[Spoiler]One-shotting the Adra Dragon

[Anthile]

Well, at least in the Dark Souls community people try to find ways to one-shot any boss the game has to offer but since Pillars of Eternity isn't exactly a boss-centric game, that pretty much leaves us with the Adra Dragon as only interesting candidate.

The good news is, it seems to be possible. The bad news is, you probably need a lot of luck and perhaps a party specifically geared towards this one goal. I haven't done it but I was close a couple of times and that was with the pre-made companions.

Just to clarify this, one-shotting means to use a single attack, spell or ability to kill the Adra Dragon from full health. You may use whatever buffs or debuffs you like as long as you kill the dragon in one action. It may tick multiple times like poisons or some spells, which is allowed - if not necessary.

 

I.

Do not attempt this if you are easily frustrated. The bastard dragon has insanely high defenses, as well as a permanent fear aura. The real challenge is not the damage but actually hitting.  Most of your everything will miss. You cannot immunize yourself against fear in this game so if you try to disspell it with Suppress Affliction or Liberating Exhortation, it's back in seconds. The dragon laughs at your Prayer Against Fear, thanks to his sky high accuracy.

 

II.

The key to putting out enough damage is, of course, petrify. By this I mean the tier 6 wizard spell Gaze of the Adragan.

 

III.

Stack all the accuracy and might you can get. Intellect doesn't hurt either but it's not as important. Be careful with the stacking so the bonuses actually work with each other. Farmer's Spread seems to get overwritten by Champion's Boon. No breakfast for champions, it seems. I have a paladin with the Zealous Focus aura (+6 to accuracy and 5% crit conversion), Blessing (accuracy gets overwritten by the aura I believe but you still get x1.1 damage), Champion's Boon (+10 might), Girdle of Maegfolc Might (+3 might), Gauntlets of Accuracy (+5 accuracy, I have no idea where I got those from), Cloak of Protection (+10 to all defenses), Stag Helm (+1 dexterity), Glanfathan Stalking Boots (x1.1 damage to flanked enemies but I don't think that ever worked out since Phantom Foes never hits). On top of that we have Potion of Eldritch AIm and Potion of Merciless Gaze on our hotbar. No armor and only Measured Restraint equipped as a weapon but that doesn't do anything so you might as well equip no weapon.

 

IV.

You have to find something that can actually dish out enough damage. I had the idea for this challenge after using Minoletta's Concussive Missiles on a petrified victim and saw it dealing ridiculous damage. The adra dragon has 477 endurance on hard difficulty (which should be identical to normal difficulty) which means every of your five missiles has to hit for about 95 damage which is theoretically possible but unfeasible in practice. For some reason the damage on these things is extremely volatile and the grazes can hit harder than the crits. I have no idea how they function.

So we have to try another spell - and I tried most. Blast of Frost and Chain Lightning crit for about 150 damage each which is nowhere near enough. Malignant Cloud absolutely never hits. I don't even know how much damage it does. I couldn't get it to hit, ever. All the other spells did even less damage but then I remembered one spell I kinda forgot about: Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring aka blue Ray of Fire. It deals enormous damage per tick but the accuracy is really poor and it's difficult to connect more than a couple of hits. With this spell it's definitely possible.

 

First attempts with Concussive Missiles. I only used a priest later but the effect is less than you would think.

 

PS: Just as I wanted to submit this thread as a failed attempt, encouraging others to do better (after all, I used Aloth) I... kind of did it. I don't really understand why it suddenly worked. Also the first time I got a straight hit with Gaze of the Adragan (by rolling a 99) instead of a graze.

 

 

Now to do the same in POTD...

 

 

PPS: Aloth, you handsome devil.

[xenustehg]

Ive tried to put Gaze of adragan on AD 120 times in a row and it looks like it's immune. Maybe stealth update in 1.04

[MadDemiurg]

I can confirm that he is not. However he has very high fort and you also need to target properly since his hitbox is smaller than his actual size.

[xenustehg]

So it's just a matter of luck than skill.

[MadDemiurg]

You can buff your accuracy to a level high enough to land it consistently. But if you don't, yes it's a matter of luck.

[Barbedbeat]

I'm, uhm, proud to announce that this very topic served as the main inspiration for the collaboration between @fangmich and me.

Thank you, OP for the inspiration.

Enjoy!

https://barbedwrites.tumblr.com/post/165757535530/a-matter-of-standard-arcane-practice

[MasterCipher]

Cipher wild leech has 1 in 6  chance of lowering its HP by 50% (down to 239 end now).

25% chanter flame lash chant

25%? chanter vs beast damage chant

25% for beast bane talent

10% damage vs beast inn bonus

20% vs flanked target camping bonus

10% spell damage gloves if caster

10% melee or ranged damage gloves if paladin or rogue or 10% ranged damage neck

10% crit helm or gloves

3% gift of the machine talent

3% strength boon talent

3% MIG effigy talent

30% doemenal crit talent

10% crit quest talent

 

crit conversion from priest and paladin = 30%

 

possibles:

cipher detonate

wizard blast of frost

rogue backstab

paladin flame of devotion

[MaxQuest]

Cipher wild leech has 1 in 6  chance of lowering its HP by 50% (down to 239 end now).

Adra Dragon has 477 endurance on Hard, or 597 (477 * 1.25) on PotD.

Since she has 24 CON, this means her base endurance is ~280 (477 / 1.7).

 

While being affects by -10 CON from the Wild Leech, she would have 14 CON remaining => 280 * 1.20 * 1.25 = 420 endurance on PotD (or by 42% less than before).

Edited September 26, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Torm51]

What if its not CON though lol

Edited September 26, 2017 by Torm51

[Kaylon]

Fully buffed (30+mig/int), with a critical Disintegrate you should be able to deal over 1k dmg which can kill any dragon...

[Boeroer]

Yes, make sure you have a paladin with Coordinated Attacks + a marking weapon, maybe even Insp. Exhortation, a priest with Insp. Radiance + Devotions + Champion's Boon & Crowns ftF (and Dire Blessing maybe) and that you took Tactical Meld and Borrowed Instinct.

 

Just speculation, but if you time it right, your ACC bonus should be more than +100 on top of your +1 per level, +your base ACC + the innate bonus of Disintegrate. So maybe +200? This should lead to a one-shot. Or one-melt...

 

No immunities involved.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Boeroer

[firkraag888]

Would be YouTube video of 2017 if someone can post a one shot of the Adra dragon.

[MaxQuest]

Fully buffed (30+mig/int), with a critical Disintegrate you should be able to deal over 1k dmg which can kill any dragon...

Tehehe, that's pretty much how I did it here.

Had 22MIG/29INT though. That's 240 base damage * 1.36 * 1.95 * 1.5 = 954 damage over 44s on crit.

 

Btw, Recall Agony not only benefits from MIG, but also works with all damage, including DoT ticks. So even if one was unlucky to get a crit... a hit + RA would be enough.

 

Although still, as Boeroer mentioned it's rather a one-melt than instant kill.

[firkraag888]

So is a ciphers disentigrate the highest damage power/ability in the entire game?

[Torm51]

So is a ciphers disentigrate the highest damage power/ability in the entire game?

That being said its no easy to feat to Crit a Dragons Fortitude Defense on PotD.

[Boeroer]

I think. That's because it has very high base damage (240) and profits from attributes twofold: Might will increase the base damage (additive dmg bonus) and INT will prolong the duration (multiplicative dmg bonus). And a crit will add 50% duration rather than 50% to base damage - which is much better (not for dps, but for overall damage).

 

So, with 240 base damage, 20 INT and 20 MIG you get over 600 raw damage with a crit.

 

I can't think of any other spell or ability that does that much single target damage. But maybe there is...?

 

 

Maybe Holy Radiance + Aggradizing Radiance + Brilliant Radiance does more crit damage to vessels when the dispositions are right? Can't say. I only know it does a ton of damage with high MIG and INT, one-shotting most vessels. But it's not raw damage so against immunities or very high burn DR it is not that powerful.

Edited September 27, 2017 by Boeroer

[firkraag888]

Yeah I was the thinking maybe a priest spell after minor avatar has been cast

[Boeroer]

Cleansing Flame has higher dps because it only lasts 5 secs and has 80 base damage, but the overal damage is still lower even with +8 MIG and +8 INT I think (but I don't know for sure). Does the +100% damage over tick rate work for its own damage, too? Never tested this to be honest.

 

And of course Shining Beacon and similar spells can potentially do more damage, but distributed among several enemies and not to a single one.

 

I believe Disintegration is hard to beat. Also because it's raw damage. The great thing is those DoTs keep on working even when you charm the enemy - or cast Statis Shell on them or so.  

[Lampros]

Fully buffed (30+mig/int), with a critical Disintegrate you should be able to deal over 1k dmg which can kill any dragon...

 

Disintegrates hits THAT hard? Oh, wow!

 

Can any melees one-shot that hard - or even half as hard? I recall someone posting that a pure damage build Bleak Walker Paladin buffed with Tidefall can do 500-plus on a FoD crit, but I find that number hard to even comprehend...

Edited September 27, 2017 by Lampros

[Boeroer]

No he cannot. Also because Tidefall is not the best option for FoD. Maybe something like 250 to 260 is possible with Tidefall with a good damage roll and all the dmg mods you can get. Doing that would require a lot of ifs and a lot of fuzz and is impractical, while it's "relatively" easy to get to 1000 damage with Disintegration (you just need a crit and very high MIG and INT). The dps of Tidefall is better though. The damage per hit or crit is not.

 

You have to remember that Disintegration takes a long time. It's not an instant kill. The damage per second is not that breathtaking - it's just nice that you only have to hit/crit once when the time is right - and then the thing just does its work.

Edited September 27, 2017 by Boeroer

[Lampros]

No he cannot. Also because Tidefall is not the best option for FoD. Maybe something like 250 to 260 is possible with Tidefall with a good damage roll and all the dmg mods you can get. Doing that would require a lot of ifs and a lot of fuzz and is impractical, while it's "relatively" easy to get to 1000 damage with Disintegration (you just need a crit and very high MIG and INT). The dps of Tidefall is better though. The damage per hit or crit is not.

 

You have to remember that Disintegration takes a long time. It's not an instant kill. The damage per second is not that breathtaking - it's just nice that you only have to hit/crit once when the time is right - and then the thing just does its work.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I thought the numbers sounded a bit incredible. He probably was theory-crafting, and his calculation must've been off. Frankly, I don't even know how I can get 100-plus hits with Tidefall on my Paladin!

 

I just realized that much of Disintegration damage is DoT after looking at the Wikia.

 

One final question, on the matter of Tidefall & DoTs: Would you say Runner's Wounding Shot combos well with Tidefall or any Wounding weapons?

[Boeroer]

With Tidefall: yes. But even better with weapons that have higher base damage like arquebuses or blunderbusses or Concelhaut's Staff and so on - but with Tidefall it's good as well. Wounding itself does noting for Runner's WS though.They just stack.

 

It's not that great with fast weapons that do low damage on hit like Persistence or Drawn in Spring.

 

I played a rogue with 1 INT/1 RES + Tidefall + Runner's WS as No. 1 attack ability and he was really nice.

Edited September 27, 2017 by Boeroer

[Lampros]

With Tidefall: yes. Even better with weapon that have higher base damage like arquebus or blunderbuss or Concelhaut's Staff and so on - but with Tidefall it's good as well.

 

It's not that great with fast weapons that do low damage on hit like Persistence or Drawn in Spring.

 

I played a rogue with 1 INT/1 RES + Tidefall + Runner's WS as No. 1 attack ability and he was really nice.

 

Got it. If I play 2 Paladins next playthrough, I will make 1 Tidefall Paladin with Runner's Wounding Shot and every offensive toy imaginable.

 

I couldn't do it this playthrough, as I had to squeeze in a lot of defensive and group support talents with just 1 Paladin.

Edited September 27, 2017 by Lampros

[Kaylon]

I think in the first versions of the game backstab and petrify bonuses were multiplicative and it was possible to reach higher numbers than now. Right now only a rogue has the potential to reach 500dmg with a single hit (backstab, critical, deathblow on a petrified target).

[firkraag888]

What about a rogue with leadspitter, ryonas vembraces, penetrating shot, max might, sneak, death from backstab on a 0 DR target.

 

That would be interesting (and funny watching whatever it hit explode)