Kitava issues.

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This game's difficulty curve is quite random, but I feel that the issue most people have with Kitava is that he's really the first boss that emphasizes positioning and that's really a running theme from then on forward.

During mapping there are quite a few guys that can one shot you no matter your defense, the way you beat them is by avoiding getting hit to begin with. Personally I didn't have much trouble with Kitava, died few times but all of them were due only to my own mistakes like miss timing dodges. That's really a skill you have to learn to get anywhere with the maps, of course having a solid build is important but that alone won't be enough to carry you late game.

Kitava is the final boss, he´s new, fresh and over tuned as always. I guess Kitava´s nerf is coming next league. There are some "hard to dodge" things that hit like a rock.
I would say 4-4.5k life with good mitigation (basalt, AA, charges) is minimum to be "safe" enough for HC which is quite ridiculous compared to tier 1,2,3... map bosses.

Btw you shouldn´t delete your character on std and learn the fight instead.
The only way is over leveling him, get high enough life pool, mitigation etc to survive his unpredictable damage spikes (especially on HC).

If you want to beat Kitava without practicing you can (most likely) do so with a sufficiently tanky build. Get enough ehp, armour and reliable recovery (like regeneration). Stack as many other defenses (fortify, enduring cry, evasion, arctic armour, enfeeble, blind, pantheons, ...) as you can squeeze into the build. Your (fire at least) resist must be capped. Then use some simple semi-passive damage skill (like Searing Bond - place right under his nose) and kill him.
You can also practice in HC vs the act 5 version before doing the act 10 one. This may allow you to avoid the "X blast" skill by Kitava. It has a distinctive "tell". But if you build sufficiently tanky (which shouldnt be a problem if you are willing to trade for gear) you can probably survive everything anyway.

Just did A10 Kitava in HC SSF for the 5th time - was easy. And not due to my "leet skillz" - which I dont have. But simply because the build is sturdy. Some of Kitavas skills and the adds do approximately no damage.

See screenshot for example stats:

It's probably more because you have a 6-L chest. The stats don't seem to be that special for level 72.

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zagibu wrote:

It's probably more because you have a 6-L chest. The stats don't seem to be that special for level 72.

Its not because of a 6l chest. Its a mediocre corrupted one anyway. I didnt use a 6l in any of my earlier ones. First time in league I only had 4l and it was also easy - because of being overleveled with strong defenses. You dont need "special" stats. Which is kinda the point. The fight favors a certain type of build/setup. And if you have it you have a much easier time. OP asked how to (self) kill Kitava and I gave an answer: Make tanky build.

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Zrevnur wrote:

And if you have it you have a much easier time. OP asked how to (self) kill Kitava and I gave an answer: Make tanky build.

But that's my point, it doesn't seem like a tanky build. Do you consider all builds with capped resistances and a shield as tanky?

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zagibu wrote:

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Zrevnur wrote:

And if you have it you have a much easier time. OP asked how to (self) kill Kitava and I gave an answer: Make tanky build.

But that's my point, it doesn't seem like a tanky build. Do you consider all builds with capped resistances and a shield as tanky?

I stacked the following defenses onto the build after leveling up to ~70 in Blood Aqueduct:
~6.2k ehp (life + mana)
~7k armour + endurance charges + phys mitigation pantheon
~900 regen/sec (including boot enchant)
arctic armour
fortify
enfeeble (orb of storms)
blind (orb of storms)
cwdt-vortex
some block & some low evasion
more targets: golem + spectre + totems

The first three (ehp, phys mitigation, regen) are the most important (for Kitava) and are what I meant with "tanky". A little bit of block (from shield) does not make for "tanky". Maxed resistances should be obvious anyway.
Not sure what you take as reference - we are talking about act 10 in story mode - not high endgame mapping.

Yeah, that sounds better. I should have noticed the big ball of mostly unreserved mana, my bad. Couldn't have known about the end charges, though.