Feb 2018 Ambuscade Vol 1

Why?
Is this confirmed or you guys just assumed him to behave like the one in Reisenjima?

Extra Note:

Current 'Upgrade' Theory is [Bulwark] gives effect of "Physical Immunity" for multiple attacks or certain amount of damage to The Retributionist, if you dont remove it as soon as possible it upgrades to Boiling,BUT...

Right before it does [Bulwark] it almost always does [Endark] as if it wants to have maximum potency for En-attacks whilst maintaining bulwark.
There is a possibility that the amount of dark-attacks done under [Bulwark] via [Endark] is a contributor to the shift.

[Still needs Confirmation] maybe [Bulwark] needs to be stunned!

We've done a dozen runs on VD simply going COR RNG PLD GEO BRD RDM, I applied full debuffs as geo and rdm with no issues. Silence the Dullahan to prevent AoE spell and endark. Damage sky rocketed by maintaining light dispel for Infernal Bulwark.

Maintain high dps at all times on Dullahan and hold for Boil over (Pain Sync), always broke the charging and miasma with ease. PLD would force idle 50DT/3500 HP for Boil just in case and still took down to red quite a few instances.

The real kicker is watching your WSs on the Peritheros or else eventually the Dullahan will start to charge up before you shift to him. Avoid DPS while the horse is readying a TP move, otherwise unload. Keep applying 4 enfeebles on the horse to lock it into Grace of Hera.

All in all unremarkable Ambu. We went with 2 (SAM + BLU) melees instead of ranger but for VD, the auto attacks alone are a headache for Boiling and he still puts out some fairly good spike damage from TP moves. DPS was much higher though if it can be maintained.

We're going to try one more with full SPs (never used here, all kills 8-10 mins) for fun, using RUN sforzo to eat that first Nether Castigation and see how fast it can be pushed down, Skillchains during boil over do double to triple damage, so might cut down to 4-5 min.

Oh quick edit: Maintain a perpendicular arrangement for optimal DPS, the Dullahan basically has 100% block rate and reduces incoming damage from any source, not just melee

PLD <> MOBS
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____PT 20.1' can heal/shoot/enfeeble out of range

Since Nether Castigation has long charge time is it possible to stun every single one of them on GEO/BLM in VD? will stun land consistently?

Tried this last night with a decent setup (ranged) and the PLD (Ochain) died every time to Schillant Lance. Assuming the mages miss the step of using 4 debuffs, is there any way to survive Lance? Scherzo didn't work. If not, I'll be dropping a RNG for a RDM solely for that purpose.

Ochain was the problem, the physical damage is negligible, you need Aegis or as RUN, you block most of it with runes/liement.

We didn't even have Burt.

Otherwise everything's BiS pretty much all players. My geo mule is lacking a bit of +3 but it's not affecting his performance.

@Afaina we haven't tried to stun anything. Maybe it lands, maybe it does not. Could certainly try if you want to /blm on geo or rdm in my current group's setup, but it's just not a problem so we haven't bothered.

In the event that boil gets messed, shadowbind works just fine.

I imagined that. So Aegis PLD or RUN. The element I;m assuming is Thunder (tellus), or is Schillant light based?

Thanks

Is the AoE he uses during the Charging phase (Atramentous Librations or Atramentous Oblation, I forget which) a dispel or a buff absorb? It doesn't give me the wearing off message like a dispel does, making me thing it takes the buffs instead.

While fighting the Horse, use Tenebrea for the light resist/absorb.

On the Dullahan, use Lux for the the dark resist/absorb.

Bard dispels... a lot

The special named AoE during "charging" phase is what signals end of phase/the charge is broken. It is dark elemental but I cannot say that it dispels anything for my tank did not lose buffs. It perhaps absorbs a buff

As others have said use Aegis.

Funny story, died the other night to a 3880 damage Lance while on RUN. Just got unlucky as they normally hit me for 0 damage though I think Valliance had just fallen when it used it. First and only time it's ever done any remarkable damage.

Lance might have a breath component as it does considerably less as the fight progresses. Breath damage is only affect by Breath Damage Taken and pure DT along with the monster's HP so it would coincide however it would take a large sample of fights/parsing to be sure.

I guess that could be done in Abyssea-Ulugerand if anyone's curious enough to test. BDT caps at 50 (DT + BDT gear)

The Pony had less then 5% HP remaining when it hit me with that. Like I said valiance had just wore and I apply it during the pre-buff phase. It was just a critical failure on a resistance roll we normally easily pass. They finished the fight a few seconds after I got floored and we all had a laugh about pony's and vengeance.

We actually take out the pony first.

Perhaps the remaining gains some damage potential/buff.

RUN suffers from a lack of gear that carries SIR, DT and high HP all at once, so it may have hit you during a swap? Rare, but possible?

We kill the Big guy really fast, then take out the pony after. Every other time was super easy. This is merely a failed resistance roll combined with not having valliance up. Scint Lance already is known to deal several thousand damage to unprotected people, think the original unmitigated damage is somewhere around 7~8K as the OP noted. Seen COR's get blown apart because they weren't watching where they were standing.

As one that really doesn't like to much time in ambuscade, I'm trying to figure out the best difficulty to take my mule through to get points for gear. He's a 3 song brd at best with no ghorn yet. I'm working on it though.

The Paladin I'm referencing took around 4700+ dmg every time it used lance, which was around the first 1min of the fight. I'm not sure it's potency progresses through the fight as much as it is just resists that play in your favor more often. That one time it hits you like that is the time you couldn't resist the damage. But an Ochain PLD would not be able to survive that regardless.

Well, we're only facing a demand for Finales since it seems we take most time on the Dullahan as we kill the horse first. You might be hard pressed to find groups that go about it that way which would lessen any demand for finale.

If you were too, 3 songs is probably fine, do not expect the fastest kills ever, but the prelude is a welcomed addition with one minuet to maintain chaos/sam rolls.

The dullahan is weak to light elemental magic, so I guess it would not be too difficult to load up on m.acc and just finale.

Maybe for suboptimal tank options, kill the horse first and not messing up the boiling mechanic would be an easier route if the output from the horse is the problem. The dullahan's damage is tied to the pain sync move, otherwise pushover.

Found a VD video of melee setup with a BRD feeding it TP with a club, seems like faster way to feed TP than spam T1 nukes:

That's interesting, we've been having PLD BRD GEO and RDM cast banish, 2 from each is enough to trigger the TP move and the banish damage is so minimal, there's no real danger.

There are two more notes:

Between[Charging>>Boiling]
We noticed an Idle PLD started gaining TP automatically as if there was a Regain Aura given by The Retributionist [300TP/Tick]

Between[Boiling>>Miasma]
We stopped all sorts of damage and PLD was idle and The Retributionist used [Absorb TP] on PLD and did [Nether Castigiation]
It absorbed around 700 TP..
We knew there was a regain of some sort during that time based on that.

This further support the ideas shared so far on its mechanics.

Thanks for sharing. That's no ordinary club, tho! XD

Would not RNG Trueflight skillchains work out better than Last stand spam?

But this is 2018! :)

That's interesting, we've always completely bypassed this element by maintaining silence. It silences quite easily with just geo.
Also avoids the annoying stuns

@buuki: I think the issue with Trueflight spamming is the lack of skill chain (Aeonic Last stands are doing 25k with 25k-60k light/rads) and the buffs required for trueflight would alter the setup and affect white damage considerably. Definitely could try but do not expect frazzle to help much for dullahan. Seems nearly immune.

So sorry to be a pain, I have been real busy and have not had time to play since patch, but which move is the white damage for. I couldn't tell through the video. From What I can gather:

Horse you just kill first, but watch out for lance? On the dulla. just watch out for boiling (Pain Sync-ish Syle). Also Keep him silenced to avoid nasty stuff?

That's what we do, other groups reverse order. The first you kill seems weaker?

Horse:

Lance is high damage conal so placement is important.

While readying TP move, absorbs damage. Apply 4+ debuff and will almost always use Grace of Hera to remove them instead of other moves.

Dullahan

While Charging Up or Miasma >> Unload high DPS to break the build up. **Note that breaking the miasma always follows up with boiling**

While Boiling Over >> Stop all damage and feed TP using super weak spells to avoid the Pain Sync mechanic.

Try out on normal and work your way up if unsure, more breathing room on the boil over.

What type of elemental damage does the Pony deal?

Light

Using valliance and dark runes most I took was 300, most of the time it was below 100. /RUN could be a good option for PLDs