Defending Otto's Irresistable Dance

[Matuse]

This spell is starting to really annoy me, particularly from Deadheart in VoN1, since he apparently procs it on his melee swings. There's no save, spell resistance never seems to apply, and the only defense against it that I can find is the Holy Aura spell which theoretically would provide immunity since Otto's is an enchantment. However, this spell is not available via scroll, potion, or clicky item.

Is there anything else that works?

[Junts]

Not even holy aura and circle against evil will block it. Spell resistance may if you had a lot of it, but deadheart being a boss has a massive caster level.

[GeneralDiomedes]

I would suggest taking him down using ranged attacks since this is a short range spell. Less fuss and muss.

On a related note, I discovered last night to my surprise that the Fire Giant Slayers in Tempest Spine also cast it.

[Matuse]

Yea, I've seen the slayers in TS doing it, but they are actually casting it. Deadheart isn't. He hits you, and you dance. Since he never seems to miss (at least, in 2 lengthy fights, he has never missed me so far, and I've been watching for it), you can't really get close to him, and since he's a troll, range damage doesn't work because he out-regens it. Going toe to toe is not a problem..his melee damage isn't all that scary, but when you spend 2/3rds of the time dancing, that's a lot of time when he gets to smack you around and regen.

[Angelus_dead]

and since he's a troll, range damage doesn't work because he out-regens it. Going toe to toe is not a problem..his melee damage isn't all that scary, but when you spend 2/3rds of the time dancing, that's a lot of time when he gets to smack you around and regen.

Deadheart is not difficult.

A level 3 wizard can solo him without worry, as can any other character with appropriate equipment, or AC, or whatever. There's even a clicky in the Waterworks rewards to defeat him.

[sephiroth1084]

AC works pretty well... Went and solo'ed the arena at level 8 on my intimitank--Pal 7/Ftr 1.

[Matuse]

I've spent a substantial amount of time hitting him with acid and fire weapons, and while he may regen slower (I'm not convinced of that), he does regen it. If you're talking about the eternal wand from WW, that won't work. Hell, even if he didn't regen at all, that thing doesn't carry enough damage to kill him. He easily tops 400 hp.

I'm carrying a 33 AC with him on Normal, and he NEVER misses. Ever. He doesn't even seem to roll a 1. Plus of course, ducking his attack animations doesn't work. Once he begins an attack, it doesn't matter how far away from him I am when it lands, it still hits me....and so do the followups when he does a chain.

All I need is something to keep from being constantly Danced. If not for that, killing him would be trivial.

[Matuse]

Well, I went through the combat log, and I found the trend that let me beat him...his dancing proc only goes off on critical hits. In the process, I also discovered that he either rolls like a madman, or his weapon has a crit threat range of 15-20, because nearly a quarter of his attacks are crits, which is what was dancing me so much. I upgraded my fortification item, and this let me beat him without great difficulty.

[GeneralDiomedes]

and since he's a troll, range damage doesn't work because he out-regens it.

I have killed him with both an acid bow and scorching ray .. I didn't notice any significant regen, but that was a few mods ago. I suppose a retest is in order.

Also, the acid splash wand is still useful, you just have to use it to stop his regen while you damage him in-between.

[GeneralDiomedes]

I upgraded my fortification item, and this let me beat him without great difficulty.

That is interesting, because I thought that on-crit effects are still supposed to go off regardless of fortification?

[Junts]

Well, I went through the combat log, and I found the trend that let me beat him...his dancing proc only goes off on critical hits. In the process, I also discovered that he either rolls like a madman, or his weapon has a crit threat range of 15-20, because nearly a quarter of his attacks are crits, which is what was dancing me so much. I upgraded my fortification item, and this let me beat him without great difficulty.

The triple smash attack of ogres and trolls is an automatic critical hit.

[Quikster]

A ranged weapon can hold agro on him while a few melees block him. Once agro is established melee can beat on him some. Beat him down a little, let ranged agro more, repeat. Can do this with a group of lvl 5's easy.

[Matuse]

The triple smash attack of ogres and trolls is an automatic critical hit.

Lies. And it's pretty easy to tell with 0% fort, when one time he hits 27-28-34, and the next 8-11-9.

Now, if making the first attack crit means all the followups are also crits...that I believe.

[thegoldenfleece1]

Lies. And it's pretty easy to tell with 0% fort, when one time he hits 27-28-34, and the next 8-11-9.

Now, if making the first attack crit means all the followups are also crits...that I believe.

I tried to to take him with on hard a couple of hirelings and failed. The level 12 wizard or sorc was particularly useless. I am pretty sure the weapons I were using were doing no damage. I went to an everbright shocking burst longsword and he started taking decent damage. I also added a couple fighters and a favored heh. He went down in a couple minutes from full.

I am pretty sure I was whaling on him for 10 minutes before the cleric ran out of sp. I have 39 ac 5 dr and pretty good prots. he does like to cast that dancing thing continously though.

[PopeJual]

Instead of a Shocking Burst longsword, why not try out a fire or acid weapon?

Since fire and acid both shut down troll regneration...

[Shade]

It's a weapon proc, ottos irresistable on crit.. Think he crits on like a 13 tho despite the fact its a greatclub. Definetely not every hit tho.

But he can miss, I used to do this quest twice daily on epic and i always just fought him straight up and curshed his face on my barbs no problem... Just needs some basic tactics on epic:

1. Cloudkill (20% miss chance)
2. Displacement (50% miss chance, stacks with ck)
3. Someone in your party with break enchantment - note even scrolls are 100% effective against his dance.

Beat him down, maybe have the arcane help with fire to shut down his regen if you arent doing it youself (he has some fire resistance, but no acid resist, so depends on your weaponry, min2 works ,but ESoS generally does not)

When u get danced, request a break.

So many casters fail to carry break scrolls that I actually started carrying them on my barb and would hand them out each run lol.. So very useful in epic, so little players understand this.

If no break scrolls available, or spell.. I believe the bard song "song of freedom" work as well, tho i cant say i tested this, it's also kind of slow so not ideal.

only issue with break is youll generally lose your ck and wall of fire too, unless your very skilled with positioning, so recast em after.

Another possible idea is dispel magic scrolls - low lvl versions should be weak enough to not dispel your buffs, but strong enough to handle his dance, which is just considered CL:1 far as I know. But overall BE scrolls are the better thing to fill an inventory slot with, as they function in so many other quests, while dispel rarely does.

[Shade]

The triple smash attack of ogres and trolls is an automatic critical hit.

more wrong info from junts. It's not, tho it's possible it has an enhanced threat range and bonus damage, as it certain hurts a lot more then their average strikes.

Note to avoid the triple hit:
Simply stand up right in his face, ogres/trolls never perform the action if there target is directly next to them, limitation of the ai. Tho careful if someone pulls agro, he could well do it then aimed at them, and cleave you in the process.

[CrankVulcan]

Is there anything else that works?

What if you got a bunch of gaurds and shield blocked? Shield block prevents most effects from getting through. I have never tried this but figured I'd mention it.

[sirgog]

At least on Epic, that dance doesn't go off very often. Feels to me like an 'on vorpal strike' proc rather than an 'on confirmed critical hit regardless of fortification' proc.

Regardless, high AC helps because it reduces his chance to confirm the crit (or vorpal strike, whichever the case may be).

[hityawithastick]

Get a PM to do it. We're immune.