I don't like Geanor, this boss fight is bullshit, not fun

I beat him first character first try as a slow ass 2hander slam build. If you're running out of flask charges, I can't help but wonder if you're just not taking enough time to sit back and understand or learn the mechanics and tells and make proper use of dodge roll. PoE2 is SIGNIFICANTLY mechanic heavy, more than any ARPG I've ever played, only thing that comes close in a comparable combat system is Lost Ark (and I learned Akkan with a destroyer, front attacker class, when his mechs and patterns are tremendously anti-front attacker). You need to learn when to NOT attack as much as you need to learn your build's attack windows for the opponent you're facing.

I feel like you're either missing something or expecting the game to work more like PoE1 or D3. My only complaint with his fight is his eyes should flash during the blizzard/adds phase before his dash, but it seems to be timed about 3 seconds between each dash.

Consider taking a breather, try again, and just watch for his attacks, attack aimlessly-ish while focusing your attention 99% on his animations and audio cues, and get a feel for when he does things and what each tell leads to. After learning how to properly use Rolling Slam and weave in dodges, I've not died to a single campaign boss since Draeven other than one or two times where I thought I was safe from an attack that I didn't know the mechanic of yet.

And if it makes you feel any better, my first death was at level 2, 25 feet from town after killing New Hillock.

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afar_poe#0236 wrote:

I have played thousands of hours of POE1, D2, D3, Wow raiding etc. I understand what hard games are like.

BTW, I wouldn't call any of the games you mentioned particularly "hard". Try Souls-likes. I quit Elden Ring after reaching Crumbling Farum Azula because sometimes hitting the wall just hurts too much.

Have you considered that perhaps you're not the target audience for PoE 2?

wait until u will get to act 3. There is a boss, i think its called "black maw", its some stone lizardman who breaths fire and swings axe. His attack hitboxes are incredibly bs.

I think an action RPG and souls-like are two different subgenres and the issue here is that looking at the tags in Steam(where I did not purchase it), made me scoff. You might aptly tune a character for "hack and slash" in world farming, but you're far less likely able to do this for every boss encounter in this game.

All that said, I'm fine with that because I'm enjoying the game and the boss fights. However, the marketing of this game for the POE uninitiated ought to consider emphasizing that this is an ARPG/Souls-like mashup if that is the intended direction. A boss hitting for 75% of your life is a far stretch from hack and slash lol. Either way people will learn along with changes made overtime.

Finally, it's far easier to take down a tough boss if you take a beat and come back refreshed. I did that for this boss and the first of Act 2. We don't all need to brag about it being a cake walk just because some figure it out faster than others /shrug

This is absolutely a skill issue. Just try to focus on your problem by analyzing why you die. I got him first try without an issue and enjoyed the fight.

I like the souls-like aspect.

My issue with his boss is that with one char I can kill it easily and on another it randomly takes no damage, despite that build doing decent damage vs other bosses - so I have no forwarning that my build is gonna suck vs him.

A damage check at level 15 is bad. They just need to go through and see which spells are hitting him like a wet noodle and scale them a bit.

"just change build" nah.

on my first time blind never watched any videos i died on my warrior a couple times because he has oneshot abilitys but after you know all of them it is just playing safe and not get greedy with dmg. You cant facetank him and you need to dodge every ability or roll out of it.

All around i think all act 1 normal bosses are the hardest bosses in the game because youre still weak and new to the game. Maybe its better to tune them a little down especially for new players. But GGG probably has more data about that and if this boss would be really the reason for people quitting then they would adress it.

But if you learn the fight and beat it once believe me he is very very easy. Using the cold dmg charm also helps.

I needed 20-30 tries with my frost focused sorc when I first reached him. I actually went back to grind 2 levels before I finally got him, but in retrospect I didn't need to grind, just learn the fight and my class better.

It was a bit frustrating at times but as a new player I think it forced me to learn a lot about the game and my class that I wouldn't have learned if I wasn't pushed so hard. That I think is good game design, but I am not a designer :D

Almost all of this boss's attacks whiff if you strafe a little bit except for when he teleports to the sky and does a circle aoe on you.

I think I have been hit by everything this boss has and never died to it once. I think a lot of people just haven't learned that you need life and resistances on gear yet.

Very few boss attacks in this game are actually "one shot". They are "one shot" *for you* but you can outgear it or outlevel it just a little bit and you're safe in almost all encounters.

I died around 10 times during day 1. I went to bed, and next morning I sit down and reviewed my build. I killed some mobs to get maybe an extra level, added a cold resist ring and tried a couple of spells configs. And I could defeat it.

Yes, it was hard for me.. but I enjoyed every bit of it. Fight is long? It's the damn Act boss.. it should be long and methodical. It should have risk. It should be a challenge. What's the point of an enemy if he has no power?

But you have to address YOUR issues to overcome it. Not instantly blame it on the game because you want it to be trivial and be skipping content.