I'M SHAKING! UPDATE: VMA CRUSHED!

SickleCider · July 2020

I just cleared the Argonian Behemoth stage of VMA. I've been stuck on this stage for six months (well, not six months of actively trying, thankfully!) I just had to tell someone because I'm SO PLEASED.

UPDATE: IIII DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID IT! And got an axe fml BUT I DID IT!!!! I'd like to thank the academy, and all of the helpful suggestions! I ended up going in without flappy bird, and just applied a lot of grit. It took me three tries to do the final round this time! In fact, checking the time left on my food, I finished the final stage in about 20 minutes. Wat.

redlink1979 · July 2020

Congrats!!

FLuFFyxMuFFiN · July 2020

Grats! That's one of the hardest stages imo. Keep at it!

Chufu · July 2020

Congrats! Yeah from my own experience (I got the Flawless Conqueror just some weeks ago finally), I can tell you: This arena is just practice, practice, practice. Of course you can get ideas from videos, streams, guides, but at the end it's you who has to walk through all these stages and to finish it.

But if you train there every day a little bit, it should be better and better and after some time you know exactly where the "bad things" are coming from, so you know what to kill first or when to interrupt.

Also: While training these sigils might also be very helpful for you, especially the reflect-shield. Later you will not need them anymore, but especially at the beginning they can prevent some deaths here and there.

Wish you the best to complete it soon.

SickleCider · July 2020

Thanks, guys.

Yes, practice seems to be the key, as well as just pacing myself. It requires a slower, more methodical approach than I'm used to in this game. So far, that stage and the ice stage were the most difficult, for me.

vibeborn · July 2020

Excellent job!

Asdara · July 2020

Versispellis wrote: »

I just cleared the Argonian Behemoth stage of VMA. I've been stuck on this stage for six months (well, not six months of actively trying, thankfully!) I just had to tell someone because I'm SO PLEASED.

i feel you! come get a hug!

Mettaricana · July 2020

Key to fight relax and dont use aoes when mind shielders are up dont bash argonian out of roar

ZOS_Adrikoth · July 2020

Well done @Versispellis

SickleCider · July 2020

Thank you, everyone!

The next stage was super easy. Now I have to read about the final stage. The mechanics were unclear to me the first time in normal (I just yeeted everything).

JamieAubrey · July 2020

Gratz, I felt the same way when I finally completed it

xaraan · July 2020

Congrats! This is the most annoying phase for me, feels much more RNG based than some others and sometimes you just get the short end of the stick. It will get smoother the more you do it, but you'll still sometimes just have bad luck.

SolidusPrime · July 2020

Congratulations

VMA is a real challenge.

Dalsinthus · July 2020

That's so awesome. Congratulations!

You'll feel even better when you finish stage 9 for the first time. Once you've made it through 5-7, you got this!

CassandraGemini · July 2020

That's great! Congrats! @Versispellis

I know exactly how you feel, I just had my very first vMA clear a short while back, too, and that whole process took me months as well. I came very close to giving up for good a few times, because I felt I would never make it through that very same stage. Then I finally did, and somehow managed to beat the last two rounds as well, and even got the bow for my troubles (was hoping for the inferno staff, but hey, I thought the bow is nice, too!)... only to hear the announcement a few days later that there would now be "perfected" versions for clearing vMA and that what I had worked for so hard I would have been able to get by doing nMA, had I just waited. For a moment there I felt like taking a gun to my head

But, yeah, whatever, I'm over it. I really wish you all the best for the last stage and that you'll get the weapon you want! After persevering through all of that, you've certainly earned it!

idk · July 2020

redlink1979 wrote: »

Congrats!!

I concur with this. Grats. That is one of my least favorite rounds. Mostly because I make a mistake there from time to time and get myself killed.

Vevvev · July 2020

Nice! Just two more stages left and you'll secure victory in the vMA!

Here's a little tip on the last boss of the last stage.

After beating the 2nd stage of his battle which involves destroying the crystals you want to grab the defense buff. The defense buff reflects projectiles back at their casters and that boss does a channeled attack that sends a stream of fireballs at you. Don't interrupt him and let the defensive buff reflect every single fireball back at him!!!

SickleCider · July 2020

Thank you, guys! @CassandraGemini , that's really unfortunate! Congrats on the clear, though!

I'm at the final boss of VMA now and I'm starting to grind my teeth again. The rounds before this one were really easy. This one has interesting mechanics that I'm trying to enjoy, but it does suffer from the "throw as much possible at the player at once" mode of difficulty that I'm not very fond of. There's too much of. . . something, going on here. I think a large of it is the snares, and the Crematorial Guardians may be a little overtuned (I do know to circle strafe them, that's a favorite strat of mine).

EDIT: Thanks, @Vevvev ! I haven't gotten him back down again yet but I'll keep it in mind.

mairwen85 · July 2020

Versispellis wrote: »

I just cleared the Argonian Behemoth stage of VMA. I've been stuck on this stage for six months (well, not six months of actively trying, thankfully!) I just had to tell someone because I'm SO PLEASED.

Awesome +1. Well done! It's been a long while since I got any satisfaction out of that place, but it always puts a smile on my face to see others hit an achievement and celebrate their success over it.

SickleCider · July 2020

Thanks!

Well, that was frustrating. I got two crystals down and ended up slipping off the ring. When I dropped down I couldn't move for a good long while, perished in the lava, and somehow had 16 ticks from a Crematorial Guard for a total of 60k damage when there was nothing around me.

mairwen85 · July 2020

Versispellis wrote: »

Thanks!

Well, that was frustrating. I got two crystals down and ended up slipping off the ring. When I dropped down I couldn't move for a good long while, perished in the lava, and somehow had 16 ticks from a Crematorial Guard for a total of 60k damage when there was nothing around me.

Eventually it will just click into place and you'll have run it enough times to know each spawn and mechanic intimately

Persistence is the driver, but familiarity is the key. Your biggest enemy in vMA is confidence, get over that hump and it gets easier.

SickleCider · July 2020

Thank you again, everyone. I made good progress today, and for now, I'm going to take a break! I'm going to rethink my approach. Something about my build is inadequate in this stage. I don't have quite the DPS to burst him down, but I also don't have the defense to take everything that's thrown at me.

Up until this point I've been using one bar on lightning staff with Flappy Bird, Crushing Shock, Power Surge, Harness Magicka, Bound Aegis and Shooting Star. I sneak in a cheeky Unstable Wall from my back bar when I can. I've been running Mother's Sorrow, Julianos (I know, not optimal), and Illambris. (Not Necropotence because I'm not a dedicated pet sorc, but I may have to grab a set if I'm going to rely on ole Flappy for this.) I do have Thrassian Stranglers, and I've been running them in most content, but I didn't think it'd be wise here or beneficial, because of all the dying.

Pauls · July 2020

Seriously, you needed 6 months to figure out why your build or tactics dont work?

SickleCider · July 2020

Pauls wrote: »

Seriously, you needed 6 months to figure out why your build or tactics dont work?

When I say I was stuck for six months, I mean that I was stuck six months ago, and might have tried once or twice again since then. I wasn't at it all that time. That'd be unfortunate.

tsaescishoeshiner · July 2020

For the last stage, I recommend falling off of the crystal platform intentionally. The damage-over-time and speed of the rotating wall will be reset when you go back up. BUT there will be a Crematorial Guard and a passive DoT while you're on the ground.

So you can like kill a crystal (or better, deal some damage to them all using DoTs), get some resources up, use a heal or damage shield before dropping down safely, bonk the Crematorial Guard, and go back up.

I usually either do the crystals all in one go or after going up twice, but that takes practice.

Once he comes back down, it's kind of a DPS race / trying to get the golden ghosts. It's like you can either play the mechanics of the round or just kill him fast depending on your DPS.

Congrats and good luck!!

tsaescishoeshiner · July 2020

Also Iceheart is still very pretty helpful for vMA despite the nerf.

Taleof2Cities · July 2020

Versispellis wrote: »

Up until this point I've been using one bar on lightning staff with Flappy Bird, Crushing Shock, Power Surge, Harness Magicka, Bound Aegis and Shooting Star.

Slot your Destruction Staff Ultimate, @Versispellis, for a much larger AOE damage area.

Sometimes you can kill the Crematorial Guard while still doing damage to the boss.

Shooting Star is still AOE but a much smaller radius ...

SickleCider · July 2020

Thank you, @tsaescishoeshiner ! That's a very helpful tip. I'm usually a glass cannon, and I know if you get him down to 70% quickly enough you can skip the first Crematorial Guard, but after I rearrange my build for VMA (shifting some gear and skills) I don't have the DPS to burst him down like that anymore. I may be selecting the wrong arrangement of skills. I think I'll be okay if I can just get him back down. Dropping down intentionally on my own terms might be the solution here, because it's that falling/getting snared/getting pummeled by the Guard bit that gets me every time. I'll try Iceheart, too.

@Taleof2Cities Thanks, I'll try that. I was wondering if I ought to. I thought I'd better go with Shooting Star for more frequent ults, but the bigger AOE may be better.

tsaescishoeshiner · July 2020

Also, if there's ANY way that you can get used to using Power Surge to your backbar so you can fit Inner Light on your front bar, that's really good for 1-bar build, too. Do you have another source of Major Prophecy? More of a DPS tip than a stage tip

Also Critical Surge should heal you for over 3x as much as Power Surge

SickleCider · July 2020

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Also, if there's ANY way that you can get used to using Power Surge to your backbar so you can fit Inner Light on your front bar, that's really good for 1-bar build, too. Do you have another source of Major Prophecy? More of a DPS tip than a stage tip

Also Critical Surge should heal you for over 3x as much as Power Surge

!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU FOR THE NOTE ABOUT POWER SURGE. I was wondering why something just felt so. . . wrong, with it. In my defense, I recently took a long break. lol Thank you so much.

EDIT: I've gone to the Spellscar area to level up Crit Surge and this already feels so much better. Where was my head at?

I'll try to get more comfortable putting surge on the back bar, because you're right. I've been having issues in VMA swapping my bars, so I stopped trying to do it. It might be fine now, though. I noticed a lot of the bugs were smoothed out.

cheeseaddict · July 2020

gratz