How do you beat Epic Vault of Night 3?

[TheHolyDarkness]

I've been after a Seal for the Cloak/Ring for ages. Its getting nerve-wracking going through eVoN6 hoping it'll drop, hoping someone will be generous enough to pass me the seal.

I need to do eVoN3. Problem is, I've beaten it all but once, and it was a nightmare getting through it with someone who knew what he was doing.

If I start forming groups for eVoN3, what sort of people do I need to bring? What strategies do I need to pull off to make this insane quest actually beatable so that maybe one day I can get this darn seal and have closure?

Last time I tried, wipe on the scorpions so yeah. How is that room supposed to work as well?

My main is Venova of Sarlona btw (pretty well geared Sorc, enchant specced). Look me up if you wish. I also feature a cleric monk, a barb, an epic-ready trapmonkey, and a DR tank. So I'm not sure who would be be the most optimal toon to bring. I just recall doing it once on my cleric and drinking a crazed ton of pots as punishment.

~TheHolyDarkness Out~

[LeLoric]

Lots of webs and melees that can stun are big plusses here. As a sorc you should be able to web/nuke large groups pretty easily the drow have low hp for epic mobs.

[Bodic]

1 full tilt gear'd FvS is all you need everyone else just Pikes.

[TheDearLeader]

Baaaard.

1 full tilt gear'd FvS is all you need everyone else just Pikes.

Half the mobs in quest are non-moving archers with high SR. When Blade Barrier only ticks once, and Destruction fails SR check (their SR is 46, last I tested), how does this "full tilt gear'd FvS" accomplish.. anything? Or were you just meaning the end fight?

[scoobmx]

I've done this quest on both a sorceror and a rogue (acrobat archer). You need good dps from both melees and caster, the right buffs (FOM and death pact helps), and knowledge of where the traps and mobs are. On Argo I was frequently able to pug out half the group so once you are familiar with the run, it's not that difficult of a quest.

If you are having issues with spell resistance, you might try the prismatic spray/ray spells as they don't require a spell penetration check. Web and nuke is a good way to go as pointed out and that's what I use.

Every time I've done it there were no pots used, so you just need to bring out more furious damage and kill stuff faster. My sorceror is evocation spec'd and I'm confident that either this or conjuration is the best way to go (both for this quest and in general for sorcerors). Maybe it's not my place to suggest this but I'd say if you want to spec for enchantment, just go wizard.

For the room with the scorpion ambush you have time to prepare it before opening the door, so drop your webs and symbols and fogs or whatever and stay in the room so the next room's drow standing on the ledge don't get you.

[K_0tiC]

fascinate = win in there and one by one killing or you can always farm the random first chest for seals pain to keep redoing the gateway to get there but better then struggling through the quest when you could ransack that chest on all toons.

[Zeruell]

Half the mobs in quest are non-moving archers with high SR. When Blade Barrier only ticks once, and Destruction fails SR check (their SR is 46, last I tested), how does this "full tilt gear'd FvS" accomplish.. anything? Or were you just meaning the end fight?

Maybe Implosion (what with Drow Constitution and the lack of an SR check)? I dunno, just thinking out loud on that one. The ones perched on cliffs might still be an issue, though.

...pain to keep redoing the gateway to get there...

Obviously not everyone is in a position to do so, but you could just park a dual-boxed alt in the jungle area, no?

[TheDearLeader]

Maybe Implosion (what with Drow Constitution and the lack of an SR check)? I dunno, just thinking out loud on that one.

Implosion lacks an SR check? An even so, doesn't it have a long (60 second) cooldown per 8 seconds of activity? And being that mobs are (relatively) immobile, such as Casters/Archers, wouldn't you have to be moving to them in that 8 seconds?

I dunno. I'm used to non-SR based DCs. Assassins Assassinating. Bards Fascinating. Monks/Fighters/Barbs Trip/Stunning. Casters Web/Disintegrating.

[Bodic]

Baaaard.



Half the mobs in quest are non-moving archers with high SR. When Blade Barrier only ticks once, and Destruction fails SR check (their SR is 46, last I tested), how does this "full tilt gear'd FvS" accomplish.. anything? Or were you just meaning the end fight?

It has been solo'd on epic by an FvS I didnt say it was time efficent.

[TheDearLeader]

It has been solo'd on epic by an FvS I didnt say it was time efficent.

I'm sure it has been. I was merely inquiring as to the methodology.

I don't have a FvS, so I'm sure there's plenty of things I'm missing.

[Sarisa]

Bards make this quest FAR easier than any other way. Virtuoso's are best (Song of Capering has no SR check), but the other types of Bards are fine too. An experienced Bard will usually be 1-2 screens ahead preparing the battlefield. I haven't run with TheDearLeader's bard, but I have run with his guildmates on EV3.

For the area right before the first shrine, with the Scorrow and the drow casters up on the bridge blasting you. Stay out of line of sight of the casters on the bridge, and you can pull the other trash back through the door. You can reach those caster drow with Abundant Step/Leap of Faith type effects.

The Beholder hall is much easier now than pre-u11. They're fairly squishy now, and can be insta-killed if you're careful.

For the area after the waterfall, where all the doors open, Web and Fascinate are both great. When the final door opens, try to stay back to avoid pulling the three bosses when you have the other trash to deal with.

For the three bosses, try to pull them one at a time. Awaken Elemental from a Savant is great for this. I'm not sure if Bluff pulls work on red names or not.

For the final room, stay in one of the two corners by Veil, and you only get hit by the electric trap once. sirgog said that Veil's circle is also a spot that will only hit you once, but I haven't verified that. The Marut takes a long time to take down, but he's not too difficult. Just watch out for Dispel's since he does occasionally cast that, usually followed by a Greater Command.

Finally, Implosion definitely does have an SR check. It's "fun" when Implosion gets stuck a random mummy in eWizzie with massively high SR (blue shield, spell pen failure shows up on your dice), while other mummies of the same type do not have SR at all.

[K_0tiC]

Maybe Implosion (what with Drow Constitution and the lack of an SR check)? I dunno, just thinking out loud on that one. The ones perched on cliffs might still be an issue, though.



Obviously not everyone is in a position to do so, but you could just park a dual-boxed alt in the jungle area, no?

Yea thats what I do hehe but not hard to invis run on casual and kill the orges on the door with a level 20 id hope..

[Zeruell]

Implosion lacks an SR check? An even so, doesn't it have a long (60 second) cooldown per 8 seconds of activity? And being that mobs are (relatively) immobile, such as Casters/Archers, wouldn't you have to be moving to them in that 8 seconds?

See edit. Aye, no SR allowed on Implosion. It's not ideal in a lot of ways, the cooldown being one of the big ones, but it's another option for a Favored Soul ordinarily built with Blade Barrier's Evo DC in mind.

EDIT: Ah, I guess I was mistaken -- I haven't explicitly tested Implosion in high-SR environments, and made some assumptions that I shouldn't have.

[moops]

Bard. We leave alot of facinated things behind--saves sp.

I've gotten spell pen checks on Implosion as well.

[ainmosni]

Bard. We leave alot of facinated things behind--saves sp.

I've gotten spell pen checks on Implosion as well.

implosion has no spell resistance check.

[Sarisa]

implosion has no spell resistance check.

Yes it does.



Just a quick step into Elite Weapon's Shipment, and hit the Implosion button. All told, I saw 1 SR failures, 3 SR successes, of which one mob failed its save and died. The SR failure was 4+22, the successes were 18+22, 19+22, and 12+22.

It doesn't say Spell Pen needed on the spell description, because the Implosion spell does not actually kill the mobs. It gives you a self buff called implosion aura, with the combat log description "Nearby foes will spontaneously die.". The aura itself DOES have a spell penetration check.

[grgurius]

Problem with web in there is that those drow caster really love their fireballs.

[Aashrym]

It doesn't say Spell Pen needed on the spell description, because the Implosion spell does not actually kill the mobs. It gives you a self buff called implosion aura, with the combat log description "Nearby foes will spontaneously die.". The aura itself DOES have a spell penetration check.

I'm not sure that that is the reason because death aura is a buff that says spell resistance yes. I just assumed implosion was just another spells with errors listed.

[Shade]

Years ago the initial version of implosion did not have an SR check. It had one added rather quickly, the first or second patch after it came out as I recall.

The description, like most spells, was not updated to reflect this change.

I've updated the wiki page to explain how the spell actually works, check it out for more detail:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Implosion

As to how to beat EVoN3:
Train hard. Gear up. Doable with very standard tactics, just takes epic level skill and stats.

[Sarisa]

I'm not sure that that is the reason because death aura is a buff that says spell resistance yes. I just assumed implosion was just another spells with errors listed.

It's probably due to a weird internal coding thing, like the Blade Barrier Ward messages that appeared for a short time in the combat log (which is how the game prevents mobs from being damaged by overlapping BB's).