"Odyssey of The Summoner" is OUT!! Find it here...

[Kamani]

War Hound report: Went down to 3 or 4 deaths in Lake of Nur and let myself die. Things that killed me:
My own foolishness (Holding arrow keys to run into unknown areas), Oozemancer rare turtle I didn't see was a rare, some other rare I didn't see was a rare. Had a close call with Rantha, but escaped with Elusiveness and got them after a few Elusiveness escapes and Dine and Dashes.

Dine and Dash was my really only source of damage, and I invested heavily into the natural combat skills. What I really learned from this run: Watch out for those rares. As in don't think they are normal enemies.
I ignored Blood Scent tree entirely.

Time for my next try!

Oh, Errantry and Pack Leader don't seem very good. The only allies I know we get are the Wolf Ally thing, and wolves aren't usually good into late game, and Temporal Hounds is at .8 and is start at level 10. Also, it requires a cat. point to unlock and doesn't seem to make much sense on an avatar. And if you are antimagic, you don't get it at all. Errantry and Pack Leader might be better with one of the wilder classes?

[nekarcos]

@Kamani
Don't forget that there are various objects which give you extra (temporary) party members, and that "Pack Leader" isn't available until Level 24 (the same time you get said items).

... However, some don't call "real" party members (such as Choker of Dread or Bladed Rift), so it can be a bit complicated. I'm hoping to (customly) fix that some time.

[Kamani]

Ehh. Still not sure if it will really make it worth it.

Edit: Is Sturdy Heart supposed to give +100% fatigue as part of the active?

[nekarcos]

Majority of votes seem to be towards Minotaur-- But there's also a group that feels a bit of War Hound as well. Minotaur will definitely be first-- But I'll see if I can achieve the best of both worlds.

[Kamani]

War Hound round 2 (ignoring all the ones that died in Norgos, Trollmire, and Heart of the Gloom) now has four deaths, and since I am in Daikara, that is that. Level 20, died twice to... Slavers Compund. Full of pins and arcane attacks. Then died twice in Daikara to two rares, one of which I think was a Doombringer, the other I think was a necromancer. Took the categories: Inner Animal, Hoarding Beast, then hunting. Next would be foxhounding. I got that far because of a tier four totem I found in The Maze, which healed me (my only good source of healing. Runes aren't good enough) and could also summon tentacles. The healing was very useful.

Think I'll take a break to play Blighted. Any advice on War Hound for my run after my blighted run break though?

[nekarcos]

@Kamani
Play very defensively in the early game. Most of the Avatars can't "power trip" until around level 30. Also, make good use of "Bloodhounding" to detect potential threats inside of the zone-- Especially spellcasters. My tester made a very good observation of noticing "The Dreaming One" is an "Eldritch/Horror", so you can get an ESP object from it VERY early on.

[Kamani]

Okay. I ended up not investing in blood hounding, because I wanted fast locomotion.

[Melac]

Kept getting an error whenever I hit with dine and dash on an enemy too large to clamp.
Turned off ID500, as someone suggested, but I was still getting it.
For some reason, there's also a clash with the addon for the "haunted" class.
So for those getting that error, That may be your problem.

[Kamani]

War Hound Round 3
War Hound has one big weakness that keeps killing me. War Hound doesn't seem to have much healing. It has one bad lifesteal attack in 6 natural attacks, and Heart Racing doesn't heal all that much. Fire Drake has fire, ritch has lots of lifesteal, and hydra doesn't really have all that much healing, but it is really bulky and has Regenerate. The most useful item I found on my War Hound runs was one tier four totem of healing and tentacles, because that healing saved me more than once. If you play War Hound, you might want to find healing items. A lot.

[nekarcos]

@Melac
I think I may have addressed those conflicts. Should be no further issues.


@Kamani
Have you been using Hungry Eyes?

[Kamani]

Nope. I'll look into it.

[nekarcos]

An Update... And a confession.

After the War Hound release, I took a quick hiatus to freshen myself up and deal with "real life", hence the pretty much non-existant updates recently. It also didn't help that I was already deeply invested in the "War Hound" branch of updates before finding out people want to see "Minotaur" next instead, so everything got slowed down a bit. However, I'm past all those issues now and should be able to start up regular releases again.

As usual, I have a bit of an "apology" spoiler here about what's coming up next-- An update that will influence EVERY Avatar...


"Ambidexterity" (first talent) ~ Offers the ability to make use of your "tail", turning it into both a Natural Attack and a "special" Equipment Slot. Additional points reduce the cooldown of objects held by your tail!


This tree has been ready for a very long time now, but I've been reluctant due to possible complications with a particular mechanic it involves. Since it is a CRUCIAL part of Minotaur's kit, I decided: "Instead of trying to test every single circumstance myself-- Why don't I let them figure it out?"
... Not to say I intend to have YOU test it-- But the whole tree is 90% operational at the moment-- And it feels like a crime to hold back this VERY crucial option for Avatars any longer. How about it? I give you a VERY fun new toy (believe me, this talent tree is fun)-- And you ignore (or don't) one talent that might invite some... "Buggy" behavior (you can always just NOT learn it).


In any case, expect new things soon. Minotaur is looking good-- All that's left is to field test it to make sure it's good to go.

[Kamani]

Didn't notice while internet was down. Hope I can get it tomorrow. As a side note, 28% life steal isn't very helpful for healing when my damage isn't super high.

Edit: Rabbit's foot has an extremely frustrating habit of curing 0 effects. Ugh.

Edit: War Hound Round 4 is over. Hungry Eyes is not good enough healing. Noted some fun Solitarity/Telepathy that gives me an idea for my next round. Rates were two of three deaths, the other being skeletons, especially a mage and master archer. Eliminating death was my third in Ruined Halfling Complex.

[emblempride]

So I just noticed that the customize option only gives me the tile for blighted and doesn't actually corrupt my character, though I had unlocked it during the initial release. Do I have to unlock it again? (I'd rather not, so if so, could you post/pm me the line I need to insert to allow the unlock please?)

[nekarcos]

@Kamani
That's a shame... I have always felt War Hound had extraordinary survival ability due to being able to run away (and switch places) so fast-- Unlike most other Avatars whom kind of have to just sit there and hope for the best. Admittedly, "Pins" can really ruin a War Hound's day-- Which is exactly why it has "Gnaw Off" to mitigate the danger in that area.

... In any case, I still have one more trump card-- Consider using "Sturdy Heart" DURING an escape to give you that extra bit of leeway in nasty encounters.


@emblempride
"Blighted Form" now has to be unlocked for each individual class. This was something I added when my tester hopped onto Ritch for the first time and IMMEDIATELY chose "blighted form" without ever experiencing the character normally. It made me realize many others were probably doing the same-- Which I had to STRONGLY discourage-- And by that, I mean completely lock out.

Also, I'm not sure I can. There is a very important reason corruption needs to be unlocked this way now.