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diff --git a/commanding/commanding.tex b/commanding/commanding.tex index 9721932..ac67a7d 100644 --- a/commanding/commanding.tex +++ b/commanding/commanding.tex @@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ If you are commanding on TeamSpeak in addition to the in-game chat, make sure th Depending on the amount of listeners on TeamSpeak, you will reach a lot more people that way. If you have a hard time typing and talking simultaneously, it can be useful to prepare a document with a typed out dry run which you can then just copy and paste into the game. +Keep in mind that a good dry run can make the event a lot smoother. +If people know what's going on, you will have a lot less work throughout the actual event, so having a well-structured dry run can be a big help! + \section{The Escorts} @@ -316,4 +319,148 @@ The husk will appear after the final batch of eggs. When walking the last miles to the Cobalt arena, make sure that the NPC doesn't get stuck on any stray mobs on the beach, especially if the squad uses mounts to run ahead. You can also tell people to unlock \emph{Jelako Waypoint}, as it is the closest waypoint to the Cobalt wurm head. + +\section{The Wurms - Commanding the Main Event} + +As a commander, your job is not only to gather people or paste an explanation into the squad chat. +One of the most important parts is leading your squad through the event phase, making the right decisions, calling out what to do and coordinating with the other commanders. +Usually you start the event by stacking up on a spot and counting your players. +In order to count the players stacking with you, use the \texttt{/supplyinfo} command and tell the other commanders how many people you have with you. + +After that, the wurm heads are more-or-less self-contained. +Each commander takes care of getting their head down to 15\% of its health before they wait and coordinate the decapitation. +Of course, that doesn't mean that there should be no communication between the heads - quite the opposite! +It's important to keep each other updated about the current state of your head, and to request help if needed. + + +\subsection{Crimson - The Colorful} + +Crimson has the easiest mechanic to execute, but you should not underestimate this head. +The chaotic nature of everyone just running around in a circle means it is much harder to keep your zerg under control. + +The mechanic on Crimson is simple: +There are three different \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phytotoxin_Extractor}{\emph{Phytotoxin Extractors}} (also called \enquote{Color Extractor} or \enquote{Color Container}) in the colors red, blue and yellow. +As soon as the event spawns, there will be \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phytotoxin_Cloud}{\emph{Phytotoxin Clouds}} (also called \enquote{Color Clouds}) appearing all over the arena. +People can pick up a color by walking through the cloud and then fill them into the fitting extractor by walking through it. + +Using mounts is fine, such is gliding. +However, any use of portals, blinks, teleports, shadowsteps, \textellipsis will remove all color buffs from you. +The only exception is the Jackal jump, as that counts as a mount ability and not a normal teleport. + +The best strategy is to run counter-clockwise, going from blue to red to yellow. +This is because yellow is on a hill, making it hard to get up there coming from blue. +To go from yellow to blue, you can either glide down, use a mount or walk on the ledge of the mountain to the right. + +When stacking at Crimson, you want to stack next to the small bush in front of the wurm. +This is the so called \enquote{triple color spot}, where you might get all three colors right at the start of the event. +If you're lucky, it leads to a fast first burn phase. +Otherwise, you just have to run and pick up colors. + +Keep in mind to clear the arena sometimes between burn phases. +Especially some of the wurms near the yellow extractor can become quite annoying for your blocker. + +Once you feel like the wurm is ready to be decapitated in the next burn phase (at around 15\% of its health), you prepare by filling the red and yellow extractors only. +The extractors don't \enquote{time out} or anything like that, so by filling red and yellow you can ensure that you get your last burn phase without troubles because you only have to fill blue. + +The hard part about commanding Crimson is keeping control over your squad. +Especially while waiting for the other heads to be ready, people might go and fill blue. +And even if it's just a small amount of people doing it, with persistence they will eventually get a burn phase, which can fail the event. +Therefore, as a commander, you should be aware of what's going on in the arena. +Keep an eye on the blue container, and if you see its level rising, make sure to inform the other commanders or be prepared to handle a burn phase. + + +\subsection{Amber - The Hungry} + +Amber might sound scary at first, because the mechanic takes a while to explain and to execute, but it is also a very straightforward head. + +In order to get a burn phase at Amber, you have to shoot the wurm 20 times with the \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unfortunate_Adventurer%27s_harpoon}{\emph{Unfortunate Adventurer's harpoon}}, usually just called \enquote{the harpoon}. +The harpoon is a bundle that you can pick up inside the wurm's stomach. + +In order to get inside the wurm's stomach, you first have to kill the \emph{Plague Carrier Abomination} (\enquote{abo}) that is walking around in the Amber arena. +When you kill the Abomination, it will leave behind a white AoE field. +Standing in this field gives you the \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Wurm_Attractant}{\emph{Wurm Attractant}} buff, which is a buff that will make the wurm swallow you. + +You need at least 20 people with \emph{Wurm Attractant} stacking up in front of the wurm on the marked spot. +If you have less than that, the wurm will not even swallow you. +Inside the stomach, you can then pick up the harpoon and start shooting the \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pyloric_Valve}{\emph{Pyloric Valve}}. +Inside the stomach, you can shoot as often as you want, but once the valve has been destroyed, you will be spat out and only have one shot left. + +As a commander, it can be useful to keep a count of how many people are swallowed each time by using the \texttt{/supplyinfo} command. +This allows you to better judge the numbers for the final burn phase. +The harpoon inside the stomach will respawn after ~90 seconds. +This means that if someone drops the harpoon or goes downstate, they will not be able to pick up a second one. +Make sure to tell your squad about the damage inside the stomach, so they can prepare heal skills accordingly. + +Once spat out, everyone will be affected by \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Weakness}{\emph{Weakness}}. +It's useful to bring some condition cleanses, but only as long as they don't cause you to drop your bundle. + +Commanders will usually walk up to the Amber wurm, pathing a bit to the right side. +You want to get close to it before shooting, as any mob can intercept the projectile, causing it to not hit the Amber wurm head. +Try to stay out of the big spin range and walk up close after the animation. + +A good timing to shoot the harpoons is when the wurm is about to start an animation, preferably a spit animation. +This is because the wurm will become vulnerable as soon as all 20 harpoons have hit, but the burn phase timer will only start after the wurm has finished its current animation. +Choosing the correct time to shoot the harpoons can result in a few more seconds worth of damage. + +After the burn phase, you will still have \enquote{the debuff} \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Upset_Stomach}{\emph{Upset Stomach}} on you, which prevents you from getting swallowed while you have it. +The debuff lasts for 90 (??) seconds after being spat out, so after the burn phase it will still have around 45 seconds left. +Use this time to clear the arena, and make sure that people are not attacking the Abomination before everyone is ready again! + +Now even though the Amber mechanic sounds a bit convoluted, it is pretty straightforward: +Kill the abomination, get your buff, get swallowed, grab the harpoon, shoot the valve, shoot the wurm, burn phase, wait and then repeat. +All cooldowns are visible, as the \emph{Upset Stomach} will be shown in your buff-bar, which allows you to check exactly how long you still have to wait before going for another burn phase. + +If the abomination dies while you don't want to go for a burn phase, a new one will spawn in (??) seconds. +Of course, you usually don't want people to kill it, but especially when waiting for the other heads, some people/pets/minions might decide to attack it. + +You want to get Amber down to around 20\% before you're ready. +Inform the other commanders about the state of your debuff, as that might prevent you from getting the final burn phase if Amber is the last one to get ready. + + +\subsection{Cobalt - The Explosive} + +Cobalt is the best wurm head, even if it seems daunting to new commanders. +It can become a bit chaotic if you are not aware of the hidden mechanics, but if you keep them in mind, you can have a very smooth run. + +The mechanic at Cobalt consists of bringing \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unstable_Powder_Keg}{\emph{Unstable Powder Kegs}} to the wurm. +When you have 20 kegs placed in front of the wurm, it will attempt to eat them, they will explode and the wurm will become vulnerable. + +Kegs can appear at three possible \enquote{keg spots}, however only one of them will actually have kegs. +Which one it is is determined randomly at the start of the event, and after that it will change every two minutes, which means it will switch whenever the event timer hits an even amount of minutes (12:00, 10:00, 8:00, 6:00, 4:00, 2:00). +If one head is decapitated, the keg spot will not change anymore! + +The three keg spots are the \emph{beach}, the \emph{jumping puzzle} and the \emph{mast}/\emph{plank}. +Keg running is fairly straightforward: +You pick up a keg by interacting with the active keg spot, and you place down the keg on the dark spot in front of the wurm. +When placing down a keg, skill 1 has to be used, as just weaponswapping will not actually place down a keg. + +For the jumping puzzle and mast spots, care has to be taken that people do not fall into the water, as falling into the water will remove the keg. +You can use mounts (e.g. the Skimmer) to avoid any issues. +However, just like on Crimson, any use of portals, blinks, shadowsteps or other teleports will also remove the keg from your hands. + +Once a keg has been picked up, you can hold it for 30 (??) seconds before it will explode in your hand. +This is why the commander should tell people to wait before picking up kegs, as waiting for too long will mean that people might lose their keg on the way. +The cooldown on picking up a keg is also 30 (??) seconds, which means that if you run fast, you have to wait a bit before you can pick up another one. +This cooldown starts when you pick up a keg, not when you place it down. +Therefore, if you hold your keg until it explodes, you can immediately pick up a new one. + +The most important mechanic on Cobalt is the \enquote{two minute invisible keg timer}, which I will call \enquote{explosion timer} now. +This timer works as follows: +Whenever anyone places down a keg, it will start an invisible timer that expires after two minutes. +When this timer expires, it will remove a keg from the stack again, thereby decreasing the counter by one. +The problem with this timer is that it is not stopped or reset by burn phases, keg spot changes or placing down another keg. +This means that when you place down a keg, two minutes later you will inevitably lose a keg and see the counter decrease by one again. + +If your keg running is fast, it is usually not an issue, as you can easily get your second burn phase before the explosion timers from the first keg run will start to expire. +However, if your keg running is slow, you will end up in a situation where the second keg run lines up with the explosion timers, therefore you will lose a lot of kegs that people have placed down. +And even if the keg will be removed, it will already have started a new explosion timer, which means the problem can self-amplify if you're not careful. + +It can therefore be worth waiting a bit longer before you attempt to get another burn phase, just to make sure that all the explosion timers will have expired. +It also means that the longer the keg run is (that is the time between placing the first keg and the final keg), the longer the time period in which you will have kegs disappearing is. +This is why synchronized keg running is important at Cobalt, to prevent timer issues. + +The explosion timer is also something that you have to keep in mind when telling other commanders that you are ready. +If you give the call right after your safety burn, and Amber goes immediately, then by the time that they have done their mechanic, you will run into all the explosion timers when you attempt to get your burn phase. + + \end{document} |