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Warrior Challenge (Aug 2014): Dreadhorn

Obsidian

Crazed Zealot
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Warriors,

I'm going to test a new concept on the warrior boards... the Challenge of the Week (CofW). Here is a chance for the warrior community to put our assorted tactics, techniques, templates and equipment to the test and share with each other the results. The rules are straight forward:

1) Post recent info and screenshots of your warrior battling the CofW foe.

2) Include any info you want on your template, gear, unique tactics employed, etc.

3) Discussion and suggested improvements by other community members are welcomed.

These don't have to be solo encounters. They could be warriors in a group, but I have a feeling most people want to talk about their solo prowess (or how they can improve solo). I also welcome suggestions on how we can make the CofW work better. Right now I just want to see if there is interest in this sort of challenge.

Our first CofW challenge is Dreadhorn in Twisted Weald. The focus for this challenge is 10-16 Aug 2014. Info on this peerless encounter can be found here: http://uo.stratics.com/database/view.php?db_content=hunters&id=2451 and here: http://www.uoguide.com/Dreadhorn

Good luck and let's see your results!

-OBSIDIAN-

*****

Edit (8/27/14): After watching this thread, I am going to alter the Warrior Challenge to a monthly thread. If you have suggestions on which foe to highlight, please send me a PM.
 
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TimberWolf

Babbling Loonie
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Stratics Legend
Sounds like a great idea...... Count me in I have wanted to try dread solo or with a small group since I returned...
 

Ender

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UNLEASHED
I'll try this tomorrow after I get my new suit and weapons imbued. Finally moving away from the sampire.
 

Ender

Crazed Zealot
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Going to be a little late but I'll do this by tomorrow night.
 

CorwinXX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
I killed it before by my Melee Archer. It took about 10 minutes.
Today I killed it by my Wraith Archer. It took about 11 minutes.

The difference is in weapon damage: my melee archer has 51-67 character damage with a Yumi and my wraith archer has 43-59 with a Repeating Crossbow.


1. The Melee Archer used a Yumi. I decided that 100 HLL wouldn't be enough without parry so I didn't used a Double Axe. So she used shot and run tactics (kiting). She did about 185 per a Double Shot (and 6 damage per lighting).

2. The Wraith Archer used a Repeating Crossbow. Thanks to Curse Weapon she needn't to move at all. She did about 140 per a Double Strike (and 9 damage per fireball). It looks like her Dreadhorn has high physical resist. When she used Consecrate Weapon and Corpse Skin she did 195 per a Double Strike (and 12 damage per fireball). But it required unstoppable clicking to keep CuW, DF, CW, CS on (also EOO and potions every 3 min).
My Wraith Archer initially was a Wraith Fencer with a shield... So her resists is not maxed with a crossbow (without her shield).

I have video of both fights. 9 GB each. I could convert (to compress) and upload it but it looks boring.

I think I could kill Dreadhorn in about 8 minutes. I just need to replace archery by swordsmanship and use 100% Fire Damage Double Axe (30 SSI). But I would also need to craft new jewels in this case.
 
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Ender

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I think I could kill Dreadhorn in about 8 minutes. I just need to replace archery by swordsmanship and use 100% Fire Damage Double Axe (30 SSI). But I would also need to craft new jewels in this case.
Dreadhorn has always been weakest to physical I'm pretty sure? Or have I been doing it wrong for years?
 

CorwinXX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
I used my idea from my previous post and killed Dread Horn in 7 minutes (exactly). I did about 210 damage per DS (95-115 per hit).
I could kill it faster. In the third attempt I did ~5% more damage (up to 123) but due to testing I didn't used CS in the first half of the fight (so did up to 95 damage with CW).
Also I could add 100 lumberjack to my template and kill it even faster (I could add 90 skill points to my jewels and still have max HCI/DCI/DI).

I used:
120 sword/tactics/anatomy/chivalry
80 bushido/60 necro/90 ss
(710 total skill points)

So it is possible to kill Dread Horn in 6 minutes using this template.
 

Attachments

CorwinXX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Well, I did it - added Lumberjacking and killed Dread Horn in 6 minutes. (5 min 55 sec from the time I get to the island, 5 min 50 sec if count from the first hit).

NecroDreadHorn2.png

p.s. It was more difficult to fight without FCR. I had to control were a spell do casted after pressing a hotkey. So I not always casted CS in time. With some practice I could control better and probably kill it faster. Also may be it worths to replace some SS/Anatomy (or may be bushido) by a FCR.
 
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Duncan Drake

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Well, back again.

I read this thread and I think the idea is very nice. Though I think warrior challenge of the month would be better. So I took my bushido paladin and a stop watch and tried Dreadhorn.

Equipment as usual:

Skills 1st try: 120 sword, 120 bushido, 120 tactics, 120 anatomy, 120 chivalry, 120 parry.

Time: 7:23




Skills 2ndt try: 120 sword, 120 bushido, 120 tactics, 120 anatomy, 120 chivalry, 100 lumberjacking

Time: 6:18




I think I can be faster if dreadhorn spawns with a bit less physical resistance
 

Obsidian

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Right, I am also thinking monthly too. I will adjust this for the next challenge.
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
That's really amazing. Was there ever any danger of dying for either of you (I did not watch the movies yet)? The reason I ask... with Corwin's template, would blood oath make sense. Maybe no because it lasts too short and casting it costs you a special move.
 

CorwinXX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
I do 200 damage per second while it does may be 20 damage per second. So Blood Oath doesn't increase my damage much but brings the real chance to die.
 

Klapauc

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
And thats exactly the problem with UO these days, sky high damage with that gear that is possible today, but peerless and champs didnt get an upgrade.Collect enough gold, buy every scripted runic tool that shows up in vendor search and craft away. No challenge here to see.
 

Ender

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UNLEASHED
And thats exactly the problem with UO these days, sky high damage with that gear that is possible today, but peerless and champs didnt get an upgrade.Collect enough gold, buy every scripted runic tool that shows up in vendor search and craft away. No challenge here to see.
Still balanced out pretty well when you consider that most new bosses do too much damage to everything but a greater dragon to sit there and actually DO said sky high damage, especially on the ones that don't allow life leech (which is basically ALL of the newer bosses).
 

Obsidian

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I picked a fairly easy boss for this first challenge. The difficulty will increase next month. Of course with any foe, template and gear makes a critical difference in solo success or failure.
 

General Lee

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
And it's not everyone out there that can solo dreadhorn that easy. I know I can't. If you've followed the warrior forum for the last little while you'd know that Corwin and Duncan are two of the most knowledgeable warriors out there. It's practice and experience as well as gear they have spent a long time perfecting that make dreadhorn so easy. I'm sure there are others out there that can also solo him without much effort but I would think they are the minority not majority. So no the sky is not falling.
 

Duncan Drake

Lore Keeper
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Stratics Legend
There are a couple of bosses i cant handle or are extremely difficult to do. Especially ones with tainted life aura and other goodies.

Dreadhorn is truely the easiest peerless. Can be handled with lower equipment too. But so many require a group of players so i dont see a problem here.

Indeed i think the possibility to solo some peerles and harder creatures makes the game extremely interesting. Its a challenge for your build for your equipment and your playstyle. For all i can say one of the most exciting aspects in this game and sth worth trying to achieve.
 

TimberWolf

Babbling Loonie
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Stratics Legend
I haven't tried this since my return...but I will tell you, I would consider this an accomplishment.
Frankly with Dreadhorn, I think getting the keys are almost as hard or harder then defeating that crazed horse
 

BeaIank

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I am yet to manage to solo dreadhorn with my warriors, so it is not as easy as those highly skilled players are making it look.
Probably my build was less than optimal due to the lack of MI on my suit, making it spamming double strike much harder when under the Dreadhorn aura.

When I have a long weekend, I will make a brand new armour with plenty of MI and try again.
 

Duncan Drake

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Difficulty always depends on equipment, skill, and experience. Though dreadhorn can be done with a standard sampire suit but for sure not as easy as with a highend suit
 

Klapauc

Sage
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Stratics Legend
For all the new players that still do work on killing dreadhorn, i would suggest training on the paragon balrons at chaos shrine in ilshenar. Once you can take these down consistently without to much running or dying, you are more than ready for dreadhorn. Geting the keys is another story then...
Sampire with leafblade or daisho and resists is much easier to play and equip first.
But dreadhorn can be done on a ninja with healing or a mystic as well.
 

Duncan Drake

Lore Keeper
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Getting the keys is def. more difficult than killing dreadhorn. Ike and friends can be very annoying.
 

CorwinXX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
One month ago I have started a char on Drachenfels. I have just killed Dread Horn with this char. 15 minutes to get keys and 11.5 minutes to kill Dread Horn.
So it doesn't take much time to train/equip a character that can solo Dread Horn.

The suit:
5x armor pieces (crafted from barbed leather): 7 LMC, 4 HPI, 7 MI, 8 SI, 15 res
Mace&Shield bandana (50 minax)
Corgul's sash (1 m)
Tangle (traded for 50 minax)
Mana Orb
Quiver of Infinity
Shroud of Condemned
Jewels: 15 skill, 5 DEX, 15 HCI, 15 DCI, 13 DI
Composite Bow: 48 HML, 50 HSL, 50 DI, 40 SSI, 20 HFat
Yumi: 48 HML, 50 HSL, 50 DI, 10 SSI, 50 HL, 1 HLL
Black Staff: 68 HLL, 68 HML, 50 HSL, 45 DI, Reptile Slayer, 100% cold damage
(as you can see both bows were reforged with one useless mode so they are not very expensive... but they are still expensive because they are enhanced using the MFA Tool)

138 HP, 181 Stam, 85 Mana
75/70/70/70/80 resists
100 DI, 45 HCI, 34 DCI (cap)
60 SSI with the Compo and 30 SSI with the Yumi (need Ranger's Cloak to get 35 SSI = 1.25s with 150 stam)
(I bought +25 stats for 4.5m and I got +5 stat from Exodiose)

It is a cheap version of my Melee Archer.
I use macefighting instead of swordsmanship because I needn't SSI jewels to get 1.25s with a Black Staff... and 120 mace is cheap.
I have 110 Tactics/Anatomy/Healing because my suit is not good enough to put 60 skills on jewels... and I needn't spend gold for 120 tactics.

Skills:
120 archery
120 mace
90 bushido
120 chivalry
110 tactics
110 anatomy
104 healing (still need to be trained up to 110)
 
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CrazyUserName

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
So I finally gathered all of the keys (in which I discovered my hatred for two monsters in the Weald- the special named changeling and the dryad). I was doing great against DH and then my swampy's armor disappeared and soon after did my sampire's life :).

Moral of the story- check your swampy's armor level before hand. Now I have to collect more keys before another attempt!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ender

Crazed Zealot
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UNLEASHED
So I finally gathered all of the keys (in which I discovered my hatred for two monsters in the Weald- the special named changeling and the dryad). I was doing great against DH and then my swampy's armor disappeared and soon after did my sampire's life :).

Moral of the story- check your swampy's armor level before hand. Now I have to collect more keys before another attempt!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I feel like you should be able to leech through that anyway. I always thought Dread did more damage through magic which swamp dragons don't affect.

Did you have parry?
 

CrazyUserName

Seasoned Veteran
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I feel like you should be able to leech through that anyway. I always thought Dread did more damage through magic which swamp dragons don't affect.

Did you have parry?
My sampire has 110 parry I believe - perhaps I was at the end of a set of damage that did me in, but I was doing quite well until I could see the green skin of my swampy :) I used evasion as soon as I saw my life plummeting - so idk what all happened, it was a short and painful death :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

CrazyUserName

Seasoned Veteran
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I will try again this evening and tell you if a fully armored swampy makes the difference :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Success! Luckily I collected two sets of keys as he bested me my first go around (ran out of strength and agility pots :)). I overstocked the second attempt and prevailed! So swamp armor and regular armor makes a difference (str reduction from DH curse and weaken made it so I lost my armor the first time :))

Wooooo hooooo



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Decided I would give this another try. Took my 4x120 bard on the 2nd account. Things were going swimmingly until DH decided that my bard, who was just standing there running the peace mastery not agro to DH in any way, needed to be killed, and did so, before I could do anything about it.

Is there a trick for using the 2nd acct in here? It looks like maybe the 2nd account could stand on the other side and be close enough to run the mastery, maybe?
 

belkins

Journeyman
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Stratics Legend
i take my 2nd account along all the time for disco.. i just keep him by the boat exit and make sure i keep dreadhorn kited away from him.. disco makes killing him alot easier and faster.

as far as using the masterys you have to keep pretty close to ur bard for them to take effect which dreadhorn will auto attack anybody in close range so its probably not a good idea unless you can stand on the other side of the island just close enough for the masterys to take effect.. i seen pics of this not sure it still works.
 

BeaIank

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Dread will switch targets every once in a while. Just give the bard a mage weapon so Dread will miss an attack or two and give you enough time to switch programs to invis the bard so Dread goes back to attacking your warrior.
Then activate the masteries again and resume whacking at Dread with the dexxer.
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Ok, got around to trying this again last night. With the peace masteries running, I don't think I dropped below 100 hp remaining. Without bushido for the honor bonus, it just takes a while to kill him. I think it took roughly 18 minutes of standing in 1 place pounding on him to finish him off. For my trouble, I did get a single level 1 mastery book :) so obviously it was totally worth it.

I'd be better off to use a Maul for DS than a Longsword for AIs I think - but that means taking the time to get to 120 maces (and make a set of maces).
 

BeaIank

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I will give him a few runs this weekend. I want to see how level 3 staggers affects the fight.
For swords, I'd try using a 100% physical double axe or a 100% scimitar and use onslaught. That should allow you to land some seriously painful double strikes on him.
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Sadly, I am not L3 swords master yet. I've been trying out onslaught, and I have yet to notice that the hit after the onslaught does a noticeable amount more damage. Any idea how long the resist debuff lasts?
 

BeaIank

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The debuff lasts 6 seconds. A level 2 onslaught should be able to make a difference in terms of damage. I run that on one of my dexxers because I've only ran into two level III swords primers so far, but using an energy weapon against balrons in Dungeon Blackthorn, onslaught makes my attacks that hit for 70 to hit for 90 to 100 with that dexxer running level II swords mastery.
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Just did another run, this time running the Provo Masteries. Was much faster - the 15% DM was nice. Plus the healing kept me healed up nice. I did drop below 100 HP, for <1 sec between swings, but mostly was >130 HP.

Also this time ran a scim for DS instead of the Long with AIs. I couldn't use onslaught because I hadn't hit the timeout for swapping mastery yet. That will be the next try. Using the mastery will be pretty potent, I think.
 

BeaIank

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Provo masteries is the way to go there. The +14 stat minimizes his -20 stat aura quite well, and the healing, the DM, the HCI and the DI are really good to have.
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
OK, tried with onslaught. Works pretty well. Each strike from my doubles when I have it all timed up right the doubles top out at high 80s per hit. Curious to try it with a level 3 mastery.
 

Tuan

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Really? It is logically exactly what I'd expect. Maybe you're expecting me to use a double axe, but I use a scimitar. I also don't run bushido, which costs me quite a bit of damage over the course of the fight.
 

CorwinXX

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
OK, tried with onslaught. Works pretty well. Each strike from my doubles when I have it all timed up right the doubles top out at high 80s per hit. Curious to try it with a level 3 mastery.
How does onslaught work? I tried it and it seems useless.
 

Tabin

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Late in the game since I just started playing two months ago...Tried to kill DH and failed both times (died 4 times). I'm close though, got it down to 50% before dying. Could use some coaching...what do you guys do in these three situations?

First, my build is: 120 swords, 120 tactics, 100 anatomy, 100 lumberjack, 100 necromancy, 100 chivalry, 80 bushido.
70s resist, 45HCI, 30DCI, 100DI, 35SSI, 186 stam, 58 mana, 144 hp. 149 str. 147dex. 51% LMC with studded armor. Mount: armored swamp dragon.

1) mana drain prevents me from using my weapon special for 3-4 seconds. I think it drains ALL my mana. Scary moment. Do I regular hit and hope to get mana back? This can cause me death since I'm not doing enough dmg to leech. Do I need a bigger mana pool? Currently at 60. Can race change to get 80.
2) -20% stat and -20% swing speed debuff? That's rough! I'm at 186 stam (need that cincture for 190) and 35% swing speed. 2h axe 3.5sec weapon swings at 1.25seconds but with debuff, it turns to a crawl. He eventually gets lucky, hits me twice, I miss, my stam is low and swing even slower until I die. 2nd run, I upped my SSI by 15% (but dropped DCI down to 25%) and that helped, but still not swinging at 1.25 seconds.
3) regular magic debuff stacks on his crazy curse debuff. Slow swing = death. How much dex do I loose from the debuff? Maybe if I can get my stam high enough...would require crimmy, boots of escaping, and despicable quiver.

Questions:
A) how do you guys drink pots? Im assuming you guys don't use balanced weapon. I was doing fine until I decided to pot. I saw I was half life and low on stam plus all the debuffs were making me swing slow, so I ran, use EC macro (dequip weapon, wait 1 second, drink pot, wait 1 second, reequip) Seems like a bad macro but it works and doesn't say "you must wait" or whatever. In the 3 seconds I took to do that, DH flamestriked me and poison damage put me in redline. I tried to go in for a swing to regain health but died before I got my first hit in.
B) what buff/skills should I be using? I just honor, EoO, then double swing until I get unlucky and die. Thought about divine fury since 15% ssi helps counter the -20% SSI debuff. It is a trade off with DCI though. Remove curse is a liability without protection and I currently don't have enough physical resist to run it. What bushido skills should I be spamming? Might look into swords skill masteries. Probably too poor for lvl3 though.
C) what should my last imbue on my axe be? Currnetly 30% DI, 30% SSI, 50ish% HML, 45ish% HSL (can't imbue higher on the 2h axe). I'm guessing HLA? Not HLL or balance? What about Hit fatigue?
D) should I drop lumberjack for parry or magic resist? I'd rather not as the extra damage is nice, but if it makes DH a walk in the park, I'll do it.

Thanks in advance!
 
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Tabin

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Ok nvm! Happy to report that I killed DH on the third attempt. Divine Fury when cursed worked great cuz it both refresh stamina and gave me 15% SSI to combat the 20% loss. Greater agility is nice but had to run, pot, and go back to fighting. I also added HLA on the weapon and I'm sure that helped, but can't technically tell. Still had a close call here and there. Life dropped to 30.
 
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