Preparing to face the Horned Horror

[Majestix]

My last Temporal Warden died to the Horned Horror in the alternative Maze in like two turns. I had not seen him, and the next thing I knew, I was being grappled, pinned, and silenced. I did not have a wild infusion, since I was relying to my Dimensional Shift to get rid of status effects.

Now I am giving it another try (Roguelike/Nightmare), and I hit upon the alternative Maze again. So before I go down to the 4th floor, I want to be ready. My question is: is one wild infusion and one phase door rune enough? If the wild gets rid of the silence effect, then I am sorted anyway. If instead it gets rid of the pin, will the phase door rune work? Also, I seem to remember that there were three status effects during the grapple, but I don't remember what the third was. Any ideas what it could have been and how to deal with it?

Oh yeah, I also have Vargh Redemption on this run. This is a ring that can summon a tidal wave that knocks back enemies. Will that release me from the grapple?

Thanks!

[KaynDarks]

My typical strategy for the Horned Horror (and Alt Maze in general) is to leave and go do Sandworm Lair, Daikara and some other, optional, dungeons to the point where I significantly outlevel the Maze.

That being said, removal of physical debuffs can break the grapple, as can any knockback effect.

Kiting is decently effective, though I think he still has a ranged nuke (maybe?).

Good luck!

[Isotope-X]

Honestly, the best thing to do is forget the freak exists and come back in about 20 levels. He's not worth the risk.

[HousePet]

Tidal Wave might release you, but it would take time to do it and you didn't survive long enough last time.
If you aren't sure if something is going to be good enough, why not play on Adventure mode. Then you can test things.

[Majestix]

Thanks for all the replies! Despite the warnings from several of you, I went in there after the Old Forest, the Sandworm Lair, and the first three levels of Daikara, and beat that monster. It ended up being easier than all my plans, since I resisted his first grapple. After that, I killed him in 4 turns. My character was level 20.

Given how easy that fight was, it makes me wonder whether the level of all the floors is set upon first entry into the dungeon. I somehow thought that the level of each floor of a dungeon is set separately.

[HousePet]

It is set when the first floor of the dungeon is loaded. (But this also sets the level of the loot)

[Majestix]

It is set when the first floor of the dungeon is loaded. (But this also sets the level of the loot)

That's good to know. Thanks!

[GlassGo]

It is set when the first floor of the dungeon is loaded. (But this also sets the level of the loot)

Good to know.

[Atarlost]

My question is: is one wild infusion and one phase door rune enough?

I'm pretty sure that this is, in general, a bad idea. I always try to get a mental and physical if I rely on spells and avoid using dual type wilds to improve my ability to remove the really dangerous effect, though I suppose going for a pair of phys/mental wilds might have its merits.

I don't get the impression this is considered excessive paranoia. Some people even suggest using the primal infusion as a third wild even though it's worse in pretty much every way than other wilds apart from not falling under the two infusions per type limit.

[Majestix]

I'm pretty sure that this is, in general, a bad idea. I always try to get a mental and physical if I rely on spells and avoid using dual type wilds to improve my ability to remove the really dangerous effect, though I suppose going for a pair of phys/mental wilds might have its merits.

I don't get the impression this is considered excessive paranoia. Some people even suggest using the primal infusion as a third wild even though it's worse in pretty much every way than other wilds apart from not falling under the two infusions per type limit.

But do you do it even with the Temporal Warden? He gets rid of status effects by just jumping around. One just needs to ensure that he can jump around. It seems to me that silencing is the only effect that can kill him. Also, do you do that even once you have Timeless and Relentless Pursuit? (I didn't have either when I asked the above question, I am just asking out of curiosity.)

[Atarlost]

I'm pretty sure that this is, in general, a bad idea. I always try to get a mental and physical if I rely on spells and avoid using dual type wilds to improve my ability to remove the really dangerous effect, though I suppose going for a pair of phys/mental wilds might have its merits.

I don't get the impression this is considered excessive paranoia. Some people even suggest using the primal infusion as a third wild even though it's worse in pretty much every way than other wilds apart from not falling under the two infusions per type limit.

But do you do it even with the Temporal Warden? He gets rid of status effects by just jumping around. One just needs to ensure that he can jump around. It seems to me that silencing is the only effect that can kill him. Also, do you do that even once you have Timeless and Relentless Pursuit? (I didn't have either when I asked the above question, I am just asking out of curiosity.)

Yes. Relentless Pursuit and Timeless are both late and do not completely remove long duration effects and have inconveniently long cooldowns and Temporal Wardens cannot teleport if silenced and stun can put it on cooldown. I was using dual wilds even when they could reduce multiple effect durations per jump.

[Satarus]

Psychoportation is very useful for getting out of grapples. It can't be blocked by silence or stun.