Virtues i9 Hamidon Raiding Guide (Hero-side)

Just a quick update on today's raid (11/8/08).

We were very tank heavy, and were able to assemble a second team of five tanks, above and beyond the normal tank team that handles Hami.

These guys replaced the scrappers that normally solo mitos, allowing all scraps to be on their respective spike teams.

The difference was very noticeable, the yellows fell a lot faster than usual. We probably can't do that very often, but it's definitely something to keep in mind if the opportunity arises.

A six-tank yellow agro team is the optimal choice (preferably employing ranged taunts to keep the aoe blasts away from the spikers).

However, Virtue has never before had enough tanks show for a raid to use it; hence our adaptation of the scrapper agro teams. I know at least one other server (possibly two) use the tank-agro team method, simply because they have more tanks attending regularly.

It's good that Virtue finally had more tanks show, and realize that they can have a greater role than just the Hami-taunt team.

You don't need 6 tanks to hold Yellow aggro, 3 would be enough, and 2 could probably do it in a pinch with SB or if they ignored the initial spike teams Yellows. It's easy enough for a single Tanker to hold the aggro of 2 Yellows. I had Naomi- doing that one night on her Tanker when we were short Scrappers and I was running an improvised back Scrapper team using Tankers and Warshades in Dwarf form (The two WS were on one Yellow and Naomi- was on the other two).

With the way we've got regen buffing the Hami taunting Tank down pat we really only need one Tanker per round to taunt Hami these days. So with only 4 Tankers total we could in fact use 2 of them to taunt 4 of the Yellows (the extra Tanker is a backup to the Hami taunter just in case). Also when I'm on the Tanker team as a Tanker and I'm not on Hami or the next in line I will taunt whichever Yellow the spike team is on currently since that will speed things up slightly if the Scrappers don't have to recover from the KB effect. I know some other Tankers like Sphere of Earth do this as well.

I believe this is part of how Justice can do their Hami raids with fewer than Virtue typically did it in the past (though we've been able to do it with fewer than our norm recently). If Tankers are taunting all 6 Yellows from range you can have Blappers and other ATs with good melee attacks but no Stun protection pounding on the Yellows so you aren't dependent on having a full complement of Scrappers to take them down in a timely fashion.

This is also because you guys have gotten so good since this this started.

*nods nods*

One tank can probably keep Hami busy, but it would be nice to have two in case one is stronger than the other and one needs to be patched up by his/her empath/storm/kin.

Andra

[ QUOTE ]

One tank can probably keep Hami busy, but it would be nice to have two in case one is stronger than the other and one needs to be patched up by his/her empath/storm/kin.


[/ QUOTE ]
Yes and we still have the occasional lead Tanker jumping in without eating an EoE first which is why I mentioned having a backup as well.

I've never done a Hami-Raid before... Is there a usual date that these happen or does someone organize it? Anyone know when the next one will be?

Hero-side it's Wednesdays at 8:00pm Eastern Time and Saturdays at 6:00pm Eastern Time. Villain-side it's on Sundays but only when scheduled (at least once a month). There's one this November 16 at 6:00pm Eastern. The upcoming Hami raid schedule is usually listed in the VU2008 global channel's MOTD.

The official times are badly out of date. These days, the raids fill up 15 to 30 minutes in advance. So you need to be on your correct alt and in the Hive by about 10:30pm server time (UTC+0) on Saturdays, and about 12:45am server time (UTC+0) on Wednesday nights (early Thursday morning UTC).

There are plenty of people who show up on time (but not 30 minutes ahead of time as they must to get in) to support a second raid, if they weren't forced to give up due to no second raid being scheduled. Unfortunately, nobody's working on fixing the situation by moving the scheduled raid earlier and a second one in yet. Come next week I might just start doing it myself.

[ QUOTE ]
The official times are badly out of date. These days, the raids fill up 15 to 30 minutes in advance. So you need to be on your correct alt and in the Hive by about 10:30pm server time (UTC+0) on Saturdays, and about 12:45am server time (UTC+0) on Wednesday nights (early Thursday morning UTC).

There are plenty of people who show up on time (but not 30 minutes ahead of time as they must to get in) to support a second raid, if they weren't forced to give up due to no second raid being scheduled. Unfortunately, nobody's working on fixing the situation by moving the scheduled raid earlier and a second one in yet. Come next week I might just start doing it myself.

[/ QUOTE ]
As predicted with the release of the merit system Hami raids have gotten a lot more popular which is why this is happening. Changing the start time may or may not fix this "problem" (up to a certain point people will just keep coming early those the earlier start times as well).

What's really needed is more people to step up and recruit, organize, and lead the people in Hive 2 if there are enough to start the raid in there while Hive 1 is still going. I've actually lead both raids (Hive 1 and Hive 2) at the same time a few times but that's obviously quite a lot of work for one person and I can really only do that if there's a surplus of Empaths in Hive 1 so I can move my Emp over to Hive 2.

Last Wednesday EmperorSteele stepped up and led the raid in Hive 2 while Hive 1 was still going which was nice since they didn't have to wait around for Hive 1 to finish as is usually the case. If we had more people that would be willing to do that as the need arises it wouldn't matter as much if Hive 1 fills up early. If you want to do that too, that would be great.

How fast are Hami's being run these days from formation to finish?

[ QUOTE ]
How fast are Hami's being run these days from formation to finish?

[/ QUOTE ]
60 - 90 minutes from when we start monster clearing.

Change in I14:

The Blue Mitos chain fear/damage attack doesn't expire as long there's somebody close enough and in line of sight to an "infected" person. Even if there are no Blues around or even if you aren't even in the same *zone* (we brought it back tonight to TI for laughs and giggles), the infection will keep going as long as there's at least one target to chain too.

If an infected person makes it back to the Safe Rock after the evac you'll have a mess on your hands until you can herd the infected cats off the rock and away from everybody else.

This makes Shadow Fall *much* more important than before and it'll also be important for Emps and others with a Fear prot buff to keep it up on as many teammates as possible even after the all the Blues are down.

Not sure if this a bug or "working as intended" but I filed a bug report on it in any event.

[ QUOTE ]
Change in I14:

The Blue Mitos chain fear/damage attack doesn't expire as long there's somebody close enough and in line of sight to an "infected" person. Even if there are no Blues around or even if you aren't even in the same *zone* (we brought it back tonight to TI for laughs and giggles), the infection will keep going as long as there's at least one target to chain too.

If an infected person makes it back to the Safe Rock after the evac you'll have a mess on your hands until you can herd the infected cats off the rock and away from everybody else.

This makes Shadow Fall *much* more important than before and it'll also be important for Emps and others with a Fear prot buff to keep it up on as many teammates as possible even after the all the Blues are down.

Not sure if this a bug or "working as intended" but I filed a bug report on it in any event.

[/ QUOTE ]

i filed a bug report on it as well. When the electrolytic blast was jumping off my controller in TI i kept trying to get it to chain to the tram police drone near Luminary. That worked part of the time, but it wasn't fun for the lower level characters going there to level. i would've preferred to keep it on the dirt mound, but it was dragged over to the tram by some oblivious imps before i grab it back.

The WTF?! moments for a bunch of people in TI were amusing. A bouncing attack that can be carried across zones to sic on other players is almost certainly not working as intended. At least we didn't take it to AP...

[ QUOTE ]
At least we didn't take it to AP...

[/ QUOTE ]
*cough* /send VU2009, Hey, what's Ghost Widow doing in Pocket D? *cough*

No, I wouldn't be that evil, except in my thoughts.

Another I14 update:

If the new in I14 Blue "chain infection" is giving you problems you might want to take down the Blues before the Greens. We did this successfully on the Villain Hami raid last Tuesday and again today on our 18ish person Hero-side Hami raid.

A strat that worked for us today was to focus everybody on a low(ish) Blue (so people can stand on the ground making it easier for the Shadow Fall that we had to reach everybody) and have a couple of people with minimal ranged (like Scrappers with a ranged attack from their APP) attacking one of the Blues next to it to divert some of the Green healing.

On the last Blue you can get some melee-only to beat on Hami to try and divert some of those Greens but with only one Blue causing infections it should be doable even with all the Greens healing it, as we were able to do it with our "skeleton crew" today.

After the Blues are down, have people that are still infected scatter to clear that so it's all gone when you do the Greens.

Make sure you are over the minimum on hold ATs if you are going to take down the blues first.

We've had a few past raids where losing blues before the greens made it nearly impossible with the particular group makeup that night to take down the greens at all. The greens just ganged up to keep each other alive. The green shields never dropped and it was a wash.

It hasn't happened in a while, but the raid ended up canceled when it did.

Andra

Yes we started on the Greens before the Blues as usual and we were able to Hold one (it was taking damage) but it kept getting healed before we could kill it. It's a little counter-intutive to switch to the Blues at this point but it worked for the Villain raid (at least until too many bailed) and I could see we were having trouble with the chain infections and since this was an "experimental" raid anyways I figured we might as see if we would have better luck doing the Blues first, which we did once we got the secondary attack (those few attacking a 2nd Blue to draw off some of the healing) better organized.

I'll concur. It was messier and less efficient to clear the blues first (since the full green complement is working against you the entire time), but the @#$% chains from the blues can make life miserable for the squishies trying to get the greens held/attacked.

It's something to consider on raids where the overkill percentage is low or borderline (ie too many people are being 'chained' at any particular moment that the remaining group can't get the holds/damage done).

With a normal raid setup (or when the chains are patched), the greens-first method is still preferred and more efficient.

I15 supposedly fixed the endless chain infection (haven't tested yet):
[ QUOTE ]

Hamidon Mitochondria Electrolytes' Electrolytic Blast will no longer chain indefinitely.


[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/pat...release_n.html

Also as most regular Hami raiders probably already know the merits got increased from 40 to 52:
[ QUOTE ]

Defeating the Hamidon has had its Merits awarded increased from 40 to 52. This was due to a merits per minute recalculation made in a previous patch that was overlooked for the Hamidon.


[/ QUOTE ]

Edit: it's actually 53 merits.

Also, the Electro blast isn't back to it's pre I14 state -- it'll still follow you around even after all the Blues are down but it will expire eventually on its own.

Thought I would add that Virtue now does evac-less raids blueside (and with some more practice, red-side soon) using a strat modified from the nuke-hami raid.

Changes:

Have yellow mito teams thumbtack their assigned yellow on the map, to find it later before it spawns. It also can be helpful if everyone on the raid has 3 EOE's to eat on the blooms.

While attacking the nucleus after clearing mitos, instead of calling for TP'ers to get safe, apply single target buffs as needed. Roughly 15-20 secs before each bloom, call for RA's and aoe buffs on the assembled group.

Immediately after RA's are stacked, yellow agro holders move to pre-thumbtacked positions and get ready to taunt-agro the spawning yellows.

Remind the raid to eat an EOE on the bloom. Then proceed with a standard mito clearing. Keep AB stacked on the Hami taunt tank throughout.


This will easily shave 10-20 mins or more off a normal evac raid, and make for a non-stop event throughout.

Red-side lacks stacked RA's, so will have to drop a pair of nukes on the assembled raiders prior to bloom. Even then, it might be necessary to have the squishier assaulters exit the goo prior to bloom and let melees take Hami down (after the buffs are applied to all). More experience with this forthcoming.

How to Hamidon Raid Virtue-Style (I18)

Preface:
Sandolphan's guides to Hamidon raiding for heroes and villains have been great resources for those interested in Hamidon raiding, but since their posting, strategies have gone through many changes. This guide aims to encapsulate everything that leads up to a successful Hamidon raid and summarizes Virtue's recommended strategies.

This guide would not exist without the Virtue community's input: notably, in no particular order, Lihua, Sandolphan, Cosmic, Xiou Long, and others.

Basic Overview:
Hamidon is the supervillain behind the Devouring Earth faction and is easily one of the most powerful forces in the City of Heroes/Villains universe. An oversized single-celled organism basking in a gelatinous capsule, Hamidon somehow rivals cosmic entities in raw strength. He appears to be immortal, immobile, and impervious to the laws of nature.

In gameplay terms, Hamidon raiding requires an organized group of players working in tandem to complete. The incentive to participation is threefold: 1) Hamidon throws a number of conventional game mechanics out the window and can be a challenge on many levels; 2) Hamidon raiding combines gameplay with community, with up to 50 individuals congregating to accomplish one goal; and of course, 3) Hamidon rewards 53 merits or a random Hamidon enhancement upon completion.

Virtue's Hammy raids can typically be finished well under an hour, with the core part taking as short as 15 minutes. Generally, it's best to have at least 40 active participants with adequate AT spread for a painless experience.

Organization and Setup:
Pre-schedule raid times. Take time zones into consideration, at least for your target demographic (9PM on the West Coast equals midnight on the East Coast, for example). Give advance notice for Hammy raids. Utilize global channels and forums.

The raid zone is capped at 50 player characters. In practice, there seems to be some wiggle room, as more than one person may be able to squeeze in simultaneously at the last moment. As a result, it's not always advisable for one player to give up a spot for another. Thus, it is generally recommended that raid leaders arrive early to avoid being locked out, if interest level is high.

When a raid zone fills, a new instance is created, e.g. Hive1/Hive2. A second instance only stays open as long as at least one person is inside and/or the primary instance is filled. When someone logs out in a particular raid instance, he/she will log back to that instance unless it is full. This can give a false impression of a full raid zone. To illustrate, Captain Obvious attempts to attend a raid in Hive1 but arrives too late, ending up in Hive2. He logs off then until the next raid, when he logs straight back into a Hive2 instanced specifically for him, despite there only being 15 people in Hive1.

It's generally recommended that everyone in the raid zone unhides from search, at least for the duration of the event. This helps track-keeping and cross-team buffing and targeting. 'Leeching' (not participating except delivering hits on Hamidon at the last moment for reward) and griefing (disruptive behaviour such as bringing enemy attack to unprepared players) can be a reality in raids, as there is no way to limit entry to raid zones. Retaliatory measures are inadvisable, as such behaviour can get the vigilante in trouble with NCSoft.

EoE Harvesting:
An Essence of the Earth is a special inspiration dropped by Devouring Earth giant monsters (labelled Monsters), which are found in raid zones prior to Hamidon's spawning and on the northern isles of Peregrine Island for heroes or Monster Island for villains (accessible via a sub in the extreme north of Grandville). A single EoE gives 100% resistance to Hamidon damage for 60 seconds; it is a primary defence against Hamidon's otherwise devastating attacks that ignore all resistance and defence.

As a monster falls, there's a chance for an EoE to drop alongside a normal inspiration for anyone whose team has dealt damage. Therefore, keep two spaces open minimum at all times during EoE harvest.

It is occasionally necessary to do EoE harvest sessions outside of raids in Peregrine/Monster Island, as Hamidon's spawning is triggered by defeating 5-50 monsters, after which all monsters flee and disappear from the raid zone. Short monster hunts can therefore lead to a shortage of EoEs.

It is recommended that surplus EoEs be distributed to other raiders, stored in bases, or sold on the market.

Mechanics, Math, and More Madness:
Once spawned, Hamidon appears in a massive gelatinous prismatoid in his full glory, in the form of a nucleus surrounded by protective mitochondria (six of each kind).

Nucleus: Hamidon
Yellows: Mitochondria Antibodies
Blues: Mitochondria Electrolytes
Greens: Mending Mitochondria

The layout of Hamidon, viewed from above, appears as a hexagon with three mitos of each kind flanking the nucleus on two sides. Mitos are classified by their physical proximity from the staging area. The closest mito, as established by /target_enemy_near, is therefore front centre, with front left/right next to it, and the other three opposite them classified back left/centre/right.

This system may not always make the best visual sense, as mito locations are slightly variable between spawns. Instead, the system names the nearest mito front centre, and all others are derived by relative location. Mitos and the nucleus do not move once spawned, but have extreme perception and range at 600ft. While most mitos appear to be flying, they are in fact supported by tiny invisible platforms; as such, powers that require targets to be grounded (e.g. plant control) always work on them, and -fly does nothing.

Yellow mitochondria antibodies form the outer ring of Hamidon. Each yellow does a large targeted AoE blast, dealing over 500 raw electrolytic damage plus DOT with mag 6 stun and over mag 12 knockback. In addition, yellows have a PBAoE burst aura that does more DOT with another mag 3 stun and knockback. Occasionally, stacked blast/bursts from even one yellow can breach standard scrapper/stalker/brute mez protection. Yellows have capped tohit and has extremely high defence to attacks typed AoE and ranged. They have otherwise no extra resistance or regen. Yellows are generally tackled by meleers only.

Blue mitochondria electrolytes form the middle ring. Each blue does a single-target blast that deals about 150 electrolytic damage with mag 7 fear, slow debuff, and endurance drain. In addition, blues have a PBAoE damage aura that deals additional slow debuff, fear, and end drain. Each blue blast produces a contagious chain-lightning-like effect, hopping from person to person, dealing damage, causing fear, and draining endurance. A chain will continue on for a long time, as of I17, until the contagion host has no target in range or until the chain misses or kills a target. Blue contagions inherit the base tohit of their hosts and are typed ranged/energy. Blues themselves have extremely high defence to attacks typed melee and AoE. They are generally shot at from a distance.

Green mending mitochondria form the inner ring. Each green pulses a single-target 1200+ heal on the nearest hurt mito/Hamidon. In addition, they also have a single-target blast that does 100+ damage plus DOT with debuffs to regen (-0.83%) and healing (-75%). They are otherwise safe to engage in melee and are vulnerable to all attack types. However, they have toggle shields that grant them insurmountable resistance and regen until they are hard-mezzed with mag 100 control. Finally, greens are immune to taunt and placate.

The nucleus sits immobile in the very centre. It has a targeted AoE blast like yellows and a single-target blast that does the same damage plus DOT. Both blasts come with a regen/healing debuff (-0.21%/-10%) and endurance drain. Its attacks are always autohit. The nucleus has high resistance and regen, requiring brute-force attacking from the whole raid.

When the nucleus reaches 75%, 50%, and 25% health for the first time, it will summon a new set of mitos. A 'bloom', as it is called, does not replace any remaining mitos from before, but another three rings of mitos appear each time with a slight rotation. Blooms inherit all debuff effects on Hamidon for the remainder of their durations. While they cannot be prevented, defeating Hamidon will cause all mitos to despawn.

For reference, Hamidon has 47,120 health. 75% would be 35340 HP, 50% 23560 HP, and 25% 11780 HP. To monitor Hamidon's health, mouse over the red bar in target window and an approximate number will pop up. To minimize the popup's delay time, go to settings -> general -> miscellaneous and adjust tooltip delay to 1%.

While within Hamidon's protoplasm, all movement speed is debuffed by 7.16mph (50% of base), but jump height is increased to super jump levels. Merely being inside the goo will disrupt most interruptable powers, although aid other/self, especially when enhanced for interrupt reduction, can still work; however, the small circle around the nucleus is free from this auto-disruption. All mitos are positioned in such a way that the highest can still be reached from the ground by most ranged powers.

Intangible status is ignored by Hamidon and mitos. Phantom armies receive damage, as well as players rendered intangible by phase shift, hibernate, nebulous form, rise/power of the phoenix, soul transfer, and so forth. Indestructable pseudopets including spirit tree, triage beacon, voltaic sentinel, lightning storm, and AoE/debuff patches are safe, however.

General Strategies:
We can draw some conclusions from the data above. The primary threat of Hamidon comes from the extreme heavy hitters we call yellows and the nucleus itself. The yellows therefore must be neutralized first, glass cannons as they are, and each can be neutralized with a couple or more melee damagers. They are backed up primarily by greens, which heal them rapidly.

A proven way to discourage greens from healing yellows is to attack blues at the same time, as they are the middle ring and physically nearer, which makes them a higher heal priority for the greens.

For clarity's sake, those who take out yellows are referred to as spikers, those responsible for taking damage from the nucleus and keeping his attention are taunters, those responsible for keeping yellows' attention are yellow aggro, and ranged attackers and mezzers not actively supporting are collectively referred to as assault. Roles can overlap, especially between spikers and yellow aggro as well as taunters and yellow aggro.

In general terms, a Virtue hero raid is recommended to have the following team makeup:
-1 taunters' team ('tanker team'), consisting of 1 or more taunters to keep the nucleus's attention and optionally 1-3 support personnel (kinetics and empathy).

-2 yellow aggro/spike teams ('scrapper teams'), front and back, consisting of scrappers and tankers, optionally with 1-2 support (kinetics, empathy, thermal, storm, sonic); 2 on each team are assigned to attack a yellow each solo, while the rest spike.

-2 assault teams, front and back, consisting of blasters, ranged Kheldians, and defenders/controllers not on support duty.

-overflow teams

The raid gathers at a staging area, generally the southern safe rock directly to the south of the bowl where Hamidon spawns. Once all teams are ready, a one-minute countdown to time buffs begins. The cycle goes something like this -- 60 seconds: Long-term single-target buffs; 30 seconds: Oil slick for fulcrum shift and heat loss; 20 seconds: Aura buffs; 10 seconds: Tankers launch; 5 seconds: Scrappers launch; 0 seconds: Assault launch.

Long-term single-target buffs include fast-recharging buffs that grant fear/stun/knockback protection, recharge boost, recovery boost, endurance drain resistance, slow resistance, and toxic damage resistance. Save long-recharging single-target buffs such as adrenaline boost till around the 30-second mark for better mileage. All these buffs should be renewed as much as possible during the whole raid on priority targets (team during countdown, meleers during yellow phase, holders during green phase, team during Hamidon attack).

On the taunters' team, one main tanker holds Hamidon's aggro while off-duty tankers absorb green aggro off the main tanker. On the front yellow team, two are assigned to front left and front centre respectively while the rest spike front right and move clockwise. On the back yellow team, two are likewise assigned to back left and back centre, and the rest spike back right and move counterclockwise.

The two assault teams similarly start on the front/back right blue and move in the same directions as their melee counterparts. If one assault team outraces meleers, it switches to assist the other assault team. If both teams finish off blues before meleers, they converge on one green and attack it.

When all yellows have been taken out, the raid converges on one green and attacks it, utilizing hold effects. Preferably, the first green to be attacked should be a low green near the Hamidon taunter, as this will take some heat off them. If the assault teams have been making good progress toward eliminating their blue targets, they finish the job; otherwise, they join the attack on green mitos. The raid moves clockwise when moving to the next green.

Once greens are all out of the picture, sweep remaining blues as necessary and begin the assault on the nucleus. The whole raid, barring the Hamidon taunter, should converge in one pile for another buff cycle without stopping the assault on Hamidon.

The raid leader will need to use their own judgment in deciding when to call the countdown. There are only three calls to make: Long-term single-target buffs; Aura buffs; and bloom call. Generally, yellow aggro will spread out to pre-assigned locations, marked with a mini-map thumbtack at the time of entry into the goo, as soon as they have received sufficient aura buffs. Their physical proximity to the yellows should help them take aggro promptly, avoiding casualties. When a bloom comes, all raiders will spread out and perform their roles as predetermined. Taking an EoE at bloom times is a safety precaution for non-meleers, but not necessary (though recommended if yellow coverage is not solid).

Usually, Virtue raids will forego clearing Hamidon's last bloom (or even last two blooms) and simply defeat the nucleus by brute force. Yellow aggro will have to take aggro of yellows as usual, but the rest of the raid will simply continue to damage Hamidon until it drops, taking an EoE at the bloom time to survive stray yellow blasts. Sometimes people make use of temporary powers like shivans and Vanguard heavies to add some burst damage, but they are not necessary if the raid has sufficient damage output to begin with.

A Virtue villain raid is recommended to have the following:
-1 taunt team, consisting of 1-3 taunters and optionally support (kinetics, pain).

-1 yellow aggro team, consisting of at least 3, preferably 6, brutes and 1-2 support (kinetics, pain, thermal, sonic, storm, etc); other brutes assist in spiking.

-1/2 spike teams, consisting of stalkers and melee Soldiers of Arachnos and 1-2 support (kinetics, pain, thermal, sonic, storm, etc).

-2 assault teams, front and back, consisting of dominators, corruptors not on support duty, masterminds, and ranged Soldiers of Arachnos.

-overflow teams

The raid gathers at a staging area, generally the eastern safe rock directly to the east of the lake where Hamidon spawns. Once all teams are ready, a one-minute countdown to time buffs begins. The cycle goes like this -- 60 seconds: Long-term single-target buffs; 30 seconds: Half-time reminder; 20 seconds: Oil slick for fulcrum shift and heat loss and aura buffs; 10 seconds: Taunter/Brutes/Spikers launch; 0 seconds: Assault launch.

Long-term single-target buffs include fast-recharging buffs that grant fear/stun/knockback protection, recharge boost, recovery boost, endurance drain resistance, slow resistance, and toxic damage resistance. Save long-recharging single-target buffs such as painbringer till around the 30-second mark for better mileage. All these buffs should be renewed as much as possible during the whole raid on priority targets (team during countdown, meleers during yellow phase, holders during green phase, team during Hamidon attack).

One main taunter holds Hamidon's aggro while off-duty taunters and backup absorb green aggro off the main tanker. The yellow aggro team makes sure all yellows are adequately kept busy. The spike team starts on the front left yellow and move counterclockwise. If two full or near-full spike teams are available, they split and take on front left moving counterclockwise and back left moving clockwise respectively.

The two assault teams start on the front/back left blue and move in the same directions as their melee counterparts. If one assault team outraces meleers, it switches to assist the other assault team. If both teams finish off blues before meleers, they converge on one green and attack it.

When all yellows have been taken out, the raid converges on one green and attacks it, utilizing hold effects. Preferably, the first green to be attacked should be a low green near the Hamidon taunter, as this will take some heat off them. If the assault teams have been making good progress toward eliminating their blue targets, they finish the job; otherwise, they join the attack on green mitos. The raid moves counterclockwise when moving to the next green.

Once greens are all out of the picture, sweep remaining blues as necessary and begin the assault on the nucleus. The whole raid, barring the Hamidon taunter, should converge in one pile for another buff cycle without stopping the assault on Hamidon.

The raid leader will need to use their own judgment in deciding when to call the countdown. There are only three calls to make: Long-term single-target buffs; Aura buffs; and bloom call. Generally, yellow aggro will spread out to pre-assigned locations, marked with a mini-map thumbtack at the time of entry into the goo, as soon as they have received sufficient aura buffs. Their physical proximity to the yellows should help them take aggro promptly, avoiding casualties. When a bloom comes, all raiders will spread out and perform their roles as predetermined. Taking an EoE at bloom times is a safety precaution for non-meleers, but not necessary (though recommended if yellow coverage is not solid).

Usually, Virtue raids will forego clearing Hamidon's last bloom (or even last two blooms) and simply defeat the nucleus by brute force. Yellow aggro will have to take aggro of yellows as usual, but the rest of the raid will simply continue to damage Hamidon until it drops, taking an EoE at the bloom time to survive stray yellow blasts. Sometimes people make use of temporary powers like shivans and Vanguard heavies to add some burst damage, but they are not necessary if the raid has sufficient damage output to begin with.

In-depth Analysis of ATs, Powersets, and Roles:
All ATs are valuable on Hamidon raids, and a balanced distribution of ATs is quite important. However, some powersets and even specific powers excel in a raid environment, allowing for some flexibility in roles, and this section discusses what various ATs/powersets are fit for what roles.

Tankers:
All tankers are good for taunter and yellow aggro duty, and can help with spike in a pinch. However, Hamidon's electrolytic damage ignores resistance and defence, making regen and health important defences. In addition, Hamidon and mitos inflict stuns, fear, endurance drain, and knockback. Some sets will therefore require more support than others.

-Stone armour: Rooted grants significant regen and endurance-drain resistance. Granite armour grants additional stun protection, making a stone tanker difficult to stun when aggroing multiple yellows. Earth's embrace is an excellent regen booster. Conversely, stone armour lacks fear protection and cannot jump in rooted. The latter makes them unsuitable for spike duty. Lastly, granite grants high toxic resistance, which makes stone somewhat resilient against green damage.

-Willpower: With native access to extra health, regen, and protection from fear/stun/knockback, willpower is a solid set for Hamidon raids. No self-heal, though.

-Ice armour: Hoarfrost is an excellent heal and regen booster, and hibernate grants a massive regen boost, making ice tankers ideal for solo taunting/yellow aggro without support. Lacks fear protection and needs to watch out against being incapacitated at inconvenient times.

-Electric armour: Energize is a solid self-heal/regen booster that gives elec tankers breathing room. However, elec lacks fear protection, and grounded gives KB protection but not resistance, making it possible for an elec tanker to be knocked over by stacking yellow/nucleus blasts without being stunned. Has no toxic resistance whatsoever, which can make greens a threat.

-Invulnerability: Solid but unremarkable; no fear protection.

-Shield defence: Stackable mez protection to fear/stun/KB and extra health make shield a solid if unremarkable set.

-Fiery aura/Dark armour: Strong self-heals allows these sets breathing room. Dark armour is also one of the few sets with native fear protection. However, lack of native KB protection/resistance means fire/dark tankers are easily knocked all over, especially with stacking yellow/nucleus blasts. Dark regeneration also only works in close quarters, which may not always be advisable. Nonetheless, fire/dark have the potential to perform quite well if built with at least 12 KB protection.

Scrappers:
All scrappers are eligible for spike duty, and some excel at yellow aggro and taunting as well. Flight is highly recommended if not mandatory for yellow aggro and spike.

-Regen: Self-heals, high regen, extra stun protection from resilience and moment of glory, and instant healing make regen a strong set for spiking, taunting, and yellow aggro with minimal or no support. Lacks native fear protection.

-Fiery aura/Dark armour: Same as for tankers. However, dark regeneration does not work on yellows. These sets lack native KB protection, making spike duty somewhat challenging without kinetics support, vengeance, or IOing.

-Invulnerability/Willpower: Same as for tankers.

-Electric armour: Same as for tankers, but lack of KB protection while not grounded is an issue for spiking.

-Shield defence: Same as for tankers.

-Super reflexes: Same as shield, but no fear protection.

Support Powersets:
Defender primaries and controller/corruptor/MM secondaries are lumped together here. In general, a character having a debuff powerset from these would be an assaulter. Those with sets suited for support can still perform assault duties, but should prioritize strengthening their teams.

-Cold domination: Except for frostwork and heat loss, cold's buffs are ineffective on a Hamidon raid. Its value lies in its devastating -res/-regen debuffs, which are great against the nucleus. Suited for assault.

-Dark miasma: Shadow fall protects raiders against fear from blue lightning. Howling twilight is an extraordinary mass rez when things go south. Strong -res/-regen/-dam debuffs. Suited for assault.

-Empathy: Clear mind provides mez protection, fortitude grants moderate +dam, and regen/recovery auras make hero raids much smoother. Although adrenaline boost can only be used on one person, it boosts +regen/+recovery/+rech massively and is appreciated by any taunters. Suited for support.

-Force field: Unfortunately, FF suffers from Hamidon's unique mechanics. That said, it remains one of the most effective buff sets in Hamidon raids. Dispersion bubble provides some protection from stray stuns, and insulation shield gives good protection from endurance drain; deflection shield also reduces damage inflicted by green blasts significantly. Suited for assault.

-Kinetics: Solid support set. Speed boost buffs +rech/+recovery and protects against endurance drain, while increase density gives stun/KB protection. Fulcrum shift and siphon power give valuable +dam, and can make blooms less deadly if stacked on the nucleus. Suited for support.

-Radiation emission: Highly desirable for its strong -res/-dam/-regen debuffs, and accelerate metabolism is invaluable. Suited for assault.

-Sonic resonance: Its shields are ineffective, but -res debuffs and mez protection are great to have. This is an unpopular set rarely seen on raids, however. Suited for assault.

-Storm summoning: Storm is normally offensive-geared, with -res and two high-damage pseudopets, but with O2 boost giving stun and end-drain protection, storm can assist with support in a pinch. Suited for assault.

-Traps: Very strong -res/-dam/-regen. Triage beacon should be placed as much as possible to help taunters. Trap pets are sometimes useful for absorbing mito aggro as well. Suited for assault.

-Trick arrow: Oil slick arrow creates a targetable entity for enemy-based buffs, which is useful for pre-launch buffing and post-evac recovery with howling twilight. Moderate -res/-dam debuffs. Suited for assault.

-Thermal radiation: Mez protection, +dam, and -res/-dam/-regen debuffs. Suited for support.

-Pain domination: The antithesis of empathy is a solid support set in its own right, if nowhere as raid-effective. Mez protection and minor +dam are its main selling points, while painbringer is similar to adrenaline boost, except with a moderate +dam in place of AB's extreme +rech. Minor -res. Suited for support.

-Poison: Similar to storm, poison is a strong debuff set that can also assist support in a pinch. Its debuffs are very helpful on the nucleus. Unpopular set and rarely seen on raids. Suited for assault.

Control Powersets:
Differences between control sets are not stark, but still worth discussing.

-Earth control: Volcanic gasses is an extremely effective hold. Animated stone does seismic smash for another hold, but its attacks have a taunt component, so animated stone should be used with caution when attacking the nucleus. For game mechanic purposes, all mitos and the nucleus are considered grounded.

-Fire control: Imp attacks don't taunt, so they're safe to unleash.

-Gravity control: Singularity has a hold and doesn't taunt.

-Ice control: Jack has a hold and doesn't taunt.

-Mind control: Telekinesis is an extra hold in mind's arsenal. Confuse/fear/sleep are otherwise ineffective.

-Illusion control: Phantom army have a strong taunt in their attacks and should be used with extreme caution on the nucleus. Phantasm's decoy phantasm also taunts to a lesser extent.

-Plant control: Spirit tree gives quite a bit of +regen. Plant pets don't taunt. All mitos are considered grounded for power usage

Stalkers:
Despite their fragile appearance, stalkers are versatile as potential taunters and spikers. A taunting stalker is quite a sight to behold in particular, as placate allows aggro to be passed around without death or lengthy retreats. Most stalker secondaries are largely identical to their scrapper counterparts; exceptions and exclusive sets are discussed below.

-Ninjutsu: Clicky mez protection to all, but no knockback protection. Has a potent self-heal.

-Regen: Similar to scrapper version and the most survivable stalker set in a Hamidon raid. It lacks quick recovery, however.

-Willpower: Has a self-heal and no quick recovery.

Historical strategies reviewed:

We'll discuss some older elements of Hamidon raiding here, their merits and why they are no longer in use.

Evac raids:
In evac raids, the entire force pulls out of the cytoplasm at each mito respawn, often with the help of predesignated teleporters.

Pros
-Not everyone has to pay attention at blooms, just leaders and porters.
-In effect resets raid every bloom and continues progressively.
-Friendly to inexperienced raiders, casualties get rezzed promptly.
-The raid always starts anew at peak strength. Targets are reacquired in safety.
-More time for socialization/coffee breaks.
-More relaxed pace with a few frenetic moments interspersed.

Cons
-Raid takes longer and feels repetitive.
-Not everyone appreciates the extra chatter/wait.
-Not every team is guaranteed to have enough, or even any, porters.
-Assemble the Team vet power is heavily used; not everyone has it.

Replaced by
-Evacless raids

Mastermind pet streaming:
In villain raids, masterminds stage in a separate area from main raid force and send their pets at Hamidon singly, sometimes with kinetics keeping them speed boosted. Eventually, there are always pets coming in to replace the ones that die, resulting in a stable stream that sustains Hamidon aggro.

Pros
-Villains had few regen buffs before pain domination was introduced. Expendable pets don't need buffing or EoEs.
-MMs have ambiguous roles in raids. Pet streaming gives them a firmly defined role.
-Friendly to inexperienced raiders.
-It's an easy job with macros.
-'Pet streaming' is something people will never stop making jokes about.

Cons
-Pet streaming is no taunting. Hamidon aggro is flimsy and easily lost.
-Stray blasts wipe out the MMs, common with inexperienced MMs and/or griefers present.
-MM secondaries are completely ignored.
-It's boring and repetitive for MMs and their SBBots.
-'Pet streaming' is something people will never stop making jokes about.

Replaced by
-Dedicated taunter(s)

Omni-assault/spiking:
All spikers and assaulters converge on one yellow/blue and move together like one giant hammer.

Pros
-Theoretically, greater DPS means faster and therefore smoother yellow phase
-Blue mitos sometimes go down really fast.
-Lightning contagion decreased.
-Straightforward and easy to understand, faster target acquisition.
-Can just follow the targeter.

Cons
-Realistically, yellow mitos get healed more and take longer to defeat.
-Blue mitos get healed more and sometimes fail to go down during yellow phase.
-Increased EoE consumption for meleers.

Replaced by
-Front/back assault/spiking

Addendum for Issue 18

Issue 18 introduced some features and/or changes that affect Hamidon raiding, but I don't believe it warrants a new guide. Instead, I'll point out the most significant change as pertain to Hamidon raids and add some strategy recommendations.

A mixed raid have teams that look like these:

-taunters' team ('tanker team'), consisting of Hamidon/yellow taunters (tankers and brutes with taunt) to keep the nucleus's attention and optionally 1-3 support personnel (kinetics and empathy, and/or pain).

-yellow aggro/spike teams ('brute teams' and 'spiker teams'), omni and front/back respectively, each consisting of scrappers, stalkers, melee SoAs, and overflow brutes/tankers, optionally with 1-2 support (kinetics, empathy, pain, thermal, storm, sonic, poison); 2 on each team are assigned to attack a yellow each solo, while the rest spike.

-2 assault teams, front and back, consisting of blasters, ranged Kheldians/SoAs, dominators, and corruptors/MMs/defenders/controllers not on support duty.

-overflow teams

Depending on AT distribution, use side-appropriate strategies as described above. I expect that gradual migration and tourism will move raids closer to how heroside raids are done, but it's probably best not to assume there will always be a good mix of cross-side ATs.

Side-switchers should be aware that hero and villain Hamidon raids are on the same timer. Therefore, running opposite-side raids back-to-back on the same character will not allow you to get double HOs or full merits twice without waiting.

Set analysis:
-Electric Control: Gremlins don't taunt, so they're safe to unleash. Elec control characters should note that blues are essentially immune to conductive aura and would overpower the recovery with their end drain anyway.

ADVANCED STRATEGERY

Killing Hamidon through two blooms spontaneously:

This has been achieved multiple times without prior announcement or use of temps on both sides. When Hamidon nears 50% HP, yellow aggro takes off to their positions as normal after buffs. The rest of the raid continues attacking Hamidon, preferably each eating an EoE at bloom time. Yellow aggro will have a new set of yellows on their hands at 25%, and the raid may have to eat a second EoE if the first one wears off.

A risky but epic manoeuvre, requires high damage output and solid yellow aggro control. Failure to succeed with this tactic results in a...

Double bloom!:

Virtue blueside has successfully cleared at least two double blooms spontaneously to date. If we're lucky, this Wednesday will witness a third successful double-bloom clearing. Redside hasn't had a chance to attempt this, as they haven't had a failed push through two blooms (there was, however, a failed 100%-to-0% nuke raid).

Clearing a double bloom is not especially hard. However, it's best done in two waves with an evac called midway at the raid leader's discretion.

Spike teams will need to have designated targeters. Hamidon taunter will need a lot of help, as twelve greens can obliterate a tanker's health bar in seconds, never mind the debuffs. Therefore, certain scrappas and off-tankers will have to actively pull green hate off the taunter. Assault also faces great opposition from twelve blues, so staying at maximum distance is a must.

Blues will need to be cleared before greens, once yellows are all down. Two blooms worth of lightning chains are zomgdeadly even to tankers and will cripple the entire raid if left alone. Scrappas will now form up on a green and attack it to provide additional cover for the taunter and distract greens from healing blues.

Greens are straightforward. There are more of them, but nothing a normal raid can't deal with.

That leads us to future challenges:
Kill Hamidon through 75%, 50%, and 25% (clear only initial mitos)?
Failing that, clear a triple bloom?
Kill Hamidon in one go, ignoring initial mitos?
Failing that, clear a quad bloom?

Now that we are waist deep in Incarnate power, does the same Hamidon strategy apply? Also, are Hami (Hero) Raids still occurring on a regular basis?