Black Whip

[Meknomancer]

So 3rd time fighting her she was tough...well a long fight anyway earlier when i was using high dps scrappers (db/bio wm/bio). Run 3 on an elec troll with a domi and 2 blasters. Took almost 15 minutes. Is she supposed to be harder than all the SBB av's combined? Its not that she puts out massive dps but her hp bar crawls down and then you hit the other 2 av and they drop like flies. Whats that all about? How do people manage when they run this on low level/ungeared toons...is it just an epic fight or is there some sort of scaling?

 

[Glacier Peak]

30 minutes ago, Meknomancer said:

So 3rd time fighting her she was tough...well a long fight anyway earlier when i was using high dps scrappers (db/bio wm/bio). Run 3 on an elec troll with a domi and 2 blasters. Took almost 15 minutes. Is she supposed to be harder than all the SBB av's combined? Its not that she puts out massive dps but her hp bar crawls down and then you hit the other 2 av and they drop like flies. Whats that all about? How do people manage when they run this on low level/ungeared toons...is it just an epic fight or is there some sort of scaling?

It would be beneficial to add in some -regen and -rech debuffs during the fight. Since the Monster's HP is so large, and since regeneration is tied to max HP, restricting or even flooring regeneration will help shorten the fight considerably. When I soloed this Monster on my Ice/Cold Corruptor, I used a lot of -regen, -res, and -rech. Even still, it took around 8 minutes to solo. If you still have trouble, best thing to do is just increase the size of the team to take down the Monster faster.

[Darmian]

In case no one knows who these are:

 

 

 

 

You normally see them chatting to the press around Atlas Park City Hall, along with the other three.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Darmian

[Meknomancer]

The problem is you tend to advertise for a badge run and its a pug team, you send out the invites not knowing what you will get. Thats how most of the teaming works in coh. Thats part of the fun. And your pretty low level for Kane so you may not even have your -regen powers assuming you have them in a powerset. If you run it and everyones low level i was wondering how the teams fared.

[Meknomancer]

And i didn't realise you could start Kane up solo.

[Darmian]

On 10/9/2021 at 10:19 PM, Meknomancer said:

And i didn't realise you could start Kane up solo.

You can't.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Darmian

[Meknomancer]

So it can't have been Black Whip Glacier Peak soloed in 8 min unless the rest of the team was just watching?

[Glacier Peak]

6 minutes ago, Meknomancer said:

So it can't have been Black Whip Glacier Peak soloed in 8 min unless the rest of the team was just watching?

I must've stated this in another similar thread, but had two alt accounts and a buddy start it, then all quit out. 

 

Edit: Yep, another thread:

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Glacier Peak

[Meknomancer]

Ah that explains it 🙂

[Yomo Kimyata]

Black whip?  Black whip?  Three black whips.

[Coyotedancer]

'Planning on running this with the family SG this evening, so we'll see how Black Whip handles with a group of relative newbies on basic-equipped. near-level characters. I'll be on my "finished" Rad/Dark Defender, who is 50+ but built to exemp with mid-level teams, so they won't be going in without SOME advantages... But I'd still say they'll be a good test of how well a "casual" group can handle it.  

[Clave Dark 5]

8 hours ago, Meknomancer said:

And i didn't realise you could start Kane up solo.

Whoa, neither did I!

[Clave Dark 5]

8 hours ago, Darmian said:

You can't.

 

Bah, way to ruin my mood on Halloween!  And show me I need to keep scrolling before posting.

[Marshal_General]

Wait, your saying black Whip

is a girl?

 

 

We beat her when I was on my my 20ish fire/db tank and I didn't even notice.

[Coyotedancer]

Well, the Wolfepack went in at even-level/x4, since I wasn't sure how the newbies would do on their first run of Dr.Kane's EVER... and Whip had a very, very bad day. Street Scrap + Storm Controller + Spines Brute + my Rad/Dark Defender = flattened demon girl with no trouble at all. The Abomination got kicked over even faster. Given that result, I'd say she's fine as a GM, as long as you have some way to debuff the crap out of her. 

[Ironblade]

3 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

Given that result, I'd say she's fine as a GM, as long as you have some way to debuff the crap out of her. 

And anyone can buy Envenomed Daggers from the vendor.  One person spamming those makes a real difference on low level content when people don't have their 'good powers' yet.

[Pogoman]

For the next time I run a Dr Kane trial/tf/thing (?)... How do you summon Black Whip anyway? THank you for the help on this one in advance.

[Glacier Peak]

Just now, Pogoman said:

For the next time I run a Dr Kane trial/tf/thing (?)... How do you summon Black Whip anyway? THank you for the help on this one in advance.

At the very start of the mission before entering the large mansion, go up the first set of stairs then turn left. You'll see Devil Girl next to a cobblestone. Talk to her and start the curse. Then go to both sides of the mansion where you see a guy and a lady. Convince them to jump in the candy cauldron. If all steps were completed you'll get a message and should return to where you found Devil Girl to be greeted with a Monster enemy. 

[Ukase]

18 hours ago, Ironblade said:

And anyone can buy Envenomed Daggers from the vendor.  One person spamming those makes a real difference on low level content when people don't have their 'good powers' yet.

It is truly mind-boggling that players forget about these - if they ever knew that p2w had them for sale at an affordable price. I can't recall, but it's less than 100k for 30 of them. To me, it just seems like a simple thing to go to p2w after you come out of the creator - and unless it's a challenge/concept character, buy everything you can afford. 

All my characters carry a set of 120 unless they're specifically created for a challenge/concept. 
 

[Hew]

2 hours ago, Ukase said:

It is truly mind-boggling that players forget about these - if they ever knew that p2w had them for sale at an affordable price. I can't recall, but it's less than 100k for 30 of them. To me, it just seems like a simple thing to go to p2w after you come out of the creator - and unless it's a challenge/concept character, buy everything you can afford. 

All my characters carry a set of 120 unless they're specifically created for a challenge/concept. 
 

 

It's not mind-boggling. You conflate players with a mindset of ioallthethings with casuals who either have never used them, don't know about them, or just don't care. 

 

Assume everyone is a casual, and when you get someone on the team less casual, great.

 

But do not make the mistake made here and expect players to use these kinds of tools because a. they are cheap, b. have an outsized effect, c. happen to be at the same vendor as 2xp.

 

PUGs are common with non-"pro" casuals that are just in it for the cool Halloween event and (possibly) badges, though the badges being so easy are nice gravy.

 

Team slogs of 10+ minutes because the team is, you know, a PUG made up of what people want to play and not tailored to killing 1 mob, is a horribly bad game design mistake. This isn't reichsman, where you know going in its gonna be a slog.

[MrAxe]

On 10/9/2021 at 10:18 PM, Meknomancer said:

The problem is you tend to advertise for a badge run and its a pug team, you send out the invites not knowing what you will get. Thats how most of the teaming works in coh. Thats part of the fun. And your pretty low level for Kane so you may not even have your -regen powers assuming you have them in a powerset. If you run it and everyones low level i was wondering how the teams fared.

 

I know what you mean. It was 3 other squishies and me, so I quickly switched to my tanking build. Luckily had the envenomed daggers, too.

[Ukase]

1 hour ago, Hew said:

 

It's not mind-boggling. You conflate players with a mindset of ioallthethings with casuals who either have never used them, don't know about them, or just don't care. 

 

Assume everyone is a casual, and when you get someone on the team less casual, great.

 

But do not make the mistake made here and expect players to use these kinds of tools because a. they are cheap, b. have an outsized effect, c. happen to be at the same vendor as 2xp.

 

PUGs are common with non-"pro" casuals that are just in it for the cool Halloween event and (possibly) badges, though the badges being so easy are nice gravy.

 

Team slogs of 10+ minutes because the team is, you know, a PUG made up of what people want to play and not tailored to killing 1 mob, is a horribly bad game design mistake. This isn't reichsman, where you know going in its gonna be a slog.

Literacy is a pre-requisite when you visit the forums. It IS mind-boggling that players forget to use these items IF THEY EVER KNEW ABOUT THEM. My mind is still boggled. Can't you tell? I mean, I told you it was mind-boggling. Clearly, I meant it. And any dismissive response isn't going to make me less mind-boggled. 


It's not like anyone forgets 2xp buff. They may forget to refresh it, but they don't forget to get it - if they know about it and intended to use it. 

I do not "expect" anyone to do anything, but to play the way they like. I do, however, expect them to pay attention when an answer is given to their question. I also expect them to just gloss over, or ignore what I say if it's not helpful to them. I do not expect them to reply in such a way as to put words in my mouth. 

The Whip in question is a monster, not an AV. They should probably just make it an AV instead. But - nobody is putting a gun to anyone's head saying they MUST make the pact with Devil Girl and convince two bored NPCs to eat candy. If it's too hard or too dull, too long - just don't do it. Or do it for the badge, vent and we'll all understand. But we will try to be helpful and suggest such things as envenomed daggers. They are cheap. 

Now, the p2w selling them - that may not be common knowledge. And that's why we mention them. Over and over again, we mention them. 

Did we mention envenomed daggers yet? They're real nifty for negating some of the regen monsters and AVs have. They're cheap and available at p2w. Everyone that knows about them and struggles with Monsters and AVs should get some! 
 

[Ironblade]

1 hour ago, Hew said:

It's not mind-boggling. You conflate players with a mindset of ioallthethings with casuals who either have never used them, don't know about them, or just don't care. 

 

Assume everyone is a casual, and when you get someone on the team less casual, great.

 

But do not make the mistake made here and expect players to use these kinds of tools because a. they are cheap, b. have an outsized effect, c. happen to be at the same vendor as 2xp.

 

PUGs are common with non-"pro" casuals that are just in it for the cool Halloween event and (possibly) badges, though the badges being so easy are nice gravy.

 

Team slogs of 10+ minutes because the team is, you know, a PUG made up of what people want to play and not tailored to killing 1 mob, is a horribly bad game design mistake. This isn't reichsman, where you know going in its gonna be a slog.

Your entire argument is invalid in this particular context.

 

If we "assume everyone is a casual", then they aren't going to be summoning the optional monster for a badge.  This isn't bad game design at all, because the potential "slog" is ENTIRELY OPTIONAL.  And if someone is determined to summon, and defeat, the monster for the badge - why, they must be one of those non-casual players and they should know about the envenomed daggers.

[TheZag]

I solo these with my illusion armor / time melee corruptor.

[Erratic1]

4 hours ago, Ukase said:

It is truly mind-boggling that players forget about these - if they ever knew that p2w had them for sale at an affordable price. I can't recall, but it's less than 100k for 30 of them. To me, it just seems like a simple thing to go to p2w after you come out of the creator - and unless it's a challenge/concept character, buy everything you can afford. 

All my characters carry a set of 120 unless they're specifically created for a challenge/concept. 
 

 

A matter of what a person wants out of the game.

 

The only  routine use I make of P2W is xp boost (I grab 2) with the hope that DFB, Posi 1, and Posi 2 will get my character to roughly 20th level. 

Back on live I did have one character with a human origin making use of Assault Rifle and Poison for whom none of the travel powers made sense. For him I purchased a hoverboard.