Grim Dawn FoA 1.3.0.8 - I Fought the Dread (for 38 mins with rubbish DPS + OA) and I Won (sarcasm)

GrimTools Build ID: N4DQYkxN (can't be bothered to deal with YouTube verification for external links) I've hung out with people who are still too wary of fighting the Dread in melee. I understand this feeling as I too have been running away in fear of being one-shot in melee. I've been fighting it a lot in melee with a tanky character that has relatively poor DPS and OA so I figured I'd record a run of this and break it down for reference. This is my Elemental Witchblade, and I'm in the process of leveling Arcane Currents to max. It has 3000 OA and 3200 DA after buffs. Based on numbers after fighting, apparently I had 100% chance of hitting with 10% chance of critting. Since it applies an OA/DA debuff aura of about 200? on Ascendant, that basically means you need minimum 3200 to even reliably hit. That's the reason for all the missing and poor damage. Blitz and Curse of Frailty (+ vulnerability) help some, but I think Blitz really has to hit for the DA shred to kick in, so that's not good for this. My Cadence hits were in the range of 140k to 190k on sheet, and I have 198% ASPD. As you can see, I don't do impressive damage at all. The only really good thing about this build as set up currently is durability and health regeneration. Also, as I show off at the end (38:00), I have a +200% damage and Health buff to all monsters as I was grinding EXP. I do poorly at the start, but I get into the rhythm and start doing better. Then around 19:15, something stupid heals the Dread from 1.5 mil HP to full. I'm pretty sure I didn't get hit around that time, so feel free to tell me what it is. I'd guess some healer Slith thing lurking somewhere around. Oh well. Just ended up as more practice time. So the Dread. Its attacks are as follows: 1) it spews an orb that hits you for damage (supposedly vitality and physical), disrupts your skills for 2 seconds (reduced by Disruption Resist) and breaks into the OA/DA/damage debuff goop flooring. 2) a normal attack 3) a charged attack (the red swipe) that I believe has a ton of life leech 4) a series of attacks that sunder, which you get the usual red sunder glow warning for 5) a stomp that covers the floor in the OA/DA/damage debuff goop, and also inflicts petrify. Things I did: 1) tanked the Orb usually to control space. This is much safer for me as I have % damage absorption as well as flat damage absorption shields from Aurora and the Menhirus potion component. If you're not using Aurora, then you probably should do this only while Menhirus at least is on. 2) stand there swinging at times as the Dread will rush towards you most of the time, letting you get off a few hits for free 3) cast debuffs when it's busy doing the sunder combo (might as well) 4) when an opportunity presents itself, charge in with your gap closer (I am using Blitz), get a few hits in, hit Evade, get in a few more hits, then use your medal movement skill to run away as there's always a chance it goes for the sunder or the big life leech. The sunder attack has huge range, so a second Evade is probably not enough. If you have doubts, you should just stick to doing 2 and 3. As long as you have enough DPS and no stupid enemy healers, you should wear it down eventually. The Dread is also too slow to kill you unless you're trapped or have some other major threat nearby, so it's something good to practice on when you have the chance. I probably should get around to pulling the Dread on regular Ascendant and see how much damage it hits for, just to have a better idea. At 30:35, I lose about 4500 Health approx from a regular swing? This is with it under half Health, so it's buffed further with the usual superbosses hyper modes. And there's the bonuses from my Altar juicing. Edit: Been running Ascendant in my unoptimized Ice King Reaver Werewolf (2d1W4kAV) and fought Unjuiced Ascendant Dread in Steps of Torment. Mere 16% physical resistance with no flat or % damage absorption and 3800 armour with buffs on. Lost nearly 12k HP from the Orb without my Menhirus shield on, so yeah, don't tank it in this scenario lol. Also lost about 11k health from a regular swing while it was dying. Goop also hurts quite a bit when you don't have good regen to counter it, so that's another thing to take note of.