User:Darrellakitchen

Eye of the North - Destruction's Depths
For this particular mission, I used my Roleplaying Character (RPC) named Buzz Ard, a Prophecies Ranger. For a detailed description of this RPC, please follow the link provided by clicking on the RPC's name, i.e., Buzz Ard.



The juggernaut at the first waypoint on Level 2 (second map) has to probably be the most difficult section of this particular mission that I have ever seen for full-person teams. In my opinion it may be due to the fact that everyone has their own idea on how to complete this mission, some of which are, honestly, fueled by the posts of the wiki itself ... Guild Wars own wiki pages inclusive.

It doesn't really have to be that hard and so what I am doing here is offering the strategy I use when doing this particular campaign mission alone with Heroes and Henchmen (HH).

The second map on the right () has been marked with numbers indicating the movement taken to complete this most difficult object, effortlessly. Well, there is a bit of effort involved to keep from being overrun, but I use the word loosely to indicate that it is rare that I ever get KO'ed in this run.

''It should be noted that I keep the three Golem on [Melee] the entire time during this mission, and not once do I loose them to power loss. At least not running alone.

On occasion I will take someone with me and replace one of the Henchmen depending on the primary profession of the other person. That is, if the other person is Warrior, then I replace Talon Silverwing. Or if the other person is a Monk, then Lina first. And so on.''

On entering this area, at point 1 (one), though I have not gone past this point without having to engage the Dryders, I would assume that since Destroyers and Dryders are always confronting each other, if I can get past without engaging them, I will and just let the Destroyers and Dryders thin each other out. But that is a rare moment, and one to be savored if it ever is presented. In any case, after dispatching the Dryders and Spirits, if I have anyone else with me I take this time to instruct them to keep an eye on the compass and follow my movements.

Running past point 3 (three) on the map, I proceed to point 2 (two) and engage my first Destroyer spawn group. It should be noted that once I get in the aggro bubble range of point 3, Destroyers start spawning immediately just Southeast of point 1, but I just ignore them and go on to point 2. After taking out the group at point 2, I proceed on to point 3 where the first group which spawned Southeast from point 1 should have already arrived.

Engaging the Destroyers at point three another spawn will approach from point 1. This really is easy to take out these two spawn groups, but in my mind, speed is important. I then quickly dispatch both Destroyer groups, and then proceed on to point 4 (four).

Once I arrive at point 4 I flag my HH as close to the archway as possible so as not to aggro the two groups that will be converging between point 3 and point 5 (five) on the map. There will be two groups to spawn at point 4, but if done quickly enough the first group will be dispatched before the second group appears. I then stay at the archway and take out the second group. After the second group has been taken out, I then head to point 5 on the map which is actually located at the bottom of the ice bridge.

Once at point 5, I start tabbing around looking for the Avatar of Destruction. It has been an ongoing occurance for me that while trying to locate the Avatar the group that contains the Avatar starts moving in on my position. By that time I have it targeted, called, and pop off an Alkar's Alchemical Acid and the melee begins. Immediately after the Avatar is dispatched, I start looking for any Destroyer of Earth's and take them out, calling all targets (without exception). It's simpler if everyone is on the same target, and takes out the groups a lot quicker.

I'm always using Alkar's Alchemical Acid whenever I have the energy left to use it once it is recharged. This is perhaps the most useful skill I have ever used against Destroyers as it inflicts cracked armor and does extra damage to Destroyers. That in conjunction with Stout-Hearted of the Deldrimor Title Track.

What really surprises me is the popular opinions on various builds and various skills. For instance, Popular Opinion: Fire Elemental is useless as the Destroyers are resistant to fire skills; Popular Opinion: Edge of Extinction (EoE) is bad because it kills the party ... !!! Had some rather nasty replies and responses from players over me using EoE in this mission. So to prove, more to myself than to them, that it is not the blacksheep skill they make it out to be, I put it on Pyre Fierceshot who spams it ever chance he gets. It has never killed me or any of my team ... YET !

And Fire Ele ... I never go anywhere without Cynn, and on occasion in either Nightfall or Factions, Vekk, with a Fire Ele build. Although, Vekk is a very poor energy manager, he still does what needs to be done with what he has. Also, Vekk with his Fire build is one of the Heroes I prefer when running the Dunes of Despair mission (along with a War and Monk hero, which is most always Koss and Ogden).

However, this heated debate over EoE is what actually prompted me to start doing DD solo. And more often than none, I go in and do it just to keep proving to myself that it is doable ... and easy ...

Okay, the last level, the Disc of Chaos. Again ... easy!

Naturally take out the groups on the second stairway level, left and right, then to the landing just right of the Disc of Chaos to aggro the second group on the right to come after me. Take them out, and by that time the Disc of Chaos is sufficiently on top of me and my group, at which time I disable all of Pyre Fierceshots skills except the first two Interrupt shots. During this process I control Pyre's interrupts to time them so that one is being fired when the other is half charged ... more Broad Head Arrow since it has a longer recharge time.

Me, I'm just firing off Alkar's Alchemical Acid at this point every time it has recharged, and making sure that Otyugh's Cry, Call of Protection, and Symbiotic Bond are maintained. With these three Beast skills constantly on, every time I use Enraged Lunge my pet averages 100+ damage. So my pet is my weapon, not my bow.

As long as I maintain the interrupts and Alkar's this mission is a piece of cake.

I would like to add also, that I used this same HH build on a Paragon and Elemental and still breezed through DD.



April 12, 2009, 7:15pm EST (-500 GMT)
Well, this one was not as smooth as the previous runs. One thing I can contribute this to was changing out Pyre Fierceshot's Broad Head Arrow with Magebane Shot. Definitely not a good choice. On comparison, one would think that Magebane would be more effective (Unblockable), but it definately didn't live up to Expectations!

Not only did I loose two of my GOLEM during the Level 2 Gauntlet, but all three of them at the Disc of Chaos. However, fortune (or luck whichever you prefer to call it) was on my side because when the GOLEM went down they had the Disc of Chaos pinned in a circle and it couldn't get out. It was trapped. And ... oh yeah ... me and the entire party died (2PC+3Hero+3Hench).

However, on rez, we had the advantage ... the Disc was immobilized leaving us free reign to take out the Destroyers that were surrounding the Disc. And after they were taken out of the equation it was just a matter of sitting back on the stairs and Ranging the Disc to death. The only effective interrupt Pyre had on this trip was Concussion Shot.

Still got through it, though, with 30%DP.

One more thing. It helps to have the Deldrimor Title Track active. At Courageous Delver (8): Everytime you use a skill against a Destroyer it takes 13 damage and you gain 13 Health. 

April 17, 2009, 1:31pm EST (-500 GMT)
Thought I'd give the above skill set a try on Buzz Ard. It's his Destroyer skill set with Edge of Extinction (EoE) replaced with Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support. Felt kind of wierd not using EoE. However, here is the result:

Took a second player with me today, an Ele/Mo, and Pyre Fierceshot as my third Hero. Henchmen were Cynn, Mhenlo, and Talon Silverwing (see above). Don't know what her build was because I didn't ask for her to ping before going in. Wasn't really watching her, but rather what I was doing. She died so many times that I couldn't even begin to keep track. At the second level where the real fun begins I wiped again, only once. I followed the regular procedure like I did yesterday (solo HH yesterday was as successful as has been when I go it alone/HH) with the only change as described in my skill set. The wipe included all three Golem going down with only 5 Destroyers left standing (including one Destroyer of Earth).

At the Disc of Chaos (DoC), only two of the Golem went down, but as long as I kept Pyre's Broad Head Arrow and Concussion Shot going, it was manageable with minimal loss. By minimal loss I mean, Livia and Cynn died once in this level, but it was not from the DoC. So we took out the DoC with one Golem in Melee.

Seems that I can cut through this mission a lot easier with EoE. So, I'll do it again later today with EoE.

Since I am carrying three Hero's Handbooks then I'll be doing Destructions Depths three times in a row. I post this after my first Handbook. 

Addendum: April 17, 2009, 6:48pm EST (-500 GMT)

Went through DD two more times solo/HH. First time through not even so much as a scratch. However, second time was a bit wierd. Referring to the second map of Level 2, Destroyer Juggernaut scenario at first waypoint, when I got to point four (4) the Golem's were not with me and I couldn't turn around to find out what had happened to them or where they went because I had the first spawned Destroyer group at point four to contend with. So I just stayed right where I was, watching the compass for any clue where the Golem might be. Not only did the missing Golem constitute wierdness, but the other wierd thing about this was I noticed on the compass a green triangle running past the group that already gathered at the point between three (3) and five (5) ... toward me. The group it passed came with it ... right to me!

So I moved (flagged) my heroes past the door archway west of where point four was and contended with that group and the second spawned group that came. When this was finished the group that followed the green triangle (that I noticed was running in my direction) had moved off back down to point three and was attacking the Norn NPC's. But, now this compounds the wierdness of the Golem's behavior, during my encounter with the mobs at point four, I saw where the Golem's had powered down.

Basically, this whole fiasco was done without the Golem's except at point two (2) and three. It was only after taking on that group of Destroyers at point three that the Golem decided to go wierd.

Anyway, point five was a noshow for the regular group of Destroyers that were supposed to be there. Instead they were at point three fighting the Norn as I just mentioned. And ... and, the Golems were on up toward point one ... powered down ... with two Destroyers pinned against the cliff facing the Ice Bridge, one of which was the Destroyer of Earth.

Wierd as it was, this was still a completely successful mission. The only casualities were the three Golem prematurely powering down due to their wandering off ... sightseeing ... or else they knew something that I didn't and head off on their own to take care of whatever it was they had insight on.

--

Taking on the DoC was easy in both missions. No one died, no wipes, no powerdowns, just business as usual.

--

These three Hero's Handbooks that I'm working on now will complete the Normal Mode usage as I will have all four Title Tracks (Asura, Deldrimor, Ebon Vanguard, and Norn) to Rank 8. After that, if I am to go beyond Rank 8, I will have to get the Handbooks in Hard Mode. Can't say I'm really looking forward to that. Last time I did a Hard Mode mission was in Prophecies and it reminded me of something akin to pouring Hydrochloric Acid on an open wound. Done that ... not intentionally.

Oh yeah. Forgot to mention. For these last two DD missions, I reverted back to the skill set I labeled as Destroyers (see above).

These solo/HH DD runs are only proving to me: 
 * 1) that EoE, in PvE, is not a bad thing to use and that people really do have tendencies to over-react to what they hear rather than what they actually experience, and
 * 2) I'm completely mystified as to why is it I can do Destruction's Depths with so little effort solo/HH and can't seem to get through it in a full team without incurring heavy DP! At times some of the players map out at their first death on level 2.

Today: April 19, 2009, 6:48pm EST (-500 GMT)
Okay, so, today I did this mission in Hard Mode (HM), solo/HH, just to see what it was like. Surprisingly I made it through using the same technique as I had been doing in Normal Mode (NM). However, this one was way tougher.

Level 1 was okay. Tough, but okay. All the mobs were Level 30. A few were lower than that, as expected the spirits were among the mob groups below Level 22. So, moving slow ... pausing to regenerate my Energy after each melee, I managed to make it through this level with no one (Hench, Hero, or me) dying.

Level 2 had the same level mobs as Level 1. Boy was this the hard one. But still, even soloing/HH in HM was better than running a full team in NM. Of course on the way to the first way-point I fainted, as did the Golem at the first encountered mob, but we made it to the way-point.

At points two, four, and five (on the second map above-right) we had some dying ... lots of dying ... poor Livia, she died the most and never went below -58% Death Penalty (DP) from that point on through the rest of the mission. Lost all three Golem at point five, at the bottom of the bridge, and this is where the entire team wiped, but fortunately it happened only once.

Never could get the Golem back online. Tried, but soon at it came up, it went for the Destroyers ... no matter what direction I ran it never followed. So I ended up flagging the HH, running in to aggro and then running back to the HH, pulling till the mobs were thined out enough to remove that group, piece-by-piece. There was one Avatar of Destruction and two Destroyers of Earth in this mob at point five.

Then I was able to reactivate the Golem and finish the rest of Level 2 with as much difficulty/ease as Level 1 presented.

Level 3 - Disc of Chaos.

This one surprised me the most. There were no team wipes here. However, I did loose all but one Golem.

I did the left group first on the middle landing, then right group on the middle landing, and I decided to take on the left group lower landing this time because they looked more readily accessible than trying to pull the group on the right lower landing. So I went for it. Never really expected the DoC to have aggroed me, but aggrovate he did. So I ran, flagging the HH ahead of me to the top tier where we entered this level. All but the DoC followed, and one Golem was with me, so I released the HH, turned around and took this group of Destroyers. By the time I engaged this mob, DoC had returned to its previous position. So taking them was relatively easy, seeing how this was HM and easy is a relative term here.

After I took out this mob, I then went at the DoC from the left side, as opposed to the right side I do in NM. So, here's what surprised me ...

With one Golem, Pyre's skills disabled except the first two Interrupt shots, and everyone (HH) doing their thing, I managed to keep the DoC interrupted for a very long time. Ran down and reactivated the closest Golem, the other one was just too far on the other side of the DoC for me to risk running past. So I just opted to keep two going. So we like beat the thing. I went into this level with the expectation that DoC was going to be perhaps 33%-50% tougher and harder to Interrupt, but it was like fighting the NM version DoC as long as I was able to keep it Interrupted ... Love that Pyre!

After the DoC passed out, I reactivated the third Golem and just cleaned up the CTC ... game over! Well, Mission over!


 * Olivia finished with -58% DP.
 * I finished with -17% DP.
 * Pyre Fierceshot finished with -16% DP. And,
 * Olias finished with +1% MB (Morale Boost)

