Here's my second revision of a brief I9 Hami Guide.
INTRODUCTION
Before I talk about anything, I just want to make clear that much of what I talk about here isn't just from my experience being a part of practically all the Hami raid attemps on Test but from the many bright men and women who spent a lot of time posting in these threads, a few of whom organized and led successful raids as well as many other tests:
Consolidated Thread: Hamidon (Hero-side)
Consolidated Thread: Hamidon/Abyss (Villain-side)
Hero Hamidon raid - Monday 4-30-07, 9pm eastern
Hamidon Raid for Villains, Saturday 4-28-07
My goal is to cut to the chase for those of you who want to know the essential information that's needed to take down Hamidon and his Mitochondria, without digging through over dozens of pages for relevant information. But I'm just the guy posting this writeup, not the ultimate know-it-all on how this raid works.
HAMIDON
This foe is so powerful and is such a unique threat, that he's a mob class all to himself. He has the hitpoints of a Giant Monster but he's far tougher than any of them. He's also been significantly modified with Issue 9. There are now 18 Mitochondria that accompany Hamidon when he spawns, and all the Giant Monsters in the zone despawn after a random number between 5 and 50 of them are defeated. These are also classified as Hamidon mobs. But these are not the only 18 you'll fight if you hope to take him down. After you clear them all, and get Hamidon down to 75% of his life, he spawns a NEW batch of 18 mitos. He does that again at 50%. And later at 25%. Once you reach one of those thresholds, he no longer spawns mitos when you cross it.
We call these occurences of 18 mitos spawning as "blooms" and all mitos appear at practically the same time. Within a fraction of a second of every other mito. Here is what the bloom looks like:
VIDEO LINK (Youtube)
VIDEO LINK 2.1MB (WMV video)
DEMO LINK 210KB (Zip archive)
It takes only a dozen players, to overcome Hamidon's regeneration, resistance and hitpoints, once regen and resistance debuffs are in place, so not everyone needs to be in the goo attacking Hamidon at this point. Furthermore we estimate that it takes almost 4 seconds for the mito to start attacking once they spawn. Once you see them spawn. RUN!
The 75% mark is 35340, 50% is 23560, and 25% is 11780 hitpoints.
Punch-voke (or Gauntlet) does not work on Hamidon-class mobs. However Taunt will. Keep in mind that Taunt only helps the target decide who to attack, not which mito can be healed. Hamidon has an aggro radius of 300 feet.
MITOCHONDRIA (with all due credit to Iakona for the bulk of the hard numbers)
Each mito is the equivalent of an Elite Boss in terms of hitpoints. But there are three different types of mitos - six of each kind - with different offenses and defenses. The base "Held" attribute protection for Boss_Mito class entities is -100.
1) The Yellows. Yellow mitos have a 45 foot PBAoE damage/stun power that activates every 4 seconds, and I am unsure of how much damage it deals. Their targeted power is a 45 foot AoE damage/stun with 600 ft range, 0 CastTime, and 4 second recharge, which deals 521.61 damage with 5 ticks of 31.8 damage. This damage is a special type that is not resistable or defendable. It also does knockback which is notorious for knocking people all the way to the crater walls before running out of EoE. Yellows have extremely high defense to attacks that are typed as "ranged" or "AoE" attacks, but not to "melee" attacks - so this looks like it's intended for melee AT's to aggro/fight/tank. Yellows have an aggro radius of 275 feet.
2) The Blues. Blue mitos have a 15 foot PBAoE fear/debuff power that activates every 2 seconds, which deals no damage. Their targeted power is a single-target damage/mez with 300 ft range, 1.87 CastTime, and 6 second recharge, which deals 5 ticks of 31.8 damage. This damage is a special type that is not resistable or defendable. There is a chance the attack will proc a lightning effect called "Chain" that will jump to different players ala Chain Induction. The slows will quickly reduce your movement speed and recharge rate with every attack. Particularly the PBAoE aura will _stack_ the same effect on you multiple times, effectively freezing you inside Hamidon briefly. So you don't want to be in melee range at all if you can help it. This is obviously designed for ranged AT's to fight. Blues have an aggro radius of 275 feet.
3) The Greens. Green Mitos have a 150 foot PBAoE damage/debuff power that activates every 6 seconds but can only affect one target per activation, which deals 101.77 damage with 5 ticks of 15.89 damage. This is a Toxic-typed damage attack which is _resistable_ by toxic resist buffs, but not defendable. Greens have at least 150 feet aggro radius. Greens also have a 70 foot PBAoE heal power that activates every 7 seconds, healing all allies within the radius for 321 HP. Their targeted power is a single-target heal for 1205 HP with 300 ft range, 1.0 CastTime, and 5 second recharge. They have an additional self-affecting auto power called "Regenerative Aura" that activates every 10 seconds and appears to grant capped regeneration (500% HP/minute) and high resistance to damage; the effects of this power seem to have a conditional statement attached to deactivate the effects while held. So this seems geared for control AT's to fight.
ESSENCE OF THE EARTH
These are valuable inspirations that can be used to mitigate a ton of damage dealt by Hamidon. Currently it provides 100% resistance to damage from all mitos but the greens, and attacks from Hamidon. But there is a patch in the works that makes EoE conform to the resistance caps of every AT. Tankers and Brutes have 90%, Kheldians have 85%, and everyone else has 75% resistance caps.
I consider these invaluable for Hamidon raids. In theory an EoE-less raid might be possible. But for conventional, public, raids this is something that _in the very least_ needs to be an essential inspiration that is in the tray of every melee AT present. It's the difference between having Unstoppable for your AT and having zero damage resistance. And with the type and amount of damage Hamidon and it's mitos, it's extremely important. And the reason why the melee AT's need it more than any other, is because they will be fighting against, and tanking the damage of, the yellow mitos and Hamidon, because they do far more damage than either the blue or green mitos.
You can "farm" these by defeating Devouring Earth Giant Monsters in the Hive and Abyss, and on Monster Island (reachable from Peregrine Island or Grandville). The more teammates on your team attacking a GM, the greater a chance an EoE will drop. In other words if one player solo's a GM they might get one EoE. If 8 players beat one, a couple might get an EoE. Three full teams of players beat one, then possibly 6 might drop. These aren't hard figures here, but the bottom line is: the more the merrier.
ARCHETYPES AND MITOCHONDRIA
Here are what I would consider to be the "best matches" of AT's and targets.
Hamidon: Tankers, Brutes
Yellows: Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes, Stalkers
Blues: Blasters, Defenders, Corruptors, Masterminds
Greens: Controllers, Dominators
I also believe that Defenders and Corruptors can have dual roles for ranged attack and support for various other AT's within the raid. For example a Defender could be on each melee team, helping to keep buffing with status protection as well as applying extra heals. Also Toxic resist buffs are great against the greens. Controllers and Masterminds can also supply these buffs and/or heals to other raiders.
RECOMMENDED RAID-FRIENDLY POWERS
Powers like Tactics, Recall Friend, Teleport, Team Teleport, Rez powers, and Self-Rez powers are important for streamlining these raids. Also, if you can increase your toxic resists, or buff others for toxic resistance, that's a plus.
RECOMMENDATIONS BEFORE THE RAID
Gather plenty of EoE. Recommend a separate "farm" time 1-2 hours before the official raid. If the bulk of your raid force has never done a new Hamidon raid, you need more EoE than a crack raid SG with experience, all the tactics down, and a Teamspeak server. My conservative estimate for unskilled public raid groups is 200+ and even ranged and control AT's need at least one each per wave, to help them get in the goo without dying. After that EoE expires they should be all good.
The more players the better. A full zone is a faster raid, generally-speaking. Though I've witnessed one raid successfully completed by a pickup group on Test in 2 hours and 20 minutes by 34 players. This did, however, require as much EoE as a larger raid force.
Team leaders should regulate who gets how much EoE on their teams. I've seen raid attempts where a half dozen EoE were burned up by some players, long after the need for such inspiration usage. Hamidon Tankers and melee teams take precidence over everyone else.
COUNTDOWN
1) Everyone gathers inside the south side of the crater, or at the South Rock. I recommend one dispersion Bubble, Force Bubble, or anything like an Ice Patch that can help people focus on where to be. The closer everyone is, the more buffs can be distributed.
2) Nobody buffs until the 1-minute countdown. That way the buffs that are applied last long enough once we go inside Hamidon. And nobody gets burned out mashing buttons all night. Most buffs last 90-120 seconds anyhow, so plan them accordingly.
3) While Defenders/Controllers and Corruptors/Masterminds distribute buffs, the other AT's summon any other pets they think they need, and get ready to apply their self-buffs.
4) The 10-second countdown. Start your engines! Apply any self buffs, tier-9's like Unstoppable, or whatever, in this time. At the 5 second mark, you should pop an EoE. It gives you 100% resistance to Hamidon damage.
TACTICS
Personally, I believe different strategies will work, so long as the following conditions are met:
1) Everyone taking part in the raid needs to be in the goo at the same time, fighting the mitos first, using a Tanker to taunt Hamidon.
2) Melee AT's need to lead the charge, but be followed quickly by everyone else. But melee AT's by themselves cannot take down a mito.
3) Melee AT's are the only ones who definitely need EoE. EoE for other are optional unless there is an abundance of EoE.
4) Those who are planning on taking EoE should in the very least have 2 ready for each attempt.
5) After the mitos are cleared, only a small group needs to remain in the goo to whittle Hamidon down to the next Bloom. 12-16 players.
Here's what I know won't work:
1) Only a small fraction of the raid goes in, while everyone else stands around.
2) Before the raid all the AT's are in different locations, not consolidating buffs.
3) No countdown to get everyone ready to go at the same time.
4) Micromanaging the entire raid as a raid leader. You should assign roles to different team leaders. Have them report EoE counts and anything else vital.
5) Deconstructive criticism against raid leadership. These people generally come early, leave late, and are organizing all the time. Give them a break.
6) Promptly leaving after the first unsuccessful attempt, or demanding to be put on a team after a short deadline when first entering the zone. Someone "peeking out" constantly and having mitos wipe them out, and nearby players, over and over while teams prepare. Nobody needs those types of players on a Hami Raid.
I'll give three specific, short, examples of what I think would work. I'll start with the first because it's been proven to work on Test, and the second proven to have worked on Justice.
1) Attack yellows and greens at the same time. Melee AT's on yellows, everyone else on greens. Typically the melee AT's are split up 6 ways, putting 1-2 of them on a different yellow. The rest of the raiders are all fighting one green mito, bringing it down. Usually the yellows are taken down quicker than the greens, but the bottom line is they are both wiped out before the blues.
2) Attack all sets of mitos at the same time. Melee teams on yellows, Ranged/Support teams on blues, Control teams on greens. As with the plan above, there is at least one Hami meatshield.
3) Attack two sets of three mitos at the same time. Half the raiders are on one set of yellow, blue and green, with the other half on a different set of yellow, blue and green. Melee teams on yellows, Ranged/Support teams on blues, Control teams on greens. As with both plans above, there is also at least one Hami meatshield.
CONCLUSION
This is longer than I expected, and not as concise as I would like, but it should be a decent primer to someone that has never attended or assisted in one of these new raids. I suspect this encounter will also be tweaked some more in the future, based on how players do against it. But hopefully this can be something that can help.
CREDITS
This is an incomplete list of some of the additional sources of information which I gathered this from. If you feel you've been left off this list, PM me what you contributed and I'll add you.
Marut
Lemur Lad
Iakona
Human Being
Fashion Sense
Mister Laser
TopDoc
