Getting an Esper off the ground - what am I missing?

[Rittless]

I don't usually attempt multiple character builds on roguelikes so early in my game time, before I've fully begun to understand even just one build, but I couldn't resist trying out some of those mutations.

I've been having very smooth sailing with most of my builds, except for a pure Esper build. Maybe I'm being punished for not planning every single round a la NetHack but does anyone else find the game to be an absolute harridan in Red Rock? Excluding YASD runs by walking into Jilted Lovers with abilities on cooldown, I keep get slammed in two rounds by Horned Chameleons at the worst possible time - beguiled/prosetylized buddies all busy elsewhere, and no abilities ready to save my backside. Not even sprint because I already used that to create space earlier on. I've lost about 8 attempts so far, none getting through Red Rock.

Am I overestimating the abilities of Esper builds in that I shouldn't expect to complete Red Rock in one go? Should I be taking baby steps and multiple back-forth runs to really stock up on armor and ranged weapons as early as possible? Is Red Rock just a bad idea for the first target for an Esper? The difficulty I'm having with a build that doesn't have either strength, dexterity or toughness to rely on during melee fights is making me think I'm missing something fundamental. Maybe I'm just going far too fast.

I never realised how much my traditional game plan for a primary-magic-user relies on a self-healing spell...

[Urumi]

Also be careful if you take Space-Time vortex. It's a great way of getting rid of impossible threats, walls. and of escaping, but it's a real nuisance if your Evil Twin or clones cast it, especially if you have a companion who is carrying all of your stuff, or you spawn next to a chrome pyramid.

[inanity]

Originally posted by folzfodefelz:

Also be careful if you take Space-Time vortex [.....]

Also, be careful if you try to play this game.

[Aquillion]

I honestly recommend using the mod to disable Psychic Glimmer, at least until / unless it gets rebalanced or redesigned. If you don't disable it, high-level Espers get attacked everywhere in a way that feels both unfun and fairly half-baked.

That feature should not have been rolled out in its current state.

[Fenix-Venix]

Originally posted by folzfodefelz:

Space-Time vortex.

Once I used it, and was teleported to the Tomb of the Eaters... survived 10 turns after that I guess.

[Alugere]

Originally posted by Aquillion:

...

That feature should not have been rolled out in its current state.

I mean, the game is not only in early access, but the devs are also still focusing more on fleshing out all the planned content before they start doing balance passes.

To be fully honest, I think the only things they need to fix the glimmer are make the assassins drop loot more than once in a blue moon, and buff the xp that ptoh's minions give (as they are more difficult than many equal level threats, but never give more than 10xp)

[Da Huntress]

I am finding mental mirror does not block anything 80% of the time. And it's not because it's bouncing off of somebody with a higher mirror stat. It's just not triggering for several mutations.

[wehttam449]

Originally posted by Dallas:

I am finding mental mirror does not block anything 80% of the time. And it's not because it's bouncing off of somebody with a higher mirror stat. It's just not triggering for several mutations.

That mutation has been known to be glitchy, but as far as I know there are a limited number of mutations it works on. teleport, confusion, and sunder mind are the only ones that come to mind off the top of my head. Mind you, fending off those last two are reason enough in and of themselves to invest in the mutation. It's one of the mental mutations I take even on largely physical mutant runs.

Come to think of it there's not really a good reason it doesn't work against syphon vim, and theoretically it should work against beguile and domination (if NPCs ever used those). I can see how you might argue that it should work against pyro/cryokinesis, but I'm inclined to think that it shouldn't.

[Da Huntress]

Originally posted by wehttam449:

Originally posted by Dallas:

I am finding mental mirror does not block anything 80% of the time. And it's not because it's bouncing off of somebody with a higher mirror stat. It's just not triggering for several mutations.

That mutation has been known to be glitchy, but as far as I know there are a limited number of mutations it works on. teleport, confusion, and sunder mind are the only ones that come to mind off the top of my head. Mind you, fending off those last two are reason enough in and of themselves to invest in the mutation. It's one of the mental mutations I take even on largely physical mutant runs.

Come to think of it there's not really a good reason it doesn't work against syphon vim, and theoretically it should work against beguile and domination (if NPCs ever used those). I can see how you might argue that it should work against pyro/cryokinesis, but I'm inclined to think that it shouldn't.

Syphon Vim has been destroying me even if I run off screen with mind mirror, which seems a little silly. Particularly when I enter a screen, and people I can't see hit me with it. Which implies they just happened to have clairvoyance up where I was when I entered the screen.

[wehttam449]

That's peculiar, because syphon vim is a contact mutation, not ranged.

[Da Huntress]

Originally posted by wehttam449:

That's peculiar, because syphon vim is a contact mutation, not ranged.

Maybe I'm taking DOT from something else? I'm not on fire.

[wehttam449]

Originally posted by Dallas:

Originally posted by wehttam449:

That's peculiar, because syphon vim is a contact mutation, not ranged.

Maybe I'm taking DOT from something else? I'm not on fire.

The damage you take from syphon vim reads as "you've taken [damage] from life drain". I've never experienced this kind of thing before- but on the other hand I play low-ego hybrid mutants almost exclusively. I've gotten a psychic glimmer once after I bought a new mental mutation in-game, but I've never had a serious run where I was attacked by extra-dimensional enemies that could actually threaten me. Maybe you ran into enough espers that they were able to break your mental mirror?

that's assuming there weren't any enemies that could've hit you with syphon vim. There was an update some time ago that made it possible for enemies to attack you from a different screen, so long as they were immediately adjacent to the screen you're on. You might just be taking melee damage from enemies on the screen you're adjacent to.

[Shadowdweller]

Yeah, and naturally the Syphon Vim user only needs to be adjacent to initiate the power. It continues affecting you once it's been active.