This seems like it will be a fantastic resource for newer players looking to grind the fuck out of cruc.
My only suggestion would be to go into more detail about “spawn camping” strats.
Its hinted at and briefly cited in places but is not concisely explained with examples (especially in “most difficult waves”, or “specific arenas”).
What I mean by this is that a very effective strategy for improving cleartimes and VASTLY improving safety for so-called “glass cannon” builds (but really is applicable to any build with very good single-target DPS) is to “spawn camp” at the beginning of waves in order to “instantly delete” something that spawns there, even before the rest of the wave aggros/reaches you. Obviously this varies from arena to arena, and you cant guarantee spawns, but I have found that doing this will greatly enhance survivability if you manage to catch certain problem spawns really “before the wave starts” (like anasteria).
Not only does doing this kind of thing make waves easier, but it is also a nice tip for those who are interested in trying to get crucible times as low as possible for their build.
I’ll take that into consideration - but this guide is also aimed at players who are just starting to farm crucible, and not specifically at BiS’d builds.
Which is why my second outline has a bullet point titled “tips/tricks for maximizing clear time”
What I mean to say is that giving newer players advice on how to consistently beat crucible is different from giving experienced players advice on how to consistently do speed runs.
Your suggestion is definitely a good one, and a thing I struggle to balance. It’s just not easy trying to make a guide cover everything.
But I dont feel like “spawn camping” strats in the general case is targeted advice towards experienced/geared players though. I feel like its very relevant for any HC players interested in safely upgrading their gear/hour to crucible rates, for players interested in multiplayer crucible (where you kinda just have the single target damage anyway as long as something didnt go horribly wrong in the build creation stage), and even for players still in gearing stages trying to push low gladiator or high challenger who just like the game mode.
The main thing is the safety I feel that spawn camping brings. Its really just another iteration of “divide and conquer,” or put another way “take a 1v1 and then do the rest of the wave.”
Even if the build’s single target is not good, such that you cant actually eliminate one target really fast, you still get alot of extra damage on that guy which usually means the guy is going to die sooner in a wave resulting in generally safer gameplay. That just means a cruci farmer is going to have higher percentage clears and will do better in the gear/hour metric.
Its more of a general playstyle thing than it is something restricted to “ultra geared bis absolute clearspeed builds” trying to min/max their youtube hits.
Again I think you did a really great job with the guide and it would have definitely been something I wanted when I was a new player and the crucible meta to me was “whatever drizzto happened to post”
I see. Valid point - just to make sure I’m understanding you correctly (not trying to be dismissive), I feel that the OP covers spawn camping in a very indirect way.
If you look at the section on banner placement, I do talk about focusing down one nem asap by camping that spot. I’ve also mentioned that players should end each round where they intend to start the next (I.e. spawn camping)
Is that too vague? My understanding from what you’re saying is that readers will benefit more if I was more specific about camping, yes?
Yes, I felt the guide did cover it in a very indirect way myself, which was why I wanted to mention that I felt giving more concise coverage on the concept would be beneficial to people, rather than having it spread out through a bunch of <spoiler> tags.
Nice and that reference to Naruto,spot on:p.Btw with more people playing AAR now,I wonder how big a thing is disruption,on some waves with channeling skill,looks like a quick death.
Spawn camping is by all means a valid strategy and the right one for mid-tier builds and less experienced crucible players. It lets you eliminate threats one by one and improve your consistency a lot.
But there is one huge downside. By staying too far away from the opposite spawn zone you risk mobs there not aggroing soon enough. The best crucible players with sub 6 or even sub 5 times are mostly defined by how well they can deal with this particular issue.
Sadly, there is no simple solution to this. You basically gotta know where everybody is at any moment throughout your run and where they will be if you move here or there. A bit like chess. You gotta know where to stand and how to move at different stages of each wave to aggro everyone optimally.
@ Spanks
Add this if you will to FG guide strategies edition if you will. This is for b/b CoDeath:
New 163 with Fucken Trio & Healers
STRATEGY: Move top-right to see who’s coming. If it’s the healers pull back to bottom-left beyond the banner. Mash whoever aggros, looking out if the healers moved inside the banner range. Once they do blink onto them and kill with all the prejudice you can muster. Then it’s business as usual. If it’s not the healers move back to the middle and carry on with your usual optimal way of dispatching the Trio according to the build.
169 2 Options
SPEEDIER OPTION: Get in the middle and be the badass. Just close enough to between top-left and bottom-left banner spots to aggro Anasteria into your banner range asap. After she does blink onto her and continue the carnage - if it’s not Korvaak. If it’s Korvaak you might be fucked without a top-tier build.
SAFER OPTION: Rush bottom-left to flash-kill the Fleshwarped dude or Uroboruuk Jr. Check out if it’s Korvaak or Theo. If it’s Korvaak jump out of the spawn zone and behind his back and kill him. If it’s Theo do what everyone does - pretend he’s not there - and immediately blink onto Anasteria. Fatsos should be dead by collateral by the time you’re done with Anasteria and Theo/Korvaak 1st phase.
Reaper, Kuba, Grava cheese
Stand in the right spot between the pillar and the banner. Only one speedy big nemesis should be hitting you. The other one should be running around trying to find a path and die by collateral. If it’s not working facetank what you can and blink away to the NPC podium chokepoint.
It’s possible to use Kuba as the pillar as described above.
It’s strange you say nothing about Shar’zul - he can apply strong resistance reduction with his projectile fan (even if you have 30 res overcap, you will be brought to 20-30 points below cap).
Oh, and Anasteria reduces ALL resistances by ridiculous amount, not just Aether. If you get hit be her abilities, any enemy will hit you like a truck. Since she has quite high HP pool and doesnt tend to rush to you, it’s better to kite other enemies from her location and kill them, then kill Anasteria alone (alone she isnt scary if your Aether resist is overcapped).
This advice I wrote is wrong. There is a discussion in another guide here about it.
Best strategy, as employed by the best speedrunners, is to try to finish 162 close to top-right and kill the healers even before the Trio wakes up in the middle, and quickly blink back to the middle before the Trio has a chance to move.
