Is playing at zero torch a good approach?

[cc\\Nox]

Or are the stress penalties too much to make it worth it?

[swanghard]

When I need some money I play with an antiquarian at zero light. It is very profitable. However, if I am trying to just finish the level I keep the light level up.

[Giga]

With some minor min-maxing you can go through dungeons with 0 light easily, but be warned. Going through a dungeon at 0 light attracts certain "dangers" that are alot stronger than the average monster fight, so proceed with caution in doing so.

[Loren]

Stress is not the main concern with total dark. It is less scouting and danger. Be smart about when you go dark.

Go with a few torches. See if you are kind of overpowered for the said dungeon. Use the torches to do scouting at key locations.

Money is another point. If you have a good team with antiquarian and low on gold it is time to go dark.

[Czernobog wants to Rage]

Less scouting is really harsh. Biggest drawback.

[Uncle Al]

Dark runs are fabulous fun if you feel you know what you're doing and want to be proved you actually don't . High risk, high reward.

The most significant issue I attend to when planning a dark team is that you're going to get surprised a lot, both through the dark penalty itself and very poor scouting, so build a party that laughs at shuffles.

Oh and there's a huge difference between running at under 25 light but still with a dim glow and running pitch black. I'll leave it up to you to figure out what the difference is.

[No One]

The light meter is the real difficulty slider. Darker is more harderer. Advantage: you can change it dynamically, even mid-run if you like. Disadvantage: players think it's a light meter instead of a difficulty slider.

[Songbird]

Yes but you will have a 1% chance at every encounter to get rekt.

[LaserGuy]

Originally posted by cc\\Nox:

Or are the stress penalties too much to make it worth it?

At Apprentice level, you can get away with it mostly. At Veteran and especially Champion level, the threat becomes much more acute. I wouldn't go for pitch dark in Champion missions unless you have a very good idea of what you're doing.

Roughly speaking, playing on Bloodmoon (highest difficulty) at full torch is easier than playing Radiant (lowest difficulty) in pitch dark.

Note that you can snuff the torch at the end of battles to get extra loot, or snuff the torch at the end of missions and backtrack to pick up all of the curios. This is a way to get some extra loot without any significant increase to the danger level.

[Timus]

Originally posted by cc\\Nox:

Or are the stress penalties too much to make it worth it?

I play almost exclusively at zero light and like it a lot. Stress needs to be managed way more carefully, but it's (still) doable. There are only two things that can be a real pain in the a$$: The first weeks, especially if you play on Bloodmoon, and the Shambler at champion level.

[Lujo]

Lately I can't be arsed to bring torches into a run, so it gets pitch black on any run. I do suppose having a good collection of trinkets and quirks on an experienced roster helps. It's harder but you kinda get used to it, and you find torches along the way so you can light up a bit if you like. Resting also fills the light bar, so you get a fight or two with better light even if you didn't intend to (you can decrease it manually if you do want less).

[grraf]

If u own a party comp that doesn't mind the suffle... but have a stun&dps focused party or prepare to get raped every darn battle... dont bother with dodge tanking its most ineficient at pitch black rather trinket up towards speed&stun/crit/dmg in that exact order as a succesfull stun removes an atakers chance to do any dmg/stress while criting alows u to bypass some prot&stress heal(mostly that hero but ocasionally others benefit as well) and lastly dmg as smth thats dead is harmless(or at least u would think so till u encounter a virago)

[Horrow]

I do suicide runs at 0 light with characters I don't give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about. They can get stressed as much as they want and I'll dismiss them right after finishing the quest. I get all the rewards and don't have to spend anything to de-stress them.

[TSense]

I saw high levels saying that 0 light is the only good way to play. The loot gets insane and the stress is balanced out by more crits.

But i can't get that to work

[LedoCool]

Zero torch requires specific builds the focus of dissipating stress via crits and abilities.

[Magni]

Originally posted by Songbird:

Yes but you will have a 1% chance at every encounter to get rekt.

That's in apprentice missions. It's 7% in veteran and 15% in champion.