Am I in the wrong place or doing something wrong?

[markz]

After leaving the prison dungeon we headed south where we came upon a ratkin defensive fort.  It was a good battle requiring tactics and care.

Heading farther South / South East from there we came upon a cavern with water and rats.  The rats seem to do about 25, maybe 27 points of damage average per hit and hit 2 to 3 times, if I remember correctly.

But when we fight back my fighter swings and does 5 points damage, the thief's arrow does 5, the fireball didn't do that much either and that's when they hit.  My group seems to miss about a third of the time.

I know our damage would be higher using special abilities but I try to conserve SP but still, how come the fighter can barely hit this creature and then is only doing 5 points of damage to a rat that is responding with 50 points of damage?  Did I make a wrong turn and should not be at this location yet?

I had to retreat out of the cavern as I'm using up all my potions and I don't know how many more rats there are.  Killing each rat takes a very long time and lots of resources.

Any thought, recommendations, suggestions, or condolences?

[contributor]

You are in the right place, though it is not necessary to go there. Those giant rats are optional though they do guard some chests that might give you better than average loot. There are two groups of 2-3 rats each, so a total of 4-6. Yeah they are nasty, but as you get things figured out you'll be able to bring them down. It's definitely a place to be using your SP. If you have Choking Ash and Ethereal Anguish you want that on them and your empowered attacks. This is also where you really find out how important it is to build for accuracy. That's something that is only going to get worse throughout the game, so you need to be putting lots of points into skills (like weapons) that build your accuracy. A general bit of advice for an easy start is that you can't really over-do Choking Ash. It's cheap to cast and incredibly potent. I cast it on everything.

[fallen]

Dec 13, 2014 7:17:13 GMT -5 markz said:

I know our damage would be higher using special abilities but I try to conserve SP but still, how come the fighter can barely hit this creature and then is only doing 5 points of damage to a rat that is responding with 50 points of damage?  Did I make a wrong turn and should not be at this location yet?

Any thought, recommendations, suggestions, or condolences?

My response is that you are doing the wrong thing. You must use empowered attacks. The game is designed for you to do so. Refusing to use your special abilities means you are using a Level 0 Talent against your enemies, who are now level 3. There is a campsite behind you, you can go back there and rest. So -- use your empowered attacks, curses, buffs. Use it all.

[En1gma]

Lol fallen

markz- Seriously though the last strategy anyone should follow is to completely ignore empowered attacks. The game is best played in a balanced manner, choose one or two (tops!) empowered attacks, a few curses that fit your strategy, and one or two or three buffs depending on the character. (Except for Vincent, he is a blast if you bring Lightning Spear up to 10 immediately). The game will punish you over and over again if you don't use everything at your disposal to beat it. The AI plays the same game no matter what, so you need to prepare for it. If you don't think that's true, ask how many groups have died because the player forgot to buff.

[Cory Trese]

I have never used any of the "0 SP" attack talents. I don't actually think I would notice, at all, if they were removed.

I realize they cannot be removed, but at this point they are in the game for emergencies and last hitting monsters with 1 HP (although I'd still use Savage Sweep.)

[markz]

OK, I tried to flee back to the campsite but even though there were no mobs I stayed in turn-based mode. So I turned back around since lurker's post seemed to indicate that there were not too many left.

I tried to turn on autobuff but a message said there were monsters too close. I guess "close" is relative.

So, I started buffing and using the talents and am doing a lot better. Actually, a lot better overall. And the chests did have some good loot.

Thanks for the tips.

[fallen]

markz - yes, you can't get out of battle by retreating.

Buffing, Cursing, and Empowered Attacks make the world go round. Use them always and for everything. Basic Attacks are for 0 SP emergencies only.

[bowuserthing]

My first time there I completely slipped it, since I play a lot of roguelikes, they told me it was dangerous, so I stayed away. On my next playthrough, I decided to try it, stood at a choke, only had Tamilin, Kjartan and Vraes attack, took sometime, but I worked them down. Lots worth it. First time I did it, it took me a few minutes to figure out to reach the chest near the water, that the lighter tiles with rocks allow you to move through the water.

[tenbsmith]

Playing on Hard, working my way through the end of Episode 1, I use 0-SP attacks a fair amount for finishing off monsters with low HP or for the last monster in a fight. For conserving Vraes limited SP pool. Heck, with Deadly Intuition 5, Tami is still pretty dangerous with 0-SP attacks. Plus all the heroes have Burning Blades 4, so those 0-SP attacks are buffed.

[En1gma]

I always have a spot for the basic bow attack, unless I'm running Punishing Blades. Very efficient when things are debuffed, or you have TB or BB on yourself. I never use the basic melee attack though...

[anrdaemon]

Basic attacks are effective in escape, and some time after it. But then the results are diminishing greatly.
The only possible exception is Tamilin(and probably Selen), who put everything into relevant stats, and unavoidable get massive buff to basic attack out of stat pool.