Lord of Blades

[ZeroTakenaka]

I'm still confused as to what to do and when in Lord of Blades so I have a few questions:

A. The stun + backspin. What is the tell for the backspin attack where he twirls his blade behind him other than a stun?

B. Where should you be during the trash mobs? Near healers/with main group?

[scoobmx]

A. There are unique visual and auditory tells to all special attacks. Pay close attention next time to learn them. The backtwirl occurs many seconds after the stun tell, only if it is not blocked

B. Yes both are ideal

[pjstechie]

The stun attack starts with a sound similar to a sword being drawn and ends with a sonic boom. I have found that if you wait for the tank to say he's stunned, yer probably too late and will be diced. I have a tendency to stand at an angle so I can pivot my camera shot in such a way that I can clearly see the main tank to see if he gets stunned. Of course there's nothing wrong with just backing off when you hear the sonic boom. Even in that short time I've seen folks pull aggro and turn LoB around so he dices the main tank ;)

[djl]

I'm still confused as to what to do and when in Lord of Blades so I have a few questions:

A. The stun + backspin. What is the tell for the backspin attack where he twirls his blade behind him other than a stun?

B. Where should you be during the trash mobs? Near healers/with main group?

He does his backspin attack after he does his stun attack, which is preceded by an audible "gear grinding" tell. If the main tank shield blocks the stun, he doesn't do the backspin. Regardless, the easy way (at least in less coordinated groups) to deal with this is to have a light monk use Grasp on the tank and have the rest of the party fight on the LOB's left hip. If you are in the right spot, you do not take damage from his main attacks nor do you take damage from backspin.


And which phase of trash? The beginning? At the start of the fight, nobody but the tank attacks the LOB. On normal, one healer stays on the tank while the others are with the party. Someone kites the dogs while the rest of the group kills trash. Artificers go first, then paladins, then assassins.

From there, you have two options for the rest of the fight-- either kill the dogs or have someone kite them for the whole fight. On normal difficulty, if you never kill the dogs they will never use their AOE puke attack which makes things considerably easier. If you do decide to kill the dogs, you kill them after you kill the trash and then you focus on the LOB, prioritizing the dogs each time he raises them.


If you mean at the end of the fight, you kill all but ONE of the trash mobs (if you kill them all it starts the final phase of the fight, during which things are much more hectic if the dogs are still alive) and then kill the dogs. At this point, the dogs will not be revived. Once both dogs are dead you kill the last trash mob and that starts the final phase, where you kill the pillars and end the quest.

[sirgog]

If you hear any unusual audio tells from LOB, stop attacking immediately and establish which one it is.

If it's a higher pitched sound, it's either Rain of Blades or Mighty Blow Stun (They sound similar but can be told apart with practice - also he doesn't have Rain of Blades until 40% hp). Move away and look at LOB - if he's crouching it's Rain, run to the middle. If he's not crouching it's Mighty Blow Stun - run 10 metres away from the LOB unless the tank has explicitly told you over voice that they are not stunned.

If it's a lower pitched sound, it's Whirlwind. Run 20 metres away, don't stand near the healers, and if possible be a bit away from all other players.

If you take aggro accidentally during a special:

- After the tank is stunned (Stunning Blow): Stand exactly on top of the main tank. Backspin won't kill the tank this way, although you'll both take ~400 damage from the windup attack - this is the lesser evil.
- Rain of Blades: Take over tanking (even if not at all specced for it) until the Rain ends. Shield block and endure.
- Whirlwind: Run 3 metres or more into the plasma water and endure it. If you pick up aggro during WW (perhaps due to a tank death), JUMP. You will be knocked a long way away and will probably die deep in the plasma water, but the raid will be saved as LOB will chase you until you die, which is hopefully after WW ends.

[lugoman]

The audio tell he does right before the stun sounds like a pew-pew-pew laser sound (to me anyway). If the tank doesnt shield block the stun attack LoB will hold his blade behind his back and spin it doing lots of damage to the melee.

[djl]

The audio tell he does right before the stun sounds like a pew-pew-pew laser sound (to me anyway). If the tank doesnt shield block the stun attack LoB will hold his blade behind his back and spin it doing lots of damage to the melee.

And this is why in most groups you gather and fight on the LOB's side. He can't hit you with his backspin from there.

[pjstechie]

If you hear any unusual audio tells from LOB, stop attacking immediately and establish which one it is.

If it's a higher pitched sound, it's either Rain of Blades or Mighty Blow Stun (They sound similar but can be told apart with practice - also he doesn't have Rain of Blades until 40% hp). Move away and look at LOB - if he's crouching it's Rain, run to the middle. If he's not crouching it's Mighty Blow Stun - run 10 metres away from the LOB unless the tank has explicitly told you over voice that they are not stunned.

If it's a lower pitched sound, it's Whirlwind. Run 20 metres away, don't stand near the healers, and if possible be a bit away from all other players.

If you take aggro accidentally during a special:

- After the tank is stunned (Stunning Blow): Stand exactly on top of the main tank. Backspin won't kill the tank this way, although you'll both take ~400 damage from the windup attack - this is the lesser evil.
- Rain of Blades: Take over tanking (even if not at all specced for it) until the Rain ends. Shield block and endure.
- Whirlwind: Run 3 metres or more into the plasma water and endure it. If you pick up aggro during WW (perhaps due to a tank death), JUMP. You will be knocked a long way away and will probably die deep in the plasma water, but the raid will be saved as LOB will chase you until you die, which is hopefully after WW ends.

i actually find that his audio cure for his super man jump is more similar to the start of the stun effect than the rain of blades though all of them involve a rising pitch and thus sound pretty similar. (the sound for him landing is basically the reverse of him jumping). the easiest indicator that he has used his stun attack is the sonic boom sound, but youd better move cause if the stun landed the dicing is comin soon - the sonic boom is the end of the audio cue.

though there is certainly nothing wrong with sirgogs points. and really, just dont pull aggro unless you are supposed to be the tank. if the tank isnt attacking and he hasnt said anything otherwise, dont attack, dont even sneeze. aggro swap + whirlwind is just devestating.

disclaimer - im a part time sound guy, im trained to distinguish sounds and frequencies.

[sirgog]

and really, just dont pull aggro unless you are supposed to be the tank. if the tank isnt attacking and he hasnt said anything otherwise, dont attack, dont even sneeze. aggro swap + whirlwind is just devestating.



/this, but mistakes happen. Often the tank reacts really quickly to a tell (as their primary job in the raid is watching for them), whereas a DPSer doesn't react as quickly.

I've seen Touch of Death in particular cause aggro swaps in the windup of Whirlwind, often before the monk in question was aware of the windup. Best to understand what to do if you do pull aggro.

[Shade]

Best way is to see it for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xyIpCghUcI&hd=1

I just added a comment with time marks for the specials so you can easily jump to them by clicking those and review each special, enjoy.