[b42] First win on roguelike: Zerberker21, Dwarf Berserker
Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:52 pm
Aaand there it is. After 20 consecutive failures, a win. I have to say I underestimated how good the berserkers are later in the game, but they take some time to get off the ground.
The early game wasn't so bad this time, as I was much more methodical and didn't try to rush through it like crazy, and I had good luck with early gear. I decided to open Dreadfell relatively early (level 20), and then work my way down until I hit a snag. After that I would go and do some more dungeons and come back. It feels a bit cheesy but... The difference between level 26 and level 20 Dreadfell is so high that from previous experience, it was the best way to approach the problem.
After clearing the west and the initial dungeons of the east, I farportaled quite a lot to get myself geared up. It was mostly uneventful, as the berserker is already a killing machine at this point, but I did have a very nasty boss fight with a summoner/necromancer ruin banshee that took ages, a lot of strategy and a lot more luck to beat. In the end using gloves of dispersion is what helped me the most, and I kept switching to them for boss fights for the rest of the game, especially in High Peak.
The key moment of the game for me was clearing the Vor Armory, where I found Blighted Maul and Plate Armor of the King, which I used for the rest of the game. After that boost, the rest of the game was, well, mostly easy.
I also ended up having both the Crystal Voratun Plate and the Crystal Weapon, and Khulmanar's Wrath (the axe that allows you to heal in fearscape, among other things). I carried around a ton of gear and switched it around. When I ran into a tough boss/unique, I would use my movement infusion to run behind a corner and switch a few pieces of gear. I could always get between 60 and 70% resistance on any type of damage the enemy could throw at me, apart from mind and physical (where about 40-45% was the max).
I failed Limnir's quest, with 10 turns to go. In hindsight I probably could have used Battle Call more...But it didn't turn out to be important, as I didn't find a plain voratun amulet. I did clear the room of death though, by packing resistances and using the crystal weapon - the multi-hued wyrms are not very resistant to arcane, at least compared to other things.
High Peak was...not that interesting. I evaded about 4 out of 10 bosses, eternal bone giant necromancer/bulwarks and such nonsense, and I had a couple of close calls when I ended up in the same room with 2 forge giants (70% fire resist only helps you make it out of the room alive). All of the other bosses and mobs I killed with more or less trouble. I didn't have any ambitions to fully explore the Peak or to get anywhere near a vault, as I was happy with my gear and had no desire to die at the last hurdle. I rushed through it in under an hour I think. In the final fight I closed all 4 portals since I never did it before and the fight itself was quite easy. Aeryn survived too.
After finishing the game I downed Athamaton. That gave me the voratun amulet. Damnit.
As for the build, it's mostly standard stuff, high crit rate and bloodthirst tree. As for generics, I went for cursed aura with my extra generic points. I'm not convinced it was the best choice, as the penalties scale rather well with level but the rewards mostly don't (+3% critical damage, hurray.) Ideally if I could run shrouds it would be good, but since I didn't have any on gear, it wasn't really a choice. I ended up with misfortune 4, which is good but I'm still not sure it's worth both the 8 point generic investment plus the added penalties.
Infusion slots were regen/heal/shield/teleport/movement. I used a magical wild until I got east, and then I dumped it for a shield rune. Impending doom and curse of death are probably one of the few abilities that can easily kill a berserker, and that can be handled by a combination of relentless pursuit, shield rune, and running away. For everything else, there's saves and Unflinching Resolve.
I ended up liking the berserker, even though I didn't when I started. Ability to inflict status conditions such as stun, daze, and confusion makes him very strong strategically, and once you get armor and resistances up, that enormous hp pool really helps you survive. I think I only used Unstoppable twice, imagine that.
As for the game's stability, bugs, and so on, I've mostly had a good run, although there was a succession of crashes and generating over and over again until I was able to enter the Rak'shor pride. I have no idea what caused it, I didn't get any lua errors, just CTDs.
I also had 5-6 more crashes of the same kind during the game, but they didn't seem to follow a pattern or repeat after reloading.
Oh, and this I have to mention - I played with no-traps addon. I just find traps to be incredibly annoying. They slow the game down, they mess with autoexplore, and there's no way to use them strategically to your advantage. I don't find them fun or interesting, they are just a nuisance I can live without.
The early game wasn't so bad this time, as I was much more methodical and didn't try to rush through it like crazy, and I had good luck with early gear. I decided to open Dreadfell relatively early (level 20), and then work my way down until I hit a snag. After that I would go and do some more dungeons and come back. It feels a bit cheesy but... The difference between level 26 and level 20 Dreadfell is so high that from previous experience, it was the best way to approach the problem.
After clearing the west and the initial dungeons of the east, I farportaled quite a lot to get myself geared up. It was mostly uneventful, as the berserker is already a killing machine at this point, but I did have a very nasty boss fight with a summoner/necromancer ruin banshee that took ages, a lot of strategy and a lot more luck to beat. In the end using gloves of dispersion is what helped me the most, and I kept switching to them for boss fights for the rest of the game, especially in High Peak.
The key moment of the game for me was clearing the Vor Armory, where I found Blighted Maul and Plate Armor of the King, which I used for the rest of the game. After that boost, the rest of the game was, well, mostly easy.
I also ended up having both the Crystal Voratun Plate and the Crystal Weapon, and Khulmanar's Wrath (the axe that allows you to heal in fearscape, among other things). I carried around a ton of gear and switched it around. When I ran into a tough boss/unique, I would use my movement infusion to run behind a corner and switch a few pieces of gear. I could always get between 60 and 70% resistance on any type of damage the enemy could throw at me, apart from mind and physical (where about 40-45% was the max).
I failed Limnir's quest, with 10 turns to go. In hindsight I probably could have used Battle Call more...But it didn't turn out to be important, as I didn't find a plain voratun amulet. I did clear the room of death though, by packing resistances and using the crystal weapon - the multi-hued wyrms are not very resistant to arcane, at least compared to other things.
High Peak was...not that interesting. I evaded about 4 out of 10 bosses, eternal bone giant necromancer/bulwarks and such nonsense, and I had a couple of close calls when I ended up in the same room with 2 forge giants (70% fire resist only helps you make it out of the room alive). All of the other bosses and mobs I killed with more or less trouble. I didn't have any ambitions to fully explore the Peak or to get anywhere near a vault, as I was happy with my gear and had no desire to die at the last hurdle. I rushed through it in under an hour I think. In the final fight I closed all 4 portals since I never did it before and the fight itself was quite easy. Aeryn survived too.
After finishing the game I downed Athamaton. That gave me the voratun amulet. Damnit.
As for the build, it's mostly standard stuff, high crit rate and bloodthirst tree. As for generics, I went for cursed aura with my extra generic points. I'm not convinced it was the best choice, as the penalties scale rather well with level but the rewards mostly don't (+3% critical damage, hurray.) Ideally if I could run shrouds it would be good, but since I didn't have any on gear, it wasn't really a choice. I ended up with misfortune 4, which is good but I'm still not sure it's worth both the 8 point generic investment plus the added penalties.
Infusion slots were regen/heal/shield/teleport/movement. I used a magical wild until I got east, and then I dumped it for a shield rune. Impending doom and curse of death are probably one of the few abilities that can easily kill a berserker, and that can be handled by a combination of relentless pursuit, shield rune, and running away. For everything else, there's saves and Unflinching Resolve.
I ended up liking the berserker, even though I didn't when I started. Ability to inflict status conditions such as stun, daze, and confusion makes him very strong strategically, and once you get armor and resistances up, that enormous hp pool really helps you survive. I think I only used Unstoppable twice, imagine that.
As for the game's stability, bugs, and so on, I've mostly had a good run, although there was a succession of crashes and generating over and over again until I was able to enter the Rak'shor pride. I have no idea what caused it, I didn't get any lua errors, just CTDs.
I also had 5-6 more crashes of the same kind during the game, but they didn't seem to follow a pattern or repeat after reloading.
Oh, and this I have to mention - I played with no-traps addon. I just find traps to be incredibly annoying. They slow the game down, they mess with autoexplore, and there's no way to use them strategically to your advantage. I don't find them fun or interesting, they are just a nuisance I can live without.