How to beat Vaal Oversoul as a melee evasion character?

Hi, thanks for reply. With other characters that can use viper strike and whirling blades I do this or similar things. Whirling blades however bad desync they can cause are great for escaping the bombslam attack and actually any attack in there, ice thingy including. But I was using an axe last time. Anyway I had maxed resists and my life pool was quite good, wouldn't become any better without some serious grinding or overleveling (see the previous posts) and the bomb was still lethal. Also I beat the boss three times (normal, cruel, ruthless) before facing him in merciless.

I don't know what whirling blades desync you're talking about. I rarely experience any desync/rubberbanding problems.

And I hit W a lot.

Then you are lucky. Some people don't even use this skill just because of desync. I use it on characters with a weapon allowing this skill. It isn't the case of the one I had trouble with anyway.

The desync related to whirling blades usually happens when you hit an obstacle while whirling. Sometimes it is doorway, sometimes a boulder, anything. It is really hard to simulate a thing like this but I assure you it is real.

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wiggin wrote:

I get it I'm kinda bad at this game but I only feel this way at the pyramid's top exclusively.

That's a wrong conclusion. The game is in beta and some stoff is very imbalanced. Of course there are always things that are easier with this or with that champion. To be honest melee champs have more problems. There is no real tradeoff for sucking at Vaal. You also suck vs Oak or Cold Snap witches or skeleton archers that curse you. Only a few things are a bit better as melee. Prisoners Gate for example where ranged champs can have a hard time with goatmen jumping at them, hellions exploding and so on. On the other hand goats with molten shell can be hard for melee champs.

So as a melee you just picked a more complicated build than others. At Vaal you are fucked the most, because his imbaslam is just insane. Evasion again is another bad factor when trying to kill Vaal. If all this really meant you are a bad player this would mean that everyone who picked a summoner is automatically a good player. Just because summoners are pretty op. So what is the solution to your problem? Get a summoner to help you. Just ask someone and he will come to finish Vaal and you can proceed doing maps. If you really want to do Vaal yourself, get Lightning Strike and kill him from afar. In my opinion this is no more melee fighting but at least you killed him with your champ.

Being too squishy to stand in front of a vaalpunch isn't a evasion-exclusive problem. Nobody likes being vaalpunched, and many non-evasion chars can still get oneshot just the same. But the attack is telegraphed, there are many means to get the hell out of the way even with above-average lag, and you can even just not ever get in range unless he's already doing some other harmless thing if you want to really play it safe.

Overleveling isn't needed anywhere in the game, it's boring and pointless - if you end up needing it, you probably either screwed up your build at some point, or are insisting on a wrong approach to some problem.

@prawda
Yeah asking people to help you is a way to go, but it doesn't feel as good as doing it yourself! BTW hellions exploding are actually worse for melee. But why I said I'm bad was because I have trouble targeting monsters mostly, or at vaal 'not-targeting' him. And last thing - yeah, I guess I make a build that is good everywhere except for this fight (but only in merciless?) and it doesn't feel right.

@ebrl
I know the bomb is simply very powerful attack. But there are ways to mitigate its damage to avoid one-hit death for other styles (fire resists aside); keep your distance or get some armour. As an evasion melee you only can get more life to be able to get hit without dying. And I feel like it is nearly impossible to have enough life by 60.

Of course other characters can get one shot but they simply have to suck more because my armour users don't get one shot, you get considerably more ES by 60 than life, range solves this problem completely (so it kinda is evasion exclusive problem by my experience).

So do you mean that evasion melee character = screwed build? Or what did I do wrong?

Your situation sounds like your only tool is a hammer and you see every problem as a nail. It can work most of the time, but as you discovered, Vaal isn't a nail. I don't think the game is built to allow every single possible build to beat everything.

As for consctructive feedback, there are some skills you can try to use, either just so or in combination: enduring cry, summom skeletons, decoy totem and already mentioned enfeeble.

Or try a bow. You got the dex, so stick a lightning arrow gem into alternate gear, level it up and use it.

One more thing you may consider - grouping.

Thanks for answer but hey, this was quite rude, you know... I made this thread to get some tips how to deal with Vaal as a melee evasion character and I did. I know I can kill the boss using the other methods easily; I can also beat the whole game easily with bow user, minion witch, marauder groundslam yet I made this thread about melee evasion play style. I don't think there is any need to analyse the way I enjoy the game.

About a build that can beat everything, well, I haven't experienced such a situation with another build, in other words: other builds can beat everything.

I'm currently rerolling similar build I failed last time and before the critical fight I will do some testing in default for sure.

Edit: as always.

Wiggin you are not alone in struggling with this fight. I'm glad you started this thread as I gleaned many usefull tips. My L64 Ranger fell to a one shot from Vaal due to desync so I need to figure out how to mitigate at least one hit by him. I had ~2400 life and 4400 armor (evasion c IR) at the time. Everything was under control and then in an instant I was dead with Vaal standing over me and the dreaded Ressurect button center screen. I'm assuming it was his slam attack.

Since you died to it a few times you should know how it's attacks look by now.
Only attack when it summons monsters, spreads ice or drops rocks. It always vanishes after summoning, so if you want to be extra save only attack while summoning, and kill of the sniper constructs when it does vanish. If you are not sure what comes next, run circles arround vaal in melee range without attacking. If there are patches of ice in the way don't go there if you are expecting a slam or lightning.
You don't want to get hit with the slam with any char, ever. Don't run away from it, run to either side.
Flickerstrike can be pretty useful to get in fast, and to move between summons if there is ice arround (learn it's mechanics first, tho). Leapslam always feels sluggish, and you can get hit midair.
Don't be afraid to abuse some TP in a far off corner to refill your flasks.