Ishi Clarke Chronicles: The Guide to Successfully Surviving Foulberto With a Small Group

Foulberto Smasho.... a ghost taking residence within Raven's Cove, yet has the potential to outstrip even Jolly Roger himself. What can we do to minimize our losses against him? Well, if you don't like going to Abassa because its overrated, fear not. If your group is specialized enough, you won't need an army of pirates to take him down!

Statistics of the Target
Foulberto Smasho is BY FAR the toughest opponent the Carribean has to offer the Pirates, with his HP of 237,000, damage ranging upwards in the hundreds, maybe even 1000's PER HIT! Come on, PER HIT! That's too much for even a mastered Pirate with Endurance at rank 10! And that's to a lv. 50, imagine how high it would be to lower levels! But Foulberto's weakness, if you don't like taking large armies to simply outnumber him, is that he can't handle a team of well coordinated Pirates who know what they are doing.

Team Specializations
In your small group, you are going to need the following specialists:

The Tank: This is the Pirate who will take the brunt of Foulberto's deadly attacks. I'd highly recommend using a Sword so he/she can use Taunt on Smasho so he ONLY focuses on the Tank while everyone else does their part. Look for weaponry that will add GREATLY to your survivability with anything it has. Viable examples include the Behemoth Blade(probably the greatest sword there is for tanking), Treachery's End(I've done just fine with this blade here), and... well.. pretty much ANYTHING with Dark Curse as an ability. If you feel Swords are overrated, then anything that offers Voodoo Reflect is up for a try as well. Just be careful either way.... if Foulberto starts smashing someone else, it will be up to YOU, the Tank, to reestablish threat.

The Healer(s): These sweet souls are going to be the life of your group, keeping everyone, especially the Tank, alive as long as possible while also offering what they can in their offensive hexes. You COULD go pure Healer here, but with Foulberto's HP as it is, I'd recommend being a hybrid Healer/DPS with that Doll of yours. Goes a lot faster. Very risky though- if Foulberto decides to target YOU, it is probable he is going to Asp your attunements away, making you a useless asset to the team. Dolls that add to the power of your Heals and Cures are, of course, viable, but I'd heartily recommend any Doll that adds better Attack Rating as well-- that affects how much a hex will heal, not just its DPS. If your doll of choice happens to involve Evil Eye as its bonus skill, you just earned yourself a way of restoring attunements should threat suddenly reach beyond optimal thresholds for you, and they break apart as a result.

DPS Dealers: Ok, so you got the Tank you need, you have the Healer(s) needed to survive the onslaught. Now its time to start stacking up some damage! But wait... if all we did was stack DPS dealing Pirates, it'd not be a small group anymore, would it? Anyway, any weapon type is up for viability here, as long as you use the most efficient method of dealing damage to Foulberto while also ensuring survival if he accidentally targets you. More damage, the better, though, so if you find an upgrade, by all means, use it! Its what they're there for, mates! I highly recommend grouping Pirates into this category once you have your Tank and Healer(s)

(Optional)Crowd Control: Tank not so much on the keeping threat under check box? Weak Healers and DPS Dealers? Not a problem! With Crowd Control Pirates, who make fine use of skills like Hurricane Sweep, Brawl, and Power Slash, you can definitely buy a few precious seconds to get everyone back into place! They can effectively double as DPS Dealers too!(But why do I say its optional? Because it could be that the Tank is so good with his threat management that Smasho might be digging himself a grave by only focusing on him the entire time! But if you want yourself a method of reassuring positions, by all means, recruit a Crowd Control Pirate. Won't hurt in the end, since they can always double as DPS Dealers.)

And there you have it. A surefire, although also risky, method of taking out Foulberto as a small, coordinated group of Pirates, for if you don't like going to Abassa and doing it that way. Feel free to add any suggestions and corrections as you see fit- this guide was made from memory, and I've not been in POTCO for almost a year now. Happy Smashing, everybody!