Expert mode requirement : Directory, help and Q&A

[Ceresa]

Well, I finally got past Phaleg for the first time by Step Attacking around her using Rifle (the death floors were great for near-constant Counter Shots) and popping purple Marks, but whiffed it against Omega Hunar. He did his first circular snake attack, and I accidentally dodged right into one after breaking out of Stun.
Just so I can know whether or not I had a chance, assuming that I didn't die, does it seem like I would have come in under the 15 minute mark if I came into the fight at ~8:03 (as reference, I started off with a Rod Phantom Time Finisher, racked up what looked like maybe 150K [probably less, actually] damage from Techs, and didn't get to a Purple Mark before dying at ~8:34)?

You should have plenty of time. For comparison Hunar has 10.5m HP, and Deus has 5m. But with the easy stage 4 order for the bonus damage to light techs for Hunar the clear time ends up pretty similar to stage 1, maybe a bit faster since you'll hit his core/sword sometimes.

[Anduril]

You should have plenty of time. For comparison Hunar has 10.5m HP, and Deus has 5m. But with the easy stage 4 order for the bonus damage to light techs for Hunar the clear time ends up pretty similar to stage 1, maybe a bit faster since you'll hit his core/sword sometimes.

Ok, that's a relief. I just hope my run against Phaleg wasn't a fluke and I can get back to Hunar to redeem myself for that stupid dodge.

[Reilet]

snip

I personally don't think she will ever beat it because her skill level is capped out, she just isn't good enough and never will be. Some hpeople just can't get better. I was wondering on people's thoughts though on this.

Her skill level isn’t capped, she just doesn’t have anyone to guide her well.

With that being said, I will break down the video explaining some of her mistakes.

1st video
0:20 charge a tech to hit hunar when he spawns
1:05 pop the mark immediately
1:18 use grants. Or rather, phantom is invincible during tech charging, use grants during the start of his 2nd phase opener.

Hunas end notes: be more aggressive. More than Half of the fight was spent being TOO cautious and not actually doing anything. Attack more.

2:40 Ragrants is better than nagrants. It also doesn’t put you in a situation where you need to be inside them.
3:03 still use ragrants, it can potentially hit both and it has a better chance of hitting your target
3:09 always be aware of your surroundings
3:15 mark takes half a second to charge, had she released it, she would have parried the hammer slam. Also pay attention to what the enemy is doing. That was a huge windup; you can’t miss it if you just pay attention.
3:23 again, ragrants is better in this case because it will hit both
3:50 use grants if you want to hit the hammer when it is not stationary. It is better to have something guarenteed to connect than hoping the “highest” dps move will hit.
3:50 ~3:58 needless running around to wait for the hammer to come down. Use grants.
4:00 keep using the tech, don’t try to go for a counter you don’t know you will get
4:20 the perfect opportunity to use voelkermord or whatever it’s called

Wolgahda endnotes: use AoE moves. Both Gigrants-0 and Ragrants are superior vs Nagrants and Ilgrants in this case. ilgrants is for single target dps. Pay attention to the enemy
Araton endnotes: His hammer is 100% vulnerable had you just used grants instead. Voelkermord is good during stuns. Approach him faster when you down them. Grants would have guaranteed you hitting his core once again vs Ilgrants. Ilgrants in this case is also not reliable to use during both parts.

5:43 same as with hunas, charge a tech to hit her as she spawns in

2nd vid
0:15 once again, charge a tech to hit her as she spawns
0:22 holding the tech for too long. Release it and charge another one. You wouldn’t have gotten hit had she done that. Use grants if you feel ilgrants won’t hit.
0:34 this is why you use grants instead.
0:43 release the tech and cast a new one. She had more than enough time and she wouldn’t have gotten hit
0:48 step backwards after the cast
0:58 she panic stepped. It is better to cast any tech because it has longer invincibility frames
1:40 and onwards. Tech casting on not tech weapons is simply not worth it. Use normal attacks if you must. Lock on sooner.
1:50 struggling with pp? Use the rifle normals! They are ranged for a reason.
2:00 she knew it was coming. Just slow reaction? Use something that has guard/invincibility frames (such as rifle mark explosion and startup) or even step. It’s better to step before the attack in a preemptive manner than waiting until after the attack already happens and reacting to it. Or get away faster! Rifle weapon action moves you very fast! Use step jump! Do something other than walking slowly waiting for her to attack you.
2:22 invincibility only lasts until ilgrants is fully charge if you don’t have the short charge
2:24 i suggest jumping after a step to make it faster. It doesn’t have to be a full jump either, just a tap

Phaleg endnotes: Phaleg speaks before every attack. PAY ATTENTION to when she speaks. The entire time she finishes an attack and until she speaks, you can attack free of worry. She always attacks twice atleast with all of her attacks. Take advantage of the invincibility during tech charges. HEAL. Don’t worry about the stage order; in the end, it does not matter. If you want to clear the stage order so bad, go get the lifesteal S4. Also, always keep her in your vision. The fight was relatively good, you just need to heal and be more aggresive. If you don’t feel like ilgrants is doing it for you, use grants. It is a guaranteed hit.
Realize that ilgrants was doing 4 digit numbers with the rifle; even resisted rod does more damage than that. DON’T tech on rifle. And USE your rifle normals, they are ranged! You need the pp anyways.
Use your Rifle Normals.
I can see that she heavily relies on the invincibility tech charge to evade most of phalegs attack. I highly suggest her actually taking the time to learn her attacks.
Use Grants on Phaleg.




JA timing needs to be worked on. She can go faster than that. Practice until it becomes like muscle memory.
Too many normal attacks where it is not needed. And not enough normal attacks during Phaleg.
She needs to attack more. There are way too many moments she simply stops attacking for no good reason.
She seems to think Ilgrants is the be all end all thing to do... that only works in areas where you know it will hit and in 1v1.
Why is she afraid to go under 75% pp? On the other hand, she ran out of pp during phaleg; don’t be afraid to go in after she completes an attack.
I feel like she is hesitating often. Nerves getting to her? Instead of seeing it as the super stressful “I must clear this” she should think of it as practice.
Shifta should be the last thing she uses before teleporter. As well as instantly starting it after shifta.
Her gear is NOT the problem, her play is.

[PrinceBrightstar]

I have pulled my support from this thread. It has gravitated towards dismissal of just boosting your stats after understanding mechanics if you're off by only a few minutes

[TheFanaticViper]

I share just a little trick for Phaleg with Fi class : with Gear Experience knuckles, stay on a electric trap and spawn the evasion button, done

[ZerotakerZX]

I share just a little trick for Phaleg with Fi class : with Gear Experience knuckles, stay on a electric trap and spawn the evasion button, done

Don't we also need to change weapons at some point, when she develops a resistance?

[TheFanaticViper]

Don't we also need to change weapons at some point, when she develops a resistance?

Yes i used TD for phase 1 and Gear experience for phase 2. Gear experience for the whole stage should work but it will take more time.

[XrosBlader821]

Oh speaking of Phaleg using a compound in Phase 1 with Talis often puts her close to phase two. so she develops talis resistance while Wand and Rod aren't.
Second Phase shouldn't be a problem especially if you have S4 Vamp strike

[Zephyrion]

Thanks everyone for you contribution, I will update the directory with the videos people submitted this evening along with some extras !

I'm very thankful for your contributions, but in order to keep this an orderly thread I'd ask everyone to try and make clear and constructed answers. While pieces of advice are welcome, try to be as thorough and detailed as possible to avoid everyone having to chime in, making this harder to keep track of the actual answers ! You don't necessarily have to be as thorough as he was, but I'll feature Rellet's post here to act both as a pin of sorts and give an idea of how a thorough answer should look like.
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/show...=1#post3464826

In addition, I know veering off-topic can be hard to avoid, but let's try and not enter corollary points like controllers vs keyboard and mouse or things like that. I personally think expert requirements are about KNOWLEDGE before any other point, hence why I made a thread dedicated to sharing said knowledge to help each other, and I hope it will stay close to the matter at hand ! Also try to not be pessimistic about people having trouble with the requirement. Sometimes, it just takes lifting a mental block or finding the missing pieces that are required to get through, it's all a part of improving as a whole, and you should be aware that as long as the will to improve and find solutions is there, requirement clears will eventually happen !

EDIT : Directory has now been updated, and the suggestions have been added, keep em coming !

[PrinceBrightstar]

Zephyrion, aside from getting my name wrong in both cases you also misrepresented these as sword only. During the XQ I use wired lance on Phaleg and for Destroyers I'm using Selc Flotz jet boots for Shifta.