Extreme Soloing

[Kenjer]

Back when I played WOW and EQ2 I enjoyed trying to solo things that were never meant to be soloed. Obviously you need the gear for it, but certain classes were very well equipped for it.

 

I'm curious what people's opinions are on the best classes to solo (and what companion to solo with). My initial instinct says an immortal Jugg with a healing companion... but i may be off base.

[Aaramis]

Well, the benchmark seems to move every couple of months. I remember for a while if you could solo the Black Hole heroic, you were doing pretty good. After that, Oricon heroic area became the new benchmark - that and certain hardmode flashpoints (False Emperor comes to mind).

 

These days? It seems heroic Star Fortresses are a reasonable measure of your gear level (less about gear than skill, really)., with some slightly harder than others (Voss comes to mind). Tactical flashpoints are also a pretty good measure if you can pull those off.

Hardmode flashpoints I'd wager are now off the charts for soloing, although sooner or later I'm sure someone will do it using kiting, line of sight, and so on.

[Kenjer]

Looking more at what classes you think do better at it.

 

Also thinking things like world bosses. May be unrealistic now with the downleveling changes

[Kogarvandalin]

As a Light Sorc I'm able to solo Heroic Star Fortress with no problem

 

My Stats

208 gear

all 8 classes unlocked for max presence

healer companion

All 4 factions at level 20 for max buffs while on the star fortress.

All 8 abilities unlocked for heroic moment

 

Useful abilities:

The immunity bubble has come in handy for soloing some tougher heroic 4 missions such as the rahkgul one where you gotta kill the champion mobs.

Additional healing with Shield HoT, and instant self heal

knock back

stun

long cc

force speed allows my healer to be able to heal me and me be able to kite as it triggers my instant lighting which triggers my instant chain lighting.

[Corran]

I did the all for one achievement on a tactics vanguard with a level 12 companion. swapped to shield tech for the last fight as double knights just eat you up in 208 gear.

 

also did the all for one with a kinetic combat shadow and a level 10 companion, mostly 208 gear but relics are 188. was even easier due to skipping most of the trash and being absurdly tanky in full dps gear.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Corran

[SteveTheCynic]

These days? It seems heroic Star Fortresses are a reasonable measure of your gear level (less about gear than skill, really)., with some slightly harder than others (Voss comes to mind).

Voss is pretty tough because the Voss Exarch has a self-heal, apparently, that none of the others do.

 

Also, when soloing these, the advice I saw somewhere is to take a companion of no more than medium Influence rank, because a high-Influence companion will take and keep aggro, and then be killed because companions currently lack armour rating and damage reduction stats. (I coped with the situation on the Voss one with Lana at Influence 22, but the suggestion is that that may be at the high end of what's feasible.)

 

EDIT: I soloed Voss on a Gunnery Commando with a mix of 208, 216, and two pieces of 220 gear. My HBG is the 216 no-crystal one that I crafted. Relics are only 192.

Edited November 13, 2015 by SteveTheCynic

[DawnAskham]

Extreme soloing today would be some of the HM flashpoints, especially those with high damage abilities requiring a lot of movement on the boss.

 

Some of tactical flashpoints are probably challenging as well, especially as the kolto stations won't activate with just a solo player, though I've done a few with no real issues (though bosses like the droid in Korriban can be a bit challenging trying to keep your companion out of the aoe).

 

Soloing Heroic Star Fortress isn't extreme in any sense of the word, and can be done by any player with any class, and is very easy when using a healing companion. Same with the rakghoul H4; its pretty easy to solo with a strong healing companion, though the mob stuns are highly annoying.

 

Also, I am not sure what issues people are having with using high influence companions as I did the All For One achievement with a rank 50 Lana healing and didn't have any issues (though I have good gear and my damage is usually such that I'm trying to drop threat in group content).

 

Everything I've done thus far has been on a madness sorc with a rank 50 healing companion. I am a bit squishy but have a few ways to escape damage as well as very strong self heals to assist my healing companion when I take big hits.

 

I'd imagine an Immortal Jugg with a healer would be strong, though slow, while a dps Jugg with heavy armor and using their CDs appropriately would be nearly as strong but much quicker in killing the boss or dispatching adds.

 

In HMs though you might find an issue using a tank / healer companion (or any solo set up) with beating the boss enrage timer.

Edited November 13, 2015 by DawnAskham

[SteveTheCynic]

Also, I am not sure what issues people are having with using high influence companions as I did the All For One achievement with a rank 50 Lana healing and didn't have any issues (though I have good gear and my damage is usually such that I'm trying to drop threat in group content).

The problem people have is that they have enough dps to deal with the boss, but not enough to counter the threat generation of a high-rank companion. In essence, it is necessary to keep up the threat-generation pressure so that you stay ahead of the companion at all times, and if not, so that you get it back as soon as possible. The thread I saw suggested not doing it with a companion above 15. I managed with a rank 22 healing-Lana. My gear isn't the best it could be - my relics aren't even above 200, although everything else is at least 208, with some 216 and exactly two pieces of 220 - and that's probably making my life more difficult when trying to keep ahead of Lana's threat generation.

 

Secondary analysis on this: I soloed the H2 Destroy-Voss one as the first destroy-fortress FP I did. I had done two non-destroy ones in solo (not-H2) mode, and I said to myself, "What the lleh, it can't be that hard, can it?" All the difficulties came in the final area, the reactor phase:

 

* I didn't think to look *up* when trying to get to the second part of the broken ring, and I learned that the ropes/cables/pipework at the end of the platform don't hold you up at all.

* I got toasted by the reactor core one time because I didn't keep track of whether the shield had run out.

* I got killed in the first console room because I was giving too much attention to working out what was happening, and not enough to keeping aggro off my companion.

* The Exarch killed me twice for the same reason.

 

But of course all those things count as "learning to play", so can be disregarded in an analysis of how hard this activity is.

[AndoEyrune]

I was able to solo star fortress with no buffs and rank 15 Lana in old 198 gear with a 204 MH on my assassin tank. I switched Lana to heals for the final exarch battle and the 3rd phase of the sun reactor. I only died once or twice, but with proper defensive management it was really easy.

[Halinalle]

I did the all for one achievement on a tactics vanguard with a level 12 companion. swapped to shield tech for the last fight as double knights just eat you up in 208 gear.

 

Last fight is against one enemy. Solo version ends to 2 knight fight.

 

Edited November 14, 2015 by Halinalle

[Corran]

Last fight is against one enemy. Solo version ends to 2 knight fight.

 

 

the last fight is a multi stage fight that starts with two knights, then proceeds to give you two elites per stage until the final exarch battle. you knew exactly what i was talking about, kthnx.

[jauvtus]

I soloed hc Star Fortress on combat sent, with 198-208 gear (setbonus) with level 16 Lana healer comp, without any alliance buff. I think it can be done on any class, you just need that class mastered, really.

[TitusOfTides]

I main a TK Sage and solo'd the Nar Shadaa Heroic Fortress with HK-51 at 14 influence. He was set to heals up until the Exarch, then switched him to DPS and dropped him really fast.

 

Edit: My gear is a set of fully augmented PvP gear.

Edited November 16, 2015 by TitusOfTides

[Torarn]

I did the Voss Stellar Fortress with Lana 50 as dps for trash and tank for elites. I did it as a sage seer without any bonus (not even the first one) and had a 216 stuff with set bonus 4.

It took me like 2h, with at least 1h spend on the last stage of the exarch (mostly because lana couldn't take more than 8% of his life before he heal himself for 5%)

[SteveTheCynic]

I did the Voss Stellar Fortress with Lana 50 as dps for trash and tank for elites. I did it as a sage seer without any bonus (not even the first one) and had a 216 stuff with set bonus 4.

It took me like 2h, with at least 1h spend on the last stage of the exarch (mostly because lana couldn't take more than 8% of his life before he heal himself for 5%)

If you're going to do one that way, Voss is not the one to do, because of the self-heal. They say the other ones don't have that ability.

[AshlaBoga]

Well, the benchmark seems to move every couple of months. I remember for a while if you could solo the Black Hole heroic, you were doing pretty good. After that, Oricon heroic area became the new benchmark

 

I STRONGLY disagree with the text in bold.

 

Despite what some players think, the Black Hole H4 when added was much harder to solo than the Oricon H2.

 

I didn't solo the Black Hole heroic for at least 3 months, but I was able to solo the Oricon Heroic on multiple toons the day it was added. The Oricon Heroic really is just a check against your ability to avoid pulling mobs (planning your fight so the pathers don't join in. And making sure to maximize your interrupts and defensive cds.

[knowmyname]

Hard Mode Flashpoints are not soloable at this time. due to companion gear not giving defense, absorb and shield stats. to include the force power and tech power also not working properly.

 

maybe 4.0.3 they may fix it. but only time will tell. as a tank with the pre-4.0.2 patch companion heals they coulld not keep tanks alive. cleanse is important on some bosses.

 

im still gearing up my toons (currently 216-220 without set bonus) but its proving very difficult during high burst DPS phases on the tank and healer. i did not have these issues with pre-4.0 companions when they were geared properly and specced to heals or tank for which ever character i was on. HMFP was a challenge then but doable when properly geared with proper companion gear and knowing the fights.

 

tacticals and heroics are the limit right now and even tacticals can be a challenge when solo. i like HM due to the extra mechanics and the challenges they provide

[Shirvington]

Hard Mode Flashpoints are not soloable at this time. due to companion gear not giving defense, absorb and shield stats. to include the force power and tech power also not working properly.

 

maybe 4.0.3 they may fix it. but only time will tell. as a tank with the pre-4.0.2 patch companion heals they coulld not keep tanks alive. cleanse is important on some bosses.

 

im still gearing up my toons (currently 216-220 without set bonus) but its proving very difficult during high burst DPS phases on the tank and healer. i did not have these issues with pre-4.0 companions when they were geared properly and specced to heals or tank for which ever character i was on. HMFP was a challenge then but doable when properly geared with proper companion gear and knowing the fights.

 

tacticals and heroics are the limit right now and even tacticals can be a challenge when solo. i like HM due to the extra mechanics and the challenges they provide

 

Some HM FPs are soloable. I soloed HM Boarding Party since 4.0, but all the bosses are on really short enrage timers, so I had to kite the last 50% of each bosses health bar.

[leehambly]

The standard spec for soloing in my experience, in this game and others, has always been a healer main character with a dps companion. Basically, you face-tank the boss while the dps kills it. I was soloing certain HM FP's in 3.x and while I haven't tried to solo them since 4.0 per se, I have found myself in certain boss fights on my own or with just my companion and the outcome has been fairly similar. Not all fp's will be soloable, some are just far too harsh... they were in 3.x and I don't see it changing in 4.0.

 

I'm really not sure about a tank or dps spec character doing this with a healer companion - mitigating damage is one thing, but can they regenerate enough health fast enough to cope with the kind of damage handed out? Maybe before the companion nerf? But then, again, the reason why the player is the healer rather than the companion is because there are too many decisions that the healer companion simply won't handle... so it needs to be the player doing this role.

 

Since ^^^ ... I just had a pop at a few spawns and tbh, the bigger issue is the time it takes to get through some of the trash spawns... without HK and his assassinate special these are much trickier to handle and slow the whole process down massively. Soloing is always very cc heavy, and with one extra high level mob in each spawn (which HK would take care of prior to any aggro) its frankly too arduous to handle. I will try to solo some of the bosses, when I have a few willing participants to speed me through the trash... but its mostly academic at the moment.

Edited November 26, 2015 by leehambly

[Quething]

Looking more at what classes you think do better at it.

 

Also thinking things like world bosses. May be unrealistic now with the downleveling changes

 

I've done a couple world bosses under level sync so far. Gargath you could do with three, Snowblind took four of us. That's not much for what used to be an operation, but I still don't expect you could get it down to solo.

 

As for what classes are best, you want shadow/sin tanks and op/scoundrel heals. The utility of stealth, multiple stuns (you can lock down two for 60 sec at once with the Cunning classes if it's a mixed party of droids and fleshies), and AoE knockback/massive AoE healing cannot be overstated in dealing with trash, which is the most dangerous thing in most flashpoints right now. The Willpower classes sit a bit higher than the Cunning guys due to the ridiculous damage and AoE they can put out in tank spec, while Cunning healers are the weakest of the three heal classes for DPS in single target and have near zero AoE. Jugg/Guard tanks and are a good third choice due to amazing cooldowns, resilience, and mobility, but the lack of a 60-sec stun and the fact that Awe doesn't work on droids pushes them out of the top slot.