doedre in act 8 is hella annoying

All of the doedre mechanics are within player control so it isn't the end of the world. She's still annoying but yeah.

Only problem I have with this is there are yet again more physical spells that GGG loves to keep adding to the game to shit all over anyone who dared equip any evasion pieces.

I died once against Doedre the first time around to stacking temp chains -- wasn't prepared for that. Fine, I guess. Did the game even hint that curses would be involved? I don't think so, but fine.

I had no idea whatsoever there was a usable valve in the center of the room that should be utilized -- somehow. I know now only because after fighting Doedre again at the end of Act 9 I read up on that boss to try and figure out what makes it so hard for me.

Maybe that valve mechanic needs to be made more clear somehow? On the same note, pretty much all the bosses I feel like I'm going in blind as to how I should prepare for the fight -- so I end up not preparing at all, and either the fight is a cakewalk or I get wrecked.

Anyways, since that first time getting wrecked by temp chains I was like: Ok, my build is weak to stacking curses; the game is telling (yelling, really) me to prepare to deal with curses on a regular basis from here on out (never been cursed in any meaningful way before). So I added consecrated path to my toolkit on middle mouse button and was literally waiting to be cursed to have a chance to use it -- that just hasn't happened yet (I'm in Act 10 now). Starting to feel like I wasted a gem slot, waiting for something that will never happen. Maybe I kill too quick now.

Maybe the zones leading up to a boss should gear check the player? Like if the boss deals uber fire damage, the mobs should be fire themed? Maybe the problem is that all the mobs leading up to a boss die so damned quick, so you feel like you're properly geared for the boss fight but you aren't? Maybe the bosses aren't a gear check like in every other arpg, and you have to know the mechanics ahead of time to beat them (that sounds unfair)?

Anyways, loving all these new bosses and their mechanics (I'm a returning player from back in the day) and all these new Acts -- I just think the game itself should do more (anything, really) to prepare the player because there's no longer any normal/cruel/merciless modes where you learn the boss mechanics on normal (easy) mode like in Diablo 2 -- even going as far as to be able to go back and fight them again to practice if you want before doing it again in a harder difficulty. Should we have to go to reddit and watch youtube videos of a boss fight to know how to beat them the first time around, or are we just expected to die in order to learn?

Daemonjax: Look at the Mechanis explained videos - they are really helpful, if you play the acts 5 - 10 for the first time.
Or use an over-leveled-character and play the boss fights first with it.

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Daemonjax wrote:

Did the game even hint that curses would be involved? I don't think so, but fine.

Don't you remember a4 Doedre at all ?

But I agree that the valve thingy is quite ... obscure to say the least.

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heyyous wrote:

Just wanted to let you guys know he was annoying as hell teleporting to the center all the time and his "unavoidable"? attack shouldn't exist (he teleports to you and attacks instantly) So yea very annoying boss.
not to hard just annoying.

Just wait till you get to Chimera...

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SenchuTen wrote:

Just wait till you get to Chimera...

The Kitava's in Lava Lake and Belfry are already annoying as hell. They spawn significantly more adds than in the last league and almost all of them yellow or blue which makes the fight in those tiny arenas a clusterfuck par excellence.

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C4Guy wrote:

The Kitava's in Lava Lake and Belfry are already annoying as hell. They spawn significantly more adds than in the last league and almost all of them yellow or blue which makes the fight in those tiny arenas a clusterfuck par excellence.

It's nice that they drop loot but you do want to take them out ASAP when they spawn. Having rares take offscreen pot-shots at you while the stage has been turned into a lake of fire feels... slightly unfair.

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Daemonjax wrote:

I had no idea whatsoever there was a usable valve in the center of the room that should be utilized -- somehow.

I didn't personally have a problem with this, but I do think it'd be a nice addition to put a handful of usable valves in Doedre's Cesspool. Wouldn't really matter what they did, just a bit of a primer and thematic link.

+1

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鬼殺し wrote:

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Fruz wrote:

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Daemonjax wrote:

Did the game even hint that curses would be involved? I don't think so, but fine.

Don't you remember a4 Doedre at all ?

But I agree that the valve thingy is quite ... obscure to say the least.

If you haven't figured out that a certain three curses are Doedre's MO by act 8 you're just not paying attention.

Conceptually, this boss fight is brilliant. Manifesting her three curses as tangible effects is pretty clever, and the valve gives players control over how much of each curse you engage with before it becomes too much. I imagine another game by a more forgiving company would highlight that valve with a big popup saying 'TURN THIS TO REMOVE DOEDRE'S EFFECTS' but eh, PoE's always been about trial and error and learning from your mistakes. There are some bosses in the game where that isn't the case and you need to do out-of-game research, and I think they're fairly poor design. Doedre in Act 8 has one mechanism. It's the mechanism used to summon her, and once you know how to use it, you don't forget it, so her design doesn't fit that bill.

BUT she is incredibly annoying for a great many builds. Most of mine dread facing her, unless I know I can either smack her down with inordinately high damage for that level, or have specific countermeasures to at least two of the curse manifestations. But as with Innocence, what used to be a terror slowly becomes more and more routine. Whether that's through gentle nerfs over time or just me getting used to their techniques and patterns, doesn't really matter. Both indicate it's not inherently bad boss design.

Gruthkul used to be the worst imo but then they implemented the improved lighting and it's much, much easier to see those nasty ripples of grey-on-lighter-grey damage. So right now I don't think there's a single boss in the main campaign I really fear or even find annoying no matter what except for Kitava Act 10 and that's only because I still haven't figured out all of his damage patterns. My last two characters beat him without dying though so that's probably a sign I'm slowly evolving. ^_^

I kind of agree about Gruthskkul but .... Doedre ? if you are a newby, that seeems like a pretty unintuitive fight ready to mess you up for no sensible reason outside of being just ... obscurre ...