I get a lot of PMs ingame or friend requests asking me about ToS and I posted a video on how to do it ages ago, I don't run it the exact same anymore but feel free to leave any questions below and I will try get back to them
Nice video, pretty much the way to get it done.
Everyone cluster around the boss.
CW - steal time and sing right there on the boss.
TR - smoke bomb
GF GWF - dps and getting the aggro of the blademasters while clustered to protect the squishier members
Any - more dps
DC - heals
One thing I've noticed is your cw was hitting ice storm and I've found that and shield popping to be a bad idea, it gets too much aggro on the cw and that will kill them. And doing a knockback causes the blademasters to charge which hits like a truck. It seems better to let them sit on you and beat on the GF/GWF.
There's nothing to heal as soon as she starts draining her adds. The cleric is here for debuffs only, as long as the team isn't standing in red (without webs) and pushed by her cleave attack. The wizard lazily uses oppressive force, steal time and the shard (or icy terrain), and everyone elses does aoe while hitting the boss. Keep doing this for 3 minutes and she's down.
Says a guy with no character under 14k gearscore. -_-
Plz to remember that not everyone is at your level of gear or experience. If you're pugging at min GS, blademasters can really, really ruin your day.
This sounds like a challenge, but i actually don't have a regular team who would accept to play ToS with the min GS. If i may, though, let me say that i'm in a guild with a lot of new players and that i'm still facing the low GS challenges, just not on my end.
Blademasters are an annoyance only if you're the only one to do aoe. Of course, the solution is never removing aoe spells. It's, in a pug, telling everyone you will not enter the arena again unless everyone is using at least 2 aoe encounters (yes pugs need that kind of "incentives" to change something, unfortunately). If 5 team members with a low gear score have 2 blademasters each it's completely under control, provided the cleric is dropping a shield on the ground, using foresight with sunburst, and the CW is using at least steal time on cooldown.
I was merely saying that the main role of the DC is debuffing when the spider queen starts draining her adds, because most teams will actually need the cleric to use divine glow, and linked spirit buffing, if they have that feat. If her HP bar doesn't drop quick enough, there's no point healing the team.
Yeah, I know. It's just really easy to gauge, as a DC, exactly how much of a difference high gearing makes to the survivability of the rest of the team, because you're always watching everyone's health. Or lack of it. Possibly you should do more terribad pickup grouping to regain this perspective.
I've pugged ToS with teams that absolutely needed full A-game healbot focus (well, my A-game, so you know: probably C or D grade in reality ): screw debuffing, it took everything I had to stop people dying even when standing in the blue. We still managed it, but yeah: choice between debuffing and survival and I'll pick survival.
Conversely, I've pugged epics with teams where (in terms of heals) I barely even needed to be there ("let's try a yellow circle instead of a blue...yep, everyone still fine. Ho hum"), so debuffing was a logical approach.
I assume (PvE chars) in the 10-12k range you're still mostly softcapping your core stats (mostly those that boost damage), but after that you tend to boost less deeps-related, more survival-directed stuff like lifesteal and HP, so by 14k you're largely self-sufficient for even most epic content (as long as you don't stand in red all the time).
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ytjayMember, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 14
edited January 2014
Well this post expanded xD
0
zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
This reminds me that I need to upload my spider run! 14 min full run, no pushing, no exploiting, no deaths! Yes, I want some attention too!
. . .Nah, I PM'd jenisyde for advice and got some very sound and good legitimate advice and tips in return. It's not that hard to PM somebody, just single click their forum name and choose "Private Message." No need to stir drama over sending someone a PM or not.
. . .Nah, I PM'd jenisyde for advice and got some very sound and good legitimate advice and tips in return. It's not that hard to PM somebody, just single click their forum name and choose "Private Message." No need to stir drama over sending someone a PM or not.
Given that you'd have to write a reply to every PM, you might as well post it here (just the once) and save yourself the bother, surely?
Na. I can give you pointers in PM, but not posting our guild strategy on public forums. Just trying to help out, not trying to get flamed for keeping my guides private to my guild...
I've played with some of his guildies a few weeks ago, they try to stuck the spider queen between the spikes before the chest, so that she stops transporting around the arena, if i remember correctly. Nothing astounding. There are probably other tips related to where to use singularities to help people who can't dodge red or stuff like that. Not really my cup of tea. Someone who can't press shift + W occasionally shouldn't be able to open the chest IMO.
0
ladymythosMember, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 637Bounty Hunter
Na. I can give you pointers in PM, but not posting our guild strategy on public forums. Just trying to help out, not trying to get flamed for keeping my guides private to my guild...
Here's what I don't get: Considering that me clearing the dungeon or not is completely irrelevant to you, why do you make the strategy so hard to get? And considering you would gladly give it to me if I ask, what can you possibly gain by keeping it PM only? And for that matter, let's say I asked you for the strategy, and you gave it to me. How can you then make sure I won't post it here instead of you? I could even take the credit for it, if I cared about things like that.
(don't worry, I've already done the dungeon a few times, and never had any issues with it.)
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rlrobrMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited January 2014
First of all, let me tell you that ToS is most likely my favorite dungeon in the game: with a high GS and experienced party it is possible to do a completely legit run (fighting all mobs), including boss fight, in around 25 min.
Let me give you some tips for this fight. It is NOT a hard fight as most people think, quite the contratry - it is easy when you know what to do. The tips here are for average GS party in mind (so please don't post things like I can do it without a DC or without a tank - I know you can and so can I, but not the average GS group).
1 - Party composition is very important. You have to have a tank, be it a GF or a GWF. You also need a single target DPS. TR works best, but a HR works too, altough it is generally more difficult. A CW is also mandatory to push adds from webs. A DC completes the basic party. For the 5th member, you can pick another TR, CW or a high DPS GWF. I think the easiest party for an average GS group is GF/TR/TR/CW/DC.
2 - The last boss fight is simply a DPS run. The basic strategy is to surround the boss so she cannot teleport. It can be tricky on the beginning, but after a couple of attempts she will be unmobile.
The tank must be capable of aggroing all (or most) blademasters - Enforced Threat is great here, in case of a GF. Come and Get it works for a swordmaster GWF.
TR is supposed to use smoke bomb whenever adds come (specially blademasters) in order to prevent their charge attack (which is deadly - the normal attack not so).
CW job is to use Ice Storm (yes, not Singularity) to push adds from the webs (red circles on the ground) whenever they get on them. Those adds on the webs heal the boss and this is what makes the fight hard or impossible, because if not done correctly she can heal faster than the party can DPS her. Shard works for this purpose too. The tank can also use Frontline Surge for this same objective. CWs should also use Ray of Enfeeblement to slow/prevent boss from healing.
DC should keep Astral Shield around boss as often as possible and use Hallowed Ground or Divine Armor when available - the former to enhance party DPS and the later when someone is about to die.
3 - The first part of the fight is the most difficult (when she is still human). When she gets to around 50% HP she will transform into a Spider - from this point on she will no longer teleport.
Here's what I don't get: Considering that me clearing the dungeon or not is completely irrelevant to you, why do you make the strategy so hard to get? And considering you would gladly give it to me if I ask, what can you possibly gain by keeping it PM only? And for that matter, let's say I asked you for the strategy, and you gave it to me. How can you then make sure I won't post it here instead of you? I could even take the credit for it, if I cared about things like that.
(don't worry, I've already done the dungeon a few times, and never had any issues with it.)
That's why i'm not actually PMing my guide. My PM replies are answers to the questions regarding the strat... I don't post guides publicly because I work hard on them for my community/guild. I also don't post them publicly because i'm not interested in debating why my strat is better than your strat or this or that. These threads have a lot of elitist ready to jump on anything that diverts from "their" way. It's frustrating to post a guide publicly that works well and has been tested just to get crapped on about it. If you want help, you can PM me...
First of all, let me tell you that ToS is most likely my favorite dungeon in the game: with a high GS and experienced party it is possible to do a completely legit run (fighting all mobs), including boss fight, in around 25 min.
Let me give you some tips for this fight. It is NOT a hard fight as most people think, quite the contratry - it is easy when you know what to do. The tips here are for average GS party in mind (so please don't post things like I can do it without a DC or without a tank - I know you can and so can I, but not the average GS group).
1 - Party composition is very important. You have to have a tank, be it a GF or a GWF. You also need a single target DPS. TR works best, but a HR works too, altough it is generally more difficult. A CW is also mandatory to push adds from webs. A DC completes the basic party. For the 5th member, you can pick another TR, CW or a high DPS GWF. I think the easiest party for an average GS group is GF/TR/TR/CW/DC.
2 - The last boss fight is simply a DPS run. The basic strategy is to surround the boss so she cannot teleport. It can be tricky on the beginning, but after a couple of attempts she will be unmobile.
The tank must be capable of aggroing all (or most) blademasters - Enforced Threat is great here, in case of a GF. Come and Get it works for a swordmaster GWF.
TR is supposed to use smoke bomb whenever adds come (specially blademasters) in order to prevent their charge attack (which is deadly - the normal attack not so).
CW job is to use Ice Storm (yes, not Singularity) to push adds from the webs (red circles on the ground) whenever they get on them. Those adds on the webs heal the boss and this is what makes the fight hard or impossible, because if not done correctly she can heal faster than the party can DPS her. Shard works for this purpose too. The tank can also use Frontline Surge for this same objective. CWs should also use Ray of Enfeeblement to slow/prevent boss from healing.
DC should keep Astral Shield around boss as often as possible and use Hallowed Ground or Divine Armor when available - the former to enhance party DPS and the later when someone is about to die.
3 - The first part of the fight is the most difficult (when she is still human). When she gets to around 50% HP she will transform into a Spider - from this point on she will no longer teleport.
Top secret strat for how we beat spider back in beta when everyone was 8k gs and nobody knew how to play:
3 TR, 1 CW, 1 DC.
DC keeps circle on boss.
3 TRs cycle through smoke bomb. 5 sec duration each, and <15 sec cooldown means that the area surrounding the boss is perma-smoked ie every single add is CC'd for the entirety of the fight. The only damage anyone takes is when blademasters initially spawn and charge, it will hit 1 person before becoming permanently CC'd. The clerics circle is more than enough healing to overcome this occasional source of damage.
This works well initially when she is teleporting around as there is always a new smoke bomb ready to drop wherever she goes, and the previous adds at her old location are still under daze from the prior smokebomb meaning the party is free to move to her when she teleports.
3TR and the CW focuses on single target damage on the boss only. CW keeps up RoE on boss at all times.
Since no one is dealing any damage to the adds and 3TRs are focused on boss her hp melts fast, meaning she will spend alot of her time casting the explodey heal on the adds. when this happens and they turn red, CW shield pops, dc divine sunbursts, and if necessary, as a last resort CW can ice storm all the adds away. typically though CW can just ice knife because shield + sunburst is enough to throw the adds.
It's highly unconventional now that players are far better geared and can achieve the aoe dps to trivialize the adds, but back then 2-3TR groups were not uncommon. And while there have been major nerfs to the TR class specifically its single target damage ability, it doesn't make that much of a difference at the low end, and i'm still confident that any party with this specific group composition who has atleast the 8.whateverk gs to enter the dungeon can defeat the boss using this strat their first time through.
edit:
PS there's a difference between the webs that she cast's and the explodey heal thing she casts (as she's just a beefier version of the drow priestess its the same spells). I've seen and heard people referencing the webs, "don't let the adds reach the webs" etc, it's nonsense. The web is just a web, it slows/roots you in place. it's a larger red circle with purple spider webs in it. it has nothing to do with her healing ability which she casts on all her adds in the room. They become stunned and stop attacking, 1 second later a small red circle appears under their feet, and then a few seconds later they explode. while she is casting this, beginning at the the time where the mobs stop attacking, before the red circles appear, she is draining their hp, that is her heal.
I've been there a couple times, always had 1 TR and no CW, we always got steamrolled by the adds. The other 2 bosses are trivial (except for buggy spawns). I hate that place...
I've been there a couple times, always had 1 TR and no CW, we always got steamrolled by the adds. The other 2 bosses are trivial (except for buggy spawns). I hate that place...
Two words: smoke bomb.
(And aoes for non TRs).
0
zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
Doesn't Ice Storm allow the Blademasters to rush in and do extra damage?
Only if you cast it prior to the boss casting her life steal explosion heal spell. Once the adds turn red they stop attacking anyway, and then explode. This is the only time you should ever throw mobs during this fight, to prevent the exploding mob from exploding near the party. Basically all you are doing is moving the red area (represented by the mobs) away from the group, although the actual red area displayed does not move.
Comments
Everyone cluster around the boss.
CW - steal time and sing right there on the boss.
TR - smoke bomb
GF GWF - dps and getting the aggro of the blademasters while clustered to protect the squishier members
Any - more dps
DC - heals
One thing I've noticed is your cw was hitting ice storm and I've found that and shield popping to be a bad idea, it gets too much aggro on the cw and that will kill them. And doing a knockback causes the blademasters to charge which hits like a truck. It seems better to let them sit on you and beat on the GF/GWF.
There's nothing to heal as soon as she starts draining her adds. The cleric is here for debuffs only, as long as the team isn't standing in red (without webs) and pushed by her cleave attack. The wizard lazily uses oppressive force, steal time and the shard (or icy terrain), and everyone elses does aoe while hitting the boss. Keep doing this for 3 minutes and she's down.
Says a guy with no character under 14k gearscore. -_-
Plz to remember that not everyone is at your level of gear or experience. If you're pugging at min GS, blademasters can really, really ruin your day.
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
Then by all means neccessary don't post it publicly for everyone to see?
This reminds me that I need to upload my spider run! 14 min full run, no pushing, no exploiting, no deaths! Yes, I want some attention too!
No it is not this strategy. PM me for details
In response to froszzt. I'm not going to post my guide on public forum, but i'm more than happy to tell you the basic strat for last boss.
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
This sounds like a challenge, but i actually don't have a regular team who would accept to play ToS with the min GS. If i may, though, let me say that i'm in a guild with a lot of new players and that i'm still facing the low GS challenges, just not on my end.
Blademasters are an annoyance only if you're the only one to do aoe. Of course, the solution is never removing aoe spells. It's, in a pug, telling everyone you will not enter the arena again unless everyone is using at least 2 aoe encounters (yes pugs need that kind of "incentives" to change something, unfortunately). If 5 team members with a low gear score have 2 blademasters each it's completely under control, provided the cleric is dropping a shield on the ground, using foresight with sunburst, and the CW is using at least steal time on cooldown.
I was merely saying that the main role of the DC is debuffing when the spider queen starts draining her adds, because most teams will actually need the cleric to use divine glow, and linked spirit buffing, if they have that feat. If her HP bar doesn't drop quick enough, there's no point healing the team.
I've pugged ToS with teams that absolutely needed full A-game healbot focus (well, my A-game, so you know: probably C or D grade in reality
Conversely, I've pugged epics with teams where (in terms of heals) I barely even needed to be there ("let's try a yellow circle instead of a blue...yep, everyone still fine. Ho hum"), so debuffing was a logical approach.
I assume (PvE chars) in the 10-12k range you're still mostly softcapping your core stats (mostly those that boost damage), but after that you tend to boost less deeps-related, more survival-directed stuff like lifesteal and HP, so by 14k you're largely self-sufficient for even most epic content (as long as you don't stand in red all the time).
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Thank you
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
I'd say this is a very sound post.
Na. I can give you pointers in PM, but not posting our guild strategy on public forums. Just trying to help out, not trying to get flamed for keeping my guides private to my guild...
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
I've played with some of his guildies a few weeks ago, they try to stuck the spider queen between the spikes before the chest, so that she stops transporting around the arena, if i remember correctly. Nothing astounding. There are probably other tips related to where to use singularities to help people who can't dodge red or stuff like that. Not really my cup of tea. Someone who can't press shift + W occasionally shouldn't be able to open the chest IMO.
(don't worry, I've already done the dungeon a few times, and never had any issues with it.)
Let me give you some tips for this fight. It is NOT a hard fight as most people think, quite the contratry - it is easy when you know what to do. The tips here are for average GS party in mind (so please don't post things like I can do it without a DC or without a tank - I know you can and so can I, but not the average GS group).
1 - Party composition is very important. You have to have a tank, be it a GF or a GWF. You also need a single target DPS. TR works best, but a HR works too, altough it is generally more difficult. A CW is also mandatory to push adds from webs. A DC completes the basic party. For the 5th member, you can pick another TR, CW or a high DPS GWF. I think the easiest party for an average GS group is GF/TR/TR/CW/DC.
2 - The last boss fight is simply a DPS run. The basic strategy is to surround the boss so she cannot teleport. It can be tricky on the beginning, but after a couple of attempts she will be unmobile.
TR is supposed to use smoke bomb whenever adds come (specially blademasters) in order to prevent their charge attack (which is deadly - the normal attack not so).
CW job is to use Ice Storm (yes, not Singularity) to push adds from the webs (red circles on the ground) whenever they get on them. Those adds on the webs heal the boss and this is what makes the fight hard or impossible, because if not done correctly she can heal faster than the party can DPS her. Shard works for this purpose too. The tank can also use Frontline Surge for this same objective. CWs should also use Ray of Enfeeblement to slow/prevent boss from healing.
DC should keep Astral Shield around boss as often as possible and use Hallowed Ground or Divine Armor when available - the former to enhance party DPS and the later when someone is about to die.
3 - The first part of the fight is the most difficult (when she is still human). When she gets to around 50% HP she will transform into a Spider - from this point on she will no longer teleport.
That's why i'm not actually PMing my guide. My PM replies are answers to the questions regarding the strat... I don't post guides publicly because I work hard on them for my community/guild. I also don't post them publicly because i'm not interested in debating why my strat is better than your strat or this or that. These threads have a lot of elitist ready to jump on anything that diverts from "their" way. It's frustrating to post a guide publicly that works well and has been tested just to get crapped on about it. If you want help, you can PM me...
At least you had some legitimate questions
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
There you go. That is a good strat sir.
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
Top secret strat for how we beat spider back in beta when everyone was 8k gs and nobody knew how to play:
3 TR, 1 CW, 1 DC.
DC keeps circle on boss.
3 TRs cycle through smoke bomb. 5 sec duration each, and <15 sec cooldown means that the area surrounding the boss is perma-smoked ie every single add is CC'd for the entirety of the fight. The only damage anyone takes is when blademasters initially spawn and charge, it will hit 1 person before becoming permanently CC'd. The clerics circle is more than enough healing to overcome this occasional source of damage.
This works well initially when she is teleporting around as there is always a new smoke bomb ready to drop wherever she goes, and the previous adds at her old location are still under daze from the prior smokebomb meaning the party is free to move to her when she teleports.
3TR and the CW focuses on single target damage on the boss only. CW keeps up RoE on boss at all times.
Since no one is dealing any damage to the adds and 3TRs are focused on boss her hp melts fast, meaning she will spend alot of her time casting the explodey heal on the adds. when this happens and they turn red, CW shield pops, dc divine sunbursts, and if necessary, as a last resort CW can ice storm all the adds away. typically though CW can just ice knife because shield + sunburst is enough to throw the adds.
It's highly unconventional now that players are far better geared and can achieve the aoe dps to trivialize the adds, but back then 2-3TR groups were not uncommon. And while there have been major nerfs to the TR class specifically its single target damage ability, it doesn't make that much of a difference at the low end, and i'm still confident that any party with this specific group composition who has atleast the 8.whateverk gs to enter the dungeon can defeat the boss using this strat their first time through.
edit:
PS there's a difference between the webs that she cast's and the explodey heal thing she casts (as she's just a beefier version of the drow priestess its the same spells). I've seen and heard people referencing the webs, "don't let the adds reach the webs" etc, it's nonsense. The web is just a web, it slows/roots you in place. it's a larger red circle with purple spider webs in it. it has nothing to do with her healing ability which she casts on all her adds in the room. They become stunned and stop attacking, 1 second later a small red circle appears under their feet, and then a few seconds later they explode. while she is casting this, beginning at the the time where the mobs stop attacking, before the red circles appear, she is draining their hp, that is her heal.
Two words: smoke bomb.
(And aoes for non TRs).
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Only if you cast it prior to the boss casting her life steal explosion heal spell. Once the adds turn red they stop attacking anyway, and then explode. This is the only time you should ever throw mobs during this fight, to prevent the exploding mob from exploding near the party. Basically all you are doing is moving the red area (represented by the mobs) away from the group, although the actual red area displayed does not move.