ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Buff Rantha plz... and its alternate version too (which is even more pathetic than the original)

Fight Rantha with a physical fighter.

(I don't see anything wrong with the alt version, personally...)

If that's not good enough for you yet, I'm pretty confused. Rantha is more competent than most bosses around the same tier, probably second only to Weirdling.

SageAcrin wrote:Fight Rantha with a physical fighter.

(I don't see anything wrong with the alt version, personally...)

If that's not good enough for you yet, I'm pretty confused. Rantha is more competent than most bosses around the same tier, probably second only to Weirdling.

Did that and it was underwhelming as always. Sure, it has Icy Skin, big deal, but other than that and the ice that it pulls off it's... yeah, underwhelming... he/she/it always chickens out and starts running away screaming... and the alternate version doesn't even have retaliation damage (or freeze). I honestly fear Wrathroot more, he's a bit more competent with all that blocking. Also... Sandworm Queen is by far more powerful than Rantha, yeah, she does get trapped inside walls, but at least until then she can be a pretty tough fight.

But well, this may be just me, but Rantha strikes me as the worst tier 2 boss... well, in all honestly Wrathroot is probably the worst one, but I like to rant about Rantha. (pun intended )

Anyway... you can just disregard this thread, might've created it in a fit of trolling.

I've always had trouble against Rantha with the Rogue metaclasses.

SageAcrin wrote:Fight Rantha with a physical fighter.

(I don't see anything wrong with the alt version, personally...)

If that's not good enough for you yet, I'm pretty confused. Rantha is more competent than most bosses around the same tier, probably second only to Weirdling.

Rantha is a JOKE. I have far more losses to random mobs in the Daikara than I do to Rantha, and I've never gotten that far on a caster, only melee. I just HORRIBLY brutalized her with a Wyrmic, although that might have something to do with that stratalite randart axe that dropped in during the rich merchant quest, and opening the fight with a bellowing roar-sand breath-shield bash-assault-overpower chain.

Wyrmic isn't a physical class.

Or rather, it's about as much of one as Arcane Blade. Check out how much of your listed chain of attacks featured non-melee skills-it's about half.

Rantha's damage output is generally higher than Wrathroot(which has a much worse freeze, annoying ice storm that probably won't kill you, and blocks a lot. That's about it.) and Sandworm Queen is only better if you stand in the middle of her summons instead of taking off the moment she does that(psst, do that, she only has two moves that are big deals. That and Sand Breath.).

Rantha has more consistent damage output and Icy Skin really is dangerous for a subset of classes-pretty much any class can deal with those first two below Nightmare, but Rantha can require rethinking your game plans. (Nightmare, everyone with Freeze is harder, everyone with Sand Breath is harder, and Wrathroot somehow still isn't that dangerous anyways.)

Sure, Weirdling's better, and Minotaur is...better if he gets and stays in range. But once you really know the game, the enemies of that tier are probably only going to be dangerous for niche builds anyways.

However, people have to be able to get somewhere to really know the game, and I've already seen tons of new players talk about how they go the wrong place and "instantly die" because they're not used to the bombastic damage level the game functions on. I don't think buffing everything to the sensibilities of experienced players is good.

Besides, experienced players can always play Nightmare, where I've rarely felt like I couldn't die at any moment.

Edit: Also, something to note is the aforementioned mobs; They're quite competent, and Rantha can easily end up hanging out with a Cold Drake or a mob of Giants. Relatively high competence on the possible support helps out, too.

I'll add just something about Sandworm Queen, what can get really annoying about her is... being blinded for 7 turns in a collapsing tunnel, now that could end up badly.
(and yes, that's why I find the Sandworm Queen the most engaging of the t2 fights)

Killed Rantha multiple times with Zerkers, Brawlers and Cursed guys, and with pitiful Con on the last two classes, and with no effort. Killed it on Shadowblades (pitiful Con too) fairly easily. Killed it lots of times on chars that had cold resistance penalty without even flinching etc. IIRC, killed it also on my very first Daikara run, might've died like twice to it overall, due to some collateral factors.
Also, what Pheonix has just described could be done more or less with a Bulwark anyway (Rush, Shield Pummel, Assault, Overpower) with the same results and higher damage output overall and higher defenses/armor (due to higher talent tree levels and more focus on said skills, since you don't have to spread points into the draconic stuff), so I think his post is valid. The fact Bulwarks most likely won't have a confusion and a blind by that point is also moot imho, since... they're not needed to deal with it. I guess Stun's the key, as always.
Now, don't get me wrong, I see what you're saying, especially that part about newbies, but I can't somehow help but bash Rantha. Must be because the antimagic arena Corruptor did get buffed a while ago and I started ranting about him being a pain already while using Rantha as something that could've needed a buff more than that guy, dunno.
Might also be because, overall, rare mobs tend to be more of a threat than bosses in tier 2. Afterall, with fixed bosses you already know what you're getting into.
Good point about mobs hanging out with Rantha, now that could screw the fight up. Those damn boulder throwers.