Having trouble after going back to Orc Prides

[hellruler]

So, the title says a lot about my situation. I'm doing fine during the early game, getting to the east and coming back to Maj'Eyal isn't a problem either.
But the real thing is when I go back to fight the orcs. I always get my ass kicked there, and even gave up on some exploration runs.

Only my bulwark made it through (but bulwarks are OP), and my solip (but the poor guy couldn't kill the last boss :/ )

Well, I'm out of ideas, and needing some help. Ty a lot

[Tharsonius]

i think id need a little more info for helpful comments - which class/races did u play u had trouble with? which mode? normal/nightmare / roguelike etc? or just link one character as example

[Faeryan]

I know the feeling. The prides are arguably some of the worst places to be, especially the welcoming rooms. The wide open areas are also really horrible.

With practice they start to become easier but a few pointers I can give with my experiences in there.

You're fighting regular orcs, tons of them in bland repetitive environment. This will easily make you underestimate them. Don't underestimate them!

With open area prides scout a few steps at a time. If you see an enemy don't rush it. Even with ranged chars it's better to stand back and hide in a room or behind a corner. The orcs seem endless but they're not, trust me.

Also remember to inspect any and every orc by mouseovering them. If it's an elite with a name it's at least as hard as your everyday purple. Treat it with respect.

Remember how you dealt with The Master? Use the same approach on pride boss levels. Don't rush the boss, evade them until you've cleared the scene.

That's pretty much it. In the end I believe (at least I know that to be true on my part) the prides are your average dungeons. The thing causing problems is your approach to them.

[hellruler]

i think id need a little more info for helpful comments - which class/races did u play u had trouble with? which mode? normal/nightmare / roguelike etc? or just link one character as example

Cursed, Reaver and Oozemancer are the ones I remember getting there (and giving up :/ )
Normal exploration (yeah, I suck)

[bpat]

What order are you entering the prides in? Vor is definitely the hardest, and which of the other three is easiest depends on your class and build. If you do good damage, Rak'Shor should be really easy since all the Orcs there except the ones with Bone Shield are very easy to kill and the only scary Undead are Skeleton Master Archers, which can be kited or just killed if melee. Rak'Shor also has the lowest level range making it easier for low-level characters. In general, you don't want to fight too many enemies at a time, so don't rush in after seeing one enemy because he might have allies right behind him, try to lure enemies out instead (this doesn't really apply to Vor since they teleport all over the place instead of walking normally).

As for the bosses, you can probably beat Rak'Shor in the same way you beat The Master. Try to unload tons of damage until he summons allies, then run or teleport away. Gorbat is a joke if you avoid his Rimebark for ranged characters, but he's more annoying for melee. Try not to rely on physical statuses because of this Spine of the World and beware of the statuses he inflicts. If he summons allies, try to either dispatch them immediately or flee. Grushnak is the easiest by far, just use your Rod of Spydric Poison to kite him. If you're melee, make sure he doesn't land a huge counterattack and you'll be fine, just pay attention to when he uses Block and remember that he has Eternal Guard, so it lasts for two turns. Vor definitely is the hardest boss because of his Freeze, Burning Wake, Flameshock, and Essence of Speed. Don't even try to fight him without a good way to stop his stuns. If you can dispel his sustains he becomes much easier. Also he can run out of mana if you kite well, but I don't recommend this unless you're desperate.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

I ind this information wildly inaccurate. Every one of my 4 winners has tackled Vor first, and found it one of the easiest to deal with. I'd rank Grushnak as hardest due to the opening rooms, and the necro pride as hardest in terms of enemies involved. (God that boss is a pain.) Vor is just squishy mages of fire and ice, and if you can get out of the opening rooms and find a small building to hide in, the rest is fairly easy.

[bpat]

Maybe this only applies on higher difficulties, but Flameshock and Freeze are both very scary. Vor might be easier on Normal because Freeze's scaling is really bizarre and Flameshock isn't problematic if you can get 100% stun resistance. I still think Vor is the hardest boss though except for sometimes Gorbat (his summons and Spine of the World are annoying), Rak'Shor and Grushnak are both pushovers if you kite properly (Rak'Shor is like The Master but with Bone Shield instead of Freeze and Grushnak is just plain easy).

[Marson]

On average, I've actually found Warmaster Gnarg in the Vor Armory to be harder than the pride bosses.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

I'll admit I lack knowledge for higher difficulties, but I would think that if you have the resists to clear out the armory, you can probably handle vor pride, which is just more of the same. (Gnarg excepted)

You still haven't weighed in on Grushnak's rooms. I honestly found them to be some of the biggest trouble spots on my winners (though my doomed laughed at them with fears. Drop fears on biggest cluster, watch paranoia set in as they start tearing each other apart. Priceless.), and I still find some classes to be HORRIBLE on that small level setup the grushnak entrance floors use. I'd welcome insight on that myself.

I'll grant that the necro boss himself is fairly easy, relatively, but the other things IN his pride are a fair bit more scary, as they all blast with very powerful spells (blood mages, anyone?) while dropping crazy numbers of minions. It's one of the only opening rooms I can't always fight well on normal, given their ability to just completely swarm you under.l

I'll grant also that the summoner boss in the nature pride is quite nasty, doubly so for melee since spine of the world would prevent stuns. But the bigger issue there is the broken OPness some of the summons have, and the fact that he cheats EQ hardcore. (He literally has no way to restore it at all, yet somehow constantly earns it back.) The rest of his pride is a joke though, unless you're magical, in which case you have to be careful about manaclash and silence.

Vor pride though, is really just more of what you already faced in the armory, and I've always seen the indication of being able to clear one being indicative of being able to clear the other. Admittedly, the addition of the meteor prodigy did buff Vor himself a bit.

[bpat]

True, Grushnak Guarded Barracks are tricky but they aren't really unmanageable. If melee, I like to try to get enemies to funnel into where I start so I can fight them 1v1. If ranged, I use summoning items to facetank for me and try to take down enemy casters as quickly as possible. If you have a way of dealing with the melee guys (armor and armor hardiness helps), the rest isn't too hard. Wrap of Stone, Frozen Shroud, Rod of Spydric Poison, Gwai's Burninator, and Ungole's Egg Sac are all amazing here. If you don't end up against certain problem classes like Solipsist and Summoner, immediately using The Guardian's Totem should work pretty well too.

Besides that, the rest of Grushnak Pride is really easy for any class.

[Mankeli]

If melee, I like to try to get enemies to funnel into where I start so I can fight them 1v1.

Well, sure you want to fight them 1v1 but Battle Call often makes things more complicated than that. Also, unlike in all the other prides, you can't just teleport away from the starting area in Grushnak if you see monster classes you don't appreciate.

Since freeze crits don't really seem to one-shot you on normal at the time you hit the prides, I've found Grushnak pride probably a bit harder if we exclude the boss fight. Vor himself, however, is pretty menacing even on normal and is head and shoulders above of all the other Pride bossess IMO.