Combat Strategy

Combat Priorities

Open the battle by killing your most dangerous enemies (devastators and assassins) and incapacitating commanders. With the biggest hitters and annoyances removed, look to reduce enemy numbers by focusing on the weaker ones. Keep using basic stuns on the commander to keep his aura deactivated so that weak creatures can be eliminated. The commander’s significant health bar can then be tackled with focused fire.

Pin-Down

Having identified a priority target such as an assassin or devastator, it is urgent that you prevent them from employing their powerful strikes and subsequent escape procedures. They must be pinned down while you undertake a potentially lengthy attempt to wipe out their entire health bar in one uninterrupted assault. There are many useful abilities that can be queued in succession to maintain a hold on the enemy for an extended duration: Horror, Pinning Shot, Glyph of Paralysis, Winter’s Blast, Stonefist, Crushing Prison, and so forth.

Focused Fire

Focusing the damage of all party members on one enemy naturally speeds up their elimination, and ordering attacks into cross-class combos can earn enormous damage multipliers. However, there are other tactics that can be put in place to secure greater, faster damage. These work best the sooner they are placed:

• Damage resistance reduction on enemy (Death Hex, Entropic Cloud).

• Critical chance increases on enemy (Brand and Mark of Death).

• Attack or critical chance increases on party (Valiant Aura and Rally).

• Accelerated attacks by party (Haste, Speed).

Kiting

When an enemy decides to close on a target, there is no need for the target to stand and wait. Indeed, if the companion in question can outrun the opponents, then he or she can lead them around the battlefield, while other party members pile on ranged damage and closing attacks. This works best against bosses and large, slow enemies whose main attack is melee. Further slowing rounds of cold and electricity damage can keep a powerful foe tied up and unable to deliver its attack for a prolonged period. Additionally, the party can profit from healing and time to burn through Cooldowns while the enemy is being kited.

Peeling

Exploring a new area, your first sight of an enemy squad will be limited to the nearest targets. You can exploit this to peel off enemies from the main squad in small, manageable numbers:

• Order your party to Hold Position.

• Approach only as closely as you need to catch the attention of the nearest enemies.

• Use a ranged attack to attract them if required.

• Guide your scout in retreat back to your party, leading a few enemies in tow.

The Archer Trap Principle

This works for any team with ranged attacks, and can be initiated with peeling. The idea is to lead enemies into a hail of spells and projectiles in order to soften them up before they can initiate melee combat:

• Place your tank out front as the bait for enemies and Hold Position.

• Lay down a Glyph, Hail of Arrows, Miasmic Flask, Gravitic Ring or any other effects ahead of them to slow and halt approaching enemies.

• Unleash the fury of your bolts, arrows and spells upon easy targets.

• Use any other repellent force to drive enemies back into the firing zone. Even an upgraded Mind Blast, when confined to a corridor, can propel enemies like a walk-in cannon.

• Finally, enter melee combat against weakened opponents.

Bottlenecks

Using the environment is a valid tactic in dealing with large numbers of aggressors. Enemies can be channeled into a corridor or held at a doorway by a blocking tank, while other characters use ranged support from behind.

Solid obstacles provide cover, completely blocking ranged attacks and also any spell targeting. If you can’t see your victim in line of sight, you can’t cast a spell on them – although you could catch them with Area of Effect splash damage.