This is not the strategy, this just a guide on how we've been doing it thus far. Please, do not simply follow it, think about how to improve it or come up with something new. For instance; find a good way to get people out of the goo during a bloom or find a way to stay in during a bloom. Simply following this guide will make raid strategy stagnate and no one will be willing to change anything.
There are two sections, an overview of Hamidon, and an overview of the strategy we have been using to defeat him.
I) Hamidon Overview
1. Spawning Hamidon, Essence of the Earth
2. Mito types
3. Hamidon
II) Strategy Overview
1. Time and other requirements
2. Teams and strategy
3. Overall raid strategy
Hamidon Overview
Hamidon has changed greatly from i9. Starting with the general changes and moving to the details; the first change is that Hamidon can be spawned any time he is not up simply by killing between five and fifty Giant Monsters in 'The Hive'. No longer is raiding something that can only be done once or twice per day. Raid conflicts/worrying about if he will be spawned in time, failing a raid and ruining it for everyone until server reset are a thing of the past. It only takes about 30 people to defeat Hamidon with the strategy described below. Raids can be much more flexible and frequent. People are encouraged to set up and run raids when they want to. The zone has a maximum capacity of 50 people, at which point another instance of the Hive will appear. This 50-person cap can be troublesome if a player gets disconnected in the middle of a raid.
The Giant Monsters that are defeated to spawn Hamidon drop a new inspiration type, 'Essence of the Earth' (EoE). These inspirations provide capped, for your AT, resistance against Hamidon and Yellow Mito damage types. These inspirations are very handy for people who are going to be dealing with Hamidon or Yellow Mito damage. When clearing GM's to spawn Hamidon, make sure you have room in your inspiration tray for them to drop. Keep at least two spaces open in your tray for them to drop. The first space is usually filled by a non-EoE inspiration if it drops. Devouring Earth giant monsters found on the outer islands of Peregrine Island also drop 'EoE' inspirations. PI is useful for farming EoE when more are needed. The number of EoE �required� varies depending on what is present at the raid, as few as 10, as many as 110 or more may be needed.
Mito Types
The first two types of Mito are the yellow Mito and the blue Mito. The yellow Mito, the Mitochondria Antibodies, are the damage dealing group. They each do 522 damage in a very long range, targeted AoE every few seconds. This attack has a component capable of stacking to stun a tank, with a heavy knockback. They also have an AoE that affects people surrounding the Mito, but does much less damage. Yellow Mitos have a very high defense against ranged and AoE/cone damage but can be easily hit with melee attacks. These Mitos are the biggest threat to people entering or approaching the goo.
The second Mito type, the Mitochondria Electronite, has an AoE field that drains endurance and causes a fear affect. They also have a ranged fear and 'chain lightning' affect which hits one player, then jumps between them. You can actually receive a message in your combat log that one player has defeated another player. This is the chain lightning jumping between players. The 'contagion' power is added to your powerset when you are capable of damaging another player with chain lightning. These Mitos have very high defense against melee and AoE/cone damage, but can be hit with ranged damage.
The last type of Mito is the green Mito, the Mending Mitochondria. These Mitos have an attack which does a small Toxic damage over time, and prevents a certain amount of healing. Two shots from a green Mito can shut down your ability to be healed completely. These Mitos also have an AoE heal, a ranged 'heal other' and a self-shielding power, as well as their attack. The green Mitos use their heal other power on the closest damaged friendly whenever it is recharged. The self-shielding power provides them with a great deal of +regen and damage resistance. The shield drops when the Mito becomes mez�d.
Hamidon
Hamidon himself has a ranged AoE attack; it does approximately 522 damage, with a stun, a long duration DoT of 80 and a -heal affect. After approximately 10 blasts, you will be completely unhealable. Hamidon no longer has to be held when attacked. However, at 75%, 50% and 25% hit points, he will bloom (spawn) a new set of 18 Mitochondria. There is currently no way to prevent this. They can be quickly dealt with, in under 5 minutes per bloom if things go smoothly. Hamidon's 'blooms' all consist of 18 Mitos. These are broken down into three types, six of each Mito type appear in a hexagonal pattern, in roughly the same spot as the last set, but they do shift. Throughout the goo, there are invisible shelves that the Mitos spawn on. if the shelves are occupied when the Mito spawns, it can be shoved off the shelf.
The Strategy
The strategy that we have been using to defeat Hamidon is fairly simple. It consists of five teams; a team of scrappers/blappers with support, two teams of tanks with support, a team of ranged damage dealers and a team of controllers with damage dealing support. Each of these teams plays a role in helping to quickly defeat the Mitochondria and keeping everyone alive while doing so.
The time it takes to complete a raid using this strategy varies, depending on the experience of the raiders, what is present AT wise and how many GM�s it takes to spawn Hamidon. It can take as little as a half hour, or over 2.5-3 hours. The average time is usually between forty minutes and 1.5 hours. As of late, only the EoE generated when defeating GM�s to spawn Hamidon has been needed.
The Rainbow aka Fruit Salad
Yellow Mito Aggro
The yellow Mito tank (yellow aggro, yellow tanks, Mito tanks, &#65533
team consists of (ideally) six tanks, kheldians, or scrappers with taunt and good knockback protection (flight, acro or built in, IO's aren't cutting it, a really, really good kin with ID works as well) and a couple buffers. One of these buffers should be an emp or sonic or storm defender, with long duration stun buff protection, CM, O2 boost or Clarity. An emp can also buff these tanks' regen, which can help them stay alive without EoE at start. The other buffer can be another emp, storm or sonic, or a kinetic. There should be at least one person who can port the others out after a bloom.
Each aggro character picks or is assigned one yellow Mito to taunt. They should stand back as far as possible from the yellow Mito, and outside of the goo. A range or two in taunt helps quite a bit for staying far enough away. If they don't stand back, the targeted AoE will hit and stun or kill the scrappers. If need be the tank should taunt and run backwards farther than the range they can taunt from for a few seconds, then run in again and taunt. Flying tanks can hold aggro from high above, where the Mito wont hit jumping scrappers. After the Mito is defeated they should stop using EoE, and help the green team out with damage and holds while keeping an eye on their teammates HP.
The buffers should stay out side of the goo, and make sure that the tanks stay buffed up. If they lose their mez buffs, the tanks will eventually get stunned, and possibly defeated. The tanks should have 3-4 EoE per bloom, how many the actually will need to use will depend on how fast the Mitos are defeated, buffs on the tank, build and experience. A first time player may want to use an EoE on the way in and when it starts to fade, they should use another.
The tanks should all gather in the main group, and wait for the call to move in. It is much easier to get buffed up in the main group, and approximately three regeneration auras will allow someone to stay alive without an EoE against a yellow Mito with no trouble until they fade. If all the tanks pick up regen auras from the main group and are careful about running around instead of through the goo to reach their Mito, this can save a lot of EoE over the course of the raid.
A side note, an emp can keep a tank alive against a yellow, as long as the tank is not hit by a green. The support players do need to be very careful of the AoE around the taunter when buffing and healing because of the damage, stun and knockback. The buffers should keep moving in a circle around the outside of the goo, buffing up the tanks that are still taunting and generally keeping an eye out for situtations where they can use others powers they may have to help out, such as rezing people on other teams or buffing other teams. A single loose yellow Mito can wipe the raid out, so maintaining aggro is very important. Tanks should again be sure and stand as far away from the Mito as possible to keep the scrappers from being hit. A few breakfrees can be handy to have if your anti-stun buff runs out and you get stunned.
Yellow Mito Damage
The scrapper (yellow damage, melee, &#65533
team consists of people with a lot of melee damage, plus some support. This means scrappers, tanks (some risk from pulling aggro off the taunting tank, however), blappers, human form PB's for damage, and emps (clear mind, regen aura/end aura, rez), rads (AccMet, debuffs on the Mitos, rez), kins (speed boost, ID), sonics (clarity, dr debuffs), stormies (O2 boost, freezing rain). Fly or group fly is a big plus, damage output can be much higher for someone on this team. Having someone who can teleport and rez is useful.
The team starts on one yellow Mito, generally the closest yellow to the main group as it moves in. When the mito is down, they usually move clockwise to the next one. The team leader acts as a targeter for the team if need be. The damage dealers need to be careful and not get too close to a tank taunting the Mito. The support characters can stay out of the goo, and re-buff the damage dealers as needed.
When all the yellow Mitos are defeated, if there are still green Mitos, the scrapper team should link up with the green team and attack/hold the green targeters Mito. If only blues are left they can use any ranged attacks they might have on them. When all the Mitos are down, they attack Hamidon. A couple EoE on each damage dealer can be useful if the tanks lose aggro for one reason or another. They should not consistently need to use EoE. A few breakfrees can come in handy for fear or stun affects.
Purple Aggro
The Hamidon aggro team (aggro, pink/purple/hami team, &#65533
consists of at least two tanks or Kheldians with taunt, and support characters. Two emps are very useful, and a kin or two to buff the emps helps a great deal. With two kin�s, the emps should keep CM on the tanks at all times, should be able keep adr boost on the tank constantly and regen aura on the tank as it is available. One set of adr/regen aura can keep the tank alive for the most part. Active healing is generally not useful, unless the back up tank has just swapped in. The reason being the -heal affect on Hamidon blasts.
When the order is given, one of the tanks runs in with an EoE up (they should make sure they are buffed up as well), and begins taunting Hamidon. They continue to taunt and use EoE as necessiary until the Mitos are down. However, there may be times, with lots (2-3+ of one or the other) of regen aura and adr boost on him/her, where the tank does not need an EoE up. If a tank gets low on HP, the backup tank should move in and start taunting. The backup will more than likely need to use an EoE if many Mitos are still up, however, they can be healed for a few moments by empaths or O2 boost. The support characters should stay back until all teams are in, and focus on staying alive while buffing the tank and each other.
The tank with aggro when the Mitos go down should call for empaths to target Hamidon and cast adr boost. Again, with three or more adr boost/regen aura, the tank will not need to use EoE. The aggroing tank should coordinate the adr boost and regen aura on the team with what can be granted by players not on the team to minimize EoE use through the Hamidon attack phase. Try to use one set to cover the other set being down.
Holding aggro through the attack phase can be tricky. Hamidon doesn�t always respond to taunt like other foes. If the tank with aggro dies, it can be difficult to regain aggro. This team usually goes through the most EoE. With a lot of regen buffs, 2-4 EoE should be enough per bloom but it can take much more.
Blue Mito Damage & Distraction
The blue Mito (blue squad (see: star wars), blue, ranged, &#65533
team consists of 4-8 ranged damage dealers, preferably ones that do not have holds that would be useful in the green team. Someone with teleport is useful, and being able to fly can help them stay away from aggro tanks, and further away from the other Mitos. The goal of this team is not so much to do damage, but to distract. They should try and cause green Mitos to heal the blue Mitos instead of healing yellow Mitos and other green Mitos that are under attack. The blue team should target blue Mitos nearer to green Mitos than the green Mito that is currently under attack by the green team. One or two snipes on a blue Mito is easily enough damage to trigger a green Mito to heal the blue. Allowing the green team or scrapper team to take down their target much more easily. Another way for the blue team to operate is for 1-2 people to each take a blue Mito on the opposite side from where the green/scrapper teams start.
The blue team should be careful of fear and end drain, a few breakfrees and catch a breath can help out. Someone with grantable fear protection, and speed boost are nice things to have on the blue team. The blue team should stay back as far as they can, blue damage by itself is not very scary, while still doing damage consistently. They should watch out for tanks taunting in the goo when moving around. Once the greens are down, the blue team should come together and focus on bringing Mitos down, before then, they just want to trigger a heal from a green on as many blue Mitos as frequently as possible.
Green Mito Hold & Damage
The green team consists of people that can hold, damage dealers, and a targeter. The targeter is most effective when they fly or hover. The goal of this team is two part. The first goal is to hold the green Mito. This is very important, holding the Mito drops its shielding. If this shielding is not down damage will not be dealt at any appreciable rate. The second goal is to actually defeat the Mito. If there is a lot of damage on the green team, this can occur within seconds of the mito being held. Anyone not on any of the other teams should /friend, and /follow the green leader. That does not mean �auto an attack and afk�, like pre-i9 raids, however.
People in the green team should save their high damage attacks until the targeter calls that the green is held. When that call is made people should unload their attacks. If the targeter doesn�t call 'held', watch for the green's HP to drop some, then unload. It can take a few moments for the shield to drop after hold animations disappear. Continue to work holds into your attack chain until the Mito is defeated, so that it does not come unheld and put its shield back up.
The best way to start off the attack for the green team is to target greens that are low to the ground. Getting right on top of a low lying green is optimal for getting holds and damage applied to them. It is extra important to �spike�, apply (burst/spike) damage all at once in a short period of time, on the first few greens. If the damage is spread out, the other greens will start healing the injured green.
Once the greens are down, the green team can switch to attacking blues with ranged damage and any melee damage dealers can help kill remaining yellows. AoE buffs like shadowfall can help against fear affects from the blues, bubbles can help against incidental Hamidon or yellow Mito stuns and toxic damage from greens. Regen aura�s, accmet�s and damage buffs/dr debuffs on the players/Mitos are very handy. Group fly/fly are handy on this team, for getting close to the Mitos to maximize damage.
Overall raid strategy
Phase I � EoE and Spawning Hamidon
There are several phases to the raid. The first subphase is to gather EoE inspirations, either in PI or the Hive. If EoE�s are collected in the Hive, it will eventually cause Hamidon to spawn. Be aware of how many EoE are needed. While spawning Hamidon, Phase I, try and set up team leaders and get teams forming. It reduces the wait/down time once Hamidon is spawned. Try not to attack monsters near the bottom of the bowl as Hamidon may wipe everyone out if he spawns. Once Hamidon is spawned time should be taken to brief everyone on what is expected, to get the teams finalized and ready to move in. A good spot to assemble the teams is behind the rocks to the West of the old staging rock.
Phase II � Organization
Once the business of assembling teams and getting everyone up to speed is done; the next phase, Phase II, is to get ready to assault Hamidon and his Mitos. Running a one minute timer for this is very helpful. Tanks and scrappers/blappers that are on aggro and assault duty should line up next to the targeter for the green team. The green targeter should already have everyone not on one of the other teams assembled around him.
Anyone with buffs should spread them around as much as possible. The buffers can use the /search window and sort by AT, then click on the tanks/scrappers and buff. Optimally, everyone should be bunched up close enough that all AoE buffs like AM and Regen/Recovery aura land on everyone. Getting all these buffs will greatly increase a player�s survivability, recharge and damage. The person calling the timer should call the time out at intervals, at 25 seconds, everyone should use their AoE buffs (regen aura, recovery aura, accelerate metabolism, inertial reduction). Saving the AoE buffs lets people hit the goo with as much time remaining as possible. At 20 seconds Phase III begins.
Phase III � Assaulting the Mitos
All tanks should run in and aggro their assigned Mito or Hamidon. The tanks aggroing yellow Mitos may want to wait a moment until the Hamidon aggro tank moves in. The Hamidon tank will most likely have to use an EoE, and will pick up most of the stray blue and green aggro moving into the goo. At zero time on the count down, the scrapper (though we have had a great deal of success with the scrappers moving in earlier), blue and green teams should move in and begin attacking. Once all the Mitos are defeated, Phase IV begins, everyone should attack Hamidon, leading to the last, least developed part of the strategy.
Phases IV/V � Assaulting Hamidon/Withdrawal and Reset
Phase IV is very simple. When the Mitos are down, everyone congregates on Hamidon and begins to attack him. Watch out for the tank holding Hamidon�s aggro during this time, the AoE damage can kill. Defenders and controllers in particular should pay attention, watch for the aggro tank asking for adr boost, and other powers to be used (+regen/-regen/IR/flee2hills, described later). AccMet and dr debuffs/dmg buffs can be freely used. The only things to save for when called for are (hit point) regen auras, Inertial reduction, adr boost and �regen powers. Everyone else should unload as much damage as they can.
When Hamidon reaches a break point, (the 75, 50 and 25% HP spots mentioned earlier), he will rebloom Mitos. The current strategy to deal with the blooms is as follows. When Hamidon is slightly above the HP threshold Phase V, the withdrawal and reset phase begins. The leaders ask people with regen aura, -regen buffs (howling twilight, lingering radiation, etc) and anyone with inertial reduction (IR, kinetic +jump power) to use them. The �regen keeps the HP drop/regen Hamidon has from pogo sticking, making it easier to see about when he will bloom. The +regen allows people to take a few hits from Mitos while escaping, and IR helps them to escape faster. After calling for these powers, they ask anyone with teleport friend to pull back to safety, so that they can pull their team out of the goo if casualties are taken.
Everyone else continues attacking until Hamidon blooms, then runs/jumps/flies/teleports/hops a fast train as quickly as they can to safety. If people react quickly, causulties can be very light, with whole teams making it out alive. If damage dealers take off early, the damage slumps, and Hamidon may start regening HP, making it more difficult to gauge when to retreat for everyone else. Players should be very careful about running into groups of other players with Mito aggro. It will not make your fellow players happy. If a player is defeated during the blooms, they should ask for TP/rez in broadcast if they are not on a team that can provide this service.
A better solution than just running away is needed. It may be possible to pick aggro on the Mitos back up, or there may be some way to easily survive it that has been missed. Once the teams have all their members� rez�d and ready, Phase II starts again and it is lather/rinse/repeat through the rest of the blooms until Hamidon is defeated. On the final bloom, everyone should hit Hamidon at least once, to ensure they recieve a reward.
And yet you have all that time to farm up the influence for an unlimited budget build.
could u please let me have a peek at this build please!
