Blood Widows suck
By
Arcanaville,
Posted on: 2006-02-02 18:55 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
Never had too much trouble with Blood Widows. Night Widows on the other hand... pretty sure it's Night Widows that pop smoke. Hate that.
It might've been a Night Widow.
I don't remember which one it was. I just know that I had +33% accuracy and +91% to-hit buff, and my accuracy was apparently floored after all that, and that is plainly ridiculous.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
Definetly sounds like a Night Widow, Blood Widows are annoying Cap Au Lt's that just tend to run at you and die, but Night Widows are the stealthers that can 1-2 shot you/
Nightwidows are easily one of the worst arachnos bosses to face. Psionic blasts, lethal and toxic damage claws along with the ability to turn invisible along with a very damaging attack. that being said... my corruptors eat them for lunch without any other inspirations than blue pills. 
Wow....yeah missions in the PVP zones are really tough- I have only PVP'd with my tanker or stalker and with my tanker the mission difficulty HAS to be set to like the middle or lowest one cause the end baddie is gonna be a widow and they suck a$$!! They are straight Kill. On. Sight. Kill fast, kill hard and cremate the damm corpse. You had a great attacks against her- but it sounds like the only thing you had going on for you was the insight- that once you "lost" her, she completely negated all your accuracy DO's and build up. That is the only thing I can think of. It doesn't sound right at all- but again only thing I could think of.
"I'm not scared of anyone or anything Angie. Isn't that the way life should be?"
Jack Hawksmoor, The Authority.
Night Widows are thankfully succeptable to knockdown.
They are rough, but not as roough as the Spider Bosses.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
Blood Widows can be extremely nasty if you let your guard down, too. They're no worse than, say, Meat Doctors but they can pack a pretty nasty punch.
Night Widows, however, are "eat your entire inspiration tray" time. That Smoke Grenade of theirs is just beyond brutal.
Arc #41077 - The Men of State
Arc #48845 - Operation: Dirty Snowball
Blood widow or Mu Striker - thats a dilema on who to rip a new on one first.
usually the Blood Widow gets it from me.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
Typically with my MM, depending on the situation, I'll let my "Boys" cut loose and annahilate anything in a room. With the big upgrade on the robots the AoE is ungodly and can be quite effective on most mobs.
Than I met the damn Night Widows.
I don't care what anyone says about Longbow and how they suck, Night Widows are worse... MUCH worse.
They are probably one of the only things I constantly have ALL my "boys" hit at the same time because they typically do NOT loose targeting when the smoke grenade falls.
Oh... And the Force Bubble (The ultimate force-feild) is a LIFE SAVER in those situations. Yes it pisses off mobs, but it can secure a hallway like nothing else and keeps those damn Night Widows AWAY.
That being said... Damn I want a gladiator badge for one for the Arena...
I've noticed something similiar with long bow spec ops mobs, when they stealth I miss about 4 out of 5 times! 
Spines/ D A lvl 50 Scrap, stone/wm lvl 50 tank, Kat/reg lvl 50 Scrap
Grav/Kin lvl 50 Cont, Fire/Enegry lvl 50 Blast
Warshade lvl 50, PB lvl 39, nightwidow lvl 50, crab lvl 42
plant/thorns lvl 50 dom, ice/fire lvl 40 dom, grav/nrg lvl 41 dom
The bosses in the PvP missions in warburg are particularly tough, I agree. There's a Crab spider guy in the rescue mission and a Fortunata type (is that the blood widow)? in the clickie type I've done... I did quite a few of these with Pantha (nearly half of level 36) on Rugged, which is the setting she's always on.
The Fortunata bosses are the tougher of the two for her to take on. Their damage is undefendable to her except by use of the Wedding Ring and inspirations (though she can do it with those). The Crab bosses are easier for her but still difficult (often takes as many as 6-8 inspirations).
I never buy inspirations so the ones I use are ones I got from fighting the minions in the mission, whatever they happened to be. Damage, accuracy, defense, resist, and heal insps (red, yellow, purple, orange, and green pills) all help. Pantha has no need for breakfrees (lavender) and very little for catch a breaths (blue) -- I never respec'd her for ED so she has stamina 5 slotted 
Pantha is now level 37 and is my 2nd highest character in the game.
The wedding ring is VERY helpful vs both Crab and Fortunata bosses, and if I use it I might get by without any inspiration use (or just one).
[ QUOTE ]
I think it was a Blood Widow. I was doing a door mission in Bloody Bay with a couple other people and we ended up with a Blood Widow boss - a claws/something stalker-type boss. I was playing an ice/energy blaster. She was +3 to me, +2 to the other players.
When she stealthed and I lost targeting, I hit an insight and retargeted her, ran up, hit build up, hit:
Bonesmasher
Energy Punch
Power Push
Ice Blast
Ice Bolt
Freeze Ray
in no particular order. One of those attacks hit...I have two accuracy DOs in each attack, I had an insight for +25% to-hit buff, and build up for another +66%, and as far as I can tell, my accuracy was floored. She then turned around and two-shotted me.
What's up with this?
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She was a Night Widow.
I actually like them, for the most part. They don't win through sheer damage. They are (IMO) an example of a boss that is hard through something other than huge DR + huge damage. I would much rather face one of them compared to some Longbow bosses.
They actually don't deal that much damage, unless something changed in the patch. I think you just got waxed because it was a +3 boss in melee and you were playing a squishie.
I've seen other people on the forums talk about them making themselves unhittable. I haven't had it happen to me, but plenty of folks complain about it. They use Smoke Grenade, and its clear to me that mob debuffs scale up in effectiveness when they have level advantage. This may be why I've not experienced being floored by them, but you couldn't touch her.
By the time you reach the 30s, they become LTs, and so aren't as dangerous. Of course then you get the joy of Fortunata Mistresses, who are Psi Blast Defenders on mental superadyne. Fighting one of them is easily the most psi damage you will ever take in the game outside of the Psi Clockwork AVs. Rikti and Carnies have nothing on these chics.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
[ QUOTE ]
I've noticed something similiar with long bow spec ops mobs, when they stealth I miss about 4 out of 5 times!
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This all is a clear example of critters getting to cheat bigtime with the scale at which they use our powers. If my Blaster could get that level Defense buff out of Cloaking Device he's be unstoppable. Because you're right; I miss way, way more when they cloak.
I also enjoy how I can't hit Crey LTs who activate Focused Fighting, and a few others. You know, like the CoT Behemoths who activate Invincibility and I can't hit them anymore even when I'm the only opponent in melee with them. (And you can't hit them with ranged attacks when there are only two people in melee. Can I have that back on my Invul characters?) And don't forget everyone's favorite! That's right, Spectral Daemon Lords of all varieties.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
I encountered my first Stalker-type Mob not long ago. It was one of the most fun battles I've had. Not sure what everyone is complaining about. Isn't winning a difficult fight cool? I think it is. Most of the Mobs in this game are predictable, dumb, and easy to defeat. When I met one that spun my head a little, I was practically giddy...
[ QUOTE ]
There's a Crab spider guy in the rescue mission and a Fortunata type (is that the blood widow)?
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The Black Widow hierarchy seems to be as follows.
Blood Widows: Red tightsuit outfit with black arachnos symbol details but no accessories other than an ovoid helmet. LTs up until 30, then minions till 35, then they go away. Blade "Scrappers" with toxic damage.
Fortunata Seers: Red outfit, with black details with the cone helmet, the half cape, and that spider bra/harness dealybob. LTs until 35 (I think), then you don't see them any more. Psi attacks and Leadership/Tactics.
Night Widows: Same outfit as Fortunata Seers but it's solid grey with some black and violet. Bosses in the 20s, LTs in the 30s and up. They combine the melee attacks of the Blood Widows with the Psi attacks of the Fortunatas, have what looks like Concealment/Stealth, and use Smoke Grenade (debuffing both perception and toHit).
Fortunatas: After level 35, these minions replace both Fortunata Seers and Blood Widows. They look like just like Blood Widows except they wear the spider bra/harness that you see on the other Black Widows. They use Psi attacks.
Fortunata Mistresses: These level 30+ Bosses look like Fortunata Seers, but the detailing on their costumes is bright red instead of black. They are Fortunata Seers on steroids, whipping off nasty attack chains from the entire Psi Blast line of powers. Prepare to be stunned, knocked back, immobilized, slept and generally be dealt a boatload of damage at range. They do not use melee attacks. They also have both Leadership/Tactics and Leadership/Maneuvers, and (at close range at least) they can see through at least pool stealth with Tactics.
Somewhere in there are also the Tarantula Mistresses and Tarantula Queens. These seem to be exceptionally rare. They basically function like Fortunata Seers and Mistresses, respectively, but their armor gives them physical resists the Fortunatas lack.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
[ QUOTE ]
Isn't winning a difficult fight cool? I think it is.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think so, too!
Bummer that what I consider to be "difficult", depends on the following:
1. Team or Solo?
2. Which AT?
3. While Power set/Build?
4. My mood?
5. Am I playing seriously or killing time?
... but that's just me. 1-5 aren't just different every time I play, but they are different for other people, too.
This is yet another reason why the game needs to be "too easy"... you can always fight a tougher villain group on a higher setting, but how do you make it easier?
Currently playing:
Infaerna Who knew Fire/Fire Brutes were fun to play?
I am curious, I have the same problem with being unable to hit Night Widows - this is with Two SOs of acc in a single target hold, I simply can NOT seem to hit them with any of my "attacks" that have just one SO of acc in them.
I know the "mobs" don't play fair, but if my Smoke has a crappy amount of acc debuff in it, they shouldn't get elude lvl defense out of theirs. 
I have no clue what kinda defenses that Night Widows have going for them, but lemme tell you something. I fight them at level 35+, I can fight an even con Night Widow and she'll dodge my Rain of Fire. I'm one of those crazy people who slots RoF for accuracy as well (I want all of RoF to hit for better scourge.) So we're talking something like 130% accuracy on a 'pet' that can't be debuffed by the Smoke Grenade they like to use. I've had them dodge all but 2-3 ticks of the power.
*That's* just wrong.
--Suichiro
http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Massacre_Melanie -the original Fire/Dark Corruptor -
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=115217
The Guide to BURN
I'll add my vote to the general consensus that Night Widows suck. Was running Sirens Call missions last night on my 23 tank on Rugged and ran into a +1 Night Widow boss at the end of a mission. We then proceeded to spend more than 15 minutes trying to kill each other. During the entire fight there was never a time when I didn't have the Smoke Grenade icon in my bar. On the rare occasions when she wasn't completely invisible my attacks (1 slotted with one Acc SO, 1 slotted with 2 Acc) could not hit her often enough to move her life bar more than a fraction. Fortunately between Stone Skin, Rock Armor, the combined regen of Rooted and Health, plus the occasional use of my self heal, she couldn't really hurt me either.
Couldn't get any help at 5am so I ended up leaving the mission to hit a contact in Steel for inspirations and finally managed to kill her off. All in all one of the most irritating experiences I've had in a long time. Really wish the Night Widows would get the current blaster version of Smoke Grenade.
Giving them the old Uber bugged version of Smoke Grenade is the wrong way to try to add challenge to the game in my opinion. I don't mind bosses that are hard because they can take or dish out a lot of damage, but nothing in this game is more irritating than missing or standing around twiddling your thumbs until the Widow fades back into view.
[ QUOTE ]
I've noticed something similiar with long bow spec ops mobs, when they stealth I miss about 4 out of 5 times!
[/ QUOTE ]
And also their extra powers when they hit 40.
Such as that nasty EMP grenade which zaps all your END and
drops toggles. Makes things a bit more interesting.
Anyway, it's nice to know that our Arachnos "allies" are giving the
heroes what they deserve.
I got owned by a Night Widow once also (see the "big hitters on mobs" thread).
In a way, I love it. Bosses that are viciously dangerous, without doing it by overpowering their damage or their HPs or their resists, or by chain-mezzing you. Just defense, debuffs, constant damage that's hard to resist, etc.
They beat you. They don't one-shot you, they don't surprise you, they don't "cheat". They're just so full of abilities, that they beat you. Kind of like another PC, in a way, who is +3 to your level. I like it far more than giving Knockout Blow to mobs.
[ QUOTE ]
I am curious, I have the same problem with being unable to hit Night Widows - this is with Two SOs of acc in a single target hold, I simply can NOT seem to hit them with any of my "attacks" that have just one SO of acc in them.
I know the "mobs" don't play fair, but if my Smoke has a crappy amount of acc debuff in it, they shouldn't get elude lvl defense out of theirs.
[/ QUOTE ]
They don't get Elude level defense from their Smoke Grendes. They have a high DEF and Stealth to go along with it. That is why you can't hit them.
Yeah, have you ever used Night Widows on gladiator matches? High probability of a win with them on your team.
Currently on Virtue:
Jinrazuo - Crab Spider
RWZ All-Pylon Solo Run
Blood widows suck... true. But they suck on a much better level than, say, Longbow Wardens sporting KO Blow.
I really like that the devs are getting away from: "give the mobs more HP, mez and dmg" as the only way of making things harder. But we must give the devs time, they are new in this realm. For nearly 2 years, they've been slathering on the HP + dmg theory like I-can't-believe-its-not-butter.
To OP, I do think the fact that it was a +3 boss vs a blaster might have played a *minor* role in your quick death. How does your blaster fare, generally speaking, against +3 freakshow bosses?
However, as I said earlier... these new difficulties DO suck. Mobs with -percep, mobs with fear, mobs with confuse... These are things that it seems were never planned for, and have very few counters. I know I'm not the only brute that's splattered a pet or two accidently when hit by a succubus.
I think it was a Blood Widow. I was doing a door mission in Bloody Bay with a couple other people and we ended up with a Blood Widow boss - a claws/something stalker-type boss. I was playing an ice/energy blaster. She was +3 to me, +2 to the other players.
When she stealthed and I lost targeting, I hit an insight and retargeted her, ran up, hit build up, hit:
Bonesmasher
Energy Punch
Power Push
Ice Blast
Ice Bolt
Freeze Ray
in no particular order. One of those attacks hit...I have two accuracy DOs in each attack, I had an insight for +25% to-hit buff, and build up for another +66%, and as far as I can tell, my accuracy was floored. She then turned around and two-shotted me.
What's up with this?
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