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Title:
Vermin Horde
Spawn Location:
Despise and Random T2A altars
Time to complete:
20-40 mins
Number of people required:
On average, 2-5 |
Barracoon spawns as a red human, but quickly changes into an ordinary looking little ratman though he will highlight red when a target cursor is on him. As champs go, he is without contest the easiest to defeat of them all, packing little in the way of offence. He does however pack a fair number of hit points and can take a while to go down when there are only 2-3 people attacking him. One must still be very careful when fighting him, as he has two specials attacks he uses quite often.
Special Attacks/Tactics
The first is to polymorph those attacking him into rats. When this happens you get knocked off your horse, turned into a rat and go grey. So anyone can attack you, and someone most likely will. There are however two ways to defeat this tactic. One is to wear Savage Kin paint. He simply won't poly you if you have it on. And the other is use the spell Incognito or to polymorph into a human male or female. If you polymorph into anything else, you will go grey as well and be vulnerable to notos. Casting it on yourself will have the same effect as using the Savage Kin paint, but with this method you have to watch closely, as Incognito doesn't last overly long, and will more than likely have to be reapplied at least twice during the course of the battle. Note: Barracoon will also Polymorph any pets attacking him into rats. Though this doesn't affect their offensive abilities at all.
The second tactic he uses is to summon a small swarm of 2-5 rats on top of someone attacking him. He seems to center them on those doing the most damage with direct damage spells. i.e., tamers wont be bothered by this tactic. The rats range from normal ratmen to rat mages and rat archers. There's no real way to keep this from happening so stay alert and be ready to run at a moments notice. They may just be rats, but they can still do some damage to those in weak armor.
Tactics to Defeat
Barracoon, as stated before, is pretty easy to take down and will pose no real threat to any group larger than 2. The best group-based tactic for Barracoon is to all stand back and have the tamers sic their pets on him and have everyone else mana dump or attack in whatever way they can. Have any bards present ready to provoke or peace the little rat swarms Barracoon will summon on to members of the party and as always have the protector standing back and ready to heal/rez anyone who might need it. Make sure to apply your Savage paint or cast Incognito on yourself before attacking or you may find yourself polymorphed into a rat and at the mercy of any crashers or players who happen to be around.
It should also be noted that when Barracoon spawns, he will not move, and usually won't target anyone until he himself is attacked. This gives ample time to clear up the spawn and get everyone ready for the assault. It is also recommended to trap him in a bunch of energy fields to keep him from running all over the place as he often does once under attack.
Individual tactics vs. Barracoon are pretty basic. If you're a tamer, use your pets and use magery to heal them as needed. When Barracoon is attacked by pets he starts to move around a lot so using aids to heal isn't really possible. If you're a mage, mana dump Mind Blast and/or Fireballs on him. If you're a dexer, do what you do best. Charge right in and melee him. His attacks aren't all that strong so you wont have too much trouble taking him down. Use Repond slayers. Potions also do quite well against Barracoon but when he starts moving around he can be pretty hard to hit with them unless your timing is perfect.
The Spawn Itself.
The spawn you'll encounter when looking to summon Barracoon is a pretty easy affair. The first level will be slimes and giant rats. EV, Earthquake and Fireball will take care all of them for you and in short order no less. Warriors should be careful at this stage though, as attacking slimes will damage your weapons. So put away your good sword and equip something you don't mind tearing up. The second level isn't much harder. Dire wolves and normal ratmen. Again, EV, EQ and Fireball. At third level, things get a little more interesting. Rat Mages and Hell Hounds will be spawning. Both die quickly, but to anyone in weak resist armor, they pack a wallop. So watch yourself and continue with the EVs, EQs and Fireballs. Bards become more notably useful at this point as you can get those annoying little hellhounds provoked onto the annoying little mages. Fourth level is a little more hairy. Rat archers and Silver Serpents. Rat archers hit good and hard, even to people in moderate resist armor and Silver Serpents are just mean. They move fast, hit hard, have decent HP and can DP you on occasion. Yay! That's when you want to be chewing on those orange petals to save you from that nasty poison. Keep up with your EVs and EQs, and bards keep those silver serpents either peaced or provoked and get ready, it doesn't take long at fourth level before Barracoon shows his ugly little face.
