Fighting Dread as a melee?

Grim Dawn General Discussion
1

Finally got to fight the Dread yesterday.
Though, me and my friend had no business going to Ascendant. We didn’t even finish AoM (ult) at the time. But we reached lvl 100 and decided to go Ascended for shits and giggles (everything is allowed on softcore).

Our builds are not only not optimised, we’re just two hobos with a dream.
I’m playing a meme Fire Amarasta infiltrator, except I only got a conduit and two pistols from the setup above, the rest is just random scraps I’ve got during the leveling. And I have 11k hp.

My friend, on the other hand, plays off pure vibes and has no idea what he’s doing with his chaos mystic WW. I’m not sure which state his gear, skills and devo’s are, but he’s lower than me in both sheet and factual dps and somehow even HP.

All that is to say, we had no business stepping into Ascendant, let alone fighting Dread.
Yet, when the opportunity presented itself, we were eager to see what’s there.

Suffice it to say we died a lot and didn’t do much to the dog.
It took us about five minutes to trim about 1 / 3 of the Drad HP, then one of us would die and we’d start the fight all over because of the full heal.

Eventually, through 30+ minutes of kiting and learning mechanics while shouting IVAN ELDENRING we beat it.
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And I went for a long smoking break on the balcony staring into the night sky and thinking about what just happened.

On one hand, I’m totally happy and satisfied with both the fight itself and the results.
It’s cool that even without a proper build whatsoever the boss can be taken down by avoiding it’s mechanics, dodging properly and kiting like there is no tomorrow.

On the other hand, I have a strong feeling I pulled this off solely because i was playing a ranged character. The aggro was almost always on me. My friend’s contribution was spamming Curse of Frailty.

And while it’s not exactly the easiest of endeavors, it boiled down to me running around a ruined home in Malmouth Outscirts in tight corridors. I also have 150% move speed, which definitely helped a lot on keeping the distance. So for now my “solution” to fighting Dread is high MS + any form of ranged damage.

This realization has lead me to the question: how do y’all fight the Dread in melee?
From what I saw on reddit / random YT shorts, no amount of defensive layers is really safe. I’ve seen a druid with ~25k hp and Maiven get popped in one frame.
Is there hope?
Do you have to perform perfect dodges all the time? Is there a room for a mistake?

2

It all boils down to learning what each telegraph does, and which attacks to avoid and which to facetank. Here’s a quick guide, when I say “tentacles” I mean the two very long arms with crab claws at the end.

Telegraph Attack type Recommended player action
Orange halo effect appears Sunder swipe/punch combo Avoid - the first two swipes aren’t that bad but the three punches afterwards might kill you
Leans back and raises right foot Stomp, on impact fires petrifying projectiles in all directions but not the front Facetank - as long as you don’t run around you’re safe
Pulls back both tentacles Fires red ball that creates black goo on impact Facetank if you can take it, but then step out of the black goo
Raises left tentacle high above its head Red swipe Avoid at all costs - this is what kills players the most

Everything else are normal melee attacks that you should be able to facetank.
One more general tip, always make sure to not remain in the black goo for too long, it’s like Kuba’s blood pools and heals the Dread.

3 Likes
3

The goo on the ground also reduces your offensive and defensive capacities by an absolutely ludicrous amount. If you stay in it, the Dread will crit you straight to spawn and/or you will not be able to heal via life steal (attack damage converted to health).

When facing the Dread, I facetank almost everything except for the goo and the sunder.

4

Most builds that are ready for ascendant can just facetank him while moving out of the black goo and evding sunder. Dodging red swipe is also worth doing since even if you can tank it, dread gets massive lifesteal from it which prolongs the fight

5

How much DA/DR do you need to not get oneshot by the red swipe attack? That is worse than the sunder in my experience.

6

The red swipe attack is like Cadence where it gains charges and then hits for crazy damage. He has a 20-30 charge duration so be careful he doesn’t get and keep these charges otherwise you’ll probably pop instantly when hit.

7

Ooooh so basically, if you don’t get hit often it becomes way more punishing?

8

No, the opposite. If he hits you he gains a charge just like Cadence and then he does massive damage like Cadence when it “releases”. So don’t get hit by the little arm attack that gives him the charge.

Check GT monsters database for more info about his skills.

9

The dread usually does 2 normal attacks before doing the red swipe, so the downside to this approach is having to dodge even more attacks, which can slow down the fight. I’d rather take the normal hits and then dodge the charged up swipe, which also has a longer telegraph than the normal attacks.

1 Like
10

I facetank almost everything include the sunder.
Death Knight’s Mark of Torment have enough cooldown to absorb damage and reflect sunder back.

2 Likes
11

The OA and DA shred is not even the issue, it’s the 90% damage reduction. You have to get out of it regardless of build.

12

Pretty much this although I don’t usually facetank the stomp he does because of the potential petrify, I charge away and as the waves get to me I use another mobility skill to get back in melee range

Also the first hit after the charge, I dodge it or go away then back in melee range

13

That’s why you should keep facetanking. The petrifying waves cannot hit you in melee range, they can only hit you when you run away.

14

Ah yes it’s always all those charge attacks that you have zero idea about until you go to GT and look at it lol.

15

Did you shout LEEROY JENKINS as you rushed in for some of that melee goodness?

16

No words were uttered, but the spirit lives within.