Reaper Fun with Fawngate

[Silverleafeon]

Answer:

Sacred Shield in T5 Sacred Defender is also an Exceptional bonus and therefore does not stack with Improved Mage Armor's Exceptional bonus.

[Silverleafeon]

Big bonus weekend on hardcore, I'm going back and trying my luck for the reaper horse with my two epic toons.
Crash and Burn time...no sense leaving a good toon alive on hardcore.

After some tweaking, Fawngate is ready to go for Raiding.
Loreick is leveling up as a Warchater, and Dusk is a Spellsinger.
So getting close to ready.

[Silverleafeon]

Hardcore Articuno died in a trap in The Lost Thread, it seems even Epic Traps kill...so much for a very nice Warlock.
I have my 5k trapper left, guess I'll give it a go...

[Silverleafeon]

Monday and Tuesday were running Ravenloft R10.
We ran an early raid train with five raids Wednesday, after which later on, some Night Revels followed by an R10 Gatekeepers run.

Fawngate as a tank performed well, and I shall be keeping her as such.
Loreick's Warchanter Bard is cycling on all cylinders and first-life Spellsinger Dusklit is doing great.

So, we begin the Wednesday Raid Trains, Weeknight Possible R10 Sagas, and Raiding/Reapering on the Weekend.

Updating the first post.

[Silverleafeon]

Joined a Khyber Raid train (I like to support other's groups when I can) and we had a blast.

First Time tanking Skeletons in the Closet (died once due to being worried about being low on Light the Dark), and have since made minor adjustments.
Somewhat silly, since I had 2 LoH left and my now favorite Undying Vanguard off-timer.

For next time, I will have the choice of:

Mantle of Nature - Thorn vs Mantle of the Sentinel
and
Carrion Swarn Epic Strike vs Guard Up Epic Strike.

Guard Up 376 Temporary Hit Points (12 sec CD) will Stack with Shard Storm 1341 Temporary Hit Points (20 sec CD).

I checked to make sure I have max Lay on Hands (14) with max recovery (one per 145 seconds), and I will make more use of Renewal/Cocoon.

I used to not like Undying Vanguard, but now I find 30 seconds of being almost unkillable very helpful in Reaper 10 questing for dealing with Bosses (Khyber players have good DPS).


Got the Night Revels Mount just by helping others run various Night Revels.

[Silverleafeon]

Wednesday night raid train went well, plan to continue.
Updating the first post.

[Silverleafeon]

Successful Wednesday night raid with 9 total raids done.

We decide to expand into Saturday night raiding as well!
Starting Saturday Evening (7 PM EST more or less).

[KoobTheProud]

Saturday night raid train was definitely enjoyable.

Thanks Fawngate and Loreick!

[Silverleafeon]

In honor of the World Series (USA Baseball championships), this week's raid trains are hereby canceled.

10/29/22 & 11/02/22

See you next week.

[KoobTheProud]

Finished my Night Revels grind last night:

- All the Crystallized Eternity except for L24
- L32 Cloak of Night
- L32 Robe of Shadow
- Mount
- Reapers' Helm, Reapers Platemail, Cloak of the Reaper, Cloak of the Reaper (Red)
- 2x +2 Festive Con Augment
- Hood of Unrest

I have about 2k chocolate left and debating how to spend that before it all rots.

[Silverleafeon]

Finished my Night Revels grind last night:

- All the Crystallized Eternity except for L24
- L32 Cloak of Night
- L32 Robe of Shadow
- Mount
- Reapers' Helm, Reapers Platemail, Cloak of the Reaper, Cloak of the Reaper (Red)
- 2x +2 Festive Con Augment
- Hood of Unrest

I have about 2k chocolate left and debating how to spend that before it all rots.

Congratulations, I need to to wheel by House J and spend my leftovers too!

[Silverleafeon]

It depends on what you are building for.

If you are building for R10 questing AC is very effective. With an AC around 450 it's mostly misses even by doom reapers against my tank. There are enemies that debuff AC and some that have a really high "to hit", but I've never encountered a quest where AC was useless and I've completed every quest on R10 at least once except the last one in TOEE because as a group we needed to get used to the end-fight mechanics a bit more as we always skipped that chain until it was revamped.

My assassin has an AC of around 240 or so and again I am getting missed enough I feel there is some benefit - it's not useless, but the difference between 240 and 450 is very significant.

High-end raiding is a different story - raid tanks do tell me AC becomes useless in some raids (VOD reaper is an example). We all took turns using or hood of unrest on the tank in VOD as dodge isn't really debuffed. I've heard some guilds use a dodge tank there rather than a traditional tank, but I heard that like 2nd or maybe even 7th hand - so can't verify that.

Yeah the issue isn't AC itself, it's crazy high to-hit on raid bosses. Everywhere else, it's very possible to reach useful levels of AC with reasonable opportunity cost.

The only possible issue with the AC system is it's possible to get crazy high AC if you sell out for it and have serious character investment...which I'm sure is why they set raid boss to hit so high, so that turtle tanks weren't effectively unhittable

You could try to smooth the curve out a bit to benefit raiders who aren't AC tanks, but then you're penalizing everyone who isn't raiding. Maybe just give raid bosses more dodge bypass and/or PRR debuffs, and tune their to hit down enough where non-AC-tank raiders can reach AC levels that are better than only-on-one

Exactly.... The only thing that works in VOD past reaper 2 or 3 is a hit point Tank and a healer willing to chugs lots of pots. My 600 AC tank gets hit in there as much as a no AC Barbarian. It is like the developers can't stand the idea of an AC tank inside a raid. They seem to want only high hit point barbarians wearing 5-8 pieces of loot from shroud. Which is kind of sad really.

I have a turtle tank. 600 AC almost 6k HP and it is near useless in mid skull reaper raids. This thread isn't about requiring a turtle tank. It is about AC being useless against reaper raid bosses. The only tank strategy that seems to work there is a high HP (10k HP) tank and a healer willing to chug.

Eh. This is flat out not true. Real plate armor affords nearly the same ability to dodge as other forms of medieval armor. It's actually nowhere near as "heavy" or cumbersome as it looks. The only kind of armor that fits the bill there is jousting/tourney armor, which wasn't worn when not on a horse.

The problem with dodging comes almost entirely from situational awareness hampering as a result of ... HELMETS .. not armor. These days, you don't even have to hit up the local SCA to give it a try and see for yourself. There are a ton of youtube vids that talk about and demonstrate movement and movement impairment from medieval armor.

---

However, if you're bringing verisimilitude into the equation, plate or metal armor of ANY kind should be anathema to fights with elemental magic. It should actually MAGNIFY those damage types. You're basically wearing your very own personal lobster pot.

Want some very cool magic effects? Add elemental combinations like Sleet Storm + Fire Ball = Steamed Broccoli, Plate + Fire Ball = Lobster Bake, or Plate + Lightning = Deep Fry.

It appears that our dreams of pushing reaper raiding will have their limits.

Fawngate with her 3 pieces sharn tank set and 7 pieces feywild winter set current hits a tiny bit under 400 AC.

If she swaps her filigrees around (currently using an anti-level-drain, dual fire/lightning shield group, she could go for the two AC filigrees which I think would put her at about 450ish AC (at least that is what I obtained with my double AC weapon set before all the changes). She is leaving her Bard Gear alone atm, including her Rapier with filigrees attached.

Yes, Grandfather's Shield (+5% ac) plus Bravery Throughout (+5% ac), would push her AC upward.
I think I will take my leftover sentient xp gatherers and work on a third filigree setup.

Her Hit Points are around 4.6ish k boosted to 5.6ish k (93 reaper points) give or take a little bit.

I would really like to see the build figures on 600 AC, but this poison tank build is very nice for doing reasonably good damage and boosting hires for soloing.
I have the primal/unyielding stances and primal/unyielding epic strikes to move from raiding tanking to DPS questing.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Sentient_Weapon/Filigrees


Hints, and tips are appreciated, but I feel that my tanking limits are now with the Dev designs more than what I can accomplish (although I will admit 93 reaper points is lacking yet impressive depending upon your perspective.

I do have a six-piece Legendary Greensteel set that I was able to combine with a seven-piece feywild set, for several hundred increased hit points at a reduction of 40ish AC and a bit less PPR/MMR. Defensive Epic Fighting Stance (which is leaving the game) grants a little over a hundred more.

Regardless we will continue our raid trains after the World Series ends.

[Silverleafeon]

A rained out game and split wins means a great World Series continues, we will return when the Baseball action is over.

[Silverleafeon]

The World Series goes to Game Six on Saturday.

In honor of the World Series (USA Baseball championships), this Saturday's raid train is hereby canceled.

11/05/22

See you next Wednesday 11/09/22

[Silverleafeon]

Great World Series, with lots of action and plenty of games.
We now return to our Wed / Sat raid train schedule.
See you there!

[Silverleafeon]

Completed on Reaper:

Vision of Destruction
Legendary Shroud

[Silverleafeon]

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...Finally-Solved!

Congratulations, the next time we do Skeletons in the Closet we will go for the optional chest.

[Silverleafeon]

We want to do DoJ, Fire on Thunder Peaks, DeathW, Mark of Death, Demon Queen, on reaper where possible.
Let us get flagged up folks!

[Silverleafeon]

Hi everyone,

Reaper Raiding is interesting and I have learned a lot.
I ran into some pitfalls and some philosophical questions along with a few changes of heart along the way.

Posting in groups so one can skim thru and read what interests you.
Bear in mind that there are more experienced and skillful players than me on Khyber, so take what I say with a grain of salt.



It is not whether you can do reaper, but when you can do reaper...

Back in the day when Legendary Shroud came out, I looked for LN difficulty.
Later, I upped the ante to LH difficulty.
For a while now, the Khyber standard has been to do this Raid on Legendary Reaper 1+
What has changed?
Obviously, the Level Cap went up, new equipment came out, and Epic Destinies were expanded.

One can say the same of the DoJ and Legendary Tempest Spine raids.
The age-old Hardcore Technique of Overleveling the dungeon for success rules true here too.
Today's new raids could become tomorrow's reaper farms.



Raids ought to be designed to stay relevant as long as possible.

I have on the forums lately wished the Devs would make reaper raiding easier (such as making AC ranges lower for certain monsters).
This is something which I have had a change of heart upon, wanting to return to my original philosophy that DDO raids should be difficult enough to challenge players even after multiple-level cap increases.

Reaper Points are available to farm from dungeons, leaving raids to be as brutal as the game designers see fit.

I do feel that an average random group of Veterans should be able to do well in a raid on normal difficulty after a period of learning tactics (half a year or so) so that equipment is available to farm out as designed.



"Try, try, try again..." does not work very well in Reaper Raiding.

If you fail twice in a row, there is an excellent chance your group simply does not have the "Right Stuff".
Or as one Military Aviation consultant from Britain likes to say, "Because - Physics".

It is not a matter of your group not being good players, it is more about composition and equipment.

Unlike a Completionist Project where one can simply brute force results by using time, Reaper Raiding has certain challenges and time bombs that cannot be overcome by persistence alone.



What is a good Reaper Raiding party composition?

This is a difficult question, likely requiring a lot of different inputs.
An older raid on R1 might be good with a healer and nine random veterans who know the raid.

For some of the newer raids, the composition becomes much more specific such as:
1) Barbarian-style tank with lots and lots of hit points, healing amplification, and good PRR/MRR.
2) Secondary tank with lots of hit points, healing amplification, and good PRR/MRR
3) Favored Soul Healer (with possible Pally/Fighter 3 splash) who can fill in as a temporary tank
4) Cleric Radiant Servant /Favored Soul Beacon of Hope Healer
5) Spellcaster that can alternate between DPS and Healing such as Alchemist Apothecary / Bard Spellsinger / Druid Season's Herald+Nature's Warrior
6) Trapper/Social Skills expert with good damaging abilities
7) Character able to use ranged weapons with excellent damaging abilities (might also fill role #6)
8 thru 12) Characters with extremely good damaging abilities

Unfortunately, bringing in so many backup tanks/healers means that the rest of the party has to be that much better at what they do than normal.
But without the backup tanks and healers, the Reaper Bosses will easily mow down the rank-and-file troops.



May I tell another player how they should build their toon, in order to try to make a certain Reaper Raid Run work?

Absolutely not!
This is a terrible idea.

Let me explain with a story:
A long, long time ago, when I was young, playing miniature wargames in teams, often I was on the side of an older, wiser, and more experienced player who I admired.
A few times, I asked him, "What should I do with my troops?"
He always answered, "It is a command decision, you are in charge of your army, and you have to decide what to do."
After receiving the same answer more than once, I stopped asking.
Much later in life, I don't remember who won which battles, but I do remember having a lot of fun.

If the more experienced player had told me what to pick or how to play, I would not have had as much fun, and therein lies the answer to my question.

If I have in past told anyone to play a certain build, I do apologize, and now realize better.



May I refuse a person entry into my raid group for reasons such as wrong role/wrong equipment/wrong enhancements/not high enough level/someone else applied earlier?

I call this the "Birthday Party Dilemma".

Being not invited to a Party/Event hurts people's feelings.
One has to be very careful in handling it.

Most people don't live in a big house beside an empty field for parking.
There will always be limits on the number of people you can invite to a birthday party, wedding, Holiday Party, or another event.

Take the upcoming Pax East event, where reservations have been activated.
First come, first served is something people accept.

If your LFM has certain roles requested that does work to sort thru, but some groups have the Avengers Assembled before leaving the remaining slot to an LFM.
Some leaders have multiple toons able to fill certain roles, especially those most likely to be needed.

Regardless, be careful, because, on one hand, certain Reaper Raiding will auto-fail without a very specific party, on the other hand, I have observed that most all players improve their skill and toons over time.
Today's reject will become tomorrow's MVP, so don't burn your bridges before you cross them.



Some of the same players who enjoy the challenges of Reaper Raiding also enjoy Hardcore.

One has to cut players slack if they follow their heart and move to Hardcore, consider following them.



More Past Lives usually equal better toons.

One has to cut players' slack if they follow their hearts and reincarnate yet again.

Right now we are looking at nine new past lives not long after a Hardcore Redux season.
Personally, I am finding Dark Hunter very enjoyable...



Will Khyber survive the attempt to make Orien the new Mega Server?

I made a thread long ago, considering the possibility of players banding together to create a Mega Server, and quite a few forumites were quite offended by the idea.
Later, I found out from a Q&A with Sev and Cordovan, that "there is a limit on how many shards a world can create."

Khyber will be fine, we have tons of good players here.



Gaming is about having Fun.

Obviously!

[Saekee]

thx for sharing!