How to Hamidon Raid Virtue-Style (I17)

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.

A++ for the guide RK!

Excellent guide. Now I know Hami Raiding more than ever

Minor adjustment to villain strategy. Fixed left/right confusion.

Upcoming next: old strategies and why they were phased out.

I read all that, nice guide.

Fantastic guide, thank you. One very minor nitpick: Green Mitos need mag 50 holds, not mag 100.

Updated for Issue 18. Not much I needed to add except to cover side switching. More may come if strategies undergo greater shifts down the line.