Vicious Gaan'Telet

[Lujo]

Ok, anyone managed to crack it? Any safe bet?

Because I only have Demonic Library and Namtar's lair to do, and I need locker slots for the rewards unless I want to lose the trisword and the crystall ball. And I really, really don't want to lose the treasure from the thief gold because I have no clue how to beat it without the old GETINDARE.

If I could do a quick VICIOUS Gaan'Telet run with some cheeze strat, I could at least grab the ward for the locker, otherwise it'll take a while...

[q 3]

It's been a few months, but I did it purist with both Vampire and Rogue. Adding preps to either strategy should make them into roflstomps, although they did involve a fair amount of scumming. I don't think there have been any changes to the game that would undermine either strategy, but I might have missed something in an update.

Vampire involved scumming for Plate Mail, HALPMEH, Martyr Wraps, and as many level 5-7 Meat Men, Zombies, and/or Dragonspawn as you can find; use Plate Mail and HALPMEH to power your way through, leave the Meat Men etc. alive as blood cows (drain them as much as you can right before you explore, and try to never explore unless you're at full/150% health and are thus recovering MP); don't buy the Martyr Wraps until the very end, when you face Horatio, then use them to corrode him so much that attacking him actually heals you (until he berserks, then he hits you for like 15 damage).

Rogue involved playing Human (you hit level 10 pretty quickly in this dungeon and get about +10 extra base damage as well, so Orcs lose out here) and scumming for GG as the first altar. Absolve the hell out of the popcorn monsters and then slaughter everything. Optimally you'll find Pactmaker in an early level (Body Pact is amazing with this combo, since there are so many monsters to fight and GG will be handing out piety like never before) and something to deal with Horatio's resists (BICEPS, Piercing Wand, Martyr Wraps). Use Cleansing to destroy the Illusion and also to recover from the Golden Statue (although you should be able to kill the latter in just 2-3 hits). Feel free to convert to Dracul and slurp up all the bloodpools once you start fighting Horatio.

[Lujo]

Ty, this confirms my suspicions regarding the vampire. I'm not completely sure how bloodsteal works, but I figured walking in there with the treasure - extra glyph - quest items - patches and playing smart ought to do it. If I find the damned DP scimitar at the opportune time, I think I can suck so much overheal from him it'll be funny.

[Lujo]

Ok, done it - big props q3. I had 2 failed runs and then the game just showered me with optimums.

I went with Fabulous Treasure + Transmutation for the 100 gold to righteusly buy out the shops for CP, patches for the crusader-like loophole, extra glyph for options/net CP gain if I keep any glyphs, quest items for a chance at running into all the cheeze/good CP fodder, salve for the statue, fortitude for the dragonguard, dodge and reflex for the lol lvling and whoopaz for the boss.

(Now to give the rest of the megapro society a heartattack )

And then rng decided I was it's most beloved disciple as I ran into: HALPMEH, Platemail, Martyr Wraps, Whrgarble, 2 lvl 7 Zombies (+ 2 lvl 5 goo blobs) and a, wait for it - Pactmaker + Sensation stone first floor. I mopped the floor like it was Hobblers'. I even ran out of gold by accident and the only thing that was left in the shops were the Martyr Wraps, which is akin to forgeting to bring your genitals to a Croatian wedding... And didn't even start on the bloodpools or potions, so I gues that vamp could've killed a heap of horatios piled on top of each other

As far as luckouts go, I'd rate this at "debug mode level" Only thing missing was GETINDARE to shave off, oh, several thousands of damage throughout the level... I feel incredibly ashamed, yet cant stop smirking stupidly...

EDIT: Since I don't think the Vamp will be fiddled with, and the sillyness only works here, that 9999 gold is totaly up for grabs if you know your lifesteal antics...

[Darvin]

Had to restart the first time because I didn't get a sufficiently high-level Meatman... and then the second time my bloodless floor was way at the bottom and one meatman wasn't going to give me nearly enough healing.

Third time's the charm, though. I found the Gloves of Midas so I got an almost complete buyout (mage plate was only item left unpurchased), and then I found the wicked guitar. That great improved the quality of the dining on the top-level. Martyr Wraps were in my shop pool so Horatio was a piece of cake once I reached him. GETINDARE was my only good glyph, which I used judiciously. Quicksilver and reflex to defeat the Naga quickly, then used fortitude and burn cure after finishing the statue. Dragonshield prep. I had lifesteal 9 at the end of the dungeon, a few potions left over, most of my blood pools, and several top-level monsters.

Yup, the vampire is a relatively straightforward Gaan-Telet win. Of course, where you hit your bloodless level can make or break it.

[ChasGB]

Vampire involved scumming for Plate Mail, HALPMEH, Martyr Wraps, and as many level 5-7 Meat Men, Zombies, and/or Dragonspawn as you can find; use Plate Mail and HALPMEH to power your way through, leave the Meat Men etc. alive as blood cows (drain them as much as you can right before you explore, and try to never explore unless you're at full/150% health and are thus recovering MP); don't buy the Martyr Wraps until the very end, when you face Horatio, then use them to corrode him so much that attacking him actually heals you (until he berserks, then he hits you for like 15 damage.

This is why I love these vet threads, I learn so much stuff from them; I never would have thought to use meat men as blood cows. I've beaten a few vicious dungeons, but you guys are on a totally different level!

[Lujo]

Had to restart the first time because I didn't get a sufficiently high-level Meatman... and then the second time my bloodless floor was way at the bottom and one meatman wasn't going to give me nearly enough healing.

Oddly enough, I used about 6-7 monsters and only one lvl 5 meatman, so it takes less scumming than one might think. And it also took me a couple of tries before the RNG lined up the silly setup for me. And it does have a few roadblocks which can make or break the game (fully explored killed me once, no XP can also screw anyone up, and bloodless is a pain as well). The important thing is that the fully explored doesn't end up being the large Binlor one.

And then I found the wicked guitar.

Dear god that's busted

Yup, the vampire is a relatively straightforward Gaan-Telet win. Of course, where you hit your bloodless level can make or break it.

You know what? Vampire can, under the right circumstances, kick Monk's ass for blackspace benefits. That's how this thing worked - you use 5-7 blood cows every time before you explore, so every, say, seven tiles you explore you regen a big bunch of health. With LEMISI and the treasure for a certified buyout and shops rigged a bit through vetoing to hand out CP, I bet you could do silly crap in at least Dragon Isles.

This is why I love these vet threads, I learn so much stuff from them; I never would have thought to use meat men as blood cows. I've beaten a few vicious dungeons, but you guys are on a totally different level!

We do this to each other all the time That recent playthrough thread? I planted bombs in there at times just to see if anyone's reading, right in the middle of a textwall. Didin't take a day before Avatar posted a crazy win in the Dungeon of the Day thread. And every so often someone comes up with an off the wall strat like the healthmonster using stuff noone's payed attention to... Or someone posts an idea that can only be visible to him or her because of their preffered playstyle, and then someone with a different playstyle picks it up and optimizes it with stuff the original guy wouldn't think off, and then someone adds his cheeze to it, and then someone points out that it would work somewhere where noone's thought it would, then someone beats the game with it...

And then we decide it's probably too good and petition the devs to tone the damned thing down

So it's more of a team effort/brain trust thing ^^ If anyone's read Pratchetts "Interesting Times", we're a bit like the bunch of senior citisen barbarian heroes who've been doing the heroing for so long we beat stuff up on sheer expirience and autopilot footwork

Oh, and you can use Zombies, Snakes, Goblins, Goo Blobs and Dragonspawn as well.

[The Avatar]

Wow. I wish GT still had that 9999 gold quest for me. Anyways, I can't wait to try it. Congrats to Lujo for getting such a ridiculous run.

[Darvin]

Oddly enough, I used about 6-7 monsters and only one lvl 5 meatman, so it takes less scumming than one might think.

Really? By the time I was level 10 I was one-shotting pretty much everything that wasn't level 8 or a meat-man. Probably I'm tweaking out my damage more than you (typically hitting around 100 damage by level 10).

The important thing is that the fully explored doesn't end up being the large Binlor one.

It was for me, but that just meant I had to tap more blood pools than expected.

[Lujo]

Oddly enough, I used about 6-7 monsters and only one lvl 5 meatman, so it takes less scumming than one might think.

Really? By the time I was level 10 I was one-shotting pretty much everything that wasn't level 8 or a meat-man. Probably I'm tweaking out my damage more than you (typically hitting around 100 damage by level 10).

I guess so... I was sitting comfortably at lvl 7 lifesteal and 70 damage for the longest while and milking 2 lvl 7 zombies, 2 lvl 6 snakes, one lvl 5 meatman, one lvl 5 Goo Blob, one lvl 4 goo blob, and possibly a lvl 7 snake. I think. When I picked yang's sword up my damage went up to 74 and a few things died.

But having so many cows made monk look like he got perma poison, it's truly insane...

Wow. I wish GT still had that 9999 gold quest for me. Anyways, I can't wait to try it. Congrats to Lujo for getting such a ridiculous run.

Ty, give the run a shot it's more fun than a barrel full of weasels I also think the strat (using exploration to heal up your bloodcows) works in other places as well...