by The Avatar on Tue Jun 04, 2013 1:01 am
Part 20: And now the real game begins! Hard missions are the meat of the game and are quite interesting and fun. The ironic thing is less or more bosses is not a good indicator of difficulty. The one with 3 bosses (rock garden) is the best. Okay, I'm going to be very meticulous here. Dwarf berserker is not a good combo, and not a good strategy for this dungeon. Since you have fine sword, the badge is the best. You might want to start using more preps, because it will help significantly. Especially god preps. GETINDARE! You are very lucky, sir. Remember, don't pick up glyphs until you use them. Cultists have revive. This is the single worst thing that a monster can have, especially since these ones level down. That wasn't a mage, it was a cultist. You need to read and examine your targets. He didn't even do magic damage. What are you doing? Stop just whacking cultists. Examine the ability to learn what it does, don't experiment with it. The witch has the most potent preps in the game. It's good you'll unlock her. Why would you BURNDAYRAZ when you can GETINDARE? It is strictly worse. Corrosion (like weakening) is permanent. Killing cultists is not smart. You just lower the exp you have available, because the cultists changed to same level shades--and that's better than a 1-level lower zombie. WHAT?! Precasting GETINDARE is BAD for the berserker. You need your regen fighting mana for a GETINDARE for the KILL, not the prestack, and fireballs so you can actually regen fight. Shades are very weak targets, but you need a good amount of map explored to fight them due to blink. You really should check what new things mean. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? First you convert BURNDAYRAZ BEFORE you started worship (throwing away 10 piety), and now you are going to lose because the boss ends up having an obscene amount of physical resistance. NOOOOOOO! YOU THREW AWAY GETINDARE TOO! That will hurt you so much. You're corroded. Told you it hurts. NEVER get corrosion or weakening. It always hurts in the end. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP! You just did something you KNEW was a bad decision before you did it. SO THEN WHY DID YOU DO IT? You will need (at your skill level) every tiny little bit of resource you can get. Throwing away a health potion now (AND GETINDARE) can end your game. AND IT WAS FOR A 2 LEVEL HIGHER KILL! You need to start learning your way about the gods. It will help. Significantly. There are just as many enemies as normal as in all other difficulties. Eating weaklings vs exploration. Yeah, lifesteal sucks. Here's a tip: don't kill the goat until you have a good amount of cultists revealed. Popcorn should NEVER be same level. It hurts you, unlike lower level monsters. If you don't want to keep getting lifestealed, don't attack shades. That way they can't run into blackspace and lifesteal you AGAIN. The snake isn't going to work out. I saw it first. You really need to think. HE HAS POISON! That costs 2 more potions. THINK! You should have hit the gorgons first. They have death gaze. THINK!!! The sword is by far the worst item in your inventory. This isn't going to work out. You've already wasted 2 potions. You are destroying your own exploration when you hit those shades. It's all your fault those shades are there. First you killed the sacrificial goat, and then you attacked and sent the shades into your blackspace. There is no way this will work (called 15:00 before end). Wow, he blinked into the one unexplored square. And you wasted your death protection. Another nail in your coffin. You didn't even check the bosses abilities! Seriously, the first time you see any new boss or monster (and check the name to see if it is a different monster), CHECK IT'S ABILITIES. Hah. You totally had that coming to you. You should have checked the bosses abilities. You should have done that drac conversion. You would have almost won. It is definitely a loss. This run had plenty of poor play (contrary to your belief). As a bonus, I will analyze why you lost, and then the key points you need to improve on. The witch is great, but you have to do her long questline. It is, IMO, fun, and it nets you the best items in the game. Fortitude tonics remove all weakening and poison. YOU GET FIRST STRIKE AGAINST LOWER LEVEL ENEMIES! YOU CAN KILL HIM! The only reason you can hurt him is the burn salve removed your corrosion. GORGONS ARE NOT POPCORN. Always check if you will even be able to get a level up. There is no point in wasting your hp if you won't be able to level up. Seriously, now you are too focused on the level up. Make sure you actually CAN level up first. You lost...
Here are 3 helpful things: a loss analysis, a list of key points, and a diagram of what you need to beat runs.
LOSS ANALYSIS: First, Dwarf berserker is a bad combo. Use a human. Having a good strategy is important at your skill level, so make sure you use a good race/class/preps combo. Second, you converted BURNDAYRAZ and GETINDARE. This hurt you most of all. Seriously, this was practically the difference between victory and defeat. Third, you were not checking new enemies. As you do more dungeons, this is ESSENTIAL! You need to know what your up against! Fourth, you played mediocrely. You didn't do the math, you forgot things, and you payed for it. Finally, you didn't know the dungeon. This is tied to the third (you didn't anticipate the bosses revival), but I mean the shades. You shouldn't change the cultists to shades until you have a good amount of the map explored and a good amount of cultists uncovered. Then, if you don't want to be blood sucked, don't send the shades into your blackspace!
KEY POINTS: NEVER EVER CONVERT GETINDARE FOR PIETY. EVER. In fact, never convert it unless your strategy does not use it (which is incredibly rarely). NEVER CONVERT BURNDAYRAZ. EVER. In fact, never convert it unless your strategy does not use it (which is incredibly rarely). You need to pick better race/class combos and prep smarter. You need to start doing the math and paying attention to what you're doing. SERIOUSLY, CHECK THE ENEMIES! Don't make dumb mistakes. This hurt you incredibly. 3/4 health potions were wasted for no good reason.
WINNING DUNGEONS (and the necessary requirements):
Easy -> Nothing
Normal -> Basic proficiency
Hard -> (2 of the 4) Divine use proficiency, a good strategy, learned proficiency or just experienced proficiency
Vicious -> (2 of the 4) Masterful proficiency, divine use proficiency, a good strategy
The proficiencies are as such: Basic -> Learned -> Experienced -> Masterful.
I would qualify you as having learned proficiency only. That means you will need a good strategy to win hard dungeons, and that will involve knowing the dungeon. Don't be afraid to take a 1 minute run through new dungeons to see the new monsters, boss(es), and maybe even special rules. It will help immensely.
Here goes more!
Part 21: Lol, got to love those misclicks. It is 1 boss that revives twice. Halflinf Priest? That's a GOOD CHOICE! I said you need a tailored stratey to win, and that is a good strategy! 10% is better than 2 base damage. Out of all these preps, Magnet: Fireball is the best. Seriously, that is far better than the swords. Cultists always revive as 1 level lower zombies. NICE! A good use of WEYTWUT. You should popcorn bowl. If you have full mana, you aren't using WEYTWUT enough. Yeah, putting the zombie in front of another monster in a hallway wasn't smart. A note to what booooooooze said: It is fine to IMAWAL an unslowed dude. In fact it is better if the unslowed dude has first strike. You get the extra exp when you kill the slowed dudes, so why take it early with IMAWAL. And you lose harvestable popcorn, whereas if you had IMAWALed a first striker you would not have lost popcorn. IMAWAL unharvestable popcorn, not slowed people. A troll heart at level 2 is definitely worth a sword. You aren't popcorn bowling! Shame on you! Sir Thrawn gave you a whole new full unexplored subdungeon! You got 25 tiles and he gave you 25 more! Save WEYTWUT. It is so versatile throwing away in a crime. Good job. You were stupidly regen fighting, but then you stopped, looked at you options, and killed him the right way. NO NO NO! YOu shouldn't even consider using a potion for a 3 level higher kill. You have made drastic mistake. YOU NEVER CONVERT BURNDAYRAZ UNLESS YOU ARE A COMBAT WOMBAT! BICEPS IS FAR WORSE THAN BURNDAYRAZ FOR BASICALLY EVERYONE! DO NOT CONVERT IT! You lose exp when you fight the cultists. And he learns: Cultists become shades. ALWAYS KILL THE GOAT. WEYTWUT should have been used far more than it was. Your popcorn bowling was so underused. They don't always blink off map. I SWEAR IF YOU CONVERT GETINDARE I AM GOING TO FLIP. Good. Whew, that was close. OH NO! YOU USED A MANA POTION! If you weren't a priest you would be screwed to death. You normally need those mana potions so much for Anoobis's third form. You complain about the lack of level 7's with 3 of them on the map. THERE ARE ONLY EVER 3 TOTAL! GET THAT STONE! GET IT! THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE IS GOOOOD! You are level 7 and are about to fight the boss. Getting rid of IMAWAL was DEFINITELY a good choice. Ha! You thought the zombie was it! Maybe you should have looked at his panel n00b. Why did you blow a potion on the zombie. YOU HAVE GETINDARE! USE IT! Told you any other class and you'd be screwed. You didn't need a single health potion, but you used two. Remember, potions come last. First glyphs, level ups, and any divine resources. Good job.
KEY POINTS: Remember this run. It is proof of how essential strategy is. Seriously, don't throw away mana potions. With physical resist bosses, you will get screwed over normally. NEVER CONVERT BURNDAYRAZ. Popcorn bowl more. IMAWAL anyone with first strike and not slowed guys.
Priest Bronze: This is debatably my favorite challenge in the whole game. You can literally explore the whole map, pick up the two items and GETINDARE and clear the map. Good job popcorn bowling. This challenge is so fun. Everything is dead! AND YOU GET LOTS OF HEALTH POTIONS! IT'S AWESOME! With WONAFYT you should make a checkerboard, skipping spaces with shops and choke points. YOU BETTER NOT WASTE HEALTH POTIONS. WHAT, YOU CAN! You can definitely regen fight him. It just takes 2 tiles of exploration. Remember, if you are just short of a hit and explore exactly enough it usually works. Regenerate your full stats before fighting. It is a bad, bad decision not to. You're doing fine. Just popcorn bowl and keep killing those higher level guys. This is a bronze challenge. It is designed to be fun, easy, and a learning experience. That is the first good use of a health potion I've seen. AND YOU DON'T EVEN NEED THE POTION! That was a very good kill. Sure, it's only a bronze challenge, but that was good. You should have used your 1 exp away situation to take out the other level 9. You aren't using BICEPS. Why would you get to level 8 before you start the fight? Never just level up. Always ALMOST level up. Nope, you forgot death gaze. Always check monsters abilities. Lol, you never even found the GETINDARE glyph. Good job. You eat or harvest popcorn.
KEY POINTS: Wow, good job. Not much to be said. This is such an easy and simple challenge, there's not much to get wrong. Just don't forget stung (like your BICEPS). Never forget the higher level first strike. It is essential.
Thief Bronze: Another interesting one. These class challenges are cool. Lol, you just realized the trick of the place. You have to kill a buch of wimpy guys and collect charms to win. This isn't really real play, so I'm not going to do commentary. Just keep precasting. Oh yeah, always GETINDARE the highest level guy and hit the lower level guy. It saves exploration. WEYTWUT removes first strike. Use it to kill the boss. Don't forget stabber, you already do 40 damage due to it.
Puzzles: I won't do commentary on these. There's nothing to be said. You do, we watch, you learn. It's good that you're doing the academy. It is a great learning experience. Your reward for the academy is very helpful learning. One thing: Often signs appear as extra hints or help once you fail. ALWAYS READ THESE. You are forgetting conversion. It is a big mean trick they pull in all the god puzzles, so remember it. Lol, if you don't know that conversion trick it sucks. Petrifying was probably the easiest puzzle for me.
Jay, you really should do some silver challenges. It expands your shop pool.
EDIT: You need to add the new videos to their respective playlists.
We made an expansion and it is awesome. Really, you should check it out, especially if you're looking for some extra challenge.
Download over at ddmod.weebly.com!