+1 on this, off-screen meteorites are especially an issue. The indicator is easily lost in the wash so to speak.
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There are alot of enemies in the game that seem fine at face value in a vacuum just 1 or 2 of them attacking you, but when you put them in a pack of other enemies or just a large pack of themselves it gets to be a problem.
Crystal elementals are also very obnoxious, their lightning attack they shoot in all directions seems fine in a vacuum but when you are dodging other things u cant keep track 3-5 seperate mobs that dont actually aim their mechanic at you they aim it in all directions.
I do agree that there are some enemies that have way higher damage in the new chapter than in previous chapters. Running empowered monos, the only enemies that really pose a threat (unless Iām stacking 3-4 +damage mods) are the lightning spin-to-win elementals, the snake casters (if I carelessly stand next to one and they cast a poison ternader, which by the wayā¦ I wish the Lich had that spell!), the giant snake ladies (Diamond Matrons?) if Iām up against 4-5 of them, and the razor wolf boss, which sometimes decides to spawn as a regular enemy and Iām trying to kite 8 or 9 of them around but get cornered. However, those I can all kite and kill, dodge, and I feel like I have a chance to kill them. Having 4 embermages 1 shot me from off screen when I canāt even see the indicator just doesnāt feel good man.
Mind you, Iām playing Aschereās ignite pally build, have nearly 3K hp, capped resists, 60% endurance at 1000 and all ranged damage, so I can literally run around casting devouring orb and have everything just burn to death. I pity any melee builds that try to go up against any of those odds. So I agree that, especially depending on build, a lot of the enemies in the last patch are way more damaging than anything in previous chapters. Not sure if itās intentional, and they want to add a new layer of lethality to enemies, or if it is unintentional and will be further reduced.
However, I think that the embermage issue is not really the damage, itās the fact that the indicator is near invisible and their range is larger than the screen size.
+1
Not only do they cast from offscreen they also spam these meteors far too much for how hard they hit.
I recently leveled a new Paladin and went through the campaign, including the new chapter in its 0.8.3c version, without major issues.
Finished the campaign with 59, went for a few rounds in Monolith and then went to the Arena.
There, somewhere between waves 66 and 70, I lunged into the middle of a pack when at the edge of the screen a group of 5 or 6 Embermages appeared.
Bodyblocked by the pack and with Lunge on cooldown, a rain of meteors appeared and a second later I was cordially informed that the killing damage type was fire.
So these guys went through ~1300 hp with 110ish% fire resistance in no time.
That felt unavoidable, unbalanced and not fun at all.
So yeah, I would like to +1 the thought that Embermages still need some work, at least in the Arena. I havenāt seen more than two Embermages at the same time in the campaign or Monoliths, so they arenāt that scary there, but such a large pack in the Arena is a killer.
Generally im a bit surprised that EHG took a step back in terms of clear visuals for telegraphed attacks. With implementation of chapter 8 they added some nice telegraphs like half transparent circles and vectors of attacks.
Now they introduce new enemies and give them those poor telegraphs. I get that screen clutter might be an issue. But imho screen clutter will always be there and so its necessary to have telegraphs stand out and are noticable.
I just did an arena on empowered Black Sun mono, with modifiers 21% increased speed and damage, rare enemies have high speed and crit until approached, enemies have 58% increased life and damage.
That speed at which I died was comically fast when 8 Embermages spawned at the same time. There was zero chance to avoid the nuclear assault they subjected my poor character to.
What was your character/build? They required a lot of kiting on my Multistrike Paladin.
It also seems that the cast happens before the animation is complete on the embermage. Playing ele nova in empowered and even if I got the stun off on a pack of these guys i would still get trucked by the time I could move again. Ended up switching to Static Orb which has had better success. Feels like you need to play a build that you can keep moving constantly. It has gotten a bit better with the recent nerfs but still feels bad especially if the pack is coming from the bottom of your screen where you have less visual distance.
Edit: One thing I would like to add is that I have noticed is that the higher damage more threatening mobs are bigger / flashier, basically telling the player that this mob will mess you up. The embermage gives the impression of your typical range chip damage mob that you have to deal with if the pack size grows too big but isnāt an immediate threat. Basically it feels like the mob design doesnāt match with the damage output.
Even after the nerf they do still seem to be one of the most dangerous mobs in the game right nowā¦
Imho, I think its their speedā¦ you barely dodge the first barrage and the next is already on the wayā¦ I am using a shield throw paladin and can take the hits and strafe them while kiting around but its still no funā¦ Add multiples of the buggers and it gets downright tenseā¦
The āarena-likeā mono levels with waves can get damn hairy when multiple packs of these guys spawnā¦
and unlike the sand tornado gorgons and matrons it doesnt seem like the embermages have a ātellā or a cheese that you can learn how to deal with them efficientlyā¦ it seems like its a kill them quick or be killed mob situationā¦
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The Scrum Master in me envisions a Defect List and/or Story List which includes one with the following title: āImprove VFX of Embermage telegraphā, and itās in the Backlog, with a note āWaiting on graphics teamā¦ā
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Yeah will just throw in my own āthis mob is spookyā comment as well. Was doing arena, 4 of them cast on me from offscreen, survived with about 50 life (was in lich form before). Didnāt notice them casting it, because they were off screen, and I was hitting a marsh beetle, which is big.
Arena atm is:
ārun around in a circle to see what mobs you spawned, so you can avoid getting one shot and/or off screened by some of the new mobs, unless one of the new spooky mobs spawned near you, in which case its too dangerous to run away, so you should kill them and hope they arenāt more spawned, also keep one of your skills always off cd so you can use it to deal with the new spooky mobsā
Bleh
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Yea, finding a pack or two of embermages in empowered is just not fun. They offscreen less but it did not solve the core issue with this mob. Not to mention they are even deadlier if they spawn with other tanky high damage enemies like the scarabs.
I hope there is less mob design that requires player to dps them down quickly as the only counterplay. This is already inching towards PoEās DPS is king territory
Lightning Smite Hammerdin. I donāt have a problem killing them if I can lunge to them before getting bombarded.
Right now, I still havenāt identified Embermagesā telegraph. 
They already haunt my dreams, so I am happy for ya 
. . . - - - . . .
(Morse code joke)
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If i were to change embermages i would say either lower their damage and / or cooldown. Or give them another ability that they cast in between the meteors. Its blatantly obvious they are overtuned when going back to clear older monoliths and you out gear them they are still scary. I can nearly clear an entire underleveled monolith while watching a video on my other monitor but level 60 embermages can still kill me at level 90 if im not paying attention. Its like they balanced them with only one of them attacking you at a timeā¦ like they dont spawn in packs and the first impact can stun you and you just die. its really silly
When they are on screen theyāre surrounded by a load of red/orange sparks in the direction they are casting.
Sometimes ? Itās OFTEN.
in fact now that iāve been running more monoliths iām noticing A LOT of offscreen range attacks and itās starting to get really, really annoying. and lightmages say hi.
iāve died more than once to multiple hits from stuff that was absolutely, positively not visible.
right now itās absolutely, positively my biggest annoyance with the game.
p.s. and yes, embermages were one of the things that offscreened me to death, as well as the gigantic guardian things.
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