Devourers, what makes their current state justified?

Massive update, GGG development has recognized and correct the mistake that is known as the devourers and the shared mechanic they have with drop bears. Thank you GGG development.

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-Some monsters like Devourers can no longer spawn from Strongboxes.
-Devourers now do less damage when ambushing you.
-Devourers and Plummeting Ursae now spawn with some of their group submerged and some emerged. This change was done to prevent the large amount of burst damage they could deal, causing unfair deaths regularly.
-Devourers and Plummeting Ursae now spawn in smaller, less lethal packs in maps.

SOURCE HERE: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1304441

Basically this has been my experience with them since open beta:

-Walk into an area of mobs
-Clear mobs in that area
-Pick up loot and begin to walk away
-Suddenly 5-7 devourers pop out without any warning

The mere fact that you have no way to possibly counter play their behavior has been a constant issue to me. If if you suspect they are there, there is nothing you can do to make them pop out without putting yourself at risk. With common mods on them being Extra (insert damage type) and Powerful Crits, they are always a huge threat when in groups.

Awhile back when they changed how we interact with them by not allowing them to be in these 5-7 packs of them I was pretty happy. Unfortunately this only helped in the Western Forest in act two.

Maps they are completely unrestricted from their old habits of coming in massive packs. Knowing most, using the pack size mod variant is a common use for mapping. With this in mind and coupled with the lack of counter play you may find yourself facing 10-12 devourers in a single location. All with a modifier roll of bonus damage or Powerful Crits.

Its been on more than one occasion for myself and friend where we will have an area cleared of enemies only to come back later to double check for loot and suddenly be surrounded by half a dozen Devourers or more.

Water Elementals have the similar "you can't see me until you get close" behavior, but the definitive difference is that they much less damage and are less tanky. The recently added Plummeting Ursa do this as well, but again are not nearly as dangerous or tanky.


Why have they not been changed? Why have we not received counter play options? Why does Grinding Gear Games feel that this is appropriate or enjoyable?

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Meridin wrote:

For anyone who thinks Immortal Call and Granite Flasks will save you: http://www.twitch.tv/zenocidegenius/v/3683762

You'll see him die with both Granite and Immortal Call up, so current theory is that devourer damage is calculated before they pop-up. So unless you walk around with your Granite/Immortal on 24/7... rip.

Seems broken to me. No wonder players are turned-off by this game's niche difficulty spikes.

Compelling evidence.

The topic has been covered a lot, and yeah - they are still a big pain in the ass. What is interesting is the thread with videos showing how they interact wtih CWDT setups.

However, in a way it ensures that there are hard counters to a lot of builds that otherwise don't need to get within range of mobs. While the mechanics could use a tweak, it would be a shame to see them seriously balanced or removed.

Have you had a crack at Untainted Paradise yet? If not, find yourself a spot, it's ... interesting :)

Because all strats and play styles should have a check against them.

Oh heaven have mercy If you ever do I_NO's map

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Stygian_Doll wrote:

Oh heaven have mercy If you ever do I_NO's map

I'm seriously looking forward to the QQ from Aracnophobes and those afraid of the dark.

Where is that aracnophobe thread, anyways? IIRC we ended up talking about a Gluten-Free mod for Skyrim or something similar.

I rolled a really nasty damage modded courtyard. Can usually clear this map type no problem boss and all, -max, extra fire, ele weakness, I can generally tank this stuff with my spellblocker build. Nope, every pack was powerful crit magic and rare devourers. Didn't even clear 10% before I rage quit xD

They usually don't bother me, but that's one instance I can think of off hand where I was like fuck devourers. I was like 95% to 92 and I got instagibbed twice in 2 minutes when I can facetank that map's boss trio like they're white skeleton archers. I can tell why they'd be gamebreaking to people who don't play tanks.

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mucker wrote:

Because all strats and play styles should have a check against them.

Incorrect, most damage types and mobs in the game have some fair form of mitigation.

Voidbearers for example are a bane to melee characters due to the high damage output, however, there are realistic and fair means to attain counter play options.

CWDT and IC setup is a very feeble answer. You basically are forced to take a gem setup space to counter something you have no way of knowing is there until they approach.

Meanwhile the Voidbearer situation requires a Ruby Flask with capped resistances. Its about fairness in mitigation, not rock paper scissors.

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Astealoth wrote:

I rolled a really nasty damage modded courtyard. Can usually clear this map type no problem boss and all, -max, extra fire, ele weakness, I can generally tank this stuff with my spellblocker build. Nope, every pack was powerful crit magic and rare devourers. Didn't even clear 10% before I rage quit xD

They usually don't bother me, but that's one instance I can think of off hand where I was like fuck devourers. I was like 95% to 92 and I got instagibbed twice in 2 minutes when I can facetank that map's boss trio like they're white skeleton archers. I can tell why they'd be gamebreaking to people who don't play tanks.

I'm on HC and my character has 90% PDR and over capped fire resist. They still pose a large threat and have no way to be dealt with beyond just eating the damage or trying the CWDT/IC setup.

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StumpyJoe wrote:

Devourers, what makes their current state justified?

Michael Bolton

Desync. 5% of the game's content is built around huge damage spikes to ensure there's a sense of difficulty, given that 95% of the content needs to be much easier because desync so often occurs.

I often wonder if those who wish for an offline version would find it remotely fun to play, without the handicaps built into the game as it stands.