[SIZE="4"]A windmiller’s guide to breezing through ciar advance[/SIZE][SIZE="3"]
Soloing ciar advance has been the best leveling method ever since it came out, but is challenging because of heavy multi aggro and enemy magic. It is soloable for ALL classes. Mages and archers can take a post and clear rooms via cornerplay, circumventing the multi aggro. Warriors, however, are forced to dance with the monsters due to their limited range, exposing themselves to multi aggro. Through strategic use of windmill, warriors can take the multi aggro head on and achieve far better dps than their brother classes. I will detail the strategies that I rely on to solo this dungeon.
I like using terms that I made up, so I hope you are familiar with what swipes, rams, and DMS are, and their basic applications.
The Warrior's Third Hand: The Role of Pets in Melee Combat
The newbie
The newbie will run into ciar adv, excited to get massive exp. The newbie will open the chest and wm the nearest clump of enemies. The newbie will get aggro'd by blue rats, some of which will charge lb and some of which will charge with melee. The magic will leave the newbie defenseless, and the staggered waves of spiders and snakes will close in. The newbie is screwed, because he is newb.
There are ways to handle the multi aggro of ciar adv, ways to which the newbie is not privy to, specifically wm baiting, aggro locking and sharp pet play.
The big idea
1. The first wm. Hit as many enemies as is safely possible with your first wm to simplify the room as much as possible. Cook up wm bait and forge the aggro locks.
2. All the other wms. Take the fallout head on. Force the wm through the wm bait and swipe the fragmented monsters.
Numbers
- r1 wm is recommended, though r5 is comfortable and r9 passable
- High damage is a luxury. The main breakpoints of difficulty is the ability to 1hko the red rats, and the ability to 1hko the blue rats. 1hko'ing the laghs and snakes does not make ciar adv significantly easier (though certainly faster!). Most mid-levels will 1hko the red rats but not the blue rats. If you cannot 1hko the red rats, they should be your prime targets for your subsequent wms and swipes to remove them from the equation asap. They scamper quite quickly and unpredictably. If you 1hko the blue rats, ciar adv will be cake.
- Pets, the more the better! 2 pets minimum for a comfortable run. Multiple mounts recommended to sweep bug bears and the end bosses using DMS. Warriors have terrible cornerplay.
- High rank critical and >30% critical are standard windmill damage boosters, nice luxuries to have.
- A very/slow weapon to make wm spam possible against a single target. Normal or higher speed weapons require pet support or a large initial gap to chain wms, complicating the path to invincibility.
- Ice enchants (up to 4) will increase damage against blue rats, helping to displace the need to have a brain. Will also increase damage received from their lb's.
- Get 10 thoroughbreds. :evil: (jk)
Step 1, The first wm. Hit as many enemies as is safely possible with your first wm to simplify the room as much as possible. Cook up wm bait and forge the aggro locks.
- The main obstacle to soloing ciar adv is lightningbolt from the blue rats. If the damage doesn't get us, the stun will leave us vulnerable to multi aggro melee. We must position ourselves to prevent being hit by this.
- The most straightforward way to do this is to strike the blue rats with wm. This will knock them back, stopping casts and melees, and stun them.
- We cannot expect to always be able to strike every blue rat in every room with every wm. We must be ready to intercept blue rat melee and magic outside of our wm range, namely through the use of pet swipes.
- Thus, we have 2 ways to counter the blue rats' magic: hit them with our wm and swipe them with our pet.
- We can use wm's 2 seconds of invincibility to buy us time to cook up wm bait, which will help to weave these 2 methods together. During the spin we can set up the next spin, and during the next spin we can set up the next. See wm baiting at end of section for how to set up wm bait, if you are not familiar with the concept.
- Monsters in ciar adv will aggro in about 3 seconds. You’ll want to fire off your first wm before this. Be quick!
- In a room with laghs you will want to hit at least 2 monsters, at least one of which should be a lagh, so that you can awareness aggro lock them.
- In a room with green snakes you will want to hit at least 1 green snake to ensure an awareness aggro lock.
*Windmill baiting: preparing a stunned enemy that you can use to trigger wm in the face of enemy magic and range
- Position your initial wm so that it does not touch a nearby enemy.
- This enemy should be on the other side of the wm’d enemies so that reaching it will not involve running through an angry mob.
- Fire the wm and swipe the chosen enemy.
- Move to enemy and wm.
- Having found safe haven, you can then use your seconds of invulnerability to manipulate the wave of incoming enemies.
[Image: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/syrphid/Wmbait.jpg]
- In this picture, the black circle represents the 1st wm.
- After knocking back the 5 enemies in range, you send a pet out to whack the enemy on the right.
- Follow up by moving into range of enemy bait and then wm’ing.
- The 5 enemies hit by the 1st wm will not be able to interfere in time, even if they charge magic, pull out a bow or chase for melee (unless they have heavy stander). The enemy not hit by the 1st wm will be stunned by pet. Nothing stands in the way of your 2nd wm, and the resulting 2 seconds of invincibility will make victory inevitable (imo).
[video=youtube;_NupFdrz0AU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NupFdrz0AU[/video]
- Green arrows indicate primary wm bait.
- I make extra pet swipes to pull aggro on pet, nail rats in desirable formations and to free up my own character's movement.
Step 2, All the other wms. Take the fallout head on. Force the wm through the wm bait and swipe the fragmented monsters.
- Hopefully your wm bait was cooked just right. Take it and bask in the invincibility of wm. You have 2 seconds in which to freely swipe enemies. Swipe lb'ing rats early and nail down any monster that is waiting for wm to wind down. Be aware that laghs targeting you will wm your pet.
- With competent pet play you will be able to fight for your 3rd wm. Repeat the pattern until the room is clear.
- Feel free to DMS if things get awkward.
Specifics
- Awareness lock
o Some monsters will not attack you if enough members of their own species are aggro’d on/aware of you.
o This will break when the number of members of that species aggro’d on/aware of you falls below that number.
- Carcass lock
o Killing a monster with a non-critical wm will leave that carcass aggro’d on you, taking up one aggro slot (snakes and laghs will not aggro until the slot is free or you hit them with a targeted action, like not wm)
o This will break when the carcass disappears (~20 seconds under the default finish rule).
o A carcass lock on one species can blockade another as well
o I fully understand neither the underlying mechanics nor how certain monsters will respond in certain situations. You’ll get a feel for it. Preempt unpleasant surprises with early pet swipes.
- Ciar adv is full of different species of monsters that will react differently.
o Red rats: multi aggro, NOT lockable, WILL aggro after being windmilled
o Blue rats: multi aggro, NOT lockable, WILL aggro after being windmilled
o Green snakes: single aggro, lockable via awareness and carcass
o Laghs: multi aggro, lockable via awareness and carcass
- Bug bears
o Take a safe corner before you get multi’d.
o Lure bug bears one by one and kill via wm spam.
o If a bug bear pings and charges forward it be closer than it was before your wm!
o Consider firemill if you can isolate a bug bear.
o Consider a strategic icebolting pet to destall bug bears
o Consider shooting an arrow or using icebolt to destall bug bears (will usually have time to switch weapons if bug bear was using defense, less time if bug bear was using counter)
Examples on placing the first wm
- When you open a chest or pop a bulb you have a few seconds to come up with a working battle plan for that particular spawn pattern.
1. A mix of red rats, blue rats and laghs
[Image: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/syrphid/Scenarios1.jpg]
a. Red rats are the highest priority, they tend to appear clumped too. It is also possible to hit the 2 blue rats nearby (damaging them and delaying their lb) and the 2 laghs a little higher up (locking them). I would wm at the pink x.
b. The NW blue rat will aggro you soon, so I would one swipe it as I moved in for the 1st wm and keep it as windmill bait.
c. During the spin of your 2nd wm, swipe the rats that survive your 1st wm. They will be bait for the 3rd wm.
d. After all the rats are dead, wipe up the remaining laghs in the area, which should be locked.
e. Finally, take out the last lagh in the NE corner, which is too far to bother you earlier in the battle.
2. A central mix of laghs and snakes
[Image: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/syrphid/Scenarios2.jpg]
a. Wm at the x for 2x awareness locks.
b. Reap the easy exp.
3. Awkward mix of red rats, blue rats and snakes
[Image: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/syrphid/Scenarios3.jpg]
a. As I run north toward the 2 blue rats, I would 2 swipe the blue rat near me and 1 swipe the snake. The blue rat will tail your pet. Call your pet to you and pull it north of you by having it swipe the rats near you. Position yourself to hit the 2 red rats, the snake, and only one northern blue rat.
b. As the southern blue rat enters your wm range, fire. Your first wm will leave only one blue rat standing. This is your wm bait and your guaranteed 2nd wm.
c. Sweep the refuse.
4. 2 clumps of blue rats
[Image: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/syrphid/Scenario4.jpg]
a. One swipe rat #1 while running to the pink x to wm (the swipe prevents surprise aggro).
b. Wm at the pink x.
c. During the wm, one swipe rats #2 and #3 to nail them in place (typically I will 2 swipe the #2 and 1 swipe the #3, and if I cannot wm in time to save the pet from rat #2, I will desummon pet). 2nd wm at the green x.
d. One swipe all the rats in the first clump that physically charge you, and then all that are charging lb. Wm these rats while bringing pet back to the second clump to one swipe any rats that are charging lb. Because of the increased load, the pet may die depending on how many rats it must swipe and in what position they are at. Be ready for that.
e. Keep switching between the 2 groups until they're all dead.
5. Awkward spread of blue rats
[Image: http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss177/syrphid/Scenario5.jpg]
a. Wm at the pink x if you are a chicken and prefer cornerplay.
b. Otherwise, wm at the green x.
c. Rat #1 will be out of range of your 1st wm and makes perfect wm bait.
d. The 2 rats east of you will not bother you. Sweep them later.
I hope these scenarios give you a good idea of how you should be thinking about and dealing with multi aggro. Here are some live examples.
[video=youtube;O0xtJ_XCU9E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0xtJ_XCU9E[/video]
Happy hunting :happy:
If your damage sucks, I hope this video will give you a little hope.
*Pickaxe run of ciar adv: use of pets to slow down, block and redirect heavy multi aggro and magic, emphasis on survival through consistency not damage (dmg gimped by fighting with a pickaxe)
- An exhibition of swipemilling
[video=youtube;Ppm27_V5w3E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppm27_V5w3E[/video]