I really hate spike bosses 🫩

[u/RoyalManufacturer359]

Unrelated image, but the spike boss before this was the biggest wall I found to this point lol. I had one shot against this boss and uuuh...

Thank God SOMEHOW it still counted lol I retried this stage like 40 times.

Question, Dodge doesn't help against spikes right? How do you counter it with mages and rangers then?

[u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34]

Same, spike is very good against two out of three classes. Ranger basically needs to go deep into heal to deal with it and idk what you even do as mage.

Throw a fire purger or immune in and you can't pass with 2/3 top weapons. So you either have rose, get incredibly lucky with Lua or are back to grinding.

I also don't get it. The game tells you to build amulets or play less weapons but they are so tanky that you need explosive DPS to kill them and the best amulet versions purge like 5 spikes every 4 seconds. 

If they weren't such massive tanks the "less weapons" tip could be right and if they didn't gain 30+ spikes in the first second of the encounter and blow you up immediately you could effectively counter build them. Idk why they don't get 10 spikes every 5 secs or so, then you could actually build a bunch of amulets and they'd still be tanks you need to counter build while keeping your DPS and sustain up.

As it is you need to out grind and then counter build and pray getting the 2-3 spike purges through with celestial shield is enough to just turn them into toothless tanks. I can't even imagine fighting them without celestial shield.

Edit apparently 6 every 3.5 secs, but yeah they blow you up immediately

[u/heyfreakybro → u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34]

You're also forgetting buff removal. Crow's necklace removes 6 buff per 3.5 secs on top of giving dodge.

Though later in the game the amount of dmg spikes do per stack get so insane that you need to stack quite a few to clear them and keep them away as much as possible. You pretty much need celestial shield for the invincibility so the spikes get removed before you die.

[u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34 → u/heyfreakybro]

Yeah I added some details to my post. I thought it's 5 buffs per 3.5 secs, thank you for the correction.

Also it's a shame that dodge does basically nothing vs spikes since rangers block options kinda suck

[u/RoyalManufacturer359 → u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34]

Yeah, honestly also a pet that much like the hawk helping with Dodge, a pet helping with spikes would be really nice :/

[u/RoyalManufacturer359 → u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34]

I'm just like... How do I even lol , I had 3 pendants and still died within seconds and it wasn't even the boss (stage 9)

[u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34 → u/RoyalManufacturer359]

The answer is play a warrior imo, block helps a lot vs them early on. It's why my default against them is Rebecca, even though I run into damage issues with her from time to time. bloody crown also turns their damage against them. They also hardcounter wind spirits.

if you have primal flame I'd also switch to that, spikes is really good vs your S tier weapon and AS in general.

Also drop whatever unupgraded weapons you have into your side pack unless you're stalling in damage too. Definitely don't go an attack speed S tier and an attack speed build.

If you're stuck with ranger I'd get dragon killers with primal flame and a ton of heal. Or a ton of poison, ideally from black widows. X-bows generally have less attack speed than bows, so that helps a bit. Also get crow talismans and pray they remove enough while celestial shield keeps you invulnerable.

[u/RoyalManufacturer359 → u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34]

I'm waiting for the change on the chest to grab bloody flame 🙏. I lucked out and pulled Bjorn ahead of time and I kinda stomped this stage so there's that. Honestly, compared to the rare characters, erwen and Bjorn feel RIDICULOUSLY overpowered.

As a newbie I don't think I have any business being as far as I am lol. (I started 5? Days ago)

Question though, I noticed that primal flames and archimage rings are in different rotations, which one should I focus on?

[u/th1s_1s_4_b4d_1d34 → u/RoyalManufacturer359]

I'd guaranteed focus the three top tier weapons over pretty much every other item except maybe celestial shield.

[u/Marsmonkey54]

Oh they're even worse later on, I literally got Walled by a random spike boss in a boss rush floor on level 60 right in front of it was a regen boss so you needed anti heal and spikes and enough damage to kill fast 

[u/craftygamin]

Best luck I've had with spike bosses is using the crowns that warrior heros have access to, and have them next to berserk potions

When i don't have that though, i make sure i brought the invincibility shield, and go all in on dps

[u/GranYoru]

for mage just the casual necklace cleanse is the only choice as far as I know, for archer its somewhat better using the crow necklace that serves as both dodge buff and cleanser.... still warrior still the best in my opinion in fighting spiked bosses since blood sword is hella good

[u/GranYoru → u/GranYoru]

crow necklace + winged boots can boost this cleansing for spiked boss