Combos constantly interrupted by boss

[Caz]

This happens on every character I play, though some have more ways to avoid being hit than others. Some bosses have time between their attacks, or their attacks have long enough animations that I have time to fight back.

But some... are just infuriating, and they're only story bosses!! Ingkells and Keaghan are the two most godawfully infuriating in this regard. I can't get more than a couple normal attacks out with MAYBE getting a smash attack in every 20-30 seconds. When I'm not praying to get a normal attack in, I'm spamming dodge so I don't have to spam HP potions.

Since I've done these guys on several characters, I know some have a far easier time than others. But I have no idea what to do for some of these bosses other than dodge around like a git until I'm able to painfully slowly build my SP to do a big attack.

[Fireclaymore]

What characters are you playing? These days especially when leveling, you shouldn't being having this kind of issue because of the reduced difficulty and the power creep of abilities that character have.

Unless you're trying to do Ein Lacher gold, it shouldn't be too bad lol.

[Caz]

The ones I've had the biggest issue on are melee. Delia, Lann, Evie, Belle...
I had less issues on Lynn and Fiona. Not sure why Lynn was so much less frustrating. Fiona I just made abundant use of Block.
I don't recall many issues on Grimden, but that's been a couple weeks. And he seems to be less combo and more spam attacks. (at least for leveling)

I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to time my attacks to get the most out of them, but it's like if some bosses even look in my direction, my combo is interrupted.

[crackmonk]

juuust takes practice.

[Fireclaymore]

For any bosses Season 1, 2 and early season 3 I would suggest you watch Ein Lacher youtube videos and see how people fight if you're struggling against a boss. Ein Lacher is an endgame challenge mode that has you solo old fights, though not all old bosses and their phases are listed. Just keep in mind that most videos showcase higher attack speeds than you may have, so they might be able to pull off things you can't, but it doesn't hurt to try.

From that list I can only speak to Lann and Staff Evie(cuz I never really picked up Scythe).
With Lann you're almost always trying to fish for critical hits to do gliding fury unless the boss is open for a sand bag opportunity. This lends itself to using his dodge into double crescent/belclaire if the boss is rushdown/combo heavy. His LR and LLLR combos(on both weapons) are great to fish for crits into gliding fury.

Staff Evie has freedom to either out distance most fights or make judicious use of well timed mana ambers to stay close and use fire spells. For short openings you can cast her level 1 spells instantly, use flying sparrow into level 2 spells(or just charge to it because it doesn't take that long), or use a level 3 spell from a spell save slot.

There's more nuance to each character, but I don't want to type much more. On another note, is my post about the official Discord server visible? There are question and character specific channels there where you can ask things. I haven't really noticed too much snooty elitism especially if you say you're a noob. Joining a good guild also helps.

[Caz]

I'll check those vids out. I've seen that name mentioned here and there, but didn't really know what it is so I kinda dismissed it.

[Fyra'Nok]

One tip I can give you is start building up your combo's at range so that your smash attacks land when boss come close.

You need to outsmart the AI.

[𒀚𝓐𝓔𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓼𒉭🌠Stars affix✨]

okay, well... it's understandable w/ delia. she's the hardest character imo. +haha unfortunately i haven't gotten to keaghan yet on delia because i've just been busy on other characters ig, but i imagine she might actually require sp to really fight him properly since the time between his attacks never really seem to last that long.
luckily though she can easily spend a little time building up sp w/ her block.

[UrbanHermit]

Fyra'Nok is correct. Don't hit bosses with normal attacks, unless they are stunned or pausing between attacks. You "wind up" your smashes at a distance by strafing left-right with normal attacks, then change direction towards your target to land the smashes.

Just watch some solo videos on youtube and you'll see plenty of examples of this.

Learning boss movements and attacks is absolutely essential in successfully fighting them.

[𒀚𝓐𝓔𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓼𒉭🌠Stars affix✨]

Originally posted by UrbanHermit:

Fyra'Nok is correct. Don't hit bosses with normal attacks, unless they are stunned or pausing between attacks. You "wind up" your smashes at a distance by strafing left-right with normal attacks, then change direction towards your target to land the smashes.

such a peculiar and highly situational strategy. and this is talking like vindictus is a game that has one-size-fits-all strategies. if you don't have aggro - then sure it's a one-size-fits-all. but if you have aggro there isn't really any 'staying at a distance'.