If you just want to see Vanaduke and not the full Firestorm Castle run, it starts at about 49 minutes.
Here's the video: http://www.justin.tv/madcap7331/b/284508578
Quality is about the best I could get it at without suffering lag, unfortunately.
It'll be deleted soon enough because of music and such. So catch it while you can!
I'm not a forum lurker, but I'll try to answer any questions.
You misunderstand. You shoot when they're not doing anything or going to attack, and full combo on them when they're jumping or breathing in a different direction. Otherwise, you're just always opening yourself up to damage. And even if you were using only guns, you do know shields can repel.
And you block too much period. If you stand back a bit and shoot them for a bit, and then melee when they can't do anything about it, you maintain constant damage. You won't need to block ever again! For zombies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DJP3hepM-4
This is a good video to learn how to strafe Vanaduke. The guy in the video always boasts about being the best in the game, and he really backs it up.
wow I'm hoping this was u guys first time doing a vanaduke run.
Lemme start things off first you have absolutely no reason what so ever to be using a Sentenza in fire citadel. also just because melee does more damage on any stage regardless whether its fire citadel or not still does not warrant why u should always be using a sword over a gun. Don't get me wrong using a sword fighting the zombies is fine and all but when ur not smart enough to do a single hit and block instead of doing 2 hits which result in u getting hit is just dumb.
not only that you guys refuse to break the zombies breath attack by simply attacking it u can disrupt it which is why its advised to use a gun for the majority time when fighting the zombies but using a sword is still good assuming ur smart enough not 2 dive into them while getting hit at the same time, instead thats exactly what u guys did u kept meleeing other zombies while others just lit u up with their fire breath.
that is also a bad bomb choice for that stage u guys do know the Ice bombs work really well in fire citadel especially against vanaduke.
neitherless u guys remind me of a bunch of new players that just got their Divine avenger and their like oh yea man lets go take on that vanaduke boss, just because u have a DA doesn't mean u can just run through fire citadel like that...
noticed u said u made sure u zoned the zombies which I find that frankly to be a lie it more or less looks like u just ran up to them and said HIT ME! HIT ME MOAR!
I'm actually considering making a vanaduke run video with my friends it wont be anything spectacular as magnus soloing vanaduke, but it will be efficient and no where as time consuming as yall's run
"neitherless u guys remind me of a bunch of new players that just got their Divine avenger and their like oh yea man lets go take on that vanaduke boss, just because u have a [b] DA doesn't mean u can just run through fire citadel like that..."
.. but we did. It was mostly - "we all have lvl 5 guns, we could run Vanaduke, now". Because guess what? You can. You don't need flashy equipment or supreme knowledge about exploiting the AI.
Any criticism about equipment is a bit funny considering we don't want to spend all that money + time in getting equipment we don't really need that is only useful for that boss (and we don't want to get a set of new equipment for each boss). Our run is awkward, but we make it through! With the power of friendship! Believe it!
We aren't looking to complete in 'record time' or smoothly. I think we showed that it could be done with just mish-mash of POOR EQUIPMENT (we have level 4 armor items that don't have any fire resistance). And we only had to resurrect twice between the 4 of us (only once on Vanaduke).
It should be impressive in that it could be done 'without' a perfect set of equipment. Especially considering how much the two of you are criticizing me/us for it.
But you spent money on Sentenzas instead of Argents. Saying that criticism about that is funny means the admittance of actually buying Sentenzas instead of Argents is funny.
Also, if you had Argents and only comboed when you wouldn't get hit, there'd be a lot lot lot less dying.
Also, advice isn't criticism. I said what you were doing wrong, but you wanted to argue that, so your call, yo.
The gun mostly type of fighting seems like it would take a lot more time than sweeping multiple zombies and blocking. Getting through the levels would seem quite a bit longer.
I use Winmillion (4*, cruddy choice, but it has knockback) and Argent Peacemaker during Citadel runs.
Argent does a good 80 or so damage a shot, without buffed damage against undead. The charge attack, the eagle can pound each flame zombie around 3 times for over 100 damage a hit (I think it did 160, give or take 10). Yes, you can run up and slash them, but you need to slash once, then guard. With a gun you can just fire five shots while retreating, pause, fire another five. The DPS of a good gun is slightly higher than a Divine Avenger. Divine Avengers have a great charge attack that covers a wide area, but if you're just hacking and slashing you would have been better off with a CIV.
At least that's what I think.
You're still not getting the 'melee only when they won't hit back, shoot the rest of the time, no damage get' somehow. I don't know how much more plainly anyone could explain it.
You're right Magnus, I don't get that because swapping weapons takes some time basically the same time as a blocking. Plus, you can only hit one zombie. Show me a video of it if you're so insistent.
The damage we take doesn't seem to matter as much because there are always hearts around after every major step. What matters is not getting a Total Party Kill. And that happens more often from freak accidents (getting charged from half-way across the room) which is correlated to number of enemies on the board. So a few need to be brought down quickly.
not only that both the peacemaker and the sentenze have somewhat of a splash damage which allows u to hit multiple enemies also it does not take very long at all to switch weapons
I like the video from Magnus loads better.
Now if only Youtube didn't poo on the audio and Vimeo didn't explode it. >:c
I'd have to agree. I skipped to the Vanaduke section and I'm rather appalled that you chose to use guns in favour of going up and whacking his mask while it was floating around. To add insult to injury, you chose guns which do piercing and shadow versus a target that supposedly resists both (according to the wiki). I can understand wanting to stay away from lord hotpants while he's stomping around, but his mask shoots you anywhere you are, just go up and whack the thing for more damage.
I'd also have to agree you and your friends block way too much and are too secure in the idea that "blocking = no damage". Blocking slows your movement. Blocking has finite health. And I've never seen a shield recover while you maintain a block. Don't block constantly. Block his swings, then move out of the way.
"The guy in the video always boasts about being the best in the game, and he really backs it up."
LOL well played Magnus, well played.
To summarize this thread:
-Guy posts video containing a really inefficient way to do Citadel.
-Magnus offers advice, guy argues with Magnus, despite Magnus having more experience with Vanaduke than most people, if not everyone.
-Guy then defends himself by going "I WAS JUST TRYING TO PROVE YOU CAN BE TERRIBLE AT THE GAME AND STILL DO OKAY".
-No one actually understands guy's point, guy looks like a jackass.
You're not any more right for having done things the wrong way successfully. I don't think anyone indicated that the best way to do things was the only way to do things. However, even if they had, it wouldn't make it okay for you to verbally defecate on people for offering you gameplay tips to make your future runs easier.
They were just offering advice, and they're more experienced than you. You don't take that and go "no, my way is better SHUT UP YOUR WAY IS DUMB".
Video in which I solo Vanaduke in ONLY Proto Sword, Proto Shield, Proto Gun, Spiral Cullet, and Spiral Sallet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
/thread
"However, even if they had, it wouldn't make it okay for you to verbally defecate on people for offering you gameplay tips to make your future runs easier. "
I don't think I ever did this. I explained my reasoning or said 'show me'. I'm only looking for proof - and I prefer not to see someone with the best armor in the game and 200,000+ energy 'beating' Vanaduke. He took like 10+ hits and went to half health. We go down in two shots. We have to be more aware of group survival.
Also, it seems that he has multiple items that increase attack speed (and additional decreased charge time) which helps him do that strafe-kiting. So, I think his tactics are item-dependent.
In short, I'm saying what my group does is based on 'inferior' equipment. If we wanted to spend a good amount time and money getting only the very best equipment, we probably could - but that's not our goal. I like this game because you could be smart and work around that.
>Someone posts a Vanaduke video
>Blablablablabla
Just as expected.
@Madcap
In short, I'm saying what my group does is based on 'inferior' equipment. If we wanted to spend a good amount time and money getting only the very best equipment, we probably could - but that's not our goal. I like this game because you could be smart and work around that.
Your argument is flawed. You walked in with sentenzas and divine avengers which itself are serious item acquisitions thanks to multiple jelly king runs. You could have instead made an alchemer or magnus variant as per their recommendations and done better at range, as well as actually used those swords for what they were meant for. You don't even need a high end shield, but your methodology in the fight was again flawed, and the tactics provided by the others is sound with even starting armour (albeit useless down there. Lord hotpants would tear through your proto shield and flatten you in one hit).
Criticizing equipment right off the bat..
Well it seems everyone knows better. So I guess you can start posting videos, yes?
I'm criticizing equipment because your claim is "we did it with crappy equipment, we win! You don't need supah high end aspd mumbo jumbo!" and you use this to discredit the advice given to you because those people giving it do have this gear you're complaining about. But that's like complaining about an 80 year old's experience with the stock market being invalid because he made trades with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you made a few thousand with your meager savings over a week. They're right, there's a better way to win, and while you did win (and congrats) your way is not the best.
What do you mean, "start"?
The Devil Makes Three is great, good music and good quality, keep making vids!
Haven't killed Vanaduke yet myself (haven't tried) but ignore the haters around here.
Apparently killing Vanaduke isn't enough for them, you have to kill him their way or it wasn't "worthy". The elitism is wonderful around these parts. At least it's not as bad as the WoW forums...
Grats on the kill!
Yes, giving someone advice on how to do it much more easily, faster, and with less dying is hating and elitist.
I agree completely with this statement.
Congratulations on the kill, and thank you for posting the video! I'm new to the game and haven't tried fighting him yet, so it's great to be able to see how different teams do it.
As for all the old timers posting on how to do it better, we really appreciate the advice, but would it kill you to be just a little bit nice while giving it? Like maybe starting with a "Grats on the effort" or something like that - yes, even if you facepalmed yourself while watching the video and were thinking the whole time how you could do it 1000 times better. I mean just go back and re-read your posts and think what they would sound like if you were the one killing a very difficult boss for the first time and posting about it, and this was the reaction you got. :(
I hope this doesn't discourage people from posting videos. It's useful to see other people's gameplay even if it's not perfect, since we all learn from each other's mistakes. Magnus' video was beautiful and I'm convinced his friend is indeed the best in the game. But for those of us who are nowhere near that level, it's useful to see how fellow ordinary mortals did against such a hard boss, if only to encourage us to not lose hope.
Congrats on the kill Madcap. Here's to many more kills to come, may they be increasingly swifter and more painless! I've never tried to defeat him myself, doesn't look like I will soon.
P.S. Don't feed the trolls.
@Magnus
In what way was my post directed at you? I said for the OP to "ignore the haters" (See Post 5 for an example).
Sigh.. These forums are getting worse by the day.
Yay for two voices of reason at the end of a ridiculous thread. Grats on the kill!
Congratulations on your victory over Vanaduke. Though I have not watched the video myself, it seems that you could have done better? Magnus was polite in the way he presented his advice to further increase your efficiently in maximizing damage with out the need to put yourself in harms way for no reason. I have run FSC three or four times, twice involved Vanaduke, and I would much rather shoot from a far than get up and personal. Only time I really use my sword is versus Trojans, Gun Puppies (If it proves easier than shooting them) or, when I am in a state of panic and needs some knockback (eg, shield busted). Admittedly I use my sword more than I should, and I know that. Some times I enter a state of rage and just want to plow through zombies, merciliously swinging my sword while my eyes are blood shot with RAAAGE! But, then I died, because they smash my shield, or I don't get my shield up in time after my swing and they hit me. No idea if that happened to you, just my experience.
@Magnus
I don't know much about you, other than what I have heard(I hear your the baddest of that bad?) So let me say thanks for posting the advice. The stuff you said makes sense (I tend to shield and try to side step, but get hit any ways into FIII-YA!) So hopefully I can improve my performance during futrue Vanaduke Runs with what you said. I will take that advice, and further increase my efficiency and overall, increase my enjoyment with less deaths.
Some advice!
While in the Citadel, you were trying far far far too hard to always melee. I think this is because you brought one of the worst guns in the game with you. The Argent is, in every way, better than Sentenza. You'll need to know when to move back and shoot the slags instead of running up and wacking them (see: firebreath).
As for Vanaduke, when you have his aggro, do not ever NEVER EVER! think moving back slightly or just blocking and holding still is a good idea. Always, always strafe around him so he takes longer to attack, and when he does it's more likely to miss, and never double back while strafing unless you hit a wall, but if you go back the way you came and don't prance around a little, then he should just blatantly miss and toss himself/mace a corner.
Long and short, you block too much instead of moving.