Why is it so Imbalanced? (Rat Swarm)

[Sigma_Strain]

I up to level 14 and have upgraded most of my gear. I haven't had a lot of trouble with the quest bosses, but I'm still having trouble with a Rat Swarm. They have a ridiculous amount of defense. I'm getting annoyed by this. Is anyone else having trouble? Do you have any tips?

[Sven Goolie]

What class are you? My assassin killed a rat swarm without much issue at level 8. Take advantage of your skills, maybe change them up a bit. If you are using assassin, make sure to go Stealth and use your Strike abilities.

[Turian209]

I agree. Bought this game because of the sale and am hugely disappointed. The game is poorly balanced and to top it all off it's mostly all based off of luck.

[Acousticlimax]

I agree this game is heavy on the computer doing the cheat cheat.

[Sigma_Strain]

It's good to know that it's not just me. To answer your question, I'm playing as a Templar. I have defense wall, shield bash, reinforce, intimidate, and rush. I do agree that it's mostly based on luck, and there's a lot of cheating. The AI gets a lot of Four of a kind, and has a lot of cheap spells. I did update my abilities, so it's helping a bit.

[Jabberwocky]

The only bit I find annoying is that the AI knows which gems will drop in from offscreen so it can swap visible gems accordingly. It gets in a lot of Heroic Efforts that way. Other than that, I'd say rather than being unbalanced it forces you to actually use skill combos instead of just spamming one skill or weapon. For example, I play a Barbarian and Barbaric Roar takes care of high defenses nicely. Enrage and Backswing bring on the hurt.

[Dyer1981]

I do not experience the kind of AI cheating that people are brining up here. the "mostly based on luck" thing is wrong imo - it's luck what happens after you move, but you choose what to do and when. Just like a normal ARPG, you choose to attack but if you crit that is a matter of chance.

[Malorion]

I guarantee you the AI does not cheat. As Steve Fawkner, the guy behind Infinite Interactive, once said "it's actually a lot harder to make a cheating AI than just using random numbers. I'm lazy, so we used random numbers." Actually. a lot of work went in to try to swing things in the player's favour to make it more playable (you'll occasionally see the AI make some incredibly dumb moves - it balances out those "Doh! why did I do that?" moments :) In fact, you'll notice that some of the suggested moves are pretty poor choices and the enemy player would probably make much the same move if it were it's turn. The AI does *not* know what tiles are coming, they're raondomly generated on the fly as needed.

If you get a bad run of tiles, well, such is the nature of random numbers.

There's a lot of random generation in the game but the skill lies in what you do with what you're dealt. Once you get the hang of it, you can power through quite well. Pick a character, examine their strengths (and it'll probably take playing a few different characters to get a good grip on the differences between them and choosing a favourite) then play to those strengths and you'll have a much better time of it.

If you're level 14 and having constant trouble with a rat swarm, you probably haven't found the right strategy for that character yet (or maybe you haven't even looked for it). Just grabbing everything and in particular, always choosing newer spells to replace older ones isn't the best strategy and will probably land you in trouble.

Some quick tips: Look at the character you're playing, look at the spells they have available, what colours those spells use then play the boards with that in mind. Be prepared to ignore spells that force you to divert your preciously hoarded mana elsewhere. Each class tends to use one particular colour the most so focus predominantly on choosing spells with that particlular colour and then collecting that colour because that's what you'll use the most of, then collect the other supplementary colours depending on what spells you've chosen. Try not to spread yourself too thin. Don't choose a range of spells that mean you have to collect everything.

For example: For a barbarian, one strategy might be choose Pummel, Tribal Mark, Enrage, Tribal Ward and Skull Crusher. The Tribals don't use red but you won't use them too much and the others spells do use it so grab it whenever you can. Skull Crusher and Pummel are likely to be your main offensive spells but while you're collecting green for Skull Crusher, if you get the occasional blue or yellow, use the Tribals spells to build up your Skull Damage and Defense. And if you've got a fair bit of all of them, a couple of Enrages followed up by a Pummel can make for some decent damage. Notice that none use purple so you can ignore it except for getting extra moves or denying them to your enemy.

Denial can sometimes play a big part of your strategy. Is it better to get 3 blue that you're desparately trying to build up or should you take the 3 red that you can't do anything with but prevents your enemy from getting enough red mana that they'll be able to cast a debilitating spell next round?

When considering a move, think about what tiles are going to fall where and what danger that could land you in.

If there's two skulls next to each other in the top row, try to avoid making a move that'll disturb the tile on either side - sure, there's a chance you might drop another skull into just the right spot - but there's probably a greater chance that if it's going to drop a skull, it'll be in a position to guarantee it'll be your enemy's next move.

Always try and think a move or two ahead. You'll last much, much longer and suddenly find yourself defeating your enemies a lot more frequently.

Then try your hand at multiplayer. If you think the AI enemies are tough, wait'll you try another human who understands the strategies!

[Broso]

If the AI isn't cheating then how come it happens so often the computer gets SEVERAL 4-of-a-kinds in a row? Even on the lower difficulty settings. It is ridiculous. Tell me what you want but so far it just is not believable.

I have played my good share of games and this game here is not balanced properly. Being able to adjust to the poor balancing does not change that fact.

[Medea]

I spent ages trying to get past the rat swarm as a mage, then immediately succeeded with the templar. I find that more than other early game enemies they block everything, so players with low defense and HP have a tough time defeating them.

[Jabberwocky]

Anyone got a tip for Barbarian vs. Yeti? If the Yeti reaches 65 red it insta-kills, gathering blue heals it. At lvl 15 I'm too busy countering either to build up a decent offense. That way, either the Yeti whittles me down with its blue spells or when I get bold and neglect preventing it from getting red it sooner or later does its insta-kill thing. Although gathering red hurts it, Enrage is too random to build an offensive strategy on and it also requires blue gems healing the Yeti again. Is it just me or could this one use some nerfing?

[Drizzt]

Just keep trying different strategies, eventually one will work

[BrLars]

I agree. The stupid cockatrice keeps petrifying and using Gastly Shriek to reset the board and end up playing at least 7 rounds in a row. That's just f***** annoying .

[Jerry]

As Steve Fawkner, the lead designer and owner of the company has said, the AI does not cheat.
You think so because it's human to do so. When you get good combos and the right mana and win, you're like: "Yeah! I'm the best! I kick ass and take names!"
When the same happens to the AI though...:"OMG CHEATING ♥♥♥♥ AI!!"

I only play on Hard and I had major problems with the Goblin with Ratswarm when I played the Barbarian and Assassin.
He just had so much defense and gotted the right mana and I had to try a few times to get through.

When I played with the Templar though, quite easy. I outlasted him. Templars have so much defense and life so the goblin couldn't keep up.

Now I play with a Sorceror (which I think is easily the best character in the game) and I breezed through him. Actually I haven't had a challenge yet (only lvl 8 though).


As Malorion says, you need to understand your character. An Assassin plays radically differently from Barbarians and Templars.

The MAIN thing is: Find a synergy that you like and use it!

Barbarian: Skulldamage OR weapondamage

Sorceror: Manatonic and whatever with lots of Intelligence and the correct spells OR spellstaff with Agility and Strength.

Assassin: High Agility & Morale with the best nightblade you can find OR atleast one epic poison (or two) and focus on Strength (for red mana that ALL strikespells use!) and equal amount on manatypes (like 10 since its a breakpoint).


I think I'm gonna type a guide....

[Jxt09]

I have all my characters, no matter what class, use a poison dagger and get it upgraded as soon as possible. It may seem like a pidly bit of damage but over time it adds up. I've won many battles while my character was stunned but the enemy lost when the poison did it's thing during his turn.

[ShadowAngel]

I got the impression that some normal enemies, namely skeletons are more of a challenge than the bosses. I defeated all the bosses up to the Shadowbringer with absolutely no problem but before that i lost to a skeleton who had more Energy than the Shadowbringer and got incredibly lucky with some 4 Combinations. I just wonder why he had more Energy than the Boss...