Dreadnoughts

Warhammer 40K Discussion

By Onslaught

Fingercrust replied

6 15

I've played with each character type now with each loadout equipped for about 4 missions each. I've found that fighting Dreadnoughts is just no fun on any of them. Either I'm doing the wrong things or some tweaking is in order because every fight ends like this: me face tanking the dreadnought spamming health pots with no suppression left trying to kill him before he kills me.

As ranged I've tried targeting individual limbs to blow off a gun or a leg, but after ten or so shots to the same body part still no effect. I fall back and get behind cover, hit it with grenades when it's stationary firing at me, but those run out and he closes the gap, destroys cover and either way I end up backed into a corner face tanking as my suppression and health go down and down.

His range seems much further than my range, but it doesn't matter because by the time you stand still long enough to try and put some damage on him he's on top of you and you're in a corner face tanking again.

As melee it's the same story except without the basically non-existent advantage of range.

I haven't died to a dreadnought yet, but in no spec with either loadout have I found the fights enjoyable. It's just long, drawn out and frustrating.

I'd like to know if other people have had the same experience, or if people have some tactics they use to make the fight seem more tactical, more fun and more like real combat. Like a real mini-boss encounter.

Any feedback welcome!

Edit: I realise that I've just sighted problems and offered no real ideas for solutions. The only thing I can think of is that dismantling or disabling them by taking out legs, arms, guns etc somehow with each of the three character types might make the fights more dynamic. But that's all I've got, hopefully you guys out there are more creative and imaginative than me :)

This post was edited by Onslaught

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17 comments

Dreadnoughts
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Fingercrust

0 4

As all of us are able to play as Crusader class right now, my favorite weapons combination is heavy flamer and two-handed hammer with tarantula armor. Burning all trash arond in the room with dread, drop turret for CSM's, if they are in too, changing weapon presets and hammering dread to pieces. Its first ability (LMB) ignor all target armor and have short cooldown, so, dred is not a problem. Great, if it has passive with +% damage to first skill.

Dont know about range weapons, but, if books are not lieing, melta must be a good choise for this.

SolarCerberuS

1 78

The first time I fought a dreadie I made the mistake of pulling the entire room mobs and all, I have found its is better to pull the front mobs kill them then attack the dreadie by luring it out.

depending on the build I have found if playing ranged, dropping a tarantula at the entrance to set up a trap the most effective mean to distract it and pummel it while it is attacking the tarantula rinse and repeat backing away a room at a time usually by the 2nd tarantulas demise the dreadie is almost done.

running cyclone launcher armour I dont back off as much and run a decent armor eating heavy like plasma cannon or lasgun.

melee I found most fun and just went toe to toe shield and power sword with jump pack when I was supressed jumped out and retreated to restore supression then went back in after a nade.

Frosty79

1 10

Lorewise Dreadnoughts are entombed heroes of a Legion, for chaos it is nothing but the same, Hellbrutes and Decimators are just Chaos experiments to mechanically enhance troops, a dreadnought should act with tactics in mind and have some sense of selfpreservation.

How this would translate into the game, would be that at full health a chaos dread would go all out without regards of own troops, at 75% it would go to a melee stance, use own available troops as backup. At 50% health it would back out and start using ranged attacks, allowing own melee forces to try and keep the player at bay, at 25% it would start to think about a tactical retreat again using own forces to back him up.

Pappagussepi

2 10

Onslaught

Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from, lucky we're this early in development to get some changes made through discussion =)

Have you guys seen any other dreaddies from different factions yet ?

Onslaught

6 15

Pappagussepi

I checked out the footage and your post earlier, and I have to agree that it sorted the Deadnought out. My concern is that it's still just kiting on a smaller scale. With a different form of cover the dreadnought could just stomp or burn through it. But to me it seems like even in that encounter, it's more of an "ugh here we go again" moment, clear all the trash and slog through the dreadnought. Not a "ooh cools, mini boss time! better get my game face on!" (Though you'd still probably clear the trash first) moment.

Pappagussepi

2 10

shtompy smashy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32XcM6BRvpc

Iohan Pax II

4 10

I agree with OP. Although you can attempt to use a few strategies to take down a Dreadnought (kiting, jumping away etc.) it usually ends up being a toe-to-toe attack/heal spamfest when soloing. I haven't tried co-op yet, do these battles play out any differently?

JCrudge

4 3

Have to agree with the OP, got owned a few times and burnt through health pots. It's much easier to clear the room and then go toe to toe with the dreadnought.

BUT its really not a fun fight (i'm playing melee) and basically i spam attacks, get knocked down, get back up, spam more attacks... repeat until he dies :(

Maybe something could be done a la The force Unleashed and/or arkham asylum (and possibly shadow of mordor though i'm sketchy on that one) whereby you have to hit a certain button combo after taking off x health to perform a more effective combo.

This comment was edited by JCrudge

Ultroth

3 9

Gotta agree with the OP, fighting the dreads isnt overly thrilling at the moment and is easy to do as long as you kill all the additional npcs first. Havent tried this with any CC builds yet, but even as ranged the dread is fast enough to catch you most of the time anyways so i think every fight has pretty much been toe to toe and have killed it with flamer/bolter/plasma/shotgun/melta.

The decimator fight is more interesting though as it has shield pylons aswell as additional npc mobs to deal with, however i found again killing the add mobs first, then literally hiding behind the pylons so the decimator kills them for you made it pretty straightforward.

Staff Member

Tech-Adept

Valkyrie Neocore

2 130

Posted by Visorak

I pretty much feel the same way bud, but keep in mind right now the main thing they are focusing on is game-breaking bugs. But yeah I imagine a lot of that stuff is gonna get fixed. When weapons get fixed and balanced as well as for melee maybe an actual tank type buff. But with heavy the thing i do is drop a turret as I'm running and he gets distracted and I focus him down. Basically use your turret as a tank.

Yes, but also we need these design suggestions and feedbackd, cause if many ppl are opening threads about something we will know that it has to be prioritized :)

Wulfenspawn

4 9

I find that you need to clear the room. As melee I normally jump about killing the ranged mobs before engaging the dread. A thunderhammer works well, you need to deal with the knockbacks/knockdowns and taking a boatload of bolter shells to the face. Currently I am running round with a poweraxe and shield as well as a heavy flamer.

Skip to about 4mins 50 secs on this vid to see me fight a dread. Running with a multi melta/power axe and shield in this recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXM2VXHIpvU

Game kNight

9 85

I've tried taking down Dreadnaughts with each class as well, and the Melee seems to be the one with the biggest problems since you have to get in up close and personal to deal damage.

With the gunner it was pretty straight forward kiting, but I wasn't able to shoot off any limbs either (maybe not fully implemented?)

The Heavy is the best one - if you don't use the heavy flamer at least :) Only have the starting Heavy Plasma, but man does that thing wreck him good! I've had some interresting fights and they are scary - but if you manage to take down the adds then he isn't that much of a problem (until you get overwhelmed and knocked back all the time).

Only died once, but that was due to my internet shutting down :D

This comment was edited by Game kNight

Pappagussepi

2 10

The way i've been taking them down is clearing a large section and kiting them through the hallways, pausing to get off single shots and missiles off from my armour, they're tough, but as long as you can keep running they're not so bad to get down.

matze554

2 13

im Playing as a fire support heavy bolter with large magazine. When my second player is tanking the dreadnought i can unload my entire magazine. The Dreadnought is in Single Player a Problem. 2 Players and on with a heavy bolter and its easy gameplay.

Visorak

3 55

Helwinter

Yeah especially whenever the Melta's and such get an increase to armored targets. Another interesting thing they could do is have different type of grenades like Krak or Melta charges. Although I think grenades should be cooldown based instead of picking them up, so yeah...

Helwinter

3 22

Yep, agreed. As a melee Crusader, I've basically just run away, let my suppression come back up, and then gone back in similar to the above RE facetanking.

Without any significant CC, such as slows / snares / stuns / knockbacks / interrupts, and without enough DPS to simply saw through it, it's simply a case of kite, rinse out all skills, repeat.

I would consider revisiting this once some of the itemization issues settle or are re-examined - having more Attack / Defence might mean it is overall easier to take down the things. I've also found switching to a 2h weapon helps taking them down quicker, albeit with the effectively the same method.

Visorak

3 55