The general idea is that if the turtle's primary target is missed by either Hullsnap or Steam Blast, then it'll slam.
It also seems to slam once in a while even if you're diligent about making sure Hullsnap and Steam Blast land on the primary target.
Personally, I've found it helps to taunt more frequently in my rotation to increase the odds that I'm the primary target. If you have a very powerful dps (especially with big burst) sometimes they'll nab aggro away for a moment at the wrong moment... and cause a slam.
And then sometimes the turtle is buggy and slams like crazy for no obvious reason.
Apart from what dupeks said, you can take advantage of the turtle's damage stack timer (5 minutes last I checked?).
The turtle is currently glitching on the mine phase, as he tries to 360 noscope the party (hint: he fails miserably every time) instead of hitting the party conventionally. If you want, you can purposely let the mine phase play out for 5 minutes (with no danger), wherein afterwards, his damage stacks should fall off.
I haven't looked at his link, but @dupeks is on the mark.
I run with some high dps and my focus in the fight is to grab aggro before they do, because we get into a slam cycle if the dps pulls aggro. As far as a rotation, I try this whenever the turtle beaches himself on our island:
At first he is un-targetable and I don't want to waste an encounter power so I spam hard mark.
As soon as the targeting reticle turns red and I know he is vulnerable, I land that hard mark, which should be a brief taunt.
Then I pop Enforced Threat, to make sure I still have aggro and build more threat.
Then I pop ITF and then Commander's Strike for a nice juicy chunk of threat.
Shield up and aggravating strike/hard mark until encounters are off cooldown.
Usually I can get that Commander's Strike in before he snaps, and I have time to get my shield up, but it's close. You may have to get the shield up before you get through a whole "rotation," don't sweat it if you do. Just drop the shield and finish the rotation after he snaps.
I have tried dropping Enforced Threat for Kneebreaker or Anvil, but I can more consistently keep him from slamming by including ET in the rotation.
@rjc9000 interesting strategy, sounds good for groups that are learning the fight.
Well, the latest preview patch notes literally said that they'd stop the turtle from 360 noscoping, so... my strategy is invalid, you actually need to hit him with a mine, unless you want to try your luck in surviving for 5 minutes while getting hit by the steam blast.
Also: - Make *SURE* no one in your group is using a defender companion. They are evil and steal aggro when in bad locations. - Consider reminding gwf/pallys to not use taunts of any type unless they are where you should be, right in front, and want to get hit instead of you.
Otherwise, the stuff @mitty#8178 said above should work well.
Has nothing to do with the primary target. The turtle has a pool of attacks it randomly selects. The Slam being one of them. If anyone is in close range (out of steam area) then he has a chance to use that attack in it's random selection.
You can test this by duoing the turtle with a range character standing behind you. You will notice he will do a back area steam attack every so often that is meant for the other player instead of you, and will also do 0 slams (providing you do not get too close either).
However after the turtle resurfaces then there is a chance it will slam twice, you will notice this easily as the turtle will do nothing for a few seconds after resurfacing. This is why I don't run with any GWFs or TRs in low geared groups or random pugs.
I've personally only seen the turtle slam when he was trying to target someone he couldn't hit with his DD or steam attack, which can occur even if someone is directly in front of him if someone/something at his neck taunts. But, as long as I've had aggro and been positioned correctly I've not seen him slam (aside from some early module glitching that got fixed that is).
I should note this is personal experience/opinion only, not rigorously/conclusively tested. I have 2 manned him a few times (last 10% or so after near wipes) and so far the reactions have been consistent tho...
Comments
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1221760/the-ultimate-crusaders-fangbreaker-island-guide-manual-video-walkthrough/p1
The general idea is that if the turtle's primary target is missed by either Hullsnap or Steam Blast, then it'll slam.
It also seems to slam once in a while even if you're diligent about making sure Hullsnap and Steam Blast land on the primary target.
Personally, I've found it helps to taunt more frequently in my rotation to increase the odds that I'm the primary target. If you have a very powerful dps (especially with big burst) sometimes they'll nab aggro away for a moment at the wrong moment... and cause a slam.
And then sometimes the turtle is buggy and slams like crazy for no obvious reason.
The turtle is currently glitching on the mine phase, as he tries to 360 noscope the party (hint: he fails miserably every time) instead of hitting the party conventionally. If you want, you can purposely let the mine phase play out for 5 minutes (with no danger), wherein afterwards, his damage stacks should fall off.
I run with some high dps and my focus in the fight is to grab aggro before they do, because we get into a slam cycle if the dps pulls aggro. As far as a rotation, I try this whenever the turtle beaches himself on our island:
At first he is un-targetable and I don't want to waste an encounter power so I spam hard mark.
As soon as the targeting reticle turns red and I know he is vulnerable, I land that hard mark, which should be a brief taunt.
Then I pop Enforced Threat, to make sure I still have aggro and build more threat.
Then I pop ITF and then Commander's Strike for a nice juicy chunk of threat.
Shield up and aggravating strike/hard mark until encounters are off cooldown.
Usually I can get that Commander's Strike in before he snaps, and I have time to get my shield up, but it's close. You may have to get the shield up before you get through a whole "rotation," don't sweat it if you do. Just drop the shield and finish the rotation after he snaps.
I have tried dropping Enforced Threat for Kneebreaker or Anvil, but I can more consistently keep him from slamming by including ET in the rotation.
@rjc9000 interesting strategy, sounds good for groups that are learning the fight.
Edit: stupid spellcheck
- Make *SURE* no one in your group is using a defender companion. They are evil and steal aggro when in bad locations.
- Consider reminding gwf/pallys to not use taunts of any type unless they are where you should be, right in front, and want to get hit instead of you.
Otherwise, the stuff @mitty#8178 said above should work well.
You can test this by duoing the turtle with a range character standing behind you. You will notice he will do a back area steam attack every so often that is meant for the other player instead of you, and will also do 0 slams (providing you do not get too close either).
However after the turtle resurfaces then there is a chance it will slam twice, you will notice this easily as the turtle will do nothing for a few seconds after resurfacing. This is why I don't run with any GWFs or TRs in low geared groups or random pugs.
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I should note this is personal experience/opinion only, not rigorously/conclusively tested. I have 2 manned him a few times (last 10% or so after near wipes) and so far the reactions have been consistent tho...