Merveil - Is she really a fair boss?

Hello! Fighting Merveil as ranged can be more difficult than melee. Merveil's ice spear does more damage the further away you are, you aren't supposed to stand that far away because that just makes her damage much greater whereas it does nothing to your damage. I have fought Merveil in HC many times as ranged, my best advice is to stack cold resist then stand just outside of melee range. This makes her cast spells that will only damage you a bit, sometimes she will move into melee range - in this case just move a bit out. This tactic makes her a joke for ranged.

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wiggin wrote:

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indczn wrote:

things I noticed:

-You have 206 life/23es. Hardly anywhere near sufficient.

-You have iron rings on, and a regen ammy, suggesting you are specced for damage, and therefore have minimal resists.
- Your flasks are underleveled, should have one or 2 of the level 14 life flasks.

It's not shocking at all that you got destroyed, with cold damage freezing/chilling longer on lower life.

The problem is (specifically normal), merely addressing those 2 issues makes her a complete pushover. The relationship is far too binary for an act boss IMO. A few simple pieces of equipment (2 rings) shouldn't cause a shift from way too hard to way too easy.

The problem is that average player will not farm for better flasks at level 14. They may or may not drop on the way to merveil. You may not even get the sapphire rings or blue skills to spare. Of course you can twink it and make it easy but the game should work on first walkthrough...

The vendors sell the flasks and the rings. If she was easy for the uninitiated, the game would be a joke, as its been for many patches. Twinking isn't even necessary.

I pointed out many issues with his build, since he felt the need to come and post about how unfair it is, when tools are available and its doubtful he used a single one. Hence the brutal beatdown. I'd hope that the game isn't a cakewalk the first play through, but I'd also expect new players to learn and adapt instead of questioning fairness.

@idczn: Well the OP (if understand well) made this post after his first fight with Merveil. So you can take it as a first impression of act boss fight. There will be many similar ones in open beta. The beatdown doesn't really help anything, the specific tools you suggested do, though.
I think it is kinda hard too, for a first timer. The only thing tested in that fight is patience. You keep dodging the ice spear and sneaking in some spell/attack. If you are impatient you die. So you can spend 20 minutes there instead, is it fun? I am not sure. But then you make another char, get 75% cold resist and tank it while flasking. It is not fun either. First fight is too hard, second one too easy. This is not a balance issue... I'm not sure how to make it better, maybe telling people to grab two sapphire rings before the fight is just enough.

merveil is a ridiculous fight for any ranged character, nothing you can do in that fight as ranged other than use cold resist rings and ammy and hope to not get raped, even tho you probably will.


after 5 attempts in which i got frozen to death i decided to just join a party and have the templar/shadow/duelist carry me through it.

Merveil is a tough fight, as it should be in my opinion. It's definitely not impossible to solo but it may take you a few tries to understand how she works and how you should approach the fight.

The first time fighting her on my Witch I died several times, probably 4-5 until I finally got down a good kiting rhythm.

On my Ranger I actually beat her my first time, and no I didn't have any especially good gear. Just fire off poison arrows (if you have it) and keep her busy while ducking in and out of cover, don't let her regen her life. If you can, fire off other skills and get direct hits to try and bring down her energy shield at the same time. It's really a cat and mouse game in there.

My second time on merciless was a different story, I'm sure some of my gear is pretty outdated but I need them for my skill current skill setup. I died 2-3 due to the sheer amount of damage she managed to do with ice spear once she got me frozen. Ran out of flasks too unfortunately.

I'd rather it take me a few times to beat and have it be a tough boss instead of a boss you can beat the first time trying.

As a HC player I think Merveil`s first form is just challenging enough, lets keep it that way.

However, when you beat her the first time and she goes meele with the 2nd form, it`s already over. Why? Because if you were strong enough to beat the first form, you will certainly be able to win against the weaker 2nd form. I think her 2nd form is in need of a small buff.

Merv one shotted me the first time I faced her with my ranger. Then I got 2 cold resist rings (bought one from vendor and kept remaking another ring i had until it come up with cold resist) then I actually just stood there infront of her and nuked her down with the odd potion sip.

I am not a fan of merveil.

a) Any enemy with cold snap is tedious
b) Any enemy who the ideal strategy is just to "stand in melee range" is not interesting
c) A boss countered by stacked resistances is... not interesting.

Also, if you play a summoner she is a complete nightmare because your zombies won't transition into her area with you about 90% of the time, and you just end up having to spam skeletons round corners and it takes forever.

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Neonexe wrote:

I am not a fan of merveil.

a) Any enemy with cold snap is tedious
b) Any enemy who the ideal strategy is just to "stand in melee range" is not interesting
c) A boss countered by stacked resistances is... not interesting.

Also, if you play a summoner she is a complete nightmare because your zombies won't transition into her area with you about 90% of the time, and you just end up having to spam skeletons round corners and it takes forever.

Her attack is just too predictable, once you can to fight with her.

Like i said in other thread, blue/yellow/unique/boss monsters should have a range of tactics and skills. From this range of tactics and skills, a few is randomly selected and implemented to the monsters when entering any instances.
This way it will alot less predictable when you play, plus it will be less boring too. Instead of just increasing the damage or spam a specific skill on the monstrs, thus casuing unbalance results to some of the class/build.

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Knowledged3 wrote:

To add to the frey I fear what this boss is like for people playing on a melee class, I mean shes essentially impossible for a ranged solo to kill.

She's quite easy actually in melee. Make sure to be level +1 or +2 especially in hardcore. Make sure to have good potions, and at least one cold resist ring.

Had no issue in Normal with my new melee Ranger and 30 ish % cold resist. Rangers get Fire Trap as reward, definitely worth using, you can throw them far away. Also didn't have to TP out.

Watched your video. Did you have a "dispel frozen and chilled" potion? Some things have to be learned, sometimes the hard way. If you are new to this game playing hardcore and complaining is silly. You should make a level 60 character at least once to learn the game mechanics before playing Hardcore, >>> IMHO <<<.

That said, nice feedback along with the video. She may be somewhat unbalanced in relation to ranged classes.