Showing posts with label Rundal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rundal. Show all posts

Monday, 13 August 2012

Generation 16 Tips - Let not light see my black and deep desires

The last of the Shakespearian story-arcs, this supposedly revolves around "Macbeth" but has almost nothing to do with the original prose. Pity I was hoping they'd include "Titus" but I guess that was too much? The difficulty ramps up a fair bit here, forcing you to fight numerous Peaca spawn in big numbers so it pays to have a bunch of highlevel buddies by now. Like before your decisions will affect the ending.

The Witching Hour (solo)
Scathach beach and cave are full of really high level monsters, fortunately you don't need to fight any! Just mount up (I assume you have one by now) and ride past till you reach the shipwreck.

Death of Someone Important (solo as William)
Huzzah, you get to finally meet King Ethan MacQuill II for all of 1.2 seconds! Firstly you need to deal with Morrighan and her cronies though. Given your character has Rank 1 in everything now you shouldn't find any problem beating the mobs here. Just follow the mission prompts.

Assassin (solo)
You will face three fleet footed elven assassins here (damn you Castanea) all of whom have heavy stander and aggro far, pretty much at the start of the mission. One of them comes with a bow, and all of them will ignore the NPC you are supposedly protecting in favor of killing you first! Trans/demi early and mana shield up in case they land hard hits on you. If you have time you can summon Adniel but if you are prepared for them you should be ok with standard god skills - if aligned with Morrighan use Wings of Eclipse first to take more hits, if you've reverted back to Neamhain use Shadow Spirit on yourself to hit all of them followed up with fury of light and spear of light.

Even Ezio would be caned with your demi-god skills!

From Beyond (solo as William)
Been awhile since you've visited this place, and there's a new grave for you to see. A group of undead Peaca scum will ambush you here so again be ready to fight and thunder as needed. The hollow knights are dual wielding swords which actually makes them -less- dangerous since they have no bows but treat everything here with caution.

Necessities (solo as William)
You'll face Golems, Aonbharrs (careful of the cheating floating stones), and Balrogs in this mission. First two groups are easily enough dispatched with thunder while the Balrogs (gargoyle AI) will probably not live long against your smash-mill - even if you are using a pickaxe at this point. Once they're dead it will start to rain so dig those firey rocks and complete the mission.

Truth Helm (solo as William)
After killing -all- that other stuff 10 stupid alchemists stand in your way. Really? If you need help here you're doing something wrong. :P

Secret Meeting (bring high level help)
A very tough mission so you'd best bring a strong team. Ironically it is easier if you (party leader) remains talking to the NPCs at the top of the watch tower until your friends kill the three, rather large waves of Peaca monsters pouring into the grounds below. If you decide to join them then Andras, Odran, Padan, and Sinead will join the combat but should any of them die the mission will fail. Prep potions before attempting this and keep your mana shield on. Also avoid using normal attacks (almost everything has stander) and try stagger your trans/demi (don't do them at the same time) to match with what your allies are doing so that you don't all use up the extra power during the first wave - although with a strong team you'll probably finish this mission with both still active. Should you keep disconnecting then you may need to run the mission with fewer people. Also if it is still too tough find someone of a lower level to be party lead. Rare to find anyone on INT or below at this stage though.

The Third Guardian (solo)
Another visit through Rundal with not much new in terms of enemies, unless you are on hard mode in which case there may be some over powered red spiders and skeleton wolves in here for you. They won't be any smarter though so just fight as normal and prepare to counter or windmill as needed. Don't underestimate the boss - infact it is probably safer to over-kill her and trans/demi as your opening move. Shakespeare will try help here, just use him as bait. Most of Merrow's strongest attacks are evadable if you aren't busy using long animated combat moves like smash or windmill (you can't knock her down anyway) - she has a forward wave attack and an area attack that illuminates itself with giant circles which you should stay out of. Harder to evade her smash and counter though. Demi-god skills are probably the best way to eliminate her quickly.

Blood and Death (bring high level help)
You'll have a big NPC army to help you out here but what you most need is a full party. One of them (the oldest one creation wise) is going to be Shakespeare with R1 everything and will help in making things go smoothly. You must fight through tons of Peaca scum to reach the castle and a few more within, and the party leader must survive both boss fights (first against a lich and then against obvious main baddie) for the mission to be completed. Easiest way to do this is for him or her to hang back and let his faithful party members do the majority of killing at those points (stay out of the throne room and do not "rest"). Apart from the things you've already faced now there are these as well (all multiaggro at this stage):

Giant Firefly - With melee immunity, good defense against magic and range and a huge deadly windmill radius, you'll want to campfire magnum shot these things from far far away.

Demilich - may be hard to lure him away from his buddies but given that he teleports you may be able to isolate him. He will have lots of HP and can chain cast advanced magic (obviously). Probably better to use demi-god skills on him to end him quickly, team ganking windmill (he can/will teleport behind you) is probably the way to go.

Ghasts - summoned by the main boss they cannot be knocked down, have a ton of HP behind very high defense and do major damage. Group windmill to keep them busy. Actually you may just want to group windmill everything in the final room anyway as there's not much room to do anything trickier. :P

Main Boss - has a number of advanced skill too such as final hit, life drain and assault slash. Party windmill spam him against a wall to keep him off his feet, and his summoned Ghasts in check. Only Admiral Owen will be assisting at this point and if he dies it is game over. 

Thursday, 9 August 2012

Generation 14 Tips - O brawling love, O loving hate

Welcome to the next segment of Shakespeare's story-arc, this time dealing with Romeo and Juliet. It is very similar to the previous generation in that everything is solo, you have to read fast (if you haven't read "Romeo and Juliet" before), there are some nice cut scenes and it's still pretty easy. Here's a quick rundown of the combat parts!

Act I - Can't Choose Your Family
Ironically harder if done on lower levels, you will side with each of the families (you turncoat!) for 1.5 minutes each and have to keep 5 dudes on your side alive through out. Go for any opponents with spotlights first, followed by supporting any friendlies in danger and you should be OK. Enemies re-spawn when all of them are slain so if you can keep one alive a little longer it could help.

Act II - Shakespeare loves Skeletons
Romeo has a mini-sneak mission here but it's nowhere as hard as following Claudius. Just avoid the guards and make your way up the stairs. Later you'll also meet Verona Dark Skeleton soldiers, who are basically normal single-aggro skeletons with passive defenses. Just smash and windmill (they can windmill back) as you see fit. If you need practice just run through Rabbie normal again but by now you should know what you are doing. Used to be a panther mini-boss here too but since it was too difficult (pfft I beat it with my main and my mules) it was removed.

Act III - Stabby Stabby
Epic RP duel takes place between Romeo (you) and Tybalt who outclasses you with more HP and passive defenses. Good test of your skill as a player here and if you are competent should win in one or two tries. Afterwards it is more Verona skelies for you, but this time you have to protect a nurse. They're trying to make you rush into doing the wrong thing but there's an easy counter for it. Trans and Demi then destroy those bones with ease. What's the point of them if you don't use it right?

A bit like zombie farm! :P

Act IV - Gardening with the Undead
Somewhat dangerous mission now, as soon as you enter you will be multi-aggroed by one of the skeletons and a verona ghoul (poisonous, has windmill) or verona ghost (most dangerous) of the set. You need to fend off the attackers but try to leave one of them alive while you harvest herbs or they'll all respawn. Use pets to distract opponents if needed. If a panther shows up you may want to exit the mission as they can be very problematic. If you are far away and have a snake you can easily kill it with poison and patience though. Definitely trans and demi while running this mission regardless. Afterwards you get to meet the 2nd guardian and all you need to do is run away as you are scripted to lose. :P

Act V - Road to Suicide
It's Romeo's turn to harvest herbs but again the damn skeletons are here. Try harvest first if possible before eliminating them. Windmill spam works best. Afterwards he gets an RP duel against Paris, who is a lot like Tybalt. However Paris is very aggressive which makes him easy to catch with counter. Once the lovers are out of the way the 2nd guardian will reappear. He's even easier than the reaper. To evade the majority of the attacks stand behind him or just shoot the slow bastard to death. My mule giant had no problem using basic knuckes on the thing though and seriously just punched him to death and drinking potions everytime he took a hit.

Golvan's De Ja Vu
The first of the extra stories you can do after completing Act V, it sees you running two long and dangerous missions to return a book to a stupid paper cutout - twice! Coill will have things you've already encountered previously along with possibly poisonous snakes and giant versions of opponents you've already faced. The big guys, much like ancient titled critters outside, can take more hits and dish out more damage but they have exactly the same AI as their smaller counterparts so don't freak out. The boss lady is pretty tough and can summon fire sprites (ironic given she's made of paper) so you may want to lure her away with ranged. I highly recommend trans/demi against her too, at least the first time around. If you feel you can take her without either on your second pass, go for it. Lastly, it's usually stupid to drink from the fountains so don't. :P

The stage dungeon segment poses it's own problems. The snowfield spiders multi-aggro and have a bunch of HP but if you lure them one at a time you should be able to neutralize them easily, just like the trolls. Giant Spider can be handled with smash-mill if it's alone but you should save your trans/demi (or plan to use a second one) against the giant troll as he is quite dangerous, and the giant castle golem after him even more so. Shadow spirit will help keep them stuck in place while you cane them so I hope you've been eating the souls of your enemies.

Ascon's Sadness
The second extra mission revolves around an old man's past. This is the first mission where your replies to the NPCs can change a few things but nothing major will be affected so just pick whichever you want.
After getting beat up in Ascon's RP mission you'll eventually find yourself working for the Rich Man of Emain Macha. First run is through Coill with denizens you've already met, as a bonus you can bring a full party and will probably be faster with a few extra hands. The boss is a Giant Ice Sprite who can be very deadly if you let it cast Ice Spear. Take care of its companion sprites then demi/trans up and smash that heavily armored freak. If you brought a team you can just take turns smashing but make sure -you- land the final hit so you can claim the jewelry pouch.

Second job is a solo run through Rundal to capture a kid cyclops. Again, nothing new for you here - just mixed groups of the same old stuff till the boss room. There's an entire cyclops family in there and while you can try just tame the kid cyclops and run, I prefer to make it an oprhan first by luring the others one by one and slaying them with demi/trans. Obviously if you kill the kid or run out of taming bait you'll need to re-run this dungeon. The Rich guy gives you free baits if he doesn't detect you have any in your pack, so just drop what you have and ask him for more before heading for the dungeon.


Might be a cousin in Morrowind.

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Generation 13 Tips - The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune

The epic storyline in Mabinogi goes in a totally WTF direction at this point as it begins to introduce Shakespeare; Literally. It is also nothing like the previous story-arcs and is quite easy despite being a pure solo event, more so if you've just come from whooping a deity in G12. Some really nice cutscenes here though but be prepared to read NPC conversations really quick if you want to follow what's going on (and for some reason haven't read "Hamlet" before).

Act I - Welcome to Avon
I am assuming you can handle Alby, Ciar, overly cute furry rats, and wolves by now. There's a named wolf you have to fight in one part but if you did the final battle class board mission you would have already defeated him. The only new things for you here you get to fight with some help:

Snow Trolls (with Laertes)
They only know smash, counter and defense and unless they are the giant version have no passive defenses simply making them big multi-aggroing goblins. Laertes is an ass-kicker so if you aren't quick he'll take all your XP. The giant snow troll may cause him troubles though (depending on your total level).

Elsinore Ghosts
Horatio will help you out here but he's useless so you're going to have to put these things back in the grave yourself. They also multi-aggro and have instinctive reaction (dont smash to open) as well as poisonous hands but no stander of any kind so just fight normally to eliminate them.

Acts II & III - Have an Antagonist
After bashing some goblins and being introduced to the Grim Reaper (don't fight him yet, just stay away from his attacks - if he jumps into the floor, MOVE) you need to stalk Claudius on the stage. Getting too close, being detected or being too far at any point fails the mission. Failing loses nothing so feel free to keep retrying - he always follows the same path too.


You will also face a Castle Wall Golem later on who has instinctive reaction and passive defenses against range and magic but is weak to melee so just like the ghosts, normal combo/windmill it to death. If you feel threatened you can always pet revolver, or trans or demi for overkill. After him you'll be sent into Rundal to fight a Siren. Nothing new here other than her unless you are doing this on hard so I'll run through them quick:

Siren
She's like a succubus that can summon Sahagins, use advanced magic, teleport and has high passive defenses in everything. Sounds pretty scary, but if you want you can lure her with a long bow away from her summons. Alternatively, just trans/demi and tear her to pieces. I seriously just pallied up and killed her in one smash. :/

Gnolls
You'll encounter these doggies if you are at "hard" level and they behave just like ratmen. A single windmill should be able to swat a whole bunch of them to death or deadly right away.

Sahagin Ranger/Fighter

Again only found it you are at "hard" level, you can treat these multi-aggroing fish idiots as goblins with windmill. Being over level 1000 though, they shouldn't be any cause for concern. Send them back to Dagon however you see fit.

Act IV - The Curse of the Black Pearl

Bet you didn't know he was in Hamlet.

So Hamlet and his two buddies are on a boat to England and are are attacked by a bunch of rats followed by a number of Barbosa's (skeleton) pirates. You will be playing the part of Hamlet it this strange mission and if your skeleton slaying technique is rusty, will probably be running it a few times. You lose nothing by failing though, and failing is easy when you have to protect your two idiot friends (both of whom Hamlet tricks into getting executed in the original story).

Afterwards you will be defending civilians against sentries for around 5 minutes which is pretty easy, just look out for their smash and counters. Windmill/assault slash like mad if you want to clear them quick and then you get a nice trip to the graveyard where you have to re-murder a number of weak Ghost Cloakers. If you beat Oroborous already, your smash should be able to 1 hit KO them.

Act V - Well that was Easy
Hamlet is going to challenge you to a duel (LOL) and if you lose you have it coming. Then you get to fight the main boss, the scary looking Grim Reaper who is perhaps the easiest end-boss in all the story arcs so far. He has three attacks - if he spins in a sommersault he is firing in a straight line where he is facing. If he is spinning like a top he is attacking a small arc in front of him (where he originally was facing), and if he jumps into the floor he is gonna pop out beside you and slice your face so keep moving until he reappears. If he manages to land a hit, all your stats will start to drain which is kind of a non-issue. To beat him just stand behind the idiot and use fast normal attacks (ie. not smash) and when he turns around to look at you just run through him to his back again. Alternatively you can just wipe the floor with him if you trans and demi. Your choice. ^_^

Sunday, 29 July 2012

Generation 9 Tips (Part One) - Where the Fomors Hide

Now we begin the next major arc of the story and the introduction of alchemy! I am assuming that if you're still here that you've gone through at least some of my previous Mabinogi Classes. As usual I'm only covering the parts that may give you grief and boars and wolves should no longer be on that list! :P

Hero of Mag Tuireadh (solo as Fallon)
I think you actually fail the mission if any of your allied soldiers die (maybe not but it's good practice for later), which means you need to get moving quick and assist the dudes taking the most damage. Fallon is not bad in melee but he won't be as tough as your main character if you've done all the previous Generations so fight well and drink potions as needed. The black warrior boss behaves a lot like the Dark Lord with his teleportation antics and is the biggest threat to your buddies since he will be changing aggro a bit. Like the Dark Lord he can't do shit if he's on his ass so smash or WM that idiot and don't worry too much if you fail a few times, it's just an RP mission anyway.

Medal of Renkinjutsu! (fastest solo as Leymore)
Another RP this time as a mid level alchemist (alas not as either of the Elric brothers), and serves more as an introduction to alchemy skills if you haven't used them yourself yet. Like bolt magic you can load up to 5 units of whatever into your cylinder before firing it. Wind blast shoves things away, water kills em. Between those two plus standard counter you should be able to make short work of everything here. While this is technically the first quest that will be "scaled" based on your total level, have fun with it and try things out as you lose nothing really if you fail the mission.

Too easy if they were in it. :P

Supply Run (fastest solo)
I don't know why you have to hit a whole bunch of orbs while "delivering" stuff, but this serves as an introduction for your actual character to the denizens of the shadow realm (if you didn't just jump in here for the heck of it earlier). The last orb near the gate has around 2.5 times more spawn than the rest but you have all the room to back up to snipe and lure if they give you any issues. If you've never seen them before - here's a quick run down.

Grumbils
Basically just more colorful yet low-damage gremlins. They only spawn with other grumbils and given that you would have fought worse by now, should not be an issue.

Shadow Archer
Should be high on your priority target list as their ranged attack and magnum can do decent injury damage. They also dual aggro so you need to take em down fast. This shouldn't be a problem if you can get up to them as the only move they have at close quarters is defense. Once in melee they're pretty much screwed.

Shadow Lancer
After the archers you want to kill these guys next as they too dual aggro. They like to run around a lot like skelies though, giving you lots of time to counter or better yet, windmill.

Shadow Fighters
Dim-witted single aggro brutes that can pack a wallop. Basically treat them as goblins with large HP. They also hold defense up for a long time and tend to advance on you at the same time, giving you ample opportunity to smash their faces when they do.

Deliverance of Ice Mines (solo w/ Jenna NPC)
You'll have Jenna backing you up now and you must keep her and yourself alive as waves of shadow fighters and lancers assault from the small, nearby pathway. You have a minute or two to deploy those mines you were given which should help stem the tide. Enemy forces are bringing no ranged assistance, so feel free to annihilate the idiots how best you see fit. Don't worry too much about Jenna, she can usually handle stragglers - just make sure to stop or at least severely injure the bulk of the enemy as she can get overrun.

Rundal Temple Rumble (solo)
A small fun adventure in Rundal, where instead of skelies you get hooded cultists. While they have low passive defenses, they only single aggro, have pretty low HP, and run as slowly as human characters. The ones with shields are immune to ranged, but other than that you should be able to mop the floor with these guys.

Font Fighting - Corrupt Alchemist (solo w/ Jenna NPC)
Technically part of the NEXT generation (G10), this becomes available to you now so I'll just go through it quickly. Around 1/3rd in, Jenna will join and help you out with multi-aggro. At this point see to your own enemies first before helping her out as she can take a few hits. You can also patch her up in between fights. "New" baddies introduced are:

Bone Fighter/Lancer/Archer
Unlike your standard skeletons (which are actually more dangerous), these ones behave exactly like their "shadow" counterparts and should be treated as such. Bone coloration signifies their strength with gold (ironically) being the strongest and bronze the weakest.

Shadow Wizard Chick
Enjoys fire bolt and having nice hair-dos. Quite dangerous and should be high on your priority list of targets beside archers. Their punch does decent damage but it is preferable to their magic. They have a nasty habit of chain firebolting people to death. Smash or windmill them early to avoid this.

The Titluar Corrupt Alchemist
Fighting any alchemist sucks because you're going to be thrown around like a rag doll, set on fire (uncommon), hit by painful water balloons (often) and even frozen (corrupted ones only). They pack decent melee damage too and are again high on the list of "dudes to kill first". Fortunately they only know defense up close so get to them early and finish them quick. You'll be thankful to have Jenna with you for this run to interrupt his skills in this mission, but when you're on your own later I hope you either have a good charge, dodge or mana shield rank with multiple alchs gunning for you.

Shadow Walker (solo)
The main objective here is to find some psychadelic berries, consume them, and talk to some dude who only appears when you are high. Seriously. You'll want to hit trees to get red or purple berries, and they are often guarded by red spiders and skeleton wolves. They'll be stronger than the types you are used to, but more HP/damage does not mean smarter. If you are silly enough to rush in there and get surprised by multi-aggro then I think you've earned a butt whooping. :P

Monday, 23 July 2012

Generation 3 Tips - Holy Hell

Now that you have gained your transformation from the previous story arc this should be a breeze right? Well, yes and no. Generation 3 has two parts, the first being quite easy but very annoying due to running to Tarlach often, then the end game which is ridicoulously hard.

Statue Restoration
First part mainly involves fixing up statues that the fomors are breaking as you mostly revisit dungeons you've already beaten. I'll just quickly cover some opponents that may be new to you at this point.

Arr' they be Pirates!
The pirate skelies in Rundal are the same as normal skelies, only that differently attired ones can multi aggro you. Keep this in mind as you take them out.

Heavy Hitters
The Rundal Cyclops and Barri Ogre Warriors (one of whom you have fought before) have similar AI. Probably a good idea to use transformation against them just to be sure, or if you want to be extra safe, pet revolver at your leisure. Obviously don't fight the Ogre Warriors all at once and be warned that the big ones have more HP and deal more damage.

Rabbie Bosses
If you open the boss room while alone in Rabbie you'll face a succubus, an AI you have defeated before as Tarlach in Generation 1 and has similar AI to the necromancer at the end of Generation 2. Also good to note, she only runs as fast as you making it easy to smash and run until she decides to give up and repeat. If you open the boss room with a team you will be lured into a trap by a single goblin. Killing it will spawn a large cluster of stronger multi-aggro gold types with archer backup. If you can snipe or pet revolver the "bait" goblin, you will be able to handle the army that follows in a more organized fashion.

Random Math
There's a low chance you may encounter either of these while clearing Math - Pocket mice and Giant Skelies. The later ones are actually the least dangerous skeleton type and are best dealt with windmill since you can hit all of them with their large hit boxes. The pocket mice are just slightly better than rats, and so long as you don't use magic on them will pose no threat.

Baol Infiltration
Here's where things begin getting insane. This solo dungeon is designed as a "stealth" mission where you need to get past a whole bunch of high damage dealing guards to reach the boss room. You can't use magic other than healing and if you talk the guards will detect you. Every single door is locked via orb system which means being unlucky could result in your death. Fortunately you get an anti-fomor robe for the duration of this which enables you to be invisible from all guards except the hell hound type, but if THEY detect you - ALL of them detect you. This makes them your most major threat. There are many strategies to get through safetly on the wiki. I recommend using the rock throw action and bringing a long bow to lure the hell hounds out from certain multi-aggro death should they appear. It is important to wait for their bodies to disappear before continuing as even "dead" hounds can detect you and alert the other guards.

Alternatively if you are high level enough (R1 smash and combat mastery) and have a strong mana shield to back you up, you can simply kill all the guards. Elves have an even easier time as they should be able to "hide" in between hitting orbs. Be warned that the hounds aggro very fast though so it may pay to get behind the orb before kicking it.

Baol Final (better bring help)
With a mix of boss type creatures with multi aggro in every room for SIX floors, this is possibly the second most difficult dungeon in the entire game (after Peaca) you'd really better bring (preferably strong) help. Also be sure to bring firewood, bow and arrows and 100 HP potions ONLY. Picking up or bringing any of the lesser heals WILL get you killed later. You'll most likely need a bunch of party feathers and a friend outside with advanced feathers should all of you get killed. If your team all have high ranked windmill then over-lapping WMs can help a lot. There are a bunch of new opponents here for those who haven't been running other dungeons prior to this.

Giant Worms
A variety of giant worms are down here and they have brick loads of heavy stander and mana shield. Best dealt with by a high level archer. They will never aggro first, so if you need a breather in between a wave try to not to disturb one of them.

They are ugly bastards but they won't attack unless provoked!

Nightmare Humanoid
Same as the boss in the Paladin's Passive Defense quest, just lots more of them! Remember to firebolt them to make them change color as melee is ineffective if they are Red or White.

Argos and Giant Headless
Just like ogre warriors, only uglier. They both have heavy stander and while Argos' have mana deflector, the Headlesses are almost immune to arrows. If you are keeping one dude back in the previous chamber as your resser with party feathers, make sure he keeps well away from the combat room as they have attacks that can still go through to adjacent chambers.

Dark Lord and Dragon
No need to fight the Dark Lord this time, just stay away from him and his pal until the dragon shows up. Once it does you'd best put down a campfire or two to provide cover from its fire breath. Hopefully you also have a full stack or two of heal pots and bandaged all your wounds prior to entering. Last time I fought him he couldn't do injury (black) damage but could wipe out your health in one shot. If you are at full health before this happens you'll go into Deadly which gives you time to drink up again. Arrow revolver or just plain ranged attacks by the campfire provide the best way to destroy the dragon (aside from demi-god powers you will get later) as you can hit him even while he is flying. Note, the campfire blocks the explosion so you must be standing opposite to where the breath attack *lands* as opposed to opposite the dragon itself as he can toss it anywhere when he is flying!

Obsidian Enchant
Ideally you still have the "goddess" weapon from G1. If that's the case, you are best off stacking this reward scroll on that item. :)