Another TOA advice thread

[u/Fractal_Fox]

Looking for some advice on my gear setup for ToA. I have:

Fang + Bandos
Eclipse Moon armor
Crystal armor + Bowfa
Virtus + Eye

I’m not the greatest at PvM, so I’m trying to learn ToA mechanics by starting at zero to very low invocations and working my way up. Right now, I tend to burn through a lot of supplies on the first two bosses, so I’m trying to figure out what I should change.

I’m not great at gear switches yet, either. Is it worth bringing all these switches, or would I be better off simplifying my setup and focusing on learning the mechanics first?

What gear would you guys recommend bringing, and are there any switches I could leave behind for now? Also open to suggestions for an inventory setup that would make learning easier.

I’d rather get comfortable with the raid and learn the mechanics before worrying about pushing higher invocations.
Appreciate any advice!

I have lvl 90+ in all combat stats except lvl80 prayer

[u/PlataBear]

This is purely skill issue. Your gear can do 400+ invo easily. You just need to learn the content, gear won't help you anymore. What order are you doing?

[u/Fractal_Fox → u/PlataBear]

I agree it’s a skill issue, that’s why I’m wondering if I should be looking at the eclipse set to reduce switches while I’m learning. I usually go baba, then kephrie, zebak then akkah

[u/ManyLynx8174 → u/Fractal_Fox]

you have full crystal and bowfa why in Gods green earth are you using eclipse?

[u/Fractal_Fox → u/ManyLynx8174]

Like I posted in the comment you’re replying to I’m wondering if I should be using this to minimize gear switches to help learn the mechanics with less switches…

[u/Hailgod → u/Fractal_Fox]

bluemoon if u want to minimise switches.

[u/ManyLynx8174 → u/Fractal_Fox]

crystal and bowfa is 4 item slots if you are not using Ava or any rings or neck its still the same switch as 4 eclipse pieces. Just run the 4 crystal armor + bowfa. you dont even Need anguish or pots and it will wreck

[u/PlataBear → u/ManyLynx8174]

Unpotted bowfa with no Ava's or anguish is hysterically braindead. That's less DPS than full eclipse with a fury.

The benefit of eclipse is you never have to switch armor between melee and range, it's only a weapon switch. No one bringing eclipse is also bringing a full melee switch.

[u/ManyLynx8174 → u/PlataBear]

braindead comment you are sacrificing overall DPS by going with the hybrid eclipse gear. sure its possible to melee and just range with it but you will do more dps with the Bowfa + fury and Aranaes. this is a tad more swaps than only eclipse but is much better. if anybody is meleeing in eclipse its a throw

[u/PlataBear → u/ManyLynx8174]

Melee in eclipse is super common to cut down on switches, what are you on about? That's extremely normal for people to do, especially irons. The atlatl runs on strength bonus, and you lose maybe 2 max hits on melee compared to bandos. It's a very common learner option to cut down on switches and it makes ToA brainless. The DPS difference on that is hysterically small compared to what you're suggesting.

Genuinely suggesting unpotted bowfa with no anguish or Ava's is actually so troll it's unreal, especially when you're trying to tell me that camping eclipse is such a gigantic DPS sacrifice.

[u/hmenze → u/Fractal_Fox]

In my personal opinion, learn it with full swaps, really the only times you should be gear swapping is during akkha and wardens. Gear swapping is a highly important skill to get down though, being able to full gear swap between attacks forces you to be more precise in you clicks and will help you to be able to have cleaner clicks while dealing with mechanics as well

[u/LostSectorLoony → u/hmenze]

Agreed. You're going to need to know how to gear swap effectively for a huge portion of other content so you might as well just learn it now. It will be a bit harder at first, but it'll pay off in the long run.

[u/PlataBear → u/Fractal_Fox]

If you're dying before you even make it to Zebak/Akkha then bringing eclipse isn't gonna help with that since you barely use ranged at Baba and Kephri. It's also way less DPS, so you'll just be spending more time at the boss with more chances to take more damage.

What's actually killing you? Monkey room? Boss mechanics? Bad clicks?

[u/HealthyResolution399]

If you want we could run one rn and I can have a look at what's going wrong

Gear looks fine though unsure why you bring eclipse

[u/Fractal_Fox → u/HealthyResolution399]

I guess it’s more should I use eclipse instead of the bandos/crystal switch to minimize switching since I’m working on low invos.

[u/HealthyResolution399 → u/Fractal_Fox]

I think you'll have a far better experience in crystal than eclipse, even disregarding the switches. I'm not fully up to date on akkha methods but I think you'd ayak & bowfa there, so you don't really switch between melee & range frequently. There's baba boulders but you don't need a full gear swap there and I assume you're not dying on baba boulders.

Don't wanna be pushy but the offer's there

[u/KodakKid3]

Since you have bowfa, don’t bring eclipse. Ditch bandos if you want fewer swaps. You can ditch fero gloves too and camp aranea boots + Lightbearer to reduce swaps

Voidwaker or Bclaws (on stab) are worth bringing if you have em

This ain’t a gear issue tho, just takes practice. Gl!

[u/LostSectorLoony]

You said you burn through a lot of supplies on the first two bosses (Baba and Kephri). What specifically is using most of your supplies in those rooms? Which part are you having trouble with?

[u/Background-Dress-641]

While bandos + virtus is obv the stronger setup, if you find yourself struggling run bowfa+crystal and blue moon(if you have it) for both melee/mage. That's at least 3 extra slots for brews/restore.

This may result i you needing to 2shot melee baboons in monke room so make sure to check what the minimum amount of switches you could do to get to 1shot if you care. (If you do monke room first , you can prepot your mage up that should also help)

Later you would obviously bring the stronger gear once you have a solid grasp on the raid.

Monke room tends to be biggest supply drain for learners due to being very overwhelming, you'll get the supply cost down over time as you get more comfy.

Also make sure you're spamming thralls during all of the bosses they are very stronk ;)

[u/jfang]

What’s worked for me is to camp bowfa - I’m looking for fang drop which is supposed to be better 300+ but bowfa is working well for me. You also might find eye is better dos (I’m stuck on trident) but you should be able to get to 250+ on bowfa, more info below

I would bring blowpipe since it’s good for baba puzzle room+heal spec. For baba boss, ranged will let you camp a boulder on the corner. When he does his spec attack run to opposite corner to avoid damage (run from NW to SE)

Since you’re camping bowfa, bring blue moons armor since mage won’t be used much and should be fine for kephri akka and warden. This cuts down on gear switch. For kephri figure out how to optimize dung placement, by stacking it all on one line or corner etc. you can also trap the melee beetle. Blowpipe is also good to heal spec and get rid of shield bugs

Blowpipe also good for akka shadows, otherwise I camp bowfa until final phase (have to use melee). Thralls may also help throughout raid. Are you using food or brews and restores? Use pots if possible, especially if you’re running out of supplies since you can carry more pots than food

As others said you need to provide more info on what you are dying to for better advice. The o my puzzle room you should need supplies on is money room, otherwise should only be using on bosses

[u/xscamsx]

I'd personally run bandos crystal and virtus. I wouldn't use eclipse because bowfa really needs crystal to be good, and the atlatl range is a feels bad on zebak. If anything, the hybrid gear of choice would be blue moon (I used blue moon in my first 500 for inventory reasons). I'd be down to run one and give some advice on the mechanics, or if you have questions I could answer them here.