Mega bosses worth the effort?

[Buyung Kilat]

I'm absolutely enjoying this game. It's an even better game then the first one. But I'm not the gamer I was 15 years ago, or even 5 years ago when PoE 1 came out. I play on relaxed mode now and have been cruising through the game, only infrequently encountering difficult battles.

Anyway these mega bosses are tough as heck. I remember back when I was immersed in PoE, facing off against the Adra Dragon. What a friggin' nightmare. But defeating her was necessary to have that feeling of complete control over Caed Nua. Then there was Llengrath, and the toughest son of a dog of them all, the Alpine Dragon. The Alpine Dragon left me feeling empty inside after countless hours trying and finally defeating him. I lost so much hair trying to beat this bastard and got very little in compensation.

Now here are these four mega bosses, who by all accounts seem to be on the same level. I'm not as well versed with combat skills as I used to (or maybe I'm just not that good, in case some smarta$$ wants to insult my gaming skills). I look for the quickest formula and stick with it. I faced off against that colossus and did absolutely zero damage. I'm guessing that even at max level, it's going to require some heavy thinking and strategics.

I'm inclined to leave most of my thinking to my daily work and surviving this pandemic. Half of me wants to just forget these things exist, but the other half of me feel like I might be missing out by not trying to defeat them. So anyway, just how much of priority is beating them for you guys? I can't get the info on what the ratio is in terms of the gamers who has defeated them unless I do it myself. The achievement medal will give me the number. If the number is like 1% to 3%, I can probably conclusively say that they're not worth it.

[Umie]

they're pretty tough, you need tons of penetration. Probably need your party to drink potions as well. Unlike other cRPGs that just end, Deadfire actually has a little bit of endgame content for us to do. I didn't do all the bosses myself, but they're a nice touch for the ultimate test of your party.

[RACHMANOVSKI]

Honestly, that depends.

For me, as I understand it, The Mega Bosses are *optional* anyway, perhaps it will gives you extra achievement but it means nothing to me.

Only once before I urge to get "that one" achievement to rectify myself as some short of "super fan", for whatever reason, that game is Bioshock Infinite, and the achievement I was trying to get is the Auld Lang Syne for completing the game in Highest difficulties. I did get that and it did gave me sense of accomplishment to this day, but that will only works if you truly loves the game and want to enjoy everything that the game has to offer -- having said that I'm nowhere near 100% accomplishing achievement in Bioshock Infinite, as I don't really care what could be done to get those other achievements, and having 100% achievement doesn't give me satisfaction compared to completing the game in 1999 mode and exploring every single inch of the place I could explore in the game and hearing/reading all the lore.

Now, if you do plan to beat those megabosses, the advices I'm often hearing is to opt in to small amount of optimal builds (most of them requires multiclassing with class that offers renewable resources -- you can browse those on YouTube, there are a lot of them available). What I learn from watching them is to scrap every viable options to inflict "Raw Damage" which requires you to stick to several weapons that may temper with your roleplaying experience (I can never be able to play War Bow tootin character since it is not optimize to fight big bosses or any bosses in general, especially if you're attempting Solo run). Maxing Resolve also good to minimizing Interrupt effect (or avoiding altogether, big bosses *loves* to debuff you, maxing resolve minimize those risk to a degree).

I hope other player can give you better advice, and I wish it was easy like in Divinity Original Sin 2 where I can just say "Max Warfare and your prefered build stats (intelligence/finesse etc.)" -- but this game is a lot complex in order to optimize your build, at least for me, since like you, I also inclined to leave most of my thinking to my work and this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ pandemic situation. If I play games, head empty, no thoughts.


Good luck mate.

[wespe___o=/;;;:*]

Originally posted by Buyung Kilat:

Mega bosses worth the effort?...

NO. Obsidian fu**ed up.. worst part of the game. Even in Veteran a geared Lv.20 Party has zero chance.. unless you cheese it hard

-> At least you don´t need those Megabosses to get all standard Achievements

Originally posted by Umie:

they're pretty tough, you need tons of penetration. Probably need your party to drink potions as well. Unlike other cRPGs that just end, Deadfire actually has a little bit of endgame content for us to do. I didn't do all the bosses myself, but they're a nice touch for the ultimate test of your party.

Where is the point when a superb Party dies, but a SOLO Rogue can cheese all Megabosses easily ?!?
Our Party is maxed at Lv.20.. but those bosses are MUCH higher.. extreme stats and some very unfair mechanics. Sorry, but hp-sponges are not innovative at all..
-> at least 2 weapons make those bosses disappear without much of a fight

[Buyung Kilat]

I'm glad that the consensus so far is that they're not worth the effort. I've got a gut feeling just from my first encounter that it's going to be another long and arduous road trying to defeat these things. Remembering the Alpine Dragon still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. To me, if most gamers are disinclined to spend their gaming hours trying to beat them, then it would also be a waste of my time to do so. Thank you for the input guys.

[snuggleform]

The rewards are unique trinkets, which are strong but not gamechanging, and stones which you let you upgrade to mythical tier. IMO, only the runemaster requires a great deal of thought.

Dorudugan - just cheese him with salvation of time and barring death's door, otherwise this is like an hour long fight if you play fair dodging the fire

Belranga - run her over with at least 2 chanters spamming ancient weapons to tank everything, eat shark meat to prevent paralysis beforehand.

Huani - 1 x cipher, then some mix of chanters/rangers. Rangers definitely not necessary. Chanters tank the damage with summons, while everyone has arbalest modals on for the knockdown. once he splits, distract one with summons and don't worry about it then smash down the other half. When that half splits into 2 weaker ones, the Will defense should be low enough that the cipher can reliably stasis shell one so you can burn down the other weaker one. If you managed to burn out the weaker one before the stasis wears off you're essentially out of the forest and can finish the weaker ones without fear of reforming before repeating the process with the big half you ignored earlier.

Runemaster - preparation is key. Buy major arcane reflection potions (I think the best vendor for this is the guy you freed from the witch's cave, he seems to have them reliably on daily refresh), and load everyone in the heaviest armor you can find that does not have a crush weakness (I think brigandine is the correct type? I forgot the name). Use some kind of spell to confer shock resistance (druids, chanters have access to this, I think scrolls can be used too), use those reflection potions, and with this setup you should be easily able to tank the totem of wrath, which is the scariest one. The jester's cap from the deck of many things keeps the fear totem from cc'ing you. The orb one should be manageable in your heavy armor and with reflection potions. A chanter with the passive skeletal chant can basically distract the runemaster while all this is going on, and animated weapons helps with this.

[ec928]

Originally posted by snuggleform:

IMO, only the runemaster requires a great deal of thought.

Thought this guy was the easiest. As long as you have good passive healing, and every party should have this for normal gameplay anyway (e.g. Paladin healing aura and Chanter's heal), and maybe a few heal spells/scrolls/potions just in case, all you need is:

(1) something to help against resolve afflictions. The PL2 chanter ability "One Dozen Stood" is probably the easiest to get
(2) sleep in the Wild Mare inn in Neketaka and the 30% magic reflect.

That's it! That's on POTD difficulty. Never used any potions or resources but to be fair, I also had the PL6 10% spell resistance ability on all my characters and Xoti's light of the dawnstar on her lantern, but I always take that by default, not because of any boss fight. But if your magic resist or passive healing is a bit weaker, then yes, potions on top of the 30% resist you get at the inn should make the difference.

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by ec928:

Originally posted by snuggleform:

IMO, only the runemaster requires a great deal of thought.

Thought this guy was the easiest. As long as you have good passive healing, and every party should have this for normal gameplay anyway (e.g. Paladin healing aura and Chanter's heal), and maybe a few heal spells/scrolls/potions just in case, all you need is:

(1) something to help against resolve afflictions. The PL2 chanter ability "One Dozen Stood" is probably the easiest to get
(2) sleep in the Wild Mare inn in Neketaka and the 30% magic reflect.

That's it! That's on POTD difficulty. Never used any potions or resources but to be fair, I also had the PL6 10% spell resistance ability on all my characters and Xoti's light of the dawnstar on her lantern, but I always take that by default, not because of any boss fight. But if your magic resist or passive healing is a bit weaker, then yes, potions on top of the 30% resist you get at the inn should make the difference.

We're playing different games, because I had to try it many times even with konstantin's reflect AND major arcane reflect potions on everyone. It wasn't until I loaded up with heavy armor + shock resist on top of those that the fight finally became easy/trivial.

It could be that I use too many chanter summons so the wrath totem just exponentially ramps up shock damage with each additional unit in your party, so that could be maybe why you had an easier time with it.

[ec928]

Originally posted by snuggleform:

We're playing different games, because I had to try it many times even with konstantin's reflect AND major arcane reflect potions on everyone. It wasn't until I loaded up with heavy armor + shock resist on top of those that the fight finally became easy/trivial.

It could be that I use too many chanter summons so the wrath totem just exponentially ramps up shock damage with each additional unit in your party, so that could be maybe why you had an easier time with it.

Not sure why. Although perhaps it's because my default party is spec'ed very defensively, with a lot of passive healing allowing me to live through damage that would kill others. I did this simply to stay alive for POTD and not for any of the bosses, but it probably helped. Here's what I had:

Pellegina as a Paladin/Chanter (with lots of +int accessories) with the
1- Blackened Plate Armor with "Life in Death" for healing
2- Continuously chanting "One Dozen" then "Ancient Memory" then "Mercy and Kindness". (This wasn't perfect and sometimes my party was affected by fear, but it didn't matter)
3- Paladin Aura "Exalted Endurance" (which is really great IMO)
4- Generic PL5 skill "Practiced Healer" for 15% more healing
(note: you can also add Psysicker's Belt for 10% more healing too and/or the Bone Setter's Torc necklace for 10% more, but I went with +Int to increase her aura size)

I also had Eder as a fighter / rouge tank with a shield and wearing
5- Furrante's Brestplate with "love of life" 10% enhanced healing to the party
6- and "vigorous protector" aura damage reduction to everyone else. Eder takes 10% more damage but he's a tank so that's trivial

7- I found a pet called "Giftwrapper" somewhere that also provided healing to the entire party.

8- Everyone with generic PL6 "Spell Resistance" for 10% magic resist

9- Xoti with her Lantern which had "Light of the Dawnstar". Seems to have given me around 11% magic resist.

10- This doesn't help with magic, but it helps with getting hit. One of my characters wore "Heath Defender's Scale" with Family Bond that increases +2 armor and +8 defenses to everyone except the MC. Really useful for non-magic attacks.

[snuggleform]

It's just like I said, my team uses heavy chanters and I sort of brainlessly summon by habit. The totem of wrath shoots a chain lightinng at each target available, and when each chanter is bringing 4+ bodies to the fight that adds up quick considering each chain lighting bounces 7 times. As I said that's probably why. I already have heavy passive healing (I min/max a paladin with max str for the passive healing aura, then I have a lot of chanters so I have ancestral memory and mercy followed her everywhere, so on and so forth).

I have honestly never understand why belranga is not considered the easiest boss objectively and universally. You literally just summon chanter stuff from 2 minimum chanters and she can't do anything about it, you just win in a few minutes. You don't even have to eat shark food if you make sure you stand back from her. She doesn't have the methods to bust through the summons.

[Ping Crosby]

Nah, I always skip them. They are just there for people who need something to to do for 3 hours - unless you cheese them, in which case why bother? I play upscaled PotD and never do them and do not feel I have not completed the game or that I have missed important content.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

They made it right in the first game, that every class can solo everything on the hardest difficulty.

In deadfire, we have to part it in:

PotD Solo with DLCs
PotD Solo with DLCs and Megabosses
PotD Solo with DLCs and Megabosses and Challenges activated

Even the first one is hardly doable by every class. I did not try it, but you can clearly see, how much stronger certain classes are.

The second are barely doable by any class. SC Monk / MC Priest / SC or MC Bloodmage-Wizard / MC Chanter come to my mind.

The third, with every challenge activated, was only done by MC Priest / SC or MC Bloodmage and MC Cipher with Chanter.

The first two classes are pretty quick, the latter one takes a tremendous amount of time more to do it. It's only doable with the same cheese strats.

There are so many possible class combinations, but basically, you can only do certain amount of content, because they are not balanced enough.

[Ping Crosby]

These megabosses also showed how much of an advantage classes with endless resource points have, the DLC is pretty much doable without needing such classes but I think with only finite resources they are really hard to do.

Persnonally I do not min/max which also seems to be a requirement of these megabosses - at least if you want to stand a fighting chance.

[juanval]

I tried to fight vs the 4 megabosses and I gave up.
The fight vs the giant slime was crazy. When I thought I was going to win (after trying and planning the combat various times) I see the divided 2 halfs join again and transform in the original giant slime with full HP.
Anyway I love PoE2 and I hope to see PoE3 some day.

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by juanval:

I tried to fight vs the 4 megabosses and I gave up.
The fight vs the giant slime was crazy. When I thought I was going to win (after trying and planning the combat various times) I see the divided 2 halfs join again and transform in the original giant slime with full HP.
Anyway I love PoE2 and I hope to see PoE3 some day.

They're making a skyrim ripoff next called Avowed. The future of a poe3 in the vein of poe2/poe1 is unlikely because director himself said they don't want to do the same thing until they understand why poe2 was a financial flop, and they still don't understand why it was despite the vocal minorities tossing out theories left right and center.

[juanval]

Originally posted by snuggleform:

Originally posted by juanval:

I tried to fight vs the 4 megabosses and I gave up.
The fight vs the giant slime was crazy. When I thought I was going to win (after trying and planning the combat various times) I see the divided 2 halfs join again and transform in the original giant slime with full HP.
Anyway I love PoE2 and I hope to see PoE3 some day.

They're making a skyrim ripoff next called Avowed. The future of a poe3 in the vein of poe2/poe1 is unlikely because director himself said they don't want to do the same thing until they understand why poe2 was a financial flop, and they still don't understand why it was despite the vocal minorities tossing out theories left right and center.

Avowed is not my favourite type of game but, since I like the setting a lot, of course I'll play it.
Anyway, I hope to see an isometric RTwP game set in Eora again one day.