ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Alright, so my Wyrmic is hanging out on Dreadfell 9, doing what he does best.
When Borfast shows up.
Okay, I think, I can handle this.
Then an Alchemist rare shows up.
This is getting tough. I fight as good as I can but Borfast proves to be Broken once more and spews Lua errors at me.
Then the Master shows up.

Seriously? This is your idea of a fair fight?

DG, please. Stop rares and randbosses on boss levels.

EDIT: Oh, did I mention the dread?

Sounds like fun to me ;) But seriously if you had scraped through the fight and managed to win you would be on a high like no other right now.

Dig!!

Don't dig away from Dreads, it doesn't work.

Teleport is your friend though. You know who is the best at chasing you? Master. You know who isn't reliably good at chasing you? Rares and Borfast. And even if they do, just teleport again after doing some damage. Hole yourself up in a nice niche in the dungeon and wait for them to come.

Master fights for me, now that I am used to it, are almost always this long term mesh of careful teleport kiting. The big key to that fight is that Master can't notably heal, and usually neither can his buddies.

SageAcrin wrote:Don't dig away from Dreads, it doesn't work.

Teleport is your friend though. You know who is the best at chasing you? Master. You know who isn't reliably good at chasing you? Rares and Borfast. And even if they do, just teleport again after doing some damage. Hole yourself up in a nice niche in the dungeon and wait for them to come.

Master fights for me, now that I am used to it, are almost always this long term mesh of careful teleport kiting. The big key to that fight is that Master can't notably heal, and usually neither can his buddies.

I didn't have a means of teleport, and the master would have killed me one way or the other. But then Borfast broke everything, froze my game and forced me to fall back to an older save. :<

It's either teleport runes or movement infusions, one or the other. As a general rule, if you don't have (at least) one of the two you deserve the death that's coming to you

Or a psychoport torq or whatever, I guess. Teleportation amulet. Something to get yourself out of dodge. Lightning speed probably would have managed. Remember to have one next time you hit DF *sage nod*

Mobility is really very important, heh, especially when you're up against somewhat stacked odds.

Anyway, barring the crash that sort of fight is very doable, just have to figure out a way to separate the enemies and defeat them in detail. Teleport's particularly good when you're dealing with boss monsters, as they'll track you across the level so it's easy to pull them from whatever supporting monster pack they were stuck in, but movement infusions'll usually work, too.

Since you were a Wyrmic, I'd suggest triggering Burrow, then using Lightning Speed, if you lack a teleport.

Remember to use Meditate after that combo, as it takes a LOT of Equi, but you can plow through ten squares of rock in two turns using that(With L1 on both. More if you level Lightning Speed.), and make a nicely defendable corridor in the process. Make Dreadfell 9 your own personal swiss cheese.

(If you didn't have one level in both by then, you really *do* deserve the death you got, I'm afraid. )

Actually, there's one very easy way to kill any boss or rare in a single round. All you have to do is...hang on, my phone is ringing. I'll have to get back to you. Later.

The random rares can add spice in normal areas. They can make scripted encounters with bosses far more difficult, or even impossible. It's difficult enough to balance them against a number of different classes; harder if you add in a second factor that can be comparably hard on its own. I like the idea of disabling them on the final levels - if you want more difficult encounters, script them as opposed to creating deathtraps for certain classes.

I actually enjoy these moments when the odds are quickly stacked against me. I like it when each play through is as unique as possible even if it sometimes results in my characters untimely demise!

Dreadfell Nine would make a great French DJ name.
And I do enjoy its randomness, and potential for completely screwing you over, because it makes surviving all the sweeter.

I had a Higher Necromancer who entered the place at like level 26, and I beat the place at 29. Not the easiest way to generate Dreadfell,
but I'd beaten the entire Arena on a Necromancer and from that had conceived of it as a spectacularly fun power-trip of a class.

Two Dreadmasters. A square room with the staircase smack-dab in the middle. Boxed in by them, instantly, every time.
There was an Alchemist Troll to the west, a small alcove to the east, and the path to the level straight south.
I basically had to Phase to a side corridor, and praying for Liches every chance I got - time and again I was thwarted, and bounced back down.
The real problem was the lack of Aura, which was resolved accidentally by a bad Phase Door warping me south a different area where I ganked enough Undead to build my posse, and was able to Impending Doom the Darkness-resistant Dreadmasters enough times to survive.

The Master was a joke. I shot him dead without even realizing how close I was.