Halloween event banner strategy?

[eknudson]

Is it true that enemies must be defeated at the banners inside the circle? I see this mentioned in-game a lot but I don't see anything on the wiki to support it.  The defenders are quite happy to stay at range so without a taunting tank it's not that easy to pull them in and any pets are quick to attack them wherever.

[Clave Dark 5]

I heard this rumor as well yesterday; the first team I was on managed to take them all out, the second didn't.  I wasn't paying too close attention, but from what I saw at the time, I don't think so?  But that's worth about the pixels I've said it with, I know. 

[Marine X]

Edited for Inaccurate Content.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Marine X

[eknudson]

54 minutes ago, Marine X said:

Found this article, it covers the Deadly Apocalypse if you scroll down. Figured I would link to it rather than plagiarize Maressa's work.

 

http://maressa.net/guides/guide-to-city-of-heroes-halloween/

It doesn't suggest that there are any special requirements about where enemies have to be defeated-- so far I don't see anything that does but it's sure a rumor in-game and people get MAD if you're defeating enemies anywhere else.

[Ironblade]

Pretty sure they don't have to be inside the circle.  Just completed a banner event and we paid no attention to enemy position.

 

Also, that Maressa guide that's linked above - it says you have to defeat the banners simultaneously.  That's wrong.  Paragonwiki says if you don't have enough people, you might have to move from one banner to the next as a group.  Also, we did not defeat them simultaneously (just a few minutes ago).

[Marine X]

I was part of a successful Banner Mission with a League on Wednesday Morning, I was off to the side of the Circle most of the time Taunting the new Arrival spawns to me. I heard the same discussion from others but I just think you have to defeat X number of Defenders at each Banner, and within the 20 Minutes allotted, then the Banner becomes Targetable, Take them all 4 down to spawn the Big Bad. Which means you need teams at all four Banners at the Same Time or it's a wash.

[Marine X]

24 minutes ago, Ironblade said:

Also, we did not defeat them simultaneously (just a few minutes ago).

Yeah, that part I was not sure about because I was only in one place, but I know it being Early Morning, we didn't have a huge league and there wasn't much time left on the clock when we got the banners down, granted we split up so we could get them all going down so maybe if we went from one to the next it might work. The only thing I noticed was the kind of metered way the spawns appear, they weren't coming in massive groups, just kept adding a few more all the time. They were never really a threat, just took time, but if we were all at one would they spawn faster, getting us more defeats quicker with a big group, to buy us the time to do another Banner, Guess Someone would have to try it.

[AboveTheChemist]

During the first event I participated in, we were all (or mostly all of us) concentrated at one banner. We laid waste to the incoming spawns, but were outside the circle, and the progress bar did not move. We did eventually move back within the circle and the progress bar starting going blue, but it's entirely possible that it was just a case of people going to other banners and killing there. I was not paying close attention to the distribution of league mates so it might have been entirely coincidental. In that event we definitely did not destroy the banners all at once, and we defeated the last banner with less that 10 seconds on the clock.

 

In the second event, we were more evenly distributed at the start. At my banner, most of the mobs were killed outside the circle but the progress bar starting going blue fairly quickly. We dropped the banners fairly quickly.

 

In both cases, we defeated the AV at the end for a successful event.

[Black Zot]

4 hours ago, Ironblade said:

Pretty sure they don't have to be inside the circle.  Just completed a banner event and we paid no attention to enemy position.

 

Also, that Maressa guide that's linked above - it says you have to defeat the banners simultaneously.  That's wrong.  Paragonwiki says if you don't have enough people, you might have to move from one banner to the next as a group.  Also, we did not defeat them simultaneously (just a few minutes ago).

 

IME, the Banners regen way too fast to take them all down simultaneously unless you have a huge group - which you almost never will.  The guide is full of it.

[ninja surprise]

Did the event twice today:

In Croatoa the entire league was at one banner destroying the critters, the bar moved slowly but not enough to trigger the banners.

Right after we went to Steel Canyon, spread out to the banners to fight the critters, and we moved the progress bar pretty quickly and got them vulnerable. Then we defeated the banners one at a time and spawned the GM.

In Croatoa they kept saying to keep the critters in the circle but there were so many people the critters spawned outside.

In Steel we didn't care where the critters spawned and defeated them outside the circle.

YMMV?

[Errants]

9 hours ago, Marine X said:

Found this article, it covers the Deadly Apocalypse if you scroll down. Figured I would link to it rather than plagiarize Maressa's work.

 

http://maressa.net/guides/guide-to-city-of-heroes-halloween/

I wouldn't link that, it's missing or has incorrect information.

[Marine X]

9 hours ago, Eran Rist said:

I wouldn't link that, it's missing or has incorrect information.

Little late in the discussion for that. We have been, for a few Days, trying to figure out what you actually have to do to have a successful Deadly Apocalypse. Paragon-Wiki did not have anything mentioning Strategy. I found this and we have used it as a starting point, and after several different people have run the mission we now have a pretty solid strategy to be successful at it. We aren't building a Wiki here, just trying to figure out the best way to do this. The OP went without a reply for a very long time and I was just trying to help, mission accomplished, the thread sorted out truth and misinformation. You just have to read the whole thread.

[AboveTheChemist]

I ran this 3-4 times last night, without successfully completing it. However I think between last night's attempts and the first couple of times I ran it, I think I have a decent idea of how it works. Each run last night was with a limited number of people, generally less than two groups and sometimes less than one group. The strategy seems to be:

 

1. Spread out to all banners so that there are people at each, and defeat the enemies until the bar is blue. Enemy spawns seem to scale with the number of people at the banner. I don't think killing inside the circle matters.
2. When the blue bar fills and the banners are vulnerable, converge on each banner one at a time until they are defeated.
3. Take out the monster.

With enough people it may not be necessary to converge in step two, but with limited numbers I think it is necessary in order to whittle down the banner more quickly.

 

If any of this is wrong, please let me know and I'll change it. There was a LOT of misinformation being spread last night and thus a lot of frustration (understandably so) when we didn't make much progress, and I have a feeling that is leading people to avoid the event. But the tactic above got us closest to finishing the event, and with another minute or two I think we would have been fine.

[Errants]

3 hours ago, Marine X said:

Little late in the discussion for that. We have been, for a few Days, trying to figure out what you actually have to do to have a successful Deadly Apocalypse. Paragon-Wiki did not have anything mentioning Strategy. I found this and we have used it as a starting point, and after several different people have run the mission we now have a pretty solid strategy to be successful at it. We aren't building a Wiki here, just trying to figure out the best way to do this. The OP went without a reply for a very long time and I was just trying to help, mission accomplished, the thread sorted out truth and misinformation. You just have to read the whole thread.

1) She had linked it on FB groups as well, I read it there, and commented on the inaccuraccies then and there. Seeing it here, again, meant that it hadn't been corrected. I was trying to avoid further spread of misinformation.

 

2) Paragon Wiki doesn't give strategy, but it did give mechanics.

The Goal is to destroy the four Banners and the Giant Monster. But the Banners are not targetable until a certain number of their Defenders are defeated. When the countdown of the event hits the sixteen minute mark, the Defenders start appearing. The Defenders at all four banners must be defeated simultaneously -- fighting at just one Banner in the zone has no effect.

 Seems pretty clear you need to divide and conquer. When I ad hoc ran it a few times the other night, I directed solo capable toons to fight on the banners alone, and then sent support toons out to aid as I got more team members.

The Banners have over 43,000 hit points each. If only one or two teams are participating in the event, they may find that they need to all gather at the same Banner in order to destroy them in time.

- So, HP sacks, while you've got to be divided for the defenders, clearly, you need to concentrate on one banner at a time with your team. It's a DPS check. Source.

 

So, with that knowledge from the wiki, having not run it in 7 years, I managed to recruit, direct, and pull together an ad hoc team on Indomitable that took 2/4 banners down... And we didn't get them vulnerable until about 7-8 minutes left. The event is doable, not complex, and doesn't need a lot of strategy. It isn't easy to pick up from in-game, but there's sufficient and reliable resources out there to do it blind.

 

Edit: Pre-form your team, make sure you can go go to red/blue/gold (so sit in PD/Oros), watch the event channels and wait for a smaller zone to have it (if you're really paranoid) - KR, PO, AP would all be good ideas. Have 4 toons that can solo +0 normal mobs, and 4 other support/additional DPS. When the zone pops you want, head in - you've got 4 minutes before defenders spawn. Make sure at least 1 toon on each banner ISN'T stealthy (mobs won't spawn), and go to town at 16:00. Once banners are vulnerable, group up on one, and just move to all 4. Jump on GM at end. Profit.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Eran Rist
Ad hoc guide.

[Marine X]

I'm with the divide and conquer, I did the whole process once so far but didn't get the Terror badge for some reason. I was at 2 of the banners, got badges for 3 of them, so it may have to do with teams within the leagues members participating at all 4 or something. Who knows.

 

26 minutes ago, Eran Rist said:

She had linked it on FB groups as well, I read it there, and commented on the inaccuraccies then and there. Seeing it here, again, meant that it hadn't been corrected. I was trying to avoid further spread of misinformation.

Understood, and nice summary of the Facts.

[Errants]

7 minutes ago, Marine X said:

I'm with the divide and conquer, I did the whole process once so far but didn't get the Terror badge for some reason. I was at 2 of the banners, got badges for 3 of them, so it may have to do with teams within the leagues members participating at all 4 or something. Who knows.

Probably the League causing issues. Banner event predates leagues, so it may interact wonky with it for rewards. This does mean, of course, that it is "balanced" for an 8 man team.

[Clave Dark 5]

Dividing up for banners isn't a bad idea, it would make it go quicker, but I just successfully did one where we ended up traveling to two of them after taking down the first other two (if that makes sense).

 

That thing about "being within the circle" appears to be complete nonsense though.

[Ironblade]

On 10/4/2019 at 11:36 AM, Eran Rist said:

Edit: Pre-form your team, make sure you can go go to red/blue/gold (so sit in PD/Oros), watch the event channels and wait for a smaller zone to have it

Alternatively, form a league for Trick or Treating.  We were doing that in PI when a banner event started and we just took our existing league (about 25 players) and went to town on them.  Then we went back to ToT'ing.