Why are Yeek's bad?

[jetnerd]

Okay, so I've been trying to play a yeek for a week now, and I've had no success whatsoever, and I've read old threads that say people have succeeded with them so I'm probably not good at the game. In any case, my question is why have yeeks been given such disadvantages, and secondly, how do I play one so that I don't suck?

[Davion Fuxa]

Well, first things first - Yeek's are a challenge race. They are designed to be harder to play.

As for how to play one without sucking - no clue. I'd probably suggest trying to find a good combination that you can play well. For me, I did pretty well with a Yeek Wyrmic.

[zsd]

I have been playing a lot of yeeks lately. I am not a particularly good ToME player (4 wins on normal/adventure, still trying for my first normal/roguelike win), but I have discovered that it is possible to get a yeek off the ground as any class with a little luck and a lot of care.

The main thing about yeeks is they are FRAGILE, and that fragility never really goes away. My last yeek oozemancer hit level 16 and still had less than 200 max hp when an archer rare took him out. Keep an eye out for lanterns of health, cloaks of resilience, anything that gives more hp, because a yeek will always need them badly.

[mikekchar]

Definitely +1 on the fragility of yeeks! I suck at this game pretty badly, but I don't suck any more with yeeks than with any other race. In fact, I enjoy playing them because of how fast they level up. You can get pretty interesting character builds quickly. Of course, due to the scaling nature of the game, you are always going up against higher level monsters as a result, so it's probably not really much of an advantage. I often play yeeks to experiment with a new build, though.

When I first played yeeks, I pumped a lot of early stats into constitution. This helps the very early game quite a bit and can give you some survivability until you get the hang of playing yeeks. Even just getting up to 10 or 11 constitution will make a big difference. I don't do it any more because I've found other ways to avoid taking damage.

Using dominant will early in the game can also make a really big difference. Dominating an opponent means that there is another target other than you for the opponents to aim at. It is tempting to try to dominate the most powerful creature that you are facing, but you should instead choose the one that you are most likely to succeed against (i.e. one lower level than you, probably). You aren't trying to co-opt their fire power, you are trying to simply draw fire away from you. You can also hide behind them and use them as a meat shield for a few turns.

Some classes are easier than others. A yeek rogue is probably the most difficult because you have to use melee attack which exposes you to danger. Yeek summoners are the easiest for me (though I find summoners a natural fit for many of my tactics -- YMMV). Again, it's all about drawing fire away from you long enough to kill everything. Yeek arch mages are also very strong. Lightning will kill everything in the first 2 dungeons and has a cool down of only 3. After that, archmages rely on shields rather than HP. Go shopping and get the best shield runes you can get. Mindslayers are obvious yeek material. Again, concentrate on shields. You can build them so that there is practically nothing that can touch them until they get to level 20 or so.

I've experiemented with yeek time wardens and they are quite fun, but not such a natural fit. With the quickened racial you can make a build based on ridiculous speed. Their main problem is durability, so again invest in shield runes and use the speed to run away frequently. The nice thing about time wardens is that there are plenty of talents that protect against debuffs so you can get away with having 2 shield runes. If you can find a belt of shielding, then you are golden as you can practically maintain shields all the time.

Hope this helps! Yeeks are tricky, but because they level so quickly they can be a *lot* of fun.

[Radon26]

The first time i unlocked celestial classes was with a yeek summoner.

Firstly, when they start a game, they have a choice between 2 dungeons, and CANNOT leave to the main map, before finishing them.
An underground ritch lair, and an underwater yeech temple. While more difficult than reknor or east starting location, they cannot be refused like chronomancy or orbital adventure, nor can you avoid the bosses like unfinished bone giant.
The way to do this, is to do the first 2 lvls of the ritch lair, and then clear the underwater. after that, come back tot he lair and finish it.

Secondly, the yeek themselves may be weaker, but that can be resolved by picking a class, that makes the weaknesses irrelevant.
Summoner cares not for his actual fighting capabilities, for he is not the type to sit in front.
also, little tip, if you leave to the overmap, whatever you have summoned will not tick down.
so you can, enter, summon, leave, wait, enter, summon, leave, repeat until you have a full party, enter new dungeon, own whatever you meat. You can also summon things around the corners, and if it doesn't walk back to you, it means it is attacking something.
To end it, at the high lvls you can summon them MUCH faster than they disappear, meaning you can have a full party without much effort.

[ADOMFAN]

Although I haven't won with a Yeek yet, I had good luck with a Yeek Bulwark. Having a good shield helps a lot! I like playing weird combinations. My Yeek Berserker did fairly well, but he still didn't win.

Yeek archmage seems like a solid combination. I don't recall playing a Yeek wyrmic.

As someone else said, Yeeks are definitely a challenge race.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

A big benefit to playing yeeks is the constant global speed bonus. They're glass cannons, but deadly ones. And if you build to their strengths, instead of compensating for weaknesses, they're hyper-fragile furry little overkilling machines. They make good solipsists, and most other mind mages (not so much doomed), they can make good archmages, they can make good paradox mages, or anorithil, I've even seen some good yeek archers.

One big hump many people face is after clearing your first 2 dungeons, you enter the back door of another, in the same room as it' boss. you are not designed or intended to fight this boss now, and if you hit your rod of recall after entering, and just wait, you can get back out to the main worldmap. While killing subject Z at that point is possible, it's extremely difficult, and definitely not intended.

[0player]

Yeek Paradox Mages are a breeze. I find myself compelled to invest about 6 points in constitution early on just to prevent one-shots, but PMs have plenty of survivability to offset yeeks fragility, and they benefit TREMENDOUSLY from quicker levelling up, moreso than any other class in the game imo. "bluh bluh enemies level up too" most enemies have about 4 skills and don't get new toys at any levels, whilst you do.