VMA Round 9 final boss help

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

Scroll down, title was changed to the new topic

GoonyGoat · July 2018

Hate the rng in that round ... my advice, make sure you kill the venommages (the ones that spawn when your screen goes green) as fast as possible. I also try clear plants in the middle of the arena when I can. For the mages, you just need to try be aware which one has the better positioning and then kill the other.

But yeah, easier said than done

good luck!!

(edit): Last thing, may be worth running tri-pots here as a mag toon if you are having trouble sustaining dodge-rolling and avoiding the poison blasts.

Paha_Vaatturi · July 2018

My tip is keeping the boss where one of the mages spawn. Kill that and run to the other one. Essentially you don't have to move the boss at all during the whole round.

Stay close to the boss and make sure you do proper damage so that it dies quick.

Also, try to learn how long does the shield last. Start making damage to the mage before that. If you time it right, you can kill it without it having a chance to harm you.

BNOC · July 2018

25 deaths, is that all it's taking these days? Back when it came out I remember going through stacks of soul gems and having to start the whole arena again by this point because of >500 deaths haha.

Spore spawns:
On this fight, if a spore spawns inside the bubble, that's just tough. You can try stack shields and move to the pool but it doesn't always work out - Chalk this one up to bad luck.
Other than that happening, spores are very very easy to navigate and avoid. After the first bubble (if your dps is high enough) you can just stand by the green pool at the exit portal and have the boss just out-of-range of it, you'll never get hit by a spore there.

Mages:
In regards to the mages, yes, what the other guys have said works - If you keep the boss bottom left of the arena (spawn point) - A mage will spawn to either your left/right and directly behind you on the right(from portal spawn) wall - Kill the one on the right wall and stand with the one on the boss.

The key is to know your roar timer and damage the second mage so that it's a case of a single execute when the screams over - This works with any of the mages, so doesn't matter which one you take as your shield.

You can also try taking the back mage as your bubble (further from boss, closer to defence sigil) - Roll dodge after the scream and pick that up, the add will kill itself, leaving you to kite the boss over to the pool (by the exit portal) and just kill it on the edge of the pool safely.

Having the mage in execute is the easier option IMO.

Boss:
The boss has a limited set of attacks, I can't remember exactly but it's like 4 and as long as you block/cc break the bite ASAP (bleed), you should have no issues with it's damage.

EDIT: If you're going for a simple completion - Take sigils.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

Ill try keeping the boss in place more then. As a magsorc. I do pretty well keeping on top of the venommage, my biggest problem is just getting insta killed by multiple factors that just seem to be entirely rng. I usually try to keep the mindertyats farther away from the boss, in my own experience, the closer ones seem to have poison spores in the bubbles, at lesst when i try.

testd4n1 · July 2018

HalvarIronfist wrote: »

I'm getting RNG'ed so ungodly hard it isn't funny at this point. I'm 400 CP, only round i intensely struggled on was 6. (Damn those spiders!) Running 5 PC Julianos, 5 PC necro, and 2 illiambris
Staves are shocks, enchanted with fire to proc illam.

I keep getting insta-killed in what feels like a second, I can get the boss low. (500k, out of 1.2m) and then often as I back out of a shield after his scream his done, I get bursted by a mix of a sudden-spawning poison, the minder's shock charge, and the boss jumping on top of me.

Other than that, there's always the usual "I killed one minder and then when the other throws his shield up, the poison spawns right in it and i die!"

I mean, seriously? What can I do with all these insta kills? I've watched videos, I've learned the mechanics. I must have died upwards of 25 times on the boss round. The rest of the rounds I blew through pretty easy. Many of the bad insta kills happen right after the minders shield drops. Which I've tried dodge-rolling out to avoid, to no avail.

Most of us have wiped more than 25 times to be honest. Its about sticking to it and not giving up.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

I suppose a bit of this is venting so that i dont break my controller, but realistically.. I don't understand what the RNG on this round even contributes to L2P or a skill factor. It just seems that you either need good dps, or the divines themselves to get you through it.

DeadlyRecluse · July 2018

It's by far the most RNG-screw round. If you have the bubble/scream mechanics down, you really just have to keep at it until you get a good dose of positive RNG. With more DPS, you can drop the second mage/caller fast (so fewer shock CCs) and burn boss faster (so less chance of an RNG-screw poison spawn, as it's done earlier), but a lot of it really is out of your hands.

I don't have the best DPS, but can drop him in 2 screams--I'm sure some PvE heroes can do it in one scream--and you can usually avoid the RNG death in most runs if you only have to get through 2 screams/cycles. Don't be afraid to grab sigils, too.

BuddyAces · July 2018

Use the power sigil right away and when the boss moves to you then drop your ultimate on him and burn as good as you can. When the mages spawn, kill one and get into the other's shield. DPS the boss while in the shield. Learn the timing on when his scream is going to end. Towards the end of his scream, start burning the second mage so you don't have to kill it from full when that part is over. When your power sigil runs out, go get the speed boost sigil, helps with moving away from the spores.
If your dps/burst is good enough you might be able to ignore the second set of mages and just burn the boss. If you go this route then maybe ignore the speed sigil and grab the shield/armor/whatever it's called sigil.

Risky strat here but you can bash the boss to stop him from screaming. I'm not sure of the exact mechanic as I only used it a handful of times back in the day but it enrages him and he will give you a nasty bleed.

Sparr0w · July 2018

Try to keep the one without poison spores under its feet. Kill the venom thingys (when your screen goes green) asap.

I usually drop ulti when he's screaming, get the mag with the shield into execute phase, drop them both after the scream.

greenmachine · July 2018

I could usually spam hardened ward on my magsorc to survive the poison until I could get cleansed.

Jaimeh · July 2018

HalvarIronfist wrote: »

I'm getting RNG'ed so ungodly hard it isn't funny at this point. I'm 400 CP, only round i intensely struggled on was 6. (Damn those spiders!) Running 5 PC Julianos, 5 PC necro, and 2 illiambris
Staves are shocks, enchanted with fire to proc illam.

I keep getting insta-killed in what feels like a second, I can get the boss low. (500k, out of 1.2m) and then often as I back out of a shield after his scream his done, I get bursted by a mix of a sudden-spawning poison, the minder's shock charge, and the boss jumping on top of me.

Other than that, there's always the usual "I killed one minder and then when the other throws his shield up, the poison spawns right in it and i die!"

I mean, seriously? What can I do with all these insta kills? I've watched videos, I've learned the mechanics. I must have died upwards of 25 times on the boss round. The rest of the rounds I blew through pretty easy. Many of the bad insta kills happen right after the minders shield drops. Which I've tried dodge-rolling out to avoid, to no avail.

I wouldn't use a damage proc set in that stage, just to be on the safe side; mushroom burst under dome can be controlled to some extent if you go for the minder that's relatively further from bulbs, so basically when the minders appear, take a note who is near bulbs and kill him and then run to the other one that's hopefully standing further from bulbs. I have survived a poison erruption in dome that was close enough to the cleansing pools by repeatedly shielding, but that was an outlier--best strategy is to leave alive the minder that's standing in a less dense area. As for the minder's shock charge, be ready to roll-dodge, and when you can get used to the rhythm of the fight you can lay some DOTs just before the scream is done, to take down some health from the minder, so you'll kill him fast after the scream.

DocFrost72 · July 2018

It is a lot less rng-y if you control where the mages are before killing one. An important lesson is that moving away from the mob at their engagement range (should be 28 meters) will force them to shift positions to continue attacking you.

Another important detail: mobs are invincible in the green pools (to prevent your camping there), but no poison clouds spawn there. Make use of this if you can.

It sounds like (with the sets you run) you're a mag sorc. VERY LITTLE OF VMA IS A DPS TEST. This round is about positioning, and timing burst. How I did it was to use the healing sigil as soon as the first mender spawned, kill the one closest to the boss (if the other was on a good plot to avoid shrooms popping), and heavy attacked the boss for magic recovery. Once he started to lower his head, burst the crap out of his mage handler. Next time a mender spawned, I grabbed the speed sigil to repeat. I saved shield and offense sigil for after that second mender phase because the boss is near to, if not at, execute range and you want to be able to drive it home.

If a poison caller spawns at any time, ignore all else and smash it OR reposition to the cleansing area and find the caller, wait for shrooms to pop, then act. You have the advantage of range here, use it to full advantage.

Hopefully this helps, and good luck my friend.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

I beat 7, and then 8.

Now in just stuck on the round 9 final boss.

seems so impossible, he either stuns or instakills througj shield because I dibt have the stamina to run and bash him. I can make it to the crystal stage and burst down two crystals if im lucky enough. I just never have the stamina to keep dodging all his attacks up there, then i get pushed off and die trying to get back onto a portal.

As for rounds 1-5 of round 9, i blew through them effortlessly. The final boss is giving me bruised knuckles because it seems theres no way to counter all his attacks on top of the CG fire breath without getring stunned and insta-killed.

DeadlyRecluse · July 2018

HalvarIronfist wrote: »

As for rounds 1-5 of round 9, i blew through them effortlessly. The final boss is giving me bruised knuckles because it seems theres no way to counter all his attacks on top of the CG fire breath without getring stunned and insta-killed.

If it makes you feel any better....

It took me well over 3 hours on the final boss to beat him the first time.

The second time I beat him on my third attempt.

It's really just a matter of figuring out what strategy works for you--for me it was perfecting the circle strafe on the CGs, stacking adds next to boss so the damage kept hitting him, and memorizing his attack patterns (so you dodge every big skull and are ready to interrupt his machine gun skull move every time).

...I also tend to save all sigils until after crystal phase, then grab them all when you drop down after blowing up crystals. Having the defensive one for the first machine gun skull of the second downstairs bit is super helpful, and haste helps you get all the gold ghosts.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

What I've been doing is grabbing the defense sigil right as he's about to use the machine gun, then nuke him and the CG with a destro ult. Otherwise theres plenty of times i get my shield dropped down as im trying to make it to him to interrupt

DocFrost72 · July 2018

Not to sound silly op, but have you considered crushing shock for this round? The interupt was absurdly useful (don't ever use it round 7 or if reflecting voriak's channel otherwise fire at will).

The key to this fight is to maintain stam for his mechanics, and burst the CG. Never. Never. Never. Take your eyes off the boss. Strafe to put the CG and ghost clanfear between you and the boss. When you go upstairs, attack the crystal at an angle where you can see the boss.

I typically save the d sigil and offensive sigil for after the third crystal breaks- when that happens btw the CG, healer, and if a clanfear is still alive, all die instantly. It will immediately proceed into a machine gun phase (hence why I save d sigil), with the necromancer adds trying to summon the bone colossus. How I did it was saving my destro ult for after he started killing himself with his own channel. I ignored all adds and burned, burned burned!

If you take it slow, follow the bold advice and make sure you can see the boss at all times. Tri stat food may help stam issues.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

I think i have some tri stat crown meals left.. i could also use tri-pots or spell power. Im on ps4, so i try to keep eyes on the boss and burst down the CG. But it never seems fast enough or i lose sight of what the boss is doing trying to deal with the cg. Hence why i just nuke it and the boss when it spawns next to him during a machine gun attack

pdebie64b16_ESO · July 2018

It helps in the boss round to stay near the cleansing pools.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

I changes the topic for this final boss

BuddyAces · July 2018

HalvarIronfist wrote: »

I changes the topic for this final boss

There's a thread in one of these forums somewhere, on the first page titled something like joys updated maelstrom arena guide (along those lines), go there. Can't link cuz at work on a short break. Good luck bud.

HalvarIronfist · July 2018

I looked at that, besides my reference video for mechanics. So far, according to what "should" happen in these videos, ive encountered glitches and changes of mechanics mid fight for no apparent reason.

Alongside that, anyone else having ungodly NA ps4 lag? Its been shite the past 12 ish hours for me. Other games on.ps4 or pc( including PC NA ESO) run just fine

magicsprout · August 2018

Actually i had one run where the boss dropped and there was a live daedroth...i died

BNOC · August 2018

Round 9 - If you're getting to the crystals that's good, I'll skip the start.

SIGILS
Once you are knocked off - Whether it's after 2 or all 3 crystals(preferably 3 obviously), pick up the defensive sigil - It'll reflect back at the boss/adds.
Don't sprint up the top, you shouldn't need to.

If you're struggling for resources to bash at the bottom, take 45s off of your Spell power pot and use a tri stat, an immov speed or something.

Once you're down from crystals officially, I'd pick up any sigil you run by and make sure you collect the gold ghosts - They always head for the boss, even if he teleports.

gabriebe · August 2018

The final round is easy on a magsorc once you understand the sequence of events.

Start the round by putting down AOEs on where he spawns in the middle. He will shoot a skull at you, dodge or block it.

When he teleports, use crushing shock to interrupt him. You will see the portal where the CG spawns next to him. Drop a destro ult if possible, then spam harness magica while running in circle. CG should be dead and with some luck you even restored some magica from the breath being absorbed by Harness. If no destro ult, just keep your AOEs going and focus on spamming Harness Magica while his HP goes down, DPSing with other abilitie when his breath is down.

Boss should be close to 70% by then. He will go to the middle again. Kill the clannfear near a portal then go up.

Once you go up, set down Liquid Lightning and Wall of elements on the first crystal, then roll dodge the skull he throws at you. Run around damaging crystals as you go. When the wall goes up, find it and meet it. Once it is down, roll dodge the skull again. Rinse and repeat until your destro ult is up.

IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE YOU DO NOT NEED TO KILL ALL THE CRYSTALS ON THE FIRST ROUND.

When your destro is up, jump downstairs in the middle, throw down your ult, spam harness magica while the CG dies. Find a portal, kite the clannfear there, use the portal and go back up.

Once all the crystals are down, the boss will knock you downstairs. He will teleport immediately. Interrupt him, get the ghosts, lay down AOEs and save your ult for when the CG spawns, killing adds as you go. If you are lucky, you will get the 3 gold ghosts when the CG spawns next to the boss. That is when you use it. After that, boss should have very little HP left so it's more a matter of not geting too trigger happy and continuing business as usual until he is dead. Biggest threat in that phase is not getting knocked down by the boss (or missing an interrupt) while the CG is on you, so prioritze your ult on the CG.

TheNightflame · August 2018

on stamplar i like taking the haste and healing sigil right before going up, and shield when i get down

Saint314Louis1985 · August 2018

After crystals grab defense sigil then offense sigil before you do anything. Do not interrupt boss while defense sigil is active.
Once you have sigils, start attacking boss with your rotation. If you can grab the gold ghost great but it’s not top priority. Wait for him to do his first teleport then drop destro ult and give him all you got. He should die pretty quick before you have to deal with the daedroth.
I also recommend using tri stat food and tri pots for this round.

psxfloh · August 2018

A few things that might help:
1. You don't need to roll dodge his skulls, just block them and you'll save a lot of stamina
2. Take your time with the crystals if you're incapable of destroying all three in one go (like me).. there's nothing wrong to jump down deliberately after each crystal.

I had problems with the CG being on fire when I stayed on the upper level too long, so I found it to be a lot easier to do the final boss like this:
When he goes up for the first time, I wait for the next CG to appear, and kill it (AoEs on the ground before it spawns, so it takes dmg on its way to you). Then I go up, destroy a crystal while blocking (not roll-dodging!) the boss' skulls, and jump down before the next CG spawns and sets itself on fire. Sometimes I'm too slow and have to use the moving wall to avoid being thrown off the platform by the explosion, but that's fine as well. Repeat for crystals 2+3. If you're thrown off by accident, don't panic.. recast your shield/heal yourself, wait for the next CG and kill it before you use the portal again.
When the boss comes down, make sure to 1. interrupt him when necessary, 2. stay close to catch all the golden ghosts before they reach him, 3. make sure you're not too close or he'll do his AoE explosion that'll one shot you if you're too low on stamina for a dodge roll.
As soon as you have collected 3 golden ghosts, recast all buffs, use the synergy to stun all enemies (preferably right after he teleports and you have to interrupt him anyway), drop an ult on the boss and burn him down. Optionally you can get to the dmg sigil before using the ghost-synergy and activate the sigil before dropping the ult.