you need to cap all resistances, Kuba has some Bleed and Pierce damage
this is not optional, you’re taking 3 - 4 more times damage of this type than you should
also at this level you should improve your armor absorption with a Scaled Hide component
also I’d drop that belt since it gives you a big debuff
use some +1 to Inquisitor or Demolitionist belt instead
(find it in Grim Tools Item Database where to get one if needed)
gloves component with either Attack damage converted to health or attack speed
I guess reworking your components would help a lot from the get-go.
Because you only have 17% pierce resist out of 80% (the maximum), you take 4x (four times!) as much damage as you should. A mild strike that should deliver 1k5 damage instead removes half your life in one go.
This Nemesis also spawns blood pools (a lot of them) which will just shred you.
Try to rotate a couple things and focus on getting those 80% everywhere (or almost) and you should be pretty fine =)
Do indeed drop the belt as well, the debuff is very painful.
I tried to move around some components and came up with this:
Do note that I absolutely suck at building chars and this is fairly random as I’m supposed to be working right now. But hey, hitting those 80%.
first up, belt is a trap/it’s lethal
would suggest reconsidering using it even if it sounds like cool stats
next is not all res is covered, couple low level items, not using components in all slots, also not using augments in all slots even tho you were actually applying some nicely
since Kuba can deal significant bleed dmg might have been part of what made it hurt extra since your bleed res is very low
example Purifier, Level 89 (GD 1.2.1.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator bleed res is only 74, but should probably be fine/can fix that on rolls or a jewellery aug
likewise HP and OA will look lower; but you can get that on rolls since belt, chest, shoulder and ring has no affixes
*alternatively can use cronley ring for pierce res fix too if you find him more palatable to farm
**also keep in mind you’re close to level 90, which means whole new range of faction shop items and augments
Your bleed res explains everything, that’s why we asked for your grimtools
Always remember, resists maxed is your first and by far most important line of defense
You’ll be amazed by the difference if you fight Kuba with capped bleed res
Thanks so much for the suggestions, I guess all of you answered one of my questions about my belt, will switch it out today. I have already been farming Helms and shoulders to replace what I have. Belt is def next.
I like the Nemesis spawn change, but Beasts being the most common faction in the game means Kubacabra will be the first to be unlocked and thus spawns far too often, that gets kind of tiring.
I do Veteran (i skip all rogue dungeons in this difficulty) straight into Ultimate, and by the third act of Ultimate Beasts infamy is maxed out, most of the time when i get to Jagged Wastes. I’m still leveling mind you, i’m around level 80 or something. So i’m doing the Black Legion quests there and i pretty much do everything in one fell swoop, because exiting the game while still leaving a quest or two from that area means it will just spawn again.
Then i move to Homestead, another area filled with Beasts, it will spawn again for sure there. Yet another area where i try to do everything in one go, so i don’t have to deal with it more than i have to. I can kill him quite easily in Ultimate with an undergeared character below level 94 but because i’m missing my level 94 stuff, it means it survives much longer and thus the inevitable takes much longer to arrive (and that’s Kuba dying). At least when i get to 94 and i get my stuff i can blast it in like 10 or less seconds and get an easy Nemesis trove.
Thankfully the expansion is adding more Nemeses to old factions and thank god, i’m sick and tired of fighting this thing. Give me giant spider lady or something funny like a mage Groble with a million magic attacks.
And yes, Bleed resistance is very important against Kubacabra, always advised to have it maxed out. Vitality is the second one to look out for.
I’m glad you were able to get help with this. I’m genuinely very curious, as mentioned previously, how you were able to get Nemesis rank at level 85 on a first character, though. I assume it was without warrants, and because you were farming Ancient Grove for that Gargabol pistol in your Grimtools? I ask because infamy gain has been increased recently, which I love as a long time player (and you will too when you try to max Cronley infamy or Kymon/Death’s Vigil haha), but I wonder if this could become a common problem for new players when combined with the recent change of each difficulty being able to scale to level 100. In the past, infamy gain stopped when you were too far over-leveled, even though experience gain continued.
A point each in Flashbang and Searing Light will do wonders, by the way.
I first encountered Kuba after I completed my first playthrough. I was om Normal, Veteran. I was doing some farming for rep actually, and just lucked into the pistol.
I have Coven of Ugdenbog, Homestead, Kymon and Outcast at revered. From what I have now learned that is likely why I have seen a few of the Nemesis Bosses. Kuba is the most common, I ran into Benn Jhar and I did see Valdaran today. There might have been others, but I stopped checking and just logging out when they arrived.
Now I know that was the worst thing to do, and explains why every time I logged back in one would pop up again. I got very frustrated from that and that is why I created the post. Now I just port somewhere else for the time, or force one out in the opposite side of Cairn that I want to explore.
Your fame status with friendly factions has nothing to do with Nemesis spawns. Being revered gives you access to the last tab at the faction vendors, that’s pretty much it. A Nemesis will only start to spawn once you reached the final infamy status with its faction. You gain infamy by killing members of that faction, and you gain more by killing heroes and bosses. Your faction window should show this, you probably have maxxed out at least 3 of those red bars
If you don’t just bum-rush the main quest, you can hit nem with aetherials, cthonians, and beasts at the start of ultimate. This would be around 75 or so, back in vanilla without running expansions. I vividly remember getting jumped by Valdaran for the first time right outside the door to the underground transit portal.
I love how memorable that first nemesis spawn is. I still remember the first nem I killed (not the first spawn) 4500 hours ago, with my Blademaster in the Gruesome Harvest (Valdaran).
I wonder if an admin could/should add an ‘Ideas and Feedback’ tag to this discussion because Nemeses can be a hard stop for new players, as we have seen. Don’t know how they’d fix it, but perhaps some changes are necessary. Maybe no nemeses on normal?
I’m sure that players who only play on normal would appear and a drama would arise, the truth is that I can’t think of anything to alleviate that discomfort, I think they will have to learn the game mechanics the hard way and overcome the challenge.
Is this truly a problem? I never had particular problems dealing with nemesis and Im not particularly good at the game. If char are made with a minimum of logic, no nemesis is that difficult to overcome. On ultimate you can fix nearly everything capping res, for example. And pressing the spacebar againts a few dangerous attacks is something that everyone can quickly learn.
I think if we’re discussing nerfs/buffs/changes with some candor:
Archmage Aleks: Could probably use a buff. Frankly I don’t think his meteor being the Sunder is great. Makes him a one-trick pony. He really doesn’t do much else.
Benn’Jahr: He’s fine, except when he’s not. I haven’t figured it out fully, but there is some threshold of phys res/armor where his sundering “poke” still one-shots you consistently.
Found that out leveling my last character. After you reach that threshold to survive, the crystals are the more dangerous mechanic, and the cage the most annoying.
Aside from the “random” one-shot poke, he’s fine.
Fabius: He’s fine, but his blade barrier is a joke in SR, while quite dangerous in campaign.
Grava’thul: Works perfectly fine. I like that he’s a bit different for SR, makes him more tolerable in the tight boss rooms.
Kaisan: He doesn’t do much unless you actually eat all the debuffs (crystals + Sunder) and that’s fine. If you aren’t fully geared, to bring him down quickly, he’s actually a good fight.
There are some weird cases, where the sunder move can shotgun(?) and deal way more damage than it usually does. (I think, when the projectiles from his sunder-move can’t go anywhere else, because he’s in a corner or up against an abyss).
Kuba: He’s great.
Moosi: One of the last remaining reasons to cap freeze res. Honestly works mostly fine, but outside of SR he’s somehow deadlier, because his first form with sunder hits surprisingly hard.
One thing to note, his Ice crystals probably shouldn’t live for 45 seconds. If a build is struggling to kill him, he can build up a pretty silly amount of those, and that can make killing him impossible.
In that regard he stands out from the others.
Reaper: Mostly a stat check, but he works fine. The Sunder could last about 1 second longer. His random DA reduction can make him pretty unpredictably lethal, with no real counter, except more DA stacking.
The Iron Maiden: Also mostly a stat check. Probably the least interesting fight. She essentially behaves like a random hero, with more HP and a charge you might want to dodge. Outside of that, she is the most boring fight, just face-tank and spank.
If you disengage, you get blitz’ed down. Most of her attacks look exactly the same and they come out so quickly, reading them to react is quite pointless.
Valdaran: His only dangerous move is the projectile burst when hit by ranged attacks:
Projectile burst
(15% Chance when Hit by Ranged Attacks)
5 Projectile(s)
1599-2291 Lightning Damage
This proc has no cooldown, he casts the aura very quickly and if he does, this can spit out a truly stupid amount of projectiles vs the wrong build. One player-volley can lead to 100+ projectiles being thrown out.
Feels like he’s designed to keep ranged builds out of Hardcore. If he puts this up while a flurry of projectiles are on their way towards him, you can just hope you hit the dodge key in the quarter-second before you die.
Oh, and he teleports/swaps you if you are far away, and if you have any passive procs triggering from the tiny amount of damage it deals, you can also instantly die, just from your own procs triggering his projectile burst…
Other than that, he does absolutely nothing noteworthy. On a melee build without projectile procs, you wouldn’t even recognize this one as a strong boss.
Imo, this one does indeed need a rework.
Zantarin: His one-shot move is also his Sunder move. Since he doesn’t use it at short range, he’s another case for face-tank and spank.
Since you can’t life-leech from him, he can become dangerous if you aren’t playing a regen build, or have other heals you can rotate while you facetank.
He doesn’t feel like a summoner at all, until you get so high up in SR that his skeletons no longer die.
My idea for him is to give him stronger minions to summon, like skeletal golems, which also dish out the Sunder. And maybe replace his shotgun with a thematic move that he can actually use without being sued for war crimes, like a Sigil of Consumption that will make the player move.
he’s essentially a suped up MQ with the same effect
(kinda takes a bit of the special out of it once you realize it’s Aetherial MQ now his bolt does nothing )
Curiously, both Valdaran and Zantarin get significantly tamer with nullify. You don’t even need to be an Arcanist for that, the Cleansing Waters devotion will work wonders.
For Zantarin, nullify removes his damage absorption shield instantly (and removes the -% phys res Curse of Frailty from yourself). After that, life-stealing his minions makes face-tanking him a breeze.
For Valdaran you need good timing. As soon as you hear the loud “zap” sound effect cast nullify and you should remove his storm aura before being shotgunned to death. Assuming you are a melee character of course…! If you’re a ranged character there’s nothing you can do because by the time you hear the loud “zap” you already have ranged attacks mid-air and you’ll just die if you’re too close, OR if he teleports to you at that very moment. Dead. Zero time to react.
I’ve posted this in other threads before but… Valdaran’s shotgun attacks REALLY NEED some kind of cooldown even if small. Or maybe a 1s cooldown between the time you hear the “zap” and the shotgun effects applies. Anything! I love GD but fighting Valdaran with ranged characters feels like unfair bullshit most of the time.
I’ve also tried nullifying Fabius’ Pneumatic Burst (loud breathing sound) but it doesn’t work. Best to run for 6 seconds if that’s a problem; those are his 6 strongest seconds (with a 22 second recharge).
I still haven’t tried nullifying Iron Maiden’s Overguard (loud metallic sound). But I’m not sure how I could test if it worked or not based on observing her fighting me. Has anyone tried this? How can I check if her Overguard spell is dispellable?
