Struggling with Chimera/Minotaur - Tips to improve?

Hello everyone.

This is my first full league (started during Incursion) and as such, this the first time I've arrived at some of the tougher bosses.

I have killed Red Elder and Phoenix/Hydra fairly easily, but after some tries against Chimera and Minotaur (Vaal Temple too I suppose) I've come to a full stop in progressing further.
There are some one-shots here and there, and in general they just hit me like a truck.
Since these are my first attempts, it might just be a case of me having to "git gud" here, and practice the fights more, but I feel like it can't hurt to ask if anyone can see some improvements I can apply to build/gear.


POB link: https://pastebin.com/prLxshxA
(I think I've set everything correct in the config, let me know if I haven't)
My profile should be open as well, so feel free to peruse it.


I'm running a Frost Blades raider, and yes, I know Frost Blades isn't great vs. bosses, but my Shaper/Elder DPS is at 500k + in POB, which I thought might be sufficient.
If I'm wrong please let me know :)
I only have about 10ex for upgrades, and swapping rares is really hard since I'm on the edge when it comes to attributes (Have some amount to play with here though) and Resistances (Overcapped by +32% as the lowest, to combat map-curse mod). Which means swapping one rare probably means swapping at least 2 to balance attributes/resists again.


The only immediate and easiest thing I can identify to improve, is to replace the 1 socket Tombfist with a 2 socket and get a gem with +46-50 max life and flat elemental damage (or maybe crit-multi is better?). I can also level up and grab the 5% inc max life node next to bravery, these two things would bump me above 5k life, but just barely.

I'm also considering re-speccing the vitality void passives and get Twin Terrors for more DPS (11% more), good idea/silly idea?
Not sure if I want Vaal Pact, I like the small life-regen I have in Delves, but maybe Vaal Pact would dramatically improve my chances on bosses (one-shots notwithstanding)?


Anyways, I appreciate any help/input all you veterans here might have for me.
I'd love to be able to kill shaper on this character, and at least give Uber Elder a go, even just to die :)

I dont have time to check out your build right now, but will share some random thoughts

Minotaur hits pretty hard with phys damage. there you have to learn how to avoid the damage. His Burrow skill needs to be avoided (it can take some time to learn that) as well as his big slam, which also creates areas where the hard hitting rocks fall. Stay away from this area, your dps should be enough to kill him in meantime fast enough (until the arena is full of falling rocks). The difficulty also greatly depends on the map mods. Stay away from AoE mod or multiple damage mods

What exactly is the problem with Chimera? I consider it to be the easiest guardian with no one-shot move at all

In general, all of those bosses with moves that cant be tanked require the knowledge and fast reactions and positioning. have a fast movement skill and use it frequently. Never stand still for too long..

PS: 5k life is considered to be a minimum value for endgame. many people would tell you its too little. The less HP (and recovery) you have, the more pressure on precise positioning and manual damage avoiding in the boss fights

Thanks for the feedback Ludvator!

Yes, the burrow is usually the one that gets me first, I'm struggling to spot if it's heading my way or towards my totem. I guess I'll just need to spend some more chaos on maps to practice :)
Once I've died the first time, it usually snowballs as I typically get one-shot again when I port back in to the arena and have no buffs, golems running around and rocks falling :P

As to Chimera; I have no problem avoiding the slam, but the "fog" usually gets me at least once. My low life pool makes it imperative to locate him almost immediately, and if it takes more than 1-2 seconds I'm dead. Then the snake (I assume Chaos damage here, which I have -25% resist on) usually gets me once as well. I tend to tank his normal hits, but will randomly get one-shot a few times here, either a crit, or when he teleports and hits (I can probably practice to avoid those I guess).

I actively use Whirling Blades in all the boss fights to keep moving around and apply the fortify that's linked, but I can probably be even better at not being stationary, I'm just a bit lazy sometimes :P

Yes, I agree on the life bit, and that is where I'm most looking to upgrade my character. Ideally I would like to reach 6k, I just don't see how I can realistically achieve that without re-speccing quite a bit, and lose a lot of DPS in the process.
A more realistic target is about 5,5k life, but I think I need some help here on how to achieve that, as I just don't see it.
I could always swap my Loreweave for a Belly, but I really like the loreweaves 80% max res and damage mods, so I'd prefer to keep it.

Anyways, thank you for the input, and I appreciate any help from you, or anyone here, with how I can increase my max life to at least around 5,5k, without losing too much of my DPS.

For minotaur keep moving around in a circle clockwise or counterclockwise. When he slams move out of the area of effect. When he burrows he will move in a straight line towards the target. You can easily sidestep it or move out of range since the area is a circle. Remove the golems for this fight so you know who is the target.

For chimera save some good flasks for the smoke cloud phase if you are squishy. You can recharge them during the add phases. Pop a quicksilver as well and run through all the smoke clouds as fast as you can. A good heal flask can be useful too.

For the hard hitting adds i have diversions if i am squishy. A decoy totem or skeleton totem is good. Or any sort of minions. Even conversion trap can be used. I usually park myself at the lower door on the right side (and clear that side first)
That's where the boss adds always come out. If you stay rather close to that side you don't have to deal with the adds from the left side until you are done with everything on the right side.

Save atziri's flask for the snake chaos mini boss.

Some tips:

- get two sockets Tomb - if you can afford with good jewel
- replace Glyph EyE for smth with high life/damage and probably chaos resist to counter chaos adds (in Chimera fight) - you don´t need overres in these fights (unless it´s ele weakness map)

It should give your life over 5k but it´s hard to reach much more with this tree and chest.
Consider taking high evasion + life shield or just Lioneye's Remorse (it should give you an extra 500 life).

Think about using Grace + Hatred + enlighten in the fights.
- get stibnite or jade flask instead QS with 90%+ evasion rating
It will get you over 35K Evasion (while flask active) and you can reach 80% avoidance with Acrobatics (83% with 3 extra dodge passives).

It will not prevent from being one shotted sometimes but it should give you better chance to beat them.

Make your gems with 20% quality (especially faster attack and duration).

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken, but my understanding of loreweave is that your max resists are always 80, even if you're cursed with elemental weakness. As a result, there is no point in overcapping your resists by that much (unless you are trying to balance wise oak). You could upgrade your right ring to give you quite a bit more life and damage while still keeping resists at 80 if you trade in some resists (and it won't break the bank).

500k DPS should be plenty for guardians and shaper. What gems do you use when bossing?

One other suggestion is to change your curse on hit setup to enfeeble on hard bosses.

I don't think you need vaal pact since you should be gaining a ton of life on hit from your weapons.

1 socket tombfists with a useful corruption are not super expensive, investing in one could give you a small boost.

You have good gear and have reached the min max stage. Looks like you have a few pieces of gear/jewels you could slam to try and pick up another useful mod (only do this if an upgrade costs more than 1 ex).

"

Zidly wrote:

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken, but my understanding of loreweave is that your max resists are always 80, even if you're cursed with elemental weakness. As a result, there is no point in overcapping your resists by that much (unless you are trying to balance wise oak). You could upgrade your right ring to give you quite a bit more life and damage while still keeping resists at 80 if you trade in some resists (and it won't break the bank).

Maximum resistance will always stay at that number. Players still have to gather resistances to get to that number, Loreweave doesn't grant the resistances by itself therefore you still need resistances to counter ele weakness (EW is not affecting the maximum resistances).

Well its true that Loreweave doesn't give resists on its own, but based on my experience, EW won't lower your effective resists below 80 even if you aren't overcapped at all. That's from what I've read (on the wiki) and the tooltip in-game, neither of which is 100% guaranteed accurate.

Elemental Weakness lowers your original resistance value before max res comes into play. It's why people overcap resistances in the first place. Unless you're immune to curses (or curse effects), it will lower your resistance, and if you're not overcapped, your effective resistance will be lowered.

Without reduced curse effect, you want to be at 114% resistance for red maps with an 80% Loreweave.

I have no idea what you're trying to reference that's supposedly inaccurate, but you seem to be the one who is mistaken.

Have you actually tried it?

"The Your Maximum Resistances are (76-80)% modifier is a hard cap on the player's maximum resistance. Players cannot get above the stated roll, even when using a resistance flask, but also cannot drop below the stated value, usually as a consequence of map modifiers. So the maximum resistance will always stay at that number. Players still have to gather resistances to get to that number, Loreweave doesn't grant the resistances by itself."

Direct from the wiki.

I have tested it myself in game, maps with elemental weakness do not lower my resistance below 79. And even if the in-game tooltip is inaccurate, my character doesn't feel the difference when cursed with ele weakness. Because my resistances are only around 10 over the cap, I'm pretty sure I would notice the difference on T15/T16 maps. I sure as hell notice the difference in 12% elemental penetration biomes in delve.