ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Do advanced players typically switch out their equipment based on zone or specific dungeon they are in or do they typically find the 'best' set of equipment and stick with it until something better is found? For example, if one enters a rip in time would an advanced player try to switch to equipment that provides better protection against time damage?

If I don't optimize my equipment based on the dungeon I'm in, will I still be able to win on the easier difficulties with a Dwarf Bulwark? I'm still severely confused on all the types of damage, protection, elements, etc.

--FP

I can't speak for advanced players, but generally you need to be ready for anything. Because of this, I rarely switch equipment as I'm always wearing the "optimal" set.
However, I will occasionally switch weapons on weapon based classes.

On insane, rares+'s are far far far more common which means its not really the trash mobs in the dungeons that threaten you, its the ones that get powered up to rares. As a result, there's no point in switching gear for dungeons since you'll just be faced with a smattering of damage types from all the classes in the game anyways.

IMO:

Armor >> fire res > lightning res = cold res > blight res (blight tends to be VERY bursty which makes it dangerous even on trash mobs) > everything else, really.

Definitely agree about insane, but since you're playing normal/nightmare it might be useful to switch to gear with lightning resist if you want to do tempest peak. Otherwise it's unnecessary and not worth the hassle imo

I aim main gear set for 100% stun and confusion immunity, and healing mod.
As for switching, it's been historical that every playthrough I don't transmogrify lightres items and wear them all when facing Urkis; after he's done i transmogrify them and wear the main set

If you know the zones and the bosses abilities, the elements used then you can switch around your gear to get the right resists or status immunities. Typically with rings and amulets and tool slot items like torques or wands with wards. Or if you have an elemental weapon that does fire damage and you're in a fire zone where the monsters have lots of fire resist.

In a zone like Daikara, cold and lightning resist are important. In Dreadfell, darkness resist, and cold for the boss.

My late game characters have The Black Plate ready to go if there are monsters who use confusion or fear, but until they are encountered, I have them wear armors that boost offense. Another item I switch around is belts - most of the time I want high crit chance belts but when there are a lot of projectiles or melee attacks against me, Emblem of Evasion is a strong choice.

I'm not an advanced player and I play normal, but I usually keep a few pieces of jewelry around with high specific resists, especially stuff like confusion resistance. At lower levels I also like to keep torques and similar that I find useful.

If a fight is hard and I manage to escape, it's nice to put it on before going back into the fray.

There's usually no need whatsoever to switch gear in lower difficulties unless you encounter the rare case where you're having trouble dealing damage due to weapon elements,
a good torque of the corresponding element will usually do more work than stacking +resist gear since it's flat reduction.
In high difficulties your gear greatly improves which means you'll do a lot less switching, but it's nice every now and then, I typically don't bother switching anything other than an item or two though, and it's generally a lite or a tool.

Blight vs Dark Crypt and Lightning vs Tempest are the only two resistances I've ever bothered with switching into for a specific level.

Early game +max hp is pretty great on Insane, I usually look for that until I'm ready to switch to 100% stun res.

Snarvid wrote:Blight vs Dark Crypt and Lightning vs Tempest are the only two resistances I've ever bothered with switching into for a specific level.

Early game +max hp is pretty great on Insane, I usually look for that until I'm ready to switch to 100% stun res.

Urkis has pen so resist is incredibly less useful than flat reduction
dark crypt should be avoided on anything higher than normal, really, so it's not worth gearing for.

Mmmmm, if you don't get murdered in the starting room and can scout ahead with Track I have found Dark Crypt well worth raiding as a possessor, which is most of the Tome I've done recently. Where else am I going to be hip-deep in Shalore Corruptors packing Bone Shield?

But I play on Adventure, not roguelike, so I can risk or lose a life in order to capture a few level 40 bodies that will faceroll most content in the West.

I usually save resist rings to swap if needed, but in practice I don't switch very often. Other stats are often more important than resists in my experience, so the amount of benefit you stand to gain by swapping depends on how good your gear is.

The tool slot is where you'll generally benefit the most from situational swapping. Armour totems and absorption torques can be a big help when used properly, and the psychoportation torque can be a life saver if you don't get screwed by RNG. If you don't need those things for a certain fight, pickaxes can roll so really good passive mods.

I play on Madness mostly, sometimes Insane. like others have said, you have to prioritise stun resist (and on madness, confusion resist), and tbh, as many other resists as you can. you also need res penetration and a bunch of other things.

so basically, it is a matter of continual improvement of gear, to be prepared at any time for any eventuality.

I do however make sure I have these things, especially if my current gear is not up to scratch:

1. items to increase light radius - critical on higher levels to have 10+ light
2. gloves of dispersion or rod of annulment
3. underwater breathing (duh!)
4. belt or lamp that makes you undead (=3 too), as sometimes it is a huge help
5. high res pen items, if my res pen is not high enough and I come across a 70+% resist creature (of which there are too many )
6. gear to give high APR (as in 50+), for when you get 100% armour hardiness and 100+ armour enemies
7. if possible, an amulet/boots/rings that can give 100% teleport resist, as in some scenarios, being teleported around = death (against paradox mages).

you'll see I dont use activable items, other than 2, because normally you're dead by the time the talent on eq coolsdown after swapping. but other players make greater us of these.

One swap I learned the hard way: if you're a melee type and your weapon does fire damage, carry a backup. You'll need it against luminous/radiant horrors.