Heart of the Gloom - Insane

[StarKeep]

So, curious. Have any of you been able to defeat Heart of the Gloom on Insane?

The boss gets 4 shadows that each spit out 100-250 damage nukes, depending on the level that you head there, and other than simply doing the Tier 2 before it, I can't see a possible build.

The only thing I can think of is some extremely tactical summoning, Mindslayer shielding, or save-scumming.

I realize it's Insane, but it just seems odd that this has such a major spike in difficulty from the other tier 1's on Insane.

[jenx]

Same problem on nightmare. I do it around level 20. no other dungeon jumps so much in difficulty, other than even ruins.

[SageAcrin]

I've done it on Nightmare, at a reasonable level(13-14 or so).

...by using an Archmage with Arcane Eye and Fireflash kiting from out of its LoS, then teleporting when it gets mad.

I have a recollection of a Shadow get the turn after the Thing was killed to attack once, a single Shadow, which promptly sheared off 150 life before poofing out of existance.

I'm thinking of trying to make a Nightmare/Insane balance patch when I get decently far in it. The L6 cap for Shadows/Shadow Mages/Shadow Warriors is right up there with The Shade's ridiculous L6 Freeze, the fact that Rhaloren Camp enemies get L5 Earthen Missiles, and the fact that Weirdling Beast has no maximums on any skills, for things that need to be toned down a little on Nightmare/Insane...

(Interestingly, only one of those has actually killed me, out of the three times I died that were remotely meaningful. And I still really blame Time Shield for that.)

[Parcae2]

As I mentioned in-game, that encounter becomes immensely easier if you have a teleport rune. You should be able to buy one from a shop.

[jenx]

As I mentioned in-game, that encounter becomes immensely easier if you have a teleport rune. You should be able to buy one from a shop.

The issue is not that you need a teleport tune. The issue is that relative to the scaling of difficulty of all dungeons in the game, this dungeon is way out of proportion, meaning that you have to treat it very differently. But almost all other dungeons, can be taken in roughly the same order.

The other one that really sucks is Lake Nur....I've taken to dropping in and straight out, and coming back char 5 levels later.

[SageAcrin]

As I mentioned in-game, that encounter becomes immensely easier if you have a teleport rune. You should be able to buy one from a shop.

Look up exactly how Shadow Mages scales, if you haven't, both in general and for the Withering Thing.

A big part of it is actually an AI injunction of a chance for the Shadows to use their spells.

Staying in range of the Shadows is playing with fire(quite literally, though the lightning is more of a worry-it has a huge damage range, like all lightning, so it can randomly roll high on you). Yes, you can blitz down the Thing in half a dozen turns, potentially less... but in each of those turns there's a 10%~ or so chance of multiple Shadows offloading spells/Blindside on you and splattering you down in one turn, before you can teleport.

Like I said, one Shadow got one turn and ripped off half my life.

You can-through amazingly slow and utterly boring painstaking play-mitigate these odds somewhat, by finding a time where the Thing is in LoS but not all of its Shadows are, or a time where you can whittle down a few shadows until it is alone, by teleporting constantly around the dungeon(hope there's nothing else dangerous on the floor!). But it's mind-numbingly tedious, and still not guaranteed.

"buy a teleport rune" is oversimplifying the encounter immensely on higher difficulties. It's more "Have a teleport and hope the slot machine doesn't hit three 7s for the Thing.". Not really great design.

[Parcae2]

I don't need to look it up. I can beat that dungeon routinely with an Archmage, Stone Warden or Corrupter on Insane difficulty, as you'll see if you look at my profile on the vault. Took me a hell of a long time, I'll admit, but I can do it regularly now.

And yeah, it does require some tactics. You can't just waltz up to the Withering Thing and expect to survive. He's like the Master, though; he's got great burst damage and summons, but he doesn't heal, so a teleport rune really does make a gigantic difference.

[SageAcrin]

Yes, but theoretically Nightmare is meant to be beatable by more than just mages.

I have not, yet, died to Withering Thing, at normal levels, with an Archmage, on Nightmare. That doesn't mean I'd try it with a Bulwark.

[donkatsu]

Do summons still double dip into the level bonus from higher difficulties? Summons in general and Doomed Shadows in particular are disproportionately strong on higher difficulties, to the point where I felt like the game just consisted of coasting until the next Doomed rare. Summoners were less of a problem because I was playing a ranged class, so I could just stay out of range 5, but I imagine that they pose a similar problem for melee classes.

The only other talent I can think of with similar lethality is Stone Touch, which basically requires either forgoing autoexplore, having 100% passive stun immunity, or just hoping to get lucky.

[SageAcrin]

Do summons still double dip into the level bonus from higher difficulties?

Started paying attention after this question, but I think the answer is no.

It's sorta hard to tell due to area level caps, though.

They do sorta double dip on the level/skill boost, having said that, since they are both a higher level because the summoner is a higher level, and the summoner has higher skill levels due to being a higher level, then a bonus to the skill level at the end.