Dread Horn Advice Needed

[Connor_Graham]

I'm going to give Dread Horn a go today, but wanted a bit of advice on which build to go with. This is my current build:

Swords 120
Parry 120
Bushido 120
Healing 90
Anatomy 90
Chiv 70
Tactics 70
Necro 35


I can swap out Healing for Resist if it would do any good and supplement with GH pots, but as I've only run DH a couple of times, and that was 2 yrs ago, I really don't remember much about it. I'm thinking with the poison that it would be better to stick with my current build rather than switching to the Resist one.

I'm also planning on using the Pixie Swatter or the same Elven Machete that I used to solo the para Cu Sidhe and para Balron yesterday.

What do you think?

 

[imported_Jimmy Pop]

Pixie works great on Irk, but don't use it on the Horn. That machete will work just fine.

Take 100+ Total Refresh with you. Not enough to go heavy when the Horn curses you down. Watch your stamina, remember the break points for swing speed at 90, 120 and 150. It'll be hard to maintain 150, and you'd use all your pots right away, so pick 120 or 90 and watch your stamina. Whenever you get close to your level, drink a pot. Try to avoid Divine Fury cause of the defense hit.

Don't use Evasion unless you start to get into trouble. Save it as a "safety".

I really like Counter Attack. If your spamming Lightning Strike (which you probably will be) you can actually get DOUBLE CRITS! Even if you get one regular hit and one regular counter attack thats like a free shot to leech from.

Bandages go no matter what. If you are poisoned, start a bandage, even if you know you'll resist it cause of Vamp. If you have -1 hp, start a bandage.

Make sure you armor doesn't have high strength requirements. Dread has that auto curse thing that drops you way down, I know it'll drop Darkwood pieces.

Hmmm... thats all I can think of right off the top of my head. Have fun!

 

[Connor_Graham]

My machete will work great then. With the SSI of 20 on it, I don't drop below max swing speed until I hit 120, so I'm pretty good there, and with the SL on it, I manage to stay above 120 most of the time. I already checked all my armor, and the highest strength requirement I have is 45, so I'm good there. I do remember my pants falling off on my archer on the few times I took him against DH, so made sure to check that this time. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Connor_Graham]

Ok, just got my butt kicked by Irk. I didn't even last 10 seconds against him before I was taking a dirtnap. Was using the Pixie Swatter, and barely scratching him, plus my stamina went down so fast, even the potions didn't get it up fast enough and keep it up long enough for me to get even 1 heal off. What am I doing wrong here? If I can take a para Balron, I should be able to take Irk.

 

[imported_Jimmy Pop]

You had Honor on him? He's a rascal but shouldn't drop you like a hot potato.

 

[Connor_Graham]

I managed to kill him the second time. I don't know what happened the first time. I had him honored, but he nailed me to the ground so damn fast it was unbelievable. Now I'm freaking stuck. Spite was in my way to get to Irk on my 4th attempt to get the key from him, and I couldn't manage to kill the stupid thing. He kept me drained completely on mana, so I wasn't doing any damage to him at all since I couldn't cast Cons Wep.

And then a mage came in and ended up getting killed, so Lady Sabrix joined in. I had to switch off of Spite and kill her off so I could concentrate on him.

Then Irk decides to pop in....

That's when I embraced honor and ran for the hills. I'm waiting out the timer now so I can go back up and try again. I remember now how much of a pain in the butt getting keys for DH was, and why we run Mel's and Travesty all the time instead of DH.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Had to give up for now. The dang Bard that's down there is screwing me all up, and keeps attacking the things I need, so I'm not getting honor, and I'm not getting the dam keys. She's almost gotten me killed 5 times now.

 

[imported_Jimmy Pop]

Don't let it get ya down. Sometimes you'll be there and all the pieces fit right in. Irk by himself, brain first try. Spite stuck way up north, etc...

Just bad luck cause your so anxious LOL.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Nah, it's not getting me down. It would have been a hell of a lot easier if the Bard wasn't around provoking Irk onto Lisseth and Sabrix. She even provoked the ones I was fighting, which not only took them away from me, it knocked me out of combat mode with the things.

I'll give it another try tomorrow when I've got more time. It's getting too late to try it again tonight.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Well, I'm off to try getting these keys again. I'll post a screen pic if I make it to DH and how I managed against him.

 

[Connor_Graham]

So much for that. Got my ass handed to me. Didn't get to honor him because he buffed the instant I hit the island, after that it was pretty much me just doing everything I could to stay alive and not really doing much damage to him at all. Guess it's off to Doom on my archer until I feel like wasting this much time again.

 

[Guest]

Couldnt you honor yourself and then use the key to enter Dreadhorn area? That way you may loose maybe 1-2secs of honor protection but it would be active prior to DH causing you issues.

This is the tactic I use when going after Saliva in Twisted Weald so wondered if there was a difference here?

 

[Connor_Graham]

Yeah, I'd completely forgotten to do that though. I had Guile jump on me the second my invis pot wore off and I was in the middle of dropping the keys so got kind of rushed. I'll be doing that next time for sure. I'm going to give Travesty one more shot with Vamp form off and see if I can do any better that way. If not, then it's back to DH for another attempt at him.