[v1.0.4] Doomed Winner, with a bug.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Khelavaster the Doomed

Definitely the hardest character I've had to win with, and thinkiung I could outdps the enemy and go for tactical master didn't help...

Spent half the game not knowing what I should do with my generic/class points after buying the obvious stuff, and for that matter, IIRC, I *STILL* have an unspent cat point after winning. There's really... nothing.... for it to offer me. Feed doesn't appear to use it in scaling, gestures is good enough, shadows got bonuses from umbraphage, so gets no noticeable benefit. (a few extra points in offense, but that's hardly worth it...) Seems a bit unusual.

Sadly, part of this characters purpose was to earn an achievement that I was told existed... but didn't belive. Specifically, handing a certain 'staff' to the apprentice mage. This failed to work the first time after dreadfell, and failed AGAIN after winning. However, the achievement is still listed in-game, and in the wiki. Please alter this staff to include the arcane flag, properly. (or be accepted without it.) Bug report here.

[cttw]

You must be my oposite, because I find doomed the easiest class to win with. It is the only class I can win with reliably. It is also the class where I was closest to a no-deaths win, with a single avoidable death.

I admit my build has changed considerably over about 20 or 30 runs, and is now extremelly optimized (to my taste and capability). As a reference, I go get antimagic after doing all the starter dungeons (about lvl 12), before oldforest/maze/daikara/sandword, and naturally fungus at lvl 20. I max curses (5/4/0/0) before lvl 10 and I always have curse of shrouds up to lvl 5. After lvl 15 or so, I have both curse of shrouds and curse of misfortune at lvl 5 at all times, no matter what equipment I have to give up on. Usually you can keep a few spare cursed items to make switches, for example, if you find 2 sets of boots you could wear, one misfortune and one shrouds.

One example: http://te4.org/characters/7470/tome/84e ... cf3b17db28

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

How do you even MANAGE antimagic, much less Curses?!?!? I was STARVED for generics, just going after Feed and Gestures, much less the obligatory thick skin, along with the stun resistance. I voted against antimagic for exactly that reason, and curses didn't even enter the running in the competition for generics.

[cttw]

I start with one generic in Feed and one in Unnatural Body, which I think is default. I usually put one in Gestures (1/0/0/0) because the bump attack helps sometimes in the start when you have few abilities or no hate. Then the next 8 go into Cursed Aura (5/4). After you can probably put one in Thick Skin and another in Relentless. My trick is to delay the investment in relentless and count on my wild infusion. Eventually you have to invest in relentless, of course.

By then its antimagic time. First go 1/1/2/0 or 1/1/3/0. After fungus is set up you might want to go 2/5/5/0 or 2/1/5/0, depending on if you feel the need for silence in your gamestyle. I only put one in silence and dont use it.

You should of course be putting the points in thick skin as your con allows, except when putting it elsewhere can make a huge difference. Say you got your AM shield to 3, and your Fungus tree to 1/1/0/0. Your next point in fungus will let you reduce equilibrium and run the shield constantly. I take that before the 3% res all.

Until lvl 20 you should also have put a few into relentless, and if you build is feeling strong and safe, you can maybe allow ONE point into Seethe.

By 20 your points go into Fungus in this order:
1/1/1/0
3/1/1/0
3/1/1/1
3/1/3/1

Set 2 regeneration infusions to autocast when you have a point in Ancestral Life. Until then I manage manually.

Now you are in your 30's looking fondly at the rest of thick skin and maybe some of the racials. Racials are another thing you have to delay.

Afterwards, the build is done. I usually get to Elandar before lvl 50, but there is still time to maximize AM Shield, put some points into Silence if you must, and whatever tickles your fancy. Gestures can be totally skipped, but I like the bump for the stun and lategame madness. The Mind Critical bonus is ridiculous for the cost, specially in a cunning class. I had 99% critical chance before going into HighPeak, and a hefty crit bonus. Gesture of Malice requires touching the monsters, which you only really do in the first part of the game.

The Feeds suck. You only need 1 in feed. You will be tight for hate sometimes, but, once again, generics are scarce. The heal is nice early game but that is it. The Feed Power does not reduce the enemy damage and there are better ways to increase yours. Stealing resistances is funny, but this build gives 55% resist all so what's the point. 65% if Thalore...

The Curses:
I too had a dim view of the curses, but I found a post in this forum that changed my mind. Basically by lvl 15 or so I am running with Shrouds, which gives up to 40% resist all AT THE START OF THE GAME. And Misfortune, which is the awesome! It gives a 40% chance to get a 60%!!! damage bonus if that is enough to kill your enemy, and it seems to hit any enemy. Now guaranteed critical with 250 crit bonus and damage bonus and all the bonus, and if that does not kill the enemy, you get +60% damage on top almost half the time! I called those supercriticals, and when all the bonuses aligned right they would reach unspeakable numbers. And you can run 2 curses at lvl 5, all the time. It is worth sacrificing equipment and generics for.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Feed very specifically DOES reduce enemy damage AND pumps your own. And the resistance lowering stacks with fears and malice which both ALSO lower resists, and then madness on top of that. So I saw those as very useful. And the health-leech feed helped me stay alive as I took damage, what I took of it. I see no reason NOT to invest in those. Granted, ignoring it and gestures turns a lot of points free, but still... I'll have to look into it.

[cttw]

Feed very specifically DOES reduce enemy damage AND pumps your own. And the resistance lowering stacks with fears and malice which both ALSO lower resists, and then madness on top of that. So I saw those as very useful. And the health-leech feed helped me stay alive as I took damage, what I took of it. I see no reason NOT to invest in those. Granted, ignoring it and gestures turns a lot of points free, but still... I'll have to look into it.

You are quite right, except the feed does not reduce enemy damage due to a bug. Unless it has been recently fixed. And naturally different builds are possible.

The thing about malice is that you simply dont have time to use it. You need a bump attack and you usually have a better choice every turn. The health leech heals, of course, but you don't need it with constant regeneration from infusions if Antimagic.

My initial build was much closer to yours, but my latest one is nearly unkillable and has much greater damage output. I can go through most lvl 90ish Infinite Dungeon bosses without looking at their talents.