Discussion - Upgraded The Lord of Blades (Elite/Epic)

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Ok well the other thread is official 110% derailed now.. So making a new one to give everyone some info on our post patch elite/epic runs, and make room for general discussion on the raid on higher difficulties.

Death grip'd:



Didn't fair too well on epic. Lots of players new to the raid and unfamiliar with some of his special attacks, as well as being taken by surprise by the new death grip mechanic.. Plus strategy wise we just went for it, as in the past the power of the forge wasn't too major and we never bothered killing the pillars..

Now it seems you really must kill them, as he now gains MAJOR power from them. Check the SS of his dmg output, insanely increased.. Think he may have had 5 stacks of power of the forge there. Really only tankable without blocking after the pillars are down on epic.

So ranged dmg output it's place in this raid for sure now.. Taking down those pillars FAST with ensure less initial deaths and smooth things out.

So actually getting those optionals on epic? hahah.. Gona be an insane achivement if anyone can pull it off.

We went again on elite. Death grip is down to 90 seconds on elite, so getting tons of rezes is much more managable. We probably could of won elite with some enhanced planning and strategy, but we died with him sitting at 33% due to a combo of rain of blades and dog spit.. Thinking killing the hounds sooner is a bigger priority now (They now have more hp, and regenrate to full when rezzed, not 5-10%.)

Third time we were losing ppl and it was getting late.. So a quick and easy run on normal just to check out the loot upgrades. Normal is ultra easy imo. Far easier then normal ToD for example. Or even normal MA. Tho it's something new, so first timers on normal will still have trouble while learning the mechanics.. Perhaps mostly where it should be. The optional will be challenging for newer/ungeared players at least on normal. His damage output drops down to weakling levels, and his dogs have almots no hitpoints... Killed hounds in maybe 5-10 seconds. Killed all pillars. Went for optional and kill him 5-6 times.

Loot upgrades:
3 chests now:
1 main - similar amount of binding frags.
1 optional - now has binding frag stoo, tho very few. 1d10 perhaps.
1 locked - The spirit mechanic has changed.. You now have to beat all 4 elementals, then the chest unlocks and just drops random spirits for everyone. So no more silly - i have to solo this room.. You can send 4 teams of 3 each and do em all in teams at once.

Also this chest dropped both normal and refined.. So that kills the theory of you have to run hard/elite.. It probably drops exquisit too, just at a lower rate.

Also token cost of T3 upgrade now 5..

So with this new setup.. T3 alchemica wepaons are now a joke to get. 3-4 weeks of grinding a not very hard raid, and a few runs of an easy epic, and there you go.

I hope epic has some more incentive to run it, since getting the upgrades on normal will probably be the way to go.

Screenshots:
2 minute grip of death
Ultra power of the forge epic damage output now quite high
Not so bad on elite with the pillars down dmg output
Easy mode check for loots
All 4 optionals complete.

Unrelated but found all the rares and even ransacked 1 chest in the pre area.. It has no named loot.