Secret Lair of the Snowmen - any tips to how to fight?

[ShadowCatz.8437]

I have read up on wiki about this fight, but it seem I never see any Heart during that fight and boss ends up enraged with the group that joined in Public instance.

Is wiki missing something from how this fight works today (as it built on when it where introduced in 2018). What exactly need to be done? Doing this mission solo to see which mechanic that is needed ended up with more and more of those shielding adds to spawn (as fast one where killed next spawned).

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Secret_Lair_of_the_Snowmen

[HotDelirium.7984]

There is a small dps check in place per the timer. After you drain the minion HP it has a breakbar that must be cc in order to die. The heart does pop out next to him when Freezie's HP is reduced to zero. I've come to expect very low dps from publice instances when I've ran them.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

You need to take Freezie down to 0% health before the heart spawns. Then you need to hit it with snowballs from piles that spawn around after killing the mobs that surround the area - note: don't waste time on the veterans, kill the squishy normal ones.

After a period of time, Freezie's health resets and you need to repeat this DPS phase until you've managed to "heal" his heart up to 100% with the snowballs.

Obviously, going in with public instance you have no guarantee your group will be able to maintain sufficient DPS at times, which can lead to his enrage timer going off. Still, I have yet to find a public squad I haven't been able to finish this with. Both condi and power builds work fine, but torment is - obviously - particularly effective here. If you can, you can go for condi quickness firebrand to help out your pug group. That's what I've been playing. Great DPS (~40k) with great utility.

Edited December 16, 2021 by NorthernRedStar.3054

[Randulf.7614]

It usually helps when a couple of the group take down the adds on the dps phase otherwise he gets buffed. People also need to ensure they run the snowball away from the players when they get the eye and ensure if they are targeted by the laser in the final phase, other players aren’t caught in it.

[mikansei.5742]

The heart spawns after you "kill" Freezie. It's quite difficult to see among all the spell effects, but it's stationary and always in the same spot in the center of the room. You aim the snowballs you pick up at the heart to "heal" it, but if you can't see it, just aim roughly at the center of the room and it'll probably connect.

The adds that spawn while fighting Freezie and channel beams at him will get a breakbar at 1hp, so you have to CC them to finish killing them a la Vale Guardian.

Ranged attacks are very helpful on this fight to kill adds and poke Freezie at range while you kite the snowball/laser beam - ranged CC especially to kill the channeling mobs.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

Thanks for all of your help!

 

As for defiance bars, I tried to do as much as possible CC from my Scrapper both when adds showed up and at boss. Adds where killed rather fast when PUGger and I did understand that, but the rest where too focused on staying at boss or using LB (rangers). Snowball where also too often going towards boss as people stayed there instead going out. I suppose stacking where the largest problem and probably too low damage, especially in the later stage of this mission.

I suspect that the longer this event will be going on, the more people that have PUGged this event more then once, they will also start to know how to do this better as they learn what works and what doesn't work.

[Infusion.7149]

Form my testing you should probably "abuse" condi staff mirage (10 man might+ some alac)/scourge (just high DPS+epidemic)/condi ren (shortbow when being chased by snowball, high DPS , high CC, some alac). It is stationary in the middle of the room so torment ticks constantly.

For the blue laser you should dodge through the hitbox instead of running around. The main loss of DPS is avoiding snowballs running over the group other than that. You should try to epidemic or kill and CC the add that slows down DPS on Freezie. Each phase it will have a heart that spawns in the middle you throw snowballs at similar to the pre-event.

FYI: Average group clears it in 4 or 5 min. Going off wingman that confirms my experiences as well https://gw2wingman.nevermindcreations.de/strike/freezie

[Ashantara.8731]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:04 AM, ShadowCatz.8437 said:

I have read up on wiki about this fight, but it seem I never see any Heart during that fight

It's a big snow heart right next to Freezie - you can't miss it.

Also, make sure you dispose of the healers that spawn as quickly as possible - bring them down to 1 HP, then use a CC skill on them to burst them into pieces.

Edit - There are only five basic things you need to do in this fight:

• Don't step on the frozen markings on the ground - they deal extreme damage to you
• When you are targetted and chased by the snowball, always lead it away from the group
• When the healers spawn, do as stated above
• During the Heart phase, only kill the smaller, moving minions - they will leave a pile of snow behind from which you pick up three snowballs that you need to throw at the Heart using your Special Action key
• Deal decent damage to Freezie

You'll see, it's fairly simple once you get the hang of it. 🙂

Edited December 18, 2021 by Ashantara.8731
typo

[mikansei.5742]

I don't think Freezie himself ever gets a blue breakbar, so you can save your CC for the channeling adds. On engi I love Personal battering ram just because it has 2 charges.

For public groups especially it's helpful to briefly explain mechanics. You don't have to go in-depth, just a quick rundown like "if you're new to the fight, don't stand on the cracks in the ground because they do damage, if you get the message that the snowball is fixating on you lead it away from the group, same for the laser beam, and when you kill the adds that channel on the boss you have to CC them at the end or they won't finish dying." That way no one has to put themselves out there and admit they personally don't know mechanics, lol.

Oh, also, don't stand directly on top of Freezie when there are cracks in the ground, because they all converge on him and standing right in the middle will get you hit by all of them at once, which will pretty much insta-down you. (Ask me how I know this... 💀)

Edited December 16, 2021 by mikansei.5742

[HotDelirium.7984]

AND FOR THE LOVE OF WINTERSDAY when he does his blue beam attack...don't circle him far away, you won't be fast enough lol. Unless you are that super unlucky person to be targetted by the beam AND the snowball GL xD 

Just circle tight around him; you can attack and the beam closes the gap in the direction that is closest to the targeted player so if you are behind him you can make the beam stay in the same area by shimmying more left and then more right.

Edited December 17, 2021 by HotDelirium.7984

[rotheche.2964]

One thing about Freezie's heart - it's green (ally), not red (enemy). If you're used to tabbing between targets or something like that, it won't go to Freezie's heart; if you're used to looking for red things to target, you may miss it.

[Moradorin.6217]

Yep what everyone else said.

 

DPS on boss untill you see "Protector"? then dps protector to 0 and cc to despawn it.

When cracks appear stay off the cracks.

When the snow storm thing shows up try to stability party and stay in the middle unless killing a protector or unless you become the snowball fixate.

Yellow dot over head = snowball fixate that person's job is keep snowball off other players while trying not to get smashed urself.

Purple dot = blue beam/wall fixate keep wall off party. Many ppl just walk it in one direction and party rotates around boss. This seems to to work well in random groups cause its simple.

Snowball throwing phase throw snowballs at the heart. You can kill adds if you need more snowballs. If you set ground targeting to fast with range indicator or instant and check the box that says Snap ground target to current target and check the one that limits the ground target to stay within range. Also binding your special action key to something easy to use. I use mouse wheel click for SA key. Then you can just target the heart and click your special action and as long as you are within range they will fly to the heart 100% with less targeting time. Doing this Im able to run around on scrapper and do the snowballs very fast (super speed and ham 2 burst).

 DPS is important and swapping targets to protectors keeps the DPS going. Doing the mechanics and carefully reviving downs and doing the snowballs keeps everyone alive and keeps the whole thing rolling. Thats pretty much it I think.

[Khisanth.2948]

19 hours ago, rotheche.2964 said:

One thing about Freezie's heart - it's green (ally), not red (enemy). If you're used to tabbing between targets or something like that, it won't go to Freezie's heart; if you're used to looking for red things to target, you may miss it.

A good reason to call target on the heart as soon as you can to make it easier for the rest of the team to select it.

[Ashantara.8731]

On 12/19/2021 at 6:32 PM, Khisanth.2948 said:

A good reason to call target on the heart as soon as you can to make it easier for the rest of the team to select it.

No need to select it as a target as the Snowballs Special Action is a ground target AoE skill, not direct hits.

The only reason to call the target is for everyone to actually see it. 😉

[Khisanth.2948]

37 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

No need to select it as a target as the Snowballs Special Action is a ground target AoE skill, not direct hits.

The only reason to call the target is for everyone to actually see it. 😉

I find it easier to target with the circle under it while selected

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

1 hour ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

No need to select it as a target as the Snowballs Special Action is a ground target AoE skill, not direct hits.

The only reason to call the target is for everyone to actually see it. 😉

General tip with ground-targeted special action skills: aim at the feet of the target, not at the body. 

You'll find this useful when applying for sous-chef...