Epoch of Pain Tips/Strategies/Counters

dr2ws

Was looking into trying this but gonna need some help 😂, feel free to post your best results.

Comments

Squidopus

Death by debuffs seems like an insanely easy path node, probably gonna be the choice for easiest first run.

Friendly001

Death by debuffs seems like an insanely easy path node, probably gonna be the choice for easiest first run.

I haven’t looked but that doesn’t sound easy at all.

dr2ws

Death by debuffs seems like an insanely easy path node, probably gonna be the choice for easiest first run.

I did see that path, the defenders dont look that bad excluding Photon and potentially Northstar because of his janky animations.

Will3808

Death by debuffs seems like an insanely easy path node, probably gonna be the choice for easiest first run.

I agree with this. The fancy footwork path seems like the second easiest to me. The node isn’t bad, and the defenders are all fairly straight forward. Nothing super challenging at face value on that path.

Squidopus

Yeah death by debuffs is pretty straightforward. Just a random test run and I’ve done the first 3 fights with no items or really any difficulty. Only fight I’m worried about is Adam since I have to do him with Red Skull due to buffed up.

captain_rogers

Death by debuffs path is pretty easy.

I am planning this team
Ironheart, Ironman and silk
Nebula - ironheart
Northstar - ironheart
Photon and destroyer - silk
Adam - Ironman.
Aegon - idk who should I use here? Silk?

Should I switch sentry instead of Ironman for Adam? He could help at nebula as well.

captain_rogers

Yeah death by debuffs is pretty straightforward. Just a random test run and I’ve done the first 3 fights with no items or really any difficulty. Only fight I’m worried about is Adam since I have to do him with Red Skull due to buffed up.

Who are you using for aegon?

Squidopus

Yeah death by debuffs is pretty straightforward. Just a random test run and I’ve done the first 3 fights with no items or really any difficulty. Only fight I’m worried about is Adam since I have to do him with Red Skull due to buffed up.
Who are you using for aegon?

Probably gonna use Leader, the Green door making him extra aggressive should help with getting intercepts so I can safely block.

DerpyEagle

Silk is doing pretty good she can do the first 4 fights no problem. Howard can do some work do and works great for nebs

Squidopus

6 revives spent, made it to Ares. He better show me a good time after all the fear he’s inspired in others.

Trafalgarwar96

ARES special attack counter gameplay:
Sp1: dex, parry, parry, L, dex
Sp2: parry, parry, L, dex, dex, swipe up

Cdjcdkj

Hope he gets nerfed and the community boycotts spending

Friendly001

ARES special attack counter gameplay:
Sp1: dex, parry, parry, L, dex
Sp2: parry, parry, L, dex, dex, swipe up

My brain just shut down.

DerpyEagle

Hope he gets nerfed and the community boycotts spending

I’m not a spender but this boss isn’t supposed to be for the light-hearted

captain_rogers

ARES special attack counter gameplay:
Sp1: dex, parry, parry, L, dex
Sp2: parry, parry, L, dex, dex, swipe up

Important question. Will time slow down or not during his specials?

Wolf911

ARES special attack counter gameplay:
Sp1: dex, parry, parry, L, dex
Sp2: parry, parry, L, dex, dex, swipe up
Important question. Will time slow down or not during his specials?

watched MSD fight him

it doesn’t seem to slow down but get faster as the fight goes on

Oliver345781

Death by debuffs seems like an insanely easy path node, probably gonna be the choice for easiest first run.

complete opposite bro

Squidopus

It is done.
Did Ares kick my ass? Yeah. Was it fun? Others will probably disagree, but I had a blast with him. Took me 15 solo revives and 2 team revives to kill him, but a lot of those were very quick deaths as I learned how to deal with his specials. I’m looking forward to seeing how few revives I can take him down with in future runs.

Some general tips:
• In phase 2 and beyond, Ares will randomly throw either Sp1 or Sp2. Paying attention to his weapon will help. If it’s Sp1, the first weapon Ares will pull out is his Axe, which is helpfully big and thus a relatively obvious tell without resorting to colors (I didn’t pay attention to colors at all).
• Sp1 and Sp2 actually have very similar patterns. Sp2 just moves the starting Dex to the end and then throws in a minigun hit afterwards. See the above commenters for what actions you need to perform.
• Ares’s damage isn’t too high so you can afford to take a hit if you have decent health. This becomes less effective later on as the degen kicks in but you can afford mistakes as you learn the fight.
• You can hit Ares after the first hit of his heavy and still have time to dex the second hit, similarly to the Heimdall fight. This refreshes Ares’s haste (unstoppable dash) cooldown in phase 4, so it’s a useful thing to know. This is also true of phase 5 but he can’t be blocked during then so it’s hard to bait a heavy.

SirGamesBond

Hope he gets nerfed and the community boycotts spending

He's pretty easy tho

dr2ws

It is done.
Did Ares kick my ass? Yeah. Was it fun? Others will probably disagree, but I had a blast with him. Took me 15 solo revives and 2 team revives to kill him, but a lot of those were very quick deaths as I learned how to deal with his specials. I’m looking forward to seeing how few revives I can take him down with in future runs.

Some general tips:
• In phase 2 and beyond, Ares will randomly throw either Sp1 or Sp2. Paying attention to his weapon will help. If it’s Sp1, the first weapon Ares will pull out is his Axe, which is helpfully big and thus a relatively obvious tell without resorting to colors (I didn’t pay attention to colors at all).
• Sp1 and Sp2 actually have very similar patterns. Sp2 just moves the starting Dex to the end and then throws in a minigun hit afterwards. See the above commenters for what actions you need to perform.
• Ares’s damage isn’t too high so you can afford to take a hit if you have decent health. This becomes less effective later on as the degen kicks in but you can afford mistakes as you learn the fight.
• You can hit Ares after the first hit of his heavy and still have time to dex the second hit, similarly to the Heimdall fight. This refreshes Ares’s haste (unstoppable dash) cooldown in phase 4, so it’s a useful thing to know. This is also true of phase 5 but he can’t be blocked during then so it’s hard to bait a heavy.

This is so helpful thanks for posting.

Polygon

Question, does he counter Drax's phase ability?

Wolf911

MSD JUST SOLOED ARES USING SERPENT

ahmynuts

Hope he gets nerfed and the community boycotts spending
He's pretty easy tho

Agree. He isn't awful and is actually pretty fun once you get timing down

altavista

It is done.
Did Ares kick my ass? Yeah. Was it fun? Others will probably disagree, but I had a blast with him. Took me 15 solo revives and 2 team revives to kill him, but a lot of those were very quick deaths as I learned how to deal with his specials. I’m looking forward to seeing how few revives I can take him down with in future runs.

Some general tips:
• In phase 2 and beyond, Ares will randomly throw either Sp1 or Sp2. Paying attention to his weapon will help. If it’s Sp1, the first weapon Ares will pull out is his Axe, which is helpfully big and thus a relatively obvious tell without resorting to colors (I didn’t pay attention to colors at all).
• Sp1 and Sp2 actually have very similar patterns. Sp2 just moves the starting Dex to the end and then throws in a minigun hit afterwards. See the above commenters for what actions you need to perform.
• Ares’s damage isn’t too high so you can afford to take a hit if you have decent health. This becomes less effective later on as the degen kicks in but you can afford mistakes as you learn the fight.
• You can hit Ares after the first hit of his heavy and still have time to dex the second hit, similarly to the Heimdall fight. This refreshes Ares’s haste (unstoppable dash) cooldown in phase 4, so it’s a useful thing to know. This is also true of phase 5 but he can’t be blocked during then so it’s hard to bait a heavy.

Did you notice any difference between champions (if you tried with the different champions)? Does a far reaching heavy or Quicksilver's dex animation seem to make any difference?

SirGamesBond

Hope he gets nerfed and the community boycotts spending
He's pretty easy tho
Agree. He isn't awful and is actually pretty fun once you get timing down

I was just playing negetives with negetives lol.

He's definitely not that bad.
Sword = PP
Axe = DP
A naughty trick to start the special part.

captain_rogers

Sentry is goat for this path. If you got him definitely use him he'll be great for everyone out there.

Wolf911

Sentry is goat for this path. If you got him definitely use him he'll be great for everyone out there.

nice shout

i have him as a 7 star

Squidopus

It is done.
Did Ares kick my ass? Yeah. Was it fun? Others will probably disagree, but I had a blast with him. Took me 15 solo revives and 2 team revives to kill him, but a lot of those were very quick deaths as I learned how to deal with his specials. I’m looking forward to seeing how few revives I can take him down with in future runs.

Some general tips:
• In phase 2 and beyond, Ares will randomly throw either Sp1 or Sp2. Paying attention to his weapon will help. If it’s Sp1, the first weapon Ares will pull out is his Axe, which is helpfully big and thus a relatively obvious tell without resorting to colors (I didn’t pay attention to colors at all).
• Sp1 and Sp2 actually have very similar patterns. Sp2 just moves the starting Dex to the end and then throws in a minigun hit afterwards. See the above commenters for what actions you need to perform.
• Ares’s damage isn’t too high so you can afford to take a hit if you have decent health. This becomes less effective later on as the degen kicks in but you can afford mistakes as you learn the fight.
• You can hit Ares after the first hit of his heavy and still have time to dex the second hit, similarly to the Heimdall fight. This refreshes Ares’s haste (unstoppable dash) cooldown in phase 4, so it’s a useful thing to know. This is also true of phase 5 but he can’t be blocked during then so it’s hard to bait a heavy.
Did you notice any difference between champions (if you tried with the different champions)? Does a far reaching heavy or Quicksilver's dex animation seem to make any difference?

I didn’t really notice a whole lot, besides the fact that QS’s multi-hit lights actually made it pretty annoying to do the light prompts during specials since they took up too much time. QS is a special case in that regard though, and I don’t think it’d be a problem for anyone else. I mostly stuck to using Skull against Ares once I started figuring him out.

DerpyEagle

Anyone have the best science/tech Adam counter? Like will Howard work? I’m so lost I want to use a 7* champ but can’t figure out who

captain_rogers

Anyone have the best science/tech Adam counter? Like will Howard work? I’m so lost I want to use a 7* champ but can’t figure out who

I think sentry works well as he's nullify immune and has easy access to buffs and debuffs. Howard could work if you play around the soul barb and NEVER INTERCEPT.