Why the hell is SR Gargabol called "Gargaban"?

Grim Dawn Gameplay Discussion
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Apologies in advance for the vent. But what the hell is up with this diabolical nemesis in SR? (I know he’s not technically a “Nemesis”, but there’s no other fitting word to describe this beast)

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So there I was, happily making my way through SR on my Trickster (I already have a Celestial recipe, but I thought I’d work my way up to 60 before taking the leap to 65) when I was spawned in the cramped sand arena and approached by Warden Krieg & “Gargaban” - luckily I didn’t attract the wrath of all 4 at once (or was there 5?).

Lucky? So I thought!

I unwittingly made the mistake of killing them both (hugging close to the edge as I usually to, to avoid aggroing the others) which, to my horror, caused them both to change forms. The penny didn’t drop that “Gargaban” is actually, Gargabol (I think I’ve encountered him once or twice in SR before on my Druid - I didn’t register the name at the time either, but was luckily in the larger lava arena and managed, with some trouble, to kill him - I digress).

Anyway, this led to the most torturous experience I have ever had in the SR. The most god-forsaken, excruciating boss round of all time. I must have died like 10 times, and in the end, I had to give up the ghost - the first round I have simply not been able to complete.

All because of this creature from hell, Gargaban. Once the pair of them changed forms, I could no longer stick to one side of the map, and therefore had to move, attracting the heat from Archmage Aleksander and The Outcast. Was there a fifth? I can’t remember. Probably not. But it felt like it. Regardless, this meant either run or die. I couldn’t stand still close enough to put enough of a dent in any of them before being caught up with by the beast and slain. I could have probably run around the arena, avoiding them, for as long as I wanted, but they simply could not be taken on.

All I can say is, I hate this guy. The Devil of the Shattered Realm. He Who Must Not Be Touched before killing the other bosses, no matter what. Trigger his second form before you can take him alone and suffer horrible deaths!!

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Cause that’s his Shattered version, all bosses that have this type of version have different names ( Warden Kriev, Darius Conolay, Theodin Parcell, Karriv are some of the names that come to my mind). One of them will always spawn after shard 80. I think they also spawn in lower SR when you can unlock individual pieces of the SR set, though I am not sure if this is exactly how it works.

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Really? How have I not noticed this! :laughing: Though I usually pay attention to Nemesis names, and I’m sure they’re the same…

P.S. have any of you guys had horrible experiences like this? It’s enough to kill your love of the game… at least temporarily

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This is not a nemesis, it is a purple boss

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yes, we have. Gargaban always leads to you fighting him for like half an hour. Not to mention that you need clear the arena in order to kite him ('cause there’s no way to facetank him).

it’s been reported several times that the way shattered bosses are balanced is a joke (especially when you compare sentinel to salazin (blade of ch’ton guy)), but devs don’t seem to care about it, so enjoy the fight.

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TheodinParcell

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:laughing:

:rofl:
I’m saving this as a proof of game being too easy.
Since you hadn’t moved much in the past you seem to have forgotten your piloting skills.

In some shards I died 20+ times and then won, because I learnt the patterns, found the safe spots, memorised my cooldowns, figured out the best kiting routes, assigned correct priorities to bosses.

If a little challenge kills your love for the game, then you didn’t put many points in persistence. But it’s also game’s fault that it took so long to defeat you.

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You’re taking my words out of context!

You’re assuming from my words “therefore had to move”, that I “haven’t moved much in the past”, but that’s not really true. I have to move plenty of times in boss rounds - but tactical movement, avoiding aggroing all bosses at once where possible, is part of the game & strategy.

Those words you’ve cut are part of the narrative of this particular boss fight.

What I usually do in the sand arena is hug the bottom edge and use Displacement so that I can kite in a linear, straight path (get to the end of one edge, teleport back towards the other). Sometimes this isn’t necessary, depending on the bosses aggro’d, but sometimes it is.

If that strategy fails then obviously the whole map becomes open for movement.

Anyway, from my experience, I reckon SR Gargabol is particularly painful for meele characters, though that wasn’t really the point of the thread. The point was that I overlooked “Gargaban” was Gargabol at all, and hopefully I will not be so stupid as to kill his 1st form first next time :+1:

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Well, I did two SR60 runs today and let’s just say it was one of the most embarassing and frustrating experiences I had in GD. Even more so considering I’m somewhat experienced player by now. But I swear some bosses + mutators combos make it unbearable for some characters.

First time I got Shattered versions of Anasteria, Lucius and Karroz + Iron Maiden. I mean, Anasteria + IM is already an annoying combo, but it gets worse.

Just as I enter the arena, Anasteria is immideately aggro’d and starts spamming her shit from that “SR gate” pedestal. Being a melee character, I had no choice but to close in and start bashing her with all might. This, of course, triggered all of the other bosses. But it gets worse.

Not only I was a melee character, but also an aether one. This means the only way I could defeat my enemies is to facetank them. But how can you facetank them if they take half of your health in one hit basically? I had MoT, Ascension, Ghoul and Aeon, but they didn’t help much. So I was triyng to kite them while my defenses were on cooldown, with four of them on my ass (don’t forget about IM, right?). Think this is bad? It gets worse.

I also got a mutator that increases their Aether res, mutator that reduces my DA and mutator that increases their crit damage. This way I died 3 times in this boss fight, mostly thanks to Anasteria. I was so frustrated I finished this run prematurely by accident, gaining shit for reward as a result.

Second time was even worse. I died five times in a single fight and ran out of time doing that. And guess what? It was Anasteria again.

A’ight, I’m done. Thanks for reading this if you did. Just had to relieve myself I guess. And all I want to say is that shattered versions of some bosses are a force to be reckoned with. But some times it’s total BS.

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Yeah, Ana can be a tough little cookie. She hits hard. And I’ve only fought her in SR, since I never go hostile with her in main campaign.

I think one of the biggest dangers from Aetherial enemies is that they tend to come with resistance shredding. Anasteria, Aleksander, Lucius all have it. Probably others. And their devastation spells really hurt when you drop below that 80% resist. I like to have Aether resist overmaxed for this reason, and I always carry Spiritbane. That was one of the problems with my failed round: I was chugging Bloodbound and Spiritbane ointments, which I obviously lost after each death. I was running out, and didn’t have the materials to craft a bunch more, so gave up. Need to do a few aether shard farm trips, or just hop onto a leveling character to amass some more!

Anyway, I think it’s good to have a vent about these things every now and again :sweat_smile:

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Pretty much yeah. And Anasteria has a 50% total reduction if I’m not mistaken, so basicaly the more resistance overcap you have, the more it is reduced. I had aether overcapped by 35 or something like that, and she was reducing it to 60. And I actually forgot I had Spiritbane, although it would raise my aether res to ~70.

The only char I have that is able to withstand her onslaught is a Mage Hunter that happens to have 88 aether res + ~100 overcap. Oh, and rank 21 Seal, of course.