VoD...

[Arctik]

Well I rolled my first caster a while back... he's now a L17 WF air savant. I'm totally new to casters and was wondering what I need and such before I can start to run VoD and HoX.

[TheDearLeader]

Con +6, GFL, Heavy Fort, Toughness, Remove Curse pots are a good start.

Cloudkill/Blur/Reconstruct are even better.

[jaegarnel]

For gear you just need enough +hp to take some hits from the adds, since as an air savant it'll likely be your job to kill them.

For spells, buffs and reconstruct are nice, since this is one of the few raids where a tank is useful, especially a WF tank. You might get stuck on tank recon duty if there are no other arcanes.

[danotmano1998]

VOD:

As a nuker, You'll just need to stay alive and do a lot of damage to a lot of bad guys.
This would probably be your role as a savant. Hit everything with all the DPS you can, excluding the boss. Him you'll want to tickle every now and then, Otherwise he gets cranky and will come looking for you.

Have as many hit points as you possibly can get. Make sure you have curse potions aplenty and they are hotbarred for easy use. Have 100% Fortification, and all the damage mitigation you can buff yourself with. Being WF really helps in that aspect.

If you have the SP, buff the party members as you can with damage mitigation as well. I've seen this raid fail a few times, more often than any other raid I've ever been on. Try to keep the party alive as you are able.

HOX:

This raid is pretty easy and your role can vary. If you're newer to the raid, chance are you'll be in the outer ring, keeping the bad guys from getting into the main room and hosing things up. Your job will probably be to just run around in circles killing things until the boss is near death. Then you run in, nuke, and collect your loot.
If you're on the inside ring, your requirements depend entirely on your role. Ask about them while you practice the raid, watch someone else pick up the orbs, charm the pups, and take care of business.

*NOTE* Whatever you do, don't move when you first enter HOX. Moving around too much when you enter can trigger the start, and if folks aren't ready or aren't in, things can get really screwed up.


Additional note: Your chances of raid success seems directly proportional to the number of deaths in the party on the way thru the subterrane. If most of your party gets lost and it's very nearly a wipe.... Well, you get the idea.

[Arctik]

Hmmm ok then... he has all those spells but he's a little short on gear.
Back to the grind!

[TheDearLeader]

VOD:

As a nuker, You'll just need to stay alive and do a lot of damage to a lot of bad guys.
This would probably be your role as a savant. Hit everything with all the DPS you can, excluding the boss. Him you'll want to tickle every now and then, Otherwise he gets cranky and will come looking for you.

This advice is a bit incomplete, I think. The Barbazu/Orthons in there have a mountain of hit points - and I've seen many Wizards/Sorcs run out of SP before Sully was even at half health, because they're burning through it trying to DPS the trash down.

It's a long raid, with no shrine after the initial use-or-lose. I'd use the cheap SLAs, maybe, but would probably hold off on "Nuking" until bats at the end, which are likely going to be mostly, if not completely, his job.

[Bobthesponge]

Well I rolled my first caster a while back... he's now a L17 WF air savant. I'm totally new to casters and was wondering what I need and such before I can start to run VoD and HoX.

All quests at this level: You need enough HP to survive a hit or two. Devils will often teleport to you and smack you in the a$$. You didn't post any stats so I don't know if you dumped CON, have no fort, toughness, HP items, ect. Displacement is very useful but doens't always work as some mobs will have true seeing, but stoneskin is always a good idea.

HoX: One of the great piking quests. Depends on the group, but one common method is buff the designated tank, the tank runs into the middle to grab aggro accompanied by a healer, all else run the outside to grab charm stones. Easy peasy. A globe of invulnerability placed off to the side of the main room is useful to mitigate bee damage.

After that the methods change. If you have a group that pulls everyone in the middle you should keep the puppies buffed and put some fog/cloud in the hallways (note: do not put in outer ring) to grab aggro of anyting that tries to come into the middle. You do not want trash aggrod on the puppies. Pike and profit.

If you have a group that tries to keep the outer hallway clear then buff the puppies and then keep circling nuking all you see. Have fun with that - it's a blast.

If you have a group that tries to hold aggro at the portals (I have never used that technique so I'm guessing) then you will buff the puppies and then either be assigned to a portal or roam around hasting/raging the beaters.

Once you get the "Strike now" message collaspe on the middle and nuke the (asterisks) out of mommy. Your biggest problem is if the puppies break and you have to try and revover while waiting for new control stones to appear.

VoD: This is more fun to me as you will - as a caster - probably have a more active part. If you have a WF tank you or another caster will probably be on tank duty. This is often used because Reconstruct can work through the heal curses Sulu throws. Make sure you have a stack of recon scrolls to help manage SP or if things start to get out of hand. If you don't have a WF tank or are not on recon duty, then, crowd control and trash nuking are your job. AoE helps on bats and cloudkill is often cast on Sulu, but not sure how much that does. Concentrate on the trash when it appears and then hit Sulu when trash is clear. Be careful not to pull aggro from the tank, but if you do just shield block until the tank regains aggo.

[Sarisa]

I agree with most of what's been said. Just adding on a few things.

Both of these raids are something different than the typical DPS race.

In VoD, it's an endurance match, in all but the best parties. Managing resources, controlling the boss aggro, and taking out the trash with as little damage to the party and healing resources spent is most important.

The progression of a VoD raid is typically:

1. Enter, a few select casters buff everyone (GH, Sonic, Fire, Elec, Blur, Deathward), then shrines to have a (nearly) full SP bar.
2. Everyone goes through the portal, and one person will be designated to run a circle around the room to start the first wave of Orthons. You will want to Displace that tank. One person will usually use a Destruction weapon on the orthons, in order to "paint" one blue. That is the one that everyone will concentrate on.
3. Once the Orthons are down, Suuly will come down, and the designated tank will build up some hate. He or she will say when it's safe to come in and attack Suuly. If someone in the party has Rogue levels, now is a good time to disable the 8 traps around the room.
4. When he gets down to 80 or 85%, he'll port back up top and summon the first wave of trash devils. Take them out, then Suuly will drop down again.
5. Periodically, Suuly will summon more trash, which the group will break off and take care of. Suuly will also teleport around, so the tank will have to regain aggro and build up some hate. Note when he teleports, it (mostly?) clears his aggro table, so the tank needs to be given a bit of time to build up some more hate before everyone can come in.
6. At 40% health, Suuly will teleport on top and pause the battle. If you did not disable the traps, they will pop up in the fighting area, so get into a corner fast. Bats will periodically spawn, the traps will disable, then some more Green devils will spawn. Take them out and Suuly will drop again.
7. Continue taking out trash and DPS'ing Suuly. Note that during this time, Suuly will cast Binding Chains, slowing down DPS and really impairing movement. If the tank says he or she is chained, it's good to lighten up on the DPS for a little bit to avoid taking his aggro. When you get to around 48 kills, most of the green devil waves will end.
8. At about 20%, the second wave of Orthons will pop. If there are still green devils left, take them out first. The curses they spread can cause a lot of deaths due to the damage these Orthons do. Note that Suuly will stay down and beat on the tank.
9. Take the Orthons out, and get ready for the most dangerous part of the raid, explosive bats. At about 10%, you will want to put up as many Cloudkills as possible, as these bats can do massive damage to the party. Usually, a divine will assist by putting up Blade Barriers to help kill them as well. Now is the time for everyone to use all their DPS boosts and take Suuly out ASAP. Most of the wipes in VoD are either during the second wave of Orthons, or during Bats.

As a healer, my opinion is that you should have about 70% or so SP by the time Suuly goes up on his platform at the 40% health mark. As a caster, it depends a lot on what your role is. Still, try to conserve as much as possible, since the most dangerous part of the raid is the last 20%.

• Nuker/CC'er - As above, you'll be tasked with taking out the trash. Your Air Savant SLA's will work extremely well. I also strongly recommend Heightened Web, as it does a great job on controlling the trash devils. On a first life Sorc, you're not likely to have a high enough spell penetration to make Otto's Sphere of Dancing worthwhile. You may also be tasked with keeping Haste and Rage on the group, along with keeping Cloudkill on the tank. Cloudkill does not obscure player vision but still provides the 20% concealment bonus that isn't bypassed by the bosses True Seeing. Ice Storm and Cloudkill for the bats. Displacement on those who are taking a lot of damage from the trash, and on the Orthon tanks.
  
  It's up to the group how much nuking and how much CC you do, but I prefer to do mostly CC'ing, and only DPS with cheap SLA's. You need to save your massive nukes for the end.
  
  One warning is that you need to be careful about using DoT's on Suuly. When he teleports, he resets his aggro table, and your DoT may gain you aggro rather than the tank. If this happens, pull out a shield and block in front of him, to allow the tank to regain aggro. Do NOT run around the room like a maniac.
  .
• Reconstructer - If the Suuly tank is Warforged, you may be tasked with keeping him healed. This is because the devil's anti-healing curse only works on divine healing, not repair. Scrolls are the best way to conserve SP, and just cast the Reconstruct spell if the tank takes a lot of damage while the scroll is on cooldown. You may also be asked to keep Haste and Rage and Cloudkill up, but your main job will be keeping the tank up.
• Tank - It's not common, but there are a few (mostly) Warforged sorcs with Shield Mastery who are capable of tanking via DoT's. You will usually have another caster Reconstructing you. This is mostly only done by experienced players with very good gear.

[gavijal]

I done VOD with my water savant and 312 hp unbuffed, no problems.

[DaSawks]

Beer. Lots of Beer! VOD can be stressful if sober. HOX can fail due to sober people. Wait. I am the "sober people". I can make a mean soup sandwich. Do not forget to bring scrolls. As many as you can carry.

[Bobthesponge]

I done VOD with my water savant and 312 hp unbuffed, no problems.

congratulations?

[gavijal]

congratulations?

Well lots of ppl writing like u need 500 hp to be able do Vod, well u dont

[Bobthesponge]

Well lots of ppl writing like u need 500 hp to be able do Vod, well u dont

not in this post - that happens more in the epic discussions and is wrong in any case. the only references to HP were myself and others saying not to ignore HP because you will take unavoidable damage.

just didn't seem like you added anything to the discussion. the OP was asking about what he would "need and such" for HoX and VoD, so the responses have been 1) enough HP to survive a hit, 2) spells and 3) tactics.

[Arctik]

It's not that I'm new to the raids, I've run them dozens of times, but as a healer and a monk. I have no clue what to do as a caster, but now -hopefully- I'll be ready once he gets some gear.

[PNellesen]

This advice is a bit incomplete, I think. The Barbazu/Orthons in there have a mountain of hit points - and I've seen many Wizards/Sorcs run out of SP before Sully was even at half health, because they're burning through it trying to DPS the trash down.

It's a long raid, with no shrine after the initial use-or-lose. I'd use the cheap SLAs, maybe, but would probably hold off on "Nuking" until bats at the end, which are likely going to be mostly, if not completely, his job.

I agree with this. I don't have an Arcane, but on my Clerics I do pretty much the same thing from a healing perspective - save as much SP as I can for as long as I can until the big, intense fight right towards the end. I've found that the more SP the arcanes have for the REAL tough guys (and the bats), the better the chances are of a smooth raid. I've been in there more than once where there wasn't a single death, and the healers both had plenty of SP, but the party wipes with Suulo at <5% because the Arcanes are out and can't help control the mobs/bats at the end.

[soulaeon]

Dont be afraid to use Solid Fog in VOD so you can hit everything better. The melee dont seem to like it, even though it helps everyone, but you should be close to or over 40 DC on your electric spells with that there.
The good thing aboutbeing us, is you can Chain Lightning everything at the end, so you dont need to have the boss targeted at all. Suluumodes is immine to all spells levels 1 to 3, which can work to your advantage if you are helping clear the devils and orthons with Electric Loop and Lightning, or anything else in those levels.
VOD is also where Concordant Opposition and Earthen Guard can shine, because you'll be hit quite often.

[blade_of_will]

Tips for vod:
Keep melees rage/hasted and suulo debuffed with what you can (clouds for miss chance, waves of exhaustion).
As a sorc, web is your friend here. The devils have pretty high sr, especially on hard/elite.
Have recon scrolls ready and the spell if you can in case you need to heal the tank. It helps to ask the party ahead of time if they expect you to be the tank healer or not.
Curse pots/spells and possibly break enchantment.
Manage your sp carefully. If you are healing the main tank, you are a healer. Your first priority is healing so dont use too much sp on clearing trash.
Bats... take care of bats when they spawn

For hound:
Because the spells you want for hound are ones you probably dont have a slot for, visit the portable hole and stock up on bears/bulls/cats (mass) scrolls and globe of invulnerability scrolls.
When the raid starts, park yourself near the boss, cast a globe, buff doggies, keep globes up, and pike.