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Old 02-10-2021, 10:32 PM
Danth Danth is offline
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Default (Re:) Dragon Necropolis revisited

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Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to Dragon Necropolis. I understand it's not a very friendly zone, with miserable corpse runs, so that's sort of kept me away ...

... but I also really want a http://wiki.project1999.com/Spirit_Talker%27s_Headdress (it seems to be the best possible Shaman helm with a polar bear head graphic ).

So, I'm looking for any and all advice anyone can offer on soloing Dragon Necropolis. I'm especially interested in Shaman-specific info, and on how to get to and kill the Paebala (particularly the Spirit Talker) ... but I'll take anything I can get from those that know the zone well.
...Continuing from the old thread: https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...d.php?t=355559

The wife wanted one of those Shaman hats (Spirit Talker Headdress) from Dragon Necropolis as well. At the time of the former, now-autolocked thread, I had not worked out a way for us to realistically duo it for all the reasons discussed in the prior thread (traps, unstunnable/unpushable level 56+ gaters, etc). However since that time we worked out a way to duo that camp effectively. It may also be possible for a Shaman to solo it very slowly because it turns out a couple of the spawns of paebala rats are easily split.

Our duo consists of 60 Shaman (her) and 60 Shadow Knight (me). Equipment is mostly Thurgadin-level or equivalent. Here are my observations doing this as a duo:

The ideal room to set up in, as detailed in the former thread, appears to be the room with the big Amorphous Blob (marked 9 on the wiki map). It seems entirely safe since the Blob itself is non-aggressive and also non-social with both factions of resident ratmen in that zone. Getting TO the room requires some effort (or some luck) since beyond the spiders on the upper level, some of which see invisible, there are many, many traps in the way. Not marked on the map, the entire area "8" is a lake full of water, and most of the tunnel leading to area "9" is mostly underwater. There are also traps in both the lake and the tunnel, as well as entropy serpents in the lake roamer paevala rats in the tunnel. Traps break invisibility, hence why I would blow them in advance using my SK (it can re-invis instantly with per-nerf circlet).

You will have four basic types of rats. Escaped workers (rogue), Warriors, Rebels (rogue) and Spirit Talkers (shaman), in increasing level of danger/power. All of them appear to spawn at similar rates, meaning the Shaman rats, while not rare, won't be a majority of what you kill in any given session either. Workers are quite weak and are on chetari faction and WILL be killed by the other paebala rats. Warriors usually spawn with a pair of velium weapons so they almost always dual-wield. Rebels hit hard and will double-backstab for upwards of 900 total if given half a chance. All melee types tend to be hasted by nearby Shaman rats. Spirit Talkers are nasty brutes which love casting high-level shaman damage spells sometimes up to Bane of Nife (both direct and over time) and will gate; all of them are resistant and the higher level variants are too high to stun with most stun spells or slam. The wife and I used malo, replaced it with malosini, and tash-proc stick so as to reduce their resists as much as possible. All ratmen flee; snaring them is prudent since a flee-mode rat will not attempt gate even if its mana ticks up. Rooting to stop runners can work if that's your only other option but is less desirable. None of the ratmen ordinarily see invisible.

Once in camp (the blob room), the two roamer ratmen in the underwater tunnel are relatively easy to split. They follow an overlapping but distinct pathing route, and one takes quite a lot longer than the other to make a full circuit, meaning a little patience is all that's required to get a split. Pulling is not necessarily safe because melee-type rats will usually be hasted and deal considerable damage. Allowing even these roamers (if a spirit talker) to gate is not desirable because they spawn farther in within aggro range of additional ratmen. A solo shaman might possibly be able to camp these two spawns although it wouldn't be easy.

Beyond the two initial roamers, the first hallway has several static spawns plus several additional roamers. Splitting these is difficult without either a very good lull or a feign puller and in both cases a back-up rez is wise to have access to. On my Shadow knight the pull tactic was standard (snare-feign/try to get a chance between casts), but difficult due to the usual trouble of feigning around multiple casters. I used wort potions several times.

The method we used of dealing with gate proved simple enough: Mana drain them. This entails letting them cast or heal the majority of their mana out, then once they stop healing use http://wiki.project1999.com/Mortificator_Staff to drain them the rest of the way. Doing this, the Spirit Talker rats will NEVER gate. We killed dozens of them and never had a single one gate on us using this method. Once they enter flee mode you're home free. Both malosini and tash stick are desired so as to get as many mana drain procs to land as possible.

The drop rate on the headdress seems rather low, probably on the order of a few per cent. We saw two of the 2-hand pierce shaman lances and one paebala warbone (off a warrior rat) before the hat dropped. As was stated in the other thread, it shows as a old world leather (bear hat on a Barbarian) graphic on the wearer, but NO visible graphic to other players. This doesn't bother the wife but might annoy other users, so be advised.

A group with an Enchanter (we don't have any active Enchanter friends) would make this much easier for obvious reasons. Good luck Loramin (or others) and hopefully this is useful to you if you're still trying to get one a hat for your own Shaman.

Danth
Last edited by Danth; 02-10-2021 at 10:40 PM..
  #2  
Old 02-11-2021, 12:14 AM
Seducio Seducio is offline
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I can offer up to dust off my 60 Enchanter on Blue and come help. I do not know the zone well.

If a 2nd Torpor shaman would make things easier I could bring that instead - whichever you prefer.

PM me if and when you'd like to give it a go. I'm not after loot.
  #3  
Old 02-11-2021, 12:02 PM
Danth Danth is offline
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Thanks Seducio. The wife and I won't need a hand--she got her hat--but others might want to try. I posted the long comment above because I wanted to share my findings that, while not a walk in the park, that particular area in Necropolis is indeed doable by a very small team even in the "can't push interrupt" era of P99. If a board moderator wants to add these posts to the older thread and re-open it that would be preferable; since it auto-locked all I could do was create a new thread and link the old one.

-----------------------------------------

On a side note, with respect to the graphic of the Spirt Talker's Headdress: Is it supposed to be visible only to the wearer, or is that a glitch? I am not filing a bug report because I don't know whether it's intended or not, since nobody I knew had that item (or even knew it existed) in the original game. I'm not too inclined to see it fixed because I actually prefer it this way--the wife likes the bear hat graphic while I don't care for it so right now its perfect--but I'm curious now since I know of no other item that behaves in this fashion.

Danth
  #4  
Old 02-11-2021, 12:06 PM
loramin loramin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
...Continuing from the old thread ...Good luck Loramin (or others) and hopefully this is useful to you if you're still trying to get one a hat for your own Shaman.

Danth
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

After that thread Loramin got a little ... sidetracked by the Spirit-Wracked Cord quest (it took ... /sigh ... 30+ Angry Goblin rolls), so he was stuck in Droga for quite awhile.

But I finally won my roll a few weeks back, and (after a detour to play my Green toon) I'd been planning to start a new "quest" soon.

This post will be super helpful [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] You rock!

P.S.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I'm curious now since I know of no other item that behaves in this fashion.
Sounds like a bug to me ... and a disturbing one (the whole reason I wanted that hat is that I thought it was the BiS polar bear head).
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Last edited by loramin; 02-11-2021 at 12:11 PM..
  #5  
Old 02-11-2021, 01:33 PM
Evia Evia is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

After that thread Loramin got a little ... sidetracked by the Spirit-Wracked Cord quest (it took ... /sigh ... 30+ Angry Goblin rolls), so he was stuck in Droga for quite awhile.

But I finally won my roll a few weeks back, and (after a detour to play my Green toon) I'd been planning to start a new "quest" soon.

This post will be super helpful [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] You rock!

P.S.



Sounds like a bug to me ... and a disturbing one (the whole reason I wanted that hat is that I thought it was the BiS polar bear head).
Thus raising the question...
Is a Polar bear hat still cool if nobody else can see it except for you?
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  #6  
Old 02-11-2021, 10:15 PM
loramin loramin is offline
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I (of course) had to wikify your guide Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Hunting...%27s_Headdress
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  #7  
Old 02-12-2021, 09:38 AM
Stonewallx39 Stonewallx39 is offline
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Thank you Danth for your high level wisdom and the courage and skill to go an explore these dangerous camps.

Thank you Loramin for all that you do for the wiki, you are a gift to the P99 community.

We appreciate you both!!!
  #8  
Old 02-12-2021, 01:48 PM
Danth Danth is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I (of course) had to wikify your guide Danth
If I knew you were going to do that I would've written it in a style more appropriate for a guide as opposed to the forum post style and maybe added a picture or two.

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Originally Posted by Stonewallx39 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Thank you Danth for your high level wisdom and the courage and skill to go an explore these dangerous camps.
I don't know about wisdom, stubbornness might be more applicable! Dangerous is right, though; I took a few deaths learning it or to sufficiently bad luck here or there. For one example, running into camp on one occasion I triggered a fear trap in the underwater tunnel with the pair of roamer paebala rats. Mr. Hasted Backstabbing Rogue Rat Jerk and his Warrior buddy saw to it that I was dead before I even regained control of my character. Effectively I was fear-kited by the ratmen, perhaps an ironic twist of fate for a Shadow Knight! The wife on her Shaman was kept quite busy too between debuffs, cures, heals, regular rebuffs, and trying to melee to mana-drain the gaters. The camp was (as usual) generally easier on trips where we took maybe a third person with us, but as fate had it the headdress dropped on one of the trips where we were just on our own.

Danth
Last edited by Danth; 02-12-2021 at 02:07 PM..
  #9  
Old 02-12-2021, 02:20 PM
loramin loramin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
If I knew you were going to do that I would've written it in a style more appropriate for a guide as opposed to the forum post style and maybe added a picture or two.
I've tried to add a few from the wiki, but if you have any screenshots by all means feel free to add them!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
For one example, running into camp on one occasion I triggered a fear trap in the underwater tunnel with the pair of roamer paebala rats. Mr. Hasted Backstabbing Rogue Rat Jerk and his Warrior buddy saw to it that I was dead before I even regained control of my character. Effectively I was fear-kited by the ratmen, perhaps an ironic twist of fate for a Shadow Knight!
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] If this is even possible to do solo, it's going to be one heck of a challenge. Looking forward to it ... or perhaps to wussing out and grabbing a few people to help; we'll see.
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  #10  
Old 02-12-2021, 02:28 PM
mattydef mattydef is offline
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I would definitely fill out a bug report for that, there's no way that's working as intended.
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