Hey everyone. I recently started bossing since I reached 135 with my Corsair. I've been doing Zak and Krex runs on a daily basis but I have had some trouble with my DPS there. Zak arms part is pretty easy, I don't even dismount my ship because I can not always predict Zak's attacks, unless there's only 1 hand left on one side, otherwise I realize it's pointless. When we fight its body, it's pretty difficult for me to use All-Cures and continue to DPS (when my Bishop doesn't dispell, and usually they don't do it well enough). I do not dismount lightning attacks, I do dismount 1/1 and pillars. So then my DPS really drops because when I'm about to use an ACP I cann't attack for 1 second. And Zak goes crazy with those lightning and 1/1 attacks at 2nd and 3rd body. When he 1/1s I dismount and mount but sometimes he goes on and on without stopping... So I can barely apply any damage successfully. Needless to say, these annoying pillars that don't stop falling and have a 100% stun on you since I have no avoidability. Krex is much easier but I still don't always understand how I can predict an attack unless it's those shiny yellow volcanos that are easy to dodge by dismounting. Otherwise I can't realize when he is actually attacking and when he just opens his mouth for no reason whatsoever. So if anyone can give me a few tips on how to improve this I'd be very thankful. Krex isn't much of an issue to be honest, my DPS is higher than NLs who are 20 levels ahead of me in Krex. But not in Zak. Thanks in advance.
Pretty sure most Corsairs do have a hard time dismounting on time during Zakum's 3rd body because it rapidly chains one attack after another at that stage. The advice I hear from other Sairs is memorizing Zak's animations. Before each attack, Zakum has a unique animation that follows right before it. If you can memorize them, it should be a bit more tolerable.
Alright so I assume you already know how to dismount all zak attacks based on what you've said. Regarding dismounting alongside curing yourself , the best advice I can give you is: Don't rely on bishops to dispel you. I have experienced that same frustration numerous times such as bishops being too slow to dispel, and it is a great hindrance to DPS. Instead, rely on your own all cure pots. You can actually maintain completely uninterrupted DPS if you use an ACP at the exact moment you're hit by the lightning attack. You can also dismount a split second before it hits in order to further maintain your ship HP, which I'd highly recommend considering your ship HP at the moment is quite low. Basically, you just have to be very quick on using your ACP, and you will have no interruptions for DPS. Body 3 is quite ridiculous and hard to dismount, even for myself. That's why I hardly dismount. However, I am level 191 so my ship HP is very high. Now regarding krex, my friend @Kivin summed it up quite nicely! Also for later on when you are ready for HT , take a look at this thread: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/corsairs-during-horntail.53685/#post-287306 It's a bit old but everything is still applicable! Have fun
I don't think you're doing anything wrong from what I can see. First two bodies are really much slower in terms of zak casting an attack so I suggest dismounting the lightning attacks because you'll be able to keep your boat up for so much longer. What I do is dismount when the casting circle ends its rotation (right before the lightning strike) and use an all cure as soon as I see the strike. Generally this isn't much of a big deal because server latency plays a larger role in how fast you can remount. Seeing as you're much further from the server, the one second it takes to remount is understandable and nothing much you can do about it. Like Gurps says, it really helps when your ship's HP is higher. It was a struggle for me to zak until around level 148 with 26k more HP than at level 135. When you have maxed Rapid Fire, you can also mix some of it in for cases when third body is constantly spamming 1/1's or pillars, especially when there is some latency issues during dismount and remounting. You just have to come to terms with being unable to outDPS a NL or a Hero for that matter at zak or HT. I like to think that I'm using one of the best end game stats item sets but I'm still unable to white NLs or Hero who are decently funded. For the pillars, I like to stand midway between the wall and zak's body right between two pillars. It makes it easier to strafe left or right to dodge a pillar or even recoil shot back to the wall or into zak's body if you have enough HP. All of it is just personal preference and how comfortable you are with your timings. Just keep going on runs and you'll be able to figure out your own methods to maximize damage. I still remember my first zak run at 135 and I believe my boat died 10 times or something like that within the hour that it took.
Thank you both! I am getting way more comfortable however 3rd Zak body is still a nuisance, but I'm progressing, which is good. My next question is about washing... Sair is my first character here on Royals so I did not wash it at all. I levelled a lot with MW20 and stuff so I have a little bit of INT. I'm level 139 with 4.6k HP. I'm able to wash 800 HP. Question is, is it necessary, and should I do that? MP is close to 3.4k.
I'd just aim for 5.6k HP at level 160 for HT. There's no reason to go higher than that for you at this point. Remember that HP washing is just a luxury and you can do just as well with the minimum HP requirement.
I'm going to rely on HB though right? Is HB a common thing in HT? @Gurps I think I have seen a thread of yours about this issue, what is your suggestion?
Gurpie doesn't require HB, I think he washed to 9k. ^ from another post. You'd have to pay extra attention because you don't have dark sight to go back up. Even if you do fall, you'd have to watch for the wings and quickly climb back up without it hitting you. I have Corsair friends who didn't wash that much and are able to HT just fine without HB, they just have to pay extra care when it comes to attacking Head A. HB is hard to come by (there aren't as many DKs compared to Heroes), and it does ruin the DPS for you to run over to the right hand side every time for HB.
If you don't want to rely on HB for HT, then yes, around 7.6k HP is fine. Just watch out for the wings.
At the moment I have 4.6k at level 139. I can wash 800~. My character is basically doomed, right? Do I need to open a new one?
Yes, you will likely die if you have 5.6k HP without HB. If you don't think you can reach 7.6k HP, then aim for 5.6k, and you can still HT if there is HB in the party.
Depends if you have INT gear and/or base INT to level up to gain that additional MP to wash. You'd have to give us your AP stats so we have a better understanding of where you're at. This method is costly but isn't recommended but you can wash out your STR/DEX (a large hefty amount) into INT and start washing to attain 7.6k by 155 then reset that INT back into your base stat. Again, it's costly but is a method you can try. If you're not heavily funded I would say just find INT equips and wear them each time you level up and wash until you hit your min. MP. Even if you get to 7.6k a bit late, it's better late than never.