Chapter 353
13 Days (IV)
Emma sighed, tossing another red-gleaming, super-majestic-looking blade into her inventory with none of the fanfare soone should display after obtaining a fairly rare item. It was great by most trics--true--but it didnt have the factor--a stat, or a special effect on an item that makes it go from a simple stat-stick that just increases the floor of her prowess to an item that pushes her over into the next layer and level. She had beco quite after after having her behind torched that she was lacking--lacking in the ability to withstand more than just raw damage.
While she could survive several lethal hits in a row, and even outheal long, dragged out fights through the passive leech of her Awakened Class, she struggled exponentially in the fast-paced, high-octane fights with no downti. Unul was a fight, after all, that didnt have the downti necessary for her cooldowns to co back up in addition to the fact that she took far more damage than she could heal. It was the first fight where she required dedicated spot-healing throughout, sothing that has never happened before.
Even if, in the past, she got into jams that required others to heal her through, she was mostly self-sufficient in that she only required ergency heals rather than a dedicated healer. She wanted to go back to that point--wanted to find sothing that makes her self-sufficient again. If she did that, shed release one of the healers and allow them to focus on the rest of the raid instead. The aptly nad Blessed Blade of Corkfire wasnt it. It was similar to her current weapon, with roughly the sa stats, but with no x-factor.
Looking to the side, she saw both Senna and Jamal frowning deeply. Apparently, their rewards werent much better either. This was the eight dungeon theyve cleared in the last five days, and outside of a minor upgrade of armor for Senna, they hadnt looted any good items. And it wasnt as though they were running basic, run-of-the-mill dungeons either. These were the hardest the Tower had to offer with clearly the best rewards.
If, with all of this, they were still struggling to find aningful upgrades... was there another path, perhaps, lying in wait? She was half a mind to ask Cain for help at this point, but knew better not to. Though he hadnt said it out loud, she knew the man perhaps better than she knew herself. She could read him as well as a sign blaring in her face--this was their fight, from start to finish. He would just be a bus-rider, effectively, likely there to ensure nobody t their untily demise. But because of this, she also suspected there was sothing else to just gearing up and finding incrental upgrades to basic numbers.
Nothing, huh? Jamal spoke out, as the smoke from the fight cleared up, with a corpse of six-headed, forty-feet long snake lying lacerated in a pool of toxic-green blood.
Nothing, Emma replied, putting away her weapon. Ive been thinking--what is our main wall with the fight? she posed a question.
... main wall? Jamal thought for a mont. We cant survive long enough, most-likely.
Thats what Ive been thinking, too, Emma said. But it isnt the sort of survivability that simple stats can make up for. The more Im thinking about the ebb and flow of the fight, at least on paper, the more I realize that most of the damage she deals is in staggers, or outright needs to be immuned. Now, we look at the pylon chanic as the sole way of immuning damage, but what about personal immunes? We need pylons for the raid-wipe chanic, but outside of that, we can just stack on one for the entire fight while whoever gets marked gets out of the raid and uses a personal immune.
Shes still a major DPS check, Senna chid in. If we cant burn through her 2nd phase quick enough, well all end up dying.
Im not worried about our DPS, Emma said. The reason why our DPS tends to be low is because were all too worried about just surviving. One thing both Krar and I need to do is free spot-healers. Both of us need to find a way to solo-survive most if not all of the fight. This way, every healer we bring can full-focus on healing the staggered damage and the temporary bursts. In addition, DPS wont have to care much for their own Health and can just focus on doing as much damage as possible.
Youre still yanking on the hypothetical, Jamal said. Lots of ifs in there. Firstly, is it even possible for Krar and you to beco self-sufficient? Tank damage is no joke.
Want to be completely honest? Senna suddenly spoke out, her tone awash with depth and reservation.
Of course, honey, Emma said, sowhat confused by the tone. Whats up?
We need to skip the boss 3rd phase completely, she said. Notice that the transition into that phase is tied to the energy she amasses by attacking, and not her Health. cause, honestly, if we get into 3rd phase, no way in the hundreds of fucks can even 10 Yukis heal through that damage. Were talking damage equivalent to thrice of all of our health bars combined... every tick. The only % point transition is at 5% when she goes berserk.
... yeah, probably, Emma sighed, having realized sothing similar herself. Third phase, by being reached naturally, was simply a you failed chanic disguised as sothing that can, theoretically, be battled through. That would an, however, wed need even more DPS in a raid... which would strain our healers even more.
I wasnt done with the honest part, Senna said.
Oh.
We need two tanks, two healers, and everyone else needs to be DPS.
... say what now?! both Jamal and Emma exclaid at the sa ti, horrified.
With how boss health scales, and from what Ive noticed, Senna said. Its sowhere in the range of 800,000 to 1,000,000. Its actually on the lower end of the last five-six Guardians we fought, probably the lowest by so margin. Ignoring the first phase, depending on how fast her attacks seed, we have about 40-45 seconds to kill her before she naturally transitions into her third Phase. I know it sounds insane, but following the pattern of her attacks and mixing in skills, thats how quickly shed likely generate 100 energy. We wont get to see all of her attacks in that phase, its just a pure, raw, DPS check. I--
No, Emma quickly interjected, surprising Senna. Thats wrong.
No, we can do it.
Its not the question of being able to do it, Emma sighed. The reason why we are struggling with the boss to begin with is because we relied on just stat-checking our way through for the most part. Plus, I actually dont think she has a real Health Pool, not in a normal sense, anyway.
What do you an? Senna asked.
I think its dynamic, Emma said. As in, whether we had ten people or six hundred people in the raid, there wouldnt be much difference. Unlike prior raid bosses that had fixed Health Pools, this one seems... arbitrary. As in, youre genuinely supposed to take a certain length of ti to clear her Phase. Plus, if it was just a simple stat check, Cain would have just co with us to kill it.
... yea, thats the part Im hung up on too, Senna sighed after a montary silence. The bastard always likes the fights where he gets to show off his DPS. Yet, hes sitting out. He always sits out when he wants to teach us a lesson.
I dont think the boss is designed to be beaten by having six-seven amazingly strong and talented people with others being just kind of average or above. Its the first one where individual chanics make or break the run. Spatial awareness, optimization of doing enough damage while still dodging, surviving, and being in tune with the rest, keeping a careful track of many things at the ti and using the pre-determined tirs to your advantage while still being required to react to mont-to-mont things... its as though the boss is the amalgamation of most other Guardians we were fighting, only with all their chanics rolled into one.
Yeah, I noticed it on myself, Jamal said. My usual DPS dipped to shitters cause I couldnt just mindlessly focus on swinging my sword around. Everyone was performing poorly compared to their standards, even you Senna. When I saw that you were struggling to maintain the numbers, I knew we were fucked, DPS-wise at least.
Thats my point, Emma added. I think, in order to kill her, everyone needs to be able to perform at their peak... while doing everything else, at the sa ti. We got by on Yukis insane healing, you twos and Daniels beyond broken damage, and Krar and I being largely capable of self-sufficient tanking. However, thats no longer enough. More so than anything else, we got spoiled by Yuki.
Yeah, Senna said. The other top healers we got cant even pull half his numbers.
Its not just the numbers, Jamal corrected. Most of it is in the panic overhealing. They dont know when its the good ti to let us take so damage. They see a health bar dropping, and they imdiately jump to heal it. Not even a knack against them, they got dragged from doing so basic dungeon healing to needing to heal high-end Guardians. Id shit my pants too if I was dragged from a middling party into this hell from nowhere.
This will be a collective effort, no doubt, Emma said. And well gonna have to find ways to optimize how we play both individually as well as part of the group. First we focus on the basics--finding items, skill combinations, consumables, anything that can prevent our deaths. To deal damage, we need to survive. After that, well go into the raid and test how far we can push, while slowly learning the fight. Its gonna be easier since C will be there to save our asses, but Im pretty sure hell relentlessly mock us for each failure, so we wont be able to just mindlessly fail and try again.
Ah, he will. I can already hear him, Senna sighed. Mu ha ha ha, what was that? Did all the light blind you? How can you be so bad? Even if drunk, half-dead, and high on cocaine, Id still perform better! With my feet tied up and my right arm missing, too!. Shit, Im getting angry already...
Pfft, ha ha ha, Jamal and Emma burst out into laughter; if anyone could do an impression of Cain, it was Senna. She had both the voice and the mannerisms pat down. Alright, alright, Emma said after calming down. Lets move on. Claya had secured two more dungeons for us. If were late, shell yell at us again.
Lets go, lets go. I really dont like her yelling at us. Feels like back when I was a kid and I got a bad grade at school and had to tell my mom, Jamal said.
Yup, Emma nodded. So, hurry up.
Going, going...
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