Post by Eliza Grey on Aug 31, 2012 7:21:19 GMT -5
This section will go into general detail about the Ascalonian Catacombs, basic bosses tactics and how to complete the story mode with minimal scratches. I will go into more detail in regards to the Exploration areas once we start completing them as a guild, but for now this will serve as a tip list for the Story Mode.
This Dungeon is not as difficult as it seems!
With a few important pieces of information this dungeon can be gone through with (at this stage in our game) no more than a wipe or two for most bosses.
General Tips:
- Try to bring someone with tanking traits. It makes the harder boss fights much easier to handle and in general with smart tanking/pulling the dungeon is much easier and can be thoroughly enjoyable rather than a exhausting slog. failing this bring a Guardian, who seem to generate more 'threat' than other classes.
- Pull Single targets wherever you can. This makes fighting without a Tanking-statted character much more bearable, and with a tank helps them practice or tank other enemies that may have been aggro'd. Using an ability like Scorpion Wire (Thief) at its maximum effective range (i.e just inside its Out of Range) is the best way to snag ghosts and pull them away without alerting their buddies.
- Kill the adds. Some fights spawn extra enemies which aren't Dungeon Elites. Kill them as fast as you can before they become a threat.
- Ranger, Necromancer and Elementalist ghosts should be priority kills (and in that order if you get a few of them together). Ranger ghosts can throw their needle trap (unlike player rangers) and it does very high damage but are otherwise a low damage enemy. Necromancers use fear, and Elementalists have a variety of tough spells. Concentrate all of your dps on these characters before dealing with Monks, who have a powerful knockback and should be your second-highest priority to the previous three, before concentrating on the weaker Mesmers and Warriors.
- If you draw in a group of mobs or fail a pull, the tank-type character should focus their attention on the mesmers, warriors and/or monks in the enemy group while the DPS handle the mobs in the order mentioned above.
- There are switches that disable the ground traps in the first two rooms, however to our knowledge you must destroy all the traps in the third trap room, and preferably from range due to their moderate damage.
- Fear works on ALL bosses and mini-bosses except the final King boss, who seems to just stop attacking you in particular if you fear him. Thieves can Steal Fear from nearly any ghost in the level, including bosses, and other classes that can use Fear should use this to their advantage when combat needs to pause momentarily to get friendlies to their feet.
- For the Lovers boss, the friendly NPCs are very useful for helping get rid of the random adds that get spawned which cause most Downed players to die with their high damage attacks. Where possible, if they die in a spot that is easy to access without starting the boss fight (after a wipe) or are in a safe location (during a battle) try wherever possible to revive them if nobody else needs reviving. They can usually make the difference between a wipe and a successful boss fight.
This section will give some pointers on beating the main bosses of the Dungeon which spawn after a cut-scene with the ghost king of Ascalon.
Two Lovers
Without a doubt the two Lovers boss fight is the hardest in the dungeon. The general tactics that will allow you to beat this fight with a few attempts are as follows:
- The aim is to keep them separated at all times to avoid the AoE/Armor buff they both receive (it may also regenerate their health which seems to occur from time to time). The best way to do this is to get your best tank-type character to kite the Male boss away and use boulders (which spawn about the large room) to push the elementalist Ralena away from him, preferably up a set of stairs. 1-2 characters at the start of the fight should find themselves boulders to start moving Ralena immediately and throughout the fight a designated character should be on the lookout for more boulders and be constantly knocking her to the ground and pushing her away. This decreases the time she has to cast spells, which are very powerful, in particular her storm AoE.
- Every DPS character should be on Ralena until she is dead, with the party staying aware of the Tanks health.
- This fight (currently) is best fought with someone who has an AoE heal or stealth skill handy, even if it costs a small amount of DPS. This is most handy for reviving Downed players, because this Boss Fight takes place at a location further away from a Waypoint than any other boss, so resets are very common.
- Using a Scorpion Wire or similar skill on the bosses here will knock them down but not push them away. It is still useful to deploy when these bosses start laying down heavy DPS.
- When Ralena is at around 1/2 - 1/3 total hp she will teleport her mesmer partner to her side and they will need separating again.
- Throughout the fight the Male boss will often cast confusion on the party which does moderate damage if they use any skill during its duration. This is usually the reason why people die when Downed during this fight. Keep an eye out for its special pink Debuff icon and cease attacking until its over. Alternatively, kill the illusory mages, as this seems to dispell the debuff.
- The Male occasionally spawns Mage Illusions, which should be taken down by a free character. They have very low health, and are fairly easy to kill even while Downed (though they won't grant a Revive) but they do moderate-high damage and prioritise Downed players, which makes them the second most common reason for death. If you see them while reviving a player or attacking Ralena, prioritise them if most of your team is Downed. the NPC's often target these illusions so if they are still alive don't prioritise the illusions over Ralena.
With these points in mind the Two Lovers should take at most 5-7 attempts with an adaptive group.
The Necromancer Kasha
This boss is relatively easy with a few tips.
- Melee characters watch your step. During the main phase of this fight she will periodically lay out three AoE DoT's in a shape similar to a Venn diagram pattern with some space between them. Use this space to avoid there moderate damage.
- Periodically through the fight she will rise into the air and spawn four minions that regenerate her health. Focus all your DPS on just one minion to end this Phase quickly. use Ctrl +Click to specify a target. The slain minions do not respawn in subsequent regen phases. We had this phase glitch recently. If she floats in the air spinning put full DPS on her until she dies!
Ranger Boss
This Main boss is by far the easiest of the lot.
- Tank/DPS him on the broken pillar with Ranged DPS stationed on the platform that surrounds the pillar in a semi-circle. Ranged DPS should keep moving because he uses AoE and prefers ranged targets to melee ones.
- At two stages during the fight (could be more, even with the worst-built group we slay him in two phases) he teleports onto the ledge where the Ranged DPS are staioned and summons a pet wolf. Have some DPS take the pet down before it beomces a threat and then DPS the ranger until he teleports back onto the pillar again.
- Rinse and repeat until he's dead.
Final Boss - The King
The King, in general terms, is a boss with extremely high HP and a few nasty moves. Simply watch for the fire circles he randomly puts on the ground (which take a few seconds to activate) and stay as far back as possible if you are a ranged DPS. Melee DPS and the tank should be on the King, try to assist fallen allies wherever possible and this boss is just a long but satisfying tank and spank.
This Dungeon is not as difficult as it seems!
With a few important pieces of information this dungeon can be gone through with (at this stage in our game) no more than a wipe or two for most bosses.
General Tips:
- Try to bring someone with tanking traits. It makes the harder boss fights much easier to handle and in general with smart tanking/pulling the dungeon is much easier and can be thoroughly enjoyable rather than a exhausting slog. failing this bring a Guardian, who seem to generate more 'threat' than other classes.
- Pull Single targets wherever you can. This makes fighting without a Tanking-statted character much more bearable, and with a tank helps them practice or tank other enemies that may have been aggro'd. Using an ability like Scorpion Wire (Thief) at its maximum effective range (i.e just inside its Out of Range) is the best way to snag ghosts and pull them away without alerting their buddies.
- Kill the adds. Some fights spawn extra enemies which aren't Dungeon Elites. Kill them as fast as you can before they become a threat.
- Ranger, Necromancer and Elementalist ghosts should be priority kills (and in that order if you get a few of them together). Ranger ghosts can throw their needle trap (unlike player rangers) and it does very high damage but are otherwise a low damage enemy. Necromancers use fear, and Elementalists have a variety of tough spells. Concentrate all of your dps on these characters before dealing with Monks, who have a powerful knockback and should be your second-highest priority to the previous three, before concentrating on the weaker Mesmers and Warriors.
- If you draw in a group of mobs or fail a pull, the tank-type character should focus their attention on the mesmers, warriors and/or monks in the enemy group while the DPS handle the mobs in the order mentioned above.
- There are switches that disable the ground traps in the first two rooms, however to our knowledge you must destroy all the traps in the third trap room, and preferably from range due to their moderate damage.
- Fear works on ALL bosses and mini-bosses except the final King boss, who seems to just stop attacking you in particular if you fear him. Thieves can Steal Fear from nearly any ghost in the level, including bosses, and other classes that can use Fear should use this to their advantage when combat needs to pause momentarily to get friendlies to their feet.
- For the Lovers boss, the friendly NPCs are very useful for helping get rid of the random adds that get spawned which cause most Downed players to die with their high damage attacks. Where possible, if they die in a spot that is easy to access without starting the boss fight (after a wipe) or are in a safe location (during a battle) try wherever possible to revive them if nobody else needs reviving. They can usually make the difference between a wipe and a successful boss fight.
Boss Fight Tactics
This section will give some pointers on beating the main bosses of the Dungeon which spawn after a cut-scene with the ghost king of Ascalon.
Two Lovers
Without a doubt the two Lovers boss fight is the hardest in the dungeon. The general tactics that will allow you to beat this fight with a few attempts are as follows:
- The aim is to keep them separated at all times to avoid the AoE/Armor buff they both receive (it may also regenerate their health which seems to occur from time to time). The best way to do this is to get your best tank-type character to kite the Male boss away and use boulders (which spawn about the large room) to push the elementalist Ralena away from him, preferably up a set of stairs. 1-2 characters at the start of the fight should find themselves boulders to start moving Ralena immediately and throughout the fight a designated character should be on the lookout for more boulders and be constantly knocking her to the ground and pushing her away. This decreases the time she has to cast spells, which are very powerful, in particular her storm AoE.
- Every DPS character should be on Ralena until she is dead, with the party staying aware of the Tanks health.
- This fight (currently) is best fought with someone who has an AoE heal or stealth skill handy, even if it costs a small amount of DPS. This is most handy for reviving Downed players, because this Boss Fight takes place at a location further away from a Waypoint than any other boss, so resets are very common.
- Using a Scorpion Wire or similar skill on the bosses here will knock them down but not push them away. It is still useful to deploy when these bosses start laying down heavy DPS.
- When Ralena is at around 1/2 - 1/3 total hp she will teleport her mesmer partner to her side and they will need separating again.
- Throughout the fight the Male boss will often cast confusion on the party which does moderate damage if they use any skill during its duration. This is usually the reason why people die when Downed during this fight. Keep an eye out for its special pink Debuff icon and cease attacking until its over. Alternatively, kill the illusory mages, as this seems to dispell the debuff.
- The Male occasionally spawns Mage Illusions, which should be taken down by a free character. They have very low health, and are fairly easy to kill even while Downed (though they won't grant a Revive) but they do moderate-high damage and prioritise Downed players, which makes them the second most common reason for death. If you see them while reviving a player or attacking Ralena, prioritise them if most of your team is Downed. the NPC's often target these illusions so if they are still alive don't prioritise the illusions over Ralena.
With these points in mind the Two Lovers should take at most 5-7 attempts with an adaptive group.
The Necromancer Kasha
This boss is relatively easy with a few tips.
- Melee characters watch your step. During the main phase of this fight she will periodically lay out three AoE DoT's in a shape similar to a Venn diagram pattern with some space between them. Use this space to avoid there moderate damage.
- Periodically through the fight she will rise into the air and spawn four minions that regenerate her health. Focus all your DPS on just one minion to end this Phase quickly. use Ctrl +Click to specify a target. The slain minions do not respawn in subsequent regen phases. We had this phase glitch recently. If she floats in the air spinning put full DPS on her until she dies!
Ranger Boss
This Main boss is by far the easiest of the lot.
- Tank/DPS him on the broken pillar with Ranged DPS stationed on the platform that surrounds the pillar in a semi-circle. Ranged DPS should keep moving because he uses AoE and prefers ranged targets to melee ones.
- At two stages during the fight (could be more, even with the worst-built group we slay him in two phases) he teleports onto the ledge where the Ranged DPS are staioned and summons a pet wolf. Have some DPS take the pet down before it beomces a threat and then DPS the ranger until he teleports back onto the pillar again.
- Rinse and repeat until he's dead.
Final Boss - The King
The King, in general terms, is a boss with extremely high HP and a few nasty moves. Simply watch for the fire circles he randomly puts on the ground (which take a few seconds to activate) and stay as far back as possible if you are a ranged DPS. Melee DPS and the tank should be on the King, try to assist fallen allies wherever possible and this boss is just a long but satisfying tank and spank.