I killed snails for about 40 min and the Empty Ash Hero [Snail Tender] popped right where we were killing. He is non-agro, and stands still at the place where he pops, so it is important you are pulling the snails to a spot where you will not need to deal with adds when he pops, especially if you need multiple attempts to kill him. The first time I spoke to named, there a couple of text prompts then he attacked. On later attempts, he was still standing at the same spot where he was, even when the whole group had wiped and had to zone back in. It works well to put a campfire right at the mob, since he is non-agro. On all attempts after the first, there was no text prompt but I could trigger him attacking me by saying "we will kill you".
My 3 box group with 110 warrior in Battleworn and GMM gear could not tank him long enough to succeed, using 3 healer mercs and stuns and runes from the chanter. He quads big strikethough hits and has a large flame AE (dot I think). I gave up after about 5 attempts. Any advice on how to beat this guy, other than bring a real group?