A little salty...

[Ultimo]

So, you'll forgive me if I vent a little.

 

I grow weary of being constantly oneshotted by trick or treat enemies.

It's been quite a night.

 

Knock on door with my L18 Psi/Will Sentinel.  Three enemies pop out, a Vampire Lord and two Spectres.  I attack, they're unaffected.  They attack, I'm instantly dead.  Yes, there's a oneshot mechanic in play, but when you're taking DOTs, it's irrelevant, because it leaves you with 1 health, which the DOT just does immediately.  This happens... roughly 80% of the time.

 

The other 20% of the time, it just WILL NOT let me hit anything.  According to the combat log, I have a 95% chance to hit things.  Two Streng and a Zombie?  12 misses in a row.  What's that you say, streakbreaker?  That's FOUR AOE attacks missing ALL THREE enemies ALL FOUR times.  I follow that up with ONE hit, then another FIVE AOE attacks, ALL MISS ALL THREE enemies, ALL FIVE times.  Ok, occasionally someone among them will have darkness attacks, but not always... and THAT MANY misses is ridiculous, even if I'm SLIGHTLY debuffed.

 

Just finding the whole business REALLY frustrating.

[Snarky]

Do you have a “build” on your sent? Or you just SOing it like old school?   My “meanest” sentinel was arguably a Beam Rifle, built with +to hit and + accuracy 

[PeregrineFalcon]

3 hours ago, Ultimo said:

Knock on door with my L18 Psi/Will Sentinel.  Three enemies pop out, a Vampire Lord and two Spectres.

Aren't undead immune to psionic attack? No living mind and all that.

 

It's like trying to attack a stone golem with a flame thrower. You brought the wrong tool for the job.

[twozerofoxtrot]

On 10/22/2023 at 3:01 PM, PeregrineFalcon said:

Aren't undead immune to psionic attack? No living mind and all that.

 

Not sure about the Halloween event undead bit that's not universally the case. CoT ghosts for example carry a -30 Psi Res, making them extremely choice targets for Psi damage builds.




EDIT: I saw this while playing and it seemed relevant to the question being asked here (which is a fair question!) lore-wise. I think our old pal Ruben sums it up nicely. My pink highlights for emphasis:

Edited October 23, 2023 by twozerofoxtrot
you know the reason, don't get cheeky.

[Snarky]

Also a lot if undead will floor your to hit, so that will cause non stop missing.  Level 18 i know.  Try to cram a kismet  +tohit on

[InvaderStych]

5 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Aren't undead immune to psionic attack? No living mind and all that.

 

Mostly just the zombies, iirc it's around 30-50% resist for the Banished kind.

 

Actually, idk about the ToT zombies though, but full on immunity to a specific damage type is exceedingly rare.

Edited October 22, 2023 by InvaderStych

[Clave Dark 5]

My impression is that the ToT monsters were sort of designed for team play, and probably a bit above level 18; on a team level 18s might make it work (I think I have???), but solo, not so much...

[Akisan]

2 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

My impression is that the ToT monsters were sort of designed for team play, and probably a bit above level 18; on a team level 18s might make it work (I think I have???), but solo, not so much...

 

I would guess that they're level 30 equivalent, just like most of the other level-less mobs.  I'd also agree on the team play bit, but the spawn code is incredibly variable - it seems to ignore notoriety settings, and will spawn anywhere from 3 minions (x1) to an EB + Lt. (x5?), totally at random.  And that's solo, btw.  I don't typically ToT solo, except on my main (who has enough damage + control to quickly lock down and kill EBs)

 

11 hours ago, Ultimo said:

I attack, they're unaffected.

 

That one's an obnoxious quirk of the spawn animation - there's a brief invincible period where they're supposedly animation locked coming out of the doors. Some of them take longer (and can be hit on their way out), others are faster (usually werewolves, who'll run to you in that time).  If you have any AoE debuff/DoT, they'll be affected by it the instant they're vulnerable, so watch for it so you don't waste your alpha strike. (I have Frigid Protection, a rather significant PBAoE slow, and it puts a nice blue glow around them when they're done cheating). On the plus side, they can't attack during that time (though this tends to mean that they'll attack simultaneously when it wears off).

 

Can't really help you with the RNG though - even with streakbreaker, she's quite spiteful, and more than slightly streaky.  And I feel you on that string of infinite misses - ignoring streakbreaker, I've missed 22 times in a row at 95%.  It made gameplay... significantly more challenging.  (It also made it more predictable, knowing that every other attack was forced to hit...).  Only advice I can give is to avoid your low accuracy attacks (like Brawl) when the RNG goes rogue.  They'll only extend your string of allowable misses.

[DougGraves]

4 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Not sure about the Halloween event undead bit that's not universally the case. CoT ghosts for example carry a -30 Psi Res, making them extremely choice targets for Psi damage builds.

 

Yep, I love my psi dominator for Posi 1.  Psi is great against clockwork and CoT ghosts.

[Glacier Peak]

Seems like the original post is just venting from the original poster. These ToT EBs become much easier when in team or league environments. Even on Indomitable, with its low player population, I have been able to join groups who are ToTing. Another thing I do is I like to cast Ice Rain whenever I am watching a door so that I know exactly when to throw my attacks at the enemies in between the door opening animation and the actual affected status begins on the enemies.

[Ultimo]

8 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Seems like the original post is just venting from the original poster. These ToT EBs become much easier when in team or league environments. Even on Indomitable, with its low player population, I have been able to join groups who are ToTing. Another thing I do is I like to cast Ice Rain whenever I am watching a door so that I know exactly when to throw my attacks at the enemies in between the door opening animation and the actual affected status begins on the enemies.

Ya, just venting.  Sometimes I seem to go through weird streaks like that.

[momentarygrace]

Trick or treating solo has always been difficult for early levels on up through the 30s, even on live. I usually try it at least once for any of my alts and a few seem to manage it better, while for others it's just not fun. At 50, on my scrapper I was able to actually enjoy ToTing in PI solo. With the new EBs, it would be a little more of a challenge if she didn't have her incarnate slots filled to T3 or 4. She can still get one-shotted, she's a regen scrapper, but not too often to make it enjoyable.

[roleki]

If you've got a Poison laying around somewhere, Weaken really evens the playing field.

[Ultimo]

5 hours ago, roleki said:

If you've got a Poison laying around somewhere, Weaken really evens the playing field.

I do have a Mastermind that uses poison, but I find him to be rather... underwhelming, and Poison even moreso, compared to other sets.

[roleki]

12 hours ago, Ultimo said:

I do have a Mastermind that uses poison, but I find him to be rather... underwhelming, and Poison even moreso, compared to other sets.

 

A little off the subject, but Poison is really a case of the sum being greater than the parts.  If you hold back one of the debuffs or don't move into melee with Venomous Gas, it's going to be underwhelming.  Pulling back a bit, Poison doesn't NEED a lot of slotting and it's riddled with skippable powers, so it really lets you put resources into other areas of the build.  All my Poisons are Corruptors or Controllers, and they've all been inhaling XP this ToT season.

[Snarky]

Edited October 24, 2023 by Snarky

[Ultimo]

8 hours ago, roleki said:

 

A little off the subject, but Poison is really a case of the sum being greater than the parts.  If you hold back one of the debuffs or don't move into melee with Venomous Gas, it's going to be underwhelming.  Pulling back a bit, Poison doesn't NEED a lot of slotting and it's riddled with skippable powers, so it really lets you put resources into other areas of the build.  All my Poisons are Corruptors or Controllers, and they've all been inhaling XP this ToT season.

My biggest issue with poison is a lack of a DAMAGING poison.  I mean, one of the defining aspects of poison is that it can KILL you.  Some kind of very long DOT, or perhaps a small DOT on EVERY poison power (so the cumulative effect can be significant) might benefit the power.

Sadly, I also find the Thugs pretty underwhelming.  The MM attacks are really wimpy, and the thugs themselves are really flimsy.  The only really GOOD power is Gang War.

 

But, we're wandering off topic again.

[KC4800]

I have a Psi/Regen Sent at lvl 37 that I roleplay with as a Rikti Mentalist costume sometimes.

 

Her only complaint is that a lot of the EB monsters end up running away from her and she can't soft control them to keep them planted. Frustrating. Anything boss lvl and down can be taken care of just fine. Soloing an EB is just an exercise in frustration. 😕

[Ultimo]

My SS/Will Brute had an Ancient Vampire EB appear at EVERY door he knocked the other day, but had to run away every time.  After going through ALL his endurance and an whole tray of inspirations, he's managed to do only around 5% of his health... mainly because 90% of this attacks miss... Meanwhile, the EB did around 80% of his health in less than 2 seconds.

 

I don't know quite what to think.

[arcane]

10 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

My SS/Will Brute had an Ancient Vampire EB appear at EVERY door he knocked the other day, but had to run away every time.  After going through ALL his endurance and an whole tray of inspirations, he's managed to do only around 5% of his health... mainly because 90% of this attacks miss... Meanwhile, the EB did around 80% of his health in less than 2 seconds.

 

I don't know quite what to think.

And this brute was what level?

[GM Crumpet]

I've been running leagues in Peregrine and Kallisti and I've had no end of level 1 players join and contribute and not die (much). The ToT is soloable if you have a good build and level, not so much if you are a low level squishy. Leagues (or at least a team) are the best way to do it.

[Ultimo]

8 hours ago, arcane said:

And this brute was what level?

He's L30, has all his toggles and passives, and Tough to boot (though that's not going to help against Dark powers).

[lemming]

17 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

I've been running leagues in Peregrine and Kallisti and I've had no end of level 1 players join and contribute and not die (much). The ToT is soloable if you have a good build and level, not so much if you are a low level squishy. Leagues (or at least a team) are the best way to do it.

I leveled up a few and oddly I start dying at around level 20 more often.  Some of that may just be from the constant leveling before then...

[Techwright]

On 10/22/2023 at 2:01 AM, PeregrineFalcon said:

Aren't undead immune to psionic attack? No living mind and all that.

 

 

This is why we need shotgun-axe in the P2W store.

[WumpusRat]

I haven't quite been "one-shot" by any of the mobs (though I've mostly done my ToTing on characters who are 30+), but I HAVE been two-shot a couple times. Mostly by the Arisen Mummies, who do HUGE amounts of toxic damage. I was door-knocking with my fire/fire sentinel, who was breezing through it for the most part, and out comes a mummy. "Okay, let's see how this goes" I thought to myself. He punched me in the face and took about 70% of my health. I used my heal, and got back up to about 90%. Then he used KOBlow and insta-killed me. 

 

I couldn't even be mad. My toxic resist is like 10% or so. He hit me for somewhere around 1600 damage. 

 

Got my revenge, though. I sent my necro/pain MM out to knock on doors until I got another mummy (and I'm going to pretend it's the same one, out of spite), and curbstomped him. 🙂