Invaders! I finally have mastered it

[KongColeus]

Invaders! Is a F2P quest located in the harbor. You have to be 10th level to run it.

For me, finding players to run Invaders! is not easy, plus you get the people that join the group then make you wait ten minutes. I don't want to continue to wait. Get here, lets go.

Then, if you do have a group and you explain to people that death is imminent if they charge in. So, they charge in. Die a lot. Drop group.

Why do I want to run Invaders!? I want the favor, EXP, loot, 25 tokens, and the Beholder Optic Nerves.

For the tokens, I always choose the Ring of Balance. The other three items can be found in game. The only thing better than the Ring of Balance is the Chattering Ring. I assume there are some greensteel and epics that are better, but I am not running that yet.

I ONLY run it on HARD and ELITE once. The pain is not worth running it more than that.

So..... Solo is the answer. At level so I get EXP. Since I am soloing I am always getting 150 outsiders slain. Oh Joy. But a minimum of 3000 EXP(Or is it 5000) even when I am just about ransacked on normal.

Turbine has provided the tools necessary to run the quest now to help conserve mana. Yes, you can BUY mana pots, but I have NEVER purchased ONE mana pot at the DDO Store.

For those that do not know what the monsters are
Ice Flensers Greater Evil Outsider, casts cone of cold, ice storm(a lot), protected by the Flesh Renderers usually
Flesh renderers Greater Evil Outsider just beat on you
Fire Reavers Greater Evil Outsider casts fire
Tharaak Hounds Greater Evil Outsider acid, poison, phantasmal killer, and FEAR
Beholders Aberration The usual ten rays of fun. I wish I had some screen shots of when I have been hit by all 10 eyes at once. Death ensued on that one.
Some elves? near the Locus Beholders that MUST be eliminated.

SHRINE ONLY ONE

Buffs you MUST HAVE
Death Ward
Resist Cold 20 or resist cold 30
Resist Fire 20 or resist fire 30
Resist Acid 20 or resist acid 30
Poison Neutralize
Greater Heroism

You can do without greater heroism just be prepared for having quite a few FEAR of the five seconds pause types.

The protects for those three elements are nice. But I use the stuff I have listed below

There are several portals in the game that SPAWN more Ice Flensers, Flesh Renderers, and Tharaak Hounds.

Items needed
hand held weapon needed - Greater Evil Outsider Bane

Ranged weapon - Greater Aberration Bane, this works WONDERS!!! Mine is a level 6 Longbow with Frost added to it. A straight up ELF wizard can use these.

Planar Gird - one is good, two is better, three is awesome. This comes from Xorian Cipher. Green Chest.

Visor of the Flesh Renderer Guard this comes from Splinterskull, or commonly called Tangleroot.

Deathblock item, I use shields on my weapon wielding characters nice to have BUt I never use mine. I am always forgeting to switch so I don't worry about it anymore.

Turbine has given us more tools to accomplish this task. Festivult Cookies and Ice Games potions.

Festivult Cookies I use
Velah, the Cometfall version nice, but not necessary. Only use it when in a pickle

Fernia, the Fire SHield Version just about a MUST to have

Dolurrh, death ward need to replenish the beholder anti magic blasts

Suulomades, freedom of movement need to replenish the beholder anti magic blasts

Syrania, jump for a certain strategy I employ of hit the beholders. Run away. drink Jump pot if needed, hit them again.

Ice Games Potions
Icy Haste very nice

Icy Fire Resist very nice

Icy Fire Protection nice to have but not a must

Icy Chill Shield very nice

Potions available in the game
Resist Cold 20 Available in the 12 Tower by Delirium. All players have access to these.

Reists Acid 20 Available in the 12 Tower by Delirium. All players have access to these.

Neutralize Poison available many places or from a clickie, I use a clickie

Barkskin +3 available Available in the 12 Tower by Delirium. All players have access to these. House K. Gianthold.

Haste potions if you have no icy haste potions. Available all over.

Make sure you hit the collectible locations, I have picked up quite a few Silver Flame Hymnals.

Sorcerors and Wizards need to have EXTEND and ENLARGE, in my opinion.

North side there are SIX beholders to blast away.
The Central side is five or six beholders to eliminate.
And the part past the shrine is FIVE beholders.

All the beholders have MEGA-SUPER, ENLARGE so their rays shoot MUCH further than you can. They can shoot through walls, you can't. They can shoot around corners, you can't. A nice, lovely nasty.

Currently, I have my time down to about 60 minutes to run this as a solo due to my careful nature, trying not to die. Buffing after the beholders anti magic me.

There are FOUR boss types to battle at the end.

Tyrrza - a tharaak hound, You can pull a Tyrrza's bane which is a rapier. You ALWAYS get two tokens.

Pyrsuul a fire reaver. You can pull a bastard sword, Pyrsuul's Bane, and you ALWAYS get two tokens

Garzuul a Flesh Renderer? You can pull a GREAT AXE and you always get THREE tokens.

Boktar the Elder Beholder. YOU can pull the Beholder Optic Nerves, and you ALWAYS get FIVE tokens.

I have been luucky enough in this learning process to see Boktar three times, and pull TWO Beholder Optic Nerves.

[samthedagger]

I think invaders is a lot less complicated than you are making it out to be.

Silver Flame Trinket, deathblock and hireling = solo'd

Might I suggest you contribute some of this info to ddowiki.com?

[Henrieta]

Congratulations on mastering Invaders and the helpful advice. I agree, it is a challenging quest.

Also congrats on pulling optic nerves.

I'd like to see it on epic someday.

[GreenGurgler]

Congrats on being able to solo this at level on hard+!
But it does sound a bit resource/gear intensive for the trouble. Are getting a few good players (rather than filling with gimps) that hard?

I always liked the quest and find them fun but part of that is nostalgia. Anyone remember when this was new and was farmed as a loot run? Not just for the named or optics but the other possible loot like tomes that were so rare back then.
Invaders has a special place in my heart.

Congrats!

[FlyingTurtle]

1. set Draw distance to max (ultra-high).
2. creep forward slowly hitting tab repeatedly to target the beholder at maximum range.
3. take out your starter ember bow from Korthos, or your +1 returning dagger, and pew pew beholder to death while it stands there like an idiot, since it thinks it can't see you.
4. repeat.

Cheesy AI exploit ftw!

[Barumar]

Congratulations on mastering Invaders and the helpful advice. I agree, it is a challenging quest.

Also congrats on pulling optic nerves.

I'd like to see it on epic someday.

Yes, EPIC Invaders! would be awesome!

Always loved this quest, and try to run it a few times with all my characters while leveling up.

When it first came out, it was one of my favorites quests in game, and at the time was quite challenging given our levels and equipment. A good group and some strategy went a long way in there...

Gratz to the OP for the solo, and I am glad you also love this quest!

Barumar

[t0r012]

I think invaders is a lot less complicated than you are making it out to be.

Silver Flame Trinket, deathblock and hireling = solo'd

Might I suggest you contribute some of this info to ddowiki.com?

you are making it more complicated than it needs to be.

level 12 shintao monk , +6 or +8 stunning handwraps, deathblock = win.
=========
IMO hireling isn't solo

[LordPiglet]

WF = Win

Weakening bows also work well on the beholders especially if you have many shot.

[MrWizard]

congrats.
Most never go in there unless they have too.

It sounds like you are a caster and if I may add some advice by someone who used to
do this all the time with my caster back in the day of 12 cap...

The enlarge feat makes this quest a complete blast. Heighten is needed too.

The parts where there are single beholders it is perfect to stand really far back with no aggro, use the enlarge feat, and then charm monster. The mobs will kill them. Saves lots of battles and time.

Where there are more (like the 3 at the water), you can be far enough away to land a hold monster and then phantasmal killer...or whatever you wish. Once you are down to one, you charm him and activate the hounds at the end of the bridge and the fire reavers too..

With a high spell penetration, you can easily charm or suggest mobs to get by them and handle the beholders.

I think, not sure now after all these years, but feeblemind might make beholders pretty useless too...another great 'enlarge feat'.

Enlarge is great for one, two, even three one shot spells to kill something, much more if you hold monster first.

the beholders are usually far enough away from each other that the hold will work...or they will come to you by themselves and then it will work.

if in a group, a real far away cast of hold monster or two and melee take out beholders lickety split.

[KongColeus]

you are making it more complicated than it needs to be.

level 12 shintao monk , +6 or +8 stunning handwraps, deathblock = win.
=========
IMO hireling isn't solo

Thanks for the advice. Yes, wearing deathblock robes would be handy. I do use those on my wizard. I have been 10th level, 11th level, 12th level, and 13th level during this endeavor.

I don't read the DDO wiki. I don't use hirelings.

I don't use cheesy exploits. I don't think my graphics card will handle setting to far distance. My card tends to get a bit warm and will shut down at times if I am doing some graphic intensive thing. But it does sound like a VERY effective way to do battle.

I own Necropolis and I have the green stone, but I have not done any of the quests in there. Thanks for the advice, maybe I should go run some of those quests now.

I guess from what two have said all you need is deathblock to do the quest. Why buff?

[KraahgDaAxe]

Any buffs that last through the beholder's anti-magic are fine, but otherwise it's a SP/Pot/Scroll sink. Ship Buffs and bard buffs work best (although going solo you would have to be a bard to use the bard buffs).

Kraahg

[KongColeus]

congrats.
Most never go in there unless they have too.

It sounds like you are a caster and if I may add some advice by someone who used to
do this all the time with my caster back in the day of 12 cap...

The enlarge feat makes this quest a complete blast. Heighten is needed too.

The parts where there are single beholders it is perfect to stand really far back with no aggro, use the enlarge feat, and then charm monster. The mobs will kill them. Saves lots of battles and time.

Where there are more (like the 3 at the water), you can be far enough away to land a hold monster and then phantasmal killer...or whatever you wish. Once you are down to one, you charm him and activate the hounds at the end of the bridge and the fire reavers too..

With a high spell penetration, you can easily charm or suggest mobs to get by them and handle the beholders.

I think, not sure now after all these years, but feeblemind might make beholders pretty useless too...another great 'enlarge feat'.

Enlarge is great for one, two, even three one shot spells to kill something, much more if you hold monster first.

the beholders are usually far enough away from each other that the hold will work...or they will come to you by themselves and then it will work.

if in a group, a real far away cast of hold monster or two and melee take out beholders lickety split.

I have seen some of those videos from youtube. I will try your advice and attempt to charm and PK. I gave up on PK, but maybe I should be using it. I was strictly firewalling. I used casters, fighters, and rangers. My casters are more or less specced for fire, cold, acid, force. not charming.

[Molotov]

I love invaders, run it numerous times whenever I TR.

[Cartheron]

How to solo Invaders! elite on a caster without any troubles/hassle.

1. Level to 13 - it is lev 14 q on elite, so it is not cheating
2. Take PM 2, Lich form, Finger of Death, Ice storm.
3. Step in, go into lich form.
4. Gather trash, cast ice storm, death aura, let them die (you can spam your free neg energy damage attacks if you want)
5. Target beholder with tab button.
6. Hit stealth button.
7. Move slowly in direction of beholder constantly pressing your FoD button.
8. Hit stealth again.
9. Target another beholder.
10. Repeat above until you will kill them all.
11. Take loot.

In unlikly event beholder saves (well, 5% is more than zero) run back around some corner and stealth again. If he follows, press your FoD button - he will die when he will pass the corner. If he wont follow, repeat above.

Have fun

[cdemeritt]

I think invaders is a lot less complicated than you are making it out to be.

Silver Flame Trinket, deathblock and hireling = solo'd

^^
This and the reavers ring for fear immunity... in invaders, I don't waste SP on buffs... they don't last long enough to matter in most cases...

[slothinator]

Another great option for soloing Invaders is Paladin HODII and a +5 Holy Burst weapon. I do token/necklace runs from time to time and have zero issues with this quest.

OP, if you like Invaders, I suggest you give Delirium in the Twelve a try. Similar mobs, pretty good loot, and only takes about 15-20 minutes to solo. It is a level 15 quest.

[Fishcatch22]

The first time I ever ran it, I solo'd as a DoS pally. Died 6 times and had to re-enter once, but I did it, and without Deathblock too. He was a Drow and used Tryzza's bane for everything but beholders, swapped to a 3+ Icy Burst Greatsword of Pure Good for Beholder killing. My friends thought I was crazy (they can't solo for beans, wimps) but I pulled it off in about 90 mins.

[The-Last-Wolf]

Hi OP,

Whilst I applaud both your achievement, and your willingness to write such a comprehensive guide, I question a few of your observations.

A deathblock item such as the Silver flame trinket makes life a **** sight easier in this quest. Not running with deathblock can bring a swift end to a solo run :-).

You also seem very buff heavy, given you are likely to lose them a lot to the beholders, this approach seems a tad resource heavy. This may well be no issue to you so all good, but if you are writing this as a guide, you may want to consider less well equipped toons.

The beholder optic nerve and the ring are quickly made obsolete by other gear. I found on my first TR that I never used either as I had better gear at level. Whilst this should not stop anyone from running Invaders, its rewards are situational at best. The exception to this is if you are F2P and can't afford Neco pack then the optic nerve is a good substitute for the Silver flame trinket, and the ring is also good.

Personally I love running PUGs on Invaders, as it can be either a complete disaster (ok I have an odd sense of fun) or a grind (not so fun) or a great way to meet new good players in a slightly above avg toughness quest. Given you get a lot of F2P its a great way of meeting the new plyers who will become the Vets of the future.

These days I run it for fun and xp and put the tokens or optic nerves up for roll.

Anyway, congrats on achieving your goal, I hope you find many more to challenge you as you continue playing :-)

Regards
Wolf

[der_kluge]

My best Invaders! story:

Ran it with my Bard just a handful of times, and got in with a group who was farming it for Beholder Optics. They weren't interested in the tokens. We just happened to kill the boss which drops 5 tokens, and they put theirs up for others who wanted them.

I got 15 tokens in that one run.

Don't hate me too much though. My cleric ran this like a dozen times in order to get her scepter of healing.

[QuantumFX]

OP: Good job on working to master one of the more challenging quests in DDO. It’s nice to see an adventurer actually, you know, go for an adventure.

A couple other useful pieces of information that can help in there:

Beholders:
- Have low fort saves. This makes Stunning Blow/Stunning Fist/Assassinate great feats to use in there on a melee. Sap is also a good option for a soloing melee.
- Have a low STR score. This makes a rogue with crippling strike an asset in there as they can reduce a beholder to autocrit state within one attack animation sequence.
- Using either of the above will stop the eye spam except for the antimagic cone which never, ever turns off.

Thraak Hounds:
- Have DR/Law (IIRC correctly some of the named ones have DR/Law + Cold Iron) and are also condsidered Chaotic Outsiders. This is one of the reasons monks rock in there.

Flesh Render/Ice Flenser/Fire Reavers:
- All have DR/Cold Iron and/or Good ("and" is usually reserved for elite/named versions)
- Are both Evil and Chaotic Outsiders.

Silver Flame/Pendant/Amulet/Talisman: What makes this item so useful isn’t just the deathblock it’s the ability to absorb enervate attempts from a beholder. Be careful as Flesh renders can burn off charges with their inflict wounds spells. Usually, this is a better deal for a melee over the Optic nerves as they tend to have a Fort save good enough to eat disentegrate attempts.