Difference between revisions of "Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial/Strategy"

Latest revision as of 04:38, 18 March 2012

Overview

This is a player-made strategy guide for the Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial.

Rough map of the B.A.F. with key locations marked

Things to Know Before You Begin

• The first rule of doing the BAF Trial, or any trial, is to listen to the league leader's instructions. If the leader's instructions vary from the strategy below, do what he or she says, not what this guide says. There are several ways to successfully complete this Trial; this guide focuses on only one (very simple and common) method, making note of a few common variations. There are other methods that are equally valid, but the important thing is to have everyone working together and on the same page. So, please pay attention.
• The leader's instructions are typically given by group (e.g. group 1 north, groups 2 and 3 south), so make note of what group you are in.
• Do NOT click the glowy computers unless the leader specifically tells you to do so. Not clicking the computers will get you the Alarm Raiser Badge (assuming the trial is successful), or an Astral Merit if you already have that badge. Most leagues go for Alarm Raiser.
• Sequestering - Nightstar and Siege have a special attack they do during this trial called sequestering. Basically, if you gain too much of Nightstar or Siege's "attention" while you are fighting them, they will give you warnings, and then sequester you if you don't heed their warnings. You will see warnings for you in red letters, and a ring will appear around your character for each warning. You can also see warnings for others in white letters. If you gain a third ring, you will be "sequestered", i.e. unresistably held, for a fairly long duration. Even worse, the hold is a targeted AoE centered on you, so if you are careless you may cause other people to be sequestered at the same time you are. The key point is this: if you get a second warning, back off and kill adds until the rings fade.

Phase One: Defeat Foes

• Players will spawn just outside the outer wall, southwest of the Hospital. (The hospital is marked on the map on the right side of this page). Go through the door or jump over the wall and kill the "trash" mobs, clearing in a roughly northeastern-ish direction until this phase is over.
• When enough enemies have been killed (it will go by pretty fast), the first phase will end, and everyone should gather at the so-called "North Wall", north of the tennis courts. This area is marked on the map.

Phase Two: Kill Nightstar

• Turrets are active during this phase, but the North Wall is in a blind spot, so most of the League should be safe from the turrets if they stay there.
• Someone-- preferably a level-shifted Tanker or Brute with a ranged attack and/or Taunt, but in a pinch anyone can do this-- should pull Nightstar from where she spawns to the North Wall, where the rest of the League is waiting. Often, the leader will assign someone to this task, or a few people will run off and do it without being asked. If this is your first time running the trial, it might be a good idea to defer the task of pulling to someone else who has done it before.
• If you are not the one pulling, don't attack Nightstar until she is fully at the North Wall area. If you aggro her too soon, she may stay at range and shoot you, delaying the pull.
• During this phase, adds will spawn next to the Helipad (marked "Adds" on the map). Many leagues do not bother to assign anyone to kill adds during this phase, but some do. Pay attention to instructions.
• Nightstar sequesters (see above). If you get a second warning, back off and help with adds.
• Adds despawn and the turrets shut off when Nightstar dies.

Phase Three: Prisoners Escaping

• During this phase, mind-washed prisoners will try to escape from the facility, and you have to stop them. (The reason you are trying to keep the inmates in the BAF instead of helping them get out is made clear in the cutscene at the beginning of the trial.)
• If 20 prisoners escape, the trial fails. If zero prisoners escape, you get the Not On My Watch Badge (or an astral merit if you already have the badge).
• Prisoners will not attack you under any circumstances; they just run for the exits. Defense toggles, etc, are not of much use and can be turned off to reduce lag and endurance consumption.
• There are two types of prisoners. Commandos are completely immune to all forms of control, including (but not limited to) immobilize, holds, confuse, sleep, taunt, knock down/back/up, slows, and any other form of control. They cannot be controlled at all, only killed before they get away. The other type of prisoners (Fighters) CAN be controlled. The Commandos con higher than the Fighters.
• The most common strategy for handling this phase is to assign one group to guard the north choke-point, and the other two groups to guard the south choke-point. These are marked on the map as North Choke and South Choke. ALL prisoners will pass through one of those two points, about one third of them through the north choke and two thirds through the south choke.
• It works better if groups bunch up fairly tightly at the choke points. This is done both in order to benefit from offensive buffs (e.g. Assault, Ageless, etc), and also to control the controllable prisoners where it is convenient to hit them all at once with area effect powers. The idea is that it is a "zone defense" more than a "man-to-man" defense. Let the prisoners come to you, but don't let them get past you.
• Some leagues spread out more along the choke-point, forming a gauntlet of sorts; this works too but is less efficient.
• Single-target-oriented characters can contribute most in this phase by going after the Commandos. Make a macro to target them, e.g. /macro Cmdo targetcustomnear Commando, and go after the ones that slip past your choke-point.
• Return to the North Wall when this phase is finished.

Phase Four: Kill Siege

• This fight is very similar to the Nightstar battle above.
• Turrets are active during this phase, but the North Wall is in a blind spot, so most of the League should be safe from the turrets if they stay there.
• Someone-- preferably a level-shifted Tanker or Brute with a ranged attack and/or Taunt, but in a pinch anyone can do this-- should pull Siege from where he spawns to where Nightstar died.
• If you are not the one pulling, don't attack Siege until he is fully at the North Wall area. If you aggro him too soon, he may stay at range and shoot you, delaying the pull.
• During this phase, adds will spawn next to the Helipad (marked "Adds" on the map). Many leagues do not bother to assign anyone to kill adds during this phase, but some do. Pay attention to instructions.
• Siege also sequesters people during this fight (see "sequestering" above). If you get a second warning, back off and help with adds.

Phase Five: Kill Siege AND Nightstar (Again)

• Siege and Nightstar will both stand back up at full health and attack after Siege is killed the first time. Adds from the previous phase should despawn when this happens, but more adds will spawn during this fight as well.
• Siege and Nightstar MUST be killed within TEN SECONDS of each other, or they will self-rez and you'll be back to square one. Therefore, damage being dealt to them must be balanced evenly. Watch their health bars and pay attention to the league leader's instructions about who should attack what.
• Siege and Nightstar will be sequestering. Pay attention to your warnings/rings. If you get a second warning, back off and help with adds.
• Since this battle lasts longer than the individual battles with Siege and Nightstar and adds are spawning twice as fast, the adds can overwhelm a league if left unchecked too long. Thus, it is a good idea to have some people assigned to kill the adds where they spawn on the Helipad. A common plan is to have one group on Siege, one on Nightstar, and one on adds. This is a simple way to do it, but not the most efficient since it is overkill on the adds. Generally, four or so people can handle the adds and keep them from getting out of hand.

Badge Strategy

There are four badges for the BAF:

• Do not let any prisoners escape (Not On My Watch)
• Do not deactivate any towers (Alarm Raiser)
• Do not let Seige or Nightstar move from their initial spawn points (Keep 'Em Separated)
• Do not leave any spawns alive when Nightstar and Seige die during the final fight (i.e., they are the final two baddies to die) (Strong and Pretty)

Not On My Watch

The strategy for prisoners (Not On My Watch) is the subject of much debate and truly depends on league makeup. In general, buff-heavy leagues (those with /kin or other +dmg +rch buffs) do better with choke points. Less buffed, more AOE-centric leagues tend to do better with doors. AOEs or MMs with buffs, however, should tend toward choke points since those AOEs and pets will form an impenetrable wall of damage. Do not forget Lore pets, too. These should be launched with the timer at 5:05 so they last the entire prisoner phase.

If doing choke points, line 1/3 of the league (1 team if 3 teams of 8) in line with the center of the two tennis courts on the north sidewalk. The other 2/3 of the league should be on the south sidewalk, again on a line between the two tennis courts. All prisoners will pass through these two locations. Note that the south choke point exists only for a short portion of the southern sidewalk before the prisoners spawning at the NE door exit between the buildings. It is critical, thus, when using choke points, that the southern team stay close together at their initial location. Spreading how allows prisoners to slip between the buildings and exit - this is the most common "leak" for this strategy.

For the remaining three badges, it is possible to get all during a single run. The strategy is as follows:

• Make sure 2 of the 3 teams have at least one, preferably two taunters.
• Do not deactivate any towers during the entire trial
• Kill the initial spawns and then move to Nightstar
• Kill Nightstar without letting her move
• Use the appropriate strategy for your league and do not let any prisoners escape (see above)
• As soon as the prisoner phase is completed, move to Seige's location
• Do not let Seige move as you take him down
• As Seige reaches 25% health, have one of the teams move to Nightstar's location
• As Seige reaches 5% to 10% health, have the "Add Kill" team move to the Reinforcement Spawn point. This point is located 4 cement squares out from the set of doors near to and facing the helipad. Reinforcements for both Seige and Nightstar spawn at this location.
• When Seige dies, both he and Nightstar will respawn. There will be a team of 8 people already at their locations to take them down. Since the Add Kill team is intercepting adds, there will be no interference with the AV fights and a team of 8 should easily be able to kill the two AVs. As always, make sure that their health levels are balanced so they die simultaneously.
• Members of the "Add Kill" team should pay strict attention to the reinforcement timer. Ideally, the add kill team will have a kinetics with fulcrum shift. Activate FS immediately after a spawn, then kill the spawn. Reduce or eliminate any knockback so the mobs stay tight and fulcrum has maximum effect. At roughly 50% AV health, stop using Judgement Incarnate attacks.
• As Seige and Nightstar's health get below 20%, the entire league should begin watching the reinforcement timer.
• Slow the rate of AV damage and hold both AVs at around 5% health. The goal is to quickly kill a final spawn of reinforcements with Judgements and AOEs, then quickly kill NS and Seige before another batch of reinforcements spawn.
• Once the final batch of reinforcements are killed, quickly finish off the AVs for all 4 badges.