damage, but mechanics often keep me from doing so, and I get melted quickly.
Any successful stamblades out there with tips on gearing/strategy?

Why are you mix and matching sets? You should only be wearing two 5 pc sets and one 2pc monster set.

DeadlyRecluse · June 2018

mr_wazzabi wrote: »

PapaGhosty wrote: »

This may be the single most frustrating content in a game I've ever tried to conquer. I've gotten to the boss on stage 5 with no advice. And it was PAINFUL. I need to do something differently, but I'm not sure what.
I've been running stamblade with combinations of Hundings, Griffon, Tava, Briarheart, Red Mountain sets. I've gotten furthest with Briar/griffon with a thief boon. I seem to be fine as long as I can constantly deal damage, but mechanics often keep me from doing so, and I get melted quickly.
Any successful stamblades out there with tips on gearing/strategy?

Why are you mix and matching sets? You should only be wearing two 5 pc sets and one 2pc monster set.

I think he means he's used different combinations of those 5 piece sets (he's tried 5x Hundings, 5 Tavas one time, and 5x Briarheart 5x Griffon another, for instance).

PapaGhosty · June 2018

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

mr_wazzabi wrote: »

PapaGhosty wrote: »

This may be the single most frustrating content in a game I've ever tried to conquer. I've gotten to the boss on stage 5 with no advice. And it was PAINFUL. I need to do something differently, but I'm not sure what.
I've been running stamblade with combinations of Hundings, Griffon, Tava, Briarheart, Red Mountain sets. I've gotten furthest with Briar/griffon with a thief boon. I seem to be fine as long as I can constantly deal damage, but mechanics often keep me from doing so, and I get melted quickly.
Any successful stamblades out there with tips on gearing/strategy?

Why are you mix and matching sets? You should only be wearing two 5 pc sets and one 2pc monster set.

I think he means he's used different combinations of those 5 piece sets (he's tried 5x Hundings, 5 Tavas one time, and 5x Briarheart 5x Griffon another, for instance).

This. Not like one of each lol

kojou · June 2018

Try Iceheart for the extra defense.

Hundings + Spriggen should work fine for 5 piece sets. You could also run Bone Pirate for extra sustain.

LiquidPony · June 2018

PapaGhosty wrote: »

Good tips. If trial sets truly make that much of a difference, maybe I'll focus on those for a few weeks.
I imagine if I'm struggling here, I'll have even more problems later.

I'm sure you'll stumble on some later stages (final boss stage 7, final boss stage 9 in particular) ... but, the general consensus among people I know has always been "if you can clear stage 5, you can beat the arena."

Maelstrom is *miserable* on a stam toon without Vicious Ophidian. You can use a variety of other sets to go along with it (Hunding's, NMG, TFS, Spriggan's, etc.), and you can use a variety of monster sets (Kra'gh, Selene, Stormfist, etc.) ... but there's no alternative to VO.

So yeah, I would at the very least do some normal Trials PUG farms and try to get a set of VO.

srnm · June 2018

LiquidPony wrote: »

Maelstrom is *miserable* on a stam toon without Vicious Ophidian.

Unless you are gilliamtherogue...

Toc de Malsvi · June 2018

The primary benefit of VO is the movement bonus. High mobility allows you to avoid so much damage while constantly putting yourself in position to deal maximum damage. As such Dreugh Kingslayer works just as well as VO for that albeit with less sustain.

I agree with previous posters on stage 5, if you can do stage five you can do the whole arena. One key for the boss on stage 5 is to not burn until the final platform. Slow play the boss and burn only the adds.

Running high recovery will allow you to dodge roll more, reposition aoe dots more, and heal more without working yourself into unrecoverable situations. It will slow your burn however and force you to perform mechanics. I can say with absolute assurity that you do not need high dps to conquer Maelstrom Arena. You need only to understand each stages mechanics and maintain kill order and pace.