Huge difficulty spike at level 5. Any Tips?

[Sminky]

I found level 3+ dungeons a managable challange. But i'm stuck to the point of giving up when it comes to level 5 dungeons.

My Lvl 5 guys are equiped with 4 to 5 level gear and key abbilitys all but maxed out. But i just cant mitigate the incomming damage, nor put down enemys fast enough.

Vestal seems all but ussless in these dungeons as you tend to have 20 to 50 damage comming in each round where they can only heal for 7-9 per round.

group i'm running with starting at the back

Vestal - Highwayman - Crusader - Helion

any adivce before i stop?

Thanks

[kebabsoup]

Allow me to redirect you toward a previous discussion, maybe you can find some tips to overcome that difficulty spike. (But yes, the spike is real)

http://steamcommunity.com/app/262060/discussions/0/364039531225734113/

EDIT: erm there is quite a bit of vitriol in that thread, bolster your blight resist before diving in..

[Hound Archon]

- Stick to the Ruins until you've got lvl 5 gear for most of your party members, it's the easiest location (and the enemies there are greatly vulnerable to both vestals and crusaders).

- Run +speed quirks and trinkets. Arguably, it is the most important stat in the game.

- Use only optimal parties (lvl 5 dungeons are not a good place to experiment)

- Try bringing a dedicated stunner with 2 stun chance trinkets (dazzling charm + paralyzer's crest, weighted cudgel, etc.) and stun the ever-loving light out of the most dangerous enemies. Ghouls, giants, bone generals are all vulnerable to stun.

- Houndmaster in position 3 with some +dodge items is your friend. Even if he does nothing except spamming Guard Dog (which he should), the stacking Dodge will effectively make 50% of your party invulnerable to the enemy attacks.

- Do not neglect the occultist with +pull items. His heal may be unreliable, but being able to shuffle the enemy team AND heal if necessary? Yes please.

- In a similar vein, do not build your vestals for +heal, build them for +heal AND stun. A stunned enemy which would have dealt 30 damage is as good as 30 damage healed. And you can bring her on top of your dedicated stunner.

TL: DR: in round 1, unload on the enemy's scariest damage dealer (skeletal marksman, bone royalty, etc.) and hopefully kill him before he can act. Afterwards, keep the enemies stunned, halving the number of times they can act while your damage dealers slowly disassemble them. As long as there's more than 1 enemy, there's no rush and the reinforcements/stress penalty for stalling won't trigger.

Hope it helps.

[Sminky]

Thanks some handy tips there bud

[Sminky]

It's just too hard, it requires too much grind to do, and i'm stuck with a bunch of level 5 heros that can't even hope to contend with the only dungeons they are able to do due to not being able to fully spec any of them out. Whilst i'm increasingly running out of sub level 5's that can farm money. The thought of having to fire perfectly good heros just so i can recruit some level 0's to farm for money and play content i've allready done to death is far from appealing.

Think i'll stop here until they balance it better. Seeing as there are a lot of threads about this i hope they do.

[Hound Archon]

I suspect they are done with balancing.

Go to settings, disable all difficulty options, fire your lvl 5's and start anew with lvl 0's - you'll be amazed at what difference the trinnkets you have accumulated make.

[Sminky]

I checked the patch notes, it seems they still balance. It was even released that nearly 60% of players never get past the tutorial.

Thats rather damming for a Studio as thats an awfull lot of customers that will now be turned of if they use 'From the Makers Of Darkest Dungeon' for their next title.

The spike coupled with the game mechanics of increasingly having fewer and fewer heros that can even farm is just absurd. It also made me relise through repitiion that the game is rather borring after 20 hours. That's still value for money. But it's just a shame they sour you on the game so close to the end.

[Muscarine]

Originally posted by Sminky_Get:

I checked the patch notes, it seems they still balance. It was even released that nearly 60% of players never get past the tutorial.

This is yet again another meaningless statistic.
To start with, 57% of the players have the achievement. Not quite even close to 60% not making it.
Many, many players were holding on their pre-achievement implementation savegame and didn't bother starting a new one at release, meaning they didn't unlock the tutorial achievement.
I personally did start a new playthrough but i'm almost certain the majority of the pre release owners didn't.

On top of this, it is not uncommon to have big numbers of players owning a game and never even start it.
If you look at Fallout 4, 13% of the game owners didn't get past the intro.
On such a big game with so many sold copies, that's quite a lot of players who bought the game but never even played it.

Considering all of this, there is nothing surprising with 57% unlock on the tutorial achievement. And you may want to reconsider your thoughts on the subject. The vast majority of the playerbase still does enjoy the game a lot.

- edit : and yet another pathetic QQ reviewer who wants to excuse himself losing by saying the game is unfair.
Well, breaking news : you're just bad at it, the game defeated you, and on top of it you can't even take it like an honorable player.

[Dufflebags]

.....You see, there's this mysterious setting in the options menu which actually allows players to alter the difficulty! 20 plus years of gaming and people still get sour grapes and insist the game is broken before accepting that they are perhaps are simply just not skilled enough....

[DuckieMcduck]

Get more speed, try to balance out at least max armor (dodge) or max weapon (speed) before going. Obviously having everything maxed out is the more logical thing to do before going into these dungeons specially since the loot reward isn't that flashier and the risk is higher because you're putting these high levels at stake.

Keep in mind that all the 4 areas are basically the tutorial for the last dungeon and you don't have to complete them to beat the game. You do get some really neat trinkets for clearing the Champion bosses though, the pounder and the prophet in particular drop some really good ones.

[Wazat1]

I recently went through the brutal thrashing that is the Champion transition, and I feel like I've come out on top. I'd like to give the following advice, assuming you're still playing.

1) You don't need to have max armor/weapons. Try to have level 4 armor & weapon on each hero, but you can eek by on 3 if you're very careful (in a short dungeon) and you use stuns judiciously. But L4 is better.
2) Have 1, 2 or 3 characters who can stun really effectively. A +stun trinket on one or more of them helps a lot here. The vestal doesn't have to be a stunner... I prefer to give her heal skills, plus Judgement (good damage and self-heal combo) and Illumination (for dodgy foes).
3) Accuracy and speed are helpful, to make sure your hits connect, and you can disable foes before they get serious attacks off.
4) Stun foes you won't kill this turn, or which are very dangerous, while you focus-fire and kill another enemy or two. Don't rely on stun too much or too long -- resistance grows fast. But DO stun 1 or 2 foes that are serious threats while you thin out their support. Foes that deal massive damage or stress should be allowed only minimal turns. This is where high speed and accuracy help. You can also alternate who you stun (to get around the building resistance). Ideally only 2 enemies attack per turn, while you keep your team at near-maximum effectiveness.
5) You don't want to get into a heal battle with the enemy. They can out-damage you. Healing is meant to top you off once you've reduced the foes down to 1 or 2 guys. You should not let them get their full damage output each turn -- stun and kill to limit how much damage you take, rather than trying to out-heal it.
6) Use well-chosen teams. You can't take sub-optimal parties into the champion dungeons, especially when you're first starting, they're just too tough.
7) Play Short and Medium champion dungeons at first, so you can level to 6 and limit your risks. Long champion dungeons will thrash the life out of you! Save those for when you feel you're doing really well, and even then, carefully pick where you're going and who you bring. Don't let the cool trinkets lure you in... you're not ready yet.
8) It's okay to retreat. Champion is brutal, and that's expected.
9) Keep the light level above 75. I first tried to play Champion the way I played earlier levels (in the dark with darkness-focused trinkets and quirks), and that was a terrible mistake. It doesn't matter what bonuses you're getting in the dark, because foes benefit much more. Instead bring lots of torches.

It's too bad... I feel like Darkest Dungeon is at its best in L3 dungeons when the lights go out, the stakes are high, and the ambient noise in the dungeon reaches a fever pitch! It's so atmospheric and intense, but still manageable. Try that in Champion and everything you love will be taken from you.

Like you, I found the game to be too grindy in the champion dungeons too, even though I've gotten pretty good at them. I still play from time to time, but I'm not sure I'll ever have the time to finish the game. I do have a bunch of L6 heroes lined up (over half my roster, maybe two thirds), but they're under-geared, so I'll have to put some time into grinding cash to prep them for the final dungeons. With so many good games out there, I don't know that I'll follow through. But I have to say, I still found this game rewarding and compelling! It's worth coming back to on occasion, even if it's frustrating.