Doing minimal dmg to offten

[MorphineTW]

Just hit lvl 8 and came around Dyrford Crossing. In most of my encounters, whole my party, deals minimal damage with weapons they have. All weapon attacks are ineffective when fighting against higher DR. Is it same for you or i miss better gear? Maybe enchant more?

[Raven Darkholme]

You talking about beetles?

Weapons are quite ineffective against them unless you use 2handers.

Raw damage is really good vs them if you have cipher or rogue.

[JerekKruger]

What enemies are you fighting that cause this to happen? It's worth checking the bestiary to see what they are strong/weak against. As Raven Darkholme says, beetles have particularly high DR and, if I recall correctly, are even more resistant to slashing damage, so this might be the issue. Most enemies will have at least one damage type that they are weak(er) against that you should try to exploit.

[PrimeJunta]

Could be any of several reasons for this:

 

* Not enough armour-penetration

-> use Penetrating Shot, Vulnerable Attack, armour-penetrating weapons like estoc, mace, stiletto, pistol, arquebus etc., or attacks that do Raw damage

* Not enough base damage

-> buff Might, use higher-damage two-handed weapons, use talents which boost raw damage, use higher-quality weapons (Damaging, Fine, Exceptional, with Lashes etc.)

* Not enough Accuracy against Deflection, resulting in Grazes rather than Hits or Crits

-> buff Accuracy directly (Zealous Focus, priest buffs etc.) or through Perception (items, buffs), use Accurate, Fine, or Exceptional weapons, use spells/damage to debuff enemy Deflection

 

Bottom line is, you won't get far just by select-all and auto-attack, you need to understand what defences you're attacking, and then buff your attack, debuff the defence, and use attacks which actively counter the defences.

[MorphineTW]

Thanks for detailed reply. My problem is mostly with base weapon damage. Its just to low when attacking monsters with high DR. I am not sure do i miss better gear or thats normal game balancing. To deal proper dmg i must use spells and tons off buff/debuffs which is strange to me since i play on normal difficulty. Can't even imagine what would happen if i rise it.

[rheingold]

More info would help, as in what classes and stats have you got, what weapons are you using? The latest patch also made it slightly more complicated with some immunities as well. Generally, in a rather vague sort of way you need 2 weapons with different damage types ie slashing/ crushing. Regarding high dr, 2 handed weapons or Sabres are good, also some weapons give a bonus towards overcoming dr, stilettos and war hammers (I think),among them

The vulnerable attack and penetrating shot talents bypass some dr, which makes a substantial difference against high dr. Though you may need to respec for that. Not sure on ranged weapons, but as far as I remember, blunderbuss is weak against high dr and aerqubus/pistols good. Bows are also not great.

So to summarize, vulnerable attack/penetrating shot either with high base damage weapons - pistols/aerqubus/sabre or with weapons which bypass some dr -stilettos/war hammers....

Edit: enchanting is less effective than choosing the right weapons in this case.

Edited December 4, 2015 by rheingold

[mosspit]

Also one can also take advantage of weapons with dual dmg type properties like Greatswords. You automatically use the dmg type that is more effective against the enemy you facing without having to weapon swap.

[Guest]

Also one can also take advantage of weapons with dual dmg type properties like Greatswords. You automatically use the dmg type that is more effective against the enemy you facing without having to weapon swap.

Unless the enemy's only weakness is Crush. Or elemental damage.

 

If you look at the difficulty descriptions when you start a new game, you'll notice that normal mode = you can make some mistakes in combat and be ok. Hard = you really shouldn't be making any mistakes. PotD = your gameplay is nearly perfect. This means you have to check the Bestiary (even on Normal) and pay attention to what your enemy's weaknesses are. It's not rocket science, but it can be overwhelming, especially if you aren't used to this style of game. There's no shame in Easy

Edited December 5, 2015 by Achilles

[PrimeJunta]

Thanks for detailed reply. My problem is mostly with base weapon damage. Its just to low when attacking monsters with high DR. I am not sure do i miss better gear or thats normal game balancing. To deal proper dmg i must use spells and tons off buff/debuffs which is strange to me since i play on normal difficulty. Can't even imagine what would happen if i rise it.

 

You do need to use buffs/debuffs against high-Deflection/high-DR enemies. That's what they're there for. Standard attack alone won't cut it against them.

[mosspit]

 

Also one can also take advantage of weapons with dual dmg type properties like Greatswords. You automatically use the dmg type that is more effective against the enemy you facing without having to weapon swap.

Unless the enemy's only weakness is Crush. Or elemental damage.

 

...

 

As I said, weapons with dual dmg type like Greatswords. I don't mean only Greatswords.

[JerekKruger]

Unless the enemy's only weakness is Crush. Or elemental damage.

 

To be fair, it's rare for an enemy to have increased defences against two physical damage types, so at the very least with dual damage types you'll be attacking their base DR rather than an increased version.

[Guest]

 

Unless the enemy's only weakness is Crush. Or elemental damage.

 

To be fair, it's rare for an enemy to have increased defences against two physical damage types, so at the very least with dual damage types you'll be attacking their base DR rather than an increased version.

 

That's absolutely not true. *Most* enemies have increased defenses against two physical damage types. Some enemies have staggered DR against physical damage but are only susceptible to elemental damage (see Adra Animats or anything with the word "Beetle" in it).

 

This isn't to say that "best of" weapons aren't good or useful, but you're likely to find yourself in the OP's position if you think you can just equip one and then never switch to your alternate weapon set for the rest of the game (unless you're Pallegina with St. Ydwen's Redeemer - which is probably why they gave it 25% chance to destroy vessels)

[JerekKruger]

Only the wood beetle has multiple increased resists (slash and pierce) and it has the lowest DR of any of the three beetle varieties, the stone and ice beetles are highly resistant to slash and aren't weak vs any physical damage type, and the adra beetle is not stronger against any physical damage type, just weaker against pierce. You're right about animats though, they are stronger against slash and pierce whilst having normal DR against crush. I didn't pay much attention to them because, for whatever reason, I found them fairly easy when I first fought them.

 

EDIT: it is worth pointing out that the base DR of beetles is very high, so the fact they aren't stronger against all physical damage types isn't that much of an advantage (since they're still strong against them all to some extent). In this respect Achilles is definitely correct in that elemental damage is needed.

Edited December 6, 2015 by JerekKruger

[Guest]

Let's look at beetles:

 

 

Wood beetle is not the only beetle with multiple increased resists. See the Adra Beetle. You're correct that it is the lowest DR of the *four* beetle varieties, but only by 1 point. If you are using a sword (which, like the great sword, is a "best of pierce/slash" weapon), you are only going to min damage against every beetle except the Adra Beetle (please see the OP). You'll need to switch to a weapon that does crush damage for the wood beetle and your job is pretty much to keep Ice and Stone Beetles busy while your casters hit them with corrode and/or raw damage. Your situation is better with a great sword, but not significantly so. You're welcome to argue otherwise, however please be aware that you'll be arguing *potential* damage using back of the envelope math. This isn't to say that you'll be wrong, only that you'll be defending hypothetical situations (i.e. characters having access to Exceptional weapons long before they are available, etc).

 

The OPs original problem was min damage. Based on some of the other clues, it became reasonable to deduce that we're talking about Stone Beetles in Dyrford Crossing. If the OP was using a sabre, he or she was screwed. If the OP decided to switch to a sword, he or she probably found themselves in a the exact same scenario pretty quickly, got really frustrated, and posted here. Had the OP tried a few spells against them (this is how you get enemies to reveal their weakness on their pop-up screens before their Bestiary entries are fully unlocked), they may have seen that Stone Beetles are only weak against corrode damage and changed tactics.

 

The suggestion that all one needs to do is equip a weapon "like a great sword" is not helpful. Yes, the great sword is one of the most versatile weapons in the game. The trade off for using one is that they are slow and you forsake the advantages of a shield or dual-wielding. But you have to have something that does crush damage in the other slot and you're going to have to use that crush weapon from time to time. Even on Normal.

 

And so it is for most of the enemies. Especially now that 2.X has introduced damage immunity.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Achilles

[JerekKruger]

Ah, I see what the confusion is. I was talking about the base DR. In the case of the Adra beetle its base DR is 18 (see burn, corrode and freeze) so to my mind it hasn't got raised DR against any physical damage, only lowered against pierce. Similarly the wood beetles base DR is 7 (see corrode, freeze and shock), it just happens to have a higher DR against two physical damage types.

 

I will concede that my interpretation is less useful than yours though.

EDIT: out of interest where's that DR spreadsheet from?

Edited December 6, 2015 by JerekKruger

[Guest]

All good