Unlike Howlbomb, this is clearly not a near-100% universal strat; just a really economically optimised one. It reminds me, fondly, of my starting days, when I had a small roster and was learning about buffs and debuffs, and trying out all kind of Heath-Robinson contrivances.
[Er, devs, if you're listening, that means
you don't have to nerf it, k?
]
I'm just picking out a couple that people have mentioned, to see for myself.
Gorespine killed me first time. He Scratched twice, one crit, so my Valk went bye-bye to zero health and wasn't able to Haunt. Second time, no crits and he used Rip on Round 2, so I got the Haunt off, and with the Black Claw on, Spiked Skin wasn't enough to save him. I haven't done the numbers, but ballpark I'm thinking you need to avoid crits on three rounds, which would make it about an 80%-85% strat.
Back in a few with more attempt reports....
Tainted Maulclaw. I'm on 10 kills now without losing one. His Fel Corruption does 313, reducing Ikky to 1006. In all fights so far, he has done Shell Shield followed by Infected Claw. Without crits, Ikky does 423 on the first Flock, followed by 741 on each of the other two rounds, and that's more than the Maulclaw's 1808.. Infected Claw does 241-447. If it crits, or hits high, above 346, Ikky loses his racial and so is exposed to two attacks in a row. This has happened twice in my 10 kills. However, his last round needs to also hit high, or perhaps even crit, to kill Ikky before the last Flock. So I would guess at 85%+ for this strat.
Wait. Nyari's posted strat is
Tainted Maulclaw
1. Ikky (1,1,1)
2. Unborn Val'kyr (2,2,1)
3. Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,2)
vs. Tainted Maulclaw
-Black Claw > Flock
vs. Tanaan Pets
-Savage Talon until Ikky dies
-switch to Proto-Whelp
-keep Emerald Presence active, heal up with Emerald Dream and use Emerald Bite otherwise
Whereas Prettyheals posted attempts with a DIFFERENT strat. I think Prettyheals was just looking at the wrong strat? Easy to make that mistake in a long list.
Prettyheals wrote:Tainted Maulclaw
Unborn Val'kyr: Curse of Doom -> Haunt (Undead damage weak against Aquatic)
Ikky (1044 health): Black Claw -> Flock 2 rounds, CoD kills crab
Emerald Proto Whelp: Emerald Presence -> Emerald Dream -> Dead (H/H rare crab kills me with Dive mid Dream)
Unborn Val'kyr: Curse of Doom -> Shadow Shock -> Shadow Shock -> Shadow Shock -> Unborn Val'kyr dead
I tried this strat 3 more times, all failed. The backline H/H rare crab just decimated by team. I switched back to my old strategy which is Ikky (Black Claw, Flock), Anubisath Idol (1,1,1), Emerald Proto Whelp (2,2,2) and beat him with just Ikky and the Idol. This just doesn't work for me here. I could see it working if none of the backline pets were aquatic.
Bleakclaw. It's not possible, arithmetically, for Bleakclaw to kill even a B/B Valk before it Haunts, even with a double crit and high-hitting Liftoff, (2*275 + 2*393 < 2562) so that bit is 100% guaranteed. Now Ikky enters with 1044 hp, so needs to be hit for 385 to lose his racial. Savage Talon is 211-393. Chance of losing racial maybe 8%? Mostly doesn't, and does 282 damage in the first Flock, without crits. The CoD with Shattered Defenses does 1141 and the Haunt does 439, and that's all she wrote for Bleakclaw. I'd rate that strat 90%+
Of course, with all of these, you can run into two tough empowered backup pets. I realise I derped badly this morning when I wrote
Gráinne wrote:The weakness I would suspect in Tanaan is that you're using two of your three on the big guy, leaving the EPW to face two empowered secondaries.
forgetting that the Valk is back to life to help sweep up. That's a huge plus for this team!
Dreadwalker hit me with a Fel Corruption crit the first time.
Ouch, that hurt! However, the strat worked correctly the next three times. The arithmetic of the Valk finishing off Dreadwalker seems close, but solid. After that, it's down to the EPW surviving long enough for its Dream to restore its health, after taking two hits on the back line. I felt I had a bit less slack in this one after taking out the lead, but I'd still rate it a comfortable 75%.