CRAP! It’s a trap!
Btw, when it says restore health to enemy gen, does it restore our health or his?
Boss Battle: Xel – Duelyst
2 Likes
So it’s either a damage sponge or you go to ladder… Cool
2 Likes
You called?
15c
1 Like
at long last… a reason to play aphotic drain
2 Likes
Oh Xel, so you want to play it stupid ?
Ok, let’s play it stupid.
https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-KtsAPWNn7z2JfbVKHv4
1 Like
I’d think a boss would have mastered the basics, not have cheap tricks.
2 Likes
I’d much rather see a boss with a unique BBS and maybe a few flavor off faction minions and play like regular. I think this would be both fun and challenging. the “boss” has a “better” BBS and the meme-y decks turned top tier as such. Think a boss with noctures effect and Lilithe’s BBS or Eight Gates as a BBS or like second wish or Hailstone. I think that would be a better as opposed to randomly teleporting frenzy and double sarlac and "At the start of your turn, damage the enemy general equal to the amount of minions they own. deathwatch: restore 1 health and deal 1 damage to then enemy general.”
And also for @alplod since apparently the boss should rely on crazy effects.
Edit: Also, reccuring as Grandmasters (Zir, Kraigon) instead of bosses would be cool. Each new expansion you cycle through the 6 grandmasters and the new decks they bring. But Boss battle do have nice recolors.
2 Likes
I feel like some of these more recent bosses are created just to stop people from using swarm Abyssian to take down every boss. This one seems weak to Big Abyssian (Sarlacs for ramp and Shadowdancer to counter their ability), healing Lyonar (heal-watch can trigger twice each turn for free) and anything with Rancour.
2 Likes
Dang healonar is harder to use -.- had to make a new boss deck
https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-Ktt4Bg6momZ5sXlYjfp
1 Like
This one has actually been super tough for me.
I think I can counteract it by building a new abyssian deck, but none of my old decks are working against it, which is a refreshing change
1 Like
Oh no, Abyssian doesn’t work?!
Better try Abyssian! 
4 Likes
This far in, it is evident that the focus hasn’t been in that direction, so I think your idea is a good one to consider. (Not taking away from the current approach)
1 Like
I don’t doubt this, but a serious boss (Grandmaster Variax) playing a very consistent creepling deck with obliterate a regular old Abyssian tools probably could hold its own (possibly a Spiral?). Same with Embla playing something soul shatter pact and Winters Wake?
I think bosses like this could become a thing, but it would require an AI adjustment. We cant see bosses Spiral Technique a Healing mystic in this mode as it would lead to people just exploiting bugs, again and make this mode inferior to current system in difficulty for sure. Maybe the value meme plays would be enough, but as with every boss, with enough exposure, the weakness becomes obvious.
1 Like
I realy dislike the bosses…insted of putting effort into a boss with good ai whichs ability makes a memedeck competetive they go for recolored idiots with op effects
1 Like
You know, if it was that easy to programm an AI good enough to give an experienced human player a run for his money, then i think every game would have something like that. But i have in fact yet to see a game with such an AI. And no offense to CPG but i doubt they will be the first to invent something like that.
3 Likes
It’s fine that bosses have different strengths and weaknesses. I don’t mind that I had to drop my preferred boss deck because it would kill me super fast.
What I do have a problem with, however, are bosses that are so blatantly strong you must cheese them to win. This is one of them. While I suspect maybe burnhai could’ve done the trick if you get the right cards, I found very little worked against this boss.
It was clear from the get go that using minion heavy decks or even just relying on a couple of minions would not work, especially since you start with 2 free Sarlaccs just to punish you into taking a minimum of 2 damage every turn. That’s fine, I tried Healyonar anyhow, since the boss’ deathwatch effect could work to my advantage. Didn’t work. so I thought I’d try to run some solo decks. Solo Vaath did not work. Solo Faie did not work. It was abundantly clear solo Saaj would not work either (since her artifacts would break too quickly).
What ultimately won the day was getting lucky with a super meme deck. Saaj with Sinister Silhouettes buffed to have provoke and 2nd wish won the day, combined with Grove Lion to prevent the inital damage on their turn. I sat their with my fingers crossed they wouldn’t draw one of their copies of Chromatic Cold or Frostburn my Silhouette before it could get buffed enough. It took a couple tries, but it finally worked.
I much much much prefer bosses that are unique and challenging, but not that are overpowering in such a way your options are severely limited. It’s fine to want to stop me from playing a deck that is arguably broken against boss AI. It’s not fine to expect players to have access to the exact 3-5 cards needed to beat this particular boss. This is a boss that punishes you for playing duelyst, and tells you that you need to be playing a different game to win. Not cool, imo.
5 Likes
I kinda got lucky. Slapped a DFC on a sarlac and just waited as it grew big enough for the kill. Somehow escaped the C. Cold…baited it out with a phantasm. I guess the A.I. was more scared of it.
Agreed here. While I still disagree with @divinedevek since I believe the boss should have a clear advantage to be interesting (AI is not going to be clever enough to compete with human on equal terms), I do also believe that each boss should be beatable with a number of ladder decks. It’s not the case for this one. Options are severely limited, and it seems that no ladder deck can beat it, only the ones specifically tailored to deal with it’s effect - and all of them can’t be played on ladder.
Or did anyone beat him with a ladder deck?
2 Likes
I just killed him with my Midrange Vaath deck on third try. Probably would have gotten him on the first but had a disconnect -.-
Punched him with my General for 52 damage on my 6 mana turn, who cares about lifesteal xD
3 Likes
I’m genuinely interested in seeing this. Any chance you’d be willing to link a replay?
1 Like