Is there a proper level for the gates of anguish?

[Ohio9]

So I have the skeleton key for the gates of anguish, but before I use it, I was wondering if the monsters inside are of a certain level. Is there a fixed level for them, or do they match whatever level your character is? And if they are of a fixed level, what would be the minimum level to go down there with a decent chance of survival?

I'd like to know this before I use my only skeleton key, particularly since I currently don't have the materials to make another one.

[KG]

Like everything it scales within a certain range (depending on difficulty - normal/veteran, elite, or ultimate). The Steps of Torment aren't the hardest skeleton key dungeon but you should be prepared with decent all-around defenses and good cold res in particular. And max resistance to your own damage type too - there are lots of reflect mobs in there.

Level isn't the biggest sticking point, though - the scaling mostly just lets monsters keep up. If your sustain/resists/health/other defenses are decent you should be okay if you play cautiously. If you have some concerns - maybe wait until level 40 or 45 when you're in act 4 to try it.

[Ohio9]

Well it looks like I'll be way past level 45 by the time I'm in act 4. I'm already level 36 and still not even done with act 2.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

the gamepedia site says lvl scaling is in 26-50 range(tho i could swear when i went in at 30 they were all 34+)
but as KG said lvl isn't the most important

Originally posted by KG:

but you should be prepared with decent all-around defenses and good cold res in particular. And max resistance to your own damage type too - there are lots of reflect mobs in there.

Level isn't the biggest sticking point, though - the scaling mostly just lets monsters keep up. If your sustain/resists/health/other defenses are decent you should be okay if you play cautiously. If you have some concerns - maybe wait until level 40 or 45 when you're in act 4 to try it.

i was 40+ when i entered for the first time, and i got my as* utterly handed to me the first couple of times, -because my gear/stats were so terribad..
spent a "little" time switching gear, etc, and came back better decked out and prepared with a few max resist, and could survive and beat the encounter this time,
proper stats focus make all the difference for X boss encounter in this game, despite lvl
for steps of torment, defintely cold and freeze resist should be pretty decent for that boss, and if you can swing some decent hp + a tad armour rating too at the same time, even better
-consumes, they can save your butt if you need that bit extra, you couldn't get elsewhere

remember, prepare, you can't port out like with other boss fights, so you have "one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything" each run,
better spend that bit extra effort getting gear/stats better alligned, than rushing in and "hoping" it's enough, even if being X lvl

[undefined]

I managed to tackle it with a vitality trickster build, my first decent character, at level 29-30 on veteran.

Whatever resists you don't have capped bring a few consumables for. There's lots of tight spaces and doorways to funnel mobs into, and as long as you have some kiting abilities the bosses aren't too tough actually.

Good luck when you do finally take the plunge!

[ZarahNeander]

The level scaling is something like min. level, if your level < min. level or your level + offset, which is +4 for SoT iirc.
Personally I think, skele keys are a waste b4 ulti..

[Ohio9]

Well I tried it at level 37. Everything was going fine until I got locked in a small room with endlessly spawning mobs. It got to the point where I literally could not move because there were so many items on the floor from dead enemies. Every step I tried to take resulted in my character picking up an item instead of running. This has got to be one of the cheapest deaths I've ever suffered in a video game.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

Originally posted by Ohio9:

*snip*

*loot
->filter


(when you're fighting, dungeons or tight spaces with drops, set to epic,
-then hold your filter hotkey when fight is over, if you still want to take a look at the magics...)

[RodHull]

Originally posted by Ohio9:

Well I tried it at level 37. Everything was going fine until I got locked in a small room with endlessly spawning mobs. It got to the point where I literally could not move because there were so many items on the floor from dead enemies. Every step I tried to take resulted in my character picking up an item instead of running. This has got to be one of the cheapest deaths I've ever suffered in a video game.

Yes the death rooms in SOT require you have loot set to epic or above showing otherwise you cant move for items, its a sad lesson we all learned dont worry your in good company.

[Ohio9]

Originally posted by RodHull:

Yes the death rooms in SOT require you have loot set to epic or above showing otherwise you cant move for items, its a sad lesson we all learned dont worry your in good company.

Sadly I don't have epic unlocked yet so I don't have that option.

[ZarahNeander]

Originally posted by Ohio9:

Originally posted by RodHull:

Yes the death rooms in SOT require you have loot set to epic or above showing otherwise you cant move for items, its a sad lesson we all learned dont worry your in good company.

Sadly I don't have epic unlocked yet so I don't have that option.

RodHull is talkling about the loot filter. You can do this anytime.

[Ohio9]

Originally posted by ZarahNeander:

Originally posted by Ohio9:

Sadly I don't have epic unlocked yet so I don't have that option.

RodHull is talkling about the loot filter. You can do this anytime.

How does that work? I didn't even know there was a loot filter

[RodHull]

Originally posted by Ohio9:

Originally posted by ZarahNeander:

RodHull is talkling about the loot filter. You can do this anytime.

How does that work? I didn't even know there was a loot filter

Its on the far left of the hotbar a little starry like triangular icon (easy to miss) click it and it cycles through various loot filters, for common, magic, rare, epic and legendary. When you set it to say epic it will only show epic drops and above, you can still view all loot by pressing ctrl (i think its ctrl might be shift cant recall now)

[Ohio9]

Well now I tried it on level 47. Did better, but still died in that small room. A boss spawned in that small room that was so powerful that merely a few hits drained my health faster then my health potions and word of renewal could restore it.

Man this place makes me want to put my first through the computer screen. It's not just that it's insanely hard, it's also that corpse dust drops so rarely that it's very hard to make keys for it.

[frdnwsm]

There are two rooms that lock you in with huge mobs of critters. Here's a clue. You don't have to enter those rooms! You can easily bypass them and still get to the bottom and whack the boss.

And yeah, turn off the loot until you clear a given area of creatures. Plenty of time to grab loot after all the baddies are dead.

SoT is probably the easiest of all the challenge dungeons, if you are savvy enough to avoid the death chambers.

[Ohio9]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

There are two rooms that lock you in with huge mobs of critters. Here's a clue. You don't have to enter those rooms! You can easily bypass them and still get to the bottom and whack the boss.

And yeah, turn off the loot until you clear a given area of creatures. Plenty of time to grab loot after all the baddies are dead.

SoT is probably the easiest of all the challenge dungeons, if you are savvy enough to avoid the death chambers.

Well silly me, I kind of assumed there would be some big reward for clearing all the mobs in those rooms. Are you saying there isn't?