Post by wardo on May 6, 2009 6:10:22 GMT -1
Another "guide" I found on the forums:
community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347892
Didn't know where else to post this hence being in general discussion.
Watcher 2.0 Guide by Spaix
Note: in this guide I will often be referring to a video I made of the fight. That video can be watched here: files.filefront.com/Watcher+0.../fileinfo.html
Watcher post book 7 is definetely A LOT harder then the first version of him. In order to get this bugger down you need a balanced, well coordinated group of people being focussed throughout the whole fight, as well as a bit of luck.
What kind of group setup does it take? First of all let me say that we don't have a warden, so we have been unable to test groups with one of them. I hear it helps a lot, but it's definetely not required.
We have found the 'perfect' group would consist of:
1 Guardian
2 Champs
1 Captain
2 Burglars
2 Lore-Masters
2 Minstrels
2 Hunters
While this is certainly not the the be all end all group setup, and wardens/rk's can probably be fitted in somewhere, we found it to be the safest one we have experienced so far.
2 Burgs and Lm's guarantee fantastic debuffs all around, and while you could swap one of either out for say another captain or more dps I think it will lower the survivability of the group, while weakening your corruption removal at the same time.
Class roles and trait setups
First something concerning virtues for every class:
-Incoming melee dmg virtues really help a lot! It doesn't matter if you are a hunter, a minstrel or a guardian: you will be taking aoe melee hits of at least 1k repeatedly during the fight. If you can, get and slot innocence 10, zeal 10 and discipline 10. A pocket item with -3% is great as well. Hunters should slot compassion too.
Guardian:
You are the maintank, keeping the big bad guy entertained for most of the fight. Gear and trait for maximum -incoming melee damage. You should have 9% from virtues, 6% from gear, 2,5% from your belt and 4/5% from relics. B/P/E ratings are nice too, but they rely slightly on luck, while -incoming melee damage guarantees that you take less damage all the time. Ofcourse make sure your morale is at a healthy level too. When the watcher shakes with anger turn around and jumpswim to the back of the bridge, then once the animation has started move back in right away! If you are slow, he can hit you with his ranged attack for over 10k dmg later in the fight.
If you get dangled it's important that you tell the group right away. They can't really see you behind there and you must be freed asap.
Champs:
You are leading the melee group. Your most important part is during the transition between phase 2 and 3 when the 12 small tentacles spawn. For this you have traited deathstorm, so you can go crazy with raging blade and whatnot. After that you are mostly dpsing the shacking tentacles, and occasionally the watcher. If you are the raid assist target make sure to switch to dangling tentacles as they come, and don't finish off a shacking tentacle before the other one has respawned.
Captain:
Traited 5 hands of healing + defiance and improved war cry. Legendary's idome, HoH and shield of the dunadain. At the start of the 12 spawns use the shield on your main champ. If you have more champs that aren't being shielded use IHW + LS as well to help them survive. After that help out with dps on the RAT, while assisting with heals wherever needed. Prioritize war-cry over SL for better group dps.
Try and toss your blade of elendil on the watcher whenever possible, to assist in the corruption removal.
Burglars:
Traited reveal weakness and disable. ET legendary.
You have a few different roles in the fight. Most importantly you keep your traited disable on the watcher, to lower his damage quite a bit. In combination with the LM and the second burg this makes a huge difference. Should the LM's fall behind on the corruption removal you are needed to use your startling twist to remove 3 of them at once. Make sure to re-apply your trick right after.
Other then that you are DPS'ing and putting RW on the RAT. Spam exposed throat as much as you can, those FM's really help out. Go GGGBB, make sure you have assigned colors to people (and a backup GGBB if someone is dangling). Try to save your forced FM's for when the group is really in dire need of morale/power.
If the tank gets dangled it's your job to jumpswim over there as fast as you can, and free him with a fellowship move. Carry marbles with you.
Lore-Masters:
Primary LM traited 5 ancient master + healer and light of hope.
Secondary LM traited full master of nature's fury + healer and light of hope.
Both have a book with maxed out -physical resistance, to greatly reduce the chance that dispel corruption will get resisted.
The ancient master lm is mostly tasked with keeping everything constantly debuffed. Fire-Lore, Wind-Lore, SoP: Command (on all 3 targets!) SoP: See All Ends on watcher, and Gust of Wind. You are keeping the watcher targetted most of the time, and you watch his corruptions. You will coordinate who uses their remove 3 corruptions skill at which time, preferably using voice to call it out. You can wait until he has 3 before removing, but if you are calling out the dps lm or the burg give the call at 2 corruptions, because they will take some time to switch targets. If the watcher ever gets above 3 you have a good chance to wipe on his next aoe attack, so stay focussed on them.
The dps lm is primarily assisting with aoe dps on the RAT, while removing corruptions or using debuffs (if the other lm got a resist) whenever told to.
Ofcourse both lm's are using their spot heal whenever it's up to assist the minstrels, and sharing power as needed.
Minstrels:
Traited for healing with FS heart legendary (no brainer..)
Don't be afraid to pop your triumphant spirit during the 12 small spawns, but try to save fellowships heart in case you get in a rough spot during phase 3. You will constantly be healing a lot. Everyone is taking the watcher's aoe damage, so inspire fellows can be nice to use a lot. If you're getting low on power shout out to your lm.
Should you have a moment in between healing take a few steps forward and use herald's strike on the watcher to remove a corruption.
Hunters:
The raid leader will assign a shacking tentacle to you (left or right). Your main job in phase 3 is to get aggro on that tentacle, and rangetank it until it dies. When your tentacle is dead you can just assist on the RAT, but make sure you don't get aggro on anything else. In addition to maxing out your -incoming melee damage to reduce watcher aoe damage, it's also a good idea to slot compassion for less ranged damage, and using a pocket such as painted vane from GS (-3% ranged dmg). Once the watcher drops below half health you can assist in corruption removal with merciful shot, after you have solid aggro on your tentacle.
The fight
Phase 1:
I'm sure everybody knows this part now. After dodging the initial shout you get 2 tentacles. Kill them while dodging any other shouts to advance to phase 2.
Phase 2:
You get two massive tentacles in the center. Kill the left one while the hunter tanks the right, then burn the right one down to 5k.
Group up tightly on the left side of the bridge (as seen in the video). Wait for a dangling tentacle to spawn and then immediately kill the 2nd massive tentacle from range. 12 crushing tentacles will spawn on you. Move away to the center of the bridge, only the champs and captain stay behind. Guardian moves to the other side and gets ready to pick up the watcher when he comes up.
Captain(s) use shield of the dunadain on your champ, and IHW + LS if needed. Go full green on fm's (champs ignore fm's and keep dpsing) Champs are popping deathstorm, and going crazy with aoe's, while lm's use ents and lightning storm. All the spawns should die before the watcher comes up. Hunters pop rain of arrows on the spawns, then get ready to establish aggro on your shacking tentacle.
Phase 3:
Squishies and ranged and at the back of the bridge in the middle. Tank is on the other side entertaining the big squid. Hunters are tanking the shacking tentacles. LM's and burglars apply debuffs as soon as the watcher appears, this is very important. You may still be a bit low on morale from the 12 crushing, and he will use his aoe very soon after surfacing so get those debuffs in! As soon at is says: the watcher becomes enraged a LM begins coordinating the corruption removal (as explained in the LM bit above). The melee group and the tank need to watch out for the text 'the watcher shakes with anger' to appear on the screen. This means he will do a 360 aoe that hits for 5k and knocks you back (you can see what that does to me at the end of the video ). To avoid this you need to move back slightly to the back of the bridge. Don't go too far though, as then you might get caught in the circling tentacles.
The melee dps group will be following the same cycle as on watcher 1.0:
At the start you dps one shacking tentacle down to low, then you kill the other one. Once it respawns you kill the one that is on low health, then dps the new one down to low, and kill it when the next one spawns etc. If you have spare time in between, dps the watcher for a bit. Also while dpsing the shacking tentacles champs should position themselves so that they hit the watcher as well with aoe attacks. Should someone in your group get dangled switch to that one right away to free them. If it's your tank only your burg goes over there to free him with an fm, and your ranged dps kills the tentacle (as shown in the video). If you ever pull aggro off a hunter you have to turn the tentacle around as it does frontal aoe damage.
Keep up this dps cycle long enough and you will slowly burn the watcher down in the process. If you can keep debuffs up and corruptions under control it should be manageable.
Good luck!
community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347892
Didn't know where else to post this hence being in general discussion.
Watcher 2.0 Guide by Spaix
Note: in this guide I will often be referring to a video I made of the fight. That video can be watched here: files.filefront.com/Watcher+0.../fileinfo.html
Watcher post book 7 is definetely A LOT harder then the first version of him. In order to get this bugger down you need a balanced, well coordinated group of people being focussed throughout the whole fight, as well as a bit of luck.
What kind of group setup does it take? First of all let me say that we don't have a warden, so we have been unable to test groups with one of them. I hear it helps a lot, but it's definetely not required.
We have found the 'perfect' group would consist of:
1 Guardian
2 Champs
1 Captain
2 Burglars
2 Lore-Masters
2 Minstrels
2 Hunters
While this is certainly not the the be all end all group setup, and wardens/rk's can probably be fitted in somewhere, we found it to be the safest one we have experienced so far.
2 Burgs and Lm's guarantee fantastic debuffs all around, and while you could swap one of either out for say another captain or more dps I think it will lower the survivability of the group, while weakening your corruption removal at the same time.
Class roles and trait setups
First something concerning virtues for every class:
-Incoming melee dmg virtues really help a lot! It doesn't matter if you are a hunter, a minstrel or a guardian: you will be taking aoe melee hits of at least 1k repeatedly during the fight. If you can, get and slot innocence 10, zeal 10 and discipline 10. A pocket item with -3% is great as well. Hunters should slot compassion too.
Guardian:
You are the maintank, keeping the big bad guy entertained for most of the fight. Gear and trait for maximum -incoming melee damage. You should have 9% from virtues, 6% from gear, 2,5% from your belt and 4/5% from relics. B/P/E ratings are nice too, but they rely slightly on luck, while -incoming melee damage guarantees that you take less damage all the time. Ofcourse make sure your morale is at a healthy level too. When the watcher shakes with anger turn around and jumpswim to the back of the bridge, then once the animation has started move back in right away! If you are slow, he can hit you with his ranged attack for over 10k dmg later in the fight.
If you get dangled it's important that you tell the group right away. They can't really see you behind there and you must be freed asap.
Champs:
You are leading the melee group. Your most important part is during the transition between phase 2 and 3 when the 12 small tentacles spawn. For this you have traited deathstorm, so you can go crazy with raging blade and whatnot. After that you are mostly dpsing the shacking tentacles, and occasionally the watcher. If you are the raid assist target make sure to switch to dangling tentacles as they come, and don't finish off a shacking tentacle before the other one has respawned.
Captain:
Traited 5 hands of healing + defiance and improved war cry. Legendary's idome, HoH and shield of the dunadain. At the start of the 12 spawns use the shield on your main champ. If you have more champs that aren't being shielded use IHW + LS as well to help them survive. After that help out with dps on the RAT, while assisting with heals wherever needed. Prioritize war-cry over SL for better group dps.
Try and toss your blade of elendil on the watcher whenever possible, to assist in the corruption removal.
Burglars:
Traited reveal weakness and disable. ET legendary.
You have a few different roles in the fight. Most importantly you keep your traited disable on the watcher, to lower his damage quite a bit. In combination with the LM and the second burg this makes a huge difference. Should the LM's fall behind on the corruption removal you are needed to use your startling twist to remove 3 of them at once. Make sure to re-apply your trick right after.
Other then that you are DPS'ing and putting RW on the RAT. Spam exposed throat as much as you can, those FM's really help out. Go GGGBB, make sure you have assigned colors to people (and a backup GGBB if someone is dangling). Try to save your forced FM's for when the group is really in dire need of morale/power.
If the tank gets dangled it's your job to jumpswim over there as fast as you can, and free him with a fellowship move. Carry marbles with you.
Lore-Masters:
Primary LM traited 5 ancient master + healer and light of hope.
Secondary LM traited full master of nature's fury + healer and light of hope.
Both have a book with maxed out -physical resistance, to greatly reduce the chance that dispel corruption will get resisted.
The ancient master lm is mostly tasked with keeping everything constantly debuffed. Fire-Lore, Wind-Lore, SoP: Command (on all 3 targets!) SoP: See All Ends on watcher, and Gust of Wind. You are keeping the watcher targetted most of the time, and you watch his corruptions. You will coordinate who uses their remove 3 corruptions skill at which time, preferably using voice to call it out. You can wait until he has 3 before removing, but if you are calling out the dps lm or the burg give the call at 2 corruptions, because they will take some time to switch targets. If the watcher ever gets above 3 you have a good chance to wipe on his next aoe attack, so stay focussed on them.
The dps lm is primarily assisting with aoe dps on the RAT, while removing corruptions or using debuffs (if the other lm got a resist) whenever told to.
Ofcourse both lm's are using their spot heal whenever it's up to assist the minstrels, and sharing power as needed.
Minstrels:
Traited for healing with FS heart legendary (no brainer..)
Don't be afraid to pop your triumphant spirit during the 12 small spawns, but try to save fellowships heart in case you get in a rough spot during phase 3. You will constantly be healing a lot. Everyone is taking the watcher's aoe damage, so inspire fellows can be nice to use a lot. If you're getting low on power shout out to your lm.
Should you have a moment in between healing take a few steps forward and use herald's strike on the watcher to remove a corruption.
Hunters:
The raid leader will assign a shacking tentacle to you (left or right). Your main job in phase 3 is to get aggro on that tentacle, and rangetank it until it dies. When your tentacle is dead you can just assist on the RAT, but make sure you don't get aggro on anything else. In addition to maxing out your -incoming melee damage to reduce watcher aoe damage, it's also a good idea to slot compassion for less ranged damage, and using a pocket such as painted vane from GS (-3% ranged dmg). Once the watcher drops below half health you can assist in corruption removal with merciful shot, after you have solid aggro on your tentacle.
The fight
Phase 1:
I'm sure everybody knows this part now. After dodging the initial shout you get 2 tentacles. Kill them while dodging any other shouts to advance to phase 2.
Phase 2:
You get two massive tentacles in the center. Kill the left one while the hunter tanks the right, then burn the right one down to 5k.
Group up tightly on the left side of the bridge (as seen in the video). Wait for a dangling tentacle to spawn and then immediately kill the 2nd massive tentacle from range. 12 crushing tentacles will spawn on you. Move away to the center of the bridge, only the champs and captain stay behind. Guardian moves to the other side and gets ready to pick up the watcher when he comes up.
Captain(s) use shield of the dunadain on your champ, and IHW + LS if needed. Go full green on fm's (champs ignore fm's and keep dpsing) Champs are popping deathstorm, and going crazy with aoe's, while lm's use ents and lightning storm. All the spawns should die before the watcher comes up. Hunters pop rain of arrows on the spawns, then get ready to establish aggro on your shacking tentacle.
Phase 3:
Squishies and ranged and at the back of the bridge in the middle. Tank is on the other side entertaining the big squid. Hunters are tanking the shacking tentacles. LM's and burglars apply debuffs as soon as the watcher appears, this is very important. You may still be a bit low on morale from the 12 crushing, and he will use his aoe very soon after surfacing so get those debuffs in! As soon at is says: the watcher becomes enraged a LM begins coordinating the corruption removal (as explained in the LM bit above). The melee group and the tank need to watch out for the text 'the watcher shakes with anger' to appear on the screen. This means he will do a 360 aoe that hits for 5k and knocks you back (you can see what that does to me at the end of the video ). To avoid this you need to move back slightly to the back of the bridge. Don't go too far though, as then you might get caught in the circling tentacles.
The melee dps group will be following the same cycle as on watcher 1.0:
At the start you dps one shacking tentacle down to low, then you kill the other one. Once it respawns you kill the one that is on low health, then dps the new one down to low, and kill it when the next one spawns etc. If you have spare time in between, dps the watcher for a bit. Also while dpsing the shacking tentacles champs should position themselves so that they hit the watcher as well with aoe attacks. Should someone in your group get dangled switch to that one right away to free them. If it's your tank only your burg goes over there to free him with an fm, and your ranged dps kills the tentacle (as shown in the video). If you ever pull aggro off a hunter you have to turn the tentacle around as it does frontal aoe damage.
Keep up this dps cycle long enough and you will slowly burn the watcher down in the process. If you can keep debuffs up and corruptions under control it should be manageable.
Good luck!
