[Spoiler] Tips for certain lategame challenge?

[Elgareth]

First up a little anti-spoiler text, please ignore.

I am currently in the run I'm asking about (this is still just anti-spoiler nonsense talk :D ), and I'm a bit stuck for about 5 hours now, to a point where I don't know if it'll even work in the way I imagine it, so maybe someone already finished it and can give me some tips.

Alright, so here goes the spoiler:
I'm currently in the universal challenge, after having finished the first three challenges. Since this one doesn't say it's hard/very hard, I assume it's supposed to be easier than those other two. Though I might be wrong, and it's supposed to be even harder as some sort of "final challenge", but that doesn't make much sense to me if it unlocks after 3 completed challenges, not all completed challenges.
The universal challenge means I can't debuff the enemy, and can't buff myself. No debuffs also mean no stuns, no poison, no paralyze.
No buffs also mean no time contraction, no potions apart from healing items, no revive potion, less mana, spell attack power, catalyst power, essence amount etc. etc.

So, I'm currently stuck at Lytha in the Prison. I went with Earth/Water Battlemage (Battlemage was probably a useless choice, but without Buffs/Debuffs I figured I could use all the Def I can get), because I don't have them on lvl 80 primary yet.
Up until now it was relatively smooth sailing by having a Rock Golem tank for me with Cocooning Ring, as the Familiar Buffs do still work.
However, Kill Speed is slow, and Lytha kills me and my Golem after I get her to half health with her Wide Doom, Wide Slice combo. Sometimes she also kills the Golem with Blood Attacks (which is weird, as it takes ~1-40 damage otherwise).
Now I've tried going for strong physical attack and either dodge/armor, but without any buffs it's all FAR too weak, doesn't make a dent to her, and she still hits me and kills me in a few hits.
So I went with Holy Boost for my Attack Spells, Tamers Wand, Cocoon Ring, various robes/accesories otherwise, and full familiar treats as pouch items, as anything else doesn't work anyway.

Element levels are ~62 with even spread, and have ~5 researchers per, doesn't get higher as essences are basically maxed out without divine bonuses.

I don't see a way to beat her in any sane timeframe, focusing all researchers on holy to get to divine tier by transmuting divine shards would require level 72 holy, which would probably take weeks (no time contraction possible, experience catalysts much weaker).

My current plan is keeping the researchers spread over night and see if anything meaningful happens...
But I dunno, should I do the other two challenges first for their bonuses? Or level all elements to 80 primary first to get the XP headstart? I have completed ending 1 and 2 so far, so there will happen something after Lytha, before entering the divine realm I think, but don't know what yet, but that doesn't help me in my current run anyway, as I need to beat Lytha for that.
Maybe ending 3 gives me some sort of bonus for the universal run, and universal should really be the last thing you do in the game?

[Whey2Shredded]

It isn't labeled "hard" because the goal isn't to beat the main game end boss. You'll know why when you get there. It's still the challenge best done last because the reward from finishing it isn't useful whereas the hard challenges has very useful bonuses

That said, you probably have to scrap your run. Doesn't this boss also have a full heal and phase 2? I agree, you should just try the other challenges first. You screwed it up by picking battlemage (least useful class) on a challenge without buffs and then relying on a pet

Do Primary first. It's very hard, but there's a walkthrough of it in the guides section which makes it extremely easy. The 4th challenge might be hard without high starting levels though

[Elgareth]

Originally posted by Whey2Shredded:

That said, you probably have to scrap your run. Doesn't this boss also have a full heal and phase 2? I agree, you should just try the other challenges first. You screwed it up by picking battlemage (least useful class) on a challenge without buffs and then relying on a pet

Mhmkay. Yeah, Phase 1 is easy, no damage taken, then she full heals. But I guess her Attack stat then gets upped so much that the Golem can't tank anymore :-|
But I don't think Battlemage is the least useful class in the challenge. Spellslinger for example is even more useless, ritualist probably as well, since you only have ~10 corruption points.
Which class/elements would you suggest? I still think going pet-heavy makes sense, as you can buff it, and with those buffs their stats are better than your own. So maybe Breeder? Or ritualist for better Necromancy ritual?

[menz]

first of all beat all other challenges, they will buff you. also if you missed storylines, do them =) i've made it via space + death ritualist collapse soul and big bang will nuke everyone. don't forget to differ syncro for grind and for boss battles

[Whey2Shredded]

Originally posted by Elgareth:

Originally posted by Whey2Shredded:

That said, you probably have to scrap your run. Doesn't this boss also have a full heal and phase 2? I agree, you should just try the other challenges first. You screwed it up by picking battlemage (least useful class) on a challenge without buffs and then relying on a pet

Mhmkay. Yeah, Phase 1 is easy, no damage taken, then she full heals. But I guess her Attack stat then gets upped so much that the Golem can't tank anymore :-|
But I don't think Battlemage is the least useful class in the challenge. Spellslinger for example is even more useless, ritualist probably as well, since you only have ~10 corruption points.
Which class/elements would you suggest? I still think going pet-heavy makes sense, as you can buff it, and with those buffs their stats are better than your own. So maybe Breeder? Or ritualist for better Necromancy ritual?

I went Spellslinger Time/Death, which operates under the same concept as Space/Death. It allows quick access to the OP ritual, study accessories, but also so Delayed Bash can benefit from the weapon slot. With proper gear and qualities, it can do similar, if not, better numbers than Big Bang while being easily accessible (Big Bang is lvl70), lower cooldown (4s), easier to cast, low mana, and doesn't depend on endgame items which are harder to craft, have high lvl requirements, and harder to get high quality which is hard enough as is with low corruption

[Elgareth]

Alright, thanks for the Info :-)
If the Dev happens to read this, maybe add some "This is meant as the final challenge, it is highly recommended to do finish all other challenges first." if that's the case. As said, it threw me off that the remaining two challenges had a "This is hard" tip, but this one didn't, so I thought the other two are kind of optional and this one is the expected continuation after doing the easier three.

[aircable]

Originally posted by Whey2Shredded:

Originally posted by Elgareth:

Mhmkay. Yeah, Phase 1 is easy, no damage taken, then she full heals. But I guess her Attack stat then gets upped so much that the Golem can't tank anymore :-|
But I don't think Battlemage is the least useful class in the challenge. Spellslinger for example is even more useless, ritualist probably as well, since you only have ~10 corruption points.
Which class/elements would you suggest? I still think going pet-heavy makes sense, as you can buff it, and with those buffs their stats are better than your own. So maybe Breeder? Or ritualist for better Necromancy ritual?

I went Spellslinger Time/Death, which operates under the same concept as Space/Death. It allows quick access to the OP ritual, study accessories, but also so Delayed Bash can benefit from the weapon slot. With proper gear and qualities, it can do similar, if not, better numbers than Big Bang while being easily accessible (Big Bang is lvl70), lower cooldown (4s), easier to cast, low mana, and doesn't depend on endgame items which are harder to craft, have high lvl requirements, and harder to get high quality which is hard enough as is with low corruption

Delayed bash does not work for me, i'm pretty sure it's considered a debuff.

[P51mus]

I tried delayed bash a few times in a normal run, and it only does damage when the debuff it puts on the enemy wears off. Also if you use delayed bash again before it does damage, it just refreshes the timer on the debuff so it takes longer to deal damage (and when it wears off it only deals damage once, no matter how many delayed bashes you cast).

[Whey2Shredded]

Originally posted by Wood 5:

Originally posted by Whey2Shredded:

I went Spellslinger Time/Death, which operates under the same concept as Space/Death. It allows quick access to the OP ritual, study accessories, but also so Delayed Bash can benefit from the weapon slot. With proper gear and qualities, it can do similar, if not, better numbers than Big Bang while being easily accessible (Big Bang is lvl70), lower cooldown (4s), easier to cast, low mana, and doesn't depend on endgame items which are harder to craft, have high lvl requirements, and harder to get high quality which is hard enough as is with low corruption

Delayed bash does not work for me, i'm pretty sure it's considered a debuff.

You're right. I mixed up this and primary when he asked about primary elements. Delayed bash isn't useful for the challenge portion of the run. Space/Death is still better so you immediately get access to Big Bang, and study for Bountiful. Then pivot strategies for the last boss

On my run, Rage Rush handled early game encounters and with the freedom to cast other elements, it wasn't difficult to deal with the other bosses. The bosses that roadblocked me were handled by sitting back, studying all elements to 72, and grinding for quality equipment

Originally posted by P51mus:

I tried delayed bash a few times in a normal run, and it only does damage when the debuff it puts on the enemy wears off. Also if you use delayed bash again before it does damage, it just refreshes the timer on the debuff so it takes longer to deal damage (and when it wears off it only deals damage once, no matter how many delayed bashes you cast).

Then don't use it before the debuff goes off. You can still permacast it if you spellcraft Fire Jewel and Prism (the ideal setup anyway). If you Spellcraft the best damage options to Big Bang, you can't even cast it unless you get an endgame Mind or Water accessory. Delayed bash is almost double the damage per cast of BB (not even counting that it will go off at least twice in the time for BB to come back up), significantly easier to grind for, and much more accessible equipment. The only caveat is (besides status immune bosses) that it must be your primary element otherwise its damage will be significantly less

These were my final numbers before I retired on this challenge:

https://i.imgur.com/p5Vkak1.png

[Elgareth]

Hm. I guess I'm too uncreative for the harder challenges. Primary Challenge worked great with Space/Death, but now I'm kind of stuck in the unskilled challenge :-|

And once again, I don't really see a way to beat Satell without excessive gear grinding. In a way it's even worse than the universal challenge, as all the buffs are way too weak to really do anything against him. I can't get high enough dodge, neither armor to outlast him, nuking him is out of the question with such low powered spells, and physically attacking him takes too long. The other bosses worked through sheer armor and crit immunity, but he uses Smite which ignores armor. And since my damage is so low, he grinds through healing/revive pots before I even get him to 3/4 health so far (with divine armor/crusader shield/divine spear, or ninja armor, ethereal boots/cloak).
Petrify/Poison isn't possible either as the durations are too short.
I don't know what unlocks I'm even looking for, and studying won't improve the spells. So is it a matter of grinding evasion gear so high that you reach 100% dodge even without high level blur etc.?

I haven't found any guides/hints for the unskilled challenge yet, so any heads up would be appreciated :-)

[Whey2Shredded]

That one doesn't require any special planning. I went Holy specifically for primary protection, that with status shield is reliable damage reduction. +5 expert's pajamas, active use of CC and defensives, and bruteforced it. Several tries, and extremely close, but doable. Consider using res pots, buffs like imbue flame/shield/monstrous if you don't already, and last burst. The latter clinched it for me

[Elgareth]

Originally posted by Whey2Shredded:

That one doesn't require any special planning. I went Holy specifically for primary protection, that with status shield is reliable damage reduction. +5 expert's pajamas, active use of CC and defensives, and bruteforced it. Several tries, and extremely close, but doable. Consider using res pots, buffs like imbue flame/shield/monstrous if you don't already, and last burst. The latter clinched it for me

Huh. I dunno if it came in the patch or I just never noticed it before, but Holy+Earth gives massive Petrified Duration via Synchro (the typical 2x3 with holy/earth gives 377% O_O). So, guess who is currently perma-petrified until he'll get a poison explosion in his face in about 20 minutes or so :-D
But thanks for the tip, sounds very clunky (and uncomfortable for me), I rely on automated fights, I don't have the speed and accuracy with the mouse. And doing all that with Time Dilation sounds like I'd have to actively sit there for way too long :D

[Georgie]

I used Firestorm+ with level 70 fire for this, with a fire wand, elite student uniform, and synergizer - I think it was hitting for 700k in the end

[Mercurial]

The advice in this thread is kind of dumpy.

The last three challenges are all difficult, slow challenges, unlike the first three challenges.

You don't need to do unskilled/primary to beat universal. In fact, it's probably best to skip unskilled/primary, they're awful.

For universal, the simplest method is to just make sure you have all the storylines, pilgrimages, and max MPL on all schools. For the run itself, I found the easiest method is to focus on DEF. Doing the challenge in 5 hours your first time would be ambitious, it's completely fine to let the game idle while transmuting better armor.

Lyth is the hard part of the run. Do the fight in slow mo, cycle your familiar in and out to soak damage. Holy Primary allows you to spam Holy spellcraft and manually activate spells. Earth and Life are also good choices, for higher ranks and unlocks in defensive schools.

At a certain Def+Healing threshold, you can definitely stabilize after the phase change and slow-walk the rest of the fight.

[Wizrad]

Originally posted by Whey2Shredded:

Originally posted by Elgareth:

Mhmkay. Yeah, Phase 1 is easy, no damage taken, then she full heals. But I guess her Attack stat then gets upped so much that the Golem can't tank anymore :-|
But I don't think Battlemage is the least useful class in the challenge. Spellslinger for example is even more useless, ritualist probably as well, since you only have ~10 corruption points.
Which class/elements would you suggest? I still think going pet-heavy makes sense, as you can buff it, and with those buffs their stats are better than your own. So maybe Breeder? Or ritualist for better Necromancy ritual?

I went Spellslinger Time/Death, which operates under the same concept as Space/Death. It allows quick access to the OP ritual, study accessories, but also so Delayed Bash can benefit from the weapon slot. With proper gear and qualities, it can do similar, if not, better numbers than Big Bang while being easily accessible (Big Bang is lvl70), lower cooldown (4s), easier to cast, low mana, and doesn't depend on endgame items which are harder to craft, have high lvl requirements, and harder to get high quality which is hard enough as is with low corruption

Delayed bash counts as a debuff, and doesn't work in universal challenge though?

[Wizrad]

Originally posted by Mercurial:

The advice in this thread is kind of dumpy.

The last three challenges are all difficult, slow challenges, unlike the first three challenges.

You don't need to do unskilled/primary to beat universal. In fact, it's probably best to skip unskilled/primary, they're awful.

For universal, the simplest method is to just make sure you have all the storylines, pilgrimages, and max MPL on all schools. For the run itself, I found the easiest method is to focus on DEF. Doing the challenge in 5 hours your first time would be ambitious, it's completely fine to let the game idle while transmuting better armor.

Lyth is the hard part of the run. Do the fight in slow mo, cycle your familiar in and out to soak damage. Holy Primary allows you to spam Holy spellcraft and manually activate spells. Earth and Life are also good choices, for higher ranks and unlocks in defensive schools.

At a certain Def+Healing threshold, you can definitely stabilize after the phase change and slow-walk the rest of the fight.

You can't slow-mo in universal, it's considered a buff