While Spindleclutch is one of the earlier dungeons in The Elder Scrolls Online, it is one of the first real challenges players will face. Many of the bosses in Spindleclutch require specific strategies to make it out alive. Healers will have their hands full throughout most of the battles, but tanks also need to be on-point to ensure a smooth run through Spindleclutch.
How to Beat Spindlekin
There are three aspects to the Spindlekin fight that players should be aware of. The first are the adds that spawn throughout the battle. There are a number of adds, and they spawn continuously as you fight the boss. It’s important to take down the adds as quickly as possible before they begin to pile up and become unmanageable. Unfortunately, this means that you won’t be able to focus exclusively on the boss, and the fight will take a bit longer because of this. It’s best to have a damage dealer (DPS) class use an AoE on the adds, but depending on your party configuration, you may want more than one DPS on the adds.
Healers will have their hands full because in addition to the adds, the boss randomly targets one party member and uses a damaging venom attack. The targeted party member will need to be healed quickly following the attack. The boss also targets a random party member and locks them in place for a limited time. Ranged DPS and healers don’t need to worry too much about this attack, but if the DPS assigned to the adds is locked down, another DPS will need to take over.
How to Beat the Swarm Mother
This battle is very similar to the fight against the Spindlekin boss. Healers will once again have their hands full as the boss summons adds periodically throughout the fight, and randomly targets party members with various attacks. Once again, the adds should be dealt with as soon as they appear. If you do not finish them off quickly, they may start to pile up and become increasingly difficult to deal with.
Tanks should block the Swarm Mother’s Power Attacks at all costs. If her Power Attacks connect, they inflict massive damage and knock the tank back. If your tank is not able to hold hate, this fight is far more difficult, as the Mother’s Power Attack can one-shot a DPS class.
The boss also randomly targets a party member when using her charge attack. If the targeted party member is not well-geared, this could be an instant death. Even if they are well-geared, they will still take severe damage. Healers need to be ready to cure the targeted party member quickly following the devastating attack.
How to Beat Cerise the Widow-maker
The battle against Cerise is fairly straightforward. The boss doesn’t summon adds like previous battles in this dungeon, but there are a number of enemies in the boss room. It goes without saying that these enemies should be cleared before engaging the boss. This battle takes a little longer than necessary because the boss randomly stuns a player for a limited time. During this time, the targeted party member will not be able to use any abilities or attack the boss. Healers should keep the party as close to full health as possible, just in case they are incapacitated by the attack.
Tanks should block Cerise’s Power Attacks and be ready for her damage buff that lasts a short time. During the damage buff, tanks should use defensive abilities, and healers should be ready for the tank to get hit much harder than before. It’s nothing life-threatening so long as the healer remains focused on the tank during the short buff.
How to Beat Big Rabbu
The biggest attack to watch out for when battling against Big Rabbu is his charge attack. This attack can hit multiple party members and inflicts significant damage. Save stamina so you can roll out of the way when you see this attack coming. It won’t one-shot any party members, but healers should keep everyone as close to full health as possible to avoid any surprise deaths from the attack.
Big Rabbu also uses an ability that draws in a random party member. This isn’t a significant concern, but should be noted so it doesn’t surprise party members. In addition, the tank should block all Power Attacks to make the healer’s job easier.
How to Beat the Whisperer
Many of the Whisperer’s attacks feel like a combination of attacks from the other bosses in this dungeon. The fight starts with a group of adds. Take down the adds and the boss makes a grand entrance. When the boss draws in the entire party, he follows with a moderately damaging AoE attacks. As soon as you’re drawn in, move outside of the AoE attack radius to avoid taking damage. You need to act quickly as you don’t have a lot of time to move. If you don’t have good reactions, you may want to conserve stamina and roll away, but in most cases this shouldn’t be necessary.
Much like the boss battle against Cerise, the Whisperer uses an ability that incapacitates a randomly selected party member. The difference here is that the attack inflicts considerable damage in the process. This is one of many reasons that healers should keep party members as close to full health as possible during this battle. The boss also has a knockback attack that deals significant damage and can kill a party member if they’re not close to full health.
