How to defeat the Necromancer's Apprentice

[Mr. G]

So after doing The Hag and The Swine Prince, I have to admit this boss felt like the easiest of the three.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh5A6xhLCzs
Please let me know what boss is a good choice to hit next and any tips you have.

[Xlomblie_Wheizard]

You should decide for yourself which boss to do next, but here's a very basic summary o/t remaining bosses: (obviously, don't read if you don't want spoilers, but i'm assuming you do)

The Siren - can "tempt" your heroes to the enemy's side for a few turns. Can be devastating if you don't pay attention to your party compisition. Bring 4 holy waters & use them on your Heroes just before the fight, as this increases the chance of resisting the siren's call.

The Prophet - interesting fight. The Prophet hangs around the 4th rank the entire time, So bring heroes that can reach there, like Hellion, Grave Robber, etc. and not Lepers, Crusaders & Bounty hunters. Also has an attack that does enormous damage, so an occultist, or even two, w/ weakening curse, is recommended to lower his damage.

The Formless Flesh - probably the most difficult fight, next to the Hag. The Flesh consists of 4 connected pieces that act independantly but have one health bar, & constantly change shape, function, resistances, etc. Sometimes it's a huge damage dealer, other times it heals itself, some pieces of it stun you, etc... Has one big weakness: Houndmaster's Hound's Harry ability, which bleeds all 4 enemy positions, hits all 4 pieces of the flesh. Since it has only 1 health bar, the bleed is 4x as effective. Jester's Harvest & Plague Doctor's Plague Grenade are also highly recommended.

The Brigand Pounder - very slow fight. Spawns a fusilier every turn which you have to kill or incapacitate somehow by the end o/t round, otherwise the Pounder has a chance to deal enourmous damage to your entire party. The pounder itself has incredibly high prot & takes ages to kill. Expect a long, drawn-out fight.

The Drowned Crew - not very difficult, but it's a stress fight. A battle of attrition. The Crew heals itself, is hard to kill, and deals large amounts of stress. It will kill you by driving your Heroes insane & waiting for them to kill themselves. If that sounds like fun, then this is the fight for you! Have to defeat the Siren first, though.

[figbyfigbyfigby]

If it isn't already dead, the Siren might be a good choice next.

The best advice I can give is to bring a party with an overall high resistance to DEBUFF (lepers, jesters, plague doctors and expecially occultists have a good one), I highly reccomend leper and occultist, the first for the camp ability "Blood Shroud" that buff +25% to debuff and 3 other resistances, and occultist for his high basic resistance to debuff and bonus damage against Eldritch. Plague doctor is good too for high debuff resistance, 2nd only to Occultist, plus stuns and blight damage are really good against the Siren. Jester could be a gamble, but if you can pop a Finale on the Siren 1st turn and then just buff the rest of the team then you're good to go ^^

Oh and leave the Man at Arms home against her, he could backfire on you very very VERY bad.

Oh and be sure to have at least 4 holy waters and drink them (1 each party member) right before entering the fight, for a +33% resistance for 3 turns.

Why I'm stressing debuff resistance so much? because (remaining spoiler free) the Siren have a Debuff based attack that, if resisted, make her waste an action but if connected, can screw you badly. Good luck!

[Jesterofgames7712]

Originally posted by Xlomblie_Wheizard:

The Siren - can "tempt" your heroes to the enemy's side for a few turns. Can be devastating if you don't pay attention to your party compisition. Bring 4 holy waters & use them on your Heroes just before the fight, as this increases the chance of resisting the siren's call.

also i suggest bringing an arbitalist
they have a move which incresses debuff resistance
since The siren's most deadly move is counted as a Debuff

[Xlomblie_Wheizard]

Originally posted by Jesterofgames7712:

also i suggest bringing an arbitalist
they have a move which incresses debuff resistance
since siren's call is counted as a Debuff

Good call. Didn't think of that because i only ever really use Arbalests for the Swine King... Also, if she gets tempted it won't mess up yout party order because when they return, they get dumped in rank 4, but Arbalest like being in rank 4.

Edit:

Originally posted by figbyfigbyfigby:

Oh and leave the Man at Arms home against her, he could backfire on you very very VERY bad.

^ this is one o/t the most important pieces of advice. Forgot to mention it

[Jesterofgames7712]

Originally posted by Xlomblie_Wheizard:

The Formless Flesh - probably the most difficult fight, next to the Hag. The Flesh consists of 4 connected pieces that act independantly but have one health bar, & constantly change shape, function, resistances, etc. Sometimes it's a huge damage dealer, other times it heals itself, some pieces of it stun you, etc... Has one big weakness: Houndmaster's Hound's Harry ability, which bleeds all 4 enemy positions, hits all 4 pieces of the flesh. Since it has only 1 health bar, the bleed is 4x as effective. Jester's Harvest & Plague Doctor's Plague Grenade are also highly recommended.

Wait what?

The hound master's hound harry ability does like 1 point of bleed damage thus making it only 4 in total
at that point it'd be better to bring the plauge doctor who's Plauge grenade's do 8 Damage to the boss Over time With out stacking
or the jester which will cause 6 damage in total over time with out stacking
and sure it hit's every bit of flesh
But at that point your still probably better off bringing a heavy hitter like the leper who can also tank most the damage
in total you'd probably do around 4-6 damage with the hound master's hound harry if my math is right though it probably isn't and this enter comment could easily be wrong
also you could easily argue you could keep the hound master
And leper and apply there bleed and damage
but the jester's Bleed does more damage so does the plauge doctor's plauge grenade
and they are more accurate
and the jester's bleed move cut it off does simalur damage

Now don't get me wrong the hound master's hound harry is still a good move against this boss
i'd just don't see why you'd call The hound master's hound harry it's big weakness Over the rest

[figbyfigbyfigby]

Originally posted by Jesterofgames7712:

Originally posted by Xlomblie_Wheizard:

The Siren - can "tempt" your heroes to the enemy's side for a few turns. Can be devastating if you don't pay attention to your party compisition. Bring 4 holy waters & use them on your Heroes just before the fight, as this increases the chance of resisting the siren's call.

also i suggest bringing an arbitalist
they have a move which incresses debuff resistance
since The siren's most deadly move is counted as a Debuff

The wonders of this game! I was stressing debuff resistance so much and I never figured out the Arbalest Rallying Flare have + debuff res! Thanks man, now this fight is even easier, just hope that the arbalist don't get charmed 1st turn _:-)

[figbyfigbyfigby]

Originally posted by Jesterofgames7712:

Originally posted by Xlomblie_Wheizard:

The Formless Flesh - probably the most difficult fight, next to the Hag. The Flesh consists of 4 connected pieces that act independantly but have one health bar, & constantly change shape, function, resistances, etc. Sometimes it's a huge damage dealer, other times it heals itself, some pieces of it stun you, etc... Has one big weakness: Houndmaster's Hound's Harry ability, which bleeds all 4 enemy positions, hits all 4 pieces of the flesh. Since it has only 1 health bar, the bleed is 4x as effective. Jester's Harvest & Plague Doctor's Plague Grenade are also highly recommended.

Wait what?

The hound master's hound harry ability does like 1 point of bleed damage thus making it only 4 in total
at that point it'd be better to bring the plauge doctor who's Plauge grenade's do 8 Damage to the boss Over time With out stacking
or the jester which will cause 6 damage in total over time with out stacking
and sure it hit's every bit of flesh
But at that point your still probably better off bringing a heavy hitter like the leper who can also tank most the damage
in total you'd probably do around 4-6 damage with the hound master's hound harry if my math is right
sure you could easily argue you could keep the hound master
And leper and apply there bleed and damage
but the jester's Bleed does more damage so does the plauge doctor's plauge grenade
and they are more accurate
and the jester's bleed move cut it off does simalur damage

Another good tactic against the flesh is having a very buffed Hellion 1st rank, a very buffed Highwayman 2nd/3rd rank, Occultist 2nd/3rd rank and an Arbalest 4th rank.

Then focus damage on the hearts, those 4 classes have abilities very well suited to hit every rank, so rush damage the hearts to death!

[Jesterofgames7712]

Originally posted by figbyfigbyfigby:

Originally posted by Jesterofgames7712:

Wait what?

The hound master's hound harry ability does like 1 point of bleed damage thus making it only 4 in total
at that point it'd be better to bring the plauge doctor who's Plauge grenade's do 8 Damage to the boss Over time With out stacking
or the jester which will cause 6 damage in total over time with out stacking
and sure it hit's every bit of flesh
But at that point your still probably better off bringing a heavy hitter like the leper who can also tank most the damage
in total you'd probably do around 4-6 damage with the hound master's hound harry if my math is right
sure you could easily argue you could keep the hound master
And leper and apply there bleed and damage
but the jester's Bleed does more damage so does the plauge doctor's plauge grenade
and they are more accurate
and the jester's bleed move cut it off does simalur damage

Another good tactic against the flesh is having a very buffed Hellion 1st rank, a very buffed Highwayman 2nd/3rd rank, Occultist 2nd/3rd rank and an Arbalest 4th rank.

Then focus damage on the hearts, those 4 classes have abilities very well suited to hit every rank, so rush damage the hearts to death!

that is also true
however the main problem with this stratagy is the fact the heart occasonally does not spawn

[Xlomblie_Wheizard]

Originally posted by Jesterofgames7712:

Originally posted by figbyfigbyfigby:

Another good tactic against the flesh is having a very buffed Hellion 1st rank, a very buffed Highwayman 2nd/3rd rank, Occultist 2nd/3rd rank and an Arbalest 4th rank.

Then focus damage on the hearts, those 4 classes have abilities very well suited to hit every rank, so rush damage the hearts to death!

that is also true
however the main problem with this stratagy is the fact the heart occasonally does not spawn

Ultimately, main point is that because o/t unpredicatability of where the high-prot pieces will land... It's best to just rely on bleeds & blights rather than pure damage. The fight goes so much smoother that way...

[figbyfigbyfigby]

Originally posted by Jesterofgames7712:

Originally posted by figbyfigbyfigby:

Another good tactic against the flesh is having a very buffed Hellion 1st rank, a very buffed Highwayman 2nd/3rd rank, Occultist 2nd/3rd rank and an Arbalest 4th rank.

Then focus damage on the hearts, those 4 classes have abilities very well suited to hit every rank, so rush damage the hearts to death!

that is also true
however the main problem with this stratagy is the fact the heart occasonally does not spawn

Then make sure that Hellion and Occultist have some Stun % trinkets, and go Yawp on 1-2 ranks and Hands from the Abyss 3rd rank, and hope some heart spawn next time.

Sounds suboptimal I know, in fact I've not yet beaten Champion Flesh, and it scare the ♥♥♥♥ out of me _:-)

[Mr. G]

Thanks for all the information guys. Here's hoping I don't screw up my next boss battle too badly.

[Lujo]

Arbalist and another mark guy (houndmaster) for the prophet, but bring a master of arms and guard the guy who gets "prophesized". Also have some antivenom, possibly.

For the brigant pounder - mark him with a houndmasters mark (houndmaster is also good for killing the matchman), and smack the cannon with the Bounty Hunter. Having the arbalest along helps with killing the matchman and if the cannon happens to not be in slot one she also wacks really hard when you mark him. People kinda exaggerate how tough it is imo. At the easiest level it's got 50 hp and 70% resistance (difficult to lower that, though), which is kinda like having 150 life.

For the siren - don't bring anyone who can guard when she takes him over and gulp holy waters. Same for the drowned crew, except for the crew you kinda need stunners (I think having a front row crusader here is really good for some reason, can't remember).

For the flesh, it's more important to be able to hit any individual spot than anything else. Hellion, Houndmaster (for the houds RUSH not the harry), grave robber (skilled for dmg ofc), occultist (between artillery and stab you're good), vestal (yep, she can judgment any spot, that thing is completely OP and she can heal dudes in a pinch). Jester does bleed and stuff, but he only hits the middle two ranks with the bleeds and the point is to hit the thing where it hurts, not bleed at any cost. This means focusing on whichever part currently has the least physical protection.

[Panfilo]

Unfortunately the cannon itself has 200% debuff resist so you can't really mark it or debuff it at all.

[Mr. G]

Originally posted by jerjare:

Unfortunately the cannon itself has 200% debuff resist so you can't really mark it or debuff it at all.

I love that there is a cannon at all. This will be the first time I have ever made it past the early game in DD wish me luck. Doing a let's play series on the game is kind of forcing me to be better at finishing things, something I'm terrible at.