Disgusting Porcupine Goliath

Dear GGG, my ranger character has just over 5000 life (not great but I think its decent), and 40% acrobatics dodge and those disgusting porcupine goliaths' spikes are dealing over 1000 physical damage. EACH FRICKING SPIKE. Those spikes come at you at such a speed it is almost impossible to dodge manually, and the damage is ridiculous. Those 40% dodge rate is a saver but at the end of the day it is a hit or miss. Accidentally killing a large pack of those shitheads at the same time is almost a death sentence for me.

I think that a delay similar to the elemental-bearers is required. That will give the player some time to create distance from the epicenter. That way player will have a chance to escape from most, if not all, spikes and not get instagibbed by multiple spikes in the face.

P.S. I know there are a few ways to counter those shitheads (pushing their families into a nitrogen tank, wearing a kevlar vest with 20mm ceramic plate, etc) but those methods require major change to the builds. I personally use 100% conversion to fire with avatar of fire so ice is a no-no for me, and I dont stack armour because I am a freaking evasion char. So please, for the love of humanity, do something about those dumb spikes.

And yes, I just died in a map filled with those turkeys. Twice. To. Those. Freaking. Spikes.

There is one more thing you can do in your situation, against porcupines: kill them slower. Not a joke. That is actually what you have to do in higher maps with vulnerability & extra damage, even on tanky characters. Don't pop the whole pack at once.

you can use cold crits to shatter their corpses preventing them from casting the shrapnel burst, use skills like abyssal cry or use the pyre ring to destroy corpses as well.

Congratulations on discovering why dodge is bad. Only a matter of time now until you go CI + GR + VP like everyone else.

But yeah, if you just stroll up to a pack of porcupines without any physical mitigation, you're gonna have a bad time. Killing them in a way that doesn't leave a corpse is the best and most difficult to pull off. Otherwise, you can always pop a basalt flask, but that will only go so far.

Best is to just take things slow, kill them slower, from a distance, or around corners. On my archer ranger I just pop a totem in front of me, mirror arrow back, and offscreen the lot. If they're around a corner, I use RoA to kill them from a spot where the spikes can't hit me.

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suszterpatt wrote:

Best is to just take things slow, kill them slower, from a distance, or around corners. On my archer ranger I just pop a totem in front of me, mirror arrow back, and offscreen the lot. If they're around a corner, I use RoA to kill them from a spot where the spikes can't hit me.

I think the spikes have "Far Shot" or just somehow hit harder at a distance.
not sure though because while I did notice a lot smaller damage from up close, compared to half a screen away, my close-distance melee character had substantially more armor than the caster.

delay is a great suggestion, or just outright nerf the ridiculous damage, or both... because to me they are just as annoying as the Reflect auras of old, if not more.

Even so, being close virtually guarantees that you will be hit by a spike, whereas if you kill them from the edge of the screen, the spread will cause many of them to miss you entirely.

This won't help if you aren't ranged, but if you are, and near something to LOS them, fire off your ability then LOS immediately after...I blow up entire rooms of them fuckers on my EA char by using that trick, never even take 1 spike!

You mention your dodge but what about your evasion? Normally my evasion/dodge characters are the best ones to fight these types of mobs, since the spikes will almost never hit them.

CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration.

got about 4500 unbuffed evasion. but like dodge, its a hit or miss game. And as far as I know Immortal Call doesnt do shit against multiple spikes flying toward your face at the same time. From what I read, damage cannot be negated or mitigated once the animation or something is completed (sorry im not a rocket scientist). I did test it out myself, and no it did nothing to save my ass from the wrath of the turkeys. And yea sure I know that LOS trick. I mean who doesnt? The thing is not all maps are filled with covers. What about the freaking stronkbox? Stronkbox open, turkeys out, AoE attack pressed with much regret, instagibbed.

I just don't see the reason in putting so much effort just to deal with a normal-type monster. They are a pain in the ass to deal with. I strongly suggest a delay similar to the fire/ice/lightning bearers. Make it a physical bearer with a decent range. At least give the players a chance to run like a pussy.