How do you counter harpy song?

[kmoustakas]

Every time I see a harpy I get the 'soothing song' debuff and I can do nothing but block until it goes away (assuming another harpy doesn't renew it).

How can I counter the song other than fighting from range?

[KoobTheProud]

Will saves and Enchantment resistance?

My casters never seem to get soothed however that could also be because they are rarely in range.

Easy way to figure it out would be with a level appropriate character in Stormhorns. Go find a spawn and then run away and reset them, swap gear and come back.

[Ereshkigal]

Every time I see a harpy I get the 'soothing song' debuff and I can do nothing but block until it goes away (assuming another harpy doesn't renew it).

How can I counter the song other than fighting from range?

Silence would be nice :/ but only warlocks have "Silence Creature"

I think these are still in the game, maybe... I don't know if they work in this instance though.

Warsoul/Warpriest "Silence the Wicked", Magus of the Eclipse "Nullmagic Strike", and apparently a Legendary Green Steel "Sound and Silence." or maybe "Ear Smash" from Occult slayer?

[Sqrlmonger]

When it's a group of harpies you can usually just kill them instantly and it's no problem. However, if you're dealing with a single named harpy (e.g. like in Lines of Supply optional or Oath of Vengeance final boss) you can avoid the frontal cone of the creature.

This usually involves running circles around the thing until it dies but they tend to pause their rotation for various abilities fairly often so it's not as bad as it could be.

I've used this technique with very high success rate for many lives when doing the Lines of Supply opt while waiting for the 5 minutes to tick down at the start.

[Mindos]

Does the item enchantment Soundproof work against harpy songs?

[Dabima]

No defense for it other than simply not being anywhere near them. It gives no saving throw and there's no counter to it to my knowledge. Nothing stopping multiple harpies from just spamming it on you one after the other

[droid327]

Harpy song...Fomorian/Kopru curses...no-save (and no SR, and no Spell Absorb, and not Harper Pin-able) full disable abilities are frustrating. They should at least have a telegraph and be Blockable. Or have a recurring save to negate. Or something other than just run around till the timer wears off and hope the mob doesnt just do it again.

[Oxarhamar]

Harpy song...Fomorian/Kopru curses...no-save (and no SR, and no Spell Absorb, and not Harper Pin-able) full disable abilities are frustrating. They should at least have a telegraph and be Blockable. Or have a recurring save to negate. Or something other than just run around till the timer wears off and hope the mob doesnt just do it again.

Some things in game that you can build or gear to overcome others you have to play using tactics

This is good

[droid327]

Some things in game that you can build or gear to overcome others you have to play using tactics

This is good

Yes, and like I said, if it was telegraphed and there was some response to negate it, that'd be fine. I learned to block nightmare charges, avoid medusa gaze, etc. But a no save no block no telegraph disable has no tactics involved, you're just at the mercy of the mob scripting

I don't consider cheesing the mob ai to be a legit "tactic" either. It works, but it shouldn't be what the devs expect players to do in that situation.

[Oxarhamar]

Yes, and like I said, if it was telegraphed and there was some response to negate it, that'd be fine. I learned to block nightmare charges, avoid medusa gaze, etc. But a no save no block no telegraph disable has no tactics involved, you're just at the mercy of the mob scripting

I don't consider cheesing the mob ai to be a legit "tactic" either. It works, but it shouldn't be what the devs expect players to do in that situation.

Yeah we’ve had Harpies in the game since Shadowfell what have ever other player been doing

There are indeed tactics involved

[kpak01]

if you're dealing with a single named harpy (e.g. like in Lines of Supply optional or Oath of Vengeance final boss) you can avoid the frontal cone of the creature.

This usually involves running circles around the thing until it dies

This is very strange to me. Why would you bother to fight either one of those?

The harpy is Lines of Supply isn't even hostile! She's just a skill check, there's no need to fight.

And the "end boss" in Oath isn't the end boss, she's just a minor obstacle to avoid while you solve the "end boss": the tile puzzle. Again, no fighting required.

[Tyrande]

This is very strange to me. Why would you bother to fight either one of those?

The harpy is Lines of Supply isn't even hostile! She's just a skill check, there's no need to fight.

Indeed. She can actually do the opposite. She can come to the friendly side and fight for the party.

And the "end boss" in Oath isn't the end boss, she's just a minor obstacle to avoid while you solve the "end boss": the tile puzzle. Again, no fighting required.

True. It just shows how bloody aggressive tendencies humanity have.

"Hey I have a big uber-some longsword. Let me test it on this harpy..."

Now, if the OP is talking about "What goes up..."... my usual tactics is taking them out from far away with either casters or ranged.

[vryxnr]

ones that are not immune to crowd control can be crowd controlled. If you're not a caster, you still have options, like stun. They can't sing their song at you when they're stunned. If there is an enemy you know has a special attack that is dangerous, prioritize them and prioritize control so they can't use that attack (unless you know you can one shot them, then just kill them instead).

Harpies can be stunned. Other forms of non-caster CC will need to be tested or confirmed/rejected by others. If you are a caster though, soundburst to stun, hold monster to hold, etc.

Also: if it has stats, people will try to kill it. HP bar? must. kill. grah! (note: I am one of the rare few who do not kill everything I see... "fun" when someone wants me to show them how I run specific quests but then aggroes everything in line of sight even as I'm saying "I ignore those enemies, no need to fi...well we're fighting them now!" ... though sometimes it is fun to go all murder-hobo sometimes)

edit: tldr: you counter it by proactive action. Disable them before they can do it.

[droid327]

what have ever other player been doing

Mostly just brute forcing past them with power creep, like most challenges in the game...

You keep saying there's tactics involved, what exactly are you saying they are?

[droid327]

Disable them before they can do it.

Not every build is going to have an option like that. CC is something that makes hard fights easier...but its not something that should be expected or required for standard content, to avoid being completely disabled.

If Harpy song had a save or SR or Absorb or something, then fine (like Umber Hulk's stun does). If Harpy song had a save to make it a slow instead of a disable, that's fine too. But "CC them first or be completely disabled" is not a fair design, IMO.

[Oxarhamar]

Mostly just brute forcing past them with power creep, like most challenges in the game...

You keep saying there's tactics involved, what exactly are you saying they are?

There are multiple tactics that are available some have already been posted in the thread who you choose to overcome the challenge are up to you????

[Oxarhamar]

Not every build is going to have an option like that. CC is something that makes hard fights easier...but its not something that should be expected or required for standard content, to avoid being completely disabled.

If Harpy song had a save or SR or Absorb or something, then fine (like Umber Hulk's stun does). If Harpy song had a save to make it a slow instead of a disable, that's fine too. But "CC them first or be completely disabled" is not a fair design, IMO.

It’s fair design not all enemies require to have saves

Not all builds have CC that’s also fair it’s not required at all just an option

[droid327]

There are multiple tactics that are available some have already been posted in the thread who you choose to overcome the challenge are up to you????

All I've seen is "CC them first" - which, yeah if thats an option for you then great, but it shouldnt be required to avoid complete disability....and "run in circles around them", which I consider cheesing the AI, not an actual tactic, and also shouldn't be how devs expect you to tactically mitigate the challenge. Using position to utilize LOS or manage mob grouping is tactical...circling them faster than their animations can spin is not.

It’s fair design not all enemies require to have saves

Not all builds have CC that’s also fair it’s not required at all just an option

Yes agreed - optional, not required. Which is why I dont like having a full disable, if the only defense against it is having workable CC

Full disables/stuns should have an extra degree of scrutiny above other debuffs, because anytime you force players to stop playing the game entirely, you're creating a high degree of frustration and a binary win/fail dynamic (like, e.g. instakill effects). Enemy attacks should either be full disables or fully indefensible, but not both.

[Xgya]

Full disables/stuns should have an extra degree of scrutiny above other debuffs, because anytime you force players to stop playing the game entirely, you're creating a high degree of frustration and a binary win/fail dynamic (like, e.g. instakill effects). Enemy attacks should either be full disables or fully indefensible, but not both.

This is true in more ways than one.
We've repeatedly seen people asked for quests with forced waiting to be made faster (cutscene skips, gongs, all-the-mobs-at-once...), because waiting kills interest.

This kind of CC (and stat damage as well) would do well to acquaint itself with the way Howlers do it. Stacking penalties that go away not too long after the fact, that can lead to a hard lock if you let yourself get hit one too many times.

[Sqrlmonger]

This is very strange to me. Why would you bother to fight either one of those?

The harpy is Lines of Supply isn't even hostile! She's just a skill check, there's no need to fight.

And the "end boss" in Oath isn't the end boss, she's just a minor obstacle to avoid while you solve the "end boss": the tile puzzle. Again, no fighting required.

1) Not sure about perform, but if you use diplo you still have to fight the named harpy alone.

2) Because if you are solo'ing the quest you are still pretty likely to get harpy locked right before you solve the puzzle and killing the room only takes a couple of seconds. Also it's not safe to assume people who are posting about harpy problems are zerg'ing (i.e. ignoring unnecessary mobs) in every quest at peak efficiency.