Force needed for 8th shawl walk

[Cendorly]

When I did my 8th prayer shawl, it was right after the shawl came out, pre pop, pre level 65. I was also in a larger guild then I'm in now, and had the force to help with killing the wolves/giants during the walk.

However, now it's quite some time later - everyone has newer gear, some are level 65, larger mana pools, higher ac/hp's, etc.. I'm also not in the same guild I was when I did my 8th shawl. A good friend of mine is nearly ready to do his 8th shawl walk after wanting to get his 8th shawl for as long as I can remember. He told me already that he's only making the armor once, and if he fails on the walk, that's it. I want to ensure that he wins and gets his 8th shawl, since he worked so hard on the first 7 shawls, and wears it proudly.

So, my question to all of you is what is the minimum force needed to do the 8th shawl walk and ensure a win? Any info on levels, classes, etc., along with tactics, etc., is greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

Cend

[Carmaris]

When I did Beezle's walk (about 3 months ago) he was 62, average level of raid was 64...we had 9 toons (8 players, I was two boxing) and it was pretty trivial.

[Tinile]

1 to 2 good groups is all that's necessary. You will need someone to take care of the General when he misbehaves, ie enchanter mem blur/ cleric atone / FD whatever. A couple tanks then rest dps should be fine. I suppose you can have a healer too if you like, but I bet you won't need them.

[Kaysha Soulsinger]

I did my 8th Shawl a few months ago. My guild is pre-Elementals, somewhat over halfway there, I guess, but with many people level 65 and between 50-200 AA's. When I called for like 2-3 groups, I ended up with 4, and it was a cake walk. My main tank complained in jest that there was no way she could even land a blow before the mobs went down . The general was never in danger and neither were the players that helped me.

Edit: Bleh, Tinile beat me to it

[Cendorly]

Thank you for the replies so far! Keep them coming, I would love to hear other's experiences as well.

I know we can get a 65 necro/61 sk (duel boxed), 64 mage/65 cleric (duel boxed) and probably a 65 chanter, 63 mage maybe 65 ranger and maybe a 65 druid and 65 sk.

My only concern was if we ended up with only 1-2 groups of 60-65's, if it would be enough. I'm worried about tanks and damage to the general/players mostly, as my guild is caster-heavy rather then tank heavy.

I remember when I did my shawl my guild at the time was in HoT gear and there were about 2-3 groups and it was very trivial. As I said though, things are very different with level 65, more aa's, newer spells, etc.

Cend

[Dorothy Ozland]

I did this quest recently with 1 group. One person was 2 boxing. Average group level was around 62. Was quite easy with AE slow. Ma in healer was the 2 boxed druid, you should have no problems.

[Soulfiend]

Did mine yesterday with 10 people, average about 62. Mainly a mix of pet classes healers and a ranger )

[vovinit]

I have heard it done with as few as 7 people. I personally would get as many people as I possibly could.

You know there are several good drops on the walk itself. Offering them up to all those who attend would be a good incentive for people to invite their friends.

When i done my walk I wound up with a extra 5 people I didn't even know who just wanted to do the walk to see what it was like so they could plan a walk for a guild member. Might be a good idea to shout out in pok. I'm sure you'd get a couple people who are on their 6th or 7th shawl and wanna go just to see the walk in action.

[Xorithra L`Amante]

Well, I looked around for my old reply to a question much like this, and I can't find it!

In a nutshell though, you could do this with one group if you happen to be short on people. A healer, a slower, a tank, and some dps, plus a druid/bard/<any class that can agro the other mobs well and stay out of melee range> and a babysitter (someone with fd preferably, though a memblur would work, and someone with speed). The wolf waves are simple, almost all of the wolves (almost all because it has been reported that some were not mezzable... I think it had a special name) are mezzable. The giants are easy if you can get your bait to agro them all, a druid preferred because of snare... since it helps make the mobs managable as well as builds agro. Slowing also makes this easy, whether you have bait or not, just make sure your slower has speed if he/she lacks hps.

If you can get more than just one group, additional tank/healer combo or just more dps will speed things up. As long as you prepare, ie know when the mobs will pop (can download some ingame maps that show these points), how many, and what to expect, you should be fine! Also, your babysitter can just run around, if your group happens to wipe, until they're ready to start again. I've never actually tried this (never failed) but down times can be as long as you need with a babysitter -- even long enough for a CR. Just make sure the person watching the dwarf says relatively away from the fight, but near the spawn point so that once he's memblurred, the dwarf will keep going.

Hope this helps. I had a more detailed guide somewhere else in this forum, but can't for the life of me find it. Done the war 4 times without fail, each time with less people taking less time

Xorithra L`Amante
65 Archon of the Nameless
Blessed Prayer Shawl Survivor
Grandmaster Jewel Crafter
Grandmaster Brewer
Hopelessly aspired to Grandmastering Smithing

Zeryl Stolhit
65 Coercer of the Nameless
Blessed Prayer Shawl Survivor
Grandmaster Potter

P.S. Your concern for your friend's success is awesome!

[llaffer]

The guild I'm in when we did about 10 shawl-runs for people -- most of the members were 55-63 (few 65s in there, but most were not).

Just about no one had any PoP raiding XP (0-2 flags per person)

And with 2 groups, it was pretty trivial.

So that 4-group that was almost elemental capable and all 65s with 50-200AAs when they said it was easy -- they probably could have done it with one group with a slight challenge.

[tsbaity]

Originally posted by llaffer
The guild I'm in when we did about 10 shawl-runs for people -- most of the members were 55-63 (few 65s in there, but most were not).

Just about no one had any PoP raiding XP (0-2 flags per person)

And with 2 groups, it was pretty trivial.

So that 4-group that was almost elemental capable and all 65s with 50-200AAs when they said it was easy -- they probably could have done it with one group with a slight challenge.

We could have, but everyone likes Kaysha so they showed up. In fact I think when she first asked for help only 10 people or so were online, and more logged in as we were gathering. I probably wouldn't try with less than 2 groups, failing is a big pain.

[Kaysha Soulsinger]

Well, yeah ... I was looking for 2 groups, maybe up to 3 just to play it real safe. Oh well, people had fun

[Kaalk]

Did it 4 times with 5 chars - 2 boxed Cleric / wiz , 2 boxed paladin / chanter (me), single boxed necro, was pretty trivial i would say you could take out the necro and wiz and it would be very doable still( all chars 65 with a decent number of aa's except the wiz, 59 with no aa's at the time,all pre-elemental pre-VT gear) .
Way we did it was, i would aggro the dwarf at the start of every wave with the paladin and turn my back to him to not riposte him, get a lot of aggro on one mob while the cleric got aggro on all the others and would start kiting -- Chanter slows, uses Corrudoth as DC pet for dps, necro and wiz assist on kill, paladin self heals, then when the first mob is down, tag one off the cleric and repeat.
Wolves waves are easier, just attack one and mez the rest.

[Tudamorf]

Piece of cake

The walk is extremely easy by today's standards. Any force that can finish a level 65 LDoN normal adventure or do a Tier 1-2 PoP XP group will breeze through this walk. Two or three very good level 65 players could do it without a problem. One good level 65 group is overkill. If you're below level 65, or have a mix of 60-65, or have some bad players, you might want to bring two groups for safety -- but you will probably feel silly for doing so, and the added people may hurt more than help.

The best way I've found to clear the waves is to load your tank(s) with all the damage shields you can muster and let the waves practically kill themselves.

[splunge]

The only thing you do need to consider is that at each spawn point there are up to *5* mobs to control. a 3-some of a VexThal+ geared Warrior/cleric/shaman could handle the whole fight, if the warrior could get and keep aggro on all the mobs before they beat the general into a pulp.

Ive been on the walk a few times lately with about 2 groups of 60-65s, dragging my shaman in tow, and I could agro, slow and stay healed with 3 giants on me without breaking a sweat (and im a ranger) while everyone else burned down the named and eventually got to the ones on me.

My advice:

KOS to Coldain is an annoyance. Avoid.
1 mem-blur class is required. (Clr/Enc)

3 guys able to tank normal LDON 65 adventures. (mediocre warrior, good pal/sk, VT+ ranger/monk/BL)
2 of any from this list (60+ Shaman/Enchanter/non-tank Beastlord/Bard)
2 Healers (60+ Shm/Dru/Clr).

After that, any more just makes it go faster.