Help with an epic mob in The Living Tombs
Last night I tried to take down the level 61 x4 epic mob in The Living Tombs. It’s that ghost tree – I can’t remember it’s name and I can’t look it up here at work. It’s in the Residence court, I believe – the third court of four as you move through The Living Tombs from the Sinking Sands.
My team is level 70 with about 130 AAs. They’re decked out in MC weapons and armor, with about a 50/50 mix of master and expert spells. I was VERY disappointed that I failed so spectacularly.
The first time I wiped from all the knock-back spreading out my team across half the zone – it was utter chaos. The second time went much better; I positioned my team up against a wall so they wouldn’t be moved by the knock-back. That time, I got the mob down to around 30% (health was in the orange). I thought I had everything under control, and then things just went downhill in a huge hurry. One of the healers died, and then everyone else went down shortly thereafter.
The third time, I positioned my team in the same way but must not have been exactly perpendicular to the wall as I ended up getting bounced around more and things went to pieces around 60% or so.
My team is a guardian, troubadour, conjuror, illusionist, warden, and mystic. I was playing my elemental-resistance song with the bard, giving up a concentration spot that I normally use on the hate-reduction spell. I seemed to be able to hold agro ok, so I decided it was worth the switch. I did this because the tiny bit of info on this mob I could find indicated it uses a lot of cold-based damage.
It spawns a couple of treants on initial pull; they’re triple-up arrow heroic 61s that die in a few seconds if I concentrate on them. But they keep spawning, and some of the info I found suggested leaving them alone as they eventually re-spawn as epic mobs if killed. By the time I died the second time (the most successful attempt of the three), there were probably 10 of those trees pounding on me. I simply couldn’t keep up with healing.
I’m not sure if it’s better to focus on them and kill them off first. That’s normally what I do, but like I said the info on EQ2 wikia suggested leaving them alone. I realize that’s just subjective opinion, but it’s generally based on experience, so I’m loathe to dismiss it out of hand. I tried killing the trees the first time, but because my team was so spread out it just didn’t work at all.
If I divert my attention to the constant stream of trees (they must spawn every 10 seconds or so), it doesn’t seem that I’ll ever be able to do any damage to the boss mob. He’s apparently got around 500,000 hp, so it’s going to take a while for me to whittle him down to toothpicks like he deserves. I tried AOEs, but these treants have enough HP that they don’t go down all that quickly, and I don’t have enough “blue” damage to take them out while staying focused on the epic mob. They aren’t grouped either, so things like encounter AOEs or encounter mezzes don’t seem too viable.
I can imagine trying to mez the heroic mobs would just be an exercise in rotating targets, as there get to be an awful lot of them eventually. It simply doesn’t seem viable to try to mez them all, as more spawn all the time. I think my best bet is to either somehow focus on the mob and just heal through the damage (which means I need more DPS to kill him before the adds become overwhelming) or kill off those adds as quickly as I can and then get back to the boss. Since my team is more survival-based than DPS-based, I think the latter approach is the only realistic one. I don’t think I can kill the boss fast enough to simply ignore the adds.
I’m just curious if others have experience with this miserable tree, or have some advice I haven’t thought of. Just for comparison, earlier in the evening I took down Lockjaw – a level 62 x4 epic mob – without any real trouble. I realize that mobs are often over or under-conned, but it seems odd I could handle a level 62 x4 epic boss easily and wipe so spectacularly on a level 61 x4. I guess different mobs require different tactics, and unfortunately my tactics to date have largely been tank-n-spank.
I’m concerned that this is a sign of things to come – that encounters like this one will be more frequent as I progress into later content. I was planning to try the Godking soon – he’s a level 65 x4 epic mob required for the last quest in the Peacock line in Maj’Dul. There are also a couple of 65 x4 dragons I need to kill for an access quest in the Shimmering Citadel. I really enjoy unlocking parts of the game and finishing storylines, so I HATE the idea of just walking away without finishing these. I suppose at 80, mentored down to level 75 these mobs will be simple. I just figured I should be able to take down a 61 epic boss when my team is 70. I think I’ll keep trying.
Thanks for any advice or suggestions you can provide.
