dealing with sickle slash.

M

micah2424

Airship Passenger
Adventurer
Joined
Jan 11, 2005
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hello all i have a question for the exp pld's on here.

i want to know what exactly sickle slash is and how do i prepare for it and deal with it?

a friend of mine celvantes has told that from levels 50-55 that a pld has to contend with sickle slash appparently it is a killing blow like jejt stream.

any info would be greatly appreciated.

level 42 pld/war
 
Hmmm, I'm a 54 Red Mage and I've never seen a pld been killed by sickle slash. Most I've seen was maybe 360 damage max, and that was a pld with no shield, or without using sentinel or defender. So I personally don't think its that much of a problem, and you're a tad over reacting , but once again I'm a 54 Red Mage.
 
Sickle Slash, from my experience, was a lot like Jet Stream in Garbage. Make sure you and the white mage collaborate to keep you at a decent level of hp, grin and bare it. I'm not a paladin, so I don't know the little tricks they use for things like this, but from what I've seen, just keep your hp up.
 
Ok here is the deal. Sikle slash is the weapon skill that spiders use, my best recomendation for dealing with it is making sure the PLD is at damn near full HP teh entire time, I have seen it do between 50-120% of the PLDs HP, a well equiped PLD keeps this percentage low however. Stunnuing it MIGHT be doable, I for one would not hold my breath.
 
Torque said:
Hmmm, I'm a 54 Red Mage and I've never seen a pld been killed by sickle slash. Most I've seen was maybe 360 damage max, and that was a pld with no shield, or without using sentinel or defender. So I personally don't think its that much of a problem, and you're a tad over reacting , but once again I'm a 54 Red Mage.
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Not much experience with Sickle Slash, eh? It's a nightmare if you're PLD isn't prepared for it. It's not overreacting unless of course you're into the idea of a DRK tanking once the body hits the ground, which has happened in some of my experiences. But eh, I'm burned out at the moment and not playing much at all, so I don't have to deal with such things.
 
sickle slash can be dangerous in some cases. if you have a whm that is slacking or run out of mp or whatever. the only way to really counter it(just like any other major type of hit) is to try to predict it or watch for the mob to ready it. and counter it with flash.9 times out of 10, the mob will miss you then
 
Yea my only real exposure to it was with an incompetent american pld, and a JP NIN(me and hal's party). So once again I'll state not mcuh expereince with it.
 
Neyla said:
Not much experience with Sickle Slash, eh? It's a nightmare if you're PLD isn't prepared for it. It's not overreacting unless of course you're into the idea of a DRK tanking once the body hits the ground, which has happened in some of my experiences. But eh, I'm burned out at the moment and not playing much at all, so I don't have to deal with such things.
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This brought a chuckle to me.. as I have actually tanked after a Pld bit it from Sickle Slash. Funny thing was.. first time, I lived. Second time it happened.. I wasn't as fortunate. I've stayed out of Boyada Tree since, or rather, atleast away from it's spiders.
 
Yes, Flash and Stun are your friends against Sickle Slash. The job boards I read really warn taru Paladins against it because of their lower HP.
 
Spiders are scary stuff... The only thing you can really do is keep your HP up, protect up, and everything possible up... slow the mofo, paralyze it, because that SS will be coming...just brace for the hit. :) As a blm, I've been hit and it's not pretty... like Falsey says... we blms have paper armour...
 
Heh. I remember it wasn't long after I got my Holy Breastplate I decided to take on a spider outside Rabao. It checked as Easy Prey (which may as well be Tough for a taru WHM), but I was near the zone and went for it. I thought maybe I could get a few club skillups or something.

I was doing okay until Sickle Slash. BOOM! Dropped my HP to scary levels. I cast Bind and ran for the zone.
 
Sickle slash is not fun, especially when you're ninja tank loses all his shadows right before the mob uses it and doesn't get them back up in time. Then the lowly DRG, the only one left with voke has to throw up defender and almost die about 10 times until the spider dies. Not fun at all. Paladin tanks can take the hit pretty well, and I don't think I've seen one do over 500 damage, so the key is as everyone has said, keep your HP high lol
 
Here's a whacky, crazy and totally off the wall idea: Know your party setup! If you have a Pld tank, dont xp on spiders.
 
alanon said:
Here's a whacky, crazy and totally off the wall idea: Know your party setup! If you have a Pld tank, dont xp on spiders.
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I'm gonna have to agree here. But unless you've got party of set players that's jobs never change (aka Static) then it's a bit difficult to plan ahead and get all of your other members motivated to head to a different camp. I ended up tanking Spiders in the Quicksand caves for a while in the 45 ~ 48 (I think) level range, and I remember for one reason or another Sickle Slash dropped me. Gimped equipment? Nope. Bad WHM? Not from what I remember. Just one of those hits that you wonder "Where the hell did it pull that outta...?"

But since then, I've tanked Spiders in Boyahda and can say I never really had a problem with them. Thier Sickle Slash has done considerably less damage, but I also gained the use of Defender and I guess the Paladin has a Defense spike around level 50 or so...

My advice is, avoid Spiders, Scorpions, Pugils, Bat Clusters, and any thing else that has a one shot major damage attack, because they are dangerous for obvious reasons. I find that thus far it's been much easier to tank other "tank" like mobs, such as Crabs and Beetles, so long as you've got a good group of damage dealers behind you. :)

Mr. Wonko said:
Sickle Slash, from my experience, was a lot like Jet Stream in Garbage. Make sure you and the white mage collaborate to keep you at a decent level of hp, grin and bare it.
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As a PLD I've never had a single problem with the big 1 hit damage moves. Most I ever remember sickle slash doing was maybe 25% of my HP.

If you keep yourself well equipped, eat the right food, and have good support behind you you'll be fine.
 
I avoided spiders actually as a ninja but didn't mind them too much as a paladin.
90% of the time your WHM will not have erase, haste won't kill spider's slow. Slow while tanking mobs that will for SURE 1 hit kill you if hitting with your shadows is a really really bad idea.

The best advice I can give you is, do your best and suck it up. Never fight spiders when you're at the bottom of large range.... E.G. level 43 in a 43-46 PT. As long as your gear is up to snuff, you're high enough level and you can keep your HP at a reasonable level, you'll be alright.

On a side note: I never found spiders to be particulary great exp. At least not until Dragon's Aery when you'll have 1000+ HP even as a taru.
 
I ate plenty of sickle slashes at those levels. Didn't die once. Spiders always seemed to use it just as my shadows went down. So if a war/nin can deal with it, there is no reason why a well equipped pally shouldn't be able to handle it.
 
Bio II helps quite a bit with damage, and if you are really scared the Rasp/Blind combo can help like when pugils where scary in Qufim, although it's not really needed.

Another thing to keep in mind is being particulary stingy with the TP you are giving to mobs with high damage WSs or nasty AoEs. That means, no one gets to melee for low damage (be it bard, mage of any color, or carbie regardless of how cute the little pokemon is) and every attacker has to get the best food they can so they can kill the mob in the least amount of hits.

Then again, in my personal experience, sickle slash isn't really scary for a PLD with proper equipment and a decent party. I've seen hume and mith paladins eating "regular" food (i.e. fishkabobs and no crazy tacos) and getting very moderate damage from it.

The scary part of sickle slash is when somebody steals hate and then the spider fires the WS in a display of incredible intelligence :? As some people said, you don't want a mage under that thing, although it's eminently survivable for a mage with full hp, but even a mnk or a drk is bound to take quite a large hp hit which taxes the mp of the main and backup healers needlessly.

So, in conclusion, good debuffing, good hate control and no low melee damage, and you will have no trouble at all with spiders.
 
Sickle Slash can be deadly, but like others have said if you prepare properly you should be fine. I do have a couple of additional notes.

What Firestreak said was key, be sure you are not on the low end of a level range as the tank when fighting Spiders.

Try to Keep Flash available to stop Sickle slash, but be aware you can't always count on it and I have seen two sickle slashes close enough together that flash was not yet back up to stop it.

TALK to your WHM, let them know that your HP needs to be over a certain level just in case Sickle Slash gets through. The amount of HP you need depends on the level of the spiders you are fighting.

I have leveled off of spiders in Altepa, Quicksand Caves, Boyahda, and just recently Dragon's Aery. The only problems I have had is when my HP are too low when Sickle Slash hits and if I am trying to level off of something that is a little too high for me. I tried Boyahda at level 49 and got hammered by the third spider we fought. Also be prepared to die just because people won't listen to you. This weekend I was leveling in Dragon's Aery. I told the healer we had to keep me above 800HP just in case Sickle Slash hit. After the third fight I was on the ground and the Healer was going "OMG how did he die so fast?!". MY HP was low and a regular hit then a quick Sickle Slash right after took me down, I think the Sickle Slash hit me for around mid 600. So just be aware sometimes fighting spiders just won't work with certain set-ups and be prepared to need to move or disband and try something else.
 
Micah,

Nice to see that you took our recommendations into consideration... and decided to go PLD if you wanted to tank. I for one think it shows maturity and growth. /cheer

Anyways... Sickle Slash is no big deal, one alone is nothing hahah. Normally you tell your group WHM to keep you at MAX HP - 100 so that you can use CURE III to the full and take advantage of the hate gained. Basically this way your health is almost always at full levels. Some people say save flash for Sickle Slash but I never really did that, screws around with hate a lot.

Micah just make sure you have reliable mages, and ie in Quicksand Caves if you are fighting beetles and already they are letting your HP get quite low, then you better tell them and tell them to improve their healing otherwise you are gonna bite the dust.

I have never died from 1 sickslash, but.... I'll never forget

Sickle Slash
Critical Hit
Sickle Slash

GG! :) This has happened to me MULTIPLE times and I'm only 58 PLD too... haha
 
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