Trying out the hard difficulty

[Ukasz]

I completed the game on Normal difficulty (though my characters didn't get upgraded, maybe because it was an old save). I found it difficult at first, but once my characters got upgraded, about second half of Act 2, it was pretty easy to stack enough debuffs so nothing was really a threat anymore.

Trying the hard mode now, and I feel it's a bit too much for me. The damage output of ranged enemies is really high, often I would come out of a fight with half of my previous health.

Just now 2 cutthroats in Act 2 sprinted across half the map to my knight, used "execute" twice and dealth 20 direct hp damage, killing him in first turn.

How do you find the difficulty here? Any tips?

[Faith]

So I'm just a community member who just made it the furthest I have in hard mode, just past the last battle on the second map. You may take or leave my tips as you wish.

I wasn't able to make any progress until I started using upgraded heroes that made it all the way through normal, because that little bit of extra HP I do believe makes a difference.

Also, I take a different route on the map if going the previous way killed me quickly, keeping heroic nodes and cities for healing along my path.

I also focus more on individual character builds, though I still keep the trio in mind, since I lose heroes along the way. I begin with heroes that start out with one good defensive ability, unless its Zahra, whose passive ability for healing almost can't be beat, and I definitely choose a defensive grail.

[Ukasz]

Thank you for the suggestions Faith! I kinda thought getting your characters killed midway just meant you're gonna lose anyway. Probably should try again, get the characters upgraded first.

[VivUs]

Originally posted by Faith:

I wasn't able to make any progress until I started using upgraded heroes that made it all the way through normal, because that little bit of extra HP I do believe makes a difference.

Which upgraded characters you mean ? Those who we unlock when one succeed à run ?
Are they an upgraded version of the first one ?
Thanks

[Faith]

When you succeed on a normal run you unlock some things and get a bit of an upgrade on the characters you started the run with. I'm not sure about what happens on the easier runs.

[VivUs]

Originally posted by Faith:

When you succeed on a normal run you unlock some things and get a bit of an upgrade on the characters you started the run with. I'm not sure about what happens on the easier runs.

Are they better ?

[Faith]

Well, you get to see the upgraded character title on the character description page of the journal, and that little bit of extra health definitely helps on hard mode at the start. In fact I do normal runs just for the purpose of the upgrade of my characters for hard. There are skills and relics you unlock after the win as well. I can't remember which ones I've gotten, but I know I haven't tested some of it. I definitely wouldn't miss it, since there are skills I've read about from the devs but still never seen.

[VivUs]

Thanks mate

[Dan_The_Noob]

I tried Hard on first run, my knight bruenor got clapped like 3 battles in to the game.
seems like a good idea to try complete normal, get some unlocks etc.