Sellistrix and the Vault Protector - Bugged or OP?

TheUndeadAmulet · January 2020

I'm putting both of these fights together because I can't be bothered to make two separate discussions. Sue me.

I'm honestly unsure as to whether Sellistrix is supposed to just randomly ignore taunt, run off towards someone, swipe at them a little, yell a them a bit and then remember "Oh hey! I'm taunted!" and run back to tank. Is this a bug or an actual mechanic? If this is a mechanic then why? it demolishes PUGs so easily that after nearly every Sellistrix fight I have a sore back from carrying it so hard.

And then there's the Vault Protector. I'm trying to follow the guide from @xynode but from the looks of it, the fight is either bugged or just extremely hard for lower DPS groups. I'll just list the two worst mechanics and what's wrong with them.

Laser Phase - This seems to be coming every 20 seconds after the first laser phase at the beginning of the fight at 90%, instead of at 50% like the guide says. Additionally, the lasers seem to progress on time, instead of on health percentages like in the guide. The first laser phase has 1 laser, the next two laser phases have 2, and then everything after that has 4. I distinctly remember having the boss at around 58% and getting a laser phase with 4 lasers.
Adds - The adds are coming on a timer as well, which seems intentional. This is what makes the fight effectively impossible for groups with lower DPS, as the DPS have to focus on spheres to make sure they don't overwhelm the group, but then they only get a few seconds to damage the boss before he becomes invulnerable and starts another laser phase. Additionally, adds spawning during the laser phase make things a lot more complicated, as now there is nothing stopping them from simply charging up and one shotting the squishies.

The only reason we made it through the boss fight was because our tank was a god necro tank who used resurrect ulti. Even then it took us like 4 tries. All of us except the healer were 810 CP as well. IDK. The Vault Protector fight that we did just seems way too hard, at least for PUGs. I'm just sitting here wondering why we had 4 lasers before the boss dropped below 50%.

Tannus15 · January 2020

you can trigger the rolling spheres to destroy the adds if your dps is low on the vault protector

codierussell · January 2020

From personal experience I think vault protector was always time based. To the point when it first came out I think we tested it by standing there and doing no damage we still got adds and more lasers.

TempPlayer · January 2020

I think taunting a boss will only force it to hit you when it use normal attack. When it decide to use a special attack, it will usually just choose a random target except some boss which will always choose the one standing farthest away. Don't know taunting will increase the chance it choose you for special attack or not.

Royaji · January 2020

Sellistrix has an attack that ignores taunt. Intentional design. There are other bosses with this mechanic too.

Vault Protector goes off of both time and HP. Whatever happens first. That's why you can sometimes get double lasers where boss stands up and goes back into shield again immediately. And yes, it's the gatekeeper boss that's supposed to tell your group that DPS is too low and this dungeon is not for you yet.

ccfeeling · January 2020

Well , for Vault Protector fight , you really need a coordinated group .

DPS : 25-30K dps is OK , higher would be help but not a must , one more thing , burn the spheres on sight , in PUG , I always see the dps ignore those adds , that's why they fail .
Healer : I suggest healer goes more offensive for this fight , because there are not much to do but healing and buffs , because laser one shot , boss cone heavy attack one shot

Tank : Run buff and debuff sets if possible , such as Yol and Alkosh , always hold the boss at centre , inner fire 2 adds every phase , tank could help to rev during boss drop aoe from the sky , warhorn as much as possible .

UntilValhalla13 · January 2020

Whenever I tank the laser boss, I always taunt the adds so that they target me instead of the dps.

Zmaja also has a habit of randomly turning around and popping a dps, before immediately turning back to the tank, no matter how much time is left on the taunt. I've seen it firsthand both as a main tank, and as a dps who gets smacked. Working as intended. XD

redlink1979 · January 2020

UntilValhalla13 wrote: »

Whenever I tank...boss, I always taunt the adds...

That's how you tank it.

@TheUndeadAmulet Selletrix has that mechanic, she does a random attack to a group member even if the tank keeps aggro at all times. Group should be close to the boss, having their own space, at all times.

Regarding Frostvault - Low dps on dlc dungeons are always a problem: usually the longer the fight lasts, the worst it gets.

Always prioritize: spiders > spheres > boss

Always keep the boss somewhere in the middle to make it easier to avoid the laser beams. The laser beams are always either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Laser phases:
75% -- 1 Laser beam phase
40% -- 2 Laser beam phases
20% -- 4 Laser beam phases

For more insights here's a guide by @WhitePawPrints

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/454641/frostvault-walkthrough-and-guide-spoilers

macsmooth · January 2020

Selletrix will jump at anyone that is further than melee range, it’s a fight where the group need to stay close to the tank but to the sides of the boss and tank keeps selletrix in the water if at all possible

The lasers are linked to one side of the arena everyone should just follow mechanics and walk around the bosses shield and priorities as stated above range taunt helps for adds to focus you

You can’t tank non mechanics compliance groups

Eso101rus · January 2020

As a tank I prefer to keep Sellistrix in the electrified water as it stops her sheild, but it does seem to make her erratic and less responsive to taunt. As dps and healer should be prepared for whatever she throws at them.

The vault protector does require decent dps but by keeping on top of adds it will help to follow the other mechanics. I’ve seen dps who ignore the adds and focus boss while he invincible.

caperb · January 2020

macsmooth wrote: »

Selletrix will jump at anyone that is further than melee range, it’s a fight where the group need to stay close to the tank but to the sides of the boss and tank keeps selletrix in the water if at all possible

You can’t tank non mechanics compliance groups

So many PUG groups not keeping to this mechanic, and then ask why the boss jumps to them. It's stupid how many base game dungeon mechanics are not even known to a lot of players.

Varana · January 2020

To be fair, they fixed Sellistrix a while ago. Previously, you could tank her on one of the islands and be safe from most of her mechanics, and this automatically meant that the whole group was close to her as well. So in this case, there's a reason for not knowing the mechanics other than not paying attention.

code65536 · January 2020

Xynode's guides, particularly for DLC dungeons, are notoriously full of factual errors, which he gets defensive about and fails to correct if someone points them out to him. If he's telling you that the laser mechanic happens only at health percentages, then he's just flat-out incorrect... again.

Initially, during PTS, the lasers happened on a timer. Which meant that groups with very high DPS would never even encounter the 4-beam sweep. So it was changed during PTS, and when it hit the Live server, it had a hybrid model of health percentage or timer, whichever comes first, so that groups with high DPS would still see a minimum of 4 laser phases. For groups with low DPS, this change doesn't affect them.

As for Sellistrix, she does shed taunt and in the process gain Taunt Immunity (which is why the tank is unable to get her back for a period of time). As for whether this is an intended mechanic or a bizarre long-standing bug, only ZOS can answer that. Given that this is how this boss fight has behaved since the beginning, I'm leaning toward it being intended, even though it's an awfully strange thing.

The more interesting mechanic with Sellistrix is that she electrifies the water if she's standing in it, and she gains a partial damage shield if she's on land. But with the way she sheds taunt and runs off, holding her steady in the water to avoid the damage shield is a bit tricky. And maybe that's the reason they saw fit to have her shed taunt every now and then?

redlink1979 · January 2020

code65536 wrote: »

...Sellistrix....As for whether this is an intended mechanic or a bizarre long-standing bug...

Intended mechanic. This isn't the only creature that attacks the player who is farthest away.

Varana · January 2020

But the difference is, if I understand code correctly, that Sellistrix not only attacks some player (random or by position) but that she actually gets un-taunted. Every other boss that has such a mechanic just turns away from the tank, attacks his new target, but remains taunted so he turns back to the tank.

code65536 · January 2020

Varana wrote: »

But the difference is, if I understand code correctly, that Sellistrix not only attacks some player (random or by position) but that she actually gets un-taunted. Every other boss that has such a mechanic just turns away from the tank, attacks his new target, but remains taunted so he turns back to the tank.

Correct. The Taunt debuff disappears and she gains Taunt Immunity (the same effect that would result from multiple tanks taunting the same target, except there is no multi-taunting happening here). It's quite unusual.

redlink1979 wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

...Sellistrix....As for whether this is an intended mechanic or a bizarre long-standing bug...

Intended mechanic. This isn't the only creature that attacks the player who is farthest away.

She does not necessarily target the farthest player away, and player distance is not what triggers the taunt shedding and immunity.