Hard bosses and how to defeat them

[Trent]

Originally Posted by Tennethums

The technique I use for Typhon is simple; Get to the last of the steps (that lead up to his circular area, stand on the far right side of the third step up. He will remain out of range for melee fighters but just equip that bow or ready that spell and have at him from afar.

From here he can't hit you with the flames or the lightning and, obviously, can't reach you for melee damage. He CAN however still reach you with the poison, the falling rock and (of course) the life leech.

I use a technique that I read in these forums (possibly even this thread) some time ago. Same idea: find a sweet spot and cheese him. The spot I use is on the left side of one of the top steps before the platform. After doing it awhile I can even see where there's a slightly darker spot (like, three pixels) to point my mouse at and I move to the spot. Anyway, with this spot, he can't hit you with life leech, poison, or (if you do it just right) lightning either. Only the fire breath will reach you. So you can either eat it and chug, or back up as it fires then go back after it stops.

Oh, and he'll still do his thorns thing, but when you hear the "crack" sound, you just back up, wait a few seconds, then go back.

[Matseb2611]

This might not be as useful but there is that same spot with Gorgons. It is at the lower end of the screen, like as soon as you walk in go to the right of the abyss hole. Attract gorgons whatever, fight them, if you feel like you're running low on health then go to the bottom bit of the screen right up against the wall. Gorgons seem to forget about you then and go back to their respective spots. Probably won't be as useful as they are not that hard. But I suppose for new players it can be.

[bman654]

Is there a way to tell if Typon has his thorns activated other than seeing if you take dmg when you hit him?

I'm playing with the X3 mod and just ran into him on Epic with my Harbinger. I have roughly 5.5k health, level 52, dual-wielding of course. I tried throwing down the battle standard but he just eats it up in one blast before I even get any benefit so I gave up dropping it. It seemed like he had his thorns up over 50% of the time b/c I would take massive dmg when I went in to attack.

My strategy for killing x3 epic typhon? I would use Phantasmal Strike, which would hit all 3 typhons for roughly 1k-2k damage each (doing about 3k-4k damage to me from thorns). Then I would chug a potion and run like hell down the stairs to wait for PS to recharge. Repeat about 125 times and 4-5 deaths when I got bored with this strategy and tried to whack him.

Does anyone know if the Distort Reality Stun ability or Temporal Rift Petrify ability have any effect on bosses? I'd put some points in them if they would help with the boss fights.

[Arminia]

Is there a way to tell if Typon has his thorns activated other than seeing if you take dmg when you hit him?

Of course, you can see his thornes coming out of his skin (and you can hear him activating his thornes), just watch it carefully.

[Poinas]

Originally Posted by bman654

I
Does anyone know if the Distort Reality Stun ability or Temporal Rift Petrify ability have any effect on bosses? I'd put some points in them if they would help with the boss fights.

All major bosses are virtually immune to stun and petrifying.

[bman654]

Originally Posted by Poinas

All major bosses are virtually immune to stun and petrifying.

That's what I was afraid of and why I haven't put any points into them. As a Harbinger, I'm finding the lvl-32 Dream skills not very useful. I tried out Trance of Wrath but since the damage doesn't scale with difficulty even on Epic I did not notice it actually helping me much in combat against regular mobs or bosses. And it took a lot of points compared to a single point in Trance of Empathy which is my mainstay. The nightmare and its synergies aren't too useful either since I have no other pets and I doubt the confusion attack works on bosses. And the boss's petrify resistance makes the only other lvl32 Dream skill not useful.

Maybe when I get to Legendary the distort reality branch might be needed for mobs. Most likely the warrior doom horn will be sufficient.

[KingMartin]

How do you kill Manticore with Battlemage, please?

I have some 3000 health and I am doing some 795 DPS + rage bonus, up to more then 1000 DPS.

But, one leap and I am dead, having to walk all the way through the cave. :thumbdown:

Should I just run around and wait till my pet finishes it off? (If possible at all)

[Matseb2611]

The thing is - stay away from that leap attack, even from the area nearby as it tends to spread across some area. Also stay away from the lightning breath and poison darts.

[KingMartin]

But if I stay away I can't hit it, can I? Those attacks are hard to predict and you're dead in one blow... Should I use just one hit and run? Heck, this will take an eternity and then one mistake, I'm dead and Maticore has back all HPs...

I was thinking I was doing something wrong, wrong resistance or something... one attack and I'm dead with 3000HP?

[Poinas]

Max Battle Standard. And as Matseb said, lightning and poison resistances are really important in this fight. Get them to >50%.

If he still cankill you, just apply better tactics. Few hits in, watch out for any special moves, run a small circle to heal/dodge special attakcs. Then get a few hits in etc..

If you get your defensive ability close to 900 in epic, then the Manticore can't hit you at all with his melee attacks.