Yeek

[crazyarcade2]

How do you play this thing?

[Number43]

damage shields.

[Micbran]

Easy solution: don't

Other solution: best off picking a class that has damage mitagation not related to maximum HP and if you do, then you want a lot of +max hp items. Summoner, solip and archmage should work fineish (though shalore AM is 20x better).

[Davion Fuxa]

Yeeks have low hitpoints but powerful racials. They can work pretty well if you take classes that have higher Life Ratings and Starting Life (Berserker for example) or if they have abilities that allow them to avoid taking direct damage to their Health (Summoner or Necromancer Summons, Bone Shield, Damage Shield). Having abilities that help them manage health loss or reduce it helps too (Sawbutchers Grinding Shield, Sun Paladins many Defensive/Healing talents).

Outside of what you pick, you should opt for gear to help keep you alive. As Micbran says, +max hitpoint items will work fine for this. Getting some gear that helps you increase Global Speed can also be good - as Yeeks have a talent that lets them increase their Global Speed - meaning you can sometimes double turn your enemies.

Note that with Inscriptions, this is likely one of the few Races where Healing Infusions are better then Regeneration Infusions. You don't have the hit points to rely on being able to regenerate your health back so being able to instantly heal, or throw up a damage shield with a Shielding Rune will usually keep you alive better - at least for the majority of the game (in the end of the game you might choose to use Regeneration Infusions).

In combat with Yeeks, try to use Hit and Run Tactics to win. Yeeks can work well bursting out a series of high damaging attacks and then fleeing into cover. Note though that this is also your gravest weakness in a lot of cases - since you don't have a lot of health you can take a lot of damage all at once.

[Sheila]

I see a lot of people either not being serious or not offering good advice here so I'll help.

Short answer is to gear and play more defensively (which is how you should be playing anyways as any race in any difficulty), defensive boosts are more important than offensive ones.
Find +HP gear early and heroism later when possible.
+HP gear is cheap and easy to find in large quantities early, resilient cloaks in various towns, lites of health in derth, armors of eyal if heavy or trollhide if a light armor user, etc.
HP is a good stat overall as it directly counters burst and scales relatively well when your HP is low to begin with, it tends to fall off slightly towards endgame based on race and class selection but it's always helpful on higher difficulties and Yeek, and it's a good protective blanket.

Early dungeons are a matter of using corridors to your advantage to 1v1 things, remember you start with a free healing infusion in your inventory so learn that. Do Ritch Tunnels first and Murgol's Second, since enemies in Ritch are squishier and weaker overall. After you get to the ruined halfling complex (3rd dungeon in yeek island) just RoR out immediately and do the regular Maj'Eyal dungeons, since you can't easily beat the boss there just yet, should be around lv 8 at this point with plenty of money to buy some green hp gear or infusion upgrades.

I play nothing but Yeek and have done so across all difficulties, I can safely say: Ignore people who tell you not to play them or to only play certain classes; they work with everything, it's just a matter of getting used to their playstyle and making up for their weakness with gear and their fast levelup which means more options overall.

Also disagree heavily on regeneration, regeneration is fairly good regardless since it helps you live through damage and you'll be making up for your health with gear, whether you like it or not is up to taste, heal is arguably better at times but it heavily depends on your finds/scaling, running both can work out as well.
They fight no differently than anything else, just start fights with buffs on yourself and debuffs on enemies, play safe and use terrain and line of sight to your advantage (corners, corridors, etc), this is basic advice that goes a long way with any race on any difficulty.

Hope this helps! Cheers

[jenx]

I enjoy yeeks, especially on higher difficulties. I can get a Yeek TW to mid 20s on Madness without much trouble. On other races I find this difficult. The -30% XP bonus is great, and the speed is great, and the 4th racial talent is nifty too.

[SamGray]

Sheila, I'm relatively new to the game, and I'm curious: why do you favor yeeks so exclusively? You're one of the people I've noted as knowledgeable around here, but you're also possibly the only one who seems to pick them very often. Is it the experience boost? Their general flavor? Something else?

I haven't tried a yeek yet but expect to do it within the next character or two. Do you find yeek summoners are good at saving the Wayist?

[Sheila]

Sheila, I'm relatively new to the game, and I'm curious: why do you favor yeeks so exclusively? You're one of the people I've noted as knowledgeable around here, but you're also possibly the only one who seems to pick them very often. Is it the experience boost? Their general flavor? Something else?

I haven't tried a yeek yet but expect to do it within the next character or two. Do you find yeek summoners are good at saving the Wayist?

To be honest it's entirely the fun experience I had with them, Yeeks are the only race I was able to get off the ground back when I was a newbie, the quick leveling was something I enjoyed as it feels like I get to build my character faster/more often and that's one of the things I like about RPGs and some roguelikes, the choices and levelups. Faster leveling also means more options sooner which is a big plus in all situations and I like that, they tend to be underrated but this is a big advantage if used well, overall they're a fun race to play.
I played Yeek so much it ended up not feeling right to play anything else so I almost never do barring new campaigns or some testing, it became personal as they say!

As for saving the wayist, it's simply a matter of using RoR and coming back later with the right tools (ie don't try to do it right as you enter that zone, since it's the third zone for yeeks right after ritch and murgol, not an area you should realistically attempt).
Come back at lv 20 or so, you can usually have a relatively easy win by buffing and using a movement infusion before opening the door to the room to get in between the wayist and Z, ideally you'll have disables like stuns followed by burst, I believe most classes can do it to some extent.
Summoner probably won't pass with flying colors, but Turtle can probably help by taunting and Warhound/Ritch can probably pick him off easily, just don't drop Fire Drake or Rimebark in there. Having a few levels in franctic summoning will help do this faster, and if needed you can heal the wayist with nature's touch or nature's equilibrium. Hope that helped!

[SamGray]

Rule of fun is a pretty good reason. That guides a lot of what I pick in games as well. I can also see the benefit in just skipping some areas thanks to the faster leveling.

Thanks for the tips on saving the Wayist. I'll definitely give those a try! Summoner will be the first class I've played with a way to heal others, so that should be a pretty nice change.

[Bozobub]

To be clear: When you get to the 3rd dungeon, DON'T MOVE at all; immediately pop your RoR and wait in place. If X sees you, the Wayist will die almost immediately.