How to take down Sorjek?

[Talcyndl]

I've succeeded once, but that was on my cleric with an (otherwise) all Chinese group. I was simply told to heal the "main tank" and had no idea what everyone else was doing.

Since then I've failed a couple of times - once with Sorjek at a sliver of health. So, I'm looking for suggestions, tips, etc.

Anyone?

[Strykersz]

Caster firewalls in a corner shieldblocking and self healing while everyone else alternates between beating on Sorjek and killing mephits when they pop, especially earth and fire. Replace "Caster" with "Highest dps person" as needed. It is possible to leave some mephits alive, but in a pug it's easier to just say "Kill mephits when they spawn" then to explain that air and ice can be left alive if the cleric has enough mana. It's a basic dps check fight(you can either kill fire and earth fast enough to get Sorjek dead before your cleric runs up too high of a tab or you can't).

[Milolyen]

Basically you beat him down with dps ... he is an undead lich so firewall is a good one to use.

When mephits spawn they do verious things to assist him.
Earth - DR
Fire - Regen
Air - Haste
Ice - fire shield (cold version) or just a cold guard ... don't know how much dmg it does as I have not meleed him with it on

other than that it is your standard beat down the bad guy.

Milolyen

[Thriand]

I just DPS him as fast as possible, the longer you take the more mephits that spawn and harder it becomes. A group with decent DPS could take him down with only 1 or 2 mephits spawning. Crit firewalls can hit him for 550-600 a tic, just if a caster has aggro make sure he isn't jumping around like a madman preventing the melees from beating on sorjek. Also make sure you take out what mephits do spawn as fast as possible (the air mephit isn't that bad if hes almost dead and you just wanna beat him down)

[Oreg]

4 tanks beat on him and keep him from moving around alot, cleric casts heal on him, sorc intercepts mephits and on normal kills em on elite brings them to the group for faster killing power. The key is not to let it get messy - keep him in a small area and aggroed on the melees. Once he gets down to 70% or so I usually light up the firewalls on my sorc. Like Thriand said - try and kill before the 3rd mephit spawn and you definitely dont want him still alive when the multiple mephit rounds start. If you got that far your dps is lacking.

[sirgog]

My strategy - tried and tested on normal and hard:

One tank (pref a Barb or a Ranger with Favored Enemy: Undead) stays glued to Sor'jek the whole time. This player attacks at all times, except when a Mephit of Risia is present, at which stage they attack just enough to get aggro (they'll need intense healing at this time) then shield block Sor'jek. I'll call this person the primary tank. Edit - apparently they should also back off when Earth mephits are up, as these cause Sor'jek to gain a huge DR - not a reason to stop attacking in and of itself, except that it causes Sor'jek to deal massive damage to the weapon you hit him with - quickly rendering it useless and forcing you to use a lesser weapon on him instead.

This person should call out any Lich curses they suffer and someone should throw a Remove Curse on them from a potion. (The curse looks like they have been hit by a paralyzer).

Other melees attack Sor'jek whenever no mephits are present. On a mephit spawning, they immediately disengage from Sorjek, and hunt down and kill the mephit. (These are the off-tanks). These offtanks should have good weapons to kill the mephits with, as you want them downed fast. At all times, prioritise killing Mephits of Fernia and Mephits of Risia before the other two types (Syriana and Lammania).

Arcanes should Firewall Sor'jek, and assist with removing curses, healing WF tanks, and rebuffing anyone that has been killed. (Resist Lightning, Resist Cold, Haste, GH, Freedom of Movement and Resist Fire are the key buffs in order of importance, most arcanes can handle 3-5 of these).

If you have two clerics, those with any melee prowess at all (say a 22+ Str buffed and 300+ HP) should melee Sorjek when mephits are down, just as the off tanks do. Don't spend SP on self-buffs like Divine Favor for combat - your DPS will still be useful without them. When mephits are up, all clerics change to Healbot mode.

Otherwise, clerics should scroll heal most of the time and conserve your SP for quickened heals to save someone from imminent death. Don't worry about dealing damage to Sor'jek with spells - even though a Maxxed-Empped-Extended Bladebarrier may hit him twelve times for a total 2700 damage, you'll run out of SP before you can kill him (or even seriously dent his HP) that way. And IIRC the mephits have significant reflex saves, but that may not be true on normal.

Clerics should carry 50 Heal scrolls for a normal run (if 2 clerics in group) or 150 (if solo cleric). This includes the main quest as well as the Sor'jek fight. On Hard, multiply these numbers by 5 and have mana pots. Broke clerics should definitely feel free to ask for a subsidy from the party for these resources. (You'll only use these numbers if the run goes belly-up).

Also, make certain before attempting the battle that at least some party members can raise a Cleric that gets splattered into a bloody pulp. Ideally everyone in the party should be able to raise in some fashion, even if only once from one clicky.



If you're having trouble and want to waltz through the quest, get a bunch of players together to assemble the following party:

2x Ranger with FE: Undead - the one with weaker mephit beaters is assigned as main tank; other offtank. These should refresh their own Protection from Energy: Cold when needed
1x 'Traditional' cleric - plays Healbot role
1x Melee-focused battlecleric - offtank role while other Clr has SP; Healbot once cleric #1 runs out of SP or at any time that 2 or more mephits are up
1x Bard (Warchanter or melee-capable Spellsinger) - plays offtank role and provides Haste, Freedom of Movement and GH as required. If things get hairy, they may be required to healbot on occasions (when 3 or 4 mephits are up, for instance).
1x Sorc or Wiz - provides elemental resists and firewalls, plus hastes. They aren't too common, but if you can get a WF melee arcane (e.g. one of the Wiz15/Ftr1 or Wiz10/Rgr6 or Sor12/Pal2/Rog2 builds) then take them, and they can offtank too.

A party like that is pretty minmaxed for the quest and should absolutely stomp through the Sor'jek encounter with ease. Once you've gotten a feel for the encounter, then head back in with a 5 person no arcane, no bard group like my last Hard run - that's a bit more of a challenge and hence a bit more fun.

[Desteria]

Basically you beat him down with dps ... he is an undead lich so firewall is a good one to use.

When mephits spawn they do verious things to assist him.
Earth - DR
Fire - Regen
Air - Haste
Ice - fire shield (cold version) or just a cold guard ... don't know how much dmg it does as I have not meleed him with it on

other than that it is your standard beat down the bad guy.

Milolyen

The ice sheild does a fair amount of damage as one run my tHF was wallign on him i have 30pt on my armor, i was OK, I may have bene takign dmaage through the resist but I'm not sure... however the 2 TWF's that had no resist on from the look of it died befor they knew what hit them ;) and they were not particularly low hp guys ;)

[sirgog]

The ice sheild does a fair amount of damage as one run my tHF was wallign on him i have 30pt on my armor, i was OK, I may have bene takign dmaage through the resist but I'm not sure... however the 2 TWF's that had no resist on from the look of it died befor they knew what hit them ;) and they were not particularly low hp guys ;)

On Hard, it's brutal, even through a 30 point resist. (I assume Elite is tougher still).

[digz]

Elite is 3x harder than Hard ... big difference.

We have done Norm and Hard 4 man even without a cleric but Elite noway in hell :p

[sirgog]

Elite is 3x harder than Hard ... big difference.

We have done Norm and Hard 4 man even without a cleric but Elite noway in hell :p

Yeah, I'm wanting to try out Elite once I get my stupid router issues resolved so that I can log in to the game.

My last post, however, was specifically about the Mephit of Risia's ability to grant Sorjek a very potent Fire Shield - Cold variant, and how brutal that retributive cold damage is on Hard.

[Desteria]

Yeah, I'm wanting to try out Elite once I get my stupid router issues resolved so that I can log in to the game.

My last post, however, was specifically about the Mephit of Risia's ability to grant Sorjek a very potent Fire Shield - Cold variant, and how brutal that retributive cold damage is on Hard.

/em thinks wi****ly, (With dreamy longing stupid filter it;s a REAL word F.F.S.) abotu that 45pt cold cloak he wants to make for his tank, once he hits 80 shrouds, and gets con or cha out of a bloddy tempest rune... i h8 RANDOM.

Og course my 2 guys that will need it the most the TWF's are SOL hehe tempest monky boy attacks very fast to will be interesting when he evetualy does hard/elite for the favor, not liek he planes to craft any thing, I mena if the +3 dodge was sposed to stack, I could see sacrificign 1 ac for the extra bonuses but as it is bha save my ruens for other people and not run him.

[sirgog]

/em thinks wi****ly, (With dreamy longing stupid filter it;s a REAL word F.F.S.) abotu that 45pt cold cloak he wants to make for his tank, once he hits 80 shrouds, and gets con or cha out of a bloddy tempest rune... i h8 RANDOM.

Og course my 2 guys that will need it the most the TWF's are SOL hehe tempest monky boy attacks very fast to will be interesting when he evetualy does hard/elite for the favor, not liek he planes to craft any thing, I mena if the +3 dodge was sposed to stack, I could see sacrificign 1 ac for the extra bonuses but as it is bha save my ruens for other people and not run him.

Love how they filter out "Shut That Friend Up", and hence ruin the word wist/ful, on virtually every forum.

That poor guild, the Southern Tenant Farmer's Union.

[Eldun]

What are the best DPS Weapons to carry against the Lich ... Holy of Greater Undead Banes??

[Desteria]

he should have about 15 DR blunt and magic, (ok in ddo the magic part is sorta irelivent SOOOO....

Ya any thing that buypassed his DR, then add holy adn GUB to it and it would rock yes...
Min2 hurts him good, he takes the acid damage soo it;s nice.

best damage would be blunt Holy burst(or maby axio/anarcix dependign on his alignment) of GUB though.

Basicaly your red named Skelly DPS weapons will work well on him.

[Yaga_Nub]

My strategy - tried and tested on normal and hard:

One tank (pref a Barb or a Ranger with Favored Enemy: Undead) stays glued to Sor'jek the whole time. This player attacks at all times, except when a Mephit of Risia is present, at which stage they attack just enough to get aggro (they'll need intense healing at this time) then shield block Sor'jek. I'll call this person the primary tank.
.....

Note the red text. When the earth mephit is up the tanks shoul STOP attacking. His DR shoots up to a higher number and it can chew up even a Mineral II weapons with the Adamantine ritual on it in a round or two. If you want the tank to keep attacking better make sure that they have several weapons to use and then prepare to hear a lot of *****ing about the repair bill.

[sirgog]

Note the red text. When the earth mephit is up the tanks shoul STOP attacking. His DR shoots up to a higher number and it can chew up even a Mineral II weapons with the Adamantine ritual on it in a round or two. If you want the tank to keep attacking better make sure that they have several weapons to use and then prepare to hear a lot of *****ing about the repair bill.

OK interesting, wasn't aware of that (have never been assigned as main tank).

Will keep that one in mind to tell main tanks in future.

[gorloch]

What are the best DPS Weapons to carry against the Lich ... Holy of Greater Undead Banes??

Any Greater Undead Banes. He does take full damage from fire and acid as well. Uncertain about cold.

[tihocan]

What alignment is he?

[Mindspat]

1x Sorc or Wiz - provides elemental resists and firewalls, plus hastes. They aren't too common, but if you can get a WF melee arcane (e.g. one of the Wiz15/Ftr1 or Wiz10/Rgr6 or Sor12/Pal2/Rog2 builds) then take them, and they can offtank too.

A party like that is pretty minmaxed for the quest and should absolutely stomp through the Sor'jek encounter with ease. Once you've gotten a feel for the encounter, then head back in with a 5 person no arcane, no bard group like my last Hard run - that's a bit more of a challenge and hence a bit more fun.

You don't need to multi class Arcane to be able to melee. All you need is Divine Power clickies and decent items that support going melee when the time calls.

[Missing_Minds]

Has any monk tried that one Negative move that reduces the healing that the target gets?

[Turial]

Has any monk tried that one Negative move that reduces the healing that the target gets?

It may work....but then again it may prevent those last minute spammed heals from killing him quicker.

[maddmatt70]

Elite is 3x harder than Hard ... big difference.

We have done Norm and Hard 4 man even without a cleric but Elite noway in hell :p

You know what I would take you up on that bet. I think elite could be 4 manned. I also think there are better parties then the one we had on elite when we ran it. The best party is probably without a caster. I ran recently with my healing bard hangover, a cleric and 4 melee and that seems like it would be a very strong group for elite as well.

[digz]

4 man ya but no healing? noway

[MrCow]

What alignment is he?

Lawful Evil.

[sirgog]

You don't need to multi class Arcane to be able to melee. All you need is Divine Power clickies and decent items that support going melee when the time calls.

That's true, but you need a special build for it. (i.e. you can't have the common 6-10 Str that many arcanes have).

[tihocan]

Lawful Evil.
Now that's awesome, thanks. I can pass around this anarchic staff of greater undead bane :)

[query]

Better to have a fists of light atack and use light/healing based attacks as ell as the before mentioned anarchic burst acid of GUB weapon :)