How to beat Perma death 30% gold return on Hell difficulty (Hardest settings)

[BloodBalloon]

-Strategy guide-
Turn on randomized gladiators and reroll your game until you get Shaman and any tank with taunt (Drummer or Rhino) as unlockable gladiators (as long as they are unlockable ur good). Drummer and Rhino are the only taunting tanks in game and you need either of them to keep your other units alive. Ur starting lineup can be anything, but get 2 shamans and 1 drummer before the second arena.
You will be hard levelling your first 2 shamans and upgrading them with all your Trait scrolls. Give your first two shaman's all your trait blueprints. Max their Hp stat to ensure they dont die. Make sure they have enough stamina and int from items or stats to be useful in battle. Throughout the game, look for better shamans in gladiator market who already have good traits to save on trait blueprints. You cannot afford to lose your traited shamans as losing the trait blueprints are potentially run ending so surrender the battle if things start going south. You do not get punished for surrendering and trying again in the future.
Your first Drummer needs only Revitalizing echo. This trait gives your team unlimited stamina so your team will not need a high stamina stat to function. find your best drummer and give it Hold my beer, max the trait out as it is the only trait you need to keep your entire team alive.
The success of the final team comp is highly dependant on getting the correct traits so always look in the gladiator market for gladiators who already have traits that you want, allowing you to obtain traits without spending valuable trait blueprints. Your team NEEDS to be OP to beat this game. Remember that a single enemy mage could slip through cracks and has the potential to wipe your team. Avoid these enemies in arena if you need to.


-The unbeatable team-comp. Late game build-
5x Shaman, 1-2x Drummer, 2-3x Darkmage, 1-2x Banshee.

-Shaman-

(Infinite range, Extreme single target dps and healing. Excellent vs bosses.)
Have a minimum of 400 stamina and a max of 30 agility for maxed cooldown reduction. Put the rest into health. Give primarily Int but also some agility/stamina/health items. Your shamans will have 21k health and 2000int with items and trait bonuses.
T1 (LVL MAX): Extrovert (Gains 12.5% INT for each friendly gladiator within range of 3)
Your totems count as gladiators so a group of shamans summoning tons of totems will easily get 300%+ INT mid-late game. This is stronger than any other trait in the game yet its a T1 trait.
T2 (MAX): Ascending summoner (Each time gladiator summons a unit they gain 40% int
T3 (MAX): Better together (Gain 35% int for each friendly gladiator of the same type)
T4 (MAX): Healthy and powerful (Each 90 max health gives this gladiator 1 INT)

-Drummer-

(Best tank unit and keeps your team alive. Pulls enemy units together to set up AOE nukes)
Put all stat points into health. Give health items. Give strength items to increase range of taunt. Drummer does not need mobility after you get "hold my beer".
T1: (optional): Swift (Movement speed increases by 8 points and push/pull forces are 50% weaker) Gradually the enemy team may push your tank into your backline making your team vulnerable to aoe. This trait prevents that.
T2 (LVL 1): Revitalising Echo (15% of the damage this gladiator receives will restore stamina to all friendly gladiators)
T3 (MAX): Hold my Beer (Jumps into the middle of the enemy team and taunts enemies within an area of 4 for 10 seconds) Probably the MOST IMPORTANT trait to max out as the range increase to 4 will cover 95% of the map. This trait will taunt the entire enemy team including all their stealthed assassins and mages, and therefore will fully protect your backline units from being oneshotted by these threats. Without this trait maxed, Drummer will not be reliably in range to taunt mages. This trait will also allow drummer to taunt an enemy team who is fully stealthed, important because gladiators stand still and do nothing against stealthed enemies.

-Darkmage-

(pulls units together to set up AOE nukes and Insane AOE dps)
Put all stats in health and give INT/health/agility items. Give a max of 50 strength to max range of AOE effect. Enough Agility can make this unit cast its AOE amazingly fast/reliably and is extremely effective in balling up the enemy team.
Look for any DMG trait in Gladiator market. These units are replaceable so find the best one in gladiator Market without spending trait scrolls.

-Banshee-

(Disables High threat enemy units. Prevents a single over leveled enemy from one shotting your team)
Give Agility/Int and HP items.
T2(Optional): Instructor (Other Gladiators in Battle gain 18% more experience)
These units are replaceable

[SEND 'EM TO THE RANCH]

This will be a bit harder to do now that the shamans were nerfed just as a heads up to anyone reading this.

[BloodBalloon]

Originally posted by SEND 'EM TO THE RANCH:

This will be a bit harder to do now that the shamans were nerfed just as a heads up to anyone reading this.

Thanks, I didnt realize it was nerfed as it happened this morning. After reading it over the nerf isn't so bad. Only a small cooldown/ agility scaling nerf. Shaman is still goated and needs to be obliterated IMO. Drummer with lvl3 hold my beer max will keep any backline based team safe so even if shaman is gutted you could replace it with a combination of healing supports and AOE dps mages,
You'll find that dark mage ends up dealing more dmg maxing HP without needing any traits.

[SEND 'EM TO THE RANCH]

Originally posted by BloodBalloon:

Originally posted by SEND 'EM TO THE RANCH:

This will be a bit harder to do now that the shamans were nerfed just as a heads up to anyone reading this.

Thanks, I didnt realize it was nerfed as it happened this morning. After reading it over the nerf isn't so bad. Only a small cooldown/ agility scaling nerf. Shaman is still goated and needs to be obliterated IMO. Drummer with lvl3 hold my beer max will keep any backline based team safe so even if shaman is gutted you could replace it with a combination of healing supports and AOE dps mages,
You'll find that dark mage ends up dealing more dmg maxing HP without needing any traits.

You're welcome and yeah, it was like a stealth update when they nerfed the shaman lol

[Forgant]

Hi! Thanks for your guide. I made some changes, and the most notable was the Orb of Frost AOE on the drummer. When he taunt, that freeze all of them (3sec), and the second taunt again (After that, freeze didn't work, only 2 or may be three times, but it's enough)

[retakrew7]

Two combinations make any run stubstantially easier:
- Drummer with Orb of Frost AOE
- Berserker with Swift + Invincible Shield + Last Stand later on (you can basically put all points into Strength, completely ignoring health as soon as you have Last Stand)

[BloodBalloon]

Originally posted by retakrew7:

Two combinations make any run stubstantially easier:
- Drummer with Orb of Frost AOE
- Berserker with Swift + Invincible Shield + Last Stand later on (you can basically put all points into Strength, completely ignoring health as soon as you have Last Stand)

I found that high health+shaman healing is more reliable than invincibility seconds as they will survive indefinitely even if something goes wonky and th fight goes longer than usual. Every unit in my comp ends up being 20k+hp, but an invincible berserker who oneshots everything is a good suggestiion being very usefull in 3v3/1v1 fights

[bort]

I tested OP´s build yesterday in a normal no permadeath tournament and these are my results:

- Started building the shamans, 5. The early game was so pleasant, not real trouble. Every comp I went against did not stand a chance against them. Econmy wise I spent all the money on getting extrovert lvl 3. All the skill points into HP, except a few in stamina to make sure they don´t run out

- After that I bought a drummer and put on him swift as OP recomends, all skill points on HP and some on strength to maximize the AOE perimeter, until I realized the strength was giving only x0,008 or something in that lines, meaning I would need to spend a lot of levels to reach the 4 cap, so stopped on 3,2 and the rest all HP.

- Next I bought a couple level 8 dark mages. In this point I got my first wipe against a triple shaman + 8 stealth fast mele enemies ( can´t remember the class name, they seem to me something between mantis and crabs) They were so fast that the drummer did not got his ability on them and rapidly they killed my shamans. Tried a couple times and skipped the fight.

- After that I had some easy fights, I put ascending summoner on all my shamans and started giving them agility to get the cds maxed out (which is not 30, is 50) I got a couple more dark mages and 2 banshees. I put revitalizing echo lvl 2 and hold my beer lvl 1 on the drummer and at this point I was getting worried economy wise, because I was spending all the money on skills while my gladiators were not well equipped with quality trinkets.

- Some fights later, I finally got hold my beer lvl 3 on my drummer but the AOE range was not that great as I expected, maybe because I did not max out strength but clearly he did not reach any cornered units (maybe it could also be that the drummer is nerfed idk...) While my darkmages were doing kind of good-ish, I dont think they were as competetnt as a group of high speed-agility archers, because they lack on defense and are easily killed by any fast high dps mele unit.

- Then I came against a triple overleveled necromancers with couple of knights, couple of maze orcs, and couple of arbalests which totally obliterated the whole team. The banshees could never stop necromancers from summoning dead units, darkmages were being one-shooted by the revived arbalests and my drummer was struggling with the maze orcs.

So in general, by my experience, (where surely I missed many OP´s points and probably I could have done better) I can tell:

1- Darkmages are not that good damage dealers as I thought, I think the easy fights archers would have made as good as them and in hard fights would have made better

2- Shamans are incredibly good, with extrovert and paired with banshees they are solid healers and carry a lot of fights.

3- I think rhino is better than drummer.... Maybe? I think they get more HP and is easier to max out the AOE range ability perimeter, despite drummers having better shield.

Also bear in mind this is not any criticism to OP´s build, and even I didn´t use on the terms he built for (campaign hell difficulty - permadeath, while I was playing tournament normal no permadeath) it´s just feedback of my experience.

[BloodBalloon]

Originally posted by bort:

I tested OP´s build yesterday in a normal no permadeath tournament and these are my results:

- Started building the shamans, 5. The early game was so pleasant, not real trouble. Every comp I went against did not stand a chance against them. Econmy wise I spent all the money on getting extrovert lvl 3. All the skill points into HP, except a few in stamina to make sure they don´t run out

- After that I bought a drummer and put on him swift as OP recomends, all skill points on HP and some on strength to maximize the AOE perimeter, until I realized the strength was giving only x0,008 or something in that lines, meaning I would need to spend a lot of levels to reach the 4 cap, so stopped on 3,2 and the rest all HP.

- Next I bought a couple level 8 dark mages. In this point I got my first wipe against a triple shaman + 8 stealth fast mele enemies ( can´t remember the class name, they seem to me something between mantis and crabs) They were so fast that the drummer did not got his ability on them and rapidly they killed my shamans. Tried a couple times and skipped the fight.

- After that I had some easy fights, I put ascending summoner on all my shamans and started giving them agility to get the cds maxed out (which is not 30, is 50) I got a couple more dark mages and 2 banshees. I put revitalizing echo lvl 2 and hold my beer lvl 1 on the drummer and at this point I was getting worried economy wise, because I was spending all the money on skills while my gladiators were not well equipped with quality trinkets.

- Some fights later, I finally got hold my beer lvl 3 on my drummer but the AOE range was not that great as I expected, maybe because I did not max out strength but clearly he did not reach any cornered units (maybe it could also be that the drummer is nerfed idk...) While my darkmages were doing kind of good-ish, I dont think they were as competetnt as a group of high speed-agility archers, because they lack on defense and are easily killed by any fast high dps mele unit.

- Then I came against a triple overleveled necromancers with couple of knights, couple of maze orcs, and couple of arbalests which totally obliterated the whole team. The banshees could never stop necromancers from summoning dead units, darkmages were being one-shooted by the revived arbalests and my drummer was struggling with the maze orcs.

So in general, by my experience, (where surely I missed many OP´s points and probably I could have done better) I can tell:

1- Darkmages are not that good damage dealers as I thought, I think the easy fights archers would have made as good as them and in hard fights would have made better

2- Shamans are incredibly good, with extrovert and paired with banshees they are solid healers and carry a lot of fights.

3- I think rhino is better than drummer.... Maybe? I think they get more HP and is easier to max out the AOE range ability perimeter, despite drummers having better shield.

Also bear in mind this is not any criticism to OP´s build, and even I didn´t use on the terms he built for (campaign hell difficulty - permadeath, while I was playing tournament normal no permadeath) it´s just feedback of my experience.

Thanks for testing the build! I am sorry it didn't go as well for you as I hoped. The strat was intended for campaign so traits don't cost gold but rather trait blueporints and mana crystals. I recommend focussing on Hp and int on your darkmages so they dont get one shot. They are meant to be in front of your shamans so that they serve as decoys in case a few units slip through the edges of the map while your shamans build up totems. A single stormbringer might fix the dps issue you've been having. Also the trait hold my beer does not scale with strength. I might attempt a better guide for tournament.