How to run Hound of Xoriat

[krackythehoodedone]

Did you know that Evil damage actually hits Xyzzy before the puppies are charmed.

So if you are wearing Epic/Non Epic Demon Consort Bracers and possibly E Mari (Evil Guard) you will get her aggro straight away and not have to muck about with solid fog clickies. This is particularly good news for Barbs and Madstone boot wearing Tanks

You can see the damage hitting her, it's kinda cool. The damage is not enough to hurt the puppies badly btw

Also the Curse from the Bracers hits Xyzzy too. Still not sure if this actually is of any benefit to the party but it looks good.

On a lighter note three hints for succesful Puppy Runs (each of these scenarios have occured in this raid recently)

1, If you are the Tank pls remember to take off your Lightning Strike Guard. Otherwise you might end up wondering if those three little lumps of charcoal were anything mildly important.

2, If your a Pew Pew delighted with your lovely new Lightning Strike Bow you may wish to turn off IPS for this one because when you choose your target click Manyshoot and unleash a veritable Maelstrom those pitiful Canine cries you hear could have some significance on the success of the raid and your popularity.

3, If you are extremely proud of your new Epic Wolf Whistle it might be an idea to let the party know that the CR35 hound running around is actually on your side (ok ok that was me)

[SirValentine]

~Once the dogs are charmed: As soon as the dogs are charmed haste them and then start buffing them, it is best for them to have Acid Resist, Displace, Bull's Strength, Bear's Endurance (Which can be casted by a Mass Scroll to effect all at once, as well as Bull's Strength), and Bard buffs if possible.

Haste and Bard songs, for sure. Bull's & Bear's if your charmer does not have Augment Summoning.

But aren't the pups already immune to acid, and doesn't Mama Dog have True Seeing? I think Acid Resist and Displacement are not needed.

[gloopygloop]

One more quick thought on running a Hound.

It's really nice to have a Bard along for Bard song buffs.

It's really nice to have an Artificer with the Arti capstone to get longer charms and an Augment Summoning boost for the puppies.

But neither one of those two characters are necessary. If you've been waiting 45 minutes with two open party slots for 1 Bard and 1 Artificer-with-capstone that you haven't found yet, it might be better to just go in without them and see if you can complete the quest anyway.

If someone on that run has an epic Roderick's Wand, then they can charm the dogs with their temporary Augment Summoning feat. Also, Mass Bulls/Bears/Cats is still nice to cast even with Augment Summoning boosting the puppies already. More buffs = more good.

[Beer_Dude]

Haste and Bard songs, for sure. Bull's & Bear's if your charmer does not have Augment Summoning.

But aren't the pups already immune to acid, and doesn't Mama Dog have True Seeing? I think Acid Resist and Displacement are not needed.

I meant to cover that and I forgot. Some people do displace in case a mob makes it into the middle and attack the pups and yes they're immune to acid. Really both are a waste of tiem a bless spell would be more efficient and help more but you haver to run up there to cast it so make sure you do it from the side.

[Beer_Dude]

One more quick thought on running a Hound.

It's really nice to have a Bard along for Bard song buffs.

It's really nice to have an Artificer with the Arti capstone to get longer charms and an Augment Summoning boost for the puppies.

But neither one of those two characters are necessary. If you've been waiting 45 minutes with two open party slots for 1 Bard and 1 Artificer-with-capstone that you haven't found yet, it might be better to just go in without them and see if you can complete the quest anyway.

If someone on that run has an epic Roderick's Wand, then they can charm the dogs with their temporary Augment Summoning feat. Also, Mass Bulls/Bears/Cats is still nice to cast even with Augment Summoning boosting the puppies already. More buffs = more good.

Why wait around an eternity for a quest that finishes in 4 minutes on norm, 5 on hard and 6 on elite.

[SirValentine]

Mass Bulls/Bears/Cats is still nice to cast even with Augment Summoning boosting the puppies already. More buffs = more good.

Are you sure? I thought they didn't stack. Can anyone confirm?

[Cogdoc]

Just as an update we have run it twice during the weekend after the initial planning. First try went down pretty fast as lot of people were new to the raid, and prolly our explanations were also a bit on the weak side. Second try went flawlessly with the tried and true method of hunting party and basic tank/healing in the middle. We didnt get beholders before big momma was dps-ed down by the whole raid in the middle. One found its way in while we were looting though...

Thanks for all the advices though, really interesting read!

Cogdoc

[Beer_Dude]

Just as an update we have run it twice during the weekend after the initial planning. First try went down pretty fast as lot of people were new to the raid, and prolly our explanations were also a bit on the weak side. Second try went flawlessly with the tried and true method of hunting party and basic tank/healing in the middle. We didnt get beholders before big momma was dps-ed down by the whole raid in the middle. One found its way in while we were looting though...

Thanks for all the advices though, really interesting read!

Cogdoc

The tried and true method isn't the hunting party method it's the collapse method and has been since the quest first came out. The hunting party method wasn't even a thought until a couple of years later, and us vets were bored of sitting in the middle and opted to go out and kill some stuff to pass the time away. That's how the hunting party method evolved. The problem is the newbies saw/see this and think that's the best way to do it. It isn't by a long shot. There's way more chances for a failure using hunting party compared to using collapse.

Your statement above proves exactly that. Moma was dead before the beholders even spawned. There's only 3 mobs that come to the middle if everyone is in the middle so facing 3 mobs as opposed to dozens of mobs is way less of a risk, and moma should be dead before the beholders spawn even on hard.