Hey there, your favorite Ditzy Blonde with another guide on how to do REALLY hard stuff! This time, Shiva Unreal!
Disclaimer: Yeah, I know I can be a real ditz at times, but I am not a total idiot! I have ACTUALLY cleared this and it was NOT a fluke! (Cue Annabel haters saying; "She's LYING, DON'T believe her!")
Ok, first off, Super easy way to clear it, get a static,.......HA!
Ok...Ok...fine, I know MOST people here DON'T have one! I am just saying it IS the easiest way to do it! phhhhht!
Ok, so NO static...sigh.. then do it the old fashioned way... Party Finder! Boooooo!
Yeah, Yeah, I know, but it's not impossible to get a clear this way, you just gotta know some stuff!
Ok, serious Annabel here, tips to do it.
1.. Learn the fight, then UNLEARN it!
Yes, that's right, I said UNLEARN it. Go and watch a video of the mechanics and rotation of the old Shiva Extreme.fight. What you will see is pretty much what the fight is going to be. The mechanics are actually pretty easy to learn and are very repetitious; so once you get used to them it's easy to do them on instinct.
There are just a few variants in the 3rd phase such as the positioning of the AOE circles for hailstorm and a sword attack that happens sometimes instead of hailstorm. Just remember to watch for those.
Note: Easy way to see the mechanics firsthand; Go into the 50 version of Shiva EX unsynced and go through the fight. You will take little damage and can see what mechanics she does and how they work. Note the times they happen and what comes up when.
1.5. UNLEARN!
You see, the Unreal fight is NOT the same as the normal EX fight. Unlike the EX fight, the DPS check for Unreal is brutal! Because of this you need to alter the strategy for dealing with the mechanics slightly for maximum DPS effectiveness. Unless it REALLY requires it, such as hailstorm and bow, try NOT to move from the middle if you can so you can keep up your DPS. This means eating damage from circles, which is OK! The healer WILL heal you back up, I promise! Also, if you are almost always standing still, it helps to deal with ice a lot easier since you barely move around the arena except for hailstorm and bow.
Try, try, TRY to get your group to DO this, it makes a WORLD of difference with the DPS!
2. HAILSTORM!
Oh the dreaded Hailstorm, one of two mechanics that Shiva does that SLAUGHTERS unprepared parties!
But you my loyal Annabel fans got this guide, so you will be PREPARED for it! ;p
Ok first off, Compass positions and partners!
Be SURE you are assigned a compass position, (yeah, here it is called compass, NOT clock), for hailstorm. This will matter in phase one and phase 3. Also, the 4 people on the cardinals, (Note: Cardinals are the 4 points; N,S,E,W), will get assigned the person CLOCKWISE to them as a partner to rotate for the circle AOE's. So if you are south cardinal, you will be paired up with the person SW of you.
Note: The diagonal points of the compass, (NE,SE,SW, NW), do NOT rotate CW, it is ONLY the cardinals that rotate clockwise! The diagonal points will rotate counter clockwise to be with their partner if the safe spot is in the cardinal position
So, if the safe circle opening is cardinal, the diag's rotate, it is is not, the cardinals rotate, easy peasy.
2.5: MARKER!
BUT, you ALSO might have a hailstorm marker on you while this is going on. 4 people will get marked during this. As partners, sometimes one of you gets marked, sometimes none of you. But sometimes, BOTH of you get marked, Oh NOES, WHAT does one DO?
If only one of you are marked by hailstorm, it is ok for both to be together in your compass spot., you both will live through it. But if you both get it, you need to be separated. BEFORE the fight starts, talk with your partner and arrange which one of you will head to the corner of your compass spot and which one of you stays in more towards Shiva. This is called inner and outer. By doing it this way, you are not overlapped for hailstorm and you both will live.
Note: person who is inner; WATCH for other inners and position yourself accordingly not to overlap with them. If you are observant, it should NOT be an issue since only 4 people are marked and your partner is one of them if you are both marked. That just leaves two others to worry about.
2.6: SWORD!
Now she does NOT always do the Hailstorm in this phase, sometimes she does sword instead. Watch when she rises and if she does NOT twirl, stack together for the hit, then go to safe spots to avoid circle damage. If you do not do this and move like with hailstorm, you will maybe die from the damage you take. Healers! Be SURE to heal this up in case people derp and don't get out of the way of the circle damage in time! Then they won't die. ;-)
2.7: RANDOM!
It is completely RANDOM which of the 2 she will do, I have seen no swords and only hailstorm, I have seen 2 swords in a row done. People, stay together until she rises and you know what she is doing! That way you will be prepared for the sword in case it happens.
3. BOW!
Oh the dreaded bow, This is the second thing in Shiva that slaughters parties! But this too is NOT bad with planning, and this depends on the tanks.
Tanks, my dear, dear tanks. Please, please PLEASE position Shiva correctly facing north so the bow faces that way. You do this and the attack is VERY easy to deal with. Keep her faced north the whole bow phase and these parts of the fights are trivial. Healers, the poor tank holding her in position is going to be getting walloped while doing this, so heal him constantly!
3.5: MARKER!
Near the end of the bow phase a marker will be placed on a random person. If you have it and Shiva is positioned correctly, stand south in preparation of the bow shot! Everyone else except the tanks go to the sides away from the marked person. When the shot goes off, everyone near the marked person will get knocked back, so if you are to the sides, it will avoid you and just affect the one person with the marker.
Note 1: Person marked; if Shiva is where she is supposed to be, the knockback should NOT push you into the barrier. If it does, the party can free you easily enough, or you can prepare a KB resistance so you don't move at all.
Note 2: tanks; If a tank gets this, usually they stay north and let her shot push them north into the barrier., then the others free him from the ice. .
4. POSITIONING!
Positioning of Shiva properly is half the battle in this fight. If Shiva is positioned properly, the fight goes smoothly with few deaths. If she isn't, CARNAGE happens! :O
Tanks, learn HOW and WHERE to position Shiva properly for her various mechanics for maximum DPS and minimum deaths. Usually this is mainly in the middle for most stuff and north for the bow phase. I am no tank though, so can't comment too much on this, but it is what I see done and it works.
5. HEALING!
As I said in my blog about clearing. Shiva can be a bitch to heal. Every full rotation of mechanics she gets more and more powerful as she gains more and more buff stacks. This means more damage she does the closer to enrage you get. The healers need to be on the ball and anticipate the large amount of damage the later attacks are going to do, especially on YOURSELF!
In fact, if a healer falls, the party is in trouble because that is less healing going out to deal with all that AOE damage going on., and it adds up FAST towards the end causing people to drop VERY quickly.
Healers, please, please, PLEASE KNOW the mechanics! If you drop in the later parts it is devastating to the success of the fight. because you can't keep the DPS's up and pumping out the damage.
Also, I STILL say a White Mage is needed for fast and constant AOE healing.when Shiva is really pumping out the AOE damage when she gets over 9 stacks.
Note: When Shiva hits 11 stacks she will cast the 2nd Diamond Dust., this is the enrage and will end the fight.
6. DUMB STUFF!
I am putting this here to say, Even if you know ALL the mechanics, even if you know HOW to position Shiva correctly. Even if you know how to do hailstorm, the bow, the circles, the sword, and the ice; you will STILL end up doing REALLY stupid and dumb things from time to time because of the chaotic stress of the fight.
I guarantee, it WILL happen, you WILL cause wipes and failure because of some really DUMB things you do because of any number of reasons. Just shrug it off, apologize for your stupidity, and try again. If the party is cool, they'll laugh it off. Because I guarantee you, they will probably be doing it themselves. ;-)
6.5: The END!
When you are ALMOST there, when she is ALMOST dead, THAT is when the stress kicks into overdrive and people choke. The tanks are stressed keeping her in place, the healers are stressed dealing with the massive amounts of damage coming in, and the DPS are stressed trying to keep their stacks and rotations going for max effectiveness.
Remember, even then, the rotations are the SAME! Keep doing what you were doing before, just pay NO attention to her health bar! The only exception to this is healing. If you are the healer, forget about DPSing and keep the others up and alive. She is going to be hitting for a LOT and that health can drop to zero before you know it if you are attacking too much and not focused on healing, especially the tanks.
Well there you go, another ditzy guide to help you clear ungodly hard stuff no reasonably sane person would EVER touch! ;p
But for those that do, I wish you luck clearing. And remember, you need to do this EVERY week for that damn fox if you want to play the faux game! BLEH!
Well, I have to say these are good tips for playing in general. Reducing movement, good positioning for tanks, coordinating strategy with your partner, and becoming familiar with the timeline of the fight are all good guidelines for any battle.
I still have not set foot in this fight yet, because I was busy throughout the weekend and am super tired, lol! I decided to take it easy and spend the next week learning it.
It is true, you are going to make mistakes, just apologize and do your best to avoid it next time, thinking carefully how to prepare for the same situation. At least, in my experience, most people understand that occasional errors are expected, they only fear you do not care to learn.
Btw, I learned that apparently, you cannot put [Duty Complete] on parties for Unreal Shiva. It is not yet clear whether this is intended or an oversight. Because of this, parties are plagued with those who have only ever done it unsync, and do not realize the difficulty in trying to kill an ex primal at close to minimum ilvl. That may explain why there are so many struggling parties.
With your experience Sig in Savage I really don't think you will have much trouble with the fight except for finding people able to go the distance.
Shiva's DPS check is no joke and gives very little room for mistakes and deaths. People CANNOT be carried through this, especially DPS's! EVERYONE needs to do their part and be good at their job.
If you don't have at least some SYNCED EX fight experience, you will choke and drag down the group. Unsyncers need NOT apply!
I did not say this in my tips, but this is the first fight I have done where the LB3 NEEDS to be saved for the DPS's, NOT the healers! :O
If it ends up being used as a healer LB3 it's most likely over; the DPS check will probably fail.
In fact, if THAT many people are dead where a healer LB3 IS needed, the fight was already lost.before the LB3. due to lack of DPS..
I COULD edit it, but hopefully people reading the tips read the comments too! ;-)
I have edited this to add the sword in phase 3, which I forgot to put in here. It does not happen too often and can easily surprise you if you are not prepared to watch for it.
