[XBOX] Need Help Tanking Orcus as Iron Vanguard & Protector

oneblueeyethree

My GF is spec'd as Iron Vanguard and Protector. I run dungeons almost exclusively with guildies, but its never a hand picked group. I run with whoever feels like playing that night because thats what friends do. I have a 2.9k Item Level and have no issue with any other boss but Orcus. Most dungeons I can run easily without a healer. Orcus kicks my butt way too much. I have completed the dungeon a handful of times but only had one completion where I felt like I successfully face tanked him.

Basically, I keep my shield up 99% of the time and only drop it to pop Fighter's Recovery, Guardian Sigil or very rarely another encounter when I clearly have the time. Sometimes he still 1 shots me for 150k HP through the shield and 80% DR. When I look back through the log, some of his hits even after being reduced, nail me for 160k+ HP.

So. Can someone with an Iron Vanguard; Protector build tell me if they can consistently tank Orcus and if so, what abilities do you run and what are the other party mates who are critical to this? (Buff/Debuff DC?) Do you know what abilities they run that help the most?

I am confident that if I respecd to Swordmaster and ran Steel Defense that this fight would be much easier as I can pop Fighter's Recovery back to back through the whole fight. But, with Mod 10 coming and Steel Defense getting a nerf, I am hesitant to re-spec.

Should I bite the bullet and change to Swordmaster just for Steel Defense for this one fight?! If so, why is there a boss that does so much dmg that you need total immunity to survive?

Thanks in advance from one frustrated GF.

oliboyph

The only time he can one-shot you is when you have your shield down. The trick is to time your encounters perfectly, there is enough time between his strikes to cast an encounter or a daily. Although I'm currently using the IV-Tact build, i'd say that we both have the same issue of not having SD.

What I usually do is go Guard - ITF - Guard - CS - Guard - ITF - If I don't have DC I pop FR else I use Indomitable Strength. If I see the globes spawn I just back away with my guard still up then run away. When I approach Orcus, I also do it with my shield up.

schrehe72

If you have GS ~2.2 - 2.5k Orcus can easily One-hit you even with shield up.
He was one reason for me to switch to SM . He does hits up to 900k DMG so that at the end you still got +100k dmg even now when i got 2900 GS and almost 18k Def.
Thats what the parser says.
If you experience lags or have ping ~150ms (what he often have here in Europe without the EU2 proxy) you have less the 2 secs time to activate a skill.
That why i always pray a bit for luck when encountering him. Not a difficult encounter but sometimes nasty depending on him and your connection.

oneblueeyethree

Thanks for the input. I think I am going to write down all my feats, paragon and power points and re-spec to sword master. If I don't like it, I will just re-spec back to the build I have now.

oliboyph

schrehe72 said:

If you have GS ~2.2 - 2.5k Orcus can easily One-hit you even with shield up.
He was one reason for me to switch to SM . He does hits up to 900k DMG so that at the end you still got +100k dmg even now when i got 2900 GS and almost 18k Def.
Thats what the parser says.
If you experience lags or have ping ~150ms (what he often have here in Europe without the EU2 proxy) you have less the 2 secs time to activate a skill.
That why i always pray a bit for luck when encountering him. Not a difficult encounter but sometimes nasty depending on him and your connection.

If you have 80% DR it should not be the case. 900k damage with 80% DR is only 180k damage, run that through guard and that's just 36k. But I will agree that Lag will become a huge problem and is enough of a reason to go SM.

wabber

Seems if you want to tank Orcus and you know what his max hit is start stacking radiants or brutal instead of Azure's. Swap those azures to a defender bonding companion to make up the defense lost, and to gain max hp, to give yourself a bigger safety margin.

If you would rather change your party comp, then try a DC with anointed army to cover your gaps in defense, and if that still is not enough a templock + 2 dps. If your running kV turn it off for this fight, dps should not be being hit and if they are you will not save them from Orcus.

Another option is a defender companion with bell to give you breathing room to back away to get healed up. If you don't have a bell a frost mimic has the same ability as bell just shorter duration. The lion companion has an ability to reduce damage by another 10% and take it on himself.

Edit: just thought of something else, wheel of elements has a nice stack of temp HP for your use, at mythic every 60 seconds and lasts 10 seconds.

These are just options, only you know what will work for you.

namelesshero347

Fast activating encounters only. LS, CS, and ITF. LS boosts your DR for a few seconds.
If you are taking damage with your shields up, then Orcus's hits will need to be debuffed. A CW with RoE or DC with BtS or AS.

oneblueeyethree

Thanks for the responses. I had a token in the bank to I decided to change to sword master. During the respec I went heavy on Constitution (30 now) to try and max my HP.

I have pugged CN twice since then. 1 completion and one close. With my guild group I should be good.

Using steel defense allows me to stay immune to damage most of the fight.

I also upgraded a bonding runestone from rank 8 to 9.

One tactic that helped was as soon as Orcus raises his arms to unleash one of his random attacks (ie: green balls of death). I back off and rotate 90 degrees to the right. This lets me at least see the green ball before it hits me.

For this fight, SW is much better. I have also run all other dungeons since the change to test the build. I can perform on the same level or higher, so no loss anywhere it seems.

Thanks again!

wabber

Yea extra HP is always nice for a safety cushion. Some say if your on pc you can increase camera zoom distance to see balls easier. Never thought of backing away and turning to look for them.
Just be careful if no one is in melee distance he will start one shotting people.

Glad to hear it is working out for you