Hi,
I’ve had enough encounters with the Daemonhost over my 60-odd hours of play to actually make a forum account to give some feedback on the boss. I’ve fought it across several difficulties and with different global conditions, solo queuing and in stacks, different classes and different gear. I want to get involved with this game because I love it. I hope my feedback is taken sincerely and isn’t over thought.
I think the Daemonhost doesn’t play nicely with Darktide’s class setups. The best meta is to get an ogryn to draw aggro and hold their shield special while the rest of the team wail on it. Without a shield ogryn to literally tank, the fight is almost impossible on higher difficulties. Dodging it is too error prone and leads to deaths, leaving the team with two members. With the ogryn meta it’s not fun to fight, and the ogryn is literally staring at a shield while the action unfolds out of sight. L4D had a ticker that showed up on the witch when players got too close to it. The visuals and audio are too subtle at times to demonstrate the presence. When encountered, the Daemonhost doesn’t teach players how to fight it very well, and it doesn’t feel satisfying to fight—mostly confusing. No voice direction, no idea how to fight it, and no fun either way. If the better approach is to avoid them entirely or risk ending a run, why is it even in the game?
This special needs more presence. The Daemonhost’s idles are not as iconic as the witch’s crying. It really doesn’t feel thought through when compared to the current armory available to each class. I think it needs a rework if it’s going to be so ambitious as to resemble anything close to the witch from l4d.