Cassia Vaira fight - utterly unplayable!

GrimMauKin · November 2014

I'm facing down Cassia Varia in Malauch's Shrine (Mabel Tor); the fight is completely unwinnable. My first stealthed attack does no damage at all and everything else she heals instantly.

Whilst being attacked by my ally flame atronach I've hit her simultaneously full on with Soul Assault for 2168 damage over three seconds (+ the atronach's damage), she's healed the whole time and did loose any heath at all.

Anything else we hit her with also gets healed instantly and my 50% healing reduction from Death Stroke doesn't seem to make any difference either nor do poison attacks.

She can't be stunned an therefore can't be stopped healing at all and can take me out with single attacks (Shadowy Disguise doesn't seem to be helping either).

This is a VT9 clash as part of Cadwell's Gold; I don't know if this is a post update 5 scaling issue but I'd be interested to hear from other VT9 players who give the confrontation a go; there's no way I can think of that I can win this one.

AngryNord · November 2014

Did her in a group with another Templar - whole fight took less than a minute.

sadene · November 2014

She can be stunned (or could be before this patch) just by pressing both mouse buttons when standing in front of her

That's how easy it is.

GrimMauKin · November 2014

I've failed to stun her at all (although she will display the stunned animation she's fully active) but I'll give it another go; my 'bread and butter' stun, Surprise Attack from stealth, certainly doesn't do anything.

I took out her companion Ogrim is seconds but can't scratch her at all (as I mentioned she took no damage from Soul Assault and an atronach attack simultaneously, whilst healing).

Fancy giving it another go to see if I'm just being a wuss?

PBpsy · November 2014

You know what interrupts are? Use them whenever she begins healing herself. This is very important on all healers you find in the game.

(Hold block press +left click) Is the default but I think you can just change the key to a single key if you have problems.

Koensol · November 2014

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

TehMagnus · November 2014

Why would you soul assault a boss???

PBpsy · November 2014

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Koensol · November 2014

PBpsy wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Seriously man, I just thought of the same thing. So many people are totally oblivious of the games mechanics.

zaria · November 2014

Koensol wrote: »

PBpsy wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Seriously man, I just thought of the same thing. So many people are totally oblivious of the games mechanics.

Depend on class a bit too, ranged seldom have to interrupt, better to just roll out of fire so its just a few bosses its relevant on mostly the self healing ones.

My problem was that I run out of stamina all the time.

AngryNord · November 2014

magnusnet wrote: »

Why would you soul assault a boss???

I planted a big fat Nova on her head and then pummeled her with a two-hander axe while my group mate mostly spammed various Aedric Spear abilities... She went down pretty fast...

bertenburnyb16_ESO · November 2014

yes I was also struggeling in the beginning with this one, especially since the fire atronach died after the first try and had to do it alone, and the boss cant be stunned
but after a couple tires I noticed she can be interupted, so bash bash and bash again every time she starts healing, although her healing is pretty over the top, you gotta bash her as soon as she starts or you can be set back a couple of minutes in seconds

TehMagnus · November 2014

Just use Crushing Shock it will interrupt/kill/burn/fry/ice for you.

RSram · November 2014

As a sorcerer, I just spammed her with overlord heavy attacks and crystal shards which interrupted her self healing. She when down within two minutes.

But this was before the 1.5 patch.

I agree with everyone here that many players under estimate the power of the interrupt when fighting bosses.

Also, following up an interrupt with a heavy attack will cause bonus damage.

felinith66 · November 2014

Bind the interrupt command to a single key, that way you can run up to the boss then interrupt him/her/it. The default key has you holding block + left click, which frequently slows u down because of the block animation.

GrimMauKin · November 2014

Okay, so I need to give it another go. I was aware that you could block offensive spells but not ones that are applied to the caster (I just logged on on day one and wandered around finding out how things work so I'm not expert on game mechanics $:\$ ).

I shall experiment (hmmm, and I can disrupt and disorientate casters with Venom Arrow!).

Why would you soul assault a boss???

Because it does far more damage than anything else I have (it's worked on bosses before); is there a particular reason I shouldn't be using it on a boss?

Did her in a group with another Templar - whole fight took less than a minute.

I planted a big fat Nova on her head and then pummeled her with a two-hander axe while my group mate mostly spammed various Aedric Spear abilities...

Now that might have helped me too

Evandus · November 2014

PBpsy wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Gave that an awesome! Because it's true. People are not using interrupt or other baseline mechanics. Then blame the game that they can't spam attack buttons and win every confrontation.

It's getting ridiculous. There are other threads up lately with people complaining about difficulty in vet levels post nerf. All of them make me shake my head and walk away...

LonePirate · November 2014

Koensol wrote: »

PBpsy wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Seriously man, I just thought of the same thing. So many people are totally oblivious of the games mechanics.

That's because this game does an absolutely horrible job of educating players that these mechanics even exist, let alone training them on how to use those mechanics.

GrimMauKin · November 2014

Then blame the game that they can't spam attack buttons and win every confrontation.

Not so for me; as a Night Blade I've often had to work out different strategies and load up appropriate skills to handle a difficult MOB or solo a world boss.

Clearly I still have a bit to learn about the mechanics but what people are advocating here is just spamming block (rather than attack) to win; there doesn't seem a great deal of difference to me.

PBpsy · November 2014

GrimMauKin wrote: »

Why would you soul assault a boss???

Because it does far more damage than anything else I have (it's worked on bosses before); is there a particular reason I shouldn't be using it on a boss?

Try Veil Of Blades, It helps with mitigation so you can concentrate on interrupting and you do not lose the whole damage done if you miss a bit since it is just a long strong dot.

GrimMauKin · November 2014

That's because this game does an absolutely horrible job of educating players that these mechanics even exist, let alone training them on how to use those mechanics.

I think that this is very true; however I've only really started to take notice of the rather useful tips shown on the Death Recap screen relating specifically to they way you died and strategies for countering it.

Gythral · November 2014

The LMB + RMB interrupt is probably the way to go but
bind it to another button (centre mouse button) so that you dont have to pray the server sees the 2 buttons pressed at the same time, the server sux at seeing it!!!!

I repeat rebind interrupt to another button...

GrimMauKin · November 2014

Okay, so blocking, whilst partially effective against offensive spells is absolutely not stopping her self-healing for me. I have no bash as I'm either dual wielding or bow.

I'm lasting a tad longer but since she's doing massive damage (compared to my health), I'm still struggling.

I'm might need to toughen up a bit and then try again.

Shunravi · November 2014

GrimMauKin wrote: »

Then blame the game that they can't spam attack buttons and win every confrontation.

Not so for me; as a Night Blade I've often had to work out different strategies and load up appropriate skills to handle a difficult MOB or solo a world boss.

Clearly I still have a bit to learn about the mechanics but what people are advocating here is just spamming block (rather than attack) to win; there doesn't seem a great deal of difference to me.

lol what? Who said anything about block spamming?

GrimMauKin wrote: »

Okay, so blocking, whilst partially effective against offensive spells is absolutely not stopping her self-healing for me.

I'm lasting a tad longer but since she's doing massive damage (compared to my health), I'm still struggling.

I'm might need to toughen up a bit and then try again.

Try clicking the other button while blocking. Your character will thrust it's weapons forward, usually holding them out paralel to the ground. This is called 'bashing' not blocking. It's an 'interrupt', and you can do it quickly without even holding block. Try that.

lordspyder · November 2014

GrimMauKin wrote: »

Okay, so blocking, whilst partially effective against offensive spells is absolutely not stopping her self-healing for me. I have no bash as I'm either dual wielding or bow.

I'm lasting a tad longer but since she's doing massive damage (compared to my health), I'm still struggling.

I'm might need to toughen up a bit and then try again.

You don't block her heals, you interrupt them. You have to hold down block and then hit attack while still holding down block. This will interrupt the heals, or you can do as others have suggested and bind interrupt to it's own key.

Nestor · November 2014

GrimMauKin wrote: »

Okay, so blocking, whilst partially effective against offensive spells is absolutely not stopping her self-healing for me. I have no bash as I'm either dual wielding or bow.

You can bash with Weapons. And, your not going to win this one unless you Bash.

Your not spamming block, your interrupting. As soon as you see the red lines radiating out, interrupt her in some way, immediately. Which means unless you have Invasion or Critical Rush, your standing right in front of her dealing out damage until you need to interupt. See the lines, Bash, then give a Heavy Attack. I don't know if the Bow skill can interrupt some bosses, just like Force Shock does not knock back most bosses.

Evandus · November 2014

Nestor wrote: »

GrimMauKin wrote: »

Okay, so blocking, whilst partially effective against offensive spells is absolutely not stopping her self-healing for me. I have no bash as I'm either dual wielding or bow.

You can bash with Weapons. And, your not going to win this one unless you Bash.

Your not spamming block, your interrupting. As soon as you see the red lines radiating out, interrupt her in some way, immediately. Which means unless you have Invasion or Critical Rush, your standing right in front of her dealing out damage until you need to interupt. See the lines, Bash, then give a Heavy Attack. I don't know if the Bow skill can interrupt some bosses, just like Force Shock does not knock back most bosses.

As I understand it, Venom Arrow will interrupt casts. Unless it's been broken with the update. I would still fire off a weapon or shield bash to interrupt her healing herself. It's less expensive in resources, and faster than anything save Crushing Shock from the destro staff line imo. Spamming Venom Arrow becomes costly very quickly.

GrimMauKin · November 2014

Cheers, I'll give all that a try; I clearly haven't been paying attention where bashing is concerned (I assumed it was a shield function). Venom Arrow will interrupt her healing (but Draining Shot doesn't knock back) but, as mentioned, it does drain stamina fairly quickly.

I've tended to like to work things out for myself but clearly do need a spot of help here (I struggled with the Lyris Doppelganger fight in the Ebon Heart Pact storyline).

GrimMauKin · November 2014

Oh dear, I do feel a bit of a knob! I've clearly not be bashing properly all along and getting block and bash confused (using both mouse buttons simultaneously!). I think I'll need a bit of practice but think I'll get the hang of it) .

Thanks for the help; I'll see how the fight goes.

Depend on class a bit too, ranged seldom have to interrupt, better to just roll out of fire so its just a few bosses its relevant on mostly the self healing ones.

Part of the issue with this fight though is that I have fairly modest health (just over 1600) and Cassia's been hitting me with single shots dealing 1370 a pop ,hence I've been feeling the need to keep my distance an dodge/use the bow which is a fairly standard tactic against big hitters I can't stun to get a few hand-to-hand blows in.

Koensol · November 2014

LonePirate wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

PBpsy wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Seriously man, I just thought of the same thing. So many people are totally oblivious of the games mechanics.

That's because this game does an absolutely horrible job of educating players that these mechanics even exist, let alone training them on how to use those mechanics.

That's why there are automatic queues at the bottom of the screen, saying "press button X to exploit". Seriously, if you cannot figure out how to block or interrupt that far into the game, I dont know what to say.

nerevarine1138 · November 2014

LonePirate wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

PBpsy wrote: »

Koensol wrote: »

I've seen so many people QQ about her. Just stand in front of her. Dps her. Interrupt ALL her casts. It will give you the win.

Actually I think this may be a proof that at the moment the content was nerfed so much that one doesn't even have to know what interrupting is until she gets to her in VR zones.I hope not though.

Seriously man, I just thought of the same thing. So many people are totally oblivious of the games mechanics.

That's because this game does an absolutely horrible job of educating players that these mechanics even exist, let alone training them on how to use those mechanics.

You're joking, right?

Any new player has to see a tutorial screen about those very combat mechanics. If they ignore it, that's not a design issue, it's a read-the-manual-stupid issue.