Guide to the Imperious Strike/Task Force
By
Alexandria2000,
Posted on: 2008-05-15 24:15 in Player Guides
I tried the ITF 4 times hero side before finally clearing it. This fight is all about damage. When we had 4 damage dealers and 4 buffers/debuffers we couldn't scratch Romulus. It is only when we went in with 6 damage dealers (mostly heroes) that we finally won using the Nictus kill method. I should also note that we had a controller confuse Romulus and he attacked the Nictus badly hurting it. Enemies in this TF seem to be week to confuse.
However when I did the TF with a mostly villain group using the kill Romulus method, we cleared it with ease. It seems that having a number of villains on the team, particularly masterminds and corrupters, makes the TF easier.
On another note can someone confirm the locations of the generals in mission 3? The locations I am aware of are 1) the bridge, 2) the monsters, 3) the surgeons, 4) the bosses, 5) Requiem. However last night there was another EB on the platform with the 2 AVs. Does he not count or is there something weird about the General's locations?
Also there seems to be a problem with the ambushes in mission 3. One of the times I ran it the ambushes were severely delayed and we ended up with 5 consecutive ambushes when we got halfway up the hill. Romulus' ambush didn't appear until well after he died for the last time.
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Had an interesting thing last night. We killed romy out of los from the nictus. He did not res. And yes the ambush returns to is spawn loctation
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My team saw this yesterday, as well.
Another thing we noticed - the area stun that occurs when you destroy a Nictus or Romulus rezzes is dependant on Line of Sight of the nictus.
One more little thing, for those that are worried about it, you don't get any reward for killing the Nictus, but you do get a reward for each time you kill Romulus.
Shockfront.net - We play together.
So me and my team are trying to kill this last nictus becuase it didn't rez rommy. The healer nictus, and it won't die.
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So me and my team are trying to kill this last nictus becuase it didn't rez rommy. The healer nictus, and it won't die.
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The Healer Essence targets anyone within 80 ft. and has a targeted heal off of them. So, send one Scrapper into to attack the Essence. If the Scrapper can't do more damage then what is healed off of the Scrapper, then that Scrapper isn't helping to defeat the Essence, but hurting that effort. Similarly for any other melee type that can't outdamage the heal. They need to back off and stay out of range.
Anyone with a ranged attack that is longer than 80 ft can stay outside the range of the heal and slowly whittle away the hp of the Essence. Most ranged attacks are exactly 80 ft., so, unless there is slotting for range, not many ranged attacks will work here.
If you see streaks of dark energy going from a player to the Essence and the player didn't fire anything, then they are being used for the Essence's self-heal and need to back off.
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The Healer Essence targets anyone within 80 ft. and has a targeted heal off of them. So, send one Scrapper into to attack the Essence. If the Scrapper can't do more damage then what is healed off of the Scrapper, then that Scrapper isn't helping to defeat the Essence, but hurting that effort. Similarly for any other melee type that can't outdamage the heal. They need to back off and stay out of range.
Anyone with a ranged attack that is longer than 80 ft can stay outside the range of the heal and slowly whittle away the hp of the Essence. Most ranged attacks are exactly 80 ft., so, unless there is slotting for range, not many ranged attacks will work here.
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My team tonight/this morning tried both methods to kill the healing nictus. We were able to defeat the other two nictus and finally Romulus without having him rez but couldn't overcome the healing nictus.
We could damage it but it's regen stayed ahead of our damage output. Our problem may have been we only had one blaster on the team but we were doing well up to that point so it was a little disheartening to stall at the end.
We had:
1 x Tank (Me)
2 x Defender (both emp)
1 x Stalker
1 x Scrapper (SK'd up to 50)
1 x Blaster
The best result we had on the healing nictus is when we decided against a plan and just rushed the sucker but just couldn't overcome the regen. It ended up feeling like we needed to have somebody with -regen or a damage heavey team and that left several members with a bad taste about this TF.
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The Healer Essence targets anyone within 80 ft. and has a targeted heal off of them. So, send one Scrapper into to attack the Essence. If the Scrapper can't do more damage then what is healed off of the Scrapper, then that Scrapper isn't helping to defeat the Essence, but hurting that effort. Similarly for any other melee type that can't outdamage the heal. They need to back off and stay out of range.
Anyone with a ranged attack that is longer than 80 ft can stay outside the range of the heal and slowly whittle away the hp of the Essence. Most ranged attacks are exactly 80 ft., so, unless there is slotting for range, not many ranged attacks will work here.
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My team tonight/this morning tried both methods to kill the healing nictus. We were able to defeat the other two nictus and finally Romulus without having him rez but couldn't overcome the healing nictus.
We could damage it but it's regen stayed ahead of our damage output. Our problem may have been we only had one blaster on the team but we were doing well up to that point so it was a little disheartening to stall at the end.
We had:
1 x Tank (Me)
2 x Defender (both emp)
1 x Stalker
1 x Scrapper (SK'd up to 50)
1 x Blaster
The best result we had on the healing nictus is when we decided against a plan and just rushed the sucker but just couldn't overcome the regen. It ended up feeling like we needed to have somebody with -regen or a damage heavey team and that left several members with a bad taste about this TF.
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Well, if you let him rez, the FuzzHealer would have sacrificed itself and then it wouldn't have been a problem.
I'm beginning to side with the idea that killing Rommie 4x is the easiest solution to the final battle (unless one of his deaths takes out the FuzzHealer, then the order doesn't matter).
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We ran this late Sunday night (my time GMT) and worked on splitting the nicti, The tank wound up with Romulus' aggro and led us all on a merry chase to the bottom of the gorge and into the water. We defeated the second nictus there and it exploded sending us all through the tileset. After we got /stuck to get us out we couldn't find Romulus anywhere on the map. Logged a petition but wound up disbanding before support arrived 
I previously saw this bug on some of the Safeguard maps.
I have done this SF and killing romulo 4 times is a lot more easy. I won't recommend to targets nictus first.They are just a pain to kill but romulo can be easy kill when everyone just target him.
Nictus heal all the AV's but they don't heal if it don't get dmg.
When he die you have a 5 sec break to run out of range or you will get stun.This SF deceive player making then think than pulling is the best way.Once you understand how weak romulo is you will love it.
I want /Fire stalker. Because nothing says stealth like dumping a can of gasoline on yourself and lighting a match. -Morac
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I have done this SF and killing romulo 4 times is a lot more easy. I won't recommend to targets nictus first.They are just a pain to kill but romulo can be easy kill when everyone just target him.
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I think it depends on team composition.
A defender / controller / corruptor oriented team with debuffs is better going after Romulus. For example: 4 debuff defenders, 2 controllers, 1 brute, 1 blaster. Why? Romulus is affected by the debuffs.
A buff oriented / damage oriented team (blasters, doms, stalkers, brutes) is better going after the fluffies. Example: 4 blasters, 1 tank, 2 empaths, 1 /FF controller. Why? Buffs help the damage team survive the obnoxious behavior of the fluffies (heals don't hit, damage is avoided). And the fluffies without the heals go down faster than Rom.
I've had the team switch strategies depending on what type of team we've had. Sometimes going after Romulus isn't the easiest option because the damage Nictus and the summoner Nictus can cause the team untold problems - even more than the healing one.
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On another note can someone confirm the locations of the generals in mission 3? The locations I am aware of are 1) the bridge, 2) the monsters, 3) the surgeons, 4) the bosses, 5) Requiem. However last night there was another EB on the platform with the 2 AVs. Does he not count or is there something weird about the General's locations?
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I'm of the opinion that it's easier to just clear everything to Romulus and not just take out the generals. You have to take out the generals and their spawn, which in one case, means you have to take out the EBs that spawns with one or a group of Roman bosses in another. Just cherry picking the generals is just a bad idea IMO. It doesn't necessarily save time since the team can just as easily clear.
And yes, I believe that your location for each of the generals is correct. The EB on the platform is not one of the generals.
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Also there seems to be a problem with the ambushes in mission 3. One of the times I ran it the ambushes were severely delayed and we ended up with 5 consecutive ambushes when we got halfway up the hill. Romulus' ambush didn't appear until well after he died for the last time.
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I'm also of the opinion that the group is better off staying and fighting off each ambush instead of rushing and just killing the crystals. Sometimes the ambush spawns at a set point, but I've seen the ambush follow a group many times. The mission isn't that much longer if you simply stay and fight since the ambush mob is trivial to take out for a good team...they last maybe 30-45 seconds. I just don't get the viewpoint that you need to rush to the next one since if you screw up, you can end up with multiple ambushes on your team.
Well whats worked best for me so far is:
Mission 1: clear the cave completely then head outside, kill Minotaur and his goons and someone escort the Oracle to the Altar while the rest of the team fights off the Romans
Mission 2: One Crystal at a time, kill it's guards then the Crystal then the ambush, repeat until map is done.
Mission 3: the Generals are in the same locations everytime. If you are in need a of a radiation user then keep Daedalus with your team, if not then let him get killed. Can't really ghost to the Generals, best to just battle your way to them. Downside of this mission is that once you start going up the hill is when the lag spikes start occuring. Most annoying. Psi attacks, especially Confusion, are great to have for this as you can turn Minotaurs and Cyclops to your side for some of the fights. Once you are down to the Last General, Romulus and the Romulus Robots there are two strategies I've used:
1. Team gathers near the control console for the bots and destroys it, then someone flies up and snipes Romulus so he will come down to where you are. Take him down then repeat the process on the last General, Requiem of the 5th Column.
2. Alternate plan is to gather on hill top above where Romulus and his armies are at, snipe Romulus and he will come to you. Kill him and then repeat process to bring up Requiem. After Requiem is down then fly down to the bottom and destroy the robot controls.
Mission 4: Skip the 300 and gather near Romulus. Wipe out all the 5th Column then take down the Romans and pull the Cyclops and Minotaur groups to you to kill them. Also in this area is the glowing box with the mystery letter. Once the area is clear have a tank/brute target the healing Nictus and lure it away from Romulus and keep it away via Taunt and attacks. Rest of the team overpowers Romulus and brings him down, also take out the ambush he will summon. One of the Nictus merges with Romulus to revive him, once that happens repeat the process. When it's just the healer and Romulus left, keep them in line of sight of each other but out of range of the heals from the Nictus and take down Romulus for the 3rd time. Now the healer merges with him to revive him and it's just Romulus thats left. Take him down one more time then go kill the remainder of the 300 that you need and claim your rewards.
some AV pulling tips
Mission 3 (do these pulls after Phalanx is done)
- pull romulus to the cliffledge above him and to the right or left a little.
- pull Requem to the cliffledge above him and to the left where there is a V-shaped indention into the cliff.
Mission 4:
- Pull romulus with his nictus to the top of the left tower. His ambushs won't be able to reach him and the sharp corners lets the team break Line of Sight with the essences while still pummeling on romulus.
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some AV pulling tips
Mission 3 (do these pulls after Phalanx is done)
- pull romulus to the cliffledge above him and to the right or left a little.
- pull Requem to the cliffledge above him and to the left where there is a V-shaped indention into the cliff.
Mission 4:
- Pull romulus with his nictus to the top of the left tower. His ambushs won't be able to reach him and the sharp corners lets the team break Line of Sight with the essences while still pummeling on romulus.
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Not bad, but since there is payout for taking out Romulus vs taking down the Nictus, I like to keep the Nictus in line of sight to ensure Rom gets revived, just keep the healer out of heal range of Romulus for the duration. plus IF there is a badge coming for x-amount of Romulus kills this method helps with that too.
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some AV pulling tips
Mission 3 (do these pulls after Phalanx is done)
- pull romulus to the cliffledge above him and to the right or left a little.
- pull Requem to the cliffledge above him and to the left where there is a V-shaped indention into the cliff.
Mission 4:
- Pull romulus with his nictus to the top of the left tower. His ambushs won't be able to reach him and the sharp corners lets the team break Line of Sight with the essences while still pummeling on romulus.
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Not bad, but since there is payout for taking out Romulus vs taking down the Nictus, I like to keep the Nictus in line of sight to ensure Rom gets revived, just keep the healer out of heal range of Romulus for the duration. plus IF there is a badge coming for x-amount of Romulus kills this method helps with that too.
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With this pull method, Romulus has always remained in range of the essences to rez everytime. What's is nice about this is that you can keep all the essences near romulus but all of their attacks can't hit everyone. This makes the variable heal and buffs the essences do much lower and the damage intake from the "Cyst" nictus much lower.
Quick question...
How long is this TF?
How fast CAN it be done, and how long is your average run?
Keep in mind that it would be my first time running it...
Official Offline Psychopath of PWNZ
"Hey, sneak up, stab someone, and sneak away...or kill them with Iceland at a distance. Either way, no one knows what the hell happened!" -Umbramancer, on Assassin's Boulder
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Quick question...
How long is this TF?
How fast CAN it be done, and how long is your average run?
Keep in mind that it would be my first time running it...
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2 hours is the average. 3.5 hours at most and 1.25 hours at best.
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Quick question...
How long is this TF?
How fast CAN it be done, and how long is your average run?
Keep in mind that it would be my first time running it...
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2 hours is the average. 3.5 hours at most and 1.25 hours at best.
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Thanks TS.
Official Offline Psychopath of PWNZ
"Hey, sneak up, stab someone, and sneak away...or kill them with Iceland at a distance. Either way, no one knows what the hell happened!" -Umbramancer, on Assassin's Boulder
Echo So'kar reference shots ||| Punkicide reference shots
[u]More Info on the Healing Essence:[u]
1. I snipe the Healing Essence (left side) from outside 80 feet. It takes some damage. It doesn't heal. It doesn't aggro.
2. I get within 80 ft. of the Healing Essence. It doesn't heal. It doesn't aggro.
3. I shoot the Healing Essence from within 80 ft. It starts to heal. Black streaks shoot out of me (as a Dark Defender I had to tell the team those streaks weren't me shooting) to the Healing Essence. Green numbers float above it. Green numbers float above the middle Essence and from Rommie... BUT NOT THE OTHER ESSENCE (RIGHT SIDE). That's the important part. When you see the left and right Essences, they are too far apart for the right to get healed by the left. The Healing Essence continued to use me to spam the AoE even though it and the other AVs were fully healed.
4. A Brute with a single target taunt was able to 'pull' the Healing Essence and keep it from getting close to Rommie. However, when the Brute died (from the essence spawns of the other Essence), I was able to keep the Healing Essence from Rommie simply through attacking it, so, 'taunt' is not necessarily necessary.
[u]Conclusion:[u]
1. The healing Essence will target any foe within 80 ft. as a targeted self AoE heal. But the AoE heal is only about 30 ft.
2. Thus, it doesn't take much to separate the Healing Essence from Rommie. Just over 30 feet. As soon as there are no more green numbers flowing over Rommie, STOP TRYING TO SEPARATE THEM. If you pull them too far apart, the Healing Essence will run back to Rommie to be near him (not necessarily to heal him -- it's a short leash that snaps back if pulled too far).
[u]Other Notes:[u]
Confirmed: When Rommie dies, you have about 5 seconds to duck out of Line of Sight in order to avoid the AoE stun of the rez.
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Zman, you are correct. The healing nictus has a aoe range of 80 feet and the heal is along the lines of 30 feet. We confirmed that too. We stood on top of the building, and watched with out attacking. It was that simple. You clearly see it heal itself, romy and the mire nictus. But it misses the spawn nictus.
The nictus don't aggro well with snipes or long ranged attacks. That is confirmed too. I can snipe the healer all day long, and he does nothing but heal sometimes, and does not aggro. He does not aggro the rest either. Not tried the summon nictus tho.
I have been toying with using that, to take out the summon nictus first since it is not in range of the heal, since that is one that casues team wipes. It seems to me, that after it blooms, and spawns is when alot of people get upset and quit. The ranged deaths and the slows. Without the slows, people could atleast still run, come back and fight and deal with the other three. Without the slows, people get their powes back. Toying with the idea of letting someone keep aggro, and wipe the spawner, so less trouble down the line. Then kill romy by separating the healing from him, to have him eat the nictus on purpose and get rid of the healing nictus for us. Romy is not that hard of a kill by himself but the healer can be a problem especially with melee MM pets.. so let romy do it for us.
I am looking for something that works regardless of team composition, actually looking for a strategy that works for almost any team regardless of composition.
All 5 or 6 times on test, basically did it killing healing nictus first...live has been a completely different story. 5 Failures on live...I thought it was easy on test, except the Turbo_Ski run, but on live....omg! Ts has some really good insights into this. i will keep at it, the drops are just that good.
I'd like to put in a tip here for the last mission.
I've done this TF twice with my Defender and about 8 times with my Mastermind.
Only one of thoughs teams has actully completed the TF. I'm begining to notice a pattern.
Every team I've been on has tried to seperate the Nictus and Romulus thinking they can be attacked if they're not near eachother. While that is true it's hard as hell the actully do and even if you do manage it once I've yet to see a team that can duplicate it a second time.
The one team I was on that actully completed the TF gave up on that idea. They tried it once and just gave up. We figured out that one of the Nictus CAN actully be attacked regardless of how close it is to the others.
The order seems to go, Summoner (The one that casts all the Lt. and Minion versions of itself), Healer (as much as I hate that word.), and then you can attack Romulus while the last one is still out.
This method does work, I've done it but seems most teams won't even try it. They'd rather try the harder method of getting them seperated.
Now the down side to this method of killing them where you attack without seperating them is actully getting everyone to attack the same target and not haveing alot of DMG dealers on the team doesn't help either.
As long as you can see the health bar move, even if it doesn't seem like much movement you're doing good. If you're on the wrong target the health bar won't move at all.
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Quick question...
How long is this TF?
How fast CAN it be done, and how long is your average run?
Keep in mind that it would be my first time running it...
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Fastest is 47min 17sec
Average is about 50min
Ran it 3 times on test, and 3 times on live. I suspect we'll get a sub 40min run now that some of the issues have been fixed w/ the 3rd mission map.
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Quick question...
How long is this TF?
How fast CAN it be done, and how long is your average run?
Keep in mind that it would be my first time running it...
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Fastest is 47min 17sec
Average is about 50min
Ran it 3 times on test, and 3 times on live. I suspect we'll get a sub 40min run now that some of the issues have been fixed w/ the 3rd mission map.
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that's not even close to realistic for a PuG or the average team.
I've run this on 4 PuG's and have averaged 2hours +- 20mins.
A few teams on Victory have posted times near an hour, one team had the difficultly set at invinc.
It really is a fun TF.
I found that just killing Romulus 4 times was simplier. The times I done this where the team trys to take out one of the Nictus AVs first, we could find the right one or we couldn't damage it fast enough.
Also make sure you have a Kin on the team beacuse the Nictus have slows in their attacks and therefore lowering the team DPS.
Also if your team is having trouble (especially if your on a PUG team) having some Warburg Rockets will make it alot easier. A Vanguard Heavy pet is also good, but a Shivan less so.
Had an interesting thing last night. We killed romy out of los from the nictus. He did not res. And yes the ambush returns to is spawn loctation.
Edit: We used the tank to pull the nictus to side wall (on each side of the stairs). Then as romy went, we all way laid him so he turned to fight. We pulled romy slowly up and across the steps somewhat while the nictus stayed behind the wall.
Oddly my villan team went on a shivan run when most people dropped or quit. As a villain team we ouroed to get there. No one was kicked. But the mission reset for 8 tho. Saw more than one hero kicked for zoning or going to base on mixed teams.