Did I experience a glitch or is it part of NG+/Deathmarch?

[merrick97]

Did I experience a glitch or is it part of NG+/Deathmarch?

On NG+ deathmarch,I am doing the Of Swords and Dumplings quest on level 44 and the recommended level is level 54, which is the level of enemies I am facing.

Anyway in my previous playthrough one thing I would do is use the second level Axii to take over cleavers men to get them to fight against. It's pretty much my defacto strategy for deathmarch. Apparently for this fight it won't work. They are 10 levels higher than me and Axii takeover over won't affect them. Before anyone asks, yes it is properly set in my character screen. This also happened in the final fight before the conclusion of the quest. Neither Axii, Aard or Yrden would have any effect on them.

[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Am I experiencing a glitch or is it some new change for deathmarch on NG+? If so it would have been nice if the developers would have shared this information.[/FONT]
FYI, this is my third playthrough.
1st was normal. Second was Deathmarch, third is deathmarch

 

[iCake]

AFAIK, red enemies with a skull over them get insane resistances to pretty much everything. You have to have insane sign intensity to mind control them with Axii. In some cases even the stun effect won't affect them.

 

[merrick97]

AFAIK, red enemies with a skull over them get insane resistances to pretty much everything. You have to have insane sign intensity to mind control them with Axii. In some cases even the stun effect won't affect them.

Maybe I'm not remembering correctly but that doesn't seem accurate.

 

[iCake]

That might just be inaccurate, as I'm not an Axii fan myself. But let me draw an analogy here:

So I like using Igni, particulary for its ability to crowd control enemies by setting them on fire. So there is this column in your stats screen:

"burning odds - percentage"

Even if your percentage is 100%, that doesn't mean that you will always set ablaze each and every foe (excluding those that immune to burning, naturally) you cast igni on. Grey and green - sure, but when it comes to red enemies with a skull over them, chances are you will not ignite them.

Why? That's just the game mechanics. Enemies that are 6 or more levels higher than you are get resistances. The bigger the gap, the tougher they become.

Elaborating more on Igni. There is a vastly underrated tier 4 igni talent dubbed Pyromaniac. A lot of people think: "Hey, it just improves the burning odds, mine are already 100%", but it does something more than that. It kicks in when you face enemies that are beyond your level range.

Burning odds 100% + Pyromanic maxed out = burn anyone and anything that can be burned ragardless of their level. The burning duration will vary though.

Sorry for that long an explanation, but I think what I wrote there applies to axii as well. To mind control OP enemies you either need an insane sign intensity, or a particular talent, which doesn't exist for axii IIRC.

 

[DXMG]

most of them didnt work for me until I was level 55+ and specced into 9 Signs skills with Greater blues on all of them, Griffin/Wolf gear to boost intensity + Griff school tech, Greater Gylphs and Runes, and Superior Petris Philter.

THen they all worked. With like 600% intensity lolol

 

[DaSmas]

Thats roughly how it works.

Its why things get easier when enemies are green and silver. If you keep your sign intensity the same ( hell maybe doesnt need to be ) and come back when their health bars are green then it should work.