Apex TF - spoilers within
I have only Tanked Apex with my WP/SS tanker, which is rather pimped up (plenty of sets, almost HP cap, base regen with 1 baddie=100 HP/sec, but not purple sets).
I don't have too many issues with her. Did a Mo Apex TF on my 3rd-4th TF, without really trying to go for it.
Sometimes, she and/or the Bosses and/or Swords will get a lucky streak, debuffing considerably my defense so sometimes I might need my Tier 9 or some inspirations. It depends on the RNG basically, but generaly I don't need more than my Tier 9.
Strategies:
1- RUN out of the blue flames (duh)
2- RUN OUT of the blue flames
3- Don't try to squeeze an extra attack when you see a blue flame - see 1 and 2
4- Tell EVERYONE not to use any immobilizing attacks on her. Avoiding slow attacks might help.
5- As soon as a blue flame pops up, immediately jump away clicking taunt in midair, so that you'll be out of her range and she *has* to come to you, usually meaning that she won't be standing inside a blue flame (thus, your melee is free to engage her).
6- Remember that when a new flame pops up, the old ones fade away. That is sometimes useful when she's standing in a blue flame and you see plenty more new ones poping up around you. Timed correctly, you can jump into the "old" flame as it vanishes, landing near her which is now safe (the old flame vanished) and thus, allowing a free space for your melee to keep attacking.
7- Try, when you can, to taunt any living enemies from time to time. Taunt will make them come to you and then your aura will keep them glued to you. Protect the squishes.
8- Last but not the least: RUN OUT OF THE BLUE FLAMES!
you forgot one thing
run out of the blue flame!
seriosuly though the apex last mish is basically hit her 2 times with melee then run out and range attack her until it stops. this really is the first non melee av we have really.
just cant stand toe to toe with her in melee range and expect to live. really hurts on the whole smash policy
You're right, I had forgotten about: RUN AWAY FROM THE BLUE FLAMES.
Seriously, even though it seems easy on paper and when you explain to people (aka: Scrappers :P) that they HAVE to run away from the flames, there's no such thing as "just one more attack", just RUN out of there...............
.......in actual game play, I've seen scrapper killing themselves for just "one more attack while BU is up". It's incredible.
Well, for that matter, I've seen Blasters trying to go melee with her WHILE she is on the flames (dead pasta blaster). I've seen Rad Trollers trying to do "something" in melee range while she pops up her flames (resulting in a bloody stain of a Troller on the floor).
I mean, it's true. People do these stuff. You can explain that they WILL die if they stay there, you can explain it's auto-hit, you can explain it's unresistable (not true, but still....), but Squishes are SO used to being near +4AVs (due to softcapped squishes and whatnot) that they have a hard time getting into their minds that this is one AV where you DO NOT want to be near.
I think I managed to explain myself well in my last Apex (sucessful) when I said:
"Dudes, I am a tanker and as SOON as I think I imagine a possibility of a blue flame, I am running out of there like a blaster running from ...well, everything.
So, if I, your tanker, run like hell when I see a blue flame coming, you guys should already be all across the map praying to god not to die".
Kinda dramatic, but I think that was what made them stop trying to be in melee with her.
I can't emphasize this point enough: RUN FROM THE FLAMES. And you'll see how easy the Apex TF becomes.
The only things that will help you with the blue flames are Max HP and Movement Speed. Something to be careful of are attacks with long animation times. Use those carefully or not at all.
I found my usual attack chain muscle memory working against me, when I activated GFS just because I was used to it, even though a blue flame was due to arrive or has just arrived. Thankfully Elec Armor gives me great movement speed so I was able to overcome that most of the time(Hurdle should give you more than enough movement speed though).
I found Taunt to be extremely useful, and this TF just works as one more reason to stop living in denial and pick it up as a Tanker if you haven't already. Put that survivability of yours to good use.
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
I've taken 3 moATF teams through (On both my Ice/ Tankers), one was mostly melee, one was mostly ranged, and one was a well balanced team.
Basically the main tanking idea is to hit her a few times and move, taunt etc. I specificly took Teleport as my travel power on one toon for this battle, as I can quickly attack, and move to a far enough range that BM will move instantly in range to you again, and thus out of a patch.
A good team tactic is to all move in one direction roughly, so the whole area doesn't get filled with patches.
On my first attempt I took no deaths throughout the TF, but I often take a few unlucky hits from the flying swords that can fallten my defences.
Telling my team it takes only 2 seconds to take off 3500 health, often isn't enough for them to grasp the damage of the patches, I have a bind that broadcasts the warning circle of the patches when they appear, while I don't use it throughout the AV fight, I use it enough to one: they know what to expect, and two: when they ignore it and die instantly, they know what the patch warning looks like, and why it needs to be avoided.
I don't really use any insps, except occassionally a green while Aid Self is recharging, and for the mo attempts I tell everyone to stock up on yellows and reds so phase one ends quickly.
Team buffs help dramaticly though, having the whole team soft-capped to S/L means the majority of the sword mobs can be avoided, and tankers don't have to run around keeping aggro on all the warrior and sword spawns (The finale of mission one is also another point where its difficult/impossible to keep aggro on every single mob.) so the swords can effectively be ignored while focusing on warriors or BM.
If you're struggling to tank on this encounter, I'd encourage you to look at how you're tanking, and if you're staying still or not paying attention to BM's patches, aggro and range, then you may need to change your playstyle for tanking.
In a side note, I find moApex TF to be one of the most enjoyable tanking experience in the game, from taunting all Warwalkers at the end of mission 1 to keep the orbital strikes spawning on me and not the team/drones, and the BM encounter where I'm constantly paying attention to the map, BM, mobs and my team, trying to make sure everything happens well.
None of the melee ATs can stand next to her long enough to really contribute significant damage. If Scrappers and Brutes can only muster hit and run jousting, why not just replace them with a ranged AT who can be attacking at all times, not just when the death puddles decide you should. Woe to the Stalker who tries to use AS.
And Tankers, my heavens does this encounter ever show the devs contempt for them. The puddles don't really care about resistance or HP differences. "Tanking" Battle maiden? She really doesn't have much to speak of in terms of direct damage. A Scrapper with Confront and a jet pack can do the job. What advantage does a Tanker have in this over a Scrapper? None. You're just as squishy, but you get the "privilege" of dealing even less damage.
If you're a Tanker on this, you're reduced to a taunt-bot. No, worse; you're a taunt-bot that has to run around like a &!*#ing ant being chased by a magnifying glass on a sunny day.
Great way to make players feel like they have "the powers of the gods". /sarcasm
.
It's a giant F.U. to melee in general and to Tankers specifically.
None of the melee ATs can stand next to her long enough to really contribute significant damage. If Scrappers and Brutes can only muster hit and run jousting, why not just replace them with a ranged AT who can be attacking at all times, not just when the death puddles decide you should. Woe to the Stalker who tries to use AS. |
If you're a Tanker on this, you're reduced to a taunt-bot. No, worse; you're a taunt-bot that has to run around like a &!*#ing ant being chased by a magnifying glass on a sunny day.. |
So it is a kite fight and not a tank-and-spank. Doesn't mean you don't want a tank, doesn't mean your role is only as a taunt-bot.
The flame spots are not Maiden's only damage. Her attacks have a 40%+ chance to hit softcapped characters and she can 2 (or 3 depending on build) shot a SR scrapper. I felt a lot safer the time we took her with a tank. Yes the flames got him once. The time we used dual scrappers one or both were paste the whole time. Several times it wasn't the flames that got them (us as I was one) it was maiden herself.
Long story short "too late!" On this fight, the tanks role is different, that doesn't mean the devs hate you or that it isn't important.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
It's a giant F.U. to melee in general and to Tankers specifically.
|
None of the melee ATs can stand next to her long enough to really contribute significant damage. If Scrappers and Brutes can only muster hit and run jousting, why not just replace them with a ranged AT who can be attacking at all times, not just when the death puddles decide you should. Woe to the Stalker who tries to use AS. |
Once moved, you can get an awful lot of hits off during Phase 1 (Enough that a mostly-melee team, 2 tankers, 4 scrappers, 1 dark/dark def, 1 kin troller I was leading took her down to 50% and into Phase 2 in only 2 patch spawns, which is simply one movement.)
During Phase 3 its a little more rapid, and its a case of not queuing up attacks, but there's plenty of times to get off a few quick attacks or one heavy hitter and being able to move as soon as the warning circles appear. A brave/foolish melee toon can get 2 or 3 slow activation attacks off at BM before they really have to move, it's not exactly like Ghost Widow's encounter without someone to range-taunt her, where every attack needs to be retreated after.
And Tankers, my heavens does this encounter ever show the devs contempt for them. The puddles don't really care about resistance or HP differences. "Tanking" Battle maiden? She really doesn't have much to speak of in terms of direct damage. A Scrapper with Confront and a jet pack can do the job. What advantage does a Tanker have in this over a Scrapper? None. You're just as squishy, but you get the "privilege" of dealing even less damage. |
This encounter shows more use for Tankers due to the -range component in Taunt, not to mention that there's most likely going to be heavy-hitting sword mobs around that can flatten a squishy with ease. A Tanker is going to be fighting BM with a bunch of other mobs floating around them because only the Tanker can effectively ignore these mobs and not get two-shotted by a combination of the flying swords defence debuff and BM's painful To Hit chance.
And doesn't have much in direct damage? I'd invite you to go toe-to-toe with BM and look at your logs after, she has a brutal melee attack that does about 1k+ damage, it's on a slow recharge so doesn't hit often when soft-capped, but couple that with her ranged attacks, while another AT such as a Scrapper holding aggro on her can't simply flee out of melee range to avoid getting hit, Tankers are able to take it like they're supposed to.
Scrapper with Jetpack? Any AT with Hover?
BM has a ranged attack, the patches spawn mid-air (And deal damage below and above the actual animation of the patch.) So that's really just false.
Quoting for a second time due to the ranged and mid-air,
why not just replace them with a ranged AT who can be attacking at all times, not just when the death puddles decide you should. |
If you're a Tanker on this, you're reduced to a taunt-bot. No, worse; you're a taunt-bot that has to run around like a &!*#ing ant being chased by a magnifying glass on a sunny day. |
If you're just standing at long range spamming taunt on BM and thinking that's how you should be playing for the BM fight, I invite you to delete your Tanker and reroll as a blaster, because you're clearly playing the wrong AT.
Even if you're too scared to actually enter melee range with BM, you still could be cleaning up the sword bosses and holding aggro on them while the rest of your team works on getting BM down, considering the swords spawn all over the map, you'll be too busy running around trying to taunt all mobs to be able to complain that "BM encounter makes me have to press the arrow eyes occasionally."
Great way to make players feel like they have "the powers of the gods". /sarcasm |
Once again a total lie, Battle Maiden can be moved out of a patch, and, she can be moved before a patch even lands.
|
This encounter shows more use for Tankers due to the -range component in Taunt |
not to mention that there's most likely going to be heavy-hitting sword mobs around that can flatten a squishy with ease. A Tanker is going to be fighting BM with a bunch of other mobs floating around them because only the Tanker can effectively ignore these mobs |
And doesn't have much in direct damage? |
I'd invite you to go toe-to-toe with BM |
Some of us like to do other things than just stand still facing a AV while we cycle through our power tray while watching tv or with eyes closed. |
If I wanted to be squishy and play poke-n-run, I'd be on my Stalker.
you can come back to play challenging new content |
.
hit-n-run is a hard concept for some people
flyers aren't safe from the blue patches of death either...kinda weird seeing the strike land in midair...
the unresistable damage is a bit much imo
lack of buffs may be problematic as well while there are ambushes and swords coming at you.
I do like this fight, but a uncoordinated team will likely fail this since it's not a simple "tank and spank"
Dude: it's possible to do with melee.
Learn to kite.
It's THAT simple. I've done with 4 melees and myself. The trick? Don't stand there tanking the flames as a champion of scrapper-lock.
Hit her a few times, run. Hit again.
If the tanker is good, he'll make her run out of the flame patch, thus allowing the SCrappers to keep dealing damage.
If anything, I prefer scrappers since the can stand being toe-to-toe with the swords. The squishes die too fast, sometimes the tanker can't really do anything to protect the squishes since there are so many mobs.
As for her "not moving out of the patch"....that only happens when people spam -imm or -slow on her OR if the tanker doesn't move out of her range.
It's that simple.
Tell people NOT to use imm or -slows and you'll see her moving well enough.
Last but not the least: I enjoy "tank-and-spank" fights. But as all in life, too much is too much. A change every now and then is good.
Apex is a change for regular fights. For example, Tin Mage is a simple tank-and-spank, the difference is that it has plenty of AVs.
But Apex requires you to move, requires you to think out of the box.
Move around. Hit her when you can.
Enjoy a different fight.
If you don't like it, well, there's like...a bajullions AV fights/TFs that are all as you enjoy: Tank and Spank.
BS. She moves only when she wants to move. Call it an AI bug, but I've had a good half dozen runs now where she'll sit down in 2-3 overlapped patches and laugh at Taunt. These were at times when there couldn't possibly have been immobs on her.
|
You are wrong. The -range component is in every melee AT's taunt power, not just Tankers. As far as this encounter is concerned, it doesn't matter which melee AT taunts. |
Swords can't fly and have no ranged attacks. Cheap Jetpacks means they can't touch anyone. Anyone can "ignore" them. |
At range, no she doesn't. A Scrapper with a Jetpack or Hover and Challenge will do just fine. |
And why wouldn't the scrapper be doing damage on BM? Unless there are no tankers/brutes on the team and a scrapper is the one taunting her out of patches, there's no reason for the scrapper not to be doing damage on BM.
Even without any sort of taunt powers, if no players are within BM's melee range, no patch will spawn there on the next wave, so while that supports your arguement of "Ranged can attack all the time." It doesn't make melee toons obsolete as they could still effectively fight in waves of melee, and still complete the encounter (Although I'd have doubts if the 15-min badge would be achievable this way.)
Some of us don't like most of our Primary power set being rendered moot and some of us like to use the other powers in our Secondary besides Taunt to FIGHT super villains; not RUN AWAY like ants. |
May it suffer the same fate as the Shard TFs and other examples of "challenge" that were wastes of dev resources. |
They also changed the Hamidon raid based on players responses, and Hamidon was originally designed to be achieved differently but an error on the Dev's behalf allowed the tactics of stacking holds.
Even during the beta of Apex, the damage from blue patches, the damage from BM, and the damage from Orbital Strikes were all scaled back because of how overpowered they were.
The Devs in CoX respond well to the community of players, and if melee or tankers were obsolete during Apex, such issues would had been addressed during Beta. It's not exactly a "waste of resources" but more that the playerbase try or want to do things differently than the devs had planned.
We ran it and ultimately failed the first time >.< got it just tonight though
On my inv/axe I had little trouble. He is almost (and when build is complete, will be) softcapped to all but psi with 1 mob in range, I found taunting the swords and champions to be more useful than taunting BM. Swords were wiping squishies to the floor if they were allowed to run free.
Oh, and bring Envenomed Daggers! the last Apex BM fight I was on, was truely epic, and those made it possible xD
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
The OP asked what we thought about the Apex finale and I answered. Stop trying to change my opinion.
It's a massive 'screw you' to Tankers and it validates everything I've ever said that devs marginalize Tankers and force on them a pointless sacrifice of making them hit like little girls in exchange for their dubious job of aggro control and taunt bots in servitude to the other ATs.
The new TFs should die in a fire. In fact, they should die in several blue overlapping non-resistible nanite damage fires, buffed by Bobcat's Vengeance.
.
It doesn't marginalize Tankers.
Maybe it does marginalize BAD Tankers or BAD meleers but that is not the Dev's fault now, is it?
three places where you can move BM out of patches without having to go to max range and waiting for her to stop attack animations.
Middle use the bus, gives you all directions of moving her, if its clear of patches.
Right Car, also great for hiding out of LoS, not so much room to move about though, good to use while the bus is covered in patches.
Left and Other left bit tricky to use these spots, but theres some points/angles on the fallen communication pole that BM can't shoot you, so will move to the post, where you can then move again to move her around it.
The OP asked what we thought about the Apex finale and I answered. Stop trying to change my opinion.
It's a massive 'screw you' to Tankers and it validates everything I've ever said that devs marginalize Tankers and force on them a pointless sacrifice of making them hit like little girls in exchange for their dubious job of aggro control and taunt bots in servitude to the other ATs. The new TFs should die in a fire. In fact, they should die in several blue overlapping non-resistible nanite damage fires, buffed by Bobcat's Vengeance. . |
I almost go to sleep while fighting Reichmen.
"An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of BS." -General George Patton
-Lord Azazel
I'm sorry that you cant just stand there in one place and wail on an enemy ad infinitum. I'll take something that requires a very minimum amount of intelligence over something that is a giant sack of HP that needs to be DPS down.
|
Also, you miss the point that she's STILL a giant sack of HP that has to be DPS'ed down.
Really, for me this is what it boils down to; they say stuff like this:
Our goal with all of this is to make the player feel like an important player in the grand scheme of the universe, and not feel like the universe is stringing him along. With this power, your character will be on par with our most powerful NPCs, but that's not to say there will no longer be challenges for you. |
So what did the devs do? They give Bobcat uber Vengeance that can two shot my Tanker and give Battle Maiden a rapid fire unresistible nuke that will put any of the Judgment attacks to shame even when they unlock.
But I get a minor boost to recharge.
Whee.
These two TFs are intended for the Alpha slot. They should have been tailored to demonstrate how the Alpha has improved us. Instead, IMO it backslides me back to level 25. I'm fighting the same enemies as before, the same NPCs, but they're amped way up and we only get a minor improvement. How is that supposed to make you feel powerful? In fact, if you removed the artificial -8 debuff, having the Alpha would help you very little on these TFs. It surely wouldn't make the difference on its own.
And don't say "wait for the rest of the Alpha". Even level shifted, the sword bombs are still going to slaughter anyone. I highly doubt the modest resistance and defense you'd get from the Very Rares are going to do much against Bobcat.
And don't say "wait for the other Incarnate slots after the Alpha". I know what four of other slots do. So far I am not impressed. Even with the Judgment, Interface and Destiny slots, I would be hard-pressed to call any player character a peer to these NPCs as they are now.
They made us 5% better and made the enemies 300% better. There's nothing to suggest that the two curves will be any different moving forward.
I almost go to sleep while fighting Reichmen |
.
you forgot one thing
run out of the blue flame! seriosuly though the apex last mish is basically hit her 2 times with melee then run out and range attack her until it stops. this really is the first non melee av we have really. just cant stand toe to toe with her in melee range and expect to live. really hurts on the whole smash policy |
She'll charge at you if you don't immobilze her. Saddly, she seems to be VERY easy to immbolize. And when I say that, had a Dark Melee Brute as the only one with an immbolize power, immobilzing her on the TF.
Kept saying "stop that" but they kept saying "but it's part of my atack"
I also find you can get 1 attack off when you see the blue circles forming, another if you time it right as you're jumping away from the blue circles.
Also...STAY OUT OF THE BLUE PATCHES.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Well, the fact of the matter is, I feel weaker than I did before. Before, I could almost take down Battle Maiden on my own. I could at least hold my own against her. Same with Bobcat and Neuron.
So what did the devs do? They give Bobcat uber Vengeance that can two shot my Tanker and give Battle Maiden a rapid fire unresistible nuke that will put any of the Judgment attacks to shame even when they unlock. But I get a minor boost to recharge. Whee. |
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
It's a giant F.U. to melee in general and to Tankers specifically.
None of the melee ATs can stand next to her long enough to really contribute significant damage. If Scrappers and Brutes can only muster hit and run jousting, why not just replace them with a ranged AT who can be attacking at all times, not just when the death puddles decide you should. Woe to the Stalker who tries to use AS. And Tankers, my heavens does this encounter ever show the devs contempt for them. The puddles don't really care about resistance or HP differences. "Tanking" Battle maiden? She really doesn't have much to speak of in terms of direct damage. A Scrapper with Confront and a jet pack can do the job. What advantage does a Tanker have in this over a Scrapper? None. You're just as squishy, but you get the "privilege" of dealing even less damage. If you're a Tanker on this, you're reduced to a taunt-bot. No, worse; you're a taunt-bot that has to run around like a &!*#ing ant being chased by a magnifying glass on a sunny day. Great way to make players feel like they have "the powers of the gods". /sarcasm . |
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Well, the fact of the matter is, I feel weaker than I did before. Before, I could almost take down Battle Maiden on my own. I could at least hold my own against her. Same with Bobcat and Neuron.
So what did the devs do? They give Bobcat uber Vengeance that can two shot my Tanker and give Battle Maiden a rapid fire unresistible nuke that will put any of the Judgment attacks to shame even when they unlock. But I get a minor boost to recharge. Whee. These two TFs are intended for the Alpha slot. They should have been tailored to demonstrate how the Alpha has improved us. Instead, IMO it backslides me back to level 25. I'm fighting the same enemies as before, the same NPCs, but they're amped way up and we only get a minor improvement. How is that supposed to make you feel powerful? In fact, if you removed the artificial -8 debuff, having the Alpha would help you very little on these TFs. It surely wouldn't make the difference on its own. And don't say "wait for the rest of the Alpha". Even level shifted, the sword bombs are still going to slaughter anyone. I highly doubt the modest resistance and defense you'd get from the Very Rares are going to do much against Bobcat. And don't say "wait for the other Incarnate slots after the Alpha". I know what four of other slots do. So far I am not impressed. Even with the Judgment, Interface and Destiny slots, I would be hard-pressed to call any player character a peer to these NPCs as they are now. They made us 5% better and made the enemies 300% better. There's nothing to suggest that the two curves will be any different moving forward. Are you sure you haven't just been Disoriented by his cheating mez attack? . |
First off, if you take out Bobcat first, then you don't have to worry about her being vengeanced
Second off, you can improve, but your enemies just give up?
Tell me again, Batman has always improved, but his enemies haven't. Is that what I'm hearing?
Third, you're character is "powerful" but not an incarnate, they're working their way there.
By even doing that TF, you're character is basically doing what most others couldnt (hence the -4 without the boost).
Of course, that sounds more impressive when you realize that storyline wise, there really isn't a thousand other heroes doing what you've done. But seeing as how this is a MMO with a playerbase over 8, it doesn't seem as impressive, when you see hundreds of others just as powerful
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Dudes, Butane will NEVER be happy. Ever.
He seems only to be happy when he's complaining.
Just let him be.
Worse than the blind man is the man that does not want to see.
If you haven't done Apex tf and don't want to see any spoilers about how the big fight goes, leave now.
Hey Tankers what did you think of the Battle Maiden fight on Apex? My carefully crafted Invul Tank needed a good amount of buffs/heals and insp management to get through it. Invincibility seems almost useless on that encounter since you can't stay in melee range let alone gather up a bunch of mobs.
Basically I just hopped around, chunking boulders at her with some Gloom and taunts thrown in for good measure. I'd joust with Jab (for -res) and Knockout Blow occasionally. That was enough to keep her aggro focused on me. I'm curious if tanks that omitted Taunt because of their aura(s) and Gauntlet were able to keep her attention full-time. Please note I don't ask as a point of some "Tanks must take Taunt" debate, but genuinely curious how it went.
So anyway, I'm just curious to hear from Tanks (of any primary) what they found to work (and not work) for this encounter.
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)