HCCO/Guide: Difference between revisions

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Weapons in this game have different attack speeds depending on their type. Daggers attack quickly, with an attack speed of 2.2 seconds, and Battleaxes attack slowly, with an attack speed of 3.1 seconds, for instance. Weapons that attack more slowly also deal more damage per hit and weapons that hit quickly usually do less damage per hit.

The first thing you should do in this part of the story is to upgrade your {{ItemIcon|Amulet of Strength}} into an {{ItemIcon|Elite Amulet of Strength|Elite}} one, simply by farming more {{MonsterIcon|Mummy|Mummies}}. On average you need to kill around a thousand of them.

You may wait to get the {{ItemIcon|Paladin Gloves}} until after getting {{ItemIcon|Rune Platebody|Rune Armor}}, or you may get it already. At this point you will use around 65 potatoes per {{MonsterIcon|Paladin}} kill, and the chance to get them is 1/171. Not too hard.

Assuming you already have 60 {{Skill|Slayer}} (and if you don't, then go get it; {{MonsterIcon|Giant Crab}} tasks are your friend here), the last thing to get before moving onto the next section is a better weapon. {{ZoneIcon|Deep Sea Ship}} is your next stop for a {{ItemIcon|Sunset Rapier}} to speed up killing {{MonsterIcon|Pegasus}}. You'll be killing around 3300 of them to get 100 {{ItemIcon|Ancient Claw Fragment}} which can be upgraded into the {{ItemIcon|Ancient Claw}}. This will be a great weapon until you upgrade it to the {{ItemIcon|Infernal Claw}}, which is still well off. Don't bother getting any {{ItemIcon|Dragon Claw Fragment}} from {{MonsterIcon|Griffin}} yet, as they will just take up space. If you're lucky enough to get an {{ItemIcon|Ancient Sword}} before the {{ItemIcon|Sunset Rapier}}, then feel free to use it until you get to {{ZoneIcon|Volcanic Cave}}, as it will drastically reduce your food consumption and the associated food farming time. After that, you'll probably only want to use it outside dungeons due to the high monster damage reducing the benefits of the lifesteal.

     Start: 5x (G) Rune Armour, 1x Paladin Gloves, Elite Amulet of Strength. 70/80/80, Sunset Rapier / Ancient Claw, AE3

     End: 4x (G) Ancient Armour, 1x Paladin Gloves, Elite Amulet of Defence, 90/99/90, Dragonfire Shield, Sandstorm Ring

{{ItemIcon|Elite Amulet of Defence}} from upgrading {{ItemIcon|Amulet of Defence|Amulets of Defence}}, which are dropped by {{MonsterIcon|Purple Goo Monster|Purple Goo Monsters}}, and {{ItemIcon|Silver Diamond Ring}}, dropped by {{MonsterIcon|Mummy|Mummies}}, are our best friends for now; the limiting factor for the remaining dungeons is how much DR you have access to.

Once you have full {{ItemIcon|(G) Ancient Platebody|(G) Ancient Armor}} and {{ItemIcon|Dragonfire Shield|DFS}} for 43% DR (or 40% with {{ItemIcon|Amulet of Looting|looting}} and {{ItemIcon|Sandstorm Ring}}, it's time to grind any remaining melee skills to ideally at least 90/99/90 while working your way towards 70 slayer for your next food upgrade - {{ItemIcon|Trout}} from {{MonsterIcon|Raging Horned Elite|Raging Horned Elites}} or RHE; you can also take advantage of the {{ItemIcon|Gold Emerald Ring}} from {{MonsterIcon|Mummy|Mummies}} to speed up stat grinding. Once you get to this point, you can expect 447.8 hp in food for every kill! Once you start killing {{MonsterIcon|Raging Horned Elite|RHE}}, hold onto the {{ItemIcon|Ancient Arrows}} they drop as they're your best arrows, even though they can't be equipped until level 70 {{Skill|Ranged}}. Additionally, the {{ItemIcon|Large Horn|Large Horns}} that they drop will likely replace {{MonsterIcon|Master Farmer|Master Farmers}} for GP farming, as the GP/hr is about the same (not to mention the food, arrows, and prayer points you're getting), with a much lower bank demand.

{{Skill|Ranged}} is quite straightforward, but we’ve been putting it off for mainly two reasons: It doesn’t provide any real benefit until you start fighting wizards, or other magic monsters, and getting its gear without having the space in your bank or loadouts for the gear and weapon(s) will be annoying.

Most of your ranged armor upgrades will come from the {{ZoneIcon|Spider Forest}}, moving through {{ItemIcon|Green D-hide Body|Green D'hide}} at level 40, {{ItemIcon|Blue D-hide Body|Blue D'hide}} at level 50, {{ItemIcon|Red D-hide Body|Red D'hide}} at level 60, and finally into {{ItemIcon|Black D-hide Body|Black D'hide}} at level 70. Upgrading ranged armor is much easier than for melee armor, as you can buy {{ItemIcon|Leather}} from the shop, which can then be used to buy {{ItemIcon|Green Dragonhide|Green}}, {{ItemIcon|Blue Dragonhide|Blue}}, and {{ItemIcon|Red Dragonhide|Red}} dragon leathers for upgrading their respective armor tiers. Alternatively, killing dragons in the {{ZoneIcon|Dragon Valley}} can provide all chromatic dragonhide, including {{ItemIcon|Black Dragonhide|Black}}. {{ItemIcon|Ranger Hat}} and {{ItemIcon|Ranger Boots}} are a nice bonus for saving ammunition while training, but after level 70, ammunition will be plentiful thanks to {{MonsterIcon|Raging Horned Elite|Raging Horned Elites}}, so they aren't necessarily worth the time to grind out.

{{Skill|Magic}} in this gamemode will mainly consist of casting air spells, since you can remove one colour from the rune costs. All spells cost air runes, but water, earth and fire runes additionally cost their respective runes.

After you can cast {{ItemIcon|Death Rune|Death}} spells, you might want to go back and forth between {{ItemIcon|Chaos Rune|Chaos Runes}} and {{ItemIcon|Death Rune|Death Runes}}, since they both deal decent damage, and are both farmed decently at the {{MonsterIcon|Master Wizard}} for a while. Eventually, as you get more magic evasion through leveling {{Skill|Magic|magic}}, you will only use {{ItemIcon|Death Rune|Death runes}}, as the {{MonsterIcon|Necromancer}} stops hurting too much.

It's about time to get your best-statted amulet, the {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs}} that has 1% more Damage Resistance compared to {{ItemIcon|Elite Amulet of Defence}} in addition to offensive and defensive bonuses. Refer to the [[Fury_of_the_Elemental_Zodiacs/Guide|FEZ/Guide]] for getting all the materials to make it. The {{PetIcon|Leonardo}} pet is good to have by this point as well, as it's a free 1% DR. Another useful item to get around this time if you don't already have it is the {{ItemIcon|Sandstorm Ring}}, for its unavoidable special attack.

Getting 99/99/99 melee stats is not a bad plan at this point, but before moving into the {{ZoneIcon|Air God Dungeon}}, you'll want to have at least 90/90/90 melee stats, full {{ItemIcon|(G) Ancient Platebody|(G) Ancient melee armor}}, {{ItemIcon|(G) Rune Boots}}, {{ItemIcon|Paladin Gloves}}, {{ItemIcon|Dragonfire Shield}}, {{ItemIcon|Fire Cape}}, {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs|FEZ}} or {{ItemIcon|Elite Amulet of Defence}}, and level 85 {{Skill|Ranged}}. This combination of armor will allow you to reach 43% DR and idle the {{ZoneIcon|Air God Dungeon}} with as low as level 97 hp for 1000 total health, including the 30 hp bonus from the {{ItemIcon|Dragonfire Shield|DFS}}. If your hp is at least level 95, then you can even use the {{ItemIcon|(U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces}} for 2% DR more than {{ItemIcon|Paladin Gloves}}.

You'll want to hold on to the {{ItemIcon|Air Shard|Air Shards}} which can be upgraded into {{ItemIcon|Air Chest|Air Chests}}, containing various crossbow bolts. These won't be enough to supply you for the {{ZoneIcon|Water God Dungeon}} but will at least save you some time grinding ammunition in the future. The {{ItemIcon|Deadeye Amulet}} and the {{ItemIcon|Deadeye Ring}} are each pretty good DPS increases for Ranged, but DR is so tight in most god dungeons that you may not be able to use it over the {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs|FEZ}}.

Hopefully you've gotten the {{PetIcon|Finn, the Cat}} pet by now, because the 10 max health bonus makes DR and max hit calculations much easier, not to mention potentially saving you 1% DR here and there. That and the {{PetIcon|Leonardo}} pet will be assumed from here out for the sake of example gear, just for simplicity, alongside level 99 {{Skill|Hitpoints}}.

Regardless of your gearing, the goal is full {{ItemIcon|Glacia God Platebody|Glacia}} armor in 5 pieces from the {{ItemIcon|Scroll of Glacia|Scrolls of Glacia}}, with the {{ItemIcon|Warlock Ring}} from {{ItemIcon|Water Chest|Water Chests}} being a neat bonus and the {{ItemIcon|Warlock Amulet}} not being very useful. The {{ItemIcon|Glacia Godsword}} is not worth grinding for, nor is the {{ItemIcon|Cloudburst Staff}}. The cloudburst doesn't provide any air runes, which are required for all standard spells, so where you ''can'' use a 2h staff, you'll likely want to use your {{ItemIcon|Mystic Air Staff}} to prevent needing to farm {{MonsterIcon|Wizard|Wizards}} for air runes, but most of the late-game magic content requires a wand and shield anyway, so it's moot. Maybe you could use it for an ancient magicks setup with [[Icicle_Volley|Icicle Volley]], but {{ItemIcon|Ancient Rune|Ancient Runes}} are also a pain to get in bulk. {{ItemIcon|Water Chest|Water Chests}} are actually the best place to farm ancient runes due to the low drop rate and amount from {{ItemIcon|Magic Chest|Magic Chests}}. Hold on to a {{ItemIcon|Magic Wand (Elite)}} if you get one and have the bank space to spare, as it's the best one-handed wand you'll have access to for awhile.

With full {{ItemIcon|Glacia God Platebody|Glacia}}, a {{ItemIcon|Mystic Air Staff}}, and 45% DR, you can go do the {{ZoneIcon|Infernal Stronghold}} to get your {{ItemIcon|Infernal Cape}} and get 10 {{ItemIcon|Infernal Core|Infernal Cores}} to upgrade your {{ItemIcon|Ancient Claw}} (and {{ItemIcon|Dragon Claw}} if you don't have one yet) into the {{ItemIcon|Infernal Claw}} for melee farming.

The goal is to get an {{ItemIcon|Earth Layered Shield}} and least 4 pieces of {{ItemIcon|Terran God Platebody|Terran}} armor from {{ItemIcon|Scroll of Terran|Scrolls of Terran}}, though 5 is, of course, ideal. Make sure you finally put your {{ItemIcon|(G) Rune Boots}} to rest; they've earned it. Terran isn't necessary to upgrade your melee gear further to {{ItemIcon|Ragnar God Platebody|Ragnar}} armor, but you will need a few Terran pieces to reach the DR threshold for {{ZoneIcon|Into the Mist}}. Again, the {{ItemIcon|Terran Godsword}} isn't worth grinding out due to the DR opportunity cost of not being able to wield a shield and not having access to [[Damage_Reduction_Potion|Damage Reduction Potions]]. You'll also want to get both a {{ItemIcon|Guardian Amulet}} and a {{ItemIcon|Guardian Ring}} from the {{ItemIcon|Earth Chest|Earth Chests}}, which provide BIS DR in their respective slots (10% for a necklace when below 50% hp, 5% otherwise, and 2% for a ring.)

Ragnar is completely optional for game progression, as {{ItemIcon|Ragnar God Platebody|Ragnar God Armor}} actually has LESS damage reduction than {{ItemIcon|Terran God Platebody|Terran God Armor}}, though it has much higher strength and melee attack bonuses.

Unfortunately, the {{ItemIcon|Ragnar Godsword}} isn't of any use to us without [[Damage_Reduction_Potion|Damage Reduction Potions]] to make up for the lack of a shield, nor is the {{ItemIcon|Big ol Ron}}. The strength of the {{ItemIcon|Sandstorm Ring}} means that the {{ItemIcon|Fighter Ring}} isn't any good for endgame monsters, and the stun effect of the {{ItemIcon|Fighter Amulet}} is overshadowed by any other end-game amulet due to its lack of actual stats (specifically DR.) If you can afford to give up the DR of a necklace, you're better off using more {{ItemIcon|Ragnar God Platebody|Ragnar Armor}} and a {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs|FEZ}} or just toss on your {{ItemIcon|Amulet of Looting}}. This means that the {{ItemIcon|Fire Chest|Fire Chests}} are more or less useless for progression.

{{UpgradeIcon|Dungeon Equipment Swapping}} upgrade is required to complete {{ZoneIcon|Into the Mist}}.  The minimum recommended gear is full {{ItemIcon|Terran God Platebody|Terran}}, {{ItemIcon|Aeris God Platebody|Aeris}} and {{ItemIcon|Glacia God Platebody|Glacia}} god armor but it can be completed pre-Terran just with more active strategies (swap {{ItemIcon|Terran God Platebody|Terran}} Gear for {{ItemIcon|Ancient Platebody|Ancient}} Gear and swap {{ItemIcon|Earth Layered Shield}} for {{ItemIcon|Dragonfire Shield}}.)  Recommended skill levels are {{Skill|Attack}}, {{Skill|Strength}}, {{Skill|Defence}}, {{Skill|Ranged}}, and {{Skill|Magic}} at least level 90, {{Skill|Hitpoints}} at level 99 and {{Skill|Prayer}} at least level 76.  Each of the 3 phases of the boss can only be damaged by an attack type that matches their own.  Melee vs melee, ranged vs ranged, magic vs magic.  The DR numbers provided assume a max hp of 1000 from level 99 {{Skill|Hitpoints}} and {{PetIcon|Finn, the Cat}}. (500hp max hp after affliction.)<br>

The most important thing to understand about {{ZoneIcon|Into the Mist}} is the [[Affliction|Affliction]] debuff, which lowers your max hp by 1% for every stack and stacks up to 50 times.  Every time an attack hits you, while in this dungeon there is a 70% chance to gain a stack of [[Affliction|affliction]].  This means that in long fights your max hp will drop to 500 which puts your auto eat threshold at 200.  The only way to remove [[Affliction|affliction]] is to defeat the current monster or run.<br>

For the afflicted monsters you will want to be using your strongest melee, ranged and magic sets.  Swap sets according to the attack style of the monster to gain [[Combat Triangle|combat triangle]] advantage.  Due to the variability of the monsters you face this phase can either be very easy or very hard.  Keep your eye on your current {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} threshold (which will drop from 400 to 200 as the fight continues) and the max hit of the monster you are currently facing (keeping in mind status effects like [[Sleep|sleep]], [[Stun|stun]] and [[Freeze|freeze]].)  You will likely need to eat manually in this section.  Alternatively you could hold enter to eat either some or all of the time. This phase is not a race against time like phase 1 and phase 3 so there is no need to rush.

Recommended Gear: {{ItemIcon|Terran God Platebody|Terran}} or {{ItemIcon|Ragnar God Platebody|Ragnar}} Armor, {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs|FEZ}}, {{ItemIcon|Guardian Ring}} or {{ItemIcon|Fighter Ring}}, {{ItemIcon|Darksteel Dagger}}, {{ItemIcon|Earth Layered Shield}}, {{ItemIcon|Infernal Cape}}<br>

Recommended Prayers: {{PrayerIcon|Protect from Melee}}, {{PrayerIcon|Chivalry}}<br>

Combat Style: Stab<br>

[[Mysterious Figure - Phase 1|Mark of Death]] (50%) (Auto Eat req 34DR)<br>

-An unavoidable attack that deals 300 damage, and applies +1 stack of Mark of Death to you (Maximum 3 stacks). Mark of Death gives 50% decreased damage reduction regardless of number of stacks. One stack is removed after each of your turns.<br>

-An avoidable attack that hits 7 times, plus an extra time per Mark of Death stack applied to you. Deals 450 damage each and heals the enemy for 100% of damage dealt. Removes all Mark of Death stacks from you after attack.<br>

For this fight it is very helpful to use a weapon with attack speed lower than 2.6.  This means that you can avoid getting hit while you have a stack of the [[Mark of Death]] debuff.  [[Mark of Death]] is survivable with {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} at max [[Affliction|affliction]] provided you have at least 34DR. [[Cursed Edge]] can kill you through {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} at high [[Affliction|affliction]] stacks so hold enter to eat for this attack once its max hit is higher than your {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} threshold.  With 56 DR you can survive [[Reap and Return]] using just {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} even at maximum [[Affliction|affliction]] stacks.  This fight is a race due to the healing the boss receives from [[Reap and Return]]. For this reason we use {{PrayerIcon|Protect from Melee}} to limit the amount of healing the boss can do.  It is important to not use {{ItemIcon|Sandstorm Ring}} since the special attack will stop you from clearing the Mark of Death stacks before being hit.  {{ItemIcon|Darksteel Dagger}} is very strong here due to how the bleed scales with monster max hp.<br>

Recommended Gear: {{ItemIcon|Aeris God Platebody|Aeris}} Armor, {{ItemIcon|Deadeye Amulet}} or {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs|FEZ}}, {{ItemIcon|Deadeye Ring}} or {{ItemIcon|Guardian Ring}}, {{ItemIcon|Ancient Throwing Knife|Ancient Throwing Knives}}, {{ItemIcon|Earth Layered Shield}}, {{ItemIcon|Infernal Cape}} or {{ItemIcon|Cape of Prat}}.<br>

Recommended Prayers: {{PrayerIcon|Eagle Eye}}, {{PrayerIcon|Sharp Vision}}<br>

Combat Style: Rapid<br>

[[Mysterious Figure - Phase 2|Mark of Death]] (50%) (Auto Eat req 34DR)<br>

-An unavoidable attack that deals 300 damage, and applies +1 stack of Mark of Death to you (Maximum 3 stacks). Mark of Death gives 50% decreased damage reduction regardless of number of stacks. One stack is removed after each of your turns.<br>

-772 Ranged Damage<br>

For this phase we are once again avoiding the [[Mark of Death]] debuff by using a fast attack speed weapon.  In this case our attack must be faster than 1.75 which {{ItemIcon|Ancient Throwing Knife|Ancient Throwing Knives}} with the rapid attack style allows us to do.  [[Mark of Death]] is survivable with {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} at max [[Affliction|affliction]] provided you have at least 34DR.  With 56 DR you can survive [[Concealed Danger]] even with maximum [[Affliction|affliction]].  The attack which you must watch out for is the normal attack which happens instead of [[Shadowstep]] if the boss already has the buff (the attack bar of the boss will be blue rather than yellow.)  This attack can kill you through {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} at high [Affliction|affliction]] stacks so hold enter to eat for this attack once its max hit is higher than your {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} threshold.  This phase is not a race against time so slow and steady will work for this phase.<br>

Recommended Gear: {{ItemIcon|Glacia God Platebody|Glacia}} Armor, {{ItemIcon|Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs|FEZ}}, {{ItemIcon|Warlock Ring}} or {{ItemIcon|Guardian Ring}}, {{ItemIcon|Magic Wand (Elite)}}, {{ItemIcon|Miolite Shield}} or {{ItemIcon|Earth Layered Shield}}, {{ItemIcon|Skull Cape}} or {{ItemIcon|Infernal Cape}}<br>

Recommended Prayers: {{PrayerIcon|Mystic Might}}, {{PrayerIcon|Augury}}<br>

Spell: {{Icon|Gust|type=spell|Gust}} or {{Icon|Slicing Winds|type=spell|Slicing Winds}}<br>

[[Shadow Burst]] (70%) (Hold Enter/Spam Eat)<br>

-Fire off 3 large, avoidable, dark explosions that deal 800 damage each. Gives you -1% Global Accuracy that stacks up to 40 times.<br>

-The Mist breaks away and the sky opens up to an unavoidable, falling ray of Darkness, dealing 400x15 damage over 2.8s.<br>

For this fight you will first and foremost need to achieve accuracy higher than 33,334.  This allows us to stay above the 20k accuracy requirement for [[Ancient Magicks]] while accounting for max stacks of the [[Shadow Burst]] debuff.  Once you achieve the required accuracy you should then try to get at least 50 DR.  How you achieve this combination of stats will depend or your exact {{Skill|Magic}} level and which [[Pets|pets]] and [[Equipment|gear]] you have currently collected.  It isn't possible to reach the DR needed to survive [[Shadow Burst]] even at low [[Affliction|affliction]] stacks so you will need to hold enter to eat whenever you see Shadowburst (this will be most attacks.)  [[Ahrenia|Into the Mist]] healing the boss means this fight is a race against time.  This is why we're going to use 100% accuracy [[Ancient Magicks]].  {{Icon|Gust|type=spell|Gust}} is a good choice but {{Icon|Slicing Winds|type=spell|Slicing Winds}} will also get the job done.  [[Fallen Light]] can be survived with {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} at max [[Affliction|affliction]] as long as you have at least 50 DR.  It is important to use {{UpgradeIcon|Auto Eat}} for [[Fallen Light]] since that will allow you to attack without being interrupted by manual eating.<br>

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[[Category:Guides]]