Drusk Boss Battle

[E.X.D.]

Any strategies for defeating the drusk? In higher prestiges fighting them feels like hitting a wall, I never get past day 3 unless I get the alternative boss. I've tried investing heavy into combo and focusing on using combat roll to continually build defense and combo, I've tried focusing on bleed and using heavy life restoring cards, no strategy seems effective.

[mister_eugene]

You need max Wound with combo, with your teammate firing 3 times it’s easier.

Or play Discard 

[Hraklea]

The closest I got from killing them without Boulder Stance was dropping both to 8 HP (difficulty P5.) This fight definitely requires a nerf.

[E.X.D.]

@Mister_Eugene

I think my next run I'm gonna have to from day 1 build a discard deck just to face these guys.

@Hraklea

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the drusk is hard, I'm almost to P7 and they're my only real obstacle, if I get them, run over.

[TheCoolestFool]

yeah there really hard on p7. Shroog is a joke compared to the drusk. You really have to start fighting as much as you can since day one just incase these guys pop up. High wound with the tripple attack of your allies feels like the only effective strat tbh. Stun cards very good to.

[pacovf]

I beat them with no allies with a discard - counter strategy on P5. That deck was kinda bananas though, and it was by far the hardest fight of the whole run. I haven’t faced them since then, unfortunately, so I don’t know how bad they are for more average combat decks, or for people that lean into negotiation instead of combat.

[TheCoolestFool]

well i can beat shroog with maybe around 4-6 battles done but thats impossible with the drusk. Day 3 boss is pretty dependent on having allies if your combat deck stinks but the allies dont go the distance on the drusk fight.

[Kevin]

Latest experimental (which is uploading now) tunes the drusk down a bit. They insert fewer cards at once, and toxic fumes does a bit less damage when you discard it and when it ignites.

 

[Hraklea]

Managed to win very easily with Boosted Hemophage (P6) and one ally, focusing on the top Drusk, putting as much wound as I could (as suggested by other players.)

[s5unaMe]

By the way haven't met Drusk for like 6 or even 7 walkthrough at experimental.

[TheCoolestFool]

if im in the mood to fight the drusk real bad right when is shows you what boss you got just save and quit if its shroog. you have to do the negotiations again but it beats doing 3 full days just to not get him when you want to play versus the harder boss. Other then that dont save scum

[E.X.D.]

I managed to beat the drusk P7 using a discard deck, changes definitely make the battle seem less punishing especially if you keep your deck small to maximize your synergies.

[Hraklea]

Tried twice on current experiental build (P7). Not even close to win. Too many unplayable cards to manage if you're not playing discard, and the AI of your allies is too stupid to focus fire.

[s1m13]

Well, i did it once with a big team and a bit of luck on p7. Its possible!

[TheCoolestFool]

ive taken him down with non discard decks on p7. i find that extra turn grafts from the earlier days it pretty important to deal with the drusk. otherwise those stupid cards fill up your hand. Yep the allies shooting wrong target sucks for sure. i honestly try and fight as much as possible day 1/2 just to have leveled cards and more chances of good cards.

Bleed is good vs the drusk. Upgraded barnacle and removal of as many starter cards as possible is strong. Upgraded rummage that expends is strong in general. Survival reflexes is amazing vs the drusk and is good in any deck tbh. I made a tackle deck and it worked wonders vs the drusk but was pretty weak to the guys that halve armor gain. Deck was 2 tackles upgraded for defense and had expendable starter cards, was really hoping for an uppercut with this strat but never happened so i used blade flurry. Battle scars decks also pretty good vs him. Use upgraded rummage to expend status cards/junk and readiness to draw to battle scars more often. Once you expend enough cards it happens all the time. I don't like adapt on this fight it can flat out kill you if your unlucky but its good in a battle scars deck to.

Your deck just needs enough damage to finish off the drusk right around the time the allies die. Really no way to protect them with the amount of aoe damage flying around. Since this is the hardest fight in the game i try and draft for it as early as possible and prioritize removal of starter cards. Sometimes ill use my mendings on my allies in this fight if my deck gains armor effortlessly. A lot of my turns are gaining armor and playing a status card. its important to keep them to a minimum. If you somehow have 4 allies that are not pets in this fight it gets so much easier.

[Hraklea]

39 minutes ago, TheCoolestFool said:

ive taken him down with non discard decks on p7. [...] Your deck just needs enough damage to finish off the drusk right around the time the allies die.

I beat them on p7 about 20 minutes ago. With Boosted Stance and Hemophage.

I don't think the fight is unwinnable, but my experience is the complete opposite of "you need just enough damage." Either my decks have some sort of immortality, or I'll lose the damage run.

[TheCoolestFool]

What kind of decks are you building mostly? I often dont play discard and try and stick with bleed/battlescars or strange decks like my tackle deck i mentioned above. I feel like the grafts you get are pretty important. Mostly im grabbing combat grafts over negotiation grafts almost all of the time. Unless its garbage like snap talon or combo stuff while im not combo. The draw cards i find are pretty powerful. Ill pretty much always grab rummage but not always readiness/adapt. Try and get some sparring social boons over everything else. 

[Hraklea]

2 hours ago, TheCoolestFool said:

What kind of decks are you building mostly?

I go with what the game offers me, I don't have a hard rule for how I build my decks. If the combo cards are better than the bleeding cards on day 1, I'll play combo.

I killed Shroog and Nadan quite easily on that run, so I don't think the deck strategy was the issue. Unless we're willing to accept that all bosses are underpowered and that Drusk should be the standard difficulty for a boss. If that's the case, then my calls for nerfs are certainly wrong.

[TheCoolestFool]

Yeah i go with what the game offers me too but i decide what i want to make once i see a key card. There isnt really any combo card that makes me go combo besides having some decent defensive cards. something like defensive surge and then i might grab combination and go from there. I think shroog and nadan/ooloo should be a little more difficult. Maybe it shouldnt be random when it comes to the boss fight then at least you know what you should prioritize. That way the drusk can stay the way he is and shroog could be buffed slightly. 

[Hraklea]

9 hours ago, TheCoolestFool said:

Yeah i go with what the game offers me too but i decide what i want to make once i see a key card.

I'd say my biggest problem with the game right now is that not getting a "key card" is happening too often for my taste. Maybe I'm on a bad streak, but I'm on the third run in a row I got stuck on day 3 because I couldn't craft a good deck to beat Drusk with the card pool I was given. There's no way to get rid of the cards, protect myself and damage the boss with just 3 actions and no extra action graft showed up. My allies die in 3 turns.

I don't see anything in the last patch note that could explain that difficulty spike, and I don't know if Klei makes changes to the game without posting here. Maybe the changes in negotiation are leading me to negotiate more often on day 1 and that's what's making my battle deck weaker? I don't know.

If you can consistently kill Drusk in P7 without relying on broken strategies, then I'd love to watch you playing, because I'd have a lot to learn.

9 hours ago, TheCoolestFool said:

I think shroog and nadan/ooloo should be a little more difficult.

I think the card pool should be more balanced. The game shouldn't be a piece of cake with Boosted Stance/Boosted Hemophage, and it shouldn't be so hard because the game only offered you crap. Too many rares are situational. I leave boss fights with a 10 shill reward way too often.

I agree that Nadan/Oolo are easy when I fight them, but that might be because I only fight into them when I play something OP enough to finish the game. They could be balanced fights if I got there with a balanced deck.

[pacovf]

Fought the Drusk for the second time. Two smuggler allies, Carve, and the graft that doubles the effects of wounds meant I killed them before the status cards killed me. I didn’t have an action graft, but I did have 3 (!) sparring. Still wasn’t enough to survive more than 2 rounds of activated toxic fumes, but I killed them before that point.

Probably the main concern about the Drusk (and, similarly, the assassins) is that they may be unbeatable if you focus on negotiation to the detriment of combat, or at the very least build your deck to prepare against them. Even with two smuggler allies.

[TheCoolestFool]

7 hours ago, Hraklea said:

If you can consistently kill Drusk in P7 without relying on broken strategies, then I'd love to watch you playing, because I'd have a lot to learn.

I dont win every time but he isnt as hard as i initial thought. Something very simple like 2 tackles and spines can get the job done. Upgraded barnacle/rummage/sals daggers too. Upgraded 0 cost survival reflexes can save you from blowing up. Maybe my idea of key cards is different from yours.

defensive surge/survival reflexes are my go to defense cards. Readiness is something ill usually grab or size up for combo. once i have some defense cards ill grab combination up to 3 and 1 carve and shoulder rolls up to 2. Stomp is good if you are drawing cards. Only graft your looking for is lose less combo when taking damage.

For bleed its just barnacle. Card is nuts since you have sal's dagger automatically. Ill grab 1 extra bleed card and readiness with this. Battle scars and rummage is a plus. Survival reflexes will help you early game. If i have battle scars 3-4 replenish cards is very strong. Grab the heal on bleed ability if you find it. Muscle bank/recycler are your best friends with this deck. 

Battle scars decks you just need card draw to draw to battle scars each turn. Readiness is the best option. Early when your deck is larger adapt is good. Slaughter is okay once upgraded. You only need 1 of each of these cards(not always adapt/slaughter). Seeker/survival reflexes/slippery/stringer good in this deck obviously but you dont need all of them just some. Other discard cards not really wanted. The counter abilities are a trap. They do so little not worth your effort until maybe late game if your feeling strong. Muscle bank is good with this deck.

Power decks. Usually you just go with defensive cards. Defensive surge/survival reflexes/tackle. Upgrade sal's daggers to the combo version and grab a bladeflurry. Keep the multi hit starter cards there not bad. Fight dirty upgraded to the 0 cost power gain is my preferred upgrade if im missing uppercut. This way you dont need uppercut for this to work but its preferred. Debuff removal is nice in this deck vs exposes armor. 

Utility cards i use would be footwork(draw version). Lets you get your abilities online faster. Into the night is good in any deck. If your discarding cards its always pretty decent choice. Turns survival reflexes into 8 armor and fight dirty into a possible 6. Expending rummage is great you can slowly remove dead cards. Doomed after day 3 is pretty good card. Nothing does more damage then this card. 1 spines is always pretty solid card because most of your decks should be aiming to take very little damage. I prefer the 1 cost version of this card. Everyone knows take boulder stance/kidney shot lol. 

This is my general strategy for the types of decks i make. You don't have to follow it to a key. I agree with some of the other cards need better balancing but there are some cards i use that i didnt mention. Fighting early and looking for removal quests/upgrading quests is important. Upgrade quests are good they let you look at what your cards will become and you can plan a deck better because youll know what has destroy and expend.

[Hraklea]

1 hour ago, TheCoolestFool said:

I dont win every time but he isnt as hard as i initial thought. [...] Fighting early and looking for removal quests/upgrading quests is important. Upgrade quests are good they let you look at what your cards will become and you can plan a deck better because youll know what has destroy and expend.

I did some runs focusing purely/99% on combat and neglecting negotiation to see how it went. Some negotiations on day 3 became an autoloss due this, but it seems to be the best route to take on the current patch. Better to lose negotiations than lose the game, right?

It could be my playing skills, it could be that Klei is intending to design the game in a way that you shouldn't be able to win all negotiations and all combats all the times. Which would be fair.

Anyway, thanks for the tips.

[TheCoolestFool]

Yep i dont win all negotiations either. Just not possible with the way it is now unless your lucky in one way or another. That was my thought process to better to lose negotiations then combat. No prob on the tips. Good luck on your runs.

[Kevin]

1 hour ago, Hraklea said:

It could be my playing skills, it could be that Klei is intending to design the game in a way that you shouldn't be able to win all negotiations and all combats all the times. Which would be fair.

This is definitely the case, especially on high-P runs. Some negotiations are meant to be aspirational - if you can beat it, great! But just because the game shows you the option doesn't mean it's necessarily possible for you with your current deck. You need to use your best judgement.

Fights are a little trickier - we try not to outright kill a healthy player with a forced fight, but if you are out of resolve and money, you might find yourself with no other option but to take a fight that you probably can't win. In general, you need to pick your fights carefully, and ration your resolve if you want to survive. Optional fights (like, where you decide to rob a merchant or something) are potential run-killers, and we don't filter those for you.

Boss fights are fight-deck checks - You will have to beat those fights each day, or it's game over. We try to give you a way to make them easier with negotiations / bribes in most cases. But if you only negotiate, and never get new fight cards, you will eventually die.