Speed Run of CoE?

Anyone interested in doing speed runs of the Crucible of Eternity? I'm thinking of trying for some <10 min runs or so on each of the paths.

I'm looking for mesmers, guardians, warriors, and thieves with full DPS gear and (preferably) at least 2 pieces of ascended jewelry.

Ideally, we'd have a total of 7 people (myself included) for a core team of 5 plus 2 alternates. Having more than one of the aforementioned classes would be very helpful.

If enough people are interested, I'll type up some tactic ideas. Bear in mind it'll probably involve lots of consumables and gear modifications, so be prepared to spend some cash.

Sure, why not.
Roles: Mesmer, Guardian, Warrior.

Normally I don't like CoE, but pushing for fast times is superfun!
I'd ideally like to play mesmer, but I have everything so I can run what is needed.

Sure put me down.

That sounds like fun!

My warrior is full DPS with 2 ascended pieces
I also have a theif with full DPS, and a Mesmer but the mesmer is not glass cannon (Getting the armor as we speak)

I deleted my thief but my mesmer and war are ready to go.

Speaking of this type of thing. I am looking to push for the fastest times for all 3 paths if Twilight Arbor.

This would mainly focus on discussing team builds, experimenting with ideas and going on runs with large variety of consumables. This isn't the sort of thing where we would stop if we thought we were not gonna get the time we just simply go in again if the team is up for it. In a way the style would be more like a farm more than anything else. We can keep repeating it until you know exactly what everyones doing at every point and its like a beautiful dance. YES CHEESY I KNOW

I want to do this because I get great enjoyment from discussing ideas and tactics and to gain a greater understanding of skill and game mechanics.

This is purely for fun and to provide myself with personal challenge. If anyones interested let me know when you see me.

I like your ideas. When doing this please keep in mind the policies that ToA has in place about not exploiting the game mechanics.

I look forward to seeing your results and the challenge to others that this will introduce.
Once we get this of the ground we can start threads for record runs.

When we discussed this ages ago we unanimously agreed to do it completely legit, adds to the challenge and reward.

< Mesmer, Guardian, and Thief for late night runs

Manic wrote:

When we discussed this ages ago we unanimously agreed to do it completely legit, adds to the challenge and reward.

Yeah cause who cares if you can complete a dungeon in like 10-15 minutes if you are exploiting. It's only really impressive if it's legit. More fun too

I'm breaking CoE down into each encounter and discussing tactics. All this is ROUGH and PRELIMMINARY, please feel free to offer advice.

General:
Running
I think D/D Ele, SB Thief, and GS/Sword war move the fastest of all character setups. The portal gun consumable also gives some extra speed, and can be used by the team to boot. People alternating portal gun jumps, hopscotch if you will, is probably more trouble than its worth, but should be looked into. Mesmer and guardian move slow in comparison. When possible, mesmer portal will be used to move the team quickly to the next area.

Gear
All beserkers with offensive runes (ruby orbs, rune of the eagle, etc) would be best. Sigil on the weapons should be inquest slaying for maximal damage. I'm not sure if inquest slaying sigils stack for main/offhand weapons, anybody know?

Would also want a few pieces of PVT armor when running through trash for extra survivalibility.

Consumables
Elemental slaying potion for the first two mobs, inquest slaying potion for the rest. Omnomberry pie/ghost for food (life steal also causes damage). I belive potions are overall better, in both defense and offense, for the short encounters in speed runs than maintence oils/sharpening stones.

Other useful consumables include scale venom, experimental teleportation gun, healing seed pod, and possiblely gear, ogre pet whistle, fire elemental powder, and wood plank. Scale venom applies additional vulnerability (though doesn't work for thief SB or sword, sadly) so is definately required. Healing seed pods spawn a water field, so if everybody uses one it should give us enough healing to outlast some difficult parts. Gear does an AoE stun, so could be used on the silver golems/wraith. Ogre pet whistle and fire elemental powder spawn some allies; I'm unsure of their durability and damage but they might be useful for non-alpha mobs. Wood plank provides a free knockback but since we're bringing a mesmer and guardian it's probably unneeded.

Team setup
Wars, guardians, thieves, 2 mesmer. Will post possible trait setups soon in an edit. Need 2 mesmer for lots of portals and time warps.

P1
2 mes, 3 war
P3
2 mes, 2 war, 1 guardian

On bringing a thief instead of a war:
Supposably, thief does good single-target damage via CnD and backstab, and CoE has many single-target boss fights, though vs Alpha this might not be too good. Worth taking one? Or bring another war?

Fight Strategy
CoE has silver groups, trash, and single bosses. For all groups, want perma fury and max might (for great justice, guard staff #4, mesmer doubling duration via signet of inspiration, etc), and lots of vulnerability on the target(s), particuarly during Time Warp. Silvers need to be grouped (mesmer or guardian) then perma blinded via thief/kd'd via warrior. Bosses are the same strat as in normal runs.

Specifics:
Initial parts (all paths):
First room to first alpha
I think you have to kill the first two groups, but you can skip the gold group. Need elemental slaying potion. Mesmer should wall pull the first, then guardian/mes can pull the second. Speedbuff the agent (mesmer can double the speed time via signet) then run past the gold group, with mesmer pulling them off to the side if possible. Mesmer portals near the next room, then activate the path choice box, then portal back (could also portal gun hop if portal won't recharge in time for the laser room). Guardian uses hammer/war use wood plank to kd alpha into corner near the door. Timewarp and kill. I don't recall where on his health bar he disappears.

Lasers
I think we DON'T have to kill the golems. Mesmer portals in the middle of the laser start, jumps twice over the lasers then blinks (need 1200 range trait) then portals again. Second Mesmer and a character w/quickness go through (for p3, Guardian gets quickness via Tome of Wrath) then activates two switches while the laser mesmer gets the other. The second mesmer portals then runs to the next boss. On the opposite side, ppl use experimental portal gun near the mesmer portal toward a switch, activates then jumps back and goes through portal (might need spy kits for these switches). Then the whole team goes through the second portal.

Golem Boss
Everyone melee. If bringing a guardian, can hopefully kill him with just one shield of the avenger. Otherwise, may want one war to kill the protection turrent with frenzy since phantasmal disenchanter is somewhat slow. Use healing seeds. Second Timewarp.

Path 1
Hacking
Strategy is 1-4. Mesmer portals near next room (when to go over there depends on hacking timing, will need to test). Mesmer hacks, rest defends. Once done, stack behind console, use seeds to heal and kill silver golems. Then axe war defends while everyone else hacks. Don't forget to speedboost agent.

Second Alpha
Same as normal, possibly portal toward next door before fight starts. He disappears about the "p" in his name.

Jormag dude
Try to keep him near the next door to final alpha. Might be worth it to waste BOTH timewarps on this guy since he can be finicky when he runs into the pillars (if so, don't timewarp second alpha). KD'ing him ~10 secs since he ran into a pillar sometimes seems to extend his time w/o the debuff, but it doesn't seem super reliable.

Final alpha
Same as usual.


Path 3
Gun charge
Build up sigil stacks on this part (most likely bloodlust). Get near door and switch to PVT gear when almost finished, then RUN!!! Veil near the entrance to second alpha room. The wraith doesn't seem to like to break; possibly if we stun him w/gear consumable he won't follow.

Second Alpha
Hit him near the next room entrance if possible (or pillar). Timewarp and kill. He disappears about the "p" in his name.

Destroyer corridor
Run w/PVT armor. Possibly use shadow refuge entering the tunnel to the right. Veil at the end to break aggro.

Destroyer boss
Mesmer gets portal ready to next room. War or thief gets far laser (they can move there the fastest). Activate, jump down, timewarp/stability/aegis and kill. Want to kill in one go. Portal up toward alpha.

Last Alpha
Portal gun hop (?) and run to alpha. Kill like normal.

Riot Mezzes Out wrote:

rune of the eagle

due to its glitched 6 effect, Rune of the Ranger is strictly better - this applies everywhere, not just CoE

Riot Mezzes Out wrote:

I'm not sure if inquest slaying sigils stack for main/offhand weapons, anybody know?

They do not stack. Surely a Sigil of Night would be more effective, though? It's always night in the dungeon, and a lot of the enemies are not inquest. I'm not certain that Night + Inquest Slaying would stack together.

Riot Mezzes Out wrote:

First room to first alpha
I think you have to kill the first two groups

Nope, you can run through literally all of it. Getting Spire to stay alive and follow you can be a bit difficult, but if she stays with you you're golden. It's possible to solo this part on a guardian.

Riot Mezzes Out wrote:

Lasers
I think we DON'T have to kill the golems

Indeed we do not, but if they attack the people on the thingies, they'll get interrupted. So well-timed spy kits will be necessary.
I don't understand the need for TWO mesmers though? You can easily cross the lasers with a portal gun to the waypoint, provided people are smart enough to stay out of aggro.

Riot Mezzes Out wrote:

Hacking
Strategy is 1-4

Surely 3-2 is much easier and just as fast? It also allows a mesmer to place a portal with better timing, and a Time Warp on the hackers if it's available.

I thought about sigil of night. Yeah, I guess inquest + night for dual weapons.

I'd like to see the solo first corridor - sounds pro! Since it's at the beginning of the dungeon, we can keep resetting til we get it (pop consumables after path choice).

The point of two mesmers was 1) more timewarp/portal since they might not recharge in time and 2) second portal up the stairs for faster golem boss. I figured if we ran mantra mesmers w/ the +4% dmg per mantra trait the damage would still be good.

However, since the nerfs today, some of this may be moot. Timewarp isn't as vital now, and I don't know if you'll be able to activate the two switches solo just w/+50% speed. Skale venom now takes a technical consumable slot, so isn't worth bringing now (ofc after I buy a stack of them). Can't use experimental portal gun, healing seed pods, gear, and possibly others. Can still use spy kits and wood planks.

As far as the hacking, each time you activate a layer, a set amount of silver golems spawn. Thus, just doing 1 spawns the least golems. So, 1-4 is the best strategy. I believe timewarp does NOT affect hacking time.

Okay so that 1-4 makes sense. I'd like to get some practice with that and some of the other tactics in other runs while not actually pushing for times.
I run full berserker mantras on my mesmer, and whilst I've found the damage to be very nice, it's easily outshined by a warrior. I really don't think we need more than one for the utility - I'd rather have a guardian for the solo run at the start, and for balling up groups and allowing riskier tactics. A thief would be better DPS than a mesmer too, and I think positioning for Backstab should be easy enough on most of the boss fights.
As for soloing 2 laser consoles, yes I believe a warrior can do it with Frenzy. Why would that have changed? Using an extra mesmer to portal across the lasers only saves like 2 seconds, provided people don't suck at hopping (which they shouldn't if they're doing this).

...oh, now I see. They nerfed quickness. Well damn.

I did a CoE today and in Path 3 on Second Alphard we pulled him to a spot near the entrance to the room that allowed us to all stack on him perfectly.

MISTyRUST!=Automatic win... just sayin

Mistress Misty wrote:

Nente/Wes wrote:

Alphard

Shows how much I Arah