Transitioning between 6 man and 4 man dungeons

[ElectricPotato]

Whats a good indication of when one should begin the 4 man version of dungeons? Any particular indicators for specific dungeons?

[dualistique]

There's no real indicator other than making sure you know the dungeon inside and out.  If you're still failing at mechanics, then I'd still do 6-man for a bit.

 

Once mechanics are second nature to you, you should start to acknowledge the general patterns of the bosses attacks and their rotation (if they have any).  Use 6-man party runs to pay attention to the boss(es)' attack animations and what type of attack it is (yellow = blockable, red = unblockable) and the area of effect is has (cone shape, linear, circular, etc...).  Bosses are normally predictable in their patterns so you can even watch a bunch of videos online to come up with some cues for yourself.  Everyone learns differently, so you have to just figure out what works for you.  Some people look for visual cues, some people do audio, and some people do self-timers in their head to time their iframes.

 

Certain dungeons you can look at NPC speech bubbles to determine when they are doing attacks (i.e. Shattered Masts twin snakes) and other dungeons (like Yeti) you might want to use the distance number near the boss's HP to space yourself from its jumps if you can't figure out the timing for iframe.

 

Do remember that some of your iframes do last for a couple seconds, so you don't always have to be perfect on the dot.  Remember which iframe lasts for how long, and you'll be good to go :)

 

Hope that helps.  I'm sure others can give more 'exact' cues.  I usually just play by muscle memory once I figure out a bosses' typical rotation/animation.

 

P.S.  You can also turn off indicators in 6-man parties to practice before doing 4-man since you'll have the party protection in 6-man for less damage.

[Hazzie]

Entirely up to you. 

 

I'd suggest you get comfortable with the mechanics and attack patterns of bosses, for instance a boss raising his hands before an aoe, etc. Also, general dungeon mechanics, phases of different bosses and what to do in them. Once you're entirely comfortable with that in 6man, you can try 4man.

 

Also (not sure, haven't tried myself) I think there's an option in settings to disable boss attack indicators even in 6man, you can train yourself that way if you still feel insecure.

 

Other than that, people often expect a certain amount of gear/ap when doing 4man, it's often overblown to make the run smoother/faster. Don't let it discourage you.

[PooHie]

Switching to 4m is up to your comfort level. It's different for everyone, one thing that you can try is disabled aoe markers in 6m and tooltips for iframes in mouse over options. To make it look like a 4m party, that way you can start practicing it if you still need more practice as well as Dragon Coil can save if you mess up an animation and won't be penalized for it, until you get 100% used to it.

[hyperbolicj]

when you're comfortable with the enemies, and got a good read on how much damage you do and feel it is enough to clear with 2/3 the number of members.

[Jaylia]

Like everyone has said up to now, that is entirely up to you and your comfort point. For me, that came when I realised that I was still at 2/2 dragonbloods when finishing certain dungeons.

 

Tip : Start 4man dungeons with an easy one like Lair to get used to the whole idea :-)

[rapielle]

Keep in mind that some dungeons have extra mechanics in 4 man compared to 6 man.

The only one I can think now off is the extra phases in the last fight in Shattered masts.

[Vinn]

On 11/8/2016 at 4:30 AM, ElectricPotato said:

Whats a good indication of when one should begin the 4 man version of dungeons? Any particular indicators for specific dungeons?

Stating your class would help. If you are a melee class then you'll need to know the animation for every single attack that a boss can do and their pattern, especially if you are a tank class (BM/KFM). If you're ranged, then you can go in much faster, just remember the timings for party shields if needed. 
 

[Shuchin]

Personally I cannot do the usually recommended way of practicing 6 man as a prep for 4 man. My brain just switches to couch potato mode when I see the attack telegraphs. And if you switch them off, IMO you can just as well do 4 man right away. Usually I learn more in my first 4 runs in 4 man than I did in a  month of running 6 man versions.

 

For people like me, a nice and friendly clan is a must, people who tolerate you messing things up until you learned your part. XD

 

It also helps that I am usually overgeared when I try 4 man versions. Then you can make lots of mistakes without wiping immediately.

[Cesura]

A couple signs you might want to consider 4-man mode:

 

1. You find a 6-man dungeon to be trivially easy. I found this to be the case with gloomdross incision for example, where after literally just 1-2 runs I was thinking it was stupid easy and I should just go for 4-man mode. I can still barely tell the difference between a 4 and 6 on that one since it's so easy. It still baffles me when I see 600-700+ ap groups recruiting for a 6-man on that one, I'd gladly do a 500+ 4-man gloomdross so long as the marking and CC mechanic is done right on the boss. It's actually HARDER on 6 if one of those extra people moves the boss the wrong way. 

2. You hit the point where the 6-man loot is just trash to you. When I was getting annoyed at all the asura soul shields I was getting rather than being happy to get them, that was my signal it was time to stuck to 4-man asura runs. That almost goes for tomb and ebondrake citadel now. Once you've run it enough times to have your maxed ebondrake/Oblivion shield sets. you're probably ready for 4-man.

 

 

Also, yeah, f8 just wants to braindead farm most of the dungeons, so the bar for groups is actually a LOT higher than what you really need to complete the content. Hence groups asking for literally over 100 more AP/gear than you actually need along with other similar kinds of requirements. This game is a lot better with friends or a good clan who will actually tolerate a few wipes while you're learning things. 

 

f8 had me straight-up afraid to try 4-man dungeons because of the requirements they wanted, but now that I'm doing them, there are really only a few of them that are significantly harder in 4-man mode. I'd say Shattered masts has the biggest jump. 6 man is easy, 4 man is quite unforgiving. Asura, Yeti, Nexus and Necropolis mechanics are harder with 4 people, but there are so many overgeared people now, even having just one or two of them make for an easy carry.  The newest endgame dungeons don't have dragonblood anyways, so honestly 4-maning those is almost more of a party composition optimization thing. 

 

[Joelvtx]

I would also add about 50ap to what you would consider okay for 6 man. 

 

The drops are so much better, but soul shields only come from the chest from your quest. They don't drop.

[YamiKokennin]

When I:

1. Know the rotations and boss' movements

2. Know the range of the attacks

3. Didn't waste a single heart in 6men run

 

Once all those 3 criteria are met, I go 4men :)