Tipps for VOD (includes heavy spoilers)

[Verengor]

I've tried a lot of tactics in VOD and here is the best way to do it (at least in my oppinion). Just for the record I've succeeded a few runs with this tactic where all clerics didn't use any scrolls or pots at all but that also depends on your party members.

The team setup:
1) One char with intimidate and either high AC or DR (an intimidate score of ~40 is enough for this char) (named Tank A from now on).
2) A character with high AC who can at least deal a fair ammount of damage for a short while (idealy a char with evasion) (named Tank B from now on).
3) 3 clerics
4) I recommand two casters but you can go with 1 or 3 aswell
5) The other spots should be a mix of melee classes/rogue/bard. You don't need any specific class/skills here

Generell info:
Always try to attack mobs from the opposite side as Tank A or B to avoid cleave damage.

The fight:
1) buff the needed buffs and enter the fight
2) When the Orthonds trigger noone except Tank B attacks them for the first seconds. Tank B runs around and gets the aggro from each Orthond by attacking them (this is better than intimidating because this gurantees that the Orthonds don't spin around later). And pulls all off them to a corner. After that Tank A gets the aggro from one of the Orthonds of the tank and pulls it away. The other melee toons kill the Orthond while Tank A keeps the aggro with intimidating in case he looses the aggro. Do the same with the remaining Orthonds. The big advantage of this strategy compared to the strategy leaving the Orthonds on one intimidate tank is that it is much easier to flank them this way and don't get hit from another Orthond you don't hit.
3) Everytime when the devil comes down give tank B a few seconds to do some damage to him before anyone starts hitting the boss. This way you gurantee that the devil keeps attacking tank B until the devil flies up again (no need to intimidate). At the same time Tank A will stay away from the Devil. When aids spawn all melee toons except tank B run to tank A who intimidates the aids (make sure that tank A isn't too close to the Devil).
4) Kill the spawning bats with blade barriers and symbol of death and something like that
5) continue until the second wave of Orthonds spawn. Gather around Tank A while tank B keeps the devil in another corner. Tank A will keep the orthonds on him try to kill the Orthonds by flanking.
6) Make sure the Orthonds are dead when the devil is at around 10%. Maybe tank B has to stop hitting the Devil in case the team didn't kill the Orthonds fast enough.
7) when bats spawn kill them with blades and other spells or ranged weapons. After the first small wave of bats is dead and you've recovered focus on the Boss and kill him.


In case you plan to go without rogue:
It's no big deal if you keep the following in mind: At some point between step 3 and 5 blades will spawn all around the room beside a small spot at the entrance. Gather your party there and try to get tank B a bit away from the party (in case Tank B has evasion he can even stand in the blades) to avoid damage from the Boss on the other party members. Hold this position until the blades disapear.

Happy hunting

[Razarar]

Thx for the tip will try to relay this on did it today with 3 Clerics and pretty much the same setup but not the tactic you have used and went through just over 150 Heal Scrolls and 5 Major pots.

This information will be loads of help in the future thx for taking the time to tell us about it.

[sucinum]

Think a good setup of melees includes each 3-4 tankish ones and 3-4 flanking builds. Otherwise it can get very ugly if 2-3 devils/orthons cleave at the same position. Seen a very ugly cleric bill in a run with 6 squishie melees, was simply too much.
Ofc that depends, some rogues and rangers have awesome AC, others not so much.

[Syrian_Snakeblood]

I would rather just intimidate the orthons at start.... very easy to maneuver and position the orthons so they do not attack anyone but the intimidate tank and hence no healing needed for the orthon bit. Intimidate and gather them up; and just tumble away from the party a few times, and orthons will turn and follow exposing their back to the group.

Also there is no point in not intimidating the boss unless your intimidate is weak (as in not auto-success). Better just to intimidate him straight away and have everyone DPS right away then wait for your "tank B" to do enough damage.

[omissis]

Some additional tips:

-) You really need only one tank (high AC, high intimidate) to tank everything. And that force the other people to use the "head" once in a while. And in case you cannot find a second intimidating character that sometimes can be quite hard to find.

-) Bats are best taken care of with Horrid Wilting (no saves, no SR check). BB's and symbols of death are not that good becasue of Evasion and SR.

[Verengor]

Originally Posted by Aldrohan

Also there is no point in not intimidating the boss unless your intimidate is weak (as in not auto-success). Better just to intimidate him straight away and have everyone DPS right away then wait for your "tank B" to do enough damage.

The thing I prefer the DPs strat as describe above is that if you use intimidate and you push the intimidate button a bit late the Devil might teleport away away because the person with the aggro might be busy bashing aids somewhere else. This can already do some serious damage to the other party members. This can't happen with my strategy. Anyway the best is to go with intimidate the boss at the start and let the tank get some aggro from hitting in addition.

[Verengor]

Originally Posted by omissis

-) You really need only one tank (high AC, high intimidate) to tank everything. And that force the other people to use the "head" once in a while. And in case you cannot find a second intimidating character that sometimes can be quite hard to find.

It's much harder with only one tank who keeps all the mobs because you can't flank all mobs prober anymore once there are too many devils around the boss. This is ofc resulting in more damage taken by the people around.

As I said you don't need two chars with intimidate. Ofc it helps when both chars have it but it's not important.

[Breez]

Originally Posted by omissis

Some additional tips:

-) Bats are best taken care of with Horrid Wilting (no saves, no SR check). BB's and symbols of death are not that good because of Evasion and SR.

Horrid wilting has a very low AOE though. I do not like the symbol either but it is the only really effective spell I have against them. As I believe the bats drop from 4 specific places, you should put one at each spot. The devil will likely trigger one though. Clerics and casters have symbol and you can often get a few scrolls from the AH as well.

Other minor tips I would add.
*Bring wave of exhaustion scrolls.
*Web is king. Make sure your party is reminded of that often.
*Bring Greater magical best bane/slaying arrows/bolts. Do not leave them in the chests. I guess some frost ammo or bows would be a bonus as well.

[Syrian_Snakeblood]

Originally Posted by Verengor

The thing I prefer the DPs strat as describe above is that if you use intimidate and you push the intimidate button a bit late the Devil might teleport away away because the person with the aggro might be busy bashing aids somewhere else. This can already do some serious damage to the other party members. This can't happen with my strategy. Anyway the best is to go with intimidate the boss at the start and let the tank get some aggro from hitting in addition.

This is like saying that your DPS char will forget to wear his heavy fortification item. Its a mistake on the intimidate tanks part if he misses his intimidate. In VOD it should happen very rarely because you are blocking and not swinging, intimidating is much easier if you are just blocking.

This should happen maybe once per two - three runs, and is easily fixed by in 6 seconds. And anyhow when you fight the orthon wave spawns a good intimidate tank will attack every orthon a few times (cleave/great cleave or just swings) to ensure aggro.

The odds of the devil teleporting because you delayed a bit on intimidate is smaller then someone overaggroing your MT by either hitting too hard, or attacking too early.

Also intimidate is instant, getting aggro the old fashioned way takes time... and in this "small" time interval your party members will take far far more damage then the small chance of error you have when intimidating can ever produce.

Originally Posted by Verengor

It's much harder with only one tank who keeps all the mobs because you can't flank all mobs prober anymore once there are too many devils around the boss. This is ofc resulting in more damage taken by the people around.

You sure can flank them, it just takes half a brain to do it. Which I will admit many PUGs fail to grasp. But once all your party members get used to working with an intimidate tank, the intim all intim now tactic will work better because there will be less damage dealt to the main tank, and the others should be able to position properly.

The only melee damage as an intimidate tank you can not stop in VOD is player stupidity and green devils. Green devils will still do damage to all and everyone even if you intimidate them, though intimidate helps to keep them in one spot for faster vorpaling etc...

[Breez]

Regarding working with intimi-tanks.
If an intimi-tank pulls 3 red orthons so that the orthons surround him, then you cannot flank one properly without getting cleaved by the others. I have seen it happen pretty often (including last night) and it really hurts unless you also have high ac. 2 orthons are not a problem.