How To Defeat Spirit Bear In Nightmare

[watersky82]

Is it possible to defeat spirit bear in nightmare?

[Taleweaver]

It better be, as defeating him unlocks one of the possible Act 4 finales.

[jack1974]

In Nightmare should be very tough (like most boss battles) but definitely is possible, I know at least two people who did it here

[watersky82]

Actually I know it is possible. Just wondering about the how.

Spoiler:

Initially, I wanted to use the same tactic that I used on the Minotaur Boss but it doesn't work
because the Minotaur is a melee fighter while the Spirit Bear is a spell caster. But I think I
can probably use similar tactics with a bit of difference.

The Minotaur Boss is extremely tough. It is extremely fast (almost twice as fast as my characters,
hit very hard, strike through and also use Life Leeching. All my 6 characters got slaughtered
within a few rounds and the Minotaur Boss is still at full life because of life leeching.

So I decided to try a different tactic. I only use 3 characters, Shea (ranger) in the front,
Riley and Althea (druid) at the back.

Riley cast Mirror on Shea. Shea cast Bramblecoat on himself and heal himself when necessary.
Basically, I let the Minotaur kill himself when he strikes Shea.

Althea also help with damaging the Minotaur and heal when necessary.

The Bear is somewhat similar to the Minotaur, also casting life leeching. But this time round,
it is a spell caster so it hit the character at the back as well, which means it leech more life
than it loses.

I guess it is impossible to defeat the bear with my current build.
I am thinking of using a different build for second playthrough it order to defeat the Bear
at nightmare.

For first playthrough, I build Shea as a 2 handed weapon attacker. I think that is not the
best build because Ranger is not really a good damage dealer anyway. Most of his skills
require Stagger.

So, I am thinking of building a tank, with guard.

So Shea will guard Riley at the back, with Bramblecoat on.
He will also equipped ring and necklace with high Water Resistance since that is the main
spell of Spirit Bear.

Same thing, Riley will cast Mirror on Shea.
Basically, just 2 people vs the Spirit Bear.
Just wondering whether this tactic will work.

Also, how is resistance calculated?

So let say the resistance is 100, apparently it is not immune?
Does it mean minus 100 damage points?

[jack1974]

No because otherwise making an enemy immune to a specific damage would have been bad. The highest it is the less damage it takes.

[fabulaparva]

On the tactics:

Spoiler:

I think tactics with less than 6 party members + dmg reflection in general work against him. However, the Spirit Bear has also a decent physical attack (both front row and single dmg) and is relatively fast + 25HP regen, so I'm not sure if you'll have enough hit power with just a defensive Ranger and Riley to take him down, despite the Mirror dmg. I can't recall exactly how I took him down the first time on Nightmare, but in the most recent trial I used 4 members against him. Since the fight on the first time was so hard, I deliberately saved this time one Manticore poison from act 2 just for him.

Team:
Hunter, Ranger, Vaelis, Riley.

Hunter & Vaelis have the Elementalist Trait, Vaelis has also Archwizard. Truckload of skills and traits that boost attack on both.
Ranger has Ward, Cripple, Invincible-skills and the Archwizard trait. Riley: Archwizard.
Riley is used for inflicting Scared, Slow (slow can also be inflicted by the ranger), (Confusion) & Slumber on the bear in any order that makes sense. Mirror damage on Vaelis early on..who'll cast protect on Hunter. Once Spirit Bear launches his multi, Shea takes minimal dmg, because of Ward, Vaelis mirrors 2 of the 4 attacks back on the Bear but has enough magic + elemental resist to survive one round of this and can get throwing axes with either dirty tricks or study opponent in (which'll inflict Bleed on bear + some dmg) and can boost hunter with rally.
Bull's Strength-potion you get from the minotaur's horns on Hunter. Hide In Shadows will also minimize the dmg she'll take while abiding her time. If she gets to launch her hit on the bear with Vaelis' Protection still on her*), she'll have attack boosts from
Take Aim + HiS + Protect + Bull's Strength + Rally
and Spirit Bear's defenses have been lowered with
Manticore Poison + Scared and /or Slumber
=>=>=>=>=>=> Hit in in the range of 500-600 HP (The double attack prediction is wrong, so it showed over 700 HP, dmg, but the actual dmg was in that aforementioned range)
After that, he had <30HP left and Riley and the ranger finished him off with one strike from each.

*)The attack bonus from Protect will remain on her as long as she stays in the backrow, even if Vaelis is Knocked out before the hit.

[Troyen]

Now do it with Druid/Ranger.

[fabulaparva]

Now do it with Druid/Ranger.

Taking a wild guess here and reading that as "do it without Hunter"

Well, here's Vaelis, Riley, Chas and Shea = Ranger taking care of him. Chalassa delivers the final blow with heavy bomb. No Hunter used. Why do I feel like I just got trolled and fell for it...hmmm

Spoiler:

[jack1974]

Achievement unlocked: Master Of SOTW!

[watersky82]

That's amazing. So you are playing Hunter and Ranger in nightmare.

Isn't that a very difficult game in nightmare without the healing power of druid?
Do you have to use lots of potions in the game?