Asherons Call: VoD段ng for the Solo Mage by Warpantz of Solclaim

By Warpantz of Solclaim

Since, this is a solo guide I'm only going to be talking about solo strategies but if you are hunting with a group there are some nice tidbits of info that you can take away with you. First, avoid large clumps of people and/or monsters because you never know when something bad will happen. You never know when you're going to have to make a hasty retreat but the way that you're heading has a small group of people and you accidentally send a group of lugians or olthoi on them. This is not a good way of making friends and more likely than not will get you labeled a griefer. If said incident happens apologize as much as you can and help with corpse recovery. Find yourself a place where it's wide-open, monsters are spread apart, there are plenty of trees and/or rocks, and mountains that are climbable. Now, since you are solo and it doesn't matter if you portal out of a potentially dangerous situation I suggest portaling out instead of death (errr durrrr).

Now, we get down to the nitty gritty in this section I'll tell you several things about the monsters you're going to be fighting.

Virindi Paradox: These are one of the best kills out in VoD they have high xp yielding 1,292,189 per kill and decent loot to boot. They have easier AI than they're brethren the Quidoxs. They cast Imperil 7, Slash vuln 7, and Fire vuln 7. They only use streaks and rings as their war attacks. They also cast life drain 7 when they are low on health. If you're vulned by slash and imperil watch out for their melee attacks they can hit in the upper 100's.

Strategy: Vulnerable to fire or slash. Try to take one on at a time and sometimes when they runaway you can either blast them in the back with a flame streak to get their attention back on you. You can also make sure you find the one that you vulned and either flame bolt or arc them and 50% of the time that's the only one that chases you. Make sure to use the virindi slayer wands on them for a high damage bonus.

Virindi Quidox: These are decent kills for VoD yielding 1,118,843 xp and pretty good loot. Their AI is fierce and surprisingly hard to deal with. They cast fire, slash, and imperil 7. They also stat debuff you: Clumsiness 7, Weakness 7, Frailty 7, Bafflement 7, and Feeblemind 7. They could also cast Slowness 7 but I'm not a 100% clear on that. They cast level 7 Flame and Slash bolts. They cast drain health 7 when close to dying. These also can hit you in the 100's when you're debuffed accordingly.

Strategy: They are also vulnerable to fire and slash. Try to take one on at a time, this is especially important because they cast Level 7 War spells because nothing is worse than having 2 virindi chain war you. Make sure to use the virindi slayer wands on them for a high damage bonus.

Titanium Armoredillo: These critters are easy to kill and worth a decent amount of xp 278,995 but they have pretty crappy loot. They have low Magic D and they don't cast any spells. They hit at the highest of 28 slashing damage if you're fully baned and buffed.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to piercing and lightning. Not much strategy here except I'm going to point out if you use a level 7 lightning or a pierce blast you'll hit them 3 times which can cause more damage than just a bolt.

Lugians: I'm going to clump this whole group together since they all basically the same. I'm still not sure if these things are worth the kill solo being worth only 392,931 xp and the loot sucks. It takes almost 3 minutes to kill. Plus, hollows can hurt pretty bad. They don't cast any spells but with 10,000 health and semi-high magic d, it'll definitely depend on the person fighting them to find out if it's worthwhile.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to lightning. If you have melee d and one is hurling rocks at you there are 3 methods that work. First, you can hide behind a tree and debuff him until he comes after you. Second, you can run behind him just as he begins his rock throwing sequence forcing him to pull out his weapon (Credit to Ellen Ripley for that one). Lastly, you can slide-cast your spells at him so you can dodge his rocks.

Shadows (both Void and Wretched): These shadows usually work like a team the Wretched debuffs you and the Void Knights get in your face. I usually only fight these things if they are alone because they are usually not worth the trouble. With Wretched yielding 305,000 xp and Void Knights yielding 307,000 xp. They also have the same about the same crappy loot. Wretched's cast Imperil 7 and several skill and stat debuffs including Cord, Willpower, Quick, Melee d, Magic D, and sometimes Strength. The Void Knights cast the same debuffs except they are level 6. They both cast war spells so be wary of remaining vulns. They also both cast drain health when close to dying.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to fire and slash. These guys have no big surprises. It's just a basic battle.

Tumeroks: These are definitely some monsters to consider killing all the time. They are worth anywhere from 250,000-300,000 xp but they have really crappy loot. With the assault orb you can do 1000's with normal non-crit shots. You can mow these guys down pretty easily. They all cast level 6 debuffs and I'm not sure if they cast any vulns. If they do it's only going to be a level 6 imperil. They cast level 5 or 6 war spells and drain health when they are close to dying.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to fire and slash. I usually use my crit strike wand to futility and vuln them because of the mana c bonus with it. Then I switch out my assault orb to bolt them down.

Drudge Seraphs and Mystics: I'm clumping these two drudges together because they group together and act basically the same way AI wise. The regular Seraphs yield 500,000 xp and the Seraph Mystics yield 514,747 xp they both have decent loot. They both stat debuff you with Strength, Willpower, Quickness, and sometimes Cord inepts. They both vuln with imperil 4 but the Seraphs vuln with lightning vuln 6 while the Mystics vuln with lightning and acid vuln 7. The Seraphs level 6 lightning war spells and the Mystics cast level 7 lightning and acid spells.

Strategy: Drudge Seraphs are vulnerable to fire and their brethren the Mystics are vulnerable to acid. They have normal AI for monsters all I can say is watch-out for the war spells when you're vulned because they like to chain-war spell you.

Olthoi: Some say don't fight them because they'll kill you. I say you're just not trying hard enough. Now, I'm not going to downplay how dangerous these things are because if you don't know what you're doing they will kill you. The Primordial yields 500,000 xp and I'm not sure what its brethren the Sentinel yield but it should be around the same number. The loot is alright. They don't cast any spells but have pretty high magic d. They only have 3000 health so you can burn through them with high enough magic skill and a G-Man wand.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to pierce and bludgeon. Try to take on only 2 at a time at most because more than that you'll spend more time healing than killing. Their AI is pursuing and they'll chase you all over the place be ready to portal out if they are dogging you too much. You'll learn through trial and error if you can take them on. Remember, you're going to have to take them on eventually you might as well practice now.

Knath'taed aka Death tanks aka Jellos: They yield about 225,000 xp to 300,000 xp. They have pretty crappy loot. Never take them on straight up or you'll be eating 9 or 10 war spells. The individual jellos will vuln you to what damage type their corresponding spells do. There is also one jello that's multi-colored and translucent, I think the name is Knath T'amt, that'll vuln you with whatever it feels like but doesn't cast any war spells. They cast drain health 6 when close to dying.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to fire. Trees are your friend when fighting these guys. What I do is hide behind a tree vuln the closest one to me and wait for all the war spells to fly by me. Then I slide cast spells from behind the tree using the tree as a shield. You can also practice your pk'ing skills against them by dodging their spells and slide-casting.

Undead Including Skeletons: They yield about 500,000 xp for each of them. They have okay loot. They all cast stat debuffs and vulns except for the skeletons. They all cast war spells too except for the skeletons again. These guys are very dangerous when they group together but when they are running solo they are easy to take down.

Strategy: The Undead are vulnerable to fire (the Chimera also are vulnerable to pierce) and the skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeon. Try to take only 2 on at a time anything more than that can be a serious threat.

Swarthy Mattekars and Dreadful Ursuins: They both yield about 500,000 xp each. Crap loot but if you're lucky you can get a swarthy hide which you can sell for about 100 plats maybe more. I'm putting these 2 together because they both fight the same way and you can use the same strategies against them. They don't cast any spells and fairly easy to kill.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to piercing and fire. You can use the level 7 pierce or flame volley/blast and hit them multiple times thus bring them down faster.

Banderlings: They yield 500,000-600,000 xp each. Decent loot. The Hierophants and the Paragons both cast stat debuffs and vulns. The Champions don't cast spells but they can hurt with their melee damage if you're vulned. The Hierophants and the Paragons also cast level 7 war spells.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to lightning. Nothing tricky here just bolt them dead before they get you.

Gromnies: They all yield about 400,000 xp each. Pretty good loot. They aren't that hard to fight just make sure you aren't vulned before you begin battling them. They don't cast spells so no need to worry about that.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to piercing attacks. Using level 7 pierce blast hits them 3 times each shot so it's up to you if you want to use it.

Grievvers: They yield 375,000 xp. Eh it's loot. They cast level 6 debuffs and vulns. They also cast lightning bolt 6. They're not worth the battle in my opinion. Their AI is too random they'll chase after you then change their mind and run back. They also run back in mid battle. Only battle if necessary.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to slash damage. You can use the slash volley 7 and hit them 3 times each spell. Easy kills just annoying to deal with.

Fragments: To tell you the truth I only know the xp for the Fallen Crystal Shard which is about 500,000 xp. Good loot. They cast level 7 vulns along with level 7 war spells. I do know that if you kill the Fallen Crystal Shard the rest of the shards are killed by fate. Which, you can loot after about a minute.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to bludgeon damage. You can also use a tree as a shield against any war spells that might come your way.

Tremendous Monouga: I can't actually comment on these because I haven't actually killed one. They don't cast spells but they hit really hard. I tried killing one solo but all that it turned into was me wasting several plats, a thousand tapers, and one buff cycle.

Strategy: They are vulnerable to frost. If you're attempting to fight one fully stat debuff them except for quickness, Fester them, and vuln for frost. Using the frost volley 7 will hit him 5 time per spell.

Alternate Strategy by Hak the Mage (also of Solclaim): If you want to solo a Tremendous Monouga, there are a few conditions that must first be met in order to take him down in a timely manner. As a mage, you must have the spell Tusker Fists. Melee defense is beneficial, but not required. Finally, you must be near some trees/objects that the TM will get stuck on.

In order to get the full amount of xp, the TM must be able to hit you. So, get the TM stuck on some trees/objects, but make sure he can still hit you. Now pull out a CS or CB wand, yield, vuln for bludg, and fester him. If you have melee defense, go ahead and debuff his UA/Strength/Coord. It's pretty simple after that. You should be able to take him down within two debuff cycles using Tusker Fists.

Platinum Golem King: Once again I can't comment on them not having killed one solo. Platinum Golems spawn around the king, make sure you take them down first. Don't vuln the king, you can fester, and stat debuff him without consequence. When you vuln him he counter buff thus making it harder to kill. This is the one exception to the rule about the rend wands you're going to have to use either a bludge or acid rend wand.

Strategy: It's said above. ^