Backwash Map Boss (Queen of Filth) and Others One shot comment...

Some "normal" non pinnacle bosses will one shot you no matter what. (Ofcourse I am not talking if you are ES stalking, thats another case)

Today I ran this map specifically to test how much HP and Defenses are "needed" to not get one shot by this boss Queen of filth specifically and few others like the "gorilla" boss, sorry if I dont remember their names.

However, luckily I had that shrine that boosts your Life and defenses right infront of boss arena. So after the buff my stats as follows:

1- 4.1k Life
2- 11k armour ~80% approx
3- 8k evasion ~75% approx
4- Sorcery ward at ~6k

No mod on map that increased monster damage by x% or added damage,

mostly mods that increase stun buildup, freeze build up etc.

Guess what?

Still got one shot. Even with doubled life and boosted defenses

I am a merc, so I m mostly forced into the evasion/armour tree, so those are the best stats I could ever get and still one shoted.

Question is, is that considered to be fair/aligned with game mechanics? If so, I am not very ok with that...

There are several hard hitting bosses.
Two of them you`ve picked out properly.
Depending on bosses, their dmg might be different, pure phys, pure fire, pure chaos and so on or a mix of them.

Poe 2 is designed to offer challenging bosses. As long your dps is not that high that you can 1 shot or 5 sec shot them, you need to know their abilities and so their "1 shot" mechanics. And ofc simply dodge/avoid it.

Now the power fantasy push us all to get a character that does immense dmg and also survive all those creepy 1 shots in the same time.

Well, there are several of such builds, all of them with ES stacking, recoup, regen and/or leech mechanics. Some can even afk pinnacle content. Afk.
"Abusing" interactions into nowhere. Probably they will become nerfed. And so other builds will follow with new interactions to reach it again.

A casual build will not hit that high survivability, but
if you invest correct into your defense, you will survive every of those non pinnacle "1 shots". There is a reason why in the hc ladders ppl hit 100-95 level, and it is not only ES stacking and not only luck or god gamer, also they do not always "esc" alt4, they simply have the proper defenses.

If you are not stacking ES, stacking EV, AR, life, block, res, this all will help for sure, but will never be enough.
You will still need other layers to survive.
Those stats are just obvious to stay most time alive.

Think about adding some ES for example, like even only 400, it will be 10% more to your 4k life build.
Think about "damage taken from mana before life", depending on your mana globe it can easily be your next 400 "more life".
Think about "damage taken as" to split the incoming hit into different smaller hits and so make your defense layers working better.
Think about regen, recovery and recoup as well. Specially in the case of "Yaota, The Loathsome", the fatty in backwash, if you get hitted hard, let`s assume you would survive this hit with 1 left life, if there is some dmg over time arround you, or an damaging ailment added from the hit, your left 1 life *pooof* and it feels like a 1 shot, even if it is not one in reality.
According to AR, think about "additional physical damage reduction", as even 7% of this are better than 25% pure AR.
There are also other mechanice like lucky/unlucky.
And on top of that all, your charms can be very important against bosses as well.
Depending on bosses ofc.
Or other example; Count Geonor, act 1 boss, the wolf, using a corrupted jewel with "corrupted blood cannot be inflicted on you" will trivialize this fight a lot.

But one last advice; keep also in mind, every point invested into defense means less damage. Less damage makes the fight longer and so opens windows for mistakes and more lethal hits. And too much too less damage also makes simply less fun, it takes than far too long to clear a map...

SS and good luck

Thank you for your insights. They are indeed helpful. But as you mentioned about those extra layers, investing in them requires either a lot of currency or sacrifice of some offense.

Funnily speaking, me and the boss died at the same time. So my dps wasnt lacking but, its the grenade build that needs time to activate and do dps proplerly. That gives window for the boss to 1 shot me when i m focusing on trying to spam all the grenades in my arsenal.

What I dont like is seeing those maps with the bosses makes me know there is a 70% chance I m going to die in that map and thats not very fun.

Its sad because the mercenary tree doesnt allow for ES stacking or providing any useful layers other than armour and evasion which dont work very well against physical and splash damage...I mostly have no problems against elemental damage thanks to sorcery ward

but at the same time stacking all the armour and evasion points till lvl 95 didnt exactly help me at all in any way even with a shrine BUFF...

Perhaps you already know/use it, but Slow can be a great supplemental tool. It helps you avoid the 1shots and buys you time for the fuse timer.

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LeFlesh#9979 wrote:

Perhaps you already know/use it, but Slow can be a great supplemental tool. It helps you avoid the 1shots and buys you time for the fuse timer.

The first thing I try to do to bosses is stun them with stun nades. But some bosses have high stun resistance, including queen of filth.

Which slow are you talking about if I may know? Is that a support gem?

Slows that don't specify a type (for example, Chill/Temporal Chains) will affect all actions. The Encumbrance support magnifies skills' slowing magnitude.

Does your build utilize Bleeding or Poison? Two new rings (Icefang Orbit & Venopuncture) enable either of those ailments to be your source of Chill without needing to invest in Cold damage. Once they are afflicted, all of your hits will Slow.

I got 1hp and 8900ES. 25% armour and resists in 76. Chaos immunity and eternal youth.

No problems.

https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/guides/armour

Armor has diminishing returns. The only way to tank one-shots is to go pure ES. It's wildly unbalanced given other things like access to higher mobility, chaos inoculation, etc.

GGG has been treating Energy Shield & Chaos Inoculation with baby gloves since launch, News at 8:00!

Life builds suck, bro. This has to change. Counting on offense (damage) for defense is not very hardcore friendly. Most of life builds are just good for bossing, if the boss does not slam or even hit you. Slams are bad. Even acrobatics does not help much. This needs to change. Investing in defense in life builds is so very pointless. I would even say that even 8k life with all the armor and evasion and acrobatics may not be enough to tank certain things judging by how my es builds perform... We need more max life options for sure. I was not really sure about this until recently, but after playing several life builds again, I am certain. We need more life.

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mat_24#4508 wrote:

you need to know their abilities and so their "1 shot" mechanics. And ofc simply dodge/avoid it.

This is a bad design, which belongs to action games with infinite lives, not RPGs with hardcore mode. Investing in defense should actually matter for all content. Look at PoE 1 even. Everything that pinnacles do could be countered. Everything. Can't say this for PoE 2, yet. GGG, ward gear when?