Thoughts on the Oneshot Mechanic for Normal Mobs in Poe2

Hi everyone,
I wanted to start this discussion to address an issue that stood out to me during my gameplay of Path of Exile 2: the presence of normal mobs that can oneshot players.

I understand that Path of Exile (and now PoE 2) is known for its difficulty and for punishing mistakes, but it seems to me that there are instances where the punitive design goes a bit too far, especially when it comes to normal mobs dealing massive damage in a single hit.

The Problem

The inclusion of normal mobs with oneshot mechanics brings up some concerns:

1. Unpredictability: Often, players, especially newer ones, don't have enough information or time to react to a lethal attack.


2. Imbalance: If a normal mob can kill you in one hit, it diminishes the progression in difficulty between normal mobs, elites, and bosses.


3. Frustrating experience: Dying instantly without a chance to react (particularly in Hardcore mode) can lead to frustration and drive players away from the game.



Feedback and Suggestions

I believe it's possible to maintain the game's difficulty without resorting to oneshot mechanics. Here are a few ideas:

1. Better telegraphing: Deadlier attacks from normal mobs could be preceded by clearer animations or visual cues, giving players time to react.


2. Cap damage output: Limit the maximum damage dealt by normal mobs so it doesn’t exceed a certain threshold relative to the player's health.


3. Focus on strategy: Introduce mechanics that reward positioning and movement rather than relying on instant, overwhelming damage.


4. Leveling the risk: Reserve the possibility of instant death for specific situations, such as boss fights or elite encounters, rather than normal mobs.


I don’t want the game to become easier or less challenging, but I think there’s room for a more balanced design that rewards strategy and player responsiveness instead of punishing so harshly.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and your experiences with these situations.

Thank you for reading and contributing to the discussion!

I personally think it is the worst mechanic in gaming. When you get to mapping the bullshit one hit mechanics keep on destroying your experience gained. Especially now every map has a major boss and if you get some iteration of the giant monkey or troll you're basically f88ked if you get hit once even with full health and energy shield. You often have no choice but to try to buy better gear on the Trade site hope sellers who are supposedly online will respond to your whisper and not extort you with the price (they've probably got 2 billion divines already). The Vaal temple is even worse as the whole room can suddenly pin your arse against the door and you don't seem to be able to do anything but die. Maybe instead of cashing in on stash tabs etc the developers could program better mechanics. Probably too busy trying to be 'progressive'. Just watch the interviews.

Outside of players refusing to have any defense, pay attention to the mods they roll, or skill expression


Or a combination of all of these






Normal mobs one shotting you is most likely, at least what’s been shown on this forum, a build issue and not paying attention to mods

Which normal mob 1 shots you? There’s no way.

You mean in act 1 when you have no gear?

I think the bosses could be more balanced, if they did a % of max hp instead of flat damage for some of their skills.

"You can't get good gear without trading"

"The one-shots are random too punishing"

You can not reconcile those two statements with the fact that there's a whole hcssf league full of thousands of characters and players (many who would qualify as "casual") who consistently get characters deep into the endgame, every time.

The existence of that ladder is basically an implied "skill issue" to these sort of comments.

People just don't like to hear it.

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TwitchGLHFsport#2155 wrote:

Which normal mob 1 shots you? There’s no way.

Everyone knows about it... Wake up.
Critical Kill system is standard in Souls difficulty games.
In my opinion, GGG has lost track of this system and has no clear idea of how to manage it.

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DarkDredd#2184 wrote:

"

TwitchGLHFsport#2155 wrote:

Which normal mob 1 shots you? There’s no way.

Everyone knows about it... Wake up.
Critical Kill system is standard in Souls difficulty games.
In my opinion, GGG has lost track of this system and has no clear idea of how to manage it.

but which normal mobs? all of them? one of the deadly ones are the rope knife mobs around vaal city, if they also do bleed i could see the 1 shot potential. The animation is also very fast.

its hard to say, if I was ever 1 shot i wouldn't know if it was magic or normal.

i'm assuming this also has to do with endgame mobs.

I don't know of a white mob that one-shots you. Maybe just tell us the name of the mob? You wrote a whole essay but nobody knows which enemy you are talking of.