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Eternal Grove HM

Ok so after a few attempts we were able to finally get Masters with the following setup:
South Team: 1 warrior (me with my HM thorns build), 1 fire ele, 1 MM (Razah), 1 Monk
North Team: 1 conjure barrager, 1 splinter barrager, 1 MM, 1 monk

We played off the high damage output of our barragers for one side and I tanked with the help of Razah's minions while Lyne dropped every fire spell imaginable on our side.

I would highly recommend each side take a minion master and a human healer. Also, after failing Masters once because of not doing this... I highly recommend that you setup the jugs as soon as possible. Get at least one in each doorway for a distraction in case something gets by you. This will give you time to get back before whatever gets by has a chance to kill a singer.

Thanks to everyone that helped out!

HM Raisu Palace

Easily the most frustrating HM mission that I've done yet. We must have tried this five times before we were finally able to do it. We tried the first 4 times with a full party of 8 (3 W, 2 Mo, 3Eles). After the 4th try, 2 of our eles had to leave so we replaced them with heroes (Razah as MM and ele nuker hero). We found the MM to be invaluable. The extra targets for enemies, the "wall" effect of the minions, and the damage (Death Nova) the minions added helpedtremendously. We finished masters with time to spare with the minions.

DoA News

So I took a little break after completing the Legendary Vanquisher title and haven't been hitting things as hard.

I did get to run a few test into DoA with 4 humans and 4 heroes. Good news: DoA can now be done without the default build. I'd advise against pugs if you are going to do non-build 8man. Bad news: heroes are doable now but incredibly hard. We got to Jodath in City and wiped with only him left. The monster wear you down little by little and sooner or later the DP gets hard to work with. The quest reward helped a lot though but the DP didn't stay gone for long. :(

Update 13 August 2007:
It'll take work to figure out what works for which area. Get a full human party of DoA experienced players and play around with some builds. In the least run through the areas a few times so others can become familiar with the enemies of each area and their skills.

Also, if you want to go through all the areas in sequence, the best build is still the default Balanced DoA build.

Legendary Vanquisher

Tonight I completed my last vanquish needed for the Legendary Vanquisher Title!

I know that I need to go back and retro-actively add all of the notes about the areas I've Vanquished in the past week. I've got some pretty good notes on kill counts and times but I don't remember all the party setups.

I'll post the notes and update this post later.

Thank you to everyone who helped along the way!

Evil forces in Fissure destroyed!

In an incredible expedition on the evening of July 5, 2007, eight adventurers successfully pushed the forces of evil out of the Fissure of Woe. Every foe was defeated and every quest completed. The ardent adventures did not go unrewarded for their efforts. The group was awarded with 25 obsidian shards, 6 non-chest gold drops, 4 obsidian keys, 1 Passage Scroll to the Fissure of Woe, 1 sapphire, and an undisclosed amount of gold. Rumor has it that a single member of the expedition deposited over 5 platinum into his storage account.

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 11

Areas Completed:

• Iceflow

Iceflow
Party: W, E, E, N, P, R, Mo, Dunkoro
Time: 30min
Foes: 140

This is a small area with lots of good corners. The corners are so good in some places that we were able to pull multiple groups at a time. The usual for Stone Summit works here. Dolyaks should be dealt with first while the tank holds the Carvers and Herders. Gnashers and Heretics are constant nuisances but the Carvers are capable of spiking backline characters and need to be dealt with first with Dolyaks. Just be careful with enchants as Heretics have Strip Enchantment.

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 10

Areas Completed:

• Frozen Forest

Frozen Forest
Party: W, N, E, E, E, R, Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Time: 2hr 39min

I was rushing to get through and probably took a few chances I normally wouldn’t so we had a few deaths that were unnecessary. Also, I really missed having an MM here too. The snares were so bad that I could not hold aggro as usual. I could re-position myself when needed, etc. An MM with body blocking minions would have been a great help with stopping melee from getting to the backline and giving the enemies a few more targets to attack.

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 7, 8 and 9

.: Weekend Edition :.

Areas Completed:

• Traveler's Vale
• Talmark Wilderness
• Tears of the Fallen
• Twin Serpent Lakes
• Regent Valley

Traveler's Vale

This is a very manageable area if done using the terrain and pulling (oh and without any quests). The patrols here were a problem but after the first one caught us we started pulling pretty far and didn’t have a problem after that.

Regent Valley
Party: W, E, Razah, Tahlkora
Foes: 155
Time: 1hr 24min

The more I play in the 4-man areas the less I want to. These areas can be extremely difficult. The abundance of Grawl Ulodytes was the largest aggravation here. Most of this area was fairly simple using the terrain and pulling, but when 2 Ulodytes aggro, it’s nearly impossible to take them down with 4 people.

To kill them, separate them. They have a very strong Heal Area and it will keep them both up through multiple Meteor Showers. Luckily, I was running a damager build so we split chores. I charged adrenaline on one then quickly switched to the second while Lyne (E) dropped Meteor Shower on the first then turned her other spells on my target. This seemed to work quite nicely for us and we were able to cruise along once we figured it out.

Talmark Wilderness
Party: W, W, E, Mo, Mo, Razah, Sousuke, Margrid
Foes: 227
Time: 1hr

Imps here are pretty powerful but other than that not too much to worry about.

Tears of the Fallen, Twin Serpent Lakes
Party: W, E, R, R, Mo, Mo, Razah, Norgu
Foes: 72 (Tears), 181 (Twin)
Time: 22min (Tears), 55min (Twin)

Warning: You are now entering hex country.

These area were nothing but Scales and Mergoyles. Both come in two flavors. The Scales come in Spiteful Spirit and Tainted Flesh while the Mergoyles come in Power Block Mesmer and Water Elementalist. As a warrior, I felt like I do when I’m tanking in DoA: all meat shield with no other duty to the party other than holding aggro. The SS scales run Spiteful Spirit, Price of Failure, Soul Barbs, and Life Siphon. The Mesmer Mergoyles run Mind Wrack and Spirit Shackles. I spent most of the time in these zones unable to attack without paying for it.

Underworld Excursion

This week our guild’s high-end PVE excursion was to the Underworld. Our group walked away with 15 ecto! (3 for me :)). We decimated the Labyrinth, the Chaos Plains, the Bone Pits, the Forgotten Vale, and the Spawning Pools. We completed Clear the Chamber, Wrathful Spirits, Terrorweb Queen, and then it got late and we got adventurous. We then returned to the Chaos Planes to try The Four Horsemen (none of us knew what we were in for)… We killed a few Terrorwebs out of 1 of the 4 Banished Rider boss Horsemen groups and then it all went south. Not knowing the quest we setup badly, the other groups rushed the Reaper, and even though our Ritualist was doing an awesome job spirit spamming we couldn’t get back to help him and the Reaper deal with the other Horsemen and their Terrorweb groups…

It really was an excellent run though and it was actually Kousei’s greatest and most far reaching excursion into the Underworld. I had never even been to Chaos Plains, Bone Pits, and Spawning Pools with any character before last night.

Thanks to all who were in the party!

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 6

Areas Completed:

• Sage Lands
  
• Majestry's Rest
  
• Nebo Terrace
  

Sage Lands
Party: W, P, R, E, Rt, Mo, Mo, Olias
Foes: 236
Time: 1hr 10min

So many pop-ups….

Spiders, necromancer touch scarabs (who do melee damage for you thorn tanks out there), devourers, etc. I’d venture to say close to half (if not more) of our kills were pop-ups. This area is one of those areas that you’ll feel extremely frustrated after vanquishing it. Not too much was painful here but then again we had two good human monks.

Majestry's Rest
Party: W, P, R, E, Rt, Mo, Mo, Olias
Foes: 55
Time: 28min

Ok, so we all thought this area was going to be incredibly difficult. We left from Temple of Ages for the 8-man party, ran through Curtain, and fought what little we had to as to get to Majestry’s Rest. We killed only what we had to kill to get to Rotscale in case we needed to work off some death penalty. Fortunately we didn’t have to do that though. We killed of the group at the foot of Rot’s bridge and then we were able to get him and all of the Dragon rangers onto the bridge quite easily. We had to retreat a few times when our casters ran low on energy, etc but we finally whittled down the group to just Rotscale. At this point, I got behind him so he couldn’t retreat and we pounded on him… Then we pounded on him some more... Then some more until he finally went down. Some 10-15 minutes of this vanquish was killing Rotscale and the inhabitants of his little island.

Something to note: if you leave from Majestry’s Rest, kill everything outside of the desert area before going there. We were able to complete this without stepping foot into the desert area.

Nebo Terrace
Party: W, P, R, R, Mo, Mo
Foes: 154
Time: 51min

You’ll need hex removal for the mergoyles and scales and condition removal for the undead. We were able to get by with minimal condition removal and a lot of hex removal.

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 5

Areas Completed:

• Watchtower Coast
  
• Ascalon Foothills
  
• Diessa Lowlands
• Flame Temple Corridor
  

Watchtower Coast
Party: W, R, R, E, Tahlkora, Razah (MM)
Foes: 158
Time: 41 min

There is more scale and mergoyle troubles here so bring your hex removal.

Ascalon Foothills, Diessa Lowlands, Flame Temple Corridor
Party: W, E, R, R, Rt, Tahkora
Foes: 58 (Foothills), 365 (Diessa), 103 (Flame)
Time: 16min (Foothills), 2 hr 8min (Diessa), 35min (Flame)

We left from Yak’s Bend and just kept going. After doing them with 6, I don’t want to imagine doing these areas with only a 4-man party. The Charr and Gargoyles in Lowlands and Flame Temple can do an insane amount of damage in an incredibly short amount of time. The Charr Warriors have Wild Blow and I was running my Gladiator’s Defense thorn build….

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 4

Areas Completed:

• The Arid Sea
  
• The Scar
  
• Spearhead Peak
  

The Arid Sea, The Scar
Foes: 260 (Scar)
Time: 1 hr 48min (Scar)

We started from Elona. That’s right we brought an 8-man party into the Crystal Desert. The hydra can be fun if you don’t take them down fast enough and watch out for pop-ups but other than that not bad. We did have to run around for 10-15 minutes on each of these to find the last 1-2 groups/monsters.

Spearhead Peak
Foes: 233
Time: 1 hr 45min

This area was fun. Our Elementalist lost communication with the server 10 minutes after a new build had been released so she couldn’t join back up… We did well over half of this area with 7 people and I had flag only control of her two heroes with their resurrection skills permanently turned off. The area wasn’t too bad after we got the feel for the area but it took a lot longer to bring stuff down. Watch out for patrols! We did wipe a few times at the beginning because we were rushing a bit and not watching patrol routes and not pulling far enough.

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 3

Areas Completed:

• North Kryta Province
  
• Ice Flow
  

North Kryta Province
Party: W, W, E, R, Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 197
Time: 1 hr 39min

A lot of bog skales.... That much Spiteful Spirit sucks! Everything else wasn't too bad but the degeneration plus the SS was hard to deal with. Thank god for Lyne and her infinite MS build.

Ice Flow
Party: W, E, R, Margrid, Razah (MM), Master of Whispers, Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 212
Time: 1 hr 38min

Pull! Ice Imp groups can become overwhelming fast if you pull more than one group. The Mursaat group patrols can be problematic as well so pull again with these. Another thing to watch out for is the size of some of the Mursaat groups. String them out for a bit of help.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 12

Areas Completed:

• Silent Surf

Silent Surf
Party: W, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Dunkoro, Illusion Hench, Interrupt Hench, Protector Hench, Earth Hench
Foes: 268
Time: 1 hr 8min

And that's all for Cantha! I am now a Canthan Vanquisher!

Vanquished! Canthan Day 11

Areas Completed:

• Shenzun Tunnels
  
• Raisu Palace
• Rhea's Crater
  

Shenzun Tunnels
Party: W, E, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Jin, Master of Whispers (SS), Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 253
Time: 1 hr 18min

Same as Sunjiang District.

The Ritualists are a pain with Flesh of My Flesh, the Elementalist do a lot of damage and the Mesmers can really aggravate casters. Take your time and don't throw caution to the wind and you should be fine given your monks can handle the extreme amount of damage these guys can dish out.

Raisu Palace
Party: W, E, R, Rt, Razah (MM), Olias (blood), Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 261
Time: 1hr 24 min

Not as bad as we thought it would be but it definitely deserves caution. The major thing to remember is if you do happen upon multiple groups... run! Unlike some other areas if you aggro multiple groups here, it is much safer to run and reposition once one group breaks off or just break aggro all together.

Rhea's Crater

Party: W, E, R, Rt, Razah (MM), Master of Whispers (SS), Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 264
Time: 1hr 34 min

Wavecrest Stonebreak (Water Ele boss) = evil! Unfortunately his group is a patrol and we didn't fight it until last so we couldn't drop DP with other groups. Prot Spirit (Mo), Shelter (Rt), etc would be extremely useful... but we didn't have them. I think we all got a bit worried that we'd DP out. Still don't know how we pulled it off but we finally beat him.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 10

Areas Completed:

• Sunjiang District
• Unwaking Waters
  

Sunjiang District
Party: W, R, E, Rt, Razah (MM), Master of Whispers (SS), Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 210
Time: 1 hr 20min

Lots of Afflicted. The Ritualists are a pain with Flesh of My Flesh, the Elementalist do a lot of damage and the Mesmers can really aggravate casters. Take your time and don't throw caution to the wind and you should be fine given your monks can handle the extreme amount of damage these guys can dish out.

Unwaking Waters
Party: W, R, E, N (MM), Master of Whispers (SS), Jin, Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 153
Time: 51 min

We did well in this area which was worrisome for a fear of us before we entered. The biggest issue is the amount of patrols. Pull far so you don't encounter multiple groups. A protector monk helps a lot too due to the Ride the Lightning elementalist.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 9

Areas Completed:

• Archipelagos
• Gyala Hatchery
• Boreas Seabed

Archipelagos
Party: W, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Dunkoro, Interrupt Hench, Illusion Hench, Earth Hench, Protection Hench
Foes: 174
Time: 1 hr

Gyala Hatchery
Party: W, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Dunkoro, Interrupt Hench, Illusion Hench, Earth Hench, Protection Hench
Foes: 191
Time: 57 min

Boreas Seabed
Party: W, R, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Sousuke, Tahlkora, Dunkoro, Jin
Foes: 220
Time: 56min

These three areas are comprised of mostly the same enemy types and there are a lot of groups that will fight each other making your job much easier. For example, in Boreas Seabed there are a lot of patrols that will patrol right into hostile groups if you stand far enough away and just enjoy the show. The Naga Ritualists can be a pain if you let them live for too long but make sure to kill any melee first unless you have a live, human tank.

The areas aren't too bad and as you can see I did 2 of the 3 with just heroes and henchmen. I have tried to do Sunjiang District a few times with heroes and hench and the Afflicted area of effect is too much for the AI. It looks like I will need to get the gang together to finish off Cantha.

Vanquished! Grenth's Footprint

Party: W, W, Mo, N (MM), Jin, Sousuke, Tahlkora, Master of Whispers (SS)

This area has a lot of groups bunched close to other groups so you will want to make long pulls to avoid extra aggro. Corners should be used when you can but with an MM it's more important for bunching enemies than for protecting casters from melee. The warriors were usually only 1 per group maybe 2 and that's if the group had a warrior at all. Corners will also help with groups consisting of a lot of rangers. They can do a lot of damage quickly if they decide to spike a target. As usual, the Gnashers (necromancers) are a pain and as such should be targeted after any warriors are dealt with. The groups consisting of Ice Imps and Ice Golems, be sure to spread out to avoid AoE spells.

Vanquished! Maishang Hills

Party: W, R, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Sousuke, Tahlkora, Dunkoro, Jin
Foes: 189
Time: 51

Before I go too far, remember to pull the Assassin boss and the Elementalist Island Guardian boss groups together. Then, you can sit back and watch the fireworks and kill the remaining 2-3 creatures after. Thanks to Donut for that tip!

More Naga, Wallows, and Kappa here. Naga have channeling ritualist who's AoE can be deadly if you don't spread out. Wallows can spike a single target if you aggro a large enough group and they all target the same person. Kappa at this level are pure annoyance here.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 8

Areas Completed:

• Mount Qinkai
  
• Tahnnakai Temple
• Xaquang Skyway
  

Mount Qinkai
Party: W, Razah (MM), Sousuke, Dunkoro, Heal Hench, Interrupt Hench, Earth Hench, Fire Hench
Foes: 144
Time: 43 min

This is becoming a recurring theme here in Cantha but beware of the channeling ritualists. Their area of effect damage is deadly on a party full of heroes and hench. Just target them first and make far pulls in case of patrols and you should do fine.

Tahnnakai Temple
Party: W, R, E, Rt, Tahlkora, Tahlkora, Master of Whispers (SS), Zhed
Foes: 125
Time: 52 minutes

This area is full of Dragon Stomp and Double Dragon mages, channeling ritualists, and Energy Surge mesmers. There is a lot of area of effect and I was not able to complete this area with a full hero-hench party because of it. Even with the friends I normally vanquish with, this area was still a bit tough due to the amount of damage the Jade can do. If you can keep the Knights (warriors) away from the backline by using a corner, the groups are exponentially easier. Unfortunately, the Knights are highly sensitive to AoE and break aggro often so keep your backline at as hard of an angle as possible so the warrior will be able to hold aggro. If even one Knight breaks aggro and you have only 1 warrior in your party, I suggest breaking aggro and setting up again. Minions help but they will not last long here as even the Knights have AoE with Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop.

Xaquang Skyway
Party: W, R, E, Rt, Tahlkora, Tahlkora, Razah (MM), Zhed
Foes: 169
Time: 49 minutes

The Jade are a bit of a pain again just like in Tahnnakai Temple but the corners here are a lot better. Use those corners and you shouldn't have too many groups give you trouble in this area. Watch out for the patrolling groups and make far pulls for the large groups since they sometimes are multiple groups that can be separated.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 7

Areas Completed:

• Arborstone
• Pongmei Valley
  

Arborstone
Party: W, R, E, Tahlkora, Tahlkora, Razah (MM), Master of Whispers (SS), Acolyte Jin

If you see columns, let someone run in to trigger the stone creatures. They are the creatures to watch out for here. With good pulls and use of corners, the rest of the groups are pretty straight forward but the stone creatures can be deadly. Make sure your warrior picks up any warrior stone monsters as one in the backline can be extremely deadly. Also, use corners for casters to hide from the stone dagger spammers in these groups. The hardest kill was the Shield of Regeneration stone monster monk boss.

Oh and I can't forget to thank Donut! He gave me a max 15^50 req 10 Gothic Sword and didn't want to take anything in return!

Pongmei Valley
Party: W, R, E, Tahlkora, Tahlkora, Razah (MM), Acolyte Sousuke, Acolyte Jin
Foes: 155
Time: 36 minutes

We goofed off a lot in this area. There was only one group (Ritualist boss' group) that gave us trouble and I think our overconfidence made it worse than it was.

Vanquished! Tyrian Day 2

Areas Completed:

• Tasca's Demise
• Mineral Springs
• Perdition Rock
• Talus Chute

Tasca's Demise, Mineral Springs
Party: W, W, W, R, E, E, Mo, Mo

Lots of hexes and lots of degeneration make this area fun for monks.

Crippling Anguish, Conjure Phantasm, Life Siphon, Poison, and Bleeding are all used by the Stone Summit. And remember that doesn't cover their direct damage skills that are also extremely potent. Warriors watch out for Ineptitude on the Stone Summit Mesmers.

The Avicara are incredibly deadly now. Their archers use Ignite Arrows, Dual Shot, and Penetrating Shot. Use corners as much as possible so that your casters can have something to hide behind. The good news is, if there is a monk (Ardents) in the party, it will use Healing Touch so you can attack the warrior aggro until the monk steps forward.

As for the ice imp cave in Mineral Spring, pull them out of the cave if you can and string them out. Be careful here as it is extremely easy to get too many Imps to handle especially since their snare makes it hard to pull. You may have to get the tanks to hold a few Mountain Trolls first though. There will be a lot of snares and Maelstroms so again be careful.

Perdition Rock
Foes: 230

The bad news is that quick patrols can easily get you into trouble here so make your pulls far. The good news is that most parties can be handled with two good monks and some good damage. The ones to watch out for is the Hydra's since if you are playing with heroes and/or hench one well placed meteor shower can and will take out all of them.

Talus Chute
Party: W, W, N (MM), E, Rt, R, Mo, Mo

Long. Arduous. This vast area boast around 400 enemies ranging. The Trolls and the Grawl are pretty easy to deal with as usual but the Avicara and the Ice Imps make this area pretty slow going. (See the above Mineral Springs write up for more on the Avicara and Ice Imps)

Vanquished! Canthan Day 6

Areas Completed:

• Zen Daijun
• Melandru's Hope

Zen Daijun
Party: W, R, E, Tahlkora, Tahlkora, Razah (MM)
Foes: 162
Time: 54min

This area houses a lots of Afflicted but the good news is you've seen these monster levels in Factions normal mode game play. Even with a 6-man party this area was quite comparable to normal mode game play. Be careful not to get overwhelmed and you shouldn't have problems.

Melandru's Hope
Foes: 120
Time: 50min

Not to sound repetitive but:
Just like the other Forest areas, watch out for the Warden Ritualist, Mesmers, and Wardens of the Earth and keep in mind that the spirits will increase the bleeding degeneration to 5. Let groups fight it out if they will and pull far to avoid getting multiple groups. This area does have some patrols that have long patrol patterns so watch out for these walking into your fight at anytime.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 5

Areas Completed:

• Haiju Lagoon
• Drazach Thicket
• Morostav Trail

Haiju Lagoon
Party: W, E, R, Dunkoro, Tahlkora, Razah
Foes: 168
Time: 1hr 16min

Most important things to watch out for: the extremely powerful channeling ritualist bosses and diversion.

Drazach Thicket, Morostav Trail
Drazach Party: W, E, R, R, Razah (MM), Tahlkora, Tahlkora, Master of Whispers (SS)
Drazach Foes: 233
Drazach Time: 56min
Morostav Party: W, E, R, R, Mo, Razah (MM), Tahlkora, Master of Whispers (SS)
Morstav Foes: 297
Morostav Time: 1hr 32min

If you can get groups to fight each other let them at it. Far pulls will let you avoid pop-ups and patrols. As with the other Forest areas, watch out for the Warden Ritualist, Mesmers, and Wardens of the Earth and keep in mind that the spirits will increase the bleeding degeneration to 5.

Vanquished! Canthan Day 4

Areas Completed:

• Jaya Bluffs
• Minister Cho's Estate
• Mourning Veil Falls
  

Jaya Bluffs
Party: W, Sousuke, Razah (Explosive Creation), Dunkoro, Healer Hench, Shock Hench

Watch out for the tengu necromancer's Wail of Doom. It made me completely useless for most fights involving a necromancer. It interrupts and disables all attack skills.

Minister Cho's Estate
Party: W, E, R, Tahlkora
Foes: 207
Time: 1hr 23min

Afflicted Assassins are the creature to watch for here due to Shadow Form. Also, the Afflicted Elementalist and Necromancers are really deadly if they are in a single group.

Also, the sickened animals here are level 23 and extremely fast. Pull them from a distance or they will get to your party before you can block them. Watch for the patrolling wolves since they can run in out of no where.

Mourning Veil Falls
Party: W, R, R, E, Razah (Explosive Creation), Whispers (SS), Tahlkora, Tahlkora
Foes: 218
Time: 1hr 37min

Argh.... Hard area to say the least. The bosses here are incredibly deadly and there are a lot of them. Proceed with caution and use every corner that you can. Also, the wardens and the insects here will fight each other if you can get them together but unfortunately the plants are neutral.

Vanquished! Deldrimor Bowl

Continent: Tyria

Party: W, R, N (blood spike), E, Tahlkora, Dunkoro

Crazy area to say the least. Half the parties have 2 or more monks, the warriors hurt if you let them get to your backline, and the rangers do a lot of damage (distracting shot, penetrating shot, etc).

Vanquished! Canthan Day 3

Areas Completed:

• Ferndale
• Eternal Grove
• Nahpui Quarter

Ferndale, Eternal Grove
Party: W, W, N (SS), R, E, Razah (Explosive Creation MM), Tahlkora (Prot), Tahlkora (Heal)

Pretty easy areas overall. Make sure you pull far. There are a lot of pop-ups and patrols here. A far enough pull will keep you safe from fighting 2-3 groups at a time. We had to do this a few times and it did give us some trouble especially with the Oni pops.

Watch out for the Warden Ritualist, Mesmers, and as always the ever a pain, Wardens of the Earth. Mesmers (Wardens of the Spirit) are domination with strip enchant and interrupts while the Ritualists (Wardens of the Seasons, Summer, Spring) spam Splinter Weapon for lots of AoE damage. We usually kept the Rangers for last but keep it in the back of your mind that their spirits will increase the degeneration of bleeding.

The Dredge aren't that bad if you can get 1 group at a time but watch the Dredge Gutters (Assassins). They shadow step and are very capable of a heavy spike.

Nahpui Quarter
Party: W, R, R, E, Master of Whispers (SS), Olias (MM), Tahlkora (Prot), Tahlkora (Heal)
Foes: 112
Time: 36min

Lots of corners to use so your warriors will be happy. Try to keep your party spread out a bit or the e-surge mesmers and double dragon mages will have fun with you. Also, necromancers here add degen to the mix.

Vanquished! Droks Run!

Areas Completed:

• Snake Dance
• Dreadnought's Drift
• Lornar's Pass
  

That's right we vanquished Snake Dance, Dreadnought's Drift and Lornar's Pass yesterday. We started out from Camp Rankor (for the 8-man party) as a full guild group but we lost one along the way. The group we had made most of the run seem easy. There was a few groups (one particular) that gave us problems in Lornar's but other than that only bad pulls, etc. got us in trouble but mistakes were few and far between. We had a truly exceptional group!

Worse part of the run was probably the amount of gold left in items laying across the three areas because of full inventories. Since there were no Merchants along the way, we had to drop the least expensive items as we picked up more high price drops.

Party: W (thorn), W (axe dmg), E (renewal ms), N (ss), N (mm), R(int - had to leave after Snake), Mo (heal), Mo (prot)

Vanquished! Canthan Day 2

Areas Completed:

• Kinya Province
• Panjiang Peninsula
• Sunqua Vale

Ok I've had to make some changes to Kousei's build for these areas. The 4 man party made it hard to just bring tanking skills so I've added some damage. (Updated my Hard Mode Tank build post)

Sunqua Vale, Kinya Province
Party: Kousei (W), Razah (Explosive Creation rit), Sousuke (SF ele), Dunkoro (LoD monk)

There were pretty straight forward and easy. Pull and get the groups one at a time and you'll be fine.

Panjiang Peninsula
Party: Kousei (W), Razah (Explosive Creation rit), Sousuke (SF ele), Dunkoro (LoD monk)

Panjiang on the other hand can be a bit harder near the Crimson base in the Southwest. String out the enemies near the warrior boss and make your pulls as far as you can. The boss that gave me a bit more trouble was the Sin though. His healer is very capable yet trying to take the healer first left the backline open for the sin to attack. In the end, I ended up tanking the Sin Boss while I rotated Sousuke between using Meteor Shower on the healer and then back to pounding the Sin with SF.

FoW has been cleared!

Although it didn't feel like it, it certainly took long enough. Our guild's organized pve last night was Fissure of Woe. Fortunately, we were able to clear every area of FoW! There were a few quests left and about 1-3 mobs in all of FoW standing when I left.

After clearing the starting area and getting Ras safely to the first fortress, we decided to take a different approach than our normal runs. Instead of heading north to get to the "normal" forgemaster route, we headed off to the beach first. We continued our counter-clockwise path around FoW until we got to the burning forest (somewhere in here we lost our first warrior). There we took the groups that we needed to clear to get out of the burning forest and headed to the forgemaster quests. After finishing up the forgemaster quests, we lost our second and last warrior. We decided to press on and so we slayed the 2 Dragon Liches next then headed off into the forest of the wailing lord. We headed into the forest from the northwest entrance which ended up being a much safer path (i.e. from now on that's the way I'm going). We ran into a bit of trouble with the warriors there but after we found a good routine we made excellent time for a party of 6! After clearing the Wailing Lord's forest, we then moved on to the Burning Forest. We shamed the area's reputation if I do say so myself as we moved through most groups with little effort. After the Burning Forest, I left so the party was down to 5 but I'm sure they must have cleared the rest being there was so few groups left.

We did run into trouble every now and then due to bad pulls, over aggro, etc. but we had great communication going and some great head's up play which kept us in alive and kicking.

Thank you to everyone in the party last night. Excellent monking and teamwork!

Party: 2x Warriors, 2x Rangers (1 was me), 1x Ele, 1x Sin, 2x Monks

Vanquished! Canthan and Tyrian Update

Tyrian Areas Completed:

• Griffon's Mouth

Canthan Areas Completed:

• Bukdek Byway
• Shadow's Passage

We really didn't have any trouble points in these areas. Thanks to Gaile and Donut!

Razah Explosive Creation

After much request, here is the build that I run on my Razah hero.

Primary: Ritualist
Secondary: Necromancer

Skills

• Boon of Creation
  
• Explosive Growth
  
• Animate Flesh Golem (Elite)
  
• Animate Bone Minions
  
• Death Nova
  
• Blood of the Master
  
• Strip Enchantment
• Flesh of My Flesh
  

Attribute Point Allocation

• Death Magic: 12
  
• Spawning Power: 12
• Blood: Left overs
  

Updated:
- 13 August 2007 :: removed Infuse Condition and Taste of Death for Strip Enchantment and Flesh of My Flesh

Vanquished! Saoshang Trail

Continent: Cantha
Enemies: 34
Time: 16min

Two monks and heavy damage will get you through this. There is a lot of monk monsters so the battles may get long.

W/Mo Hard Mode Tank

Primary: Warrior
Secondary: Monk

*NOTICE: If you can't sit back and tank this build isn't for you. It is not a damage based build.

Skills

• Rez Sig/Sunspear Rebirth Signet
• Mending Touch
• Healing Signet/Lion's Comfort
• Watch Yourself
• Gladiator's Defense (Elite)
• Deadly Riposte
• Riposte
• Sun and Moon Slash

Attribute Point Allocation

• Strength: 8 + 1 (with a req 9 shield)
• Sword: 10 + 1 + 1
• Tactics: 12 + 1

**Note: I use minor runes as I cannot justify loss of health on a tank.

Comments

• the build is designed to negate as much damage as possible from the HM melee enemies allowing you to tank
• given good aggro control you should be able to isolate your party from most/all of the enemy party
• any armor set should do but i would bring at least a few energy pieces
• i recommend a sundering and vampiric sword with a flat/long bow for pulling as a weaponset

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Ok so some of the 4-man areas were giving me a problem with damage output so I made a few changes. These changes fixed that:

4-Man Skills

• Rez Sig/Sunspear Rebirth Signet
• Mending Touch
• Healing Signet/Lion's Comfort
• Watch Yourself
• Gladiator's Defense (Elite)
• Barbarous Slice
  
• Gash
• Sun and Moon Slash

Updates
:: May 28, 2007 - 4 man party size skill set.

W/N Vampiric Warrior

Primary: Warrior
Secondary: Necromancer

Skills

• Rez Sig/Sunspear Rebirth Signet
• Plague Touch
• Demonic Flesh
• Life Transfer (Elite)
• Blood Renewal
• Barborous Slash/Sever Artery
• Gash
• Sun and Moon Slash/Galrath Slash/Silverwing Slash

Attribute Point Allocation

• Strength: 8 + 1 (with a req 9 shield)
• Sword: 11 + 2
• Blood: 11

**Note: For strength and sword I use minor runes. Cannot justify loss of health.

Equipment

• armor:- gladiator armor all but helmet- duelist helm with swordsmanship rune- strength rune- superior absorbsion rune- superior vigor rune
• weaponry:- use what you like best but I think for this build the ideal weaponset is a max Vampiric of Enchanting and a max Sundering switch- with perfect mods you'll be stealing 3 life per hit and demonic flesh will last an additional 20% longer which for demonic at blood 11 is an over 10 secs extra

Comments

• as with any build pull at every chance because if you get swamped by monsters even the best build can be overwhelmed
• cast blood renewal THEN demonic flesh - if you cast demonic flesh first, you will sacrifice more health due to a higher max hp
• keep blood renewal on at all times - when it ends cast it again immediately- in general this build does not have energy problems BUT areas with lots of conditions can cause a problem if you do not have a condition removal monk or don't control your use of Plague Touch
• oh and last but not least... your monks will love you as you heal yourself taking the pressure off of them but don't forget to tell them that you are going to be sac'n life
  

Play Tactics

• common tactic is to start off before a fight with blood renewal then demonic flesh
• start off with life transfer on one target and fight the target until you charge your adrenaline skills then take your target out with the sever artery/gash/galrath combo
• watch life transfer as you can waste it if used when a target has too low health and general only cast it on a target with 50% or more health... unfortunately only experience with the build can help you learn this one
• if you desparately need health regen change to a new target, cast transfer, and then switch back that way you won't cancel your own spell when you switch back to other target and kill them

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Vanquished! Vulture Drifts

Continent: Tyria
Enemies: ~250
Time: ~1hr 30min

Party: W (tank), E (endless ms), R, Sousuke (searing flames), Tahlkora (healer), Tahlkora (prot)

So here's how Vulture Drifts felt sometimes: take a step, scarab pops up, kill it, repeat.... It got kind of aggrivating but the good thing is that there weren't many pop-ups with other groups. That maybe happened once or twice. The area itself wasn't that hard but coming from Elona it seemed to take forever. Drifts has mostly 2-3 enemy groups which after Elona is a welcomed change but it does increase the time a bit. Overall it was a pretty easy area even though we wanted to pull our hair out due to the popups lol.

Vanquished! Mirror of Lyss

Continent: Elona

Party: W (tank), E (searing flames), R (burning arrow interrupt), Me (heavy interrupt), E (endless ms), Mo (healer), Mo (prot), N (mm)

My last Elonian area for the title and it went quite well. I had help from a friend so it was me, her, and 6 heroes. The only thing that gave us any trouble was the Roaring Ether boss. Its spike sent me to the dirt but the rest of the party made out quite well. We did freak out when we couldn't find the last group but after about 5 minutes of running around we found it, killed it, and I'm finally an Elonian Vanquisher!

Thanks for all the help I've had along the way!