The Balance of FireBlood (RANT)

So this is a little rant. - Disclaimer : I play HC exclusively in every game (I accept responsibility for my deaths always have)

Just a little info: Level 108 HC Barb with 8.1K life - 78 All resist - 240K Defense

I literally face tanked the entire game all the way to the River of Flame in Hell. Also completed every Progression ie: Butcher, Island of the Sunless for my level without a struggle. BUT a single monster by the name of FireBlood in the river of flame, who has some cloaking ability to spawn right on top of me rolled a fireball and instantly 1 shot me.

With my entire screen filled with pixels you can't even see these monsters. I'm just so confused - at this balance.

Every Boss in the game never touched me but a normal WHITE monster 1 shot me. Kinda Sad. Anyone had a run in with these guys?

not in HC but run into these guys a lot. They are in the Azmodan fight too

I definitely went into this game with the expectation that it wouldn't be easy, but I must agree the Firebloods need work. Honestly the only monster through the whole game who I just dreaded going near. In fact Firebloods are the reason I won't play HC in this game at the moment.

I normally really enjoy Act 4, but the addition of such an anti-fun enemy kind of ruined it for me. Would love to see either their damage reduced or their cloaking ability adjusted so they can't teleport behind you mid fight.

well.. they're elite mobs, not just regular white ones, as a note there.

They only appear when there are corpses nearby because they eat the corpse and then roll the fire boulder. You can get Slain Monsters RIP so that they dont eat a corpse and will never be able to roll boulders at you.

(the ones at Azmodan are untargetable and always there)

tl;dr its all part of the game. if you're unfamiliar with them and made it that far, I applaud you for going straight to HC and doing well, but it's something you gain knowledge of as you get more experience and begin to watch out for.

Crash wrote:well.. they're elite mobs, not just regular white ones, as a note there.

They only appear when there are corpses nearby because they eat the corpse and then roll the fire boulder. You can get Slain Monsters RIP so that they dont eat a corpse and will never be able to roll boulders at you.

(the ones at Azmodan are untargetable and always there)

tl;dr its all part of the game. if you're unfamiliar with them and made it that far, I applaud you for going straight to HC and doing well, but it's something you gain knowledge of as you get more experience and begin to watch out for.

Crash I appreciate your feedback. I didn't realize they were elite mobs - thank you.. I understand they are part of the game - but do they have to be that strong? Like I mentioned when a elite mob can out DPS Andy - Durry - Meph - potentially Diablo (never made it that far in hell) that's seems off imo.

Funny thing is I actually was looking out for them - but once mid-fight with alot going on and the ability to cloak right behind you mid fight (as Crosby stated) its hard to see.

That's why I play HC the thrill of loosing it all - I was just curious if anyone thought if they were a little over-tuned.

Fireblood are cancer, they were even worst before

List of things that used to kill you without you see it coming in previous patches (many of them removed already):
+Act1: Smith: he one hit you, you can't even run because he has a curse that slow you and disable healing
+Act2: Pest: they die instantly, but leave behind fire traps that eat your life away.
Witches: unkillable creatures that sing a song, then their pounce attack will one hit you if you don't keep distance... so... stop that music and wear your headphone while playing...
+Act3: Cruciator, you see nothing, and then a stream of darts shot out 2 screens away, take you down. And you know what, they PIERCE walls

+Act4: Fireblood, nuff said, these invisible suckers are killers of newcomers

+Act5: Detonator: 90% fire resist? ok, 1 slow moving fire ball of death will kill you if you can't dodge it

Ghost Phoenix: Invisible birds that silently follow you and hit you in a pack

......there were many more....

As of right now, only Fireblood remain a problem.

IMHO, we should make some tweaks so that Normal will be easier, but don't nerf monsters on Nightmare and Hell.

the boulder moves so slowly that i feel like i deserve to die whenever i get hit by it.

Dr_Hack_n_Quack wrote:the boulder moves so slowly that i feel like i deserve to die whenever i get hit by it.

Im pretty new myself.. having just leveled my first character ever in D2 (Amazon) up through to A2 Hell 108 i think currently as of server going down and while i do agree somewhat i also have to admit when your in the middle of a huge pack of mobs and one of those dudes happens to sneak in and pop one of those right on top of you in the middle of all that mess.. Feels kinda bad. Only happen once but still.

Man did they teach me quick though. first play through taught me because of those things alone.. If it moves slow in D2.. its probably going to eat your ass up if it connects/gets close.

Hats off to you OP.. No way i could even think about playing this game in HC. Thats nuts. Theres so many things that can just eat you up in an instant.. idk maybe if i learn the game and the mobs and what all they all do maybe it would be different. Gonna try a barb next and see how much more tanky. Cheers.

Demonlord wrote:
Dr_Hack_n_Quack wrote:the boulder moves so slowly that i feel like i deserve to die whenever i get hit by it.

Im pretty new myself.. having just leveled my first character ever in D2 (Amazon) up through to A2 Hell 108 i think currently as of server going down and while i do agree somewhat i also have to admit when your in the middle of a huge pack of mobs and one of those dudes happens to sneak in and pop one of those right on top of you in the middle of all that mess.. Feels kinda bad. Only happen once but still.

Man did they teach me quick though. first play through taught me because of those things alone.. If it moves slow in D2.. its probably going to eat your ass up if it connects/gets close.

Hats off to you OP.. No way i could even think about playing this game in HC. Thats nuts. Theres so many things that can just eat you up in an instant.. idk maybe if i learn the game and the mobs and what all they all do maybe it would be different. Gonna try a barb next and see how much more tanky. Cheers.

yeah, the first time it happened to me i was shocked. it took about three deaths for me to figure out what was happening. now, i go slow and stay out of the middle of packs. i am not too concerned with fireblood anymore.

my hats off as well to you hc players. i die fast, and often. there are surprises everywhere. i went into island of the sunless sea for the first time yesterday. wow.

Crash wrote:well.. they're elite mobs, not just regular white ones, as a note there.

They only appear when there are corpses nearby because they eat the corpse and then roll the fire boulder. You can get Slain Monsters RIP so that they dont eat a corpse and will never be able to roll boulders at you.

(the ones at Azmodan are untargetable and always there)

tl;dr its all part of the game. if you're unfamiliar with them and made it that far, I applaud you for going straight to HC and doing well, but it's something you gain knowledge of as you get more experience and begin to watch out for.

Ahhh, I remember that RIP recipe... haven't used that in forever and completely forgot it. Might wanna use it indeed if you don't need corpses for reanimates/totems.

R.I.P. Recipe

If you went wild with reanimate items and now you can't see the forest for the reanimated Ents, this recipe can help. It adds the 'R.I.P.' modifier to an item, causing your kills to stay dead instead of rising up to get in your way. This should help out players with slower computers.

Any item + Oil of Renewal + Arcane Crystal → returns item with R.I.P. modifier

This recipe adds the following bonus:

Slain Monsters Rest in Peace