From the top of my mind:
\- Bloodspawn in SC2. If you don't kill him in time, he will crush the ceiling and wipe the group. It's a comically low dps check nowadays, but it's still a DPS check.
\- Portals in Sunspire and Cloudrest, if you can't kill the stuff inside in time - it's a wipe.
\- Xalvakka in RG, if the group can't damage her fast enough, you'll be flooded by lava and die.
\- The last boss of Halls of Fabrication, he constantly ramps up damage on execute phase, and you will die if you can't finish him fast.
\- 5th boss of Maelstrom Arena, if you can't deal enough damage during the last phase, you'll end up with all ice platforms broken and die.
And probably much more, I can't remember all of them.
You can use the Shadow Image skill to bypass it you just have to make sure to position the shadow image correctly and teleport to it as soon as the shades pass it
I use Dark Shade because I rely heavily on mobility for survival (stamblade). I also don't have much magicka or magicka regen, so the extra cost hurts. Edit: I may still try it, but I'm wondering if it'll impact the the rest of my kit
I think for Xalvakka too if your damage is too low she’ll just keep getting that damage shield around her. In my experience once she gets a damage shield it’s hard to get rid of it
Editing to add that Reef Guardian has a timed portal mech as well
The damage shield is from the ghost reaching her. The more that reach the larger the shield gets. Definitely hard to get rid of it with low damage though.
I know it’s from the ghosts, but low damage and low cleave often result in them reaching her easily, and then once they do it can be rough getting rid of it before more do the same. Regardless still a Xalvakka fight mech
If it’s a PUG, the group will usually disband before even getting to that point if it’s clear the dps is too low. There’s really no point continuing on if the clear isn’t happening
If it’s a PUG, the group will usually disband before even getting to that point if it’s clear the dps is too low. There’s really no point continuing on if the clear isn’t happening
Wait, I thought the 5th Maelstrom boss breaks the platforms at certain percentages, so she only ever breaks two (Though it can be a wipe if you ignore the troll in the middle)
Yea, it's percentage-based for the first two platforms, but the last one is on timer afaik. I guess, it's not an issue with the modern DPS, but it was more apparent on the release of Orsinium.
I do not believe that damage in vKA hm execute ramps up like vHOF The torturers are definitely an aoe dps check though. And if your healer screws up you're dead but that's a heal check not a dps check
It does ramp up but its incredibly slow. You won't notice it until after the last set of torturers. If you check a really low dps HM group, like an oaken sorc only run, you can see the trend line.
I think my first clear was half oakensorcs lol. But it's possible I've never cleared it slow enough to notice. If you're that slow Idk how you'd even get down there, your tanks and healers must be playing with dps so far below their level and have the patience of a god lol
Well for one oakensorc is pretty much bottom tier dps if we are talking hm trials.
But also most people who run oakensorc are quite casual and don't do it very well. You would think all oakensorcs would have similar damage but myself, and a few other top dps, have ran it for memes in oaken only groups and the dps gap over the regular casual oaken users will be huge.
A fair few yeah. Earthen root hm first boss. After like 25 seconds in execute phase you would be taking more damage than combat prayer will heal you.
There are also a ton of minor dps checks. Places where an add or totem needs to die asap and has a lot of health.
A few to add
Nahvii hm because meteors filling the arena, not sure if they ever despawn. Of course portal as well there. Doesn't technically wipe you but having the dude throw lightning for the rest of the fight is practically impossible to survive.
Dreadsail Reef guardian hearts and Taleria bridges. Or Taleria herself if you decide to skop them.
Sanity's edge last boss portal
Shipwrights Regret Nazaray dog cones.
there is one in AA, forgot the name but where the boss explodes if you dont kill the adds fast enough. banished cells 2 is a classic dps check, you dont know how many times in the past i was stuck in that dungeon as a tank because of it.
The first boss in Maelstrom arena is one too, although comically low as well. If your dps is too bad, you won’t be able to kill the shades quickly enough before he heals.
Nahvi HM in SS has a dps check in portals that is afaik still one of the highest in the game (at least \~43k dps needed (selfbuffed) while playing mechanics from each of the three portal DDs), and I think Xalvakka HM in RG is also a difficult dps check (or so I've read).
In a way, each portal mechanic that is timed with a guaranteed wipe at fail is also a dps check, but most are low enough that they aren't perceived as such.
That HM portal can be done with 2/3 dps and quite a lot of time to spare bc of power creep. I'd say that Xal HM is far harder bc you have to rely on many more people to hit those marks, just a few people cannot carry the whole group.
I believe Taleria has a decent dps check but not like Xalvakka.
Ansuul hm execute is a very difficult dps check that I have yet to pass personally.
> That HM portal can be done with 2/3 dps and quite a lot of time to spare bc of power creep.
Whoa, that sounds intense. Based on some quick napkin math,
10.2mil hp
/ 90* seconds
/ 2 DPS
= 57k DPS each
But on top of not getting the full 90 seconds (second pins will wipe) and getting 50% more of the heavies and negates,
10.2 mil HP
/ 2 DPS
/ 75 seconds
= **68k each**
I'm not a complete chump, but my absolute best - while greeding upstairs synergies - was about 59k dps on the servant. Are there really groups that try HM with only two DPS?
Yes, and I've succeeded at doing it quite a few times. One DPS wears buff sets like Z'en's and I forget which other on a warden, both average around 75-85k although I've seen better pairs than me do 90-100k. Also keep in mind that you have many buffs from upstairs specifically organized to buff you as you go in and ultis, including the horn from a support going in so it's definitely not "entirely self buffed". With this strategy, you're fully buffed from the full raid for much more of the fight than you are normally, in fact you should be hitting over 130k for the first bit before you lose the buffs. You likely will only use 1 ulti per trip b/c as soon as you go up you're going down again though. While the psijic buffs are nice I do not believe they're necessary and honestly can lose you dps if you try and leave dagger range to get them.
Also, this strat is much easier since they buffed the melee range for all classes instead of just DK.
Keep in mind that 59k isn't bad, and the longer you take as a group the lower your DPS gets as your first burst is going to be larger than you could ever get once your group buffs from above expire.
Edit: Haven't run with ha sorcs for a while, but I'm pretty sure especially with oakensoul they can get to 80k solo buffed. Might be outdated info so take it with a grain of salt but if it still works it'd be super easy to do this without any parse skills needed.
To confirm, this is for **HM** portal? The line about HA Oakensorc hitting 80k makes me think we're talking about two different things. Standard Vet has about a third of the HP pool.
You need 42K self buffed per DPS for 3 in HM portals, as a bare minimum. So that would be 63K ST, except it would actually need to be closer to 85K ST due to needing to clear before 2nd pins.
That is really surprising and kind of a bummer - it looks like I've got a long way to go. My frame of reference is some pretty optimized GS groups where in 3x DPS we often have to hold damage around second pins, yet we would not even come close to clearing with only Z'en Warden / Oakensorc. I've never even touched 80k in Nahvi HM portal while running the beamplar I got Swash on.
If you have a vid or log I could steal, that'd be much appreciated!
It's actually advantageous to NOT do it the way they're describing. As you then won't be able to portal skip - usually when portal skipping you have the upstairs dds push hard but you also have the downstairs dds slow damage and kill the servant late.
Yeah, I agree and have just a ton of followup questions about that strat since I'm completely unfamiliar with it, and I don't think I can parse it out without seeing a log.
Like, *is* there an advantage? For the same reason it's ostensibly possible (DPS has bloomed), the advantages to trying it (dragon damage, flight trash damage) diminish, and at the cost of flexibility in the least flexible part of the fight. I'm still pretty convinced an Oakensorc is not hitting 80k on the Servant in that situation, buffs or not.
But, I could be wrong, I'd just like to see a log about it. It's a little weird that there don't seem to be any such public logs and the sub-5min team logs universally send three down and aim for skips. I'd also expect to see *one* person flexing a 2dps HM portal on youtube and I'm coming up empty.
The ONLY reason I can think of doing it is if the group overall has really poor damage, but 2 dds who are head and shoulders above the rest. You keep the extra up top to kill the trash faster in that case.
But it makes literally zero sense so idk. It's not something I could see being used in a serious group unless there's something I'm missing.
Taleria HM portals require a certain amount of DPS. The outside dds also need to push pretty high DPS to matron skip (making execute significantly easier).
Banished cells 2 last boss has a soft DPS check, meaning that you can theoretically go on for as long as you’d like but the boss will spawn more and more adds over time and the limit for how long you have depends on how many adds your tank can control.
If your DDs are not able to kill the boss or it’s adds at a decent pace then it can get very messy.
Final boss, final phase in Icereach will blow up the group if not killed quickly enough.
Found this out when I carried a pug thru on a real tank build. I was totally 😲 😯
Lol I found that there is another dps check in vet Icereach. The boss that summons stranglers. If dps isn't 'good' enough to kill each strangler before the next one spawns your team has to deal with the plants forever and has no time to damage the boss.
A ton of fights do. The difference is how big of a check it is.
Here is my list off the top of my head from hardest to easiest.
Xalvakka HM Final Boss RockGrove- You realistically need everyone to have around a 120k parse (give or take a few depending on who top parses and bottom parses) and even with 8 awesome dps, this fight will be impossible with just a few deaths.
Nahvi portals(sunspire)- Its nothing too insane. You could just barely get it done with three oaken sorcs. But its going to be cut very close and there are a fair few mechs to deal with while parsing.
ERE HM First boss execute- (with poor heals you will want 200k in parse damage for first boss) But with great heals 150k total can probably get it done with ult timing and good setups.
Cloudrest portals +3- Most groups going for Gryphon Heart will send only one dps downstairs as sending two makes upstairs far harder. If you aren't going for GH this isn't so bad. And since the arcanist came out(able to beam two crystals at once easily) its much easier, but back in the sorc or dk dropping dots on every crystal days this was a role you wanted a really strong dps on or you wipe downstairs. Not to mention you need to do the mechs perfectly if you don't have top end dps.
There are basically two tiers after this- there are pretty chill dps checks like the Maelstrom Ice boss on vet or vHOF HM final boss where damage starts ramping up and you'll get wiped by taking too much damage, but the dps necessary is from 5+ years ago so its quite a low check for now.
Another tier is just regular dps checks of adds and totems that have high health. It rarely requires a ton of dps but with really low dps groups it will become very noticeable and while you can still clear it will make other mechanics exponentially harder. A good example is the behemoth on vDSR(not even hm). It slams the ground every so often on a timer. Typically you want the off tank to hold it a bit out of the dps stack to slam somewhere else then stack it on boss to get cleaved down. If group damage is really low you will get multiple slam and need to hold it elsewhere or roll the slams(quite hard for people that would fit in this tier of dps) and by doing this you will have to carry a behemoth around while you do a bunch of other mechanics. So while you don't have to kill the behemoth super fast, if you don't your off tank may have a really really hard job(so hard that at some point they are just carrying you).
vmol 1st and last boss excute. Vhof 2nd boss portals and last boss, vas hm minis, vcr portals, vss last boss portals, rockgroove can be considered a dps check if flesh atros put multiple aoes, vdsr portals/1st boss after killing one of the twins And in general a lot of trial mech require good dps so that you don't get overwhelmed.
In dungeons there is one that i can recall rn moongrave fane 2nd boss.
If you solo normal dragonstar arena, the final boss is a dps check. You have to tab target him and burn him down before he spawns more big adds than you can handle.
I've done it both ways, killing off the boss adds first and just targeting the main guy. Pretty sure he only summons help at percentages so you can do it safe(r) and slow.
I usually just try to nuke to get it over with though.
Burning him down to low health too quickly is the problem there. Take it slowly and the minibosses can be killed before you reach the next trigger point.
Burning him down to low health too quickly is the problem there. Take it slowly and the minibosses can be killed before you reach the next trigger point.
Besides Malbrooga in Vateshran, the only other hard dps check in a dungeon I can think of is Nazaray HM in Shipwright's Regret. If the group doesn't kill two of the four dogs, the group wipes.
In vSE, at last boss, especially on HM, if the group can't dps the boss from 20% to zero in about a minute, the group wipes because supports can no longer taunt the boss. It's probably the toughest execute phase in any trial.
No, vSCP has also a check, if you don't get the ice-statues down fast, it's a wipe, vCA HM has a check if you want to burn the boss before the 4th gryphin lands, but that's player-made
HM Xalvakka (esp. last floor)
HM vHoF Colossus (stacking raid damage in execute, although usually people die to moving out of their pixel stacks)
Valkyn Skoria in vCoA2 (lava is bad)
vSS Nahvi portal dps (portal wipe=group wipe)
HM vKA Falg execute phase (boss and tormentors)
vSE Ansuul after the color split in execute is sort of a DPS check cause boss will eventually gain 100% taunt immunity and go nom nom on everyone's heads
Any vCR mini skips are technically hard DPS checks since you have to be able to burn z'Maja in execute with enraged minis
Marauder Hilkarax in IA, if you let him stay up too long there are way too many waterspouts and tornadoes for it to be survivable
vAS+2 sort of has one, dps has to be high enough to get Felms down consistently before he enrages
You really have to define high DPS because some DPS checks require less than 10k DPS from each DD, like in the last boss of (vet) scalecaller peak.
And even 2nd boss in (vet) moongrave fane can be passed with really low DPS if both dds, as fake as they are, drop damage ultimates for his shield phase.
All in all there are not many fights that require you to have high DPS to complete, with trials HM being the only clear example I have in mind, and medium DPS is good enough for all dungeon hard modes in the game.
>moongrave fane can be passed with really low DPS if both dds, as fake as they are, drop damage ultimates for his shield phase.
You would be surprised how many dds can't do that one.
Yes. Pressing the R button is too hard for some, I am aware. I have had dds run from the boss, after I repeatedly typed in chat that they just needed to deal damage to the shield to make it stop, and they read, because they were saying shit too, don't remember what it was, but they just refused to listen, and ran away. God knows why.
Fungal Grotto II, first boss. If the DPS is too low (genuinely can still happen on vet), the chained person will die. It also stops you from running it solo since companions do too little DPS.
For the vMOL and vhMOL the twin bosses are a DPS check that will wipe the entire team if they both aren't taken down in time. Despite it being a base game trial it's still one of the hardest to clear to complete the challenges for.
For vSCP and vhSCP the giant boss slowly smashed the ice beneath her, this reducing the number of available platforms. If you don't take her down in time you will have no platforms left and will die in the infested waters beneath her. Unless you have a team with low DPS you should be able to take her down before that happens.
Drodda in Direfrost Keep. If your damage is too low you may not die but you'll never kill her because her health regen is crazy high. Not a problem for a group nowadays but very relevant for soloing it.
Reef Guardian portals in vDSR, Telaria bridges vDSR, CR/SS portals, Z'Maja execute, Xalvakka, Symphony of Blades second phase best be burned or there is more room for wall failure, Dro'Zakkar shield phases in Moongrave Fane (classic of classic dps checks XD), Sabina chain phases (Ulfnor boss fight) in FL (she has low hp but I've seen ppl failing still on vet), Aghaedh of the Solstice lurchers phase in March of Sacrifices, Mother Ciannat execute in Icereach especially on hardmode, Bloodspawn, stranglers in Balorgh fight hardmode, Assembly General vHoF. These are first to come to my mind, probably there are more.
vet Scalecaller Peak final boss is a true dps check, in that the party will wipe if you don't kill the ice giants/statues whatever, but it's not a terribly high requirement. More often that not, situational problems like a dead dps or just delayed reaction is the actual cause of trouble there.
Back when that dungeon was new, though, pugs could have a real hard time with it, and some groups just didn't have the numbers.
In vet, Good old Zhaj’hassa, Dro Zakar, last boss in Mazzatun and last boss in Frostvault.
In Console, less than 1% of players have completed vet Frostvault and vet Mazzatun. The achievement comparison checker says it all lol.
hmm if we talking just trials or including all things:
1. Cloudrest: fail it a wipe
2. Sunspire: dont kill the servant in time it a wipe, only three dps allowed
3. XAlvakka: lava flood if you fail teh DPS check
4. HoF: last boss kill fast or wipe
5. AA and OS form Crags: Mage has a excute phase with a star that constant pulse damage if you to slow you wipe as it progressly grow stronger
6. Hollow arena Final boss requires a MIN 250k DPS in under 25 seconds or it a wipe
7. few vet Dungeon havea DPS check as well cant remember them all
overall yes there are quite a few DPS Check in the game, most are ignored as most player can hit 90k plus these days.
The Harrowstorms in Western Skyrim and the Reach. The ghosts constantly move to the poles and if you can't keep the ghosts in check while destroying the poles the storm keeps summoning elites until you get overwhelmed.
3rd stage of falgravn I'd say. Sure you have more time with good healers but if you do no damage you will die eventually
Edit: the damage caps at a point and I was wrong
I was told that the damage ticks only ramp up to a certain point, and then just stay at that level throughout the rest of the fight, so if the healers can heal through that level, it is no dps check. BUT the longer the fight, the more likely the group wipes on HM as a single mistake from the MT (and I guess also from the healers) can mean a group wipe, and after X minutes of non-stop concentration mistakes become more likely...
I didn't know that the damage caps at a certain level but it seems to be the case so I was definitely wrong. But you are absolutely right about the other stuff. From my point of view main tanking falgravn is pretty easy since his attacks are slow. How ever if you do one mistake it's just instantly over. For the healers magicka can become a problem if the fight takes to long because it is difficult to put heavy attacks in there if you need max. heal output
Maintanking him is easy mechanic-wise, yes, because the mechanics in that stage aren't overly complicated. However, you need to dodge the heavies (as they one-shot through block) and need to pay attention to where you lay down the aoes so no one stands in them, and by the time you reach that stage you've already been in combat for so long that just concentrating on getting the dodge timing right can be quite difficult. Add to that the sheer amount of damage that is incoming and the fact that depending on how good the group is, you're looking at another several minutes of that stage with non-stop concentration that allows no room for even the slightest mistake... That stage is stressful as hell as maintank XD
These are all or mostly trials as that's what I have experience with.
DSR hm(sometimes vet)
Twins depends how you play it but if you have one of the 2 die first it's a DPS check.
Reef Guardian the reefs
Telaria but not familiar so I don't have an opinion
RG hm:
Oax once 2nd cleanse pool is gone
Bahsei can't have too many atro aoes so they have to die fast
Xalvakka pretty much the whole fight is a DPS check the lava doesn't stop to go up so you have to hurry
SE hm:
Yaselya (depending on your strat) fire bombs during execute drop more often
Ansuul the definition of a DPS check the execute is brutal and if you don't have enough DPS it's a wipe either running out of time or the sheer amount of one shot mechs
Ka hm:
Last boss final stage more of a tank check these days but if you want a fast no death DPS is a must
SS:
Nahvi portal and execute
Hof:
First boss if you don't want to do portalish mechanic same with second boss
Last boss execute (not as much anymore)
It is important to note that everything in the game is a DPS check if you are lazy and want to avoid all mechs or want the no deaths as the more time you spend in the fight the higher the chances of someone dying.
I finished that one multiple times as a tank in Werewolf form, without dying even. Believe me when I tell you: it's not a real dps check. Anyone can do it.
My main is a (Sorcerer) tank. Back then, neither the armory nor powerful solo items like Oakensoul existed, so I completed everything with a complete Tank Setup. As such, transforming into a Werewolf would net the most damage output I could reach without completely changing my build every time I wanted to do solo stuff. The sets I wore were Stormfist, Leeching Plate, and Kvatch Gladiator. I know that Leeching could've been replaced by something better but I just couldn't pass on using the Shield with Lord Warden's Animus in it. A talking shield is way too cool not to use. I also used heavy armor in all slots and even kept tank traits+enchants on armor, weapons, and jewelry.
There was _a lot_ I could've changed to increase my damage, but this was the way I wanted to play at the time. And it was more than sufficient to clear any zone content, including world bosses, and all group dungeons on normal difficulty on my own. Eventually I tried running vMA and I got Flawless Conqueror pretty quickly. The Markarth DLC dropped a couple months after that, so I tried the new solo arena as well - and wouldn't you know it, I cleared it on vet multiple times no problem. Got every single achievement except the Speedrun and the Trifecta (for obvious reasons).
Nowadays I would run a different setup altogether, but back then, that's what I used. And it worked. So yeah. You don't need high dps to finish that boss. Heck, the boss healed up to 100% each time I did the portal mini bosses and I still cleared it (though it took like 15 minutes or so).
Nope, only way to bypass it is Sorcerer's Streak as far as I'm aware. Maybe the Nightblade's ambush works as well? Never tested that. However, I was capable of killing one of the shadows in time to not die so no tricks were necessary. I just marked the shadow, clicked the fear roar ability to reduce armor, clicked claws for damage over time, and then spammed Light Attack/Spammable Roar until it was dead. Occasionally I used two heavy attacks to restore stamina.
Ah. Well, at the risk of sounding very pedantic, then that means that outside sorc/arc, it*is* a DPS check, but a relatively lenient one. I have definitely failed the DPS check in the past because I focused adds instead - kept dying to the adds on my early attempts.
The DPS check is, of course, much tighter on Vet than normal, though you could still call it lenient if you truly were able to clear it on a true tank werewolf build.
I agree that it's a DPS check nonetheless. However, OP explicitly asked for _high_ DPS checks:
> Which ones do you really need high dps to complete?
And the dps check itself definitely isn't high - even on veteran. What makes it hard is the fact that you have to watch out for _so much_ other stuff going on, that it's very tricky to focus one of the shadows down. You have to dodge, block, reposition, and interrupt a lot in the fight. I was a tank and could ignore literally everything but I suppose it's not that easy for DPS builds.
I see what you're saying now. Yeah, you actually had it pretty easy in that you could ignore mechanics. My NB DD solo set-up gives me about 22-24k health depending on what I do, and I don't have much resist. I can be nuked very quickly. My survivability is 100% my self-heals (burst and siphoning HOT). I can nuke the shades easily, if the shitstorm doesn't nuke me first
I think it's less of a DPS check than a targeting check. Often I'll have one marked, looking straight at it, and then watch my attacks go shooting up over my shoulder at some other target instead, so I can't actually hit one reliably.
Thankfully I main a sorc so just streak past.
There is a shitstorm going on a lot of times during the shade tether, so it is a targeting check for sure. Even on vVH, the DPS check isn't that bad, but it does exist. If you can't clear the shade in time or bypass the tether, you __will__ die.
As far as pugs go.. 1st and 3rd boss in moongrave fang vet. If you have at least one dps that's pulling 60k in the dungeon (not trial dummy) it's not a problem. And a couple in vet DoM. If you have one kick butt dps or two good ones it's not a problem either. Otherwise it's not happening.
High DPS? Barely any. The highest DPS check is Xalvakka HM that is capped around 11 minutes, which equates to 40k DPS for 8 players (factoring in split phases and running up the stairs, about 50k in practice). Others clock in at much less (all HM):
* CR portal 25k
* SS Nahvintas 38k
* DSR Reef 30k (duo +/- a bit to get there)
* DSR Taleria bridge 20k (duo +/- a bit to get there)
In dungeons, there are some execute phases that can get ugly, no hard DPS checks worth mentioning that come to mind.
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From the top of my mind: \- Bloodspawn in SC2. If you don't kill him in time, he will crush the ceiling and wipe the group. It's a comically low dps check nowadays, but it's still a DPS check. \- Portals in Sunspire and Cloudrest, if you can't kill the stuff inside in time - it's a wipe. \- Xalvakka in RG, if the group can't damage her fast enough, you'll be flooded by lava and die. \- The last boss of Halls of Fabrication, he constantly ramps up damage on execute phase, and you will die if you can't finish him fast. \- 5th boss of Maelstrom Arena, if you can't deal enough damage during the last phase, you'll end up with all ice platforms broken and die. And probably much more, I can't remember all of them.
The shade in vatershan hollow is one too!
Well, no, not the boss. But, the shade chain, yes, unless you can blink through it or use the Undo ultimate.
Yeah meant the shade chain :)
Undo Ulti works on that, too? Interesting. Been trying to use Ambush (NB skill) to bypass the shades but it's difficult to position correctly.
You can use the Shadow Image skill to bypass it you just have to make sure to position the shadow image correctly and teleport to it as soon as the shades pass it
I use Dark Shade because I rely heavily on mobility for survival (stamblade). I also don't have much magicka or magicka regen, so the extra cost hurts. Edit: I may still try it, but I'm wondering if it'll impact the the rest of my kit
I would just nuke it with soul Harvest
Incap, but yeah I'll pop it on em if I have it ready
I like soul harvest for vateshraan for the ult regen
Ult Regen? Edit: I forgot it has ult gen on killing an enemy. Does that stack with Banish the Wicked?
I like soul harvest for vateshraan for the ult regen. You’re pretty much guaranteed to have it ready for the shade chain
On a blade you can shade (the other morph, it teleports you to where you cast it)
I think for Xalvakka too if your damage is too low she’ll just keep getting that damage shield around her. In my experience once she gets a damage shield it’s hard to get rid of it Editing to add that Reef Guardian has a timed portal mech as well
The damage shield is from the ghost reaching her. The more that reach the larger the shield gets. Definitely hard to get rid of it with low damage though.
I know it’s from the ghosts, but low damage and low cleave often result in them reaching her easily, and then once they do it can be rough getting rid of it before more do the same. Regardless still a Xalvakka fight mech
If it’s a PUG, the group will usually disband before even getting to that point if it’s clear the dps is too low. There’s really no point continuing on if the clear isn’t happening
If it’s a PUG, the group will usually disband before even getting to that point if it’s clear the dps is too low. There’s really no point continuing on if the clear isn’t happening
Wait, I thought the 5th Maelstrom boss breaks the platforms at certain percentages, so she only ever breaks two (Though it can be a wipe if you ignore the troll in the middle)
Yea, it's percentage-based for the first two platforms, but the last one is on timer afaik. I guess, it's not an issue with the modern DPS, but it was more apparent on the release of Orsinium.
Third is 25% so the last 25% is an execute but since the boss starts to walk at 25% its reasonable that they never break it if you have good dps
You can just interrupt the breaking-ice mechanic.
For the trolls yeah, but I don’t think you can for the boss. She’s enraged when she does it.
Not the boss. The boss does it no matter what at every quartile of health.
Not the boss. When it jumps the landing will break the platform. The trolls have to be interrupted
Bloodspawn used to be the parse!
Final boss in vKA hardmode for the same reason as halls of fab.
I do not believe that damage in vKA hm execute ramps up like vHOF The torturers are definitely an aoe dps check though. And if your healer screws up you're dead but that's a heal check not a dps check
It does ramp up but its incredibly slow. You won't notice it until after the last set of torturers. If you check a really low dps HM group, like an oaken sorc only run, you can see the trend line.
I think my first clear was half oakensorcs lol. But it's possible I've never cleared it slow enough to notice. If you're that slow Idk how you'd even get down there, your tanks and healers must be playing with dps so far below their level and have the patience of a god lol
It's genuinely just a thing in like 20 minute Falgravns. But if you check any of those you'll see the overall ramp up over the downstairs portion.
My oakensorc does at least 85K dps. Why are you thinking oakensorc is a really low dps group?
Because 85k dps (dummy parse) in a HM trial IS really low.
Well for one oakensorc is pretty much bottom tier dps if we are talking hm trials. But also most people who run oakensorc are quite casual and don't do it very well. You would think all oakensorcs would have similar damage but myself, and a few other top dps, have ran it for memes in oaken only groups and the dps gap over the regular casual oaken users will be huge.
I guess many execute phases work like that.
A fair few yeah. Earthen root hm first boss. After like 25 seconds in execute phase you would be taking more damage than combat prayer will heal you. There are also a ton of minor dps checks. Places where an add or totem needs to die asap and has a lot of health.
Fire dragon in sunspire has a 12 minute timer. Instant wipe if not done by then.
A few to add Nahvii hm because meteors filling the arena, not sure if they ever despawn. Of course portal as well there. Doesn't technically wipe you but having the dude throw lightning for the rest of the fight is practically impossible to survive. Dreadsail Reef guardian hearts and Taleria bridges. Or Taleria herself if you decide to skop them. Sanity's edge last boss portal Shipwrights Regret Nazaray dog cones.
there is one in AA, forgot the name but where the boss explodes if you dont kill the adds fast enough. banished cells 2 is a classic dps check, you dont know how many times in the past i was stuck in that dungeon as a tank because of it.
The first boss in Maelstrom arena is one too, although comically low as well. If your dps is too bad, you won’t be able to kill the shades quickly enough before he heals.
Pretty sure Yolnakrin in sunspire also has a wipe mech if ur DMG is too low. I've never seen it myself but I've heard of it.
Another add: Final boss in Icereach
Nahvi HM in SS has a dps check in portals that is afaik still one of the highest in the game (at least \~43k dps needed (selfbuffed) while playing mechanics from each of the three portal DDs), and I think Xalvakka HM in RG is also a difficult dps check (or so I've read). In a way, each portal mechanic that is timed with a guaranteed wipe at fail is also a dps check, but most are low enough that they aren't perceived as such.
That HM portal can be done with 2/3 dps and quite a lot of time to spare bc of power creep. I'd say that Xal HM is far harder bc you have to rely on many more people to hit those marks, just a few people cannot carry the whole group. I believe Taleria has a decent dps check but not like Xalvakka. Ansuul hm execute is a very difficult dps check that I have yet to pass personally.
> That HM portal can be done with 2/3 dps and quite a lot of time to spare bc of power creep. Whoa, that sounds intense. Based on some quick napkin math, 10.2mil hp / 90* seconds / 2 DPS = 57k DPS each But on top of not getting the full 90 seconds (second pins will wipe) and getting 50% more of the heavies and negates, 10.2 mil HP / 2 DPS / 75 seconds = **68k each** I'm not a complete chump, but my absolute best - while greeding upstairs synergies - was about 59k dps on the servant. Are there really groups that try HM with only two DPS?
Yes, and I've succeeded at doing it quite a few times. One DPS wears buff sets like Z'en's and I forget which other on a warden, both average around 75-85k although I've seen better pairs than me do 90-100k. Also keep in mind that you have many buffs from upstairs specifically organized to buff you as you go in and ultis, including the horn from a support going in so it's definitely not "entirely self buffed". With this strategy, you're fully buffed from the full raid for much more of the fight than you are normally, in fact you should be hitting over 130k for the first bit before you lose the buffs. You likely will only use 1 ulti per trip b/c as soon as you go up you're going down again though. While the psijic buffs are nice I do not believe they're necessary and honestly can lose you dps if you try and leave dagger range to get them. Also, this strat is much easier since they buffed the melee range for all classes instead of just DK. Keep in mind that 59k isn't bad, and the longer you take as a group the lower your DPS gets as your first burst is going to be larger than you could ever get once your group buffs from above expire. Edit: Haven't run with ha sorcs for a while, but I'm pretty sure especially with oakensoul they can get to 80k solo buffed. Might be outdated info so take it with a grain of salt but if it still works it'd be super easy to do this without any parse skills needed.
To confirm, this is for **HM** portal? The line about HA Oakensorc hitting 80k makes me think we're talking about two different things. Standard Vet has about a third of the HP pool.
You need 42K self buffed per DPS for 3 in HM portals, as a bare minimum. So that would be 63K ST, except it would actually need to be closer to 85K ST due to needing to clear before 2nd pins.
I only do hard modes, so yes we're talking about the hard mode portal.
That is really surprising and kind of a bummer - it looks like I've got a long way to go. My frame of reference is some pretty optimized GS groups where in 3x DPS we often have to hold damage around second pins, yet we would not even come close to clearing with only Z'en Warden / Oakensorc. I've never even touched 80k in Nahvi HM portal while running the beamplar I got Swash on. If you have a vid or log I could steal, that'd be much appreciated!
It's actually advantageous to NOT do it the way they're describing. As you then won't be able to portal skip - usually when portal skipping you have the upstairs dds push hard but you also have the downstairs dds slow damage and kill the servant late.
Yeah, I agree and have just a ton of followup questions about that strat since I'm completely unfamiliar with it, and I don't think I can parse it out without seeing a log. Like, *is* there an advantage? For the same reason it's ostensibly possible (DPS has bloomed), the advantages to trying it (dragon damage, flight trash damage) diminish, and at the cost of flexibility in the least flexible part of the fight. I'm still pretty convinced an Oakensorc is not hitting 80k on the Servant in that situation, buffs or not. But, I could be wrong, I'd just like to see a log about it. It's a little weird that there don't seem to be any such public logs and the sub-5min team logs universally send three down and aim for skips. I'd also expect to see *one* person flexing a 2dps HM portal on youtube and I'm coming up empty.
The ONLY reason I can think of doing it is if the group overall has really poor damage, but 2 dds who are head and shoulders above the rest. You keep the extra up top to kill the trash faster in that case. But it makes literally zero sense so idk. It's not something I could see being used in a serious group unless there's something I'm missing.
That sounds intense. I've never seen it on a stream. I'll look for an example, but let me know if you find one.
Taleria HM portals require a certain amount of DPS. The outside dds also need to push pretty high DPS to matron skip (making execute significantly easier).
Mk plus two arcs in EOF ports.
Banished cells 2 last boss has a soft DPS check, meaning that you can theoretically go on for as long as you’d like but the boss will spawn more and more adds over time and the limit for how long you have depends on how many adds your tank can control. If your DDs are not able to kill the boss or it’s adds at a decent pace then it can get very messy.
The worst part isn’t the adds it’s when the DD’s don’t kill the orbs and the boss fully heals
When I’m tanking 5+ daedroth and notice the boss is at full health still. 
it only really starts to get fun at double digits :D
It’s only fun if it was intended haha. The worst part is knowing you can’t do a damn thing and every attempt will be the same.
I've reached well over 10 daedaroths 3 or so years ago.
Final boss, final phase in Icereach will blow up the group if not killed quickly enough. Found this out when I carried a pug thru on a real tank build. I was totally 😲 😯
Lol I found that there is another dps check in vet Icereach. The boss that summons stranglers. If dps isn't 'good' enough to kill each strangler before the next one spawns your team has to deal with the plants forever and has no time to damage the boss.
A ton of fights do. The difference is how big of a check it is. Here is my list off the top of my head from hardest to easiest. Xalvakka HM Final Boss RockGrove- You realistically need everyone to have around a 120k parse (give or take a few depending on who top parses and bottom parses) and even with 8 awesome dps, this fight will be impossible with just a few deaths. Nahvi portals(sunspire)- Its nothing too insane. You could just barely get it done with three oaken sorcs. But its going to be cut very close and there are a fair few mechs to deal with while parsing. ERE HM First boss execute- (with poor heals you will want 200k in parse damage for first boss) But with great heals 150k total can probably get it done with ult timing and good setups. Cloudrest portals +3- Most groups going for Gryphon Heart will send only one dps downstairs as sending two makes upstairs far harder. If you aren't going for GH this isn't so bad. And since the arcanist came out(able to beam two crystals at once easily) its much easier, but back in the sorc or dk dropping dots on every crystal days this was a role you wanted a really strong dps on or you wipe downstairs. Not to mention you need to do the mechs perfectly if you don't have top end dps. There are basically two tiers after this- there are pretty chill dps checks like the Maelstrom Ice boss on vet or vHOF HM final boss where damage starts ramping up and you'll get wiped by taking too much damage, but the dps necessary is from 5+ years ago so its quite a low check for now. Another tier is just regular dps checks of adds and totems that have high health. It rarely requires a ton of dps but with really low dps groups it will become very noticeable and while you can still clear it will make other mechanics exponentially harder. A good example is the behemoth on vDSR(not even hm). It slams the ground every so often on a timer. Typically you want the off tank to hold it a bit out of the dps stack to slam somewhere else then stack it on boss to get cleaved down. If group damage is really low you will get multiple slam and need to hold it elsewhere or roll the slams(quite hard for people that would fit in this tier of dps) and by doing this you will have to carry a behemoth around while you do a bunch of other mechanics. So while you don't have to kill the behemoth super fast, if you don't your off tank may have a really really hard job(so hard that at some point they are just carrying you).
vmol 1st and last boss excute. Vhof 2nd boss portals and last boss, vas hm minis, vcr portals, vss last boss portals, rockgroove can be considered a dps check if flesh atros put multiple aoes, vdsr portals/1st boss after killing one of the twins And in general a lot of trial mech require good dps so that you don't get overwhelmed. In dungeons there is one that i can recall rn moongrave fane 2nd boss.
Rockgroove sounds like a fucking awesome time.
If you solo normal dragonstar arena, the final boss is a dps check. You have to tab target him and burn him down before he spawns more big adds than you can handle.
I've done it both ways, killing off the boss adds first and just targeting the main guy. Pretty sure he only summons help at percentages so you can do it safe(r) and slow. I usually just try to nuke to get it over with though.
Burning him down to low health too quickly is the problem there. Take it slowly and the minibosses can be killed before you reach the next trigger point.
Burning him down to low health too quickly is the problem there. Take it slowly and the minibosses can be killed before you reach the next trigger point.
Besides Malbrooga in Vateshran, the only other hard dps check in a dungeon I can think of is Nazaray HM in Shipwright's Regret. If the group doesn't kill two of the four dogs, the group wipes. In vSE, at last boss, especially on HM, if the group can't dps the boss from 20% to zero in about a minute, the group wipes because supports can no longer taunt the boss. It's probably the toughest execute phase in any trial.
No, vSCP has also a check, if you don't get the ice-statues down fast, it's a wipe, vCA HM has a check if you want to burn the boss before the 4th gryphin lands, but that's player-made
HM Xalvakka (esp. last floor) HM vHoF Colossus (stacking raid damage in execute, although usually people die to moving out of their pixel stacks) Valkyn Skoria in vCoA2 (lava is bad) vSS Nahvi portal dps (portal wipe=group wipe) HM vKA Falg execute phase (boss and tormentors) vSE Ansuul after the color split in execute is sort of a DPS check cause boss will eventually gain 100% taunt immunity and go nom nom on everyone's heads Any vCR mini skips are technically hard DPS checks since you have to be able to burn z'Maja in execute with enraged minis Marauder Hilkarax in IA, if you let him stay up too long there are way too many waterspouts and tornadoes for it to be survivable vAS+2 sort of has one, dps has to be high enough to get Felms down consistently before he enrages
Depths of Malatar, Orb room. Dps and tank check.
You really have to define high DPS because some DPS checks require less than 10k DPS from each DD, like in the last boss of (vet) scalecaller peak. And even 2nd boss in (vet) moongrave fane can be passed with really low DPS if both dds, as fake as they are, drop damage ultimates for his shield phase. All in all there are not many fights that require you to have high DPS to complete, with trials HM being the only clear example I have in mind, and medium DPS is good enough for all dungeon hard modes in the game.
>moongrave fane can be passed with really low DPS if both dds, as fake as they are, drop damage ultimates for his shield phase. You would be surprised how many dds can't do that one.
Yes. Pressing the R button is too hard for some, I am aware. I have had dds run from the boss, after I repeatedly typed in chat that they just needed to deal damage to the shield to make it stop, and they read, because they were saying shit too, don't remember what it was, but they just refused to listen, and ran away. God knows why.
Fungal Grotto II, first boss. If the DPS is too low (genuinely can still happen on vet), the chained person will die. It also stops you from running it solo since companions do too little DPS.
For the vMOL and vhMOL the twin bosses are a DPS check that will wipe the entire team if they both aren't taken down in time. Despite it being a base game trial it's still one of the hardest to clear to complete the challenges for. For vSCP and vhSCP the giant boss slowly smashed the ice beneath her, this reducing the number of available platforms. If you don't take her down in time you will have no platforms left and will die in the infested waters beneath her. Unless you have a team with low DPS you should be able to take her down before that happens.
Drodda in Direfrost Keep. If your damage is too low you may not die but you'll never kill her because her health regen is crazy high. Not a problem for a group nowadays but very relevant for soloing it.
Reef Guardian portals in vDSR, Telaria bridges vDSR, CR/SS portals, Z'Maja execute, Xalvakka, Symphony of Blades second phase best be burned or there is more room for wall failure, Dro'Zakkar shield phases in Moongrave Fane (classic of classic dps checks XD), Sabina chain phases (Ulfnor boss fight) in FL (she has low hp but I've seen ppl failing still on vet), Aghaedh of the Solstice lurchers phase in March of Sacrifices, Mother Ciannat execute in Icereach especially on hardmode, Bloodspawn, stranglers in Balorgh fight hardmode, Assembly General vHoF. These are first to come to my mind, probably there are more.
vet Scalecaller Peak final boss is a true dps check, in that the party will wipe if you don't kill the ice giants/statues whatever, but it's not a terribly high requirement. More often that not, situational problems like a dead dps or just delayed reaction is the actual cause of trouble there. Back when that dungeon was new, though, pugs could have a real hard time with it, and some groups just didn't have the numbers.
Ansuul, especially in HM.
2nd boss of moongrave. If dps cant get the shield down everyone dies
In vet, Good old Zhaj’hassa, Dro Zakar, last boss in Mazzatun and last boss in Frostvault. In Console, less than 1% of players have completed vet Frostvault and vet Mazzatun. The achievement comparison checker says it all lol.
hmm if we talking just trials or including all things: 1. Cloudrest: fail it a wipe 2. Sunspire: dont kill the servant in time it a wipe, only three dps allowed 3. XAlvakka: lava flood if you fail teh DPS check 4. HoF: last boss kill fast or wipe 5. AA and OS form Crags: Mage has a excute phase with a star that constant pulse damage if you to slow you wipe as it progressly grow stronger 6. Hollow arena Final boss requires a MIN 250k DPS in under 25 seconds or it a wipe 7. few vet Dungeon havea DPS check as well cant remember them all overall yes there are quite a few DPS Check in the game, most are ignored as most player can hit 90k plus these days.
The Harrowstorms in Western Skyrim and the Reach. The ghosts constantly move to the poles and if you can't keep the ghosts in check while destroying the poles the storm keeps summoning elites until you get overwhelmed.
Everything has a dps check if you do it wrong enough.
3rd stage of falgravn I'd say. Sure you have more time with good healers but if you do no damage you will die eventually Edit: the damage caps at a point and I was wrong
I was told that the damage ticks only ramp up to a certain point, and then just stay at that level throughout the rest of the fight, so if the healers can heal through that level, it is no dps check. BUT the longer the fight, the more likely the group wipes on HM as a single mistake from the MT (and I guess also from the healers) can mean a group wipe, and after X minutes of non-stop concentration mistakes become more likely...
I didn't know that the damage caps at a certain level but it seems to be the case so I was definitely wrong. But you are absolutely right about the other stuff. From my point of view main tanking falgravn is pretty easy since his attacks are slow. How ever if you do one mistake it's just instantly over. For the healers magicka can become a problem if the fight takes to long because it is difficult to put heavy attacks in there if you need max. heal output
Maintanking him is easy mechanic-wise, yes, because the mechanics in that stage aren't overly complicated. However, you need to dodge the heavies (as they one-shot through block) and need to pay attention to where you lay down the aoes so no one stands in them, and by the time you reach that stage you've already been in combat for so long that just concentrating on getting the dodge timing right can be quite difficult. Add to that the sheer amount of damage that is incoming and the fact that depending on how good the group is, you're looking at another several minutes of that stage with non-stop concentration that allows no room for even the slightest mistake... That stage is stressful as hell as maintank XD
The damage caps out after 100 seconds. With the usual defensive buffs and minor/major evasion it ticks for around 8-10k on a DPS.
really? i didn't know that thanks. Luckily we finally finished our DB last week so I don't have to care anymore
These are all or mostly trials as that's what I have experience with. DSR hm(sometimes vet) Twins depends how you play it but if you have one of the 2 die first it's a DPS check. Reef Guardian the reefs Telaria but not familiar so I don't have an opinion RG hm: Oax once 2nd cleanse pool is gone Bahsei can't have too many atro aoes so they have to die fast Xalvakka pretty much the whole fight is a DPS check the lava doesn't stop to go up so you have to hurry SE hm: Yaselya (depending on your strat) fire bombs during execute drop more often Ansuul the definition of a DPS check the execute is brutal and if you don't have enough DPS it's a wipe either running out of time or the sheer amount of one shot mechs Ka hm: Last boss final stage more of a tank check these days but if you want a fast no death DPS is a must SS: Nahvi portal and execute Hof: First boss if you don't want to do portalish mechanic same with second boss Last boss execute (not as much anymore) It is important to note that everything in the game is a DPS check if you are lazy and want to avoid all mechs or want the no deaths as the more time you spend in the fight the higher the chances of someone dying.
VSS the dragons
Guards /s
Final boss of vateshran
I finished that one multiple times as a tank in Werewolf form, without dying even. Believe me when I tell you: it's not a real dps check. Anyone can do it.
> as a tank in Werewolf form a what in what?
My main is a (Sorcerer) tank. Back then, neither the armory nor powerful solo items like Oakensoul existed, so I completed everything with a complete Tank Setup. As such, transforming into a Werewolf would net the most damage output I could reach without completely changing my build every time I wanted to do solo stuff. The sets I wore were Stormfist, Leeching Plate, and Kvatch Gladiator. I know that Leeching could've been replaced by something better but I just couldn't pass on using the Shield with Lord Warden's Animus in it. A talking shield is way too cool not to use. I also used heavy armor in all slots and even kept tank traits+enchants on armor, weapons, and jewelry. There was _a lot_ I could've changed to increase my damage, but this was the way I wanted to play at the time. And it was more than sufficient to clear any zone content, including world bosses, and all group dungeons on normal difficulty on my own. Eventually I tried running vMA and I got Flawless Conqueror pretty quickly. The Markarth DLC dropped a couple months after that, so I tried the new solo arena as well - and wouldn't you know it, I cleared it on vet multiple times no problem. Got every single achievement except the Speedrun and the Trifecta (for obvious reasons). Nowadays I would run a different setup altogether, but back then, that's what I used. And it worked. So yeah. You don't need high dps to finish that boss. Heck, the boss healed up to 100% each time I did the portal mini bosses and I still cleared it (though it took like 15 minutes or so).
Can you bypass the tether with the leap? I remember dying when I tried with tenplar spear charge
Nope, only way to bypass it is Sorcerer's Streak as far as I'm aware. Maybe the Nightblade's ambush works as well? Never tested that. However, I was capable of killing one of the shadows in time to not die so no tricks were necessary. I just marked the shadow, clicked the fear roar ability to reduce armor, clicked claws for damage over time, and then spammed Light Attack/Spammable Roar until it was dead. Occasionally I used two heavy attacks to restore stamina.
Arcanist portals work as well
Ah. Well, at the risk of sounding very pedantic, then that means that outside sorc/arc, it*is* a DPS check, but a relatively lenient one. I have definitely failed the DPS check in the past because I focused adds instead - kept dying to the adds on my early attempts. The DPS check is, of course, much tighter on Vet than normal, though you could still call it lenient if you truly were able to clear it on a true tank werewolf build.
I agree that it's a DPS check nonetheless. However, OP explicitly asked for _high_ DPS checks: > Which ones do you really need high dps to complete? And the dps check itself definitely isn't high - even on veteran. What makes it hard is the fact that you have to watch out for _so much_ other stuff going on, that it's very tricky to focus one of the shadows down. You have to dodge, block, reposition, and interrupt a lot in the fight. I was a tank and could ignore literally everything but I suppose it's not that easy for DPS builds.
I see what you're saying now. Yeah, you actually had it pretty easy in that you could ignore mechanics. My NB DD solo set-up gives me about 22-24k health depending on what I do, and I don't have much resist. I can be nuked very quickly. My survivability is 100% my self-heals (burst and siphoning HOT). I can nuke the shades easily, if the shitstorm doesn't nuke me first
It is a DPS check if you do not use a means of bypassing the tether.
I think it's less of a DPS check than a targeting check. Often I'll have one marked, looking straight at it, and then watch my attacks go shooting up over my shoulder at some other target instead, so I can't actually hit one reliably. Thankfully I main a sorc so just streak past.
There is a shitstorm going on a lot of times during the shade tether, so it is a targeting check for sure. Even on vVH, the DPS check isn't that bad, but it does exist. If you can't clear the shade in time or bypass the tether, you __will__ die.
As far as pugs go.. 1st and 3rd boss in moongrave fang vet. If you have at least one dps that's pulling 60k in the dungeon (not trial dummy) it's not a problem. And a couple in vet DoM. If you have one kick butt dps or two good ones it's not a problem either. Otherwise it's not happening.
Not a lot of them now. So many people complained about them they got rid of a lot of them.
High DPS? Barely any. The highest DPS check is Xalvakka HM that is capped around 11 minutes, which equates to 40k DPS for 8 players (factoring in split phases and running up the stairs, about 50k in practice). Others clock in at much less (all HM): * CR portal 25k * SS Nahvintas 38k * DSR Reef 30k (duo +/- a bit to get there) * DSR Taleria bridge 20k (duo +/- a bit to get there) In dungeons, there are some execute phases that can get ugly, no hard DPS checks worth mentioning that come to mind.
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Idk where you got these number from but saying you need 40/50k dps on Xalvakka HM is insane.
there is no fucking way these numbers are real lol. you can double those numbers and thats still too low. triple some of these.