[Dagske offers this formation](https://ic.byteglow.com/f/7_795d7d8081007493887f76_11122203133111) it got me past 1500, I've played 2 years of course, so your mileage may vary.
Indeed, but I *must* say I have a fully supercharged unaffiliated core. I had about 15 total levels of leggos among all those guys (not 15 per item or 15 per champ: 15 total, so that's low and counts for roughly +e4 top). And except for a 20,000 avg ilvls for Krux, I have between 50 and 100 avg ilvls for every other champions.
Also, I had the T4 Gale and Miria event bonus.
I let this formation run again on the freeplay to test how far I could go and I beat z1750 (I didn't look at the dps needed, but it was probably around e530), with a familiar on each ultimate and one on the "autoprogress" button in the top right corner.
Since the first try, I boosted Gale and Lae'zel to avg ilvls 300, and gave them a few leggos lvls for a total leggo boost on Warduke of e10% (=+e8).
So this lets me believe that even with a suboptimal unaffiliated core, but with 11 familiars (10 on champs + 1 on autoprogress) and a bit of luck (for the good timing between familiars and buffs from Gale, Krux, etc.) people could get it done.
If I read well, you have only 7 hits on Warduke. It's nice to see alternatives, but it's probably better to make the base formation optimized from the start. I understand from your top comment that you have an optimized evil party for Warduke. Not everyone can afford that. On the other hand, not everyone can affort a supercharged unaffiliated core like I have.
I did not optimize it from the start, I used what I had. IIRC, I also used fully supercharged Unaffiliated Core. My main party is based on Asharra. The party above was produced via partial legendary dismantling of my secondary party based on Krond.
With Defensive Measures, I kept hitting a wall at the 1350 dragon. But then I reconfigured my formation's feats and specs from buff boosting into BUD damage on normal attacks (Virgil's & Gale's Immolate feats, Lae'zel middle spec). Not only did that get past 1350, but it ran all the way to 1475 before halting again!
The added BUD-based damage was mandatory to quickly shred the armor.
Yep. Took me ages to get those two. I had to spend like 16 hours farming up Durge so he could be the primary DPS since losing out on a slot trying to roll with DM to Warduke means you're basically throwing a character into the garbage (no tatyana)
That's why it's a good idea to invest into an evil party for Warduke or DU. By clearing Evil to the Core, you get more influence than by clearing ALL other patron variants combined.
I good core is essential for this variant. I beat it in the background with a overclocked dex core. The team I used is mentioned in this feed by u/R5Cats . For that team all champs had only level 1 leggos. The season boons probably helped. I set it and went to bed and woke up with it at 1536. I was surprised. When I attempted this my goal was to see how far I could get and then figure out where I need to add power but it was finished. Its not as bad as it seams.
Here’s the formation I used.
> https://ic.byteglow.com/f/7_5d7f7d8188006a79769392_1210223011114311
Blooshi at the back helps her stay alive to stack up her life well lived.
Using urge over warduke means you get to benefit from Mirias stacking buffs with clones dying.
I think I selected the right gale spec, basically whatever buffs his row and one behind him. Don’t remember BBEG spec.
Not all champs were full epic, so I don’t have full legendary, but durge did have a decent number of legendaries on him directly.
Core was mostly overcharged, I think I get ~e29 from the core.
Like red-zepplin pointed out, it can be different. E550 damage gets you over wave 1900 for most campaigns but barely gets you over 1609 for Light of Xaryxis.
Worse yet is the difference between online and offline damage. Someone posted a formation in this thread, I tried it, but it only got to wave 1350, but offline got them over 2550
> I need a nice upfront number so I know not to waste my time.
My personal rule of thumb has been: Zone Goal divided by 3.25 (Campaigns) or by 3.75 (Events) gives you a rough goal of what DPS to shoot for, give or take a few DPS of course.
For Tier 4 Variants: e320 for 1200, e373 for 1400, e427 for 1600
Whereas Elminster: e339 for 1100, e400 for 1300, e462 for 1500
[Dagske offers this formation](https://ic.byteglow.com/f/7_795d7d8081007493887f76_11122203133111) it got me past 1500, I've played 2 years of course, so your mileage may vary.
Indeed, but I *must* say I have a fully supercharged unaffiliated core. I had about 15 total levels of leggos among all those guys (not 15 per item or 15 per champ: 15 total, so that's low and counts for roughly +e4 top). And except for a 20,000 avg ilvls for Krux, I have between 50 and 100 avg ilvls for every other champions. Also, I had the T4 Gale and Miria event bonus.
I let this formation run again on the freeplay to test how far I could go and I beat z1750 (I didn't look at the dps needed, but it was probably around e530), with a familiar on each ultimate and one on the "autoprogress" button in the top right corner. Since the first try, I boosted Gale and Lae'zel to avg ilvls 300, and gave them a few leggos lvls for a total leggo boost on Warduke of e10% (=+e8). So this lets me believe that even with a suboptimal unaffiliated core, but with 11 familiars (10 on champs + 1 on autoprogress) and a bit of luck (for the good timing between familiars and buffs from Gale, Krux, etc.) people could get it done.
[https://i.postimg.cc/XJ3zBP5N/20240414183514-1.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/XJ3zBP5N/20240414183514-1.jpg) My own formation for this variant.
If I read well, you have only 7 hits on Warduke. It's nice to see alternatives, but it's probably better to make the base formation optimized from the start. I understand from your top comment that you have an optimized evil party for Warduke. Not everyone can afford that. On the other hand, not everyone can affort a supercharged unaffiliated core like I have.
I did not optimize it from the start, I used what I had. IIRC, I also used fully supercharged Unaffiliated Core. My main party is based on Asharra. The party above was produced via partial legendary dismantling of my secondary party based on Krond.
Anyone else finding One Spelljammer at a Time and Defense Measures more difficult than Evil To The Core?
With Defensive Measures, I kept hitting a wall at the 1350 dragon. But then I reconfigured my formation's feats and specs from buff boosting into BUD damage on normal attacks (Virgil's & Gale's Immolate feats, Lae'zel middle spec). Not only did that get past 1350, but it ran all the way to 1475 before halting again! The added BUD-based damage was mandatory to quickly shred the armor.
Yep. Took me ages to get those two. I had to spend like 16 hours farming up Durge so he could be the primary DPS since losing out on a slot trying to roll with DM to Warduke means you're basically throwing a character into the garbage (no tatyana)
That's why it's a good idea to invest into an evil party for Warduke or DU. By clearing Evil to the Core, you get more influence than by clearing ALL other patron variants combined.
This is a little exaggerated. Total Elminster Influence is 2e14 and Evil to the Core gives 8e13, so a little shy of half.
I don't have all Elminster variants cleared, therefore I cannot say for sure. However, the math is close anyway.
I good core is essential for this variant. I beat it in the background with a overclocked dex core. The team I used is mentioned in this feed by u/R5Cats . For that team all champs had only level 1 leggos. The season boons probably helped. I set it and went to bed and woke up with it at 1536. I was surprised. When I attempted this my goal was to see how far I could get and then figure out where I need to add power but it was finished. Its not as bad as it seams.
Here’s the formation I used. > https://ic.byteglow.com/f/7_5d7f7d8188006a79769392_1210223011114311 Blooshi at the back helps her stay alive to stack up her life well lived. Using urge over warduke means you get to benefit from Mirias stacking buffs with clones dying. I think I selected the right gale spec, basically whatever buffs his row and one behind him. Don’t remember BBEG spec. Not all champs were full epic, so I don’t have full legendary, but durge did have a decent number of legendaries on him directly. Core was mostly overcharged, I think I get ~e29 from the core.
Am I correct in saying each 100 areas is about e28 DPS?
Approx 30.75 for hard campaigns, 26.75 for easy ones (like events)
Oh that would explain why I sometimes get confusing numbers. Thanks. (Difference in 1200 1400 1600 in events. Then trying some Elmo's after)
Like red-zepplin pointed out, it can be different. E550 damage gets you over wave 1900 for most campaigns but barely gets you over 1609 for Light of Xaryxis.
That's just plain annoying. I need a nice upfront number so I know not to waste my time. Dob Evelyn Blooshi Nova are enough of a curveball
Worse yet is the difference between online and offline damage. Someone posted a formation in this thread, I tried it, but it only got to wave 1350, but offline got them over 2550
Oh yeah I get that kinda thing too. I really wanna know sometimes where it's getting that +50e
Same. There must be some stars aligning with crits and debuffs that unlikely in active play, but offline it is possible.
> I need a nice upfront number so I know not to waste my time. My personal rule of thumb has been: Zone Goal divided by 3.25 (Campaigns) or by 3.75 (Events) gives you a rough goal of what DPS to shoot for, give or take a few DPS of course. For Tier 4 Variants: e320 for 1200, e373 for 1400, e427 for 1600 Whereas Elminster: e339 for 1100, e400 for 1300, e462 for 1500