Soloing with a Herc

Bellarie - Raging Tide

I just got a herc the other day after my boyfriend got lucky with a Perfect Chest. With this new addition, I wanted to ask those who have a herc already:

1. Is it possible to solo my own FC runs with a lvl 90 herc?
2. Is it possible to solo my BH bosses(79 bosses, Phlebo and Abomination) with a lvl 90 herc?

My herc is lvl 81 so he has ten more lvls to catch up to me, and he has reflect, strong, protect and bash all maxed.

Vixter - Harshlands

1- it can be possible, but it depends on how fast you can kill bishop boss. cause if 1-u cant kill the boss fast enough or 2-u cant kill the bishops fast enough then you will most likely die from too many bishop summons. even so, what would you do once you get to the exp room? if you plan on killing heads, then you would miss a lot (it would be better to go as a team for more exp). but if you plan on selling the, yea, only thing u really have to worry about is the bishop boss.

2- 79 defiantly. 89 can be a little more difficult but i still think its totally do-able. there might not be much time for you to attack though, so you may need to spam heal.

Bellarie - Raging Tide

Vixter - Harshlands wrote: »

1- it can be possible, but it depends on how fast you can kill bishop boss. cause if 1-u cant kill the boss fast enough or 2-u cant kill the bishops fast enough then you will most likely die from too many bishop summons. even so, what would you do once you get to the exp room? if you plan on killing heads, then you would miss a lot (it would be better to go as a team for more exp). but if you plan on selling the, yea, only thing u really have to worry about is the bishop boss.

2- 79 defiantly. 89 can be a little more difficult but i still think its totally do-able. there might not be much time for you to attack though, so you may need to spam heal.

Thank you for the info. I actually don't have any trouble with the Bishop Boss, and I recently put Second Wind on my genie for Shocktropper's Bubbles, so I should be fine. I was mainly worried about Messenger of Fear's sleep being an issue tbh. I actually hit the heads decent with a bow(I'm LA build and my dex is over 100 with bonuses) I was planning to do some FC runs with some fac mates that are trying to catch up(Their lvls range from 60-90) and we only have one barb and cleric capable of handling fc, so being able to solo it with a herc will take care of when they are not online.

Mauntille - Heavens Tear

Grats on the herc.

For FF, put Adrenaline Surge on your genie and you should be set for messenger. Just watch the timing as the cooldown is almost exactly the same as his cycle. The tough one is fragrence, which you may not even do if you're going to the big room and stopping. If you do fight her, watch the rebuffs and stow/resummon your pet to purify him. Its tricky and a bit painful if you aren't truly soloing, but its possible.

79 is fully tankable via herc as low as level 77-79. If you're having trouble pulling Stygean, pull the mobs around him and then send in the herc after it's clear.

Brim is soloable. Here its more of an issue if you can survive the random aggro without heals as opposed to the herc. The leeching mobs at the beginning are kind of a pain. The herc alone doesn't have the dps to outdamage the leech at "earlier" levels. (I remember this being an issue while farming pages in the mid 80s, but i cant remember when it stopped being an issue.)

Phlebo is soloable at 89. It can be touch and go if you don't heal quickly because of curse. But it is possible.

GL

Vitenka - Dreamweaver

Almost every boss in FC is soloable with a herc.

You will have problems with: The first boss, who uses bombs. This is just timing, but get it wrong once and you're out.
Whirly slashy DOOM. Again, get it wrong once, herc will die, and you've no way of getting back aggro before you do too. (Amusingly, well timed purify WILL work on this guy, but is more likely to kill you getting it wrong)

Bishops summoning boss. You will be very hard pressed to keep the bishops dead on your own, and once you get two or more and they start chain stunning you, it's all over.

Fragrant something or other, the plant boss - is just plain hard hitting. I couldn't keep my herc alive thrugh it when I stole aggro - but the same tactics used at BHD can theoretically work here.

The last boss, the giant snowman. You can actually tank him surprisingly well - but the AOE can and will kill you.

Phlebo is a pain in the donkey to lure away from his guards. But if you can manage it then yes, you can tank him.

The giant dragon frog is also tankable - but his random aggro is a giant pain. You'll be doing lots of running around and it's easy to make a mistake. But he's well within your capabilities.

Getting there solo is distinctly not fun (tm).

All my experience is from a herc with a few more levels than yours, but it's unlikely to be a critical difference. Of far greater importance is your channelling.


Edit:
I forgot the coloured circles boss, you will have a hard time killing the circles solo and if you don't, you will have a ridiculously hard time with the boss; who WILL sleep you at inopportune times. This guy will tick your charm as badly as 100s stand even if you get everything right. He's tankable though.

Bellarie - Raging Tide

Yes, I tried last night, and had a lot of trouble at the first boss. Unusual, as I had done it twice previously with my Mistrealm Gargantuan and not had as much trouble. Of course, I don't remember the bomb circles actually MOVING TO MY LOCATION at the last 2-3 seconds, nor do I remember him spawning 6+ of them all at the same time, then more of them a split second later. Is there any way of pulling the pet out of the bomb zone without unsummoning? I can handle the physical attacks of the boss no problem, but his icicle attack is quite hard on my charm.

As for Shocktropper(aka Bubble Boss) is there any way to prevent him from going Tough/Frenzied when soloing? Again, his attacks seem little more than charm raep on me, and I have second wind/absolute domain in case I get bubbled, but it was still pretty harsh.

as for the Bishop Boss, I have yet to try, but I have been told it is somewhat about getting lucky with him not summoning too many too quickly. I can actually handle the Slasher boss entirely without a pet, it just takes forever. Oceania seems pretty straightforward, Fragrance should be the same as soloing Krimson Eyes or Polearm, and I've been told Holeen is easy if I can handle the aoe's. No clue about the Frost Nix or the Dragoon boss.

Kurushimii - Sanctuary

Bellarie - Raging Tide wrote: »

As for Shocktropper(aka Bubble Boss) is there any way to prevent him from going Tough/Frenzied when soloing? Again, his attacks seem little more than charm raep on me, and I have second wind/absolute domain in case I get bubbled, but it was still pretty harsh.

Only if you're able to kill enough glacial mobs around, then you got him weaker . Not sure if its do-able at lv90+ solo with herc . Correct me if i'm wrong, i only solo fcc once cause i was super bored and testing skills b:surrender

Bellarie - Raging Tide

Kurushimii - Sanctuary wrote: »

Only if you're able to kill enough glacial mobs around, then you got him weaker . Not sure if its do-able at lv90+ solo with herc . Someone correct me if i'm wrong, i only did that once cause i was super bored and testing skills b:surrender

I have never actually solo'ed shocktropper, but I have tanked all three versions in fox form in short bursts in the past(like 5-10 seconds of tanking). Of course, this was with buffs as well.

Mauntille - Heavens Tear

Bellarie - Raging Tide wrote: »

Is there any way of pulling the pet out of the bomb zone without unsummoning? I can handle the physical attacks of the boss no problem, but his icicle attack is quite hard on my charm.

Hit the follow-mode button on the pet bar. He'll return to your side regardless of what mode he was in. Might have to time it/position yourself right if you're not used to it since his pudgy legs don't move all that fast.

Alternatively, you could try to get him out of your range to make him teleport back to you. But the layout of the dungeon and the need to get him back in the fight after the circles go off make this unrealistic.

Bellarie - Raging Tide wrote: »

As for Shocktropper(aka Bubble Boss) is there any way to prevent him from going Tough/Frenzied when soloing? Again, his attacks seem little more than charm raep on me, and I have second wind/absolute domain in case I get bubbled, but it was still pretty harsh.

Gotta kill the Elementos. There's no other way around it.

Bellarie - Raging Tide wrote: »

as for the Bishop Boss, I have yet to try, but I have been told it is somewhat about getting lucky with him not summoning too many too quickly. I can actually handle the Slasher boss entirely without a pet, it just takes forever. Oceania seems pretty straightforward, Fragrance should be the same as soloing Krimson Eyes or Polearm, and I've been told Holeen is easy if I can handle the aoe's. No clue about the Frost Nix or the Dragoon boss.

Bishop- I found it easiest when I took out the bishops myself and let the herc deal with the boss. He only ever summons one at a time so it depends on how fast you can get them down. If you do manage to get multiples, try throwing a Nova on them. The seal/freeze can buy you a little extra time to finish knocking them down. If you know how to spark-resist his purge, it makes life easier after.

Slasher- Even if you can do it without a pet, that doesn't mean you should. Once you've got the hang of calling your pet back when he AOEs, grab a pet to help you DD. Howl is a great skill for this. No offense, but I find it silly to not use a pet on a [?] target simply because of the no damage reduction. If you really want to, you can control how much damage your pet does and guarantee that they don't pull aggro.

Fragrance- Yup. Exactly like Eyes and Pole.

Holeen- Also easy. For the AOEs, see if you can resist them with sparks. IIRC, his AOE is physical, so fox form will help with that. Pots, AD, Hood, and other such means help if you're getting into trouble. Don't forget to self purify if you get hit with the debuffs and have sparks/sage sprint/pots/genie at the ready.

Nix- Also easy. He'll seal your pet, so you may have to play chase the legendaries a bit, but other than that it's straight forward. If your damage output is low, try using SD instead of Amp.

Dragoon- Like the Bishop boss, he only spawns one add at a time. Pretty much the same tactics for that one.

For the big room, if you're trying to do large pulls and can't handle it, look for the 4 red mobs (can't remember their exact names, atm). There's one in each of the 4 groups along the center. These will inflict you with curse, so if you lure them out in your set up, it'll make your large pulls go smoother.