Stratholme

[Arsyn]

Is there some secret knack to this?

I go in, try AOE, get mauled. Try again, get a bit further pulling, adds, mauled.

Try again, adds again, mauled.

How am I meant to grind this place for marks and runecloth?

[Grehn|Skipjack]

Pull 2-5 packs, back into a corner, cleanse off diseases, and use the Figurine of the Colossus liberally. Seal and Judge Wisdom. I'm not sure what exactly is "maul"ing you.

[Grimmal]

I haven't tried farming there, but I'm guessing you are probably letting stuff hit you from behind.

I know when I went in at 60 to get my epic mount I was able to tank a group of mobs just fine as long as I positioned well, as soon as I started rushing to pick up strays though it got rough. I can't see really see a reason why you would be doing terrible at 70 otherwise.

[Arsyn]

Zombie packs at the start, easy. Standard AOE grind really.

When I get into Strat45 things go downhill. Something keeps silencing me dropping Holy Shield, I do sod all damage to the mobs, their friends come along and add more Silence and fear, I get rooted in place and eventually no health or mana and unable to cast Lay on Hands. I get stuck in the corner with a large pack of Undead whittling me down and helpless to do anything.

I even tried that SSC neck that reduces silence duration and still died.

[Arsyn]

Got a bit further today, pulling one mob at a time. painstakingly slow but took the banshee and spider boss down.

Had to bubble+HS at the casters before the next boss though. How am I meant to get them? They cast bone armour on themselves so my hits are absorbed then healed themselves making me do no damage to them and slowly dying.

[Grehn|Skipjack]

The problem is you're going into deadStrat. Crypt Fiends can silence, and Thuzadin Necros drain life. Just clear the first area before Dead and Live Strat if you're just after Runecloth and Scourgestones.

[Sederia]

and if you want to be one of the people with the undead horse?
we kinda have to plow thru... I can handle the silence... it's the damn bone shield

[Arsyn]

Hmmm was thinking of doing Baron on the side but sod the horse if it's that hard. Thanks!

[Kelaan]

and if you want to be one of the people with the undead horse?
we kinda have to plow thru... I can handle the silence... it's the damn bone shield

The thing is, there are very few Necromancers that you can't avoid. You can get quite close to some groups without aggroing them, and pulling some of the banshees near Maleki to the nook near the fountain works well. The only necros I find myself needing to fight are the ones right in front of Maleki... and I agree they're a bear, but SoW/JoW and chain cleanses make it doable. Save a potion if you need it, but you can usually burst down one of them if you have decent amounts of SD gear. (Shockadin sheck seems to work well for that.)

IF you pull something you don't mean to, you can almost always just run like a bat to the front door. BoFreedom prevents the webs, as do FAPs (I have none) and divine shield. If you're careful, you can also clear more things so there's less chance of a clusterfuck-pull, but generally you can avoid pretty much all of the necromancers except for the ones before Maleki.

Fight crypt fiends and banshees separately, away from friends. LOS back to the initial gate after the timer starts if you need to.


edit:
The hardest part seems to be figuring out which trash you can SKIP completely. Once you do that, you can save a bunch of time.

[amh]

Some of the mobs in Stratholme gives you a -30% stats-debuff. Went in there yesterday for my charger-quest, and I´ve never seen my health-bar being that spiky before

Don´t have any numbers for this, but as the debuff wears off, sometimes you get the health refunded, sometimes not. I can imagine with your health-pool that´s a lot of health gone after a seemingly harmless trashpull

[Rehlachs-]

Had to bubble+HS at the casters before the next boss though. How am I meant to get them? They cast bone armour on themselves so my hits are absorbed then healed themselves making me do no damage to them and slowly dying.

indeed, those guys are a pain in your ass. there was no real trick about those .. just get through it. bone armor and constant draining is annoying and time consuming (if you want to do a timed run). I was more or less successful by stunning and silencing (being a belf is fun!) one in the hope to kill it - it's way more relaxing when have to deal with 1 less of these annoying bastards from the beginning ^^

[Kelaan]

Had to bubble+HS at the casters before the next boss though. How am I meant to get them? They cast bone armour on themselves so my hits are absorbed then healed

indeed, those guys are a pain in your ass. there was no real trick about those .. just get through it. bone armor and constant draining is annoying and time consuming (if you want to do a timed run).

I agree with Reh - focus all of your effort on ONE target first. I usually run SR aura, there, I believe -- but not sure if it helps.

The bone armor only absorbs 1600 damage. I just judge wisdom, bless wisdom, and seal righteousness -- and then pretty much prioritize cleanse over everything else. You'll lose 700ish mana and health by the time you get a cast off, and there's two of them. I generally kill the shadowcaster first -- as they don't have the bone armor, they die much faster. Then, you're down to two of the necromancers (in front of Maleki). It's slow going. Save a mana potion, or a rejuv potion, for this. (This is where being shockadin spec in prot gear helps -- holy shock gives you extra burst that you can use. Still, I've only done it that way once.)

It's a slow fight, but doable. They're going to take damage when bone armor is down, so you just need to concentrate on staying alive. Gift of the Naaru, consumables, blessings, bubble->bandage/heal are all useful. I think I've actually used LOH on these guys once or twice. You should be able to mitigate their melee pretty well with devo + Block Value gear, so pretty much your only concern is to outlast the drains. You might even consider skipping SoR and using SoW or light -- and let holy shield and the PLG be what kills them... I forget how well that works.