Synapse fast runs

[Snarky]

the last two Synapses i have done we have lucked into small maps on every kill all.  even with a disorganized pug we were just over an hour.  the killer team was faster.  not the fastest i seen, those were some maniacs that cleared the whole thing in 35 min and said that was not near their record.

 

i have advocated for hard coding the small maps.  i wish this was an indication i was heard.  

 

what are other people Synapse experiences currently?

[rolandgrey]

Torchbearer has the Saturday Night Synapse, where we merge a bunch of teams into a League or two and perform the TF simultaneously.  We all finish at roughly the same time, somewhere around two hours, because the point of this is to have everybody wait to gather up the Babbages into a big brawl.  Some finish the Clockwork Lord mission early and have to twiddle thumbs, some finish the Clockwork Lord mission late and don't have to wait very long.  I've been on big map teams and little map teams, and the average is roughly 90 minutes after start.

 

It's fun!

 

Frankly, I hate speed runs, so I like this event where there isn't really an incentive to speed through...  Even though porting to the end as much as possible is desired SOP after the first half of missions (because that's a LOT of Defeat Alls).

[tidge]

I've done solo Synapse in about 30 minutes. I honestly can't recall if I broke the 30 minute mark, but... probably? I know that I've been on PUGs that have either broken 30 minutes or just missed it. There is some luck involved in maps, but the keys for solo were:

• run it exemplared, so powers are slotted
• don't turn up the spawn size, or difficulty
• have AoE (including P2W)
• spawn Babbage in Steel Canyon (near Positron and Valkyrie) and call out for help (if you want the merits, otherwise skip)
• have some sort of temp summons to help defeat the final AV. It doesn't take much, a Shivan or a Warwolf will do. High DPS characters may not even need this.

It definitely helps if you are familiar with the cadence of the missions to use "fast travel" options where optimal. SG base buffs for travel speeds can help.

[Sovera]

I usually have Synapse licked in an hour. I do encourage people to split up if they can handle it during kills alls.

 

I teleport everyone at the very first mission after speaking to Synapse. I know the location of all patrols so I start moving in their direction when speaking to the contact and if I see someone is already going to the next patrol I pre-emptively move to the following one before it shows up. Right after I use my personal mission transport for Boomtown, wait until everyone is in the map and group teleport with the prestige teleport. By the end of defeating Bertha my TT has recharged so before leaving the mission I warn its up so people don't move away, TT, and just before defeating the bot with the dubious name I ask if someone has a TT before the mission finishes. When Positron has to be spoken to I save myself a loading screen by teleporting to the portal base while still in the mission and from there to Steel Canyon, get the immobilizer, then travel back and help with Babbage (my Babbages!).

 

I sometimes don't use the group teleport at Boomtown so I can teleport the group to the Clockwork King. I don't mind defeating everything on the way but by then it's usually been an hour and people are happy to get it over with.

 

 

If I'm the Tanker I seldom split away from my squishies but I still encourage people to go find the boss(es) like Bertha or Long Tom. With all of these it's seldom we go over an hour but sometimes, especially if I'm not the Tanker, we can still go to one hour ten.

 

I've had miserable hour and a half when not playing the Tanker or trying to go support which keeps pushing me for high octane builds instead of support, or, heaven's forbid, CC.

 

 

I've tried soloing it a few times but unlike Tidge I don't shift from +1x8 which between the kill alls and the filler missions means it went upwards of two hours. It's not even dangerous since Clockwork are not hard, it's just slow, especially on a leveling build. So I always team for that one TF at least.

 

Edited February 13 by Sovera

[Perfidy]

My experience with Synapse is the duration has more to do with the individual player's experience with the TF. When I recruit for it, I state the intent is to go as fast as we can, but to not kill ourselves in the process. On a non-speed run, with a pug, my best effort to my recollection is about 40 minutes. There was at least two players that were the true speedy types, who got to the boss at the end of the map by the time I entered the mission. My load times aren't very long, about 10-30 seconds. Theirs must be instant or close to it. And pretty sure everyone had Team Teleport and SG base macros for zone hopping quickly. 

As for hard coding smaller maps...I can't say I've noticed that. 

[tidge]

On 2/12/2024 at 8:12 PM, Sovera said:

I've tried soloing it a few times but unlike Tidge I don't shift from +1x8 which between the kill alls and the filler missions means it went upwards of two hours. It's not even dangerous since Clockwork are not hard, it's just slow, especially on a leveling build. So I always team for that one TF at least.

 

For me, x8 solo Synapse becomes a personal bugbear for me because of the way the spawns scatter/run on the "defeat all" mission more than anything else. It only takes missing two mobiles from more than one spawn to make life miserable on some of those maps.