Titan Questions - Please Help!

[Karranor]

OK after a bit over two years my weekly static group has just begun to raid... please keep the laughter down...

Anyway we have been working on the Titan and having some trouble with staying alive long enough to get all set up. I was hoping you could answer some questions that might help. We are short manning the raids... anywhere between 5-8 people. Here is our standard group...

Cleric
Cleric
Sor/Rog
Wiz
Barb
Fighter
Fighter
Sorc or Cleric

OK here are the questions I have:

Is there a way to resist his canon shots? Does he go after AC or is it simply a ray like ability that must be dodged?

What do you roll to avoid the knockdown effect? Is there a way to avoid it, on the third tier perhaps?

Suggestions for Titan agro control? He seems to be a spastic freak that bounces around everywhere. I have done 100% of the first 20% damage the last 3 runs and he still does not seem to come after me any more then anyone else? In pugs we have stayed as a group to pull him over to the side, is that the preferred method?

Can the Titan see you in Stealth? I know you can stealth past the ancient WF but because of the wacky agro I can not tell if he can see people in stealth or not.

I think that about does it... I may have more but any tips and tricks you can offer are appreciated. PM or post, either way your thoughts are welcome!

ps. I have read a few guides on this and ran it with pugs 8-10 times I am just unsure of what everyone was doing. I have been crystal runner 90% of the time or stand around guy but now my static group wants me to lead and I am not sure the details of other jobs and tricks. Thanks again!

[Reisz]

You need to dodge his rays

A very high tumble, 40-50 I think. Or you can time him swing and jump. If you are in the air before the hammer falls, you will avoid this effect. I am not sure about things like rogue acrobat and boots, etc..

His aggro cycles through the entire party. The best thing is to have 1 person on the gun and 1 on pillars. Everyone else should be huddled on the ledge or 3rd level to keep in him the same spot as long as possible.

Stealth does not help against the titan, but is useful for avoiding warforged in the crystal room. Also, if people on the ledge are in stealth mode they are shorter and seem to get hit less from his rays.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Titans lazer cannot be 'deflected' by AC...its gonna hitcha.

Titans knockdown seems to have been changed recently to be unresistable.

His aggro is spastic...I believe its even more spastic since the last update to him...I dont think we can control it now.

[stockwizard5]

Is there a way to resist his canon shots?

No

Does he go after AC or is it simply a ray like ability that must be dodged?

Ray

What do you roll to avoid the knockdown effect?

Balance

Is there a way to avoid it, on the third tier perhaps?

No

Suggestions for Titan agro control? He seems to be a spastic freak that bounces around everywhere.

Yes

In pugs we have stayed as a group to pull him over to the side, is that the preferred method?

Yes

Can the Titan see you in Stealth? I know you can stealth past the ancient WF but because of the wacky agro I can not tell if he can see people in stealth or not.

Maybe

I think that about does it... I may have more but any tips and tricks you can offer are appreciated. PM or post, either way your thoughts are welcome!

Practice

Congrats ...

[gfunk]

I would recommend doing a run or two with players outside your static group. Learning by experience is the best way, unless your group is set on figuring it out for themselves.

-Balance of 35+ beats the knock down effect i have been told, though i have no one with balance that high. (I dont seem to get knocked around as much with a balance of around 30)

-I have also had some luck by getting the whole group to stand on top of the laser to get the Titan positioned (though this can be a problem in a low balance group as it takes longer to get everyone in position). I only have done this when the Titan is really acting spastic.

-Get everyone to load themselves up with cure pots. Between wanding (if umd/or class ability) and curing, everyone should be able to keep themselves up.

[Angelus_dead]

His aggro cycles through the entire party. The best thing is to have 1 person on the gun and 1 on pillars. Everyone else should be huddled on the ledge or 3rd level to keep in him the same spot as long as possible.

I find it important to keep your highest-balance guy on the gun button, to elminate the possibility he'll be bounced away right when it's time to shoot.

[MrCow]

Can the Titan see you in Stealth?

All purple named monsters are capable of seeing through any stealth.

[Karranor]

Thanks a ton for all the tips and verifying my suspicions.

I will try to run with a few more pugs and hope they are forthcoming. It seems there are quite a few groups nowadays that just want you to shut up and power through things and that makes it tough to learn.

I know we can do this but it will take some more practice for sure.

Do the canon shots hurt everyone in their line of flight? I think they do but am unsure. What are your thoughts on spreading out the group while pillars are prepped with a cleric on each side, then moving together to get the Titan into position? This might save healing but may be harder to keep people up and alive.

[Reisz]

One other thing about balance and knock down effect.

Everyone in the huddle should auto-run towards the wall. You may fall down, but I have found this helps prevent getting blown off the ledge.

[Sue_Dark]

Mass heals are good for mitigating the shot damage. Keeping the group together aids in mass healing and focuses the randomized agro to a singular area. Spreading out the group means he will likely bounce around alot more and you'll have to burn alot more individual resources to stay alive.

I'm in process building a balancing act, but at the moment I have no proof that the 30+ balance works. I have heard and sort of seen(they were on the gun i was not) that it works, supposedly in the neighborhood of 35 balance for elite.

Positioning the gun near the far left pillar (as looking out from the gun control) you can hit Titan with 4 pillars without moving him around and having to do alot of regrouping and such. It takes a little balls to drop a pillar from the opposite side of the room, but it does work. (I have done this personally) so you can get 4 (four) shots into him without really moving the party, then move to a corner near the gun control and repeat. Less moving around on your part means less confusion and thus less likelihood of failure. (still possible tho)

[Shagn]

It basically comes down to assigning duties

titan shield popper - usually an arcane who can cast ranged spells so the titan's shields come up ASAP (melee against titan is a no-no)
pillar chopper - melee player who preps bottoms of pillars to ~10% health. must be strong enough to take remaining 10% down within a moment's notice
bottom bun runner - person who carries crystals from bottom room to power up the laser (this person must stay out of back room when laser is fired or risk being trapped with no loot)
top bun runner - person who carries crystals from top room
laser controller (2) - i prefer to have one person who moves/shoots the laser, and one as a backup (usually somebody who can heal and res should the pillar chopper die) should the primary person get knocked off (nothing worse than knocking a pillar down and your laser shooter gets knocked off)

everybody (including a cleric and/or bard with mass heals) else should go straight up to the top catwalk and destroy the tops of the pillars ASAP

to start, only buffs you need are GH, mass deathward, and haste (perhaps bard songs and rage for the pillar chopper)

everybody but the bottom bun runner, the laser controllers, and the pillar chopper should head straight to the ladder halfway down the left side and go all the way up to the catwalk. the caster(s) are the only ones in the beginning that should be anywhere near the titan (and maybe the pillar chopper).

once on the top catwalk, everybody on top should stand where the paths cross. when the titan does his hammer knockdown, you only get knocked in one of four directions if you fail a Balance check (north, south, east or west). If you stand where the paths cross, you will never fall down to the bottom floor. begin ranging tops of pillars and destroy them. you should have all the tops done before the pillar chopper tries knocking a pillar on the titan. once all the pillar tops are done, everybody on the top should stand directly above the laser. if you do this, there is very little chance the titan will run all over. he will still be spastic, but shouldn't move away from the laser.

i think you pretty much know the rest from the sounds of it.

[Blazer]

to start, only buffs you need are GH, mass deathward, and haste (perhaps bard songs and rage for the pillar chopper)

Don't forget FOM.

[Karranor]

Standing at the cross on the catwalks is a good tip thanks!

DW stops the stinger damage from the crystal runner, correct?

Now if the crystal runner dies and gets raised he still gets blasted because he never actually dropped the crystal. How much do those stingers do so the runner does not die immediately? Hehe we had this happen on one run and could NOT keep him alive. Every time he resed he was zapped down immediately. I was thinking a True Res should give enough time for DW/Heals but our current runner has only 120 or so HPs. Thinking about switching them out...

[feynman]

The most important part is speed; those mass rays hurt, and the clerics will run out of SP quickly firing off mass cures. Get the shields up and the tops prepped fast, then assign a backup bun-runner so you can get them to the laser quickly.

The biggest problem with short-manning the raid is that you have fewer people on top of the laser to draw him under it, which makes the quest take longer and increases the risk of missing him with a pillar.

[Karranor]

I agree, one of the biggest problems is we can not get the top pillars down very fast. People keep getting knocked off and then smacked down at the bottom. I think the crosses on the catwalks should help with that. If we can keep people up there I think we should be able to drop the tops much faster.

Great tips one and all I really do appreciate it!

[gfunk]

I agree, one of the biggest problems is we can not get the top pillars down very fast. People keep getting knocked off and then smacked down at the bottom. I think the crosses on the catwalks should help with that. If we can keep people up there I think we should be able to drop the tops much faster.

Great tips one and all I really do appreciate it!

If you have a ranger with many shot and improved precise shot, the tops can be taken down in less than 20 seconds. Just stand at one end of the catwalks with the 4 tops lined up, target the last one, click on many shot and fire away. (in theory should work targeting the first one, but in practice it seems that this leaves 1 piller with a bit of hp left). Then roll over to the other row of pillers and repeat.

I have only tried this with a greater construct bane bow, but i would imagine that a transmuter would work almost as good?? Alternatively you could pick up some construct bane arrows if the bow is hard to come buy. A gcb bow comes up every once and awhile on the AH in sarlona, typically 50kish+.

[Karranor]

Unfortunately we do not have a ranger to blast the tops.

What level does greater construct bane start to show up on weapons? I would like to narrow my search to hunt these down faster.

Since we do not have a ranger I think we will have to move around as a group up top to drop them as fast as we can with ranged. I know this is a bit of a gimp way to do it, but we have to work with the tools that we have.

[gfunk]

I think they start at level 8, but you will likely have trouble finding a "clean" lvl 8 gcb bow.

Its worth looking for though, as it is also very useful in von6 (for the pillars if you have the precise shot feat), shroud (for the portals in part 1 and the crystals in part 2), the golem room in titan (you can solo these golems with a ranger and a gcb bow) and many others...

If you need to poor-boy it, you might have better luck with shortbows as they seem to go for a much lower price.

for melee weapons:
-keep an eye out for Adoryns malice in the last chest of part 1 of the titan (A nice looking adamantine gcb light mace).
-Check out axes, maces, and morning stars for cheaper GCB's that work just as well. Most people ignore these weapons because of the narrow crit range, however because constructs are immune to crits these weapon types work just as well as a rapier, scimitar, etc etc..

[Shagn]

Don't forget FOM.

D'oh, yeah I forgot. All my characters have either the Freedom of Movement boots or are WF.

After the caster brings the titan's shields up, when they get up to the top, have them cast disintegrate on the pillar tops if there are any left.

If the bun runner on the bottom dies, simply have them take the res away from where the crystal dropped. If they sneak into the back room just far enough to grab a crystal, they should not die.

One last thing... If you lower the titan's shields, make sure if somebody has another crystal to NOT drop down to the bottom - this will recharge his shield back up! Had this happen a month ago and I never knew (and the last pillar was what we knocked his shield off with, d'oh!).

[Angelus_dead]

titan shield popper - usually an arcane who can cast ranged spells so the titan's shields come up ASAP (melee against titan is a no-no)

Ha ha, what?

Are you joking? Melee against the Titan is just fine.

My pure sorcerer has the Shining Cresents and can beat down the Titan's shield in melee.