Speed Run Help - Stand still or run back and forth/around?

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can give an insight to this as it's something I haven't come across before since I started Speed Running Brayflox HM.

So, when pulling a group of monsters to be DPS'd down, I usually run back and forth or around the general AOE/DPS radius to "delay" some of the mob's hits to stay alive.

One of the runs I was in a party member had asked me to "stay put" and that "if we stack you won't take as much damage". At the time I wasn't sure but decided to just go with it, and it seemed to work.

My questions are 1. I'm still not quite sure what he meant about the stacking and 2., is it generally better to "try to avoid hits" within a group of mobs (basically the only way I've ever done it lol), or stand still and take the hits?

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Depends on the group, generally speaking though, from my own experience, it's a lot better to avoid as much of the AoEs as possible, as they hit significantly harder than the basic attacks from the mobs, just try to keep the mobs in the same spot if you can. The DPS and the Healer really shouldn't be getting hit, except by gliders in BL, which would be the point of stacking in order to let the healer if they are WHM use Cure III.

The first pull of mobs you should circle and kite the pack around a little, delaying their auto attacks and of course, get yourself out of the cone AoE attacks the raptors employ.

Not sure when your healer asked you to stay put, probably it's the pull after the first boss, which are all the goblins. They hit generally lighter, so it's okay to stay put. And the reason to stack is because like previously mention, they don't hit that hard, and secondly, the gliders just hit random party member all the time, so your other membres get damaged as well. Stacking will allow your healer, presumably a WHM, to cast Cure 3 effectively.

It depends on the group. If there's a monk or dragoon in the party. You want to try and keep the mobs grouped, but still try to avoid aoe damage by moving behind the group, that way the mobs are still stack and in position that it doesn't effect monk or drag. So if you had either in the group you were asked to stand still so monk and drag could dps the mob.

cure3 on gliders is nice but the radius is big enough that you can still run around a bit anyway

only reason to stand still would be a PLD trying to get the most out of his shield

It has been my experience to avoid the AoE's and specials (cones, radials, etc) when speedrunning. Makes heals happy, happy heals = smooth run imo. For first pull in bray HM, I grab everything and run to the log just past the bridge, staying outside range of dirty bush and monkey. Going there eliminates the big bomb from the gobbie tank, then I'll position my camera overhead and zoomed out so i can see all those lovely special indicators, move as needed, but stay as tight as you can. The better the mobs are grouped the faster the DPS can burn them down. After that first pull, the rest of the trash pulls are just standing there, no moving.

If you don't stay out of AoE's and get an unfortunate chain of crits and fall, well we all know what happens next. WHAAAA! So the DPS can suck it up for one pull so you all can proceed.

Just how I do it and my thoughts on it.

Syn

First Pull: with the AoE from the Eoraptors and the Gobbie Machine, the little patch of grass before the ramp is a nice spot to hunker down. I usually stay targeted on an Eoraptor and stun his AoE. Probably a pointless detail, but I've found that if I rotate my targets on the Eoraptors, I an stun their cone and ultimately move around a lot less. Also. Don't be afraid to cast hallowed ground there; it can be a pretty intense pull.

Goblins after boss: So easy as a PLD. Grab them up and move into the alleyway. Bulwark + /laugh FTW. You SHOULD stay still for this pull (imo). Bulwark will block a lot of the damage coming in. They can't interrupt ur attacks so after u flash enough hate on them, stoneskin and riot blade them. Also, Foresight + Convalescence works really well here. i have seen a lot of PLDs fail this pull also because they forget to turn Shield Oath back on after switching to Sword Oath for the boss.

Coeurl + 2 Gobs: Simple, just tank them.

Coeurl + 6 Goblins + Gobbie Beak: Pull the Deep jungle coeurl with whatever u like. I shield lob the coeurl, then the first three goblins going up the ramp. Flash the 2 goblin soldiers, shield lob the sniper, and use CoS once the gobbie beak comes into play. Then, if you used Hallowed Ground on the first pull, it should be up again now. Use it. This can be tricky depending on party composition. If you have a melee, the Coeurls circle AoE is going to be a massive PITA. Focus them down. There shouldn't be any other AoE to deal with beside the gobbie beak.

Really the only time where moving around is an issue is the first pull. U will have 4(?) Eoraptors with the cone AoE and the Gobbiemachine attack. If you don't lock onto your targets, running backwards can be the best way out of AoE range. If you cluster all of them up, just run through them. The gobbiemachine attack only does about 600 damage I think so if you eat one or 2 to the face it will be ok.

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Originally Posted by Synestr

It has been my experience to avoid the AoE's and specials (cones, radials, etc) when speedrunning. Makes heals happy, happy heals = smooth run imo. For first pull in bray HM, I grab everything and run to the log just past the bridge, staying outside range of dirty bush and monkey. Going there eliminates the big bomb from the gobbie tank, then I'll position my camera overhead and zoomed out so i can see all those lovely special indicators, move as needed, but stay as tight as you can. The better the mobs are grouped the faster the DPS can burn them down.

Syn

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I have gone up to the top of the ramp and the gobbiemachine still attacks, does it really not attack if you go to that log? Thats really good to know.

That is correct. Go past where your going just a bit, not far enough to aggro those two, just in the space past the gate and before the log. No gobbie boom boom.

Also you don't have to pull that last courel if you don't want. If you have everyone gather to the left of the boss door and tank every thing there the courel will not aggro anyone. Excuse the crude diagram:

CLICKY

The courel will come up to just outside the gate, so if your not near it set up like this he won't aggro. That's only if you don't wanna hill him ^^

There's a little offshoot next to the creek and opposite from the colibri patch that gives you a little room to move, not aggro the last 2, nor aggro the colibri that I make my home. Avoids bombs, gives you a LITTLE space...and keeps mobs fairly grouped.

And Synestr is 100% right on that last Couerl...I've tried both corners of that area and where he pointed out is absolutely safe as long as you don't have mages standing in the middle of the area.

To the 2 players above me:

I just tried that. I CANNOT believe I did not know that. It didn't really shave much off my time, however it is just less taxing on the group as a whole. I stood there and barely moved.

theoretically can't you just kill the goblins and lockout all the mobs? Sleep them and melee the gob that holds the key?

the cat and monkey immue to sleep, no idea about raptor and gob

Tried sleeping everything on different occasions. Seems only that one mob right before first boss can be slept. Everything else just shows up as immune.

I guess SE learn their lesson from WP xP

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Originally Posted by Lord_Zlatan

Coeurl + 6 Goblins + Gobbie Beak: Pull the Deep jungle coeurl with whatever u like. I shield lob the coeurl, then the first three goblins going up the ramp. Flash the 2 goblin soldiers, shield lob the sniper, and use CoS once the gobbie beak comes into play.

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With the final area, I usually aggro the footman, as it's the one that spawns infitnite beaks. The 2 gobs come along with it, then I run and grab the other gobs near the last gate just by flashing. After that I take the whole mob to the east spot and just sit while blocking/parrying/RoH/CoS. Usually the mages will stay away from the pathway as to not aggro the cat. Simplest way I've done it and it usually takes less than a minute to clear them.

yeah but the Coeurl is fun to kill! At least makes it somewhat interesting.

On a side note, a good way (if they wanted to) to end speed runs of this place would be to give every single goblin in the instance bomb toss. Pulling 9 goblins with the ability to throw a bomb at anyone would certainly make things more challenging.

I'm just amazed that some people pull everything in that first area to the door. For my static group I just pull to the ramp, have DPS get the key then sprint to door, ignore everything else and lock out all the other mobs for the boss. I think takes about a minute from the start of "Duty Commenced" to get to the boss. We don't kill Raptors, but we do kill that first Coeurl and only the goblins.

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Originally Posted by Luna-Elysia

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can give an insight to this as it's something I haven't come across before since I started Speed Running Brayflox HM.

So, when pulling a group of monsters to be DPS'd down, I usually run back and forth or around the general AOE/DPS radius to "delay" some of the mob's hits to stay alive.

One of the runs I was in a party member had asked me to "stay put" and that "if we stack you won't take as much damage". At the time I wasn't sure but decided to just go with it, and it seemed to work.

My questions are 1. I'm still not quite sure what he meant about the stacking and 2., is it generally better to "try to avoid hits" within a group of mobs (basically the only way I've ever done it lol), or stand still and take the hits?

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Not sure if its been said or not but first pull should go like this:

First off you FLASH or Shield Lob (i sprint and flash cause sprint takes all TP) and CLAIM each and every mob. I go as tank, healer and blm for speed runs and so many times i'm on healer and blm the tanks wont claim the mobs and its so much more work on the healer and risky on the dps if you do not claim them as you run past them

Please for the love of Eorzea EVERY tank claim your mobs....

Second, run and flash all of them and move up the ramp to the river (dont pull the last two mobs before the door or the birds off to the left. Stay close to that right wall just in front of the river) and make a sharp right and wait just a moment for the mobs to get almost ready to do their aoe attack then pop hallowed ground and gather them all around you (standing in aoe and all that fun stuff since HG is up) and flash them to generate massive threat then pop your cool downs (i start with rampart and convalescence) and keep the mobs aoe pointed away from the party as they heal/dps through it. Dps should be high enough you wont need foresight (which can then be used on the first boss pull. You will probably only need sentinel after rampart and conv. fall.)

Buff if needed (bulwark etc) and riot blade to get MP and flash some more for the remainder of the pull.

Second pull you buff big and do the same thing (flashing as you pull) and if you can cover the healer.

I will repeat it again...

If youre a tank, flash claim your mobs when you run past them they should all be red (the name color of the text should be red indication you indeed claimed them) stop being a derp and risking your life, the healers life and the dps life.

In Brayflox I tend to move around in a tight circle... with lag the aoe's don't show in time often enough, but if I'm on the move, most of them don't hit me. I'm usually trying to do everything I can to maintain hate that I can't be looking for aoe' anways.

I usually just stay within the Shadow Flare's AoE.

Running around in circles wont help you aside from avoiding their aoe conal/circle abilities. The mobs auto-attacks will hit you regardless of where you are relative to them and they also run faster than you do unless you're sprinting. So there is no benefit to running around unless you're seeking to piss off your monks and dragoons.

Well, if you don't want to be shamed and named in public like a certain someone did before, better follow the guy's advice. And surprisingly that that certain someone does not get what he deserved, lol. Then again:

1/If I have melee Dpser, I will not Speed run, maybe 2 small pulls instead of one whole.

2/If your DPser are caster, feel free to do as you please, as long as you are within LOS, not aggro unnecessary mobs, not facing mobs toward them, nobody will really care if you run back/forth or circle.

3/There is a problem with Caster DPs or ranged DPS that they stand too close to the mobs group unnecessary, making the space for tank movement to doge the AOE even smaller and make is so hard to avoid them without getting ranged DPS getting a hit or two if they are not aware and tunnel vision, either I have to stand still and take hit or let them get hit just because they are too close to the groups...

When I'm speed running you better be avoiding aoe's because I'm gonna be in Cleric Stance, Holying the shit out of everything! If I have to come out of that because the tank is standing in aoe's, then it's not a proper speed run.

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Originally Posted by Odd

When I'm speed running you better be avoiding aoe's because I'm gonna be in Cleric Stance, Holying the shit out of everything! If I have to come out of that because the tank is standing in aoe's, then it's not a proper speed run.

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"But but but I have to stand still, so that I don't piss off our melee DPS to avoid having my name written on the Hall of Shame in public" heard from a little bird.