How effective of a strategy is tanking for bosses?

[SnowdropPax]

So, I play DST with my mom, dad, and sometimes my older sister, and my best friend. We've formed a little group and we play in a private server. Usually, there is only 3 people playing at a time, so bosses are already difficult. My mom and I have a strategy I like to call the  'beat it with a stick until it dies' strategy, no time for healing, no time for dodging, just beat the absolute soul out of it until one of you croaks first. On the other hand, my dad likes to employ the 'lure it to the beefalo/pigs and hope they kill it so you don't have to engage in any kind of stressful combat' approach. 

Given that my mom and I use a very forward tank method, how effective is it that we will actually succeed in killing any bosses? And if we are going about this the wrong way, what is a better strategy to use?

[1bubbainpa]

You’ll waste a ton of resources if you try and tank most bosses. Try to teach/learn the method of kiting, the process of recognizing enemy patterns and dodging when they attempt to strike.

[FreyaMaluk]

aw... this is so cool... nice you get to play with your family..

with that said, learning the patterns is really good for survivability long term and you can always distract mobs with other mobs... so i think your dad has a cool strat but a combo between the 2 is the best to progress further in the game

[SnowdropPax]

31 minutes ago, 1bubbainpa said:

You’ll waste a ton of resources if you try and tank most bosses. Try to teach/learn the method of kiting, the process of recognizing enemy patterns and dodging when they attempt to strike.

I've tried to teach my mom to kite, because I figured it would be easier, but she can't react that quickly to the warning animations.

[prezera]

2 minutes ago, SnowdropPax said:

I've tried to teach my mom to kite, because I figured it would be easier, but she can't react that quickly to the warning animations.

Instead of moving when the enemy does an animation, try memorizing the amount of hits you can get in before it'll attack back. If you forget, just start at a low number like 2 hits and dodge then increase your number of attacks until you get hit. 

[CameoAppearance]

I would highly recommend getting some thulecite crowns if you plan on tanking a lot of blows, because in addition to their high damage resistance and durability they have that intermittent bubble that blocks all damage for 4 seconds. Stack that with a thulecite suit (because, hey, you're going to the ruins anyway!) for even more tankiness. If you can dodge even half the blows then you'll only go through half as much armor durability though, which will come in handy. You don't need to be good at kiting for it to help you.

[1bubbainpa]

23 minutes ago, SnowdropPax said:

I've tried to teach my mom to kite, because I figured it would be easier, but she can't react that quickly to the warning animations.

Then in that case, set up pig and log farms up as fast as possible to keep up with the armor demand.

[Stonetribe]

The only boss I'd recommend face tanking is the Deerclops since his long attack range makes kiting him awfully tricky. Just grab a marble suit for everyone involved and start wailing on him! You should be able to take him down without taking too much damage, but be sure to plan ahead and prepare a method of restoring everyone's sanity afterwards.

Edit: I forgot, also Dragonfly! Dragonfly is the other boss that I'd recommend face tanking as kiting her is also very tricky due to her ability to attack while moving.

[.]

Nice family, my dad threatens to kick me out of the home bc I'm not a religious person.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

Tanking could make the fight end quickly but its to important to learn kite patterns because you will never know if something bad will happend like having hound atack in the middle of the fight so the more close to no damage fight the more safe you will be in dangerous situations. Also, even if the fight takes less time, kitting makes you dont waste time gathering healing and armor and also, imo, is way more fun and gives more satisfaction

When you learn to kite you can make various boss fights in less time with less preparation. Example: killing klaus with 1 thulecite crown, going to fight df with that crown and finish the day killing toad with that crown and only wasted few jellybeans meanwhile if you tank you will need to farm various armors, bringing with you more in case shenanigans, and cooking a lot of pierogies that takes time to be finished

[Parusoid]

4 hours ago, SnowdropPax said:

how effective is it that we will actually succeed in killing any bosses

4 hours ago, SnowdropPax said:

no time for healing

4 hours ago, SnowdropPax said:

no time for dodging

If you dont have time for dodging, you need to have time for healing. If you dont have time for healing, you need to have time for dodging. You will succeed 100% in killing it during face tanking, but you have to have a lot of healing. Be aware that the are other strategies considered to be faster and less resource intensive

[WoodieMain45684]

An alternative to tanking and kiting is explosives. If one or some of you knows how to stock up on eggs then you should be able to kill any boss after killing enough smaller creatures. Would be most viable if you have a Webber.

[Maxil20]

9 hours ago, CameoAppearance said:

Stack that with a thulecite suit (because, hey, you're going to the ruins anyway!) for even more tankiness.

I would actually recommend marble suits if you are going for this, mainly to save on thulecite and to have a bit more protection when out  of the shield (95% compared to 90%), and since you are tanking the speed penalty shouldn’t matter. You will need more marble suits compared to thule ones, but it shouldn’t be anything too absurd, especially with the cheaper cost.

As for the discussion at hand, there is some use in tanking bosses. I don’t really recommend tanking klaus though, mainly due to the casting spells it will provide, but those do have a lot of warning time to get out of the way. On the other hand, bosses like fuelweaver have especially short windows of hitting them when they are vulnerable, to the point where tanking it is a viable use of resources to end the battle quicker and reduce the chance of something going wrong to where you spend even more resources kiting then you do tanking.

One more thing: Walter at any point is a really poor choice if you plan on tanking, unless you are doing support DPS via the slingshot. The sanity you lose will be far more dangerous then what you will gain, especially mid boss fight.

[maquinarara1]

For me depends on the boss

Deerclops, You can safely kite. Tanking is advisable, but each 2 hits will freeze you so prepare a firepit. As he does AoE, all players are affected by his attacks.

Moose/Goose. You can safely kite. Tanking can be done, and he is a single target attacker. The offspring will make tanking difficult, but you can evade all attacks and focus on each of them.

Antlion. You cannot kite, but you can easily evade his attacks, Tanking is not advisable as some spikes does high damage.

Bearger. Kitting is almost a must, as his attacks can unarm you and he does AoE attacks.

Dragonfly. You can kite, but there are so many requirements to do so, I cannot advise it. For tanking his attacks you must have high armor, like marble suit. If 4 people with dark swords attack it, you can safely stun it everytime it comes and you may avoid using a pan flute, less characters means that you must use the pan flute to avoid his enragement, if it does rage, you will have a bad time. its offspring can be dealt in many ways, just dont try to attack them directly, as its fire damage ignores armor.

Beequeen. You can also kite, not as difficult as dragonfly, but the grumblebees will add some difficulty. Bring a beekeepers hat, any strategy benefits greatly on this.

Klaus. You can kite his attacks reliably, tanking his hits is also an option, if you have the resources. Although his gem deers will do elemental attacks that ignore armor, so you must avoid those at all costs. In his second phase he will do a lunging bite attack, you can deal with this attack tanking it, but it is better to avoid it as he will then do his 2 hit swipe attack instantly after his bite. For enraged Klaus, you must hit "Esc", then "disconnect" then confirm, you do not want to fight him, avoid attacking his deer.

Shadow pieces. You must commit on either of these strategies. If you want to kite, defeat the knight, then the bishop, then the rook. You must have high speed stat, by using cobblestones flooring and walking cane on all characters. If you want to tank, defeat the bishop, then the rook and finally the knight. Do not bother on chasing the pieces, they will come to you, bring many marble suits and healing. Either way, it is a though fight.

Malbatross. Kiting on the boat is advisable, tanking too. The issue here is finding it and then chasing it. More than 2 players will make this fight easier if you all split tasks.

Crabking. Impossible to tank and kite, because of its mechanics. Do not attempt to fight it with less than 3 players, bring at least 3 freezing staffs and many boats. There are guides on this guy, I suggest you to check them.

Toadstool. In the first phase you only need to worry about the boomshroms, the mushtrees, and the spores. It is theorical that you can tank the boomshroms (still an easy attack to avoid), but the spore attack you must avoid it or else your food will spoil fast and your health will go down. For the next phase, Toadstool will groundpound his location periodically in sets of 3. One hit may not be as harmful, but taking all hits is a death sentence, the moment you see it preparing to jump, you must run away, you may be hit once, but you can manage.

Ancient guardian. You can kite and avoid his attacks, tanking his hits is possible, but will drain your resources fast. Treat it like a faster, bigger and stronger version of the rook that has a short range attack too.

Ancient fuel weaver. There are so many things going on here. In the first phase you can tank him, but you must manage your sanity, using a beequeen crown can help, but to preserve its durability you must equip something else when you are about to get hit (like a football helmet or a thulecite crown). It is better to kite him, and also you can avoid the spikes that way. For the next phase...You will need to be on the move, so tanking is not a long term option.

Now here are some options in gear for either kiting or tanking.

Tanking:

Marble suit. 95% damage resistance but makes you slow. This thing is made for tanking, no doubt about it. While it may seem expensive, if you have a marble tree farm and a grass farm, then you are set for life.

Thulecite crown. It has a chance of creating a force field that block all damage for some seconds, excellent for fast attackers, it is very expensive though.

Bone armor. It will negate any attack each 5 seconds, supreme choice against slow attackers. It does require you to fight and defeat Ancient Fuel Weaver though. But you can refuel it with nightmare fuel, so it is easy to mantain.

Any weapon will work well.

Kitting:

Magiluminescence amulet. Will not provide any protection, but will give you light and sanity restoration, but most importantly, it will make you faster, making it easier to kite. Somewhat expensive, but you can restore its durability with Nightmare fuel, keep an eye on its % to not lose it.

Walking cane. For some bosses it is a must to have this speedboost. No durability is a plus, just do not try to attack with this thing.

Lazy explorer. Same as the walking cane, but you can telepoof in and out of attacks. You can do it 20 times only, use it wisely.

Thulecite club. Around the same dps as the darksword, but grants you a small speedboost. Expensive to craft, but it can help you in avoiding switching gear often.

Any armor will work excet the marble suit, for obvious reasons. But if you get comfortable in kiting, use the magiluminescence amulet.}

Hope this helps

[themightyone]

If you guys love to tank then start a map with one as Wortox and the other Woodie. Woodie can tank like no other in his Moose phase and Wortox to do the healing and a little tanking. Good combo for tanking right there. Add a Wolfgang or Wigfrid for even better results in 3 player situations

[Maxposting]

12 minutes ago, themightyone said:

Woodie can tank like no other in his Moose phase and Wortox to do the healing and a little tanking. 

+ Warly's garlic spice with the jellybeans could help greatly

[SnowdropPax]

12 hours ago, PrezPara said:

Instead of moving when the enemy does an animation, try memorizing the amount of hits you can get in before it'll attack back. If you forget, just start at a low number like 2 hits and dodge then increase your number of attacks until you get hit. 

This is an amazing idea, we will defiantly try this out, thank you.

[thegreatJash]

Try going Wortox and WereMoose. Takes almost no resources except souls and an idol.

2 hours ago, themightyone said:

If you guys love to tank then start a map with one as Wortox and the other Woodie. Woodie can tank like no other in his Moose phase and Wortox to do the healing and a little tanking. Good combo for tanking right there. Add a Wolfgang or Wigfrid for even better results in 3 player situations

Whoops, didn't see that somebody already said that. I guess it must be that good.

[sovon9]

It is always better to learn patterns but now as the marble armor cost is reduced you can always use marble suits and just tank, not a problem.  

[Cheggf]

Multiple people facetanking a boss is insanely overpowered, especially if the boss lacks a cleaving attack. The more people there are the better an option tanking is due to more damage being dealt and relatively less being received, and the worse an option dodging is due to dodging being messed up if one person is out of sync. There's a reason public servers never try to dodge Dragonfly's attacks, and it isn't because they're too bad to learn the pattern.

Other people here say that tanking costs more resources and as such is a bad idea. Unless every single participant is good enough to dodge probably more than 80 or 90 percent of the time you will use less resources tanking it for a shorter time than attempting to dodge it for a longer time. And that's not even getting into the insanity aura or the fact that time itself is a resource.

[CameoAppearance]

2 minutes ago, Cheggf said:

Multiple people facetanking a boss is insanely overpowered, especially if the boss lacks a cleaving attack. The more people there are the better an option tanking is due to more damage being dealt and relatively less being received, and the worse an option dodging is due to dodging being messed up if one person is out of sync. There's a reason public servers never try to dodge Dragonfly's attacks, and it isn't because they're too bad to learn the pattern.

Other people here say that tanking costs more resources and as such is a bad idea. Unless every single participant is good enough to dodge probably more than 80 or 90 percent of the time you will use less resources tanking it for a shorter time than attempting to dodge it for a longer time. And that's not even getting into the insanity aura.

That's true; we've kinda slowed down on the boss-fighting now but I'm in a DST group that sometimes fights bosses with as many as ten people on a dedicated server, and ten people of average skill hacking away at a boss can kill basically anything. More recently I was in a group of 4 Wigfrids and we killed Dragonfly on day 11, although that wasn't 100% facetanking since we did have a wall to block the lavae. (This was our only goal, admittedly, since I was only hosting that server for one session; we weren't doing much prep for winter or basebuilding once we had an alchemy engine and a couple of crockpots.) Five people with good armor all tanking together can probably do pretty well.

[Mencken]

In multiplayer games that I've been in we tank everything (just 2-3 players) and with the exception of toad and bee queen they all die very quickly.   In my solo games I tank almost exclusively (Wolfgang at 300 and a good weapon does 136 per hit), with the intermediate bosses like DF or Klaus I use 1-2 body armor with a few helms.   Of course you need a flute for DF.   On Bee Queen and Toad I let catapults do most of the work. 

 

Kiting uses less resources but it takes sooo long and that is time resource.  

[1bubbainpa]

Actually, new question @SnowdropPax

What characters to you and your family “main” if any? Depending on what type of character they play as can determine possible strategies that can utilize against certain encounters.

[SnowdropPax]

40 minutes ago, 1bubbainpa said:

Actually, new question @SnowdropPax

What characters to you and your family “main” if any? Depending on what type of character they play as can determine possible strategies that can utilize against certain encounters.

I only play as Wormwood, and my mom plays as Wickerbottom. My Dad interchanges between Woodie and Webber.

[Articestone]

1 hour ago, SnowdropPax said:

I only play as Wormwood, and my mom plays as Wickerbottom. My Dad interchanges between Woodie and Webber.

U all could do indirect fighting, webber with spiders, woodie have increases companionship, wicker got tentacles and wormwood have.... Lure plants and Sea Weed?