Tips on Defeating the Ancient Clanfear in Coldharbour

MaxBat

Okay, I'm dying here - literally.
-
My level 10 Nightblade DW has undertaken to rescue Lyris. Everything I encountered in CH is Level 10 and I just sailed right past it - until I got to the damn Ancient Clannfear. I'm not exaggerating when I say I just lost 10 battles to the monster in a row. I can't get close enough to hit it without it doing some devastating 150+ damage attack on me. Or some attack that knocks me down and stuns me for like 4 or 5 seconds while it just ravages me.

Now I'm stuck there and I can't get out without defeating that thing. And I can't defeat it. It kills me in like six strikes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated by both Lyris and I.

Hafgar_W

Block and cc break are your friends. You can use block by holding the right mouse button by default, and break any cc by holding the right mouse button and tapping the left one. Other than that, strife is pretty good for keeping you up. You also have the option to wait until level 12 before you head there.

Zeeed

Get a group ??

Runefell

Heh, I've been through that quest a few times. One time it bugged out on me, and he just stood there, not doing a thing, while I killed him. That was pretty easy.

Other then that interesting tidbit, I would maybe switch to a ranged weapon for him and try to stay out of his reach. Most of his attacks are short ranged. Stun him as often as possible by interrupting his attacks or dodging his charge attack.

ozgod22_eso

If you find a quest too tough for your level, you can always come back a couple of levels later also.

Tankqull

get a bow - use a light attack once and go afk - lyris will do the rest. or in other words just stay away from him let lyris have his aggro while killing him from range as he is not leaving his hill by a far.

Sleepwalker

Give Lyris time to get aggro on it (if she doesn't bug out and stand there like an idiot as she's prone to do). Then hit it from the back... giggity. Back up off of the big red circle when it comes, and collect your profit when it's dead. If you pull aggro, block until she pulls it back. She hits hard, so it should work.

EDIT: I read your OP again... sounds like you're not avoiding it's heavy attack and charge. Are your "Combat Cues" turned on so you can see the area of effect indicator? The charge is really easy to avoid since the dumb beast will telegraph it by backing up like five feet. You should never be stunned unless you're face-tanking and not paying attention.

Svann

I love it when these guys charge. Its so easy to avoid and gives you free side attacks when he runs by and then more free attacks when he stuns himself at the end. Why do they get stunned when they miss you anyway? weird

Sleepwalker

adamrussell52_ESO wrote: »

I love it when these guys charge. Its so easy to avoid and gives you free side attacks when he runs by and then more free attacks when he stuns himself at the end. Why do they get stunned when they miss you anyway? weird

Makes more sense when you see them run into a wall or something. I just think of it like they put too much momentum into their foreheads and then fall down like idiots when they miss.

MaxBat

First, thanks to everyone for the help. I can see now I was really doing this wrong.

Next, I think combat clues are turned on. I say so because the game will sometimes tell me to dodge, which I was doing. Let me explain in a little more detail about my experience - I think you'll see what the problem is.

I went into the fight as a stealth DW NB. (Honestly, this morning, I have no idea what I was thinking.) But to be fair, up to this point, I was two or three hitting everything in the dungeon with no problem.

I used teleport strike (yeah, TS ... really) to put me next to the beast and then executed a dodge roll to get away from it. At this point my skill bar was full of assassin/dw/shadow type attacks - all of which require that I be close enough to the beast to see the veins in its eyes.

And I didn't really want to be close to it.

Inevitably what would happen is it would knock me be down - and sometimes even stun me. This attack would immediately be followed by the tail CC attack that does 150+ damage. Well, by then I was moving slow and finishing me off was child's play.

The problem is I didn't have a ranged attack with me. Also, another problem - poor choice on my part - was to execute a lot of DW stamina attacks which left me with no stamina to dodge roll. I guess one key to this fight is to save your stamina for the rolls and stay the hell away from that animal.

Lyris did a good job in my 10-12 experiences last night. She was there, doing her part. It wasn't Lyris that lost her temper and started screaming at the computer. It wasn't Lyris that had to go spend 500 g to fix her equipment.

My frustration was keeping me from seeing the obvious. I finally exited the dungeon and tried to take out my frustration on a level 5 Imp - which promptly killed me. I decided it was time to log off for the night.

Now some questions:

I'm curious about the side attacks when clannfears charge. So yeah, you see the red line pointing at you and get out of there. If you leave the red area, will the clannfear still charge or will it modify/change its attack? Once you're out of the area, how do you execute the side attack? Just strike it as it charges by? Because I find most of the time in this fight I can't execute any skill attacks - mostly because I'm out of stamina/magicka or stunned. I'm usually executing a number of dodge rolls which leave me with no stamina.

Mostly, my frustration got the better of me. I mean, I knew I needed a ranged attack but I had nothing with me and I wasn't sure I could even leave the area without messing up quest line somehow.

Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it.

MaxBat

Just one more think I'll add: I really wish Zeni would do something about the FOV. At one point, there was talk about adding a slider with FOV settings; I hope they follow through on it.

Apart from the obvious experience of fighting with blinders on, the way it's set up now makes me nauseous just trying to use it. And while I'm getting better, I still have problems targeting with the third person view.

Not being able to see my enemy was another factor in the fight last night.

zaria

adamrussell52_ESO wrote: »

I love it when these guys charge. Its so easy to avoid and gives you free side attacks when he runs by and then more free attacks when he stuns himself at the end. Why do they get stunned when they miss you anyway? weird

Hitting the wall probably, or perhaps out of stamina?
They are even more stupid than the summoned clanfear and that require hard work.

Sleepwalker

MaxBat wrote: »

Now some questions:

I'm curious about the side attacks when clannfears charge. So yeah, you see the red line pointing at you and get out of there. If you leave the red area, will the clannfear still charge or will it modify/change its attack? Once you're out of the area, how do you execute the side attack? Just strike it as it charges by? Because I find most of the time in this fight I can't execute any skill attacks - mostly because I'm out of stamina/magicka or stunned. I'm usually executing a number of dodge rolls which leave me with no stamina.

Once it casts that ability, the path is fixed. And actually, like I mentioned above, it will back up like three steps (~5 feet) before powering up and charging, and even at that point, the path is already fixed. Move out of it, and the instant it runs by you, follow it and use a heavy attack to knock it down. Follow that up with another heavy attack as it's getting up. You can also block the other AoE instead of dodging to conserve stamina for your dps, but you'll probably need some form of self heal if you choose that option.

I'd continue to get used to the third person view if I were you. The die hard ESO fans will snicker at you, but you know what, it's not their interface, so screw 'em!

MaxBat

Okay, back again - and it's done. In fact, the comments here helped me become a better player and for that you have my thanks. Really.

And for the record, not everyone comes to TESO from an extensive MMO background. The game functionality is very different from the other TES games. So again, thanks for the helping me get a better hand on this game.

Just for anyone's info: I still died twice in the Clannfear dungeon. The fight took a long time because it kept running back to the mound which would give it a huge heal. I made one mistake once of moving in with Assassin's Blade when I thought its health was low enough and while I drained it down to next to nothing, it then turned and killed me by leaping on top of me.

I used a bow and bow skills (poison arrow, actually, since my bow skills are not that high). Every time it turned at me, I dropped into shadow mode and it would re-aggro back on Lyris. Whenever possible I fired from sneak/shadow mode. Ambush is not yet unlocked, so I was stuck with Veiled Strike and Assassin's Blade, but in the end, I got it killed - with just a hair of life left in me.

The rest of the dungeon was next to easy compared to that little fight. Even the "boss" dungeon was easier since I was able to let Lyris tank a bit while use VS and TS to strike it from behind or the sides. And I got just enough money from the quest to repair all my equipment.

Thanks again!

poodlemasterb16_ESO

Go join the fighters guild, fight all the anchors and fissures you can find, which will level you to FG level 2 right away. Spend a point on Silver Bolts and cruise through the Deadra.

AgriyaTheGrey

@Maxbat -didn't you notice that your bow range even at that low level of unlock is greater (marginally) than the distance the Clannfear could charge? And if it charged you & didn't connect it would stun itself, allowing you an essentially 'free' hit on it? This is of use when you encounter the little blighters in the wild too.

MaxBat

AgriyaTheGrey wrote: »

@Maxbat -didn't you notice that your bow range even at that low level of unlock is greater (marginally) than the distance the Clannfear could charge? And if it charged you & didn't connect it would stun itself, allowing you an essentially 'free' hit on it? This is of use when you encounter the little blighters in the wild too.

Nope, I did not notice that. Thanks for the info!

smercgames_ESO

Man just wait till you hit VR in like 5 months if you are having that much trouble vs your elite. Also, stop playing in 1st person mode... you are just gimping yourself.

CTraveler

Lyris really does draw a lot of agro on that guy... she really wants her ax back. ^^; It's easier to take pot shots at it while she's drawing its' attention, in my experience. Of the three times I did it, once it attacked me once (usually the charge attack), it always turned its attention back to Lyris and/or went to maintain it's guard of the ax if I'd drawn it far enough away.