Since the CoH forums are down, I'll ask here.... and yes *sheepish look* long time no see, been extremely busy.
Shader here,
Anyway, I'm after information on the Jade Spider AV. In particular its attacks.
I've heard that Jade Spider on the Mender Silos Task Force can be a bit of a pain to defeat... which is what I'm looking for. I'm hoping to combine
it with Lucas (IP squid) (with a twist) for a RP-thing that's going on atm, but never having actually done the Mender Silos Task Force... its an area where
my knowledge of the game is a little thin on the ground. Anyone here able to help?
Any help - how it attacks, what sort of damage, etc would be helpful. Normal sources (Wiki and RedTomax) are not being helpful.
Thanks.
Well, I've only tried it once, and what I remember was that it wasn't the damage that was the real problem, although it was dishing out lots of psychic
nastiness. The Jade Spider has regeneration out the wazoo, and it's hard to do enough damage to stop it. Eventually, it just wears you down, and while
you're trying to get back from the hospital, it regenerates all the damage that you've done to it.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
What Ebony said.
I've gone up against it once on my controller but we were set to stupid and the failures got into all of us at that hour to the point we simply quit.
Whatever you do have it set to heroic before you start, -regen, a rad (or three), a pocket full of purples on everyone and a lot of praying.
I think 5 is the magic number that turns it from 'what is everyone talking about' to 'OMGWTFBBQ'.
4 person teams have no problem with it.
5+ person teams need at least 1 rad defender/controller or dark defender (preferably one of each), rads to deal with the regen, and dark to make sure you can
survive long enough to kill it. Shadowfall is a wonderful thing in that fight.
I've heard theories that the npcs you rescue can help to deal with the spider, but honestly I haven't ever seen them survive long enough to really
help.
The spider dishes out psi damage every 30 seconds or so at ungodly levels, in an pbaoe, with enough range to make you cry. Thankfully it's not auto-hit
(this is where Shadowfall and Radiation Infection save your ass).
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
While it sounds odd, it *can* be done without a rad or dark defender at 5+. You just need a tray of purples.
No, seriously. When it starts dishing out the AoE psychic nasty, pop 3 of them, bam-bam-bam. You'll survive the psi stuff and can continue pounding it.
Watch your status indicators, and when they start blinking, pop 3 more. Rinse, lather, repeat.
Yes, it can take a couple of tries, but it works. I've taken down the spider three times now, never on a team of less than 6, and only on one of those did
we have Serious Debuff Action. The rest were just old-fashioned beatdowns. With purples.
(I've been on 5 runs, technically, but one of those I got d/c'd before we took him down, and the other was started at 4 and wound up 2-man and we just
couldn't do it.)
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
The Jade Spider is a 2-stage fight. After you get all the Heroes free (Which is an adventure by itself, fighting the Spider AVs) you get a Cutscene with the
Jade arriving. It's fairly easy to take down in the beginning, but once it gets to 50% it starts to glow purple and dish out a hell of a Psi attack. That
is the only complicating factor, if you can avoid/survive/mitigate the Psi attack it has, it can be dealt with rather easily .
The Jade Spider, as an Elite Boss has a nasty (but not devastating) Cone-AoE attack once it goes Psychic. It's easy enough to avoid with like that. Which
is where the 'Magic Number' comes in. At less than 5 people on a team the Spider (and the rest of the AVs) spawn as EB's making it much easier. As
an AV, however, the Cone becomes a PBAoE, and also a pseudo-DoT (Very fast cycle, always attacking). It's still doable, but having a massive Psi attack
hitting everyone within reasonable range makes it not up to standard tactics. It is possible to beat it with a well picked team of Dark **** power sets, which
give Psi mitigation. You can also use purples to avoid the AoE, witch makes it a rather feeble AV in comparison. You must be sure that all members of your team
can deal with the damage somehow, though, because it's range is as large as most buffs/ranged attack and thus you can't rely on squishies healing you
from safety like the Uberecluse fight in the STF.
---
The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."
>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
Answering your other question, the Jade Spider is essentially an enormous Psi Blaster.
Aside from its signature massive Psi DoT/Cone thing, it only has a handful of attacks, almost all from the Psi Blast set. I've been on the TF multiple
times and never gotten mezzed by the thing, or for that matter seen anyone get mezzed and then killed by the Psi damage. Mainly I'd think Telekinetic
Blast, Psionic Dart, Mental Blast, Psychic Scream, and Psychic Wail(the nuke) are the only powers I've seen the Spider demonstrate.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Speaking as a Dark Defender player:
The AOE Psi Resistance provided by Shadow Fall is sufficient to fight the Jade Spider. Most Dark Defenders have Shadow Fall slotted up for resistance, so even
just one can handle that duty.
However...the Jade Spider is very large, and you're fighting it on an open map. It also has a small hitbox, so meleers typically have to go close in and
vertical to engage it. Most folks fly and stuff when fighting the Jade Spider.
All that makes it...somewhat more difficult to ensure that everyone on the team is clustered within Shadow Fall range.
As a result, softcapped defense is probably the better solution. And purple inspirations are the easiest way to achieve that.
-- Acyl
My many thanks. That proved much helpful.
