Act 1 Boss Tuning Suggestions. (SPOILERS)

Having played Act 1 on four chars I have some suggestions:

1. When he goes to wolf form, dont reset his HP. Keep it where it was. If he is going to phase to different tactics that is fine. But the HP reset makes him feel very hard.

2. When in the fog the wolf zipping through hitting you is very difficult to dodge. The fog mechanic is fine but you need to have a telegraph of he boss about to zip through hurting you. I would suggest he crouches at the edge of the fog and then jumps through.

3. His wide swipe is impossible to dodge for melee. If you are going to emulate Dark Souls mechanics you need I-Frames that avoid attacks. Also dodge rolls don't roll far enough.

4. Movement speed without boots is too slow to get out of some telegraphed area attacks. Running fast wont help you, you are going to eat the attack.
a. Up base movement speed 10%.
b. Increase dodge roll distance and add I-Frames

Einfach den ganzen DarkSouls Schwachsinn rausnehmen.
Schwer ist ja ok, aber dieser Blödsinn hat in so einem Spiel nichts verloren.

I would emphasize...the aoe attacks are too big to dodge effectively. Whether its jumping out of the fog or whatever. The big red circle drops you know you're gonna eat it. Theres no getting out of it even with an evade.
The spike attacks...whether the ice spike or 'blood' spikes... too fast to avoid. The window to dodge/evade is too small.

The only way Ive survived the ice spikes is with a charm. I still eat the hit but Im not insta gibbed by being perma frozen from subsequent attacks.
Some folks may say thats just knowing the fight but if the only way to get through a fight is one particular piece of gear.... This is ACT1 ffs.

and yea... the constant chill/slow...
You can only use the excuse "just farm gear" so much... its ACT1.
You can only say grab <whatever> nodes on the passive tree so much.
This falls into the same problems with POE1. where certain nodes are must have... certain gear is must have.
If anything is must have then you're saying the other stuff isnt worth taking and may as well not be in the game.
ex: other charms arent worth having cause you HAVE-TO-HAVE a cold charm to get through this fight.
"so stack cold resist in your gear"

those are excuses. just add this... just carry that... just get these passives.

Im not saying dont grab anything. but damn...

The wolf charge in the fog is telegraphed. Granted, it’s a damn short telegraph because it happens as soon as he speaks. It’s pretty predictable in timing. You can get a feel for it, and just dodge roll every so often.

Heck, if you’re fast enough, you CAN dodge it outright. It is kinda difficult though.

"Granted, it’s a damn short telegraph because it happens as soon as he speaks"
which is part of the "too fast to evade" "window too small" thing.

I haven't done this fight in my Mercenary but my Ranger I did an evade shot just the same. It was coin toss as to whether I took the hit or not.

The problem with the audio telegraphs is if something else is making a noise you don't hear it.

But that's been a beef Ive had with POE for ages. Devs/Folks argue that such-n-such attack is heavily telegraphed. But if the game covers it up then its not a telegraph (whether with graphics clutter or covering up sounds). Doesn't matter how big of a wind-up if its off screen it doesn't count.

I said it in another thread and Ill say it here.
If I want gameplay with sub-second windows of opportunity; where everything is wound so tight there's no room for error and you're killed for it.... there's a litany of Korean MMOs that has that covered.

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Farrinah#0310 wrote:

Einfach den ganzen DarkSouls Schwachsinn rausnehmen.
Schwer ist ja ok, aber dieser Blödsinn hat in so einem Spiel nichts verloren.

No I dont agree that the "Dark Souls" Should be taken out. Challenging boss mechanics make a game fun. And for the record I like this boss. He is just in need of some minor tuning. If you are looking for a game with an "I Win " button where you download a build and wipe the map with a button, this game isn't for you.

So I agree that its a bit too tight but that's why this is Early Access. Not a final product. Having a boss this difficult to end the first act is a bit much but I dont want him neutered either, he just needs to be tuned. Audo telegraphs I am fine with so long as I know what I can do. For example Innocence saying "I AM YOUR GOD" means seek cover behind a statue from bullet hell. If he has an audio cue and you know at that moment roll out of the attack up or down that is fine. But when you dont know the direction you cant dodge.

"

EiggNog#4377 wrote:

I would emphasize...the aoe attacks are too big to dodge effectively. Whether its jumping out of the fog or whatever. The big red circle drops you know you're gonna eat it. Theres no getting out of it even with an evade.
The spike attacks...whether the ice spike or 'blood' spikes... too fast to avoid. The window to dodge/evade is too small.

No idea what you're talking about lol. You can see him fade out before he does his slam, and you have plenty of time to move out of the way of it if you open your eyes and watch for the telegraph instead of just holding down your auto-attack until he's completely off screen. This move only punishes you for not paying attention.

Both spike attacks can be dodged by just waiting until a pillar appears on you, then walking to a spot where there isn't a pillar. No rolling required, and it is not too fast to react to.

I never played PoE1 so I don't know how easy it was, but I'm amazed at how terrible some of you are at this game.

Ehh .. I generally agreew on people needing more skill but the AOEs need about a 10% area of effect nerf to escape.

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dotAXiS#1253 wrote:

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EiggNog#4377 wrote:

I would emphasize...the aoe attacks are too big to dodge effectively. Whether its jumping out of the fog or whatever. The big red circle drops you know you're gonna eat it. Theres no getting out of it even with an evade.
The spike attacks...whether the ice spike or 'blood' spikes... too fast to avoid. The window to dodge/evade is too small.

No idea what you're talking about lol. You can see him fade out before he does his slam, and you have plenty of time to move out of the way of it if you open your eyes and watch for the telegraph instead of just holding down your auto-attack until he's completely off screen. This move only punishes you for not paying attention.

Both spike attacks can be dodged by just waiting until a pillar appears on you, then walking to a spot where there isn't a pillar. No rolling required, and it is not too fast to react to.

I never played PoE1 so I don't know how easy it was, but I'm amazed at how terrible some of you are at this game.

Ehh I am with you on people needing to learn to play better. But tuning wise I think the AOEs need a slight nerf in size, bout 10%. And the frost on the ground can sometimes cover the whole arena making it hard to react. A 15% nerf to duration should fix it.