Veteran MA - stage 9

kralskritek · March 2021

Hello,
I would like to ask you for advice. I started veteran MaE two days ago. My first arena run ever. I just knew It is really challenging content and I am mostly solo player so it sounded pretty good.
I got through stages 1-4 with 0 deaths. Stage 5 was pretty difficult, I died quite a lot, but it was still managable. Stage 6 was probably the worst for me, because boss always killed me with spit which did 60k damage...it was so confusing because I had to be careful about webspinners and small daedras etc... but I killed her somehow... 7 was pretty RNG, but it took me while to get through, 8 was very easy, 9... stuck here

So I would like to ask you for advice as far as stage 9 is concerned and my build. I am 400 CP player, magsorc, The biggest problem here is crematorial guard... I died like 100x just becaause of the guard. I was able to get to upper part of the arena twice but I was knocned down and guess what... another crematorial guard...
The only way I can kill him is utilizing sigil of haste so he cant reach me but otherwise I am dead in 95% of the times. Also i feel like my dps is low because it takes me probably too much time to kill him... so he has much more time to throw his 40k+ DOTs on me...
Right now, I am using:
5x julianos, 5x mothers sorrow, iceheart monster set (everything purple), 2x Inferno staff
Spells: Front: Hardened ward, Crystal Fragment, Elemental weapon, summon matriarch and volatile familiar ULT: Elemental rage
Back: Power surge, Elemental blockade, Dark conversion, 2x summons ULT: Greater atronach

Would you give me please some advice how to change my build for example to better suit this stage? Or some other tips as far as crematorium guard is concerned?

Thank you

Xuhora · March 2021

crematorial has a really high dmg output indeed, so its either "survive it" or "burst it" the latter can be a little difficult.

i would say: crit surge rather than power surge, farm ring of the pale order, slot eledrain and loose familiar (backbar) for it, so you can have inner light on frontbar.

this should give you a pretty good result. and maybe you can nuke the guard. if not at the very least you can survive his flamebreath easy with critsurge and pale order ring

as for the top part: you can look at the boss, when he puts his arm back and hurls a skull in your direction, rolldodge it, so you wont get knocked down. other than that allways stay behind floaty rock to avoid his massive AoE and focus in the crystal that is nearest to you.

Camb0Sl1ce · March 2021

For the crem guard try circling him in one spot while damaging him, he won't be able to hit you with his flame breath.

colossalvoids · March 2021

Would double the comment about going in circle around him, it was always best solution if crem guard was an issue. Also pale order and 1 crit piece of a monster set (slimecraw) would probably outheal everything and make your completion a breathe.

Firstmep · March 2021

All of the above, also not getting knocked down helps a lot.
A way to cheese this fight is to pick up the dmg sigil when the last boss spawns, and unload on him with destro ult etc.
If your fast enough he won't even spawn the crema guard.
After that, if you can complete the upstairs phase in one go, you won't have to deal with them at all.

Once your dmg is good enough, you won't even need the dmg sigil.

jaws343 · March 2021

Camb0Sl1ce wrote: »

For the crem guard try circling him in one spot while damaging him, he won't be able to hit you with his flame breath.

This is how I take the crem guard. I switch to my bar with a lightning staff and lay down wall of elements and heavy attack while circling tightly around it.

Vermintide · March 2021

Camb0Sl1ce wrote: »

For the crem guard try circling him in one spot while damaging him, he won't be able to hit you with his flame breath.

This. They infuriated me for a long time because I was trying to keep distance from them and run away; but their flame breath will still get you. The trick is to get real up close and circle around so they don't hit you.

Arbit · March 2021

Back when I was a magden I’d pop a shield to start and ulti with my bear. I had master architect so I got major slayer buff and burst him down before he could do real damage. Nowadays I just spam cleave which gives free shield while doing damage...

preevious · March 2021

Also, use a set that gives you more health.
It'll increase your shield as well, giving you much more breathing room.
I'd say, replace one of your set with plague doctor. Less damage, but more survivability.

Also, a lightning staff would be good, if you need to HA to get back resources. It does AoE damage, AND gives more resources back than inferno.

Septimus_Magna · March 2021

I havent done vMA in a long time but I always just dropped my meteor on the Crem Guard to burst it down. Walking in a circle around him will avoid most damage so its a good tactic because he keeps getting hit by your AOE dots. If you just run away he doesnt take any damage so you just delay the inevitable. You can also pick up the defensive sigil, its really strong and I believe it even reflects some of the damage back to the attacker.

For the top section it helped me to use tri-stat potions so you have enough stamina to break-free and dodge (maybe its not needed anymore because of the recent armor changes). Focus on the boss, dodge the big skulls and drop AOE dots on the crystals, make sure to cover behind the wall when he does the explosion or you get knocked off. The dot on top keeps increasing so if you take too long the damage gets too high, you can jump down and reset the dot. If you have to go up again kill the clannfear near a portal so you can teleport up.

Your (front bar) weapon should really be legendary, you're missing out on a lot of damage with a purple weapon. In terms of damage output the Lover mundus is often overlooked, for solo its usually the best pick because you're not at the 18.2k spell pen cap.

El_Borracho · March 2021

kralskritek wrote: »

Hello,
Right now, I am using:
5x julianos, 5x mothers sorrow, iceheart monster set (everything purple), 2x Inferno staff
Spells: Front: Hardened ward, Crystal Fragment, Elemental weapon, summon matriarch and volatile familiar ULT: Elemental rage
Back: Power surge, Elemental blockade, Dark conversion, 2x summons ULT: Greater atronach

Would you give me please some advice how to change my build for example to better suit this stage? Or some other tips as far as crematorium guard is concerned?

Thank you

Try this combo:

5x Undaunted Infiltrator (Jewelry and Lightning Staff), 5x Infallible Aether (Body), 2x Maw of the Inferno. UI Lightning staff on front bar, If you have a Maelstrom Lightning staff, backbar it. Its an old heavy attack build, but I find constantly heavy attacking while laying down AOEs and DOTs is easier than focusing individual targets in VMA. The new set out of The Cauldron, Unleashed Ritualist, looks like it may have some promise with a pet sorc build, too.

Skills: Front: Hardened Ward, Matriarch, Familiar, Daedric Prey, Crit Surge. Back:Wall of Elements, Boundless Storm, Ele Drain/Crushing Shock. Matriarch, Familiar. Ulti: Meteor, Rage, or Atro, whichever you have

With the Crematorial Guard, try kiting it in a circle. Meaning slam your Wall of Elements, then run around in a circle to make him spin without moving very far. Heavy attack, crit surge, daedric prey, and boundless storm should burn him down easily. If you run away and fight it will take too long and his DOT will kill you, which is what it sounds like. You will likely have to drop down and fight a few if your build can't take the increasing damage up top.

EDIT: You have more damage mitigation than you need. Replace it with damage producing sets and skills. Iceheart is not what it used to be. Maw is awesome in VMA (on all levels but 7) because it will go around killing adds for you and does a lot of damage. Blockade over Unstable Wall is a bad call. Dark Conversion is unnecessary with Matriarch, Crit Surge, and heavy attacks. Never been a fan of Ele Weapon as its clunky. Crystal Frags have also been nerfed Daedric Prey is much stronger and works with Maw to put out far more damage.

FrancisCrawford · March 2021

Definitely gold weapons.

The Boundless Storm skill is worth considering. Also the Torug's Pact set. Interesting glyph ideas include Hardening and the prismatic damage one.

I'm not sure I see the point of Deadric Prey with the Matriarch, and especially with people advising to drop the Familiar.

El_Borracho · March 2021

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Definitely gold weapons.

The Boundless Storm skill is worth considering. Also the Torug's Pact set. Interesting glyph ideas include Hardening and the prismatic damage one.

I'm not sure I see the point of Deadric Prey with the Matriarch, and especially with people advising to drop the Familiar.

I like the Familiar in VMA and I run the Maw, so I run Daedric Prey. If you run those, Prey is very effective. Obviously, if you're not running a clanfear or familiar, no need for Prey. Matriarch is there simply for cheap burst heals.

One note, I have not run VMA since U29.