DDO - First Two Reaper 10 Wins
Aug 04 2022
I'm level 26 and just did Bargain of Blood and Storm the Beaches at Reaper 10. Both are base level 20 quests and the 6-level difference is max for Epic Reaper.
Both are good for me since most enemies are non-undead non-SR creatures therefore easy to snipe with Phantasmal Killer even if a good number have Death Ward (I wonder if I can knock it down with Dispel Magic). Also there are no big battles in a confined room (I skipped optionals).
Bargain of Blood I died 24 times. A few Reapers and one Despair Reaper (the Despair was paired with a Fear but I got them far enough apart that after I died I was able to pull the Despair with a Shadowblade attack -- Shadowblade is a fairly quiet attack unlike Meteor Swarm which has a large attraction range). Solo at high Reaper levels there aren't like a whole lot of Reapers -- could be a function of number of PCs.
The final fight in Bargain of Blood is fairly easy. The final combat area has this anteroom and the walls are vertical poles so you can see the big bad. He can't hit you or charge you and when he's doing a charge I can dash out and hit him with Arcane Tempest and eventually he dies. The little guy is harder though you can kind of do the same using the anteroom to buy yourself a few more attacks before he kills you. Eventually he dies.
It was during BoB that I realized Dimension Door usually breaks aggro. Harder with Reapers since their detection range is fairly high. But that means for tough guys that don't snap back (and most in BoB don't snap back) I can hit a few times then DD out and reset. Storm the Beaches I can kind of do the same but ballistae have insanely high detection so even though you DD out of the map into a Deneith tavern you can come back and still be shot by a ballista.
Storm the Beaches I can take the enemy ship even if all I do is jump out of the water shooting bad guys with my Shadowblade (and if I hadn't used Meteor Swarm could have done it without alerting the bad guys in the aft tower). Then it's slowly killing the people at front and making your way up. Take out the ballistae with Meteor Swarm. I like doing the right side (facing the entrance) first.
Then go in through the back. I did at lower Reaper and was able to throw Meteor Swarm into the last room without activating other rooms but at Reaper 10 I attracted everyone. That good a bit tough but I got lucky against the big bad. From the bottom shrine to the main room there is a room with boxes and the form an L-shaped wall that you do a u-turn to go around.
The big bad was on the shrine side and I resurrected on the main room side. Then when I faced him he was too aggroed to go around the boxes and he got on a step so I could see his head. Not enough to shoot him with Shadowblade or Meteor Swarm but Arcane Tempest worked fine and I killed him easily.
Still I died 18 times doing this level. Once again not that many Reapers and all singles. Not sure if I saw a Vengeance Reaper this time or if it was my last run (at Reaper 6).'
I do run with a healer who stays back and resurrects me. If something goes wrong and the healer dies I also have Jack Jibber's Blade to resurrect myself and get to a shrine or raise the healer. I have a permanent Elleri Thistledown who can Divine Vitality me for about 200 spell points and top off my healing. Also have Epic Ring of Spell Storing for three more 200 spell point refreshes.
Both are good for me since most enemies are non-undead non-SR creatures therefore easy to snipe with Phantasmal Killer even if a good number have Death Ward (I wonder if I can knock it down with Dispel Magic). Also there are no big battles in a confined room (I skipped optionals).
Bargain of Blood I died 24 times. A few Reapers and one Despair Reaper (the Despair was paired with a Fear but I got them far enough apart that after I died I was able to pull the Despair with a Shadowblade attack -- Shadowblade is a fairly quiet attack unlike Meteor Swarm which has a large attraction range). Solo at high Reaper levels there aren't like a whole lot of Reapers -- could be a function of number of PCs.
The final fight in Bargain of Blood is fairly easy. The final combat area has this anteroom and the walls are vertical poles so you can see the big bad. He can't hit you or charge you and when he's doing a charge I can dash out and hit him with Arcane Tempest and eventually he dies. The little guy is harder though you can kind of do the same using the anteroom to buy yourself a few more attacks before he kills you. Eventually he dies.
It was during BoB that I realized Dimension Door usually breaks aggro. Harder with Reapers since their detection range is fairly high. But that means for tough guys that don't snap back (and most in BoB don't snap back) I can hit a few times then DD out and reset. Storm the Beaches I can kind of do the same but ballistae have insanely high detection so even though you DD out of the map into a Deneith tavern you can come back and still be shot by a ballista.
Storm the Beaches I can take the enemy ship even if all I do is jump out of the water shooting bad guys with my Shadowblade (and if I hadn't used Meteor Swarm could have done it without alerting the bad guys in the aft tower). Then it's slowly killing the people at front and making your way up. Take out the ballistae with Meteor Swarm. I like doing the right side (facing the entrance) first.
Then go in through the back. I did at lower Reaper and was able to throw Meteor Swarm into the last room without activating other rooms but at Reaper 10 I attracted everyone. That good a bit tough but I got lucky against the big bad. From the bottom shrine to the main room there is a room with boxes and the form an L-shaped wall that you do a u-turn to go around.
The big bad was on the shrine side and I resurrected on the main room side. Then when I faced him he was too aggroed to go around the boxes and he got on a step so I could see his head. Not enough to shoot him with Shadowblade or Meteor Swarm but Arcane Tempest worked fine and I killed him easily.
Still I died 18 times doing this level. Once again not that many Reapers and all singles. Not sure if I saw a Vengeance Reaper this time or if it was my last run (at Reaper 6).'
I do run with a healer who stays back and resurrects me. If something goes wrong and the healer dies I also have Jack Jibber's Blade to resurrect myself and get to a shrine or raise the healer. I have a permanent Elleri Thistledown who can Divine Vitality me for about 200 spell points and top off my healing. Also have Epic Ring of Spell Storing for three more 200 spell point refreshes.