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Hardest level in vMA

  • DraconicFalcon
    It depends.

    Hardest arena for someone new to running vMA would be the final arena (Arena 9). The learning curve is difficult on the final boss, but once you nail the mechs down, it all becomes muscle memory and becomes a rather easy fight.

    For a Flawless no death run, it will be arena 5, Rink of Frozen Blood. Mostly because of the final boss phase where adds will swarm you with overwhelming force + being on a timer before the final ice platform gets destroyed. Mag builds and some classes do have easier time on this boss fight though due to their toolkit, like the Resto ult (which everyone can access if they have a resto staff) or Magma shell giving you much needed protection to not worry about the adds.

    I wanted to add in Arena 7 (Vault of Umbrage) as a contender for a flawless no death run as well, due to the RNG nature of the poison plant spawns, which will screw over stam characters especially due to lack of shields + having defile + snare. While yes, people say you can reduce the RNG nature by triggering the plant explosions early so they will spawn in the different spot, you still won't be able to control plant spawns perfectly, and sometimes a plant will just spawn and explode beneath you while you are being snared.
    Edited by DraconicFalcon on December 2, 2019 2:45AM
  • RebornV3x
    RebornV3x
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    As a Flawless Conqueror my hardest stages was the boss on 5, 7 is just rng if you happen to hit a plant and making sure you keep a mender alive I had some trouble on 8 they must of buffed 8 at some point since I had no problems with stage 8 before Elsywer patch maybe being a vamp didn't help I had to use sigils just to play it safe and stage 9 had a lot of random deaths leading up to final boss

    Eventually I could always get to final boss in about 50 minutes but it would take me hours to beat final boss. Final boss is no joke finally I got to a point I could beat final boss without using sigils in my flawless run I used sigils just to play it safe on stages 5,7,8 and 9
    Xbox One - NA GT: RebornV3x
    I also play on PC from time to time but I just wanna be left alone on there so sorry.
  • thorwyn
    thorwyn
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    I just finished my flawless like an hour ago (go me!) after some agonizing 2-3 days of trying. As the people above already said, arenas 5 and 7 are the hardest. At stage 5, you can easily lose track of the troll in the heat of the battle and of course, the last boss can be a bit tricky. I usually drg her to the platform with the speed sigil, damage her to 90%, triggering the first adds and then run to the health sigil platform. The reason is, that the adds will follow you rather quickly, while the boss lady is a tad slow. This gives you some time to nuke the adds in peace. Repeat this at the second platform. Makes it a bit easier.
    Arena 7 has the randomness factor. It can go wrong rather quickly. Triggering the plants before the final round does not really solve the problem, because once you are pinned under the shield and the pland guy spawns, new plants can still get you.
    Over all, MA is a cool challenge in my opinion.
    And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
    And if there is no room upon the hill
    And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
    I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
  • CrashTest
    CrashTest
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    The ice stage.
  • siddique
    siddique
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    I usually only die at stage 7 to absolute nonsense.
    "Knee-jerk reactionist."
    Lost Depths, 2015-2022.
  • notvenousdrake
    notvenousdrake
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    I’d say the hardest stage is the first because every time I see it I think, “I could totally do something better with 25 minutes”
  • Garpley
    Garpley
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    I'm currently trying to beat the final boss of the last stage for my first ever completion run so I'd say that.

    Then it was Ice and then Poison (for me)
    PC NA AD
    Bregana - Healplar
    Vraeli - Magcro

    Life on hard mode...
    Just plodding along
  • Dagoth_Rac
    Dagoth_Rac
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    Stage 6 was my biggest frustration. It seems to be designed with idea that you will light up most pillars in earlier rounds and then stun boss fairly quickly in final round. But if you die in boss round, you go back in with most pillars unlit and have to start over. I guess no one cares now that people just ignore pillars and burn boss. But when I was first working on VMA, you really needed to light up all pillars and stun boss to prevent the enrage. It is only boss round where what happened in earlier rounds matters. It was very frustrating and nerve-wracking because it felt like you had to kill boss smoothly, right out of prior stage, or it was a huge missed opportunity. There was no saving progress back then. If there was, I might have logged out, come back later, and started Round 6 from scratch. Just for opportunity to go into boss round with most of the pillars lit.

    Biggest annoyance that is very rare but infuriating: getting poisoned in Round 7 just as boss dies. The cleansing pools disappear when the boss dies! I do not remember if this prevents you from moving on to Round 8 and you have to kill Argonian Behemoth again or if you are just forced to die before moving on to Round 8.
  • gepe87
    gepe87
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    My flawless: last stage was a nightmare because i passed level 7 without dying and i was too nervous to fail getting all golden ghosts.
    Stage 5 is fine as long you notice ice trolls and check final boss heath %(for platforms).
    Gepe, Dunmer MagSorc Pact Grand Overlord | Gaepe, Bosmer MagSorc Dominion General

    If you see edits on my replies: typos. English isn't my main language
  • siddique
    siddique
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    We need a hardmode for vma.
    "Knee-jerk reactionist."
    Lost Depths, 2015-2022.
  • Bobby_V_Rockit
    Bobby_V_Rockit
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    I have been stuck on stage 5 for two years, I beat it today, killed the giant and all the adds. But it bugged out and wouldnt progress, just kept sending a troll breaker every 20 seconds until I finally gave up. Cant beat it again, tried 30 times.

    Had to quit game for the day or else I’d snap my controller.

    Edit: I beat stage 5, now stage 6 is owning my cute little bum bum
    Edited by Bobby_V_Rockit on January 27, 2020 11:49AM
  • siddique
    siddique
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    I have been stuck on stage 5 for two years, I beat it today, killed the giant and all the adds. But it bugged out and wouldnt progress, just kept sending a troll breaker every 20 seconds until I finally gave up. Cant beat it again, tried 30 times.

    Had to quit game for the day or else I’d snap my controller.

    Edit: I beat stage 5, now stage 6 is owning my cute little bum bum

    It bugged out on me for my first flawless run, lol. I fast travelled to the start of arena, went back, killed it again, finished vma but never got the achievement.

    Stage 6 is probably the last obstacle.
    "Knee-jerk reactionist."
    Lost Depths, 2015-2022.
  • HappyElephant
    HappyElephant
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    The Final Boss in vMA is so hard. I swear I have been trying to beat him for 1.5 years now. Not kidding. My cute Stamblade goes in there again and again. I know it is all mechanics.

    But it requires so much concentration since Stage 9 is such a long fight.
    I also get so bored. I have memorized everything that happens up until he drops down from the ring.
    Still haven't figured out what to do after he drops, as I don't have enough DPS to burn him down.

  • Milchbart
    Milchbart
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    The Final Boss in vMA is so hard. I swear I have been trying to beat him for 1.5 years now. Not kidding. My cute Stamblade goes in there again and again. I know it is all mechanics.

    Still haven't figured out what to do after he drops, as I don't have enough DPS to burn him down.
    Take the shield sigil, attack, take the damage sigil , attack, ... and collect all golden ghosts.
  • Thechuckage
    Thechuckage
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    Definitely collect the gold ghosts, let him get fully charged one time.....it was not fun.

    Might want to do some normal runs, get the "new" weapon drops and have some more UMPH to beat his ass down.
  • Stealthk80
    Stealthk80
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    The Final Boss in vMA is so hard. I swear I have been trying to beat him for 1.5 years now. Not kidding. My cute Stamblade goes in there again and again. I know it is all mechanics.

    But it requires so much concentration since Stage 9 is such a long fight.
    I also get so bored. I have memorized everything that happens up until he drops down from the ring.
    Still haven't figured out what to do after he drops, as I don't have enough DPS to burn him down.

    Lucky for you I've ran it 24 times since patch and I know exactly what happens
    As a stam, venom shot is gonna help grab those ranged interrupts

    Drop down, interrupt his cast, dps him for a few secs, block his skull cast grab the first ghost. Spot the summoning add at edge of the arena go kill it and grab second ghost, block second skull cast, watch for second channelled cast, Interrupt him. If your def is low grab the def power up as he's now gonna spawn a cremo and another summoning add and the 3rd ghost should be available to grab. If your dps is low or boss isn't less than 50% grab the power up, use ghost synergy and pop your ultimate. He should be dead now
    Edited by Stealthk80 on June 17, 2020 12:22AM
  • Xologamer
    Xologamer
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    The Final Boss in vMA is so hard. I swear I have been trying to beat him for 1.5 years now. Not kidding. My cute Stamblade goes in there again and again. I know it is all mechanics.

    But it requires so much concentration since Stage 9 is such a long fight.
    I also get so bored. I have memorized everything that happens up until he drops down from the ring.
    Still haven't figured out what to do after he drops, as I don't have enough DPS to burn him down.

    thats the easiest phase of all bosses : go down -> grab shield -> grab other siegels -> dps him down = done in less than 30sec without any chance of dying
  • Xologamer
    Xologamer
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    Xologamer wrote: »
    The Final Boss in vMA is so hard. I swear I have been trying to beat him for 1.5 years now. Not kidding. My cute Stamblade goes in there again and again. I know it is all mechanics.

    But it requires so much concentration since Stage 9 is such a long fight.
    I also get so bored. I have memorized everything that happens up until he drops down from the ring.
    Still haven't figured out what to do after he drops, as I don't have enough DPS to burn him down.

    thats the easiest phase of all bosses : go down -> grab shield -> grab other siegels -> dps him down = done in less than 30sec without any chance of dying
    and no there isnt even high dps required i did what i discirbed with my healer and got flawless vma clear
  • butterrum222
    butterrum222
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    When I was new that was my hardest fight too. Then after doing it countless times my new hated bosses became the argonian and the she-giant. Trying to go flawless these [snip] it up for me plenty of times

    [Edited for Censor Bypass]
    Edited by Psiion on June 21, 2020 3:58AM
  • HappyElephant
    HappyElephant
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    I did it! Voriak Solkyn the final boss is dead. D-E-D dead.
    TY for all the tips on this thread - I followed them and it worked.
    Also got the perfected bow on my first time finish. So Sweet!
  • strata2
    strata2
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    Stage 8 is usually what ruins my flawless runs... stage 5 is easy once you know to go slower... stage 7 I just shield and run to the pools to cleanse when I get hit by poison spores and never really have a problem staying alive even when RNG is rude

    During the first clear process, stages 5 and 9 were the ones that gave me the most trouble
  • maddiniiLuna
    maddiniiLuna
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    5 Is the hardest for me. Not because i can't focus on what is important, but because these frost things hit so hard. I get 2 or 3 bolts and i'm dead. I have to outheal them, run to the troll, watch the boss. If those frost bolts wouldn't hit me for 30% life i wouldn't find it too hard, but now it's just insane.


    Yeah i died occasionally on 7, but i still don't find it very difficult to deal with. It's more or less just me doing silly mistakes in hectic and getting used to certain rotations.
    At final boss stage i kill the guy that is furthest away. I always do that, then run in to the bubble that is closest. Only when it has a spore under it i think crap i should have looked before :D Silly mistake.

    On the first few attempts i failed so hard at stage 9. Then i realized i literally only have to run circles. So i did. As a warden with flappy wings it does get a little hectic at the end, but nothing major. After doing it once it got easier and easier every time. I also used sigils like always when the crematorial guards came, but now i don't even bother. I got used to kiting them around. I find this stage not harder then stage 6, once you've learned it and stage 6 is a fly by.

    There is 2 things in the arena that get me very annoyed all the time:

    1) The warden pet bear always attacks the stones at stage 8, even when they are in "broken" state and can not be targeted. I have to manually send him to the right target then.

    2) After destroying the last stone in the upper ring (stage 9) i always get kicked off. Even if i try to roll dodge trough the middle it doesn't help. I tried running, roll dodging and i tried jumping down just before the stone gets destroyed. Nothing works for me. I always end up in the lava, have to heal and run to interrupt the boss.
  • Taunky
    Taunky
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    Used to be Stage 5, now it's the Stage 7 final boss.
  • Bobby_V_Rockit
    Bobby_V_Rockit
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    Stage 6, because that is where I am currently stuck. Yes I know spiders in the light, hoarvor the webs, etc. cant beat it. Stuck. Hate it. Lol
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