[b38] Dwarf Berzerker first win

[azyrie]

http://te4.org/characters/12445/tome/a0 ... 8c40b07e98

Hurray, my first win.

Things I probably should have done better:

-Wasted an escort reward learning chant mastery category but never actually investing any points in it.
-Didn't have enough See Invisible in the last few fights. Had to switch to Choker of the Dead mid-fight just to catch a glimpse of the baddies bombarding me.
-Did not find Necromancer Lore Part 3 prior to defeating Celia

Things I did differently than all my other characters who died horrible horrible deaths:

-Accumulated wands and used them for emergency teleport/healing in a pinch. Saved me at two deaths at level 25-30.
-Prioritized Confusion/Stun Freeze/Knockback/Blind resistance items over dealing damage.
-Utilized movement infusion offensively for better position on ranged attackers.

Yay for Hans!

[Dude892]

Congrats, still waiting to get past the west here and I've been playing for about two months. How long have you been playing.

[peacedog]

Nice work. My Bulwarks and Berserkers seem to get bogged in Daikara+. If I can get enough confusion resistance (mostly) for Daikara I am usually ok there (I do so regret opening that vault that one time). The times I have gotten through Daikara I have mostly cleared or fully cleared various places until Dreadfell but then I get bogged in there; so I'm potentially not properly re-prioritizing defenses.

I See you aren't using Warcries. I love shattering shout, but maybe I should consider not doing that and prioritizing something else in the mean time.

[azyrie]

My account says 8 weeks and a bit, so around 2 months as well! Well worth the $12 donation I paid!

The two characters I've gotten the furthest are the Berzerker and Bulwark as well, what a coincidence.

The majority of my deaths were due to confusion, which was why I started prioritizing the resists. It got to the point that I would swap the Wintertide Vial (the one that cures mental effects) into my light slot just to clear confusion prior to walking into boss areas who confuse. I also specifically chose a wild infusion that cured mental effects.

I also started keeping specific pieces of equipment in inventory just to switch for certain occasions. Like + resist gear for spell casters, it's a bit of a pain to remember to switch gear prior to a fight, but I really wanted to get to the end!

Skillwise I really found Rush useful for getting to those archers/mages. I used to pump my generic points into the Weapon Mastery/Accuracy/Armor, but I found killing things wasn't holding me back, dying to things was. So I pumped those points into the new Conditioning Tree first, and filled out the Weapon Mastery stuff in my late 40s. Unstoppable ended up being a completely wasted point, I never used it. War Shout was a great investment, being able to confuse a swarm of dragon/wyrmlings so they fuddle around a few turns rather than surround you! It also saves you from being bombarded by archer/mages in the back while you cut down the front liners in a narrow hallway. The dwarf ability to pass through walls was also a lifesaver, as long as you pick your fights so that it's usable to get you away from the boss to heal up. I also took particular care in clearning a wide radius of little mobs before opening vaults or engaging bosses so if I teleported to escape, it wouldn't drop me into a nest of baddies.

I loathed the Dreadfell boss the most. The Master was ridiculously good at getting away from me, I found myself teleporting away even at half health, and looking to engage him only in 1 tile hallways so his army of minions could not surround me.

Great game! I look forward to my next class... Probably something more rogue-y

[peacedog]

I have some trouble killing tougher monsters in the latter half of Dreadfell on my builds (also some of the bosses/summons in nasty places like the bottom area of the hidden crypt that pops up once you get into the mid 20s; I'm not sure I'm ready to adequately tackle that place, though). It may be I'm over-prioritizing defense in my talent investments. Though on the Berserker I find that I don't have as many offensive talents to use (usually Stunning Blow, the AoE skill, and then Shattering Shout/The Confusing shout to taste). By this point I typically have 10 Armor Training, several points in hardiness, and I am usually close to maxxing Weapon Training (low to mid 20s). I could use some points here in other abilities.

I should prioritize Rush more, the cooldown is so long at only 1 point.

What about stats? Do you generally push something to a breakpoint and then push something else to a breakpoint? I usually start seriously bumping Dex/Con once Strength hits 40 (I have invested some points before this). I'm always uncertain about the order I should be investing in stats. I usually pay attention to the "natural" stat for this purpose as gear changes.

[kazak]

The majority of my deaths were due to confusion, which was why I started prioritizing the resists.

You know, I started playing primarily yeeks for this very reason. For bulwarks and berzerkers, you end up with almost maxed confusion and stun resist before even taking into account equipment.

I've still been hitting a roadblock at Dreadfell though as well, typically due to dreadmasters. I hate them--can't kill them fast enough, so the level slowly starts to fill up with summoned dreads. The only way I've managed to clear a dreadmaster level with a bulwark was a combination of adding an attack rune (like lightning) and stairscumming/teleporting. Without a source of teleport (like sporting a movement infusion rather than teleport rune), it's almost an unavoidable death for me--get surrounded by dreads and watch as they steadily whiddle down my life bar. Having to flee and abandon an entire level due to one non-unique critter just infuriates me.

[edge2054]

I've still been hitting a roadblock at Dreadfell though as well, typically due to dreadmasters. I hate them--can't kill them fast enough, so the level slowly starts to fill up with summoned dreads. The only way I've managed to clear a dreadmaster level with a bulwark was a combination of adding an attack rune (like lightning) and stairscumming/teleporting. Without a source of teleport (like sporting a movement infusion rather than teleport rune), it's almost an unavoidable death for me--get surrounded by dreads and watch as they steadily whiddle down my life bar. Having to flee and abandon an entire level due to one non-unique critter just infuriates me.

Yeah, I lost a bulwark last beta to dreadmasters.

If you come across withering orbs keep them at least until after Dreadfell just for dreads. Otherwise try Sun Infusions and or Vision Runes to get around their stealth (otherwise you can't reliably hit them).

Perfect Strikes will help too but it only lasts so long.

[kazak]

If you come across withering orbs keep them at least until after Dreadfell just for dreads. Otherwise try Sun Infusions and or Vision Runes to get around their stealth (otherwise you can't reliably hit them).

Yeah, the last bulwark I played--I didn't actually die completely. I got down to one turn from death before I killed the process, but then I felt really lame and abandoned the character. Anyway, he was wearing Withering Orbs, 5/5 precise strikes, and had pumped dex as well as accuracy. Hitting the dreads wasn't a problem, it was just killing them quickly enough. It was actually the first encounter that gave the character any real problem. Spent the first cat. point on the tree with step-up, the second on an extra rune slot, and was sporting a wild, regen, heal, and movement infusions.

On the dreadmaster's first turn, he of course did the multi-summon and cut off my escape. I wasted the movement infusion by accidentally bumping into a non-visible dread. Then I quickly ended up with a dread at every single movement direction. I could hit them reliably with all of the accuracy and withering orbs, I just couldn't kill them quick enough to either get to the dreadmaster or secure an escape route. Just poor prep on my part I guess for not having a teleport source, but it's probably one of the few situations where a movement infusion just isn't good enough.

Prior to that, I had tried running a ghoul berserker with maxed shield wall and bloodthirst. A fun combination, but the speed penalty even exacerbated the dreadmaster problem in dreadfell and ultimately led to a loss.

Since playing the recent betas, I've managed to get probably two melee characters past a dreadmaster level in Dreadfell (without just skipping the level entirely). One being a Shalore Berserker that managed to rush to the dreadmaster on the first turn and pop a death dance, the second a bulwark that just came back to the level after beating the Master loaded with attack wands and runes (tediously teleporting and stairscumming until all the dreads had succombed).

The problem is that a dreadmaster can summon multiple dreads in one turn, and those dreads don't respect terrain--they just completely surround you and slowly whittle down your life. It's trivial with caster types--just one or two key presses and they're all gone. Drives me crazy on melee types though--you need high damage, high accuracy, and an attack that can take out multiple critters in one turn. It's one of the few situations in the game that actually just makes me angry at the game.

[peacedog]

I don't find the Berserker AoE ability does enough damage to facilitate the Dreadmaster problem (never mind the issue of whether you are hitting them). Maybe I'm not building quite right or something, but with that ability maxed I can pop it and then I'll never get to a point in the fight again where I can use it a second time. And I won't get many kills in the mean time.

[kazak]

Heh, yeah, I guess I should mention that that last awesome shalore berzerker I ran managed to find his end-game weapon early in Dreadfell (Gaping Maw? The one that does +50 slime and +50 something else). With that, I pretty much sailed through Dreadfell. I even managed to beat the set Ambush, which really surprised me (it was really, really close though).