Dungeon Bosses, can they ignore taunts?

ArchMikem · December 2016

I'm sure this is a stupid question, but I just want this clarified for myself, is it possible for Dungeon Bosses to ignore a Tank's taunt, or is it just whenever that happens it means the Tank isn't actually taunting and not doing their job. Just a question that popped up lately when I tried doing ICP for the first time and this group I got into was waiting for a good enough Tank to come along, we must have went through about two or three before quitting, but every time we tried the Boss just ignored the Tank and went after one of the DPS or the Healer (me) and we wiped.

Sigtric · December 2016

Some of them do ignore taunts. These would not be the majority, though.

bebynnag · December 2016

some bosses have those specific mechanics where they will attack whoever they want
im sure there is a comprehensive list somewhere
unfortunatley so many people want to just ignore the mechanics of a dungeon these days & 'burn the boss' that ...

im gonna stop myself befor i go off on a rant

SolarCat02 · December 2016

Some bosses are completely untauntable. A good example of this is Quintas in Volenfell, although the gargoyle he summons for the second part of the fight is tauntable. Drodda in Direfrost Keep and the Engine Guardian in Darkshade Caverns are two other notable examples; their spawned adds are tauntable.

Some bosses are untauntable only at certain phases. My best example here is Xal-Nur, who cannot be taunted during his immunity in the spice phase (instead he will target the player radiating red), but who is otherwise generally compliant to taunts.

Sometimes the boss will have a phase that targets all players equally. These are fairly obvious. A clear example here is Verenore Winterbourne, final boss in Spindleclutch II, who will periodically take a turn to jump at all four party members individually in succession (although sometimes he will target sorcerer pets or dwemer monster helm procs instead of a party member).

And very very commonly the boss will have a random untauntable mechanic but will otherwise be taunted. The majority of final dungeon bosses have mechanics such as this, and many other bosses do as well. Malubeth in Wayrest II picks a random person to suspend, Rilis in Banished Cells I will randomly fire a strong attack at someone before returning to the tank, Velidreth in Cradle of Shadows will target those with the highest ultimate to feed upon regardless of the tank's taunt and also loves to fire interrupts at people trying to resurrect downed players, Maw of the Infernal from Banished Cells II will turn (without moving from his spot) to exhale fire at someone at random before turning back to the tank... This list goes on and includes a very large list of bosses.

So not always the tank's fault if some attacks get through. The more you learn the fights, the easier it becomes to tell what you should be needing to deal with, and what leaked through due to a tanking mistake.

Savos_Saren · December 2016

SolarCat02 wrote: »

Some bosses are completely untauntable. A good example of this is Quintas in Volenfell, although the gargoyle he summons for the second part of the fight is tauntable. Drodda in Direfrost Keep and the Engine Guardian in Darkshade Caverns are two other notable examples; their spawned adds are tauntable.

Some bosses are untauntable only at certain phases. My best example here is Xal-Nur, who cannot be taunted during his immunity in the spice phase (instead he will target the player radiating red), but who is otherwise generally compliant to taunts.

Sometimes the boss will have a phase that targets all players equally. These are fairly obvious. A clear example here is Verenore Winterbourne, final boss in Spindleclutch II, who will periodically take a turn to jump at all four party members individually in succession (although sometimes he will target sorcerer pets or dwemer monster helm procs instead of a party member).

And very very commonly the boss will have a random untauntable mechanic but will otherwise be taunted. The majority of final dungeon bosses have mechanics such as this, and many other bosses do as well. Malubeth in Wayrest II picks a random person to suspend, Rilis in Banished Cells I will randomly fire a strong attack at someone before returning to the tank, Velidreth in Cradle of Shadows will target those with the highest ultimate to feed upon regardless of the tank's taunt and also loves to fire interrupts at people trying to resurrect downed players, Maw of the Infernal from Banished Cells II will turn (without moving from his spot) to exhale fire at someone at random before turning back to the tank... This list goes on and includes a very large list of bosses.

So not always the tank's fault if some attacks get through. The more you learn the fights, the easier it becomes to tell what you should be needing to deal with, and what leaked through due to a tanking mistake.

Excellent list! To add to that for some of the newer guys who want to tank:

-The Lamia Queen at the end of Arx Corinium is very hard to keep a taunt on and will randomly attack group members.
-The 2nd boss of Sanctum Ophidia (the huge troll) has a difficult taunt window.
-Maw the Infernal (a boss in Banished Cells) is easy to taunt- but he'll ignore taunt and attack random players for a brief moment.
-The final boss of Blackheart Haven needs a constantly refreshed taunt... because you don't know if he's going to turn the tank into a skeleton. (He'll stay with the tank until the taunt wears off... even if the tank's a skeleton)
-The Planar Inhibitor from White Gold Tower ignores taunt and specifically goes after whomever has touched the pinion last.
-My wife ignores sexy-time aggro... so I have to use tequila as a taunt.

Jciampi · December 2016

I've also heard you can over taunt. Not sure if it's true. Supposedly if you just keep spamming taunt, people have told me it won't work for a bit and the boss can ignore it.

WalksonGraves · December 2016

Jciampi wrote: »

I've also heard you can over taunt. Not sure if it's true. Supposedly if you just keep spamming taunt, people have told me it won't work for a bit and the boss can ignore it.

That only happens if multiple people taunt the boss.

Curragraigue · December 2016

Jciampi wrote: »

I've also heard you can over taunt. Not sure if it's true. Supposedly if you just keep spamming taunt, people have told me it won't work for a bit and the boss can ignore it.

That was the case for a long time. A few patches ago they changed it so you cannot over taunt a boss anymore so if you are a tank you no longer have to time taunts and can go nuts with the damage and debuffs of pierce armour or ransack.

A separate issue is the one some else has mentioned. Only one person can taunt. If more than one person taunts you can loose the ability to taunt for the rest of the fight. Although when it has happened to me I have been able to retaunt after the other person's taunt has worn off. I wouldn't test that though.

bebynnag · December 2016

Curragraigue wrote: »

Jciampi wrote: »

I've also heard you can over taunt. Not sure if it's true. Supposedly if you just keep spamming taunt, people have told me it won't work for a bit and the boss can ignore it.

That was the case for a long time. A few patches ago they changed it so you cannot over taunt a boss anymore so if you are a tank you no longer have to time taunts and can go nuts with the damage and debuffs of pierce armour or ransack.

A separate issue is the one some else has mentioned. Only one person can taunt. If more than one person taunts you can loose the ability to taunt for the rest of the fight. Although when it has happened to me I have been able to retaunt after the other person's taunt has worn off. I wouldn't test that though.

was running a training group for hel ra. I took my usual tank role, and the tank i was training was supposed to shadow me. (with a view to tanking the next run with me there simply as back up)
I said "I have agro" thinking they would know not to taunt & just watch what i do
boss became over taunted, killed the guy i was training, then went running around chasing down all the range DD's
I couldnt get agro back for about 15's
my fault as a teacher completley - but hysterical to watch that boss running around as range run away!

Curragraigue · December 2016

puffytheslayer wrote: »

Curragraigue wrote: »

Jciampi wrote: »

I've also heard you can over taunt. Not sure if it's true. Supposedly if you just keep spamming taunt, people have told me it won't work for a bit and the boss can ignore it.

That was the case for a long time. A few patches ago they changed it so you cannot over taunt a boss anymore so if you are a tank you no longer have to time taunts and can go nuts with the damage and debuffs of pierce armour or ransack.

A separate issue is the one some else has mentioned. Only one person can taunt. If more than one person taunts you can loose the ability to taunt for the rest of the fight. Although when it has happened to me I have been able to retaunt after the other person's taunt has worn off. I wouldn't test that though.

was running a training group for hel ra. I took my usual tank role, and the tank i was training was supposed to shadow me. (with a view to tanking the next run with me there simply as back up)
I said "I have agro" thinking they would know not to taunt & just watch what i do
boss became over taunted, killed the guy i was training, then went running around chasing down all the range DD's
I couldnt get agro back for about 15's
my fault as a teacher completley - but hysterical to watch that boss running around as range run away!

Very hard not to laugh when DPS taunt and die. However watching the mayhem of DPS in trials getting aggro because of your example would have been hilarious.

bebynnag · December 2016

Curragraigue wrote: »

puffytheslayer wrote: »

Curragraigue wrote: »

Jciampi wrote: »

I've also heard you can over taunt. Not sure if it's true. Supposedly if you just keep spamming taunt, people have told me it won't work for a bit and the boss can ignore it.

That was the case for a long time. A few patches ago they changed it so you cannot over taunt a boss anymore so if you are a tank you no longer have to time taunts and can go nuts with the damage and debuffs of pierce armour or ransack.

A separate issue is the one some else has mentioned. Only one person can taunt. If more than one person taunts you can loose the ability to taunt for the rest of the fight. Although when it has happened to me I have been able to retaunt after the other person's taunt has worn off. I wouldn't test that though.

was running a training group for hel ra. I took my usual tank role, and the tank i was training was supposed to shadow me. (with a view to tanking the next run with me there simply as back up)
I said "I have agro" thinking they would know not to taunt & just watch what i do
boss became over taunted, killed the guy i was training, then went running around chasing down all the range DD's
I couldnt get agro back for about 15's
my fault as a teacher completley - but hysterical to watch that boss running around as range run away!

Very hard not to laugh when DPS taunt and die. However watching the mayhem of DPS in trials getting aggro because of your example would have been hilarious.

i used to calmly explain to DD why they should not be taunting but i have found letting them do it & die to be far funnier amusing more educating

Docmandu · December 2016

jaburns wrote: »

-My wife ignores sexy-time aggro... so I have to use tequila as a taunt.

Strange, think you must be doing something wrong, never had that issue with your wife

SickDuck · December 2016

Docmandu wrote: »

jaburns wrote: »

-My wife ignores sexy-time aggro... so I have to use tequila as a taunt.

Strange, think you must be doing something wrong, never had that issue with your wife

Sad to hear when wife is the boss. Well at least not trash...

Nestor · December 2016

Curragraigue wrote: »

A separate issue is the one some else has mentioned. Only one person can taunt. If more than one person taunts you can loose the ability to taunt for the rest of the fight. Although when it has happened to me I have been able to retaunt after the other person's taunt has worn off. I wouldn't test that though.

Before this patch that fixed this I watched a Tank Duo go back and forth on a Boss where one would Taunt, then the other so the boss spend the entire fight turning one way then the other, and never got an attack off. It was the easiest burn down I ever had. That is probable the main reason why it was patched so that only one can Taunt.

Curragraigue · December 2016

Nestor wrote: »

Curragraigue wrote: »

A separate issue is the one some else has mentioned. Only one person can taunt. If more than one person taunts you can loose the ability to taunt for the rest of the fight. Although when it has happened to me I have been able to retaunt after the other person's taunt has worn off. I wouldn't test that though.

Before this patch that fixed this I watched a Tank Duo go back and forth on a Boss where one would Taunt, then the other so the boss spend the entire fight turning one way then the other, and never got an attack off. It was the easiest burn down I ever had. That is probable the main reason why it was patched so that only one can Taunt.

Sounds like a bug in the last patch. From launch ZOS has said that is exactly what they did not want to occur with taunting. All of the old taunting rules were meant to avoid people standing on opposite sides of the room and taunting the boss between them.

Stannum · December 2016

One more to add
Final boss at tempest island, attacks for about 22k to the fathest group member if she is not at melee range.

hydrocynus · December 2016

OP were you on the flesh sculptor when tank kept losing aggro?

This boss needs to be re-aggroed AFTER he has tenderised a player and been interrupted.

Another one not mentioned is Spawn of Mephala in fungal grotto 2. I am convinced she has a dispel taunt ability on one of her attacks. I can taunt and one second later after one of her attacks she will move away and I have to reapply taunt.