Attempting to solo ADQ2 (Zawabi's Revenge)...

[Istaria1]

I attempted to solo ADQ2 yesterday (level 15 char, 2 rog/13 wiz, WF) but due to my poor preparation (i.e. I didn't read the wiki so I didn't know about the spinning blades) I got walloped quite quickly on Lailat's platform. When I released and attempted to run back in, I found the portal at the end of the hallway (by the shrine) was closed...

I then attempted to abandon (ADQ1 is not very hard, and I could live with reflagging if necessary), but got a message saying "cannot abandon at this point".

I appear to be stuck. I am hoping that I have missed something REALLY basic or am having a seriously dumb moment here, but can anyone advise?

Thanks!

[Jeromio]

Just wait 5 minutes (or group and then ungroup) and the quest will be reset... and you can go through the portal again.

[Shaarax]

You need to wait the 5 mins for part 2 to reset is all. When you go from the shrine to Lailat it says "You doubt Zawabi's power can hold this portal open for long" and it's right, it closes soon after you go through. Wait the 5 mins and then try again. Ohh and good luck!

[tkscience]

The raid dungeon will have reset after 5 minutes (you can test this out), and the portal will then have re-appeared.

So you can either try again or join or form a group without worry. If the group is just going for completion, most times they won't worry about having every person run down to ADQ1.

edit: double ninja'd? Gotta work on my typing speed.

[Vazok1]

suggestion: if when you first talk to Laliat you immediately go into sneak mode and sneak over to the bottom of one of the surrounding pillers (depends which side queen is perched on) you can hit laliat with dots without agroing the archers. tis a lot of damage your avoiding during that period. and good luck

[Pape_27]

It took me a little while to figure how to solo Adq2 as well on a capped fvs.

There was a little learning curve in there, but eventually I found a solution that worked for me.

What I did was this:

Buff up
Enter Platform
Summon Hezerou
Buff Hezerou
Talk to Queen
Immediately hit her with dots
Continue dot and searing light while she is on the ledge
Heal - almost over heal
Drop a few BB's (as an arcane maybe so other type of aoe spell)
Keep moving away from ther Queen when she is on the platform

Usually what happens is the Hezerou will get the aggro of both the Queen and the Archers so I can just whittle away her HP with dots and other spells.

I have had to jump off the side of the platform on occasion if the Hezzy dies and I am taking major damage. Gives me a chance to regroup, re-up buffs and re summon/buff a new Hezzy.

This is the method that works for me. but there is more than one way to spraypaint the cat, so keep working on different things and you will find one set of tactics that works for you. Good luck with it!

_

[Istaria1]

OK, I feel quite silly now :) I should have thought of just letting the thing reset for a few minutes....guess I need to work on my patience a bit hehe.

The actual fight itself....the being Overrun thing is irritating, but I can't really see a way to avoid it. I could summon a Djinn/Efreet/Stone Elemental, but I have the feeling it wouldn't last too long, even buffed...

Is it worth trying to kill off the archers? I see something in the wiki about them respawning, but only at certain times? If they will respawn constantly, then I wouldn't be inclined to waste any SP on them even if Lailat gives me a chance :)

Any advice on best (arcane up to level 7) spells to use on her? I am making the assumption that insta-kills won't work. The strategy I had thought about was to plant empowered and maximised FWs under her when she goes off the centre platform and wallop her with Disintegrate/Frost/Fire spells during that time. Just got to avoid the blades and heal myself through the archers I guess. Are negative energy/level drains etc any use against her?

Thanks again for all the advice, and apologies if I am asking stupid questions - this is my first char to make it past level 10, so I am a newb to all the higher/mid-higher level stuff.

EDIT: 1 last thing, I do have a hefty-ish store of Major Mnemonics if I need em - I am not worried about SPs during this fight, so I'd rather err on the side of caution than try to be thrifty about it.

Ist./

[Pape_27]

maybe try to charm one or more of the archers to take some heat off of you?

[Istaria1]

That's not a bad idea Pape. Hopefully they are not immune to charms (they are red named)...

[kabrinski]

It took me a little while to figure how to solo Adq2 as well on a capped fvs.

There was a little learning curve in there, but eventually I found a solution that worked for me.

What I did was this:

Buff up
Enter Platform
Summon Hezerou
Buff Hezerou
Talk to Queen
Immediately hit her with dots
Continue dot and searing light while she is on the ledge
Heal - almost over heal
Drop a few BB's (as an arcane maybe so other type of aoe spell)
Keep moving away from ther Queen when she is on the platform

Usually what happens is the Hezerou will get the aggro of both the Queen and the Archers so I can just whittle away her HP with dots and other spells.

I have had to jump off the side of the platform on occasion if the Hezzy dies and I am taking major damage. Gives me a chance to regroup, re-up buffs and re summon/buff a new Hezzy.

This is the method that works for me. but there is more than one way to spraypaint the cat, so keep working on different things and you will find one set of tactics that works for you. Good luck with it!

_

Similar to what I do on my capped Cleric, but a little different.

Summon pet
Buff pet
Shrine
Buff self - including all my potions and clickies before entering, and Death Pact

I talk to her from he backside to avoid an initial overrun and can get the first level of Divine Punishment on her before she teleports to a platform. Then I just keep DP up on her. Drop some BBs when the Djinns appear. Kite her through them. Sometimes will shield block while I prep to Heal myself (usually have about 60 AC doing this, so don't get hit too often when blocking). Rinse and repeat.

Sometimes I die towards the end if I misclick heals or something, but DP always finishes her off.

[Chette]

I usually kill 2 of the 4 archers, maybe 3. They will die from a single DoT, so throw one on the archer first. Hit the queen with some pew pew spells, I usually just use my freebies at this point. Once you have killed enough archers to be comfortable, start dotting the queen. When she pops down, shield block and heal. Keep dotting. Win.

On a divine caster you can also kite her through blade barriers, but on an arcane without freedom of movement, you will be crippled and not fast enough to do this. If you get the boots from VoN then feel free to give kiting a try, but honestly I am too lazy, and find shield block and DoT is a bit safer.

[Vazok1]

Is it worth trying to kill off the archers? I see something in the wiki about them respawning, but only at certain times? If they will respawn constantly, then I wouldn't be inclined to waste any SP on them even if Lailat gives me a chance :)

Any advice on best (arcane up to level 7) spells to use on her? I am making the assumption that insta-kills won't work. The strategy I had thought about was to plant empowered and maximised FWs under her when she goes off the centre platform and wallop her with Disintegrate/Frost/Fire spells during that time. Just got to avoid the blades and heal myself through the archers I guess. Are negative energy/level drains etc any use against her?
she is immune to all but damage spells basically. obviously that is not strictly true as technically there are de-buffs and such but your best way of killing her is damage. the best spell for killing her is 'Niac's Biting Cold' I dont know if you are familiar so I will explain, this is a damage over time spell that will stack with itself up to 3 times it has a duration of 16 seconds (cant be extended), if those 16 seconds run out then you will lose your stack. This used in conjunction with a superior freeze 6 clicky will do some serious damage. it is quite difficult to keep track of the duration without experience, personally I open up the 'examine' window and click the little padlock. this means the window will stay open until you 'x' out of it. very useful for keeping track of niacs and eladars.

edit: i dont know if you are tanking or kiting, if you are kiting see if you can pick up a scarab of spell absorption. this will block crippled while equiped but only has 50 charges. if you are tanking make sure you have a divine power clicky. this will up your blocking DR while active.

[Kadran]

As an new player I give you kudos for wanting to solo this raid. It is one of the easier raids to solo but can still be problematic.

Strategy:
Clear to shrine.
Summon monster (I use hezrou or earth ele)
buff summoned monster (just to let them distract longer)
shrine.
buff yourself.
use any clickies you might want. I use the base item ring of spell storing and the korthos necklace to top my mana back. You won't have time inside to use these.
zone in and open chat window with the queen, but don't talk yet.
invis scroll/spell/pot (archers should target ele this way)
when I finally do talk to the queen, I try to hit her with a scroll (or spell as a wizard) of waves of exhaustion. This will slow her speed down dramatically even in her "I am war!" Form at the end. The disadvantage to using a scroll is spell resistance. The advantage to scrolls is that you can free up that level 7 slot and it has no save. If you pass the sr bump, you're gold.
Niacs dot every time timer is up.
heal as needed.

Equipment.
I doubt you have a torc.
I doubt you have conc opp, though if you have cool guildies you may.
I also like the crystal cove trinket with earthen guard, that casts stoneskin when you're hit. Nice way to mitigate damage w/o sp
Potions to boost your spells. Potency is nice, but the potions give you a higher % to damage boost.
scrolls. Reconstruct/heal/waves of exhaustion/fireshield (nice for the djinns)
major pots just in case.

Hope this helps and good luck in your travels.

[Kyln]

How is this possible given her massive damage?

I am asking, as I am having trouble even finishing ADQ1 with two friends and pocket clerics. I am a lvl 16 wiz, 14/2 rogue split. (the other tow characters are a level 18 monk and a level 17 ranger). Lailat just decimates us. I put stoneskin and displacement on, as well as other buffs. However, it seems like once I have her aggro I can't survive for very long (or any of the rest of my group). Typically, it only takes a matter of seconds for any of us to go down, only 1-2 attack chains.

I jump when I kite, is that slowing me down? I use waves of exhaustion on her, but I have a hard time telling if it actually hits her from the animation. I would like to know how to be able to do this.

I keep having this feeling that I am missing something important in how I am attempting to do this. Being so far above level, and on normal difficulty, I am having a hard time understanding how to beat her. I haven't even begun to worry about whether I am doing enough damage, as I can't live long enough to see how much damage I am realistically doing.

[Merlocke]

circle strafe and polar ray ftw, though it seems to be easier to dot these days...

[MsEricka]

Here's my strategy for my Favored Soul, Sorc and Wizard

Before I do that though, we need to talk about Damage Reduction. DR is super important in the DQ raid. She hits hard on normal and only goes up from there. If you're soloing you'll want as much as you can get.

Since I only solo on pure arcanes or a favored soul I shield block constantly as there is no need to swing a weapon. A high DR shield is good such as Light and Darkness, Lorikk's Champion, Levik's Defender or any epic shield. A crafted +5 mithral tower shield also has a nice high DR.

More DR! A shield is fine, but you should also try for some body DR as well. Warforged may have the adamantine body feat, or you could wear an item of invulnerability (not sure if that works on DQ, untested by me), golden greaves or something else that protects against slashing damage.

Part 1
Enter, kill stuff, hit portal. OK it's not that easy, but not very hard either. One thing you have to watch for is exhaustion. You could become helpless if you're not paying attention on a STR dumped caster.

Fire resist and cold shield if you have it (spell or clicky).

Part 2a
After the portal opens up shrine and buff.

Fire and sonic resist are a must as is nightshield. Greater Heroism (scroll, spell, planar gird) is nice.

If you're soloing on hard or elite you might want to drink a CON yugo pot. It's not necessary, but more HP helps.

Step through the portal.

Part 2b

First clickies, most of these are three minutes in duration so you want to use them at the last minute.

Warforged - Superior mending clicky
Fleshy - Superior ardor clicky

Next would be a damage clicky like Superior Brilliance for divines or Superior Freeze for arcanes.

Fight!
On my arcanes, I would start by dropping firewalls on the archers. This only takes a few seconds but saves you a lot of annoyance.

On my favored soul I ignore the archers. With a good shield and DR10/silver I never notice the archers.

Load the Queen up with a dot or two and get ready for her to come down. Turn around when she pops and drop another dot when she's in the middle of the circle. Shield block until she pops out and spawns the efreet.

Still shield blocking, drop a blade barrier or ice storm. If you're on a divine you might need to kite the efreet for a few seconds.

The archers will reappear at this point and the queen will come back down. DoT her up again and continue until completion.

I realize this sounds simple, but dots, DR and a few clickies make soloing this raid easy. I haven't tried it since U12 came out as I've been TR'ing.

[Darkrok]

One other thing...
If you don't think you can survive war and your timing is good (and you have at least a 2-stack of the dot going) you can jump off the platform after landing one last dot on Lailat. With featherfall you'll have time to fireshield cold and resist if they need refreshed. The dot should kill her and you'll be safe from her going nuts on you. If it doesn't happen to kill you and you're quick enough you can get back up top with a portal to finish her off.