October 2016 Version Update

Just been using my alt rdm and gravity. I have a Geo with me and focus up. Gravity is inconsistent though, even with ES. Sometimes it lasts the fight, sometimes it doesn't. If you do enough dmg to it to trigger CS, then you're good.

So, a first. BA + Eseal + subduction failed to land grav just now lol.

If anyone cares.

Capped m.acc doesn't mean 100% chance.

Did a few runs with my mule RDM instead of subbing BLM on my BLU. Grav II not as effective as Sub obviously but it works as an alternative. Wouldn't use anything less than that though, probably wouldnt work.

How early can he use his TP move? Wondering if I can run in and TA+Rudra's for the tank to get hate and to land a gravity effect. Think I might be too busy tonight to run in and try myself.

If you're the only person meleeing it, you should be fine.

Could throw a Despoil out too.

Did this with BLU/BLM as the tank: Stun > ES Subduction > Diffusion Exuviation > spam cures/enmity from 20'

Got killed a few times from melee jumping on it before I could move out of range, so I had em wait until I moved away before they engaged. Should be safe for any BLU capable of surviving Chainspell.

Also it seems 15' is the max distance to activate Quenching Hammer, in case that wasn't mentioned yet.

Are you sure? Did multiple VD runs tonight using gravity kite method on RUN tank, at first I was too worried about losing hate so I sub WAR and tried to sneak in a provoke at max distance(17 according to wiki) and immediately I got hammered.

In the end I ended up sub COR for 3rd DD roll and stayed out of hammer range full time and only rely on enmity ja and foil for rest of the run. It's way too risky for tank to run into the provoke range IMO.

Hammer may not activate in your runs because you killed it before CS ends? Idk.

Nah, this is based off of me getting hit at the start when I was still establishing hate or moving out of range. I was safe to keep casting Stun the whole fight and definitely dipped below 20' before Chainspell with three melee pounding on him.

Maybe it's just less likely to Hammer pre CS? Otherwise idk why I ate Hammer right after provoke =x Pretty sure I wasn't losing hate as the JA rotation that Ive used never lose hate in that pt after 1hr of VD spamming.

The best way we find to clear it:



I hope that can help many of you

My pt used a similar strategy last night, except I (pld) kited it during chainspell so we didn't have to larceny and reset 1 hour abilities every fight. We also had a geo rather than a rdm. I just made sure to bring the frog back to the bubble after chainspell wore. What's good is that even if you have a few pick up members, as long as the smn keeps the frog's tp at zero, people can back off, regain tp and and come back for another round of WS's. With this strategy, intense is not just for the strongest players, but it's accessible to anyone who's moderately well geared.

I had this same experience even while subduction was on (so the server's idea of distance and mine were relatively equal). If I got close enough to provoke, I risked a hammer.

Use flash instead.

Just did several runs last night using BLU/BLM (BA +ES) and 3 DD (AGs and such, but any will work) PLD and GEO. Tank runs in and voke/flash/bash, whatever to grab initial hate, then BLU does gravity. PLD kites and DDs basically zerg it down. Fights lasted roughly 30 seconds, 45 for buffs etc.

Yeah I know how to do it^^, I was just expressing that I had the same experience as Afania. If I got close enough to voke, we got hammered if he had the tp for it.

It's Legion hate rules, you don't even need to get initial hate... just pop a few enmity JA's before engaging, just get close enough to aggro it, and start kiting. It'll be stuck on the tank.

Just thought Ambuscade Vol.1 VD strategy needed reiterating.

Went from 0 Hallmarks to 25k last night with a group of JPs. PLD BLU THF THF GEO COR(me). COR uses Samurai Roll/Chaos Roll. GEO used Haste bubble. I'm assuming GEO also did Malaise to help out the BLU. PLD uses Provoke and Flash then run 30' away from mob. BLU/BLM used Burst Affinity and Elemental Seal, casts Subduction for Gravity. Subduction can fail even with BA/ES/Malaise, so BLU should use Azure Lore and spam Subduction again. PLD keeps 29-31' distance; should stop so mob can cast, then continue running out of range. THFs spam Rudra's Storm once mob stops walking to cast magic. Darkness SC should be made, but sometimes THF WSs overlap or mob walks away causing TP loss.

Fastest Ambuscade ever. Average 3min fights. See you all next month.

Its been shown that GEO enfeebles dont affect that frog whatsoever. Also, Malaise wont help Gravity land and BA isnt helping either.

Time ago the devs said they planned to make content in which bubbles would have a weaker effect.

So just saying it's not impossible.

I might be wrong with Malaise then. I wasn't really paying attention to GEO buffs. But one of the bubbles was definitely Haste. The other one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

BLU still used Burst Affinity before casting Subduction. Maybe it's more placebo than anything. Again, the BLU did fail Subduction twice which led to a full wipe. Failed twice, succeeded 15. YMMV.

(Not trying to pretend this is new information, a lot of people just seem to be ignoing it)

I know it was demonstrated earlier in the thread but yeah an ls-mate and I tried everything against VD frog. Poison, Malaise, Paralyze, Gravity all appeared to have zero effect so then we made sure water magic didn't just heal the frog or something. It doesn't.

So yeah, all these groups working frailty into their zerg strat are gaining nothing from it.

I don't mind that GEO is neutered on the fight, because everyone takes geo for everything, but neutering a job for one fight does not balance make. Maybe some groups are taking bards to this fight (cor, more likely) but next month the instruments are going back on the shelf.

Not that one fight is a trend, but I hope SE doesn't make a trend out of this. Fix bard's outdated buffs and archaic playstyle.

I've just been putting the the NM on /follow and havent had any issues with OOR on WS. Seems like a lot of variations work. I've just been doing PLDorRUN GEO BLU/blm and 3 DD. Any old DD will do just so long as you can clear ~1250 ACC and they do decent damage.

Is anyone even bothering with the orobon or just speed running the frog? lol

I think when the THFs were popping all their JAs at once, by the time they're ready to use WS the mob is already x yalms away for TP to be lost. But yeah very rarely did TP loss occur.

I'm sure any melee DD would work. Again, SC is more of a bonus than a necessity. THFs were lazy on the last few runs and just tried to melee burn.


People too scared because of Charm. And for some reason BSTs don't want to do it. /shrug

Intense even easy gives more points than VD regular, I don't know why anyone would bother with the orobon when the frog is extremely easy, damn near impossible to lose to.

Because Regular Ambuscade was the norm for all the masses (read: those without AG REMs). At least for me, it's this month that I see nearly everyone doing Intense Ambuscade.

Just because the frog is immune to geo debuffs, doesnt mean GEO is neutered...

Instead of Frailty, do Fury. Instead of Malaise, do Acumen, etc.


Also has to do with the fact Intense wasnt worth it at double Normal's values, especially considering the extent of the gimmicks.

Orcs had two mobs that could Charm (including the main mob) and wasnt stunnable. Normal was a singular dragon that wasnt a threat at all.
Quadavs main mob would literally not die if you did the fight improperly. Normal was the Demon and Tauri, which was a relatively easy fight as long as you weakened one before killing the other.
Yags wasnt overly bad, but you had to deal with repeated Astral Flow and some other heavy AOE that the main NM could do. Normal was a really easy Antlion.
Goblins would kill you if you failed to separate them, so you needed DD that could take hits. Normal was the bird with lesser bird adds that were each weak to either magic, slash or blunt, it was nearly impossible to wipe.
Gigas had a main NM that had a common TP move of ridiculously high damage and range that sapped your MP badly. Normal was against the 3 Acrolith, which you could sleep through.
Mamool boss would counter any magic damage with a high damage TP move that inflicted poison and charm, essentially killing you. There was a gimmick involving skillchains on the lesser mobs affecting DT or something. Also there was a mijin gakure that you had to eat. Normal was against a Gnole that posed zero threat. This was the month that increased HM on vol.1 though.

This month is a relatively low HP Poroggo (I believe someone parsed at 200k HP on VD?), which has annoying gimmicky moves that can be avoided either via kiting or not having any mage jobs. The Normal is an Orobon that seemingly spams charmga and has a very large DT tied to its Lanterns.

People arent magically doing Intense Ambuscade this month because they all got AG REM's in the past month. They're doing Intense because its clearable in 3-4 min without needing superbuffs or 1hr's.

The Gigas were actually really easy to manaburn, and was the month that they increased Intense rewards. It certainly had higher gear requirements (and took longer- about 3-4 minutes) than this month's though.

I wasn't saying after 5 months of Ambuscade that everyone and their Courier Carrie has AG REMs. I was merely countering this:


I meant to say that the reason people care(d) about Regular more than Intense is that it's generally easier to do, and in some cases provide more HM/hr than Intense. It just so happens that this month, Intense gives more HM because of both it's HM/hr and the HM reward bonus.

More like 1.5 min, I've(and many others) been dumping all currency from ambu before price crash and have been considering reactivating alt to dump more currency after running out of currency to get.


I wonder if SE gonna nerf gravity because of this.