User:Rivenfist/The Deep

Build Ideas

The Deep
Notes on the area. It is an elite mission. It is tough. It is intended for players who have a bit of experience with the character they choose to bring. It is unfortunate that some players are not developped enough to do this area -YET- and must, in the interests of success, be denied a position in the team until they aquire certain must-have skills.

Unlocking skills and delays creating or modifying skill bars for those who are unprepared can lead to overly long setup delays and waste the team's time/patience. If you would like to bring your own build, propose it long ahead of time to the person who will be leading your group through the deep; they should be willing to discuss it with you, and suggest - and explain - any changes they think are needed. Don't do it after you arrive - the leader is going to be busy setting up twelve people. Sometimes, you'll just need to take a formula build so the team can rely on a position acting the way they expect; every teammate matters, and some foes in this mission are rather unique in behaviour.

Over time, as your group settles in together and you learn the deep, you are encouraged to make your own adjustments to your build as you feel they will improve your spot on the team. Again, talk to your leader BEFORE assuming any changes.

INTO the DEEP

It is best to attempt this adventure with a well organized and experienced leader. It is important for everyone involved to listen to, respect, and follow that leader's advice throughout the mission. There are many different leaders, and as many differences in how and where they do things; just because you've been in The Deep before, it does not make you an expert in THIS groups' tactics. If you don't want to listen, don't join the group.

There are Twelve Players (or heros) in each party. There are a vast number of rooms in the deep, and each has its special dangers and environmental effect. Reading a description of each area will not make you an expert, but will help you understand what and why your leader is telling you to do. And to know some of the pitfalls, and something about the role(s) you are expected to play. It is recommended you do not some here for the first time as the ranger or warrior, but to leave these roles to people who have watched and learned from past experience in The Deep.

Final Notes: Knockdowns are REQUIRED in order to kill all Aspects of Kanaxai. You may be asked to bring one, and the most common and valued choice is "You Move Like A Dwarf!" Reliable interrupts (such as spinal shivers) or enchantment removals are needed for final room. Don't get there and find out you don't have the skills to complete it.

The Mission is divided into 13 rooms. Each guarded by a different Aspect of Kanaxai.

Unless mentioned, it is usually required to kill the Aspect of Kanaxai in order to progress to the next room; he usually guards a gate that will not open until he is dead.

1> Division of Labor (Aspect of Exhaustion) You begin in a room with four portals. Each portal will accept a maximum of three players and until you enter a portal, you will suffer from exhaustion every 30 seconds, depleting your maximum energy. For this reason it is best to arrange, before you begin the mission, as to which players will enter which portal.

2> Divided You Fall (Varied Aspects. See below) The telve players are now divided into teams of three. Each room has a mix of Ritualist, Assasin, and Monk foes, as well as a physical Aspect of Kanaxai, which causes a specific environmental effect until the aspect is killed. Only one team needs to escape successfully for this portion of the mission to be a success, so do not be disheartened if your team does not manage to escape. In fact, the leader may tell you not to even try. Don't take this as insult or failure - take it as proper planning; the 'escape team' will exit, and free you from the outside.

''Righthand Room, First group (Aspect of Soothing) Takes twice as long to gain adreneline.'' This room is most often taken by a full caster party, who are not reliant on adreneline. If you use a warrior build that does not rely on adreneline, there is no reason not to enter this room. Contains: 2 Ripper Carp and 2 Darkened Irukandji

''Center Right, Second group (Aspect of Death) Recieve 20% less benefit from healing'' Fairly straightforward, but considered one of the harder rooms to exit. Often the players put here are told to just wait to be freed by their teammates. A solid protection monk might make the difference if you do attempt to fight your way out of this room. Note: There is little room to hide here.

''Center Left, Third group (Aspect of Surrender) Whenever you are struck by an attack, you are knocked down.'' The attacks from both melee and casters will knock you down, unless you bring a skill such as Dolyak Signet or Balanced Stance to prevent it. This room can be quite frustrating for casters. Hanging back, or placing yourself against the wall to the left can shield you from the Manta's wand attacks. There is also a bridge for casters to hide on, should they deem it necessary.

''Lefthand Room, Fourth group (Aspect of Exposure) You cannot block attacks''

'''3> Clean up the Kitchen (Aspect of Pain) You suffer from -2 health degeneration and suffer from the effects of deep wound.''' When your group escapes from the previous section, you are in a large room. The aspect of Kanaxai and all of the Blessed Manta must be killed in order to open any gates that have NOT been opened from the inside. Pull carefully, as many groups have overlapping - and rather large - patrols.

'''4> Sssllloooowwww (Aspect of Legarthy) You move 50% slower''' Line your warriors and spirits across the gate. Have the monks protect the player who has equipped Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support, and have this player use the skill on the center group. This begins aggro and allows the remainder of thee party to remain safe behind the wall of warriors and spirits. The Ebon player should retreat to safety as the remainder of the party nukes the wave of foes. Repeat until room is clear, or foes will not follow. Caution: Walking to, or turning off, the fire flower trap causes extreme aggro from all sides. Thin out foes before attempting this. After all foes are taken care of, the leader will assign five players to take positions on the pressure triggers indicated by wooden planks set in the floor. This will open the gate to the next area. The other seven members should go through the gate, and gather without aggro-ing any foes. The five left behind should then move to the gate. Those five will be sacrificed and rebirthed through the gate. They must remain and die at the gate in order to do this. Foes will spawn to kill them during the others' fight in the next room.

'''5> Level 34 First of the Flesh Golems (Aspect of) Every thirty seconds you lose 10 energy and take 8 points od damage for every point of energy lost this way''' In this room, do not overaggro. There wil be one group very close to the gate which your group must kill. Use wells to exploit corpses and prevent very powerful Flesh Golems from being summoned. After this group is dead, position yourselves againstt he righthand wall, and have a ranged attacker (ebon vanguard works well here too) aggro the Aspect of Kanaxai who (usually) has remained on the far cliff. Once his group is aggroed, release aggro and retreat. Do not aggro again until the newly spawned nightmares have killed off the five players you left behind, and they have rejoined your group.

'''6> Casters be Damned (Aspect of) You cannot cast spells.''' Casters should stay outside of the room. Trappers should trap the doorway. Ritualists should spawn spirits on the staircase, but out of aggro range. The IMS player should pull foes back towards the ritualist spirits, which should be in range for AOE damage dealers. You will not be able to draw the final groups from this room. It is an accepted practice to leave them behind and alive, to run straight through (hugging the wall to the right) and go down the stairs at the far end. Once on the staircase, raise spirits and use YMLAD to kill and/or pull the rangers and aspect from the heights. You should be able to do this, while using the wall to block devastating arrow attacks. Warning! The environmental effect OFTEN lasts into the next room if you do not kill this Aspect of Kanaxai, though doing so is entirely optional.

'''7> Oh No You Don't Cannot use enchantments or be targetted by enchantments.''' Ritualists and Trappers should set up at the top of the lower flight of stairs. The IMS then moves forward and gets the first spawn of Oni from the bottom of the stairs. Casters stay safe to the side, and be prepared to rush back thru the previous area to safety, in case the Trapper, Rits, and Warriors cannot handle the whole aggro. Once you have cleared the stairs, everyone should able to go down and find the extent of the former room's aspect, getting to an area where they can again cast. Oni popups and respawning Inkandjis fill this room. There is also a Leviathan in the center of the area that does EXTREME damage. Avoid it, by staying to the left. Warriors should sweep ahead and call "clear" when it is time for the party to move up. Try to move from inkanji to inkandji, and set up spirits and traps just ahead of each until you know the locations of popups.

'''8> Collapse of an Empire Every thirty seconds, you are teleported to the closest foe, and knocked down.''' Failure to do this properly is likely to result in a party wide wipe. Patience. Stay at the top of the stairs. Monks and BiP should stay some safe distance away from the effect and spam Heal Party when required. It is advised to leave the Inkandji at the top of the stairs alive, as it would often be the closest foe to the casters, and thereby negates the environmental action. If you have ritulalists, this can be tough. Don't fret about it too much. Oni popups, patrols, and some outcast live down the stairs. The IMS should pull, carefully, and the rest of the party should remain upstars. The ritualists should have their spirits ont he staircase. Again, keep the monks and other casters outside of the aspect as much as possible. Once the way appears to be clear, the party should work their way to the right side of the room, where there is a parallel staircase. Hide up top again. The flower-master should turn off the flower. Tanks and spirits follow the same plan to clear. Once the road appears clear, follow the righthand wall.

'''9> Painful Steps You move 10% faster. You take damage while moving.''' A Paragon (command) can make a big difference here with the right skills. Your team should, once they enter this area, NOT stop moving until they reach the first bridge at the bottom of some stairs. DO NOT cross the bridge. There is a niche in the wall just before it where the casters should gather. Spirits and Warriors should bodyblock. Swarms of foes will come to you. Once they have all been killed, you can advance to the bridge. Traps and Spirits should be placed a half to three quarters of the way across. The IMS should then pull popups from the other side of the bridge. Move forward. At the next bridge, do the same thing.

'''10> Mind Wrack Whenever your energy reaches 0, you take 50 damage''' Nightmares fill this area. Set spirits by doorway as bodyblocks. Pull and nuke by the doorway. It may be advantageous to change caster weapons and use bows for this area, as the Nightmares will not cast chaos storm on players holding melee or range weapons. You do not have to kill the Aspect in this room. As always, by wary of Popups. Have the IMS lead a good distance ahead.

'''11> Momma I need a bandaid. If you are poisoned or bleeding, you suffer additional -4 degeneration.''' There are traps lined up around the room. Have the IMS disable them, and the protection monk remove his conditions while the Heal Party monks spam as required. NOTE that there are popups in this area too; the IMS will need to return to the group during the process of turning off the traps. As he succeeds, the party can move forward. Stay to the left of the room, and you can avoid killing the Aspect.

'''12> Wastrel's Domain You take 50 damage every 3 seconds unless you use a skill.''' Don't freak out! Your monks will handle the party heals. There are again popups, and the IMS should lead the way. Since it is nightmares again, you should keep in mind the previous note regarding bows and chaos storm. Fairly straightforward.

'''13> Kanaxai's Demise (Final Blow) You suffer -8 degeneration''' This is a single room, with Kanaxai waiting for you at the bottom. Monks should try to stay back when possible, and spam their heal party skill. Two players with unconditional knockdown skills - like "You Move Like a Dwarf!" - are needed. They will draw Kanaxai to the very leftmost wall of the room. Here they will knock Kanaxai down twice in quick succession. This causes a maximum number of Kanaxai's allies (Nightmares) to spawn off to one side. You do NOT want to kill these nightmares, nor do you want them following you out of the room. The player who holds Kanaxai and the Spawns will likely be required to die there. So don't put up any spirits or call up any summons.

Kanaxai will return to his spot in the bottom of the well, as your team escapes back out of the room to regenerate. When you return, you should be able to slip past the nightmares and take up a position at the right of the room. Draw Kanaxai up, and attack. Use Spinal Shivers and interrupts to prevent his enchantment, or remove it as soon as it is in place, or it will heal him for a vast amount of points. Knockdowns are REQUIRED as he gets down to 80,60,40,and 20% health, or he will stop taking damage. Once he is down, the chest will spawn. You may have to kill the nightmares - which pull easily - before getting the chest, and reviving the party members who knockdown Kanaxai in the first step (if they didn't escape).

Potential Skill Sets
Panic Mesmer Energy Surge Mesmer Balthazar Dervish

Other skills the team chould carry:

Arrangement of initial rooms center left room needs a dolyak tank, a monk, and fire or curse. center right room needs a tank or spammer, a mesmer and another damage dealer far left should have a tank or spammer a monk and a degen far right should have a tank or spammer a degen and a hard damage (far left and far right can be swapped)
 * Each room needs a knockdown
 * far left and far right should have rez's

Center right is the hardest room to succeed at. It is often best to fill the rooms on the edges with the heavy hitters in order to ensure quick exit. This is especially true if you are taking extra monks or imbagon along with you. A good setup for this room is SoGM+Barrage+Panic.

Use Of Skill Sets
The initial room causes exhaustion to all players and promps you to enter four portals as they open. Therefor, you need to assign rooms before entering. The rooms are assigned Right to Left! In each room, try and gather the enemies (except Aspect of Kanaxai) and kill them. Room three may find it easier to have the "squishies" stand on the bridge and have the Melee aggro all (including Kanaxai) at which point, the SS should hax Kanaxai ONLY until foes are dead. For each room that plans to escape, they should have rez and YMLAD or other reliable Knockdown.
 * 1 Righthand: Communing Rit, Blood Necro and Elementalist.
 * 2 Random: Not expected to escape: these players are important! But the specific challenges here determine teams. Ele, Imbagon and ? should be able to attempt escape.
 * 3 Unknockable Melee, Prot Monk, Spiteful Spirit
 * 4 Lefthand: Channeling Rit, Elementalist and Healer's Boon.

Skill bar usage:
 * Blood Ritual is especially important in some rooms. Have the monks ping energy when required.
 * Wells: In every room with outcasts, well spamming reduces the appearance of Golems.
 * Spinal Shivers is applied to Kanaxai in the final room to prevent Kanaxai's use of [Nightmare Refuge]. This demands that a certain number of players use icy weapons. [Snow Storm] is a good idea for providing the icy damage.
 * The player using Technobabble should focus on Deathhands when fighting Outcasts.
 * The players with YMLaD should use it against aspects of Kanaxai to prevent attacks and the use of Nightmare Refuge.