Elite Chronicles: Rogues Guide To Planar Tombs 2
So, for this guide, I have decided to do something a little bit different. Many times, players tell me that they read my guides and appreciate them, but they have a hard time putting together the screenshots into a workable strategy. Just as many simply tell me that a video guide will be easier to follow along with, so I'm willing to try my hand a putting out video guides.
Planar Tombs 2 - This is an elite map, but of all the planar tombs release, it seems to be the easiest and most popular. With that said, there are two drops here that are of value, Planar Chests and Planar Rods of Brutality. On top of the potential for nice loot, you get a guaranteed two planar fragments, which help you in purchasing everything from Breeze eggs to recipes or even more Planar Chests!
So, with the background set, some pointers on how to handle this map. There are a lot of challenges here, mostly in the form of Mages (and their death pools), wolves (and their one-hit kills) and guardians (and their incorrect warning zones and one-hit kills). This strategy minimizes the threat from these mob types, and focuses on attacking the lower damage skeletons and vines in order to spawn the boss. This same strategy should be used in full parties as well, since it makes for faster, easier runs, which is what we all want, right?
So, I decided that most players probably can't afford, or does not own a Mythic Bow (Elondorian or Frost), so I chose to go at with with your run-of-the-mill Expedition Bow of Brutality. Yes, the Brutality version, since it gives more HP. The rest of my gear is probably attainable enough for anyone that would consider soloing elites....Mythic helm/armor, Blood Ruby ring and a Tarlok amulet. A necropolis amulet can serve the same purpose, so if you think you have what it takes, follow along with me.
Pet Selection: My preference when soloing here is to use a speed based pet. I do have Samael, and that would be my first choice, but most players do not own him, so Gyrm is my choice here. This can easily be swapped out to something like Abaddon, Grimm, etc.
Clearing the First Room (Pull 1 in Party)
In this video, I clear out the necessary mobs in the first room. Note my preference on killing the mage right away. I've died many times when he follows up to the group and drops a poison pool, so I've simply gotten into the habit of killing him right away.
Things to observe here is that I do not pull the second wolf. Two wolves together seem to buff eachother, and lead to an increase of one-hit kills, so in this pull strategy, we don't aggro the second wolf. The rest of the mobs, you can line up and knock down when in a full party.
http://youtu.be/fciWnDtoyoI
Clearing the Second Room (Pull 2 and 3 in Party)
In this section of the guide, we are minimizing the number of threatening mobs that we are handling. A good party can round up everything on the bottom half of the room and handle them all with relative ease. My only word of caution is to kill the first wolf immediately, since you don't want two wolves together. Set up your fighting spot to the top left of the statue and fight there.
http://youtu.be/7cMWZddiGiY
After completing the second pull in party, set up your third pull at the entrance of the corridor leading to the next room. Be very careful and don't aggro the wolf or the guardian; otherwise, you will have a mess on your hands.
Clearing the Third Room (Pull 4 in Party)
So, this is the fourth pull in a full party. Patience is key in this room, both solo when solo, or in party. Most groups don't wait for the first three vines to spawn, so wind up having to return back here because the boss didn't spawn yet.
Unfortunately for me, I was disconnected before I finished this room, so this is the part prior to being disconnected...
http://youtu.be/EEAB_CzAlg8
After being disconnected, I set up the same room again down to the same spot where I left off. Interesting pointers here are patience (or my lack thereof) and how you can use the map terrain to your advantage. Note how I made a mess and used the tent as a choke point so I didn't have to deal with the deal pool, and how I was easily able to avoid windup attacks by using the map for defense.
http://youtu.be/BjsXcIXg_Cg
Fighting the Boss (Boss Encounter)
So, here is the boss. Basic strategy is to kite him at the extreme edge of your skill range. Rogue skills have a slightly longer range than the boss' normal attack (which still can kill if you're not careful). Dance around at this extreme range and you can avoid most of the attacks.
Be sure to kill skeletons when they spawn, especially when solo. There will be times when you get yourself cornered, and only a charged Shadow Piercer can get you out of it, but only if there are no other mobs (i.e., skeletons) around. Also, skeletons love to steal targeting, so don't waste charged/pet AA enhanced Aimed Shots on these guys, save that for the boss by killing off skeletons as they appear.
Another pointer is to get the boss off of the purple platform ASAP. This platform heals him, and enhances his already high armor with shielding. If the boss is standing on the platform, and you see his forward charge windup, pause your attacks for a moment so he leaves the platform.
Finally, do not get into melee range of the boss. If you do, he will launch an AoE curse attack which one-hits squishies. Best option is to simply stay at kiting range so you can avoid this particular attack.
http://youtu.be/pVwqOpOC5B8
Conclusion
This map is, in my opinion, the easiest of the three Planar Tomb Maps. Yes, the boss has crazy HP and Armor, but with the right strategy, can be soloed in mainstream gear and pets. Granted, it is not necessarily easy, and may be time consuming, but if you are willing to try, this will be the easiest strategy to use.
This same strategy should also be used for party runs. Over the course of many, many, many T2 runs, I have optimized the mob pulls down to these which will be your most efficient, lowest threat strategy.
Hope you all enjoyed the new guide format, and as always, I really do appreciate screenshots of others soloing.
Good luck runners!!!
