The Path of Magic - A Guide to Caster Nirvana

Random stuff:

Venos can use soul degeneration on the non ampable bosses, also if the squad is squishy using it on the last boss can help a lot (when someone dies this boss buffs itself and recovers a bunch of HP).

On the 3rd boss, fatemeddlers should not be knocked back, their attack is ranged physical and knocking them away just scatters them from aoe ranges, it does not stop anyone getting hit by them unless you knock them quite far, in which case they will take longer to kill making it more likely that more will spawn before the last set dies. Soundboom should be knocked away/sealed/stunned.

A handful of magic defense and physical defense charms make caster nirvana much easier, they are made from perfect stones with level 7 or 8 apoth. Use them especially on the last 2 bosses.


My ideal caster nirvana squad is:

1-2 clerics
wiz
1-2 psys
veno
(a mystic can be subbed for either a cleric or a psy to great effect, I loves me some mystic in caster)

Any squad can work, I've done it with 3 clerics, 2 venos and myself, but the less variety of classes the slower it goes generally. With the above squad setup, 15 minute runs are totally do-able without any rank 9s.


Especially for psychics: Use soul of retaliation when the mean bosses are about to aoe. Bosses won't take damage from soul of vengeance, but summoned mobs will, if you have sage you can put it on a wiz to DB at the 3rd boss and make mobs die quicker. Soul of silence can save someone who is on the squishy side from the fatemeddlers and foulbenders.

SharkAngel - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Lastly...Ive yet to actually confirm this, but does having a boss resist an attack or effect really increase the odds of an interrupt/AoE occurring, or is it just a myth?

That sounds like a myth. I've seen clerics using an attack macro with plume shot, bms building chi by fisting bosses, I've even set up vortex on the 3rd and last bosses to wipe out the mobs that spawn and never seen an increase in boss aoe/interrupts. All the boss' aoes seem to have a small chance to interrupt, the ones the 3rd and last bosses use seem the worst. The 3rd boss aoes after he talks in common chat, it happens at regular intervals and gets progressively worse (and faster the longer he's alive) each time.

You might want to include that some Archers can cast Blood Vow (lvl 100 skill) which is similar to HF. 30 second duration and also a Metal DoT, but it has a 5 minute cooldown so pending squad strength I will have to test in multiple runs.

I haven't went on a caster since learning BV (This past Tuesday), but I will be sure to test for results when/if I am able. May be a few days though, but I will report back with my findings.

I will also try to extensively test STA. It doesn't affect any of the regular nirvana bosses, but I think I was too busy BoAing the Soundbooms and Wingspan-->Knockback-->Aim Lowing the Last bosses' mobs.

Skills I can assure you affect bosses in caster:
Sage Frost Arrow
Lightning Strike
Thunder Shock
Thunderous Blast
Stormrage Eagleon
Vicious Arrow

I'll test Blood Vow when I can and then re-edit this post.

Also, personal preference but I like bringing some Toxin apoths to add wood damage to my attack. Frostblade+Blazing+Toxin = 3 elements, which is pretty sweet.

Good guide, you should also recomend that the minimun gear allowed for a safe Caster Nirvy run is an R8 +5 wep plus at least 4.5k hp, it can be done with lower gear and hp but you will have a great risk of fail on 4th and last boss. The key for caster nirvy imao: tons of firepower, my ideal squad ever:

Cleric
2 Wizzards
2 Psy
A good Mystic who can, heal, DD and also use their pets wisely.

That squad guaranteed you faster runs.. for the Venos lovers, a veno with at least an r8 + 7 wep can replace either a wizzy or a Psy, what s the point of bring a veno for doing the ''Veno thing'' only? is awesome when they use their skills.. but then what? u will have 1 less DD for the rest of the run.

Just made a few small changes to the guide, including the ability for all bosses to be Amplified by Venomancers...

All bosses being ampable...there was a line I had forgotten to change to mention that in the introduction to bosses. That's been fixed.

As for the rest, its to be expected, since Mystic pets do not suffer a damage reduction vs "?" leveled wraiths. Regardless of how effective or useful they are, Ive made mention to the qualities of most of the classes one regularly (or irregularly) finds available for it, simply because an "ideal" squad may not always be possible to make.

That skill doesnt work on wraiths it seems.