ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Hello all, I am just wanting to know the general direction to go to before doing some of the bosses.
What mainly kills me are mages, in particular the ones that just either do massive damage or afflicts me with a status that is "magical," when all my infusions are locked up on regen/cure phys/cure mental.
Right now, if I am a human cornac, I die trying to kill Urkis T.T.

My current path generally for any character is Norgos Lair Lv 1+2, Trollmire 1+2+3+Treasure, Norgos Lair Lv3, Heart of the Gloom, Scintillating Caves, Kor Pul 1+2, Lumber jack/assassin lord tunnels, Rhaloren Camp, Kor pul 3, Old Forest, Maze, Sandworm Lair, Daikara 1+2, Golem Graveyard, Daikara 3. At this point I am kinda stuck for exp, and Urkis just hits me whilst I can't see him =.=.

P.S. currently playing dwarf bulwark

You can usually take Urkis right after old forest, going by that route. Around level 15-18. If you're having particular trouble, hunt down some lightning resist gear and grab a magical wild and maybe enough stun resistance to get immune (that'd deal with ice shard freeze and hurricane). A movement infusion would help as well; pop it as soon as you get hit and either get into melee or get around a corner and wait for him to approach. After that a standard bash-overpower (remember to set it up so the knockback doesn't give distance)-assault cycle or two should kill him, if not less.

If you have to, teleport or movement infusion out and heal up before repeating. Urkis has no healing talents, so hit and run works fine.

E: You can generalize that to most of the bosses, really. The resist can change and the necessary wild or status removal effect, but the general tactic remains about the same. You sprinkle in other talents (the warshouts, bleeding edge, whatever you've decided to invest in) to taste. Bulwark's are somewhat simple, you just have to leverage your mobility and damage appropriately. The tankiness gives you the room to do so.

No hidden compound, ruined dungeon and halfling ruins? The rewards from these can be pretty nice... I'd definetely try and do the ruins before Daikara for the chance of the extra confusion resists.

My personal route and the reasons for it below:

For Cornac's/Higher:

clear first level of starter dungeon, exit and go to Norgos's Lair, do the Shady Cornac quest in Derth, Heart of the Gloom, Scintillating Cave, Rhaloren Camp, trigger Ben Cruthdar and Lost Merchant, Trollmire, Kor 'Pul, Maze, Old Forest, Lake Nur, Sandworm Lair, Ruined Compound, Hidden Compound, Halfling Complex, Urkis, Daikara, Temporal Rift, Dark Crypt, Spellblaze, Dreadfell, go to the east, return and do Elven Ruins.

Why: clear your first level because well, you're in there and you don't want any lucky equipment drops to decay. Norgos's lair is arguably the easiest starter dungeon and easiest boss, so let that be your first dungeon. Now with rares, maybe not, but I also do this so when I DO do my escort quests they inherit a higher level from my higher level when I enter. Shady Cornac comes next so I don't overlevel the quest, and at level 6 (which should be right where you're at there) it's more than possible. Heart of the Gloom is next, and has a decent chance of generating "screw you" type environs, so that extra boost in power from extra generics helps out there as your above average powered for that level. Scintillating Cave and Rhaloren just to clear them and keep staving off original starter dungeons. Now go trigger Ben Cruthdar and Lost merchant while hunting for decent wild infusions to be prepped for them. Ben Cruthdar will be a joke by now, and you'll be ~12 for the Lost Merchant quest which should keep him from being spawned at omgwtf levels. Trollmire and Kor'pul to get the escorts in (or hit antimagic JUST before so you have AM versions). Maze for the first 2nd tier. to get that sudden jump in levels/power. The minotaur isn't too bad if you're packing confusions resist or confusion removal, and you should certainly be packing movement infusions/teleport by then to play the kiting game. Old forest, then lake nur at level ~18. This will keep a lot of the real nasties in Lake Nur from generating. If you stave that one off until 22 by doing sandworm lair it'll be much more difficult in comparison to the power gained. Sandworm lair is next, it should be decently cake with patience and not getting unlucky for the fight initiation with the Queen. Now do most of the bonus dungeons to hike your power for Daikara which is uncharacteristically lethal for 2nd tiers. Also, you'll probably hit 23 right there at Urkis and won't generate the Dark Crypt between the walk from Urkis to Daikara. You'll also generate decent artifacts at this point too, so there's that. Save the elven ruins for return from the east because they drop lots of gems. Why? You don't need the money, and artifact gems like the eldritch pearl have much better chances of generating once you're 30+. Finish daikara and hit the temporal rift, and then wander around to generate the dark crypt if that's your kind of thing. Spellblaze immediately after, you want to do it just before dreadfell for drops and you should be well prepared for the Grand Corrupter thanks to all his little brothers in the Crypt. Dreadfell, and then the east.

Sorry for the wall of text

I actually find it easier to hit Dreadfell early, around level 15 or so. That place can get seriously nasty if you put it off too long.

Indeed. If you're prepped for dreadmaster's though (stacked see invisible, maybe the withering orbs, that kind of thing) it can generate some tremendously good loot too.

I do enter the ambush and the east at level 30 typically, which I prefer. It means I can go hit the spiders and immediately start the vor armory (minus a certain room) and make my way back home.

I'm fond of that route. There's lots of valid route's to go about things, I'm just a completionist. I put nigh all my thoughts of when and why up there. Imho it's a decent route since you hit lost merchant while he's weaker, Urkis after plenty of time to find +light resist +stun, and so on.

But yeah, dreadfell can be a beast anyways

How do you trigger Lost Merchant?

Just wander around when you hit level 10 or so. I usually get it while autoexploring the northern tundra.