Want 20 merits? Got a couple minutes?

[Greycat]

Quick guide to a quick SSA 1 (Who will die,) part 1. Or, guide to getting it done quickly.

 

So. Got 15 minutes to spare? (20 redside) Need 20 merits? 10 threads? One more Astral (hopefully to convert to another Empyrian?) Or really, really want an Accuracy SO? Here you go. Who Will Die, mission 1.

 

Location:

Skyway City, at the police station.
Talk to the Lost (Theoden) surrounded by four cops. He'll start you on your path.
Redside: Alastor, Cap au Diable south on the boardwalk.
Minimum level: 10
Maximum: 20. You will be exemplared down if you're higher.
Team size: 1-2. Yes, you *can* bring a full team. But that's not the point. Run at base difficulty. You're doing this for a quick reward.

 

Pretty much any AT or power combo (yes, even support) can do this in under 15 minutes. (20, redside.) Yes, even at level 10. Obviously higher levels will bring in faster times, but for a fairly quick reward that doesn't need "a build," SSA 1 isn't bad.

 

The story? Ghost has an obelisk that can steal power. Looking for a champion to help him take vengeance. This is not a Good Thing. Blueside, you talk to Theoden and find him wanting help because some of his bretheren are doing Things That Are Not The Way.

 

So. The thing to keep in mind here is that you won't be fighting much, ideally. The point here is *not* All The XPs. It's to get this thing *done* and get your rewards. You should barely have to fight. Blueside and redside are mostly similar - I'll write from the Blue perspective and note differences.

 

Preparation:
At level 10, you should have just a few inspiration slots. Obviously higher levels you'll have more. What you'll want will depend *somewhat* on your character, but you'll want:
1-2 medium or large purples.
1-2 breakfrees, depending on character mez protection.
Everything else to taste/need (have END issues? Bring blues. Maybe a green. See how it goes.)

Mission 1: Orenbanga.

 

Tip: If you're staring at the "Who Will Die?!" splash screen for a long time, look down. There's an "Begin Game" at the bottom of the screen. Click it. Yes, it's kind of annoying.

 

Yay, a visit to the bagel. This is simple (assuming you're solo or duo, versus have a full team which will have spawns in the way everywhere.) Skip *all* the mob spawns. Run to the end. Fight the mage. (Redside: You don't even have to fight him, just talk to him. Make a deal. Don't kill him.) The caverns start collapsing. Run back. Skip all the mobs. You have two minutes to get out.

 

Bonus note: Going for the Pumicite boss badge? One will always spawn in the "V" shaped room. You can stop and fight him. Do it quickly enough, you may even gain a little time time.

 

 

The door you came in will be inaccessible. Turn left. There's a cave door surrounded by green crystals. Go there. Go forward, turn right - you should see a laval filled room. Zip through, turn left. Blueside, you'll see a ghost and a villain arguing. They won't attack. Exit the doors.

 

(Given you have to just "make for the exit," a fast travel to Skyway may be quicker, blueside. Redside - there's a chest at the exit. Click on it for an inspiration.)

 

Mission 2: Caves

Visit your contact for the next mission. This is where you'll want one purple, and *possibly* a breakfree.

 

Zip down the caves. Ignore the enemies. Watch for a dialog option saying something about summoning Igneous or the PPD coming in (redside.) It should be about the point you have to turn for the first time. You're either (blueside) going to have to click some rubble piles or (redside) obelisks to keep ambushes from coming in every 30 seconds once the timer runs out. Fortunately, you should be able to do this before they finish describing what'll happen.

 

When you get the dialog, pop a purple (or don't, it's your neck) and run down. Ignore the guards, if possible  and click your three glowies as you go.  (That's the point of the purple. Just getting these glowies clicked without getting hit by the guards. With some positioning, there are times you can even just pass them and click without aggroing, depending on how they spawn.) You *should* be able to get through with little to no combat. (I know, "my XPs!" - you're not doing this for the xp.) In the final room is a Lost LT. If you have no mez protection, pop a  breakfree (or just have one handy.) He's... frankly kind of a chump if he can't mez you, and should go down quickly. Exit.

 

 

Mission 3: Ooh, you'll a-lava this.

Final fight. Skip over the islands with the pumicites, just get to the big island at the end.
You'll find an obelisk, a weakened Synapse (you don't get to fight him) and a Lost with Synapse's powers (lemkin) and two Pumicite minions (one's usually behind the obelisk.)

 

Redside note: Remember that mage you didn't kill in mission 1? He shows up here to help. Also, instead of Pumicites, it's Lost on the islands and guarding Lemkin.

 

Lemkin's annoying, especially when he decides to run off. Typical - down a purple, beat him down (probably with some chasing about 1/4 of the time,) beat the minions. He *can* be a bit of a fight, so if you're worried about health or END, have some insps handy.

 

Blueside:
At this point, Alastor comes in, rants about fools, summons his chosen minion Echidna (you may have met her in some Safeguard or radio missions - Spine scrapper LT) and two Thorns minions. She'll decline Synapse's power. Take her down, knock out the minions, sit through the ooh mysterious cutscene, select reward, call it in. Done. Probably in under 15 minutes. Clean up the pumicites you left behind if you want, there's nothing else going on and not much to explore.

 

Redside:
Live devs hated villains, as the meme goes, so they made this longer.

Fight lemkin as before. You "say the phrase," and suddenly... you have more powers! And you'll probably be glad, especially at lower levels. You get a "synaptic strike," basically electrically charged Flurry, an electric Whirlwind, and what's basically Thunderous Blast, sort of.

 

And you'll want them, because where blueside has one fight, you have multiple waves of Longbow and Heroes and escorts to fight. Work through them. If your COT buddy you didn't kill survived, well, enjoy the bubbly Earth controller. Now you get to watch a cutscene because "something goes wrong with the obelisk." Then be quick about making your rewards choice, because if you're in the wrong spot, the Freedom Phalanx will show up and slap you down. They are level 40 and at *least* Elite Bosses. You do not have enough inspirations to take a +20 any of them down, Much less all together.

 

On the plus side, if you miss Statesman, he's still alive here. Wave from your crater in the ground.

 

(If you're far enough away, they won't aggro... depending on how they come in. Otherwise, they'll say hello with something like a boulder to the side of your head.)

 

Your reward choices:
20 reward merits (once every 6.5 days.)
5 Reward Merits (if the 20 option is unavailable because you just *did* that. If the 20 *is* available, this does not show up.)
One Astral Merit (50 only.)
Ten Threads (50 only.)
One Accuracy SO.

 

Done. I've done this in as low as 6 minutes, to up to 17 (redside.) So, a merit a minute or better. You can either put this on a weekly rotation to do quickly, or just run it when you're *just* short of whatever you want to use merits (or threads) on. Or if you really, *really* want an Accuracy SO.

[carroto]

On 12/6/2020 at 6:54 AM, Greycat said:

You can either put this on a weekly rotation to do quickly,

It's worth noting that all the SSA arcs share the same 6.5 day timer, but you get your first run through of each one "for free", the timer doesn't apply.  So what that means is that the very first time you run SSA 1, it doesn't start the timer.  So you can run it twice in a row for 20 merits if it's your first time on a given character.