Zealot experts, i'm calling out to you, pls send help

[Katak]

I'm at cycle 12 I believe, and I've finished the game so far with every class, got every achievements except for Zealot.

I don't understand the class, even though it's easy on paper. I just can't make it work.
I find the class passive don't go that well with the ultimate, it's either too much damage or not enough.

I can't reliably rely on multishot either since you only got 2 energy worth of maneuvres (with the starting 3 en) to buff it, one most likely being a barrier.

If you can impart some knowledge to me I'd really appreciate it (gameplay, build, thin/fat deck, passives etc.)

Cheers!

[Landorf]

Oh man, that's easy. First, keep in mind that all 3 archer classes work alike - the only difference is their ultimate (and some lesser mechanics which provide lesser buffs). However, their ultimate is SUPPORT, not main mechanic. So, just play zealot as if he was sentinel (sorry for my eng, hope you understand what im trying to say)

First of all, proper runes and cards do much stronger impact on gameplay than class mechanic itself. For example: as a pathfinder, you need to avoid any damage in order to have +50% dmg next turn (It stacks), but lose all bonus accumulated after you get hit. In the same time, some runes provide insane dmg bonuses. There are hwo runes you need to keep your eye on: NYD and WYN (look at this names!). One buffs your damage this turn by 100% for every enemy stunned, another gives you 100% dmg for one energy point you spared prevous turn.

Both runes are blue and can be found in blacksmith shop (100 g each).
When you have proper runes, you can ignore class rules. Just forgot about zealot's ultimate and his 50% dmg buffs because this is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I know it, you know it. The blessing of all archers is their free-to-play arrows, and zealot's passive is trying to force you to play one maneuver per arrow shot. To hell with that crap, we only need maneuvers to protect our weak ass. One per turn, 3 per deck. No quivers, no barrages, just arrows, runes and everything we can get to lower mob's armor.

And, if you only need zealot's achivement, finish the game at difficulty one and you'll get it. No need to hit the wall at 15+ with that class.

P.S. And yes, as zealot you ll be recieving lots of garbage passives focused on using maneuvers. Live with it and try to buy 1-3 usefull ones from seamstress.

[Katak]

Originally posted by Landorf:

Oh man, that's easy. First, keep in mind that all 3 archer classes work alike - the only difference is their ultimate (and some lesser mechanics which provide lesser buffs). However, their ultimate is SUPPORT, not main mechanic. So, just play zealot as if he was sentinel (sorry for my eng, hope you understand what im trying to say)

First of all, proper runes and cards do much stronger impact on gameplay than class mechanic itself. For example: as a pathfinder, you need to avoid any damage in order to have +50% dmg next turn (It stacks), but lose all bonus accumulated after you get hit. In the same time, some runes provide insane dmg bonuses. There are hwo runes you need to keep your eye on: NYD and WYN (look at this names!). One buffs your damage this turn by 100% for every enemy stunned, another gives you 100% dmg for one energy point you spared prevous turn.

Both runes are blue and can be found in blacksmith shop (100 g each).
When you have proper runes, you can ignore class rules. Just forgot about zealot's ultimate and his 50% dmg buffs because this is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I know it, you know it. The blessing of all archers is their free-to-play arrows, and zealot's passive is trying to force you to play one maneuver per arrow shot. To hell with that crap, we only need maneuvers to protect our weak ass. One per turn, 3 per deck. No quivers, no barrages, just arrows, runes and everything we can get to lower mob's armor.

And, if you only need zealot's achivement, finish the game at difficulty one and you'll get it. No need to hit the wall at 15+ with that class.

P.S. And yes, as zealot you ll be recieving lots of garbage passives focused on using maneuvers. Live with it and try to buy 1-3 usefull ones from seamstress.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I gotta say, I'm somewhat relieved to hear I'm not the only one who finds his passives and ultimate underwhelming. Very disappointing considering that's what's make a class unique.

I knew about NYD, also I usually favor passives for 100g before going out the first time. I'll look into runes instead.

Do you have a "must have" pick list for cards ? Also when you say barrage, do you mean multishot ? Those were my MVPs during other archers run, I'm surprised they're not good with Zealot.

Also, regarding difficulty, I know you're probably right, but lowering the difficulty doesn't sit well with me just for reaching lv20. That's something anyone should be able to do for full run.

Thanks !

[Landorf]

Well, when we look at zealot what do we see? Common archer's cards. Add asid arrow it you roll it and that's it. Get rig of maneuvers, we need just 2-3 feints. If you get -1 cost for first arrow played (per turn!) passive, add strong arrow with 400% dmg. You want to have your entire deck every turn. Then convert everything into damn NYD runes since as archer u can't do enough stuns to use WYN. With some luck, you can also get EAR rune. Whis that, you will do enough dmg for 15+

And, with that class, you'll need some luck anyway.

[Kaerius]

The only must-pick card is Field Attack.

For all archers I always buy ethiel rune(for armor, to make feints good) and a quest in the village at the start.

I also usually go for any good damage runes in the weapon, I highly favor Feoh, Haegl, Ger, and Tir. In roughly that order(Tir only after combining).

If you've saved the man at arms then always buy his card, and mark it to be drawn the first turn. This goes for every class, but doubly so for zealot, since discarding cards powers him up.

[Landorf]

To be honest, the full tier 3 Ger and Eothr (raw dmg and armor) runes are good for everything, so i guess all classes use both if possible.

Field attack? I'd rather say "no". First, it costs 2 mana. I'd prefer to have as many NYD buffs as i can. And, zealot is not sentinel who can draw 6 arrows every turn... so i usualy avoid to pick any additional maneuvers. At all.

Man-at-arms card is a must, this one is never bad. Heavy golden runes and specific cards depends on luck, but you can be sure you'll be able to get 3 NYD runes or even more during your run. As i said, the only real problem of higher tiers is enemies armor... and there's no guaranteed solution. Armor reduction rune? Too weak. Armor corrupting rune? Too slow.
You'll be mostly facing 3 enemies with 50 armor each. And even 3 free acid arrows shouldnt be enough.

The only real goal here is NYD rune in smith's shop and last weapon socket unlock on map 1.
With that accomplished, you can start to roll your snowball...

[Kaerius]

Originally posted by Landorf:

Field attack? I'd rather say "no". First, it costs 2 mana. I'd prefer to have as many NYD buffs as i can. And, zealot is not sentinel who can draw 6 arrows every turn... so i usualy avoid to pick any additional maneuvers. At all.

Field attack is an "I win" button. First turn encounter clears, often first turn boss clears. NYD doesn't matter if you're winning every fight first turn.

Tactical expert -> ultimate -> field attack. Encounter ends.

[Katak]

Success !!

I ended up with probably with my most powerful character yet lol.

Got rid of every maneuvres except for 3 feints. I was lucky with card removal NPC.

Not a single passive I obtained during the run made any significant impact whatsoever, felt almost like a vanilla archer. I'm a bit disappointed in that regard.

As per your advice, I rushed NYD runes, bought/transmuted/obtained as many as I could. Ended up with 1 T2 and 2 T1 in attack slot.

The real MVP was, in fact, Field attack. Game changer. From then on I proceed to OTK every normal encounter, treasure guardian AND final boss of Act2, 3, and final boss.

Manage to loot a Bloodthirsty shot at the begining of Act 2, which didn't hurt either :p

Thanks for everyone who contributed to my success, I appreciate it :)

[Landorf]

Hmm... i gonna try this Field attack one more time at 15+, may be i missed something important. Or may be i just dont understand how multishot works. As i noticed, it just shoots all arrows in hand on random targets with some dmg bonus. Have no idea how it can kill 15+ bosses in turn one.

P.S. Okay, now it's clear. First time in game i tested multishot using Rain card (same as Field attack with different reverse). Tonight, i was lucky enough to get both cards and... Field Attack should be called "Bug's field attack". Rain (Multishot +50%) does predictable damage (which is high, yes, but not insane) and Field Attack (Multishot +50%) kills everything or close. So i guess it's just a bit broken atm...

[Kaerius]

Originally posted by Landorf:

Hmm... i gonna try this Field attack one more time at 15+, may be i missed something important. Or may be i just dont understand how multishot works. As i noticed, it just shoots all arrows in hand on random targets with some dmg bonus. Have no idea how it can kill 15+ bosses in turn one.

P.S. Okay, now it's clear. First time in game i tested multishot using Rain card (same as Field attack with different reverse). Tonight, i was lucky enough to get both cards and... Field Attack should be called "Bug's field attack". Rain (Multishot +50%) does predictable damage (which is high, yes, but not insane) and Field Attack (Multishot +50%) kills everything or close. So i guess it's just a bit broken atm...

The keyword on Field Attack is ALL. Instead of random targets every arrow hits every enemy.

There's one more card that has a multishot all, but I forget what it's called, the front side of the card has a 2 energy +50% damage this turn effect, but side 2 has multishot all +100% and exile(lose it for the rest of that combat).