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Hardmode Lost Island - Not as hard as it seems


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The other night as i prepared to log after finishing my dailies, I stuck up a conversation with some of my newer guild mates regarding LI HM. They seemed to be under the impression that this flashpoint was the equivalent of an operation, and would be impossible to complete with anything less than a well coordinated guild run.

 

Now, this opinion doesn't seem to be that isolated - often when the instances pops for me on group finder, people accept, and immediately run for the hills when they see it's lost island. This type of mentality is really causing annoyance for the many people on our server who know the instance and can run it successfully, as it often takes 3-4 instance pops to get a group that's willing to try even the first boss. So, I decided to post a bit of a guide of the instance to reassure people that completing LI HM is not something to be too afraid of :)

 

This overview is based mainly around what you will experience running the instance with a PUG, who generally will try to skip as much of the unessential content as possible, and focus on the boss fights which yield maximum reward.

 

The instance begins with a walk through trash mobs, which can be skillfully avoided to reach the first boss without a single fight assuming someone knows the way. If not, the pulls aren't that dangerous. After dodging either some lava or some savrips, you'll reach the first boss.

 

BOSS 1 - PUTRID SHACLAW

 

I don't really remember the names of the bosses, so ill just call them by what i most remember them as. This guy I think of as the beast boss, and he's basically a tank and spank fight. The tank should start and finish the fight on the boss - the three adds which are up at the start can be easily mopped up by DPS. The tank needs to walk backwards the whole fight, and the dps and healer should watch for the yellow circles which appear on the ground.

The fight is a bit taxing on the healer as the boss can do some pretty high damage, but if everyone is aware of the fight it should go smoothly.

 

After this, another quick run through trash (this part can't be skipped for the most part), before you reach the boss i'll refer to as the robot.

 

BOSS 2 - LR-5 SENTINEL DROID

 

This guy is without a doubt the toughest boss in the instance. This guy is probably the reason that people are so scared of the instance, as he can stop you in your tracks before you've even passed half way. The fight has a lot of mechanics that require every group member to be aware of, and this is what has given the instance its reputation. However, assuming the people you run the instance with are either: a) familiar with the mechanics, or b) Willing to learn to overcome the difficulties, he shouldn't provide more than 4 or 5 wipes, even with a first time tank. If the fight starts to take longer than this, people will start dropping from the instance, and its a sign that it's probably not going to get done.

 

So, the fight begins when a group member hits the console to your right as you enter the room. However, before this is activated, you can move around the robot, and you should use this to plan the fight out and/or educate the first timers. Before even discussing the boss movement, you need to all be aware of the bosses abilities. The easiest to learn is that at some points (never really bothered to check) adds will spawn - these will be the job of one of the DPS, usually the RDPS if you have one, to pick up as the tank will have his hands full. The boss has 2 cast-time abilities - one is called plasma arc, and is basically just a damage ability that can be ignored. The other is the most important interrupt in the whole instance - incinerate. This is a 3 second cast time ability that will apply a DoT to the tank based on the amount of time it is cast for before it is interrupted. If the channel is interrupted within the first second of channel (i.e before the number on the bar says 2.0), no DoT will be applied. If it is interrupted after 2.0 but before 1.0, 1 stack will be applied - if between 1.0 and 0.0, 2 stacks, and if not interrupted at all, 3 stacks will be applied. Heres the problem - each stack is around about 2k/sec (not exactly sure, this is probably pretty close :p) for a few seconds, so 3 stacks on the tank is almost definitely a wipe. Even if an in-combat rez is used, its my experience that the group will still wipe. This ability fits exactly on a 12 sec cooldown shared by most interrupts, and is the reason that plasma arc is left alone. In the event that 3 stacks are placed on the tank, the healer can cleanse these, but they will have to do this relatively quickly to avoid having the tank down 12-18k. Also notable is that the incinerate 'bomb' that the robot uses is a kind of aoe projectile. It can reach the tank from across the room, and if the tank is near any other part member these people will also be hit with the debuff.

 

The boss has another mechanic that makes it even more difficult. At a pretty even interval, he will through a blue circle down at the feet of a group member. This circle becomes a death bubble that quickly drops anyone inside it, so the group has to move to avoid it. The kicker - it gets bigger before it goes away. This means that if you have a melee dps on the boss, the boss will have to be moved away from a circle placed at the bosses feet circle to stop both the tank and the dps from dying. This promotes the strategy of moving the boss in a circle around the room. It also means that RDPS and healers have to be careful where they stand, as a badly placed bubble can corner the group. If done correctly, you can get 2 bubbles on each side of the room, meaning that if your dps is lacking you can reach your starting point after the first bubble is gone. The final challenge - the floor errupts lava in a seemingly random fashion, meaning that as you move the boss you are all likely to take some damage.

 

Some issues that arise in this fight usually center around incinerate more than the bubbles. If the tank is in the process of moving the boss, he is often out of range of it, which means incinerate could be allowed to hit for 3 ticks if the dps aren't interrupting. Personally, I like to interrupt as the tank, as you can never be sure if someone will be able to get theirs off within a second. Usually, i can avoid the DoT completely, but this falls apart when moving the boss. For this reason, it is ideal to tell the dps to always interrupt incinerate as well - their 12 second timer will fit with the ability, and they can get it if the tank is too far away.

 

Wipes in this fight most often occur due to single failed interrupts, or lack of awareness of the bubbles. Providing you have an aware tank, and a smart healer, you can get through this fight relatively easily.

 

After the boss is down, you proceed through some more trash, before reaching an open room with a cage at the end. Just before you reached the room, a cage door will have opened, releasing some mobs which you will have killed. Have the tank proceed into the open room, grab the mobs that will attack, and bring them back inside the cage door. The whole group should stack inside here and kill the mobs. This will cause the miniboss in the main room to not aggro, allowing you to skip a relatively pointless fight. After proceeding a bit further, you will reach a platform overlooking a volcano.

 

BOSS 3 - PROJECT SAV-RAK

 

This is the third boss fight for the instance. After you use the console next to you, the group will travel down a ramp (in cutscene), and be ambushed by a large Savrip (named project savrak iirc). This is a pretty simple boss fight assuming everyone is aware of two simple mechanics. First, the boss will go into a 4.5 second cast time ability called savrip smash. During this time, the group has to run in very close to the boss, like inside his character model. He will then jump, and when he lands the group will be thrown into the air, landing a short way away. The further you are from the center of his model when he jumps, the further you are thrown. Even standing 1-2 meters away can make the boss throw you off the edge - an unrevivable death which will cause the group to have to suicide.

 

After this jump is done, the boss will jump up onto some pipes. There are 3 pipes around the platform, usually referred to as left, middle and right. The tank and 2 dps need to run to the consoles at the foot of each of these (being sure to not fall off the edge), and activate the 9 second channel to spurt fire from each. The healer needs to keep the group alive while the boss throws acid bombs at everyone. After all three are active (the faster you do it, the less burden on the healer), the boss comes back down. You then rinse and repeat the same steps 3-4 more times before he dies.

 

The next step is a fight through a few groups of more difficult trash than before. There are 2 main types of enemies you have to watch out for. The first few mob groups contain some regular trash along with a tech. This tech guy will shield another mob for 100% of inc damage, meaning you have to kill the tech/s first. Later on, medics come up. These guys have some huge heals, and can easily outlast 1 or even 2 dps. These mobs need to be cc'd while you kill the rest of the mobs, and cleared up last - even killing them often requires some 4 sec stuns. The worst pull is the last one of the area, where you will face 2 medics and a tech. 2 cc is preferable, but a freeze clickable thing is available to stun one if you cannot cc both.

 

I should note, at a point here there is a bonus boss called something like transgenic sample 11. As a tank running almost exclusively with PUGs in this instance, I've never actually fought this guy, as PUGs rarely if ever do bonus objectives. I'm lead to believe the fight revolves around dodging falling icicles. Either way, he doesn't drop the good loot you're here for.

 

BOSS 4 - FINAL - DR LORRICK

 

Finally you reach Dr Lorrick, the final boss of the instance. After the cutscene, the group should back away from the boss and have someone run everyone through the strategy. To start with, the tank has to kite the boss counter clockwise around the room, reaching each of the things that look like bacta tanks. The boss has one channeled DPS ability, which can be interrupted if you can spare the time over watching the other mechanics. Its called something like flurry of bolts, and is one of only two uses for interrupts this whole fight. Interrupting it will save the heals some trouble, but it can be healed through. As you kite the boss, he will periodically throw out green gloop, which everyone should stay clear of. Just before he disappears (he does this after a few gloop throws), he throws out bombs in a frontal AoE cone. For this reason, the DPS needs to be behind the boss, as anyone in front will be hit with 4 time delayed bombs which eat hit for around 4k. If the heals is having trouble, the tank should pop cooldowns to mitigate some of this burst damage. Also, if the tank is careful, he can sidestep the bombs (maybe glitch but it seems to work sometimes) and get as few as 2 bombs. However, this can cause the dps to be hit too, which will create a lot of pressure on the heals. These bombs can also be avoided by dodging behind the (now known as thanks to Aurojiin :) ) kolto tanks.

 

After the boss is gone, the first bacta tank will start up. DPS and tank should beat on this tank as much as possible. After a little bit, the tank breaks and mob spawns, with the same health % the tank had when it went away. Dr Lorrick also comes back, so the tank should pick him up while the dps finishes with the add.

 

You repeat this process a few more times until the boss reaches 40% health. The first phase can be completed with as few as one tank (this has been accomplished by Icecoffee and Charming (the dps) on the Jung Ma server (thanks to bbare for this)). After this, Lorrick will enter phase 2. Here, he will become larger and stop throwing out gloop and bombs, but will have some adds. These adds are burning rakghouls, which move pretty slowly, but if they reach you will stun you and basically end the fight. Zooming out your camera can help for this part, as everyone especially the tank needs to be aware of where these guys are. The longer you take to dps down Lorrick, the more burning rakghouls come, so a quick kill is ideal. These rakghouls can be knocked back by anyone with such an ability if it is needed. Also during this phase, he will jump to a random party member and use an ability called ravage. This should be interrupted asap.

 

At 10% health, he will stop fighting, the rakghouls will die, and he will transform yet again into a huge red rakghoul. He heals back to 100% (maybe not the same total he had at the start, again idk), and starts to do massive damage. The group should have picked a wall of the room (either the door you came in or opposite) to stand on for this phase, as he can knockback and aoe heals can help. This fight can be thought of as a soft enrage, as his damage output is too high to heal through indefinitely by average healers, and it becomes a DPS race. Simply kill the guy, and treat yourself to a columi mainhand and rakata chestpiece.

 

And that's all there is too it. Looking back on all the text i just typed, i suppose it does seem a bit daunting to first timers, but when a group pops its rare to have less that 3 people that know what they're doing. My first run of this instance was as a barely 19k hp tank, wearing 2 columi, 3 BM and the rest recruit gear - yet we still managed to finish with only 3 wipes on robot (although i should probably thank the rakata healer for this :p). The instance only seems daunting because of all the mechanics you see listed, but if you break it down its easy to pick up to the point of leading a group through it by your second run.

 

In relation to gear, its probably not optimal to be attempting this as a fresh lvl 50. I managed to get through it with my gear mainly because the healer knew his stuff, and a group with everyone below columi is gonna have some troubles.

 

The instance also drops some pretty good stuff - in fact, as far as level of gear goes its comparable to EV SM (although not the same number of drops). You get a columi piece off the robot and the sav-rak (i think legs from one of them and maybe gloves), transgenic sample 11 drops some kind of relic (although as i said, ive never done that fight to verify), and the last boss dropping the columi weapon and rakata chest piece almost puts it infront of EV.

 

In closing, this is most certainly not the best guide you're going to find on the internet. I merely wanted to try and get my message across that this instance isn't as tough as it is made out to be. If you have the correct health % for boss mechanics, pick up on a spelling or grammar error (i hope not :p), or note something I've missed, feel free to let me know, ill update the post whenever i check it next :)

 

Thanks to Aurojiin for info on some of the details i either forgot or wasn't aware of

Thanks to bbare for the info on the fastest phase 1 on Dr Lorrick

Thanks to ChewyYui for the reminder to mention gearing

 

EDIT: Seeing as i obviously don't know this instance as well as a lot of you guys, im happy for you to post your own guides/interpretations of the instance as HateFrenzy has, theres some really high quality work there an I look forward to seeing some more on here :)

Edited by jamesigall
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Incinerate stacks are cleansable, as are stacks from Lorrick's AOE.

 

Lorrick's Satchel Charges can also be dodged by kiting around the kolto tanks. Incidentally, "good" DPS should require no more than two tanks to push his second phase (phase changes are at 40% and 10% of Lorrick's health). Interrupting Ravage in phase two is top priority, and Burning Rakghouls can be knocked back/CCed if needed.

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Incinerate stacks are cleansable, as are stacks from Lorrick's AOE.

 

Lorrick's Satchel Charges can also be dodged by kiting around the kolto tanks. Incidentally, "good" DPS should require no more than two tanks to push his second phase (phase changes are at 40% and 10% of Lorrick's health). Interrupting Ravage in phase two is top priority, and Burning Rakghouls can be knocked back/CCed if needed.

 

Awesome, thanks for the tips :)

As i said, i've only run this with PUGs so far so a lot of the intricate details are skipped over in the rush to the finish

Editing post now, thanks again

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Actually, with a good group you can get to Stage 2 on Lorrick with as few as 1 Kolto tank. This has been accomplished by Icecoffee and Charming (the dps) on the Jung Ma server. I'd assume it has been done by others as well as the dps requirement for this is very high but doable. Edited by bbare
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Actually, with a good group you can get to Stage 2 on Lorrick with as few as 1 Kolto tank. This has been accomplished by Icecoffee and Charming (the dps) on the Jung Ma server. I'd assume it has been done by others as well as the dps requirement for this is very high but doable.

 

nice to know :) ill add this to the guide, but i doubt any PUG is gonna pull this off

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The mission isn't hard. What makes it hard is people attempting to run it with bad gear, and not knowing the mechanics.

 

exactly - i should probably add something at the end of the post relating to gear, but as you said, people that don't know the mechanics are probably the biggest obstacle to getting this instance done

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Actually, it was sort of a pug. The tanks and heals were pugged but my dps partner I ran this with a few times.

 

Nice :)

 

as i said on your recent post, around 1000 damage per second for each dps is pretty impressive, even more so with a random healer and tank

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For Boss 2 - LR-5 SENTINEL DROID, it is probably worth mentioning strats. It's one thing to know the mechanics, but another thing entirely to pull off a working strat for this boss.

 

Please note, these are just the strats that I use. I'm not saying they're the only strats, or that they are the best. These are what I use, and they seem to work for me, so hopefully you can take something from them, if youre having trouble :)

 

Tank + Heals + 2 Ranged DPS:

 

Overview:

This strat is built upon the Tank staying in the square in the middle, while the Ranged DPS and Healer move around the room (in a group) in a Clock-wise fashion whenever a Bubbles drop.

 

Tank:

First off, we always get the Tank to interrupt Incinerate. Its a personal preference thing, so you can have a dps do it if that suits your group.

 

Now, the tank will spend the majority (if not all) of the fight (depending on bubble drops) on the square in the middle of the room. We always start with the Tank on the Front Right Corner. As the bubbles drop (which should be on the ranged), the Tank will move in a Clock-wise direction, to stay in range of the Ranged DPS and Heals, but he should always be on a corner of the square (so if a bubble drops on you, you can move to the next corner and not get hit by the previous bubble).

 

The positions for the tank are as follows: Front Right>Front Left>Back Left>Back Right.

 

Now, usually the boss wont drop any bubbles on the tank, though we've seen that this isnt always the case. If he does drop a bubble on the tank, move to the next corner, and the ranged grp will have to move accordingly if it creates a range issue.

If all things go to plan, and the bubbles are dropping exclusively on the ranged grp, the tank will need to keep an eye on the ranged grps position, so they can move accordingly and stay in range for heals/dps.

 

When the adds spawn, throw out an aoe taunt if you can, then let the dps open up with aoe.

 

Heals/Ranged DPS:

All ranged will be moving in a group together. The reason for this is so you can control exactly where the bubbles will drop (since they always drop on a player). The ranged grp will also be moving in a Clock-wise fashion, to avoid any range issues. The group should be roughly 10m outside of the square. (I know this will cause your ranged to take the occasional fire dmg from the lava, but this should be easy to heal through as long as Incinerate is being interrupted every time)

 

The positioning for the group is as follows: Front Right>Front Left>Side Front>Side Middle>Side Back, then the exact same on the back side and the Right side.

 

It's pretty simple, move just out of the bubble when it drops, and make sure youre moving Clock-wise. The reason you don't want to move too far away from the bubble is you dont want to create excess movement for the grp and the tank.

 

When the adds spawn, lets the tank AOE taunt them, then open up with AOE.

 

In terms of heals, its quite easy with this strat, the only things that cause issues are stacks of Incinerate, people not moving out of bubbles, and adds not being taken care of. Also, it pays to Focus Target (Alt-F) the boss and keep an eye out for Incinerate. If it gets more than a second into its cast time, prepare some big heals.

 

Tank + Heals + 2 Melee DPS:

 

Overview:

First off, people seem to dread taking 2 or even 1 melee dps into this fight. Im here to tell you that this fight is only slightly harder with 2 melee as it is with 2 ranged. Its just a matter of strat. The difference between the 2xMelee strat and the 2xRanged strat is that instead of the Ranged+Heals moving around the outside of the square, this time the Tank+Melee will move together around the outside, whilst the healer uses the positions that the tank used in the 2xRanged Strat.

 

Tank:

The tank will start by pulling the boss to the Front Right of the room, 10 meters or so out from the square in the middle of the room (being careful to interrupt the first Incinerate). From here, turn him so he is facing the Left side of the room. The Melee DPS will be standing on his back the entire time. The reason for this is because the tank will be pulling the boss in a Clock-wise direction as the balls drop, and it will be easier on everyone in terms of moving.

Once again, only pull the boss as far as you need to to keep the melee dps out of the bubbles. Now, it is inevitable that some bubbles will drop on the healer in the square. You need to keep an eye out and make sure you stay in range. Theoretically more bubbles should be dropping on the melee grp, since theres more people there, but some times the game just likes to make trouble.

 

Heals:

You will start the fight by running onto the square in the middle of the room. Start at the Front Right Corner. You will always be on a corner, the reason is that if a bubble drops on you, and youre on a corner, it wont reach any of the other corners, so you can stay on the square alot longer and avoid the lava.

Now, as bubbles drop and/or the melee grp moves, you will also move in a clock-wise direction. If you arent getting bubbles, move only when you need to (so you can control the where the bubbles drop), so as to stay in range.

 

Now, if you are super unlucky, and you get all the bubbles, you will have to run to the melee dps (behind the boss) and follow them. You can do this from the beginning, if you like, but it can potentially be a lot more stressful.

 

Melee DPS:

Really basic here. Stay behind the boss and dont stand in the bubbles. If a bubble drops on you, and the tank is slow to move, move out to the side, NEVER get infront of the boss, just incase you hit an incinerate. You're healer will hate you. Help the tank out by interrupting Incinerate, and AOE down the adds when he AOE taunts them. Go balls out, if youre abit short on gear, the enrage timer can be rough.

 

 

Tank + Heals + 1 Melee DPS + 1 Ranged DPS:

 

Overview:

This strat is a mix of the above. The tank and Melee dps will be fighting on the square. The Ranged and Healer will be moving around the room. Same positions as before (except the melee, but I will get to that). This is the more difficult or the strats, as you will see.

 

Tank:

The tank will start in the Front Right Corner of the Square. Position the boss so he is on the Right side edge of the square (for melee dps purposes). As before, pull the boss from corner to corner, in a clock-wise fashion, as the bubbles drop on you, or when the ranged move out of .... range.

 

Without a doubt, you will be seeing alot of bubbles. It is VERY important that you fight RIGHT ON THE CORNERS. The reasoning is, you need to make sure that the melee dps has enough room to be behind the boss, without getting hit by any previous bubbles that have been dropped.

 

Once you get to 3 bubbles in the middle, its time for a change of strat. By this point, you will be on the Back Left Corner. The Ranged/Heals should be at roughly the same point. You need to pull the boss across the lava, to the solid ground at the back of the room. At this point, this strat becomes exactly like the 2 melee strat. The tank needs to point the Boss in the direction that you will be moving him (so that you are backpedaling when you reposition him). The DPS and Heals will be standing together behind the boss, so they dont get hit by incinerate. Move (always clock-wise) as required when bubbles drop (only as far as you need to). From this point, you will always be moving to patches of solid ground.

 

Once youre at this stage, it shouldnt take much longer to down the boss, just keep moving out of the bubbles.

 

Melee DPS:

The majority of the fight, you will be on the square in the middle of the room. The Tank will be starting on the Front Right Corner, positioning the boss so he is pointing at the front of the room. You need to position yourself so you are on the Right Side of the square, IN BETWEEN Corners. It is VERY important that you are on the EDGE of the Square, IN BETWEEN Corners. This is for Bubble controlling purposes. Basically, if you stand at that point, and a bubble drops on you, you should have enough room when the tank pulls to his next corner, to be standing on the next side (on the edge, in between corners again), without getting hit by the previous bubble.

 

Keep moving around the square as needed, but again, once 3 bubbles are in the middle, its time to move to the back of the room. Follow the tank, stay behind the boss, and interrupt Incinerate at all opportunities.

 

Aoe down adds.

 

 

Healer/Ranged DPS:

Healer and Ranged will be sticking together. For this strat, follow exactly what you would do in the 2xRanged Strat, UNTIL the Melee/Tank get 3 bubbles in the square. From that point on, you move to the back of the room and stay on the back of the boss, moving out of bubbles as needed. The tank will continue to pull the boss around the room when bubbles drop.

 

Aoe down adds.

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For Boss 2 - LR-5 SENTINEL DROID, it is probably worth mentioning strats. It's one thing to know the mechanics, but another thing entirely to pull off a working strat for this boss.

 

Great guide, thanks

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HateFrenzy - For Boss 2 - LR-5 SENTINEL DROID, it is probably worth mentioning strats. It's one thing to know the mechanics, but another thing entirely to pull off a working strat for this boss.

 

 

 

Really nice work - I'd stick it into the original post but its probably better where it is under your name, or even in a thread of its own - thanks :)

Edited by jamesigall
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I wanted to add one thing to this, the LR-5 strat that my group uses, with a ranged dps (me) and a melee dps.

 

The plasma balls drop on the second highest threat after the tank, which is usually the melee but sometimes the ranged. So right when he's about to cast it, the melee runs over to the ranged for the plasma drop, then runs back.

 

Ranged and healer step to the left and the fight continues as usual.

 

This puts the plasma balls on the outside edge of the room, easier to dodge.

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I wanted to add one thing to this, the LR-5 strat that my group uses, with a ranged dps (me) and a melee dps.

 

The plasma balls drop on the second highest threat after the tank, which is usually the melee but sometimes the ranged. So right when he's about to cast it, the melee runs over to the ranged for the plasma drop, then runs back.

 

Ranged and healer step to the left and the fight continues as usual.

 

This puts the plasma balls on the outside edge of the room, easier to dodge.

 

This seems like a pretty good strategy, same as i said about HateFrenzy im just leaving the suggestions out here and not editing the main post now :)

 

Thanks for your input

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How do you know right before he is going to cast it?

 

It seems randonm.

 

Cheers,Shasta

 

I assume there is some kind of system to him casting it - for example he doesn't throw one down instantly ever, instead waiting for a bit after the fight begins. It may be a timer, however im pretty sure its not based on his health as having a good or bad dps team doesnt seem to impact the frequency of casts.

 

Thanks for commenting :)

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How do you know right before he is going to cast it?

 

It seems randonm.

 

Cheers,Shasta

Hmm. This is a good question. As a Commando dps I'm never on interrupt detail so I've not paid attention to this. I'll have to ask him if there's anything to predict the drop.

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Hmm. This is a good question. As a Commando dps I'm never on interrupt detail so I've not paid attention to this. I'll have to ask him if there's anything to predict the drop.

 

Ah ok assumed the original question was related to the blue death balls, and replied as such. These are un-interruptable as there is no cast time on them.

 

The incinerate ability, which is the other thing you may be talking about now that i look at the comment again, is on a twelve second timer between casts to fit with the 12 second cd of most interrupts. When he casts the first time however seems relatively random - sometimes its the first cast he does, sometimes a while into the fight

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Ah ok assumed the original question was related to the blue death balls, and replied as such. These are un-interruptable as there is no cast time on them.

 

The incinerate ability, which is the other thing you may be talking about now that i look at the comment again, is on a twelve second timer between casts to fit with the 12 second cd of most interrupts. When he casts the first time however seems relatively random - sometimes its the first cast he does, sometimes a while into the fight

Nono, I was referring to the plasma balls. Because I can't interrupt, I don't spend a lot of time looking at LR-5s cast bar. I had assumed there was a buff or a channel that happened right before he cast the plasma ball that somehow indicated to the sentinel that it was time to move.

 

(Kinda like the buff Malgus gets before he starts his cast of Ultimate Power)

Edited by JeffKretz
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Im a Gunslinger, Only done LI twice, failed the first go and got to the end on the second.

 

First go i was with a vanguard (tank), commando (healer), Sentinel and me. We wiped about 6 times before we gave up on the Droid, we all knew roughly what the mechanics where but it just went no where.

 

Second run though it was me, a sage (healer), Gaurdian (tank) and a scoundrel (dps) all on TS. Besides me only the scoundrel had done it before all the way through, the others it was first time.

 

Basically the way we did it was where I ranged dps sat as close to the fire grills near the door as i could get, the sage and scoundrel started on the left-hand tank area and the tank stayed in the middle with the droid the entire fight. Tank taunted and interrupted incinerate as where i was the droid was just out of range for using my interrupt, if the tank moved even a little backward it would end up out of range so relying on me to interrupt was far to risky (tank interrupting is by far the best way).

 

I was more or less dpsing the droid solo while the sage and scoundrel made sure to cleans and heal, the scoundrel was able to XS the adds when needed sicne they all tended to attack them ratyher than any one else while I XS'd the Droid and because of aggro it was the the scoundrel and sage that always ended up being the location of the plasma ball at which point they would run to the right side and continue from there (Our scoundrel mentioned that it drops the lightning balls on top of the healers... not sure if this is fact).

 

This way we beat the droid extremely easily, granted my task was pretty easy and i dont think I got damaged at all except for once or twice when i over burned and had to drop aggro, but I just used a medpac, i didnt even have to move the entire fight. The others had a much hard task running around the place.

 

Sav-Rak was a complete doddle, and Lorik we wiped once, but compared to the droid he's a piece of cake (Our tank was doing the strafe side step avoidance tactic on Loriks aoe cone, although our wipe happened when while dodging healer got hit by the aoe cone) as a ranged dps the only boss I felt uncomfortable with was Sav-Rak since I had to run to him further than the rest before he jumped... but really i didnt have to be that far from him in the first place, just old habits, he was still damn easy regardless.

 

But yeah, tank interrupts best, their interrupt is on a smaller cool down to gunslingers/sniper anyway... also they dont have to worry about channeling or casting an attack when incinerate cast bar pops up, since you cant really use interrupt while channeling and have to get up and move to cancel the channel which can delay it for a fraction of a second to long and miss.

 

Edit:- forgot to mention, I was in WH with 3 pieces of BH. Rest of my group was in Columi with various pieces of Rakata/WH/BH.

Edited by BigfootNZ
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Some more information for the boss fights.

 

Putrid Sheclaw:

- Tank should keep moving. Seems to be a bug with ground targets not appearing early on in the fight. I haven't examined my logs but moving definately seems to reduce the damge I am taking, my healer agrees.

 

LR-5 - Alternate strat for 1 melee and 1 ranged DPS:

- Follow the 2 ranged DPS strategy but have melee interupt the first Plasma arc, wait 3 seconds and run back to ranged.

- Once the blue sphere of death drops, melee can leap/rush back in. I haven't tried this with undergeared DPS but we've pulled it off in full Columi.

- Tank should keep LR-5 near the corners so if the melee DPS doesn't move and gets a bubble you can tank him on the opposite corner.

- I've used this successfully with PUGs but it is definately easier with Vent.

EDIT: - First stack of Incinerate applies at 2.1s, not 2.0. You need to get the interupt in the first 0.8 seconds or you will eat some damage. I've moved my target cast bar into the middle of my screen so I can't miss it :p

 

Transgenic Sample 7:

- This guy hits like a truck.

- He also gets a buff that looks like a bleeding eye (and gets a purple taunt like effect on him) and will target randomly during this phase. Stand close together to increase DPS uptime. He should be taunted as soon as this phase ends.

- Worth noting he can be skipped if you drag the pull before him back around the corner.

 

Sav-Rak:

- Sav-Rak smash is on a timer and he jumps onto the pipes at 80%, 60%, 40% and 20%. It is possible to DPS him fast enough and skip the smash.

- Similarly, if you push him past those HP thresholds during the smash he will leap onto the pipe straight away which can stress your healer.

- Sav-Rak needs to be tanked as close to the middle and facing AWAY from the group. He hits hard and cleaves.

- Watch your HP going into the pipes phase, if its sub 50% be ready to pop a med pack or CD.

- Bad RNG can and will wipe groups. Even a tank will die to 5 spits in a row.

- If you lose a DPS all hope is not lost, both activate the pillars he ISN'T on at the start but be ready to eat a few second (atleast) of enrage.

 

Trangenic Sample 11:

- This guy drops a BoE Columi implant, so it IS worth killing him since it can be sold (on my server) for 100-150k. He also drops Tionese comms (wooo....) as well as crystals..

- This fight starts off as a tank and spank but when he starts slamming the ground everyone needs to move around.

- The icicles seem to drop where a player was a couple of seconds prior and hit for 4-6k each.

- They also apply a stacking snare effect on anyone nearby which is a larger AoE than the damage.

- You get an "Aclimatized" buff when on the floor which I have no idea what it does. Similarly, more than 1 stack of the snare doesn't appear to do anything extra.

 

Medics:

- These guys should be CCed wherever possible and dealt with last.

- If they cannot be CCed, these guys need to die first.

- Interupt Kolto Injection as soon as possible.

- Once they drop below about 30% they will become uninteruptable, stun them and burn them down.

- In the last pull with 2 medics, save the barrel for the <30% phase on the right medic and use stuns on the left one.

 

Doc. Lorrick:

- DPS/Heals CANNOT stand near the tank. They MUST be behind the boss or they will eat satchel charges.

- The strat I use for avoiding the satchel charges is just to strafe past Doc Lorrick and change direction every time he actually throws the charges. I get 1 charge if I'm unlucky and very rarely 2.

- In phase 1 Doc. Lorrick will go Flurry of Bolts -> Green goo AoE -> Flurry of Bolts -> Green goo AoE -> Flurry of Bolts -> Satchel Charges.

- Doc. Lorrick says "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve" just before he throws out the first satchel charge and will throw out 4 of them before disappearing.

- The first 2 tanks have Strong mobs. The next 2 have Elites and the final 1 has a Champion mob. Killing him faster is best.

- Everyone needs to be cleansed when he is transitioning from phase 2 to 3.

- When he is healing up, knight/warrior ACs can keep hitting him to build focus/rage but he will lose all debuffs once he fully transforms.

- The final phase is a DPS race. Every 'explosion' will deal damage, increase damage taken and increase damage dealt.

- Doc. Lorrick will drop threat every time he knocks someone back, the tank should taunt him back after being knocked.

- Adrenals/Relics should be saved until you have >5 stacks from the explosion as you will deal much more damage than at the start of the phase.

Edited by grallmate
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It is easy once you know the mechanics and strats, however learning the fights is where the problems arise. The droid boss just has a lot of things to take into account, and it can take fresh people a while to learn it and know how to react to everything he does. The 3rd boss can be really rough on healers if your grp doesnt have/use defensive cooldowns before using the consoles. The bonus can be hard if people dont move fast enough in the movement phase. The last boss can be hard if you dont move out of the aoe fast enough, if you get dps caught in the bombs, if your dps isnt fast enough to bring down the boss quickly in any of the phases.

 

Basically, there are a lot of mechanics to learn, and until people get them all, it is a hard fp. But hey, thats what makes it great, and why I still love to run it.

 

Also, to the OP, I dont mind if you paste my strats to the top, just put it in a quote and add a little "courtesy of Hatefrenzy" before it :)

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Since no one has mentioned it, the cleave that Sav-Rak does is avoidable for a competent, quick moving tanking. He will place one foot in the other and reach out in front of him, if you move back quick enough you're out of range of it, avoiding these frontals can make the fight even easier then what it is, since Sav-Rak himself doesnt hit hard at all.

 

On a side note, i have been experiencing a bug with Sav-Rak, where he resets after he has jumped up on to the pipes, it seems to happen about 50% of the time, and if it happens once it seems to happen every attempt after the first time and usually leads to the group disbanding. It initially was happening when we had an AP PT in the group, but we have had it happened with multiple different types of dps. If anyone has a work around for this, besides stating we are doing to much dps (which is wrong, since we're still getting a smash), i would love to hear it.

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