The Rise and Fall of Romulus Augustus
By
Agent White,
Posted on: 2012-04-19 05:42 in Player Questions
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When I was fighting Romulus and his gang, I had them down to Keres, one nearly dead cyclopse, and Romulus himself when I had to bail because my Unstoppable was about to crash. I ran until they stopped chasing me and after I rested and returned, only Keres had gone back up to the top of the bridge (I assume because she could fly). Romulus was waiting down at the base of the bridge and the wounded cyclopse was stuck on a ledge or something halfway up to the bridge. At that point it was fairly easy to finish them off. So that's one way to divide and conquer them.
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Originally Posted by Kurrent
When you get to Romulus, now, it's going to be a fight; I've not yet succeeded in pulling any of his personal mob away without bringing them all, but by the time you reach that point, you know you can beat him.
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If you have the capability to, keeping your NPC allies alive helps -a lot-. So toss them heals, buffs. Destiny is -extremely- nice to have for them (particularly barrier).
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Well, to answer your question... (and yes, this was the strategy I used before my multiple DA runs had netted these characters a nice stable of incarnate abilities - these days my methods are far more 'direct')|
Originally Posted by FallenHero
Obviously, I'm not the OP. But I am curious how others soloed the content without already having Incarnate abilities. Stating that you soloed the content with Incarnate abilities is just...frustrating.
But I am sort of threadjacking so my frustration is irrelevant. |
On my blaster (elec/elec), my build makes heavy use of IOs that give me ranged defense. He's got a ranged defense of about 42.5%. To deal with the "monster clusters" I would "snipe" whatever foe I suspected would pull the least amount of cyclopses. I'd stay put and let whatever got pulled come to me, and hover out of reach, blasting away. The cyclopses have only one ranged attack on a relatively long recharge; the minotaurs seem to have some sort of cone, but for some reason I think they were consistently aiming at me while I was out of range, because they never managed to actually hit me with it.
Frequently the missed attacks on me would trigger the interest of my computer controlled Cim. allies. I'd continue hoverblasting while they moved in to attack. Solaris was especially useful in the fight since her psi damage tended to blow through resistance, even after the bad guys would hit unstoppable.
Ironically, the boss-heavy "elder" fights after the monsters were a lot harder on me - multiple flying, boss-class foes to contend with, so hover-blasting wasn't as useful. I did a lot of "hit Thunderous Blast and run like hell, hoping my allies would intercept the wave of death coming my way before I face planted - which was not an uncommon occurrence."
My brute (ss/elec) was actually a lot harder than the blaster. Basically, I made judicious use of my Tier 9 (to get near 90% resistance to everything), along with defense inspirations (to minimize hits even with the 90% resistance, and that's on top of IOs giving this guy 40% melee defense), and damage. I actually tended to focus a lot more on gathering aggro - running around, throwing whatever AoE's I had, and attacking anything that seemed focused on my allies. I actually relied on my allies to make the kills, and I just kept the monsters' attention as much as possible.
Even then, by the time the monster battles were over, I'm pretty sure only Imperious was still alive. For the "elder" fights (and Romulus) I was *very* patient - take on one group, and let Imperious heal up between fights.
During Beta, I actually tested the mission with a regen scrapper. I couldn't beat it (but that was one of my first attempts, and I quit after the first failure - if I had it all to do over again, I'd be making very heavy use of purples and oranges to max out defense and resistance - heck I probably would even run multiple repeatables to get some super inspirations). Willpower's reliance on regeneration might reflect that regen based characters have a lot of trouble with these fights.
M.A. Arcs
Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice!
)Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)
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I did it with my Time/Dual Pistols Defender. No Incarnate anything. No helpers my first time either, as I knew it gave a badge (and didn't know how tedious it was).|
Originally Posted by FallenHero
How did you handle it *without* incarnate abilities?
Obviously, I'm not the OP. But I am curious how others soloed the content without already having Incarnate abilities. Stating that you soloed the content with Incarnate abilities is just...frustrating. |
I'm not the best example for non-supporty people to follow, though, as I have 30-50% defense to everything on top of -25% tohit on enemies (and 47% smash/lethal resist and -25% damage on enemies). And I have a lot to give to the helpers as well, so they become an unstoppable force when I do bring them.
The mission was just irritating for me, not really hard. Once it became obvious how long it would take to kill all of the minotaurs and cyclopes, I decided to just herd them up so I could kill them more quickly with AoEs.
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This was apparently the trick I was looking for. I swear I tried this before but I had my companions too close and they would close for the fight all the time because the creatures followed such bizarre pathing in the zone. This time I tried it again and I no trouble at all finishing the mission. I didn't face plant once. It was almost embaresingly easy using this technique.|
Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Go to -1, that is a *huge* help v. Bosses.
Break up the group: 1. Outrun your helpers so you can pull by yourself. 2. Aggro a boss from the spawn, and if only that boss follows, great. Lead it to the others. If more than one follows, out run them till they give up. As they walk back to their spawn point, you can now hit one of them and just that one will follow... the others are committed to return to their spawn point. |
Of course, there is a part of me that feels that hitting one retreating guy to break him off the rest is an exploit. But I really don't feel too bad about it considering I had very little chance with a more traditional approach.
EDIT: Thank you to everyone for all your advice!
I did this with my T4 kat/SR scrapper. I specifically took elude for DA content since I don't want to eat a purple in every minute. I did this as +4x8 but I was alreadt +3 shifted at this point. No helper.
It took me around 10 minutes to kill all cylops and minotaurs and around 16 minute to finish whole thing. I had barrier destiny so when elude blinks i was using conserve power than barrier, pop up a blue and retoggle. I think end fight was relatively easy since after a certain point everyone was running away and jumping down making it easier to solo them and ironic enough it was always cyclops left at the end.
I tried doing this with helpers but at +4x8's they die at the second or third mob not even reaching to monsters.
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I didn't say I handled it without incarnate abilities. But frankly I could have. I wouldn't have been playing at +3 and it would have taken me a lot longer, but the only incarnate slots I would have really missed would have been alpha and destiny. |
Originally Posted by FallenHero
How did you handle it *without* incarnate abilities?
Obviously, I'm not the OP. But I am curious how others soloed the content without already having Incarnate abilities. Stating that you soloed the content with Incarnate abilities is just...frustrating. But I am sort of threadjacking so my frustration is irrelevant. |
And if you don't have ANYTHING slotted in alpha by the time you get to this mission I have to ask why not? There's no way you could get that far along in the DA story line without having gotten together enough components and threads to at least be tier 1 alpha.
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@Inquisitor
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Well then I clearly don't understand this stuff. As I see it, you can't use threads for any of the early alpha components, they all require shards. You don't get shards from these missions, you have to buy them with merits from completing arcs. You have completed only 4 arcs at this point, only 3 of which actually give an option for a merit or component reward. If you select a component reward, I have never seen an alpha component offered as an option. So I disagree, it is more than likely you won't have an alpha to slot by the time you get here if this is your source of incarnate materials. Now if I have missed something I would love to hear about it.
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Originally Posted by Mr_Morbid
And if you don't have ANYTHING slotted in alpha by the time you get to this mission I have to ask why not? There's no way you could get that far along in the DA story line without having gotten together enough components and threads to at least be tier 1 alpha.
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Alpha slot abilities can be crafted with either shard based or thread based components. You need to scroll down past the shard based recipe to see the thread based recipe.|
Originally Posted by Cybernaught
Well then I clearly don't understand this stuff. As I see it, you can't use threads for any of the early alpha components, they all require shards. You don't get shards from these missions, you have to buy them with merits from completing arcs. You have completed only 4 arcs at this point, only 3 of which actually give an option for a merit or component reward. If you select a component reward, I have never seen an alpha component offered as an option. So I disagree, it is more than likely you won't have an alpha to slot by the time you get here if this is your source of incarnate materials. Now if I have missed something I would love to hear about it.
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Edit: Going truely solo on this particular mission (by which I mean having not having help from either the npc's or other players) is probably not intended for those who aren't well decked out with IO's. I'm sure some players with the right builds could do it, but having good set bonuses is probably more important than the incarnate abilities. The controller I ran it with has tier 4 core spiritual, but I get a lot more extra recharge from set bonuses than from the alpha slot.
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@Inquisitor
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Thanks. Good to know.
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Originally Posted by Mr_Morbid
Alpha slot abilities can be crafted with either shard based or thread based components. You need to scroll down past the shard based recipe to see the thread based recipe.
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Definitely possible solo including accepting no help - I actually died a lot less having refused help as I didn't charge headlong into the mobs. Admittedly this was on a dominator with a mix of tier 3/4 incarnate abilities but with minimal defense and no perma dom she is far from an IO'd out build.
I would believe that with care someone without any incarnate slotting running on SOs could do this although it would require a lot of care especially if no help was accepted
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
I solo'd all of the DA stuff at 0/x6 with my Titan Weapon / Energy Armor toon that only had their alpha level shift. The mission wasn't difficult...it was just really, really boring having to wait for the Cyclops to drop their god mode.
The entire arc is easily the worst arc in the group.
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I think the single best piece of advice I can give you for soloing this is to let the heroes come along to help you - and then, after the first mob, click on them and see how they're doing. Try waiting a bit to let them regen. It will be annoying, but it's far more likely that they will survive to help if you start each group with them having a full bar of hp.
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Originally Posted by Cybernaught
I guess my question is not so much, can it be done as should it be expected? I can solo all the other content in every other Dark Astoria story arc but this one. Is this expected? Am I missing some trick that would make this doable?
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"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
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If you plan on taking the pets along and want the safe way then pulling the mobs to them will be quickest - they have enough damage to wipe out any individual group taking minimal damage and enough healing to recover from any they do take. The only time they are at risk is if they charge headlong into multiple groups and get overwhelmed especially as they will tend to scatter under those circumstances.
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
I think the single best piece of advice I can give you for soloing this is to let the heroes come along to help you - and then, after the first mob, click on them and see how they're doing. Try waiting a bit to let them regen. It will be annoying, but it's far more likely that they will survive to help if you start each group with them having a full bar of hp.
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Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
Ran this twice today.
Run 1: my BS/Regen scrapper who is +1. Ran it at +0/x2. Everything was going well until Imperious decided to fly into the next mob while I was in another window. I thought we were far enough to rest safely, but apparently not. That dummy (who keeps doing hand claps while we're not near anyone - smart) led us to some fatalities. By time we got to Rommy I think I had two allies left. They fell in the final battle, but it didn't much matter as I was able to finish off both EBs and the remaining bosses.
Run 2: my Warshade, no level shifts. Ran it at -1/x1. Again, everything was going fine - I'd go in, hit dwarf mire, everyone would fire away - until the second-to-last group of monsters. Imperious fell (he was on the periphery of the group). IMMEDIATELY AFTER, Daedalus decided to fly headlong into the next group. I tried to follow, but couldn't grab enough aggro. He went, then Solaris, then me (revived), then Doc, then Airlia, then me again. I wasn't about to take on the final group alone (nevermind the remaining monsters and talons), so I just auto-completed. To heck with that noise.
Between the unavoidable boss-tasticness of that mission and the mind-numbing tentacle mash, this arc does not rank among my favorites.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
I soloed it at default difficulty on my Elec/Dev Blaster without dropping once on the solo route. I hovered and sapped to make life bearable. It wasn't fast, admittedly. I haven't ran anyone else through it, however.
I have been away for a year and a half and im shocked to see this post...I was one of the first to take advantage of Romulus and his weaknesses and had a huge forum debate about my techniques. My technique lead to Romulus being revamped so he doesnt die as quickly.
I am obviously pre-Incarnate...you dont need it...you need to be smart.
I use a Dark Defender...so adjust your tactics accordingly....yes you hear right....DARK DEFENDER...not Tank...not Scrapper....DEFENDER!
Simply snipe away the defenders and take them down slowly...When Romulus is down to his Nictus only...then...this is where many will scream...cheater...
Pull out a Vanguard HVAS and a Longbow Cataphract to add to your damage output....the reason you want these is Vanguard Mech has 75% Stun Resist and Cataphract has 90% so when Romulus Rises and Stuns, your prepared. DO NOT target Romulus until your ready with your mechs. Now with incarnate powers you might have enough damage output but the mechs are there to keep him busy as he rezzes. Some Tanks, Blasters, and Scrappers maxed out on IO's could take him solo pre-incarnate as well, you just need to pack 3-4 Breakfrees.
My method...pull out mechs...lay down TarPatch (lowers his defences) then when i hit him with Darkest Night (lowers his accuracy and those of his nictus) the mechs attack. Soon as you target him directly your pets attack. I follow up with MoonBeam to help the mechs bring him down...if it is going slowly i power up BlackStar (my equilvalent of Nova).
The mechs will take him down in seconds and he will rez...let him stun you...target him again so the mechs go to work on him while you prep a breakfree. Origionally the trick was you could kill him as he Rezzed so he was dead again before he hit the ground...now he is invulnerable until he lands.
Since most wont be defenders or have debuffers...use Warburg Nukes.
You could beat him without all this if your a Fire Blaster, Ice or Stone Tank, or a Lethal Scrapper maxxed out if your DPS is high enough...but it is better to go in over-prepared...call this cheating if you will...but the temp powers are in the game to help you for a reason...and if you want results...this is the way to do it!
The ones who are in the forums calling me a cheater...well half of thier missions and TF's fail for a reason and many never can solo AV's...i can solo all of them...im successful...thats the bottom line...play how you want...i get the job done...even after these others have quit the team. I do NOT abandon teammates or missions.
It's Time For ALL-OUT-WAR!
As an added Bonus for those new and reading this thread...old school trick...take a Shivan with you on Katie Hannon TF...The Shivan will help you take out Mary McComber and her witches fast but save it for the last round or two when things get tough.
OK, i read the first page before making my earlier posts...then i went back to read the other pages...I did not realize this was not ITF...this is what happens when you first come back to the forums after a long lay-off...you become a little dis-oriented with all the new stuff.
But my advice is still the same regarding ANY Arch-Villian...know what your up against and go in over-prepared.
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You also may not have noticed the thread is 4 months old either | I did not realize this was not ITF |
As for the mission in question, it is pretty challenging to solo it - doubly so if you
don't have any iStuff at all.
On the upside, if you do go the solo route, you don't have to worry about the
idiot NPC helpers aggroing everything on the map
Cheers,
4
PS> IBTL
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Did this one with two characters both wee T4 in all slots except hybrid. My wharshade had a little bit easier time with monsters than my kat/sr scrapper only because it is better AoE toon. I didn't die in both characters but it took a LONG time to kill monsters more time on each spawn than the final spawn. I used lores and judgement on first spawn of monsters and my lore was recharged when I reached to romulus.
As I recall, I did this on one of my fully tooled-up fire tanks, and forgot before I entered to lower it from +4x8.
So I just shrugged and powered on through.
I remember dragging the surviving cyclops from each spawn to the next one.... I was way over aggro cap through most of that.
Good times.
Difficulty is relative. Every toon has challenges, every toon has things that are easy.
I think that adding the new I24 "undying NPC" tech to this mission would help quite a bit.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
There's no doubt this is one of the toughest non-TF/SF missions in the game running it solo, but it is doable. You don't need to be purpled out; my main (an elec/energy/elec blaster) isn't, and she did fine soloing it without any NPCs. But you have to bear in mind that I've played my main since the game came out eight years ago, and I know just how to work with her; that's the biggest reason I was able to do it. Level shifts are a HUGE plus on this mission, definitely, and you have to play smart and with patience. I'd say take a few days and get your Alpha slotted with a T3 and try it again, focusing on pulling a few at a time out of the large mobs as you go. I bet your experience will be much more enjoyable at that point, and when you beat that mission, you'll have a badge you'll be proud to display.
I've pulled Rommie solo from the group. A few times I've pulled the Keres with him, but only once did I get the Cyclops or Minotaurs when I pulled.
It helps that I'm ranged and can fly, but I think it can likely be done by a melee AT with a ranged attack (EPP's come to mind) and a bit of practice.
Target Rommie from on the ground after beating the last group that is on the ground level. Don't go up to where he is standing with the rest of the group.
Stay at the farthest range of your longest ranged attack (hover or flight helps as only a few of the helpers will elevate with you but SJ works well if you queue up the power out of range and jump until it fires then retreat), fire it and immediately retreat. That will pull the helpers with you and usually pull Rommie alone. Sometimes the Keres will follow as well, but that's only two to deal with, still much easier.
Repeat for the Keres, pulling away from the others. Then you can pull or just rush in and take on the remaining mobs with your helpers.
EDIT: As with Kurrent, I'm doing this on my main that I've been playing for 8 years. I don't have an uber build on him, I just know what I can and cannot do for the most part. It can be done without a level shift, but I'm sure the shift makes it easier. Patience and playing smart are the keys.
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