Tactics discussion for boss of Tara Castle Mission "The Other Alchemists" - hard mode

• Yogurticecream wrote on 2010-12-04 19:41
  I'm going to prepare this content in another language on another forum, but since I am much faster at typing in English, I'll just share my thoughts here with all of you. I hope to seek some opinions, thoughts and advice on tactics used to clear the boss room of the Tara Castle Mission "The Other Alchemists".
  
  Basically, what most wild parties do when they reach the boss room is to gather every single member of the party (who cares if humans, elves or giants) to Windmill. That means up to four people windmilling the Giant Lizard one after another.
  
  Although this tactic works when timed correctly, I personally feel it is extremely dangerous because every single member is put into deadly hp. I can alway recall at least one person dying due to this when there is the slightest delay from anyone. Moreover, since everyone is forced to windmill, imagine what will happen if you have someone with windmill that's below rank 9 (longer loading time, 1.1 sec vs 0.8 sec). And because of this stupid tactic, I felt that there is an unwritten rule that every single person has to have Windmill at Rank 9 if you can qualify for hard mode, which is ridiculous, especially for elves - there are plenty of them with Rank F windmill. Also, because they are forced to windmill, their damage is plain terrible.
  
  However, there is a new hope. One friend of mine found a way to defeat the Giant Lizard without the need to Windmill. What you are supposed to do is to get one person to be noticed by the lizard (or just attack it) and then play dead on the ground. Everyone else in the party is expected to prepare Smash/Magnum Shot (Possibly Flame burst/Heat Buster/Fireball but these are not tested to work out yet). No Windmill, no Normal attack, nothing else works. You have to wait for the Giant Lizard to go into defence mode, meaning it uses an attack and then walks around slowly, and everyone has to rush in to smash/magnum it before the skill cancels out.
  
  It can be slow to wait for the lizard to go into defence mode, but the damage is in no way inferior to endless windmilling, and you can at least allow non-melee people to use the attacks they are best at with this method. It's also very safe if done properly.
  
  It has always been extremely tough to explain this new tactic to wild parties or people who always go by the rule of windmill for this mission. What really bothers me is that most people are resistant to the idea, making it seem wrong just because the mainstream doesn't bother with it. Which is why I want to share this somewhere (as for now, seems that forum is the best for this) where people can slowly think about this and even test it out for themselves and prove that it works.
  
  I'm personally bothered by the windmill method because of the mentality that everyone has is that windmill makes you invincible. I find that thinking to be flawed. Windmill is not the answer to everything. I'd rather smash over using windmill if I can. I usually die less easily this way too.
  
  So what are your thoughts on it? Have you used other tactics for this mission that works? I'm more concerned about hard mode level, but if you have any other tactics for other levels please share too...
• Marie wrote on 2010-12-04 19:49
  I believe someone has posted this tactic/glitch onto the Nexon forums. The person being aggro'd doesnt have to play dead, they can smash/magnum along with the rest of the group....as long as you don't wm/norm attack/norm ranged attack, even after smashing, the lizard thing (name escapes my mind) doesn't get out of defense.
• radionoise wrote on 2010-12-04 19:54
  Try barrier spikes and range/alchemy/magic, maybe? I've only done the mission once or twice, but when I did I just alternated between windmill and magnum with other people. However, I was watching the following video earlier and barrier spikes with range seem to work fairly well (skip to ~3:20):
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFtoS0hWGmU
• Yogurticecream wrote on 2010-12-04 20:06

  Quote from Marie;237363:

  I believe someone has posted this tactic/glitch onto the Nexon forums. The person being aggro'd doesnt have to play dead, they can smash/magnum along with the rest of the group....as long as you don't wm/norm attack/norm ranged attack, even after smashing, the lizard thing (name escapes my mind) doesn't get out of defense.

  
  Now the trouble is, is this a glitch or is this meant to be the proper way to attack the lizard?
  
  Lizard not going out of defence has been something that's around for a really long time.
  
  I personally believe it is the actual way to defeat the lizard. I really cannot see how windmill is the tactic for giant lizard. It makes no sense at all. I can understand endless windmilling for Red Dragon or Giant Alligator, when there are a lot of people around, but how is one person supposed to defeat the boss otherwise? (Or why would it be a 1-4 person mission?)
  
  For barrier spikes, I've tried, but it's not really effective, and range attacks usually end up putting windmillers at risk. Don't exactly know how to explain it, but I have yet to see an effective way on carrying this out with minimal risk. (The video seems to be either intermediate or advanced level, however the use of crash shot for that mission is pretty amazing. Reason - stone golem is supposed to give 1045 exp with the 10% bonus, but he's getting 1078 for some strange reason, could be advanced + x2 exp potion.)
• Tsubasa wrote on 2010-12-04 20:23
  Even though it was only tried in Int and Basic, my guild set up r5+ barrier spikes on the lizard. Someone would attack through the barrier spikes, making it notice them. Then, somehow (forgot how) the barrier spiker was able to get a barrier spike almost on top of the lizard. The giant basilisk couldn't even attack the barriers because it was somehow stuck (because of it's giant hit box). Then, we just used whatever ranged skill we had (except adv magics so the barriers don't die on us). That way, no one gets hurt.
  
  Edit: It's almost like the video...just that the barrier spikes that trapped it were closer to it
• Aubog007 wrote on 2010-12-04 20:42
  you can do the WM with 3 people WMing.
  Coordination is key
• Omarukun wrote on 2010-12-04 21:05
  Frozen blast, could be an option.
• Ailyene wrote on 2010-12-04 22:02
  My friend and I always duo it. All you really need is one person with a really good golem and another person with a stone golem (can be the crappiest golem ever. Doesn't matter). If the golems die, then just resummon. It's pretty easy that way.
• Beepuke wrote on 2010-12-04 23:02
  Uh actually, that video is on hardmode. You can tell by the end reward, which was 160k exp and 25.2k gold. The guy in the video's just insanely strong.Did you see the stats he has while not in trans? 386 hp, 718 mp and 514 stamina ;;
• Archibald wrote on 2010-12-04 23:31
  I have a question you can infinately use smash/magnum like this or does it need to be reset after each wave of mags and smashes?
• Ailyene wrote on 2010-12-04 23:36
  Okay...I just tried to post this 3 times and got a page not displayed, but the other pages were all fine.
  
  Anyways, I'm pretty sure that no monster in mabi is supposed to just stay in defense and let you hit it over and over, so that's definitely not the "proper" way to defeat it. I'd say it's more like a glitch or bug. As for how you can windmill when you solo, I can do it just fine and I'm not even really melee orientated. All I do is TF and windmill, use a bunch of HP 30 potions, and have a pet hit the basilisk because it sometimes takes the aggro off of me.
  
  Range + barrier spikes won't work in my opinion (without any glitching or whatever) because no matter how pro your barrier spikes are, the basilisk does so much damage that they die quickly.
• Username wrote on 2010-12-05 03:42
  So, i used this tactic, i have done with I set up 3 barrier spikes as a barrier, as i set up Tower Cylinder and bombarded the lizard with Watercannons and Heat Buster, mind you my heatbuster is RANK 1/Master so, i was always atleast hitting 2k with it.
  We had one Windmill user/Smasher. We had 3 Alchemists. Basically a melee distraction, aswell as 3 sniping alchemists behind a barrier. Though it would help if i didnt have the only high ranked barrier. However this was ADV, so hardmode might be 10x harder for all i know.
• krpr wrote on 2010-12-05 03:55
  Looks like server side lag to me. Look how the giant leprechaun takes so long to aggro. From what i remember, the leprechaun aggros as you open the 1st chest
• Yogurticecream wrote on 2010-12-05 04:59
  If it is an unusual bug, why have they not fixed it if it were so?
  
  Seriously though it is much easier defeating the boss this way, without having to worry to go into deadly and it doesn't put the elves at a disadvantage through this method without the presence of an alchemist.
• Zid wrote on 2010-12-05 05:23
  It's not lag, I know that.
  
  I usually thought the Defense skill wouldn't cancel because the Advanced Heavy Stander would cancel out any knock back properties that can defeat Defense.
  
  In any case... I've used that tactic before, with the aggro lure. Except the person didn't play dead, but rather put up Barrier Spikes (and then others put up more Barrier Spikes around him).