Most Difficult Missions

[hastened]

So, for the most part, succeeding at missions in City of Heroes is not too difficult.  Many missions let you continue trying as much as you want, and a well built team, or even specific well built characters, can succeed in a lot of content pretty easily.  Some missions though, are much harder to succeed at than others.

 

I've been running a three hero team of an Invulnerability Tank, Thermal Defender and Forcefield Defender, and for the most part we can do missions on whatever difficulty.  So far, we've failed on one mission (three times in a row, actually): Rescue Waylon McCrane.

 

Waylon likes to run up to groups of enemies and shoot them with his bow.  +3 Tuatha bosses can haymaker for upwards of 1000 damage and have an AOE slow+defense debuff.  An unprotected Waylon who gets aggro from one while stuck in quicksand is going to die in seconds.  There are multiple ambushes that get triggered from rescuing him, and from what I can tell can pretty easily overflow the aggro cap.  While I can see a few possible strategies that look like they could work, its probably the hardest mission I've encountered yet to actually succeed at with a high difficulty setting on a small team.

 

I'm curious what missions other people may have encountered that they also found difficult to succeed at, as I would not have necessarily thought this would be one of the most difficult ones.  Out of the missions you've done, did you find any that you thought were truly hard? If so, which ones?

[Xeres]

Usually the most difficult missions for me are the ones with the oddly placed mob groups.  I remember one mission at level 12 or so there was a room with 11 vahzilok (10 aboms and 1 mort) all within aggro range.  My char ran in there, didn't see all the mobs and died very quickly to the alpha vomit attack.

[Machariel]

Usually the most difficult missions for me are the ones with the oddly placed mob groups.  I remember one mission at level 12 or so there was a room with 11 vahzilok (10 aboms and 1 mort) all within aggro range.  My char ran in there, didn't see all the mobs and died very quickly to the alpha vomit attack.

I was thinking about all the missions set on Praetorian maps where it feels like each of all the individual enemies are perfectly evenly distributed around the map.  Extremely frustrating for control ATs.

[Some Random User]

I was playing a Dominator (Red side) the other day. I got a mission that was supposed to take place in Galaxy City and involved fighting a series of five Boss mobs that were each supposed to be one of the "good guy" side's original launch Archetypes (Scrapper, Tanker, etc.). Neat idea for a Mission.

 

I was playing a Dominator. I was unable to apply my mez effects because of the obvious Mag issues. A Dominator is supposed to get around this by building up their passive bar against Minions. This Mission isn't giving me Minions to do that against, though, so I can't overcome the enemies' innate Protection. This Mission made me revisit the Mag mechanics and make certain I understood the options available to me. So I was just using Savage Assault against a series of Boss enemies with Dominator H.P. and no defensive options at all. To cope I basically wound up chugging Inspirations fast as I could, fought until I got sent to the hospital, and then topped them off again so I could finish the Boss. Not optimal.

 

I started to rethink playing a Dominator because of that Mission. I do a lot of soloing (Red side) so I am curious if others playing Dominators have encountered similar Missions.

[Shinobu]

I know there's one redside mission where you're supposed to capture some guy, and he immediately runs for the entrance, and if you don't have a way to slow him down you have to chase him and pound on him while he keeps running... very easy to fail to take him down before he gets away.

 

 

[Mr. Vee]

For me it was always the lowbie missions on redside where you have to fight Sea Witch. A storm EB when you're on DO accuracy with limited inspiration slots is just mean.

[ceaars]

As Shinobu pointed out - the missions I'm most likely to straight up fail are the ones where you have to "keep someone from getting away."  At some point (I'm not sure when) the mechanics on those changed... it used to be they'd stay put until you engaged them, then at a certain point they'd try to run and you had to have some way to stop them before they got out (hold, massive takedown damage, or whatever...).

 

Now once you get within a certain "activation" range (regardless of whether or not the mob has actual line of sight) they just run.  If you don't anticipate which corridor/room they might come running out of (particularly on a complex map, like certain office maps), you might miss them completely (you're in corridor C way past junction A, and they just ran down B through A and down the elevators...).  I had to learn very quickly to pay careful attention to their "I'm outta here" call-out and try to retreat back to a map chokepoint to try to catch them on the way out.

 

In terms of sheer difficulty:

 

1.  Certain lab maps (which like to put some spawn points really close together, which even on minimum settings can give you a very large enemy group that can effectively chain-aggro onto you).

2.  Almost any map where a boss spawns "right around a blind corner" and I'm playing a character that might need to "inspy up" before taking on a boss.

3.  Anything with the Rularru.  If you've never faced that hellspawn of a group before, you're in for a pretty rude shock.  I used to fear the Carnies and the Malta (and they're not so bad once you get used to them).  I was so wrong to ever consider them a threat compared to the magnificent bastards those Rularru are....

 

EDIT: And just to be clear.  None of the above are *complaints* about difficulty.  I'm in the camp that *loves* this game but considers about 99% of it very easy overall.  So to have some missions that throw me completely for a loop - or hit me with something WAY tougher than I was expecting is a very nice change of pace!

[Sundodge]

For me it was always the lowbie missions on redside where you have to fight Sea Witch. A storm EB when you're on DO accuracy with limited inspiration slots is just mean.

 

Yeah, that one is rough.

[Legree]

I was playing a Dominator (Red side) the other day. I got a mission that was supposed to take place in Galaxy City and involved fighting a series of five Boss mobs that were each supposed to be one of the "good guy" side's original launch Archetypes (Scrapper, Tanker, etc.). Neat idea for a Mission.

 

I was playing a Dominator. I was unable to apply my mez effects because of the obvious Mag issues. A Dominator is supposed to get around this by building up their passive bar against Minions. This Mission isn't giving me Minions to do that against, though, so I can't overcome the enemies' innate Protection. This Mission made me revisit the Mag mechanics and make certain I understood the options available to me. So I was just using Savage Assault against a series of Boss enemies with Dominator H.P. and no defensive options at all. To cope I basically wound up chugging Inspirations fast as I could, fought until I got sent to the hospital, and then topped them off again so I could finish the Boss. Not optimal.

 

I started to rethink playing a Dominator because of that Mission. I do a lot of soloing (Red side) so I am curious if others playing Dominators have encountered similar Missions.

 

I've had similar problems with a Dominator in Praetoria, especially against Destroyers, since their Bosses and some Ltnts have a lot of hold/immob/sleep resistance.  Praetoria is also quite heavy on multiple Boss encounters, and having a second Boss show up in an ambush just as I finish off the first and Domination drops is painful.  My solution is to charge up my Domination bar with a quick bit of street sweeping on the way back to the mission door.  That, and some purples and reds, has got me through even the toughest fights so far.

[Legree]

For me it was always the lowbie missions on redside where you have to fight Sea Witch. A storm EB when you're on DO accuracy with limited inspiration slots is just mean.

 

I love the Sea Witch.  Having fought her in Port Oakes (when she's just a Boss) I was totally unprepared for what a threat she becomes in Sharkhead.  She was the last time my MM dropped difficulty (under the old range where you could only go up to +2 x2) until lvl 40+ when the AVs started showing up.  The next time I got a villain into the 20s I made a point of taking that arc again to see if they would do any better.  Nope.

 

Sea Witch 2, Legree 0.  My first villain to hit Sharkhead in the HC era will surely see if - for once - I can down her first time.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

There are two missions in the Rikti War Zone arc that are a pain. First is one where you've got to rescue six negotiators from Nemesis. The problem here is that while four of the hostages are just normal rescuees two of them are active fighters who will try to help you. Both are pet class and if either of them dies the mission is failed.

 

The second one is the one where you have to protect Lady Grey from rogue Vanguard. The problem is you get three enemy squads spawning once you rescue her and it's quite possible for two of them (or even all three) to spawn right on top of you in which case she tends to get killed pretty quickly before you can get things under control.

[Mr. Vee]

 

Sea Witch 2, Legree 0.  My first villain to hit Sharkhead in the HC era will surely see if - for once - I can down her first time.

 

I remember an actual feeling of pride when i beat eb her with my arch/ta corr. Might've been my life's greatest accomplishment other than this one really good sandwich i once made.

[Rathulfr]

For me it was always the lowbie missions on redside where you have to fight Sea Witch. A storm EB when you're on DO accuracy with limited inspiration slots is just mean.

 

Welcome to red side, where the villains are OP and your powers don't matter.

 

[Placta]

Anything where you have to stop the bad guys from destroying objects. Come in range, they start attacking. Even when all the enemies set to attack the thing are defeated, if someone else sneaks in and blows it up while you're trying to finish the rest of the mission, boom, you lose.

 

Also, there's a mission from Indigo or Crimson Tina Macintyre where you have to rescue a bunch of people in Oranbega on a time limit. Time limits, outside of Praetoria / optional objectives / Pither / that other Tina Mac mission, are usually generous, but Oranbega's really good at hiding things that don't hum or pop speech bubbles when you get close.

 

Edited to correct contact. It's Malta, I made the logical assumption.

[Obitus]

Waylon likes to run up to groups of enemies and shoot them with his bow.  +3 Tuatha bosses can haymaker for upwards of 1000 damage and have an AOE slow+defense debuff.  An unprotected Waylon who gets aggro from one while stuck in quicksand is going to die in seconds.  There are multiple ambushes that get triggered from rescuing him, and from what I can tell can pretty easily overflow the aggro cap.  While I can see a few possible strategies that look like they could work, its probably the hardest mission I've encountered yet to actually succeed at with a high difficulty setting on a small team.

 

Ha, I just solo-ran this mission for the first time in a decade the other day.  Waylon died in an eyeblink.  I was so disgusted that I shelved my Blaster and rolled a new character. :P

 

Can't think of any other particularly difficult examples, though some of the old annoyances with various map layouts have been coming back to me.  Still, I think the hardest mission is having the game disappear for 7 years.

[hastened]

There are two missions in the Rikti War Zone arc that are a pain. First is one where you've got to rescue six negotiators from Nemesis. The problem here is that while four of the hostages are just normal rescuees two of them are active fighters who will try to help you. Both are pet class and if either of them dies the mission is failed.

 

The second one is the one where you have to protect Lady Grey from rogue Vanguard. The problem is you get three enemy squads spawning once you rescue her and it's quite possible for two of them (or even all three) to spawn right on top of you in which case she tends to get killed pretty quickly before you can get things under control.

 

We're running the Rikti War Zone story arcs now, same set of 3 characters at +2/x8.  We just hit (and failed) the rescue 6 negotiators mission three times in a row, which makes that the second mission other than Waylon we've failed.  The last time we came close, but  the two decided when we hit the final room that they should immediately run in different directions around the middle spawn to ensure we could fight three full spawns at once.  Despite our best efforts, Vengeance started stacking up way too high, and the split location meant I lost track of one long enough for him to die.

[Judasace]

Fusiontte

 

 

Suicidal nutjob that just has to chase after everything on the map.

[OEM61]

Save Alec Parson.  Part of Provost Marchand's "A New Dimension, A New Team" arc.

 

 

I'm trying to deal with a purple elite boss and it's just been too much.

 

Aurora Pena, Grant Creston, and Pendragon are all well and good for helping with the regular enemies, but when we get to the final fight she has been making short work of us.

 

New plan, team;  I am going to gain another level or two and we will see how things look at that time.

 

 

[yeetsman]

Depends on builds rlly but early end game deffo the incarnate mish with hero 1 esp when solo.... other than that probs any vanguard or a lot of stuff in preator when u dont have finished builds yet

[Li_Sensei]

There are still one or two missions in the game where you need to stop  <villain group> from destroying <maguffin> (A glowy, usually desk or crate).

 

On a large team, they're pretty much instafail, as there's a spawn round the glowy from the start and as soon as you get onto the same floor as said glowy, the spawn attacks it.  Not always a problem solo at +0/x0.  On a full team?  Kaboom, loading screen, appear outside the mission door, you have failed the mission.

 

(And there's a special place in hell for the last fight in the last mission of Sutter.  Primal Duray can feck right off (and regularly does, that's the problem)... )

[jojogladco]

Save Alec Parson.  Part of Provost Marchand's "A New Dimension, A New Team" arc.

 

 

I'm trying to deal with a purple elite boss and it's just been too much.

 

Aurora Pena, Grant Creston, and Pendragon are all well and good for helping with the regular enemies, but when we get to the final fight she has been making short work of us.

 

Welcome to that joy that is fighting Silver Mantis.  She's brutal to deal with, destroys your defense and pops her pain in the ass godmode right before you think you're finally done with her.  Back on live she was the very 1st challenge that made me head to Bloody Bay and grab a Shivan.

 

New plan, team;  I am going to gain another level or two and we will see how things look at that time.

[Razia]

Any Dark Astoria Misson in a team. I can solo them just fine on my Stalker at +3. I decided to join a team doing them the other day and wow does this makes a difference. I ran a StJ/SR Stalker with softcapped defenses, but they took me down pretty fast. Those missions get ugly the more members you add to the team.

[Herotu]

I think the Calvin Scott one is hard... the one where he blows up the supervillain volcano at the end! The devs really got good at making missions after a while - once they got over that Tina Macintre and Maria Jenkins guff. Bleh!

[Karthunk]

Save the Midnight Mansion was an absolute nightmare for me, I play at least +3 team size 6 for the challenge. The end fight had me fighting 4-5 EBs all at once, was I suppose to have npc support? Combined with the fact that you get pushed into a deathloop if you die.

[Healix]

I always had a hard time with the Save the Midnight Mansion until I changed my strategy. I actually soloed it for the first time last week, and I was on a fairly squishy troller. When all the players were outside ready for the Talons onslaught, I set my toon to 'follow' Master Winkley and kill what he killed. (This made a big difference when fighting the elite boss, Lady Atella.)  After the multiple waves were done, I then destroyed the 4 stones. When the Orb appeared, I led it to the pool, ignoring attacks. I then went topside, 'followed' Winkley again to fight Ward until the evil left it. Bingo! First time succeeding at the normal level without dying 50 times! The only way I ever finished before was to either drop the mish, or wait till I leveled up a couple of times before I did it.

 

The Save Alec Parson...Silver Mantis. Whew. I usually have to level up a couple of times to tackle her before I do that one.