T8 Towers; how DF does it/should do it

[GeekMatt]

There's some good discussions in the guide I posted above and I'm pretty sure it mentions doing just that, I'll look into it again.

And that's not a bad idea, I'm on most weekdays after 5PM~ EST, and most weekends. Unfortunately I won't be on until later tonight, if at all, currently en route to my sisters Bday dinner. I will look you up when I get the chance, I normally do stuff like this with my FC peeps, but not many are there yet, so I'm just having fun with it while I help them catch up.

[Kuwagami]

snip

the general DF consensus on Chaos Datacenter is usually "activate Dread before Mines before anything else"

If you put the A and B markers on the towers, and explain where and when to go, it's usually pretty good (people wipe on ballistic no matter how much you explained though >< )

snip

not totally wrong, but not totally right either.

Each time two towers gain a level together, the boss will get a damage buff. That's why you "activate" them to give them some stacks in advance. That way the boss won't get buff. You don't need to stay in the tower after activating it (each activation gives a debuff on the people in it so it's easy to know how many stacks there are ^^)

If two towers fully charge at the same time (either ignored or receiving the same amount of stacks), you'll get a special reward : atomic ray ( 30k raid wipe )

That's my understanding. My only concern is when to trigger the AOE towers during the third phase to avoid eating damage during AF.
You should look me up in game so we can put together a party of like-minded individuals.

if you activate the last tower right when AF pops, it should explode before the next AF and prevent the wipe

[KarstenS]

As long as the towers are being activated, Avatar will not receive a buff.

Thats not correct. The towers have to be out of sync that the boss gets no buff or goes enrage.

[GeekMatt]

the general DF consensus on Chaos Datacenter is usually "activate Dread before Mines before anything else"

If you put the A and B markers on the towers, and explain where and when to go, it's usually pretty good (people wipe on ballistic no matter how much you explained though >< )


not totally wrong, but not totally right either.

Each time two towers gain a level together, the boss will get a damage buff. That's why you "activate" them to give them some stacks in advance. That way the boss won't get buff. You don't need to stay in the tower after activating it (each activation gives a debuff on the people in it so it's easy to know how many stacks there are ^^)

If two towers fully charge at the same time (either ignored or receiving the same amount of stacks), you'll get a special reward : atomic ray ( 30k raid wipe )

Thank you for the clarification, this is what I thought originally and what confused me was WHEN does two towers being at the same charge cause the boss buff/wipe, because it's inevitably going to happen as we push charges. So what you're saying is as we stand on the tower we rush the additional charges to that tower. Then every time the towers gain a charge naturally, if they hit the same number of charges, that causes the buff, and if they both full up at the same time (5 charges) then we wipe... So basically push them in any order as long as 2 towers aren't ignored or forcibly charged by the same number of stacks (otherwise it's buff/wipe during next natural charge). So now it's just a matter of timing the mechanic you want to deal with.

if you activate the last tower right when AF pops, it should explode before the next AF and prevent the wipe

When you say "activate" you mean force x number of stacks, or ensure that it's at 5 stacks when AF pops?

[Mercutial]

Sorry.. I should have been a bit more clear. I understand completely that tower charges need to be out of sync. Meant to say that as long as someone is pushing one of the towers in the first phases, they will be out of sync and Avatar won't receive a buff.

[Kuwagami]

snip

if you force 2 towers to get a charge at the same time, the avatar will still get a buff (it's not restricted to natural increase).

When there are 3 towers, the usual way to do it is to make 2 people go in the tower you want to fully charge first and then 1 person in the 2nd tower. If you are quick enough, the 3rd tower shouldn't have had the time to get a natural charge and thus you won't have to worry about the boss getting a buff.

But yeah, it's basically this

So basically push them in any order as long as 2 towers aren't ignored or forcibly charged by the same number of stacks (otherwise it's buff/wipe during next natural charge). So now it's just a matter of timing the mechanic you want to deal with.

About this :

When you say "activate" you mean force x number of stacks, or ensure that it's at 5 stacks when AF pops?

yeah, tower activation refers to forcing a stack. Most of the time it's easier in DF to activate the towers twice when there are 2 towers because you can just send 2 people get their stacks and return to boss easily in a matter of seconds.

For the sets of 3 towers, the natural course of the fight if you activate one tower with 2 stacks and an other with 1 stack will make AF end just after the mechanic of the 2nd tower. If you activate the last tower just after that moment, the 3rd and last tower (usually AoE tower) will activate just before the next AF and you won't really need to worry about it thanks to that. If you don't activate the 3rd tower at the end, there is a high risk you won't be able to apply stoneskin + adlo in time to prevent damage and it will be a wipe.

(It happened during my group's first attempt at 6%. Imagine the rage xD )

[Mertrodome]

Many groups I've been in seem to face Avatar north (ie. with his butt facing the Dreadnaught tower) but I find it way easier/more derp-proof to have him face east (butt facing the mines tower).

Firstly, this means the Dreadnaught spawns within Shield Lob/Tomohawk range so no scary Provoke dancing while it's en route (also means you don't have to expect healers to pay attention during the spawn so much).

It also means the tank can simply be told "when there's 3 towers, always stand in one directly behind you if it spawns". That takes care of that AoE tower.

Most groups seem to go 2x healers to Dreadnaught (either both healers or one takes two stacks) and 2x ranged to Mines (as before, either one or two depending on how you wanna do it).

[Chihaya]

Many ways to do it especially for the later parts with 3 towers. I haven't really tried that many DF but usually solo tank in PF.

I usually do:
Set 1: Dread x 2
Set 2: Mines x 2
Set 3: Dread x 2
Set 4: Mines x 2
Set 5: Skipped or abandon sinking ship
Set 6: Defense tower x 2+ Defense tower behind tank x 1- Allagan field target forces the 2x defense tower immediately after field expires
Set 7: Mines x 2, Dread x 1 (This set sometimes changes)
Set 8: Should be dead already else copy set 6

[Chiramu]

I wonder why one JP group got angry at me for not getting three stacks from Dread tower >.>. Don't they understand the vulnerability debuff the tower applies?

So it is right to just get two stacks? How do you stagger the stacks? At what time to you get your second stack? I was just wondering when I should run in to grab another stack from the tower.

Also, should DPS be doing mines? Majority of DPS on second coil turn three just ignore the mines and let people bounce into them >.>(my first experience in this coil, the second tank got one and I exploded another and got bounced into the third).

[Ellatrix]

Try reading patch notes if you think you can still only take 2 stacks. Also, try reading tooltips on debuffs.

Healers should handle all mechanics if possible.