Way of the Fist Help/strats

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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby failed2k on Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:01 pm

Update, I did finally get it without using a cheese tactic(step 2 of the quest) I completed the final stage on the first real attempt, being able to prep felt very very nice, but this just lends to my complaint.
A quick rundown of my "estimated" attempts at each stage of the quest.

Stage 1 - 1 attempt
Stage 2 - between 75 and 100 attempts I'd estimate
Stage 3 - 1st real attempt(preluded by a exploratory run to see the bosses/creatures)

Why is the second step of a 3 step quest, way way harder then the third? I am all for challenge, like I mentioned before, i've completed the vicious difficulty dungeons and I'm a bit of a glutton for punishment.

My problem with step 2 of the way of the fist is this.

It's not challenging in the sense of a rubiks cube or a great puzzle.
It's challenging in the sense of a game of blackjack. Having knowledge of the game and strategies and the ability to adjust on the fly all improves your odds.
But when it comes down to it the single most important factor will always be what cards the dealer flips, and in this specific case the dealer flips a whole lot of 21's.

I am supportive of missions that challenge your ability to adapt alongside the ones that challenge your ability to prepare a strategy, but I just think this one feels out of place, if it were a sidemission all by its lonesome I don't think it would both me as much, I still wouldn't like it, because I feel the roll of the dice needed to complete this mission is a bit too hard to come by but at least then it wouldn't be taunting me as pretending to be the second hardest part of the quest, when in reality it is easily the hardest.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby bla0815 on Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:40 pm

I don't know what we do different, but for me the third quest was MUCH harder. I repeated the second dungeon with an unprepared monk sveral times before writing stuff here in order to be confident about it. I had not too much trouble beating the dungeon four out of four (with and without Taurog) times and i can't remember having much trouble the time i did the quest.
That's still no huge sample size, but i really think it's not as luck dependant as you describe. I guess it's just a very single thing (not cheese), which you don't play nearly optimised concerning the plant levels and that throws you off. Imho that doesn't qualifie as a design flaw, but that ultimately denpends on how many struggle as you do. Please don't take this the wrong way.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby Wargizmo on Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:39 pm

I'm the same as the poster above, didn't have any problems with the second stage but the 3rd took me a fair number of tries.

Orc+Taurog and you can hack and slash your way to victory fairly easily.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby Hero of the Beach on Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:47 am

I breezed through the first two dungeons on my first serious attempt in each case, but the third dungeon is very different, and I'm finding it hard to even bother with it. My first run was going fine until the "twist" revealed itself, at which point I decided it was for the birds. I'm just going to wait until it inevitably gets changed in a future update, because the Martyr Wraps don't sound like they're worth the effort at the moment, and I really hate level down dungeons. I'm not sure why it doesn't have a Vicious rating.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby Darvin on Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:45 am

Nah, it's definitely a hard mission. Possibly the hardest of the hard missions, but it has more in common with the Druid Grove in terms of difficulty than Halls of Steel. It's much easier than any of the vicious missions, none of which I've ever beaten using non-abusive tactics. The trick to the Sludge Mines is to religiously attack higher-level meat men early on and leave lower-level opponents alone. Your goal is to be a much higher level once the meat men become corrosive and should be able to start working on the bosses at this time. I found the venom sword was an invaluable preparation item here. Can't reiterate this one enough: once the meat men become corrosive you can't touch them, so you have to get your leveling done early!

I focused on Taurog early to gain piety and get his sword and shield, which are pretty much the ideal items for a monk. In my particular run, I converted to Dracul at the start of the boss battle and immediately purchased one level of blood hunger to accrue piety throughout the boss battle. Between potions, blood swells, a mid-battle level up, and a few decent shop items I had very little difficulty beating the bosses. This mission isn't nearly as hard as it first appears, you just have to get your leveling done before the meat men become corrosive, that's all.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby Crawly McCrawlsa on Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:50 am

Took me only 2 or 3 tries after switching to this:

Goblin Monk + Fast Taurog.

Using goblin's ability to level up quickly, you won't have to worry about missing experience from not fighting high level nagas. Higher level = more damage, more health, etc.

Getting taurog quickly will really amplify your ability to kill everything in sight, and getting him early so you get the most out of him is always best.

High level + Killing power = WIN.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby Lujo on Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:28 am

I wonder why noone posted this (maybe EM wasn't around at the time), but I beat the level on the first try with the following strat. Orc Monk, quick Tiki Tooki for the edge and 50 piety (I might have taken dodge as well), followed by EM. Clearance untill 5 piety left, plantation (I had some blodstains left from Tiki Tooki), more clearance, more piety from turning plants to stone as I explore, got plenty of corrosion on everything, angered EM twice (not really sure how, as I'm sure I didn't take poison, and it happened twice in sucession seemingly out of nowhere), but I had enough piety later to compensate for the corrosion with 10 +2 hp / -1 dmg from enemies boons.

Apparently, if you know your way around EM she is THE best god for this level, especially if you used Tiki for piety farm (and he must be the best piety farm in the game bar none, if 50's your goal). Between stoning plants, generaly weak gorgons, druids who leave dmg trinkets - EM makes this level a breeze...
I almost got pwned by Shifty Brickwork!
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby The Avatar on Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:31 am

True, but the slime pits is going to be much tougher!!!!
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!
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby JonahHollow on Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:08 am

I haven't even unlocked EM yet :( Where to find her? I've gotten Dracul, GG, JJ, Binlor, Tikki,Taurog, and I'm working on Pactmaker.
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Re: Way of the Fist Help/strats

Postby The Avatar on Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:46 pm

JJ is in the North (shifting passages)
EM is in the South (Ick Swamp?)
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!
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