Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
1 
Report this post
I had to restart many, many times before I beat the Spring Games. There are probably 20 or 30 saves in between Chapter 2 and 3/4 on my channel because I had to keep trying a path to victory after I was crushed so mercilessly in Chapter 2.
I found a few builds that really helped me stand a chance in the Spring Games, even without a level 20+ gladiator on my team:
A Two-Handed weapon user (I like the Great Axe) trained in Berserker and Fighter skills. Whirldwind Attack and Execute will go a long way to bringing down enemies quickly.
A Polearm user with the Charge attack from the Polearm weapon tree. The displacement this skill provides by moving both one of your gladiators and one or more of their gladiators out of position is hugely valuable. It can be the difference between your team dying to a Butcher or not.
A Battlemonk with the Leap Attack and Chi Shield skills. The Leap Attack provides big damage and potentially a stun (although not often). The Chi Shield keeps you alive in case the leap puts you in the middle of a bad situation.
I also really like Dual Wielding with 2 spears or 2 heavy spears (Thank you, TrueSpirit). Rogue skills for Crit and extra damage to opponents who don't target you, weapon skills for Dual Wield and Whirlwind, Fighter skills for increased range and a second Whirlwind attack... You can't go wrong!
If you begin the game with Magic, Air Magic combined with a sword or axe user (1H, 2H, or Dual) works really really well. The 15% penetration bonus is HUGE.
Have a great day!
Do you have any tips other than raid caravans? I struggle with keeping money coming in, especially when I need to fill posts like the cook in order to help with morale.
Right - you need at least 300 influence to be invited to the Spring Games as described in the quest log (top far right button when you are in your Ludus). In Chapter 2, I failed to achieve this and not only was I not invited to the Spring Games, they told me I suck and better luck next time. Your game ends there, you cannot continue from that point.
How you manage your money depends greatly on your chosen difficulty or custom settings. On Veteran difficulty, I am finding success in the early game by ensuring I have no more than 4 people on my team to start out. I make sure to fire the guard I begin with because that 1 Silver per turn adds up quickly and you really need to hold onto it. Normally, I would torture all of my people to get them to Obedience 8 before I allow them to train, but lately I am finding success in letting one of the four slaves remain at Obedience 2 so he or she will escape and then I can go hunt them down, bringing them back as well as somebody who is level 7+.
Also, you need only 2 people to complete these types of missions; a great setup would be somebody with the Commander class heal skill so you can keep it moving during the mission, and anybody else. One of these two should have a bow, either as their main weapon OR as a secondary weapon that you use to pull enemies back towards you one-at-a-time. There is a command for switching weapons on your action bar for when they are close. Using Sneak (Z on your keyboard) will also reveal enemy detection ranges so you know when they can or can't aggro onto you.
If your gladiators escape, you can go out and capture them plus a buddy BEFORE Abu approaches you about Black Market missions. In other words, you can use early escapes to your advantage. If you bring your captured party members onboard to fight for you, that's great - otherwise, they are still worth good money. And because Escaped Gladiator slave hunts produce higher level enemies than Normal slave hunts, you can actually get a full team of level 25s prior to the Spring Games.
If you play with Magic enabled at the start, you can purchase Death Immunity, Experience, and Injury Killer potions from the shop for very cheap. That's a quick way to get your Gladiators some levels and thus fighting skills to go out and earn you money.
Speaking of which, it depends again on the difficulty you play on, but it's smart to examine the Power rating of the enemies available to fight to you on a given turn. You may see a 1v1 against a level 4 opponent and think your level 7 can take them on until the enemy walks into the arena wearing full blue-quality equipment. You can get a good idea of their equipment ahead of time by examining that power rating. As far as I can tell, about 130ish Power and below is slave gear; 130-200 is normal quality; 200 is greens; high 200s and 300s are blues; high 300s and 400s are epics.
Furthermore, the attribute bonuses given to the enemies on higher difficulties combined with the increased chance for injury or death means your early game fights are even more risky and may not be worth it unless you are comfortable with the level of risk and reward. Even still, you must take risks because you won't get to 300 favor by only running Caravan or other black market missions. And so that's why I recommend dispatching to Beast fights whenever possible in the early game (I think these are the easiest and greatest chance to succeed, but ONLY if you dispatch, NOT if you attend the games). Once you've leveled sufficiently to have crowd control and displacement abilities (around level 7 or 8), your chances of victory can go up. If you're using Magic, your chances can go up significantly.
The hardest part about Blackthorn Arena is knowing when it's best to take action and when you need to simply progress the timeline. We may feel compelled to take risks early and end up losing our gladiators, our source of income, and that can end the game. It's better (in my opinion) to play it safe, sit on your money until the Black Market missions provide you a consistent income stream, and then emerge to trounce your enemies with renewed strength. Their advantages at the very start of the game are too much to overcome, so play it cool and strike when you can. Patience is a virtue after all.
Finally, I think it's fine to have one of your early gladiators be an alchemist but I wouldn't focus on that or invest much into it before the Spring Games. The recipe research cost of 10s is simply too high in the early game for you to sustain, and the chances of getting the recipe you want are too small. Instead, I recommend checking the alchemist shop at the Market every 4-5 turns to see if they are selling the recipe you want. Your gladiators will be pissed, yes, but that is a sacrifice you need to be willing to make. Some luxuries must be given up during hard times and you definitely start in hard times on some difficulties. They will become happy when you progress into the game and can send them out to fight more often than is good for their health. At that point, they will be begging you to stay home!
Hope this helps!
I am only playing on normal, but being able to go out and capture higher level slaves was a good shout, I can just sell them and get a piece of expensive gear! I am just starting your chapter 4 series now. It's been a good watch!