Tangleroot part IV: Whisperdoom's spawn

[Osharan_Tregarth]

I realize that "elite" is not supposed to be the standard level to run a quest on, but... Are we sure that the spider is adjusted properly for the level of the quest?

I think it's a little ridiculous that a dwarf ranger with 280 hitpoints, heavy fortification, and haste, didn't successfully run away from whisperdoom without dying. Meaning in the time it took to cast a haste clickie, and run down the corridor to draw the spider away, down goes the dwarf. Somewhere between 14 and 30 points of piercing damage a hit.

Did she get hasted along with me when I used the clickie? I'll have to check next time I go in.

Now, I guess if I'd brought a wizard along for displacement, blur, stoneskin, etc.. I might have made it.

What do you folks think?

[Hobble_Gobble]

...maybe she summoned a lag monster and that was what got you?
Or something is bugged...sorry couldn't resist.
Happy Hunting

[bandyman1]

I'm thinking I did the exact same thing this morning on Delani. Add to that, she chewed through my 52 AC like it wasn't there. Now I have only 270 hps, but the exact same senario. Hasted and heavy fort. What lvl is that quest again??? And ummm.....why is it that I've soloed TR elite on the majority of my toons at lvl 9-10 with no problems, and suddenly that **** spider is badder than the Titan?

Think you need to explain somethings devs.

[Shadow_Flayer]

So you are saying that you are finding the quest challenging on elite then? Excellent. Keep trying or bring friends. I'm sure you'll get past her. She's a very wicked creation. She should not be a cake walk.

Somewhere between 14 and 30 points of piercing damage a hit

And how much are you doing per hit? 40 - 80?

Now, I guess if I'd brought a wizard along for displacement, blur, stoneskin, etc.. I might have made it.

Self buff.

[bandyman1]

Originally posted by Friar Galanodel
So you are saying that you are finding the quest challenging on elite then? Excellent. Keep trying or bring friends. I'm sure you'll get past her. She's a very wicked creation. She should not be a cake walk.

Um...maybe your missing the point that you are not supposed to fight her. Even the quest giver will tell you that. Or that it has been that way since the begining of the game. Or that someone ( sacrificial lamb anyone? ) has to aggro her in order to advance the quest. Or that a lvl 6 quest ( lvl4+2 for elite ) mob, even a named, should not be bypassing a 52 AC like it's not there. Or that she has never been able to keep up with anyone hasted before, and suddenly she can. Friends??? lol, what do you want them to do besides destroy eggs? Have the cleric run along side the 50+ AC, hasted tank and spam heals cause he's getting his arse kicked?

I've soloed that entire quest chain on elite on most of my toons at lvl 9-10 with np. Why the revamp?

Trust me guys, if you haven't tried the quest in a bit, give it a whirl, lol.

[7-day_Trial_Monkey]

That spider is not the same as it was. Just on normal the other day, I didn't get halfway down the hall trying to lead her away before dying. I was buffed to a 36 AC and she did not miss a single shot, and had no problem out running me while I was hasted. It's not just on elite that she is tougher.

[Shadow_Flayer]

Um...maybe your missing the point that you are not supposed to fight her. Even the quest giver will tell you that. Or that it has been that way since the begining of the game. Or that someone ( sacrificial lamb anyone? ) has to aggro her in order to advance the quest. Or that a lvl 6 quest ( lvl4+2 for elite ) mob, even a named, should not be bypassing a 52 AC like it's not there. Or that she has never been able to keep up with anyone hasted before, and suddenly she can. Friends??? lol, what do you want them to do besides destroy eggs? Have the cleric run along side the 50+ AC, hasted tank and spam heals cause he's getting his arse kicked?

I've soloed that entire quest chain on elite on most of my toons at lvl 9-10 with np. Why the revamp?

Trust me guys, if you haven't tried the quest in a bit, give it a whirl, lol.

My bad. I was thinking of the other quest, post Tangleroot. Comments retracted.

I did the just this quest the other days with a sorcerer on elite. Charming a hobgoblin or two made it very easy.

[Girevik]

Funny you should mention this.

I "ran" her last night on my 14th level Dwarf Paladin. (My job was to draw her away from the eggs so the rest of the party could pop the eggs.)

My AC is in the low 40's and my HP's are at 360. All saves 20+.

I could not outdistance her with Haste + Expeditious Retreat (clickie) + 20% Boots.

My normal strategy of run into a rest shrine and close the door didn't work because she followed me in. She drilled through my H.P.'s and both of my Lay on Hands (+120 each). I was sucking Cure Potions like they were water on a hot day.

I finally got lucky and stumbled into a corner where she "bugged" and basically stopped attacking me. She and two of her daughters were right on top of me, but only swinging (or connecting) very rarely. I was able to recall out on my second attempt and found myself outside at 1 hit point.

This is a level 4 or 5 quest? The term "Elite" shouldn't negate the level. That was a 0 experience, supposedly "risk free" quest for me, and it was through pure dumb luck that I survived.

(But, it may be replicatable. I think it is her distance attack that is the most devastating. That will apparently drill through any AC and Saves and shred anyone. But, if you don't run, it appeared that she closes in too close to use it and relies on regular attacks that can miss.)

[Vorn]

WRT to the folks who mentioned high ac's: Just wondering if you're getting your full ac...if she's behind you do you get your shield? Does she get a +2 flanking bonus or something?
V

[Ziggy]

I did the quest on normal with a group of level 5's about 2 months ago. They were barebones characters. Or has she been changed since then?

[PurdueDave]

My normal strategy of run into a rest shrine and close the door didn't work because she followed me in.

On elite I usually just head for the quest entrance instead of the shrine.

Haven't run this since the last update so don't know if they changed anything with her or not.

[bandyman1]

I did the quest on normal with a group of level 5's about 2 months ago. They were barebones characters. Or has she been changed since then?

Yeah bro, it's been changed. Ran it on elite with my lvl7 ranger about a mounth ago in a group, and I ran her because of my sprint boost. Had np out-distancing her, or getting mine arse kicked.

Originally posted by Vorn
WRT to the folks who mentioned high ac's: Just wondering if you're getting your full ac...if she's behind you do you get your shield? Does she get a +2 flanking bonus or something?
V

Still get shield bonus when she's behind, but she gets +2. That would still leave me at a 50 AC, lol. And I got my arse SMACKED.

[Plynx]

Haste, striding boots, and expeditious retreat do NOT stack. Only the highest bonus (haste) applies.

Haste is not enough to outrun Whisperdoom. Ideally you have a hasted barbarian or ranger using sprint boost--then it's no problem. You can also try sense pulls--that may or may not work.

I have no idea how it was before--in my experience, if she catches you, you die. AC, stoneskin, and everything else was purely irrelevant.

[Neferi]

I've managed to kite her away from her eggs on my new lowbie. I didn't get too close to her in the beginning, I hit my sprint boost as soon as I saw her, and I just took off running for the entrance. I was able to get to the door with no problems, hitting my sprint boost when it was available. She tends to stop sometimes to try to shoot you, so you can gain some distance then. She's still really fast though, and can do a ton of damage if she hits you with any of her attacks. I think speed is the key, not necessarily armor.

[Mhykke]

Haste, striding boots, and expeditious retreat do NOT stack. Only the highest bonus (haste) applies.

Haste is not enough to outrun Whisperdoom. Ideally you have a hasted barbarian or ranger using sprint boost--then it's no problem. You can also try sense pulls--that may or may not work.

I have no idea how it was before--in my experience, if she catches you, you die. AC, stoneskin, and everything else was purely irrelevant.

I knew expeditious retreat and haste didn't stack....but I thought that striding equipment and haste did?

[ArkoHighStar]

I outran her on normal with no haste and no sprint boost, I just never looked back and ran for the entrance, 35AC lvl 5 ranger with longstrider on. Once you get to the hole you climb up she cannot follow, the key is to go first and body pull so you do not get to close, as she will be right on your tail. Evrybody stays out of the way till all the aggro is chasng you and then they go in.

[miceelf88]

I soloed that quest a while back on elite with my cleric at level 6-7 (been a while). What worked for me was having her chase me up the interior ramp with the traps. Jump off the edge, and run around and pop the eggs before she figures she needs to come back.

Tried to solo it last night on normal with a level 4 wizard. her other spiders would chase me up the ramp, but she wouldn't (much more painful for me given limited access to healing). But I DID manage to solo it after a couple of deaths by expeditious retreating, having her chase me around the circle a couple of times, slowly losing ground on me then ducking in there once she was no longer in line of site. As well as learning not to go up the interior trap area, she also appears to be much better at sensing things, as she started chasing me while she was very far away- barely within my view range. I imagine if I'd started running with her closer to me, it would have gone even worse.

[bandyman1]

Haste, striding boots, and expeditious retreat do NOT stack. Only the highest bonus (haste) applies.

True enough

Haste is not enough to outrun Whisperdoom. Ideally you have a hasted barbarian or ranger using sprint boost--then it's no problem. You can also try sense pulls--that may or may not work.

Humm....funny since I've done it since beta, with np till last night. Check my sig, I only have one toon with sprint.

I have no idea how it was before--in my experience, if she catches you, you die. AC, stoneskin, and everything else was purely irrelevant.

I've soloed the mission on elite. On tanks with a good AC ( did I mention Del's was a 52 ? ), I've ignored her attacks while breaking the eggs( wiff-wiff-wiff ), and then stood in-place and recalled.

Comments in red
Everyone is offering their strategies as if the OP and I can't beat the quest, lol. I've beaten TR more times than I can count. There's always at least 2-3 of the static rewards I want on every new toon I roll. What we wanna know is; WHEN THE HELL DID THEY CHANGE THE SPIDER????

[Gimpster]

I think it's a little ridiculous that a dwarf ranger with 280 hitpoints, heavy fortification, and haste, didn't successfully run away from whisperdoom without dying.

280 hitpoints? What level are you?

Rangers are 8 hp/level, which comes to 112 at level 14. Say 22 con for another 6*14 = 84, or 112+84+20 = 216. So you've got to have Toughness and Dwarf Toughness on top of that.

Regardless, for a ranger to have 280 hitpoints means you are level 14, or close to it. And in that case: Why didn't you just KILL Whisperdoom? She's not magically invulnerable or anything. She has AC, DR, and hitpoints, all of which a level 12+ warrior should be able to overcome by swinging a large sword.

[Cupcake]

Within the last month, on Argo, I rolled a dwarf barbarian.

We were running tangleroot on normal, maybe hard, I cannot remember.

No haste, just my barbarian sprint boost used 3 times, I ran her all the way to the beginning, though she stayed on my heels the whole time.