Shadar-Kai spiked chains?

[mobrien316]

I'm assuming there is something I'm missing here, because I find the assassins with the spiked chains to probably be the most annoying mob in the game. Hopefully someone can point out what I'm doing wrong.

With a melee character, I immediately try to trip or stun. Immediately after that, I start swinging. When I see the spiked chain animation start, I jump back out of range, though I'm usually still burdened with five or ten stacks of the spiked chain effect, even though there's no way on earth I was hit five or ten times. The assassin runs up to me and we do it all again. If there is more than one assassin it is even more frustrating.

Other than ranging them from far away, is there something else I can try?

[arkonas]

I'm assuming there is something I'm missing here, because I find the assassins with the spiked chains to probably be the most annoying mob in the game. Hopefully someone can point out what I'm doing wrong.

With a melee character, I immediately try to trip or stun. Immediately after that, I start swinging. When I see the spiked chain animation start, I jump back out of range, though I'm usually still burdened with five or ten stacks of the spiked chain effect, even though there's no way on earth I was hit five or ten times. The assassin runs up to me and we do it all again. If there is more than one assassin it is even more frustrating.

Other than ranging them from far away, is there something else I can try?

my only answer to this is i see more melee stay in longer then they should. normally you encounter about 2-5 at a time and 2-3 start swinging right away. then once you move the others will start swinging. so what i do as a melee is i swing a few times trying to immobilize them if i can. if not just out dps them before they become a pain. so yes i do have to dance a little but meh its better then standing in one spot with autoattack.

[Wh070aa]

They have nothing on Howler stacking wis damage that woks taught walls.

I personally ether range them, or stun them with ranged stun. Umd Lightning Sphere scrolls(or whatever stun with will save), or use whatever built in thing you have.
Also use haste/striding+speed boost and jump pot/item for hit and run.

And you can just hold down shift, and roll out of the range, without getting the stacks. Just don't shield bash.

[dunklezhan]

Yeah the only thing I can say about them is - be fast. be uber alert for the chain animation starting, don't be afraid to chip away at them. Honestly, often once they start swinging I dive out the way and then kill other mobs for a bit, and then deal with the assassins one by one since they often get out of step with each other.

And very often... I just die.

[Loromir]

I'm assuming there is something I'm missing here, because I find the assassins with the spiked chains to probably be the most annoying mob in the game. Hopefully someone can point out what I'm doing wrong.

With a melee character, I immediately try to trip or stun. Immediately after that, I start swinging. When I see the spiked chain animation start, I jump back out of range, though I'm usually still burdened with five or ten stacks of the spiked chain effect, even though there's no way on earth I was hit five or ten times. The assassin runs up to me and we do it all again. If there is more than one assassin it is even more frustrating.

Other than ranging them from far away, is there something else I can try?

There is a cool-down on their swings. I just move way until they break their swing animation and then jump back on them as quick as I can. Moving away tends to make them break their animation. Don't try to stand with them while they are swinging. You will always lose that battle.

It gets a little more dicey when you add several to the mix...but it can still be done.

[temp42]

Running the wheyloon questline lately on my level 16 fs, and I find dual wielding envenomed blades lets me land a paralyze on them, sometimes before they first start up, but pretty much always if you jump out of the first chain before they can get a second one going. The more assassins that happen, the less well this works, but it usually locks a single one down well. CC spells of course are a great help as well, but you need decent DCs for that (more than my first life fs manages to land reliably generally).

Also, as mentioned, there is a cooldown, so you could send in the hireling/pet to eat the hit, then teleport him back to you and pound on him while hes on cooldown, then you dont suck that aweful debuff. Either way, those guys are the nastiest things in the room, and need focus first always, even over casters.

[axel15810]

Watch for the animation and run away before it hits you. Wait for it to end then run back in and swing. Rinse/repeat.

The main thing to keep in mind is they cannot move when they're swinging the chain.

But yes, they are super annoying for melees and probably my most hated mob in the game as well...other than quells.

[Lorianna]

They have nothing on Howler stacking wis damage that woks taught walls.
My "favorite" are the stacks of poison spines that some of those things will lay onto you if you get mobbed by them, and the stacks last for 60 seconds, doing damage every 2 seconds. I had one fight where I ended up with 9 stacks on me, and it was ticking for around 16 damage PAST my 10/- DR. Over 400 damage from that stupid dot, and if I hadn't had DR, it would have been over 700 damage. This wasn't even on EE, it was just on EN!

As far as the spiked chain guys go, yeah, they're insanely annoying. If they stack it up, it's a 40% attack speed debuff and like -70% damage. I just walk away from them the moment they start up the animation for it, and even then I usually end up with 2-3 stacks.

[FuzzyDuck81]

They have nothing on Howler stacking wis damage that woks taught walls.


I like to imagine that what they're howling are random youtube comments, which is how they make u dumb

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

There is a cool-down on their swings. I just move way until they break their swing animation and then jump back on them as quick as I can. Moving away tends to make them break their animation. Don't try to stand with them while they are swinging. You will always lose that battle.

It gets a little more dicey when you add several to the mix...but it can still be done.

This, essentially.

Whether it's one or several, they'll close in before they use the chain. If you move just as they get next to you and stop, that triggers their chain animation. Move back out of range, they'll swing two or three times, and then move in again- but now you've got a few seconds to get your hits in. If you have room to keep inching back and making them move to you, they'll never touch you.

The two biggest issues are not having the space to run- the corner rooms in Mirror, or uncleared space where you'll aggro more trash- and running into a chain that someone else started. You just have to be careful.

I'll second that shadar kai are typically easier to deal with than 30 ****ing howler debuffs and the accompanying red alert.

[BD_]

High reflex save = immunity to chain.

[CThruTheEgo]

High reflex save = immunity to chain.

Care to elaborate on this? My assassin with a 79 reflex save gets pwned by those chains if I don't get out of the way fast enough.

[Cantor]

Care to elaborate on this? My assassin with a 79 reflex save gets pwned by those chains if I don't get out of the way fast enough.

I thought you needed evasion, but maybe just reflex saves works. When you save you don't take stacks of the dizzy chains, still takes damage, but not slowed/weakened.

[Pnumbra]

No way to avoid them than just to move out of range. It get dangerous if you in a small confined space or if doing the final boss in Thrill of the Hunt - Karlack. Like many have said, watch for the animation and sound, then get moving. You will always or nearly always get hit a few times. I share the tactic of another poster and try to stun them as fast as possible or out right kill them.

[CThruTheEgo]

I thought you needed evasion, but maybe just reflex saves works. When you save you don't take stacks of the dizzy chains, still takes damage, but not slowed/weakened.

That makes more sense. I don't get those on my assassin. Thanks for clarifying. The damage on EE is still enough to kill you quickly though. For that reason, it's more a matter of avoiding the chain attack altogether imo.

[the_one_dwarfforged]

I'm assuming there is something I'm missing here, because I find the assassins with the spiked chains to probably be the most annoying mob in the game. Hopefully someone can point out what I'm doing wrong.

With a melee character, I immediately try to trip or stun. Immediately after that, I start swinging. When I see the spiked chain animation start, I jump back out of range, though I'm usually still burdened with five or ten stacks of the spiked chain effect, even though there's no way on earth I was hit five or ten times. The assassin runs up to me and we do it all again. If there is more than one assassin it is even more frustrating.

Other than ranging them from far away, is there something else I can try?

land your dcs.

use dps.

perfectly sufficient strategy

[Angelic-council]

Yeah the only thing I can say about them is - be fast. be uber alert for the chain animation starting, don't be afraid to chip away at them. Honestly, often once they start swinging I dive out the way and then kill other mobs for a bit, and then deal with the assassins one by one since they often get out of step with each other.

And very often... I just die.

Good advice here. Pay attention to animation and sound, it's very noticable, you might get hit once, but it's not fatal damage. You can still get away from them and wait or use ranged, instant kill or CC. It's good that they are nasty. Always take a distance and don't get too close even if you are melee, because it will hit you twice and that's really bad.

[Nonesuch2008]

As far as the spiked chain guys go, yeah, they're insanely annoying. If they stack it up, it's a 40% attack speed debuff and like -70% damage. I just walk away from them the moment they start up the animation for it, and even then I usually end up with 2-3 stacks.

The speed de-buff is the worst, by far. Melee in small doses coupled with a good dodge technique wins the day, but I find it hard to avoid picking up a couple of stacks myself. A listen or spot challenged party can easily get ambushed & have the chains going without much time to react.

[Fedora1]

Blur+displacement helps significantly too.

[01000010]

reflex saves
any auto cc move like sap, knockout, some bard moves, etc
guardbreaking + any autocrit combo(there are many)
balanced attacks + fast attacking

i could probably think of 20 more ways if i wanted to write, lol.

anyhow, as soon as you see it hit cc move whik walking backward just in case, if you cant kill trash shadar kai(even champs) before cooldown is up and they do it again you need dps, or at least more cc moves.

[bartharok]

I run around like crazy, not staying in the range of the chains, and as soon as they start moving, i rush them and hit them with everything i got. Works pretty well for me. Slower than a lot of people wish, though.

[Drelak]

Has anyone tried blocking?
Tip text says that blocking (with or without shield) prevents many special effects from attacks with tells.

I am a bit surprised no-one has commented about it. I don't block much personally because of latency and paladin build.

[01000010]

if i recall blocking doesnt work well against chains, i test it against everything at some point. frankly i disagree that it prevents many special attacks, seems pretty rare.

i think when game 1st came out it stopped a good percentage of special attacks like spider venom spit, but as they added content they didnt bother to code in blocking use against most if not all of the new special attacks.