Act 4

[Jotun]

I am that close to just give up on this game. It has been a very frustrating experience so far, full of BS and double dose of cheese (which I don't particularly like, I shouldn't have to cheese 50% of encounters to win). One moment you roll on the game, the other you get party wiped in one hit by a random murder hobo.

I just arrived in act 4 (Arx) at level 17, soon level 18 (and yes I have done most quests, not all, not "in the most stupid min/max way possible to maximize XP" because it's supposed to be a cRPG, not some hack'n'slash) and I basically have no where to go.

All encounters from there on feel nearly impossible. No merchant to buy better equipment, no way to get 120k XP to gain the next level, I am just stuck. Is there a chance I just missed something or am I condemned to just reload to act 3 to somehow get more XP (which I'd rather not do, I'm not even sure where my last save in Act 3 was).

[Yojo0o]

You can still return to the Lady Vengeance inside the Hall of Echoes with your Hall of Echoes waypoint. Any merchant buddies you've convinced to stick with you are still there, with refreshing stocks as usual.

Where exactly are you in Act 4? Have you made it inside Arx itself, or are you struggling to make it through? There are several level 18-ish encounters outside of Arx that are very doable at level 17. Levels matter a lot less in Act 4 than in previous acts, though 17 is still on the low side to have entered Act 4.

Act 4 is certainly the least forgiving of the acts in terms of build optimization, and most trouble in that act stems from build problems. What difficulty are you on? Can you give us some specific details regarding your party build?

[Jotun]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

You can still return to the Lady Vengeance inside the Hall of Echoes with your Hall of Echoes waypoint. Any merchant buddies you've convinced to stick with you are still there, with refreshing stocks as usual.

I have had one merchant for the whole game in the lady vengeance and that's Tarquin... which says he'll get back to the Lady Vengeance but somehow doesn't and stays outside.

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Where exactly are you in Act 4? Have you made it inside Arx itself, or are you struggling to make it through? There are several level 18-ish encounters outside of Arx that are very doable at level 17. Levels matter a lot less in Act 4 than in previous acts, though 17 is still on the low side to have entered Act 4.

Act 4 is certainly the least forgiving of the acts in terms of build optimization, and most trouble in that act stems from build problems. What difficulty are you on? Can you give us some specific details regarding your party build?

No no. I'm stuck at the bridge fight. Probably the worst fight have had so far. Even Alice Aliceon wasn't so BS. There is a reason why almost no game has enemy reinforcements AND them acting immediately after appearing.

I'm playing in classic and will not lower the difficulty.

The party is:

-Custom made char hydro/aero
-TRP two handed warrior (with a couple levels of pyro and polymorph for utility)
-Fane Pyro/Geo/Necro
- Sebille rogue/poly (for skin graft to refresh flesh sacrifice and adrenaline on first turn).

I had no issue whatsoever on the Nameless island. Now somehow I can't burst enemies enough. My strategy was usually to burst an enemy week to physical attacks with TRP and Sebille while the two mages where decreasing magic armor of other targets and CCing them.

Edit: both mages and Sebille have of course a few level in huntsman for tactical retreat and first aid.

[Yojo0o]

That's too bad regarding the Lady Vengeance, there are at least two good merchants in act 2 that you missed who could join the crew. Tarquin should still be able to be traded with even if he hasn't returned to the Lady Vengeance, I suspect that doesn't trigger until you've entered Arx.

The bridge fight can be pretty difficult. Your main character can do a lot to stop the incoming bomber-type enemies with an early Thunderstorm over the bulk of the battlefield. If you keep all of your guys up on the eastern side of the bridge, that'll put a good chunk of distance between them and the spawning voidwoken.

Not a fan of the Huntsman investment on your characters. Tactical Retreat is almost certainly the best jump skill in the game, but it alone is not worth a two-point investment into Huntsman, and First Aid is very weak (like all healing spells). I'd much prefer seeing those two points invested into Warfare instead. Phoenix Dive is a perfectly serviceable alternative to Tactical Retreat, and with 1-2 points you unlock the Executioner talent which drastically increases your available AP. Sebille should have maxed warfare anyway to help scale her physical damage.

I'd consider shifting your polymorph utility over to your main character, though keeping stuff like Tentacle Lash is certainly fine. Skin Graft and Apotheosis are insanely good for mage-types at this stage in the game.

Regarding Fane, necromancy direct damage scales with warfare, making it difficult to use properly alongside elemental spells. Since you're looking at a 2/2 physical/magical damage split in this party, I'd suggest minimizing his necromancy investment and making sure to max out pyro and/or geo instead. Those 3-cost source spells can utterly break the game in your favor at this stage.

If you haven't already done so, there are several weaker fights around the Arx outskirts that might get you that level-up. One on a ledge near the Lady Vengeance is a level 20 encounter, but other than that, everything outside of Arx should be doable at level 17.

[Jotun]

Changing huntsman to warfare on Fane does indeed make sense... too bad I can't currently buy the skills.

Skin graft on main character sounds good but, again don't have the skills. Apotheosis might be a bit too much of an investment though. Having chicken claw on two physical characters is super valuable though so I'll definitely keep Sebille and TRP with 2-3 polymorph levels.

Just looked at the merchants and... I have Almira but I don't think she's selling anything and Gareth didn't come back after getting rid of someone in act 3.

Another issue is that Fane is at 0 source point and I haven't really found anyway to recover these for now.

The deathfog and harbour encounters are a nope (I haven't tried the harbour one very much) and the demons possessing the little girl is also extremely difficult. I can CC them a bit but I simply can't damage them enough. Since they are healed by fire Fane is useless and my main character ends up muted. Still sounds doable but a very annoying fight that could become easy with new weapons for the physical guys.
The undead in the ruins use pyroclastic explosions and destroy half of my team in 3 seconds (it's a pattern in this game and I hate it, Alice Aleceon did this, the source titan did it, it's utter BS and absolutely not fun). One solution could be to drink potions before triggering the fight (but then again, I have no clue if it's worth it: these are random enemies, i don't know how strong they are, why they're there, what finishing this fight will give me loot wise etc... as a GM that sounds like a poorly designed encounter that makes no sense).

Edit: regarding Fane, I usually use him as a "support" for the physical guys with necro spell, making sure to burst through physical armors. Otherwise, if the physical team has everything under control, I CC enemies with worm tremor + sadist, implement and dealing damage with pyro. The issue is that, like the demon possessing the silent girl, many enemies are healed by fire or earth or resisting them a lot. In such situations Necro is useful.

Edit2: and yes, Sebille has a fair bit of Warfare (5 or 6 I think). Brought her up to 5 in scoundrel for mortal blow but I have never used the skill so maybe I don't need it and 3 is enough.

[Yojo0o]

Almira most certainly does have a huge stock, rivaling Tarquin's. I actually kinda forgot that Gareth also has a stock, I was thinking of the press-ganged fletcher that you can rescue from the Lone Wolf camp in act 2. Almira is the big one, though, she's got tons of gear and skill books.

Unless Fane somehow didn't get Source Vampirism in act 2, I'm sure there are dead bodies to eat somewhere... Even if you can't get him to full source, your main character should still be able to Thunderstorm the ♥♥♥♥ out of those bridge Voidwoken. Pretty sure Almira sells the book if you don't already know the spell.

The Harbor fight isn't actually as hard as it looks, you might consider trying it again. You can treat the fight like less of a give-and-take brawl and more of a puzzle, keeping distance and chipping away.

Generally speaking, power levels are so high in act 4 that trading blows is always going to be dangerous, so if you haven't already, consider diverting all your character skills and stats into offensive stats and initiative. That pyroclastic eruption mage won't do ♥♥♥♥ if he's stunned turn 1.

[MerlinTheGameWizard]

I also hate to say this, but instead of giving up, remember these games are built around playing through them again in different ways as you learn more and more. I don't know how many runs you have done, but maybe running through the game again with newfound knowledge will help break through that wall.
(edit: Scratch what I say, sounds like you broke through the wall. Hell yeah!)

[Jotun]

Yes I'm realizing that and that's why I'm starting to invest more and more into wits. It might have to remove some memory points and convert them to wits at some point (all my character are currently sitting at around 20 wits).

I managed the fight thanks to Thunderstorn and Pyroclastic Eruption, it proved very effective indeed! Just 2 points in Warfare for Fane was also good and substantially increased the damages on mosquito swarm and infect (I use these a lot to burst physical armor on turn 1 if TRP and Sebille didn't quite manage).

I also managed to win the fight against the soul bonded party in the ruins near the bridge (the guys with animals), which brought me to level 18 before the bridge fight (18 was actually an important level because you get one more talent).

I finally accessed the city and might give the harbor fight a shot now, thanks!

[Chaoslink]

Yeah, the game’s difficulty is like 90% build related. If you’re struggling, taking a look at your builds and trying to mix things around or invest differently can help a ton.

For instance, is Warfare max on your rogue? If not, finding a way to get that would make a world of difference. Warfare scales physical damage more than any other stat investment, with the biggest impacts in the late game. Did you know that in addition to affecting your base damage like your attributes do, each point in Warfare also is effectively adding one more attribute point per 20 you have? So a Warfare of 10 and a finesse of 40 is like having 70 finesse. It’s that significant. This goes for all physical damage builds.