NOTE: This turned out a billion times longer than I thought. I don't blame you if you don't read it, Jay!
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
(I don't regret it though, I had fun)
Hey Jay! I'm taking a break from attempting the second Triple Quest (that thing is a MONSTER) by watching one of your videos, and since Avatar is busy, I figured I could perhaps leave some comments which will hopefully be useful to you. Naturally, for anything I say that Avatar disagrees with, listen to him! He's far better than I am
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Still, I know there are at least a few things I say that can help you
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Part 129 - Havendale Bridge with a Gnome Priest (PQI, Purist)
-So! Havendale Bridge is a fun dungeon. Gnome Priest PQI always feels a bit frustrating since you could'Ve been a halfling, but it's not all bad! The boss native to Havendale is undead, so that's a big bonus for the priest. And hopefully you can fireball the other boss using your ridiculous amount of mana potions...
-Quick early note: When you used Wonnafyt at the beginnig, you blocked a single square of exploration with the Goblin you summoned (and later with a Bandit (and an imp)). Single squares like that can be *very* useful for topping off a kill, so try to avoid that. (Sometimes it's hard to avoid, especially on a tighter map like this, and I usually forget too, so it's not the end of the world in a Hard dungeon, but it *is* suboptimal... just something to keep and mind)
-Other note: Try not to pick up a glyph unless you’re about to immediately use it. In this case, IMAWALL, which you did not use once! It’s not so bad here since you’re a gnome who already has a mana potion in your inventory, so you could convert it without trouble (though that would make it unavailable later, and you want to avoid cutting options). If you were a Goblin, it could be a huge waste (though IMAWALL + Goblins is pretty ridiculous).
-(3:30) "You're the obvious target" Nope. Level 2 Goblins with their higher damage, without any supporting glyphs are rarely good targets for tier 1 classes (Wizards excepted, since they start with Burndayraz... but then Wizards are way stronger than the other tier 1 classes in most cases). Goats are almost always better targets since they have weaker stats, even for casters. Anyway at this point I think paying the troll was your only valid choice. It’s what I do most of the time on this map anyway, since straight up fighting the troll costs a lot of resources, and the boss isn’t so hard that I feel the need to have a lot of items.
-(3:58)Joining Mystera like that, with so little info on what you’re up against and without any access to a direct damage glyph is questionable (you’ve obviously forgotten that the Havendale boss has magic resist, but even then, what if your other boss is The Iron Man? You wouldn’t have enough Piety for the Weakenings needed to make that work, given how much of the map has been explored. She still works as a piety farm, though, so eh). It turned out to be a good idea, of course, made easier by the fact that there were few magic attack monsters here and Gnomes are excellent Mystera worshipers in general, so let’s talk about your mistake at this point: you joined her religion, and then immediately explored on full mana. You should *Never* waste exploration with full mana while worshiping her. Keep casting Wonafyt, even if you’ve already slowed the all possible monsters. More Piety! (Of course, later on with fewer blackspace left this isn’t as clear cut, but early on, follow that rule!
- (4:20) Take more time when reading the item descriptions! That alchemist scroll costs 3 gold per use, and you’re already down 20... Sure, health stacking can be good, especially with those 100% health potions, but you weren’t really in a position to exploit that (sacrificing potions in your situation is also bad). Besides, you usually want some form of damage reduction (resistances) to really leverage high health...
-(4:40)I’m guessing you didn’t recognize the subdungeon you entered? Because you could’ve really used the Pissorf glyph it gives you, it would’ve saved exploration in the long run. You were really in need of a glyph, especially a damaging one...
-(4:50)Yup, druids are nice, easy targets, and your Priestly HP makes it even easier for you to tank the hits. They’re the enemies of choice in, say, Dragon Isles. Note, however, that you really should’ve killed it earlier (around 3:54). If you’re strong enough to take down its death protection (which you were when you first found it), you can do that, explore, then kill it. Can be costly, but in your case would’ve been better. Also, before killing it you should’ve used IMAWALL on the slowed Lvl1 Druid (since you waste the slow by taking out the Death Protection anyway later on, you might as well get 1 bonus XP for slowing him. Also, you’d used up so much exploration already, the IMAWALL bonus would’ve been nice).
- (5:00)The second boss is Jörmungandr! This is good news. Since he has relatively low HP and you’re already worshipping Mystera, a fairly clear strategy draws itself up: Use the amazing mana-spiking potential of a Mystera Gnome (Refreshment gives you Mana Potions!) to kill Jörmungandr at level 7 into 8 (or 6 into 7, depending), then take on the Zombie boss at the highest level possible (setting up another mid-fight level up of course) to really profit from your boosted damage against undead + health potions.
-(5:15) Some might disagree, but I think you were justified in killing that popcorn to reach level two; you’d already used up so much exploration, so I think it was okay. Especially as a priest, regenerating you want to save your potions for the boss, and a ding saves a ton of resources if it lets you take on another monster right away. Using a potion there would’ve been a waste, you only had one gold!
-(5:30)More exploration at full mana... you’re level two now, you should use Wonafyt again!
-(5:56)Too bad you have so little gold here, the Elven Boots + Mystera + Gnome + magic resist would’ve been lovely... Mind you, you wouldn’t have been able to afford them even if you hadn’t bought the Alchemist’s scroll, so whatever.
-(6:27) When you picked up Halpmeh (nice find!), you said “Let’s finish healing, then look at this dude (level 3 Snake). Wrong order! If you’d looked at him first and done some quick math, you would’ve known you could’ve killed him without exploring further, which would’ve healed you with a Ding. Would have saved you some extra blackspace. Also, you only needed to use Halpmeh once there, which is insignificant because of the ding in this case but would’ve been a waste in another situation. Just things to keep in mind!
-“Looks like I won’t be using the Alchemist’s scroll I purchased... that’s okay!” Tsk Tsk... not a good attitude for self improvement!
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
(Do I take this game too seriously? Maybe... XD)
-Okay, so let’s talk about that level 6 Goblin you were regen-fighting at level 4. That’s usually a losing proposition. For Regen-Fighting you usually want high damage and/or high resists (preferably both of course). You had none of those things, and the Goblin has high damage. That being said, there were three opportunities that I spotted in this video where you could’ve killed it, and you didn’t:
-At 9:28, the Goblin had 1 hp left and a stack of burning. THIS IS CRUCIAL! You could have attacked the slowed level 1 Druid to set the burning off without killing the popcorn (because of its death protection!) and saved a ton of blackspace.
-Simillar thing at 9:39, where you had 4 mana and it had 8 health and a burning stack. Regenerating exactly two tiles there, then casting BURNDAYRAZ on him would’ve left him with two stacks of burning and 2 HP. Same deal.
-9:57 is the most obvious one, though: One physical hit dropped it down to 31 hp, which two fireballs would’ve dropped to zero without any additional tricks. Instead, you wasted mana on Halpmeh, which was not enough to take another hit. This one, especially, you shouldn’t have missed!
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
-(10:06)“This guy isn’t going down very easily... I must’ve messed up somewhere along the line...” Well, leaving aside the three instances listed above (It happens, don’t worry!), You probably should’ve stopped trying to fight him when you saw how much exploration it was wasting. Cutting your losses here would probably have been better. I know that can be a hard decision to make though...
-Alternatively, you are a gnome. You can afford to use a mana potion to spike a monster if you need to, you’ll have plenty more.
-Alternatively again, fighting the level 5 corrosive monster would have been *much* better. Corrosion isn’t as bad as you seem to think it is. A few stacks at mid-high levels is rarely a problem, especially a high HP class like the priest, Fighting the level 5 instead of the goblin would’ve saved you a ton of exploration.
-(10:42) Picking up Cydstep so late, with so little exploration left, is rather questionable as well, since it’s so expensive. Still, it’s possible to make use of it.
-(11:50)Converting Pissorf? Well, you didn’t really need it in the end, but converting Wonafyt would’ve been better since you had absolutely no use for it anymore. Pissorf can be really good in two-boss dungeons when you can knock both bosses into one another, or creating more exploration space by breaking walls with popcorn (though it was a bit late for that).
-Starting the Zombie boss at level 5 would’ve been bad. Maybe as a Halfling with a catapult into 6... but not as a gnome. It would’ve been disastrous, I think.
-(12:41) You could’ve set off burning to kill that Tokoloshe... that’s a habit you should get into.
-At 13:49, when you killed the level 4 bandit, you fireballed him before attacking him... why? Attacking him would’ve cost you far less in HP than it did in mana, and you’re not stacking resists so the curses don’t hurt you.
-Really, 1 stack of corrosion is almost nothing!
-I’ll just skip to the end here: For the bosses, I would’ve definitely killed Jörmungandr first. Look at your video, see how much mana resources you have left at the end? Mystera’s Refreshment, along with your Gnome potions, are an amazing tool for spiking down a boss around level 6-7 and could’ve taken down the Snake’s low-ish HP much earlier. That would’ve gotten you a much stronger attack against the Zombie boss on which to use your health potions. It probably would’ve been possible to add in extra mana for Halpmeh to sneak in two attacks per health potions for even more efficiency... and furthermore, all the Tokoloshe drop Magic Resist charms that you could've grabbed for better resists against the boss... but eh, wasn’t necessary. Good job on the win!
As you yourself noted, you’re making a lot of mistakes, we both know you can play better than that. A bit of luck helps; if you had had Super Meat Man or The Iron Man as the boss, you would’ve lost. A couple of final thoughts:
-It’s good that you’re trying to regen-fight, but before you commit to regen-fighting a monster, you really should take time to think about it. How much are both of you regenerating per tile? How many attacks/fireballs are needed? You started on that level 8 snake towards the end without even considering these things, and that lost you a lot of exploration. Regen-fighting is always a bit more math-intensive, but if you don’t take time to count, you’re wasting much more than you’re earning. (Don’t worry, though; regen-fighting is hard. I’m pretty bad at it myself)
-You really shouldn’t be afraid to take a hit or two of corrosion. It’s not the end of the world. I really suggest you go play the Thief Gold challenge if you want to be forced to learned this (assuming you haven’t done so already). Of course, you should avoid taking large stacks (5+) of corrosion unless you know you can circumvent it (burn salve, fireball spiking the boss, etc.). Corrosion is really only a problem if you’re trying to regen-fight, but even then you can burst through it if you’re focussed enough (see: the first dungeon of the second Triple Quest)
-I strongly recommend you go look at the fight against the level 6 goblin again. Consider the things I pointed out. Learning to find those opportunities can make all the difference!
-Gnomes and halfings can almost always afford to spend a potion or two while leveling. It can save them a ton of resources in the long run, and they’ll still have more potions than the other classes (at the expense of weaker overall stats of course)
-Your exploration could definitely be more efficient! Leaving aside Mystera Piety, you should always explore towards dungeon tiles which could be holding stuff! Exploring spaces like the edges of the map (or the river in this case) won't reveal anything useful, so they're best saved for last (this is something I learned while doing Vicious Gaan-Telet).
Well, that’s about it. This commentary is WAY, WAY longer than I though it would be (I left out a few things here and there too 0_0) but it was fun to write. I don't blame you if you don't read it, but if you do, I hope it was helpful!