Onwards to High Peak… or not…

[Lyoncet]

I just finished the Orc Prides with a Thalore Wyrmic who's now level 43 (linkey). I know it's recommended that you get within a few levels of the cap before you take High Peak, and I know I have to clear one more dungeon on the way, but it seems like I'm a bit behind experience-wise. I've cleared all the side dungeons I've had access to. So is this the point where I start grinding Farportals? I have around 550 energy I think, so I could open a bunch of them, but it just seems… perilous. Is that my best bet and taking High Peak though? Especially given that Wyrmics really start to flag by the endgame.

I've never made it past Dreadfell with any other character so I don't have much way of judging this character's power. But I can say that I waltzed through the first three Prides like they were nothing; just rolling healing infusions with 5/1/5/1 Fungus kept me healthy. But Rak'Shor Pride nearly did me in. The combination of early on running into Rak'Shor, and the heavy sentry guy, and the titan who kept porting me around, all at once with lots of chaff orcs running around because I hadn't had a chance to clear the level yet caused the biggest near-miss I'd had by a long shot, and was difficult throughout. I don't know if that's a good barometer of how the character's coming along, but it's the best I've got for now.

[Red]

Well, Thalores have one of the worst experience penalties on the market. Make sure you use their racials, because otherwise that was all for naught.

That being said, Farportals are a lot more random. Check the wiki and the forums for more info on High Peak and exactly how dangerous it is-it'd be difficult (but far from impossible) at level 43, but a Farportal could be downright impossible. Or a walk in the park. It's really rather random.

Main question is this-do you risk your life on a dangerous but know threat? Or throw yourself on Darkgod's mercy?

[anathema]

First off i recommend getting a new chest armor, since -30% healing mod is a pretty big hit when you are relying on fungus regen.

About farportals, ive never ever run into a difficult one, maybe i just havent done enough. You can always rod of recall out, it might break the portal, but thats a small risk if you ask me.

If you havent done the overpowered wyrm room yet, its a risky but quick way of getting a lot of xp and a few artifacts.

I usually enter the high peaks around level 46, and its very hit and miss for me. I dont know how much you know about it, so i wont spoil too much, but there are some rare enemies there, and they can be extremely dangerous, whether you should go now or wait, depends on whether you can reliably escape/skip these enemies (the ones you cant beat). You should also consider what you actually get out of leveling right now, a quick look gives you +179 hp provided you max con, and better antimagic stuff, which is not bad at all.

Since its your potentially first win, i would go safe and get as high as possible before doing high peaks.

[Lyoncet]

Good advice guys – thanks. I think I'll give the Farportal a spin and then (very carefully) approach the Vor Armory wyrm room. I'd thought that was kind of a post-game ironman challenge along the lines of Atamathon, so it's good to know that's that doable before then.

I'm pretty un-spoilered on what you find at High Peak other than everything hunts you down and murders you and you probably want to evade the stair guardians. I think I should be able to make it around them since I have a good movement infusion, level 3 Lightning Speed, and Boots of the Hunter, Sand Breath, Bellowing Roar, and Ice Wall.

As for armor, I do have Plate of the Blackened Mind and Tarrasca, which I realize are better overall. I was using Cuirass of the Thronesmen because it edges me up to 100% stun immunity, and the 10% armor hardiness brings me up to 97/97 Armor/Hardiness. Plus I'm using the Girdle of Calm Waters to bump my healing mod back up (my other belts are pretty much garbage). If I can find a way of boosting the stun resistance up I'd swap out the chest, but, well, I'm terrified of stun.

Anyways, thanks again for the tips. Cheers!

[Faeryan]

Not everything will hunt you down. High Peaks is pretty much the same as everything else.
As for the stair guardians I wouldn't evade them on purpose. They're a heap of good loot. Still, whenever you see them pay special attention to their stats and talents by inspecting them. They're the most random enemies you will encounter anywhere. They're like the adventurer class of monsters, equipped with pretty much anything you can imagine.
If it looks like they're too much to handle then you should rather evade than try to handle them.

Armor wise I'd prioritize Stun resist. Not many of my winners have even close to 100 stun resist, but it's still pretty good thing to have on you.

Edit: only now read the part about -30 healmod. Healmod is nice, don't take a hit in that. Stun comes good second.

[Red]

Vor Armoury-if you haven't done it yet, here's a few tips from me. I've only done it (amd lived) once, so take my words with a grain of salt.

First off, right before you open the door stack EVERY SINGLE ONE-SHOT PREVENTION YOU CAN. Shields, Heroism, Wild Infusions, Wrath of the Woods-if it can help you survive a one-shot, do it, because opening the door gives a good two thirds of the Wyrms a chance to breathe on you.

Second, teleport away. Do not stay-that is death. Use a Torque and get your elven ass far, far away.

Finally, never tackle more than one powerful Wyrm at a time and never travel into a room you can't see all of without an immediate escape available.

Hope this helps, and best of luck.

[Faeryan]

I don't think that guy gets one shorted, but a viable strategy I've often used used (too late for OP though as the door is open judging by his achievements) is to open the lower door by moving to direction 9.
The wyrms won't see you yet. Then detour to direction 1 and take a peek at inside hugging the western wall with as much distance between you and the dragons as possible.
After that movement infusion or reliable teleport is in order.

Usually I fall back behind the next door so that most of the time only one wyrm can hit you. If they clutter the door there is a chance another one gets a breathe on you which often times is fatal. Bad part about this is you're in the open room with very little room to hide. Should this happen I flee south behind the middle of the three doors.

There is a nice place southeast of the map in which only one warm can get you but I don't like the idea of getting stray wyrms rampaging on the rest of the map should I have to teleport away.

[Red]

Lyoncet, listen to Faeryan. His advice is better than mine.

I was unaware of manipulating the door like that, so I'll keep that in mind for the future. The first time I went, I popped the door open with a Dark Fairy Brawler who barely had 600 HP, so it was death from the start. Second time, though, I had a Ghoul Sun Paladin, so I tanked the first hit just fine with Retribution, Shield of Light and Second Life, then teleported the hell away. After that it was a simple matter of hunting down the various wyrms. Every time I ported away, though, I would end up either in the lower right or upper left corner. Not sure if that was luck or a quirk of teleporting in the armory.

[Lyoncet]

All right, well I did a few farportals and the Room of Death (thank you very much for the pointers!) and and got myself up to 47. I'm really surprised at how easy everything was; I think the RNG farportals were on the generous side, but the room of death was pretty much a cakewalk. I don't think I ever got lower than 75% health, and that was without doing anything cheesier than aggroing a few mobs and moving around the corner. This character's turned out to be ridiculously tanky, which is good because having watched some of Davion Fuxa's Shadowblade run I'm starting to see just how pathetic my damage is compared to an actual damage class.

I suppose I'll do the tunnel now or at 48, and then commit to High Peak. However it turns out, thanks for the advice!

[Red]

Might be coming late on this, but watch for the bosses that spawn when you use the orbs. They are - nasty. As in any fight, have your escapes ready, and buff yourself before you activate the orb. Digging a zig-zag nearby wouldn't hurt either.

[Lyoncet]

Just wanted to drop back in and say thanks again for the advice. After running the farportals and clearing the wyrm room, I took on the orb guardians (laughably easy, aside from the Lich at the end which almost did me in), High Peak (also laughably easy, if long because of my pathetic damage), and cleared the Sorcerers for my first ever win. Really appreciate the help!

[Red]

*High fives Lyoncet*

Awesome. Bask in the glory of having saved the world. Then, for fun, tally up your body count and how much time you wasted on this game.

Congrats.