How to overcome the sudden huge jump in difficulty mid-game

[Grey]

Yeah, never leave it to late to heal or escape. If you drop below 50% you are in trouble.

[bricks]

One situation I still can't seem to figure out is how to avoid dangerous level entrance areas. In dreadfell, I basically have to stand right on top of the stairs while I clear out a bunch of undead, lest I get rushed by ghoul mobs or dreads start appearing and beating me up through walls. It's even worse in the crypt (random encounter, not sure what it is called), since there are no stairs. My last character had a few items that gave phase door... after four uses, I was still in the middle of a room with a bunch of ranged attackers. Bluh. I wish stair-scumming wasn't necessary in some situations; I once encountered Urkis in sight of the stairs in Tempest Peak.

[Grey]

Teleport wands are the most useful things in such circumstances - no cooldown, several charges, almost always gets you a decent distance away. It can be wise to throw a shield on before using one though, in case you get a bad run of landing in an uncomfortable position.

[kazak 2]

Man, I agree with those last two posts. I had a totally disheartening time killing the Master with my rogue yesterday. I popped down the stairs to find the Master right there, along with one of the ghouls that summons and a dreadmaster, which quickly summoned more dreads, leading to a huge crowd around the stairs. I had only one teleport rune and a controlled phase door rune as escape options, both with 20-something turn cooldowns. I ended up just stair-cheesing him a couple shots at a time rather than risking a bad teleport, and feeling totally lame the whole time. I would've gone for it if I had a teleport wand, but one never dropped and the stores only had blank wands ("solid elm wand", etc...). Probably should have just gone for it anyway, as now I'm feeling a lot less invested in this character.

So yeah, I'm a big believer in teleport wands. I'm also in the camp that always maxes CON and health, but occasionally you really do just get bad luck.

[bricks]

Ah, the teleport-wand thing makes sense. The one time I avoided a nigh-fatal encounter with Rantha, my arcane blade switched to his staff of conveyance and just barely got away. Now that I've had some experience with both the Crypt and Dreadfell, I do feel more comfortable teleporting off to just about anywhere, knowing I should be able to get better positioning. Of course, I'm playing a temporal warden right now, so positioning hasn't been much of an issue.

[TheRani]

A handy thing that's more common than teleport wands, is amulets of teleportation! I love those things. When fully charged up, you can use them twice in a row.

[bricks]

Wow, my teleport rune sure was useful when fighting the Master. Died on the first attempt, mostly due to bad positioning and a total underestimation of how nasty he is. One of the most compelling and engaging fights I think I have ever had in a roguelike. Just got to the Gates, and I have to say, it feels like a whole new game. Anyway, thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to look for one of those amulets; in the mean time, my rune and the staff of conveyance I found on a patrol should do nicely.

[Tom]

Wow, my teleport rune sure was useful when fighting the Master. Died on the first attempt, mostly due to bad positioning and a total underestimation of how nasty he is. One of the most compelling and engaging fights I think I have ever had in a roguelike. Just got to the Gates, and I have to say, it feels like a whole new game. Anyway, thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to look for one of those amulets; in the mean time, my rune and the staff of conveyance I found on a patrol should do nicely.

Teleport is a must down there.
Using a wand of Detection is also very handy.
So that one can clear out the floor part where he is not hiding before you try to get him.
That way, the teleport will end you up in an empty area.

Tom

[Hedrachi]

As a small note,

4. Random uniques show up for the first time: the Fragmented Essences X boss is extremely dangerous if there are still giants/dragons around to join in the fight, and you are cut off from the stairs. Giant randbosses can also be a challenge but if you are opening the vaults that contain them you brought them upon yourself.

This isn't exactly true... seen the unique mold in the undead start zone, and the unique warg in OF. Just spent the last 5 minutes in some scene inspired by those Yakety-Sax chase scenes fighting Grrglck or whatever, in Lake of Nur 2. Was the second thing I encountered on the level. My sincere apologies to whomever I suggested should have fun dealing with its pac hex. That... was not fun. Didn't do too much to me though, because I'm playing a mag/con anorithil. Not fun being chased by grrglck, two of its tentacles, 4 temporal dredges, 3 snakes, and two treants. Thankfully, blind grrglck makes for dead other things pretty quickly.

[TheRani]

I've seen the unique mold in the Old Forest before (he was in one of those mold vaults).

[Nemesis1]

Thalore elves have two great survival talents that can be activated without spending a single second: Wrath of the Eternals (increases both damage and damage res) and Nature's Pride (summons Treants). There are also inscriptions that add lots of survivabilty/escape options without using any time, the Movement Infusion (which also makes you immune to stunning) and the Shield Rune. A great way to escape without spending a single turn is to summon treants between you and your enemy and then run away with a Movement Infusion. The level requirement for Nature's Pride is rather high though, so I'm not 100% sure you can get it at this point of the game.

[marvalis]

suggestion about Urkis can be made here:
http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=28589
Hurricane is a killer if it triggers.

I have learned to simply avoid daikara.

[bricks]

My latest rogues have learned that even the early game is a struggle... Talk about a class gimped in the early levels. It's frustrating knowing how powerful they can be.