Tips for the Countess?

[PalmTree]

All of my Highwaymen are dead. For some reason she thinks it's fun to use literally all four of her actions on one target in the same turn.

90% of my roster is cursed, so I'm stuck until I can kill her or I risk encountering the Fanatic in every dungeon, since all of my healers are infected. I need to take her down ASAP but my Riposte strategy failed miserably. I have a Legend of every class except Highwayman and Anti, as well as a Legend Seraph, Lamia, Falconer, Thrall, and Exorcist.

I already know marking teams are going to be useless, and I've lost all of my anti-bloodsucker trinkets except the Dazzling Mirror, which I can't even fully utilize because of her massive stun resist. I also can't get camping buffs anymore because the one wine crate I was planning on saving got drank by a hero with Dipsomania. I am screwed in every sense of the word, but I somehow need to defy all the odds and overcome this eldritch demon.

I am also aware that the team will need to be able to withstand her shuffle DoT, so things like Falconer and Arbalest will probably be useless.

Is there any strategy, any tips that could possibly make her just a bit easier?

[Laplace93]

Have you killed the Hag? Because if you can kill her you can get rid of the Fanatic, he is just an Hag on steroids, and half of your problem is solved.

[No One]

You know the injected eggs only explode if you attack? Hence, if someone needs healing, you can use a passive skill to give your healer time to fix them up.

[caleb caleb caleb]

Originally posted by Laplace93:

Have you killed the Hug? Because if you can kill her you can get rid of the Fanatic, he is just an Hug on steroids, and half of your problem is solved.

But the thing about the Hag is you build your team to fight her. Fanatic couldn't give any less of a ♥♥♥♥ about your team comp

[RopeDrink]

Hag doesn't shuffle back and forward.
Hag doesn't gain bonus damage against cursed heroes.
Hag doesn't enrage if you kill the cauldron (you can't kill it entirely).
Hag has less turns and has slightly lower base damage than Fanatic.
Hag having two turns means it's much easier to stack effects (eg. bleeds) compared to a 3-turn Fanatic.

Yes, Fanatic is certainly a Hag on steroids but if you've killed a Hag, this doesn't mean Joe Soap can use the same strategy for a Fanatic and succeed - not when he's a 3-turn shuffler with more damage, enrage, and hits cursed heroes harder (which are a requirement to even spawn him).

I consider the Hag to be one of the easiest bosses in the game (straight after Necromancer), yet I'll also avoid Fanatic like the plague despite that. There are different strategies for him.

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As for the Countess, I usually just tri-HWM riposte her - but as said in the other thread regarding this very same topic, it's always a gamble (assuming you ignore the egg mechanic, which is what I used to do).

Generic tips would be to have an answer for shuffles (and avoid shuffle-weak heroes, eg. Arbs, Lepers), consider using self-sustainers (given her mass-rounds and decent speed + eggs can make it very, very awkward for a sole healer to do the job before a death-blow when super-desperate), and that bleeds are still effective even though she has 3-turns + a self-cure. It's why I took HWM's so much... Typically opened the round with Tracking Shot, activate riposte and then dedicate all non-mobility/riposte reactivation's towards chunking her with Open Vein. Even if she cures it, you still have three DPS doing decent impact damage + stacking a solid bleed, and slapping her any time she attacks/AoEs/applies eggs via riposte. With the right trinkets and/or bloodlust, it is still a damage race. A risky one. But one that I'll use until it stops working for me.

Heroes I'd bring:
FLA, CRU, HM, HWM, HEL, SB, MAA, VES.

Heroes I'd avoid (for various different reasons):
GR, ARB/MUS, ANT, LEP, BH, PD, OCC, ABOM.

[PalmTree]

I'm thinking of going in with this:

Ves/Jester/Flag/Crusader

Vestal would have the standard Judgement, Divine Grace, Divine Comfort, and maybe Mace Bash instead of Dazzling Light because of the stun Resist and shuffle. Trinkets would be Junia's Head and Sacred Scroll

Jester would have Slice Off, Finale, Battle Ballad, and either Dirk Stab or Solo. I'd wait to pop Finale until I was sure it would deal extreme damage. Trinkets would be Dirge for the Devoured for the damage buff and maybe the Tyrant's Fingerbone for the Finale buff.

Flag would be using Punishment, Exsanguinate, Redeem, and Reclaim. He'd be mostly taking the role of using Redeem to save people from the egg damage when his HP got low, and using Punishment to stack bleeds. Trinkets would be Chipped Tooth and either Punishment's Hood or another trinket.

Crusader would be running Smite, Stunning Blow, Battle Heal, and Holy Lance. HL for the obvious shuffle recovery and Smite for up close combat, Stunning blow to (Hopefully) take advantage of the Flushed phase, and Battle Heal instead of my usual Rallying Cry for the larger heal in case of an emergency. Trinkets would be Dismas's Head and Dazzling Mirror.

Could something like this work, or are there too many problems with it?

[PalmTree]

That party ended up working. She's finally dead... and Dismas is avenged. If the Flag hadn't landed some clutch heals with Redeem, it would have all been over, but I pulled through.

Now to lose my will to live fighting the Sleeper...

[No One]

The spoiler is way easier than the countess. I have far more issues killing the miller. Harvest crits, you know.

[RopeDrink]

Used to say the same but the comp I took last has a habit of annihilating the poor guy. Also probably one of few people who actually take the Miller Trinket. Useful for that one fight and for some blight res after (seeing as 50%+ of the enemies are going to be spamming blight 24/7).