LB3K's Guide to Master of Underground

[Living Brain 3000]

Ladies and gentlemen I am Living Brain 3000 and this will be the all inclusive guide to Master of Underground Trial. 

 

Now a bit of lore for those who would like to know where to run this in the cannon timeline

 

The Underground Trial is the fourth Incarnate Trial, released with Issue 21: Convergence, which takes place in First Ward, Praetoria. It requires  a maximum of 24 players to join this raid. The Underground.in the cannon lore,  takes place after the Keyes Island Reactor Trial

 

The all but abandoned subway and access tunnels beneath Praetoria have been the home to the Resistance for many years now, They have a plan they have been working on for a few years now it is time to implement this plan. This plan is to bring down the city and put a stop to Marcus Cole. 

Desdemona plans to meet a group of Incarnates and lead them through the tunnels into the belly of the beast to rescue Vanessa DeVore from the monsters that dwell alongside the Resistance. However, the passage is not without its perils and is guarded heavily by the IDF lest anyone finds out one of Praetoria's darkest secrets….

Before we talk about the badges to attain Master of Underground Trial we need to discuss common terms you might hear in the league.

1. LoS or line of sight- to break LoS simply stand behind any object blocking your view from the AV

2.  The next abbreviation you might hear is the 20/10/5 Rule- When fighting the final At which point you will rush the Health of Hamidon to 20%.  then slow down your major damage powers while still hitting the AV down to 10% once at 10% the league needs to CAREFULLY tap the AV to 5% (note 3% is the lowest you should go before getting the FEW kill order from the league leader

 

The Badges that are needed for Master of Underground Include…

Underground Seeker-  You will get this badge simply by running the trial to its end.

Regenerate This Badge- You will earn this badge by killing the Self-Repairing War Walker and Lichen Infested War Walker within 8 minutes of starting the fight

Tour Guide-  While keeping Desdemona's health above 50%

Preservation Specialist badge by killing all the IDF bombs before they detonate 

 

Avatar Assassin-  Defeat the Avatar of Hamidon at the same time as a Detonating Seedling

After you have earned each of the badges you will earn Master of the Underground

 

It's important to know what destiny powers players should equip. 

Ranged Damage dealers should bring Clarion.

Debuffer/Buffers should have Barrier or Rebirth slotted depending on preference.

Melee damage and Tanks should consider equipping Ageless. 

DO NOT HAVE INCAN SLOTTED BECAUSE DESDEMONA IS NOT TELEPORTABLE.

 

Now let's discuss each phase in the trial

 

DURING TRIAL

PHASE 1-  Desdemona Ritual

The League must protect Desemona while you clear the initial groups of IDF in order to gain access to the Underground proper.

Please NOTE; Olympian Guards have a stacking mag 30 stuns. 

Once all the initial IDF have been cleared you will go down the stairs. Once Demona is down the steps she will stand between 4 pillars and begin a ritual. While she is standing there players should deal with the two waves of approximately 10 IDF. Once this first part is done Desdemona will run to the other side of the room and you will do the exact same as before. Once you finish PHASE 1 proceed down the nearest elevator to start PHASE 2.

PHASE 2- Subway Halls 1

The league must proceed down the long subway hall killing all IDF along the way. It is recommended that the league treats this section as a kill all due to Desdemona’s habit of letting her pets aggro everything. Conversely the league can proceed down the right hand side of the hallway killing only the mobs on the right side .After killing everything along the way the league should head into a room that will give you a popup counter. Once everything is dead proceed to Phase 3.

 

NOTE: If you are a tank during this phase head into the room and find the nearest elevator and pull the mob(s) closest to the elevator to you. Your league's tank should be one of the first few people down the elevator.

Optional if your team is low on healing: The person with Desdemona can stay in the room prior to avoiding her taking damage.

PHASE 3- War Walker 1

Mechanics- All War Walkers have a variety of AoE attacks that will appear as red text with the following: Crowd Dispersal, Targets Acquired and Lethal Force Authorized. If you have any of the red text by your health bar it is advised to break line of sight or LoS behind the pillars. If you are a tank it is advised to turn the War Walker away from the league to lessen the number of targets affected by the AoE

Once the league is down the elevator you will encounter the first of 3 War Walkers. There is no need for Lore pets at this time however you must be this War Walker in less than 8 minutes to have a chance at Regenerate This. Once this War Walker is defeated you will proceed down the elevator closest to where the War Walker was standing.

 

PHASE 4- Mushroom Time

During PHASE 4 the party will see glowing spores as they proceed to kill everything once more. When the league reaches a room with a large boat like barge it is advised to clear this room. 

Optional: The league can leave Desdemona in between the four crates on the boat after PHASE 5. Simply have the Desdemona player stand in the middle of the 4 crates in the boat room. Then one league member can teleport the Desdemona person to the rest of the league.

Once the boat room is clear the league will work its way down two hallways that culminate with a large metal door. DO NOT CLICK THE DOOR TILL DESDEMONA IS SAFELY AROUND THE CORNERS AND AT THE DOOR. When you enter this room you will have reached PHASE 5.

NOTE; Clicking the door before Desmona is around the corner to see the big doors will trigger an ambush that has a high chance of killing her.

 

PHASE 5- Trap Room

Once the league has gotten Desdemona around the corner and near the big metal doors you will open the door and have everyone split up into the 4 corners of the room. While you get set up Desdemona will stand in the middle of the room. Desdemona cannot be healed so it is imperative to kill the adds and the crystal in each corner. Once you have cleared your crystal head to the next closest corner and help out the rest of the league. 

Note: the spawns of Devouring Earth are EBs that reduce the damage dealt to the crystals

Once you have finished the room the league will proceed to PHASE 6.

 

PHASE 6- Subway Hall 2

Once the league has cleared the trap room of its crystals head out the only unopened door. As you go along make sure to pick up the glowing mushrooms these will be used on the next War Walker you will fight. 

Once your league has cleared the room with a counter on how many enemies are left to kill, your tank should head down the elevator and proceed down the hallway where he will taunt the War Walker ( Self Repairing-War Walker) into the corner at the opposite end of the hallway. 

NOTE: Tanks should behave just like the prior elevator make sure you are one of the first few down this way it is easy to grab the door and rush to the War Walker.

Once everyone is down the elevator proceed to summon your lore pets or any extra damage you might have on hand. As your league proceeds to kill the War Walker make sure you are hitting him with the temp power received from clicking on the glowing mushrooms along the way. This will stop his massive regen advantage. 

NOTE: The temp powers behave just like the nades in Lambda. All robots operate on the same targeting mechanic as before

Once the first War Walker is dead you will immediately begin PHASE 7. If you killed this War Walker in less than 4 minutes you are on pace for the Regenerate This Badge

NOTE: the mechanics for this War Walker are the same when it comes to targeting. 

PHASE 7- Lichen-infused WarWalker

Immediately after the Self Repairing War Walker is dead a 2nd War Walker will spawn. While the tank pulls this War Walker up against the wall or in the corner, the rest of the league should clear any of the mushrooms next to or close to the War Walker. Once your tank has given the go ahead or there are no mushrooms close by. The league should use ALL of their damage to kill the War Walker. You will have 8 minutes to kill the First War Walker and the second War Walker. If you have congratulations you have earned the Renerate This Badge as long as you finish the Trial

NOTE; This War Walker still has the targeting mechanic in play so watch out.

 

PHASE 8- Spores and Bombs

NOTE PRIOR TO PHASE 8: There are two generally accepted methods. The first method is commonly referred to as Zerging. The second method that is accepted is to do the Sniper method.This guide will explain how to do both methods

Zerg Method: Once both War Walkers are dead the league should head down the elevator and clear the room. Then proceed to dismiss any and all pets as well as turning off any powers that give the players/league +speed (this includes but not limited to Speed Boost, Fly, Afterburner, Super Speed, Super Jump). Once this has been achieved the party will stand behind the LEAGUE LEADER until they give the kill command. At which point the whole league should use short animation powers to destroy the demolition charge. Once the first 2 bombs are down the league will have a debuff applied that does sustained toxic damage as well as a -Range Debuff. The league comes to a side room the league leader should give the kill command and rush the bombs and any added leftovers.

Sniper Method: The league leader as well as Blasters and or Corruptors WITH SNIPE GREATER THAN 150FT should proceed down the hallways and use ONLY their sniper power to kill the demolition charge. If the league leader does not have heals it is advised to bring 1 healer to keep the party full life. 

Once the first 2 bombs are down the league will have a debuff applied that does sustained toxic damage as well as a -Range Debuff.

NOTE: Both methods have their downside and is up to the league leader’s discretion on what method they use.

NOTE: In both methods it is advised to NOT CHASE the mobs that run away from you to lessen the chance of accidentally setting off a demolition charge

NOTE: Any devouring earth left in the side rooms will count as a fail due to them being counted as part of the bomb.

 Once the league encounters a group of runners down a hallway after the bomb you will have finished PHASE 8 and procced into PHASE 9

 

PHASE 9- Zig Zag Bombs

As the league clears the adds they will come to a large room. The league leader should have any player with a snipe power greater than 150ft (45.72 Meters) head into the next hallway where they will see more bombs set up in a zig zag pattern. The leader should inform the snipers to ONLY USE THEIR SNIPE POWER. Once the 8 bombs are cleared in the hallway their are two more bombs. 

NOTE: Advise your snipers to hug the right hand side wall to see the left bomb at the end of the hallway

The final bomb is at the end of the hallway inside the room on the right hand side in view. Once all 10 bombs are destroyed you have earned :Peservation Specialist Badge as long as you finish the trial. You league should now proceed into PHASE 10

 

PHASE 10- Hami Time
 

Mechanics- 

Discordant Spores: This is a PBAoE confuse with a 600 foot radius. This power is a mag 20 confuse that does not require line of sight and is used every 20 seconds. The confusion lasts for 10 seconds.

• Will of the Earth (Grasp of Gaea): This power works like the other powers that use a targeting selection system. The player that is targeted by Will of the Earth has 6 seconds to move away from the rest of the league before players near them are damaged and the Avatar heals. The damage scales based on how many players are caught in the attack. It will hit for a minimum of 15% damage and increase by 5% per additional player. Up to a maximum of 50% damage. The Avatar heals 2% per character affected by the attack.

• Cripple: This is a cone attack that the Avatar uses to drain players of endurance. A target is chosen at random, and a few seconds later the Avatar fires the attack at the location where the target was when they were selected. You can avoid being hit by this attack by continually staying to the back of the Avatar.

• Devour: This is a PBAoE buff that has a 40 foot radius will buff the damage and to-hit for the Avatar.

• Infection: This is a PBAoE debuff (40 foot radius) lowers resistance and defense by 33%.

Once all the bombs are clear the league leader should inform the person Desdemona is attached to that they need to stay put in the large room with Desdemona.

As the league proceeds to the final PHASE they will be greeted with a cutscene with Desdemona and Hamidon. After the Cutscene the tanks and melee toons should stand on the bluish of Hamidon while squishy players should stay on the more spore-covered side of Hamidon. As you are fighting Hamidon the league should follow the 20% 10% 5% Rule. OAfter the Cutscene the tanks and melee toons should stand on the bluish of Hamidon while squishy players should stay on the more spore-covered side of Hamidon. As you are fighting Hamidon the league should follow the 20% 10% 5% Rule. Once Hamidon is at 10% the league leader should go into field general mode advising the league to STOP OR KILL.. The league should time up Hamidon’s Death with a Seedling Detonation to earn Avatar Assassin Badge as well as Master of Underground Badge.

NOTE: If your league is light on damage then go to 3% before killing

NOTE: Tanks and melee toons should use Ageless to counter Hamidon’s Cripple Attack. Ranged Damage should use Clarion to avoid having someone on the team being hit by Discordant Spores. 

 

 

POST TRIAL

After defeating Extinction War Walkers and a score of the IDF, the allies find that Vanessa DeVore has already been slain, and that an Avatar of Hamidon killed her to keep her silent. However, Desdemona dons her fallen mask when the beast has been defeated and finds out that Emperor Cole made a deal with Hamidon to keep it at bay, a deal that forced Praetoria's Marcus Cole to attempt the destruction of Primal Earth to keep his end of the bargain!.

 

 

Thank you for watching and the next trial guide will be about TPN Campus. Don’t forget to like and comment. 

 

Edited February 29 by Living Brain 3000

[Ukase]

Dude, please - choose a different text format. That's really hard to look at. 

But - I thank you for mentioning the Discordant Spores. I routinely tell people they're confused half the time and the Spores prove it! 

I actually made a pop menu for The MoUGT, but it was so large, I had to break it into two parts. But then, I also included stale jokes. 

[Projector]

Love this written guide! I learned so much about leading UG from running with you, and I really appreciate how much you try to help new players!

Wanted to point out a couple of cool things I've discovered in the last few weeks that could be helpful, as well:

1. There are three opportunities to summon lores in this trial if done the way you describe: 1. Once you go down the elevator after the ritual phase at the beginning. 2. At the double War Walker fight.  3. At the Avatar fight. This can make the early part of the trial go much faster since you're doing it as a kill-all anyway.

 

2. The ambush before the trap room is actually on a timer and has absolutely nothing to do with the door, though I have not yet determined what the actual timer is for that spawn. That being said, giving the instruction to not open the door does keep the league in that hallway and paying attention, so definitely still good practice. However, using lores on Aggressive/Follow after the ritual phase will actually mean that you get to the trap room far before that ambush spawns. When I have done it this way, I notice the ambush either while we are in the middle of the crystal trap or as we are leaving the trap room, so it's a non-issue as mobs do not enter the trap room unless they are already aggro'd by the league.

 

3. Des does not need to go any further than the trap room. Not only that, ambushes, so long as they are not aggro'd, will not enter the trap room. This means that Des' escort can stay in the far corner of the trap room for the rest of the trial and basically AFK (so long as they have their TP prompt on!). That positioning ensures Des' pets don't see and aggro anything in the halls. Admittedly, it REALLY sucks for the person with Des, unless they have other things they want to do during that time! Note: if you intend to do this method and want to use Lores for the double war walker fight, then the double war walker fight needs to be the FIRST time you use Lores.

4. If you do leave Des and her escort in the trap room, you can actually incan the rest of the league everywhere they need to go--meaning someone can stealth from the trap room to the guard room just before the back to back war walkers and incan the league. This shaves off a good 5-10 min from the run on its own. There are glowies in the tunnel leading to the war walker, so you will have plenty for the first war walker.

5. Leaving Des in the trap room also means that for the blitz/zerg method for the first bomb phase, you can actually just rush down the bombs themselves and skip over all of the mobs. When I do it this way, tell my league to ignore ALL MOBS until I say otherwise, then I give one kill order starting at the first bomb, and tell the league to just keep moving from one to the next, just like the 2nd mission of a speed ITF. I have a macro that says "SIDE ROOM" whenever we get to one so the league knows to go for that bomb and I don't have to type. I make sure to stay slightly ahead of the league, and I do wait until I have 2-3 other people near me before starting a bomb. I have yet to fail a bomb badge in 10+ runs with this method, with full PUGs and with SG mates. Note: zerging this way also means that Lores will not be back up in time for the Avatar fight. That's fine though, because I tell my leagues to dismiss pets at around 25% health anyway, and by not having lores out during the final fight, it allows me to better estimate my teams damage output for the final burst.

6. I keep experiencing that people are too impatient for snipes in the second phase, so what I have found to be effective is telling any melee or anyone lagging to stay put, and all ranged characters to creep forward against the right side wall and attack bombs one after the other. I do make it clear that Melee range of one bomb will trigger the next bomb, so creep forward, don't run forward. Again, in 10+ runs, I have yet to fail a bomb badge with this method.

 

7. Once the second bomb phase is done, you can stop the league there, give instructions/buff up for final fight, then actually incan everyone into the final room and start the Avatar fight.

8. In my testing, if Avatar is between 3-5% HP, then giving the KILL order at 0:08 before seedling detonation gets the badge 100% of the time. If I make the call at 0:07 or later, we miss the badge. Alternative, when Avatar is at 10% HP, then giving the kill order at 0:03 before Seedling SPAWN will pretty much also guarantee the badge.

Lastly, I have 100% success rate when I give instructions in ALL CAPS and I preface before we start that I will be doing so because there's so many people in league that I need to....PROJECT 😄
 

[Ukase]

2 hours ago, Projector said:

Des does not need to go any further than the trap room. Not only that, ambushes, so long as they are not aggro'd, will not enter the trap room. This means that Des' escort can stay in the far corner of the trap room for the rest of the trial and basically AFK (so long as they have their TP prompt on!). That positioning ensures Des' pets don't see and aggro anything in the halls. Admittedly, it REALLY sucks for the person with Des, unless they have other things they want to do during that time!

So, that's interesting - but since Des won't accept tp or incan, it would probably be more fun for the player escorting Des to be tp'd away, as long as it's a fair distance and out of line of sight. I've left them on the barge, that is before the trap room, after we clear the trap and are ready to proceed. It's not clear to me how you definitively know there's not going to be any traffic in the trap room. Pigg diving? 
I've also heard stories of players going to the hospital and unknowingly becoming her escort and she gets into trouble with the league too far away to be of any assistance. 

As for the bombs, the only real thing to communicate prior is the bombs have a 150 foot trigger. If you're within 150 feet, you have 10 seconds to destroy it. The problem I often see is players don't know this range, or even if they're told, despite having the option now of having target distance turned on in the game settings, they don't know what the range of their snipe is, if they even have one. If you take a team of snipers, you want more than 4, really. Because, if one of them misses, it's not always a sure thing that the first one to fire will be recharged in time to ensure it's destroyed. 

For me, zerging the zig-zag bombed hallway "spaceballs" style is probably the more fun, and the better option for most leagues. This way, everyone can participate. If they fail it, they fail it - but they can only blame themselves. But more often than not, they succeed. The sniping method should really only be done with players that can answer the question "What's your snipe range?" 

As for the last part, I don't know that league damage is a constant. It might be, but so much depends on how survivable they are. If half of them are dead, the dps isn't going to be reliable. I think the league leader has to play that one by ear. More than likely, your numbers are a great starting point. 

The attachments are a couple of pop menus I've made for the trial. I had to break it into two because my screen is too small to see the whole thing. I think I even have a stale dad joke in there to keep the league awake. 

Master_of_Underground1.mnu Master_of_Underground2.mnu

Edited March 12 by Ukase

[Projector]

22 hours ago, Ukase said:

So, that's interesting - but since Des won't accept tp or incan, it would probably be more fun for the player escorting Des to be tp'd away, as long as it's a fair distance and out of line of sight. I've left them on the barge, that is before the trap room, after we clear the trap and are ready to proceed. It's not clear to me how you definitively know there's not going to be any traffic in the trap room. Pigg diving? 
I've also heard stories of players going to the hospital and unknowingly becoming her escort and she gets into trouble with the league too far away to be of any assistance. 
 

So, the reason the barge works if you leave her between crates is she won't go within line of sight of enemies. Though, this seems so have changed slightly because seedlings now spawn more often and tend to float high and may occasionally go across. But typically the ambushes that spawn stay on either side of the barge, so she doesn't see them. I did have one attempt of this method where she dropped to 77% health, but she killed whatever it was that aggro'd and then healed back up just fine. THat's the closest call I've had breaking the tether. 

 

As for how I know for sure they don't enter the room, the only thing I can say is that in all cases I've left an escort with her in the trap room, no ambushes have entered. I have personally watched the ambush before leaving the trap room to make sure and I watched 3-4 Olympian Guards get to the doorway and then immediately turn around and run back up. I think it's coded this way since the room is an "event" with the traps. So, I say that ambushes don't enter the trap room with the same level of confidence I say you can tether break des on the barge or that you can make the kill call at 8 seconds.

There is only one time I've seen them enter the trap room, and it's because they were chasing a player that aggro'd them. That's it.

I, personally, would not leave Des in the trap room with a tether break. I don't know of a positioning that is safe there. It's worth a try, though it's such a minimal difference between doing that and doing the barge method that it doesn't seem worth it, really. Especially since the league is progressing forward while you set up the tether break, and you could have someone else run ahead with incan to the next kill-all room.