#only even pulled since there aren't exactly many Good Units at the moment

[cat-of-starlight]

tfw you are trying to Limbus Pull but the game's only Bonus Units™ are the ones that freak you out/irritate you lmao whoops

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Spirit of Vengeance Survival Walkthrough

As we head toward 7.0, I thought it would be a good idea to check in with a Spirit of Vengeance Survival Guide, 2.0. I have my own feelings about SoV - namely that it's boring, tedious and was tuned way too high for a main story solo flashpoint - but let's move on to the actual guide. 

This is a guide specifically for those of you who just want to get this flashpoint over with so you can move on. 

I personally would advise trying to knock this flashpoint out of your story progression BEFORE 7.0. We have no idea how hard content is going to be once you lose some of your abilities and utilities, so if you have any characters who are planned to continue with the main story, I'd take them through now while you have all of the tools in your toolbox and are familiar with them.

After literally months of complaints the devs finally toned down this flashpoint to a more manageable level, but there are still a lot of mobs that hit hard, and it's still really long. When I went through with canon Viri and Lana at level 50, with Viri fully geared toward 306, I moved right along through the flashpoint without difficulty or deaths. It still took almost exactly an hour. It's even longer when you're contending with Rass Ordo and a lot of cut scenes. 

You will want to gear as well as you can for this - you should not have to since this is a story/solo flashpoint in the main story, but it will help you here. Remember you DO NOT have to group to get good gear. There are numerous solo missions that will give you gear up to 306 - the Mek-Sha Tradehouse missions, Personal Conquest each week, solo flashpoints, including the Onderon weekly and daily missions. Other suggestions: 

1. Buy and use the Supplied Kyrprax Command Stim, available at any medical droid in the flashpoint, including the one when you first land on Ship #1. If you're doing this as part of the main story, you unfortunately still have Rass Ordo as your companion. Rass Ordo, despite being influence level 25, still has the AI of a cardboard box. You'd be better off bringing along a Jawagram as your companion. This stim will up your presence for an hour and make him slightly less incompetent. 

2. If you can, equip yourself with the Life Warden tactical. This tactical drops fairly frequently from personal conquest and other gold gear boxes. It essentially gives you an extra heal in a tight situation and can come in handy. 

3. Medpac on your abilities bar. You hopefully won't need this, but have it handy just in case. You may want to invest in the Supplied Kyprax Med Unit medpac, which will heal you AND your companion. 

Within the flashpoint, some general caveats. You're looking at quantity, not quality here. It's just a lot of NPCs piling in on you. 

1. KILL THE HEALERS FIRST. KILL THE HEALERS FIRST. KILL THE HEALERS FIRST. Just about every mob here has healers. They have different names on each ship: 

- Varad Churl

- Darmanda Medic

- Ashade Lorekeeper 

If you don't kill the medics first the fights will be even more interminable. Get rid of them. 

2. Remember there are kolto stations in a lot of the rooms, not just the boss areas. 

3. Be very careful because there are a lot of mob groups close together. Watch where you are blasting/Force-whatevering because you don't want to pull more than one group at once. 

4. Get your gear repaired as often as you can. If you've fought a tough mob and there's a medical droid nearby, go to it and patch up, even if it means you have to backtrack. 

5. Get really familiar with any AOE (area of effect) skills you have. Know where they are on your abilities bar and how to use them. Given the mobs in this flashpoint, anything you have that can clobber several NPCs at once is welcome.

Now, here we go.

SHIP #1: 

Banquet room: after you fight the first mob and take the elevator, you will find yourself in a large "banquet room" with a lot of mobs. Pick a straight line and go forward, taking care not to veer too far to the sides. If you wander, you'll invariably pull the mobs on the sides of the room. 

The rest of this ship is pretty straightforward; it's just a lot of mob NPCs converging on you at once, over and over again. 

Gorga Brak: Straightforward; stay out of the red circles. Be aware that Rass Ordo will helpfully stand in these circles and let Gorga set him on fire, so don't expect any help during the fight. 

SHIP #2: 

More of the same: lots of mobs, now with Dar'manda nameplates. The Dar'manda medics try to hide more than the healers on the other ships, sometimes even going behind crates or other barriers, so keep your eyes peeled for them. 

First thing of concern here: after a few rooms of mobs, you will arrive at the notorious jumping puzzle. Just stay on the right side of the room and walk along the beam. There are a few jumps up onto pieces of metal but they are not hard, ambitious jumps. Otherwise you just have two places where you have to make sure your character drops down onto the beam and not into the flames. Angle your camera overhead so you can see what you are doing. 

Now it's time to go through the notorious Room After The Kitchen. As the name would suggest, you will know this is coming when you go through the kitchen. All the NPCs in the kitchen are neutral; leave them alone and keep going. The next room is a ballroom and you will find a lot of mobs. 

You can get through this room by fighting only two mobs IF you watch where you are fighting and blasting. I like to try to get the first mob up onto the stairs so there's less of a chance that anyone else in the room will be disturbed. Kill the medics first. Then go straight foward - right through the fountain - and up the stairs to the second mob. I again like to try to fight them in their alcove up the stairs so I don't pull the other NPCs in the room. 

You will now go down some corridors with more mobs - the space is tight, which in a way is good because you can't aggro more than one mob unless you really try. If you are going for bonus missions there are some rooms here to visit off the main path. If you're just trying to get this damned flashpoint over, continue straight down the hall toward that green arrow. 

After taking the elevator you'll get to the tether room, and a yellow message will flash onscreen about it. There will be a very large mob here with a lot of Dar'manda Commander silver NPCs. If Rass Ordo decides to up and die on you, it may be here. Remember there's a kolto station to the immediate right of where you walked into the room. 

Click the blue box to release the tether. Do NOT get too close to the rancor in the cage, Goldie. Back when SoV was first released, she'd aggro on you even from in her cage, and you couldn't kill her or get out of combat. They seem to have fixed that bug, but you know how that goes. 

Bask Sunn: Kill. The. Medics. First. After that, Bask Sunn has a wicked knockback, but he can't knock you *out* of the ship anymore. Remember Bask Sunn leaves a crate with your loot (look on the bridge), it's not on his person. 

SHIP #3: 

Your first challenge here will be another room with a lot of intense mobs. Take care not to pull more than one mob at once. Rass may decide to try to die here. 

You will quickly reach the sniper room. It's a long room with two snipers by the far doorway, shooting at you. Don't try to engage them; just keep running forward. As you cross this room, you will drop through the floor. It's a long fall but you won't take any damage; it's what the game wants you to do. 

Rass will not fall with you, and you will have a room of tentacles to fight on your own. Hit Unity and Heroic Moment BEFORE you fall, when you are still in the sniper room with Rass. You can use your HM abilities against the tentacles. If you really  have trouble with them, try to get out of the garbage pit; you will find a kolto station at the top of the small ramp. 

Now we come to...oh look, another room with a lot of mobs. They're so creative here. Do your best not to pull more than one at once, kill the medics, you know the drill by now. 

Troya Ajak: No special tricks. Stay out of the red circles. Her songbird volley is nasty, but she's perhaps the easiest boss in this flashpoint. 

FOURTH SHIP (The Spirit of Vengeance, I think?) 

Thankfully this is almost a straight shot to the final boss encounter, and there's a medical droid just before it. You may wish to wait for your Heroic Moment to cool down if you have recently used it. 

The silver NPC in the small mob right outside Heta Kol's area sometimes does not die. If you find that they keep recharging to full health, walk past them, put Rass on passive, and wait by the medical droid.  They should eventually give up and go back to their original spots and you can go on. 

Heta Kol: This fight has mercifully been toned down. There are two stages: 

You'll fight Heta Kol straight on. She has a serious knockback, but there aren't any special tricks here. 

1. Stage One: fight Heta. 

2. Heta disappears and a mob appears at the bottom of the stairs. There are two medics, and the Commanders will have knockbacks to keep you from killing the healers. 

3. After all the mob NPCs are defeated, Heta will return. Keep trying to hit her. 

4. Heta disappears. This time there's a mob with two gold Varad NPCs and two weaker ones at the stairs, plus two silver Dar'manda snipers on the platform. If you have any AOE skills, make sure they are available here so you can take out as many as possible at once. You may wish to consider saving Heroic Moment for this point so you can use Orbital Strike if you have it. Rass Ordo loves to die at this point so be mindful of where your kolto stations are. You might need the kolto for him, even if you don't need it for you. 

5. Heta Kol returns with a much more serious knockback and red circles of doom that increase in size and are hard to avoid. You're going to get thrown around a lot. ETA with thanks to @vespertine-legacy: The circles can be interrupted, which may make this fight easier.

And...you're done. Thank the stars. 

[houseisekai]

House Isekai: A Realm Reborn - Part 1, Old Places and New Faces (1 of 2)

House Isekai ARR Masterlist Here

—

Upon their return to Fodlan, Kazuma, Rean, Towa, and Aigis have found that it has changed drastically. Whether it was for better or worse, was unknown.

All they knew was to find Sitri, who had requested House Isekai's aid...

[Life at Garreg Mach Monastery - Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST]

Kazuma, Towa, Rean, and Aigis walked awkwardly through the crowds of students and guards, trying not to stare at their technology.

(Aigis) "Their devices seem...eerily similar to yours, Rean."

(Rean) "Arcus units and Soldats..."

Rean looked at the bipedal golems with swords and shields walking through the courtyard. It looked like students were trying to use them properly.

(Kazuma) "Soldats? Those things kinda like Valimar?"

(Towa) "Yes, but far easier to produce and a lot less strong, to put it simply."

(Rean) "How did they even get something like this? In our world, they took so many years to develop, alongside orbal technology..."

(Towa) "And their version of arcus units, didn't they look like the crystals from the Zanado tower?"

(Aigis) "Perhaps we should ask these questions to Sitri. Though, I am unsure of how to find her, since we do not have the proper clearance."

(Kazuma) "Hmph. Not to mention we aren't students, I'm pretty sure we're weirding people out just by being here."

Towa turned to where the Cathedral used to be, only to see a massive hangar full of the bipedal golems and guards from all three nations populating it.

(Towa) "The Cathedral was going to be my guess, but I don't think that's an option."

(Rean) "Maybe the listening hall?"

(Kazuma) "Are we even going to be allowed up there?"

(Familliar Woman's voice) "...Oh my goodness! It really is you guys!"

Everyone turned around to the woman's voice and were greeted by an old friend.

(Kazuma) "Merce-! HOLY SHIT!"

Mercedes was accompanied by two of the massive golems, armed with a shield and lance just as big as them.

(Rean) "WOAH!"

(Towa) "EEP!"

(Mercedes) "Haha, oh, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to frighten anyone!"

(Aigis) "It is amazing how that got behind us without anyone hearing them-"

(Rean) "U-Um, it's good to see you again Mercedes!"

(Towa) "AHEM! What are you doing here?"

(Kazuma) "More importantly, why are those golem things following you around?!"

(Mercedes) "I am simply a visitor, just like you four! Sitri thought it best to have bodyguards accompany me. Those bodguards happen to be the form of Knights."

(Towa) "...Knights sure have changed since we last saw them, huh?"

(Aigis) "Speaking of which, do you happen to know where Sitri is?"

(Mercedes) "Indeed I do! Would you like me to take you to her?"

(Rean) "Yes please."

Rean looked at the golems called "Knights" and couldn't help but feel nervous.

Now he knew how it felt to have Valimar follow around the old House Isekai.

(Mercedes) "Please, follow me!"

Everyone nodded and let Mercedes guide the way, the Knights following closely behind.

(Aigis) "It seems Fodlan's technology has greatly improved since we left."

(Mercedes) "It has, my mind is really having trouble keeping up nowadays. It seems every other month some new device for communication is put out!"

(Aigis) "That's a familiar feeling..."

(Kazuma) "So...everything's been fine since House Isekai left?"

Mercedes stopped outside the main hall's entrance and turned to the knights.

(Mercedes) "Worry not, these four protected me during the Five Year War. I will return shortly."

The Knights' heads nodded.

They went up into the building of the main entrance hall, making their way up to the second floor of Garreg Mach. The knights remained outdoors and Mercedes looked around her to make sure they were alone.

(Mercedes) "To be quite honest, it has been a bit...troubling. There's a host of new problems ever since this new partnership between the empire, kingdom, and alliance began. But, that shouldn't be anything you have to worry about! Actually, why are you here?"

(Rean) "We received a call from Sitri, requesting help from us. I guess the four of us were the only ones able to respond."

(Mercedes) "I see. If she requested House Isekai, then I am not sure it is a good thing...Oh? I believe she's speaking to someone inside."

[Arcana Code - Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST]

(Sitri) “Then let’s get started. I have called you five here, because you are the best and brightest Garreg Mach Monastery has to offer."

Sitri put her hand to her chest and closed her eyes.

(Sitri) "We live in troubled times, as you can no doubt see for yourselves. Even with the advancement of our technology ever since the calamity two years ago, tensions between our nations remain at an all time high."

The students looked at each other, not sure of where this speech was going.

(Sitri) "Garreg Mach Monastery was created to represent the very best our nations had to offer, and pave a way for our youth to shape our world. That is why you all are here.

Of our three Houses, you have been chosen for an experimental class, and will be leading from example."

(Stefan) "E-Experimental how?"

(Sitri) "Surely you have heard of House Isekai?"

(Helena) "Think I remember hearing rumors about them with my old mercenary group."

(Astrid) "Those group of weirdos and undead!?"

(Kazuma's Voice) "Who are they calling weir-"

(Towa's Voice) "K-Kazuma! They'll hear us!"

(Kairos) "I only know from what I read from reports. They were the fourth house of Garreg Mach, right?"

Sitri nodded.

(Sitri) "They were a group of people that came from beyond our world, all with different histories and personalities. The reason I bring them up is because they worked with all three classes before the Five Year War began. And they were the ones who stopped the calamity from destroying our world."

(Elizabeth) ...?! "Hold a moment, Lady Sitri! Have we been called to work with these off worlders?! They have no place in meddling in the affairs of Fodlan!"

(Kairos) "Hmph. For once I agree with her, this matter should be left to us-"

Sitri raised a hand and interrupted them.

(Sitri) "These "off-worlders" had the opportunity to leave us to our fates when the calamity was at its worst. Instead, they chose to stay and fight for our sake. I trust them with my life. And so do your nations' leaders."

(Everyone) "..."

(Sitri) "Prepare yourselves to travel out, grab any essential gear and report back. We will continue the briefing once you are more situated."

[Musica Universalis - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

The students quietly left the room, keeping their thoughts to themselves.

They were too preoccupied to notice that they had walked by Kazuma, Rean, Aigis, and Towa.

(Mercedes) "I have my own business to attend to unfortunately, so I will see you all later!"

Mercedes bowed while everyone else waved goodbye, and she followed the students down.

Once they went downstairs, Rean was the first to enter the room.

Sitri took a deep breath and smiled when she saw them.

(Sitri) "Hello, everyone. I hope that speech I gave was alright."

(Towa) "I like to think so, but I can definitely see why the kids are so confused."

(Aigis) "You do not seem shocked that we are here."

(Sitri) "Well, I did have someone looking out the door for me."

She motioned behind her, Sothis materializing in front of everyone and waving.

(Sothis) "Besides, with how loud Kazuma is, I don't think it was too hard guessing who it was."

Kazuma rolled his eyes.

(Kazuma) "Yeah yeah, whatever."

(Rean) "I see you've been keeping yourself busy!"

Sitri sighed again, though sounding far more tired.

(Sitri) "You have NO idea...I hadn't realized how exhausting being a professor is, not to mention leading the reconstruction effort."

(Towa) "Oh, so that's why Garreg Mach is active again! You're doing such a good job!"

(Sitri) "Thank you, Towa. There's far more that needs to be done, but we've been getting by."

(Kazuma) "So, what exactly did you need us here for? We got your message."

(Sothis) "Well, a number of things really, but we should get to the most troubling news first."

(Sitri) "Right. We'll have time to catch up later. It's about the Zanado Tower."

Everyone straightened their backs and frowned.

[Spider Web - Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST]

(Sothis) "We've been getting reports from the guards that...strange creatures are emerging from it."

(Kazuma) "That's descriptive. What makes them strange?"

(Sitri) "They seem to have intelligence but...they're nothing like we've ever seen before. Claude is in charge of the area around Zanado, so he ordered his men to just keep observing. These creatures never get too far, on account that they are killed by an unknown group."

(Aigis) "Do we have any visual references for any of these?"

Sitri nodded, and pulled out a crystal-like device.

It appeared similar to a tablet, but the information was displayed floating above it, which Sitri began swiping at it, making it show a picture of the creature.

(Rean) "What in the...?"

(Aigis) "It does not appear to be a Shadow."

(Kazuma) "Hmph. Nothing I've seen in my world."

(Sothis) "To be honest, we were hoping at least one from every group showed up to confirm this or not, but for the time being we can only guess it's from a world none of us are familiar with."

(Towa) "But, I thought we stopped the Tower from continuing to rip apart other worlds?"

(Sitri) "We did. And that's why we're concerned."

(Sothis) "It doesn't seem like it's having any overall negative effects on Fodlan, but this only showed up recently."

(Sitri) "I put the message out a week ago, and if you all only now received it..."

(Rean) "Then we shouldn't waste any time. We need to investigate immediately."

(Sothis) "Our thoughts exactly. Which is why..."

Sothis turned to the door and disappeared, the students of Garreg Mach arriving back in the room, each carrying a small bag with them.

The students realized that there were more people in the room now.

(Astrid) "Wow, they look weird."

(Elizabeth) "Astrid! Where are your manners?!"

(Stefan) "Sorry about tha-...Wait a second..."

(Helena) "Hmph, maybe that's why. Are you guys from House Isekai?"

(Kairos) "Wait, these are supposed to be the people who saved us?"

(Rean) "Well, obviously we're not the full class but we were the core members. I'm Rean Schwarzer of Class VII."

(Kazuma) "Kazuma."

(Towa) "I'm Towa Herschel, it's a pleasure to meet the new generation of Garreg Mach's finest!"

(Aigis) "Aigis of S.E.E.S. Hello."

(Astrid) "Huh. Don't look like much to me."

(Stefan) "Well, we are pleased to meet House Isekai in the flesh after all the stories we've heard!"

Helena looked to the others. Astrid was frowning while Kairos and Elizabeth looked mutually revolted.

(Helena) "Least two of us are. Good job on getting those two to agree on something, though."

(Towa) "I-I'm sorry?"

(Kairos) "Lady Sitri, with all due respect, this is something that WE need to do ourselves. Getting outside help-"

(Sitri) "-Is necessary, considering what we're going up against. We all will be visiting the Zanado Tower in order to investigate the strange creatures coming out of it."

While Sitri recounted what she told House Isekai, the members of the old House looked at each other.

(Kazuma) "The hell do they got against us?"

(Aigis) "I am unsure. Did we do something wrong?"

(Towa) "Rean..."

(Rean) "I know, Towa. Well, I kind of have a suspicion."

(Aigis/Kazuma) ?

(Rean) "When my country occupied another, we were seen as meddling outsiders who had no business interfering in their affairs, causing all sorts of grief for every citizen involved..."

(Kazuma) "But it's not like our Houses have been taking over the territories here-"

(Towa) "True, but it's not like we had zero impact on the world either. I mean, just look at their technology! I think it's safe to say without us, they would not have progressed so fast."

(Aigis) "That is...a fair point."

Rean took another look at the students.

(Rean) "They remind me a little of my own class. And if that's taught me anything, is that they'll come around eventually. It's not like we all got along straight away either."

(Sitri) "...Now, without any futher delay.-"

Sitri closed her eyes for a moment as a portal slowly began to open behind them.

(Sitri) "I will take the lead for now. Everyone, please follow me."

They nodded and Sitri and the old members of House Isekai went in first.

(Elizabeth) "Ugh, this will NOT go well..."

(Kairos) "It's not like we can say no to Lady Sitri. We'll have to follow along for now."

(Astrid) "I mean, I don't think they seem that bad, just weird."

(Stefan) "We have to give them a chance at least!"

(Helena) "Fodlan's been through worse anyway. What's the worst that could happen?"

...

Meanwhile, inside the Zanado Tower...

Class VII stepped through the portal and found themselves in a completely alien environment.

(Juna) "Woah..."

(Kurt) "What in the...?!"

(Altina) "Hm...The structure does not match any known signatures from our world."

(Ash) "Think that much is obvious."

(Musse) "Where's Instructor Rean?"

(Juna) "Uh, I think the better question is how do we even leave?"

(Kurt) "There appears to be a doorway ahead. Perhaps we can take that?"

(Ash) "Beats standing around."

Ash and Kurt moved first, with the rest of Class VII following..."

...

Through the scope of a sniper, a helmeted soldier slowly watched Class VII exit and wander the facility.

He was accompanied by three other soldiers, all wearing the same helmet and suit, with slight variations on their armor making them distinct from one another.

They were extremely high up on the platforms as they continued to fly past them, yet they still made an effort to remain out of sight.

(Buck) "What do you see Romeo?"

(Romeo) "Five kids. All wearing the same uniform, humans from the looks of it. Carrying some weird lookin weapons too."

Dutch lowered his weapon and sighed.

(Dutch) "Finally, some good news."

(Mickey) "Is it? How the heck did they even get here?"

(Buck) "One thing at a time. Right now, we go and get those kids to follow us, before whatever the hell those things were finds them first."

(Romeo) "Or, we could just find the exit instead."

(Mickey) "And leave them to die?"

(Dutch) "Really?"

(Buck) "..."

(Romeo) "Jeez, tough crowd."

(Buck) "Just shut up, Romeo. Let's get moving."

Everyone picked up their equipment and followed after Class VII.

(Romeo) "Besides, the weapons on them were-"

(Buck) "Romeo. Remember when I told you to shut up?"

(Romeo) "Yeah?"

(Buck) "Consider that a standing order."

...

(Amber) "Hm..."

Amber dusted off some of the crates around her and found food inside.

Although they packaging was covered in dust, they appeared to be fresh.

(Venti) "Ugh, finally food! I'm starving!"

Duvalie walked past Venti and her face scrunched up seeing how fast he stuffed it down his throat.

(Duvalie) "Tch, don't let that dust stop you from inhaling the food."

(Jean) "I suppose if it tastes alright...?"

(Kaeya) "No need to see if it's centuries old or poisonous, just go 'head and eat it."

(Lisa) "Perhaps we should worry about this food situation later? I do believe I saw another Abyss Mage run this direction."

(Diluc) "Then we have no time to waste."

Diluc grabbed his sword and moved the direction Lisa pointed.

(Duvalie) "Right!"

She drew her sword and shield and tagged along right beside him.

Even though they had found Duvalie by herself in this strange tower, she was already feeling like a part of the group.

Though Diluc didn't want to admit that. He already saw how ecstatic she was seeing Jean and himself fight. Though, a part of him wondered where she came from. She certainly wasn't from their world...

...

Outside the Zanado Tower...

Sitri stepped through the portal first, and the former members of House Isekai, and the Garreg Mach students came in right behind.

Drawing the Sword of the Creator, she took a deep breath before turning to the group.

(Sitri) "Students of Garreg Mach, begin the mission!"

[To be Continued]