Master Below questions

[redneckdevil]

Ok I'm running a party of lvl 11 paladin, barbarian, cipher, priest, chanter, and rogue.

 

Ok couple of questions.

1. What is the shape of the breath attack? Been fighting him last night and this morning and got so close but then wiped because of the breath attack. My paladin was at 12 ock with the rest of my party at 4 and 5 ock and the master breathed and hit everybody. Is it a cone or a mass aoe circle blast?

2. I've noticed that a few enchantments are being suppressed like my Paladins coat of ill payment and my barbarians savage defiance while they are okay (not stunned/petrified/etc).

3. Does giving the amulet or betraying the dragon change the ending in a bad way?

 

That's all I need to know right now for me to try an figure out how to beat this beast on my own lol

[AndreaColombo]

Hi,

 

1. I believe it is a cone, but I'm not 100% on this. A typical strategy is to send your tank alone to take the breath attack while you buff the other guys in the back, then go all in on the dragon (it will be a while before she uses her breath attack again.)

 

2. Bonuses to the same thing from the same source don't stack; it is normal. Just swap items around until everything's active if you want to make sure you're not "wasting" anything with suppression.

 

3. If you give the amulet to the dragon-slayer, you'll have to fight her. It's an easier fight with decent loot, but you miss out on the dragon scales. If you betray the dragon, the dragon-slayer will teach you her techniques and you'll gain the Scale Breaker talent which is a pretty good dragon debuff.

Edited December 20, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[yupper]

One of the toughest battles, but I found it easier than the alpine dragon.

 

- you need to spread your backrow casters out far enough that they don't get hit with the first blast of the dragon breath. In fact, the first thing I do for this battle is to summon everything I can. Let the summons absorb the initial hits while my party potions up (I stockpile potions of power for occasions like this).

 

- the adra animats need to be killed first because they inflict paralysis and can CC your party (although the first mobs I kill in this battle are usually the xaurip high priests, so they can't heal their own). CC is pretty useless against the dragon as it seems to resist most of my attempts to immobilize it, including paralysis scrolls. Debuffing the dragon first will help slightly. However, CC against the dragon's minions are quite useful. Since you don't have a mage or druid with you, this may be a problem depending on what abilities you chose for the chanter. If you can, CC the mobs first and take them out of the battle.

 

- in my fights with the master, Durance was pretty much casting healing spells non-stop during the battle. I only managed to squeeze in one bless spell from him. I usually give him a second chance item in case he gets knocked out, since he is also the one who will be resurrecting, unless your paladin can do that too (but the paladin can only do that once) or if you've stockpiled revival scrolls.

 

- barbarians are not as good as fighters in a battle like this, since their specialty is against numerous weaker mobs rather than single target. So the barbarian is better off hacking away at the mobs than the dragon. The rogue will be the primary damage dealer of the party against the dragon, so you will need to keep her/him alive at all costs. You didn't mention if this was a range or melee rogue, so not sure what to suggest here.

 

- the masters breath is indiscriminate and the rudimentary AI doesn't care much about friendly fire. So this is something you can use to your advantage to thin the mobs.

[Boeroer]

Cheesy way:

1. Arcane Dampener or Deprive the Unworthy (autohit) on the dragon

2. Repulsing Seal (very likely to hit)

4. Quick Switch + Coil of Resourcefulness + 2 arquebus; switch right after each shot to skip recovery bar and reloading anim.

3. Win!

 

Not so cheesy (tested on alpine dragon, maybe adra is immune to fire? Can't remember):

A char with high ACC and a Ring of Searing Flames (Combusting Wounds) plus some DoT effects like Deep Wounds, Wounding and so in can bring down the dragon (and his gang) quickly. To speed things up, use Recall Agony on the dragon. It will give you twice the damage from Combusting Wounds.

 

One of the best ways to kill the xaurips (besides casting AoE damage spells) is to cast Combusting Wounds, stack retaliation on any tank (use Supper Plate, ret. armor or Hiro's Mantle, Flameshield, Pain Link and so on) and walk into the middle of the xaurip mob. Since they tend to form clusters it's relatively easy to hit a lot of them with CW. The ones that hit you will die very quickly while you can pick off the casters among them.

 

I also think that the alpine dragon is much harder than the adra one. Maybe it's because of the tight space.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Boeroer

[Raven Darkholme]

The brath attack is a cone it does not hit behind the dragon or to her sides but only in front.

[JerekKruger]

Step 0: Carefully kill all the adds without aggroing the Adra Dragon (this is doable).

Step 1: Have a character with a ranged weapon.

Step 2: Let the rest of your party get knocked out (optionally they can do a bit of DPS first).

Step 3: Run around the Adra Dragon, pausing occasionally to fire a single shot and do minimal damage.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 for about ten or fifteen minutes until you graze the Adra Dragon to death.

 

That's how I beat her. I was trying to beat her in a normal tank and spank fashion, and got her down to near death before everyone other than Sagani died. Took about five minutes of grazing her before she finally died.

[Boeroer]

Nice tactic. I guess it would be great if you had +move speed in this case?

Edited December 21, 2015 by Boeroer

[JerekKruger]

Nice tactic. I guess it would be great if you had +move speed in this case?

 

Hah, I wouldn't say it's particularly good. I only discovered by accident when I thought I'd wiped but then noticed the Adra dragon ambling slowly north and realised how slow she is. I think it works because she seems never to use her breath attack when there's just one target, so anyone can outrun her. It also needs a lot of patience: had she not been near death I think I would have reloaded the game and tried again.

 

By the way, to kill the Adragans without aggroing the Adra Dragon you want to skirt the southern side of the cavern from the stairs down, crossing near the foot of the statue and coming round. In my game the Adra Dragon did aggro, but for some reason didn't move from her start location and so allowed me to kill of the adds with ease. It might be worth mentioning that I had betrayed the dragon to the hunter to learn the talent (I am a sucker for free bonus talents) so that might be necessary for this to work?

 

For me move speed wasn't that handy because the main limiting factor on taking shots was recovery time, but if your ranged character has a fast attack speed I'd imagine move speed would help a lot.

[Boeroer]

Shot on the Run might be good then I suppose?

[redneckdevil]

Thank yal very much for the suggestions.

As far as breath, I found out that right at the head it shoots out is a 180 degree angle.

I've switched my cipher out and gonna try with a Mage to help debuff and cc. But I don't know if I should switch out my cipher with the Mage or my chanter who's basically a summoner.

Also does anyone know how to keep the party from autoattacking when battle begins? I set it to passive but as soon as the dragon fights everyone throwing everything they got at them lol.

 

I'm gonna buy me some summon trinkets, right now only got wurm one on my Melee rogue and beetle one on my chanter.

 

Also yes I got close again last night when the boss breathed on my tank and killed 2 of the adragans lol, was looking great bc had just killed the other adds, but alas the boss didn't like something my party did and breathed on them and left my paladin as last man standing...

[Raven Darkholme]

Thank yal very much for the suggestions.

As far as breath, I found out that right at the head it shoots out is a 180 degree angle.

I've switched my cipher out and gonna try with a Mage to help debuff and cc. But I don't know if I should switch out my cipher with the Mage or my chanter who's basically a summoner.

Also does anyone know how to keep the party from autoattacking when battle begins? I set it to passive but as soon as the dragon fights everyone throwing everything they got at them lol.

 

I'm gonna buy me some summon trinkets, right now only got wurm one on my Melee rogue and beetle one on my chanter.

 

Also yes I got close again last night when the boss breathed on my tank and killed 2 of the adragans lol, was looking great bc had just killed the other adds, but alas the boss didn't like something my party did and breathed on them and left my paladin as last man standing...

Cipher is really good vs dragons because of disintegration.

Wizard is not that bad either I guess.

[Torm51]

Step 0: Carefully kill all the adds without aggroing the Adra Dragon (this is doable).

Step 1: Have a character with a ranged weapon.

Step 2: Let the rest of your party get knocked out (optionally they can do a bit of DPS first).

Step 3: Run around the Adra Dragon, pausing occasionally to fire a single shot and do minimal damage.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 for about ten or fifteen minutes until you graze the Adra Dragon to death.

 

That's how I beat her. I was trying to beat her in a normal tank and spank fashion, and got her down to near death before everyone other than Sagani died. Took about five minutes of grazing her before she finally died.

Cheeseball.com.  Obsidian should force the dragon to Aggro if you hit her friends.  That's ridiculous.  I rather lose a 100 hour ToI run than win this way.

 

I did with Charm spells and Zealous Charge.  Movement speed when her breathes can get your tank out of range and you wont have to worry about out Reflexing the breathe also buys your party time to move since she walks slow.  Secondly, a Wizards high level charm spell or a Ring Leader from a Cipher will not only mind control the Dragon but some of her friends also.  She then wipes the floor with the adds and wing stops/breathes her allies like the adragons.  It will be just her and before 2.3 I would knock her down and use Raw Damage DoTs. now I don't know (refuse to use deprive the unworthy or arcane dampener to knock her down as its a confirmed bug that these strip immunities to afflictions).  Probably keep her Blinded and RAW damage DoTs as Flanking her with melee is a TERRIBLE idea she will tail swipe and wing bash squishy melee dps into paste.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Torm51

[JerekKruger]

Cheeseball.com.  Obsidian should force the dragon to Aggro if you hit her friends.  That's ridiculous.  I rather lose a 100 hour ToI run than win this way.

 

She does aggro, but for some reason she doesn't actually move. Actually I don't know for certain that she aggros since I had betrayed her so she and her adds started off aggressive when I entered the cavern.

 

Honestly I doubt I could have beaten her without killing off the Adragans separately. I was trying to beat her in a straight up tank and spank, with Eder tanking her facing away from the rest of the party, Durance nearby trying to keep Eder alive and the rest of the party DPSing from behind and that was hard enough. Having to handle the Adragans mind control, with the possibility that they'd mind control Durance and then Eder would die would have been hellish. That probably tells you all you need to know about my skill at PoE

[Torm51]

 

Cheeseball.com.  Obsidian should force the dragon to Aggro if you hit her friends.  That's ridiculous.  I rather lose a 100 hour ToI run than win this way.

 

She does aggro, but for some reason she doesn't actually move. Actually I don't know for certain that she aggros since I had betrayed her so she and her adds started off aggressive when I entered the cavern.

 

Honestly I doubt I could have beaten her without killing off the Adragans separately. I was trying to beat her in a straight up tank and spank, with Eder tanking her facing away from the rest of the party, Durance nearby trying to keep Eder alive and the rest of the party DPSing from behind and that was hard enough. Having to handle the Adragans mind control, with the possibility that they'd mind control Durance and then Eder would die would have been hellish. That probably tells you all you need to know about my skill at PoE

 

Hey I wasn't trying to be elitist I just get passionate about winning and not cheating lol.  I would say my skill isn't that great either.  I have beaten PotD/ToI run but my last TWO Triple Crown runs have ended in deaths.  One with the ghost Fight in Caed Nua.  I didn't know that the new patch made ghosts immune to Knock Down and just recently I for some reason couldn't handle Pendhelm at level 3.  I didn't have enough melee and my front line got knocked down.  I also decided to try something new and not run a Priest (TC is probably not a time to experiment) so had no repulsing seal for my back line. 

 

I would say I am better then the average guy but I am about 1 for 6 in PotD ToI runs.  So I have done it but I am not that great.  I am sure a great player NEVER gets beat on PotD/ToI

[Raven Darkholme]

 

 

Cheeseball.com.  Obsidian should force the dragon to Aggro if you hit her friends.  That's ridiculous.  I rather lose a 100 hour ToI run than win this way.

 

She does aggro, but for some reason she doesn't actually move. Actually I don't know for certain that she aggros since I had betrayed her so she and her adds started off aggressive when I entered the cavern.

 

Honestly I doubt I could have beaten her without killing off the Adragans separately. I was trying to beat her in a straight up tank and spank, with Eder tanking her facing away from the rest of the party, Durance nearby trying to keep Eder alive and the rest of the party DPSing from behind and that was hard enough. Having to handle the Adragans mind control, with the possibility that they'd mind control Durance and then Eder would die would have been hellish. That probably tells you all you need to know about my skill at PoE

 

Hey I wasn't trying to be elitist I just get passionate about winning and not cheating lol.  I would say my skill isn't that great either.  I have beaten PotD/ToI run but my last TWO Triple Crown runs have ended in deaths.  One with the ghost Fight in Caed Nua.  I didn't know that the new patch made ghosts immune to Knock Down and just recently I for some reason couldn't handle Pendhelm at level 3.  I didn't have enough melee and my front line got knocked down.  I also decided to try something new and not run a Priest (TC is probably not a time to experiment) so had no repulsing seal for my back line. 

 

I would say I am better then the average guy but I am about 1 for 6 in PotD ToI runs.  So I have done it but I am not that great.  I am sure a great player NEVER gets beat on PotD/ToI

edit: never mind.^^

Edited December 21, 2015 by Raven Darkholme

[yupper]

Also does anyone know how to keep the party from autoattacking when battle begins? I set it to passive but as soon as the dragon fights everyone throwing everything they got at them lol.

 

I'm gonna buy me some summon trinkets, right now only got wurm one on my Melee rogue and beetle one on my chanter.

Turning off the AI for the entire party should make the party passive when the battle starts. Not sure why it's not working in your game. Depending on how far you've progressed in the game, there are lots of summon trinkets you can use. The lamp that summons shades can be found in a locked chest in the Vailan Republic embassy. There is one that summons spiders that I think you can find at level 1 of the Endless Depth (I think...).

 

I also prefer "full on" battles, because it's just more fun that way. When you cheese through battles like this, it doesn't feel as "epic" or satisfying as when you throw everything into it.

Edited December 21, 2015 by yupper

[JerekKruger]

Hey I wasn't trying to be elitist I just get passionate about winning and not cheating lol. 

 

I didn't take offence don't worry

 

I was being honest, I don't think I'm particularly good at PoE. It's part laziness and part lack of practice, and at some point I intend to get better, but at the moment I am merely average.

[Heligor]

I found that echoing misery boots triggers even when the dragon crits with the fear aura.

The full duration of the effect on a character with average might was enough to deal a couple of pips of damage..so you try to stay out of range, let the fear crit you, buff that character's might and wait!

[redneckdevil]

Ok I first wanted to thank everyone for their input.

The main reason why I'm posting again is to apologize but after a week of just trying to beat him (roleplaying perspective the dragons gotta go down before I jump into a pit of death), I hate to say it but I eventually had to /God to finally kill him. As a single father don't have much time to play games and didn't want this to stop or burn me out, so I took the easy way out for myself so that my character could do what he would have done.

 

Now I wanted to say, even it was a very hard encounter for me because luck just apparently wasn't with me and I didn't get gud, it was an excellent encounter. Was really well done as far as set up with story and options and it took til the fourth day of wiping to get frustrated. Obsidian if ur reading this, don't lower the difficulty in patches. It's a great design and gave many people a very great challenge and needs to stay as is. I do wanna thank you obsidian for giving us the console command of god mode though lol. Even though it's gonna be the only time I'm gonna use it on this character and feel disabling achievements is a worthy punishment, it's now let me go back to playing and enjoying the game.

So I'm gonna hang my head in shame but still smiling because I'm enjoying the hell outta the rest. Just got done killing a very high level wizard that took me all afternoon on Christmas Day and about to head into the expansion now.