best class / build in terms of raw power and defense for a boss slayer kind of character?


Advice


I hear Eddie from Tekken is pretty good xD

... in all seriousness, my experience would say Fighter fits your needs for going. Toe to Toe with most enemies.

Liberty's Edge

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Fighter is probably best, but ways to actually debuff are also super good. Specifically, a Bard Multiclass for Dirge of Doom is one very solid option, and pretty available if human. It pairs well with decent investment in Charisma and Intimidation for use as a debuff at lower levels, and Scare To Death for minion killing at high levels (good for whittling the fight down to just the boss). Going all in on Bard Multiclass can get you some of the best debuff spells in the game via the Occult list as well.

Of course, a Fighter plus a Bard is much better at this than trying to do both things on one character, but the single character version does work.

Their Saves are kinda mediocre, but the extra +2 to hit from being a Fighter is invaluable vs. over-leveled opposition, and automatically imposing -1 on both their attacks and AC is really hard to turn down.


Let's back up a bit.
A single PC cannot go toe-to-toe with a boss (Level +2) unless there's a convergence of circumstances which favor the PC in extreme ways, i.e. wielding a weapon that triggers two Weaknesses. Luck still would matter. (Yes, this can be stunning news coming from PF1!)

Fighting a boss is like fighting two of yourself (and a maxed out version of yourself at that.) Many consider the Fighter a "maxed out version" of a PC and its offense most resembles monsters', though monsters often have Barbarian AC/h.p. defensively.
It's really difficult to nudge the power curve upward to match the natural increase of being higher level. Those methods mostly revolve around teamwork (i.e. debuffing/flanking for each other, splitting damage) or preparation for specific monsters (i.e. prepping for Weaknesses). Trying to do teamwork tactics solo requires breadth, so if you can get breadth without weakening your main shtick you're doing about as well as you can. Which remains unlikely as enough to face a boss toe-to-toe. Breadth can often demand too many actions, so having a cohesive team does more than any single build can.
For martials I'd agree w/ Fighter as the optimal vs. bosses, though an argument could be made for a Champion's defense/Lay on Hands re: survival.

That said, I've found the main boss-buster to be Magic Missile since it bypasses all those superior defenses. Except it can be quite hard for a caster to survive a boss's attacks! Which means casters often have to move or put up Shield so can't get off a 3-action Magic Missile. Doh. Still need friends, especially if the boss has hit points as its main defense (i.e. a Troll would be a horrible target for Magic Missile).
Bard would seem the best here because they have better defense than most casters w/ Magic Missile and can use Compositions, debuffs, and Will-save spells to tackle a variety of boss types and tactical needs.
Personally I'd go w/ Cleric w/ access to Magic Missile (i.e. via Nethys) for boss-busting (still w/ a team, of course!). The Heal spells will help immensely in rebounding from a lucky boss attack while on more open rounds the Magic Missiles chew away.
A case could be made for Druids w/ their AoEs (to clean out the boss's minions) coupled w/ Heals, except the right spell balance may be hard to predict.


Fighter is your best choice, but you're never going to solo a proper boss.

No character would ever be a "boss slayer" on their own or it's not what most people would consider a boss challenge (CR higher than your level).


To be fair, I don't think OP was talking about a solo character as much as wanting to know what to build for a party, where they wanted to be the one to brutalize the boss rather than be support or very good at AoE...


Well then fighter, because of the higher weapon proficiency leads to a higher attack bonus and that basically more valuable than...basically anything else.

In terms of attack rolls fighters are the best, and because of math even though there damage isn't the highest per attack they're typically causing the most damage per round.


First, it depends on the level and depends on the boss.

Generally speaking in a group environment with healing, a fighter will hit bosses the most often and do damage. Doesn't at all make them the best solo at all. Fighters hit well, that's it. They don't mitigate damage well or do much else well and they aren't mobile.

As far as soloing quite a few bosses for a martial, the monk or swashbuckler using high mobility could probably do it, maybe a wild shape druid using a high mobility form where mobility was usable. Given that ACs are not high enough to stop damage, relying on AC is the worst way to battle a boss. So a monk on some bosses could get in and out. If fighting a high mobility creature like a dragon, not even the monk will escape them.

At higher level a caster would likely do best. A class that could disappear and be untrackable could kill a boss if they didn't have the means to counter their defense. Casters have the means to obscure all means of detection and kill a monster without the monster even knowing where they are. So they could kill a lot of bosses that way even slowly wearing them down with a cantrip or using a ranged weapon. It would take a while, but they could do it.

Maybe some kind of super stealth rogue or ranger could do it too. Use a bow and disappear each round, then hit them and move in the right environment.

But there is no raw power boss killing. That would be extremely lucky and rare.


I suppose a dhampir tyrant champion.

This relies upon the enemy hitting you. Given the level difference, that is more likely to happen to you then you hitting the enemy effectively. Add in iron repercussions for persistent damage, and you can get something going. The race allows this to self heal, which helps when you rely on the enemy hitting you.

Yes. It doesn't do well against things that resist or are immune to mental damage. But we are talking about 'most' enemies. Also, a lot of the things that are immune are mindless, which tends not to be very dramatic for most bosses. So your only real concern for this purpose would be golems... and those have always been the bane of paladins.

If the enemy drops prone, then they are wasting time. Time that could be spent murdering you. Which benefits you.

If the enemy backs away to use reach or ranged options, then you might be able to get an AoO in.


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For an actual solo, some kind of evil champion is probably the best option, or a perhaps caster with a lot of cheese and preparation, depending on the level we're looking at. I don't think a fighter is a good option at all as a solo vs boss at all - everything you do is efficient but fair so you're just going to die horribly most cases.

As part of a party, no character really plays the boss killer. I'd probably argue it's the debuffer that plays the most critical role vs a boss as they make the boss easier to deal with a large number of ways, gives the party more time to patch up or run away if things go southward and just do a lot of work overall. Put another way, if the party's primary debuffer goes down early or has a hard time debuffing in a serious boss fight for whatever reason, that tends to mean the party is now at a serious disadvantage. Whereas, if the fighter goes down early it's not too unlikely the fight is still possible to salvage if the rest of the party managed to do their thing.

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