I've now leveled and geared a SK and BL to 110 and geared them fairly well and nearly maxed AA. Despite this, I still have yet to be able to successfully kill the "a majestic cockatrice" or "Needle" or "Saber" or "a grotesque succulent." I haven't attempted all of the named in the zone, as there are a large number of bot groups that seem to suck them up like vacuums and also make repeat attempts very difficult, but that's not really my point. I'm not here to complain ; I'm here to ask my fellow players for some serious advice. My goal has always been to be able to molo tier 1s of a current xpac (I do understand that RoS isn't the current xpac, but if I can't molo RoS how can I even think of trying TBL? lol). I've tried to do everything in my power to achieve this, but I'm failing, miserably. My self confidence is shaken! My question is, should I continue trying to gear the SK and max his AA in order to try to keep attempting these mobs? I don't raid, so TBL/RoS raid gear is out of the question. Or, should I continue on with my BL. Some of these named seem particularly anti-pet/BL (reverse damage shields aoe anyone?), but I'm not sure if it's just my tactics or it's the class. I want to avoid spending another 1000 hours of played time to try to juice my character up to only realize that my attempt was futile because my approach was incorrect . So, can BL or SK in group gear cut the mustard for OT named? I'd like to focus on one of these two if possible as starting up a third is probably out of the question due to time constraints. What should I do? THANK YOU!!!
a majestic cockatrice does AE silence on the tank. if you're depending on a mercenary healer, that mercenary is going to be standing too near you, so will be silenced by the named. If you have Mortal Coil on from killing some regular mob, plus epic Lich Sting & Leechcurse & Visage of Death, you probably don't need heals as long as you kill it fast enough? but alternately, beastlord Salve of Artikla heal is long enough range that the bst warder can tank cockatrice to death while the bst is standing way back. a grotesque succulent does a -1million stats debuff that causes melee to be kinda shabby and makes all spell casting fizzle. Mercenaries will be wholly unable to cast for the debuff's duration, but for players Mastery of the Past AA will let you ignore the debuff -- on spells level 106 & below. So load only spells 106 & under and plan a way to win without mercenaries. Saber does a big DD on the tank. Reaver's Bargain on to keep from being one-shot & ... don't suck, I guess? He shouldn't be, like, A Thing. Needle does dots. Run up the leech effects by starting with Mortal Coil on from killing some regular mob, add Lich Sting & Leechcurse with Visage of Death, win before they run out.
You are dying to the dots these things cast, the cockatrice and needle dots come with a caster-penalty. If you noticed your mercs were repeatedly fizzling. The strat for them is to have the healers stay out of dot range. Mercs are incapable of doing this. I would normally suggest getting a real healer, but you actually have another option. Set your beastlord pet outside of that range, on guard. Have the SK pull to the pet, and your beastlord heals the pet with almost no help from the cleric mercs. When you peel the mob off your SK have him run to the beastlord and range DPS, arrows, dots etc. Your beastlord will probably need to throw everything hes got into healing. If the mob gets in AE range yer screwed, FD and start over. You probably gear your beastlord like a melee, without understand his spell focii. Check his rings, make sure he has both ring focii, Beneficial Range and Beneficial Mana Preservation. You want to gear your beastlord pet as well, as he will be your tank. Your SK is actually kind of useless for this fight, unless you have a real healer. But hey, at least you have options.
We will start with "a majestic cockatrice" and "a grotesque succulent". Both of these mobs have an incredibly large stat debuff. Since you are using a merc healer it will be hit with it too. This will mean that both of you and the mercs will fizzle their spells. Without a proper healer who stays outside the range of the AE, you will greatly struggle killing these 2. Saber has a fairly large AC debuff and dot, not to mention amnesia type affect (melee and skill silence). This may affect some of the SKs defensive discs which could affect being able to tank it. Try the BL pet. Needle's only issue is that it has an ST mana drain. This one I am a little surprised at not being able to kill. Use all the SKs abilities you have. If you are still having an issue, try tanking with the BL pet. Bleh what Brohg said too Anyway don't fret, the names in OT are significantly harder than the names in the rest of RoS. A couple of those are also more difficult than TBL nameds
I guess I had the mob abilities swapped. The dots in OT are brutal. Even if you had a real healer join you, none of them can cure the stuff the mobs are casting anyway. Good luck.
Unfortunately, BL and SK are on the same account, so only can use one at a time! Hence the question on which one to gear/pick. hehe! Thank you for response!
Pragmatic advice. I'm thinking of juicing the BL based on these recommendations. Grotesque and Majestic being the absolute worst two it seems from your recommendation. Might be a 1 hour fight with pet tank and me standing OOR. However, now that I think about it, the reverse DS on the pet might make it take so much dmg so quickly I can't sustain the healing. I'm not sure. These two on the BL are totally giving me a headache. I don't know if I can keep my mana up long enough for my pet to kill. With reverse DS, might not be another way. Thank you for the reply!
You'll certainly be more in-demand raid wise as a good beastlord, if you go that route You won't go OOM Salve of Artikla-ing your warder. That'd take , I dunno, years. Also, healing the warder as a tank doesn't mean the warder has to do the killing all by itself. Shd+skele still get stuck in, triple stack of bst dots, all you lose is the bst's melee & the SK's taps from the DPS you're used to.
Buff / Gear your bst pet (make sure to use the Def buff.) load a rune block for your pet and send him in. Stay back at max range and help heal your pet and putting runes on it. use your Dots to DPS the name between heals. Have a back up pet pocketed in case you lose the 1st to a bad round. It is slow way to kill them but when I was in group gear it was what was needed. The Sk should be able to do all but the bird (silence on an SK hurts.)
Ask for some help. It's amazing how easy things get when you ask a few real players to help out. Be specific. I need to kill this mob, should take 10 minutes.
It doesn't look like anyone else mentioned it here. Generally you should not expect to be able to solo nameds with the help of just a merc. There are some instances where it is indeed possible but in group gear it's more the exception. For your sk or beastlord to solo a named like Saber you would have to do everything just right IMO. Also group gear at 110 has a big range but I'm guessing you're in full conflagrant? Getting the chase earring for your beastlord would give your pet a pretty good bump in tanking ability, its important that while your pet is tanking a named that you don't use your bestial pet burn disc and that you have the pet tank buff on the pet.
Those particular nameds are among the hardest in the expansion, do not let their presence in the beginning zone fool you. Most of the nameds in later zones are much easier than them.
If you're solo, set yourself as puller so your merc will stay where you want it, keep it out of range of the ae and it will still heal the pet (if on bst), then the bst can heal themselves. I don't have a tip for the SK.
In theory yes, but they still need to get close enough to cast, and unfortunately they don't know about being in maximum range. It will be just to where ever they path to.
