Scouting. Basics?

[mrrstark]

How do you 'scout' ?

I'm sick of getting one or two shotted, or status'd, especially by things outside my light radius.

Obviously I can toughen up HP, shields, etc. but I saw some people mention that on Nightmare+ you need to really prioritize scouting.

Compared to games like Angband, where you can learn OR stock up on items of Detect Monsters how do you do this in TOME?
Seems like you can only really do it if your class has like Arcane Eye...

Also, Vimsense pisses off the monsters it detects...

What do non-'Mage' archetypes use/do?

[jotwebe]

Track, 2nd skill in the Survival tree. Comes on gloves of the nighthunter and armor of delving, plus I think some lanterns.

[mrrstark]

You mean cunning / survival?
I don't see track there, I see

Heightened Senses
Charm Mastery
Piercing Sight
Evasion


Do you mean Heightened Senses?

[HousePet]

They don't mean the survival tree.
Track is in Field Control.

[The Revanchist]

Neither "Mage" or "Rogue", but perhaps a little of both... What about a Temporal Wardens "Precognition" ability? Or is that less applicable now?

[jotwebe]

They don't mean the survival tree.
Track is in Field Control.

Right you are. My bad.

[Sradac]

dont do anything. just walk around and kill stuff. If you're being 1-shotted outside LoS you are either:

1. Someplace you should not yet be
2. Playing on Insane, and in that case, its par for the course.

[SageAcrin]

It is true that you don't truly need to scout on Normal and that you should probably not be where you are if you need to.

A good alternative to traditional "look before you leap" talents is to simply constantly use Shielding Runes before any situation where you could come up on an enemy(Turns in a hall, before opening doors, that sort), if you want to play it safe on Normal. An enemy might rush you and take down your shield, but your Life bar will be fine.

Basically; Barriers are a scouting skill, up to Insane. And on Insane, not every class can sanely and reliably win anyways-that's the point of the highest difficulties, basically.

For Insane related info... Arcane Eye and Track can come on gear(Arcane Eye is the Brotherhood ego hat, IIRC), and in general those that lack both or a similar skill have various tanking options that they can use before rounding a corner. That's generally how people get characters going that can't get a Zigur betrayal or don't have natural scouting skills.

Incidentally, Vimsense's ability to irritate enemies is largely good, as it tends to draw them to an area where you want to fight them-high range for a Corruptor, low range for Reaver-if you're using it at the right times.