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Post by tenbsmith on Nov 8, 2014 11:52:11 GMT -5
djrr, I feel your pain. That bridge is treacherous. Makes sense to play through the rest of the content and see how your build does. Keep us posted on your progress.
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Post by djrr on Nov 12, 2014 10:23:49 GMT -5
So a staff based Kyera has a much wider variability in results. My first build had her at invocation 11, retribution 3/4 (this seems to be the sweet spot), a blessed rod (+4 Holy Damage) and some other Holy Damage gear. She was a Holy nuke against anyone weak vs. Holy  She basically killed the Baron by herself doing 70-100 damage per attack and never missing. My other group did not get the blessed rod or gear and she was too weak to survive the bridge. Her melee damage with a staff is just not close to a hammer build. Definitely cleanup only which really hurts in tight places where you need punching power. I would definitely put the points into constitution instead of dexterity next time to help her survivability. I really like the ranged option though and the punch against unholy characters like deathkin and the Baron is great. With the changes in the new release I am back to a melee build for now. Building to take out the bridge and get my score up. The new Piety ward is great and the higher level 3 will cover me against the Krete. I am putting points there and not putting anything into Pureflame shield, but putting those points into burning blades to keep the damage up. Kyera now has hammers 10 and the best hammer so she hits cursed Ratkin for ~ 40 points each blow and hits ~ 75% of the time. She crushes  I am going to put another point into Tears one into Breeze to cover curses and save my next 3 so I can get Banishment up quickly. All skills now go into invocation. Hopefully I will keep decent melee and be able to add long range punch. Might work well on hard, will have to see. My new team is called the Orkin team and they are eliminating the pests. Hopefully they will be my ticket to a new high score. Hunting the Shaman now. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2014 7:20:13 GMT -5
My Crimson Rain ironman run has just ended at 213 million. I died in the Darkmoss with a lost stealth roll to 4 or 5 Krete archers. All of them went after Selen hitting for between 70-100 a shot, she lasted through the first round, but went down as they started in with their second shots.
I was honestly getting a little cocky with the build as I had cruised through the Braeys lands and orcin quests with no problem. Even clearing out the Krete at the River Trading Outpost didn't prove to be too much trouble. I was certain that the cult temple would have me sweating, and didn't think I had to worry until then. But looking back, I was using equipment to boost stealth on Selen and I wonder if I had a setup that involved more dodge. Ironically, losing a stealth roll to Krete and getting Selen stomped ended my last ironman run.
Beware the Krete.
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Zhivago
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Post by Zhivago on Nov 16, 2014 9:54:36 GMT -5
Yup, I've had a NM Ironman run end in the same exact scenario (Selen losing stealth roll to Krete). Never depend on stealth rolls in an Ironman run. I always lead with Kincaid now. And he still wins more initiative rolls than he loses.
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Zhivago
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Post by Zhivago on Nov 16, 2014 10:52:36 GMT -5
Some more thoughts on this: In Ironman runs you have one overriding goal: never die! So, every decision you make has to serve that end goal in mind. Ironman runs usually end in one of three ways: 1. Group build is not up to staying ahead of the curve. 2. User error (inattention, mistaken click, pathing mistakes, suboptimal tactics, etc.) 3. The stars align and your enemies get incredible rolls against your incredibly unlucky ones. There are a lot of groups that pass the first test. They are well constructed, make use of synergies between character talents and stay ahead of the curve, but there are very few that are built to survive #2 and #3 consistently (or enough times at least to make a long Ironman run). Because we're human, we're going to eventually make a gameplay error. And because of the nature of dice and rng, we will eventually have some very bad luck at the most inopportune time. My group isn't as 'sexy' as some of the high damage groups I've seen on the board, but I feel it does really mitigate #2 and #3. I've made several mistakes that with any other group probably would have ended my run. But since survival has been my overriding goal, the only thing I won't compromise on, my group has endured while pumping out just enough damage to get the job done. |
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Post by fallen on Nov 16, 2014 12:06:59 GMT -5
There are a lot of groups that pass the first test. They are well constructed, make use of synergies between character talents and stay ahead of the curve, but there are very few that are built to survive #2 and #3 consistently (or enough times at least to make a long Ironman run). Because we're human, we're going to eventually make a gameplay error. And because of the nature of dice and rng, we will eventually have some very bad luck at the most inopportune time. For my Ironman Nightmare group I am still not playing with High Speed, as I fear it could cause more of the #2s  |
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Post by djrr on Nov 17, 2014 7:51:59 GMT -5
I couldn't catch you Rearick, maybe next time I finally finished episode 1 with no deaths and 120 million, then got a bad beat. Lost a fully buffed Kyera with almost 400 HP to a Deathkin with only 10 HP left  Really bad luck, leaving one hit left and then taking 4 100 point hits. Rest of the storeroom went pefectly. Think I am done with Ironman for a while. I will see how far I can take this group with one death. Time to finish episode 2 and check out the new content. Maybe I will try some of the other characters I bought for the next run. Game is really great with auto buff and speed mode. |
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Post by fallen on Nov 17, 2014 9:39:27 GMT -5
Game is really great with auto buff and speed mode. Thank you! Sad to report that I too lost my Ironman Nightmare group last night. Curses upon the gatehouse. First turn, Orcin walked up and stabbed Tamilin three times, 110+ dmg each time. She didn't dodge, he walked past a melee character to reach her. Dead. Agony. Restarted a new group about five minutes later, Auto Buff + High Speed right through Red Hill is a breeze! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2014 9:49:10 GMT -5
Think I am done with Ironman for a while. I will see how far I can take this group with one death. Time to finish episode 2 and check out the new content. Maybe I will try some of the other characters I bought for the next run. Game is really great with auto buff and speed mode. Yeah, Ironman has broken my spirit just a little bit I'm taking a break but I do have several interesting incubation groups in the ratkin levels that are ready to go when there's another push in competition here. I'm disciplining myself to try to not look at any spoiler posts with the new content but it's so hard. I just need to play through the new content whatever it takes. I need to get around to updating my review on all the markets I play on to mention auto-buff and high speed. It's a whole new game and I love it. |
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Post by mrsarfa on Nov 17, 2014 17:29:19 GMT -5
@rearick - Awesome run, man. Sorry it ended.  If it's any consolation, my run ended with Krete archers too. They are just plain nasty. I'll start another group at some point to try to catch you. Right now I'm in the middle of Ep. 3 and loving it, so I won't be starting a new group anytime soon!  |
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Post by thehowler on Dec 13, 2014 18:16:03 GMT -5
Here I am running the hard Ironman challenge with my team dubbed The Black Company. Into the darkmoss ironwood on episode 2. I'm currently 7th on the no deaths for Google with 103 mil (in game is showing 116 mil) this group is just too much fun. Anyone else still running on the hard ironman challenge?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2014 7:15:04 GMT -5
Watch out for Krete!
I am still running on Hard and going for new high scores on Ironman.
I ran a Holy Strickening/Energy Storm combo with Kincaid, Vincent, Fyona and Selen most recently with a new high score of 378 million. I got all the way into Episode 3 (ironically at the Tower of Loss) but I'm by no means a completionist. My other big failing is I don't sell all the equipment I could, but end up holding on to it and not cashing out to boost my score. So I should be "relatively easy" to catch!
I've got a couple groups in the Ratkin levels that are incubating right now, but I'm still brainstorming what the next really fun group I want to take far. I'm thinking ferocity on Vraes.
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Post by tenbsmith on Dec 18, 2014 15:30:49 GMT -5
Nice to see some people back on this thread.
I'm afraid my current group--Travelers II--had a death near the end of Episode 1 in the run up to Groth's Layer, in the Barracks or the Officer's Barracks or something like that. The build design is sounds, it was a total user error. Not following Fallen's advice, I was playing while tired and started opening doors while still clumped instead of carefully positioning heroes around the door before openning. Tami opened a door and KJ unclumped right next to the door with an Orc on the other side, the Orc ignores Tami and dispatches KJ with 2-3 spear thrusts, all hitting. Stupid.
At that point I had 81,900,000 points, putting me at #8 on Google Play No Deaths and maybe about #3-4 here.
I'm going to take Travelers II through to the end of current content since I haven't done that yet. Not sure when I'll start a new ironman run, but I'm interested to see how y'all do.
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Post by thehowler on Dec 18, 2014 16:41:48 GMT -5
Well i took a break from hard ironman to go to Nightmare ironman. I'll get back to it if my second team fails before the Shaman lol
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2015 17:48:28 GMT -5
I was getting excited about putting together another hard ironman run and then Kjartan bit it just before the Shaman. It'll probably be a while before I attempt another run, but I'm always up for a little friendly competition if there are any hard ironman players out there who aren't boosting in these days!
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She basically killed the Baron by herself doing 70-100 damage per attack and never missing.
I am going to put another point into Tears one into Breeze to cover curses and save my next 3 so I can get Banishment up quickly. All skills now go into invocation. Hopefully I will keep decent melee and be able to add long range punch. Might work well on hard, will have to see.
Really bad luck, leaving one hit left and then taking 4 100 point hits. Rest of the storeroom went pefectly.
If it's any consolation, my run ended with Krete archers too. They are just plain nasty. 