Dwindling fire question

[leqesai]

So here I am just waiting for the bosses to die because the power shunt is basically shutting down my usual +def turned to damage strategy.

I've just stacked hp to the moon and I'm using the talent to reduce nearby enemy max health each second to soften up the bosses for my puny damage.

Am I missing something with this challenge? Is there a way to bypass the damage shunt?

Should also note that I'm using shopkeeper for the 4+ cards per level.
I have been pretty unlucky this run in that I haven't seen the artifact that boosts final damage by soul card total

[leqesai]

Nevermind. Final defense piercing per level is the trick.
Despite saying you lose 8% per level, with decent final defense pierce per level you will outscale the detriment.

[S'bass thulu]

Dwindling fire x45 + expert monocle + 500 corruption and I just got my first new SSS gear drop right at the end. Just a heads up.

[S'bass thulu]

Over DF 265 now... it seems max gear item quality amount is at leastt 30% above having SSS expert's monocle, 500 corruption and DF 200... as a heads up. So... beyond SSS gear, it might just be about waiting for the A lvl update. Still doing alright?