Buffs after each battle in Nightmare?

[Incarnyte]

Played a while on normal mode and buffs lasted through battles until thier timers ran out. Started a new game on Nightmare and the buffs disappear at the end of each battle. Is this an intended mechanic? With Vraes's small SP he is gonna be chugging a lot of potions just to buff himself each battle.

[fallen]

@incarnyte - yes, this intentional. After each battle, a certain number of cool down turns elapses. The turn count is based on difficulty. Nightmare is 8.

[Incarnyte]

Well crap lol. Any other hidden mechanics on Nightmare and do people still typically buff before each encounter? I'm seeing a lot of returning to camp in my near, and far, playthrough.

[fallen]

@incarnyte - Sorry for the hidden mechanic. We will work on updating the difficulty descriptions to cover it. I don't think there is anything else that isn't explained, short of the ways that the AI is more dangerous.

[matrim]

As a nightmare player I can tell you that there are some things to watch for on that difficulty. Accuracy is very important, the high level of monsters means that without some acc buffs you will be missing regularly. I find the damage the monsters do to be too high to consistently negate after episode 1. As someone who has tried armour strat and dodge/parry strat in my experience the latter is far more effective. Charging into battle does not work well on nightmare until episode 4, be very cautious and it is generally a good idea to let the mobs come to you. The buff timer running out is a big mechanic to work around however there are ways to negate it. Pulling multiple fights is highly effective in saving sp, especially for a buff centered group; by episode 2 I can usually pull 2-3 encounters before my buffs expire. Your previous play experience gives you a large advantage here, try to remember big, taxing battles and to make sure you have a full buff up before triggering those (ex. Deathkin fight, bridge fight, Groth, etc...). Your build will also most likely require extreme focus too. Nightmare is very unforgiving of inefficiencies and spreading points over many different talents will result in some very tough fights (for instance, decide on an attack for Vraes and only raise that, it is wasteful to raise Ferocity and Savage Sweep for example as there is no situation where an attack uses both). Good luck, the TBs fine tuned the difficulty very well on nightmare and I can tell you that it is very rewarding to beat a lot of the tough encounters.

[Incarnyte]

Is the AI more dangerous in a way other then the flat enemy level increase relative to the heroes?

And no worries. Now that I realize it isn't a bug I find it much more enjoyable. Have to actually think about using a non SP attack and Sacrifice now has its place. Didn't really understand that aspect before.

[fallen]

May 11, 2016 16:51:52 GMT -5 Incarnyte said:

Is the AI more dangerous in a way other then the flat enemy level increase relative to the heroes?

And no worries. Now that I realize it isn't a bug I find it much more enjoyable. Have to actually think about using a non SP attack and Sacrifice now has its place. Didn't really understand that aspect before.

Glad we could help, and I am working on getting it in the game display for the next release.

[Incarnyte]

Thanks for the info. Did a strength/armor Vraes last game and even on normal he was getting hammered. Had to heal him every round. Trying a dex/dodge Vraes this go.

[fallen]

@incarnyte - a good suggestion with Strength / Armor is to carry a shield or to have other characters use Debuffs against the enemies (Meteoric Shockwave) to reduce their hitting power. Don't miss a powerful -AP curse -- every Nightmare group needs one.

[anrdaemon]

May 11, 2016 18:42:48 GMT -5 Incarnyte said:

Thanks for the info. Did a strength/armor Vraes last game and even on normal he was getting hammered. Had to heal him every round. Trying a dex/dodge Vraes this go.

Healing every round IS normal. The issues of avoidance tanks are well researched in other games. Main problem is that the damage tend to become "spicky", hardly controllable.
When with soaking build you know you can take X damage minus armor, and survive, you can't make such calculations for avoidance tank, simple because you don't know how much damage will come through.
Doesn't make them any less viable. Just less predictable.

[Cory Trese]

anrdaemon I don't think you're looking at the math correctly, I'm afraid.

The randomization curves are very similar between Armor and Dodge, so both can be calculated.

Probably the best way to do the math is to calculate "Effective HP" based on the percentage of incoming damage that is, on average, dodged and soaked. That way you can calculate a single value for any build and compared them, apples to apples.

Thank!

[anrdaemon]

That's what I said. Average damage you can sustain is not the same as average damage you may receive.
My point was that in avoidance tanking, the error margin of calculations could be much bigger, if dices start to really hate you.

[fallen]

May 19, 2016 9:53:49 GMT -5 anrdaemon said:

That's what I said. Average damage you can sustain is not the same as average damage you may receive.
My point was that in avoidance tanking, the error margin of calculations could be much bigger, if dices start to really hate you.

Agreed -- you get a more consistent result if you are relying on Armor to soak it up. If you have low armor and are betting on not getting hit, when things go bad ... it goes bad!

[anrdaemon]

Still, I'm enjoying this game. (And I do mean both HoS and AV tanking. Re: Druid, DK, Monk.)

[fallen]

May 19, 2016 10:30:44 GMT -5 anrdaemon said:

Still, I'm enjoying this game. (And I do mean both HoS and AV tanking. Re: Druid, DK, Monk.)

If we reach the $500 Patreon goal, I will secret be praying for a new Heroes of Steel character, though I don't get to vote. And I'll be praying for a monk or an assassin