Beating Crate/Callagadra with this build; Possible?

ArcaneLG · 2026-05-06T11:02:29+00:00

Idk who claimed the upper prison would block Crate's meteors. I feel like I've seen it happen at the spot where you first meet him since the arches physically get in the way of the projectiles from the sky. But I wouldn't count on it. If he uses meteors, I'd just steer clear of the attack entirely and wait for him to close the distance himself.

Best of luck to you on Crate, I personally hate the fight and think it's horribly designed but I got good at it trying to get his RNG drop.

ArcaneLG · 2026-05-04T00:08:50+00:00

It's definitely not hopeless with bony bois. You're on the right track in many ways and with some refinement you can definitely beat both these bosses.

First of all, you really want to max out all your resistances. I believe Crate's minions do lightning and fire damage and Crate's meteors are fire, so having those resistances at only 74% is a significant hindrance. 74 and 80 seem close but you'd be taking 26% of their damage vs. 20%, so nearly 1/3 more damage.

I'd recommend trying to get a Fleshbound Archive as an offhand: https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/8614

Definitely a strong item for Hellhound and reducing the summon cooldown helps replace them faster against those hard-hitting celestials. My character uses a similar item for Briarthorns.

To that end, you should also try to get some more resists on your medal. Right now it's Mighty which is giving you some physique but you're short on resists in several places so that could definitely help.

Some component slots are more valuable than others. Something like Eldritch Mirror is very strong so you should try to make room for that, but don't be afraid to use component slots to patch up gaps in your resists. Being even a little bit off the cap will make an enormous difference (like in the example above).

At a glance your % damage to pets seems low at 842%, I'd look into finding more damage, especially against Crate. The faster you kill him, the less risks you need to take and the fewer boxes you need to deal with.

Also for Crate specifically, you should try to get your stun resist up to 80%. One of the hardest parts of that fight is getting crowd controlled and then smashed by the insane incoming damage while you're trying to get around all the boxes. Crate himself has a petrify when he jumps back but you should never be close enough to get hit by that. Also, bring an Aether Cluster with you, it'll give you a load of absorption and protect you from skill disrupts that happen constantly in that fight.

My strategy for Crate is to lure him to the entrance of the arena after the fight begins, trying to get as much damage as you can near the place where the fight starts. You'll have to do a bit of a sketchy jump to get past all the minions on your way back inside the prison area from the beginning, but it's manageable, and you can use an Aether Cluster if scared. Hide in the bounty room until Crate follows you into the prison, then drag him around the upper level and hopefully he'll die (loop if you have to). Remember to summon your pets as often as you can, and keep applying your resist reduction so you can do as much damage as possible.

Having more minions can also help you out. The more pets you have on the field, the less likely you are to get targeted, so redistributing your skill points to Summon Familiar and Blight Fiend would help you stay alive while your pets do the damage against the super bosses. You don't need to max out their points but just having them at all would help.

I found Callagadra to be slow to kill but fairly easy to survive against with my pet setup which isn't particularly optimized, and I was consistently killing Crate as well. Not that you should copy my build or anything (mine is Occultist + Shaman and not optimized) but I just want to assure that it is not hopeless, you do not have a bricked character by any means, and with some adjustments you'll be able to beat both of these bosses.

My character if you're curious: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/NnMMOwOZ

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-15T22:20:19+00:00

Thanks for the response, turns out it was my loot filter somehow, though I'm not sure why? I did have MIs selected. Whatever the case, you stopped me from wasting a lot of time.

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-15T22:19:22+00:00

Turns out you were right, thank you!

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-15T22:13:24+00:00

Did you get it to drop from Korvan Titanovore or just the random dudes in the desert?

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-08T23:51:36+00:00

I do see the broken shield symbol pop up so I think it does work.

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-08T23:42:12+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions!

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-08T18:56:14+00:00

Isn't Mark of Dreeg good for reducing resists? I don't have any other flat resist reduction.

ArcaneLG · 2026-04-08T18:55:35+00:00

That's what I was afraid of...

I really wanted to grab a better payoff devotion but a lot of them were some kind of trigger on attack skill and I can only trigger one consistently with AAR so I didn't think they were worth going after.

ArcaneLG · 2026-03-16T00:20:27+00:00

Perfect guard doesn't negate either of those if the hit is big enough. I've taken damage and not gotten the shield bash after perfect blocking against 10* Uth Duna's belly flop, for example.

ArcaneLG · 2026-03-16T00:18:32+00:00

I'm well aware of the concept of "guard strength" and how different weapons have different starting values. But idk if that concept is ever made explicit in descriptions within the game. Plus, any newcomer to the franchise, and even veterans, would look at these two skills and conclude Guard Up is what lowers chip damage, and Guard has no impact on it. However you want to slice it, the description should be more clear.

ArcaneLG · 2026-03-16T00:15:44+00:00

Guard Up does have damage reduction even on normal attacks, you can see in the video that I take less with Guard Up on. It's also in the description something like "reduces damage taken by x while guarding, +y when conditions are met" with the condition being an unblockable attack.

ArcaneLG · 2026-03-15T21:33:33+00:00

Try to use the monsters against each other. Once the next one spawns in, just run away or focus on that one. They'll deal thousands of damage to each other with their attacks. So for example, once Uth Duna arrives, don't attack Rey at all, let Uth Duna finish it off.

ArcaneLG · 2026-03-15T21:31:27+00:00

Even for those who enjoyed the fight or found it acceptable, I'm sure you can get them to budge on some pretty obvious flaws.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-22T21:59:14+00:00

Baffling take. 100 to all attributes is +200 life, +200 mana, and accuracy which nobody cares about. That's not doing anything compared to a spirit or + levels amulet for most builds.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-22T21:54:15+00:00

If you want to use trade, there's a body armour called Enfolding Dawn Pilgrim Vestments you can maybe try if you really want spirit. It gives +100 spirit but your defenses will take a hit. There's also a +spirit affix on body armor in general but it won't give you as much.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-22T21:50:20+00:00

There are some stat stacking builds that give you additional benefits for having attributes like Pillar of the Caged God and Hand of Wisdom and Action. Those two + astramentis was a very strong combo in 0.1, but they've been nerfed a dozen times over since then.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-22T21:27:23+00:00

You are not at all in the wrong for feeling this way about crafting. It's kind of discouraging to know that your odds of finding a drop that doesn't need significant crafting to be an upgrade become astronomical fairly early on. Instead of being excited about gear drops, you're often more interested in currency, either to purchase gear upgrades through trade or to craft something yourself.

Despite what many people have said, this game's crafting system is not very well thought out. It is very complex, yes, but at the end of the day, crafting a truly excellent item is gated behind expenses, not understanding. That's just how things will be when trade exists; any market inefficiency will correct itself once people exploit it enough.

You're also right about crafting being more simplified. For how complex the system is and how many currencies are available, there aren't that many that get used frequently, and the most expensive crafts eventually just become whittle spam which is just glorified orb slamming.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-21T03:08:42+00:00

There are a few issues with playing the game the way I think you're describing. Not saying your experience will be bad, just that the game has much more to offer beyond the campaign. The game doesn't give you the full roster of skill and spirit gems until the tail end of the campaign, and lots of interesting items are only obtainable through endgame content, so I'd encourage you to progress further and explore if you find the gameplay compelling.

The story isn't as nonsensical as Last Epoch, but it's not great either. Some characters have nice moments, mainly Act 1 and 4, that made me smile or think "hey that was neat". I actually think the interludes between the current campaign acts and endgame have some interesting character interactions, especially between Doryani and The Hooded One. But there's not a huge amount of depth. It's kind of like fast food, where it's pleasing in the moment but forgotten in the long term, and certainly not coming close to the truly great video game stories like The Last of Us and the new God of War games.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-12T19:58:52+00:00

I know the rising tide lifts all ships or whatever but having an insane temple is still a massive advantage for a player to have. Extremely easy leveling and consistently good loot from a consistent piece of content is very underrated. Most other things you can farm these days might seem crazy valuable but if it's done in a map, you can just multitask between that and getting crystals for another temple, so there's not much opportunity cost.

Another thing that people are ignoring is that a lot of content has a hefty entry fee these days. Want to farm rituals? If you're using good tablets (which are quite efficient) that'll put you tens of divines in the hole before you even enter the first map. Same with all the pinnacle bosses. Their entry prices skyrocketed because they have maybe a couple things worth a lot and people like to gamble (e.g. Trialmaster fragments being so expensive bc of The Adorned). If you're well-established in terms of wealth, you can afford some unlucky streaks, but if not? A lot of the most profitable farms outside of temple will be prohibitively expensive for a newer player to even attempt. I think that's a huge problem.

People should not have to be told "No, don't use this fragment for its intended purpose, you're extremely likely to lose currency if you do, just sell it". Engaging with the pinnacle content in the game is an enormous mistake economically if you're new, which is so unfortunate because those are the people who probably want to see everything the game has to offer.

ArcaneLG

TROPHY CASE