Zhivago
Hero
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Posts: 224 
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Post by Zhivago on Dec 16, 2014 17:41:06 GMT -5
Woohoo! Congrats! That's a tough fight and you kicked its ass!  |
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Post by fallen on Dec 16, 2014 18:37:43 GMT -5
One of my favorite fights in the game!
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Post by contributor on Dec 20, 2014 13:37:58 GMT -5
Ok I need a bit of advice. In a few on and off sessions today I made it to the Hunting Lodge and completed that part of the quest. I scored some amazing loot for Fyona too (84 armor that gives 3 acc, 80 HP and 2% Crit and a Braeysgaurd shield that gives 120 HP, 3 acc, 12dmg and 2% crit) which will make her a pretty much equal frontline fighter with everyone else.
What I need advice on is whether I go fight the Gholla fight now or whether I go down to Koda and do the Underforge. I like to be efficient in my questing and going to Gholla now was part of the original plan, before going back to Koda land and heading to CoD with them. I'm pretty intimidated by the Gholla fight though and if I really want to keep this party alive as long as possible it might be best to save that for the last thing in E2. It would also let me get a 1H hammer for Fyona so she could use her shield.
So the choice is 1) Be efficient in my travels and take a big fight now knowing it might end my run. If we make it, it would boost my score. Or 2) Be terribly inefficient in my travels and come back and take this fight when I'm more prepared for it and stand a better chance of beating it, plus I will have a higher score should I happen to die there.
Thoughts? I think I know which way I'm leaning.
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Zhivago
Hero
[ Patreon ]
Posts: 224
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Post by Zhivago on Dec 20, 2014 14:10:17 GMT -5
I'd go with whichever one you're most comfortable with. I actually saved Gholla for last with the Einherjar even though it meant quite a bit of travel. You're not truly optimizing your score, so survival is paramount.
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Post by bobc on Dec 20, 2014 14:40:56 GMT -5
Travel is meant to have the least impact on score so I'd go with your gut feelings.
One thing to consider though is that ep 2 is free travel. Now ep 3 is released you should be able to get to the CoD without completing all the quests, meaning you could be able to run the underforge, accept the Koda banner for entry to the CoD, buy the 3ap 1-hammer and other new gear from the Koda forward camp and then double back to gholla to kick ep 2 ass with ep 3 weapons!
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Post by fallen on Dec 20, 2014 15:51:58 GMT -5
I hit a nearly fatal snag last night. My all-melee group hit the fight at the stair with 2 Deathkin and 2 Giant Rats. The first half of the battle was an all-out slaughter, but then supplies ran thin and we had to stage a retreat. We fell back to a choke point where we were able to kill one of the Deathkin, but things got so desperate that the Heroes had to retreat all the wall to the climb-out and return again to fight another day.
This will probably cause some difficult decisions for my Selen Vraes builds, where I have been skipping Empowered Attack levels to date. Selen failed me in the battle because she was completely unable to tag the Deathkin with Punishing Blades, and from there everything slid down hill fast. Her 1 AP weapon days may be over, or at least she needs to carry an option to switch if we encounter Deathkin. She was hitting, but failing to cause damage.
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Post by contributor on Dec 20, 2014 16:08:03 GMT -5
fallen glad to hear I'm not the only one still charging ahead on this (where is rygar btw?). I was having the same problem with accuracy at that point and had to get Selen the 5acc blade to make her hit. Fortunately I didn't roll a Double-D. As for empowered attacks, at level 23 my group has put 8 talent points total in to them and five of those are Selen. Flanking Unity is a huge part of this team (level 7 now) and I'm glad I went with it over trying to boost everyone's individual melee attacks, but it was a slower burn at first, but is paying off big now.
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Zhivago
Hero
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Posts: 224
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Post by Zhivago on Dec 20, 2014 16:10:00 GMT -5
fallen Yeah, playing without choking ash has a) forced me to pay attention to accuracy and base damage even more and b) appreciate how awesome choking ash really is!
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Post by fallen on Dec 20, 2014 18:37:37 GMT -5
Zhivago - few Talents can compare to Choking Ash ... it's killer, especially if combined with another constant -AP curse. contributor - wow, it makes me wish I had slotted Kincaid into the group instead of Vraes. Both Tamilin and Vraes are designed as "selfish characters" when it comes to Talents, and I feel that when I need the group accuracy. Still going to try to avoid Empowered Attacks where I can. With Vincent is now dedicated to Thundering Blades and Storm Strike, hopefully those few points of Accuracy pay off. My only good debuff in use right now is EA, but its getting more and more expensive (lvl 4 now). I just need a few more levels and I am sure I can straighten a few things out. Starting to wonder if Vincent will have to pick up an off curse, as he is still the least likely to get into melee combat on any given turn (but notably the highest damage dealer when he does).
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Post by contributor on Dec 21, 2014 2:14:29 GMT -5
fallen, based on my experience that looks like it's going to be a very tough group to make work. I went all debuffs with Vincent using both Flash Freeze and Frigid Air and Fyona went almost straight up to 10 with Shield of Cortias. This gives my team great ability to stand on the front lines for a long time, which a melee team has to be able to do, because they're just not going to take people down as quickly. One little "trick" I've discovered with Selen and Vincent is that it works very nice if they both have +2 mp. If Vincent is right behind her, she can take one step back off the front line and he can step in and get his full attacks, then he steps back out and she moves back in closing the door and keeping him safely off the front at the end of the turn. Another crazy thought is to take EA straight up to 10. I know it's going to be a major SP burner, but I find block AoE to be incredibly helpful especially in big fights and the -7 dodge and -7 accuracy will be very helpful. I've had to give up on some things I would normally do for efficiencies sake with this group, just to make sure they can make it, but they're making it.
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Post by contributor on Dec 21, 2014 8:08:08 GMT -5
I'm finishing clearing out Bone Pass and Ironwood Ridge and it's so tempting just to march up to Gholla and be done with it. But in the back of my head I hear Gandalf, and he's saying "You fool of a Took!!! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!!" Maybe it's time to see how we fair against the cultists.
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Post by CdrPlatypus on Dec 21, 2014 22:52:46 GMT -5
contributor thx for the updates love reading of exploits
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Post by fallen on Dec 21, 2014 23:01:24 GMT -5
contributor - blast, the 2 Deathkin fight was the first in 3 extremely nasty fights in which it became clear my Talent setup was not hacking it. In the third loosing fight in a row, I died. Started a new group, but not sure I am going to stick to all melee at the moment. Very frustrated with Selen.
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Zhivago
Hero
[ Patreon ]
Posts: 224
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Post by Zhivago on Dec 21, 2014 23:17:44 GMT -5
Selen takes time to shine in melee! |
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Post by contributor on Dec 22, 2014 9:51:00 GMT -5
fallen, sorry about that. I was fortunate to stumble onto a working formula the first time. It's a tough challenge because a melee group is definitely less immediate fun to play than group that mixes it up more. And it's hard to start a second or third one if the first ones don't work. Mighty Melee is loving the Underforge. They're slicing through cultists like 5 hot knives and a hammer through so much butter. I might even get my 8 kills in a turn reward if I play things right. Storm of Steel is finally shining, though I probably over use it just because I've been starved for good AoE action so far.
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