39. BROTHER LAZ:
Gear check: This is a purify boss, therefore we will require a dedicated gear set with an emphasis on defensive attributes. The stat caps you should aim to reach with this set are the following.
Firstly we need 100% OW so that we can reliably bleed the boss after a purify hit. This is achieved with the Butcher's tooth and the Ripstar ring.
Secondly we require 50% slow target. This will greatly increase the time we have to purify & hit Laz and as such is necessary for our survival. I recommend making a double MO bonus Void runeword in a Flail (longer attack range), and then orbing it as shown on the gear picture below. This gives 33% slow on its own. In addition we get 10% from our Triune charm.
Thirdly we need to reach our maximum speed breakpoints because this will give us more time to react during the fight. Those are 174% FBR, 200% FHR, 60% IAS and 86 FCR. To this extent utilise the double MO space on your crafted pieces (belt, gloves and boots) to prioritise these breakpoints first and then fill remaining space to reach around 200% FRW and as much flat Damage reduced as possible.
Fourthly we must stack as much defensive attributes as possible. This means orbing runewords with Enhanced Defence prior to putting the RW in and using superior + lucky pieces with at least 80% ED. You will also be sMaxing Blessed life for the 50% Damage reduction cap, and as much flat physical damage reduction as possible.
Finally we need to make sure that there are no on attack/striking/death procs that do damage on our gear at all. The reasons for this will be explained in the enemies section. On kill procs however are fine, because they are not triggered by Mind Flay or Blood Thorns or meleeing Laz. Some of our charms have undesired procs themselves - the Crystalline Flame Medallion, Kabraxis' Soul, Cold Fusion Schematics and the upgraded Idol of Vanity. However going back to the Cathedral and obtaining a non-upgraded one is fine and very helpful as the 15% all speeds allows us to more easily reach the target breakpoints.
Below is my full gear set and also all the socket fillers. My defensive stats when I did the fight were 650k defence (up to 1.1M withTerror Strike), 50% block, 21k hp, 50% DR, over 500 flat damage reduction and around 800 LoSiM.
Laz gear
Stats & Skills:
Half dexterity and half vitality. This ensures that we have a sufficiently high hp pool, and afterwards going for as much block as possible is superior. The skill build is smax Terror Strike, Tainted Blood, Stormlord and Blessed Life. 6 points in rapture , 1pt in all other holy influence and reward skills and leftovers in Hymn.
We will use Terror Strike + Blood Thorns to clear Groupies and Mind Flay to clear totems, but be very careful how you aim the latter as it travels a long distance and may lead to accidentally killing some totems near Laz if you are in a large opeb space. As for the boss himself, I suggest binding Terror Strike on the left skill button and Purify from Uldyssian's Sword on the right.
Enemies:
Groupies: These are summoned initially with Laz and also every time he blinks on you. As soon as they see you they will throw a dagger which does tri-elemental damage. This is easy to dodge, but in case you get hit we have capped resists so it's not too bad. Afterwards they will attempt to approach and melee you. Thankfully they are slow so are easy to outrun. If there are Groupies between you and Laz and he is about to teleport on you try to tank their hits with Terror Strike up in order to not waste more space in the Proving Grounds.
Black Hand Totems: These are occasionally summoned by Brother Laz when you are in medium range of him. The totems cast tremor when you get close (about half a screen away), which will leave you with barely any hp. Most importantly however these totems have almost no life themselves, so any attack will kill them. You should do your best to avoid destroying them, while you fight the boss, because they debuff you on death in the same way that Astrogha's statues do and they also heal the boss if he is near. This is the reason why we have removed all our procs. We do not want them triggering during the fight and accidentally killing a totem, which will lead to our death and may heal Laz.
Brother Laz: He has several abilities. Firstly he can pounce on you (he "sees" you from very far away), which triggers off a physical damage Retaliate nova and spawns Groupies. Secondly he can spawn Black Hand Totems as described above. Thirdly he targets you with Singularity when close and Deathstrike when far away.
Needless to say both Singularity and Deathstrike are lethal, so do your best to move when you see them under your feet. Due to our high defences and damage reduction we are nearly immune to the retaliate attack, so the only thing that can lead to your death are the above spells or tarrying too long near the boss and getting Tremored by freshly spawned totems.
The most important thing you will learn when you begin to practice this uber is not to panic. Panic is understandable here because the boss' AI will target you from a long range, so you are always under fire. But at the same time it is crucial to control the adrenaline and move just enough to dodge the Deathstrike and using all empty available space of the level as you kite.
The Execution:
First step is to respec, equip your gear and then make your way to the Proving grounds. When you get to the grounds, kill the Death projector using Blood Thorns. Then lure all mechanics to the bottom left corner of the level - the room marked with a green circle in the below screenshot.
Then open a town portal in the room directly above, near the yellow circle on the screenshot. Next go to the red circle and summon the boss. As soon as you do run to point B. Prepare yourself and slowly start inching back towards the room where you summoned. Brother Laz will then blink on you. Now here is something important to remember. Every time you begin the fight, or after a death, the first time Laz pounces you your only task is to land a melee attack on him - do not even think about Purifying him until he is hit and slowed. Note that because he has around 50% avoid not every attack you make will connect. Therefore I recommend that you play with sound ON for this boss, because you can clearly hear the distinct "whack" when your attack lands.
Okay now that you managed to hit Laz, you will kite him along the blue route (direction B-C-D-E-F). From this point onwards once you got him slowed the basic mechanics of the fight boil down to: purify, hit, run, dodge deathstrikes & singularities, repeat. So basically every time he blinks on you, you shoot a purify, then you attack him, then kite. On paper this sounds easy, but in reality this requires a lot of practice and timing to execute well with our slow animation and especially if playing on realm. Once you have successfully gotten the boss to bleed you should focus on simply hitting him with terror strike to refresh the DoT and not using purify, which enables you to use your Divine Apparition to escape tricky situations.
Once you approach point E along the route, your task between points E and F will be to lose the boss. If you have him properly slowed this should not be hard with our fast running speed. After this is accomplished, move to point B and retrace your steps along the route in order to clear out all Groupies & Totems that were spawned during the kite. Even if you die during this it is no problem as 1pt Mind Flay does enough damage to clear groupies even naked.
As you get closer and closer to the point where Laz last blinked on you get ready to repeat the above process, but this time reversing the route going in direction F-E-D-C-B. Remember that every time we begin the fight our only job after the first pounce is to get the boss hit and slowed. Only worry about purifying afterwards. With more and more practice you can modify your route to include more and more of the level. With sufficient practice it is possible to reduce Laz's hp by 50% per lap, requiring only 2 routes to kill him. However on your first kill you will likely require a lot more with many deaths in the process - this is normal. My best performance on the first kill was 1/3 of Laz's hp without dying.
Laz Route
Corpse Recovery: So you managed to kite Laz for a bit and hopefully land some purifies and maintain OW during this time. If you get killed by the boss he will likely camp your corpse, so now the task becomes recovering our items while being careful not to kill any totems in the process. In order to do this we must lure Laz at least 1.5 blinks away from our body. So as you enter the TP, approach from the side of the route which is clean of Groupies and Totems until you get blinked on and die. Repeat this once more if necessary. Then go along the other side of the route and clear Groupies & Totems until you recover your body. Then clear out the remaining trash and inch towards the boss to renew the fight.
Again video from my Amazon guide, to avoid extra workload.Once you have the basics down you will see it is a lot easier with the paladin.
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