Tanking, Rather than Kiting, ToD Part 2

[TheDearLeader]

UPDATE: VIDEO HERE! Great success, high five!



Part 1 - Preparation.

Cold Resist, Water Savant stacking +15, Shroud Crafted Specialty Accessory for stacking +15, shield with low (5%) ASF with a Large Guild Augment Slot, stacking +8.

68 Cold Resist. Also have the Triple-Water Absorption weapon, Icy Potion of Frostbite, Fire Shield. We'll see next Guild ToD how things go, will post it.

[DrunkenBuddha]

I was thinking along those lines as well, but wasnt sure if the water savant resists stack with a GS cold resist item. I never bothered collecting the icy potions, please post whether or not you felt they had an impact.

[TheDearLeader]

I was thinking along those lines as well, but wasnt sure if the water savant resists stack with a GS cold resist item. I never bothered collecting the icy potions, please post whether or not you felt they had an impact.

Well, as you can see, Water Savant, GS, and Guild Slots stack.

And yes, I think the Icy Potions make an impact. I've used them before when doing regular ToD kiting.

[Gol]

We've been doing it this way for a while on Argo. Easy even without the shroud stuff and frostbite potion.

[TheDearLeader]

We've been doing it this way for a while on Argo. Easy even without the shroud stuff and frostbite potion.

I have a guide on these forums about Kiting ToD, Part 2. I've asked on multiple occasions for videos of people of any class/race combo tanking in place, and yet to get a one.

So... Argoman. Put up or shut up. ... Nah, just put up. I want links.

Also, I will mention that McPhail is a Fleshie. While I don't think this makes it undo-able by any means, I do think it ramps up the difficulty factor compared to a self-repairing Warforged.

I know I'm not breaking new ground here - just posting my findings with an optimal setup of gear and enhancements.

[Jaid314]

triple water absorption means 10%, 15%, 20% resist, right? then fire shield is another 50%.

so you're going from ~200 per tick to 61.2 damage. then you have 68 points of resist.

i'm not entirely certain how it can be more difficult to heal through it as a fleshy... you're going to be taking zero damage, if my math is right. it doesn't get much lower than that.

on a side note, is there a crafting recipe for 33% cold resist? pretty sure i saw one for lightning resist...

[TheDearLeader]

triple water absorption means 10%, 15%, 20% resist, right? then fire shield is another 50%.

so you're going from ~200 per tick to 61.2 damage. then you have 68 points of resist.

i'm not entirely certain how it can be more difficult to heal through it as a fleshy... you're going to be taking zero damage, if my math is right. it doesn't get much lower than that.

on a side note, is there a crafting recipe for 33% cold resist? pretty sure i saw one for lightning resist...

The way elemental damage is calculated is treated wonky. Someone with more devotion to it than me spent a long time swimming in the lava in the Twelve trying to figure out it.

I've got the gear - now my goal is to test things from there, and see how it works out. Will it be 0 points of damage? I'm not sure. I'm assuming there will be a ToD in guild in the next 24 hours, I just wanted to get the first part of this post up while I was thinking about it.

When the Shadows close in on you, I do believe they have some sort of melee attack. It's damage is negligible, and of course I will be displaced to help cover any sort of damage.

[ormsbygore]

The way elemental damage is calculated is treated wonky. Someone with more devotion to it than me spent a long time swimming in the lava in the Twelve trying to figure out it.

I beleive you're refering to this thread. Playing with Fire

It too sparked my interest in getting cold resistances high for ToD Part 2.

~Nim

[danlan]

Its not that hard.... Learn the trick

[Seventh]

IIRC, absorption is the last thing to mitigate damage (the order being Protection, then Resist, then Absorption) so you'll be taking at least some damage, even all geared out.

Quick math puts it at ~27-47.6 damage per tick (assuming 200-300 starting), not counting Protection from Elements (since it wears off after one tick, although you could keep refreshing it assuming you aren't repairing yourself; on ticks with Protection on damage is reduced to ~0-16.8 per tick) or the potion of Frostbite (since I don't remember what it does).

[furbyoats]

i think you should be able to tank it on your sorc...even as a fleshie...

of course, for safety's sake, just have 1 healer dedicated to you and 1 healer on the party...

there is no reason 1 healer cant handle the masses on the party while they fight nytherios.

if you have been the kiter in part 2 in the past, you should knmow by now that the MOST damage off the shadows is a result of entering/exiting the aura. to give an example; i was the backup kiter on my fvs (it was a weird party setup). i dropped a bb, and was kiting the shadows to the back...some spawned out of the side and i was in a bad pinch...so i aimed where only 1 shadow was and used mah wings to punch straight through it...lost about 1/3 of my hp bar and kept going.

the main cause of death is the shadows creeping up on your bum and the constant enter/exit of the aura....so

that is where the healer needs to be aware of EXACTLY what is coming at you...there will be spike damage. after the initial hit, the dps of the shadow's is a joke. the "hope strikes hard" portion of the fight is the worst of the healing for about 3 seconds...then back to minor healing again.

of course it is easier oon a self healer...but it is NOT impossible on a fleshy...i have yet to see someone attempt it tho on said fleshie.

p.s. i just looked through my pics folder for a screenshot of a guildie's wiz tanking the shadows....it appears i didnt properly take a ss

[Lavek]

should be a breeze

[TheDearLeader]

Was a breeze.

Video's up for those who are interested in watching. It was awesomely easy - Cloudkill worked just fine, despite the AoVs in party, tanking there was pretty good. one FvS Healing Worded my from time to time.. really, quite awesome. I like it.

[Phalcon]

the key thing that a lot of ppl don't realize is that huge cold damage only hits you 1 time, and all the auras do not stack. So if you can get enough cold absorbsion (which I usually use a 45% GS item and the Cold shield spell and it works just fine) for that first impact your good to go. I play a Palemaster so the self healing is quite easy though. My guildy Ayspam does this also on his Sorc although he usually just drinkings SF pots to heal himself when its needed. Anyway its pretty fun I admit also. Makes the party usually second guess you for a second also ahah

[TheDearLeader]

the key thing that a lot of ppl don't realize is that huge cold damage only hits you 1 time, and all the auras do not stack. So if you can get enough cold absorbsion (which I usually use a 45% GS item and the Cold shield spell and it works just fine) for that first impact your good to go. I play a Palemaster so the self healing is quite easy though. My guildy Ayspam does this also on his Sorc although he usually just drinkings SF pots to heal himself when its needed. Anyway its pretty fun I admit also. Makes the party usually second guess you for a second also ahah

I do believe they do stack, and you mean Fire Shield, not Cold Shield, but otherwise I agree with you.

Once I get the hang of this method, rather than kiting like I used to, I'll be able to start stacking some Niac's on the boss, and hopefully help make Part 2 even faster.

[unknownturok]

good job

[tlstar]

average damage numbers for the shadow's melee stacks was 43 on norm and 53 on hard difficulty for me with... x3 water gs/fireshield / cold resist.
didn't get a chance to do elite b4 i tr'd.

i made the water gs item just for this because i hate kiting.

[LolWutRoflstomped]

Just tanked Hard on my PM with fireshield 550 hp 1 prot spell to spam and nihil clickied neg energy burst. Don't need cold absorbtion I never got below 300 HP and had 600 mana left after throwing 3 stack of dots on boss when he was at 50%.... this tactic is nothing new and not that tough.

[TheDearLeader]

Just tanked Hard on my PM with fireshield 550 hp 1 prot spell to spam and nihil clickied neg energy burst. Don't need cold absorbtion I never got below 300 HP and had 600 mana left after throwing 3 stack of dots on boss when he was at 50%.... this tactic is nothing new and not that tough.

I don't recall saying it was new - it's new to me, and that's all. And I'd requested, in my original Kiting Guide thread, that someone provide video of them doing this "nothing new", and got.. well, nothing.

And doing it *with* the added benefit of Water Savant *is* new, as of U9. 68 Cold Resist, plus the various degrees of absorption, made the damage all but laughable.

You want to contribute? Make a video, post it on Youtube, paste the link, like what I asked for of the forumites months ago. But 15 posts of people saying "oh I can do it so awesomelike" or "yeah my buddy does this" doesn't give anywhere near the level of detail that a full video of the experience can.

This kind of thing isn't for people used to this method - it's for those stepping into ToD for the third or fourth time, are finding kiting difficult/not to their playstyle, and maybe want to try a new method.

[Rawel_San]

The idea of making a video scares me so you will have to take my word for it. I tried tanking on my drow
wizard in elite tod. Since I wasn't sure what the damage would be like I decided to stay out of form with
500hp and have a healer heal me but I made sure to grab silver flame pots aswell if things got hairy. At half time
I figured the damage wasn't to bad and told the healer to not worry about me (thinking he would just focus on
melee/dots and only occasionally maybe throw a heal) and started self healing through silver flame pots. Turned
out the healer thought I was going into form and so properly did what I said and stopped healing at all, the silver
flame pots proved to be more then up to the job and I never dropped under 250 or so hp.

This is on a wizard with 30 resist tier 2 shroud absorb item and fireshield. I now feel that it's actually safer to tank
out of form with silver flame pots then in form. Just because if somehow (and I don't quite see how) things go
wrong you are healable. Where as in lich form I always feel more vulnerable since if for any reason I end
up taking more damage then necessary there is only the neb and that does have a longish timer.