After all I read then these three should tear Cactii apart in 1 min. They don't do with these combos. All Spells are Rk.II except - Mage: Acronite Malosinata Dichotomics are at Dicho3 (group max) Burns are activate when the first mob is killed and Cactii gets active (so best they are ready before engaging with Cactii).
with Glyph of Destruction (100+, Rog: 65-69): Cactii down to 36% and Rogue at 108k over 1,5min 3 Burgeon spawned and while killing a burgeon, a sprout spawned, Burgeon was not killed fast enough and sprout spawned adds.. .gave up and Exodus
Nope, I go full burn with everything, all melee on Cactii, Tank simply gets aggro on all but beats on Cactii, Rogue gets enough healing from Cleric (no merc), Casters are casting from distance. If adds are there (if Cactii goes into invulnerable -> 3 adds), Tank has aggro from Cactii and all go on add then back on Cactii. No need for caring for the DS. Tank is even good with 5 adds but DPS is too low to get them down after the first burn does not bring Cactii down in 1min. After about 1,5min we did Exodus. After that with 5 adds normally one after the other goes down. First the rogue, then tank, then whole group gets killed. If 3+ adds are coming, then Tank has to switch to "board and sword", else he gets creamed. Key must be on Enc/Dru/Mag - perhaps Rog but I wouldnt rely on him, he has only 23k AA and not full DPS AA. I wonder what spell setup others have which should work. I am sure that without the Druid/Enchanter DoT nerf this mission would be no problem. But in that case even with 40AA Glyph - nothing. One single Raid-Caster inside and we maw through Cactii like oil on a babies backside
The rogues DPS seems super low for sure. The mages dps also seems rather low. The rogue doesnt really have much in the way of ADPS from your group make up, but 106k is, not good. I would have thought the mage would at least be in the 300's though. I would check out Freelances forums for burns on both. Most raid burn information is directly applicable to group play.
As a Druid I would start with :- NBW - You want this DoT up quickly to gain the benefit from Haze Horde Sunflame Chill Dichotomic Then i would go into my normal Nuke rotation - Roar, Remote, Winter's and Firestorm Watch out for NBW dropping and recast Don't forget our 2 swarm pets. I wouldn't bother with Sunflash Blessing unless you are healing.
I wrote that, and then I decided to try it for myself (I had never actually boxed this mission, but beat it many times with real groups). Holy crap...I failed every time I tried to go for the adds. It was remarkably difficult (when boxing) to try and kill the adds before getting overwhelmed, let alone do any damage to Cactiikii. So I gave up and tried to just burn him...and even that failed the first couple times: I got him to 11% once, but my beastlord kept dying very early to the damage shield. And then, on my last attempt, I smoked him - but not so much because I whooped him hard (it still took me 90 seconds), but more because I got lucky and my toons didn't die to the damage shield. So, I do think that the tips given by the others will really help any REAL groups who lack sufficient DPS to burn-bypass the event mechanics. But if you are boxing (especially if you have melee toons), pure DPS may be the only realistic way to go. Here is my parse, for reference (I had 2 healer mercs): Combined: Cactiikii in 97s, 97138k @1001425sdps | ShadowKnight + pets 35700k@368.0ksdps | Beastlord + pets 27594k@284.5ksdps | Wizard + pets 18708k@192.9ksdps | Druid + pets 15136k@156.0ksdps
I only know the basics about Enchanter / Magician but mine are F2P so only using RK1 spells and equipped in a mix of RoS TS/T1 gear. On my enchanter :- I have Bolstering and Mana Repitition auras running (everyone should have ITC running). I cast Dicho as well (didn't see you mention that) and will forceful rejuvenation so i can reapply Dicho once it drops Nuke rotation consists of Mind Slash, Mind Sunder, Strangulate On my magician :- I use Chaotic Inferno (I don't bother with Spear of Molten Shieldstone / Acronite Malosinata) Spam Reckless Servant My magician is doing around 250-300k dps and my enchanter does 150-200k, remember these are F2P toons so all-access should be able to do more. Forgot to mention that druid is also running aura and all casters are running dragonmagic focus potions. Some of my toons have 7th Vet reward (Intensity of the Resolute) so will use that but I don't use glyphs.
My usual rotation is similar, but a couple of differences: I usually don't bother with cold dots unless I'm playing my druid as a main (not enough spell slots for boxing). I do keep NBW, Horde, Sunflame on the mobs asap, as you said. I also cast Overwhelming if I have time - it doesn't do a lot of dps by itself, but it has great ADPS for the other fire dots. It is still a low priority spell for me, and it is the spell slot I use for battle buffs. I have added NBW to my nuke rotation when burning, because it hits so damn hard! Of course you have to watch your mana (for the short Cactus fight, that's not been a problem for me). For hard burns, I'm spamming (EDIT: mutibind spamming) these spells in this order: Dicho Nature's Blistering Wrath Roar Remote Sunflame I chose Sunflame (instead of Winter's) because of the focus on fire and absence of cold debuffs in my rotation. I know that Winter's has a slightly higher base damage (than Sunflame), but I haven't compared the end result (after ADPS). I'll have to do some testing, but do you think Winter's is the better choice?
I'm still torn over using Chill vs Overwhelming. I find that if I use Overwhelming I need 5-6 fire DoTs/Nukes going off every tick to make up the difference in damage so it comes down to the other classes in groups and how much fire they can use. Spell wise it is fairly close but the advantage of Winter's is that it can trigger double the number of procs. I see 2x the benefit from Threads of Potential belt and i get up to double the number of procs from Frostweave aura, Mana repetition aura, Dragonmagic focus, Hand of Holy Wrath (but not Tome of Obulous) Below is a quick test I run with Druid/Enchanter runnings auras, ITC, IoG etc. The top is casting 9 sunflames and the bottom is Winter's. The Tick column is how often something procs so Winter's has twice the number as each fire/cold portion is counted seperately. The damage from the spell is close (2940k vs 3501k) but there is a big difference in the damage from adps/procs. The Unknown row is where i have not worked out exactly what caused that damage. Also ignore the TC Rate column as I've not completed how I calculate that.
Thank you so much for doing that test and sharing your results! Winter's looks like the clear winner, and even makes me wonder if it shouldn't be moved up (in priority) in my rotation! Maybe it causes more damage than Remote or Roar, and should be cast before them during a burn? More testing needed.
lol.. Epic Fail.... but better than before... 1. Starting Preparation like before Changes: NO Glyph of Destruction (100) but: Dru: Tome of Obulus, Dragonmagic Potion, Intensity of Resolute, Frostreave Aura Enc: Tome of Obulus, Dragonmagic Potion, Bolstering Aura, Mana Repetition Aura, Intensity of Resolute, Dicho Mag: Tome of Obulus, Dragonmagic Potion, Intensity of Resolute Clr: Dragonmagic Potion (for Stuns/Healnukes), Pet-AA raised Rog: some Melee-AA raised Forceful Rejuvenation after part of fight Enc Nuke Rotation changed to: - Mind Slash - Mind Thunder - Strangulate - Dicho Druid Nuke Rotation changed to: First. - Frostreave Aura - Horde Rotation: - Dicho - NBW - Firestorm AA - Winters Blaze - Roar - Remote Moonflash - Sunflame Mage Nuke Rotation changed to: First - Malo AA Rotation - Reckless Servant - Chaotic Inferno - Spear of Molten Acronite - Volley of Many - Spear of Molten Shieldstone - Dichotomic So the changes are with these setups: Druid 198k/189s Enchanter 128k/189s Mage 125k/189s Warrior 25k (Sword/Board for safety and relied on new setup for DPS) Rogue 74k Whoopy... I don't know why.. but this time Cactiicii was at 23% - best mark with this crew. Didn't saw the two sprouts and killed one of the Burgeons instead which has been followed by a dead Tank. So to see it was better than before - even the DPS seems bad (but 189s is longer - so I assume these average numbers are not good to compare). 35% - no add killed, no deaths now. 23% - 1 Burgeon Killed, Tank killed, Exodus Mage and Enchanter suck more now with the upgrades. Second Try: Difference: - added Tank with 2HS - forgot Dragonmagic Potion, added to Druid: 22% - 1 Sprout killed, Tank killed, Exodus Druid 233k/132s Enchanter 112k/132s Mage 128k/132s Warrior 66k (2HS from start for DPS) Rogue 81k (empty after first try...) So the new changes made the Druid jump up around 33k so he is stable between 200-233k now. Mage/Enchanter are worse than before with the Nuke-Rotation. I will change them back to the old config, only with Tome of Obulus/Dragonmagic Potion/Intensity of Resolute but that is for the next day. Somehow this does not work better. I should say that the first 2 nukes in the nuke rotation have priority - if the are in the recast delay the nukes after them are casted. What is ITC and IoG? To much shortcuts
Dunno if this was posted or not. This is Sancus' Magician guide. It's raid focused, but it should help you fix your Magician's lineup: Sancus' RoS Magician Guide For your Enchanter and Druid, do this, in this order: (Ench) Dicho (Ench) Illusions of Grandeur + Improved Twincast + Calculated Insanity + Mind Tempest + Robe Click* (Druid) Group Black Wolf + Improved Twincast + Destructive Vortex + Nature's Blistering Wrath* (Ench) Chromatic Haze + Mindslash (Druid) Chill of the Wildtender + Horde + Sunflame (Druid) Fury of Nature or whatever it's called The timing here is specific and necessary. Practice makes perfect. *You can run Intensity here if you want. Rotations afterwards: Enchanter: Dicho -> Mindslash -> Strangulate -> Strangulate Druid: Dicho -> Roar -> Roar -> Remote FIRE, not cold -> Winter's Wildblaze Refresh DoTs as needed. Focus everything on the big Cactus. gl, hf.
Sorry I went all TLA.... Sorry couldn't resist that IoG = Illusions of Grandeur , ITC = Improved Twincast I use a similar initial cast order as listed by Gotcharms. Main differences are using Nature's Season, on enchanter Forceful Rejuv/Dicho and slightly diff rotation on my druid
__________________________________ VICTORY!!!! __________________________________ Whoever pretends that this Mission is easy - has so many specials or changes compared to a non-raiding, partly non-AA-maxed casual fun grouping team. Else it is not explainable for the claim that F2P or casual groupers manage to slip through this Mission. F2P is only possible if the AAs are maxed for DPS before going back into F2P. It is definitely as pure F2P (250AA) not possible because of the needed DPS except one F2P gets dragged through the mission by some big boys. "Gold" going "F2P" is different because the gear in RoS is excellent and the Focus of them are the same like T2 Group Armor therefore it is dps-wise on par with "Gold" (at least in my case). The main difference are Rk.II-Spells if they have not being bought via market place for 750SC which sounds reasonable. So if F2P works then please don't leave out the real important things which are all the small tools, the modifications, the Focii, clickies, potions, special gear for added DPS, bought specials via market place, used items via Prize/LoN which are party only seasonable or not existent anymore, yada yada. According to the DPSTools/helps at different websites like http://dps.kizant.net/ the DPS can go with the right combination from standard characters up to elite at a high rate (!) only from AA/clickies/specials. The ideas from S33k3r are cool, this gave another small boost to the Druid. The Enchanter/Mage setups don't work well with the suggested ideas but I gave parts of it a try for changing to the old setup and modifying/optimizing them. Rogue got now some more clickies and complete reconfiguration ink. Rk.II/Frenzied Druid was good but forgot Clickies like the Tunic. Enchanter/Mage got again other rotations. Warrior went from start into 2HS, but concentrated on Mitigation. Cleric used additional Healing Nukes and Dragonmagic Potion too. While the DPS was nice at the dummy in the Guild Hall, fighting Cactiikii feels like having a raid mob which avoids or mitigates much damage. Comparing this to the real fight was not close to the original. I used the highest Combat Dummy - Taza - for pre-test. If a more appropriate one exists, I don't know where to find or I missed it. Mage/Enchanter are really a problem in this case. While they do nice on the dummy, they suck partly on the big cactus on my case. Keybinding/Description: 0: is the entry for the big cactus (one cast) 1:/2:/3:/4: are multibinds for the rotations/emergency etc. 1:/2: gets button mashing love on 2 keyboards at once and are alternated 5+:/ all others are macros (simple 5-liner buttons) Keybinding has been done over two keyboards. Mashing buttons on both sides was a key to be faster (1:/2: while switching windows. A third key was for recast in the middle of the fight (3:. An emergency key (4: for emergency healing AA has been added to keep Tank alive when Adds (3+) added up to avoid going into Board/Sword while Druid was patch healer. Added the Pets like here suggested to give Mage boost for his Volley of Many always later to avoid low nukes from it - it is worth casting only if about 6+ pets are present, so it comes a bit later in the multibind. Chaotic Inferno might be nice for the boosts but honestly it procs in such a bad way on my mage (too often weakened the spell) or didn't proc at all - if it is recommened then something at the stats or anything else must outperform this spell - on my Mage it performs really crappy - so it is one of the last spells in my multbind. ALL/Group - Changes - Clicky: Circle of Mana I - Clicky: Circle of Power I - Clickies: according to class/inventory with very low casting time - Cleric: got Dragonmagic Potion too for Awestrike/Contravention to add DPS - Cleric: DI on all, AA: Divine Guardian on Tank - Druid: AA: Swarm of Fireflies on Rogue - TS: Blade of Eternal Tempering on Mage/Enc pet for DPS boost - Tome of Obulus on Mage/Enc/Druid - Warrior: Imperators Charge (Attack boost) + Clicky: Blood Drinker's Coating - Group: complete melee incl. Casters except Cleric who kept group alive Forceful Rejuvenation was prepared but this was too much to think about or somehow getting started in the middle of the fight. This time I avoided Glyph of Destruction (100). To much AA for the stress to collect 40 AA to burn it in a minute. I exchanged some emergency heals on druid for an added Spellslot manual mouse rotation but this was too much too really activate in 100s. All Burns start with the big cactus. The easy first cactus is only the preparation time to set up everything which does not get wasted on him while Tank boringly dropped carved him down with the Rogue. Everything gets activated short before this small cactus dies to have everything ready. All pets went on the Big One from start. Instant targeting and melee if Big Cactus pops: I wasted too much time because I thought the fight starts at first touch but he seems to have the timer running from the start -> safe time for popping further adds! ____________________________________ Rogue: ____________________________________ - Upgrades/Items: - Rogue's Fury AA upgraded - Clicky: Direwolf Totem of Battle (Quest, 6% Double Attack) - Augment: Orb of Tormented Rage (Upgrade from Writ with 5dmg/420heal -> 12dmg/Backstab11) - AA: Conditioned Reflexes (safety if Tank goes down and Pet has to tank) - additional Activated Clickies (if all AA/Discs are in delay) - Clicky: Amulet of the Drowned Mariner (Mage Pet Support for Volley) - Clicky: Fireshard Ring - Clicky: Magi Blaster Gauntlet - Preparation - AA: Instruction of Toxicity (on Tank) - 1st POTION: Vallons/Tallons Tactics - 2nd POTION: Warlords Bane XIX (future: XIX) - Clicky: Call of Fire (Gloves of the Crimson Sigil) - Start - AA: Envenomed Blades - Clicky: Deceiver's Conflagrant Cloak - AA: Absorbing Agent - AA: Assassin's Premontion - Main Burn - AA: Rogue's Fury - AA: Third Spire - Disc: Frenzied Stabbing - AA: Focused Rake's Rampage - opt. (future expansion, need AAs) AA: Shadow Flanking - Rotation 1: - AA: Slice - AA: Lie in Wait - AA: Diversion - AA: Twisted Shank - Disc: Secret Blade - Disc: Skorpikis Blade - Disc: Phantom Assassin - Disc: Jugular Strike 2: - AA: Forceful Dagger-Throw - AA: Shadow-Hunter's Dagger - AA: Pinpoint Shortcomings - AA: Ligament Slice - Disc: Disassociative Puncture - Disc: Dim-Witted Mark - Disc: Fellstrike Start & Refresh - start and if needed middle of fight for adds/tank goes down 3: - AA: Thiefs Vision - AA: Brazen Escape (giving Mage pet aggro chance if Tank goes down) - Disc: Dichotomic Weapons - AA: Dirty Fighting ____________________________________ Druid ____________________________________ - Upgrades/Items: - additional Activated Clickies (if all AA/Discs are in delay) - Clicky: Amulet of the Drowned Mariner (Mage Pet Support for Volley) - Clicky: Fireshard Ring - Clicky: Magi Blaster Gauntlet - Preparation - Dragonmagic Potion - AA: Improved Twincast AA - AA: Intensity of the Resolute - AA: Distant Conflagration (10x Twincast) - Clicky: Memento of Ungods Suffering - Start - AA: Wrath of Wild (10x 50k DS on Tank) - AA: Bear Spirit (Dodge/Heal on Tank for Emergency while on 2HS) - AA: Focus Arcanum - AA: Seasons of Wrath - AA: Natures Boon (compensate 2HS low defense on Tank) - Clicky: Miniature Horn of Unity - Main Burn - AA: Destructive Vortex - AA: Nature's Fury - AA: Spirit Black Wolf - AA: Seasons Wrath - AA: Spirit of Black Wolf (myself) - AA: Group Spirit of Black Wolf - Clicky: Stormwarden's Conflagrant Tunic - Main Burn 0: - AA: Blessing of Ro/Cowl of Ro Rotation 1: - Dichotomics - Roar - Winters Wildblaze 2: - NBW - Remote Sunblaze - Sunflame - AA: Firestorm Start & Refresh - start and if needed middle of fight for adds/tank goes down 3: - Horde of Polybiads - Frostreave Aura (Update) - Protection of the Direwood 4: - Nature's Blessing - Nature's Boon 5: - Nature's Guardian - Spirit of Nature 0: Spell Extra if time (no real chance at last success case to activate) - Spellslot: Chill of the Wildtender - Spellslot: Twincast - Spellslot: Skin to Somac (12% Damage boost, 2% difference to Mage's Malo, works?) ____________________________________ Mage ____________________________________ - Upgrades/Items: - additional Activated Clickies (if all AA/Discs are in delay) - Clicky: Amulet of the Drowned Mariner (Mage Pet Support for Volley) - Clicky: Fireshard Ring - Clicky: Magi Blaster Gauntlet - Preparation - Dragonmagic Potion - AA: Improved Twincast AA - AA: Intensity of the Resolute - Start - AA: Focus Arcanum - AA: Breath of Alathus 10/15 - Clicky: Arch Convoker's Conflagrant Robe - AA: Elemental Union - AA: Servant of Ro - AA: Heart of Flames - AA: First Spire - AA: Host of Elements - Main Burn 0: Acronite Malosinata (Malo with a nuke touch as appetizer) - Rotation 1: - Reckless Servant - Volley of Many (Boost through Pets from whole group, incl. clickies) - Spear of Molten Shieldstone - Clicky: Firebound Orb II 2: - Twincast - Spear of Molten Acronite - Chaotic Inferno - AA: Force of Elements Start & Refresh - start and if needed middle of fight for adds/tank goes down 3: - Dichotomic Companion - Rhyolite Stance - Aura Arcane Distillect - AA: Frenzied Burnout - AA: Companions Fury - AA: Host in the Shell Petlove - Std.Pet Aegis: Companions Aegis/Rhyolite Stance/Auspice of Eternity - Pet IDA/Fortification ____________________________________ Enchanter ____________________________________ - Upgrades/Items: - Safety Preparation (emphasize besides the usual buffs) - Legion of Milyex (DS-Mitigate) - Tenebrous Rune (Group) - ENC Standard Mit. Button: Glyph Spray/Reactive Rune/Veil of Mindshadow/Rune of Banishment/Eldritch Rune - additional Activated Clickies (if all AA/Discs are in delay) - Clicky: Amulet of the Drowned Mariner (Mage Pet Support for Volley) - Clicky: Fireshard Ring - Clicky: Magi Blaster Gauntlet - Preparation - Dragonmagic Potion - Aura: Bolstering Aura - Aura: Mana Repetition - AA: Improved Twincast AA - AA: Intensity of the Resolute - Start - AA: Focus of Arcanum - Clicky: Coercer's Conflagrant Robe - AA: Calculated Insanity - AA: Mental Contortion - AA: Illusions of Grandeur - AA: Chromatic Haze - AA: Fundament Spire 3 - Main Burn 0: - Order of Tashan - Rotation 1: - Mindslash - Mindthunder - Legion of Milyex (DS-Mitigate, only if room for re-casting at middle/end of fight) 2: - AA: Mental Contortion - Dichotomic Reinforcement (Dicho3) - Strangulate - Bolstering Aura (only if room and re-cast if it worns of at middle/end of fight) Start & Refresh - start and if needed middle of fight for adds/tank goes down 3: - Mind Tempest - Mana Repetition Aura ____________________________________ Perhaps to add: - Druid, Enchanter, Warrior are maxed AA - Mage, Cleric are at the upper AA end or nearly maxed - Rogue sucks in AA, misses most of the real burn AAs to the max So and here are the results: First try with new setup (with Intensity of the Resolute): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6% -> 757k in 117s (scaled DPS/Gameparse) Mag: 253k Dru: 196k Enc: 126k Rog: 138k War: 70k Clr: 5k Yes, I forgot to exchange the tradeskill packs for the Enchanter - he went nearly with no equipment into the fight. Besides the Tank forgot in panic to pop his best Culminating Disc while beated from all sides. Result: Tank down Enchanter down --> Exodus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Second Try with new setup (without Intensity of the Resolute out of recast delay): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VICTORY: 845k/112s (scaled DPS/Gameparse) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dru 260k Mage 222k Rog: 136k Enc: 136k War: 80k Clr: 9k incl. Achievement: Green Thumb Award ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________ WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT !!!!!!!!! ________________________________ This is like playing Doomstyle games - highly stressy.... but it works.... With this combination the DPS was at combat dummy Druid 200-260k Mage 230-300k Rogue 120-150k Enchanter 130-160k Warrior 80-90k Cleric 20k With much luck this combo could reach nearly 1000k/100s if everything goes right. I even didn't needed Intensity of the Resolute or Glyph of Destruction anymore. Group harmony is important. Perhaps somebody has from his experience some ideas to boost Enchanter at bit more. I doubt that the Rogue goes much higher. He is missing half of the most important DPS AA, so he has to grind a bit more. Thanks for the ideas and help so far. But perhaps some others who are struggling have some ideas how to proceed and it gives some motivation to not resignate...
There you go. Obviously this mission is a threshold to the rest of RoS. But it's also a reality check to any boxer who has been skating along failing to optimize their team. Your results are why I LOVE EverQuest. You put in the effort, research, and gained wisdom and understood the meaning of it. For a long time, I had a 110 Zerker that was doing 25% of her capability simply because I got complacent and lazy. Now she's the top DPS in my group, and one of the best PUG melee DPSers I've seen in game. But it took a mission like Cactiiki to light a fire under my to finally put in the effort to do something with her. Be proud of yourself! That's a difficult mission to box in group gear.
Have you tried Skyfire End of Empire yet??? . That one took me on the order of 17 wipes or so before i got a workable strat for myself. Many more wipes after that before it got to the point of a nearly guaranteed win.
I haven't attempted that one yet, but on the other hand - the Gorowyn mission is easy! I 2-boxed it without any mercs
