I NEED HELP WITH DUST BANDITS

[SkgNovaLover]

Ok, here you can see the problem. It has been a while I play this game within the same "hero" and I explored many town (Squin, Stacks, Bad Teeth, two hives, shek ruins, two waypoints, three holy mines... and more) and made many progresses. I have 7 people in my team, with dusk armors standard quality pieces (blue) and I trained them a bit, so we are talking about thoughness around 30-20, all of them but one. And the caravan beast which is not countable as the 7th said warriors. Good weapons, no luggage while fighting, no wounds, full libs life, no hunger, no overloading, and they were beaten up multiple times in order to become stronger. Many fights they partecipated, even huge ones. I already have hundreds between kills or other group assists. From wildlife to bandits, hungry and dust.

Then I am in a zone where many dust bandits are lurking and camping, not different from the ones around the Hub, just a lot more and here it comes the huge problem: just 5 of them represent an extremely powerful army. They are very resistent, even with shoddy armors, they hit red multiple times and often multiple targets, I hit green 25% of the times against them and rarely consistent damage. They avoid a lot of attacks, they block almost everything, if only three warriors are attacking them. Sometimes 1 of them vs 7 of my warriors attacking all together is able to hit 5 times before getting defeated.

I am getting slightly annoyed by them, I cannot always kite them into a town, expecially if I am really far. Or buy 3 stacks of mercenaries and just attack from the rearguard.

What can I do? What I am doing wrong?

I'd like to stop just fight starving bandits and lonely bonedogs, and only if they are small groups. They are not giving me exp anymore nor fun. I explored many towns and many places, looted everything, made a lot of money, repaired limbs and so on.

How much more I have to train my characters in order to defeat them? Until 60 thoughness and 60 fighting skills? More? I want to know if I have to consider dust bandits like a broken thing or feature to avoid cause Iwould just waste my time or if there is a strategy to defeat them. Now there is no way to win against groups larger than 3 (2).

[jynx]

Up your toughness by looking through the guides. There's an exploit where you go east to where there are bands of 40-50 starving bandits. Lose your armor and strong weapons, then you let them beat you up several times, with someone hiding to heal you after they leave. Then just rotate 2-3 troops at a time to speed things up.

As for tough opponents, that's what crossbows are for. There are plenty of named unique NPC's you can gather that have good starting stats, that list is also in guides (there are more than you can recruit). You might be using the wrong weapons against whatever the Dust Kings call armor (some sort of 1/2 armor IIRC). Different style weapons have different effectiveness against armors. There's also plenty of mods you can add to emulate your continued training.

You haven't said if you're attacking their hideout or not. Or the name of the zone you're having trouble in. You can always just avoid them if your running skill is high and you're not overloaded. Their numbers will dwindle if you take out their hideout, then depopulate all their camps. Don't leave any wounded, make sure they bleed out. Or they'll just come back.

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

Dust bandits aren't that strong, average about 20 across the board for their stats while the bosses are about 30 and they have fairly bad armour.

One guy with about 60 in everything and very good armour will wipeout an entire dust bandit group/camp, 7 guys in the 20-30 stat range will struggle against a full group but should have a good chance of beating a group of 5 unless they are all bosses.

What weapons and armour are you using? Standard grade light armours provide little protection and rely on higher skills to prevent being hit in the first place while heavy armour will offer much better protection especially at higher grades.

[Drownmyheart]

Hii C: I recommend you hire mercenaries at a bar before traveling between towns. The lawless world is a dangerous place. Simply pass out near certain individuals will grab you for the slave trade. IN THE FOOD CHAIN is HORROR

[Cattrina]

Do you have any mods? Cause that sounds like UWE...

[SkgNovaLover]

Originally posted by jynx:

Up your toughness by looking through the guides. There's an exploit where you go east to where there are bands of 40-50 starving bandits. Lose your armor and strong weapons, then you let them beat you up several times, with someone hiding to heal you after they leave. Then just rotate 2-3 troops at a time to speed things up.

As for tough opponents, that's what crossbows are for. There are plenty of named unique NPC's you can gather that have good starting stats, that list is also in guides (there are more than you can recruit). You might be using the wrong weapons against whatever the Dust Kings call armor (some sort of 1/2 armor IIRC). Different style weapons have different effectiveness against armors. There's also plenty of mods you can add to emulate your continued training.

You haven't said if you're attacking their hideout or not. Or the name of the zone you're having trouble in. You can always just avoid them if your running skill is high and you're not overloaded. Their numbers will dwindle if you take out their hideout, then depopulate all their camps. Don't leave any wounded, make sure they bleed out. Or they'll just come back.

Hi! Hi! Yah, I forgot to mention indeed. I am in in the border, east part. North there are the holy mines and Bad Teeth, south I don't know maybe the swamps, west there is a canyon and then Hub (indeed I can see the town from an unkown tower). I come from north, from the holy lands, I went to waypoint and there I cleaned a camp helped by the mini town mercenaries (who were so kind to cut away an arm from my 5th "hero" with a ballista).

I tried to atatck that hideout with the bounties, but not just rishing inside. Just aggroing 4-5 of them out and fighting in open land. But yet they are destructive. I am using many weapons, depending on which type my "heroes" are traning with: cleavers, katanas, sabres, and "chocolate" is using a range weapon. The armors my 7 companions are using are the Dust armors almost complete sets (I miss just a pair of trousers and a chestplate), standard quality, blue.

[SkgNovaLover]

Originally posted by Cattrina:

Do you have any mods? Cause that sounds like UWE...

No mods at all. The mod I've installed are only cosmetic, and also nothing that modify armors, weapons or limbs. Just textures, effects, lights and so on. UWE is interesting, but my game is too much far to implement, also I am not experienced enough.

[dissent]

The single best thing you can commit to in this game is early and effective combat training. The game is set up in such a way that occasional fighting over a long period will gradually increase your combat capability to the point where you can take on increasingly tougher foes. That is no good. There are alternative mechanisms where you can very rapidly improve your combat, such that a single fighter will be able to take out a nest of 12-15 Beak Things solo. These mechanisms only take a few game days and it's by far the most efficient way to protect your crew.

There are several guides to exploiting the mega-horde of Starving Bandits in Skinner's Roam. However, most of these guides focus only on Toughness which, of itself, doesn't do much other than reduce the amount of damage you take. A capable fighter should also have the following base combat stats:
Toughness of at least 85, preferably 90 or more
Attack and Defense ratings of at least 40, to ensure that you can both land hits and block effectively
Dex of 40 or more, again to improve blocking and attack speed, and Cutting damage if you are doing it
Weapon proficiency of 40 or more, more skill = more damage
Adequate Strength for your weapon class

That sounds like a lot to develop but you can do everything in two phases:

1) Str training. This is the grindy bit but there is no way around it. You have to spend days, weeks even, lugging around backpacks filled with Iron or Copper. Preferably at walking speed with a body slung over your shoulder. There are two ways to do it imo. You can either set a target Str level and train until you reach it. Or there's the method I prefer: train Str non-stop while my Armour Smith develops their skill to 80 and the ability to craft Specialist or Masterwork armour. The moment the Armour Smith hits 80, I take whatever Str the fighter is at and equip them accordingly. It will almost always be in the 45-80 Str range, which is perfect for my preferred weapon types of Polearm, Long Cleaver, Falling Sun or Plank. I also only use Skellies for combat. They're the best fighters, easiest to train and require the least armour. Once the Armour Smith has crafted a Specialist set of Samurai Armour and Legplates (the only two pieces a Skellie can use), then the fighter is ready for combat training.

2) Combat training. I equip my Skellie with armour, a Repair Kit and a Large Backpack. This is very important. Large Backpacks nerf your Attack and Defense skills. The lower your skill level, the faster you level. Always handicap yourself while training if you can, it increases the rewards exponentially. For weapon, there are two approaches. A Katana-class weapon will give me the most Dex. But seeing as my Skellie won't ever use a Katana in combat, the levels I gain to Katana proficiency are a waste. If the fighter will be using a Polearm as their regular weapon, equipping them with a very low quality Naginata will increase their Dex (due to the Naginata's Cutting damage) but will also increase their Polearm class proficiency. Levels gained wielding a Naginata will apply to Polearm as well. So a bit more Dex or a bit more weapon proficiency, that's a personal judgment call.

I run the Skellie over to Skinner's Roam to find the mega-horde, which is two groups of Starving Bandits melded into one. I set the Skellie to Block and also assign the Medic/Robotics skill. I want the Skellie to auto-heal.

When I engage the horde, the Skellie will block, with +20 to their Melee Defense granted by having the Block skill active. It takes a long time for the horde to get the Skellie's innate 200HP down to zero and knock them out. By that point, the Skellie will already have >20 to Melee Defense and Toughness, both from a starting position of just a handful of points. I let the Skellie heal then stand them up, get them to re-engage the horde until they're knocked down again, rinse and repeat. In this way, Toughness progresses smoothly through 30, 40, 50, 60. Weapon proficiency (from blocking) and Melee Defense will also level up during this period.

The turning point comes when Toughness hits 70. At his point, the Skellie will have 35-40 in Melee Defense, and can now defend themselves adequately without having Block active. So I turn Block off and let the Skellie start fighting back. It goes badly at first. With typically 3-5 points in Dex and Melee Attack, with Attack being nerfed further by the Large Backpack malus, the skellie struggles to hit anything. But they will gradually start to land hits. And each time they do, their Dex and Attack grow in leaps and bounds.

A day later, it will just be my Skellie left, surrounded by the beaten, bloodied, dead and dying bodies of what was once the mega-horde. I've been through this often enough that I know already what my combat stats will be when the last bandit dies:
Toughness 85-91
Attack and Defense around 40
Dex 35-40
Weapon proficiency 32-38

This is now a capable fighter. For their graduation present, I run them from Skinner's Roam into the neighbouring Deadlands, to pick out their weapon at the Scraphouse. This will usually be an Edge 2/3 Polearm, Long Cleaver, Paladin's Cross, Falling Sun or Plank, depending on their Str.

The character entered his combat training unable to go mano a mano with a Dust Bandit. The combat training fight may have taken two full days. But with his adjusted stats, his Specialist armour and his Edge weapon, this character can now comfortably solo a nest of 12-15 Beak Things. Needless to say, Dust Bandits aren't going to bother him. He'll wipe out an entire camp of Dust Bandits without even breaking a sweat.

I usually accumulate five such Skellie fighters as soon as I can: I pick a Skellie at game start, then Sadneil and Burn are guaranteed, and I am 80% likely to find generic Skellie recruits at Shark and Heng, with a lower chance at the Grey Desert Waystation. Once all five have been through combat training, my final move is to run them to the Tower of Abuse, crush Screamer. Ponk and their crew like bugs, and release Agnu. He already has 50 Str so needs no Str training. I give him Screamer's Meitou Heavy Polearm, send him for combat training, and my combat squad of six Skellies is done.

Nothing in the game bothers them. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. They can't just walk into Spring and obliterate Tinfist. But let's just say that nothing they encounter on the road - bandit groups, animals, etc - is going to threaten them. Beak Things are seen as a sort of standard in this regard. If you can face them rather than running away, you're decently tough. This crew wipes out nests of Beak Things for breakfast, taking almost no damage in the process. I collect 40, 50, 60 Beak Thing eggs a day just for fun.

It's daunting at first. When I first started the game, I clung to the coat-tails of city guards, running away and getting others to fight my battles for me because I was too weak. It greatly hindered my progress. The moment I tried combat training and saw how easy and effective it was, the game world has opened up and I can explore and build everywhere without fear. Try it. I think you'll like it.

[Fryskar]

Originally posted by dissent:

The single best thing you can commit to in this game is early and effective combat training. The game is set up in such a way that occasional fighting over a long period will gradually increase your combat capability to the point where you can take on increasingly tougher foes. That is no good. There are alternative mechanisms where you can very rapidly improve your combat, such that a single fighter will be able to take out a nest of 12-15 Beak Things solo. These mechanisms only take a few game days and it's by far the most efficient way to protect your crew.

There are several guides to exploiting the mega-horde of Starving Bandits in Skinner's Roam. However, most of these guides focus only on Toughness which, of itself, doesn't do much other than reduce the amount of damage you take. A capable fighter should also have the following base combat stats:
Toughness of at least 85, preferably 90 or more
Attack and Defense ratings of at least 40, to ensure that you can both land hits and block effectively
Dex of 40 or more, again to improve blocking and attack speed, and Cutting damage if you are doing it
Weapon proficiency of 40 or more, more skill = more damage
Adequate Strength for your weapon class

That sounds like a lot to develop but you can do everything in two phases:

1) Str training. This is the grindy bit but there is no way around it. You have to spend days, weeks even, lugging around backpacks filled with Iron or Copper. Preferably at walking speed with a body slung over your shoulder. There are two ways to do it imo. You can either set a target Str level and train until you reach it. Or there's the method I prefer: train Str non-stop while my Armour Smith develops their skill to 80 and the ability to craft Specialist or Masterwork armour. The moment the Armour Smith hits 80, I take whatever Str the fighter is at and equip them accordingly. It will almost always be in the 45-80 Str range, which is perfect for my preferred weapon types of Polearm, Long Cleaver, Falling Sun or Plank. I also only use Skellies for combat. They're the best fighters, easiest to train and require the least armour. Once the Armour Smith has crafted a Specialist set of Samurai Armour and Legplates (the only two pieces a Skellie can use), then the fighter is ready for combat training.

2) Combat training. I equip my Skellie with armour, a Repair Kit and a Large Backpack. This is very important. Large Backpacks nerf your Attack and Defense skills. The lower your skill level, the faster you level. Always handicap yourself while training if you can, it increases the rewards exponentially. For weapon, there are two approaches. A Katana-class weapon will give me the most Dex. But seeing as my Skellie won't ever use a Katana in combat, the levels I gain to Katana proficiency are a waste. If the fighter will be using a Polearm as their regular weapon, equipping them with a very low quality Naginata will increase their Dex (due to the Naginata's Cutting damage) but will also increase their Polearm class proficiency. Levels gained wielding a Naginata will apply to Polearm as well. So a bit more Dex or a bit more weapon proficiency, that's a personal judgment call.

I run the Skellie over to Skinner's Roam to find the mega-horde, which is two groups of Starving Bandits melded into one. I set the Skellie to Block and also assign the Medic/Robotics skill. I want the Skellie to auto-heal.

When I engage the horde, the Skellie will block, with +20 to their Melee Defense granted by having the Block skill active. It takes a long time for the horde to get the Skellie's innate 200HP down to zero and knock them out. By that point, the Skellie will already have >20 to Melee Defense and Toughness, both from a starting position of just a handful of points. I let the Skellie heal then stand them up, get them to re-engage the horde until they're knocked down again, rinse and repeat. In this way, Toughness progresses smoothly through 30, 40, 50, 60. Weapon proficiency (from blocking) and Melee Defense will also level up during this period.

The turning point comes when Toughness hits 70. At his point, the Skellie will have 35-40 in Melee Defense, and can now defend themselves adequately without having Block active. So I turn Block off and let the Skellie start fighting back. It goes badly at first. With typically 3-5 points in Dex and Melee Attack, with Attack being nerfed further by the Large Backpack malus, the skellie struggles to hit anything. But they will gradually start to land hits. And each time they do, their Dex and Attack grow in leaps and bounds.

A day later, it will just be my Skellie left, surrounded by the beaten, bloodied, dead and dying bodies of what was once the mega-horde. I've been through this often enough that I know already what my combat stats will be when the last bandit dies:
Toughness 85-91
Attack and Defense around 40
Dex 35-40
Weapon proficiency 32-38

This is now a capable fighter. For their graduation present, I run them from Skinner's Roam into the neighbouring Deadlands, to pick out their weapon at the Scraphouse. This will usually be an Edge 2/3 Polearm, Long Cleaver, Paladin's Cross, Falling Sun or Plank, depending on their Str.

The character entered his combat training unable to go mano a mano with a Dust Bandit. The combat training fight may have taken two full days. But with his adjusted stats, his Specialist armour and his Edge weapon, this character can now comfortably solo a nest of 12-15 Beak Things. Needless to say, Dust Bandits aren't going to bother him. He'll wipe out an entire camp of Dust Bandits without even breaking a sweat.

I usually accumulate five such Skellie fighters as soon as I can: I pick a Skellie at game start, then Sadneil and Burn are guaranteed, and I am 80% likely to find generic Skellie recruits at Shark and Heng, with a lower chance at the Grey Desert Waystation. Once all five have been through combat training, my final move is to run them to the Tower of Abuse, crush Screamer. Ponk and their crew like bugs, and release Agnu. He already has 50 Str so needs no Str training. I give him Screamer's Meitou Heavy Polearm, send him for combat training, and my combat squad of six Skellies is done.

Nothing in the game bothers them. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. They can't just walk into Spring and obliterate Tinfist. But let's just say that nothing they encounter on the road - bandit groups, animals, etc - is going to threaten them. Beak Things are seen as a sort of standard in this regard. If you can face them rather than running away, you're decently tough. This crew wipes out nests of Beak Things for breakfast, taking almost no damage in the process. I collect 40, 50, 60 Beak Thing eggs a day just for fun.

It's daunting at first. When I first started the game, I clung to the coat-tails of city guards, running away and getting others to fight my battles for me because I was too weak. It greatly hindered my progress. The moment I tried combat training and saw how easy and effective it was, the game world has opened up and I can explore and build everywhere without fear. Try it. I think you'll like it.

I can't understand why people think they must skip most of the game in order to play.

I mean i get it beeing OP can be fun for some time. You can use frankiewuzhere's guides and get godlike stats in like a week and mow down almost anyone as they are way too weak to do anything. But what after? Play it as building simulator?

Whats the fun at exploring if there is no challange left?

I consider it better to skip it entirely or ignore the grind and just play. Get some armor with good coverage at least until you got some toughness and a backup char.

[Drownmyheart]

i love how your playthrough is going gl in your story lmao sorry about your fella's arm :(

[done87]

them dust bandits throwing dirt in your eyes >_<

[dissent]

Originally posted by Fryskar:

I mean i get it beeing OP can be fun for some time. You can use frankiewuzhere's guides and get godlike stats in like a week and mow down almost anyone as they are way too weak to do anything. But what after? Play it as building simulator?

Nope. Start again, pick a new starting character, build a new crew, start in a new city, build a base in an area I haven't built in before, try an economy I haven't used before, and try to get OP even faster this time. Kenshi for me is a 50-day game. That's 50 game days not real time days. I can achieve everything I want in 50 game days. After that, there's no point continuing because I've done what I set out to do. Starting again and trying something different gives me the most varied gaming experience that the game has to offer.

At the risk of stating the glaringly obvious, gamers play to win. When a new Path of Exile league starts, tens of thousands of players will be champing at the bit to get going, and all with the same common purpose: to build the most powerful character they can, defeat the game's hardest bosses as quickly and as surely as they can, and to loot their fallen foes to become as wealthy as they possibly can. All in the shortest time possible.

Another thing you can bet your house on is that if there is something in the game that allows people to become OP, they will exploit it. If there is some uber-elite unique sword that allows you to kill the game's end boss in one hit, people will farm and do loot runs 24/7 until they have that sword. Nothing less will suffice.

Sure, in every community you will have the Dudley Dorights who declare that it's lame to use that sword, and who will instead insist on using some junk sword which means they take 3.5 hours to kill the end boss. Because, you know, it's character-building. Or something. But they will always only be a tiny minority. We're a competitive species. We play to win. That's what 99.9% of gamers are going to do.

That said, it's your game, play it as you please. If you are happy to take 200 game days before your crew can defend themselves against Starving Bandits, then that is how you should play and nobody should try to deter you from it.

[Fryskar]

Originally posted by dissent:

Originally posted by Fryskar:

I mean i get it beeing OP can be fun for some time. You can use frankiewuzhere's guides and get godlike stats in like a week and mow down almost anyone as they are way too weak to do anything. But what after? Play it as building simulator?

Nope. Start again, pick a new starting character, build a new crew, start in a new city, build a base in an area I haven't built in before, try an economy I haven't used before, and try to get OP even faster this time. Kenshi for me is a 50-day game. That's 50 game days not real time days. I can achieve everything I want in 50 game days. After that, there's no point continuing because I've done what I set out to do. Starting again and trying something different gives me the most varied gaming experience that the game has to offer.

At the risk of stating the glaringly obvious, gamers play to win. When a new Path of Exile league starts, tens of thousands of players will be champing at the bit to get going, and all with the same common purpose: to build the most powerful character they can, defeat the game's hardest bosses as quickly and as surely as they can, and to loot their fallen foes to become as wealthy as they possibly can. All in the shortest time possible.

Another thing you can bet your house on is that if there is something in the game that allows people to become OP, they will exploit it. If there is some uber-elite unique sword that allows you to kill the game's end boss in one hit, people will farm and do loot runs 24/7 until they have that sword. Nothing less will suffice.

Sure, in every community you will have the Dudley Dorights who declare that it's lame to use that sword, and who will instead insist on using some junk sword which means they take 3.5 hours to kill the end boss. Because, you know, it's character-building. Or something. But they will always only be a tiny minority. We're a competitive species. We play to win. That's what 99.9% of gamers are going to do.

That said, it's your game, play it as you please. If you are happy to take 200 game days before your crew can defend themselves against Starving Bandits, then that is how you should play and nobody should try to deter you from it.

I see next to no point in removing about 90% of the game and then playing it on repeat.

[dissent]

Then don't play the game my way. Nobody is forcing you to play my way, nod scolding you for not doing so.

[Makeithappen]

So you have 7 guys going up against how many dust bandits at a time?
Just so you are aware, you can have masterwork armor and the highest stats in the game and still get pretty beat up simply by being out numbered. Get more recruits. You generally want an equal amount of squad members versus whatever other squads you fight.

Make sure that fights are separated and not clumped up. If 2 or more of your guys are getting hit by an enemy weapon they are too close to each other.

Most of the fighting animations are based on a 1vs1. if an enemy has a wide swinging weapon, only the squad member the enemy is facing will block. Sabers do have an arc that can hit multiple targets. its not large but it can happen if you are too close. Dust Bandits mostly carry sabers.