Kokoroon Quickfingers - Staggering Epic Fail

Now... I'm a relatively new 50 MRD.

I failed ... epicly at Kokoroon solo right after I watched a 36 GLA solo him. I'm pissed because I feel like I cannot hit this mob when it counts. Blood Bath II, Raging Strike, Skull Sunder II = Miss, I pop Ferocity and Trunksplitter II and get some HP back to basically put me even to where I'm getting butt kicked making it entirely a wasted effort besides the 300-500 damage I just did and now I'm down 1500 TP. I swing like mad to get enough TP to use a off a Bloodbath I and a Skull Sunder II to get some HP back. Pop down to my second bar and use Healing Wind. Oh man, I'm out of TP and Stamina AND I'm in the yellow. I use a couple cures to get back into white. I use Invigorate and try to get my TP up. Man that just took some stamina away, I get TP back up at the cost of depleting my stamina bar. Hmmm neither Bloodbath timer is up. I'm getting my tail kicked again. Pop a couple more cures. Hmmm neither Bloodbath timer is STILL up. I'm STILL getting my tail kicked. More Cures. Finally Bloodbath timer is up. ... Hmmm do I use Disorient II to make sure it connects... it uses sooo much stamina ... I'll chance it and go without. Blood Bath II, Raging Strike, Skull Sunder II = Miss ....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!! WTFOMGBBQ

This ensues for a few more minutes until I find myself back at the Aether in Uldah feeling only happy that no one was there to witness that atrocious effort. ... And then I come here and post about it!

Now the million dollar question is, do my skills need tuning, point allocation (see below) need tuning or is it simply the fact that I and many others feel MRD as a whole needs some tuning. I feel like I cannot keep TP up (this is especially true on the big NMs like Dodore and Uraeus that you do with a team. If I ever have to use Maim ... I have to skip every other battle regiments, b/c I don't have the TP.) I cannot keep stamina up. I feel like I'm constantly missing or constantly waiting for the stamina bar to refill.

The run down on me:

I have 35 PUG, which I'm bringing up next for reasons long enumerated in other threads. I have a 25 THM and 20 CON so I have their Cures. I have Invigorate from LNC. Working on getting Siphon TP from THM. Soooo close to Second Wind II.

I have 120 STR, 110 DEX, 100 VIT, 60 INT, 50 MND and lol PIE.

I'm using STR rings, which are probably stupid and I should get Dark Silver considering I couldn't hit the broad side of school bus if it landed on top of me. All the usual gear fixins: Vintage Haub, Calvarly Sollerets, Tarred Leather Pants, Iron Gaunts, Engraved Bhuj. Hopefully I'm in the queue to get a Tricorne b/c I seriously think we have like 50 skins.

Tips? Constructive Criticism? Seriously ... If it wasn't for my good buddy Tai I wouldn't have a a single piece of Rank 35 NM gear for my "lower" classes.

MRD NM fights are all about the long game. Foresight II and Fracture II are your friend. Only stack Bloodbath II and Maim with Hawk's Eye to ensure you max the HP return.

Stygian Spikes is your friend, keep an eye on your mp and don't think of Cure and Sacrifice as healing spells, think of them a stamina regen (as the stamina cost to cast them is so low by the time the spell is cast it's like a stamina boost). Take your time, watch the battle log so you don't miss a Fracture opportunity and remember that Brutal Swing II > Trunksplitter II.

For this particular NM I'd add Absorb Acc and Absob Eva to your action bar with the focus on Absorb Acc and using Absorb Eva when you can.

Swap your STR and VIT stats around, ditch the STR rings and invest in 4 HQ Silver Rings and use an HQ Engraved Bhuj.

I wouldn't use Disorient II as the stamina cost is too high, this particular ability is for party play only (to assist the tank) in my mind.

Kokoroon is PGL so he often uses light strike, that boosts its EVA alot. It has extremely poor accuracy tho and no knock back skills, so i'd suggest you to try and have him straight tanking him ASAP so you can have steadfast up. Once its up, he becomes a fruitcake.

Be sure to have foresight II activated as soon as its up and do not spam actions so you can fracture II popping as soon as you tap it (since heavy swing has a long animation lock you might lose fracture window id you have to wait a queued heavy swing). I can pop like 5~10 fractures in a row on him...pretty much 1 swing 1 fracture.

Skull sunder II is also very good. You mught use only these 2 WS most of the fight...no 1k TP WS is really needed.

And when your TP reach 2500+ (it eventually will since you will be getting TP faster than you use with skull sunder and fracture) just pop a bloodbath > ranging strike > ferocity > hawk's eye > Maim for healing.

As DRK-style MRD i can assure you absorb spells help alot...in special Absorb EVA and ACC. I often pop all 4 absorbs right before going into maim combo to maximize damage (and healing), followed by both siphon so i recover most of the MP spent with absorbs and will have 675 TP to start over the fracture/skull sunder deal.

But worth saying...if you have a LNC in PT forget siphon TP...Twisting Vice kills any possibility of it working so its best to have him using Conrade in Arms. If you're solo, have invigorate equipped. It gives TP over time (like FFXI's meditate) and will help you keeping TP up.

About gear, i use full iron cuirass set, leather skirt, 4 darksilver rings and engraved +1. My allotment is 134 STR/80 VIT/82 DEX/17 INT/80 MND/80 PIE. As traits, Fastcast, the PGL one that boosts healing (forgot the name), both STR ones and sometimes DEX ones too. This leaves me with 150 STR total and about 100 DEX (i don't remind the specific DEX).

Hope this helps ^^

EDIT: Lol i just noticed i said the very same Grundy did. Well, at least it proves that this fighting style works! =P Should've read the intire topic before reading. Great minds think alike i assume! =P

lnc was able to do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV-at1z8r1E

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Originally Posted by Lienn

Great minds think alike i assume! =P

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Damn right! XD

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Originally Posted by ZenGetsu

lnc was able to do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV-at1z8r1E

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Playing LNC properly is sick, TP returns are nuts - it's by far my favorite class in the game at the moment.

Well, I was going to post the same thing as Solomon and Lienn. But I'm slow, as usual. :)

Only a couple other things I'd add.

First, in terms of traits, I equip Prime Conditioning (which you get from Pug). It gives more HP per heal. That's always good. (I see Lienne mentioned it, but couldn't remember the name ^^.)

I, personally, had my Dex a bit lower (around 90) and my Vit a bit higher (around 115). But to be honest, I don't know if anyone except SE really knows what effect the attributes have on accuracy and damage. So I can't say my set up was better than yours.

I'd actually disagree with Solomon on Disorient II. While I think its usefulness if often limited, when you've got a high evasion target like Kokoroon, I think it's actually useful. But like Solomon implied, it's only useful if you can spare the Stamina.

As in just about every other Marauder thread, try to stack accuracy. In addition to switching the Str rings for Acc, I'd suggest accuracy food, too. When I switched to an HQ Engraved Bhuj, the difference was remarkable.

And it's been said a few times, but it's worth repeating -- when stacking skills before Bloodbath 2, be sure to include Hawk's Eye. (I'd usually throw a Disorient II in there, too, just to make absolutely sure it hits. And since stacking Raging Strike, Ferocity, and Bloodbath doesn't take any stamina, you can usually spare the Stamina for Disorient.)

As soon as I hit with Maim, I'd usually start building TP. Pop Invigorate. Hit a few times. Then Skull Sunder II. Go back to building TP. You can usually pop a few more Weapon Skills before the Maim wears off. And then you're ready to do it again: Bloodbath/Maim, build TP, Skull Sunder II, build TP, rinse, repeat.

If you start running low on MP for cures, use Stygian Spikes, or Siphon MP.

Something else to consider -- Those yarzons nearby? Don't avoid them. Pull them in. At 50, they're not going to do much damage, and you can use them to build TP. Either cast provoke/Disorient/Warmonger to pull it in, or just run over to it and Kokoroon will follow. Then use Broad Swing to hit both Kokoroon and the Yarzon, and you get double the TP from one swing.

And be patient. Sometimes you're just going to have a tough fight. But have fun.