non elixired haunted symphony runs last night

[wvhills]

Last night I did about 2 hours worth of haunted symphony runs. I was on my level 57 bird, there was a 58 bear and a level 60 mage. Non of us were using elixirs. Others came and went but we three were working together. The mage pointed out that thorn wall, lightning and hellscream were a mega combo so the bear would taunt and beckon, then I would thorn wall, the mage would lightning while the bear hellscreamed and stomped. I'd fit my own combo in there also. We were rolling. I'd estimate we hit the mega about 30-40% of the time and even when we didn't the mobs received the bear's and my regular combos plus nature strike and terror. I'm not even sure the mage had to do his own combo or not. Most of the time there were 2 other birds with us, I guess they cleaned up any stragglers we happened to miss.

One thing I think we were doing wrong is skipping the mini boss. We got separated there a few times and had to remake. I think it's just as fast to kill the mini than it is to take the time to get everyone safely away from him.

One of the keys was that me and the mage weren't attacking at all until we saw the bear beckon. This kept the aggro on him and his beckon was much more effective.

We did remake at panto. If it was just the three of us we would have had trouble with him but if the 2 extra birds were there I think we would have taken him out pretty easily.

The main point of this post is the mega combo. I've never been in a group before where we actually tried to get the mega. It is really effective if everyone knows what to do. The bird should wait until he sees the bear beckon, the mage should lightning after he sees or hears thorn wall and the bear should hellscream after lightning. Remember to not attack until the bear has them beckoned so he has a chance to pull them all to the wall.

[Roc]

It's always awesome being in a coordinated group :) I hate it when the bear does a hesitation step so that as you run forward behind him, he stops so that he doesn't take the aggro :miserable: With so many people elixir-ing, this is a nice reminder that long levels are indeed doable without them :applause:

[drewcapu]

I guess I caught you just as you were finishing your runs :(

[wvhills]

I guess I caught you just as you were finishing your runs :(

Yeah, it was late and my eyes were blurry from looking at the screen. Haha. Did you find that bear? I pm'd you his name. It was cubeboy or something like that. I added him and the mage to my friends so we'll all get rolling again soon, hopefully!

[kiitz]

I made a thread somewhat related to this when mega combos first came out. I imagine coordinated play like this is probably some of the most rewarding play you can experience when doing PvE. Unfortunately, when mega combos first came out in sewers, mega combos were not necessary to kill mob groups. The combination of damage from beckon/stomp, roots and lightning (Nature strike) and any other damage would kill everything. We practiced doing mega combos, but ended up just running normally since it we didn't need to do them.

Moving into Nuri's would have been a great opportunity to work on coordinating mega combos since the mobs have significantly more health and the additional killing power of a mega combo would help a lot. Unfortunately, now many people run with 4x elixirs, especially if they are pushing 61 on multiple toons. I run with a 4x elixir pretty much 100% of the time and many of the people I play with do as well. With the elixirs factored in, once again mega combos are not necessary unfortunately and we haven't made the push to coordinate them.

I will say though, that coordinating the coffin mega combo on bosses is still really really useful. Most of that responsibility falls on the Mages in the group to hit drain when they see Crushed pop up, instead of hitting it on cooldown. Birds and bears should be hitting their armor reduction abilities on cooldown and due to the extremely short cooldowns on those ability crushed will frequently occur.

A quick question - Does a single root/lighting/hellscream mega combo kill all the regular mobs?

Kiitz

[Duped]

Glad to hear you got into good runs with one of each knowing their role. Makes all the difference in the world when there is a good mage, bird, and bear.

[wvhills]

I made a thread somewhat related to this when mega combos first came out. I imagine coordinated play like this is probably some of the most rewarding play you can experience when doing PvE. Unfortunately, when mega combos first came out in sewers, mega combos were not necessary to kill mob groups. The combination of damage from beckon/stomp, roots and lightning (Nature strike) and any other damage would kill everything. We practiced doing mega combos, but ended up just running normally since it we didn't need to do them.

Moving into Nuri's would have been a great opportunity to work on coordinating mega combos since the mobs have significantly more health and the additional killing power of a mega combo would help a lot. Unfortunately, now many people run with 4x elixirs, especially if they are pushing 61 on multiple toons. I run with a 4x elixir pretty much 100% of the time and many of the people I play with do as well. With the elixirs factored in, once again mega combos are not necessary unfortunately and we haven't made the push to coordinate them.

I will say though, that coordinating the coffin mega combo on bosses is still really really useful. Most of that responsibility falls on the Mages in the group to hit drain when they see Crushed pop up, instead of hitting it on cooldown. Birds and bears should be hitting their armor reduction abilities on cooldown and due to the extremely short cooldowns on those ability crushed will frequently occur.

A quick question - Does a single root/lighting/hellscream mega combo kill all the regular mobs?

Kiitz

I think it kills most. I'd hit my blinding shot and repulse to finish off those that were left. It didn't require any more combos. Me and the mage could kill as we walked to the next group.

[kiitz]

I think it kills most. I'd hit my blinding shot and repulse to finish off those that were left. It didn't require any more combos. Me and the mage could kill as we walked to the next group.

That is cool. If you guys do anymore of these unpotted runs, I'd love to join in (unpotted of course) just for the fun of running in a well-coordinated group.

My characters:
Kiitz - Bear (61)
Kiittx - Mage (61)
Kiitx - Bird (60, currently 4x potted)