Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

User avatar
Magnakilro
Illustrious Master Hunter
Illustrious Master Hunter
Posts: 10499
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:12 pm
Realm: Eonar
Gender: Male Irl. Male orc
Location: No longer in your pants

Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Magnakilro »

Tippity Top of the Morning to ya's! (at 8 pm). Magnakilro here with yet another freaking guide. Hip hip hooray. Jubilations! Anarchy! Devastation!

This time we are talking about something different: Withered Army Training.

What is it? Well its a mini-game available via World Quest that comes up every 3 days. It is initially unlocked early in the Suramar storyline. In this Minigame, you control a small fighting force of Withered as you traverse the treacherous Fal'dorei Tunnels fighting foes and gathering treasure. Your goal is to score points and bring home a great many loots.

--------------------------

How do I start? Well, once you've unlocked the World quest...you'll need to load up on Ancient Mana....at least 400. When you have enough, speak with Thalyssra in Shal'aran (make sure she's fed or you won't be able to start) and choose one of the payment options to begin!

--------------------------------------

How does this work? This is a solo scenario....when you begin, talk to Thalyssra to get the Withered Army you purchased. You'll get an extra action button. When you attack, your withered will barrage the target with thrown debris. Think of them as pets permanently set to 'Assist'. They do a 'Disengage' style move sometimes when enemies get close. You'll have a buff that has a stack for each Withered in your army. This buff just tells you the average remaining hp of your army. Sometimes your Withered will try to Flee if they take damage. Catch up and click it to get it back. If not fast enough, you lose your Withered.

The action button switches your Withered's stance: Mayhem makes them hit 75% harder but they are uncontrollable and will attack anything that enters a certain radius. They also won't leave the location ((KEEP THAT IN MIND! IF YOU GO TOO FAR AWAY, YOU'LL LOSE YOUR WITHERED!)). Follow is the default, your Withered go where you go and attack what you do.

Standing around the mini game area, you'll find Withered Exiles...click them to increase your army. Some are trapped in web cocoons.

When you kill non-boss enemies, you earn points. Your score will determine how much reputation you get for the Nightfallen at the end.

The scenario ends in the following ways:

1: Lose all Withered

2: Die

3: Disconnect

4: Reach the teleporter at the end

5: Talk to Thalyssra at the entrance.

Once ended, you'll get to open all chests you've earned.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Chests: There are 5 types of chests in this mini game:

1: Small: This one is the only one you can open without ending the minigame. Just contains gold, Mana, Blood of Sargeras...minor stuff like that.

2: Medium: Will cost you 5 of your Withered. You'll be able to open it when the minigame ends. These chests each contain a unique item. Once opened, the chest is permanently removed from the minigame. You'll find: A bank to add to Shal'aran, the Ancient Mana Basin toy, Leyline Broodling pet, Artifact Power, 25% increased Withered hp, 25% increased Withered power, Increased Withered Focus, and decreased Withered Run Away chance.

3: Glimmering: Costs you 10 Withered to access. You'll be able to open it when the game ends. Like the Medium chests, these ones each hold a unique item and are permanently removed once opened. They contain upgrades that add new Withered Units to your army. In total: 2 Berserkers, 2 Mana-Ragers, a Spellseer and a Starcaller.

4: Invisible Chests: Can be Medium or Glimmering. These transparent chests only show if you have a Spellseer. Otherwise functions like other chests that size.

5: Final Chest: This chest only appears when the game ends. Its rewards are determined by your score. Nightfallen rep, gold, artifact power, gear, toys and other things can be within.

Items that upgrade your army are Permanent and will ALWAYS be in effect every time you play the mini-game.

-----------------------------

Withered Types:

Exiles are your standard Withered. They throw things.

Berserkers are large Withered that Taunt and Charge.

Mana Ragers are large withered with Chain Lightning.

The Spellseer reveals hidden chests and attacks at range.

Starcaller....not sure. Haven't seen him in action yet XD

Now that we know what's going on here...let's get to trying to do our best!

Before you start, you'll want enough Ancient Mana for the maximum withered you can bring. I HIGHLY reccommend getting maxxed Ancient Mana cap (2000) for this as 20 Withered is a strong army.

If you need quick Mana just poke around western Suramar City and gather the gems, powder, blossoms, tomes and arcwine. Its the fastest way.

Once you have your army (preferably 20) we can begin.

One note: Get as far as you can BEFORE getting any chests that cost your Withered....you don't want to be caught in a tough area with a smaller army.

-----------------------

Start off by searching the outer edges for more Exiles and Small Chests. Open Small Chests as you get to em. The Shamblers here are easy prey for your army. That Volatile Wraith in the middle can be dangerous, but isn't too bad. Interrupt Arcane Munition and either kill him fast or stun him out of Explosion. This applies to all Volatile Wraiths from here on.

You'll now be at a forked hallway with Shamblers and another Wraith. Clear it. To the right is a door that can only be opened if you have 2 Berserkers currently in your army. Inside is a medium chest guarded by SIX Volatile Wraiths (one pats back and forth, 2 chill together on the left, 3 together on the right) and some mini wraiths that melt to your army. Only do this room for the chest then never come here again for later runs. Nothing in here will be worth the damage of the Wraiths once the chest is gone.

On the left is a cave and a door. The door can only be opened if you have 10 living Withered in your current army. Inside you'll find some shamblers, some Exiles and your first boss: Lapillia.

Lapillia has an interruptible cast called Shardbolt....interrupt as much as you possible can. Her other ability basically makes you explode...get away from your Withered so you don't hurt them. She guards one of the one-time only chests.

Once that's done, head into the cave to reach the Shattered Locus....LOTS of Shale Spiders here, and Shardmaidens and a few Wraiths. Carefully clear the room for points and chests.

Continue on and now the Fal'dorei make their presence known as well as lil spiders. Cocoons start showing up here too...pop those open and you might get more Exiles.

From here on, at any point, you will randomly be attacked by quite possible the most dangerous boss in this: Dro.

Dro will charge back and forth thru your Withered, causing some devastating damage. You can stun him out of the charge. Unfortunately you MUST kill Dro every run as he drops the key to the last areas of the tunnels.

There are a couple of doors in the Fal'dorei areas that require 10 Living Withered to open...one has a Fal'dorei boss and the other has a Wraith boss....don't recall anything they did though...they aren't that tough.

Eventually you'll find the door that needs Dro's key...open it and enter. You'll come upon a closed door and a nearby room with an elite Fal'dorei and TONS of spider eggs that hatch into adds. Kill the boss to open the door you passed. Go thru and you'll soon find another boss: Furog the Elfbreaker

Furog isn't TOO bad but if not careful, you could lose some withered. Stun him out of Stomp if you can.

While here, you've probably noticed the endless stream of spiders pouring down the nearby stairs. They are coming from the final boss.

The spider boss will leave web patches around that must be avoided. The boss isn't too tough...hardest part is wading thru the spiders to reach it.

Once past that boss, you'll find some chests and Oculeth, who'll end your run. You made it!

---------------------------------------------------------

Now you may not be able to do this on your earliest runs....don't fret...if needed, spend the first few runs just getting whatever 1-time chests you find to upgrade your guys! You'll be glad you did.

Btw, the maximum rep reward you can get is 425 Nightfallen rep, which is at around 400 points.

Good luck! Once you have all the 1 time chests...just focus on getting points for rep and opening mini chests.

Hope this helps ppl!

Note: It is SAID that you can get the quest starting item for the Fox mount here. You can also get it from the Nightfallen World Quest goodie box
Avatar made by the awesome Senna-umbreon
User avatar
Vephriel
Illustrious Master Hunter
Illustrious Master Hunter
Posts: 16354
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:07 pm
Realm: Wyrmrest Accord US
Gender: Female
Location: Canada

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Vephriel »

Dro is absolutely wrecking me every attempt. T_T He always sneaks up on me and decimates my army before I can get him down.
User avatar
Lupen202
Grand Master Hunter
Grand Master Hunter
Posts: 1971
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:19 am
Realm: Burning Blade, Frostwolf, Proudmoore
Gender: Female

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Lupen202 »

Binding shot helps a lot in stunning Dro as well as larger packs of mobs, keeping them in place so my withered can burst them down faster, and I make sure I set my withered to mayhem every single time I face any elite or elemental. Sadly though it's just a matter of working your way up to all of the equipment and the max mana cap. Once you can hold 2k, going in with 20 withered really makes a huge difference.

Dro used to cause some problems, but with binding shot and popping all my CDs I've managed to avoid him ever wiping out my entire army, and now with everything unlocked I can get him down in seconds before he can even damage them at all.

Image
Neiara - NE Hunter - Burning Blade (US) - Denial of Service

| My Mount Collection |
| Flight Rising |

User avatar
WingedCaduceus
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 11:16 am
Realm: Borean Tundra
Gender: Female

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by WingedCaduceus »

Oh my gosh thank you so much for this! I had no idea that the chests were one-time and held the buffs. I'd just been trying to reach the end and see the entire instance before trying to open anything that costs withered. This will make things so much easier!
User avatar
peanutbuttercup
Artisan Hunter
Artisan Hunter
Posts: 929
Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:52 am

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by peanutbuttercup »

Vephriel wrote:Dro is absolutely wrecking me every attempt. T_T He always sneaks up on me and decimates my army before I can get him down.
As soon as Dro pops stick a tank pet on it and send your army into Mayhem. All you can do it burn him down before he takes out too many of your guys. If you have 20+ guys he'll go down surprisingly fast.

The worst is when he pops up in a room you haven't cleared. Mayhem = more adds = more dead withered.
User avatar
Teigan
Illustrious Master Hunter
Illustrious Master Hunter
Posts: 5164
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:05 am
Realm: Proudmoore (A), Thrall (H)
Gender: Male
Location: Somewhere in a cornfield

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Teigan »

I haven't even gotten to this yet, but I think this will be a handy guide whenever I do. Thanks for writing it!
User avatar
Xella
Artisan Hunter
Artisan Hunter
Posts: 681
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:53 pm
Realm: Skywall-US
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Xella »

Since most of y'all play hunters, it's worth mentioning that I'm almost certain Beast Mastery's mastery affects your withered army—guildmates report a non-Mayhem! rock from a regular withered exile hits for about 60k for them (with the damage item); mine typically hit for 100k+ per rock, going up to about 200k with Mayhem! active. Granted, I'm at 853 ilvl right now with like 80-something percent mastery so that's probably helping, but even in the first week it was available when I had nothing by way of gear I felt like I was having much less trouble than a lot of people in my guild were reporting (even taking into account the whole "having a pet to tank" thing).

Last training session I started with 12 withered (900 mana), cleared everything up to Dro (including the unlockable rooms) and had 33 by the time Dro spawned; he died in nine seconds :9
Image

I don't know if the "8% damage on cobra shot per pet" thing works with the withered as I don't typically run with it (and always forget to respec before starting), and I don't have Titan's Thunder yet (four more traits... hhhhhhhhgh). I do know that my pet seems to be at least half-affected by Mayhem! because when I cast it, my pet runs around like a lunatic just like the rest of my troops (or as if aggressive was still a pet stance).
Current main: Xella-Skywall | Art Stuffs | Brains.
User avatar
Lupen202
Grand Master Hunter
Grand Master Hunter
Posts: 1971
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:19 am
Realm: Burning Blade, Frostwolf, Proudmoore
Gender: Female

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Lupen202 »

Hmm... that would explain a lot. I too have around 80% mastery, and had above 60% even when I first hit 110. Never had any of the trouble with Dro or the other bosses that people kept reporting... If my withered are benefiting from BM's insane mastery, then no wonder.

Image
Neiara - NE Hunter - Burning Blade (US) - Denial of Service

| My Mount Collection |
| Flight Rising |

User avatar
Magnakilro
Illustrious Master Hunter
Illustrious Master Hunter
Posts: 10499
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:12 pm
Realm: Eonar
Gender: Male Irl. Male orc
Location: No longer in your pants

Re: Magnakilro's Guide to Withered Army Training

Unread post by Magnakilro »

Ran into something new during my most recent Withered run.

If you open a web cocoon and free a new Exile....make sure to add him to the army somewhat quickly....he WILL die and despawn if you don't
Avatar made by the awesome Senna-umbreon
Post Reply