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I don't know what server you are on, but I and some others convinced everyone on Virtue long ago to NOT air drop PA. It is horribly inaccurate, and draws aggro to the caster if things are marginal in illusionist count. This is not an "every raid" tactic.
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PA dropping is not inaccurate - we tell the illusionists where to drop and they do it. Any aggro on the illusionists is irrelevant because they are far out of attack range.
The drawback is that dropped PAs don't attack, so they hold aggro less solidly. But since the phase shift nerf, the difficulty of keeping illusionists alive on the ground when PAs expire and transfer aggro to the casters makes up for the inconvenience.
We have very good results with 4 illusionists (maybe 3 with speed boost) and group fly - they hold Hami aggro until we can get a tank in (after less than 10 mitos), and continue to hold maybe 50% of mito aggro through the whole mito clearing. That's a pretty good return on the investment of 4 controllers and no healing.
I wonder how useful it would be if someone wrote up a complete guide & posted it outside of the forums. For the most part, people who frequent the forums will be able to figure out raid strategies. The real problem is educating the people who play the game & never see the forums.
The site still needs a couple tweaks, but it is functional.
Air-dropping PA is only as inaccurate as the droppers let it be.
PAs do get "stuck" occasionally, but they will still follow from the ground while the dropper moves to and fro in the air; this can easily make the PA get the aggro of most any Mito near them, regardless of the PA attacking the Mitos. PA will not steal aggro from a Mito that is under attack by X number of Heroes though. And PA will not attack anything if the caster is a certain distance away, but can still draw aggro; if there is a Hami taunting tank during the Mito attack stage and he goes down, moving a PA group directly into Hami can save the bubble group from his aggro if they are near.
I've already forgotten about most of you
Not bad general advice. You missed the Warshade hold power Gravity Well from your list though.
Hak Inc�
"Justice by the sword since 2005"
"......anyone who read the description of a blaster and actually rolled one up isn't capable of understanding... how to breath without visual aids and an iron lung." - TheMightyScourge
�Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.�
Your guide is fantastic, but we do things slightly differently on Champion...where you mention putting the raid lead on follow I believe, we mostly get a bubbler and put her on follow, and add the targeter to server friends and click through his targets.
We have a good healing blanket going most of the time and Kins spamming IR so teh Mitos tend to fall fairly quickly, generally we go into a wedge pattern for clearing starting with the Greens then moving on.
I've also never seen Jack Frosts at a raid, we mostly use Sinularities and Dark Servants, but that is an interesting addition to be sure.
For the rest, agreed and it's good to see Hami is getting his on other servers.
Questions about the game, either side? /t @Neuronia or @Neuronium, with your queries!
168760: A Death in the Gish. 3 missions, 1-14. Easy to solo.
Infinity Villains
Champion, Pinnacle, Virtue Heroes
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Your guide is fantastic, but we do things slightly differently on Champion...where you mention putting the raid lead on follow I believe, we mostly get a bubbler and put her on follow, and add the targeter to server friends and click through his targets.
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That would be our normal choice, but a couple weeks ago we got into a situation where all the bubblers at raids were inexperienced and didn't want to be saddled with being the main follow. We compensated by making someone else follow and just having the bubble follow them.
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Not bad general advice. You missed the Warshade hold power Gravity Well from your list though.
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Gravity Well is an immobilize not a hold, at least thats what it's tagged as in the power list. Therefore it shouldn't be on the list.
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Not bad general advice. You missed the Warshade hold power Gravity Well from your list though.
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Gravity Well is an immobilize not a hold, at least thats what it's tagged as in the power list. Therefore it shouldn't be on the list.
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Gravity Well is definitely a hold, although it comes with a Superior DoT (5.55 BI according to hero builder).
Gravimetric Snare is an immobilize.
Gravitic Emanation is a disorient.
/level 37 warshade
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Not bad general advice. You missed the Warshade hold power Gravity Well from your list though.
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Gravity Well is an immobilize not a hold, at least thats what it's tagged as in the power list. Therefore it shouldn't be on the list.
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Gravity Well is definitely a hold. If the power text says different, you're playing a different game from me. You can then go and explain to all those dead Void Hunters that I didn't, in fact, hold them - they were merely immobilised, and could have shot me back anytime.
Hak Inc�
"Justice by the sword since 2005"
"......anyone who read the description of a blaster and actually rolled one up isn't capable of understanding... how to breath without visual aids and an iron lung." - TheMightyScourge
�Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.�
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Not bad general advice. You missed the Warshade hold power Gravity Well from your list though.
[/ QUOTE ]
Gravity Well is an immobilize not a hold, at least thats what it's tagged as in the power list. Therefore it shouldn't be on the list.
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Gravity Well is definitely a hold. If the power text says different, you're playing a different game from me. You can then go and explain to all those dead Void Hunters that I didn't, in fact, hold them - they were merely immobilised, and could have shot me back anytime.
Hak Inc�
"Justice by the sword since 2005"
"......anyone who read the description of a blaster and actually rolled one up isn't capable of understanding... how to breath without visual aids and an iron lung." - TheMightyScourge
�Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.�
good info for a new raider
Thanks! This is a useful guide. I have only been on one raid and had pieced together most of this from various postings but it's reassuring to have it all in one place.
My main is a kin and I've been told that IR is handy for scrappers during the mito clearing phase so I spam that until the hold phase starts. Also the one raid I was on was (I guess) */rad light so I popped into the goo and SB'd a bit (then came out). It doesn't sound like that is necessary/helpful most of the time but people were complaining about a lack of AM going off.
Pinnacle
Glowworm * Brrr * Lilinoe
Protector
Kid Trance * Ms. Impala * Red Helen
Virtue
Pooka Pete
Nice guide, Seyda. And as mentioned by others, singularities and jack frosts are the only pets we use at the onset of the hold phase. Dark pets aren't normally called for until after the one hit and one hit only phase. Also, at the onset of the hold phase, radiation infection is the only debuff used. Once the hold has been established, and the one hit and one hit only phase is done, then enervating field and lingering radiation will be used, along with all holds and any other debuffs available to take down hami. No attacks are necessary, but to make sure that everyone gets their hamio, the one hit and one hit only phase seems to work.
All in all, Seyda, great guide.
Myst
Too many to list, just ask. :-)
Main Hero - lvl 50 - pure empathy defender
Main Villain - lvl 50 - ninja/dark mastermind
Proud Member of Jagged Legion
Jack Frosts are allowed and, in fact, encouraged during all of the Pinnacle raids Ive attended. In addition to offering more available targets for players to assist through, the stunning number of AMs laid upon them ensures that they will cycle through their attack chain (and thus, their hold) rather quickly. Theyve proven quite valuable.
As for Dark pets, aside from people screaming randomly to stop the healing (usually the same people at the same times every raid, youd think theyd learn), they have proven their worth in the regen and hold department as well, though theyre generally not called for until the debuff portion of the raid, when Hamis good and held.
Rather than bothering with the buffs to accuracy, our raids have simply utilized Radiations debuffs in the past. I dont recall whiffing at Hami very often, once the hold phase has kicked into full swing.
There are a lot of holds that are still rather controversial at the moment, mostly due to the fact that the powers in question are generally attacks first, with a small hold component for flavor. Having this many people in the jello, spamming hugely powerful attacks can lead to both lag and a swift drop in Hamidons health. Personally, Id rather people just let those with holds that are not massively damaging do the work, but I know people want a more active role in most raids.
One other thing Ive noticed is that the lead follow or target can often de-render on you during the Mito clearing phase if there are too many people on the assault team. When this happens, I tend to back off a little. Obviously, that many people have things well in hand, so Ill either wait until the hold phase or, in a couple of cases, join with a second mito-clearing team. I couldnt believe how quickly the raid went that day.
Congratulations to Pinnacle for a weeks worth of daily successful raids! * Pats back.*
----------------------
Pinnacle ~Carl and Sons/The Establishment
Khenti Lvl 14 Warshade
Crey Cryostorm Lvl 50 Ice/Storm/Ice Controller
Hound of Belial Lvl 40 Fire/Kinetic Corruptor
PA drops are inaccurate. I've been on the ground, with PA centered under Hamidon, and watched the mess. We typically have the taunter pull Hamidon blasts, and centered PA to draw surroundung aggro. With the PA actively attacking, we don't have aggro issue hardly ever within the Illusion team. Once the PA are in and centered, with controllers very near to Hamidon, the taunter can draw Hamidon blasts if desired. I have found the taunter unneeded this early in, but if you have a griefer with taunt, they can easily pull Hamidon aggro onto the illusions. This seldom leads to a wipe of the illusions, but can prvoe irritating.
Also, air dropped PA was used to grief Illusions a couple of times in the past. Once the fire is redirected from the centered PAs, the agitated mitos are reminded that there are soft lil squishy guys right nearby. Once the air-PA despawn, the Illusions start taking damage/getting held to death etc. Air drops are imprecise, and less aggro efficient. They are a quick and dirty solution made by people I suspect just wanted safety for themselves. Virtue's Illusions are insanely devoted to efficiency and aggro control. We are first in after phase shifters get some bubble entry aggro for us. We are least likely to ever go AFK during a raid. We wear our debt as a badge to flaunt before the gods of efficiency.
Unfortunately, after the addition of the "Rock Star" taunter and entourage of 7 empaths, we seldom get our red badge of courage.
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PA drops are inaccurate. I've been on the ground, with PA centered under Hamidon, and watched the mess.
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Maybe your illusionists don't know how to drop PA accurately. I don't have a 45+ illusionist so I don't know how it's done, but our illusionists seem very good at hitting any spot they want.
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Also, air dropped PA was used to grief Illusions a couple of times in the past. Once the fire is redirected from the centered PAs, the agitated mitos are reminded that there are soft lil squishy guys right nearby. Once the air-PA despawn, the Illusions start taking damage/getting held to death etc.
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This doesn't even make sense. Mitos do not get "agitated" or "reminded" of anything - they just shoot at whatever is at the top of their aggro list. Friendly mobs get aggro by attacking, by proximity and threat level, or by transfer to a caster when their own pet despawns. There is no possible way to grief someone by taking the aggro of a stationary enemy that only has single-target attacks.
PA dropping is not a question of cowardice, it's about efficiency. PA dropping illusionists are in no danger, so they require no healing, no support beyond group fly and speed boost if convenient, and they never die. They can keep dropping PAs no matter what else is happening, and the PAs hold a predictable amount of aggro.
Awesome guide, I'm only lvl 25 and over half my SG is in the hami raids, so I've been asking questions about it for a while. This guide gave me a crapload of info that I wanted that most of my SG members couldn't answer.
Thanks
-Slow
5 out of 5 starz!
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I wonder how useful it would be if someone wrote up a complete guide & posted it outside of the forums. For the most part, people who frequent the forums will be able to figure out raid strategies. The real problem is educating the people who play the game & never see the forums.
The site still needs a couple tweaks, but it is functional.
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Huh? Who plays the game and doesn't read the forums at least occasionally or when they need help solving a problem in-game? Did you read before you posted?
Total Focus is a hold, right?
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Not bad general advice. You missed the Warshade hold power Gravity Well from your list though.
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Gravity Well is an immobilize not a hold, at least thats what it's tagged as in the power list. Therefore it shouldn't be on the list.
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Gravity Well is definitely a hold. If the power text says different, you're playing a different game from me. You can then go and explain to all those dead Void Hunters that I didn't, in fact, hold them - they were merely immobilised, and could have shot me back anytime.
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Gravity Well
Since my warshade is only level 9 I believe, this is all I had to go by, sorry that the in game text description is inaccurate.
At tonight's Pinnacle raid, I took a 7-minute, 3.5 megabyte demo file of the "attackless phase," starting 11:30 into the hold phase when the raid bosses called people forward, 1 origin at a time, to get 1 attack in on Hamidon and back away, ending at about 17:30 into the hold phase when Hamidon was killed dead.
So we're looking at about a 4-5:00 Hami kill (not counting, of course, whatever amount he had been run down over the course of the hold phase prior to that). Since Hami was de-rendered, I couldn't see his bar.
Enjoy.
Dude, how exactly do I USE that/view it/etc?
A quick google will find you many FAQs and so forth on how to view and work with CoH demo files.
However, quick version:
Create a copy of your City of Heroes desktop shortcut.
Edit the shortcut's properties to tack on -demoplay to the end of the statement in the "Target" box.
Drag the *.cohdemo file onto the shortcut icon.
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PA drops are inaccurate. I've been on the ground, with PA centered under Hamidon, and watched the mess. We typically have the taunter pull Hamidon blasts, and centered PA to draw surroundung aggro. With the PA actively attacking, we don't have aggro issue hardly ever within the Illusion team. Once the PA are in and centered, with controllers very near to Hamidon, the taunter can draw Hamidon blasts if desired. I have found the taunter unneeded this early in, but if you have a griefer with taunt, they can easily pull Hamidon aggro onto the illusions. This seldom leads to a wipe of the illusions, but can prvoe irritating.
Also, air dropped PA was used to grief Illusions a couple of times in the past. Once the fire is redirected from the centered PAs, the agitated mitos are reminded that there are soft lil squishy guys right nearby. Once the air-PA despawn, the Illusions start taking damage/getting held to death etc. Air drops are imprecise, and less aggro efficient. They are a quick and dirty solution made by people I suspect just wanted safety for themselves. Virtue's Illusions are insanely devoted to efficiency and aggro control. We are first in after phase shifters get some bubble entry aggro for us. We are least likely to ever go AFK during a raid. We wear our debt as a badge to flaunt before the gods of efficiency.
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Drop them from the air first at a high enough distance and they will not get killed, once the PAs have a steady mito aggro the tank can get hami's aggro, then the drop team can come down and center there PAs. The droppers on freedom server are usually dead on center to begin with so they dont need to pull any Rambo stunts like the above mentioned.
A nice guide though. I think all servers do things a little different here and there, but overall the same thing.
Come to freedom sometime. they have it down to a science. 
Freedom
Catastr0phic - 50 Invuln/Energy Tank
Dairou - 50 Spines/Regen Scrapper
Velshon - 50 Fire/Kinetics Controller
Nakk - 50 Ice/Stone Tank
Velshanta - 50 Ice/Cold Corruptor
and like a million non-50 alts
Wow, I've seen Hami-how too's before, but this one is for sure the most thorough and up-to-date I've seen, especially coupled with Call Me Awesome's addition to it, and Khenti's post is the best as far as info on the pets for the hold phase. I realize that different servers have different tweaks, but overall this one is awesome. Nice one, guys! 
Jack Frost, along with dark pets are unneeded, and in each of their own ways, bad for the raid in general. Pet AI is server side. Most all of the "lag" during raids is server side calculations. To-hits, pet AI, etc, all happening in what the server side "sees" as about 2 minutes. Virtue's attack phase is actually pretty time warp free. That is to say that, until right at the end of attack, when people drop ALL pets out for the bud SO drops, it is near real- time. After that, it's all a matter of how many raiders, and how many pets.