raids Hamidon Raids - Role Guide

[Keen]

This guide focuses on the different roles needed for completing Hamidon Raids. There are currently two guides available with general information about the raids that can be useful to know before this one:

 

• How to Hamidon Raid Virtue-Style, Addendum, Homecoming Edition - ROBOKiTTY
• Comprehensive Guide to Hami Raiding - Foxfyre

 

This guide aims to be complementary, offering another perspective on different roles in a raid and where most player builds can fit in.

 

The Enemy

 

Quick recap on the nucleus and the mitos:

 

• Mitochondria Antibodies (Yellows)
  • Can be hit by most melee attacks, or attacks lacking positional flags (e.g., Blind, Dominate, etc). They have very high defense against ranged and area attacks.
    • Melee cones are usually tagged as melee, therefore will hit yellows.
    • Some melee PBAoEs are tagged as area (like damage auras), and will miss yellows.
  • Their ranged attack deals very high area damage and also causes stun and knockback.
  • They have a very strong and wide damage aura that also causes stun and knockback.
• Mitochondria Electrolytes (Blues)
  • Can be hit mostly by ranged (single-target only) attacks. They have very high defense anything melee or AoE, including ranged targeted AoEs and cones.
  • Attacks without positional flags will hit them as well.
  • Their ranged attack drains endurance at a fixed rate (20% per hit), reduces recovery, slows movement and recharge, and causes terrorize/fear.
  • They have a damage aura that does all of the above at a much faster rate, so meleeing them can be very dangerous.
• Mending Mitochondria (Greens)
  • They heal the other mitos and the nucleus.
  • They have a shield that grants them very high resistance to all attacks. The shield can be broken with Holds (only).
    • It takes a while to hold a green with a full team of controllers.
  • Their ranged attack causes Toxic (not Special) damage, reduces the target's ability to receive healing and reduces regeneration by a large amount. Stacking only a few of those is often enough to floor anyone's regeneration. The Hami Taunter is usually the primary target of this.
  • They have 100% resistance to Taunt. They tend to hit whoever is closer to them.
• Hamidon (Nucleus)
  • Its attacks deal a mix of every other effect listed above.
  • It's not immune to Taunt, so a dedicated taunter is able to have its attention for the full raid.

 

The Strategy

 

Check the guides linked above for more details on team formations, but usually it goes like this:

 

• Taunter Team: they hold the yellows' attention, taunting from range.
  • The Hamidon Taunter is usually on this team.
• Melee Team: they kill yellows with focused melee attacks.
• Ranged Team: they kill blues with focused ranged attacks.
• Control Team: they kill greens with focused holds and damage.

 

The other two teams in a league have mixed types of characters fitting varying roles. So if you don't make any of the teams above, you can still do what's expected of your role.

 

This guide is divided in three major sections:

 

• Roles by AT
• Targeter Roles
• Hamidon Tanker Role

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Keen

[Keen]

Roles By AT

 

Depending on your AT and power choices, you can perform better at a certain role.

 

Tankers and Brutes with Taunt

 

• You are best at taunting yellows.

 

A "Taunter" is either a Tanker or a Brute with Taunt. Their primary role is to use Taunt from distance to draw the AoE blasts away from the melee team and the rest of the league. Taunters should not melee yellows for the purposes of taunting -- this causes double damage on any melee character that approaches that yellow. Taunters should not try to use ranged attacks on yellows, as they will be evaded and not contribute to taunting.

 

After all yellows are down, Taunters should help with greens, using holds (if they have any) and damage. (Some melee attacks are also holds, like Knockout Blow.) They should not be trying to taunt greens (greens have 100% taunt resistance). Just standing next to a green is enough to draw their aggro.

 

If there are too many Taunters, the overflow Tankers/Brutes can act as melee characters, and should avoid using Taunt during the raid. See Scrappers / Stalkers section.

 

Scrappers / Stalkers / Tankers and Brutes without Taunt

 

• If you have enough KB Protection and Resistance, you are best at attacking yellows.
• If you don't have KB Protection but have some ST ranged attacks, you are best at attacking blues.
• If you don't have KB Protection and don't have any ST ranged attacks, you are best at attacking greens.
  • Most Fire Farmers fall under this category.

 

Yellow mitos deal a huge amount of Knockback, both in their ranged attacks and in their damage aura. They can quickly overwhelm most characters without KB resistance (which is different from KB protection). Most KB protection powers from armor sets also give KB resistance. KB resistance helps reduce the KB magnitude dealt by the yellow pulses and attacks. Not all KB protection powers give KB resistance. Some examples:

 

• Grounded (Electric Armor): only gives KB protection and doesn't work while airborne. Since we attack yellow mitos in the air, this power ends up giving zero KB protection for this purpose.
• Acrobatics (Leaping Pool): only gives KB protection and even after slotting with KB IOs it's not enough (alone) to withstand the high KB magnitude dealt by yellow pulses.
• Some armor powersets (e.g., Dark Armor, Fire Armor) don't offer KB protection at all.
• KB protection coming from IO sets do not give KB resistance.
• Evasive Maneuvers gives a good amount of KB resistance while flying.

 

The amount of KB protection a melee attacker needs to have, without KB resistance, to be able sustain the damage pulses from yellows, is at least 16 points. Players without KB resistance can reach that amount of protection with IO sets and/or Acrobatics.

 

Without KB protection, any melee character that attempts to attack yellow mitos will flip midair and be pushed back. Whenever they try to close in, they'll flip again. And again. They'll barely land any attack to be actually useful as part of the melee team. That's why they get a ranged role if they have single-target ranged attacks. And if they don't, their damage can help kill greens once their barriers are down -- and sometimes, even while they're up.

 

Taunters without KB protection that are on taunting duty will be knocked back, but they're still able to land some taunts on their targets between flipping midair or falling on their backs.

 

If your primary powerset doesn't offer KB protection, remember that you can get it from Incarnate powers such as Clarion Destiny and Melee Hybrid, as well as IO sets, and Inspirations (Break Frees).

 

Blasters / Sentinels / Corruptors / Defenders

 

• You are best at attacking blues.
• If you have positional-less attacks and the melee team needs more damage, you can help on yellows before moving on to greens.
  • E.g., Dominate does not have either Melee, Ranged, or AoE flags, therefore hits yellows.

 

Ranged characters with holds should still focus on blues first. Even if they have holds, the ranged team will eventually converge with the Control Team to kill greens quickly.

 

Sentinels have reduced range. They need to pay attention to the ranged targeter: if they are too far from the target, the Sentinel needs to move closer. Conscious ranged targeters will be considerate about this and attack from a range where everyone can be effective, without getting too close and dying terribly from full end drain and terrorize-lock.

 

Healing should be secondary. Corruptors and Defenders get less from their heals on auto than doing damage instead, mostly due to debuffs going around caused by green beams. Buffs are good to go any time during mito clearing.

 

Controllers / Dominators

 

• You are best at holding greens.
  • Greens will go down faster by dealing damage between holds.

 

It's a common misconception most control players have that the sole damage from their holds will be able to kill greens once their shields go down. But most of the time, other greens will heal it up faster than most Containment/Domination damage can keep up. Tossing damage in-between allows the control team to be able to kill greens without external help.

 

Controller/Dominator pets are somewhat useless because they can't follow orders, but they can be used as cannon fodder for green beams, redirecting them away from the Hamidon taunter and other leaguemates. They have a tendency to pester the main nucleus, which is usually not a problem, except if it's Phantasm as they have a chance of stealing aggro away from the Hami taunter. Phantom Army should be used with caution, specially if the Hami taunter is inexperienced or doesn't have enough Threat slotted in their Taunt.

 

Masterminds

 

• You are best at distracting greens.
• If you have Group Fly, you can attack greens or blues depending on the melee/ranged aspect of your primary powerset.
  • E.g., Beasts are best on greens (they can't attack blues or yellows), Mercenaries can attack blues, etc.
  • Mixed sets can stick to greens.

 

Masterminds are the hardest AT to play in Hamidon raids. Their HP is too low so they can die fast to green damage, they can be killed very fast without EoEs, and keeping Bodyguard up can be challenging without some heavy micromanaging.

 

Moving around the goo without Group Fly is often challenging. E.g., if they're following the ranged targeter, as the targeter moves around, pets will always land next to Hamidon as they attack the next blue, which will cause them to die from Hamidon AoEs. Micromanaging pets to move away from Hamidon before they attack the next blue is a slow process and mostly not worth the trouble. Having Group Fly allows the pets to stay closer to you more often, and away from Hamidon. Melee pets should be given extra attention, as they have a tendency to attack Hamidon even with Group Fly on, while other ranged pets can stay further away from Hami to prevent that.

 

Distracting greens can be helpful. It allows the Hamidon tanker to better handle incoming green damage, and it also protects other raiders from green damage as not everyone has toxic resistances. But how to distract greens properly? Usually, before launch and bloom, the Mastermind can move away from the goo and bring their pets close to them (using Follow), then order the pets to attack the last green in the rotation. Find out which green mito the control targeter initially selects on launch/bloom, then the "last green" will be the one to the opposite direction (in other words, if the targeter is going clockwise, go counterclockwise to find the last mito). The pets will then begin attacking that green until all other mitos are down. The MM themselves can go on about doing other things, like helping ranged teams, or buffing other raiders. As that green will likely be the last to be killed, the damage from pets may make other greens try to heal it, causing other mitos to be not healed, and also cause the attacked green to attack the pets instead of the Hamidon tank or other players. Pets may die from toxic damage but that's okay. Just resummon then before bloom and repeat the process.

 

How about yellows? There are certain conditions that allow pure melee pets (like Beasts) to do great damage to yellows. However, that depends on pets having Knockback+Stun protection, which only a few sets can provide, like Trick Arrow or Electric Affinity (with their AoE mez protection bubbles). Without those, even with Group Fly, when a pet is knocked back, it falls to the ground (instead of flipping midair), which causes DPS to drop significantly. So unless you can sort of guarantee KB and stun protection to your pets, the recommendation would be not trying to take on yellows.

 

Finally, keep in mind that pets should not be allowed to roam freely in Aggressive Mode. They'll almost always end up attacking Hamidon, which does not help with raid progress at all.

 

Peacebringers / Warshades

 

• If you have melee attacks and enough KB/stun protection, you can attack yellows.
• Otherwise, and if you have ranged attacks or Bright/Dark Nova, you are best at attacking blues.
• If you have Dwarf Form, you can double as a yellow taunter.

 

HEATs do a bit of everything but very poorly. A "Jack of All Trades, Master of None" type of AT. Human-only builds suffer the most from this.

 

Light Form offers very little mez protection (only 3 points) to be able to sustain yellow damage auras. (They also cause mini heart attacks on all healers in the league whenever their buffs expire.) They can offset KB protection with IOs, but additional stun protection must come from external buffs or Incarnate powers. It's also impossible to melee yellows reliably in Dwarf Form since it cannot fly, unless a teammate provides Group Fly.

 

Gravity Well and Incandescent Strike are holds that can be used against greens.

 

Arachnos Soldiers / Widows

 

In the following order:

 

• If you have melee attacks and enough KB/stun protection, you can attack yellows.
• Otherwise, if you have ranged attacks, you are best at attacking blues.
• Otherwise, if you have holds, you can help with holding/damaging greens.

 

VEATs are actually very versatile in raids and can fill multiple roles better. Their buff auras (Tactics and Assault variants) can improve their teams' damage and resistance to terrorize effects from blues.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Keen

[Keen]

Targeter Roles

 

Targeters have additional responsibility for ensuring smooth runs -- it's not just about having a bunch of people following you around while you point at targets of your choice. A poor targeter can slow things down considerably, and even cause additional problems if they're not paying attention.

 

There are certain things a Targeter needs to keep in mind at all times:

 

• You'll have several people following you around and attacking your target. Use this power responsibly.
• A dead targeter is no targeter. While you can still select targets, you can't be at them. Don't die.
• Make sure your followers know what to do and ensure that they actually follow you. Take care of your team.

 

How does the above translate to an actual game plan?

 

• Don't die = use EoEs proactively (before you actually need them). That means you no longer have the luxury of saving up your EoEs. You should at least pop an EoE after launch, and another after bloom. Do not wait to be damaged. Three simultaneous blasts from yellows is enough to kill any squishy class without EoEs before you can even think about using them (and you'll probably be stunned anyway).
• Use this power responsibly = do NOT keep targeting Hamidon past the 75% HP call. If you do, you may contribute to cause a double-bloom.
• Take care of your team = give them quick instructions from time to time. A melee targeter can send a short message on the league channels asking for the melee characters to attack their target after a bloom. Upon launch, a ranged targeter can quickly remind their followers about only using single-target damage on blues. A control targeter can remind their followers to use holds as well as damage on greens. And so on. Make sure to use league/broadcast chat for this, and not team chat. Many of your followers may be outside of your team.

 

It also helps that all targeters go the same direction around Hamidon. On Everlasting, all targeters go clockwise. This helps with consistency and also prevents people from getting lost on what the next target is. If they get the first target correctly, they'll know what the next ones will be more easily.

 

Below are some tips for each role.

 

Melee Targeter

 

This is the hardest targeter role. Yellows are placed in the outermost area of the goo. They're the farthest from each other, and it takes a bit of time to get to the next one as they go down.

 

It is difficult to auto-follow a melee targeter in this scenario due to flight momentum. Say you're a follower, and the targeter may stop close to a yellow, and if you're auto-following, you may fly past them (and drift away) which may land you too far from the yellow target and few/none of your attacks will activate. So followers should be doing some manual movement, and the targeter can instruct them to do so.

 

Another tip is to actually instruct them to not auto-follow, but ask them to attack their first target. They can target the yellow mitos themselves: the first target (upon launch or after a bloom) being decided by the targeter; the next ones, by just moving clockwise. Each follower can then target the next yellow clockwise then hit F. This fixes the issues with flight momentum and often results in a faster yellow clearing (if all melee attackers are doing their jobs).

 

After all yellows are down, the melee targeter will move to the current green target to "induce" their followers to attack that green. Same rules as following yellows apply here as well.

 

Ranged Targeter

 

This is the easiest targeter role. If you're looking into becoming a targeter, I suggest starting here.

 

Followers can auto-follow the targeter and focus their efforts on activating the best single-target DPS possible as well as not dying (by using EoEs). If the ranged targeter is good/experienced, they won't need to do manual movement at all.

 

The best approach for the ranged targeter is to place themselves between two blues and attack the one behind them (in the anticlockwise direction). Once that blue goes down, the targeter quickly switches to the blue in front of them. This warrants close to 100% damage uptime from all your followers and greatly speeds up blue clearing. After damage starts on the next blue, the targeter then moves to the next position (between two blues) and repeats the process. This also has the benefit of staying in a range that short-ranged attacks will work, including all Sentinel attacks.

 

The ranged targeter should not get close to blues. Endurance drain and terrorize-lock can be disruptive for some ranged classes. If they aren't buffed, their endurance will quickly drop, rendering them useless. Blues also deal Special damage, which means quite a bit of damage if attackers don't have EoEs on.

 

Unlike the melee targeter, after all blues are down, the ranged targeter will just move to the current green target and do all the targeting from there on until all greens are defeated, just like with blues. Ranged followers will keep doing what they were doing on blues, additionally using any holds if available.

 

Despite being the easiest role, the ranged targeter poses the higher risk of causing a double-bloom due to the large amount of players auto-following them. So they should pay close attention to the "bloom" call and detarget Hamidon quickly enough so that all the targeted-through damage isn't too much.

 

Control Targeter

 

This role is quite simple but requires patience. Green killing essentially requires that all control characters focus on a single target. If followers aren't listening, green clearing can take forever. It is not uncommon that the first green mito is still alive after all blues are cleared because the control players are unfocused.

 

Another situation is that the control team successfully breaks the green shield, but is unable to kill the green due to healing from other greens. This happens if the control characters are not using damage between holds.

 

As with blue targeting, the control targeter can be auto-followed. They will usually move themselves (and all their followers) into melee range of the current green target, so Dominators can use their melee attacks.

 

The control targeter must also be aware that one specific green can spawn very high in the air and be easily missed in the rotation. This can cause leaguemates to start attacking Hamidon before all greens are down.

[Keen]

Hamidon Taunter Role

 

Being the Hamidon Taunter can be done by any melee class if they have Taunt and enough external support. But sometimes multiple characters for this single role can be difficult to organize, and the more players are involved with this, the less they'll be contributing to the raid overall.

 

In an ideal scenario, ONE player should be able to take care of Hamidon without needing any external attention.

 

Certain ATs and power combinations make it easier to taunt Hamidon without the need of external buffs, and a couple of them are even able to do it without external buffs -and- without EoEs.

 

Let's understand what happens to whoever is taunting Hamidon:

 

• They will be hit by green beams. They cause unresistable regeneration debuffs that, when stacked, are enough to bring regeneration to zero even with multiple regeneration buffs. They also apply -Healing Received which makes heals less effective on the target (to the point that they don't work at all). And finally, they also deal a heavy Toxic DoT, which can kill the taunter even through EoEs if they don't have toxic resists or absorb shields.
• They will be hit by blue bolts. Their endurance will be drained, their recovery reduced, they will have their recharge and movement slowed, and they may be terrorized.
• They will be hit by yellow blasts. They may be stunned and knocked back, and suffer heavy Special damage, including a DoT.
• They will be hit by Hamidon, which does all of the above at some level. Some debuffs from Hamidon last for around 70 seconds, and a Hamidon tank will usually have 20 stacks of them (most notably, -Healing Received and -Regeneration) over the course of the raid.

 

So a strong, self-capable Hamidon taunter needs the following:

 

• Endurance Drain Resistance (Critical).
  • Blue attacks directly damage the target's endurance points in addition of a recovery debuff. Two different things, but fortunately, some armor sets offer both debuff resistances together.
  • Recovery alone is often not enough to counter this, unless it's really, really high (Ageless Destiny, for instance).
  • Ageless Radial gives debuff resistances, which includes endurance drain resistance.
• Slow Resistance (Critical)
  • Some armor sets offer this, while the rest can be attained with Winter IOs.
  • This will also prevent heals from becoming unusable due to too many recharge debuffs from blues and Hamidon.
• Self Heals (Critical to most builds)
  • Most armor and melee sets offer healing that is unresistable, and therefore not affected by -Healing Received debuffs.
• Toxic Resistance (Critical to builds without Absorb)
  • This allows the taunter to resist green beam damage and not die with an EoE active.
  • It is possible to earn great amounts of toxic resistance with purple IO sets (30% max). Other non-purple sets also offer varying amounts.
• Extra Stun Protection/Resistance
  • Sometimes the Hami taunter will be briefly stunned when many yellows are attacking them. Depending on your powerset choices, this can suppress many vital toggles and the cascade effect can be fatal.
  • Melee Hybrid (mez protection), Clarion Destiny (mez protection) and Control Hybrid (mez resistance) are the Incarnate choices for this.
  • Many IO sets give mez resists as well.
• MaxHP and Absorb
  • Having lots of HP allows the taunter to survive for longer until enough greens are defeated and the taunter can regain some regeneration.
  • Absorb shields will stop the toxic damage from greens, but not the special damage from yellows, blues, and Hamidon.
  • Having MaxHP + Absorb allows certain builds to better rely on regeneration, and make self-healing and toxic resists less needed.
• Additional Knockback Protection
  • When the Hami taunter is briefly stunned, mez protection may be briefly suppressed.
  • This may cause a KB chain on the taunter that would be difficult to recover from, specially if the taunter is slowed.
  • This includes all armor powersets that offer KB protection+resistance, as all that resistance may be suppressed while stunned.
  • KB protection from Acrobatics is suppressed while mezzed as well.
  • KB protection from IO sets is not suppressed while mezzed.
• Terrorize Protection/Resistance
  • Only a few armor sets offer this, and they often don't have the other critical requirements.
  • Blue mito attacks cause fear/terrorize, which may disrupt your initial traveling to the nucleus and your taunting chain.
  • Tactics helps with Terrorize resistance, as well as Clarion Destiny and Melee Hybrid.

 

 

Base Buffs offer many helpful 1-hour-long buffs for minimal cost (white salvage), the most important being: KB protection (10tps), Recovery Debuff Resistance, Slow Resistance, Stun Resistance, Fear Resistance, and Toxic Resistance.

 

Below is a matrix of requirements per Armor set (numbers for Tankers unless otherwise specified):

 

Armor Set	Self Heal	Toxic Resistance	Slow Resistance	Terrorize Protection	Endurance Drain Resistance	Stun Resistance	KB Protection	Notes
Radiation Armor	Yes (Slow)	50% (Enhanceable)	45% (Toggle)	No	86% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	High resists Debuff protection on auto powers Has Absorb Low Max HP * Top set
Bio Armor	Yes (Slow) (Can miss)	25% (Enhanceable)	30% (Auto)	No	86% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	High Max HP High resists Has Absorb Debuff protection on auto powers * Top set
Dark Armor	Yes (Can miss)	20% (Enhanceable)	No	Yes	86% (Toggle)	Normal (Toggle)	No	Heal is strong and fast but can miss Low Max HP Good set but difficult to build Debuff protection on toggles (can suppress) If stunned, goes down fast
Regeneration (Brutes only)	Yes (+MaxHP) (Multiple)	15% (Enhanceable) (Stackable)	No	No	No	High (Resilience) (Taunt)	Yes (Toggle)	Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Moment of Glory is a good alpha soaker (mez prot, recovery)
Stone Armor	Yes (+MaxHP) (Very Slow)	20% (From Heal)	No	No	86% (Toggle)	High (Granite)	Yes (Toggle)	Heal is Earth's Embrace Has high amounts of Stun protection w/ Granite Can take alpha without Melee Hybrid
Electric Armor	Yes (Slow)	No	40% (Auto)	No	86+129% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Auto) (Ground)	Immune to end drain Low Max HP KB protection requires being on ground No innate toxic resists make this set very hard to build
Willpower	No	7.5% (Enhanceable)	No	Yes	No	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Lacks a self heal
Fiery Aura	Yes	20% (Enhanceable) (Stackable) *	20% (Auto)	No	50% (Stackable) *	Normal (Toggle)	No	Strong heal Difficult to build Low Max HP * Needs preparation before launch (stacking Healing Flames and Consume)
Ice Armor	Yes (+MaxHP) (Very Slow)	20% (Enhanceable)	100%+ (Auto)	No	No	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Immune to slows Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Heal is Hoarfrost
Invulnerability	Yes (+MaxHP) (Very Slow)	20% (Enhanceable)	20% (Auto)	No	25% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Heal is Dull Pain Low Endurance Drain resists
Shield Defense	No	15% (Enhanceable)	30% (Toggle)	Yes	No	High (Click)	Yes (Click)	Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Lacks a self heal
Super Reflexes	No	Very Low (Low HP)	40% (Auto)	No	No	High (Click)	Yes (Click)	Low Max HP Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Lacks a self heal
Energy Aura (Brutes only)	Yes (Slow)	7% (Enhanceable)	20%	No	25%	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Low Max HP Heal is a bit too slow (around 30s slotted)

 

 

Contrary to popular belief, regeneration is not as important in a Hamidon taunter build. Green beams will debuff regeneration so much that it won't matter that you have every self regen power possible running (i.e., Instant Healing + Melee Hybrid + Rebirth) and your final regeneration will still be zero for most of the raid. Regeneration only has a positive effect if you're taunting Hami from range (which brings its own sets of problems) and/or you have external buffs. But again, we're looking into ways to be a more independent Hamidon taunter. If enough green aggro is diverted from the Hami tank, or when enough greens are down, then they are able to have some regeneration on their own, but it's advisable not to count on it, and that regeneration window can be brief (until the next bloom).

 

The best melee set for this role is Dark Melee. Siphon Life is an unresistable heal that is up often (but can miss). But it is possible to have any other melee set and be a good Hami tank if your armor set is good enough. It's also possible to offset armor set deficiencies (like lack of healing) by having a heal in the melee set. Radiation Melee also has a self heal, but the target needs to be in Contaminated state for the heal to proc. The heal is best used after Devastating Blow, since it has a 100% Contaminated chance on hit.

 

 

____________________________________________________________________

 

You've reached the end of the guide. Thanks for reading this far, and if you find any errors, kindly let me know.
Acknowledgements to Elmyder, Veracor, gchpaco, Sue, ROBOKiTTY and crew, and all the daily Hamidon raiders on Everlasting.

 

See you all in the Hive/Abyss!

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Keen

[macskull]

On 9/2/2020 at 10:36 AM, Keen said:

The best melee set for this role is Dark Melee. Siphon Life is an unresistable heal that is up often (but can miss). But it is possible to have any other melee set and be a good Hami tank if your armor set is good enough.

FWIW almost every armor set's heal is unresistible which oddly enough makes a Fire tanker with enough +HP, +rech, and KB protection an ideal Hami tanker with minimal outside support. Healing Flames will be available for a 900ish HP heal every 10-12 seconds, way more than enough if you're chewing EoEs as needed.

[Senkan]

On 9/2/2020 at 10:36 AM, Keen said:

Hamidon Taunter Role

 

Being the Hamidon Taunter can be done by any melee class if they have Taunt and enough external support. But sometimes multiple characters for this single role can be difficult to organize, and the more players are involved with this, the less they'll be contributing to the raid overall.

 

In an ideal scenario, ONE player should be able to take care of Hamidon without needing any external attention.

 

Certain ATs and power combinations make it easier to taunt Hamidon without the need of external buffs, and a couple of them are even able to do it without external buffs -and- without EoEs.

 

Let's understand what happens to whoever is taunting Hamidon:

 

• They will be hit by green beams. They cause unresistable regeneration debuffs that, when stacked, are enough to bring regeneration to zero even with multiple regeneration buffs. They also apply -Healing Received which makes heals less effective on the target (to the point that they don't work at all). And finally, they also deal a heavy Toxic DoT, which can kill the taunter even through EoEs if they don't have toxic resists or absorb shields.
• They will be hit by blue bolts. Their endurance will be drained, their recovery reduced, they will have their recharge and movement slowed, and they may be terrorized.
• They will be hit by yellow blasts. They may be stunned and knocked back, and suffer heavy Special damage, including a DoT.
• They will be hit by Hamidon, which does all of the above at some level. Some debuffs from Hamidon last for around 70 seconds, and a Hamidon tank will usually have 20 stacks of them (most notably, -Healing Received and -Regeneration) over the course of the raid.

 

So a strong, self-capable Hamidon taunter needs the following:

 

• Endurance Drain Resistance (Critical).
  • Blue attacks directly damage the target's endurance points in addition of a recovery debuff. Two different things, but fortunately, some armor sets offer both debuff resistances together.
  • Recovery alone is often not enough to counter this, unless it's really, really high (Ageless Destiny, for instance).
  • Ageless Radial gives debuff resistances, which includes endurance drain resistance.
• Slow Resistance (Critical)
  • Some armor sets offer this, while the rest can be attained with Winter IOs.
  • This will also prevent heals from becoming unusable due to too many recharge debuffs from blues and Hamidon.
• Self Heals (Critical to most builds)
  • Most armor and melee sets offer healing that is unresistable, and therefore not affected by -Healing Received debuffs.
• Toxic Resistance (Critical to builds without Absorb)
  • This allows the taunter to resist green beam damage and not die with an EoE active.
  • It is possible to earn great amounts of toxic resistance with purple IO sets (30% max). Other non-purple sets also offer varying amounts.
• Extra Stun Protection/Resistance
  • Sometimes the Hami taunter will be briefly stunned when many yellows are attacking them. Depending on your powerset choices, this can suppress many vital toggles and the cascade effect can be fatal.
  • Melee Hybrid (mez protection), Clarion Destiny (mez protection) and Control Hybrid (mez resistance) are the Incarnate choices for this.
  • Many IO sets give mez resists as well.
• MaxHP and Absorb
  • Having lots of HP allows the taunter to survive for longer until enough greens are defeated and the taunter can regain some regeneration.
  • Absorb shields will stop the toxic damage from greens, but not the special damage from yellows, blues, and Hamidon.
  • Having MaxHP + Absorb allows certain builds to better rely on regeneration, and make self-healing and toxic resists less needed.
• Additional Knockback Protection
  • When the Hami taunter is briefly stunned, mez protection may be briefly suppressed.
  • This may cause a KB chain on the taunter that would be difficult to recover from, specially if the taunter is slowed.
  • This includes all armor powersets that offer KB protection+resistance, as all that resistance may be suppressed while stunned.
  • KB protection from Acrobatics is suppressed while mezzed as well.
  • KB protection from IO sets is not suppressed while mezzed.
• Terrorize Protection/Resistance
  • Only a few armor sets offer this, and they often don't have the other critical requirements.
  • Blue mito attacks cause fear/terrorize, which may disrupt your initial traveling to the nucleus and your taunting chain.
  • Tactics helps with Terrorize resistance, as well as Clarion Destiny and Melee Hybrid.

 

 

Base Buffs offer many helpful 1-hour-long buffs for minimal cost (white salvage), the most important being: KB protection (10tps), Recovery Debuff Resistance, Slow Resistance, Stun Resistance, Fear Resistance, and Toxic Resistance.

 

Below is a matrix of requirements per Armor set (numbers for Tankers unless otherwise specified):

 

Armor Set	Self Heal	Toxic Resistance	Slow Resistance	Terrorize Protection	Endurance Drain Resistance	Stun Resistance	KB Protection	Notes
Radiation Armor	Yes (Slow)	50% (Enhanceable)	45% (Toggle)	No	86% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	High resists Debuff protection on auto powers Has Absorb Low Max HP * Top set
Bio Armor	Yes (Slow) (Can miss)	25% (Enhanceable)	30% (Auto)	No	86% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	High Max HP High resists Has Absorb Debuff protection on auto powers * Top set
Dark Armor	Yes (Can miss)	20% (Enhanceable)	No	Yes	86% (Toggle)	Normal (Toggle)	No	Heal is strong and fast but can miss Low Max HP Good set but difficult to build Debuff protection on toggles (can suppress) If stunned, goes down fast
Regeneration (Brutes only)	Yes (+MaxHP) (Multiple)	15% (Enhanceable) (Stackable)	No	No	No	High (Resilience) (Taunt)	Yes (Toggle)	Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Moment of Glory is a good alpha soaker (mez prot, recovery)
Stone Armor	Yes (+MaxHP) (Very Slow)	20% (From Heal)	No	No	86% (Toggle)	High (Granite)	Yes (Toggle)	Heal is Earth's Embrace Has high amounts of Stun protection w/ Granite Can take alpha without Melee Hybrid
Electric Armor	Yes (Slow)	No	40% (Auto)	No	86+129% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Auto) (Ground)	Immune to end drain Low Max HP KB protection requires being on ground No innate toxic resists make this set very hard to build
Willpower	No	7.5% (Enhanceable)	No	Yes	No	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Lacks a self heal
Fiery Aura	Yes	20% (Enhanceable) (Stackable) *	20% (Auto)	No	50% (Stackable) *	Normal (Toggle)	No	Strong heal Difficult to build Low Max HP * Needs preparation before launch (stacking Healing Flames and Consume)
Ice Armor	Yes (+MaxHP) (Very Slow)	20% (Enhanceable)	100%+ (Auto)	No	No	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Immune to slows Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Heal is Hoarfrost
Invulnerability	Yes (+MaxHP) (Very Slow)	20% (Enhanceable)	20% (Auto)	No	25% (Auto)	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Heal is Dull Pain Low Endurance Drain resists
Shield Defense	No	15% (Enhanceable)	30% (Toggle)	Yes	No	High (Click)	Yes (Click)	Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Lacks a self heal
Super Reflexes	No	Very Low (Low HP)	40% (Auto)	No	No	High (Click)	Yes (Click)	Low Max HP Need to offset endurance drain w/ Incarnates or temps Lacks a self heal
Energy Aura (Brutes only)	Yes (Slow)	7% (Enhanceable)	20%	No	25%	Normal (Toggle)	Yes (Toggle)	Low Max HP Heal is a bit too slow (around 30s slotted)

 

 

Contrary to popular belief, regeneration is not as important in a Hamidon taunter build. Green beams will debuff regeneration so much that it won't matter that you have every self regen power possible running (i.e., Instant Healing + Melee Hybrid + Rebirth) and your final regeneration will still be zero for most of the raid. Regeneration only has a positive effect if you're taunting Hami from range (which brings its own sets of problems) and/or you have external buffs. But again, we're looking into ways to be a more independent Hamidon taunter. If enough green aggro is diverted from the Hami tank, or when enough greens are down, then they are able to have some regeneration on their own, but it's advisable not to count on it, and that regeneration window can be brief (until the next bloom).

 

The best melee set for this role is Dark Melee. Siphon Life is an unresistable heal that is up often (but can miss). But it is possible to have any other melee set and be a good Hami tank if your armor set is good enough. It's also possible to offset armor set deficiencies (like lack of healing) by having a heal in the melee set. Radiation Melee also has a self heal, but the target needs to be in Contaminated state for the heal to proc. The heal is best used after Devastating Blow, since it has a 100% Contaminated chance on hit.

 

 

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You've reached the end of the guide. Thanks for reading this far, and if you find any errors, kindly let me know.
Acknowledgements to Elmyder, Veracor, gchpaco, Sue, ROBOKiTTY and crew, and all the daily Hamidon raiders on Everlasting.

 

See you all in the Hive/Abyss!

 

 

Keen...here is a Bio/Dark Hami tank build for your review. Please look it over for any holes.

 

Keen - Tanker (Bio Armor).mxd