Enhanced mode is tough

[tofu]

Enhanced mode is tough and due to the patches on t he weapons what would you think is the best?

[Hoid]

i just started a play through on enhanced mode and i have honestly found it slightly easier than vanilla.

[Electric Frankenstein]

I prefer vanilla, but that is due to the bosses being a bit easier imo. The weapon balances, coupled with boss health pools being increased means that I can't melt some of the bosses that I used to. The Mad Alchemist seems much harder than before for example. That being said, on NG+ I am getting stomped by the Third Lamb, but the first time through OI walked through him like an open door. Different levels of the game are just tougher, and the enhanced mode will have roadblocks too I presume.

[7FOUR]

Enhanced mode hasn't really changed the overall balance of weapons. Greatswords are still the best overall performers despite the damage reduction. Underperformers like bows and whips were buffed enough to now be effective primary weapons, but are still no more powerful in relation to other weapon classes. So any weapon recommendation for the classic experience still applies to enhanced.

One thing you will want to make sure you take advantage of though are elemental weapon buffs. They now calculate based on scaled damage instead of base, so you're missing out on huge amounts of damage if you haven't been using any.

Originally posted by Electric Frankenstein:

The Mad Alchemist seems much harder than before for example.

Nope, just some good old fashioned RNG. According to the code and google doc for the patch, he's one of the enemies that has received absolutely zero changes. Maybe weapon adjustments played into your difficulty, but I wouldn't think the difference would be that severe depending on what you were using, and if you had buffed your weapon.

[Za]

the only thing that makes the game hard is if you dont know what to expect. honestly the game is extremely easy barring a few platform sections and very specific bosses. and some of those bosses will seem easier or harder depending on if the AI decides to use their actual good moves.

i beat enhanced mode as a cleric and chose to keep all my gear at +0 to try and keep the game somewhat a challenge. it wasnt. but i have something like 400hrs playtime across PC/PS so i know what to expect, but it was still fun

[ApocalypseMeow]

I got the game on EGS so Im still waiting for the Enhanced Mode update......feelsbadman

[Bort]

I prefer daggers and whips... so I'm loving enhanced mode so far!

[bluehawk188]

Beat enhanced mode first. Playing standard. Enhanced felt harder.

[Crashtian]

I'm enjoying the effectiveness of whips on enhanced mode, but damn if not being focused on fiddly game mechanics has made me realize how poor the level and enemy design is in this game.

Still like the game, but golly gee is it all over the place as a game.

[TheShadowHatter]

I'm curious about that, because as someone who beat the original game several times years ago, I reinstalled the game and played a new file for enhanced and I honestly didn't really feel any difference. It just felt like the same game, so whatever changes they made don't seem that noticeable I think.

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by TheShadowHatter:

I'm curious about that, because as someone who beat the original game several times years ago, I reinstalled the game and played a new file for enhanced and I honestly didn't really feel any difference. It just felt like the same game, so whatever changes they made don't seem that noticeable I think.

How the changes feel are going to be dependent on what you're using. If a player previously used Divine Blessed Weapon + Goldenwine + Obsidian Pillar (or another great weapon) which can approach 1000 damage with a heavy attack, they're going to feel it differently than someone using a Varangian Spatha + pitchfire.

Quality weapons now 'work', requiring lower stats to hit softcap. Buffs are now 35% total damage bonus, making them stronger on some weapons while weaker on other weapons (mostly outliers like Obsidian Pillar)

Some bosses that didn't have weaknesses, now do. As well, weakness ratios have been adjusted downwards (-50 to -40), which translates from 33% increased damage to 25% increased damage for elemental weaknesses.

For many bosses you'll see a difference of around 2-4 hits depending on if you're using a great weapon, a smaller weapon, and specific elemental damage or buffs. For other bosses that were more directly buffed like Carsejaw going from 1200 hp to 2200 hp, you'll see quite a few more hits required, but within reason.

As a sidenote: Alchemist is completely unchanged and Lamb lost 10% hp and was given bigger elemental weaknesses.

[TheShadowHatter]

Originally posted by Zephyr:

Originally posted by TheShadowHatter:

I'm curious about that, because as someone who beat the original game several times years ago, I reinstalled the game and played a new file for enhanced and I honestly didn't really feel any difference. It just felt like the same game, so whatever changes they made don't seem that noticeable I think.

How the changes feel are going to be dependent on what you're using. If a player previously used Divine Blessed Weapon + Goldenwine + Obsidian Pillar (or another great weapon) which can approach 1000 damage with a heavy attack, they're going to feel it differently than someone using a Varangian Spatha + pitchfire.

Quality weapons now 'work', requiring lower stats to hit softcap. Buffs are now 35% total damage bonus, making them stronger on some weapons while weaker on other weapons (mostly outliers like Obsidian Pillar)

Some bosses that didn't have weaknesses, now do. As well, weakness ratios have been adjusted downwards (-50 to -40), which translates from 33% increased damage to 25% increased damage for elemental weaknesses.

For many bosses you'll see a difference of around 2-4 hits depending on if you're using a great weapon, a smaller weapon, and specific elemental damage or buffs. For other bosses that were more directly buffed like Carsejaw going from 1200 hp to 2200 hp, you'll see quite a few more hits required, but within reason.

As a sidenote: Alchemist is completely unchanged and Lamb lost 10% hp and was given bigger elemental weaknesses.

That makes more sense to me now. I'm someone that doesn't really focus on the numbers, so any percentage changes I never notice myself. I've always been able to do extremely well in the game with greatsword usage so I just run in hacking away. Maybe I'll have to tackle different builds to notice more changes. Either way even if I don't notice the changes, I do like that it gave me a reason to return to the game years later. Kind of hoping you guys will one day do a sequel to Salt and Sanctuary (since Salt and Sacrifice, with the gameplay changes and slight title change, seems like it's own game/series)

[Zeffi's Ghost]

Originally posted by Zephyr:

Quality weapons now 'work', requiring lower stats to hit softcap. Buffs are now 35% total damage bonus, making them stronger on some weapons while weaker on other weapons (mostly outliers like Obsidian Pillar)

Could you expand on that? I'm curious about the difference between the two prayers that add holy damage to your weapon, in particular, and also whether there's a difference between incantations and consumable items.

[Zephyr]

Originally posted by Zeffi:

Originally posted by Zephyr:

Quality weapons now 'work', requiring lower stats to hit softcap. Buffs are now 35% total damage bonus, making them stronger on some weapons while weaker on other weapons (mostly outliers like Obsidian Pillar)

Could you expand on that? I'm curious about the difference between the two prayers that add holy damage to your weapon, in particular, and also whether there's a difference between incantations and consumable items.

There's a data dump for most of the numbers in general:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GuCT_8wXVu2NXFNZKnLGB2vmbGSVEMcxqND0OgIJYP8/edit?usp=sharing

In the base game (classic) weapon buffs followed this pattern:
+100% base damage as Elemental (included upgrades but not stats)
+60% for lesser buffs
+100% for divine blessed weapon (greater buff)


In enhanced it scales on total damage instead.
+35% for items (pitchfire, imperial pitchfire)
+22.5% (45% at softcap) for lesser buffs (arcane weapon, blessed weapon)
+30% (60% at softcap) for Divine blessed weapon

Golden wine in Enhanced now follows similar rules as other item/creed buffs. So it gives +35% damage (all attack damage), it also gains the same 20% matching bonus (42% total) to purely physical weapons.

There are also weapons that previously had very strong upgrade scaling. To offset the changes to calculations, I created a new weapon flag "match all buffs". This flag allows a weapon to gain the matching bonus no matter what buff type is used.