Solaris' splitting spear

why does it do so much damage?
is there any way at all to dodge it?

died so many times on so many characters to that, I just have to ask.

Also the animation doesn't warn you. If this thing was like Dominus raising his hand and screaming "the touch of god!", it would be more acceptable. But it's just like her other attacks. Same animation, same speed.
And how the heck do I dodge it when it covers the whole screen?

So much fkn damage even through capped fire res...

Lunaris does not hit like that through good cold res and her attacks can be dodged (With the exception of barrage but cold red helps there).

yeah you go behind solaris (90 degree arc) and it is dodged guaranteed

If you're really badass you will stand in between the cross patterns and evade it like that

But how do I know it's coming? And why is it such a one-shot considering it covers such a large area and is just as fast as her normal spear throw (with same animation) and shield beam?
I usually play evasive (fast movement skills such as whirling blades) but occasionally I get hit by her spear or take part of the shield beam or some of Lunaris' attacks.
None are insta-kills. This one is. Get hit by one of the forked spears and die.

Make her charge it up more so you know it's coming. Make it slower so I can stand between the patterns.
Preferably both.

But honestly it did not hit this hard in the pre-3.0 beta.
Devs must have tuned the damage to the maximum at some point.
Same way they increased the amount of on-screen crap for Doedre and Gruthkul.

Some fights became better because of added mechanics since beta (Ryslatha) or more balance (Yogul), but too many fights just got tuned beyond the point of "fair".

There's a pretty long wind-up to it, she slowly brings her arm back before she does it.