Speed Running Help: How to do the pulls?

[Cerith]

Hey guys, so I keep seeing people spamming for "speed runs" for PR/AK/WP(especially the popular new WP Speed runs I keep seeing advertised) and I'm just curious if there's any info/guide out there as to how one should handle the pulls. How many packs do I pull? Where to I skip? etc.. These questions don't have the most intuitive answers which is perfectly fine, but I'd rather not waste a groups time trying to figure it out on my own, which would be fine if I was a dps or healer, but as the tank I'm the one who has to do all of the unorthodox pulling/work.
So, if anyone could break down the nuances of how to do the pulls in a given instance, point me to guides/videos or just any info or perspective, I would really appreciate it.

It's a lot to ask out of you guys I know, but I feel that there are probably many tanks in my position who just let those LF1M tank PRSR/AK go by because they don't know how to actually do the pulls.

Thanks guys.

[CyanDvai]

I learned the pulls in AK by just running it and letting the people in the group know that I was still learning the pulls and more often than not they will be willing to tell you pulls and strats.

as for CM/Prae, if you queue up in DF you'll have a second tank, sometimes you'll get one that knows what he's doing and you can just run OT and watch him to learn, sometimes you'll get a complete douche and you'll just have to wing it and ask the rest of the party.

I wouldn't worry too much about it though, just let them know you're learning the pulls and if they want to be dicks about it, fine, they can move on and do something else.

[GrimmWulf]

Yea mate, in all honesty it is easiest to learn it by simply doing it.
I know it sounds a bit hard to begin with but just let your group know & hopefully you wont have to many issues

[thomalbar]

Watch this video to see what they do for WP speed run. You'll need a geared group that is working together. A healer that is experienced healing through large pullings while making the time to through out aoe dos. It takes some practice knowing how to set up the tank to stay alive for 2 or 3 holy spams then getting him back topped off and ready for another set of holy spams. As a tank you need to know how to manage your mana for continued flashes and chain pulling. You'll need to watch for when CD's are used and why. Need an AOE group, melee will slow it down a bit. Blah blah blah, watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRRaUh5uQJQ

[Yagrush]

I'm a relatively fresh 50, and I see that you need to be pretty geared to do these speed runs, do people generally expect speed-runs/mob skipping in DF? I don't want people flaming me for going slow or anything x_x;

[Maelwys]

I'm a relatively fresh 50, and I see that you need to be pretty geared to do these speed runs, do people generally expect speed-runs/mob skipping in DF? I don't want people flaming me for going slow or anything x_x;

Nope.

You're right in that Speed runs tend to require the Tank to be well geared, because they're tanking 3-4 "normal" mob groups at once whilst the DDs AoE them down.
But that requires a pretty high level of co-ordination and trust among teammates, or at least good gear and practice.

For Duty finder teams, just pull one mob at a time. As a tank you pretty much set the pace anyway, and unless you get a complete tool in your DF party they won't expect you to speed run. In fact, pulling more than one mob can result in a party wipe because in DF teams players tend to be less than optimally geared/skilled (vast generalization) and not used to playing with each other so they don't know how much healing a tank will need, or how much AoE or Burst damage capability they have available. And you'll sometimes just get one Paste-eater who insists on repeatedly ignoring your marks and hitting whatever they feel like.

I'm really fond of Wanderer's Palace now. It's probably your best bet until you feel you're prepared to take on AK (or even afterwards if you're happy to skip Hoplite gear and just farm tomes for Darklight). It drops a decent number of Tomes (100/30) and even with a raw level 50 AF1 party you'll probably get through it with plenty of time to spare. Once you learn the Tonberry Stalker spawn points + routes, it's really quite forgiving. Even with a bad DF party you shouldn't take longer than about 45mins, with the average being closer to 30 or less... and as Thomalbar points out it even lends itself to speed runs later on.

[Jahaudant]

The pulls depend on how well geared you and your group is. Your best bet is to experiment.

For the sake of reference, the most realistically achievable best pulls are:

• From the entrance pull up to the room past the stairs where 6 slugs/leeches spawn. Kill everything.
• Pull all the way to the door. Keep to the right. Do not open the chest in this room. Kill everything by the door.
• Kill the boss.
• Pull all the way to the next door. Kill everything.
• From here go right, up the nearest stairs, left, through the middle room, get the skeletons then go left and down the stairs while Flashing the ghosts. Run to the door on your right and hide in the near corner of it to LOS the ghosts. Kill everything.
• You can either kill the 2 mobs at the final switch or train them to the boss and lock them out by either tanking them near the purple wall or shadow binding the skeleton.
• Kill the boss.
• Pull all the way to the end door. BLM limit break.
• Kill the boss.

[Tanaya]

It's a lot to ask out of you guys I know, but I feel that there are probably many tanks in my position who just let those LF1M tank PRSR/AK go by because they don't know how to actually do the pulls.

Thanks guys.

I'm actually quite certain that the majority of tanks avoid Speedrun PUGs because they do it with their FC instead. Personally, I avoid them because I dislike sac-pulling in AK, but now that Wanderer's Palace became the best way to get tomes, that'll change my tune.

[CyanDvai]

I don't do SR in duty finder. I set the pace, I pull 1 group at a time. I may do faster runs if I'm running with all FC since we know how each other plays, but speed runs are not required in DF.

I haven't done WP since the Update. I farmed the shit out of it a while back for my Darklight Shield and know the pulls very well and how to run it so I'm not rushed (let the first Stalker pass you by pulling the birds to the far corner of the room).

If you're just starting on 50 content, I would do WP at least until you get your DL shield from Tonberry King.