Projector

Over the last few months, I've gone down the rabbit whole of Hard Mode content and as I both have immersed myself in it as well as tried to help others, I realized there is a not a lot of information on how to actually do the different 4-star content. There aren't even a lot of videos demonstrating any of it, leaving a lot of it a total mystery. So, I started posting video content of some of the runs I feature, including creating a video walkthrough of the Omega K'ong fight from my perspective as the tank. Since there is no way to practice that fight outside of a 4-star context, and it's so busy visually that it can be very hard to tell what's actually happening or why you die at certain moments, I wanted to demystify some of that, set proper expectations for different phases of the fight, and help new people understand the important considerations to keep in mind. It's a longer video because I wanted to explain the context of WHY it's important to approach things a specific way, not just explain what to do. This was done on Excelsior, and I know different shards have different ways of approaching content. This is probably not the only way to do it, but this kind of approach has also resulted in sub-30-minute runs of the 4-star LGTF, and it's the only way I know how, so I wanted to share it since I have found success. Here are the main points for those who don't want to watch Setup: 1 T4 Incan Core, 1 T4 Clarion Core, 4 Barrier Core Teams (T1: 2 people, T2: 2 people, Flex 1: 1 person, Flex 2: 1 person) Gather in hospital just before Dra'Gon room Lores out, buff Lores (tank does not summon lores as they can pull aggro off of tank. I learned that after this video) Barrier and Clarion timing: Team 1 Barrier and Clarion in Hospital once pets are out Incan runs in and incans onto Dra'Gon Target Lores onto Dra'Gon (VERY IMPORTANT) After 25-30 seconds, Flex 1 barrier is called, this timing repeats every 25-30 seconds in order: Team 1, Flex 1, Team 2, Flex 2. The person calling Barriers should be on Barrier Team 1, as their own Barrier cooldown of 2 minutes can be used to track when it's time to call for the next barrier. Targeting Priority (once Kong spawns): War Priests, Chief Magus, Psi-Protector Primates, Dra'Gon, Assault Suits, Scientists. Positioning: Everyone fights Dra'Gon from behind, but hugs closesly to Dra'Gon for Kinetics buffs, heals, end, etc. Tank always keeps Dra'Gon in a corner after Kong spawns Avoid Omega K'ong whenever possible. He will make whatever corner he occupies an instant death zone. Fight Phases: 100-75%: Focus Dra'Gon (until Kong Spawns, no big AoEs or Judgements to avoid freeing psychicstt 75%-50%: Fold Space Chief Maguses to Dra'Gon, everyone bursts down one Magus at a time targeting through a shotcaller, killing a Primate during this if you can. Tank stays focused on Dra'Gon, Kin still heals off of Dra'Gon. It is not worth waiting to find a Primate before killing the Maguses. 50%-25%: Fold Space Assault Suits so they don't teleswap you around the room or into Kong gas, kill a Primate, and then focus Dra'Gon with single target damage and let AoEs bring assault suits low. As soon as assault suits are low enough to spike, incan or move away from them and spike them before they are able to follow you into the next corner. Rinse and repeat until each Assault Suit is dead. And of course, avoid neural fields until they despawn. 25%-0%: Fold Space Scientists and let AoEs kill them. Kill Primate and focus Dra'Gon until he is dead.

So, the reason the barge works if you leave her between crates is she won't go within line of sight of enemies. Though, this seems so have changed slightly because seedlings now spawn more often and tend to float high and may occasionally go across. But typically the ambushes that spawn stay on either side of the barge, so she doesn't see them. I did have one attempt of this method where she dropped to 77% health, but she killed whatever it was that aggro'd and then healed back up just fine. THat's the closest call I've had breaking the tether. As for how I know for sure they don't enter the room, the only thing I can say is that in all cases I've left an escort with her in the trap room, no ambushes have entered. I have personally watched the ambush before leaving the trap room to make sure and I watched 3-4 Olympian Guards get to the doorway and then immediately turn around and run back up. I think it's coded this way since the room is an "event" with the traps. So, I say that ambushes don't enter the trap room with the same level of confidence I say you can tether break des on the barge or that you can make the kill call at 8 seconds. There is only one time I've seen them enter the trap room, and it's because they were chasing a player that aggro'd them. That's it. I, personally, would not leave Des in the trap room with a tether break. I don't know of a positioning that is safe there. It's worth a try, though it's such a minimal difference between doing that and doing the barge method that it doesn't seem worth it, really. Especially since the league is progressing forward while you set up the tether break, and you could have someone else run ahead with incan to the next kill-all room.

Love this written guide! I learned so much about leading UG from running with you, and I really appreciate how much you try to help new players! Wanted to point out a couple of cool things I've discovered in the last few weeks that could be helpful, as well: 1. There are three opportunities to summon lores in this trial if done the way you describe: 1. Once you go down the elevator after the ritual phase at the beginning. 2. At the double War Walker fight. 3. At the Avatar fight. This can make the early part of the trial go much faster since you're doing it as a kill-all anyway. 2. The ambush before the trap room is actually on a timer and has absolutely nothing to do with the door, though I have not yet determined what the actual timer is for that spawn. That being said, giving the instruction to not open the door does keep the league in that hallway and paying attention, so definitely still good practice. However, using lores on Aggressive/Follow after the ritual phase will actually mean that you get to the trap room far before that ambush spawns. When I have done it this way, I notice the ambush either while we are in the middle of the crystal trap or as we are leaving the trap room, so it's a non-issue as mobs do not enter the trap room unless they are already aggro'd by the league. 3. Des does not need to go any further than the trap room. Not only that, ambushes, so long as they are not aggro'd, will not enter the trap room. This means that Des' escort can stay in the far corner of the trap room for the rest of the trial and basically AFK (so long as they have their TP prompt on!). That positioning ensures Des' pets don't see and aggro anything in the halls. Admittedly, it REALLY sucks for the person with Des, unless they have other things they want to do during that time! Note: if you intend to do this method and want to use Lores for the double war walker fight, then the double war walker fight needs to be the FIRST time you use Lores. 4. If you do leave Des and her escort in the trap room, you can actually incan the rest of the league everywhere they need to go--meaning someone can stealth from the trap room to the guard room just before the back to back war walkers and incan the league. This shaves off a good 5-10 min from the run on its own. There are glowies in the tunnel leading to the war walker, so you will have plenty for the first war walker. 5. Leaving Des in the trap room also means that for the blitz/zerg method for the first bomb phase, you can actually just rush down the bombs themselves and skip over all of the mobs. When I do it this way, tell my league to ignore ALL MOBS until I say otherwise, then I give one kill order starting at the first bomb, and tell the league to just keep moving from one to the next, just like the 2nd mission of a speed ITF. I have a macro that says "SIDE ROOM" whenever we get to one so the league knows to go for that bomb and I don't have to type. I make sure to stay slightly ahead of the league, and I do wait until I have 2-3 other people near me before starting a bomb. I have yet to fail a bomb badge in 10+ runs with this method, with full PUGs and with SG mates. Note: zerging this way also means that Lores will not be back up in time for the Avatar fight. That's fine though, because I tell my leagues to dismiss pets at around 25% health anyway, and by not having lores out during the final fight, it allows me to better estimate my teams damage output for the final burst. 6. I keep experiencing that people are too impatient for snipes in the second phase, so what I have found to be effective is telling any melee or anyone lagging to stay put, and all ranged characters to creep forward against the right side wall and attack bombs one after the other. I do make it clear that Melee range of one bomb will trigger the next bomb, so creep forward, don't run forward. Again, in 10+ runs, I have yet to fail a bomb badge with this method. 7. Once the second bomb phase is done, you can stop the league there, give instructions/buff up for final fight, then actually incan everyone into the final room and start the Avatar fight. 8. In my testing, if Avatar is between 3-5% HP, then giving the KILL order at 0:08 before seedling detonation gets the badge 100% of the time. If I make the call at 0:07 or later, we miss the badge. Alternative, when Avatar is at 10% HP, then giving the kill order at 0:03 before Seedling SPAWN will pretty much also guarantee the badge. Lastly, I have 100% success rate when I give instructions in ALL CAPS and I preface before we start that I will be doing so because there's so many people in league that I need to....PROJECT 😄