When killing shao, the clones will occasionally spawn on top of the wooden steps in the room (shown in the pictures). They cannot be lured or knocked off, thus making it much harder to kill the boss in time since you essentially MUST kill the clones aswell. I have noticed this specifically happens when the boss summons the clones while being physically underneath the steps. A few days ago I mentioned this to TimK in game and while he was aware of this problem and its relative rarity, he confirmed that it is not an intended feature of the boss. That being said, after encountering this bug numerous times (and failing to kill shao as a direct result in some of them), I would love to see this fixed to prevent the same frustration from many players in the future.
For the time being, pin him to the right to completely avoid this bug, it never happens on that side.