What is causing me to keep bosses taunt (magicka DD)

Stanx

I'm in the process of farming BDV for Kinra's before the update drops (XBOX EU) so have been running this dungeon pretty solidly for the 3/4 days, I've probably done about 30-40 runs over this time.

A lot of the time we load in and have a fake tank in the group (not a problem, we're in normal) so no one is taunting the boss. For some reason, whenever we initiate combat with the boss they run at me and I hold taunt for the entire fight.

This isn't a huge issue but I've been 1-shot by the first boss a couple of times as I'd run out of stam / shields. My question is, WHY are they coming at me exclusively? This happens every time we don't have a real tank - they just come at me and stick to me. I've tried not attacking first, being closer, being further away, joining the encounter in progress and I still hold taunt every time despite having no such skills.

I run a non-pet sorc, CP1400ish, two flame staves etc. Skills force pulse, crystal frags, hardened ward, inner light, bound armor (shooting star) and orb, blockade, deadric curse, crit surge and bound armor (destro ultimate). Gear generic medusa / MS for now.

Any ideas? It's driving me nuts and I still need this fire staff.

TmzOS

Huge damage spikes usually pulls heavy aggro from mobs in MMOs.

Vevvev

You're probably the best person in the group. I found landing the first hits, sustaining the most hits, and/or healing the most allies lands aggro. I could be totally wrong but typically the first hit thing is how I hold aggro as a tank against general groups. Taunt is for the things that deviate to the DPS/healer.

r3turn2s3nd3r

There's an aggro algorithm. If no one taunts then the current highest DPS / HPS will automatically get aggro. The check is then performed throughout the duration of the fight and depending on which player has the highest DPS / HPS at the moment of the check will take (or continue if currently have) aggro. An actual hard taunt will override the algorithm.

Stanx

Thanks for the replies! I guess as I've been running it non-stop I'm more familiar with mechanics.

Definitely a first-world problem, just hope the staff drops soon!

VaranisArano

If you have constant healing or damage happening when the boss checks for who it should aggro next, you'll probably be the target.

My templar healer usually ends up face tanking the boss for most of the fight because she's got a constant stream of heals and buffs. My Warden healer with more burst healing doesn't have quite the same undivided attention from the boss.

lozq

Yah, it's a case of 'no one is taunting me, I shall attack the person pumping out the biggest numbers'. In a proper trinity run you'll often notice that if the tank goes down, the healer will get targeted. And because so many DPS are allergic to rezzing their group members, it's usually a wipe.

oddbasket

Your healer isn't that great, probably a dps spec healer, healing pulls more aggro than damage.

runa_gate

oddbasket wrote: »

Your healer isn't that great, probably a dps spec healer, healing pulls more aggro than damage.

My very first thought. Kinda shocking you draw attention away from the healer.


You'll also find this happening in disconcerting situations like a dragon in Elswery... if there's no tank, the dragons always turn to look at me like "Oh, I remember you..." in this crowd of tons of people and tried to do bad things to me. Dragons cuddle too hard.

kargen27

I was going to guess charisma. That is what I blame it on when my Templar gets all that unwanted attention. Amazing how often my healer tanks normal dungeons.

Jeremy

VaranisArano wrote: »

If you have constant healing or damage happening when the boss checks for who it should aggro next, you'll probably be the target.

My templar healer usually ends up face tanking the boss for most of the fight because she's got a constant stream of heals and buffs. My Warden healer with more burst healing doesn't have quite the same undivided attention from the boss.

Same here. That's why I started gearing defensively on my healer, because he was always tanking anyway because unless I tank there is at 80% chance (at least) I'm going to have a fake one who doesn't use taunt.

So it can't be just the highest DPS that gets threat. It doesn't work like that.

Varana

r3turn2s3nd3r wrote: »

There's an aggro algorithm. If no one taunts then the current highest DPS / HPS will automatically get aggro. The check is then performed throughout the duration of the fight and depending on which player has the highest DPS / HPS at the moment of the check will take (or continue if currently have) aggro. An actual hard taunt will override the algorithm.

It has nothing to do with how much damage you do.

The boss is on a timer - they aggro one player for roughly 7 seconds, and after that time they look again. They then aggro the next player that does any damage on the boss or healing on a player. How much damage they do, doesn't matter. How much damage they did in the meantime, doesn't matter. It's a first come first serve system.

If you do high damage, you'll have a constant stream of damage on the boss, meaning your chances are high that they pick you as the next target. Someone pew-pewing the boss every second will tend to not get aggro too often because your dots will tick all the time.
The same goes for healing. Healing counts as an action equivalent to doing damage on the boss, and healers tend to use a lot of heal-over-time abilities that just constantly tick. So esp. in case of things going south, tank dying, DDs running around like chicken with their head cut off, etc., Regeneration will continue to heal, and so the healer is likely the one doing stuff that the boss will notice.

Edit:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/391895/a-guide-to-aggro/p1

DinoZavr

@Varana thanks.
Interesting.

One thing i am still not getting is the Companions aggro.
I play solo most of time, of course i apply AoE and constantly damage boss (CMX says it is like 24K..28K DPS sustained), still bosses LOVE to stitch to Mirri in her healers build or in case i take Bastian - to Bastian in his ranged DPS build (and his DPS is like 7K at its best (and Mirri's HPS is also far from stellar)).
If i don't place Undaunted ranged taunt on one of my bars, bosses inevitably switch to Companions (and the later LOVE to reset them bosses, by cowardly running away). The problem is - i'd like to have skills i normally use on my bars, not the skills to solve Companions aggro problem, so if boss was, fortunately, not reset, i let my Companion to die like a man.

Sad, Zeni does not bother to explain Companions base stats and aggro mechanics to us players

AcadianPaladin

@DinoZavr if your companion is ranged and too often dodge-rolling far enough away to reset the boss, try giving them an ice staff. It is the only ranged companion weapon where they will stand their ground, preferring to block/interrupt rather than dodge-rolling. Just don't give them the one destro skill that, with an ice staff equipped, includes a taunt.

kargen27

DinoZavr wrote: »

@Varana thanks.
Interesting.

One thing i am still not getting is the Companions aggro.
I play solo most of time, of course i apply AoE and constantly damage boss (CMX says it is like 24K..28K DPS sustained), still bosses LOVE to stitch to Mirri in her healers build or in case i take Bastian - to Bastian in his ranged DPS build (and his DPS is like 7K at its best (and Mirri's HPS is also far from stellar)).
If i don't place Undaunted ranged taunt on one of my bars, bosses inevitably switch to Companions (and the later LOVE to reset them bosses, by cowardly running away). The problem is - i'd like to have skills i normally use on my bars, not the skills to solve Companions aggro problem, so if boss was, fortunately, not reset, i let my Companion to die like a man.

Sad, Zeni does not bother to explain Companions base stats and aggro mechanics to us players

It is kind of silly. There were five players doing a world boss. A 6th player ran in and while still a ways off with Mirri trailing him the boss went rushing off after Mirri. So out of seven targets the boss went for the farthest away doing to that point nothing. You can see it happen on dolmans also. Lots of players but the mobs run to a companion out on the fringe.
I would like to be able to tell Mirri she has to stay 12 meters or closer to me at all times during battle. I have her fully leveled but it is rare I ever let her out to play. Isn't worth her stealing kills when I am doing endeavors, engaging NPCs that catch me pickpocketing when I could just slip away (getting me a larger bounty) or running a world boss out of my AoE.