darkly180

*not my video btw, but the guy here pretty much got his inspiration from what we talked about in the threads here. Yeah that is my video. But with this character, i dumped con and resolve, what makes the Auranic fight very hard, if not impossible, because of the low WILL. With my current build, i never got stunned / terrified, even without food bonus or any immunities and made the fight a cakewalk. Appreciate the response and video! Is this the build? 10 MIG / 10 Con / 10 Dex / 16 Per / 16 Int / 16 Res Can I assume this works against the other megabosses and DLC challenges in addition to the Sigil Master?

@giftmefood thanks appreciate the tips!

Thanks for the video, seems like single class monk is a hard counter for HP sponge bosses with dance of death + dichotomous souls + resonant touch. Is there a link that shows how to set up those massive AOE explosions with AOE weapons + turning wheel/stunning surge?

I've also seen cool stuff being done with AOE weapons like Hand Mortars and Whispers of the Endless Paths, would appreciate some directions on how to generate synergies with monk abilities. Thanks

Can anyone share their build for a helwalker single class monk for solo POTD? Maybe not for soloing megabosses, but able to solo all DLC fights. I've seen Nalpazca builds but this video is the first time I've seen someone solo with a helwalker, and it inspired me to try one.

How is it possible to stack so much food and drink? Do they not overlap and cancel out?

Any chance to ask for this build? Looks really cool

I tried to imagine how the MC can be justified in becoming so powerful so quickly. In this game, I imagined that it was due to being Awakened, since during the total of twelve months that my MC took to go through Acts 1-4 plus WM1 and WM2, it is kinda amazing that he suddenly becomes powerful enough to take down millenium old archmages and favored avatars, to say nothing of the antagonists in the Bog fight. Then I think to myself, what does Awakening do that confers such power? Knowledge gained from previous lives is how I would imagine it, which is why I favor casters. I've completed the game with druid, chanter and wizard, the last with all content upscaled. And I've found that the casters end big fights faster than the others.

@Jojobobo I guess I didn't get the positioning right but with the high fortitude and Scroll of Defense, things were manageable. A Chanter run would have been easier- unlimited Animated Weapon summons + Dragon Thrashed would have made this a very safe fight. By the way, I just tried your mind grub+whiteleaf tip against Llengrath, it went just great!

Great tips... I cast Eldritch Aim during the time when I had Gaze of Adragan proc on the boss. Petrify is not strictly necessary, but yes the combination of the petrify damage multiplier plus crit effect really cut down the boss quickly. Especially when using Freezing Rake and Shadowflame, both fast cast spells. I also tried Llengrath's Safeguard, but found it didn't activate often. The sporelings were already well-tanked by the positioning and combination of Displaced Image and Scroll of Defense. Safeguard also took up a Level 5 spell slot which I preferred to use for multiple Call to Slumber castings. Chaotic Orb is a great spell and it would have been very effective given the way the sporelings were bunched up. If the Chaotic Orb did proc petrify on the boss and the Tendrils (as a random effect), that would indeed be icing on the cake, but it was a risk given that the boss and Tendrils are immune to the other randomly-determined CC effects of the Chaotic Orb. So I saved the slot for multiple castings of Crushing Doom instead, because the spell does prone the boss and the Tendrils, and prone from Crushing Doom is one of the few effective and long-lasting CC in this fight. Concelhaut was definitely not impressive on his own! He needed a Moonwell and Scroll of Defense to be effective beyond one cast of Crushing Doom and Corrosive Siphon. In my setup, he was better as a tank for the Tendrils on the left side of the cavern.

This was one of my toughest fights on WM2, and after I died a few times I looked up some posts and videos on successful fights, and also consulted some successful Wizard soloers like Dr <3 and grausch. The tips I got were very helpful, and I finished the fight within 5 minutes (80+ sec in-game). I re-did this fight a few times to make sure the strategy could be replicated. So I thought I'd share my experience with everyone as I hope some of the tips can work for other classes. 1. Respec to achieve 148 fortitude (including resting and prostitute bonuses, item bonuses but excluding food buffs) through tweaking Might and Constitution. Iron Circle ring provides +4 Constitution, and Whispers of Yenwood (sword) provides +2 Constitution which stacks. Garodh's Chorus helm provides +3 Might, Maelfolc Skull helm provides +4 Might, Godhansthunyr one-handed warhammer provides +1 Might which stacks with everything. There are also +3 belts of Might and Constitution. I also took Primal Bane for the bonus damage to primordials. 2. Craft or buy 5 Scrolls of Defense and 5 Scrolls of Moonwell, put it in your quickslots. If you are not a Wizard, prepare additionally 5 Potions of Llengrath Displaced Image and 5 Potions of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, all in your quickslots. 3. Final check on your loadout. I used Maegfolc Skull, Vengiatta Rugia (for low recovery speed with Durgan and high Crush resistance, you can augment further through enchanting), Ring of Protection, Iron Circle, Viettro's Formal Footwear, Mantle of the Excavator, Gauntlets of Accuracy and Coil of Resourcefulness (for -1 Weapon Change Recovery). 1st set of weapon slots were Godhansthunyr and Little Savior, 2nd set Abydon's Hammer. Concelhaut was my pet. You don't need the Looped Rope because there are few affliction attacks by the mobs and boss. 4. Once you enter the Vithrack Common Room, hug the right wall until you reach the position in the first image. This is just before dialogue is initiated. Once here, use all of your food buffs. Pearlwood Chicken (+2 Constitution), Dragon Meat Dish (+3 Might +3 Resolve) and Wit Dyr Jerky (+3 Accuracy +5 Fortitude) are especially important. Jojobobo mentioned combining mind grubs (found in the same caves) and Whiteleaf for a whopping +4 Perception +4 Intellect buff, but I personally forgot this excellent advice when I did my attempt. Extra accuracy, duration and AOE are always welcome. You need at least 18 Constitution post-buffing. My stats after the fight ended are in the last image below. 5. Once dialogue starts, free the Vithracks with your 18 Constitution. Then the battle starts. Immediately move to the position in the second image. This will limit the engagement of the Radiant Sporelings and cause all of them to be bunched up like a chokepoint. Then cast Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Scrolls of Defense, Llengrath Displaced Image and Moonwell. This will (1) +20 to fortitude to enable a viable defense against the Radiant Spore Tendril attacks, which hit like a truck AND target fortitude (2) give you a good deflection defense against the Sporelings (3) reduce your recovery (4) cast Moonwell which gives you a strong healing over time AND +10 defense which doesn't stack with Scrolls of Defense BUT lasts longer so you are less exposed when you are recasting Scrolls of Defense. 6. In this position, only a couple of Sporelings can engage you and only three Tendrils can attack you. Now you are able to tank the mobs and the boss, and are ready to do some damage. Watch the timers on the buffs and remember to renew them. 7. The mobs and boss are immune to Paralyze, Stun and a host of other CC, so Scrolls of Paralysis are useless. I can only relate my experience as a Wizard here and others are welcome to share their experiences. Survival accuracy bonuses work if you are using weapon attacks but not spells, so those will be less helpful for casters. 8. Cast Call of Slumber on the Sporelings which works as a prone CC, then two Freezing Pillars. Those DOTs are really damage-efficient. Follow up with two Arcane Assaults and your Sporelings should be eliminated quickly. If you try Gaze of the Adragan and it procs, this process will go twice as fast. During the time it takes for your Freezing Pillars to kill off the Sporelings, refresh your Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Scrolls of Defense and Llengrath Displaced Image. Moonwell should still be on but check anyway. 9. Once the Sporelings are down, switch your weapon set to Abydon's Hammer. If you had the Coil of Resourcefulness, that switch will be very quick. Why should you do that? +4 Might (stacking with everything) for better nuking. And you get a net gain to fortitude, which is the only defense targeted by the Tendrils. 10. Summon Concelhaut and immediately get him to cast Crushing Hammer on the boss and Corrosive Siphon on the boss and the three Tendrils. He takes some heat from the other Tendrils which can now target you when you engage the boss. Throw a Moonwell and Scroll of Defense which overlaps both you and Concelhaut, this will increase both your tankiness and allow Concelhaut to keep taking heat for you. 11. Target the boss and the three Tendrils with another Call of Slumber, then unleash your Freezing Rakes. For more protection, you can use all of your four Level 7 spells to cast Crushing Hammer on the boss and nearer Tendrils. This will keep you safe while you keep spamming Shadowflame, Fireballs, Freezing Pillars and other nukes. I forgot to use Abydon's Labor, an amazing 30m+ range death ray which can be used as a coup de grace. 12. If all goes well, you will never be in any danger and will finish the fight quickly. I never healed beyond my endurance so technically I didn't need the Moonwell, but it was a good buffer. Hope that helps other solo players!

I ran a solo chanter previously and it was an easier experience. First got rid of all the tentacles in a corner with Dragon Thrashed. Apparently the Eyeless don't appear until you inflict some damage on the Kraken. After the tentacles were down, started damaging the Kraken a little and as soon as the Eyeless appeared, tanked them with the Level 4 summons Animated Weapons, while burning them down with Dragon Thrashed. I totally forgot to use the Matron's Horn which would summon 3 Crag Ogres. Paralyze scrolls do help as they reduce Reflex, making it easier to have Dragon Thrashed crit on the Eyeless. Usually had to throw a Moonwell scroll on the summons to help them survive. I guess the chanter could crit the Eyeless using Abydon's Hammer with Scrolls of Valor or Potions of Eldritch Aim, but it was quite satisfying to burn them down. For non-chanters, there is always the risk of running out of DPS spells for the tentacles, the Eyeless and the Kraken. My wizard was almost empty when I killed the Kraken. Multi-phase fights like these are when chanters really shine.

@FluxWing I gotta thank Boeroer's posts for showing me how to use items with the Preservation property to achieve functional immunity to stun. For the benefit of those who didn't see the posts, you need a shield with the Preservation property (Level 5 Od Nua and last level of Od Nua each have one) and one other item with the property: helm, ring, boots or armor. This is because properties on items normally don't stack, but properties on weapons or shields always stack. So if you minus the penalty from prone or stun (-30) and add the bonus from two items with Preservation (+50 x 2), then you get a +70 bonus to defense when prone or stunned. In my experience, the bonus doesn't reliably proc all of the time, but when it does, there's little that can touch you. @Jojobobo Totally agree that upscaled WM1 was fine and even comfortable for high level soloers, but parts of upscaled WM2 really took it up a notch. Annoying to see even Kith in bounties fights with Dragon defenses. I also used Confuse to open up the fight (soloing Wizard) and used scrolls to keep the mobs engaged with each other while I buffed before nuking. For my Kraken fight, comfortable in normal POTD, I got a shock dealing with upscaled tentacles, upscaled Eyeless and an upscaled Kraken that had close to 1000 endurance points. I don't think upscaled Eyeless in that group can be dealt with solo without paralyse scrolls plus accuracy buff AND Abydon's Hammer, with the unique "Kill Eyeless on Crit" property. They have too much durability and each of their Days of Future Past Sentinel Death Ray (a super buffed-up Ray of Fire) can one-shot any soloer (through repeated tics). Just finished that Kraken fight and it was harrowing.

Was strolling along Caryon's Scar for a walk when I came across the Eyeless. With Abydon's Hammer and a couple of paralysis scrolls, they were quite manageable. But the Tentacles were something else... adding up all the damage from the Maelstrom scrolls (please see the attached combat logs), each tentacle had close to 1000 endurance, which would make them more durable than all of the upscaled mobs in WM2 and the entire game! Is this intentional or did I come across some bug?

Thanks for looking into this, I include the Dropbox link below, but am not sure if it is helpful as it is a recurring problem rather than something that happened as a one-off: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b3sg1ts6brxi2sv/output_log.txt?dl=0 Let me know what else you need.

I don't normally use buffs or even healing over time, but recently I tried to cast Moonwell and found that the animation played out, but no buff was activated. I also tried to use scrolls to increase skills, specifically the Stealth scrolls, and after the animation was finished, no buff was activated too. Food buffs are working, as are combat-only potions. I realize it could be AoE buffs that aren't working, although my Gallant Focus aura is working well. Save game below for review: https://www.dropbox.com/s/01tw43ph0pl633w/bb3a34da332b4eb7acdd75eb8ab13924%2014619747%20GalvinosWorkshop.savegame?dl=0 Grateful if someone at OBS can look into this. Thanks!

Cool, look forward to it!

Posted on the defense stacking bug for weapon and shield users recently, and when I went to Galvino's Cabin I found that the Iron Constructs in his workshop were also showing the same bug. Save game below for anyone trying to replicate this bug: https://www.dropbox.com/s/01tw43ph0pl633w/bb3a34da332b4eb7acdd75eb8ab13924%2014619747%20GalvinosWorkshop.savegame?dl=0

Sigh... while it's great that we are getting a patch, it seems the ETA quite some time away. Would have loved a partial fix on the save-reload stacking bug which is breaking some important fights, but I guess this is a remote possibility now. Disappointment mixed in with sad relief, though I appreciate the support at the end of this product's cycle.

I've had the same problem. No workaround that I'm aware of. This is the defense stacking and damage stacking (Confident Aim) bug caused by multiple save-reloads in one area. Developers are working on it since last April but no ETA yet as far as I know.

Great job done on the various patches, but please could the next patch address both the defense stacking bug as well as the damage stacking bug (with Confident Aim, mostly). Being a sometimes save-scummer and a POTD soloist (yeah I know kinda sad), it's making strategic play very difficult when a lot of fights now depend on unlucky rolls by the opposition.

I think I had the same problem with enemies using weapons hitting for way over 100+ damage in that map, specifically Sly Cyrdel. He was using Drakes Bell to graze for 60-90 pierce damage. I believe he also had Confident Aim as an active talent when that happened.

If you prefer not to do the Raedric quest and level up, you can deal with Maerwald by kiting the other mobs on that level to him. I did a POTD solo wizard and definitely couldn't take him in a fair fight even with an extra level. What I did was to open his southern door first (I had sufficient Mechanic skill) and then pull him into the south room. Then I would run away to the west and pull the beetles in the next room to him. You get more margin for error if you have Fast Runner or Fleet Feet, but it's possible even without them. The beetles basically wipe out Maerwald and his blights, and the beetles are also trimmed down to size. You can then mop up the remaining mobs.

Same bug for me. Doesn't happen all the time, but annoying when it does. Playing on 2.01 though, haven't updated to 2.02 yet.

Does this mean all DoT spells come up against full DR rather than 1/4 DR, which I recall was the case in earlier versions of the game? I notice that my Chill Fog, Ray of Fire and Corrosive Siphon now rolls against full DR for damage. Just wanted to clear this up definitely.