Looking for a great level 125+ robe? Corporal Tenni'syn is one of the nastiest bosses in the Spiral, but if you can organize a well-coordinated team or get lucky in this battle, you've got a chance at your Light Brigade outfit. Here are the robes you're after, and an outline of what to expect in this mess of a battle.
Corporal Tenni'syn
Tucked away in Zanadu Sewers, Corporal Tenni'syn is locked behind a gold skeleton key door. This is one of the toughest bosses you'll face - it's a time-sensitive fight with a very real possibility of your entire team being knocked out in a round or two. But plan ahead and you'll get a chance at your robe!
Cheats & Strategy
Expect the following cheats from this boss.
- Corporal Tenni'syn gains an extra power pip for each person in the battle minus one. (That's three power pips per round for four players, two power pips for three players, one power pip for two players, and none for one player.)
- Reinforcements? Ha! You're late! - If anyone enters the battle late, Tenni'syn will interrupt to attack them with his natural attack.
- Lightning from the left of you! Lightning from the right! - Any time Tenni'syn attacks with his natural attack, he will follow it up with random casts of Wild Bolt on random wizards.
- Ah, clever! Don't do that again! - The first time in a round that a Feint is used on Tenni'syn (including pet cards), he will say this.
- Oh, no! I'm ready for you this time! - If you cast additional Feints on Tenni'syn in one round, he will remove two traps on himself for each one you cast.
- Time to finish this! - Tenni'syn will occasionally interrupt to use his natural attack to hit one wizard (note that the Wild Bolt cheat will follow, as with other natural attacks).
- Into the jaws of death with you! - When Tenni'syn gets seven shadow pips, he will cast a shadow version of Lord of the Squall which deals around 15,000 damage to all enemies and removes all blades, shields, and pips.
Here are some tips for taking on Tenni'syn.
- Entering this battle will pull everyone in the room in immediately, so the tardy cheat should be avoidable unless someone needs to leave and return.
- Use only one Feint per round. This should be obvious from the cheats. Using more will only hurt you.
- Coordinate one or more powerful hits. Note that Tenni'syn has Glowbug Squall and is not afraid to use it. A strategy that uses more traps is safer from the effects of Glowbug Squall, Sirens, and Leviathan, all of which he'll use on a regular basis thanks to his extra pip gain.
- Generally, if Tenni'syn gets to seven shadow pips, it's game over. While using Glowbug Squall does use up his shadow pips, you should expect him to continue gaining them at a fair rate.
- Know what each person is doing and coordinate before the battle. Your teams needs to be focused on doing enough damage to kill him in a short period of time while surviving his powerful attacks.
Light Brigade Robe Drops
Corporal Tenni'syn drops some Alphoi Hoard Pack gear, but the main attraction is his robes. These robes are some of the only end-game robes to have a more balanced lineup of stats. They're comparable to Malistaire's robes or Rattlebones' robes, which I'll compare below.
Darkmoor & Rattlebones Comparisons
Three legendary battles and three impressive robes. They're all fairly close and each has its pros and cons. Pick your poison.
Why They Matter
Over the course of this month, I'll be doing a sort of "Significant Gear Series" that covers the most important sets and items that have defined where wizards farm, how they build their setups, and more. This will be an opportunity to compare stats and discuss structure. We'll cover everything from Waterworks to Darkmoor to some of the more recent sets. In the future, we may go further back.
Corporal Tenni'syn is one of those examples of how not to design a battle. It's the opposite of Mimic: Instead of being a lot of fun to team up, it can often be a disaster. Instead of a careful plan or working around clever cheats, it's just a matter of making a quick kill. And that wouldn't be too bad if there wasn't such a huge threat of dying every round. Winning often requires a lot of luck - that he doesn't get that critical hit or use a particular spell or get his shadow pips quickly.
That said, I find it interesting that KingsIsle broke the mold on these robe stats knowing it'd be more attractive. Instead of the defense-focused robes of the past several worlds, these are more like Darkmoor gear. It's also worth noting the various pack items dropped here - that's an unusual move which we've seen replicated only in the Lost Pages to my knowledge. Corporal Tenni'syn's robes look okay, but if he dropped his weapon then maybe I've venture into the Zanadu Sewers more often.
Credits: Thanks for help with images to the following people: Ravino. Thanks to Eric Stormbringer for noting that you can go first in this battle and that Lord of the Squall also removes all blades, shields, and pips.
Do you have your Corporal Tenni'syn robe?
Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!
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