Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Killing Super Elites

Yes, I am talking about the Super Elite creatures, and not players like jmaisc or zenji. I am not a SE hunter, but as I approach level 420, the quest "A Sorry Tale" will require that I kill one. So I might as well plan for it.
In training, I typically equip my gear, and then figure out which buff and buff levels I will need. But when attacking with a group, this procedure has to be reversed. You get your buff, and then figure out how big a group you will need. So save the stam of your guild mate, one should lock the group when the group has sufficient stats to kill the creature you want, maybe with a little buffer, just in case one of the group member switches gear.

Let's start with buffs. Which buffs are most useful?
Super Elite Slayer is naturally useful, since that is its sole purpose, to help with killing a Super Elite. One can get that buff from a potion also. Potion of the Slayer offers a level 125 SES buff with a 60 mins duration.
Any buffs that affect the opponent is more useful than a buff that affect yourself. You are forming a group, of maybe 10 members. A buff that increase your ability means increasing 1 out of the 10 members. While a buff that affect the opponent affect it as a whole, and that applies whether it is a super elite or a relic capture.
So what are the buffs that affect the opponent?
Dark Curse can dramatically reduce the defense of your opponent, and that means a big reduction in the attack you will need. Potions can give a buff higher than the levels a player can cast, and they include Sludge Brew (DC 200), and Potion of Black Death (DC 225).
Flinch, a buff that was pretty much unavailable until recently where AzUK became the first player to reach level 600. It reduces the attack of your opponent, and therefore useful, but only when you want to attack in defense mode (which is the preferred mode).
Terrorze, can reduce opponent's damage, and can be useful in armor mode. However, we are still waiting for content to allow players to reach level 700 to get that buff.
Wither halves the HP of your opponent, but its effect depends on a roll of the dice.
Mesmerize can also reduce the creature stats, but also depend on the roll of dice. This is yet another buff that is still unavailable due to lack of content.

Therefore I wrote a small script to compute the effects with those buffs (excluding Wither and Mesmerize).
http://sisland83.bravehost.com/superelites.html

To use that script, select the creature you want, enter the level of the buffs you have (or plan to get), and hit the 'Calculate' button. It will show you the stats needed in your group. As with any creature hits, you don't need defense nor armor if you have the attack and damage to kill in 1 hit. However, if you need more than 1, then you will need either defense OR armor, but not both. Guilds with the Military Advisor structure can view the stats of the group and determine if it is sufficient to kill the SE.

However, there are buffs that do not show up on the stats.
Buffs that does additional damage based on lead attacker and not shown in group stats includes Blood Thirst, Ignite, Holy Flame, Death Dealer, Savagery, Chi Strike, Assist, and Counter Attack.
Constitution can increase defense, and Sanctuary can increase armor. Sanctuary is a potion only buff.
Shield Strike looks risky, especially if you need 3 or more hits to kill the creature. Nightmare Visage reduces attack, and is not shown on the stats, so beware.
Since I am not an SE hunter, I am not 100% sure that all those buffs apply in group attacks. Please let me know if you have experimented with them. Thanks.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

One very simple method to killing super elites is this --

Get the following buffs:
Super Elite Slayer,
Shatter Armor
Spectral Knight
Flinch
Counter Attack level 175
then stack up your damage through the roof.
Get a group to add some defense if you think you need it.

With sufficient damage total -- especially with all the group members.. you can slaughter most Super Elites