【Guide】 Clock Tower Raid & Etiquette (Updated 2016)

Introduction

This is a raid that can be done without much hassle, or you can make it a pain in the ass for everyone. I decided to write this because I've been to a bunch of CT-runs that, while usually having good people, lacked knowledge and/or organization. Click on the "read more" below to see the full guide. Yes... it will be a long read, but it will also help everyone have a nicer raid experience.

Level: Master/High Master
Characters: 1 character per person
Max. Participants: 24
Mission Failed: If you do not finish the floor in time or if everyone dies or if you don't have/get a key to the next floor.
Time limit: 30 minutes per floor
Racial/Armor Type/RES: Lifeless / Hard Armor / Weak to Lightning
Pre-requisite: Clock Tower Entrance quest
Item/s for entry: 1x Spell Key (buy with 2 Moon Stones from Jenia in Byron F6)




General information and etiquette

• Before you enter and while you assemble prepare and check everything: Spell Key, key to whatever floor you want ot jump to (and WHO has it), if your quest is even done to enter it (!!!), if you have all your rings, an extra LoE-bracelet for Flare, Soul Crystals etc...
• The seal for the CT entrance will stay broken for a while after you use the key, so don't worry if you have to exit the lobby to make a new one.
  
• Every boss in Clock Tower are Lifeless racial and have Hard Armor property.
• Take your daily Clock Tower Investigation Quest from the guard outside CT for extra rewards:
  Time of Toothed Wheel + Either of these: Honor Cards, Veteran G/Expert G cards or Training A/B Cards. The quest for each floor gets completed when the roulette appears.
• If there is a Machine Device anywhere on the floor you can be sure it has to be clicked to activate something. If a boss is unattackable, find the Machine Device.
• On most floors you will fight two bosses, 1 in the bottom room and 1 in the top room, so even if you finish off one room there's still the other. Usually they have the same mechanic.
• Since it's an MCC1 raid, everyone has to be serious about their role. This means no scouts forgetting their rings, no Ele/Hellena forgetting a second LoE for Flare buff etc...
• Once the Destroyed Body of a boss appears, only normal hit it. Also, check who got the key. 
• While waiting for the raid to start, don't go off to do random shit (WxPvP, JB, Bounty Hunter...) unless you can easily break it off.
  

──────────────────────

Buffs/consumable items used

• Soul Crystal (especially ressers/tankers should have some), Hrin/Steroid, Mystic Ampule
  
  

(NEW) Character summary & details

• 1 ranged Tanker: Punisher Lionel/Kess (Any range can tank with good armor, but these have good aggro)
• 1-2 Enhanced Tactics lv12: Veronif (Chemical Protection lv12), Viki (Trance Robo)
• 1 Rio (Lv12-13 buffs with Encore)
• 1 Rosa (Lv12 Ranchera)
• 1 Bernelli (Lv12 Hound)
• 1 Lisa (Lv11-12 Grinding: Physical/Magic Break, look at your group)
• Extra buffs: 1 Lionel/Kess (Lv12 Leadership) | 1 Karjalainen (Lv10-12 Boost Magic) | Lorch (Lv12 Infiltration)
• DPS (Preferably 33AR+ Lifeless weapons): Beatrice, Evil/Kevin, Mireille, Cannon Shooter Claire/Cutie Claire, Ralph, Calyce, Rachel, Catherine INT/Elementalist/Hellena... Check with your group what they need/want.
• Auto Baron Clone lurers: Any melee in the group, or buffers
• DISLIKED CT CHARACTERS:
• Heavy skillers when there is no provoke
• Musketeers (crap damage on hard armor)
• Melee/range chars that have no buffing/debuffing-purpose

 
──────────────────────

Possible stats of a tank in the old CT system.

(NEW) TANK: Punisher Lionel/Kess (or any range that think they can)

(OLD) 2x TANK: Sirius (If some people still prefer this way...) Stance: Punisher (old: Holy Shielder/Crusader)
Armor: At least +6 3DR (def as bonus is good) ELN recommended. Try to get 300+ def.
Weapons: High AR rifle/pistol with attack and lifeless.

Your role is, obviously, to keep the boss focused on you instead of the dps. Always get the boss to face towards the wall away from the dps,  and lure it out of the room if necessary for that particular floor. If you're a Punisher tank, your role is generally only important at the 13th floor, but you're likely to keep aggro during lower floors as well. If you're a normal tank, just provoke as per usual.

──────────────────────

DPS: Beatrice, Evil/Kevin, Mireille, Cannon Shooter Claire/Cutie Claire, Elementalist, Rachel, Ralph, Calyce, Catherine INT, Cecille...

Family Attribute: Everything in ATK for Magical or Physical DPS (optional: 5 Points into drain in Buff)
Armor: While high-grade armor is good, you will not necessarily even be hit.
Weapons: ATK/Lifeless. Preferably base 33AR or above.

Lightning-based characters are extremely good in Clock Tower, but magic is generally a good choice. Crossbows work nicely against hard armor too. Calyce is probably one of the easiest characters to prepare for DPS. Depending what kind of tanking style your group has, it's good to choose a character that can do good damage even without using skills (such as Cannon Shooter Claire/Cutie Claire).

──────────────────────

1-2x ET BUFFERS: Veronif | Rosa | Viki | Scout | Emilia/ETS

Stance: lv11-12 Enhanced Tactics | Innocentio | First Aid | Tactical Assistance
Family Attribute: Pure DEF (HP, Mob damage reduction, def)
Armor: The best you can afford - the higher grade the better. You may be in need of survival. ELB or above recommended.
Rosario/Weapons: Rosario with def+2DR recommended.


Buff everyone at the start or the floor. Rebuff between bosses or whenever asked. If a character dies, res them and try to buff the enhancement they need immediately. (unless many people died, then focus on ressing everyone first) If many people die, INCLUDING THE TANK, res and buff yourself and the tank first.

──────────────────────

OTHER BUFFERS: 1x Bernelli | 1x Rio | 1x Rosa EXTRA: 1x Karjalainen | 1x Lorch | 1x Lionel/Kess

Buffs: lv12 Hound | Lv 12-13 Rio buffs | Lv 12 Ranchera | Lv10-12 Boost Magic | Lv 10-12 Infiltration | Lv12 Leadership
Family Attribute: Full DEF (Unless you have good weapons)
Armor: While high-grade armor is good, you will not necessarily even be hit.
Weapons/Shield: Any Lute will do for buffing, but atk/LL is still nice. Same goes with shotgun/rifle. If the Karja has well-chipped rapiers she may even join as some sort of supporting dps too. Rio can also join dps on evocation lightning.

Most buffs and squad buffs will be done at the start of each floor. If you're also going to join dps, ask the ET buffer for your buff too.Rio should remember that he can also help with resurrecting people.

──────────────────────

DEBUFFERS/OTHERS: 1x Lisa | Many new characters I don't remember

Deuffs: lv12+ Grinding: Magic/Physical Break & Lucky Strike
Family Attribute: If you're only there for your debuff, choose DEF. Else ATK.
Armor: The best you can afford - the higher grade the better. Lisa is close to the boss so she needs survival. ELB or above recommended.
Weapons: Lisa's dagger/s should have Trigger chipped.


Choose your Grinding based on the strongest DPS in your group. If all roles are filled, other debuffers are welcome too.

──────────────────────

Floor Details


Once you kill a boss and the destroyed body appears - DO NOT SKILL IT. Normal hit it until you get a Key. Also, always check if you got the key, if your squad has the loot set on turn. At the end of a floor the person with the key will click the gate and open the lobby for the next floor. Then anyone can create a room.



Floor 1 [video part 1] [video part 2]

Boss: 2x Fire Candler
Mechanic: Run to the top and activate the switch to activate mobs in the corridor. Kill them all to activate the boss. Once the bottom room boss is dead, proceed with the top room boss. After a while the boss will escape to the bottom room again, chase it and kill it. Nowadays the DPS is so good though that you can split and kill the bosses at the same time, no chase needed.


Floor 2

Boss: 2x Gale Steamer (amount may vary - it can spawn clones)
Mechanic: Activate the switch. Gates will spawn on the corridor and out of them come many mobs. Spread your squads out - 1 top, 1 bottom - to kill the monsters before they reach another gate. If many monsters go into the gate they're headed to, then the Gale Steamer will spawn "Gale Steamer Clones". After the gates are done, the boss will spawn after 1 minutes. Proceed to kill them.



Floor 3

Boss: 2x Blazing Tenderer
Mechanic: This boss spawns gates ("Colony" type - each hit does 1 dmg unless you have cannons) while you're killing him. Kill him, the gates and the spawning mobs too.


 
Floor 4

Boss: Perfect Shining Machina
Mechanic: This room starts off with some monsters and a couple of statues that spin and show numbers. You can turn the statues around to find the combination that removes the blades, but it's not needed to do so. A bit upwards there's a path made out of rotating blades. Have one person go that path to activate a switch that will teleport everyone into the bottom room. 

Have someone go through the path of blades.

The bottom room is sealed with rotating blades. Monsters will spawn, kill them to spawn some more, until the boss itself spawns. Tankers and DPS be alert!! The boss can teleport to another location in the room and has a big AoE, so move quickly in accordance. Kill the boss, the blades will dissappear. Repeat the very first steps to get to the top room too - one person goes, the rest wait until they get teleported. Kill the monsters and boss as usual.

Floor 5

Boss: Shining Machina
Mechanic: "Seal Stones" ("Colony" type with different weakness depending on color) appear on the map. Assign some people to find and destroy them while the rest chip away at the boss HP. The boss changes form depending how many Seal Stones are in the map - the weakest version of the boss being “General Shining Machina”. The more Seal Stones are up, the stronger the boss, so be sure to have someone looking for and destroying them.

Boss stats before and after some seal stones have been destroyed.

Floor 6

Boss: Perfect Shining Machina
Mechanic: Some mobs roam the hallway. There is a machine device in the first bottom boss room - activate it and many monsters spawn. Kill them while standing at the stairs - the mobs cannot pass further than that. You have a set amount of time. The more mobs are still alive at the end, the stronger the boss in the first room will be.

If you don't kill all the mobs, the boss might end up like this..
or maybe even worse.

In the second room, there will be another weaker boss first. You have a set amount of time to kill it. Monsters will spawn, I think, if it is not killed within that time. Kill them all to finish the floor then.

Floor 7

Boss: Candler
Mechanic: There are some monsters in the corridor, kill them if you want to. Go to the bottom room, there are some treasure chests. These are fake and turn into mobs. Kill them and proceed to tank/DPS the Candler as usual. 

At 50% HP the Candler will escape to the top room. Any dps hitting it will automatically follow. Watch out if you didn't kill the mobs in the corridor first - you might run headlong into them now.

Tank/DPS normally again, until ~20% HP where it will escape to the bottom room again.

Floor 8

Boss: 1x Steamer, 1x Gale Steamer
Mechanic:  The bottom room is the Steamer for Lionel quest and the top room is the “fake” Gale Steamer. As long as the people with the quest stay in bottom room squad they will get it.

If you have good enough dps, you can bruteforce kill the bosses without caring about their HP. Otherwise follow this:

Now then, these two Steamers respond together. You have to keep both of their HP values close to eachother so it’s important for the squads to tell what % the HP is at. If the HP differs too much the boss will regenerate and maybe even spawn minions.

Floor 9

Boss: ?x General Candlers, 1x Fire Candler
Mechanic: In the corridor there are some monsters and some General Candlers. Kill them. Next, have the someone go in to the bottom room. There is a switch at the back wall of the bottom room. When it's clicked, mobs spawn and everyone gets dark vision debuff. The ET-users should quickly use Escape Artist. Kill the monsters and proceed upwards.

In the top room, have someone lure out the boss (Fire Candler) and kill it.

Floor 10

Boss: Machina
Mechanic:

Run to the top, since the first room is sealed off with rotating blades. When someone runs into the top room the entrance will be sealed with blades but a warp gate will spawn outside, allowing you to enter.
Stay away from the center of the room as it warps you to the bottom room. The boss here has a constant HP regeneration but if your DPS is good enough it doesn't matter. If it's a problem, have some DPS warp to the botton room.

Bottom room:
The bottom room has a permanent HP-drain debuff. At times some Colonies will appear. Destroy them. As long as the colonies are alive, the boss will regenerate HP alot. If someone by accident enters the bottom room by going to the center of the top room, there is a Machine Device. Click it and you will be teleported back up top.


Floor 11

Boss: 2x Perfect Shining Machina
Mechanic: At first glance this floor may seem difficult to grasp, but really, it’s not difficult at all.

The Rumin-codes
There are statues in the corridor, each with a corresponding Rumin-name (Bloodstone, Apatite, etc) as well as statues with Rumin-names in the boss room. There will also be monsters spawned in the corridor when a statue is clicked. Have a person click the statues in the corridor (this will spawn mobs - kill them) and write down the statues number in squad chat, while others in the boss room click the statues until their number matches those of the ones outside to summon the boss. If a number is 2 you don't have to click the statue.

When you correctly numbered the statues, a candler, steamer and tenderer spawn. Kill them to spawn the boss. Once the boss is summoned, proceed to tank/dps it as usual. Just be sure that you don’t have any curse on anymore. For the top room, there will be new numbers so rinse and repeat.


The Gates and the Curses
There are also 6 big gates hanging in the air in the corridors (in formation of three and three). The person that first passes the gates in any direction (up/forward or down/backward) will curse the whole squad with a debuff. Avoid running through the gates - hug the wall and run as close to it as possible so you don't get cursed.

There are more than 1 debuffs.There will be an announcement on who caused the curse - and it will also tell that person to sacrifice itself at specific Altar. If you caused the curse, go and click on the same Altar (There are two - Altar of Sacrifice and Altar of Death, they look like stones) as in the announcement, this will remove the debuff of everyone else. Then ask to get ressed. It also seems at some point the person with the curse gets their vision taken away, so please use Escape Artist to help them out of it.


Floor 12

Boss: 3x miniboss in corridor (~30m HP each.) & 2x Perfect Shining Machina (One top, one down. ~60m HP each.)
Mechanic: At first this floor consists of freeroaming smaller monsters and three (3) "minibosses" (candler, steamer, tenderer) in the corridor. Kill these minibosses to spawn a boss in one room. If the boss spawns minibosses, kill them first. Kill the boss to spawn another boss in the next room. Once these two are dead the floor is cleared.


Floor 13 - The Lost Time

Boss: Autobaron
Mechanic:

At the start, buff up as usual. There will be 4 colonies, each take most damage from a certain type of attack. Do not use any kind of knock down skill, because then no one can attack the colony. Crossbow users can spam Drain status effect skills.

Red - Weak against Melee (other "melee" attacks work too like CSC/CC's Cannon Swing)
Blue - Weak against Magic
Black - Weak against Martial Arts
Yellow - Weak against Physical Range

!! Autobaron has an insane HP Regen if no one is hitting it !! 

There will be deactivated Mini-Barons initially around when you start the Mission. All Mini-Barons have these stats ( 7,551,360 HP | 71 AR | 20,246 ATK | 66 DR | 148 DEF | 70 Fire,Ice and Mental Res | 60 Lightning RES | )

At around 70% & 40-50% HP, the deactivated Mini-Barons will be activated (Right side first, then left). These first two batches can easily be lured by buffers, melee, or anyone really, away downstairs. At 5% HP, there will be a last desperate summon of Mini-Barons AROUND/AT Autobaron itself. At least 5 of them. The 5% clones can be killed or ignored, preferably the dps is good enough to kill Autobaron very quick after they spawn.

At times 4x colonies of different colors may appear at fixed locations. Destroy them if you need to, especially the blue one since it regenerates Autobaron's HP. If your DPS is really good then it doesn't matter much.

Red Colony - Weak against Melee
Blue Colony - Weak against Magic
Yellow Colony - Weak against Ranged
Gray/Black Colony - Weak against MMA

Autobaron will have those Colonies appear throughout the Mission, with a gauge, it charges up in 5 or 10 seconds, and once completed a Mini-Baron will spawn. It is possible to destroy the Colonies in time, but that usually applies for the Blue one.

Autobaron will gain a certain buff for awhile after it summons the gates/chargers and a message will appear on screen. I think its only Increased Attack Speed, Increased Attack and Increased Block/Defense properties.