Feedback: Jamanra is just a bad fight

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Vel#9433 wrote:

I know a lot of classes have a very easy time with this boss, but from the perspective of a Witch with a Chaos DoT + Curse build, it's just a very annoying, bad fight. So first off, the fight isn't even for everyone; it's incredibly easy for some, and incredibly difficult for others, depending on their class and ascendency.

I started off attempting the fight as a lvl 37 Blood Mage - the map is lvl 32, so I'm 5 levels above the recommended level - and never got more than 1/5 of his HP down, because I was running thru health flasks for the curses + damage I was taking.

That's point #1 - the fight is impossible as a Blood Mage who isn't abusing an OP minion build revolving around SSR. Once I spent 7,000 gold to redo my Ascendency tree - take OFF the Sangui node, I got the boss down to 20% HP on the first try. It was night and day between the fight because I wasn't doing self-damage for zero upside. Blood Mage is seriously BAD in boss fights, to the point it's an actual handicap unless you're abusing some OP mechanic

Point #2 - the fight is TEDIOUS. He's got too much HP, and I don't mean that in a "He's too hard" way, I mean that in "This shit is taking too long, I'm getting bored" kind of way. It just goes on and on and on. Unless you're running a meta OP build, it's not a DPS check, it's a check on how long you can actually care about a boring fight. The phases themselves are pretty fun and colorful, but they just last way too long. This isn't an "epic" boss fight, it's an active chore.

Point #3 - stop with the constant attacks. This was an issue in the Geneor fight as well, using mob adds in what *should* be a lull in the combat. It's OK to have a break, a breather, and chance to channel a skill or back off a fight and reset. Elden Ring, Armored Core, etc, all allow a quick backoff of a boss, a chance to heal, to reset if your roll timing is off and you can't get in the groove.
But the Phase 1 Jamanra right doesn't. He attacks constantly at EVERY range - there's no way to just back off and take a breath - and during what should be a chance to get some free damage, his sand storm attack, mob adds just swarm you - which is actually harder to deal with than when he's alone for a lot of classes in such a tight space.

---This isn't Elden Ring, because Elden Ring is fair---

What the devs don't get about Elden Ring when they try to emulate it is, it's FAIR. Every boss attack, every pattern, every death, is carefully weighed to be the player's fault. You can dodge everything, and you can beat any boss at any level.
But a lot of boss fights in PoE 2 are just an exercise in "How much do you really care about this vs just picking up another game". They aren't challenges, they don't promote learning patterns. Boss fights are basically bullet-hell mini-games where a single attack with almost no windup (like his sword attack) can wipe out 90% of your HP.

Elden Ring would telegraph the hell outta that kind of thing, but Jamanra just does it and proceeds into summoning more tornadoes. If an attack is that fast in Elden Ring, it doesn't do a lot of damage; if it does a lot of damage, it's telegraphed, and only the timing of the actual strike - a half second pause here, maybe right after the animation there - is how difficulty is added.
There is no such thing in the Jamanra fight, and it doesn't feel "fair" in the least; you die to it and your reaction isn't "Yeah, I saw it coming and my timing was off" like it is in Elden Ring, the reaction is, "WTF just happened? I was at 80% HP and then I was dead the next second. Seriously, how did I die?!"

TLDR: The Jamanra boss fight is like 80% OK; 20% needs tweaking. Namely, too much HP, mob adds, telegraphs, and attack density