Guide to Defeating Snaptooth (Valentine's Event)
By
Boegs,
Posted on: 2007-02-08 15:28 in Player Guides
Thanks for the post. This mission is not a fair fight in anyone's book, so no hero should feel bad about turning the tables a bit.
I would add that the one time I found this mission actually easy and killed all the redcaps afterwards with hardly a scratch was not with a full team, but a duo. Specifically, I had a MA/regen scrapper who had encountered problems beating down Snap before. He was 38 at the time and had Dull Pain, Instant Healing, and MOG (1 slot in it). All his SOs were green.
Snap won the first time when I was soloing him, then I came in with everything recharged and finished fairly triumphant, but not eager to repeat the experience. Most of the times I went after him in a team of 8 with my defender, and there was mass death by people who didn't punch out the instant Snap died.
The easiest time was when the scrapper was teamed with a rad/dark defender. A Hooligan right next to Snap got Radiation Infection on him, debuffing the accuracy of the mob going for me, especially the large amount Snap himself could dish out. The various dark powers the debuffer hurled further killed their acc, and Snap got Enervating Field so my smashing damage could actually punch through, since the evil gnome is quite S/L resistant. We then proceeded to kill every redcap that came our way and the defender, at the end, asked, "Is that it? That's all he's got?"
Other sets that I see being useful are Mind controllers who can lay down many AOEs such as the AOE Sleep on one mob and AOE Hold or Confuse on another. (As always, tell the blaster not to AOE the sleeping mob.) Note that empaths are going to have a rough time healing everyone quickly enough, especially if they start running out of Heal Aura range, and defense bubbles come into their own as damage mitigation becomes extremely important. If you are a flying emp duo-ing with a tough guy, try putting a range extender in Heal Other, which has just about the same range as a redcap's bow, then hover up high.
If you insist on a big team, know that the ambushes will easily exceed a tank or brute taunt cap. I suggest bringing multiple tanks instead of just one, and split up the mobs with mini-teams of tank/damage dealer/defender-controller, with the remaining pair in a team of 8 dedicated to Snap himself.
If you can't get the coordination going for something like this, and for some reason are getting tired of doing it the way the original post suggested, there are still a couple cheap tricks for the badge/costume part hunter.
1) Friendly badge-hunting pal a few levels higher than you. Swallow your pride, don't get the XP, just score your badges and costume bits. It's better than a mountain of debt.
2) Take the mish, go out and earn a level or two before Valentine's is over, come back and fight them when the minions are gray or green. Again, not very manly, and not ideal because of the time involved, but when my level 10 BS/SR scrapper soloed Snap, I was sure he was going to die. He survived due to the low levels of the minions. During this experience, I got to count just how many there were. *Twelve* Rascals and Snap were going after him in a solo mission set to Heroic.
3) Don't bother bringing break frees or Awakens. If you're not going to slug it out with the Arachnos mobs on the fringes, nothing is going to hold you. The caps just dish out vast amounts of damage, so purples and greens are the way to go. If you fall, the Pocket D hospital is very, very close by, as are the bartenders.
Good luck, and when the evil garden gnome goes down, kick him a few more times for me.
--Milk Sheik (50 scrapper, Freedom)
--Athena Nike (50 defender, Victory)
--Noobian Brotha (34 brute, Pinnacle)
--many alts
This mission needed a guide? I haven't found it hard. It's a good fight, but not hard by any means.
I think it's a nice guide. in a PUG, which, really prolly happens alot for this one, I had to pop unstoppable every time. If you use the nice little tricks, it allows everyone to have a good time. As opposed to a frustrating one.
Nice Guide....um i have afew observations for the soloists out there.
Stategies for beating Snaptooth if you are a blaster or controller or defender or dominator or corruptor while solo:
Get your immobolization power or slow power.
If you have the immobolize...slot it for range and use it....he is a sucker for immobolize...just stay far enough out of his range and you can kill him easy.
If you are an ice user you will find the immobilize wont work on him...but it does slow him....at that point you want to stay close but not that close......he will try and get you..and do his nifty melee on you....all you have to do is run around and shoot him.(he runs around like he he is under water or using the Six Million Dollar Man Bionic Run...go figure)
I have defeated snaptooth solo over 100 times....he is fairly easy once you figure him out.
My favorite technique is the range thing with immobolize....by the way if you are an earth controller....it takes a very long time to beat him....you can immobolize him....but he has resistances that makes him not take as much damage from earth...was taking my earth controller about 40 minutes to beat him as an elite boss...as she was only level 22.....and his health came back fairly fast.(yeah 2 damage over time with an occasional 15 damage is not the best even with containment..that barely beats his regen rate)
If you are a Solo melee user...fill up with defense inspirations...thats about all you will need.
Solo Stalker...i dont think i need to explain much....beat on him....but save your placate...if you are about dead...use the placate run off and rest...then come back.
If you are a Master Mind: a little tougher...best to use flight i find...as the little guys will come after you....but just remember you can summonthe guys on roof tops.
Kheldians solo: I used range in nova form....i think i got all his little guys wiht my ranged attacks once they appeared but i ended up shooting from range alot and everything tended to run away....I used this same tactic with a blaster until i figured out Snaptooth was a sucker for the immobolize.
oh yeah one thing....related to the mission...if you are lucky check out the upper left hand corner of the map(in the water)....you sometimes get to see fight club monkeys there that do fight each other.....if you do have a villain/hero team going....one can fight one set and the other can fight the other set...
I am not sure what their purpose is....but they do count for the zookeeper badge.
With the approach of the next Valentine's Event (which appears to be the same mission to defeat Snaptooth from last year), the comments on the Forums about how hard it is to complete the mission have started again. Amazingly enough, I couldn't find any existing guides to the mission. So here's my contribution to the Valentine's Event ... How to Defeat Snaptooth.
A few caveats up front:
- This isn't the definitive guide to the Snaptooth mission. I'm not going to comprehensively cover everything you could do or provide detailed quantitative analysis of the mission. This Guide is just intended to provide one strategy that should make it possible for anyone to complete the mission.
- This strategy won't protect against mistakes. There are some key elements of this strategy that, although simple, must be followed. If you skip or ignore those parts (which I'll emphasize below), you will most likely be defeated.
Mission Overview:
The mission is to stop Snaptooth (a Redcap) from destroying DJs portal. The Portal is a glowing ring placed randomly on the map If Snaptooth finds the Portal, hell start attacking it. Snaptooth starts in a random (as far as I know) position on the map and follows a random (again, as far as I know) search pattern to find the Portal. You need to find and defeat Snaptooth before he finds and destroys the Portal. Sounds easy, except for two main challenges: each time you defeat Snaptooth, a large ambush of Redcaps attacks the party; and the first two times you defeat Snaptooth, he dives into the ground and returns stronger than before (he starts as a Lt, returns the first time as a Boss, then returns again as an Elite Boss).
Here is a step-by-step guide to winning:
- Find either Snaptooth or the Portal. Ignore all of the other enemies on the map until you find either Snaptooth or the Portal. Hopefully, youll have a Travel Power that can get you around even if you dont, just avoid or ignore the other enemies (even if they attack you, theyll quickly loose interest if you run away and dont fight back). If you find the Portal, hang around there until you see Snaptooth (hell be along shortly).
- Attack Snaptooth to get his attention and draw him away from the Portal (or to keep him from finding the Portal, if you found him first). This is CRITICAL make sure you fight him away from the Portal if he can see the Portal from where you fight him, you will almost certainly fail the mission.
- Defeat Snaptooth the first time, then immediately run away. This is CRITICAL if you or anyone in your team hangs around and is still there when Snaptooth returns, youll attract his attention and be fighting him as well as the impending Redcap ambush. As long as youre not there when he returns, Snaptooth will happily stand around, wondering what hes doing there.
- Be ready for the Redcap ambush (buff, resummon henchmen, etc.). There seem to be a lot of Redcaps (it seems like 6-8) per Hero or Villain, so be ready for a major battle. And these Redcaps dont care about you being invisible or having pets around theyre going to come straight at you, and theyve got nasty ranged attacks. If necessary, exit the mission this seems to break the ambush lock, although Ive seen them immediately attack again as soon as you return so be ready to fight as soon as you re-enter the mission.
- After you defeat the Redcap ambush, return to Snaptooth and defeat him again. Then just like before, run away as soon as you defeat him. Another Redcap ambush will soon arrive handle it just like you handled the first one.
- Return and defeat Snaptooth the last time. Hell be an Elite Boss this time, so dont think hell be a push-over but at least youre just fighting him and not him and a dozen of his angry friends. Also be aware that a third Redcap ambush is going to come after you upon Snappys third defeat you can either fight them or exit the mission.
I cant stress enough the importance of stopping Snaptooth before he finds the Portal and getting away from Snaptooth as soon as you defeat him. It is especially important on teams to make sure everyone understands and follows this direction. If one Hero or Villain decides to do a victory dance on Snaptooths grave or stop to rest after the fight, youre going to be defeated. Or If someone hangs around to keep fighting some of the Arachnos that may be near Snaptooth or were drawn to your fight with him, youre going to be defeated. But if you draw him off, fight him away from the Portal, and then get away as soon as he falls, you should be able to handle the Redcap ambush and return to fight Snaptooth again.