A Guide to Archon Master Forms

The good and the really really awful. Here's a hint, people: If you don't have a plan, if you don't have experience, don't summon a master!

That sounds harsh, but it's not really. Masters are not so hard if you are organized but are brutal if you are not. If you don't know what you are doing, you are likely to get a lot of people killed, add a lot of decay to equipment, and have your form fall apart before it is killed.

I think the biggest single asset to a master-killing formation is a strong, knowledgeable form leader. There are several players I know of that I'd want leading me against a master. These are players that have done many many masters and know what to expect and more importantly, what not to do. Here are some things not to do:

Do:

• Fight in an indoors room.
• Place the tank and off-tank in the correct form positions.
• Have a good variety of weapon types available.
• Have two or more form members with maxed personality cast/play calm.
• Bring in plenty of calm herbs in case you lack form members with maxed personality.
• Have plenty of reagents for cure blindness, and be ready to cast it if the tank is blinded, especially when the tank is silenced.
• Know your role. If your task is to heal your tank, do that. If you're meant to be keeping the master debuffed, pay attention to it.
• Always have autoloot off, and attempt to fight your master in an area you are less likely to have to worry about loot being ganked.
• Have an alias ready to remove/rewear your sanctuary equipment, in case you're fighting a dispel/kill master.
• Have defense set to auto with a shield equippable. If the master has a weapon, go with shield block.
• Keep your tank above 2,000hp in case you have a bolter.
• Keep a balanced form. The abilities of every class will be useful when fighting a master.

Don't:

• Do not summon if you don't have someone that can dispel an ethereal master. If you don't, and get an eth, you will die and the hunter will rift long before you get close to killing it.
• Do not have just one type of weapon (including just on type of dispelling weapon). Masters all have significant sets of immunities.
• If you have a choice, a non-faerie should summon, unless you're sure you can keep them from tanking. Masters enjoy abjuring.
• Do not fight where you can be hands-of-winded. Do fight in reinforced structures to prevent earthquakes. If you can, fight a master in a room with one exit, and make sure the exit is a closeable door, because masters like to flee -a lot- when low on HP, and because of their high saves, they are hard to web.
• Do not repeatedly attempt to flee. Fleeing gets you killed.
• Smoke bomb. Some masters will kill you for attempting such Swedish tactics.