shadow tanking: advice required for fine tuning.

[bigolbear]

Dear comunity,

I could use a little help with my shadow tanking skills. firstly let me say ive done it many times successfuly - im not a new player, rather a vet seeking additional guidance.

On normal i seem to have no issues controling the shadows. firewalls/acid fogs on the stairs and to either side. pop fire sheild and spam prots and heal my self. - still dont have a cold absorb cos im a slacker ;)

On hard however the shadows just seem to occasionaly ignore my agro grabbing mechanism. They seem to end up up stairs and that means they must have gone through my AOE's. Last night i was running with a team i run with regularly - im 99% sure none of them were screwing it up for me (improved precise shot etc)

Ive done elite using the same method and it worked but ive not done elite often enough to be sure the same issue doesnt occur.

I seem to have a 50/50 chance of successfuly controling all shadows on hard - i always seem to grab a few but not always all of them, and a 100% chance on normal. Id realy like some input as to other methods i could use or fine pointers on placement of aoes and things to make sure the group is not doing to steal my agro.

[Faent]

To properly grab aggro, use a spell that has no save and does have an initial tic, such as Solid Fog.

[Sgt_Hart]

Dunno if its any help, but I've noticed an FVS with a shoulder cannon can severely screw the pooch in there. My working theory is the shadows have way less HP then boss man, so even a slight damage tick on shadow(If near enough to FVS) causes it to be the Optimal target. AFAIK, shadow take full light damage, but admittedly, I've never paid the least bit of attention to that, at that part. Other priorities yanno.


A small lantern archon hovers over your shoulder and attacks nearby enemies. This archon is indestructible, deals 1 to 3 + caster level light damage every 2 seconds, and uses your light amplification effects for its light beam attacks. The archon will only attack enemies that have already been damaged, and will not attack fascinated or mesmerized foes, and always attacks the enemy with the fewest hit points in range. All threat generated by the archon is applied to youMay or may not be part of your problem, but worth taking note of if you haven't.

[Rawel_San]

Put a cloud kill on the stairs and make sure any AoV fvs's are invised and obviously without archon. Never
had a problem that way including elite. Just sit there chug SF pots and wait for the group to kill him.

edit: also make sure no monks are using T3 LoB wraps, and nowadays no one better be using the storm suffixes on
random gen loot. Ofcourse if you have anyone using those on elite you have bigger problems.

[WruntJunior]

Put a cloud kill on the stairs and make sure any AoV fvs's are invised and obviously without archon. Never
had a problem that way including elite. Just sit there chug SF pots and wait for the group to kill him.

edit: also make sure no monks are using T3 LoB wraps, and nowadays no one better be using the storm suffixes on
random gen loot. Ofcourse if you have anyone using those on elite you have bigger problems.

Don't just have to worry about monks...tier 3 alchemical weapons are nice for most melees, but non-wraps are easier to spot, generally speaking.

[Rawel_San]

Hmm I don't really think they are. They are worse then cannith crafted and worse then dr breaking lit II's
With the changes to the AC system I see few reasons to make them on anyone now.

[Havok.cry]

PMs standing too close to the edge with their auras can catch the shadows aggro before you have a chance too. As others said, anyone using any sort of AOE stuff can do it too. My preffered spell to catch thier aggro is glitterdust. Longer lasting than the damage spells, fast casting time compared to other AOEs, and seems to have a wider area than many AOEs.

[Khellendros13]

Cloudkill on the boss, cloudkill and incendiary cloud on yourself. Ice Storm on the boss too.

Ice Storm and Firewall are quite bad to use due to slow tics of damage and the evasion shadows have on Hard or Elite.

Solid fog works, but no one else can agro the shadows in any way or you are screwed.

[darthhento]

I've exclusively only used FW. Left, right corner and all the way up the stairs. BDB at ready in case something weird happens and a shadow gets loose.

Cold absorb item is awesome and saves you a lot of SP. Harm clicky from Abbot is also nice if you're a PM.

And most important thing that makes it easier - when you have shadows on you don't forget to yell:

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!

[SirValentine]

Ice Storm and Firewall are quite bad to use due to slow tics of damage and the evasion shadows have on Hard or Elite.

Solid fog works, but no one else can agro the shadows in any way or you are screwed.


Solid Fog lowers Reflex saves, too. So Solid Fog + AOE is good. As Clr/FvS, I used a Solid Fog clicky plus a Blade Barrier, and didn't have trouble, even on Elite.

[RandomKeypress]

Another thing to watch out for with some ranged or caster toons is Shiradi Champion double rainbow.

It has a 7% proc chance and has quite a few AoE attacks on the list. If you get unlucky with shadow proximity it could easily do 500 points of damage and the shadows will then happily ignore your little clouds for quite a while. I'd suggest warning people to drop Prism stance until big red is dead.

[Lycurgus]

I've been running into the same issue. Acid fog seems to work, but as often as not one of the shadows will break away and meander towards the group. It may be necessary to drag the shadows further away from the stairs to avoid party members inadvertently grabbing aggro?

[Miow]

Ran tod on my caster for the first time ever(hard), kiter died i was the backup i decided to tank them i threw down an ice storm on the boss and one at the bottom of the stairs. Seemed to work fine for me i just kept tossing one on the boss and the front of the stairs continually, didn't seem to have issues. I also have incendiary cloud slotted on my caster too....

[Dagolar]

It should be noted that this 'quirk' first popped up well before the expansion and epic destinies were introduced.
You're not the only caster that has been having trouble in recent months- whether it's due to the remainder of party composition or not, as was suggested, I'm uncertain, but I've seen several casters have unpredictably erratic success at their attempts.

Since it wasn't noted as a problem [at least, such as I'd heard] before then, it could be a bug.

[deahamlet]

It should be noted that this 'quirk' first popped up well before the expansion and epic destinies were introduced.
You're not the only caster that has been having trouble in recent months- whether it's due to the remainder of party composition or not, as was suggested, I'm uncertain, but I've seen several casters have unpredictably erratic success at their attempts.

Since it wasn't noted as a problem [at least, such as I'd heard] before then, it could be a bug.
Yes, this was an issue before update. Guild runs with wizards tat have done 100+ tods, no storm stuff, no one using alchemicals, no archon, no other wizard with aura... And suddenly a shadow escapes... 3 aoes on stairs: up and 2 sides, one on boss... And they tried different aoes each time, one bugger would escape some runs. Annoying on elite.

[bigolbear]

Well from the sounds of it its not just me then ;)

Thankyou all for the advice and tips.

Looks like i need to concentrate of fiding spells that are

a: non evadeable (for hard and elite)
b: 'tic' imediately on entry, as opposed to waiting for time.

Im also seriosuly considering packing magic missile for this and smacking them as they appear in additon to the aoe's.

[Faent]

Solid fog works, but no one else can agro the shadows in any way or you are screwed.

You don't *just* use Solid Fog. You also kill the Shadows. Solid Fog to *grab* aggro. Other stuff to keep it and kill the shadows.

[Ilindith]

Well from the sounds of it its not just me then ;)

Thankyou all for the advice and tips.

Looks like i need to concentrate of fiding spells that are

a: non evadeable (for hard and elite)
b: 'tic' imediately on entry, as opposed to waiting for time.

Im also seriosuly considering packing magic missile for this and smacking them as they appear in additon to the aoe's.

They were most likely getting through because they saved on your spells and you did not get aggro because of it.

Use Incendiary Cloud (http://ddowiki.com/page/Incendiary_Cloud), it has no save and takes quite a lot of place.

Personally never had any problem with it. I usually stand down the stairs, right in the middle, and drop an Incendiary Cloud there, and that's it.