Am I just bad or are the high level catacombs and grove dungeons just very hard on single player?

[Gameshrk90]

I'm playing as a single player mystic and with the way mobs spawn in huge groups and bum rush you in relatively closed spaces I find it very hard to get a single skill off before I'm forced to do nothing but evade and spam regular attacks. While I do understand how to parry, its very hard to do so without getting stamina broken when you are getting hit with multiple asynchronous attacks. At level 15 in the grove I was basically forced to trade my life to kill a single mob and then trek all the way back the room due to not being able to kite effectively in some rooms or just having a very hard time with certain mob combos (ABSOLUTELY HATE THE MUSHROOMS THEY MOVE TOO FAST and also not fond of the hilly room in the grove that make ranged projectiles useless unless point blank).

It just feels like those two are such huge difficulty spikes as I didn't have any where near as much issue with the first two stages of the catacombs or the low level version of the catacombs boss.
I've yet to kill the high level catacombs boss or the grove boss as I haven't figured out how to properly dodge their attacks yet. That I know is my own skill issue though.

Despite these complaints I am enjoying the game, just feel like single player needs to stagger the wave spawns in dungeons to make them more manageable and maybe ease up on the boss damage if not the intensity to give players a chance to learn the attacks?

Feel free to tell me to get good in the comments.

[booboo]

I would probably grind a few more levels and try to get more current level gear, I had the same problem when I started and my first slot is a mystic that ran into the same exact situation. I had to learn about the progression of armors and such which feels very janky considering its very RNG based, and you're likely just gonna get armors and drops for the class you aren't playing. I got the drops from Crescent before I even got the drops I needed from 12-18 Catacombs which says a lot.
If you do end up getting some drops in Crescent, I'd probably also suggest Divine along with Restora for your healing capabilities if you don't mind using 2 of your skill slots for them. Divine is a scroll drop in this area. They're super good as mystic and make every other healing method obsolete as that class + you become a goated support too if you play with others. This can at least help you facetank a ton of annoying mobs that Mystic doesn't really have the movement to run away from outside of using Blink. The only downside is the cooldown on Divine.

[Interknet]

This is why I don’t really like the update that stops you interrupting an attack. It’s so easy to become mobbed that it made it tolerable, now it’s just having to somehow time parries between 5 different enemies at different intervals lol

[Fat Black Cat]

I honestly wouldnt start tackling it until youre lv. 16 or so just so you can get enough exp and gear to help out. Plus develop a strategy for each enemies and learn their hit patterns.

Its tough but rewarding~

[WonderSparks]

Honestly I didn't even bother with that dungeon until I was at least level 18, simply because of the madness (and yes, the mushrooms are stupid quick), and even then--until I got stronger gear and a better grasp of how to handle each type of mob--I was still getting my ass kicked.
Once you do learn what each enemy type's behaviors are, it gets a bit easier, still tricky 'cuz of the sheer volume of enemies--and indeed, most waves consist of more than one enemy type and even when only one type is there they don't always attack together, as if they were designed to counter the idea of parrying them all at once--but not impossible.
I might recommend doing your best to wipe out an entire wave of enemies save for one, just to get to know it a bit better. After all, it can be hard to learn when there's so much going on.

Just be patient with yourself (but don't forget to take a break if you get frustrated), you can do it!

[SCamp]

Have enough 25-30 VIT for ~150 HP and dump everything else into MIND (25+).

Buy lots of medium/large health pots and medium mana pots (can buy large mana pots if needed) and stuff them on your F1 hotbar.

Put skill points focusing mostly on Fluxbolt. At around level 5 you should start doing 30-70% damage against single targets. At levels 6-7 you have a chance of one shotting most of the "squishier" single mobs with high rolls and/or crits. (I think there's an issue with Fluxbolt where it spreads damage when hitting multiple targets.) Kite around and land shots like you normally would.

Core:
5/5 Recovery
3/3 Sturdy

X/7 Fluxbolt (as high as possible)
5/5 Prism
3/3 Blink (can be lower, helps with kiting)
5/5 Imbue (helps with Fluxbolt damage; I'm lazy and my fingers are strained on WASD so I don't use it)

Optional:
3/3 Manaflow (not needed, but helps save on pots)
X/5 Restora (not necessary, but helps save on pots and can be used when pots are on cooldown)

I would recommend other Novice skills, but I don't have them on my character to try them out. I think Leg Up's movespeed also increases dash distance, but don't trust me on that. Parrying things is stronger and you have access to blink.

(At least in Grove you aren't dealing with the hell that is late game boars.)

[Sly-Scale]

I find that the individual enemies in a group are easier to parry when you just 'graze' by them. As in, you take advantage of whenever the enemy group isn't all piled together. It takes a while (as in, 10 seconds when they're probably still alive) but if you instigate a little division of their movement, you can find a moment to stand in front of two of them.

You get up close, assume they're using their fastest attack, block, then dash right out. If you get a parry, horray; he's gonna be stuck there for a few seconds, getting separated from his allies. Even if you don't, at least you baited their attack so they can't rejoin their comrades rushing past them.

It's the kind of proactive defense that you have to juggle with your offense.

[fwops]

it seemed hard at first too but its a lot easier now that mobs cant crit
just get more vit if you find yourself struggling
fluxspear is your friend when mobs group together, try to get a firepetal staff to help with aoe dmg too until your 21 and can use the colossus bell (game becomes a joke when you get it)
i wouldn't do the grove at 15 tbh just farm the 2 cata repeatables to get a few more levels to maybe 19 or so
120health allows me to comfortably farm colossus

[Taylor]

I don't think you're alone here. The later enemies are very aggressive large lads, and it's often hard to tell what's happening in the chaos. I'm sure it will all be polished up eventualy.

Another thread here mentioned that most of your damage comes from gear and you should invest in vitality. I don't know all the nerdy details, apparently you can tell if your weapon is capped from the damage range colour, but regardless I put half my attributes into vit and the difference was night and day. Encounters were over faster because I didn't need to kite to heal or wait for sturdy. There is a respec book in the shop. Also, you get more consumables than you need and they're cheap and do not share cooldowns.

[Venc Ganence]

I completed the high level Catacombs as a Lv14 Mystic, and as a Lv13 Fighter, your tactics and/or skill composition likely need revising. Yes, parrying is a critical part of every kit (enemies are fast, you can't out dance every attack), but there's other tools in each kit to negate or mitigate incoming damage.

For Mystic, Nova, Fluxspear, and Prism are my skills. Prism will soak up weak hits if you intend to trade, but more importantly will take blows for you if you miss a parry timing. Nova is an instant-cast AoE with decent damage and knock-back -- which interrupts enemy attacks. Combined with Fluxspear, which explicitly stuns, it's possible to rotate skills such that the enemy never gets to attack.

For groups larger than 3, it's vital to employ hit-and-run tactics. As you've no doubt experienced, trying to track and parry every enemy in a large group is nigh impossible, and even if you do, you won't have much room to counter. That's why it's imperative to swoop in, drop an attack, and duck out until the horde is thinned to manageable numbers.

[Yal]

(Side note, your storage is shared between all your characters, so if you get an awesome drop for the wrong class save it for your other two characters)

Things are still very chaotic but I find that zooming the camera out can help (so you can see more of what's happening around you) though it also makes it easier for the camera to get stuck on geometry and disorient you so use with care.

I'm a big fan of the skill that unleashes a shockwave around you (Nova), it's not very strong but it has high stagger power and it's instant so it can buy you some time for an escape when you realize you're getting surrounded.

Against groups you generally wanna get some distance so you've got enough time to line up a Fluxbolt/Cryo Needle/Fireball to do big damage to whatever's the biggest threat, and then run away again to let your MP regenerate. As a mystic your weapon is more of a desperation option or to chip away at weakened enemies, basically all your damage comes from skills. Charge attacks help but they need even more of an opening than most spell casts.

[Gameshrk90]

Thanks Guys. I'll keep all that in mind.