Game too hard?

[Niko]

Can't get past the 9th level on Nightmare. The ranged characters kill me every time.

And that's if I get there, it's hit and miss getting that far which means collecting enough gold to do the upgrades is very slow going.

Am I totally missing something? Or is the game designed for a huge amount of grinding?

(It's completely possible that I'm terrible at the game, but I would say that I do have experience with Desktop Dungeons and Dungelots!)

[天山泉水]

To upgrade the skills in the store.

[Moonbane]

Get an armor with counterattack, will destroy all the low hp wizards in just a few turns.

[Niko]

Upgrades in the skill store aren't that helpful though - a little extra life, a little extra gold, a little extra experience... that's it. And some upgrades are 500 or 750 gold.

@nefer thanks. Counterattack armor is smart. Will keep an eye out for it!

Anyway - larger point - I'm multiple hours in (5?) and haven't unlocked the second character.

[Niko]

Finally got to level 10 and received the wizard. Key was the armor with couterattack combo'd with an armor that healed me when I went to a new floor. I switched back and forth and got to 10 (then immediately died).

Two things:

1) Double wielding sucks
2) The gods are totally not worth it. Too much trade off.

[Moonbane]

You need to collect +hit items to make dual wield useful. Though +hit items only benefits your main weapon.

Most 2handers have a hefty -25 hit penalty But theres some 2h variants that only have a -15 penalty, easier to cover those with +hit.

God of War is a very good early god, but he may be a bit too punishing to take at the start of the game. But his +attack bonus is incredible, and its twice as good for a dual wielder as it increases your offhand damage by the same amount. GoW goes well with Guy as he is not terribly dependent on his class skill to perform. He also got a quite useful tattoo that gives imunity to weakness.

Goddess of Magic is pretty much tailored for Svafa, as the +elemental damage bonus shores up damage, and always keep a golden runestone for the +5 damage thunder blessing. Also her mana restoring tatoos are very powerful for a magic based char. Like GoW, I wouldnt take her at the start of the game due to the extra penalty. But the +3 added damage is pretty irelevant as long you keep your erosion levels under control.

God of Treasure gives you a damage penalty, but you will rake in the dough if you survive deeply long enough, doubly so on higher difficulties. Also, his third tatoo allows you to reach lvl 12!


But my favorite god however is God of Vengeance, a rare god found in arenas. But once unlocked, he can be taken at the start for no penalty, save a gold cost. Adds +20% attack, and you have to clear all monsters on a level to get a +50% max health heal. If you fail at killing all, you loose half of your current life. Works extremely well with Azar the cook, letting you easilly generate skyhigh amounts of life, due to nearly always ending a level at full health so you can rack up the heart increases.


But i agree that theres gods that sucks, like god of rock. Simply too weak.


Edit: Incase if it was unclear. Some gods have an extra penalty if taken in the statue room.

[MaxBedlam]

The game is definitely too hard. The main problem is that this game is a lot more about RNG then your skill and knowledge.

Almost all of my deaths so far were because of the RNG which really sucks and it's making me hate this game.

I sometimes die at first floor simply because of the RNG, it's retarded.

[Moonbane]

Be patient, grind gold and buy the passives and your performance will improve. Some of the later passives is REALLY good. God of treasure is a good pick for grinding gold, though youd want to swap to him if you see his statue appearing in a dungeon. If taken from the start, the goldcost takes about till lvl 6 to break even on, plus the -3 damage is murder on a beginning character.

I found it hard in the beginning too, but the clicky urge just kept me going and things got easier.

Discovering new gods can be quite the gamechanger. Goddess of Benevolence was my first major improvement, doubly so as she doesnt have a starting cost beside gold. Though she was blown out of the water by God of Vengeance. Take them asap when you see em, no matter what you are doing. Its a really, REALLY powerful god to know. Having only a gold cost as well. I made the mistake once, ignoring God of vengeance the first time i saw them, because I didnt want to drop my current god. I was o_O when I learnt just what he did. Yes, he is really -THAT- good. I think only God of Evil is better.

From my talks with the dev TheM, a god rebalancing patch may appear in october. My hope is that the ultra rare God of Evil gets a starting statue, preferably replacing God of Contracts, as he is utterly pointless to take from the beginning. No levels up with GoC, thusly no frequent heals in a pinch, as well you only get +4 to all stats due to the starting punishment. vs. +5 to all stats from finding him in a dungeon.

[MaxBedlam]

Having to grind for hours to get enough gold to buy upgrades just so you have any chance at getting far in the game is just terrible game design and I hate it with passion.

[Moonbane]

You are overreacting, the further you descend into a dungeon, the more gold you get when you croak, or finish by killing the boss. And if you play on a higher difficulty, or add a runeword, then you get a significant gold multiplier, even more so if you use god of treasure. A deep run even on normal, gives enough gold to buy more upgrades.

[Ａｎｏｎｅｍｅｓｉｓ]

I used the blue crystals that teleports a enemy to a revealed location...also found chaos mode to be easier then normal mode very strange.

[Moonbane]

i think chaos feels easier because it gives a lot more gold on normal. And you thusly have a lot more gold to spend on resources and arms. But yeah, the cube is a good way of dealing with runewizards or other ranged mobs.

Oh, nearly forgot! Infact if you get to such a tough level with ranged mobs, you can skip it! Either by having the drill to descend to the next level. Or if you are worshipping a god, you can pray to them to be taken to the next level. Theres a button for it above your portrait in the right side, it can be easilly missed. Only works if you are a believer. But it have a cost.

[MaxBedlam]

I am playing on Nightmare difficulty because I want to unlock other characters (I unlocked Svafa for now).

The only reason I managed to get to the 10th floor was because I kept getting lots of hearts and good items (both equipables and usables). And then a overlord monster appeared that had ranged attack and ability that makes his attack equal to my current HP so he 1-shot me (WTF!?).

If I don't get hearts and good loot drops then my run ends very quickly. The game is definitely almost completely based on RNG.

[Moonbane]

The reason for why God of Vengeance is so good, because once you kill all monsters on a lvl, you gain a 50% max health heal. Which is usually enough to bring you to full life. Which means if you save all hearts till all monsters is downed, its pure +health.

God of Vengeance pairs perfectly with Azar the Cook, whom is my most used character. His passive is +15% chance to spawn a heart upon monster kill, and enemies killed after being damaged by his Butcher ability which halves their attack and life, and having a further increased chance to spawn a heart upon kill.

Azar is unlocked by reaching dungeon level 15 on Chaos Difficulty with the runeword "Spell Breaker" active.

Frequently, with -zero- investment into stamina, Azar with God of Vengeance can reach 400+ health. Invest into stamina and play carefully, ive been able to cap out health to 999!


Yes, Overlord monsters with attack equal to health is deadly, yes, doubly so if ranged. Dont click villy nilly, when you reveal such a monster you always have a turn to react before they fire at you. A stun hammer or a freeze crystal will give you some breathing room. and have a teleport item to pull them to your position if you dont have a ranged weapon.

But if you have a ranged weapon, a powerful combination for a ranged overlord with skyhigh attack can be: incapacitate them. Fire once at them, then use a blood mask item. Insta kills a wounded monster on the screen, works on overlords too.

But if not ranged, a high attack overlord can usually be dealt easilly with a few whacks since they usually have low hp, and just needing to be incapacitated to be doable.

Oh, nearly forgot. A common item found is petrifying assault. It will petrify any mob, including overlords except endbosses. They will not give loot or exp and will remain on the map. Petrified mobs will not count for advancing God of Vengeance, so he will be angry and punish you, as you did not kill everything properly. Leaving a petrified body instead of a corpse.

Another option for ranged overlords is the throwing dagger. They are quite common too, and will instantly kill any ranged mob you target with it, you can pop ranged overlords with them.

[MaxBedlam]

Originally posted by Nefer:

The reason for why God of Vengeance is so good, because once you kill all monsters on a lvl, you gain a 50% max health heal. Which is usually enough to bring you to full life. Which means if you save all hearts till all monsters is downed, its pure +health.

I have never seen his statue appear. Does he only appear in late game floors?

Originally posted by Nefer:

Azar is unlocked by reaching dungeon level 15 on Chaos Difficulty with the runeword "Spell Breaker" active.

I always end up getting killed before reaching floor 6 in NIGHTMARE how the ♥♥♥♥ am I supposed to get to level 15 on CHAOS?

Originally posted by Nefer:

Oh, nearly forgot. A common item found is petrifying assault. It will petrify any mob, including overlords except endbosses.

Common? More like rare.

[Moonbane]

God of vengeance only appears rarely in arenas, aka sub dungeons. the 3 possible subdungeon only gods is: Contracts as the most common, followed by Vengeance and finally Evil as the rarest.

The throwing dagger is definitely more common than petrifying assault and will instagib any ranged monster, including overlords.

Finding the topside Goddess of Benevolence was a major push towards unlocking more stuff, before discovering God of Vengeance.

But you said you have unlocked Svafa, she goes really well with goddess of magic. And if you find the event that asks for a runestone sacrifice, choose a gold one, as you get +5 elemental damage from doing such. Svafa's ability is really good, polymorph both reduces the stats of monsters and strips them of all abilities. But does not work on overlords. Its an effective way to eliminate vampires, as well troublesome healers.

Plus the tatoos for goddess of magic is really good at empowering a caster playstyle.



Goddess of Magic, a powerful but poorly accepted god.

Worship Bonus: Elemental damage +3 but will suffer 3 more physical damage
Debuff: Max mana -1. Intellect -1 (if taken at the start of the game)
Cost money: 10% of current gold (minimum is 10 gold).
Punishment for Betrayal: Max mana - 3

Tattoos

Tattoo 1: Attacks have 5% chance to restore 1 mana. Rune: Copper #3
Tattoo 2: Restore 1 mana using skills. Rune: Copper #1, Silver #1
Tattoo 3: Revealing mist tiles has 10% to restore mana. Rune: Copper #2, Gold #3


Dont worry too much about the +3 damage taken, its effectively having a permanent 3+ corrosion stack on you, which is quite survivable. Corrosion starts to get dangerous at 15+.