Adra Dragon

[Mathalis]

I got to the Adra Dragon at level 11. I've been steam rolling everything with my main being a tank paladin and now just can't get past this. I assume at level 11 I'm just not high enough to deal with this. I moved my party to the side, killed the mobs behind the dragon first, buff with Durance, then push summons and debuff boss and still get one shot every time. Is 11 just too low?

[Frostfeather]

Do you mean your Paladin gets oneshot or the group?

11 is low, but if you got there, you might be able to do it. I'd let summons distract the adds while getting the boss Paralyzed and killed quickly.

If you haven't been to White March yet, there's a Wizard spell that there that pretty much trivializes the boss, if you can follow up on the Paralysis with group wide damage fast enough. Typically, I do either Freezing Pillar + Paralyze/Petrify + Blast of Frost (while it's Paralyzed) or Paralyze/Petrify + Blast of Frost, and another Paralyze/Petrify + Blast of Frost.

At 11, your options are slightly limited, but you should just be able to pull it off. Remember that Eldritch Aim (from a potion if necessary) and Inspiring Radiance stack with Devotions for the Faithful.

[Gilmoy]

Dragons are gimmicky, thus highly non-linear in effective strength.
Being L11 to reach Adra Dragon does not imply that L11 suffices.

Every PoE1 dragon is gimmicky in the sense that devs min/max their stats in weird ways.
Hence it could be that none of their attacks hit your Deflection.
Then you've played 11 levels of the game building your defenses all "wrong".
Your defenses (and builds) are correct for L11 trash mobs.
They might be wrong for this 1 dragon.

Thus, Adra Dragon isn't just a Bigger Skeleton, nor a Bigger Great Bear, etc.
That's why you perceive that its threat is on a completely different tier.
It's not that much stronger than you. It might actually be a glass cannon.
But you probably don't counter its cannon. One boom, done, it nods.

Hence the general solutions to all dragon-class singular threats are:

1. Paralyze cheese, i.e. you become a Glassier Cannon yourself.
   Then you win the snap-draw race, one boom, it's done, you nod.
   
2. Study its (public) stats, and build a Gimmick Counter.
   This may entail stat-dumping (at L01!), and slogging full game with crap build,
   just so you can solo Alpine Dragon and laugh. (I dunno about Adra)
   
3. Overbuff, with 15 foods + 6 potions + 3-5 inn rest bonuses, etc.
   "Merely" boost all 4 of your defenses to 180s or so.
   Debuff its Accuracy down to 100, and it will Miss/Miss/Miss/Graze you.
   Then punch it to death with your fists.
   
4. Map cheese. IIRC, Adra is vulnerable to this.
   Something ridiculous, like stand here and it can't even reach you,
   shoot it with Persistence DoT. Gimmick loses to stronger gimmick.

Losing at L11 does not imply that L13 would suffice.
Devs design dragons to sidestep trash mob strength progression.

Either bring the perfect defense, or a quicker gimmick. Dragons are like that.

[psychotron666]

Adra dragon was a challenge meant to be the hardest challenge in the base game, even harder than the main boss. It's an optional villain and you should be at least level 12 (level cap for base game before expansions came out) to fight it.

[Mathalis]

Originally posted by Frostfeather:

Do you mean your Paladin gets oneshot or the group?

11 is low, but if you got there, you might be able to do it. I'd let summons distract the adds while getting the boss Paralyzed and killed quickly.

If you haven't been to White March yet, there's a Wizard spell that there that pretty much trivializes the boss, if you can follow up on the Paralysis with group wide damage fast enough. Typically, I do either Freezing Pillar + Paralyze/Petrify + Blast of Frost (while it's Paralyzed) or Paralyze/Petrify + Blast of Frost, and another Paralyze/Petrify + Blast of Frost.

At 11, your options are slightly limited, but you should just be able to pull it off. Remember that Eldritch Aim (from a potion if necessary) and Inspiring Radiance stack with Devotions for the Faithful.

My paladin doesn't get one shot. I summoned a ton of crap with all the charms you can find in the game. Sent those in with my party spread out on the other side and my tank in front and it one shot everything on the map except for my paladin. I've repeated this several times, as soon as it does the fire breath everyone on the map, summons and all just die.

What level is the petrify spell? Maybe I don't have that yet?

[Mathalis]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

Dragons are gimmicky, thus highly non-linear in effective strength.
Being L11 to reach Adra Dragon does not imply that L11 suffices.

Every PoE1 dragon is gimmicky in the sense that devs min/max their stats in weird ways.
Hence it could be that none of their attacks hit your Deflection.
Then you've played 11 levels of the game building your defenses all "wrong".
Your defenses (and builds) are correct for L11 trash mobs.
They might be wrong for this 1 dragon.

Thus, Adra Dragon isn't just a Bigger Skeleton, nor a Bigger Great Bear, etc.
That's why you perceive that its threat is on a completely different tier.
It's not that much stronger than you. It might actually be a glass cannon.
But you probably don't counter its cannon. One boom, done, it nods.

Hence the general solutions to all dragon-class singular threats are:

1. Paralyze cheese, i.e. you become a Glassier Cannon yourself.
   Then you win the snap-draw race, one boom, it's done, you nod.
   
2. Study its (public) stats, and build a Gimmick Counter.
   This may entail stat-dumping (at L01!), and slogging full game with crap build,
   just so you can solo Alpine Dragon and laugh. (I dunno about Adra)
   
3. Overbuff, with 15 foods + 6 potions + 3-5 inn rest bonuses, etc.
   "Merely" boost all 4 of your defenses to 180s or so.
   Debuff its Accuracy down to 100, and it will Miss/Miss/Miss/Graze you.
   Then punch it to death with your fists.
   
4. Map cheese. IIRC, Adra is vulnerable to this.
   Something ridiculous, like stand here and it can't even reach you,
   shoot it with Persistence DoT. Gimmick loses to stronger gimmick.

Losing at L11 does not imply that L13 would suffice.
Devs design dragons to sidestep trash mob strength progression.

Either bring the perfect defense, or a quicker gimmick. Dragons are like that.

Man, you made that sound not fun at all. I'm generally not a fan of extreme min/maxing and micromanaging every little thing.

[Frostfeather]

Originally posted by Mathalis:

My paladin doesn't get one shot. I summoned a ton of crap with all the charms you can find in the game. Sent those in with my party spread out on the other side and my tank in front and it one shot everything on the map except for my paladin. I've repeated this several times, as soon as it does the fire breath everyone on the map, summons and all just die.

What level is the petrify spell? Maybe I don't have that yet?

Gaze of the Adragan can be taken at level 11 I think or else found in a Grimoire.

I'm assuming you're using the latest patch? Someone else here said their group kept getting wiped on that fight, even standing to the side. So I wonder if they changed it and that's part of what's going on. When I did that fight last, a few weeks ago, I was using the legacy beta version of this game.

Anyway, that's why I was saying it's probably better to control and kill the dragon asap... to prevent it from breathing on your group. You could use your Paladin and summons to distract the boss while the rest buff up pretty far away, then run in and try to finish things quickly. Otherwise, just go back later I guess.

[happybjorn]

The fight is completely doable at level 11, Priest buffs are S tier at this point. It sounds like most of your difficulty comes from positioning. The breath attack has a wide cone.

I'd recommend run your tank in to bait out Wing Slam, summon something to tank while you buff, send your tank back in to control where the dragon is facing. From there it should just be hit things until they fall over.

The longer version is:

0) Before the fight rest for the Beast accuracy buff and eat food for important stats.

1) Start with most of your party a little bit far back and to one side (only a little because the point is to be outside the radius of Wing Slam, while still grouped up for buffs), with your tank on the far side of the alcove where you come down from the stairs. Don't sneak, the dragon will sense it from much farther away than normal sight radius.

2) Send in your tank to bait out the first big attack. This is almost always a Wing Slam, in which case run out of the AoE radius so your tank doesn't get knocked down.

3) Use a figurine to summon a sacrificial tank. Adra Beetle works well, just make sure to move it so that the dragon is at a 90 degree angle to the party (breath attack and tail lash hurt, I don't think tail lash is listed on the wiki, but I'm pretty sure all dragons have it. I could just be delusional, since Wing Slam would have a similar effect).

4) Buff your party. The most important spells are Crowns for the Faithful (cast this first), Prayer Against Imprisonment, Devotions for the Faithful (if this can also debuff the dragon, great) and Prayer Against Feat. Prayer Against Fear can be cast from a scroll, so anyone can do it (so can Prayer Against Treachery, and it's worth casting that as well).

5) Buff individually, your tank should take a Potion of Llenrath's Displaced Image, damage dealers should use Potion of Power or Deleterious Alacrity of Motion.

4 and 5 combined should take the duration of 3 cast from your Priest. But only the first cast, Crowns for the Faithful, is critical. It has a tiny radius and you really want your tank to get the buff. Once you have it you can send your tank back in if your summon gets 2 shot (Crowns gives +6 int, which increases the radius and duration of every other buff, so most of them can reach the tank even if engaged with the dragon).

6) Send in your tank to control where the dragon is facing (take disengagement attacks if you need to). You can use a scroll of Moonwell (this is ideal, 2 Scrolls of Moonwell and Drawn in Spring is the standard method for a tank to solo this fight) or Lay on Hands if your tank takes damage (or healing potions, healing potions are fine too).

7) Hit the bad things. Ranged attacks are safest because of Wing Slam (it has an obvious telegraph, so running out of it while buffed with Deleterious Alacrity of Motion isn't that hard for melee, but it's one more thing to keep track of and pause for).

Edit: grammar

[Mathalis]

So I logged back in and realized my mage was level 10. So my party wasn't 11- 12 it was 10 - 11. I did more of the story and came back with my party between 12 - 13 and used the exact same strategy and absolutely destroyed the Adra Dragon. It was actually too easy at that point.

I don't know POE as well as I do DnD, but I assume there was some sort of threshold (probably around 12) where my grazes became hits and my hits became crits that just completely changed that fight.

[happybjorn]

Congrats on winning the fight.

There isn't a threshold, but the fight can feel pretty easy so long as your party doesn't get hit by the dragon's special attacks (and your tank doesn't get petrified or dominated).

You get +3 to accuracy and all defenses per level, which matters, but is fairly small with only a level or two difference. However, one thing that can happen in a lot of tough fights is that landing a hit with an affliction can chain into a lot more hits and crits (including more afflictions). Another 3 or 6 accuracy only helps. A level 12 ability and, most likely, slightly better gear and enchants helps a little too.

Also, the base game level cap is 12 (and the fight is from the base game).

[unkn0wnx]

Adra Dragon is actually really easy. I couldn't kill her and searched online, nobody mentioned this trick. I had one game where she KO half of my team. I thought about reloading, but her AOE also killed most of her servants. After all dust settles, I had my main and she had two servants left. I kited them and killed off those two. I just ran around kited her with Persistence until she dies. The only thing she has was the fear aura, and couldn't hit someone who just ran from her. I had boots of speed on BTW.

[Black Out]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

Dragons are gimmicky, thus highly non-linear in effective strength.
Being L11 to reach Adra Dragon does not imply that L11 suffices.

Every PoE1 dragon is gimmicky in the sense that devs min/max their stats in weird ways.
Hence it could be that none of their attacks hit your Deflection.
Then you've played 11 levels of the game building your defenses all "wrong".
Your defenses (and builds) are correct for L11 trash mobs.
They might be wrong for this 1 dragon.

Thus, Adra Dragon isn't just a Bigger Skeleton, nor a Bigger Great Bear, etc.
That's why you perceive that its threat is on a completely different tier.
It's not that much stronger than you. It might actually be a glass cannon.
But you probably don't counter its cannon. One boom, done, it nods.

Hence the general solutions to all dragon-class singular threats are:

1. Paralyze cheese, i.e. you become a Glassier Cannon yourself.
   Then you win the snap-draw race, one boom, it's done, you nod.
   
2. Study its (public) stats, and build a Gimmick Counter.
   This may entail stat-dumping (at L01!), and slogging full game with crap build,
   just so you can solo Alpine Dragon and laugh. (I dunno about Adra)
   
3. Overbuff, with 15 foods + 6 potions + 3-5 inn rest bonuses, etc.
   "Merely" boost all 4 of your defenses to 180s or so.
   Debuff its Accuracy down to 100, and it will Miss/Miss/Miss/Graze you.
   Then punch it to death with your fists.
   
4. Map cheese. IIRC, Adra is vulnerable to this.
   Something ridiculous, like stand here and it can't even reach you,
   shoot it with Persistence DoT. Gimmick loses to stronger gimmick.

Losing at L11 does not imply that L13 would suffice.
Devs design dragons to sidestep trash mob strength progression.

Either bring the perfect defense, or a quicker gimmick. Dragons are like that.

AI detected

[Frostfeather]

I dunno, I asked AI and the response was pretty bad. It literally said to have a tank and explained what that meant. To equip ranged characters with ranged weapons, etc.

The only semi-useful thing it said was to use Paralysis, but it incorrectly said it's "vulnerable" to it when "not immune" would be more accurate.