Talk:Ruins of Morah (mission)

Hench and Heroes tactics
If no one objects, I propose to remove the part where the guide says "Although this method is fairly straightforward with a human party, this will prove very difficult to achieve with henchmen and heroes, as they will periodically move toward enemies or stay in one position after killing Varesh. This method is not recommended when using a full party of heroes and/or henchmen." This is absurd. I have killed varesh and gotten masters using this method with only henchies and heroes every single time. Whoever wrote that has obviously never thought of flagging your team near the entrance. You can then easily pull each of the mobs from there using a long bow. In fact the mission is way easier with just heroes and henchies. Average time it takes is 7 minutes. Ill check back when someone thinks its appropriate to remove.--Grimeyes 05:20, 6 April 2007 (CDT)

Since no one objects, I made the appropriate changes to the page.--Grimeyes 14:18, 14 April 2007 (CDT)

What i finnaly ended up doing was making team all ranged/casters and killing the 3 margonites then standing/flaging in exact middle of area and killing varesh. then when she respawns just sit safely in the middle :-) --69.4.97.24 23:56, 21 August 2007 (CDT)


 * I tried flagging heros/henchies to the entrance area, but Commander Varesh comes running up and then all the enemies come over...so I was unable to pull anything... Fayree 12:56 29 September 2007


 * From what I've seen, flagging in middle (no longer?) works, the circular patrol of torment creatures will bring them in range, and you'll essentially get aggro from everything. Likewise, I remember once upon time pulling Varesh away to kill her opposite to entrance gate without getting aggro from other spawns, but this no longer seems to work either - her paragon form no longer appears to follow away from the center. -- Kitsunebi

masters
Got it using my own ridiculous NecroTank build, which kept her bleeding with sword attack, launced flesh golems and kept "Shields Up" going when Morgahn wasn't. Also used Olias w/shivers, spoil victor and Winter, plus three healers, Cynn and Odurra. Pretty easy when you follow tips here, unlike with the doofus group I tried it with at first. --208.58.3.202 22:00, 1 April 2007 (CDT)

you definitely get the masters if you do it in under 5 minutes, I am guessing the cut off is 10 minutes though. --Lemming64 18:53, 2 November 2006 (CST)

I received Master's when I took 7:57. Gwm 23:13, 3 November 2006 (CST)
 * I got masters at 7:52. 2 man team with heros.   I went with knockdowns hammer and flail and did nothing but attack her while the others fought the minions.  Keeping weakness on her helps alot too.  Was slow but still managed masters without actually going for it. --SK [[Image:Warrior-icon-small.png]]  19:17, 16 November 2006 (CST)

I beat it in under 4mins. Gaze now works on her. --The King Tarosian 00:05, 8 November 2006 (CST)

There is an even easier way than the one written in here. Lightblade 13:58, 8 November 2006 (CST)

I got the expert's reward for completing the mission in just over 10:30. -- Gordon Ecker 04:37, 10 November 2006 (CST)
 * I just got Experts for 10:23 - I'm willing to bet the cutoff for standard is 12 minutes. --Dragonaxe 01:45, 28 November 2006 (CST)

7:53 and Expert :-) Did it solo with Dunkoro(Healer), a standard Morgahn, Margrid (Apply Poison, Distracting and Savage Shot), Devona, Aidan, Mhenlo and Khim........... Good Luck!tapps75 17:25, 17 November 2006 (CST)

Wow, this has become a place for people to brag.

3:53, with a toucher, wooo. --Silk Weaker 09:34, 4 December 2006 (CST)

02:52 simply placed SV on Varesh and watched as her health go down.Glass 09:51, 9 December 2006 (CST)
 * What is "SV"?
 * Sympathetic Visage &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] (talk|contribs) 19:47, 9 December 2006 (CST)
 * I think he meant Spoil Victor. That makes more sense. 84.249.19.118 17:22, 10 December 2006 (CST)
 * Oi, I looked through the entire skill lists looking for ones that could be abbreviated SV and I totally missed that one. I didn't think Sympathetic Visage made any sense...  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] (talk|contribs)

Earth Vortex does knockdown, atleast when I tried to use Res Sigs.. --Angelo

Another hint especially for rangers: Arms of Insanity set up Quickening Zephyr. So with a silencing bow and broad head arrow you can keep her dazed the whole fight. (I´d suggest combination with poison arrow for constant high degen...) This disables Call of Sacrifice. With only ranged heroes/henchmen all pinned at the top of the starting point with the flag you only have to deal with 2 groups of demons and Varesh herself. Shouldn´t be too much of a problem. Good luck. tapps75 06:44, 14 December 2006 (CST)
 * I agree, rangers really own this mission, in any form. As mentioned above touch rangers do especially well here too - keeps pressure on Varesh. Bumrushing her second form is completely doable with a touch ranger + command/defense tactics paragon + spoil victor necro. 4:09 completion - gave up on any of the tactics listed and just decided to try and hit Varesh. (0 Lightbringer rank too). -Scyfer 21:15, 29 December 2006 (CST)

New record time using my 55 and SV, along with a Rt guildie - 2:02. Best time with all henchie/hero group 2:28.Widow of Darkness 16:15, 7 January 2007 (CST)

Did it in 4:04 this morning at about 0530, so my build was kind of wacky. My Dervish used HoHF and ZR with a couple of attack skills; brought Arcane Echo, Echo and Lightbringer's Signet (rank 3) for kicks. Koss was a knockdown hammer warrior w/Shield's Up and WY!, Morgahn used Incoming! and WY!, Olias brought lots of Curses, OoP, and a couple of support Blood skills. Don't have SV or OoV unlocked for him yet. Rounded out the party with Devona, Odurra and the two healers. No one dipped under about 40% health at all ... This was my 4th attempt, and I have to say that WY!, Shield's Up and, to a lesser extent, Incoming! all made a world of difference. It also helped that Koss kept Varesh on her back pretty consistently. In the first part, kill the clerics first, then Varesh. When she respawns as the Commander, ignore everything else and focus on her.Bloodarrow 12:33, 16 January 2007 (CST)
 * Oh my God. I love you. Whoever put the 'tip' on this article for the dervs was lucky. I'd been trying that way for the past 4 or 5 times. Read this discussion, tried your tactic, and did it in 6 minutes on the first try. Thanks for posting your tactic :x --Rei 12:38, 24 January 2007 (CST)
 * I have to second this build of yours. I used my warrior instead of a dervish. I had Olias use Order of Vampire instead of Order of Pain. Got Masters in 4:29. Works like a charm.

Did it in 9 min, I'm a command para, using heros/henchmen of mm, sf nuker, fighter and healer, killed everything in vision, the boss is fighting hopelessly all alone and can't even move out of the angry shambles lol.

Good build and easy way to master this with hero/npcs only is: para, prot, tank as heroes and both monks, fire nuker, mesmer as npcs. Needs bit modification if own char deals too less dmg. Set a flag point in front of the entrance after deafeating Varesh 1st time.

Many thanks to whoever posted Alternative two, it made this mission a joke... Used me and my two ele heroes (all SF), Morgan as a Chanter, and Herta/Sogolon/Mehnlo/Khim as Henchies. We made 5:37 on the first try with 1 death total. =) --Zerris (talk) 02:28, 8 March 2007 (CST)
 * Indeed, I didn't want to waste time and payed 3k to get master, the guy did it in 3:22 showing me the trick. I and the other like me did not use 1 single skill. So 6 man(1man,3hero,2hence) can do it in 3min and 22 seconds. --Vezz

3:37 with monk and mesmer players accompanied by a necro hero. Waiting for hard mode... - 91.153.22.139 19:50, 10 April 2007 (CDT)

An other real easy tactic is to basically divide and conquer. 2 Monks, 1 Ranger, 1 Morgahn, 4 tanks. No real specific buils are needed, apart from interrupt/pin down for the ranger. First part is easy - take out the margonite healers while the ranger keeps Varesh pinned down, and kill her after that. In the second part, two tanks keep the mobs happy, two hack away at Varesh. The "mob group" should get the most healer attention seeing Varesh doesn't do a lot of damage in that stage. Get the ranger to interrupt the necro beasts to prevent those annoying minions. This is probably the easiest tactic to explain and execute, as I've noticed. Either that, or people just really suck at GW a lot. (Mission time: 6:21, by the way) - 81.70.50.145 18:45, 4 May 2007 (CDT)

I got just under 6 minutes fairly easily with hench/heroes. Use all ranged characters - no meelee whatsoever. For the first phase just go up and kill her and her three margonite clerics, then flag everyone to the center and you won't have to deal with the patrols - they just walk around you while you take out varesh. Was wondering if I should add it to the strategies since it's generic and vieable(sp?)... ElessarTelrunya 09:47, 19 June 2007 (CDT)

Expert's Reward
I just got Expert with 11:02 I'm changing it to 12:00 till someone says otherwise  =/  -  Entice789  (Talk | Contributions) 21:01, 8 January 2007 (CST)

Dervish Tip
I'm not sure how that skill set is going to work for the Dervish, for one thing, you need to use some Earth damage skill or scythe for Ebon Dust Aura to work, and if you do that you are sacrificing one persons ability to take advantage of OoP. I'd rather change it to Enfeeble Varesh instead of blinding her and change Ebon Dust Aura to some form or something. -Alperuzi 15:21, 27 January 2007 (CST)

Defensive Skills

 * Whichever method you choose, it is helpful to bring multiple uses of "Shields Up!". As most of Varesh's minions, including Varesh herself, deal ranged piercing-type damage, Shields Up! will make you virtually immune to damage from attacks. Aegis is similarly helpful, as is Bladeturn Refrain.

Shields Up! and Aegis I have used and they work wonders, but why is Bladeturn Refrain mentioned in the article? It states that most of the mobs cause piercing damage, so it will be next to useless (Bladeturn is vs slashing). Anyone feel in the mood to stick up for this skill, or shall I remove it? RossMM 13:24, 18 February 2007 (CST)
 * I removed it. RossMM 18:54, 27 February 2007 (CST)

55
An experienced monk with a tweaked 55 build and a ss and sv hero and another hero with BiP or Blood Ritual can easily get masters. I just got run by one of em.--IcyShaker 02:05, 10 March 2007 (CST)
 * Really easy to solo or H/H masters, i see runners like all the time 55ing. Or are they 600ing? Idk.. --[[Image:Warwick sig.JPG]] Warwick (Talk)/(Contr. ) 20:18, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Morgahn Charges!
Is this a glitch? when you trigger Varesh's dialogue, General Morgahn charges to attack even if you flagged him. You must flag him after he starts moving to keep him away from Varesh. Glitch...or...intended? Snow Phoenix


 * I haven't noticed that, and I just took two characters through there last week. Sounds like you had a glitch.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 09:52, 23 May 2007 (CDT)
 * It happened to me several times, with Morgahn, but also with others Hero (Zhed, Norgu and Master of Whispers). Ascendance
 * I also had this happen to me, and it's rather aggravating. The good news is that it's not a glitch, nor is it complicated to remedy.  Open the hero panel and click the middle AI option and they'll always stay with the flag. --OctoberJade 208.47.40.193 19:06, 7 July 2007 (CDT)
 * I think its because hes pissed at her because he didnt kill her when she became evil and he feels he is responsible for it all, lol. - Chrisworld 14:39, 19 July 2007 (CDT)

hint for elementalists
Blinding Flash for the win! Sounds trivial but it absolutely and totally saved us in Hard Mode where Varesh hits for around -250 damage every swing otherwise. T.T.H. 18:37, 26 May 2007 (CDT)
 * or Ebon Dust Aura will keep him blind much longer. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.81.252.103 (contribs).
 * EDA is a Dervish elite - T.T.H.'s comment was for Elementalists. &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 09:52, 6 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Besides, Varesh is female - Snow White Tan [[Image:Snow White Tan's Sig.JPG|42.71px|Talk]] 11:00, 23 June 2007 (CDT)

When first taking an earth ele through this mission, I used Eruption, Ebon Hawk, Stoning, Stone Sheath and Ward Against Elements. It may not be the best build in the world, but it worked wonders when it came to reducing Varesh's damage in both phases of the mission. RossMM 19:38, 6 June 2007 (CDT)

Master reward with a Dervish
just got the master (04:56) with my Dervish with that teambuild Kill the three Margonite monks, then kill her, pull back to the spawning point, pull two or three of the demons groups, while dealing with the third, Varesh should come, focus on her even if the others groups come and defeat her. Ascendance
 * Me : Mystic Sweep, Victorious Sweep, Avatar of Balthazar, Vital Boon, Heart of Holy Flame, Eternal Aura, Dust Cloak and Lightbringer's Gaze.
 * Morgahn - Damage Dealer --> []
 * Master of Whisper - only two skills : Enfeeble and Spoil Victor (12 in curses and 12 in blood)
 * Zhed Shadowhoof - Searing Flames build, replace Immolate with Blinding Flash
 * Henches : Devona, Mhenlo, Khim and Odurra.

Easy Masters
I just got masters with this team==


 * Me = Brunign Arrow + NightmareWeapon/Triple Shot
 * Friend == SS/SV
 * 2 monk Heroes = both healer
 * Melonni = dmg
 * Morgahn = Party Support
 * Zhed = Fire
 * Olias = MM..yes MM

Kill 1 or 2 demons so u get some minions, then focus on the 2nd form of Varesh, minions will distract Demon while you own Varesh. This way we did it 3:51. 16:50, 27 June 2007 (CDT)

Even easier way,
 * 1 r10 ursan
 * 1 LoD healer
 * 1 signet smiter
 * 1 ele with meteor shower
 * 4 other random people


 * the ursan attack and knockdown skill prevent the majority of her skills, and the signet smiter stops the rest, completed the masters in 2:23, -siris

Hard Mode
How does the 55 tanking Spoil victor method work if Varesh can remove all your enchantments?
 * Very carefully --DEATHWING 01:32, 10 July 2007 (CDT)
 * A very pointless response Deathwing... The way is to use a hero (or 2) with inspired/revealed Hex. Since it is a monster skill it does not replace the hex removal and so can be spammed. This is stated in the article. Sorsscriba 22:32, 28 July 2007 (CDT)
 * Actually, the monk carries inspired hex. That way you only need the tank, the necro, and morgahn. Progger 06:50, 7 August 2007 (CDT)

lol i did hard mode in 2:59. assassin (me) with shadow form tanking and olias and zhed behind it with ss sv and some other necro curses and the rest all rangers, monks or spellcasters.

REALLY easy masters
Kill all the clerics. Move Varesh to the edge of her pit and flag your heroes to the center of the pit. Kill varesh while shes on the side (where the terrain changes) and then move to the center. You can then sit happily in the center and by simply moving a step or two dodge ALL of the torment spawns. Masters in 3:53 because I forgot to manually have master of whispers cast SV and got disconnected in the middle of the fight for about a minute. You want varesh to die (the first time) on the edge because that way if she casts any of her AOEs your heroes won't flee the second time she spawns and aggro all the torment creatures. Kelvin Greyheart 21:15, 10 July 2007 (CDT)

Another masters with Hero/Hench
I thought it would be good of me to list the build I used since I've struggled to find a decent party for a few days now and ended up doing this on my own.

My build: Warrior using: Wild blow, Critical Chop, Penetrating Blow, Dismember, "Watch yourself!", Lightbringers Gaze, "Shields Up!" & Healing Signet.

I used:
 * General Morgahn (Critical Spear build [OQKkgJlsJiqTQ+BbhrwIn0t7WeD])
 * Olias (Spoil Victor, Enfeeble, Inspired Hex, Revealed Hex [OAVDMDxHPqw6gFIDCAAAAAAA]. I left him to his own devices and didn't manually select any of the skills)
 * Magrid the Sly (Touch Ranger [OgQSQ4LP1QOhkA1IcSNaCBA]).

& Cynn, Odurra, Mhenlo and Kihm as the henches.

Most of the builds could do with tweaking, but I had put enough time into this without playing around with it any more. Killed monks, killed 1st Varesh. Then stayed slap bang in the middle of the centre to avoid the other spawns, and took out the 2nd Varesh. Completed in 3:18 without deaths, which is pretty good considering the lack of prep. Now I have to get masters on the next three missions... great... Ibiris 08:06, 18 July 2007 (CDT)
 * you got lucky, it is very difficult to avoid the spawns like this. BUT, since this build is high on DPS, you can actually go to the far end of the map and kill the groups around one by one until two pairs are left. Then proceed to kill Varesh. I did it that way in 6.15 for masters 85.98.15.155 12:41, 13 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Actually its really not hard to dodge the torment creatures. Just stay dead on in the center and maybe flag everyone a step or two in a direction at the worst of times.  If you have two patrols on both sides.  Stay in front of one just a little until the other one goes past and then swing back around wide behind the one that went past.  It's a lot of micro and careful watching but its not hard once you get a feel for it.  Also keep in mind that most enemies have to get IN your aggro bubble to aggro,  you can get as much as half of their red dot in your cicrle before most creatures aggro. Kelvin Greyheart 08:37, 17 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Or, bring "Save Yourselves!" and proceed to aggro every mob in site, a Jagged bones necro(animate minions + 3 monks = 6 minions), a curses necro with barbs and SV, and morgahn with burning refrain(perma burning). Just finished in 2:33 seconds, Yay me.--Idiot 02:21, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * HARD MODE 3:07 Using the above Heroes with respective templates + henchies. Just stayed tanking her after bringing her up some, odurra died near the end in second fight from several tormented on us.--ShmEk 05:23, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Ibiris' method worked perfectly, managed 2:58 in HM with no deaths. The only difference was that I took an MM instead of Margrid and went as an Ursan myself. I certainly suggest that anyone having problems with the mission and looking on this talk page try it out. -arual 20:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Also used Ibiris' method, with the difference that I went Touch-ranger with Necrosis, and used Jora for warrior. Also I did not have the build for morgahn, so just gave him a few random skills. It worked perfectly for the rest, with 3:23 mission time, no deaths. I did dodge part of the torment creatures, the annoying thing is that commander varesh does not start in the centre, but a few meters off, and she wont come to the centre, as she attacks at range. This caused some torment creatures to attack me, but Varesh was down fast enough. Although it may take some tries, the mission is doable with probably all professions and hero's/hench. Breintje 16:24, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Grenth's Balance
Something is screaming that to me. I think I might dump my Support Morgahn's elite for GB while taking a SV necro supporter. Since I can dish out pain extremely fast with my nuker build, I'm thinking that should work well. I'm going to see if pumping his health to the max, then saccing his health as low as possible for GB will work here. 77.96.223.11 10:35, 25 August 2007 (CDT)

Safest way is to shut down Varesh damage once and for all
Primary or secondary ritualist can bring Echo together with Shadowsong. Varesh being hit will not be able to dish out a single point of damage for 90 seconds (Shadowsong spirit lasts for 30 seconds each.)

Your other heroes / henchmans should focus on creating more conditions for Varesh. General Morgahn can equip with spear skills to do inflict Deep Wound, Bleeding, Fire and Daze.

http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vareshrf7.jpg

(29 September 2007, "The Last Prophesier")

Cracked Armor
I don't know whats causing it but I'm getting cracked armor constantly with my P/D. My heroes don't seem to be getting it. Cowboysoultaker 06:14, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Aggressive Refrain Blue.rellik 06:16, 13 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Are you using Aggressive Refrain? --Gimmethegepgun 06:34, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, yup, thats it. darn I feel stupid.  thanks guys 69.246.236.111 04:50, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Master reward as a elementalist
I just did the mission with heroes and henchmen as an ele. I hope this will help the other eles:

I took Koss (tactics with defensive stances and armor buffs and deep wounds), talkhora (boon healer), general morghan (spear mastery mostly, but i had shitty skills for him) with devona, mhenlo, eve and odurra (though she was pretty useless here) and myself i was an air ele.

Just keep blinding Varesh with blindin flash and keep weakening her with enervating charge and everything will be fine for the 2 parts of the mission. But for the second part I noticed that if I could stay right where Varesh spawned for the scond phase I could stay out of range of aggroing the other mobs. Actually we downed Varesh to 30% health and then the mobs around started to attack us, but you still have to focus on Varesh. I didnt notice any problem on healing too: i think nobody died actually during the whole fight. It took 3:19 minutes LOL - July 17 2008

Lol easy with hero/hench
this screen tells everything you want to know: click - got master's reward. forgot to sign -- Dasen 11:16, 12 October 2008 (UTC)