Killing Champions and Elite packs is the staple of farming in Diablo 3 and it’s always good to know how to deal with the more troublesome ones. However, even then, due to the randomness of Affixes on monsters, it’s very possible to get some which are downright difficult to deal with. Even worse, there’s always the possibility that the mob itself is annoying to deal with such as having Fire Chains on a Soul Ripper (Naturally fast mob which lashes their tongues at you) in the Keep Depths.

Primarily, as melee, you’ll simply need to take the punishment and hope your gear holds out. However, there are a lot of things you won’t be able to handle, and need to avoid. For example, standing in Desecrate or Arcane Enchanted lasers is not recommended. And just like a ranged class using terrain to kite enemies around, there are certain techniques a melee can use as well.

Fire Chains – Fire Chains deal damage whenever you stand in between enemies and the chains pop up, touching your avatar therefore dealing damage. To counter this, look for a location where there’s a corner and back yourself up into said corner so the pack won’t be able to move behind you or flank you. This prevents Fire Chains from dealing too much damage (Sometimes mobs make perfect triangles around you and you receive damage from 3 Fire Chains at once).

Arcane Enchanted – Arcane Enchanted is not threatening to most as you can see it coming and it can definitely be dodged. But at times, as a melee, being surrounded by enemies makes it hard to simply move out of the way. Having a mobility Skill works (Such as Leap or Teleport) but they generally have a cooldown. In general, I recommend taking precautions and not getting surrounded in the first place. Further, when dealing with Arcane Enchanted, it’s best to move AWAY from where the Orb is placed on the ground at the beginning as the Laser may spawn right on top of you.

Desecrator – Another damaging ability which will cause problems when coupled with Jailer or Frozen, there isn’t much that can be done except to be constantly moving. The reason is simple, the longer you’re standing still and Desecrate gets a bead on you, it’s very likely that you can be Jailed while on a single Desecrate while a 2nd Desecrate spawns as well (And it doesn’t stop at 2. I’ve seen 4 desecrates on the same spot).

Molten – Molten is annoying specifically on enemies which like to run away. One example will be the Succubi in Act III which are Ranged. The moment you catch up to them, they tend to scamper off again. What I’ve found to work is to “lead” them to a direction I choose and corner them. For example, if I want them to move to the right, I’ll chase them from the left, leading their direction slightly. Also, if Molten enemy is melee, follow the same rules as Fire Chains and find a corner to stick yourself into so they’re unable to move forwards.

Take all this with a grain of salt, because in Inferno, when enemies have 4 Affixes, things can get fairly deadly. Going up against enemies who have Fast and Firechain with Jailer/Waller/Frozen/Nightmarish is probably the most annoying thing that could happen. And when that happens, and you die several times, I do recommend that you simply skip that pack and continue progressing. Sometimes an enemy pack is just plain difficult to deal with and the time spent on it could better be used elsewhere.

Good hunting!