The Razah Quest, For those of you struggling ...

I noticed several of you on AC were struggling pretty badly with the Razah quest, even with a nice Basin group forming.

While it's probably more fun to have a Basin group I managed to do this solo with 3 heroes and 4 henchies, therefore, it's definitely not a matter of it being too hard for a human-poor group. So if you're still struggling with the quest, here's how my party is set up -

Myself - Vierin Lavonde - Elementalist/Ritualist, Obsidian Warder
12 Earth Magic, 11 Energy Storage, 6 Restoration Magic
Skills: Obsidian Flame, Stone Daggers, Ward Against Melee, Sliver Armor, Armor of Earth, Earth Attunement, Elemental Attunement(E), and Flesh of My Flesh.
Attribute Runes: Major Energy Storage, Superior Earth Magic
Armor insignia: Pyromancer's
Weapon: Portal Staff, 19% HSR, 10% HCT (all), Hale of Fortitude (+24, +22)

A warrior hero (I used Goren, but Koss will work as well) - Secondary profession irrelevant, Triple Chop Tank
12 Axe Mastery, 10 Tactics, 8 Strength
Skills: Triple Chop(E), Cyclone Axe, Disrupting Chop, Wild Blow, Flail, Watch Yourself, Healing Signet, and Resurrection Signet
Attribute Runes: Superior Axe Mastery, Minor Tactics, Minor Strength
Armor insignia: Dreadnought's
Weapon mods: Ebon of Defense (+5), 14^50

Norgu - Secondary profession Monk, Interrupter par Excellence
11 Fast Casting, 11 Domination Magic, 8 Inspiration Magic
Skills: Drain Enchantment, Power Spike, Cry of Frustration, Power Drain, Mantra of Recovery(E), Backfire, Remove Hex, and Resurrection Chant
Attribute Runes: Superior Fast Casting, Minor Domination, Minor Inspiration
Armor insignia: Sentry's
Weapon: Clairvoyant Staff 20/20, Insightful (+5) of Shelter (+7)

An elementalist hero (I used Sousuke, but Zhed is just as good) - Secondary profession Monk, Standard SF
12 Fire Magic, 12 Energy Storage, 3 Healing Prayers
Skills: Searing Flames(E), Glowing Gaze, Liquid Flame, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Meteor Shower, Fire Attunement, Glyph of Sacrifice, and Resurrection Chant
Attribute Runes: Major Fire Magic, Major Energy Storage
Armor insignia: Geomancer's
Weapon: 20/20 Fire Wand, Focus: Lian's Lantern

For Henchmen, I took both Monks, along with Sogolon and Cynn.

This party is extremely effective well nigh EVERYWHERE in Nightfall, almost like a well-oiled machine. The Razah quest is no exception, and the only thing to be careful of is aggro. It can become somewhat nail biting if you have to fight 2 groups of torments at once (I ended up doing it almost every time I ran into the spots that 2 groups were near) though depending on the spawn it may not be so bad. What spawns are good or bad for you depends mostly on who your own character is; for my Ellie build, I find that the Mesmer and Elementalist spawns are the most dangerous.

Once the Torments are taken care of, the rest becomes very easy as the spawned groups are quite weak; just be careful not to get both the Margonite and the Shadow Army group at once. To avoid this, flag the heroes just south of the double Binding Spirit area, and carefully make your way around the corner to aggro the more southerly (Shadow Army) spirit, then lead that group back to your heroes. Once the group is dead, charge; the Binding Spirits themselves are quite weak and the Margonites are as pathetic as always.

For the Titans, the strategy will probably vary, based on which ones are most dangerous to you. If you have Ward against Melee like I do, I would kill off an Abomination and then both Pains before taking out the 4 Madness Titans, as the fire spells are going to be more dangerous (the Madness Titans will be blocked half the time, massively cutting their danger factor, and WaM can be kept up permanently at 16 Earth). Otherwise, it depends on your own character's build, basically.

As you can tell, you may need to tweak things a little here or there depending on who your main character is, but some tips -

* Gear is not a real problem, look at my staff, and Sousuke having only a Major fire rune
* Sogolon is extremely effective in conjunction with the Warrior hero build used here, because the Triple Chop Tank, as it is called on Wiki will build adrenaline extremely rapidly, meaning he will use Watch Yourself almost all the time, basically making Mending Refrain a permanent thing as long as you are still fighting.
* Flail is almost too good; the speed reduction matters little in a PvE engagement, while the faster attack speed is just as good as Frenzy. Not to mention being adrenal based the warrior hero can keep it up nearly forever during a battle.
* If you're an Ellie, Obsidian Flame makes Arms of Insanity much, much less annoying, as you can easily finish off one going into Call to the Torment with usually a single Flame without worrying about their defensive stances.
* As I mentioned, this party works with almost surgical effectiveness almost everywhere (unless you over-aggro and develop overwhelming odds against you, or in certain parts of the Torment that have bad EE's; however, there is no EE in Heart of Abaddon).

Edit: Do not post when tired. I noted "Swordsmanship" instead of "Axe Mastery" for Goren's rune ... http://www.theamazonbasin.com/gw/forums/index.php?showtopic=7866