Cockroach confusion

[GoofyYno]

There is so much confusion on this guy. I thought the strategy was to destroy the garbage cans then attack his full force (with AOE). half the player start with cans. the others say it heals him when the cans are destroyed. I have not beaten him yet. I have destroyed the cans, and not destroyed the cans. if it takes to long his shield comes out, then he gets real strong. boom, wipes everyone out.

[Physiologic]

As soon as you go in the room, everyone should be bashing away at the garbage bins, not just half the players. Eliminate the bins as quickly as possible, then focus all your attacks on the Roach. If you keep failing, you may need a stronger or more damage-efficient team.

[Kujen]

The cans heal him when they are destroyed. If you destroy them before you start fighting him, it is easier because you can use aoe and there's no cans left to destroy (so he can't heal). But if they respawn you need to start being careful not to hit them.

[abectin]

I have defeated 10 times or so now. I tell groups not to break the bins, which means no scream, stomp, firestorm, or ice storm. It works well when everyone stays in the center. Especially, if you are mage stay centered to heal the group. Best is to have two mage in the group in my own opinion.

[noobmigo]

I don't break the bins either. I saw they healed so what is the point in breaking bin?

[Physiologic]

All the groups I've gone with have done the same and succeeded - break bins first and then unleash hell on the Roach. He usually dies around the time the first destroyed bins respawn.

The point of breaking bins is to allow you to use AoE spells and combos that will effectively take his health a lot faster than using non-AoE and no combos. Since the bins have a 20-25 second respawn time, that gives you that amount of time to do as much damage as you can without worrying about destroying bins.

I've found no problems with this method and we were able to defeat the Roach in one try.

[Royce]

Don't bother breaking the bins. Just pull him into the center of the room and only use AOE if you are sure the cans won't be touched (if you want to play it safe just use single target skills, and no keeper staffs (or other AOE staffs)).

[noobmigo]

All the groups I've gone with have done the same and succeeded - break bins first and then unleash hell on the Roach. He usually dies around the time the first destroyed bins respawn.

The point of breaking bins is to allow you to use AoE spells and combos that will effectively take his health a lot faster than using non-AoE and no combos. Since the bins have a 20-25 second respawn time, that gives you that amount of time to do as much damage as you can without worrying about destroying bins.

I've found no problems with this method and we were able to defeat the Roach in one try.

Oooh I see now!! ok.

[Royce]

All the groups I've gone with have done the same and succeeded - break bins first and then unleash hell on the Roach. He usually dies around the time the first destroyed bins respawn.

The point of breaking bins is to allow you to use AoE spells and combos that will effectively take his health a lot faster than using non-AoE and no combos. Since the bins have a 20-25 second respawn time, that gives you that amount of time to do as much damage as you can without worrying about destroying bins.

I've found no problems with this method and we were able to defeat the Roach in one try.

Well my groups have always killed him pretty quickly just taking him to the center of the room and avoiding the bins. I suppose either way works, but I'm not sure the time investment is worth it to destroy the cans unless you have a bunch of mages...

[mycroftxxx]

The cockroach feeds on spilled garbage and heals. There are two ways to kill him:

1) Don't spill any garbage. This means ABSOLUTELY NO AOES. That includes weapon procs—meaning your keeper staff (among others) is right out. Lots of people fail here because they don't realize they're AOEing.
2) Spill all the garbage first, and then hit the cockroach full force with everything you have—AOEs, combos, etc.—until he's dead. This works because the bins take some time to regen, and you have all that time to AOE away. Sometimes groups fail here because they're too lazy/slow, and the bins respawn while they're AOEing away.

One method that generally fails is trying to pin him and ignore the bins. Most of the places he gets pinned are on top of a bin location. The bin will respawn, get destroyed, and then serve as lunch without anyone even realizing what happened.

One interesting thing is: even though in method 2 he gets damaged before the spilled trash disappears, I've never seen him eat it in that case. Maybe he has to sustain a certain amount of damage before he feeds?

Another is: he doesn't heal until he gets to the garbage and eats it. It is possible to prevent him from doing so before it disappears into the ground, but it requires coordinated effort.

In general, method 2 is more reliable with random PUGs. Either method can work, but mixing the two is almost certainly a fail.

[z0d]

imo the best thing to do is just have everyone go on him immediately, no aoe. just ride it out, spam heal/health pots

[Kujen]

Both methods work, but in random groups it is hard to tell people what to do and what not to do. I've seen people continue to use aoe when you tell them not to, even if theyre damaging bins. And I've seen people target bins to break them while the rest of us are targeting the boss.

[GoofyYno]

The cans heal him when they are destroyed. If you destroy them before you start fighting him, it is easier because you can use aoe and there's no cans left to destroy (so he can't heal). But if they respawn you need to start being careful not to hit them.

Now I understand. the only advantage of destoying them first is so you can use AOE without hitting them later. so group who don't want to destroy first can still win by not using any aoe. I'm assuming heal, BOV and BOM wont cause problems. I saw where Nightmare/ terror have damage. how about steal life?

[Ptoast]

Life steal is single target, so it is ok to use.

[noobmigo]

Nightmare and weakness do damage, but I'm sure It doesn't do anything to the bins.

[Physiologic]

Well my groups have always killed him pretty quickly just taking him to the center of the room and avoiding the bins. I suppose either way works, but I'm not sure the time investment is worth it to destroy the cans unless you have a bunch of mages...

My groups have been rather bear/mage abundant, especially bears that have itchy trigger fingers on their Stomp skill, so I let them happily Stomp away

[Ptoast]

I have seen the bosses reset too many times by idiot mages firestorming and bears stomping like idiots. It annoys the crap out of me when I keep trying to knock them back into the center of the room just to have them shoved back in my face.

[mycroftxxx]

FYI, I posted a lengthier “Balefort Sewers guide” which includes my analysis of the Cockroach.

[Genes]

Why the trouble? He can easily be solo-ed by kiting him around the huge space using a bird.

[GoofyYno]

After 15 or more attempts, I finally got him. and it was so easy- nobody touched a can or used AOE. I think I like the destroy can first method, but people are way to stupid to stop firing away when the cans reappear- ( or some idiot alway goes over to the re-spawned can and destroys it).