Death Guard Fanatic problem

[summatsupeer]

Trying to do the Forgotten Catacomb at Level 12 and even if I kill everything else, the Death Guard Fanatic is taking so little damage whilst can one shot half my group unless I keep near 100% health with his Chilling/Freeze ability.  He's nearly always the biggest major challenge I have after the Engwithan Digsite.  Obviously I could leave and come back with better gear and more levels (but I have upscaling on) and my gear isn't terrible, everyone has Exceptional/Superb items but only a few unique items.  He does have 1 skull above him so suggesting i'm a level early.

I think one of the main issues is when I have abilities which can hit friendlies as he can jump in, then I can't use them which limits what I can do to him, besides his invulnerabilities/resistances and strong will+fort.  Last game with a Druid it was so much easier with damage spells like Insect Swarm if can lower Fort.

My player character is a Barb (Beserker) + Monk (Nalpazca) with the typical companions available.  She's the main damage character with melee strikes and the Death Guard Fanatics deflection isn't the highest but seems like I get a lot of grazes and end up doing < 10 damage per hit.

Am I missing something obvious when taking on this enemy?

[Not So Clever Hound]

39 minutes ago, summatsupeer said:

Am I missing something obvious when taking on this enemy?

It's relatively weak to Crush and Shock and has low-ish Reflex. It can be Paralyzed/Petrified. Chanter with Her Revenge and White Worms can do some nice party-friendly damage while the Monk uses her fists. Druid and Storm Spells would be immensely helpful indeed. If you don't have the right setup for this foe, it might be too punishing for lvl 12.

EDIT: if you can manage/remove its concentration, you can use Interrupts on its one-shot ability maybe? It's usually a great strategy with strong single enemies that are not immune to interrupt.

Edited April 18, 2022 by Not So Clever Hound

[summatsupeer]

28 minutes ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

It's relatively weak to Crush and Shock and has low-ish Reflex. It can be Paralyzed/Petrified. Chanter with Her Revenge and White Worms can do some nice party-friendly damage while the Monk uses her fists. Druid and Storm Spells would be immensely helpful indeed. If you don't have the right setup for this foe, it might be too punishing for lvl 12.

EDIT: if you can manage/remove its concentration, you can use Interrupts on its one-shot ability maybe? It's usually a great strategy with strong single enemies that are not immune to interrupt.

I think you might of looked at wrong enemy, IIRC it's weakest to Piece not Crush, which I kind of lack weapon wise for my Monk. I don't recall its Shock being low, my sources of it lacked the pen to be worth using.  Just realised I have Blunderbuss as backup weapons for Serefen which are probably better than his mortars to focus the Death Guard Fanatic. I tried keeping him Paralyzed with Serefen but at best it was 50% chance (typically it was around 35%), I think I get some unlucky rolls on it to.

I think one thing I need to remember to keep in my team (or find a way to self-boost) is Perception/Accuracy for my Ravager.  Was using Druid Tekehu with his heals over time so can keep Bloodied easier and counter the Beserkers self damage easier but might want to bring Xoti instead for her Aware Inspiration

Tanglefoot (Tekehu) and Slicken (Aloth) could interrupt the Death Guard Fanatic and help stop that spell from one shoting half my group.

[Not So Clever Hound]

So you're right, I fired up an old save, these are the PotD fully upscaled stats below. Which is really weird because I had done my homework to answer your question  but I had fired up another save and looked at the Deathguard Fanatic entry in the bestiary to guide my answer above. And the bestiary shows different AR weaknesses, while everything else seems more or less in line... Anyway, Antipathetic Field could be quite effective against it (Corrode + Reflex) and weakness to Pierce is actually great... if you have the right weapons (firearms, stalker's patience, rust's poignard etc.)

[NotDumbEnough]

Spam Slicken with a Wizard, and bring a Priest to counteract his passive aura which applies Blinded to everyone in melee. If you don't leave melee range and re-engage, he won't re-apply the Blinded to you. Even though he has high fortitude I also find Tekehu's Chill Fog quite useful as it is probably going to hit eventually.

[summatsupeer]

20 minutes ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

So you're right, I fired up an old save, these are the PotD fully upscaled stats below. Which is really weird because I had done my homework to answer your question  but I had fired up another save and looked at the Deathguard Fanatic entry in the bestiary to guide my answer above. And the bestiary shows different AR weaknesses, while everything else seems more or less in line... Anyway, Antipathetic Field could be quite effective against it (Corrode + Reflex) and weakness to Pierce is actually great... if you have the right weapons (firearms, stalker's patience, rust's poignard etc.)

Thanks for the screenshot, it definitely makes things clearer whilst discussing.  I can't remember using Antipathetic Field in Deadfire, does it still hurt friendlies? (I don't trust the game descriptions).  I use Serefen with Mortars/Blunderbuss' so he's near the front so could be possible if its enemies only.  I think Kitchen Stove is the only unique Pierce weapon i've picked up so far except for a few Swords.  I could use them with the modal to get there penetration up I suppose, my Ravager's deflection is already bad so the penalty probably won't make much difference.

20 minutes ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Spam Slicken with a Wizard, and bring a Priest to counteract his passive aura which applies Blinded to everyone in melee. If you don't leave melee range and re-engage, he won't re-apply the Blinded to you. Even though he has high fortitude I also find Tekehu's Chill Fog quite useful as it is probably going to hit eventually.

Ah yeah the blind, I wasn't sure where that was coming from.  IIRC it didn't have a timer either so Clarity of Agony didn't affect it.

I think the high Willpower and Fort really hurt Serefen as a Cipher and Aloth couldn't hit debuffs like Expose Vulnerabilities either.  I should probably give someone a Club with the modal to help setup those spells.

[dgray62]

Antipathetic field is a great spell, and deals damage every second so it really can hit hard if you set it up right. The challenge is the set up. You need to cast it on another enemy, with the one you want to target between you and the enemy your casting it on. Like POE1, it doesn't affect the enemy you cast it on, but affects everyone in between, including allies, so care is needed. For the blind, as @NotDumbEnough indicated, you'll need a PER inspiration to counter it, which is why you want a priest. You difficulty harming it may be mainly due to being blinded. You might consider using weapon modals to debuff its defenses as well.

Edited April 18, 2022 by dgray62
Error Correction

[Kaylon]

If the enemies are not scaled up in your game you should be able to destroy him with two shots from the Red Hand (enchanted with Double-Tap).

[summatsupeer]

Killed him.  I think bringing Xoti to remove the Blind helped a lot, then everything else hit more often so could keep him locked down better.

Maybe due to path i'd taken to that point but i'd barely picked up any good piece weapons besides the Modwyn sword. I think I have something against Piece weapons anyway, especially melee ones as so many of the enemies in this game are immune to them.  Having better Piece weapons like Red Hand definitely would of helped. 

[dgray62]

The nice thing about Red Hand is it will destroy any lower level vessel, even if they are pierce immune. You just need to enchant it with Double Tap, which is better than the other option (knock back) IMO.

[Boeroer]

One downside of Double Tap:
It's really annoying if you want to test out reloading speed with the Red Hand on some CRE_dummies.  

[Not So Clever Hound]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

One downside of Double Tap:
It's really annoying if you want to test out reloading speed with the Red Hand on some CRE_dummies.

Ah @Boeroer…. Always busy torturing some kind of Vessel somewhere, be it a dummy or a poor summoned skeleton…

Edited April 25, 2022 by Not So Clever Hound