ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:

Excellent follow up and additional advice Chrissy. I agree 110%- let the bombs and traps work for you and weaken the enemy as they approach and try to get to you. Forcing the enemy to come after you and pass through your bombs/traps is a nice strategy indeed. Thank you for the extra tidbits.

DUNGEON TIP- Hall of Minos

First off, this is a rather long dungeon that leads to another very long dungeon- The Labyrinth. Your pirate will face some pretty tough foes in the Hall of Minos but at a high level you shouldn't have too much difficulty winning. But, there are some very important things that you should be aware of.

In this dungeon your pirate & crew will fight 7 battles. There are 3 instances in which directly after winning a hard fought battle & surely taking damage, your pirate will immediately be drawn into battle with no chance to regroup, revive or heal.

• Shortly after entering the dungeon, you will battle against Vulture Plunderers. As soon as you collect the last chest a new group of Vulture Raiders will 'magically' appear in the same room & you and your crew will be forced back into battle. There is no avoiding this & if your pirate was dangerously low on health after the first group of vultures, it can make for a particularly rough second battle.
  
• After the battle with the 2nd group of Vultures (and healing/reviving), your crew will encounter some nasty scorpions that don't seem to want to play nice. Once you dispose of them properly, another group of enemies will seemingly appear out of thin air- this time Undead Skeleton Hoplites. And yet again you will not be able to heal, use blue yum or make crew & gear adjustments.
  
• As if that weren't enough, your crew will 'get a break' battling some Manticores, but at least you will have a chance to heal & revive lost companions before this battle begins & directly after defeating the beasts with an identity crises.....But, just when you thought things would ease up, your crew has to battle against a group of Ophidian Warriors. Not too big of a deal to shed them of their skin but...you guessed it, as soon as that battle ends you are immediately forced into battle against a group of Ophidian Flamedancers- again with no time to heal or revive.

So, as you could imagine it's very important to use up any available healing powers near the end of the 1st of the 2 battles in the 3 instances in which you are immediately forced back into battle. If you have the Eagle (Revive) or Owl (Rally) powers, where you can heal for 3 consecutive turns- make sure to try to use them a few turns before you think the first battles (in each pair) will be over, that way you get as much health back before the next battle. If you only have the single turn power, use it/them in what you believe your next to last or last turn in battle will be.

Also, you can use a will buff a few turns before winning the battle so that it may help increase the effectiveness of the healing powers. If you have many high level companions, I recommend not using your healing powers on them if you can help it in those first battles- save them for your pirate, as you will get new high level, powerful companions in the 2nd battle you are forced into. Then after that battle you can use a blue bottle of yum to revive any lost companions.

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 25, 2014 wrote:

DUNGEON TIP- Hall of Minos

First off, this is a rather long dungeon that leads to another very long dungeon- The Labyrinth. Your pirate will face some pretty tough foes in the Hall of Minos but at a high level you shouldn't have too much difficulty winning. But, there are some very important things that you should be aware of.

In this dungeon your pirate & crew will fight 7 battles. There are 3 instances in which directly after winning a hard fought battle & surely taking damage, your pirate will immediately be drawn into battle with no chance to regroup, revive or heal.

• Shortly after entering the dungeon, you will battle against Vulture Plunderers. As soon as you collect the last chest a new group of Vulture Raiders will 'magically' appear in the same room & you and your crew will be forced back into battle. There is no avoiding this & if your pirate was dangerously low on health after the first group of vultures, it can make for a particularly rough second battle.
  
• After the battle with the 2nd group of Vultures (and healing/reviving), your crew will encounter some nasty scorpions that don't seem to want to play nice. Once you dispose of them properly, another group of enemies will seemingly appear out of thin air- this time Undead Skeleton Hoplites. And yet again you will not be able to heal, use blue yum or make crew & gear adjustments.
  
• As if that weren't enough, your crew will 'get a break' battling some Manticores, but at least you will have a chance to heal & revive lost companions before this battle begins & directly after defeating the beasts with an identity crises.....But, just when you thought things would ease up, your crew has to battle against a group of Ophidian Warriors. Not too big of a deal to shed them of their skin but...you guessed it, as soon as that battle ends you are immediately forced into battle against a group of Ophidian Flamedancers- again with no time to heal or revive.

So, as you could imagine it's very important to use up any available healing powers near the end of the 1st of the 2 battles in the 3 instances in which you are immediately forced back into battle. If you have the Eagle (Revive) or Owl (Rally) powers, where you can heal for 3 consecutive turns- make sure to try to use them a few turns before you think the first battles (in each pair) will be over, that way you get as much health back before the next battle. If you only have the single turn power, use it/them in what you believe your next to last or last turn in battle will be.

Also, you can use a will buff a few turns before winning the battle so that it may help increase the effectiveness of the healing powers. If you have many high level companions, I recommend not using your healing powers on them if you can help it in those first battles- save them for your pirate, as you will get new high level, powerful companions in the 2nd battle you are forced into. Then after that battle you can use a blue bottle of yum to revive any lost companions.

Excellent advice. I have soloed this dungeon and you have it solid. On more thing, that last section where you will start one of two fights with Obsidians pull any witchdoctor companions and put them at the back of your companion roster. The second Obsidian fighters have Witch Hunter epic and it will do serious damage to any witchdoctor that tries to attack them. I forget to do this once and as my first mate was the Inoshishi Necromancer I chose to flee and rearrange them properly. I was helping someone once, they called for help and I teleported in, not knowing who they were fighting and took some serious damage. Trust me, as powerful as they are, you DON'T want them in this fight.

EPIC BATTLE tip:
I like to use two melee, two ranged units. Your pirate will be one of those, so for buccaneers, swash, strength privateers, you can pick two ranged and another melee. For musketeers, witchdoctors, and will privateers, you can pick two melee and another ranged. Ex. Buccaneer pirate, Ratbeard, Bonnie and Scratch. Witchdoctor pirate, Bonnie, Ratbeard, Toro.

-George Gordon, lvl 36

Chrissy Th'Blesser on Feb 25, 2014 wrote:

Excellent advice. I have soloed this dungeon and you have it solid. On more thing, that last section where you will start one of two fights with Obsidians pull any witchdoctor companions and put them at the back of your companion roster. The second Obsidian fighters have Witch Hunter epic and it will do serious damage to any witchdoctor that tries to attack them. I forget to do this once and as my first mate was the Inoshishi Necromancer I chose to flee and rearrange them properly. I was helping someone once, they called for help and I teleported in, not knowing who they were fighting and took some serious damage. Trust me, as powerful as they are, you DON'T want them in this fight.

Great additional tip Chrissy, about avoiding using witchdoctors in that final 2 battle scenario against the Ophidians. That tip is a good one against those slithery Flamedancers no matter where it may be, or, like you said, against any witchdoctor enemy with the Witch Hunter epic talent. Although with Anne's tips from above you will be better equipped with strategies to help defeat them. But in general not the ideal situation for sure- Witchdoctor vs. Witch Hunter...could be trouble.

Very wise advice tip and thanks for adding it.

GEAR TIP- Pack Mule (Extra Storage)

If many of you are like me, you try to keep as much great gear as possible to use for your other pirates - especially non-auction gear with powers and great ship gear. Also, like me, you will more than likely quickly fill up your backpack and bank trying to store all of this great gear. Now of course we all know that there are 5 classes and 6 slots available for creating your pirates. So you can have 1 pirate from each class plus one extra spot for a pirate of your choice.

What I like to do, is use this 'extra' pirate for 'extra storage'. It is easy to fill up your current pirate's pack, bank and even the shared bank while accumulating gear for him/her and the other pirates. One way to help make more room is to have each of your pirates move their class gear from the shared bank into their bank- but even when doing this you can still run out of room, or at least take up a lot of space.

Having that 'spare' pirate will give you lots of extra storage for holding gear for your other pirates. It will at least give you a place to put the gear until you get a chance to sort through and divvy it up to the respective classes. So you can have an extra 100(bank) plus 100 or 120 (for members) being stored for your pirates to use against the evil Armada. That is a nice, extra 200-220 pieces of stored gear. Also if you have other pirates that you haven't gotten to use yet, you can surely fill up there packs and banks as well to store a lot of gear until you get to playing them and/or figure out what to do with the extra gear.

These are just a few ideas and tips to help you carry and store extra gear for your pirates and that may keep you from having to discard, sell, or trash a great item just because you don't have room to carry it around. Although I would sooo much, more than welcome the addition of extra backpack and bank space.

Hope this helps!

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 26, 2014 wrote:

Thanks for the great tip on Epic Battle companion choices...and welcome to the PHP thread GBalance101.

Having that variety that you speak of can be a great way to head into battle and also a nice strategy indeed. Being able to strike and do damage from a distance and up close in combat can help out a lot. And using high health/armor melee units like buccaneers to absorb a lot of attacks, epic talents and damage, while your ranged fighters reek havoc from a distance is a great strategy. And if Swashbucklers are in the mix they can dance around and use stealth to do major damage to the enemy, while avoiding attacks and using buffs. Using a privateer to bolster your crews' potency is a great idea too, all while your other melee and ranged fighters shell out damage. Like you said, having a privateer to boost/buff an already powerful Witchdoctor's will, can only lead to mass destruction to the enemy.

Of course sometimes your choices of companions will be influenced by which type of enemies you will be facing and also which epic talents and powers those enemies possess. Knowing who you are facing and what they can use to damage your pirate and crew is very vital to knowing which companions you want to have battling alongside your pirate. But in general, having a good mix of ranged and melee fighters is an excellent strategy.

Thank you again for stopping in to give a great tip and provide input.

I'm usually just dumb and use two melee, two ranged no matter what. But thanks for the welcome anyways, Valkoor. Now to finally have that idea that I forgot remembered...

-George Gordon

GBalance101 on Feb 28, 2014 wrote:

I'm usually just dumb and use two melee, two ranged no matter what. But thanks for the welcome anyways, Valkoor. Now to finally have that idea that I forgot remembered...

-George Gordon

No problem and you are welcome. And you know what they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", so whatever works and leads to victory/success- by all means keep it going. Absolutely nothing dumb about that. I just throw out other ideas and suggestions that are everyone's for the taking or tossing out the window.

Keep the ideas and tips coming!

BATTLE TIP:

Buccaneers and some privateers are focused on strength, and will have low will. So witch doctors will be most effective. Same thing vice versa. Swashes and musks are agility based, but they have lower strength than will, so hit them with strength.

-George Gordon, lvl 36

GBalance101 on Mar 2, 2014 wrote:

BATTLE TIP:

Buccaneers and some privateers are focused on strength, and will have low will. So witch doctors will be most effective. Same thing vice versa. Swashes and musks are agility based, but they have lower strength than will, so hit them with strength.

-George Gordon, lvl 36

Thanks for the great tips George or GBalance! It is very wise to attack with whichever crew member that possesses the greatest advantage or with the biggest difference in the attacking stat. This can lead to very high damage numbers and even more importantly it can lead to increased chances of receiving and chaining critical strikes together. If the attacker's attacking (or primary) stat is far superior than the targets same referenced stat, then the damage dealt will be greater and will more than likely lead to more super, mega and epic strikes...and who doesn't look forward to that?

Again, excellent tips and thank you for sharing.

SlightlyMadWizard on Mar 8, 2014 wrote:

FLANKING

I have put Flanking on every Companion that I can. Flanking allows at least two attacks on an enemy (more with Relentless or similar talent) or it can allow you to attack two different opponents with one move. Since Flanking can occur every turn that you have if you set it up correctly, it is an excellent offensive weapon and the way to do the most damage for a Melee character. What triggers Flanking is when two Melee characters sandwich an enemy between them at the end of their turn (all in a line - either diagonally, horizontally, or vertically) and the one with Flanking should arrive there last (sometimes Flanking will be triggered at other times but, in my experience, it happens rarely). The person with Flanking can do special attacks and still get the Flanking bonus. The way you can attack two different opponents at the same time is to end your turn attacking one enemy and using the Flank attack on another. Be very careful of enemies with the Flanking talent or Vengeance Strike if your Health is low.

If a character is hidden and uses the Flanking attack, the attack which occurs first is the Flanking attack and that is the attack that will get the Hidden attacking bonus - not the second attack which can be a special attack.

Crossfire is the same as Flanking except the two characters must be Long Range fighters (ie Guns, Bows and Arrows, etc.) and they must sandwich the enemy between them. Since they are Long Range, I don't know if you need to be directly next to the enemy (like Flanking) and will check this out when I get someone with Crossfire.

Great idea putting flanking explanations in this thread. It took me a long time to understand flanking and this will help others tremendously to use this powerful tool. Thank you so much.

SlightlyMadWizard on Mar 8, 2014 wrote:

FLANKING

I have put Flanking on every Companion that I can. Flanking allows at least two attacks on an enemy (more with Relentless or similar talent) or it can allow you to attack two different opponents with one move. Since Flanking can occur every turn that you have if you set it up correctly, it is an excellent offensive weapon and the way to do the most damage for a Melee character. What triggers Flanking is when two Melee characters sandwich an enemy between them at the end of their turn (all in a line - either diagonally, horizontally, or vertically) and the one with Flanking should arrive there last (sometimes Flanking will be triggered at other times but, in my experience, it happens rarely). The person with Flanking can do special attacks and still get the Flanking bonus. The way you can attack two different opponents at the same time is to end your turn attacking one enemy and using the Flank attack on another. Be very careful of enemies with the Flanking talent or Vengeance Strike if your Health is low.

If a character is hidden and uses the Flanking attack, the attack which occurs first is the Flanking attack and that is the attack that will get the Hidden attacking bonus - not the second attack which can be a special attack.

Crossfire is the same as Flanking except the two characters must be Long Range fighters (ie Guns, Bows and Arrows, etc.) and they must sandwich the enemy between them. Since they are Long Range, I don't know if you need to be directly next to the enemy (like Flanking) and will check this out when I get someone with Crossfire.

Superb explanation of flanking SightlyMadWizard. I too am glad to see such a thorough description of this epic talent posted here in the thread. It is one of those talents that a lot of players had trouble deciphering and understanding (including me for a while) and this helps tremendously. And adding the info about which attack gets the damage bonus while hidden is great to know as well. I too am curious about the Crossfire talent and exactly how it works...so definitely keep us posted.

Thanks for providing the excellent explanation and info.

Logan Sharp on Mar 10, 2014 wrote:

you coulda said make an X with your people :P

= ally
= enemy





minimize damage everyone
that's the key

well, the spacing on this things off :(

anyway, the point is, to make an X with your companions surrounding the enemy

Logan Sharp on Mar 12, 2014 wrote:

as dumb as that sounds, you actually CAN heal during those, but the window is VERY SMALL

as the trail drags you into battle, you are able to push the MOJO pot and fully restore your pirate

or at least I think so, ive done it in the past before...

WOW and cool, I never tried that Logan- actually my pirate never sustained much damage from the first of those battles so I never had the need to heal. I mainly posted the tip as a warning to other pirates out there, just to prepare them for being dragged back into battle. But, that is absolutely great news indeed- to know that you do have a split second chance at hitting the bottle of yum, can absolutely make all the difference to someone who had a rough first battle.

Thanks a lot for that info and providing that very useful tip. Oh, and welcome to the PHP thread, so glad that you could join in and provide some great tips...keep them coming!