Post by Misty on Mar 30, 2015 23:47:11 GMT
This is not the fastest way to do Shards of Orr, and it's definitely not the only way to SC it, but it's very easy, and these are the tactics most PUGs will be acquainted with. If you're familiar with everything on this guide, you should know what to expect in a typical SoOSC run!
Builds
The builds are listed in the same order as the party is usually arranged, which is also, coincidentally, the order from easiest to hardest (in my opinion).
Rangers x4
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Ranger is the simplest role in SoOSC, and a great place to start learning. You stay with the other rangers all the time, EE on recharge when running through enemies, and the spam your attack skills on the enemies when you're fighting. Use "I Am the Strongest!" at the start of each level (it has an infinite duration) and again when it runs out (after 8 attacks). Use Glass Arrows and Heart of Holy Flame right before you attack, and again if they run out before the enemies are dead.
Required pcons: none
Recommend pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Pie, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Zealous Flatbow of Deathbane with "Guided by Fate" inscription - don't forget to customize it! A shield set for running is also useful.
VoS
OgKkkhp3Kzi04VzFdJ7l513G2RuI
The dervish has a fairly easy job, although it is significantly more advanced than the ranger. If you have any experience with VoS (e.g. from FoWSC), you should be safe to go ahead and do this without any SoOSC experience. Otherwise, it's probably best to do a few runs as ranger first before you try this. You run through enemies just like rangers, although you have Mystic Regen to keep yourself alive, so that part's actually easier. Before each spike, lay down Favorable Winds, and place Honor where the rangers are going to stand. Then use Sand Shards, Mystic Regen, and VoS. When the A/P calls a target, or you can see that the ball is ready, or if the rangers start attacking... EE to the A/P, use Heart of Holy Flame, and then Eremite's Attack. Use Sand Shards again, and finish off any remaining foes. At Fendi Nin, and at the second Cursed Brigand on level 2, you should not EE to the A/P and attack with your scythe. Instead, stay back with the rangers, maintain FW, Honor, and Heart of Holy Flame, and attack the target with a flatbow.
Required pcons: for the attributes in the build I've posted, you'll need a Candy Corn (or Golden Egg, or Lunar Blessing, or Grail of Might...) to meet the req on a q9 scythe and q9 flatbow - if you don't have any corn, take some points out of Mysticism to make sure you meet the req on both your weapons
Recommended pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Pie, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommend equipment: Zealous Scythe of Enchanting with "Guided by Fate" inscription - don't forget to customize it! A shield set for running is also useful. IDEALLY your flatbow will be Vampiric, of Deathbane, and have a "Guided by Fate" inscription, but don't worry too much about those mods. Any old flatbow will do.
Rit
OAWjQyhjITYMri0lkiLBPTcTXMA
Alternative Me/Rt build, not quite as good but works fine:
OQhjAwhjITYMri0lkiLBKBiOXMA
IMPORTANT NOTE: Rt/Me is better than Me/Rt because rits have a stronger Splinter Weapon and Spawning Power makes weapon spells last longer. Mesmer is fine if you can't get a rit or you need the ZB, but in generally rits are strictly superior.
...anyway, the rit role is not very challenging, but you do need to be able to manage weapon spells, and you're the only caster in the group, so running without dying is a little tricky. Echoing EE to give yourself an extra heal and an extra shadow step is useful, and if you have Ghost Forge Insignias you can cast Splinter Weapon on yourself to get more armour, but you will still be the squishiest party member.
Your entire job is to place weapon spells on the rangers and dervish. If you're fighting a balled group of enemies, use Splinter Weapon. If it's just a single boss or there are foes left over to clean up, use Great Dwarf Weapon. Light of Deldrimor is just for finding Hidden Treasures - do this at the end of the run, and if the team is okay with you taking time to do it on level 2, get those treasures too. Learn their locations so you don't have to use it extra times.
Required pcons: none
Recommend pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Pie, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Ghost Forge armour with +1+3 Channeling Magic and +3 Spawning Power, shield set with a caster weapon
A/N
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A/N is the gater (the guy who runs to the portal to the next level) and a kind of secondary tank. On level 1, your job is just to run straight to the end, on level 2 you tank a couple of groups before gating, and on level 3 you help the A/P tank Fendi. The rest of the time you run along with the team and cast Weaken Armor on a few enemies. Unfortunately, since the A/N does so much stuff apart from the team, you can't really observe and learn that way, unless you get yourself killed, but the role is mostly straightforward, so if you have a decent understanding of running a perma SF build, you can give it a go.
Required pcons: alcohol (for Dwarven Stability)
Recommended pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Infiltrator's armour and a piercing shield set, just for the rangers at Fendi - they do more damage to you than anything else
A/P
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![]()
The A/P is the designated tank, and is by far the most demanding role in SoOSC, not to be attempted unless you are familiar with the run in general. As well as pulling enemies and balling them up, the A/P is required to support the team with shouts as they run, and carry the torches on levels 2 and 3.
Probably the best way to learn A/P is doing a bunch of runs and watching your A/P until you understand how it's done.
Required pcons: alcohol (for Dwarven Stability)
Recommended pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Infiltrator's armour and a piercing shield set, just for the rangers at Fendi - they do more damage to you than anything else, but if you want to use multiple shields and armour sets, bear in mind that you take a lot of slashing damage from the enchanted weapons on level 2, and blunt damage everywhere else - also don't forget you need a long/flatbow to pull the Cursed Brigands!
Tactics
This part of the guide is specifically aimed at rangers and dervs, but it also explains what the others are doing:
After forming in Vlox's Falls, the A/N and/or A/P will run across Arbor Bay to the dungeon, while the team waits. You can zone back out to grab the quest from Crewmember Shandra if you want, although some teams will start running straight away, so long as one person has it. It's a 1.5K reward, so you decide if it's worth taking ~20s to get it.
On level 1, just follow the blue path on the map, running through groups with the A/P. When you reach the second res shrine, the A/N will run off to gate, and the A/P will pull the Cursed Brigand with a bow. Kill the boss and then just wait for the A/N to zone.
The first boss on level 2 is right near the start, so just wait for the A/P to ball up the group and then kill it. Meanwhile, the A/N will aggro the patrol up ahead and pull it out of the way, so that the team can run around without getting aggro.
In the big round room, there are 4 Hidden Treasures - the team may not want to wait for you to collect them all, but there's at least time to grab 2 while the A/P runs around lighting the Flame Braziers. After you get your treasures, hide in the alcove south-east of the room, because when the A/P finishes lighting the braziers, a big group will spawn and nobody else must catch aggro. The A/P will ball them up in the centre of the room, and then you can kill them. Once they're all dead, the door to continue will open.
The A/N should aggro the group of undead casters in front of you and hold aggro while the rest of the team runs past - once the team has run past the poison jets and down the stairs, the A/N can go and gate. The main team hides in the north-west corner while the A/P lights the 2 braziers in the room, and a boss group spawns. The A/P pulls the Cursed Brigand out like on level 1, you kill it, and then the A/N can zone. There are 6 Hidden Treasures under the poison jets, and the rit can find these while everyone else kills the boss, but the A/N may not want to wait for people to collect their treasures.
Level 3 starts off with the A/N grabbing the first group and tanking it as the team runs past. Then everyone runs through a lot of enemies together - it's very common to get stuck and/or die at this point, so remember to EE on recharge, and even if you're too cheap to pop pcons on the other levels, it's a really good idea to pop a Birthday Cupcake and Candy Apple for this level.
When you get to the big feast hall in the south-west, the A/P runs to each corner to light the Flame Braziers, but the rest of the team just has to get to the south corner and wait. After lighting the third brazier, the A/P will drop the torch for the A/N to light the fourth one. There are another 2 braziers in the middle of the room, but they don't need to be lit. When all 4 in the corners are lit, a group with a Cursed Brigand will spawn where the blue key is on the map. The A/P will ball the group and you kill it.
In front of the door to Fendi (the blue door on the map) there will be a group of enemies - sometimes it spawns out of the way so you don't need to aggro it, but usually it's in the way, so the A/N will tank it while everyone else runs past. Go through the corridor with the poison spouts, but wait a moment just before aggroing the Decayed Dragons and Skeleton Archers; let the A/P tank them before running through. Across the bridge, wait just after the flame jets to let the A/P go ahead and pull Fendi Nin and his archer buddies - go to the west side of the room without taking aggro. When the A/P pings, the A/N will jump in to help body-block Fendi, and you can start attacking from max range. As soon as Fendi dies, the rangers with him will despawn, and the Soul of Fendi Nin will appear, along with 6 Damned Crewmen. Attack the Soul immediately - it will disappear again after half a minute, along with the crewmen, and the original Fendi will respawn with full health. Kill that again to make the Soul reappear - it will still have the same health as when it vanished before. Keep killing Fendi and damaging the Soul until he's completely defeated, and the chest will spawn - you're done!
Tips
While running:-
hold down Alt so you can easily see your team members, and click on someone in front of you for an EE target
try to stay in earshot range of the A/P so that you get the benefit of the paragon shouts
watch your compass and avoid aggroing groups if you can go around them
EE to people with low health to heal them (and yourself)
If there are people dead when you finish, wipe quickly and run with them to the end so they can get their chest. Try to imagine what it would be like if you'd been lying in the dirt for the past few minutes and now some derp was wasting even more time dancing around or whatever. Hopefully this will inspire you to kill yourself as fast as possible - last one to die is a wiener!
It is entirely possible that while fighting Fendi, the sins may die, and/or the rangers may catch aggro of Fendi; both of these things are inevitable if killing takes too long, and either will probably lead to a wipe. If you killed the original Fendi Nin spawn at least once, when the team gets back to Fendi you can do a "bridge pull", which simply means everyone but the sins stands on top of the bridge south-east of the flame jets and the A/P pulls Fendi in range. The elevation means you can attack from further away and deal more damage, and it's also pretty easy to pull Fendi into the flame jets for extra damage. Unfortunately, the original Fendi spawn won't pull that far, so the bridge pull tactic is only really viable after a wipe. If you're doing a bridge pull, you should probably kill the 2 Decayed Dragons so you don't accidentally aggro them again.
If you can think of more useful information or tips for beginners, post it on here and I'll include it!
Builds
The builds are listed in the same order as the party is usually arranged, which is also, coincidentally, the order from easiest to hardest (in my opinion).
Rangers x4
OgoSc5MTWihe0lOGnSvSzkjX
Ranger is the simplest role in SoOSC, and a great place to start learning. You stay with the other rangers all the time, EE on recharge when running through enemies, and the spam your attack skills on the enemies when you're fighting. Use "I Am the Strongest!" at the start of each level (it has an infinite duration) and again when it runs out (after 8 attacks). Use Glass Arrows and Heart of Holy Flame right before you attack, and again if they run out before the enemies are dead.
Required pcons: none
Recommend pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Pie, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Zealous Flatbow of Deathbane with "Guided by Fate" inscription - don't forget to customize it! A shield set for running is also useful.
VoS
OgKkkhp3Kzi04VzFdJ7l513G2RuI
The dervish has a fairly easy job, although it is significantly more advanced than the ranger. If you have any experience with VoS (e.g. from FoWSC), you should be safe to go ahead and do this without any SoOSC experience. Otherwise, it's probably best to do a few runs as ranger first before you try this. You run through enemies just like rangers, although you have Mystic Regen to keep yourself alive, so that part's actually easier. Before each spike, lay down Favorable Winds, and place Honor where the rangers are going to stand. Then use Sand Shards, Mystic Regen, and VoS. When the A/P calls a target, or you can see that the ball is ready, or if the rangers start attacking... EE to the A/P, use Heart of Holy Flame, and then Eremite's Attack. Use Sand Shards again, and finish off any remaining foes. At Fendi Nin, and at the second Cursed Brigand on level 2, you should not EE to the A/P and attack with your scythe. Instead, stay back with the rangers, maintain FW, Honor, and Heart of Holy Flame, and attack the target with a flatbow.
Required pcons: for the attributes in the build I've posted, you'll need a Candy Corn (or Golden Egg, or Lunar Blessing, or Grail of Might...) to meet the req on a q9 scythe and q9 flatbow - if you don't have any corn, take some points out of Mysticism to make sure you meet the req on both your weapons
Recommended pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Pie, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommend equipment: Zealous Scythe of Enchanting with "Guided by Fate" inscription - don't forget to customize it! A shield set for running is also useful. IDEALLY your flatbow will be Vampiric, of Deathbane, and have a "Guided by Fate" inscription, but don't worry too much about those mods. Any old flatbow will do.
Rit
OAWjQyhjITYMri0lkiLBPTcTXMA
Alternative Me/Rt build, not quite as good but works fine:
OQhjAwhjITYMri0lkiLBKBiOXMA
IMPORTANT NOTE: Rt/Me is better than Me/Rt because rits have a stronger Splinter Weapon and Spawning Power makes weapon spells last longer. Mesmer is fine if you can't get a rit or you need the ZB, but in generally rits are strictly superior.
...anyway, the rit role is not very challenging, but you do need to be able to manage weapon spells, and you're the only caster in the group, so running without dying is a little tricky. Echoing EE to give yourself an extra heal and an extra shadow step is useful, and if you have Ghost Forge Insignias you can cast Splinter Weapon on yourself to get more armour, but you will still be the squishiest party member.
Your entire job is to place weapon spells on the rangers and dervish. If you're fighting a balled group of enemies, use Splinter Weapon. If it's just a single boss or there are foes left over to clean up, use Great Dwarf Weapon. Light of Deldrimor is just for finding Hidden Treasures - do this at the end of the run, and if the team is okay with you taking time to do it on level 2, get those treasures too. Learn their locations so you don't have to use it extra times.
Required pcons: none
Recommend pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Pie, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Ghost Forge armour with +1+3 Channeling Magic and +3 Spawning Power, shield set with a caster weapon
A/N
OwRjcwf84Q6MHQ0l3lTQIQfCceA
A/N is the gater (the guy who runs to the portal to the next level) and a kind of secondary tank. On level 1, your job is just to run straight to the end, on level 2 you tank a couple of groups before gating, and on level 3 you help the A/P tank Fendi. The rest of the time you run along with the team and cast Weaken Armor on a few enemies. Unfortunately, since the A/N does so much stuff apart from the team, you can't really observe and learn that way, unless you get yourself killed, but the role is mostly straightforward, so if you have a decent understanding of running a perma SF build, you can give it a go.
Required pcons: alcohol (for Dwarven Stability)
Recommended pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Infiltrator's armour and a piercing shield set, just for the rangers at Fendi - they do more damage to you than anything else
A/P
Owlj8xjjJT6MHQ7Y3lTQ3k0bceA
The A/P is the designated tank, and is by far the most demanding role in SoOSC, not to be attempted unless you are familiar with the run in general. As well as pulling enemies and balling them up, the A/P is required to support the team with shouts as they run, and carry the torches on levels 2 and 3.
Probably the best way to learn A/P is doing a bunch of runs and watching your A/P until you understand how it's done.
Required pcons: alcohol (for Dwarven Stability)
Recommended pcons: Birthday Cupcake, Candy Apple, anything else you want to pop to make your job easier
Recommended equipment: Infiltrator's armour and a piercing shield set, just for the rangers at Fendi - they do more damage to you than anything else, but if you want to use multiple shields and armour sets, bear in mind that you take a lot of slashing damage from the enchanted weapons on level 2, and blunt damage everywhere else - also don't forget you need a long/flatbow to pull the Cursed Brigands!
Tactics
This part of the guide is specifically aimed at rangers and dervs, but it also explains what the others are doing:
After forming in Vlox's Falls, the A/N and/or A/P will run across Arbor Bay to the dungeon, while the team waits. You can zone back out to grab the quest from Crewmember Shandra if you want, although some teams will start running straight away, so long as one person has it. It's a 1.5K reward, so you decide if it's worth taking ~20s to get it.
On level 1, just follow the blue path on the map, running through groups with the A/P. When you reach the second res shrine, the A/N will run off to gate, and the A/P will pull the Cursed Brigand with a bow. Kill the boss and then just wait for the A/N to zone.
The first boss on level 2 is right near the start, so just wait for the A/P to ball up the group and then kill it. Meanwhile, the A/N will aggro the patrol up ahead and pull it out of the way, so that the team can run around without getting aggro.
In the big round room, there are 4 Hidden Treasures - the team may not want to wait for you to collect them all, but there's at least time to grab 2 while the A/P runs around lighting the Flame Braziers. After you get your treasures, hide in the alcove south-east of the room, because when the A/P finishes lighting the braziers, a big group will spawn and nobody else must catch aggro. The A/P will ball them up in the centre of the room, and then you can kill them. Once they're all dead, the door to continue will open.
The A/N should aggro the group of undead casters in front of you and hold aggro while the rest of the team runs past - once the team has run past the poison jets and down the stairs, the A/N can go and gate. The main team hides in the north-west corner while the A/P lights the 2 braziers in the room, and a boss group spawns. The A/P pulls the Cursed Brigand out like on level 1, you kill it, and then the A/N can zone. There are 6 Hidden Treasures under the poison jets, and the rit can find these while everyone else kills the boss, but the A/N may not want to wait for people to collect their treasures.
Level 3 starts off with the A/N grabbing the first group and tanking it as the team runs past. Then everyone runs through a lot of enemies together - it's very common to get stuck and/or die at this point, so remember to EE on recharge, and even if you're too cheap to pop pcons on the other levels, it's a really good idea to pop a Birthday Cupcake and Candy Apple for this level.
When you get to the big feast hall in the south-west, the A/P runs to each corner to light the Flame Braziers, but the rest of the team just has to get to the south corner and wait. After lighting the third brazier, the A/P will drop the torch for the A/N to light the fourth one. There are another 2 braziers in the middle of the room, but they don't need to be lit. When all 4 in the corners are lit, a group with a Cursed Brigand will spawn where the blue key is on the map. The A/P will ball the group and you kill it.
In front of the door to Fendi (the blue door on the map) there will be a group of enemies - sometimes it spawns out of the way so you don't need to aggro it, but usually it's in the way, so the A/N will tank it while everyone else runs past. Go through the corridor with the poison spouts, but wait a moment just before aggroing the Decayed Dragons and Skeleton Archers; let the A/P tank them before running through. Across the bridge, wait just after the flame jets to let the A/P go ahead and pull Fendi Nin and his archer buddies - go to the west side of the room without taking aggro. When the A/P pings, the A/N will jump in to help body-block Fendi, and you can start attacking from max range. As soon as Fendi dies, the rangers with him will despawn, and the Soul of Fendi Nin will appear, along with 6 Damned Crewmen. Attack the Soul immediately - it will disappear again after half a minute, along with the crewmen, and the original Fendi will respawn with full health. Kill that again to make the Soul reappear - it will still have the same health as when it vanished before. Keep killing Fendi and damaging the Soul until he's completely defeated, and the chest will spawn - you're done!
Tips
While running:-
hold down Alt so you can easily see your team members, and click on someone in front of you for an EE target
try to stay in earshot range of the A/P so that you get the benefit of the paragon shouts
watch your compass and avoid aggroing groups if you can go around them
EE to people with low health to heal them (and yourself)
If there are people dead when you finish, wipe quickly and run with them to the end so they can get their chest. Try to imagine what it would be like if you'd been lying in the dirt for the past few minutes and now some derp was wasting even more time dancing around or whatever. Hopefully this will inspire you to kill yourself as fast as possible - last one to die is a wiener!
It is entirely possible that while fighting Fendi, the sins may die, and/or the rangers may catch aggro of Fendi; both of these things are inevitable if killing takes too long, and either will probably lead to a wipe. If you killed the original Fendi Nin spawn at least once, when the team gets back to Fendi you can do a "bridge pull", which simply means everyone but the sins stands on top of the bridge south-east of the flame jets and the A/P pulls Fendi in range. The elevation means you can attack from further away and deal more damage, and it's also pretty easy to pull Fendi into the flame jets for extra damage. Unfortunately, the original Fendi spawn won't pull that far, so the bridge pull tactic is only really viable after a wipe. If you're doing a bridge pull, you should probably kill the 2 Decayed Dragons so you don't accidentally aggro them again.
If you can think of more useful information or tips for beginners, post it on here and I'll include it!
