Eater of Souls - The Departed

[hellsqueen.3045]

> @Merendel.7128 said:

> Condi rev here. He killed me once because I didnt recognize the tell on something nasty the first time I saw it. After that he more or less melted. Didnt let him hit me with that jump attack on round 2 and the piles of torment and burning I apply fried him in fairly short order. I may have lucked out and broke his breakbear useing darkrazor's daring on him on CD as I never even noticed the drain. That said agressiveness seems to be the key. I'm noticing alot of people complaining about the fight that say they are runing vit and toughness. That isnt the way to attrition a regenerating fight.

 

They can't just go and change it and they shouldn't have to for just one fight in a story.

That being said, it's easy to make him not drain any health at all, it is just a longer fight.

[hellsqueen.3045]

> @"Fantasia Badass.4765" said:

> Seriously, some of you need to get off your high horse. I applaud those that are being helpful, but as a player who was dormant for four years and only started playing again last month, I have to say the uppity attitude of some is what I hate in this game. How will we ever learn? It takes tons of Internet research just to find out what to do. Even then I can find very little plain English help with build suggestions. Most is in indecipherable acronyms and code words more complicated than military lingo.

>

> I resent having to do oodles of research just learning the lingo and strategy for what should be a casual game. I know some of you serious players have different ideas and that is fine. But what is wrong with having a life away from the game and wanting the game to be fun and not a slog? I should be able to get the idea about the mechanic without tons of research. It also seems to me that this boss life steal was near constant. I could call maybe one or two skills before his vacuum started up, because I spent the rest of the time running.

>

> Go ahead and tell me I'm a bad player, but I only beat this by trapping him in the cage. It was impossible otherwise. I doubt this is what the devs had in mind for this fight. It was boring once I trapped him. And it would be useful to know what CC means in terms of what skills you are talking about. I'm an ele Weaver with sword / dagger and near as I can tell, there are not many skills on that build to break the bar.

>

> I'll wear my bad player badge with pride, seeing as I've really only played two months. So go ahead and tell me how badly I stink, but stop gloating already and start helping out.

>

>

 

CC = Crowd Control. Movement impairing abilities.

Stuns, dazes, launches, knockbacks, knockdowns, immobilizes, slow, chills all have an effect on stun bar damage.

 

> @hellsqueen.3045 said:

> I have already made like two posts in here with the mechanics of the fight, so I will link that section. However, I want to talk about the issues of builds and what not.

>

> Just as with Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire requires EXOTIC OR HIGHER RARITY ITEMS. Sure, if you are god tier you can get away with lower but there is no reason for you to be wearing any lower than exotic anyway. It is easily accessible via the trading post and if you need help with what stats you think you should get ask map chat or hell send me message and I will help you out and if you need verbal help I will send you an invite to my guild's discord and we can help you get set up BASED ON WHAT YOU LIKE FOR ABILITIES ON YOUR CHARACTERS, NOT JUST WHAT WE SUGGEST.

>

> Stats should match your build, it's like that in many games. If you are wearing Beserker's (Power, Precision, Ferocity) gear and all of your abilities that you enjoy are condition based skills, you are going to be at a huge disadvantage. You really gotta look at what you are equipping with what skills and traits you have.

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Now that is out of the way, lets get down to the fight mechanics for a third time:

> > @hellsqueen.3045 said:

> > He heals less to none at all the further away you stand when he does his sucking ability.

> > My friend did the instance and we stood back and he was only healing for small amount.

> > When his stun bar appears just keep running until he does his sucking ability and then after that stun him for the extra damage and then repeat this step.

> > My friend had times where he healed none at all. This was on a Hybrid Soldier/Beserker Holosmith with Sword and Shield, so no ungodly DPS.

> > We took time to pay attention to the mechanics of the fight. Don't just stand there and let his attacks hit you often use ranged if you have trouble with getting away on melee and have a decent stun.

>

> > @hellsqueen.3045 said:

> > > @kayeferr.1745 said:

> > > I agree worked on this boss for 2 hours and could not kill him so now I have a story I can not complete. I used to do all my chars through the story lines because I enjoyed the story but now I wish I had never purchased the new expansion and will for sure NOT encourage anyone else to buy it ...I Need A Refund

> >

> > It isn't impossible to complete.

> > He has obvious tells that you can use to avoid his two healing attacks which then you can slowly damage him down between his major health stealing attacks.

> > My friend spent most of the time running and when he ran from the major attack it would heal no more than 3% and usually it healed no percentage and then once the attack is over, you can attack and then decide to stun him so you can get the extra damage debuff to knock him down a huge portion and then you repeat, avoid attacks and capitalize when the time is right.

> > This boss is designed for one person to do, if you have friends, make them stay away because they have no way to counter many of the abilities.

> > If you can't do it solo, than the fault is with you not understanding timing and the mechanics of the fight. Find someone who can do it and let them lead instead and fight it for you.

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> As for what I read about ranger's pets healing the boss, I would like to know if minions or illusions do the same.

> Reason being is no where else in the game does a life-steal ability effect the pet/minion or illusions as the player cannot control where it stands.

> Just look at Heart of Thorns and Silverwastes/Dry Top with the Mordrem Leeching Thrasher:

> "Vampiric Cloud - The thrasher flies a small distance up before diving towards the ground, flying in circles while creating a poison field that damages enemies. Nearby mordrem are healed whenever a player is damaged by the field. 360 radius. 6 second recharge."

> This ability does not effect minions, pets or illusions, just player.

> Same with the life steal on the Vampire Bats and Vampire Beasts.

> If this boss does in fact steal health from minions, pets and illusions then it should be reported as a bug.

 

 

[Fantasia Badass.4765]

> @MMAI.5892 said:

> > @"Fantasia kitten.4765" said:

> > I'll wear my bad player badge with pride, seeing as I've really only played two months. So go ahead and tell me how badly I stink, but stop gloating already and start helping out.

>

>

> For the record, I'm not a great player and I don't like the 'git gud scrub' mentality. That being said, in the snip of your quote, you seem to be asking other players to do the research and summation for you that you don't want to do yourself.

>

> Also, consider that you get what you (general you) put out. The OP, while understandably frustrated, started this thread with some pretty bold statements that aren't true. My reaction times are poor at best. When I did the instance, I had another person with me. After several frustrating wipes, my party member found a basic strategy on these very boards that I was able to implement and win the fight while they helplessly sat on the sidelines because the party member abilities are pretty much crap in this fight. But I still got it. So, it's not impossible and yes people are offering help. In any internet community, you're going to have trolls and those people who just like to be condescending, but writing off the mountains of help that has been put out in this thread and others like it, is kinda wrong too.

>

> We all understandably get frustrated with the game and the negativity that gets thrown around, but it's going to happen on any side. Is a player that isn't 'good' demanding everything gets nerfed to suit their skill level or demanding other players tell them how to win any better than 'l2p' comments? I say this as someone who *hated* traversing HoT and didn't do much beyond the story until Anet decreasing some of the difficulty there. But I also asked what CC meant when I didn't know and took the time to look it up on wiki for my class because expecting some stranger to do it for me wasn't right either.

>

> Anet needs a better ingame tutorial for Crowd Control and Defiance Bars. I think that whole heartedly, but that's not the fault of other players.

 

I get what you're saying. I honestly am not asking for people to do it all for me. I am trying to better my game though and every time I look online for build help, I'm stumped by the lingo and the lack of clarity (as in when it might be useful). Weaver is complicated, I get that too. But there are precious few places that explain a build in plain English that new players understand.

 

I'm not asking for hand holding all the way. I like trying to figure it out, but sometimes I think this game should be playable without doing all that and it frustrates me at times.

 

I also get frustrated when people gripe about the gap in skill level between players in this game like it is shameful to be new or something. Why shame people? It's not productive.

 

Like I said I got through it the cheaters way. But it felt like cheating and I would prefer not to have to do that. I also prefer it when the game gives me clues on what to do and this fight was lacking in hints. I found it more frustrating initially than Mordremoth and that was an awful fight that I am not looking forward to doing again.

[Vladish.3940]

> @Horiksson.3410 said:

> It is WAY too long a chapter, I think it should be split right after the Balty fight. My complaint is the chapter design, I actually loved the story.

>

> For Balt, I just melee (as a ranged built ranger, because I like pain) him, die next to him, re-spawn and repeat. I find it hard believe this was the intention of the developers. It's a boring as heck encounter.

>

> As mentioned before I spent WAY more time looking for weapons after I died than doing anything else.

>

> The Eater of Souls fight sucked until I read how to beat it. I don't think you should ever have to research an encounter before fighting it. (I know that's a minority option here, there's no need to add how you one shot him while naked using a level 10 weapon). That's when playing a game turns into a job.

 

I agree with all you said right up to the Eater of Souls.

 

To be fair, you had to research him, doesn't make it all of us. I only found out about all the complains AFTER I've easily beaten him myself (my post above as to how I did it), because I was curious what all the fuss is about. No one is forcing you to research any fights, you chose to because you in particular weren't capable of doing it by yourself.

 

Actually, mentioning how easy it was for you to beat him is not a problem, as long it is mentioned what was used or how it was used to get there. At that point it is still a valid contribution and not just a brag.

[Vladish.3940]

> @Pyroatheist.9031 said:

> > @Ahlen.7591 said:

> > I never understood how wide the skill gap is in this community until this thread.

>

> You must not have been around for the caudecus fight complaints.

>

> Any time Anet implements a boss that has literally any mechanics other than stand still and press 1 to kill it, a large portion of the community suddenly emerges that is shockingly incapable of understanding even the most simple mechanics.

 

Actually imho the entire instance was badly designed, especially for those that solo the story and play other content as a group. Sheer amount of vets and the fact that they don't stick to nothing but you made it very boring and frustrating. The fights with the boss may not have been as irritating if some of us haven't had all their gear broken by the time we got to him. It's not about mechanics at times, it's about design too.

[Despot.3048]

Hit him in the face till he jumps > dodge and run out of range (he'll only heal a little from that) > jump back and hit him in the face again after he does the melee aoe > rinse and repeat

[jonG.8369]

> @Despot.3048 said:

> Hit him in the face till he jumps > dodge and run out of range (he'll only heal a little from that) > jump back and hit him in the face again after he does the melee aoe > rinse and repeat

 

My girlfriend who has zero concept of CC or breakbars was able to beat this boss in under 10 minutes on a staff daredevil basically doing exactly that. I'd say the boss mechanics are tuned just fine.

[Vladish.3940]

> @Despot.3048 said:

> Hit him in the face till he jumps > dodge and run out of range (he'll only heal a little from that) > jump back and hit him in the face again after he does the melee aoe > rinse and repeat

 

He does Melee AOE?... didn't even noticed that. I thought jump/beam was only mechanic he used ><;

 

I am just hoping people who struggle with it don't just stand in front of him and poke him. I personally rotate around all the foes in this game because most abilities they target you with will come from their front. Rotating around enemies allows less passive damage to be taken by you as well.

[hellsqueen.3045]

> @Vladish.3940 said:

> > @Pyroatheist.9031 said:

> > > @Ahlen.7591 said:

> > > I never understood how wide the skill gap is in this community until this thread.

> >

> > You must not have been around for the caudecus fight complaints.

> >

> > Any time Anet implements a boss that has literally any mechanics other than stand still and press 1 to kill it, a large portion of the community suddenly emerges that is shockingly incapable of understanding even the most simple mechanics.

>

> Actually imho the entire instance was badly designed, especially for those that solo the story and play other content as a group. Sheer amount of vets and the fact that they don't stick to nothing but you made it very boring and frustrating. The fights with the boss may not have been as irritating if some of us haven't had all their gear broken by the time we got to him. It's not about mechanics at times, it's about design too.

 

You should be having no trouble with veterans.

Elites I would understand if you were getting obliterated, but not Vets.

[hellsqueen.3045]

> @"Silent The Gray.3091" said:

> > @ProtoGunner.4953 said:

> > > @Valreth.1309 said:

> > > Mesmer here. Took me a couple hours of messing with builds and such, but I succeeded. I'm a casual player (and not very good), with an ascended armor set with only a couple of runes equipped. Weapons are exotics. At first I was running Mirage with Axe/Torch & Scepter/Pistol. I was doing well, got him to about half health, then I saw he was absorbing /all/ of my clones even when I was doing just fine avoiding the life steal tether. As others have mentioned, absorbing the clones puts the boss back to full health. I still rolled with a condition build so that I was still applying damage even while I was running around and avoiding his attacks. Not once was I in danger of dying either. Hardly had to heal - only did it to top off my health in case I slipped up.

> > >

> > > Here's what I ended up doing to finally beat it. It took me about 15-20 minutes of widdling him down. Patience is key with this one.

> > > **Noob Condi Mirage**

> > > * Avoid using skills that create clones. (I realize this is easier said than done considering EVERY Mesmer weapon has 1-2 skills that create clones/illusions).

> > > * Weapons Used: Axe/Pistol & Axe/Torch

> > > * Skills used: Axe 1&3, Pistol 5, Torch 4

> > > * Utility Skills: Crystal Sands, Signet of Inspiration (for swiftness as Mirage doesn't have faster movement like Chrono had), Signet of Domination, Jaunt. I used Ether signet for heals, but considering I was avoiding creating clones, a different heal skill is probably better.

> > >

> > > **Traits** (Anything that I thought was remotely useful, applied conditions, and didn't risk creating clones)

> > > * Domination: Confounding Suggestions, Furious Interruption, Power Block.

> > > * Chaos: Descent Into Madness, Chaotic Dampening, Prismatic Understanding

> > > * Mirage: Renewing Oasis, Mirrored Axes, Elusive Mind

> > >

> > > **Tactic**

> > > * Attack in melee, using skills mentioned above. Use Torch 4 to apply burning DoT, attack with Axe 1&3, and Pistol 5 until he prepares to leap at you for health siphon.

> > > *When boss does leap with AOE circle on ground, dodge away twice in a row

> > > * When boss is still at range and just finishes his larger ground-smash-type AOE, place Crystal Sands in his path

> > > * Repeat as necessary

> >

> > Are you serious? I played as mesmer, too and it takes maybe 2-3 minutes to kill him. Just blink away after his leap to omit his leech attack. Done. (I ran full ascende viper's gear). Also, I used tons of clones and shatters.

>

> This is honestly my only complaint, it's not about the boss mechanics, but it should be equal among all classes, mesmers really get the shaft on this fight due to clone/illusion/phantasm creation with everything they do.

 

No where else in this game do Pets, Minions and Illusions feed lifesteal.

If this is truly the case, then this is a bug and you should be reporting it.

[Ashen.2907]

I dont know if its been mentioned, but if you have access to poison anywhere in your build, even if you arent running condi, the heal debuff might help.

 

I had no idea that this fight was a problem until seeing this thread. I honestly felt that it was easier than many open world encounters. Perhaps poison helped.

[Slayristo.7531]

I can't believe this boss was difficult enough for people to rage quit and not play the game over. I beat it, Guardian here, yes it was a stupidly hard fight, but rage quiting hard? i had a bigger issue on some fights in HoT

[morrolan.9608]

> @jonG.8369 said:

> > @Despot.3048 said:

> > Hit him in the face till he jumps > dodge and run out of range (he'll only heal a little from that) > jump back and hit him in the face again after he does the melee aoe > rinse and repeat

>

> My girlfriend who has zero concept of CC or breakbars was able to beat this boss in under 10 minutes on a staff daredevil basically doing exactly that. I'd say the boss mechanics are tuned just fine.

 

Staff daredevil has the most evades of any class in the game, this fight is yet another example of anets utter inability to properly tune fights in story mode and yet again its a stupid ass fight locked behind a huge grind to get back to it. Are we going to have to wait a year to get fixes like for Hearts and Minds? For those saying interrupt and whatnot I interrupt and he still heals for 20% of his health,a s for running away from the healing beam I can't run away fast enough before he heals to full.

[Hawkfeather.2071]

Just got to this story step. It was super long, and took me a little while to get the rotation of the eater down, but I beat it. Aaaand then promptly disconnected while listening to Joko threaten me. So now I have to do the whole darn thing over again.

 

........yeah I think I need a break from the game for a day before trying that again. Checkpoints next time, Anet. Please.

 

[morrolan.9608]

> @Hawkfeather.2071 said:

> ........yeah I think I need a break from the game for a day before trying that again. Checkpoints next time, Anet. Please.

 

They get this feedback all the time and they just ignore it.

 

 

[FairyNuff.3452]

Playing as a renegade everytime he stopped I just dumped the dazing utility on him, I had no idea he was meant to be hard.

[TriEdge.5149]

> @Orimidu.9604 said:

> What were you thinking anet?! A boss that self heals way too often in a mission where your party members get bugged because it’s focused on the instance owner? I can’t pass this solo and it’s impossible to do in a group.

 

there is a way to cheese it by getting him stuck in the cage and killing him slowly with aoe

[Tachenon.5270]

Did they nerf this? I just did it with my holosmith, and it was not bad. Not bad at all. The encounter with Cousin Balthi at the beginning was the worst part. When I got to the eater of soles, I just ran around in circles and attacked with whatever wasn't on cooldown -- only 'died' once -- and boom. Done! I was expecting it to be a typical GW2-style rinse and repeat over and over hokey pokey marathon fight with extra helpings of frustration, but it seemed refreshingly simple and straightforward. Surely they must have nerfed it. I'm not that gud. In fact, I'm quite bad. I revel in my badness. So what the heck did I do right?

[morrolan.9608]

> @TriEdge.5149 said:

> > @Orimidu.9604 said:

> > What were you thinking anet?! A boss that self heals way too often in a mission where your party members get bugged because it’s focused on the instance owner? I can’t pass this solo and it’s impossible to do in a group.

>

> there is a way to cheese it by getting him stuck in the cage and killing him slowly with aoe

 

I tried that aoe was obstructed

[TwilightSoul.9048]

Every class has a movement ability, right?

* Ele: Lightning Flash / FGS / Ride the Lightning

* Mesmer: Blink or whatever its called

* Guardian: Leap of Faith (on GS) / Judges Intervention (if you have an Ally that stays at a good distance)

* Warrior: Bulls Charge / GS Abilities

* Ranger: Greatsword Leap thing / Sword Leap thing (first jump facing the boss then turn around for 2nd jump for huge distance covered)

* Necro: Flesh Worm / Reaper's Shroud charge thing (necro has terrible movement abilities but you really shouldn't have any issues with necro on this boss or you should seriously rethink your build)

* Thief: Any of your unlimited shadowsteps that don't require a target...

* Engi: Rocket Boots / Rocketjump thingy on rifle / Photon Forge Jump pad thing

* Revenant: Mallyx Utility / Staff #5 / Shiro Utility

 

What I'm trying to say is, it's not so terribly hard to adapt to a fight, just switch some weapon / utility for movement and save it for when he charges you. This boss is only as hard as you make it, I really don't understand how people have so many problems with this boss, I can see that you might have serious trouble on the first, maybe second try depending on your build and experience but after you notice some patterns even the worst player should be able to make slight adaptations to his aproach. Or do you just run against a streetsign that hasn't been there before and keep running against it because you can't adapt and walk past it?

[Timo.1065]

> @Orimidu.9604 said:

> What were you thinking anet?! A boss that self heals way too often in a mission where your party members get bugged because it’s focused on the instance owner? I can’t pass this solo and it’s impossible to do in a group.

I kill it in secont try. First i play holo with sword + shield.

Second try was core engi with turest and rifle....that was easy.

 

Change on ranged spec and then try to kill.

 

[MMAI.5892]

> @"Fantasia Badass.4765" said:

 

> I get what you're saying. I honestly am not asking for people to do it all for me. I am trying to better my game though and every time I look online for build help, I'm stumped by the lingo and the lack of clarity (as in when it might be useful). Weaver is complicated, I get that too. But there are precious few places that explain a build in plain English that new players understand. (1)

>

> I'm not asking for hand holding all the way. I like trying to figure it out, but sometimes I think this game should be playable without doing all that and it frustrates me at times.

>

> I also get frustrated when people gripe about the gap in skill level between players in this game like it is shameful to be new or something. Why shame people? It's not productive. (2)

>

> Like I said I got through it the cheaters way. But it felt like cheating and I would prefer not to have to do that. I also prefer it when the game gives me clues on what to do and this fight was lacking in hints. I found it more frustrating initially than Mordremoth and that was an awful fight that I am not looking forward to doing again.

 

(1) I completely agree. Personally, I think Anet relies too much on veteran players and outside sources (wiki, gw2efficiency, etc) to explain things to players. The tool tips aren't always helpful. I've stumbled through a couple of bounty missions because rn there's very little info available either in game or outside on some of the attacks (or at least I've yet to stumble across it). Veteran players get frustrated because people don't know the fights and can't easily learn it for themselves, so they keep getting the same questions or failing events. New players get frustrated because suddenly they have to do things they don't know about with no warning and sometimes don't even understand why an event or instance fails.

 

(2) I don't disagree unless the person who doesn't know comes out with a sense of entitlement and demands hand holding. (Not saying you do that, but even my barely medium-ish player butt has run across it.) lol

 

Unfortunately, I cannot directly help with Weaver as i don't have an elementalist at all and never played the class. But, if there are abbreviation and jargon questions that you have, I'd be glad to answer what I can. If it's easier than scrolling through the board, add me in game or send a mail.

[HellzMistress.8265]

i soloed him with my ele only because i noticed all his attacks cause vulnerability, which increases his damage and heal from his soul siphoning. so all you need is condi cleanse with signet of water and ether feast he fell easy just dodge during his siphon or go invulnerable and he wont heal at all. twist of fate saved my anus!

[Fantasia Badass.4765]

@MMAI.5892 Thanks for the offer! That is very nice. I might take you up on that if I need help with understanding what the heck people are talking about. Some I've been able to figure out, but what the heck is glass? I've seen that recently and I've no idea about it.

 

I also get that l need to do my part. And I do my best to understand what's going on with events and the like. In the rare case that I actually have experience with an event, I'll actually instruct people if I can so we don't fail. It's always best for all of us to do that so we win.

 

I'm working on my build and play mechanics, and honestly I've learned a lot in just the short time I've been playing again. For the most part I enjoy it, but some of the things we need like understanding the break bar and how to break it are not explained. And this quest in particular needs a little prompting I'd think. I can't be the only one that wandered aimlessly for a long time looking for weapons! The wander around and talk to the same people six times quest was also a pain lol.

 

 

[Vladish.3940]

> @hellsqueen.3045 said:

> > @Vladish.3940 said:

> > > @Pyroatheist.9031 said:

> > > > @Ahlen.7591 said:

> > > > I never understood how wide the skill gap is in this community until this thread.

> > >

> > > You must not have been around for the caudecus fight complaints.

> > >

> > > Any time Anet implements a boss that has literally any mechanics other than stand still and press 1 to kill it, a large portion of the community suddenly emerges that is shockingly incapable of understanding even the most simple mechanics.

> >

> > Actually imho the entire instance was badly designed, especially for those that solo the story and play other content as a group. Sheer amount of vets and the fact that they don't stick to nothing but you made it very boring and frustrating. The fights with the boss may not have been as irritating if some of us haven't had all their gear broken by the time we got to him. It's not about mechanics at times, it's about design too.

>

> You should be having no trouble with veterans.

> Elites I would understand if you were getting obliterated, but not Vets.

 

That's a pretty dumb statement. Not everyone plays op meta builds, not everyone (particularly if their main game play revolves around story alone) has end game exotic/ascended hear, there are new players that use story to learn how to play the game. Troll much? Any mobs in large enough quantities and with enough mechanics will be able to overpower you. Add to id how your gear progressively gets destroyed and it becomes much harder experience by the end. Just because certain content was easy for you, doesn't mean it will be for others.