Guide to defeating Magni the Bison

The following tactics have been suggested to beat the Magni the Bison:

General

 * Test

Warrior

 * Works very well against melee and OK against the others though you do need to be a bit more careful and watch your timing and bars. The only opponents where this possibly fails is Mhenlo and Argo. When you get to Magni the Bison the easiest approach is to run around until the bear form wears off then turn and face.  You will be able to take him down well before he tries to re-cast.

Skills Ursan Blessing, Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support ( level 14+ ), Summon Mursaat ( level 14+ ), Deadly Riposte, Riposte, Bonetti's Defense is a working combination that when used correctly will win every time for a warrior with 13 Strength, 11 Tactics and 11 Sword.

Use Summon Mursaat then Assassin, Run in and Attack using defense skills until energy is 10 then use Ursan Blessing and finish the job.

Another build that works is using a reposite build, using skills such as Riposte and Deadly Riposte, allowing you to send damage back to Magni as he hits you, while cutting off actual damage too you (Be careful of his Irrisistible Blow, this will not be blocked, and will knock you down). All you have to do is either run around until Magni's bear form wears off, or intrupt it early.

A smart idea might be to bring consumibles (Grail of Might, Armor of Salvation, Essence of Clarity, Powerstone of Courage) if you are having trouble fighting Magni. (Note, this can be expensive, and will require doing the correct quest and/or getting level three in the Delmidor, Ebon Vanguard, Asura, and Norn reputation tracks)

Is a build which appears to work against everyone except Mhenlo.

With Magni (and some others)shout "You Move Like a Dwarf!" whilst running in with Enraging Charge, this interrupts bear form etc.

With melee opponents start by alternating Riposte and Deadly Riposte and switch to Ursan Blessing to finish them off.

With casters use Ursan Blessing soonest.

Ursan will disable enchantments but Endure Pain and Dolyak Signet will remain active during your bear form so cast them just before switching and then pound away with bear attacks.

Having a pet along is simply for extra damage and the distraction factor so feel free to change this for extra damage buffs or Healing signet / Lions Comfort as applicable.

If you miss with "You Move Like a Dwarf!" first time and have Norn level 5 or greater don't dispair, the recast time is shorter than the duration allowing you to keep Magni crippled long enough to easily keep out of his way until his bear form wears off. If you are lower than 5 run round using Riposte and Deadly Riposte as above or trying to avoid his attacks until bear form runs out --- good luck!.

This build requires use of a sword, and points mainly in swordmanship and tactics, with some in strength. The two skills on the far right are optional, and can be replaced by whatever is most useful in defeating the preceding opponents.

The idea is to block most of M. Bison's attacks. One of the three stances should be kept up at most times. As each particular stance can only be up a minority of the time, take care not to end a stance until it was about to end on its own, anyway. Use riposte, deadly riposte, and lion's comfort as often as available, and Bonetti's defense rather than one of the energy-using stances as often as it is available, to recharge your energy. You do damage mainly with riposte and deadly riposte, and while this build can't keep you alive forever, it can outlast M. Bison.

Ranger
I found that the build

described by arual on the talk page for the quest Round 1: Fight! works well, but it needs more than 3 sets of the traps.

This ones a bit tricky to use:

Pretty much, this works, but might be tricky. If you do it right, its real easy.

First, use "IATS" because thats always the best to use at the beginning. Apply poison, lay Dust Trap, use "You Move Like a Dwarf!" to knock down and cripple him, and shoot Magni with Sloth Hunter's Shot as many times as you can. Keep Shooting him without using any other skills. When he hits the dust trap, he'll be blinded for about 5-12 seconds depending on your Wilderness Survival level. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU DON'T PANIC IF HE HITS YOU. You might think that the he hit you if he's blind so don't think he isn't still blinded. Wait and look at his eyes for the black dots coming out of them. If he really isn't blind anymore, use throw dirt until that wears off.

-NOTE- Beware that Magni can get rid of Blindness prematurely, so I don't recommend counting the seconds.

Now for the tricky bit. If "You Move Like a Dwarf!" has recharged, (Which I doubt) or you haven't used it yet, use it now to buy some time. Now you should start running and use Ursan Blessing. Use Ursan Rage along with Ursan Force to knock him down if you can't with YMLaD. Run, and whenever Ursan Rage recharges, use it. But make sure Magni is right behind you. If he is, by the time Rage actiavates, he will be right next to you and it will knock him down. Keep doing this. When you use Ursan Force, he will run to the opposite side of the arena if you are too far ahead. At this point, use Ursan Strike as much as possible until he comes. Good Luck!

Using Prophecies-Only Skills:

I was finally able to beat the Tournament using only skills from Prophecies and EOTN using the following setup:

Swordsmanship 10 Tactics 9 Expertise 9+3 Wilderness Survival 8+3

Run straight in shouting YMLAD as soon as I get in range. This interrupts his Bear form and saves a lot of pain later on. Then I just used Lightning Reflexes, Riposte, and Deadly Riposte to block most of his attacks while still dealing 50-60 damage. The Poison signet allowed me to degen (This comes in handy during the first 5 rounds) My armor is stacked to absorb loads of elemental damage. This allows me to use Greater Conflagration to lessen the amount of damage I was taking when he hit me. Antidote signet comes in handy for fighting people who use blinding attacks. Finally, use Healing signet as much as possible, when possible try to knock him down before using healing signet.

Enough points should be put in marksmanship to max it, with the rest of the attribute points in wilderness survival and expertise. The four skills on the right are optional, and can be replaced by whatever is most useful in defeating the preceding opponents.

The approach here is to keep M. Bison perpetually crippled, so that you can avoid getting hit. Crippling shot doesn't last that long, and you'll have to reapply sooner if M. Bison uses purge signet, so it can be a little tricky. Pin down is not a viable substitute, as its recharge time is too long. If you run around some, M. Bison often runs back to his spawn point while crippled before coming back to attack you, so kiting is practical. Do damage mainly with bleeding from hunter's shot and poison from apply poison, as you can't safely get that many shots off. Poison tip signet can be used instead of apply poison.

Necromancer
Skills you move like a dwarf,Life transfer,Life siphon,Faintheartedness,necrosis,and used a pet. Then just stay away,and speed buffs help Birthday cupcakes are ideal,but not needed.

I used charm animal, comfort animal, death nova, animate flesh golem, animate bone minions, vanguard assassin support, whirling defense and taste of death i think not certain on last one

use death nova on your pet and let it die, animate flesh golem res pet, cast death nova on it and let it die again, then animate bone minions and res pet, death nova on them if you can, try to always keep a target a melee range to prevent him coming and attacking you, if he does kite and activate whirling defense. Use the assassin to deal extra damage and keep him at ranger

I used this build:



use 1, 6 , 5 , 2 , 7 , 5 , and what you want: 3 and 4, and repeat from 7 (7,5,3,7,5,4,7,5,3,7,5,4,7,5,2...)

Useful for most of the tournament fighters, but when I fought Ghostly Hero he would just interrupt all the skills rather easily.

--

I used the following set to easily farm the tournament:

Blood 16, Curses 12, Norn Rank 5, Ebon Vanguard Rank 5.

Start each round with Signet of Agony and then Arcane Echo before the door even opens. The amazing power of Echoed Assassins should see you through the first six rounds, most fights taking less than ten seconds. Against Magni the most important skill is YMLaD, which will allow you to play keep away and attack with Echoed Angorodons. Grenth's Balance is there for emergencies; if you're feeling brave you can allow Bison to hit you once and then Balance him for a bunch of damage.

Faintheartedness is there so melee chars don't kill off your dual assassins too quickly, and Strip Enchantment is there specifically for Alesia. Before I used this build I couldn't even touch Bison; the night I started with this build I got my cup and crown in less than an hour. The only opponents that give me trouble are Alesia (too much healing, kills assassins quickly) and Gwen (OMG interrupts). -- Monthenor, 10:55 27Sep2007 (CDT)

--

Used this build, based on the 55monk. Easy to win, and it always works, no matter the NPC that spawns. Of course you have to use the equipment needed for the 55 necro/monk.

When entering a new round, cast Mending. Approach the enemy and cast Protective Spirit. Cast Spoil Victor on foe and just wait until he/she dies. If necesary, finish foe with Necrosis. Use Healing Breeze to counter quick damage or health degeneration.

Notes:

-Mhenlo will only die using Vampiric Gaze. One single cast of that skill should be enough.

-Use Rend Enchantments on enemies such as dervishes or earth elementals to make them easier to kill.

-Razah doesn't attack so he'll only go down by spamming Necrosis.

-Mesmers are easy, just cast Spoil Victor before they can interrupt you. They`ll go down without having to cast any other spell. Use HB as a cover enchantment if needed.

-For Magni, cast Parasitic Bond, wait until he removes it with Purge Signet, then cast Spoil Victor. Recast it when he uses Purge Signet again.

Put most of your attribute points in curses and blood magic, and the rest in soul reaping. The two skills on the far right are optional, and can be replaced by whatever is most useful in defeating the preceding opponents. Necrosis can be useful to replace one of them.

You're going to get hit a lot, so you must keep M. Bison weakened at all times, and you'll still need massive healing. Enfeeble and enfeebling touch are both necessary to ensure that one is always available, as otherwise, M. Bison could get a few hits off right after purging weakness. Use blood renewal as often as available, and Grenth's balance right after blood renewal, to fully heal yourself after the substantial sacrifice. Use parasitic bond and insidious parasite for additional healing as energy allows. You mainly damage M. Bison with insidious parasite and Grenth's balance.

Mesmer
I used

Right 4 skills are for round 1 to 5, and left 4 skills are for Bison. See also User:GTD for more details.

--

I finally beat him with this Me/N build that I modified from one I found in the PvX build site. 12 Death, 9 FC

for most of the tourney contestants, hitting the first 4 skills in a row and spamming Necrosis kills almost all of them very quickly. With Magni, start with YMLAD to interrupt the bear form, then Fetid, Vile and Necrosis. His purge signet cleared the conditions but did a good amount of damage. Kite until the energy is back and repeat. Use Grenth's balance when he gets a few hits in to heal and do damage to him. Ignorance is good if energy permits. --Pooder 10:24, 21 September 2007 (CDT)

--

I beat him using the following Me/any build:

Fast Casting: 10+1 Domination: 12+3+1 Inspiration: 8

Getting there gets a problem with some opponents, such as Razah and Gwen, but almost any other opponent is manageable or quite easy with this build. For Bison, just keep him with Ignorance, blinded and with Empathy. Mantra of Inscriptions is used for keeping him blind always. Whenever he hits you, start kiting and heal with Ether Feast until you're full health again. He'll eventually die from the Empathy damage.

Skill code: OQBDAqwDO6ANwIgD8AAqoAoA

User:Bobany

Elementalist
Seems like Air is the way to go for eles. I used Given that you are inflicting a lot of conditions, Necrosis gives good damage every cast. Just keep him blind/weakened and apply cracked armor as often as you can. Javelin is handy for an interrupt.86.131.118.190 14:38, 19 September 2007 (CDT)Spell Mouse

The inclusion of shock or gale is beneficial vs the bison (substitute for javelin). It will give you enough time to re-blind him after purge (or as interrupt of course). 72.11.116.63 11:17, 24 September 2007 (CDT)

---

A standard Air build focusing on killing quickly. Before you aggro, cast your Enchantments. AoR is there as a cover, and for self-heal against a random hit from Magni. This build worked against most opponents. For Danika: Wear her out a bit, and when she gets BR'd b Brutus, spike Sheena with L Hammer, L Orb. For Magni: Begin with Enchantments and such. Open your attack chain with Blinding Flash. He will immediately remove it, but that won't matter. Once he is in melee range, your Blinding Flash should be recharged, and thus he won't score a hit. If your Flash is recharged, count to 4 and recast. If you see him casting Purge Signet, or know it's about to come, time a Flash so he had just casted Purge Signet, and is blinded again. If he manages to score a hit, just keep casting, the wounds will heal due to AoR.

Max air magic, and put the rest of the attribute points in earth magic and energy storage. The three skills on the far right are optional, and can be replaced by whatever is most useful in defeating the preceding opponents.

The idea is to spam blinding surge on M. Bison to keep him blinded most of the time. Kinetic armor reduces the damage you take when hit, and should be easy to cast once and keep up for the rest of the battle after that. Aura of restoration can outheal the damage that M. Bison does when he occasionally lands a hit. Air attunement and glyph of lesser energy are for energy management, and should be used as often as the recharge allows.

Monk
Att spread: 16 Smite, 10 Prot, 10 Divine, 3 Insp. Don't bother trying to fight the monks with this. Most enemies can be easily managed with different tactic here.

Smite 16 Deadly 9 Dagger 9

Against any enemy just use the chain, they should die before using iron palm. For Magni precast Reversal, and cast it once more after Holy Strike, then continue the chain and finish with reversal. Then Kite away and keep casting reversal on recharge. Rinse and repeat.

Divide your attribute points among protection prayers, smiting prayers, and divine favor. The two skills on the far right are optional, but you'll mainly need damage from those two slots if you wish to replace them, in order to beat the opponents leading up to M. Bison.

Keep protective spirit and retribution up at all times, and defender's zeal on M. Bison as much of the time as possible. Protective spirit ensures that he can't knock too much life off of you. Reversal of fortune is your main healing spell, and you'll have to use it every several seconds. Retribution and reversal of damage are how you do the damage to kill M. Bison. Defender's zeal and castigation signet are for energy management, and the latter should be used as often as the cooldown allows.

Assassin
Most important is blind, it helps greatly against Bison and other martial characters. I used By far not a perfect build but was able to kill everyone, Mhenlo can be hard, but if you are fast enough with twisting fangs he to can be beaten. The rest is a question of spamming Sneak attack and keeping your hp regen skills up which will out-heal most damage.

I successfully used: Dagger Mastery 11+2 Critical Strikes 12+1 Earth Prayers 8 Mystic Regeneration, Critical Agility, and Critical Defenses will tear up melee opponents. The only tricky fights are Eve and Vhang. For Bison, keep up Fleeting Stability and use Critical Strikes frequently to keep your energy up.

I did it cleanly (when only Eve and Norgu being impossible and Vhang and Kisai tricky): Dagger Mastery 10+2 Shadow Arts 8+1 Critical Strikes 10+3 Earth Prayers 8

Divide your attribute points among critical strikes, dagger mastery, and shadow arts. The two skills on the far right are optional, but an off-hand attack and a dual attack in those spots are highly recommended in order to do adequate damage in the preceding fights.

Start the fight by using smoke powder defense. When M. Bison first hits you, he'll be blinded, and immediately purge it. Be ready with temple strike immediately after he purges his blindness. Wait until right about when that wears off to hit him with blinding powder. If you wait long enough, he'll waste purge signet removing blindness right as it is about to wear off, at which point you hit him with temple strike again and repeat the process. If you wait too long, you'll have to use smoke powder defense to re-blind him in order to get him to waste purge signet. Shadow refuge and heart of shadow are your healing skills. Jagged strike is recommended for its very quick recharge, low energy cost, and ability to do massive damage from bleeding since you can only use it infrequently due to energy constraints and the large energy cost of temple strike.

Ritualist
An effective ritualist strategy for winning the tournament is spirit-spamming. About five damage dealing spirits, and the Painful Bond hex on your opponent, will usually defeat most opponents in just two or three waves of spirit attacks. However, if you cast them before the door opens, when you enter the arena, the door closes behind you and your spirits are cut off and unable to attack. The trick here is to wait for the door to open, then stand in the doorway and cast your spirits there. As long as you're only halfway in, the door will not close and the round will not begin, but your spirits will be positioned such that they can attack once the round begins.

If you face Norgu, he will provide a bit of scare while you're doing this. Unlike most opponents, he doesn't wait on the other side of the arena for you to enter, but will instead run forward and cast Backfire on you while you're still standing in the doorway summoning spirits. Don't worry about it, it's harmless while you're just using rituals, and it will wear off by the time you're ready to enter the arena and cast Painful Bond on him, and he doesn't do anything else until you enter the arena.

When you enter the area, it's a good idea to run sideways a bit to put some space between you and the spirits. Several of your opponents may open with an AoE attack, and alas, spirits don't dodge. Best to draw fire away from them.

Two troublesome opponents you may face while getting to the final round are Razah and Danika. Razah is problematic because it is also running a spirit-spammer build, and it seems content to just stand at the other end of the arena summoning spirits while you stand at your end with yours, not coming into range of your spirits. You can try to lure it out, but you'll put yourself in range of its spirits in the process. Bringing Gaze of Fury will make Razah much easier to deal with.

Danika is problematic because she shows up with her two wallow friends, and your spirits probably won't stay concentrated on Danika. Combine that with her excellent healing skills, and she's a problem to take down. Interestingly, she doesn't appear at the opposite end of the arena like other opponents but often waits closer to the middle. If you're lucky, you can carefully edge up enough to get your spirits to start attacking her without having the doorway close behind you, in which case, she and her friends don't attack back. This makes things much easier.

Finally, you'll get to Magni himself. Magni's pretty easy as long as you do one important thing: wait for him to use his Purge Signet once before casting Painful Bond on him. If you cast it right away, he just purges the hex, and the damage output from your spirits alone will probably not take him out before Shadowsong expires, at which point it becomes much more difficult to defeat him. But if you wait, the hex will stay on him long enough so that you'll defeat him right about when the Shadowsong spirit finally gives up the ghost. You might have to dodge him for a few seconds, but victory and the Bison Cup (or more tokens) will be yours.

There's probably a million ways to make an effective spirit spammer, but for the record, here's what I used:

Cast the first five in the doorway, enter the arena, cast the sixth on your opponent, and wait for victory. Use the last two as the situation warrants.

Dervish
Ebon Scythe Snathe is needed.

When he purges his blind Vital Boon, Mystic Regeneration and Faithful Intervention, should keep you alive long enough for you to use sweep (IF you kept track of the purge recharge and didn't just use it) blinding him again. Use Eternal Aura to Keep up Heart of Fury 3 times in a row, a total of 54sec (.: if you survive 6 more seconds u passed it). - Firestorm10 (forgot to login before :P)

It is absolutely essential to use an ebon scythe. If you don't have one, you can try to make up for it with dust cloak or staggering force. Divide your points among scythe mastery, earth prayers, and mysticism. The three skills on the far right are optional. Mystic sweep could be replaced by some other scythe attack as well, but it must either have a very short recharge or have multiple scythe attacks, so there is always one quickly available.

Keep ebon dust aura up at all times, and use scythe attack skills as often as necessary to keep M. Bison virtually always blinded. Mystic regeneration, vital boon, and signet of pious light are your healing skills to keep yourself alive. Scythe attacks do adequate damage to slowly wear M. Bison down, though the bleeding from aura of thorns would hasten it.

Paragon
12 Tactics, 12 Spear Mastery, 10 Leadership. Keep casters Dazed with Awe and feel free to use both knockdown skills; for a better energy management, do not use attack skills (Alesia may be an exception), and they'll go down fast. Even faster will this do with melee fighters, Dervishes and Magni comprised. Immediately knock him down with YMLAD and you'll prevent his Bear Form.

Hmmm, is it me, or including a skill you get from defeating Magni (

Max attribute points in spear mastery and motivation. A furious spear helps, but isn't really necessary. The three skills on the right are optional, and can be replaced by whatever is most useful in defeating the preceding opponents. Song of restoration could be replaced by any other 5 energy chant or shout.

Start by using a chant or shout, and then use signet of aggression. One hit will then charge barbed spear, so use that, followed by maiming spear to cripple M. Bison. Run around to avoid him, stopping as necessary to reapply barbed spear and maiming spear to keep him perpetually crippled. Use mending refrain if you get hit, but maiming spear lasts long enough that you should rarely get hit.

Any/Ranger
Lazy mans guide to defeating the bison and anyone with only Mhenlo being a pain the ass.

Usage: Before the fight summon, then target the bison. When the door opens up make your holding your bow (doesn't matter what kind I used a longbow) and keep clicking distracting shot. Transform to ursan. Open up with ursan rage then with strike followed by roar. Keep spamming strike and rage and roar as they become available. He should be dead in about 15-30 secs.

All this build essentially needs is a norn rank of 3 or higher. Otherwise you'll take too long and the bison could become the bear again ^^ or he would simply kill you. A bow and distracting shot. It goes faster if you have marks and a higher norn and asura rank although it's not necessary

Usage: Make sure you have a level 20 pet. The pet serves as a semi-tank to distract aggro away from you. Go into Ursan mode and spam 1 with a bow equipped. If Bison kills your pet, hit 4 and kite until he gives up chasing you or is at a safe distance away, then continue using 1 to damage him. If he gets real close, hitting 3 can reduce damage and 2 with good timing can knock him down giving you more opportunity to escape. For other skill slots, considering bringing Call of Protection, and other skills with lasting effect but are not enchantments.

Any/Ritualist
Stay in the door, cast 1 and summon 2-6, then cast 7 on your opponent and run back to your spirits. On Magni recast your spirits if possible.

WOW, all i can say is wow, awesome. I used shadow song and offering of spirit instead of vorizun.

Or use Summon Spirits PvE skill to cast Spirits before door opens, then run through door and summon them to you before it closes again.

- vorizun is for energy-less classes ;)