How to Tank Pole with Seeker?
HildieGarde - Heavens Tear
Posts: 120 Arc User
So I'm getting to the level where I'm in BH69 and I was wondering if anyone can share their techniques for how to Tank Pole and Nob with a Seeker when a Barb is not available.
I know it can be done as I have been in BH69 squads in the past on my Veno where the Seeker was the Tank. However, at that time I wasn't really paying attention to what the Seeker was doing to keep aggro. The Cleric I was probably spamming IH and Purify.
Nob, I think, is easier because the Seeker can simply use Vortex to hold aggro, however, I read somewhere else that Pole interrupts Vortex. Now that I think about it, was the Veno's Bramble a critical part of that aggro keeping and survival?
I have 5k HP unbuffed.
Any tips would be welcomed.
Edit: I'm now level 87 and have tanked Pole a few times now. Quite easy with a decent squad/healer.
Here is a video of me Tanking Pole. The entire squad was under lvl 88.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1t8QtiTo-4&feature=channel_video_title
I know it can be done as I have been in BH69 squads in the past on my Veno where the Seeker was the Tank. However, at that time I wasn't really paying attention to what the Seeker was doing to keep aggro. The Cleric I was probably spamming IH and Purify.
Nob, I think, is easier because the Seeker can simply use Vortex to hold aggro, however, I read somewhere else that Pole interrupts Vortex. Now that I think about it, was the Veno's Bramble a critical part of that aggro keeping and survival?
I have 5k HP unbuffed.
Any tips would be welcomed.
Edit: I'm now level 87 and have tanked Pole a few times now. Quite easy with a decent squad/healer.
Here is a video of me Tanking Pole. The entire squad was under lvl 88.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1t8QtiTo-4&feature=channel_video_title
Post edited by HildieGarde - Heavens Tear on
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Comments
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HildieGarde - Heavens Tear wrote: »So I'm getting to the level where I'm in BH69 and I was wondering if anyone can share their techniques for how to Tank Pole and Nob with a Seeker when a Barb is not available.
I know it can be done as I have been in BH69 squads in the past on my Veno where the Seeker was the Tank. However, at that time I wasn't really paying attention to what the Seeker was doing to keep aggro. The Cleric I was probably spamming IH and Purify.
Nob, I think, is easier because the Seeker can simply use Vortex to hold aggro, however, I read somewhere else that Pole interrupts Vortex. Now that I think about it, was the Veno's Bramble a critical part of that aggro keeping and survival?
I have 5k HP unbuffed.
Any tips would be welcomed.
I myself am trying to figure that out too. At the moment I'm trying to go around doing that bh at all. b:surrender
Pole indeed interrupts vortex just like it interrupts a cleric's BB. The veno's bramble could've played a role in keeping agro, but not in survival. Bramble guard only reflects and doesn't absorb damage like bramble hood(a 2 spark skill for veno's)
The best thing you could do is to tell your squad to wait a while with attacking, make sure to apply heart-shatter and spam your skills. b:surrender[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0 -
What I used to do was use Blur (since it can't be interrupted and you can spam skills on top of that) other than that, just hope you have a quick cleric for his debuffs and ask that everyone be careful with his attacks, personally, I think his debuff messed me up a lot worse than holding aggro x-x[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0
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I've never seen a non-barb under 90 successfully tank Pole. The tank needs a lot of HP to survive until the cleric can Purify the debuff.AKA PermaSpark, Heartshatter0
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I've never seen a barb under 90 successfully tank Pole. The tank needs a lot of HP to survive until the cleric can Purify the debuff.
b:shocked it really depends on the cleric's timing i guess but I've seen lvl 70 barbs tank it.. with average gear (tt/3stars, no fancy event stuff)0 -
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Lol, well you really must have been in fail squads then.I've never seen a barb under 90 successfully tank Pole. The tank needs a lot of HP to survive until the cleric can Purify the debuff.
Well I have seen 80s Barbs and Seekers successfully Tank Pole. The guideline that seemed to be bantered about for Seekers was somewhere over 5K HP. Seekers may not have anywhere as high HP as Barbs but their defense buff is really good if maxed.
I think it has a lot to do with how good the Cleric is. If they stack IH continuously, only breaking to purify, the amount of continuous healing can be very high with a high Mag Cleric.ItsAWolf - Archosaur wrote: »Ehm, he's tankable with a lvl 60 barb. The important bit is a cleric that doesn't lag.
b:shocked I dunno but I think I would be worried to go in a squad with a lvl 60 Barb tanking Pole, lol.
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The other thing is what the Tank does when their HP is going south. I always carry Crabmeat and am HP charmed so even with a not so good healer, I can boost up my health if the heals aren't coming in fast enough.
So usually my worry is more what happens if I lose aggro even temporarily and the Cleric switches focus to try to save the other member. Some of the newer Clerics are rather slow at switching back and forth, they rely too much on AOE and BB heals.0 -
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I wrote barb when I meant to say non-barb.AKA PermaSpark, Heartshatter0
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ya man u need triple spark to purify the debuff without cleric so 89 minimum0
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Have a good cleric with purify- and keep your finger on the quid pro trigger incase the cleric misses their timeing.
I miss the days of being able to cancel cast quid pro b:cry use to duo this BH with my cleric-re0 -
Galeheart - Heavens Tear wrote: »What I used to do was use Blur (since it can't be interrupted and you can spam skills on top of that) other than that, just hope you have a quick cleric for his debuffs and ask that everyone be careful with his attacks, personally, I think his debuff messed me up a lot worse than holding aggro x-x
Edged blur doesn't generate agro b:surrender
I tested it with a friend of mine, I run into some mobs with edged blur on, it hits the mobs, she heals, mobs come running for her... ._."
@OP: I have Alpha Male on my genie for when someone grabs agro. That way I instantly get my agro back without having to run all over the place chasing a DD and pole ._."
Good genie skills to survive the debuff with a slow cleric would be expel and AD I gues
though I have yet to try it myself... I only tanked pole once and that was with a friend healing on her lvl 100 cleric... x'D [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0 -
I've never seen a non-barb under 90 successfully tank Pole. The tank needs a lot of HP to survive until the cleric can Purify the debuff.
I've healed a level 89 sin through pole. It's all about timing the purify.
@ Thread. You could always ask the party to let you DD 20% of hp by yourself first to establish aggro before they join in. b:chuckle0 -
Seekers can tank pole at 80 an easy way to do it is let him debuff you then quid pro quo and you can kill him or get him pretty close with vortex before he debuffs again.0
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Thanks for all your replies so far.
@ ReMakoBo & Glaide -- Thanks for pointing out that you can remove the debuff and hurl it back at Pole using Quid Pro Quo
@ Hazumi_Chan -- I have Alpha Male and Cloud Eruption on my Genie, I love the combo but it also means I can't get Expel or AD until a higher level as I don't have enough affinity points. BTW, I believe Alpha Male resets all aggro levels so in some cases it might be bad to use it when you already have a high level of aggro vs most of the squad. There was a thread describing this somewhere.
I also added Lightning Chaser to my Genie to see if I could interrupt Pole's (and other Bosses channeling). Has anyone successfully used that technique? It was suggested somewhere as a method for a Veno to Tank Pole with a Herc.
It sounds like periodically Vortexing until interupted may be a good strategy as it will probably still generate the most aggro even if in short bursts.
How does this sound: HeartShatter>Vortex (till interrupted) >Cloud Eruption > spam other skills (including Quid Pro Quo if debuffed) > reVortex when at 2 sparks. Rinse and repeat.0 -
This was the only mob I have not tanked at entry level, although I am sure I could do it with a cleric. At 101 though, I use use Quid and deflect the debuff back and laugh as Pole dies just as fast to his own debuff.
About Edged Blur...man everytime I use it, I keep thinking to myself "this would make a badass aggro skill.."0 -
Definitely just QPQ whenever he debuffs, and if he debuffs while it's in cooldown, then hope the cleric's on their mark.
Also, I'd let the BM of the squad know to DG when he sees you transfer that debuff back, because that would result in massive damage. I remember hitting a 140k vortex crit that way on Pole back when I was 8x.Donate towards my endgame build, please.
pwcalc.com/400d2e22e4b852e20 -
I've solo'ed pole before on my seeker in the 90s. The trick is to purify yourself when needed. You have 3 chances to do that, if you don't kill it after those 3 chances are used up, you will likely die from the debuff.
To purify your self:
1) QPQ
2) Soul Cleanse Orb
3) Triple Spark (save for last)
Buffs to have on:
1) BloodPaint and self defense buffs (all other buffs not necessary)
Skills to use:
Cast the attack and def level debuff on it from soulsever, and use heard shatter before using vortex.
Also, it's best to have a genie with Chi siphon to give you 2 sparks immediately if you need it for triple spark.
As for tanking it, vortex can hold aggro well if your squad allows you to take down a portion (20%) of Pole's hp. (Which I'll say 99% of all the power leveled people out there today don't know about letting the tank build up aggro, and will start attacking the boss as soon as it starts). After that, a cleric can step in to heal or purify once in awhile.0 -
I recently went on a BH69 run with a great squad. Went very smoothly and fast.
Even though I was the lowest level at 81, Barb was 83 and Cleric was 92(?), Sin and BM 85+, I ended up pulling aggro when I Vortexed the bosses, even when I waited a bit before starting. The interesting thing was even with Pole it didn't get interrupted.
I couldn't tell if it was because the Barb was canceling Pole's channeling.
Some data for those interested. I was hitting between 8K and 11K with Crits 17K-22K on Pole (Vit build). Pole was hitting me well under 1K with AOE and about 2-3K when I had aggro. My base HP is a little over 5K and with Barb buff over 6K. So basically I would have been 2-3 shotted without Cleric healing and/or BP and Crabmeat. Fortunately she was good enough to notice I was taking aggro and quickly switch to healing me.
So my question is, how does that stack up to other builds and other classes at around my level (81+) for those who remember or are currently playing classes in that level range? Also, does Pole interrupt Vortex with his AOE, or when he is focusing his attack on you?0 -
How I have done it at lvl 85 seeker.
first, have a veno, have that veno pull pole the tool, catch said tool with debuff, unfetter and blade affinity and hit vortex, as you start the vortex hit alpha male on genie, this allows the cleric to start hitting you with IH before you start damaging him, veno passes spark as soon as vortex starts and as soon as her skill cools down, cleric does NOT BB, he/she IH you and purify as soon as needed, charm will pop even with IH depending on Vit, When he interrupts (and he will 2 or 3 times depending on damage) smack him a few times if veno doesn't have you at full spark yet, I use stalagestrike and normal attacks, I know it is aoe but it is quick and crits a lot. once 2 spark is achieved fire vortex and alpha male again.
Now once you have second vortex going the rest of the squad can join in, bramble is great to help maintain agro a little and bloodpaint is required also (especially for those suicidal seekers that don't want to put anything on vit LOL) rinse and repeat when he interrupts.
This all depends on: your genie (highest alpha male possible)
your ability to maintain vortex (this is easy after lvl 75 with luck token . exchange)
your damage vortex puts out with your crit rate factored in.
I had no real problems holding agro as I had an unusual build and critted like a sin most the time, the alpha male is really just insurance for the cleric at first so they can start IH before vortex starts hitting.
Note: if you don't have alpha male on your genie you shouldn't be tanking in my opinion, after all we aren't the real tanks in this game, but as DD/mini tank we do in a pinch.
Under 75 should not try to maintain vortex for pole as it is hard to maintain for 1/3 of the fight with out "seeker crack" from PW boutique agent.Seeker of Truth FTW0 -
Rich_Rahl - Dreamweaver wrote: »How I have done it at lvl 85 seeker.
first, have a veno, have that veno pull pole the tool, catch said tool with debuff, unfetter and blade affinity and hit vortex, as you start the vortex hit alpha male on genie, this allows the cleric to start hitting you with IH before you start damaging him, veno passes spark as soon as vortex starts and as soon as her skill cools down, cleric does NOT BB, he/she IH you and purify as soon as needed, charm will pop even with IH depending on Vit, When he interrupts (and he will 2 or 3 times depending on damage) smack him a few times if veno doesn't have you at full spark yet, I use stalagestrike and normal attacks, I know it is aoe but it is quick and crits a lot. once 2 spark is achieved fire vortex and alpha male again.
Now once you have second vortex going the rest of the squad can join in, bramble is great to help maintain agro a little and bloodpaint is required also (especially for those suicidal seekers that don't want to put anything on vit LOL) rinse and repeat when he interrupts.
This all depends on: your genie (highest alpha male possible)
your ability to maintain vortex (this is easy after lvl 75 with luck token . exchange)
your damage vortex puts out with your crit rate factored in.
I had no real problems holding agro as I had an unusual build and critted like a sin most the time, the alpha male is really just insurance for the cleric at first so they can start IH before vortex starts hitting.
Note: if you don't have alpha male on your genie you shouldn't be tanking in my opinion, after all we aren't the real tanks in this game, but as DD/mini tank we do in a pinch.
Under 75 should not try to maintain vortex for pole as it is hard to maintain for 1/3 of the fight with out "seeker crack" from PW boutique agent.
Normally I'm doing just this b:surprised
I have tanked Poe several times,successfully
Pull him by myself.
Attack him with with Battosai or Staggering Strike, so the Cleric can start to heal.
Quid pro Quo if necessary
Debuff fhim with Heartshatter.
Spamm Skills still 'spirit bore' is activating.
Gemini Slash
and finally Vortex.
worked all the time0 -
Rich_Rahl - Dreamweaver wrote: »How I have done it at lvl 85 seeker.
first, have a veno, have that veno pull pole the tool, catch said tool with debuff, unfetter and blade affinity and hit vortex, as you start the vortex hit alpha male on genie, this allows the cleric to start hitting you with IH before you start damaging him, veno passes spark as soon as vortex starts and as soon as her skill cools down, cleric does NOT BB, he/she IH you and purify as soon as needed, charm will pop even with IH depending on Vit, When he interrupts (and he will 2 or 3 times depending on damage) smack him a few times if veno doesn't have you at full spark yet, I use stalagestrike and normal attacks, I know it is aoe but it is quick and crits a lot. once 2 spark is achieved fire vortex and alpha male again.
Now once you have second vortex going the rest of the squad can join in, bramble is great to help maintain agro a little and bloodpaint is required also (especially for those suicidal seekers that don't want to put anything on vit LOL) rinse and repeat when he interrupts.
This all depends on: your genie (highest alpha male possible)
your ability to maintain vortex (this is easy after lvl 75 with luck token . exchange)
your damage vortex puts out with your crit rate factored in.
I had no real problems holding agro as I had an unusual build and critted like a sin most the time, the alpha male is really just insurance for the cleric at first so they can start IH before vortex starts hitting.
Note: if you don't have alpha male on your genie you shouldn't be tanking in my opinion, after all we aren't the real tanks in this game, but as DD/mini tank we do in a pinch.
Under 75 should not try to maintain vortex for pole as it is hard to maintain for 1/3 of the fight with out "seeker crack" from PW boutique agent.
Some useful ideas here, thanks. A little bit more complicated than necessary I think. I would say if I hit Pole/Nob first with Battousai (as described by Moroboshi below) that should be enough to allow Cleric to heal.
I have both Alpha Male and Cloud Eruption Maxed on my Genie, Cloud Eruption allows me to re-start Vortex up almost immediately if I set it off to recharge as soon as I begin Vortex. But that means I can't use Alpha Male. But, usually I don't need to use Alpha Male except when trying to quickly pull aggro off the Cleric, Wiz or other squishy. My Vortex is now level 9 and I can maintain it indefinitely on MP Charm (thanks to mana+ shards & equip stats), so that is my highest aggro skill.
I haven't yet solo tanked but have co-Tanked with Barb and I think with a good Cleric it really won't be a problem now that I have got used to having Vortex interrupted and having to restart it quickly. It appears that Nob also interrupts Vortex.Moroboshi - Raging Tide wrote: »Normally I'm doing just this b:surprised
I have tanked Poe several times,successfully
Pull him by myself.
Attack him with with Battosai or Staggering Strike, so the Cleric can start to heal.
Quid pro Quo if necessary
Debuff fhim with Heartshatter.
Spamm Skills still 'spirit bore' is activating.
Gemini Slash
and finally Vortex.
worked all the time
I like this simplified method better although I don't think it is essential to get Gemini Slash to proc.
Battosai>Blade Affinity>Heartshatter>Vortex> Genie Cloud Eruption (to recharge Chi) I think will work fine with a high level Vortex and BP.
> Quid Pro Quo if necessary when interrupted, a few hits if necessary to top up Chi, then Vortex again.
I'll let you guys know when I've successfully done it without a Barb in the squad.
One thing that I use to determine how much aggro I pull vs the rest of the squad is to see if anyone steals aggro during Pyro which the Cleric can BB. Then work with squad to manage the aggro ping-pong if necessary on Pole and Nob.0 -
QPQ then triple spark.
I remember my first tank experience for a squad in BH69. I was 100 then with at most 6.5k hp unbuffed ,equipped with +4 Brahma Lash and low-refined R6 armor. Now that seemed quite hopeless against Polearm, and I agree with you, I would have probably embarrassed taking Polearm with that kind of armour. To make matters worse, I was going up against it without any healers nor cleric buffs. I probably had bm and barb buff at most, but that was it.
What I brought with me was a sheer confidence that my seeker was going to be able to tank polearm without the need of healers, and prove to the server that seekers are indeed useful when played well (back then many players considered earthguards useless).
On my first try, I died horribly. My Quid Pro Quo cooldown could not finish before Polearm cast another Curse on me and killed me in 2-3 hits (he dealth about 3k dmg). Then after my revival, I learnt that Triple Spark can remove any negative buff status on you. So I used that for my 2nd try.
And it was easy. I was constantly spamming crab meat for survivability and timed my QPQ and spark correctly. When he cursed me before I could get my skills ready, I would run around the pond once until I could get them ready.
It takes practice to get around Polearm. I admit that it'll be near impossible to tank at 83 without the sufficient HP, but you'll get there soon enough
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As of now, I'm currently R8 +10 weap and +5 armour with Sage QPQ (reduces cooldown by 15 seconds). Killing Polearm now is a non-challenging task. Having said that, you'll be able to slice Krimson Eye like butter with QPQ.0 -
I mentioned before I would post when I successfully Tanked Pole. I did it recently with a squad all under lvl 90. 2 Clerics, 1 Veno, 2 Sins and my Seeker at lvl 85.
The Veno pulled, I caught and went HeartShatter>Vortex
For some reason the Clerics were very close not at max range, perhaps they didn't have max level heals or purify so one of them ended up dead from AOE about 1/3rd way through. So essentially the one remaining Cleric solo healed/purified for most of the Boss. (the dead Cleric didn't need Pole so she wasn't rezzed till the end).
It went remarkably smoothly and fast.0 -
A video of my Seeker Tanking Polearm at lvl 87 in a random BH69 squad all level 88 and under.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1t8QtiTo-4
We squad wiped once before this because I wasn't being purified and healed quickly enough. So this time round, they focused on that and it worked out great.
Hope you like it.0 -
The problem of tanking Pole is not a problem of the Tank but of the cleric...
Get a good cleric and you will be able to tank it with 5K HP, which you should have at lvl 80.
What makes Pole hard to tank? His debuff.
So, to solve this the cleric has to purify in the right moment. Most clerics purify, when they see the symbol for the debuff at your name. If the cleric does that he is too slow.
BUT, if the cleric purifies, when he sees Pole doing his magic attack he purifies the debuff just after the boss debuffed the seeker, so Pole don't have time to hit a debuffed seeker and you have no problem to stay alive..
Tell your cleric to do 3 healings(mostly IH on the tank, but can also be Groupcure or something else), than WAIT till the boss start his magic attack, purify when you see the fire at his feet and start from the begining.. That's what I do at these Boss and it never fails.0 -
Well you are correct of course and it is really nice when a random squad has members especially the Cleric who is very skilled. Interesting tip about the early purify casting.The problem of tanking Pole is not a problem of the Tank but of the cleric...
Get a good cleric and you will be able to tank it with 5K HP, which you should have at lvl 80.
What makes Pole hard to tank? His debuff.
So, to solve this the cleric has to purify in the right moment. Most clerics purify, when they see the symbol for the debuff at your name. If the cleric does that he is too slow.
BUT, if the cleric purifies, when he sees Pole doing his magic attack he purifies the debuff just after the boss debuffed the seeker, so Pole don't have time to hit a debuffed seeker and you have no problem to stay alive..
Tell your cleric to do 3 healings(mostly IH on the tank, but can also be Groupcure or something else), than WAIT till the boss start his magic attack, purify when you see the fire at his feet and start from the begining.. That's what I do at these Boss and it never fails.
But, unless you have a friend Cleric you play with regularly, finding a good Cleric consistently is easier said than done. In fact often even finding any Cleric for BH69 at all these days is tough.
So I've learned to adapt. I've been in BH69 where the only healer was a Mystic... yep she healed through the debuff, not me but the Barb tank. I've Tanked Pole where my Vortex was not interrupted even once because the Sin and others were skilled enough to consistently interrupt Pole's casting; needless to say the debuffs rarely even got cast.
It is actually a fun challenge working with all the different random squads that come together.0 -
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Allisandre - Sanctuary wrote: »
I only watched the Pole one and it was cool, but I would like to point out that the Cleric is level 97 and took some of Pole's debuffs on himself so I'm not really sure if the Seeker is really Tanking the entire time.
I'm not denigrating the video, in fact thanks for posting it.
It was very interesting to watch this perspective. I'm just saying handling Pole (or any other boss) is exponentially easier when you have a high level in the squad and especially when it is the Cleric.0 -
He's not taking pole's debuffs, he's sealing Pole to reduce his, (Pole's), defenses. The unfortunate side-effect of the cleric seals, is that they, (the cleric), suffer from the same debuff as the target.
Having pro heals is a great help at any time. At least the seeker didn't get one-shot like so many BM's and Sin's I've seen that thought they could tank, but realized they didn't have the hp/def for it the hard way.
That's pretty sweet though. Maybe I'll try it later."No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Steven Brust, Yendi
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Yeah, I'm that good. b:chuckle0 -
Mor_Toran - Sanctuary wrote: »He's not taking pole's debuffs, he's sealing Pole to reduce his, (Pole's), defenses. The unfortunate side-effect of the cleric seals, is that they, (the cleric), suffer from the same debuff as the target.
Having pro heals is a great help at any time. At least the seeker didn't get one-shot like so many BM's and Sin's I've seen that thought they could tank, but realized they didn't have the hp/def for it the hard way.
That's pretty sweet though. Maybe I'll try it later.
Ah, my bad, I didn't notice that the Seeker had QPQd back the debuff onto Pole. Yes Pole hits pretty hard when debuff is on. I was being hit about 500 without debuff but 2-3K+ with Debuff and if the Cleric hasn't got IH stacked or Wellpring at the ready, it can kill the Tank quite fast.
That's what happened on the first try, Pole debuffed me right off the bat and the Healers didn't respond fast enough and I was dead in a few secs. Looking back on it I should have QPQd but I wasn't expecting to have no purify or heals. 2nd time around they got things together and it went well as you see in my vid.0
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