Weakening work on Frost Giants?

[Thrudh]

Took my barbarian into the Snow explorer area and the Prey quest...

I figured out pretty quickly that DPS was worthless, so I put away my big greataxe, and instead pulled out two weakening of enfeebling weapons (much easier to find than w/p).

But I didn't see much effect... I don't think I ever saw a Giant drop to 0 Strength (and auto-crit). I tested it again after the quest on the first giant in the explorer area and I never got to the auto-crit stage, and he continued to hit me hard the entire time.

Are they immune to str damage??

I finally went on the AH and bought a wounding dwarven axe and wounding hand-axe, went back into the explorer area and killed the first giant fairly quickly....

Bug or intended?

[Junts]

they have like 50 str and 20 con

[Dylos_Moon]

Hmm, considering they do stupid high damage, I'm thinking they have a stupid high strength, because it wouldn't make sense for 1 form of stat damage to work and another to not.

I'm thinking maybe 250+ strength or something so that DPS might actually be better over strength damage.

[oogly54]

We saw a similar thing in Monestary. On elite the mobs keep respawning, so we decided to just weaken them to uselessness. The monks however would continue to hit us even when we weakened them to the point of auto crit. I am curious if they gave them finesse and the game doesn't recognize the fact that a zero STR mobb can't hit anything even if the to-hit is based on DEX. The damage from the hits did not change either. We did not bug rport it, but we should have.

[tihocan]

We saw a similar thing in Monestary. On elite the mobs keep respawning, so we decided to just weaken them to uselessness. The monks however would continue to hit us even when we weakened them to the point of auto crit. I am curious if they gave them finesse and the game doesn't recognize the fact that a zero STR mobb can't hit anything even if the to-hit is based on DEX. The damage from the hits did not change either. We did not bug rport it, but we should have.

0 Str never prevented enemies to attack us

To the OP: just get a basic wounding weapon. If anyone is using one in Prey, giants drop really fast. No need for fancy WoP stuff.

[honkuimushi]

Maladroit weapons might be interesting in there. I doubt they have very high dex. As Tihocan said, strength damage does not prevent mobs from moving, attaking or inflicting damage. This has been an issue since around the time BAM was released. People would try to use weakening weapons against the blackguards since their HP and con were so high, but they still got hit hard after reducing them to 0 strength. That's one reason why you could easily by weakening weapons, even weakening of enfeebling, from the broker. With wounders you could kill the enemies, with weakening once you get past the huge strength score, you have to get through their HP, even though you will crit every time.

Of course since we can't do anything at 0 strength, it would be nice if the mobs operated under the same rules.

[Gornin]

Maladroit doesn't seem to work either. I know their dex should average to low and I will hit them 20 to 30 times and they are still attacking and causing damage. Guess I need to bug report that.

[Thrudh]

To the OP: just get a basic wounding weapon. If anyone is using one in Prey, giants drop really fast. No need for fancy WoP stuff.

I have, but what were the devs thinking?? Stat-damage was out of control before Mod 8... then they release a quest that pretty much REQUIRES stat-damage?

with weakening once you get past the huge strength score, you have to get through their HP, even though you will crit every time.

Part of the problem was I NEVER got to the point of auto-crit... that's why I was wondering if they were immune to STR damage.

[liamfrancais]

Check your combat log and see if any strength damage was showing up, also it should say immune if they are immune to something.

[alchilito]

We saw a similar thing in Monestary. On elite the mobs keep respawning, so we decided to just weaken them to uselessness. The monks however would continue to hit us even when we weakened them to the point of auto crit. I am curious if they gave them finesse and the game doesn't recognize the fact that a zero STR mobb can't hit anything even if the to-hit is based on DEX. The damage from the hits did not change either. We did not bug rport it, but we should have.

Interesting. Thx for these observations Oog.

[D'rin]

If I remember correctly from the examination window on the frost giants, they are immune to some stat damage. I'll check tonight.

[Gornin]

They are not immune, but are resistant to stat damage due to Sorjeks command.

I check my combat log and I can see where they resist or take damage. I had one giant had taken 30 points of dex damage and was still swinging and causing damage and couldn't get the auto crit to show up. If giants have more than 30 points of dex, that is wrong.

[Junts]

str/dex damage only stops mobs from using abilities and spells, not swinging (which is why itw orks great on living spells)

[Emili]

str/dex damage only stops mobs from using abilities and spells, not swinging (which is why itw orks great on living spells)

Pretty much as I remember it... now too bad they do not have a +5 ugly stick in the loot tables... those things are big and ugly a cha draining quarterstaff would make them feel like the ugly 7th lvl dwarf at the spiders in von 2.

[Talcyndl]

str/dex damage only stops mobs from using abilities and spells, not swinging (which is why itw orks great on living spells)

Yup. Weakening and/or enfeebling is almost required for the end fight in Enter the Kobold.

It's also nice for someone to run ahead in the Subterrean to 'disable' the living spells. Then you don't have to worry about your clerics and casters getting killed before you even get to the first door.

[Gornin]

It is supposed to make them helpless, just like us, hence the auto crit.

[Josh]

str/dex damage only stops mobs from using abilities and spells, not swinging (which is why itw orks great on living spells)

Last time I checked, any stat that is reduced to 0 (except con) in this game makes you helpless, and unable to take any actions (like swing a sword). Ever get chr drained in VoN 2 by the spiders, or get symbol of weakness(ed) on a low str character? You can still move, but you can't cast spells or attack. At least that's how I remember it.

I think it's a bug due to mobs having a static to-hit (i.e. a blanket +30 base to hit, then modified my stats) personally.

[Strykersz]

Whether it is a bug or design decision, mobs that have 0 of a non-con stat are able to attack but are prevented from casting spells or using abilities.

[dameron]

They regenerate stat damage.

I drained a frost giant down to where I was autocritting to test this. After hitting five or six crits in a row I shield blocked for about 20 seconds then started attacking again and was no longer getting autocrits.

After a couple of standards crits I started autocritting again. This obviously doesn't matter as much with wounding/puncturing (since the mob's dead) but it does make maladroit/bonebreaking and weakening/enfeebling even more of the bastard stepchildren of stat damaging weapons.

[Rog]

u want ota critr on the gaints go maldroit of bone breaking work like a charm.