---
This was a quicks one, and I wasn't really going for badges it was just over before I actually converted anything and stuff. I actually killed the boss mostly via Apheelsick.
---
This was a Faithless PQI, and as you can see I tried to do it faithless, but there just weren't enough refills around and Drac was just sitting there, so I kinda did it that way. Kepp in mind, though, that I probably could've done it faithless if I had somehow saved enough balckspace to refill about twice via Apheelsick. I also went with PoS because, well, it's an Orc Fighter, that's what they do.
---
Then I went Dwarf Drac Pally and rocked the place so hard I forgot to use Whoopaz. I front loaded on the Drac Boons (desecrations and stuff for lifesteal, bloodshield and sanguine) and still killed stuff above my level even though my level was artificially increased and my health was artificially decreased. Venom Dagger also did nice work here, nothing midblowing but overall really, really fine. Also, Blood Curse saved me exploration, and boosted Halpmeh. I'm starting to use casual Blood Swells simply because I end up never using them later, and it makes a fine little spiking help. Sounds strange since you'd think a Dwarf would love hoarding their refills, but they also kinda love thier levels and end up with enormous health anyway. So you can probably blow a 20 piety Bloodswell if it'll get you places.
--- Naga City Parched Dwarf Assassin ---
Eh, I arsed this one up. The only non Gaan'Telet/VGT badges I'm missing were all in Naga City - Parched, Miser, Warmonger and VT. And Assassin is OP and I kinda used them to get very tricky stuff done, and Parched is the least tricky of these (or at least used to be before the gold price was added to the altars). So I saw Assassin and figured I'd use it to get something else on top of Parched. Decided Miser was probably right.
And then I was pwning easily and it was going so smoothly that at the last boss I completely forgot about the Miser part and bloody went and bought and converted both kegs... Completely unnecessary, and now I'll have to do Miser with someone else, and I'll also have to figure out how the devil do I get VT with a non-assassin. And it's sort of extra tricky because I've run out of above-curve guys who're kinda sure to do it.
But, eh, Dwarf Assassin can do Naga City miser + parched, not bad at all. Well, I did have Crystal Ball but it still feels quite achievementy. I used Binlor to knock walls out of the basement, and I wasted an entire ding by accidentally dinging, but later I made up with a Dwarf with Scholars pact, which was pretty damned good. Swapped into Mystera after Binlor and spent the whole map there with a short trip to TT for Dodging in between. Farmed up Mystic Balance (not the best move in retrospect as I was using Pissorff - but then, did it through even that, and I did use plenty of Pissorff at 5 mana afterwards anyway).
---
Then the regular HoS flared up and since Dwarf Sorcerer was what I used to do the Vicious Steel back when I was unlocking the Vamp I had a very nice and smooth VT run with him here. Not sure if this was the Rainbow run, or if there's one more left here.
As far as what was going on - EM's great here, and Vineforms let you fight stuff above your level which properly hybridy Sorcerers, especially on a VT run, love. Witchalok + Fireball are what Dwarf Sorcerers love (although it only really came through for the second boss here), and the Imawal meant I didn't need too many kills to get really fat.
EM Dwarves is a nice combo, not just on this dungeon. You get some health to punch up, I hardly ever use too much Greenblood but it's also cool, and Imawal gets your levels while leaving a lot of popcorn (slowed) to later ding the health pool. V nice.
--- PQI - Gnome Priest- Vicious Steel - Ding!Max ---
And then this guy is just refill city - prepped a pair of Elven Boots to easily hit the 6 mana PoS sweet spot (and also because Gnomes are one of the rare, if not the only, race which works better with mana boosts rather than CB - something I noticed after that whole discussion with Tinker as I was playing a Gnome which kept crashing on me a few days ago). Took Blood Curse rather early on for some reason, but I had plenty of ways to ding and plenty of mana potions around and the guy had +100 on Blah Blah and 5 indulgences by the end to refill with potions, on top of a load of magic resistance from Binlor, it was pretty sweet.
Anyway, I noticed how one could develop a perspecive where it's not obvious CB is broken, or how silly PoS is - Gnomes have different sweet spots than PoS generally does. They also work smoother (not necessarily better, just more naturally) with Fireball strats as opposed to anyone else. And both their CP and their obvious-pick items (like the Mage Plate) steer you towards having more levels and going off later than a PoS guy would. From a Gnome Perspective Battlemage Ring and Flames are actually good! But since my PQI hardly ever sets me up with Gnomes (and particularly Gnome spellcasters), even considering most of that stuff seriously is impossible for me. Not because I preffer or are more comfortable with the CB or Pissorf strats, but because I don't figure Gnomes into spellcasting equations at all due to the nature of the playthrough
On the other hand I always thought Gnomes didn't have enough plugs in the game as it were, but it seems they do - it just looks like generic spellcasting stuff. Some of it also kinda works well with Goblins. But none of it is on the same plane as PoS, compared to it it's incredibly narrow in aplicability. Not that it doesn't do what it's supposed to do, but there's a whole level (or several) of choosing stuff pre-run and in-run to the equation which determins the power of all that stuff. I'm glad I figured that out, though.
---
I also hope my back gets better these days and I get to finally finish this thing up.
)
). This run was a bit of a scrape by comparison, as the item pool wasn't very good, and the glyph pool had no first strike thing (I converted Wonnafyt too early, in retrospect).
