Difference between revisions of "Hunting the Spirit Talker's Headdress"

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	== Who Can Get the Headdress ==		== Who Can Get the Headdress ==
−	The wife wanted one of those Shaman hats ({{:Spirit Talker Headdress}} ... arguably the best stats head item with a polar bear graphic) from [[Dragon Necropolis]]. At the time of the former, now-autolocked thread, I had not worked out a way for us to realistically duo it for all the reasons discussed in the prior thread (traps, unstunnable/unpushable level 56+ gaters, etc). However since that time we worked out a way to duo that camp effectively. It may also be possible for a Shaman to solo it very slowly because it turns out a couple of the spawns of paebala rats are easily split.	+	The wife wanted one of those Shaman hats ({{:Spirit Talker's Headdress}}) ... arguably the best stats head item with a polar bear graphic) from [[Dragon Necropolis]]. At the time of the former, now-autolocked thread, I had not worked out a way for us to realistically duo it for all the reasons discussed in the prior thread (traps, unstunnable/unpushable level 56+ gaters, etc). However since that time we worked out a way to duo that camp effectively. It may also be possible for a Shaman to solo it very slowly because it turns out a couple of the spawns of Paebala rats are easily split.
	Our duo consists of 60 Shaman (her) and 60 Shadow Knight (me). Equipment is mostly Thurgadin-level or equivalent. Here are my observations doing this as a duo:		Our duo consists of 60 Shaman (her) and 60 Shadow Knight (me). Equipment is mostly Thurgadin-level or equivalent. Here are my observations doing this as a duo:

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Revision as of 02:14, 12 February 2021

NOTE: This page is based on these two threads: [1] and [2].

Contents 1 Who Can Get the Headdress 2 The Camp 3 The Mobs 4 Dealing With Gating Mobs 5 Drop Rate

Who Can Get the Headdress

The wife wanted one of those Shaman hats () ... arguably the best stats head item with a polar bear graphic) from Dragon Necropolis. At the time of the former, now-autolocked thread, I had not worked out a way for us to realistically duo it for all the reasons discussed in the prior thread (traps, unstunnable/unpushable level 56+ gaters, etc). However since that time we worked out a way to duo that camp effectively. It may also be possible for a Shaman to solo it very slowly because it turns out a couple of the spawns of Paebala rats are easily split.

Our duo consists of 60 Shaman (her) and 60 Shadow Knight (me). Equipment is mostly Thurgadin-level or equivalent. Here are my observations doing this as a duo:

The Camp

The ideal room to set up in, as detailed in the former thread, appears to be the room with the big Amorphous Blob (marked 9 on the wiki map). It seems entirely safe since the Blob itself is non-aggressive and also non-social with both factions of resident ratmen in that zone. Getting TO the room requires some effort (or some luck) since beyond the spiders on the upper level, some of which see invisible, there are many, many traps in the way. Not marked on the map, the entire area "8" is a lake full of water, and most of the tunnel leading to area "9" is mostly underwater. There are also traps in both the lake and the tunnel, as well as entropy serpents in the lake roamer paevala rats in the tunnel. Traps break invisibility, hence why I would blow them in advance using my SK (it can re-invis instantly with per-nerf circlet).

The Mobs

You will have four basic types of rats. Escaped workers (rogue), Warriors, Rebels (rogue) and Spirit Talkers (shaman), in increasing level of danger/power. All of them appear to spawn at similar rates, meaning the Shaman rats, while not rare, won't be a majority of what you kill in any given session either. Workers are quite weak and are on chetari faction and WILL be killed by the other paebala rats. Warriors usually spawn with a pair of velium weapons so they almost always dual-wield. Rebels hit hard and will double-backstab for upwards of 900 total if given half a chance. All melee types tend to be hasted by nearby Shaman rats. Spirit Talkers are nasty brutes which love casting high-level shaman damage spells sometimes up to Bane of Nife (both direct and over time) and will gate; all of them are resistant and the higher level variants are too high to stun with most stun spells or slam. The wife and I used malo, replaced it with malosini, and tash-proc stick () so as to reduce their resists as much as possible. All ratmen flee; snaring them is prudent since a flee-mode rat will not attempt gate even if its mana ticks up. Rooting to stop runners can work if that's your only other option but is less desirable. None of the ratmen ordinarily see invisible.

Once in camp (the blob room), the two roamer ratmen in the underwater tunnel are relatively easy to split. They follow an overlapping but distinct pathing route, and one takes quite a lot longer than the other to make a full circuit, meaning a little patience is all that's required to get a split. Pulling is not necessarily safe because melee-type rats will usually be hasted and deal considerable damage. Allowing even these roamers (if a spirit talker) to gate is not desirable because they spawn farther in within aggro range of additional ratmen. A solo shaman might possibly be able to camp these two spawns although it wouldn't be easy.

Beyond the two initial roamers, the first hallway has several static spawns plus several additional roamers. Splitting these is difficult without either a very good lull or a feign puller and in both cases a back-up rez is wise to have access to. On my Shadow knight the pull tactic was standard (snare-feign/try to get a chance between casts), but difficult due to the usual trouble of feigning around multiple casters. I used wort potions several times.

Dealing With Gating Mobs

The method we used of dealing with gate proved simple enough: Mana drain them. This entails letting them cast or heal the majority of their mana out, then once they stop healing use to drain them the rest of the way. Doing this, the Spirit Talker rats will NEVER gate. We killed dozens of them and never had a single one gate on us using this method. Once they enter flee mode you're home free. Both malosini and tash stick are desired so as to get as many mana drain procs to land as possible.

Drop Rate

The drop rate on the headdress seems rather low, probably on the order of a few per cent. We saw two of the 2-hand pierce shaman lances and one paebala warbone (off a warrior rat) before the hat dropped. As was stated in the other thread, it shows as a old world leather (bear hat on a Barbarian) graphic on the wearer, but NO visible graphic to other players. This doesn't bother the wife but might annoy other users, so be advised.

A group with an Enchanter (we don't have any active Enchanter friends) would make this much easier for obvious reasons. Good luck and hopefully this is useful to you if you're still trying to get one a hat for your own Shaman.