Pit Champion (Splitpaw)

[Tur]

<DIV>I'm 0/2 with this guy; a lvl 46 Pally with decent gear. I went in last time with agi and strength potions: still no luck. Anybody taking this guy down?</DIV>

[Jasazick]

<DIV>lvl 36 pally - decent gear myself, all spells appiv or adept1</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>0/5 so far, got his health red once, but ran OOP and got toasted</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Stormreaver]

Got him down to 5% twice before dying. This guy is harder then when I soloed the named orange ^ mobs in D'Morte Buraial Chambers... He seems to enrage when you get him low and tears you apart.

[GidionSWE]

im 5/0 on this guy so far...hes hard sometimes so ill be sitting at about 20% hp almost 0 power and one other time i had close to yellow health and about a bubble of power (whitout using LoH-line spell) <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I do have some nice gear (and mostly adept 3's) in general but key for this guy is my Screamin mace...that weapon just rocks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good luck. </DIV>

[HavoK6]

<DIV>I was able to do it a 2nd time, the key is the guy casts and heals, so stun him, and interrupt his attacks, have your LoH equivalent up, and CONSERVE mana, I beat him with like 2% power and 25% health as a 49 Pally.  Cast all your defensive buffs and go after him.  If you have the health, manastone helps lots, SM helps as well, as well as a weapon that procs for extra damage.  Use HO's whenever possible and try to get Hero's Armor.  If you have a good 2H, try to beat on him with Sword/Shield until his power goes out, then whip out the 2H and go to town on him.  Best advice I could give for him</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Epxyz</DIV> <DIV>49 Paladin</DIV> <DIV>Mistmoore</DIV>

[Dwergux]

I'm 1/0 with this guy atm. It's a very tough fight and I don't see how most of the melee players should take this guy down. I think paladins ought to have the best chances due to being able to heal and ward themself, yet still be able to dish some dps. My strategy was trying to bring him down as fast as possible, whilst being in the best defensive setup (Shield + Screaming Mace, Benediction active, some other pieces of armor for disease and poison resist) and try to keep up my health using heals (the lev 30 training heal works great in endurance fights for it's mana efficiency). I had to use my self heal and virtuous touch to win the fight and really couldn't have done it without the procs of the Screaming Mace. When the fight was over I have about 25% health and 10% power left (the power was because the mace procced a few times near the end of the fight) <div></div>

[Aenari]

<DIV>I'm 3/0 and confused - I didn't realise so many people are having difficulty til just now I read the boards and see all the posts about the difficulty for many folks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm 45 paladin, used a pristine imbued ebon greatsword.  My only adept 3 skills are Devout Aid and Refusal of Grace, everything else is App4 and Adept1.  Packing ebon armour for chest and legs, everything else is fulginate.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The fight was tough and fun, but I'm not sure how come so many folks are having trouble.  I don't even use LoH during the fight.  Definitely use HO's, though.  And Devout Sacrament.  But I get the feeling I must be getting horseshoe rolls for resists or something?  I've been on a break from EQ for four months, so my gear is definitely outdated.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[MeridianR]

There are a couple ways to look at this fight, like someone said above take him out fast, or the way I have beat him the last 3 times. Wait it out until he spends all of his power.  He likes to cast a lot, and he will heal/ward himself so I just stuck my dots on him and then waited it out. From start to finish this is what I did: ** Note ** I am L50, so sub out the lower level spells for what I am using -- Buffed myself, and also used my potions (Str/Sta and agi) and rings (agi, str, sta) -- Hailed the NPC to start the fight -- When The Pit Champion is targetable, I threw up Display of Devotion. -- Did a HO with Condemation [Adept 1] (Slashing/Crushing debuff) and Zealous Preaching [Master 1] (for Divine Debuff) -- Hit Sworn Strike and Implacable Wrath -- Auto-attacked, and healed when needed (if I got below 50% I would Pious Aid [Adept 3]) - I also used Devout Sacrament fairly early so I could have it again if needed -- As soon as he was out of power, hit the debuff HO again -- Nuke him until your @ around 25% power -- Auto-attack, and heal when needed (while you regen power - I used the manastone here, because my health was up) -- Rinse Repeat the nuke hard tactic, until you have enough power for a couple heals if needed (which is about 300 power) The first time I did need to use my LoH Training Spell, but the other couple I did not.  The main tactic here (you can get there how you want <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) is to have enough power left when he is drained. Again these were my tactics, some people might have used other ones' and done just as good <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Also FYI the reason some people take him out a lot easier, is because of the proc that there weapon does. Using Bloodfire the Boil Blood proc isn't the greatest..lol <div></div>

[AaronSnow]

I am also a lvl 46 pally, and i am 0/3 against him. All spells are at least adept1 or higher. Gear is all player crafted expect, SBS, Jboots,fishbone, and EBBC(Only try and use when he is out of mana - but not sure if thats the best tatic. Hits very hard when health gets low.  I can only get only get this guy down to about 5%, then im toast. Beginning to wonder if 46 is just a bad level to try this. Alos, knowing SOE's past record, i cant wait till the combat changes <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[MeridianR]

<span><blockquote><hr>AaronSnow wrote:I am also a lvl 46 pally, and i am 0/3 against him. All spells are at least adept1 or higher. Gear is all player crafted expect, SBS, Jboots,fishbone, and EBBC(Only try and use when he is out of mana - but not sure if thats the best tatic. Hits very hard when health gets low.  I can only get only get this guy down to about 5%, then im toast. Beginning to wonder if 46 is just a bad level to try this. Alos, knowing SOE's past record, i cant wait till the combat changes <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div><hr></blockquote>Yes he does tend to hit pretty hard when he is out of power, so I would keep the sword and board equiped at all times during the fight.  If you don't have a fabled 1h or The Screaming Mace, maybe an imbued fulginite is a decent way to go for this, since a lot of your damage is from auto-attack. (the proc would help a bunch)</span><div></div>

[Talbot]

<DIV>If you go at this guy with a 2h from the start...  You will probably fail.  The key is start out with shield and 1h.  Conserve power and basically just heal yourself initially.  After he is out of power...  Iif you feel fiesty enough, you can switch to 2h.  During the fight I just used imbued ring buffs and standard pally buffs and Agil food and drink.  No potions were needed.</DIV>

[Paintball33]

as far as i know no one has beaten him on our server (Lavastorm, and i was told this 2 days ago). I've yet to try it.

[Dasein]

<DIV>I took him out without any trouble with a level 50 pally, using SBS, screaming mace, imbued rings of str, sta and agi, but fulginate armor and mostly app 4/adept 1 spells. I didn't notice anything too difficult about him - he hit hard sometimes, but no harder than other mobs I've taken down, and I was able to keep myself healed while gradually wearing him down with an HO/DoT combo, which is my standard for attrition fights. Having the Screaming Mace proc a couple of times is a big help, of course, and really makes a huge difference when soloing or in a small group.</DIV>

[Roble]

<P>I have killed this guy many times.  I tried every difficulty level and they all seem the same to me.  The rewards were the same as well.  I use a shield (Kiteshield of Domination) and my Screaming Mace.  I have had no problem at all, but all my gear is Fabled, so that helps.  </P> <P> </P> <P>I know some lesser equipped 50s were having trouble with him, but most were not Paladins.</P>

[Moonreft]

<P>killed many named by letting them run out of power first, I'm going to try him today useing the same tactic. I dont have screaming mace yet but the fabled gear I have should make up for the power I wont have.</P> <P> </P> <P>GeB's = the win on all named mob's i have soloed before the revamp now that its only +5 I dont think its worth it.</P> <P>I'll post results</P>

[Rilk]

<DIV>I just beat the Champion.  I thought I'd share what worked for me.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm a level 44 Paladin.  I'm in active guild, but not an uber guild.  All of my gear is common Tier 5 stuff, or what we could quest.  The nicest thing I own is an imbued BP.  I think I bought everything I didn't quest for a grand total of about 60 gold.  My point is, I ain't uber.  Anyway, on to what I did....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The trick here is definately to be patient and run the guy out of mana.  I just turned on auto attack, and used one, cheap combat art over and over to kick off Heroic Opportunities.  I used Devout Sacrement as soon as I got to 60% health.  The fight was so long that it recycled.  Other than that, my only damahe output was auto attack.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I did use Lay Hands, and other than that I just healed myself every time I got into the orange.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I used a shield for the fight.  I also swung by the Hand of Marr camp in Nektulos and spent under a gold on tokens of defense.  You can also get the NO RENT potions out of the solo dungeon there which recover health and mana.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That's basically all I did.  My whole plan was just to out-last him.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'd suggest getting an imbued BP.  Even if it's just fulginate, the proc went off at least half a dozen times, and that's a lot of free HP.  The fulginate ones aren't too expensive on my server.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope this helps.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> - Rilkar</DIV>

[yzyh]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Dwergux wrote:<BR>I'm 1/0 with this guy atm.<BR><BR>It's a very tough fight and I don't see how most of the melee players should take this guy down. I think paladins ought to have the best chances due to being able to heal and ward themself, yet still be able to dish some dps.<BR><BR>My strategy was trying to bring him down as fast as possible, whilst being in the best defensive setup (Shield + Screaming Mace, Benediction active, some other pieces of armor for disease and poison resist) and try to keep up my health using heals (the lev 30 training heal works great in endurance fights for it's mana efficiency). <BR><BR>I had to use my self heal and virtuous touch to win the fight and really couldn't have done it without the procs of the Screaming Mace.<BR><BR>When the fight was over I have about 25% health and 10% power left (the power was because the mace procced a few times near the end of the fight)<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Wait after the paladin DPS nerf. We wont be able tos olo him anymore,

[lisasdarr]

<div></div><span><blockquote><hr>yzyh wrote: Wait after the paladin DPS nerf. We wont be able tos olo him anymore,<hr></blockquote>Yes we will, because it is not a DPS nerf, it is an overall balance; our DPS may be going down, but our tanking ability will increase or we will get other new skills / buffs which will make up for it. Try looking at the bigger picture, instead of assuming 'the sky is falling' young master Little.</span><div></div><p>Message Edited by lisasdarren on <span class=date_text>07-03-2005</span> <span class=time_text>01:26 PM</span>

[BlackW]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> lisasdarren wrote:<BR> <SPAN><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> yzyh wrote:<BR><BR>Wait after the paladin DPS nerf. We wont be able tos olo him anymore,<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Yes we will, because it is not a DPS nerf, it is an overall balance; our DPS may be going down, but our tanking ability will increase or we will get other new skills / buffs which will make up for it.<BR><BR>Try looking at the bigger picture, instead of assuming 'the sky is falling' young master Little.<BR></SPAN> <P>Message Edited by lisasdarren on <SPAN class=date_text>07-03-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>01:26 PM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>For Adept III+ Spells and combat arts, our dps may actually go up.   For starter spells and combat arts, expect dps to go down.  Our power efficiency should increase for higher lvl spells and combat arts, thus increasing our dps.  Spell and combat art upgrades should also include special boneses, increased hate, interruption, stun etc.   If you were thinking of investing a lot in rare items, you might want to invest in spell and combat art upgrade rares. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The power efficiency is huge for soloing.   Right now, the higher lvl the spell or combat art, the more power it uses, this lowers our dps and soloing ability.   I was told that power consumption will be reduced for spell and combat art upgrades, especially Adept III+ thus increasing our power efficiency.   The less power we use per spell or combat art, the better we can solo and the more damage we can do.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am looking forward to soloing the splitpaw trials with my high elf paladin.   He is designed to be a strong solo character.   We will see how well he performs.</DIV>

[RiotActer]

<DIV>I'm 3/1 so far.  49 Pally - Dying the first time we met.  I did have him down to 1% health and I had 36 hitpoints.  Couldn't get my FBSS off (that thing is darn expensive to fix).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I went in there thinking he'd be cake after the first mobs I faced.  That and my warden friend (49 as well) just finished the "Difficult Arena".  This guy is NOT setup for Melee.  The damage shield this guy has is pretty rough.  I'm not sure was it is...  Magic, Physical, Divine, or what...  We don't have any fury's in our guild...  But he's gotta be a fury.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I asked the warden how he's doing it.  Basically he turns off melee and nukes.  Granted he can't double digit melee so it's not a huge loss.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Each time I beat him is was the "hide behind the board" till he's low on power.  Did the DoT HO over and over.  Used all the big heals.  The 8 minute one I used early. Since it's only solo mob, doesn't get interruped.  Don't go into the fight w/o the 2 big heals being up.  Fight him with a procing weapon.  First time I died, I was using a runed ebon mace...  Good stats but no proc.  Used my imbued assult axe the 3 times I took him down.  Don't nuke right away.  Save your power for heals till he's out of power.</DIV>

[Valian1]

<DIV>im 1/1 with Pit Champion (fought once won once). I used potions that raised my AGI, STR, STA and WIS to help, used Screaming Mace and SBS when i fought him. Wasnt too hard of a fight, with Efreeti Boots i can constantly keep myself warded yet he is powerful, fight ended with me at about 35% hp left with 20%+ power left.</DIV>

[Pathin Merrithay]

<DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, a somewhat cheap trick, but for those having major difficulty...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Get into a group with individuals of lower level then yourself, and then enter the solo arena. The encounters in the arena will scale to average group level as far as I could tell. We discovered this purely by accident while waiting for a 6th guildie to arrive. 3 of us went in to run through solo arena fights, (Myself, 45 Pally and 50 Troubador) The troub and myself found that each mob was 1 level less then the previous battles (And I'd fought through it 6 previous times without change) while the 45 Pally was immediately facing 47 and 48 mobs. We apologized profusely. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Jam]

<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>Managed to beat the champion yesterday on my 6th attempt, I found him to be one of the most challenging solo encounters in the game and harder than a lot of group mobs.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>I was a 48 Paladin with mostly fulginite gear except an ebon breastplate and all my spells adept 1 or app 4.<SPAN>  </SPAN>The thing I lacked the most that I think would make this encounter a lot easier is power regen items.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>After trying many different tactics the one that worked for me was:</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>Start off with sword and shield and continuously spam through HO’s, but only using very low power combat arts (I cycled between <SPAN>Shatter Will and<B> </B>Divine Judgement)</SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN>and finishing with the first taunt we get that uses about 9 power. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>Every time my Hp went below 60% I used our heal spells to get back to green, I kept this up until I rang out of power at which point he was down to about 20% hp. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>Now, from the previous 5 attempts I could always get him to this stage and the trick here I found out is to kill him as quickly as possible, I realized once your out of power its not long before he kills you and certainly not long enough to kill him with a sword and shield and using any power regen for heals, he simply hits to hard and has too much hp.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>So as I was just going into my last bubble of power I used the remaining to heal myself to full HP and switched to EBBC (any good 2 hander will do) which gives a large amount of auto attack damage and carried on with the HO’s power permitting.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>I didn’t heal once from now to the end of the fight, I just concentrated on dps and ended the fight on about 35% hp 0 power.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>Anyway hope this helps</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3>Jamenn 49 High Elf Paladin - Splitpaw</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#ffffff size=3></FONT> </P>

[Pilo]

Well, I just beat this on the second try at level 32. The difference between the first and second was that I finished PGT in between.  I have rare shield and bp, everything else is middle of the road standard issue gear.  I fully buffed up, even to the point that I was using my dark elf (yes, I'm a dark elf pally) racial ability DS, moved in at just used autoattack.  When I first hit 60% I fired off my big self heal thinking I'd probably need it again.  Then when I hit 50% I fired off LoH to get back to 90ish.  Then I healed myself with our regular heal everytime I dropped to yellow.  The whole time the only spell I cast on him continualy was our dot.  He ran out of power a lot quicker this time than last time.  At this point I was nearly full health and about 60% power with him near 70%.  I used only effecient attacks from that point on healing when necessary.  I ran out of power when he was around 25% and I just kept swinging and swinging praying for a PGT proc.  I finally got one but was at a point where I had to heal.  Then I slowly waited for the pwoer to come back up chipping away at him (pgt dps sucks) and finished him off with my only adept 3 spell, oathstrike.  I probably had 30% health, 0% power when he died.  PGT only went off twice the whole fight, and once was at the very begining when i was full power helping me only with str and the ward.  Fight lasted just under 5 minutes, so didn't use self heal twice. Well, I am pleasantly surprised at the prize!  I didn't know I'd get a little friend out of the deal.  Only seen one other person with it so far. <div></div>

[EQg]

<P>Thanks MeridianR, your strat was right on! NIce of you to share with all of us <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[Harovan]

<div></div>2/0 so far without the slightest difficulty. Both times came out with roughly half of my power left. Level 50 with halfway decent gear, fabled breastplate (not the top notch, but second tier fabled), 3 ebon (1 imbued) and 2 rubicite armor parts, LJBoots. 2 imbued ruby rings (str+agi), 2 linen dolls (ruin+shadow). Screaming Mace (had some nice proc's) and SBS. No potion used (sorry, alchemists). Strategy similar to MeridianR. Buffed up and waited for full power. Struck him with full arsenal of combat arts as welcome, debuffing him and doing some HOs. Then dot, auto-attack and self-heal as necessary. Used the level 30 training heal (Renar's) for its awesome efficiency, +499 health for only 99 power. Hexed him with ruin (mitigation debuff). Shadow (slow) didn't stick. When he went out of power, I was almost back at 100% power. I started bringing him down with Sworn Strike and Refusal of Grace (both Adept III), chaining HOs. I neglected on heals during this, because clearly I was hurting him more than he me. When he died, I was orange (~1/3) but as I said, would have enough power left to heal up if things went rough. I think the Screaming Mace is the bringer. At lower levels, the PGT might be a good idea. Although its damage is not the best (being dual wield and all), the power and ward proc is well worth it, and most of our damage comes from combat arts anyway. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Harovan on <span class=date_text>07-05-2005</span> <span class=time_text>09:57 AM</span>

[FrozenEnzyme]

Has anyone taken out the "difficult" version of this mob. I've only tried once and I got him to about 20% before he started wrecking me, haven't tried potions yet... <div></div>

[Alarion1]

I am still have a time with this guy. Currently, I am a level 35 pally. First time (was level 34): Just went mostly all offensive. Pulled out the HO's, the Oath Strike and several heals. Also tossed my DoT (implacable wrath) on him when I could. I got him to 11% before I was OOP Second time through (level 35): I tried the same strat but used Gnoll Masters Rage this time. He immediately debuffed it <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I got him to about 30% or so, as he landed a few more hard hits. Third Time: I went all defensive. I opened with a ward on myself, GMR and a hex doll on him (slow his attack rate). I just kept healing my self until he was OOP. Well, that worked ok but it got me down to 50% power, and his health was maybe at 80%. I started doing heroics and other spells/combat arts. The problem is within 10 seconds or so, he did close to 1k damage to me. I have about 2k hitpoints. I can't heal fast enough to cover the amount of melee damage this guy puts out and I end up burning all my power on trying to heal myself. I got him to 48% this time. Apparently, not the best strat for me with my current gear <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Gear-wise, I am average I suppose. Mostly crafted/quested. No fabled or anything. No imbued weapon (using weakend ghoulbane). My mitigation is around 46-47% and my avoidiance is like 59.6% Any ideas? My next attempt will be with a hex doll that snares, and maybe a power-regen potion. I am wondering if I can kite him around some and try to avoid his melee. Have any of you tried this? <div></div>

[djhbeek]

my advice:  don't do ANYTHING except heal til he's oop and sometimes for the whole fight.  I run a couple of HOs and use only my most mana efficient spells to speed it up a little.  the best luck i've had is being entirely defensive.  and heal instead of ward, it takes your armor into account so its more mana efficient.  if you still can't keep up, you may be out of luck ... <div></div>

[Tur]

<P>I don't know if it's a display issue on my end or what, but I often can't see the power bar of MOBs I'm fighting . . .</P> <P>That said, I can't help /boggle at the coding feat that makes this guy just <EM>barely</EM> within the capabilities of each class considering all the countless variations of gear, potions, spell levels, dolls etc. Amazing . . .</P>

[djhbeek]

The power bar only shows if the mob has less than like 75% of full mana ... if you're getting beaten pretty quickly, you won't even see the bar show up. <div></div>

[Alarion1]

or just install another interface. I am able to see a mob's Power at all times <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div>

[Icona]

<div></div> <span></span>50 Pally all fulginate (imbued chest and legs)Journeyman boots; sbs and anchient ebon longsword (treasured); sandblasted maul (fabled); all spells and skills app IV or Adept I except for divine aid (master) score: 0/5  I had used my 2 hander everytime before. This time: bought a mana potion (30second duration - kinda worthless) - buffed up with everything, switched to sword and board - got my squire and cast the shield buff spell on him (told him to protect me - what a joke <span>:smileytongue:</span>) - hailed the gnoll - as soon as he could be tageted I used the long range pull, tossed my ward and HOed - used mana potion - took it slow - heals and HOs - DoTs when they were ready - when he was out of power I switched to my 2hander (thanks for the idea Talbot) used the manastone and prayed. - heals, HOs and Dots and ALL my heal spells later He fell and I had a SLIVER of red on my health bar, Best fight I have had in a long time. Gonna try again today to see if I just got lucky. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Iconath on <span class=date_text>07-05-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:49 PM</span>

[Ludarian]

<DIV>44 Pal here and I was 0/3 on this guy until just now.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have SBS and an pristine imbued cedar club (just as good as ebon longsword, much much cheaper).  I made several small changes this time around.  I bought an imbued bloodstone stamina ring andI used the lower level taunt for HOs and the lower level shield bash for stuns to conserve mana.  And I finally remembered to hit Gnoll Master's Rage when I started my offensive, after he was out of power.  I was startled to see how much of a difference Rage made.  It was deffinitely a deciding factor.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good luck.</DIV>

[Rilk]

<DIV>Yeah.  When I took my /respec I was in Zek a lot and took orc.  Now I'm wishing I had stuck with gnoll.  ... oh well.  I beat him without it.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> - Rilkar</DIV>

[Darki]

I beat him on all three difficulties with out any problems.  I didn't use much of a strategy either, I just burned off my power and beat him down as fast as I could. Full Ebon gear with Fabled boots, Sabatons of Forification.  I used my Screaming Mace for the power procs and my Fabled Kite Shield of the King.  Adept 3 Pious Aid, Sworn Strike, Refusal of Grace, Shatter Will, Divine Judgement.  Kasine's Enlightened Piety, Adept 1 everything else.  STR/STA/AGI rings, STR/STA dolls. <div></div>

[SK_Phantas]

<DIV>I havent read all the previous posts, so this might be a repeat.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I fought him and died on my first attempt, without using any real strategy. I got him down to red health, but i was out of mana.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>On the second approach I made sure I had up weapon proc buff, pious belief, and benediction.</DIV> <DIV>I pulled him with my hex doll which slowed him.</DIV> <DIV>I used my Devout heal (5 min timer) as soon as I took 1000 damage.</DIV> <DIV>Then I tanked him with PGT and shield, using little mana, trying to keep his health just above 50-60%.</DIV> <DIV>Once he was out of mana, I laid the boots to him. Since he couldnt heal himseld, I took him down pretty easy - still had 25% mana and my LOH, however it did take more then 5 minutes, so my devout heal was avaliable again.</DIV> <DIV>The PGT helped, it went off a couple times giving me back more mana.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Moral: Tank him till hes out of mana, then lay the nukes to him.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was level 45 at the time, with pretty much all ebon armor, cedar shield, etc, so pretty good stats.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[GidionSWE]

<DIV>I've beaten the pit champion about 14 times now, and i dont use the defensive strat, i basicly go all out, a couple of times things havent gone as planned and i changed strat accordingly, but usually i get off with using devout sacrament (adept3) and no more heals. I doubt this would be possible if i didnt have screaming mace but the thing is, i do hehe. Ofcourse i guess Shimmering star BP (got it off of xiggalg not RV rats) and ring of removal (34 hp regen/tick) helps alot aswell. </DIV>

[Rhianni]

<P>0/1 at level 33.  Got him to 12%.  Next time I will have potions and have bumped up 3 spells that I had ignored while exploring splitpaw.  I'm pretty sure I can take him next time. I wasnt paying attention to when his healing spells should have been interrupted. </P>

[Auron]

<DIV>so far undefeated against the very difficult one, my strategy is pretty simple, i only use sworn strke and refusal ( both master ) for dmg output and i just use pious aid ( adept III ) to keep myself up till hes oom. then just burn him down, always use a shield and my 1hb.  hope that helps <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Oakbr]

<DIV><EM>The trick here is definately to be patient and run the guy out of mana.  I just turned on auto attack, and used one, cheap combat art over and over to kick off Heroic Opportunities.  I used Devout Sacrement as soon as I got to 60% health.  The fight was so long that it recycled.  Other than that, my only damahe output was auto attack.</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM></EM> </DIV> <DIV>Your strat worked for me tonight at lvl 45.  I switched out Clarion Call for our cheapest taunt...not like I need to hold aggro on this guy, and that made a huge difference in power management.  I pulled him with the clicky slow from my Doll.  Hit Gnoll Master's Rage as he was incoming.  Started HO chain with either Implacable Wrath or Shatter Will, finished it with Taunt, once he was out of power I used Refusal of Grace a few times.  It was still a tough fight, and had I not gotten a timely proc from my PGT, I'd have lost again.   Really had to pull out every trick in the book to take this guy.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As someone else noted, casting the squire so you can use Aegis of Hope helps.  I've got decent gear--imbued ebon BP & Legs, ebon shoulders....my shield needs replacing (ebon kite shield), Dolls with +str and +sta, rings imbued with str, sta, and agi, and full defensive mode buffs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I think I might be able to take him with a two hander when I upgrade to imbued ebon.  It hits harder than the feysteel I'm still using, and the proc is bigger, too.</DIV> <P>Message Edited by Oakbrow on <SPAN class=date_text>07-07-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>12:21 AM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Oakbrow on <span class=date_text>07-07-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:27 AM</span>

[Jasazick]

Boy I sure don't have luck with this guy. I just hit level 36 and upgraded the heal to adept1. I have tried getting him offensively AND defensively without any real success.I suppose I will keep reading the posts here in an attempt to find some strategy that will help me knock this guy out. my level 22 (lvl 20 at the time) fury had no trouble beating him, but I would assume he has less of a punch at that level even factoring out the level scaling. I suppose my armor and weapons could use some upgrading, i was hoping to make it a little longer before I had to upgrade but oh well, not the end of the world by any stretch. <div></div>

[Saneos]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> lisasdarren wrote:<BR> <SPAN><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> yzyh wrote:<BR><BR>Wait after the paladin DPS nerf. We wont be able tos olo him anymore,<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>Yes we will, because it is not a DPS nerf, it is an overall balance; our DPS may be going down, but our tanking ability will increase or we will get other new skills / buffs which will make up for it.<BR><BR>Try looking at the bigger picture, instead of assuming 'the sky is falling' young master Little.<BR></SPAN> <P>Message Edited by lisasdarren on <SPAN class=date_text>07-03-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>01:26 PM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Balance Schmalance.   If some other class is too weak, work on bringing their skills/buffs/defense/dps up.   If mobs become too easy, increase the level/hp/dps/skills of the mob.    There is NO excuse for Nerfing someone's character that they've spent a lot of time and energy on.</P> <P>By the way, you contradict yourself.   You say "it is not a DPS nerf"  then, "our DPS may be going down".   It can't be both, make up your mind.</P> <P> </P>

[lisasdarr]

<span><blockquote><hr>Saneos wrote: <blockquote> <hr> lisasdarren wrote: <div></div><span> <blockquote> <hr> yzyh wrote:Wait after the paladin DPS nerf. We wont be able tos olo him anymore, <hr> </blockquote>Yes we will, because it is not a DPS nerf, it is an overall balance; our DPS may be going down, but our tanking ability will increase or we will get other new skills / buffs which will make up for it.Try looking at the bigger picture, instead of assuming 'the sky is falling' young master Little.</span> <div></div> <p>Message Edited by lisasdarren on <span class="date_text">07-03-2005</span> <span class="time_text">01:26 PM</span> </p><hr> </blockquote> <p>Balance Schmalance.   If some other class is too weak, work on bringing their skills/buffs/defense/dps up.   If mobs become too easy, increase the level/hp/dps/skills of the mob.    There is NO excuse for Nerfing someone's character that they've spent a lot of time and energy on.</p> <p>By the way, you contradict yourself.   You say "it is not a DPS nerf"  then, "our DPS may be going down".   It can't be both, make up your mind.</p> <hr></blockquote>You see any reduction in DPs as a nerf, I don't. If our DPS is too high for our role then it need to be lowered, it is not a nerf. As to just buffing everything else, that is not a good way to reach balance, sometimes things need to be reduced as well as increased, again this is balance and for the good of the game, it is not a nerf. If your character is better than every other Paladin on your server, then after the changes they will still be. Remember a reduction in damage has the same effect as an increase in mob health, but it doesn't carry with it the other complications that increasing a mobs health can. The changes, whatever they may be, will not make your characters worth go down in real terms, unless you were really out of balance in teh first place, and even then you should thank the devs for thinking of the game as a whole and not complain that you are not as god like as you once were.</span><div></div>

[Mad Marty]

<P>I lost the first time - but then changed my stratgy and beat it. I am level 50 mostly ebon - no fabled stuff, no masters.</P> <P> I used the screaming mace and shield (SM procs certainly helped) and conserved power.</P> <P>I hit him with my big nuke when it was lit - but nothing else. He used all his power posioning me and so in the end game he could not heal himself.</P> <P>Since I had been conserving my power I could heal and that won it for me. It was quite a long fight.</P> <P>Not sure I could have done it with the SM procing.</P> <P> </P> <P>Good Luck all</P> <P> </P>

[Avigat]

<P>One piece of advice, not just for this fight, but anywhere.</P> <P> </P> <P>Clarity potions!</P> <P> </P> <P>I'm lucky to have some nice power regen items, but even so, it's nice to know going into a tough fight that I can squeeze out that extra power for another heal or 2.</P>

[nickw]

1/0 here. Was it luck or skill? who knows!. I was lvl 24 at time and have full set of Steel Vanguard which certainly helps. Just lots and lots of HO's and healing. Used no potions. <div></div>

[GilfalasElaandrin]

<P>At 39 I am 1/2 on the champion (beat him first time) and he loss was a very, very, very near thing. I was at about 1% life and he had no red in the bar when I died. Had I hit once more I am betting it would have been a win.</P> <P>I had to use my self heal both times and used my LH on the second fight. I think the difference was that my slow landed on him from my fright doll when he was incoming to the arena on the fist fight and it did not on the second.</P> <P> </P>

[sk8erbob]

<P>one 3 times lost 1 time</P> <P>first time i fought him i thought he be easy so i hit him as hard as i could (BAD IDEA) got owned fast with no chance </P> <P>second time i just ran out his power by healing and warding </P> <P>third time did same as second</P>

[Starbuck_Jon]

<P>Beat him on my second try.</P> <P>Im level 25 and all my gear is normal player made stuff (handcrafted)  My sword is a steel imbued long sword. and is the only non "handcrafted" listed peice of gear (sword shows as legendary).</P> <P>I had no potions or hex dolls.  </P> <P>When the champ came into view.  I put toughness, gnollmasters strike and my ward.  I waited for a pulse to get all my mana back then charged.  All I did was hit auto attack and cast my heal.  I did not use my ward after the first casting.  In my experience the ward does not get any bennifits of mitigation, so the extra hp from the regular heal goes further.</P> <P>I let the proc from my sword, buff, and master strike do all the work while I simply cast my heal over and over till he was oom.  Once there I would cast HO's.  I used quick strike and taunt to pull them off and cast my heal as needed.  In the end I had about 50% life and 0% mana.</P> <P>I did get an HO off for heros armor, but it was in the last part of the fight.  Im sure it helped, but it was not the deciding factor.  If I had to do it again.  I think I would swap out some of my jewlery to even my resists.  Some like heat and disease are 650. but others like magic and divine are only 330ish.  Looking back at the spells slung.  I think 500+ in the last two would do better.  A power regen potion, and better than average drink would make this a no brainer.</P>

[Kherval]

<P>50 paladin here and I just beat him on my first try, with no problems at all.  I pulled with Refusal of Grace (would probably use Implacable Wrath next time) then dropped a debuff HO on him (Condemnation / Zealous Preaching).  After that, I hit him with my stamina doll to reduce attack speed, dropped a HO with Implacable Wrath, then hit him with my strength doll to reduce his mitigation.  Then I used cheap HO's, used Devout Sacrament early, just to be safe, and just kept the HO's going.  Soon though, I got bored and dropped a few nukes (Refusal of Grace and Sworn Strike).  I noticed these were dropping his health by the same % as my power, so I just hit those as often as possible, since I was already ahead of him.  I tried to drop in a few interrupts/stuns and finally he ran out of power.  Once he was out, I went on the offensive, and nuked as hard as I could.  I used LoH just to be safe, but didn't really need it.  He dropped quite quickly and I finished with about 25% health and 10% power.</P> <P>In terms of my spells, I have Adept 3 Refusal of Grace, Sworn Strike, and Pious Aid.  I think these made a huge difference.  For equipment, I've got imbued ebon breastplate and leggings, the rest fulginate armor, the usual jewelry, imbued cedar club, and Kite Shield of the King.  So, no power regen to speak of.</P>

[djhbeek]

yah, he's nothing like he was ... i used to have to soak up damage and conserve power until he oop'd ... now i just nuke the heck out of him so that he wastes mana on heals and wards instead of damaging me. ps. hi kher! <div></div>

[Kherval]

<DIV>Hey Mith! Yeah I never had a chance to try him before he got nerfed I guess.  I was too much of a slacker to get the adventure pack when it first came out.  About to try very difficult to see how that goes...</DIV>

[Virt]

i really dont see y people have problems with him, the first day splitpaw came out i beat his [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] and i was down 2 shards <div></div>

[Kutark]

<DIV>I've gotten some very interesting info off a lot of these posts.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I just recently took him down, had about 10% health left.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The way i did it after 4 tries was to go all out offensive.  I use 7 different dmg spells as well as "Mammoth" a legendary 2h wep, pretty decent for 2h.  I will usually get him down to about 5% by going that route, then its just a matter of beating the rest of it out.  Usually what i do is use my normal buffs, add all 3 proc spells we get up to this point, use gnoll master's rage, and then penitent sacrament (great spell, almost no mana, like 400 heal almost instantly).  I've had to use LoH every time, and again i was only succesful 1 time out of 5.  Now, i tried 4 other methos, basically pure defense, and a couple combinations of offense and defense.  This has worked the best for me.</DIV>

[TooSwi]

I haven't had any problems with this guy.  I just burn him down with RGF. <div></div>

[Phatt]

I just cant beat this guy... I've tried so many different tactics. I've got all legendary tier 4 armour and the Ghoulbane and a fabled kite shield and I still cant win. I've even leveled inside the solo arena so the guy was only 1 level above me and I still couldnt kill him. I've tried going full out burning mana, i've tried sitting back and let him hit me while I ward myself. I just dont know what im doing wrong. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div>

[djhbeek]

well, heals are more mana-efficient than wards ...might as well let some of that armor do some of the work instead of the wards. <div></div>