Skeleton Mage + Multiple projectiles

I've found the skeleton mages in the pyramid that shoot 3 projectiles and specifically champions that shoot 5 projectiles, seem far more dangerous than any other monster in the viscinity.

I was playing on my 25 duelist(normal) which i have speced for a decent amount of hp(500+), admittedly I don't have a lot of lightning resist(~25%).

This issue is only related to melee, as the spread on their attacks is fine at range, though when in their face, a full shotgun effect of 5 projectiles at once was enough to kill me (almost)instantly.


Has anyone else found this particular monster to be poorly balanced?

If it would need tuning, to have it remain a threat at range, a better solution than a damage nerf may be to make it so less projectiles from the same attack can hit you.

Thoughts?

They aren’t so scary as casters with chaos damage. Bring resist gear with you. You shouldn’t let him to hit you with all projectiles at once. Kill other mobs first if he isn’t alone in room, try to adapt to his casting speed, move around and avoid projectiles, use skills like shield charge, phase run or flicker strike for mobility. You should kill any yellow skeletons in 3-4 hits at low difficulties, so it isn’t so hard.

Yes, multishot casters in general are unusually irritating for melee - yet another monster type that has a special ability that uniquely trolls melee.

I wish there were monsters that did the reverse, eg did massive damage at long range and zero damage point blank.

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Neonexe wrote:

Yes, multishot casters in general are unusually irritating for melee - yet another monster type that has a special ability that uniquely trolls melee.

I wish there were monsters that did the reverse, eg did massive damage at long range and zero damage point blank.

Currently the only thing i can think of that does this is ice spear (gains a second stronger form after travelling a certain distance), but yeah, i'd like to see some stuff to make ranged more dangerous.

I started Charan 2.0 over after facing the shotgun effect of the multi-shot skeletons in the Pyramid. Two hits and he was dead. At level 28. He was specced for typical Shadowy things: IAS, evasion, damage. But when the time came to get into the Skeleton Mages' face with my sword, I was dead before I could swing twice.

Charan 3.0 forewent Shadowy things raced from the Shadow starting area to Diamond Skin and its associated resistance nodes, and then some life regen and life%.

It worked wonders.

I'm not saying this is an overall solution but it solved the current situation for me.