Noob questions

[oanrmhjn]

Hey all,
I'm a total noob, so far played 2 chars only up to ~lvl20.

1. My deaths are always same: everything goes very smooth, then some random boss/elite/pack oneshots me for 400+ dmg. So I'd like to know what am I supposed to do to avoid it:
Max rainbow resists right from the start and play with terrible stats?
Just grind losing until I learn every dangerous enemy, then warp out and equip specific resists once I meet one?
Leveljerk every dangerous zone (enter low level to get mobs rolled, return after leveling up)?
Or there is some more reasonable way that I don't know?

2. All my chars were conracs cause I thought "exp bonus and cat point, what can be better". However later I found out that for some reason max level is capped, and you can't have enough class talents to even max your primary cats. So is there any reason to run conracs, maybe some good generic cat? (So far I'm interested in necro and shadowblade).

[snoop]

1) You shouldn't be getting one-shotted by anything. Two-shotted, maybe, but that's why you run away! If you are getting stomped this bad, it could be that you're inadvertently skipping some of the Tier 1 zones, which is easy for noobs to do and the quest log should be improved to make this more avoidable. Also, most classes benefit from tossing a point per level into Con early on for a bit of extra HP's.

2) Some classes benefit from the extra cat point; not sure which ones, myself I've always spent my first cat point on the extra rune/infusion slot, and would probably do the same on a cornac right at the start. Rogues in general have a tough early game. Dwarf or Thalore are pretty good racial choices for a first character just for the extra survivability.

[overgoat]

It is extremely important to always have an escape route especially in the mid-late game when random uniques can get very dangerous. For many characters this is a teleport rune. It also helps to have a big heal infusion or shield rune to heal up/protect yourself while trying to escape.

[tylor]

You can be stunned, which slows you, which lets enemies attack you twice between your turns. If you suddenly get half of your skills on cooldown - check if you are stunned, and use Wild:Physical to remove it, or just teleport away.

Also, setting shield (also from rune) to auto-cast when enemy is adjacent helps a lot.

[oanrmhjn]

No, I'm not skipping any zones, and enemies are of my level.

For example, my latest 2 deaths:

young vampire elite, maybe 4 lvls higher than me, does something around 50 dmg per turn for several turns, then suddenly bullshots me for 400+ physical dmg
horror rare of same level, uses dots, debuffs and aoe attacks no higher than 150 for like 30 turns (it had quite tough shield against my attacks, so it lasted a while), then suddenly deals 500+ mental dmg in one blow

My shadowblade has not enough hp to handle one such blow (well, at least without maxhp boosting gear), necro has a bit more, but if I warp out every time my hp reaches 70%, it would take forever to kill anything.

I'm not stunned, use runes and whatever, the only thing I don't have at all - resists or maxhp boosting, cause at such low levels such gear I can find barely gives any stats or abilities.

[Tharsonius]

this will improve as u learn all the different classes

vampire elites usually dont dish out such huge amount of damage, unless higher level (last hope graveyard, vaults)
maybe u hit it with flurry as shadowblade? because it has a light shield dealing like 30-100 dmg per strike that hits it. very dangerous for multi hitting characters.

the rare u encountered will be most likely a solipsist rare, and they are capable of dealing damage as u described it.
here only experience helps - if u encounter rares that are solipsist/oozemancer/archmage/corruptor base class - be prepared they will dish out huge amounts of damage. so only fight them if u can disappear in 1 turn 100%, or if u have enough shielding/heroism so u can take very hard hits. some enemys can only be beaten with hit and run tactics for ur current class/lvl

disabling skills like stun/confuse/silence are also very important and can help to reduce an enemys power alot. just make sure u know every turn if the enemy is still stunned (hover over) and the first thing to do is apply the stun and escape if it fails

[tylor]

In ToME4, there are lots of layers of protection, and hp is only the last one. If you start eating into it, and can't shield up/heal back very fast, you are in biiiig trouble.

Shadowblades is quite squishy class. I recommend getting and unlocking Celestial/light tree from escort. Also, max Dual Weapon Defence and Time Shield asap.

[IvenGray]

1. Maybe you are dazed? That would make you unable to act for several turns, during which enemies will attack you several times.
2. Cornacs are generally 2 to 4 levels higher than other characters at 20+ levels. It enables you to try more things. And I believe that it makes new players go further. I had a long and difficult time before my characters were able to defeat the master and reach level 30, and I was the most successful with cornac characters by then. When my shalorens and thalorens would finally die at 20 & 21, my cornacs could reach 27 & 28. Several levels at that time doesn't buff monsters much, but would make a huge difference for the players.

[HousePet]

No, I'm not skipping any zones, and enemies are of my level.

Enemies scale to your level, so that isn't a good indicator.
When you die, go shopping.

[oanrmhjn]

So, I started a new run, and haven't faced a single oneshotter yet while going further than in previous ones.

Maybe rares and elites are just completely random, and sometimes they may roll everything into offence?

However now I faced another problem: a temporary horror completely immune to impending doom, almost immune to stun, spammable heal and trong attacks. It took me like 2 hours to beat him, and I feel that I was doing something is wrong here. He had nothing antimagical, only sustainables were chant of fort and spikes, and there wasn't anything in the log except "horror shrugs off x" immediately after I cast x.

[SadistSquirrel]

Might've been Unflinching Resolve? That's a passive, causes you to shrug off particular effects.

Although I think the actual -text- 'shrug off' is about it just never affecting them in the first place. It might've been one of the rare cases that Saves actually do something! If your (Spell / Physical / Mental) Power was lower than their (Spell / Physical / Mental) Save, than it might've just shrugged it off. I don't know the accurate mechanics for such though!

[The Revanchist]

I think, and don't quote me on it, that saves function something like:

Check the enemies power vs your save.
If your save is lower, dandy for the enemy. The effect goes as normal.
If your save is higher, then for every few points higher (I think four point increments?) it lowers the duration of the effect by 5%.

That might be it, but I don't know for sure.

[Xandor Tik'Roth]

There are certain enemies that you can run into that can outheal you. For example, that eternal bone giant that has a huge shield and heals for 800 every few rounds. Sometimes you just have to run away, level up a little and then grind his face into the dirt.

[oanrmhjn]

A very quick question:
Where do you get life drinker? In wiki it says necro cultist, and I've already cleared the necro tribe, or is it somewhere else?

[HousePet]

Random.