Ran into my first trouble on Stygian at DD2

[zoutzakje]

So most of this run has been fairly easy. Early game was no problem and I didn't lose anybody until DD1. Lost both a Vestal and Crusader in there, but I still beat it so it's fine. 2/12 deaths is ok so far.
Then I started getting ready for DD2. At week 54 I was finally ready to go in with a Vestal, Houndmaster, MaA, Hellion. Weapon/armor/skills maxed. 3 of them had the Talisman of the Flame of course. But ♥♥♥♥ just got out of control really fast. I could not manage my stress at all, even though I normally have no problems with that. I kept getting crit constantly as well. I killed both of the single bosses, but after that I just had to get out of there. There was no way I could handle the double boss with Vestal already surviving a heart attack and the others close. Better to just lose 1 dude instead of wiping. Unfortunately the one that died was my MaA, the only one I didn't want to lose. Freaking 25% chance manages to screw me over big time. That was the only MaA I had. I will be leveling one from scratch, but I don't know if I have enough weeks left to get him ready for DD2 and get the other ones done as well (31 weeks left).
So, any suggestions? Should I just go with a different comp and hope for the best? I got a variety of lvl 6 to pick from. Planning to bring a Jester this time. For some reason I have 4 Talismans of the Flame now, so maybe I don't need the MaA for this anymore?
Also, will I have to start DD2 from scratch? Or is the progress you make before abandoning saved? I kinda doubt it, but it will be good to know beforehand. This set-back has made me lose confidence in my ability to win within the time limit. Though I will fight till the end.

[Enfild]

Do you have portrait? You can run short ruin run on champion with 1 newbie more or less fine, and if you have DD veteran, you can get max level MAA in 2 weeks. Just use him as buffbot, not like he can do much anyway.
And no, you will have to start from scratch. I suggest taking out double templars first.

[zoutzakje]

I do not have the portrait. But I didn't think of bringing a newbie MaA along on short champion runs. That should help speed things up significantly. Thanks.
I will go for the double templars first next time, see how that goes. I'm not sure why I've saved them for last. This was only my second time ever going through DD2. I guess I figured my heroes would be so cracked up after the double boss that I'd just want to get out of there right away after.

[Enfild]

Its actually easier to start with them, you can take on single templars with beaten up party, but 2? Not ideal, besides, you can camp and buff up right before the fight.

[zoutzakje]

Wow this game is trying to screw with me. First the Shrieker yanks my stuff, which I had to deal with. Now I get the freaking Brigand invasion and no MaA to throw at him. Guess I'll ignore it for now and deal with whatever building upgrades he destroys. I'll deal with him next time he appears maybe.

[Enfild]

You can sacrifice 1 newbie, if you have only 2 death so far. As for game screwing you, yeah, i just had great run in farmstead, until Prophet showed himself. He is not very hard boss, but without party specifically against him, well...

[zoutzakje]

Oh I decided to take the hamlet downgrades. I had plenty of spare heirlooms anyways and I knew I was gonna need that death counter. And I was freaking right.
Entered DD2 again with a Vestal, Jester, Houndmaster and Hellion. Went for the double templar first like you suggested. It went awesome. Both bosses died rather easily and I left the fight with full health and almost empty stress.
Then I reached the lone templar + mobs at the bottom left... Houndmaster took a crit, got blighted (even though he was on holy water) and died lol. Killed the boss to recover trinkets, but I knew that was the end of that run for me. I tried to push forward to the last boss, but it just wasn't going to happen. Hightailed it out of there and Hellion bit the dust. It's a real shame too, because this run was going great until woofie guy died.
DD2 has just been one disaster after another so far lol. Next time I'll go double templar, top templar, bottom left templar in that order.
At least I managed to recruit a full team of lvl 3's from the stagecoach, including 2 MaA's. So I guess that will be my focus now. 28 weeks left and death counter is at 6/12. It's still doable I guess. I also got the portrait now, so I'll be using that. I know I can win if I can make it past DD2. I'm not going down yet!

[Enfild]

Good, you can do it, i think. DD3 and 4 are much easier.
I used houndmaster/occultist/bounty hunter/man at arms for all of my DD clears first time i played stygian, back when it was NG+. Occ synergize really well with mark-based party, and MaA does, well, MaA stuff. Stress heal is a bit iffy, but it isnt much of a problem if you prioritize speed, then you will kill most enemies bore they can act.
I don't use this party often, though, but for some time it was my universal party, that can withstand pretty much anything. Nowadays, i mostly use whatever i feel like, outside of farmstead, where it is not really viable. Almost nothing lasts there.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by zoutzakje:

Oh I decided to take the hamlet downgrades. I had plenty of spare heirlooms anyways and I knew I was gonna need that death counter. And I was freaking right.
Entered DD2 again with a Vestal, Jester, Houndmaster and Hellion. Went for the double templar first like you suggested. It went awesome. Both bosses died rather easily and I left the fight with full health and almost empty stress.
Then I reached the lone templar + mobs at the bottom left... Houndmaster took a crit, got blighted (even though he was on holy water) and died lol. Killed the boss to recover trinkets, but I knew that was the end of that run for me. I tried to push forward to the last boss, but it just wasn't going to happen. Hightailed it out of there and Hellion bit the dust. It's a real shame too, because this run was going great until woofie guy died.
DD2 has just been one disaster after another so far lol. Next time I'll go double templar, top templar, bottom left templar in that order.
At least I managed to recruit a full team of lvl 3's from the stagecoach, including 2 MaA's. So I guess that will be my focus now. 28 weeks left and death counter is at 6/12. It's still doable I guess. I also got the portrait now, so I'll be using that. I know I can win if I can make it past DD2. I'm not going down yet!

I'm not a fan of that. My opinion is that it's easier to finish the single Templar enemies first, in reasonably good shape, using camping, and then go for broke with the double Templar fight. The problem with doing the double Templar first is you get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wrecked in that fight and then can't even cope with the singles later.

[MarcoPants]

Originally posted by Skinny Pete:

Originally posted by zoutzakje:

Oh I decided to take the hamlet downgrades. I had plenty of spare heirlooms anyways and I knew I was gonna need that death counter. And I was freaking right.
Entered DD2 again with a Vestal, Jester, Houndmaster and Hellion. Went for the double templar first like you suggested. It went awesome. Both bosses died rather easily and I left the fight with full health and almost empty stress.
Then I reached the lone templar + mobs at the bottom left... Houndmaster took a crit, got blighted (even though he was on holy water) and died lol. Killed the boss to recover trinkets, but I knew that was the end of that run for me. I tried to push forward to the last boss, but it just wasn't going to happen. Hightailed it out of there and Hellion bit the dust. It's a real shame too, because this run was going great until woofie guy died.
DD2 has just been one disaster after another so far lol. Next time I'll go double templar, top templar, bottom left templar in that order.
At least I managed to recruit a full team of lvl 3's from the stagecoach, including 2 MaA's. So I guess that will be my focus now. 28 weeks left and death counter is at 6/12. It's still doable I guess. I also got the portrait now, so I'll be using that. I know I can win if I can make it past DD2. I'm not going down yet!

I'm not a fan of that. My opinion is that it's easier to finish the single Templar enemies first, in reasonably good shape, using camping, and then go for broke with the double Templar fight. The problem with doing the double Templar first is you get ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wrecked in that fight and then can't even cope with the singles later.

I disagree with you on that one chief. When I first went into DD2, I ended up fighting the double templars first (keep in mind that I didn't have someone to guard my Vestal, the only one without a taisman), got through that fight relatively ok, camped, had the Crusader stress heal people, and stomped the rest of the dungeon. While it easily could've gone horribly awry for me, I managed to overcome it without my squishy Vestal having to do any death saves.

[zoutzakje]

DD2 success! Finally at week 64. Third attempt is the charm I guess.
I brought a Vestal, Jester, Grave Robber and a Leper of all people. All 4 had the Talisman of the Flame. Vestal had the Sacred Scroll, Jester had the Bright Tambourine, GR had the Book of Sanity and Leper had the Crescendo Box.
I went like I said I would. Double Templar, single Templar up top, single Templar bottom left in that order. It went pretty well. Used camping to buff up accuracy and crit before bosses. Stress stayed low throughout the whole thing. But health was a serious issue. After I took down the double Templars, Leper and GR were in a constant state of almost dying though never actually reaching death's door. Until the last boss, when Leper survived a death check.
Leper pulled off a couple of serious crits, though he still had trouble hitting things even with the accuracy buff.

So these were the order of events for DD2:
First DD2 attempt fails. Got an extra Talisman. Shrieker steals 8 trinkets, including extra Talisman. Fought the Shrieker, got stolen trinkets back EXCEPT the extra Talisman. Second DD2 attempt fails. Got an extra Talisman. Third DD2 attempt success!
Guess I really needed a Talisman for all characters lol. I must be worse at this game than I thought.
22 weeks left for both DD3 and DD4. Should be enough. I got decent teams ready and Reynald and Dismas are sick and tired of waiting for DD4 as well. I don't have any more Jesters though, so I hope that won't come back to bite me.