Cleric: Soloing PV (Phoenix Valley)

How to Solo Phoenix Valley (PV) as a Cleric


Table of Contents:

-Videos:
-Introduction:
-Gear necessary:
-Checking that you are ready:
-Buffs:
-Getting openers/alts ready:
-Starting the run
-Rounding up a room of mobs safely
-Aoe tactics
-Killing the boss + frog mobs at end of run
-Resetting instance
-How to get 2nd PV token each day for twice the # of runs

---

Videos:

*I'll try and create a video sometime of how I do a run*

EDIT: Working on a new video. I've managed 4 runs per token once so far, so that is what I'll aim to capture. UPDATE: I'm can't link that video directly, but it is still available for viewing at my youtube channel (which also contains my growing list of cleric pk videos, check them out!). Considering the advent of r9rr weapons though, this video is obsolete.



EDIT 2: As of the acquisition of a r9rr +12 weapon, I'm able to 5.5 runs per token (my 5th run I do a room and a half of mobs, then teleport incense out for the 6th run). It turns out that the r9rr weapon purifies much more frequently than the r8r weapon, which makes doing fast PV runs a walk in the park. I'll try and make a video for doing a run on either weapon. Been busy lately

Edit 3: 2013.01.04 Video taken demonstrating 5.5 runs on a token, and there's a surprise at the end of it too! Link is below (also take note that while I can't link it here, the other video done with my r8r weapon is also still available).


FINAL EDIT: 2013.01.31 Video taken demonstrating the capability of 6 full runs on a token. Major differences between this video and the last are the efficiency of how I move through instance (I realized I didn't have to zig-zag so much to aggro mobs), learning exactly how long I can pull the mobs before they reset without me hitting them, and my greatly improved gear. This will be my final update to this guide, since I believe there isn't much more that needs to be said or shown. Enjoy the video!

---

Introduction:

Some of you have probably never heard of Phoenix Valley, though I'm sure many of you have. For those who don't know, its an instance designed to gain a lot of XP and SP from killing huge numbers of mobs. The instance has a small front room and then three large rooms, absolutely stuffed with hundreds, thousands of mobs. I've never stopped long enough to count; perhaps somebody else can fill me in.

When I solo the instance at my current lvl (103) I gain roughly 5 mil XP each time. Incidentally, I should point out that my other character is Azzazin, aka, the one writing the PK guide, lol! (I'll get back to working on it now that 2x drops is over).

Anyways, while it is really cool that I seem to be doing what no cleric has done before (at least not on the scale I'm now doing it), I find myself wishing somebody else had told me long ago that my cleric could be doing what I'm currently doing, because I would have fast-tracked my gear development to get it good enough to solo. Thats why I'm quickly putting together this guide on how I solo PV as a cleric.

Now I should clarify that, when I say 'solo', naturally its not at all difficult to solo. Once inside, you can take as much time as you want, perhaps aoeing no more than 1-2 dozen mobs at a time. However, I'm talking about rounding up entire rooms of mobs at once, to allow you to do the instance very fast, and thus allowing you to enter the instance more than once per day.

To whet your appetite: I've now refined my technique to the place where I can do 3 runs per PV token per day, and 6 runs in total because I get a 2nd token from having 5000 Shroud prestige (more on that later). Thus, I'm getting around 30mil xp each day, for a total of about 1 hour of time. I'm highly optimistic that with r9 3rd cast weapon, I'll be able to fit in a 4th run sometimes. This is the equivalent of soloing a LOT of fc runs every day, which would take far more time than just 1 hour. Thus, I believe that PV is the way to go for any arcane with purify weapon to level up to 105.

December 31st: With the acquisition of my r9 third cast weapon, I'm now able to do 5.5 runs per token, and I'm getting over 50mil xp every day. My gear has gotten significantly better, and I'm not suggesting you'll be able to do this; a number of factors like my much higher damage, my faster purifies from r9rr weapon, increased phy def and hp, and increased -channeling have made my runs much faster than previously

---

Gear Necessary:

I have tried rounding up rooms self-buffed only (~12k hp, 9k physical defense, 19k magic attack), and, while it is very certainly possible, it is much much more risky than when you are fully buffed. I would say that the minimum gear requirement, then, is somewhat a bit lower than my current gear, if you employ the right tactics when rounding up the mobs.

My guess would be, 8-9k hp, 8k physical defense, and 18k magic attack, would be a good minimum for the kind of runs I'm discussing here.

---

Checking that you are ready:

Here are a list of things you must check before you start your runs. Any mistakes here will lead to time penalties which means you won't be able to enter the PV instance as many times, thus reducing the XP you get. Be careful to double check all of the following things!

-try to gauge if your client is having any performance or lag issues. If your client has been up for more than several hours, restart it completely to clear the RAM and improve performance. 1 or 2 seconds of a non-responsive client is more than enough to kill you in PV.

-REPAIR YOUR GEAR. A lot of mobs will be hitting you a lot of times. The last thing you want is your gear breaking

-make sure you have spare hypers, and lots of hyper activations ready. Waste a lot of time and xp potential if you run out of hypers during a run!

-have lots of 3500 hp pots and 5000 mana pots; you'll go through quite a few of them.

-have a good stock of Ironguard apoths, at least 20.

-make sure genie has lots of stamina (minimum 50k)

-minimum of 5 teleport incenses (assuming you do 6 runs in under an hour, you'll require 5, and then you can use town port once, at the end of each run)

-hp charm, and mana charm are both very necessary; make sure each has at least 100k left (shouldn't use too much of either, but just in case things go bad). As I explain in my PK Guide, the mana charm gives you vastly more survivability when you have plume shell in, and will prevent your mana from hitting 0 at a very bad time.

-rez scrolls; if you mess up and you are near the end of the instance, or if you can't enter again because the token timed out; carry lots of these. Recommended that you have the morai skill that prevents clerics from losing XP (learned from Luminance order).

---

Buffs:

Time is only of the essence once you start the first run. Until you start, make sure you take the time to stack the deck in your favor, in terms of survivability. Get the following buffs:

-lvl 11 barb hp buff
-lvl 11 bm physical defense buff (if demon, make sure you buff before, not after, getting the base buffs)
-seeker buffs (I put 5 def lvl onto my r8 purify wep, and 3 attack lvl onto my r9 wep)
-your own cleric buffs
-mystic buffs are GREAT! Rez buff, and increased healing buff, invigorate are great. Invigorate will have to be buffed inside the instance, so if you can, get a friend, or hire a mystic for 15 minutes to come into the instance each time (or use an alt), to buff you with invigorate. The increased healing buff increases your heals and healing potions by 30%, turning a 3500 hp pot into 4550 hp. Invigorate will make your skills hit 20% harder, great for getting that extra damage to kill the mobs in fewer attacks.
-buffs from the base: increased physical defense, increased magic attack (with my aoe techniques you won't be triple sparking, so you'll not remove this buff), increased crit rate buff, increased crit damage buff, rez buff (if you don't have a mystic buffing you).

---

Getting openers/alts ready:

To my knowledge, mobs can only be spawned once per instance. Additionally, you can only spawn the mobs once per day per character. That means, aside from the first run which in which you can spawn the mobs yourself, you'll need an opener for every other run you do.

If, as I do, you are doing 3 runs per token, you'll want to have 2 ppl standing ready (if its your first 3 runs of the day) or 3 ppl ready (if its your 2nd set of runs, using the 2nd token obtained from Shroud). Have them near the Khoan the Survivor npc, located to the left of the Elder of Archosaur.

Edit1: since the skill rebalancing update, the npc 'Khoan the Survivor' now has duplicates in the City of Lost, Etherblade, Plume City, Raging Tides, and Tellus City. However, I recommend you still enter at the one in Archosaur, because whenever you exit a run, this is where you'll always end up, no matter which version of Khoan the Survivor you entered from.

Edit2: I do 5.5 runs per token (in other words, I enter six separate instances). That means you have to put some thought into coordinating your openers. If you can, find a friend with many high lvl alts, and be nice-pay them for their time, even if they insist on not taking your money! Have them move all of their alts to the Khoan the Survivor npc, and every run, log a new alt to open for you. Trying to coordinate 6 random people is not fun, so plan ahead to ensure you don't get stuck without openers half way through doing your runs.

When all is ready, have you and your opener take the first quest from the Khoan the Survivor. This quest has purple text, and gives you an item in your inventory which lasts for 24 hours. Once you have this item, you will notice that Khoan the Survivor offers a red-colored quest (for entry into 100+ version of PV) and a green colored quest (for the 95+ version). Take the RED quest!

Upon taking the red quest, you will receive an item which lasts 15 minutes in your inventory, and you will be teleported inside the instance. After selecting the instance you want, you are 'locked' into that type of instance for the next 15 minutes. That means, if you accidentally take the green-colored quest, you can only enter lvl 95 PV for the next 15 minutes. Don't misclick!

---

Starting the Run:

If you have a mystic buffing for you, once you are teleported inside, have him/her buff quickly. If its the first run, you can talk to the R.O.C. npc while receiving buffs; if its 2nd or 3rd run, you'll need the opener to talk to the R.O.C npc. This spawns the mobs in the instance.

At this point, the opener can leave the instance by talking to the other npc whose name is Haphwestus (seriously, who comes up with these names lol).

---

Rounding up a room of mobs safely:

After you get proficient, you may be tempted to try rounding up more than 1 room of mobs at a time, but I highly discourage this (until you get more experienced) for a few reasons:

1) mobs will reset if you go too far from them, and if they can't hit you/don't get hit. Sometimes, even if you do hit them, they'll reset anyways, once they leave the room they come from.

2) more mobs means every little mistake you mistake is magnified (lol). For example, staying 1 second too long with 400 mobs following you instead of 200, and you are instantly dead; your charm won't even appear to tick. Furthermore, double the # of mobs = double the graphical lag, particularly if your computer isn't the most up to date.

Thus, at least initially, stick to rounding up one room at a time.

EDIT: I have successfully managed to pull the entire instance of mobs in a single pull by now. The trick to managing this is understanding the basics of mob aggro.

#1) Aggro distance. If at any time you exceed the aggro distance of a mob, that mob will reset. How do you tell though? AHA! On your minimap, have it set to show mobs; they appear as white dots. Zoom as far as you can into minimap. The first mob you aggroed at the start of the instance shows up as a little red dot. Keep an eye on that red dot, and also the other white dots on the minimap showing the mobs. If any of those white dots fall off the edge of your minimap, then you've gone too far, and those mobs that you can't see on minimap will reset. When I do a run, much of my time is spent watching the minimap to make sure I don't run too far ahead of the mobs.

#2) Aggro time. Each mob type has an 'aggro time'. For example, lets say mob type A has an aggro time of 45 seconds. When the mob first sees you, the aggro time starts ticking. If after 45 seconds, the mob has not hit you, nor have you hit the mob, it will reset! The way I keep aggro on mobs, then, is to hit them occasionally with aoes. Before I got my r9rr armor and weapon, this was not possible: my -channeling was not fast enough for me to shoot a Razor Feathers at the mobs before the mobs would catch up to me and kill me. Now though, I can wait for my weapon to purify me, run a little ways, press the Razor Feathers, run a bit further, and then it'll channel and hit the mobs, and finish casting before the main group of mobs catches up with me.

THIS BEING SAID, I STILL RECOMMEND NOT PULLING THE WHOLE INSTANCE. I myself do the run now in 2 pulls. When I pull the entire instance, my computer often freezes up at the end, and I go splat while I desperately mash buttons at 1 fps. Very frusturating! Unless you have a really wicked graphics card and processor, I'd recommend sticking to 3 or 2 pulls per instance. If I ever get around to making a video, you'll see how I tend to do it.

The essence of rounding up mobs is a mixture of Ironheart, appropriately timed shells, hitting hp and mp pots, and running when your weapon gives you purify spell (5 seconds of holy path speed and anti-stun). I start by running into the group of mobs packed into the hallway before the first big room, and using Ironheart till I have a purify, and then off I go.

Mobs are aggroed through proximity, not group aggro, which means you need to be close enough to all the mobs to aggro them. For this reason, when you get a purify, run in a zig zag pattern through the mobs.

A cautionary word about ironheart. You should NOT try to tank the mobs. This will lead to excessive charm ticks, and gear damage, and death if the group of mobs is bigger than 100 mobs. The purpose of ironhearting is to keep your hp topped up while waiting for the edge of thegroup of mobs behind you to catch up, and give you a purify (you'll typically get a purify instantly if around 15-20 mobs hit you at once).

What tends to happen is that mobs will constantly be interrupting your ironheart, so you'll be inclined to jam down on it a number of times to make it go off. But sometimes, this backfires, and it goes off... but more times than you intended for it to. Instead of going off once, it'll go off twice, and the big group of mobs trailing behind you will catch up and slaughter you! Only press the Ironheart key once, and then if it gets interrupted, tap it down again, but just once.

Some mobs will randomly shoot immobilize at you. Your purify spell will block a lot of these immobilizes, but some of them will immobilize you. If you only have a few mobs behind you, just wait out the immobilize until you get a purify. Perhaps use the time to do an ironheart. However if you have a big group of mobs behind you, immediately put in plume shell and hit a hp pot AND a mp pot. Press down on the W key so you escape as soon as you get the purify. Why not use the Purify skill? You can, but it depends on how far behind you the bulk of mobs is. If its right on your tail, Plume shell will save you more than using Purify will, and also give you an almost-guaranteed purify spell from weapon, giving you lots of space between you and the mobs. It'll also drop your mana to 0 instantly, as well as possibly ticking your charm, a somewhat scary experience, lol. If you had used Purify instead of Plume shell, you'd be dead for sure if the mob group was right on your tail. If you have the time, though, you can, of course, purify yourself.

Watch your chii. Make sure to stay well above three sparks. Half the reason to do ironhearts at regular intervals is to keep chi topped up.

If possible, I save my Plume Shell and Wings of Protection (79 shell) for towards the end of each pull. My favorite tactic is to save Plume Shell altogether, and use Wings of Protection when I've rounded up all the mobs. Then I run diagonally alongside the edge of the mob group chasing me until I have my purify spell, and then I zoom off and get ready to start my aoe combo. I'll explain in a moment why I like to save Plume Shell.

---

Aoe tactics:

I have three aoe combos that work well. The first combo is safer and I recommend you start practicing this one first. As you gain experience, and if you have better gear, you can try the second combo. If you get third cast, try the third option.

I've tried other combinations, such as triple sparking tempest and razor feathers, but I haven't gotten them to work as well as the combos I describe below.

Both combos rely on something I call 'purifying expel'. What this involves is pressing the Purify skill, then pressing Expel on the genie a moment later, perhaps 0.3 seconds later. Timing is crucial here. Timed properly though, your purify skill will be channeling as the seal from expel is put onto your character. This doesn't stop the purify though, and when the channeling finishes, the seal is removed, leaving you with 9 seconds of immune to physical damage. This is often how I start my aoe combos.

Combo 1:

-safest I've come across
-kills all mobs whether they have 150k or 200k hp
-uses apoth and genie

When you have rounded up all the mobs, use Wings of Protection and run diagonally along the edge of the mobs grouped behind you to get a purify, and then run for 5 seconds off to the side.

As the first few mobs get close to you, purify expel.

Switch to your damage weapon (r9 or g16).

Use Razor Feathers.

Use Siren's Kiss (costs 1 spark).

Use skill called Fortify on genie, then immediately click and Ironguard Powder for 12s of immunity. Because Tempest and Razor Feathers have such a long channel time, I tend to prefer an ironguard over a Pan Gu Essence (8 seconds of immunity), so that if I don't click fast, I have 4 seconds of extra time in which to get the aoes off.

Use Tempest (costs 2 sparks, but on a sage cleric, half the time it'll only cost 1 spark. Really nice when this happens).

Use Razor Feathers for a 2nd time; it'll be finished cooling down by now.

All mobs will be dead at this point. Fill up chi, then proceed to next room when ready ('ready' depends on which aoe combo you choose to do in each room... will explain more in a bit). Remember to switch back to your purify weapon before pulling mobs.

Combo 2:

-more risky
-more gear dependent
-does NOT require apoth

As in the other combo, use Wings of Protection and run diagonally along the mob edge to get a purify, and put some distance between yourself and the mob cluster.

Put in Plume Shell. Very important to have this in before you start the aoe.

Purify expel.

Switch to damage weapon (r9 or g16).

Use Tempest.

Use Siren's Kiss.

Very quickly switch back to your purify weapon, and hit hp and mp pots while pressing S to escape the mob cluster. They will mostly be alive at this point, which is why its so important that you have Plume Shell in before you start this combo. Your mana will get slammed to zero and your Plume Shell will drop off, and you don't want to stay near the mobs when this happens.

When you've run for about 4 seconds, stop and shoot off a Razor Feathers at the mobs.

Check to see how many mobs are left. If lots, run back a bit, then shoot off another Razor Feathers, and they should all be dead at this point. Plume Shell is a good idea if they are close enough that they will hit you before the Razor Feathers finishes cancelling (which would probably cancel its channeling), and will give you the purify you need to put some distance between you and the mobs.

The major advantage to this technique is that it doesn't require an apoth.

Previously, I used to use Combo 1 for the 2nd room, and Combo 2 for the first and last rooms. Lately though, I've taken to using Combo 2 for all 3 rooms, which frees up my apoth, allowing me to save a bit of time each run.

Combo 3 (NEW):

For rank 9 third cast users only; you can skip the 1-spark Siren's Kiss and use a Razor Feathers instead. It works because third cast armor gives more -channeling and WAY more attack lvls, so that razor feathers actually hits hard enough and fast enough to replace the more chi-costly Siren's Kiss. The chi saved is time saved each run not having to build that chi back up.

---

Killing the boss + frog mobs at end:

For the third and final room, when I kite from the mass of mobs I've collected, I run past the boss. Then, instead of just waiting for the mobs to catch up to me, I shoot Elemental Seal onto the boss, so that I knock off more of its hp in the aoes. Then I proceed with Combo 2. In the final room there is a group of mobs with over 200k, so you'll likely need the 2nd Razor Feathers to drop them all.

Be sure to kill the mobs before starting on the boss, or else the mobs will continually keep interrupting your channeling, even if its as few as a dozen of them, which wastes your time.

Nowadays, Thunderball is a really great skill to use ever since the skill rebalancing. I tend to use sage Wield Thunder and Thunderball a lot for their damage and the chi-gain, respectively (Wield Thunder has half chance to give 45 chi instead of 15). I fill in the gaps with Great Cyclone and Elven Boon.

When the boss dies, a group of little frog mobs that give a ton of xp spawn. They have super low hp and die in one hit, but make sure you use a Siren's Kiss quickly while standing in the middle of them, because after they spawn, they tend to spread out in all directions.

Then, pick up the Fortification Draught (gold colored apoth item) that the boss dropped, and reset squad. (To save a bit of time can choose to skip picking them up.)

---

Resetting instance:

There are two approaches you can take to quickly and effectively resetting the squad. If you still have the opener in squad, pass lead to him/her, and then drop squad. For example, in my case, I pass lead to the mystic, and then drop squad, and press Town Portal or use a Tele Incense.

The other approach is to have the opener invite you when you are about 30 seconds from being done run. You finish the run, pick up drops and then get ported out, thus saving a tele incense. However you run the risk that if something goes awry, you either (a) waste time waiting for timer, or (b) leave instance before killing everything! Be very careful that if you use this method of resetting, get the opener to pass you lead before leaving squad! Otherwise when they leave squad, your instance will start resetting, not fun to deal with while pulling a ton of mobs.

So, take your pick in this case