Velious Solo/Duo Challenge Official Thread (and Trio/Group)

[Zuranthium]

It's been a decade and we still don't have a list of Velious challenges for players to do. In this thread I will gather input and put together a community list of challenges. For now I am just listing the Solo/Duo tiers in this post, but any input on Trio/Group challenges should also be discussed.

Here is a starting list of MOB's for each category, please discuss any alterations you think you should made. Especially helpful would be input about any particular MOB's that are very difficult to pull, as that makes a difference in what category a MOB should be in. After compiling a full list we can decide how many MOB's in each category are needed to achieve the rank (my initial thought was half of the MOB's per zone). All listed MOB's are grouped together by what zone they are in.

Solo Master:
* level 52-54 Western Wastes Dragons (minus Bufa/Nintal/Espora/Gangel/Quoza) and Ice Burrower
* Laoch Uljux / Laoch Yubtin / Laoch Zalbryn / Elder Kalur / Elder Kajind / Elder Hajnix / Tri Velic / A Kromzek Spy
* level 56 Wakening Land priests / Mist Panther / Shamus Aghllsews
* all level 55-56 MOB in Dragon Necropolis
* Yvolcarn
* Vores the Hunter / Kardakor / Gnomish Deserter
* A siren priestess / An Enthralled Molkor
* A4 Brenn+Grenn / TwentyTwo (A4 version) / EightySix / A hedge wizard (might need to be a tier higher, can't remember if any can be solo aggroed)
* all unnamed level 54-57 Plane of Growth MOB
* all level 53 Icepaw in Velk's Lab / Any level 55-56 MOB in Velk's Lab
* all level 55-56 MOB in Kael (certain MOB's probably need to be a tier higher because of pull difficulty)
* Tserrina Syl'Tor (must obtain each dungeon key on your own for it to count)

Solo Grandmaster/Duo Master:
* level 56-58 Western Wastes Dragons that don't C-heal or Chaos Breath, plus Bufa/Nintal/Espora/Gangel/Quoza, plus Stronghorn / Tantor / Breezeboot
* Laoch Yailin / Laoch Jaklor / Quadrix Velic / Supreme Laochsmith Psorin / Eldriaks Fe`Dhar / Ralgyn
* A corrupted unicorn
* level 59-60 named Rats in Dragon Necropolis
* Chief Kalan
* all level 57-61 MOB in Thurgadin/Icewell, except the Royal Guardsmen
* An icy servant / Fellspine / A neriad weaver
* Plane of Mischief puppets (aside from Bristlebane) / My Right Hand
* Galiel Spirithoof / Ordro / Sarik the Fang / Grahl Strongback / Tunarean Earthmelder / A thifling lord / An entoling essence channeler / A Serene Forest Spirit
* A Crystal Destroyer / Failed Experiment
* all level 57-58 MOB in Kael (certain MOB's probably need to be a tier higher because of pull difficulty)
* all level 59-62 MOB in the entry areas of Temple of Veeshan that don't have linked aggro, such as An emerald sky defender

Solo God/Duo Grandmaster:
* level 59-60 Western Waste Dragons, plus lower level Dragons that C-heal or Chaos Breath, plus Icehackle / Tsiraka / Tranala / Travala
* Laoch Zelnair plus any level 58+ Loach MOB in Skyshrine / Lawyla / Jualicn / Oglard / Talnifs / Talon Velic / Lignark / Zaldin Fe`Dhar
* Phenocryst / Rolandal
* Vilefang / A Chetari Packrat / A Chetari Hoarder
* Lodizal
* Captain Stonefist
* Grand Historian Thoridain / Royal Guardsmen in Icewell Keep
* A Siren Templar
* Ferjeneror / Lithiniath / Bristlebane puppet
* A Phase Puma / A guardian power / An abstruse phantasm
* Tpos Icepaw / Gregendek Icepaw / Khelkar Icepaw / Bledrek+Bled / Kerdelb+Kerd
* all level 60-65 MOB in Kael (certain MOB's probably need to be a tier higher because of pull difficulty)
* all level 59-62 MOB in the entry areas of Temple of Veeshan that have linked aggro

Duo God:
* Level 62-66 Western Wastes Dragons
* A Huge Gargoyle Guard / A Huge Golem Sentry / Placlis / The Seer
* Queen Raltaas / Vaniki / Neb
* Seneschal Aldikar (Icewell Keep)
* Taskmaster Abyott
* Level 60-61 named mermaids in Siren's Grotto
* Keeper of the Glades / Undogo Digolo / Ancient Totem
* all Level 66+ MOB in Kael (minus raid targets)
* various Temple of Veeshan encounters to be decided

Completion Tiers: (same rules for Duos)

[S+] Soloed with no consumable items and self buffs only
[S] Soloed with no consumable items but moderate use of outside buffs OR no outside buffs with moderate use of consumable items
[S-] Soloed with excessive use of outside buffs or consumable items
[S*] Soloed with use of strong item clickies (Puppet Strings or multiple clicks of any strong item, or single click with outside buffs)
[S with pull help] Soloed with pull help (or used non-classic Lull); use same 4 tiers as above for each type of pull-assisted kill

God kills using any completion method will be saved to the wiki.

Lull is currently non-Classic on p99 and will count as using Pull Help until it is fixed (does not apply to Bard lull). Lull spells in classic EQ are supposed to be 100% resisted on all Level 50+ MOBs and have a minimum 55% chance of getting resisted AND ending every tick on Level 40-49 MOBs.

Strong item clickies include Puppet Strings, Soulfire-type items, Slowstone-type items, and Wooly Spider Silk Net, while lesser consumable items are shaman potions and things of that nature. Use of those consumables should be limited, as they can equate to being the same as using a strong item clicky (ie, many healing potion clicks is equivalent to using a complete heal Soulfire-type clicky; consumable items that produce DPS are overpowered when stacked or combined with usage of healing potion).

Moderate use of consumables should equate to being less powerful than healing your character with a click of a Soulfire-type item. More than 2 significant buffs exceeds the threshold of what is considered "moderate use" of outside buffs.

[PatChapp]

If helsia mindreaver falls into your named mermaids in sirens, she can be solod with a reaper and 1,maybe 2 pacifies depending on spawns in her room.
Would be duo,maybe trio content without any pacify.
It can be done without the reaper,but you need the best possible charm pet to spawn in one spot and its a hassle to cycle.

[Goregasmic]

Are they all doable? Abyott has like 75khp, that's a lot to chew through. Stuff in velks can also 1round you IIRC. Same for phase pumas. You basically hope your pet doesn't break or you're done for.

Only helsia kill I've seen the guy used 3 toons to do it, I'm not even sure that's legal, much less accepted for SAC.

Stuff in SG is kind of annoying because if you messed up your faction a lot will be very very hard if not impossible. If lull is not permitted then even less so. You also didn't specify how many you need in each category to complete it.

No disciple category?

Oh and for lorean's challenge, the difficulty took the logistics into account. If you're going to rule out lulls then you'll have to find kills that require some other sort of ingeniosity or it basically becomes a "how long will my boltran hold" challenge.

[Zuranthium]

Originally Posted by PatChapp [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If helsia mindreaver falls into your named mermaids in sirens, she can be solod with a reaper and 1,maybe 2 pacifies depending on spawns in her room.
Would be duo,maybe trio content without any pacify.

Each MOB in a tier should be beatable at S+ rank (some of those challenges will require a big time investment and/or luck), so yes that's why she is in the Duo God category.

These are the other 3 - Mistress Latazura, Priestess Sercema, Elna Kelpweaver. All surrounded by very difficult entourages. Elna might be too hard for even a duo considering the temple she is in and how tightly packed those MOB's are; need more info about all the possible pull angles and possibility of clearing the way to her, I've never bothered to do that area (almost nobody has). Similarly, the Siren Templar in that same area would be too difficult for the Solo tier if it's impossible to pull without aggroing a bunch of things.

The combo of snare+FD will become even more valuable for certain camps after Lull is fixed on the server. Certain content might only even be S+ possible by a Monk, with the technique of pulling a group of MOB's and using FD after a single attack, hoping to proc snare right away so the MOB you want to split will lag behind while the others walk back.

Originally Posted by Goregasmic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You didn't specify how many you need in each category to complete it

That's still TBD by everyone, like the post says. I'd argue for a high percentage, because so much of this Velious content is stuff that just sits there completely unused otherwise, unlike the Kunark challenges where it was things that were already being camped.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

4+ West Waste Dragons (like Hechaeva) and 6+ West Waste Dragons (like Ionat) are pullable without lull, FD, etc. It just takes watching for pathers and dodging them. For Ionat you do need Sont to be killed or moved away from the entrance for a lull-less pull.

https://youtu.be/igpbLuNe0ls?feature=shared - Bravatar solo pull and kill on a Shaman, self buff only.

https://youtu.be/oPxeOVuX0G8?feature=shared - Ionat solo pull and kill on a shaman, self buff only.

I am not 100% sure if Ice Burrower is a worthy target. They do not summon, and their AoE is a proc triggered in combat, so they won't randomly dispel you like a 4+ Dragon unless you are in range to get attacked. They don't have extra HP regen either. As fas as I know any class with a ranged attack can eventually kite them to death. In the video below I show how you can just run back and forth along the shore to avoid adds.

https://youtu.be/5fsvt1xfuqY?feature=shared - Ice burrower solo kill Shaman, self buff only.

Now that mobs can no longer be interrupted via push, I do not think it is actually possible to solo/duo a 6+ Dragon that can CH. You will need to fight them on their spawn point to avoid gate, and they will CH multiple times. The long kill time though multiple CH's and the high probability of adds is a tall order. Not sure if a solo enchanter or a duoing enchanter would be able to sieve it well enough by themselves while doing their other duties. I have tried to do the 6+ CH dragons both solo and duo a few times. It didn't work well either on the spawn point or pulled to the shore.

[Danth]

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have tried to do the 6+ CH dragons both solo and duo a few times. It didn't work well either on the spawn point or pulled to the shore.

They seem to have an elevated mana regen rate compared to default mobs. The wife and I were able to duo numerous 55+ CH'ers and gaters using mana drain (mortificator staff on her shamana), but not the CH'ing WW dragons. We've seen them CH 7+ times so alternately their mana pool might just be that huge. Maybe both. Our effort was a complete standoff where we eventually got bored and camped/cleared aggro. Disclaimer is it's been some years since we tried them so stuff might've been changed in the meantime.

Coming from a shadowknight perspective I'll attest to the usefulness of snare-feign splitting in some areas.

Gregendek Icepaw is too easy for that tier and is at least a full tier easier than Khelkor. Both the mob itself is much easier and the room/split is also dramatically less risky. Difference in damage is double 240's more or less, compared to quad 290's.

Plane of Growth is troublesome due to Protectors. Many 'solo' challenges in there would involve somebody else keeping those occupied.

The other castle named in velk is Kerdelb, basically identical to Bledrek other than drops. These guys hit for 400+ with fairly high MR but can be camped in a pretty controlled manner.

Faction plays a huge role in Velious, far moreso than was the case during Kunark. Doing stuff in Velketor, Kael, Skyshrine, Growth, Siren's, etc is much, much easier for players who are non-KOS. A Velious challenge should account for this because it modifies the difficulty so greatly, much moreso than outside buffs do.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

They seem to have an elevated mana regen rate compared to default mobs. The wife and I were able to duo numerous 55+ CH'ers and gaters using mana drain (mortificator staff on her shamana), but not the CH'ing WW dragons. We've seen them CH 7+ times so alternately their mana pool might just be that huge. Maybe both. Our effort was a complete standoff where we eventually got bored and camped/cleared aggro. Disclaimer is it's been some years since we tried them so stuff might've been changed in the meantime.

This was my experience as well. Maybe a Shaman/Enchanter duo could do it if the Shaman soloed the dragon completely, and the Enchanter only did lulls/CC on adds and sieves on the dragon. Have the Shaman use a Mort Staff, have the summoned enchanter pet with mort staff, and the Shaman can use https://wiki.project1999.com/Red_Dragon_Tooth to summon a pet that can hold a weapon (doggo cannot) and put a third mort staff on that. The AoEs would probably kill the pets though. The Shaman would need to keep them Torped up.

If both the Enchanter and Shaman have a bio orb they may be able to blind kite it once it gets low enough. They will be able to malo + tash it for the best chance at landing blinds. You would need decent luck, as you could get a string of resists during a CH/Gate cast while blind is off.

Originally Posted by Zuranthium [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Solo Grandmaster/Duo Master:
* level 56-58 Western Wastes Dragons that don't C-heal or Chaos Breath, plus Bufa/Nintal/Espora/Gangel/Quoza, plus Stronghorn / Tantor / Breezeboot
* Laoch Yailin / Laoch Jaklor / Quadrix Velic / Supreme Laochsmith Psorin / Eldriaks Fe`Dhar / Ralgyn

Back to OP's list, I don't think Tantor or Stronghorn should be on the list for the same reason as Ice Burrowers. They do not summon, so you can kite them Indefinitely on any class with a ranged attack, or just keep agro on yourself while you have a pet beat it to death. Any class can use bio orb + https://wiki.project1999.com/Red_Dragon_Tooth .

You can chug SoW pots to counter Stronghorn's SoW speed if you don't have SoW as a spell.

[Goregasmic]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

.
Faction plays a huge role in Velious, far moreso than was the case during Kunark. Doing stuff in Velketor, Kael, Skyshrine, Growth, Siren's, etc is much, much easier for players who are non-KOS. A Velious challenge should account for this because it modifies the difficulty so greatly, much moreso than outside buffs do.

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Back to OP's list, I don't think Tantor or Stronghorn should be on the list for the same reason as Ice Burrowers. They do not summon, so you can kite them Indefinitely on any class with a ranged attack, or just keep agro on yourself while you have a pet beat it to death. Any class can use bio orb + https://wiki.project1999.com/Red_Dragon_Tooth .

You can chug SoW pots to counter Stronghorn's SoW speed if you don't have SoW as a spell.

I agree about the faction point but at the same time if you're only using zones with no faction you'd basically cordon off a big part of velious. Best way to deal with this would be allowing a completion kill number below the threshold of requiring to be factionned. But factioned zones like chardok were most likely left off the first challenge because they're trivial for factionned people and mostly impossible for KOS. Like, a chanter could try velks golems but no shaman is getting there on their own for 1 attempt and making the crawl was part of the rules of the first challenge.

Another point would be if you need bio orb to make a pull, that's a 150k item. You'll be able to count on your fingers the number of people who will be willing to park that much money for a solo artist challenge. Kinda like how the first one basically required non-chanters to get puppet strings to compete. Nobody is farming red dragon teeth either.

Problem with loraen's list IMHO is it was basically a chanter challenge and the biggest factor for success on most kills was charm not breaking. More accessible kills would be fun and stuff like tantor/ice worms opens it up a little. Could be in the disciple rank though.

[PatChapp]

Originally Posted by Goregasmic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Only helsia kill I've seen the guy used 3 toons to do it, I'm not even sure that's legal, much less accepted for SAC.

I kill her with a solo enchanter,no toon swapping.
Maybe il film the next one if I ever bother again
Haven't done it with short paci timers,will be tight but I think still doable

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Goregasmic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Another point would be if you need bio orb to make a pull, that's a 150k item. You'll be able to count on your fingers the number of people who will be willing to park that much money for a solo artist challenge. Kinda like how the first one basically required non-chanters to get puppet strings to compete. Nobody is farming red dragon teeth either.

Oh that wasn't the point I was making. Bio orb in that scenario is just used to maintain agro while the summomed pet from the tooth beats the mob to death. It wasn't for pulling. It was a bit of an extreme example, but it shows how any class can kite non summoning mobs. Tantor / Stronghorn / Ice Burrowers are above level 60, so blind won't land most of the time, it's just for agro.

If you need an easier example for Tantor / Stronghorn / Ice Burrowers, a Ranger can simply bow kite them forever with Tolan's Bracer to summon arrows. Warriors/Rogues/SKs/Paladins can corpse arrows to do the same thing and/or fletch in the field. Every class with a pet can do the trick I described with bio orb and tooth, etc.

There's at least one way for every class to kite Tantor / Stronghorn / Ice Burrowers to death, it may just take a long time. That's why I think they are a bit too easy. Maybe they could be in a lower tier OP hasn't made yet, like disciple or warmup.