Dark Citadel

[Tillmeister]

Okay, this might be a really stupid question but I am kinda lost here: How does the dark citadel fit into the rest of the game? I just started playing to be honest and havent beaten Shadow Face yet but can already enter it because I found the architect. Is it a part of the main story or just some area for late game grind?

Thanks so much!

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Tillmeister:

Dark Citadel
Okay, this might be a really stupid question but I am kinda lost here: How does the dark citadel fit into the rest of the game? I just started playing to be honest and havent beaten Shadow Face yet but can already enter it because I found the architect. Is it a part of the main story or just some area for late game grind?

Thanks so much!

It is part of the main game.

To give you additional information without spoiling, considering you have not beaten Shadow Face yet: the cultists try to summon the power of Shadow Face, who is the ruler over the Dark Citadel.

[Khadgar]

Since the previous person didn't answer your question at all-

The "Dark Citadel" is both the name of the main campaign on HoH2, as well as used to refer to the "Dark Citadel" area in the forest, which is locked at the start of the game. When you unlock it, it is just a shortcut to skip ahead in zones, bypassing the rest of the forest, caves, and the new few zones as well.

It isn't a different area, just a shortcut. (You receive less total loot by taking the shortcut, however)

[tappy]

you make more loot total doing shortcut in time spent playing though imo. you can do 2 shortcuts runs in the time it takes to do 1 full run.

you also get very little from the first few zones

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by tappy:

you make more loot total doing shortcut in time spent playing though imo. you can do 2 shortcuts runs in the time it takes to do 1 full run.

you also get very little from the first few zones

That is incorrect. But you would not know if you do not own the game according to Steam.

[Clawyer]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by tappy:

you make more loot total doing shortcut in time spent playing though imo. you can do 2 shortcuts runs in the time it takes to do 1 full run.

you also get very little from the first few zones

That is incorrect. But you would not know if you do not own the game according to Steam.

Are you sure about that?

The NG resource drop instances in the later levels seem to give more material and the gold values definitely scale up a lot. Like 3 wood 2 stone in one material box or 1-2 stone from a single stone instance in the caves vs 10 stone 10 wood in a box or 5 stone from a single stone instance in the higher levels of the citadel?

So if you are able to take the shortcut to a fairly high level and still beat the game you might be able to complete 2-3 runs with a higher net resource gain than fully playing through the game once.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Clawyer:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

That is incorrect. But you would not know if you do not own the game according to Steam.

Are you sure about that?

The NG resource drop instances in the later levels seem to give more material and the gold values definitely scale up a lot. Like 3 wood 2 stone in one material box or 1-2 stone from a single stone instance in the caves vs 10 stone 10 wood in a box or 5 stone from a single stone instance in the higher levels of the citadel?

So if you are able to take the shortcut to a fairly high level and still beat the game you might be able to complete 2-3 runs with a higher net resource gain than fully playing through the game once.

Yes, I am certain - as it has been thoroughly tested with documenting the output throughout multiple games with using the shortcut and without.

[Clawyer]

So it's either farming blue crystals with the shortcut or running through the whole game. Good to know.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Clawyer:

So it's either farming blue crystals with the shortcut or running through the whole game. Good to know.

It depends what you are after.
I recommend just to play normally.

You get really quick to the point where you do not need much of anything while just playing normally.

The levels are cleared so quickly, you get to level up your lower level characters, and you get resources altogether.

The only thing where it might be lacking is, that you do not get always to wear the best upgraded equipment as you do prioritise.

Upside: you get much better equipment much faster, even without upgrading.

[Clawyer]

I agree that you don't need to explicitly do runs just to get more wood and stone and you should just keep playing with new characters or new NG+s as you will eventually upgrade everything in town to max.

I just wanted to respec one of my level 20 characters for fun and the game wanted my most scarce resource for that, so I went to the shortcut.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Clawyer:

I agree that you don't need to explicitly do runs just to get more wood and stone and you should just keep playing with new characters or new NG+s as you will eventually upgrade everything in town to max.

I just wanted to respec one of my level 20 characters for fun and the game wanted my most scarce resource for that, so I went to the shortcut.

You can do that. Assuming you mean the same resource as everyone else, you can farm a lot with the "5-minutes-method".

[Nachoproblemz]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Clawyer:

Are you sure about that?

The NG resource drop instances in the later levels seem to give more material and the gold values definitely scale up a lot. Like 3 wood 2 stone in one material box or 1-2 stone from a single stone instance in the caves vs 10 stone 10 wood in a box or 5 stone from a single stone instance in the higher levels of the citadel?

So if you are able to take the shortcut to a fairly high level and still beat the game you might be able to complete 2-3 runs with a higher net resource gain than fully playing through the game once.

Yes, I am certain - as it has been thoroughly tested with documenting the output throughout multiple games with using the shortcut and without.

Lmao at "thoroughly tested with documenting the output" I just tested this myself. Doing the shortcut method and completing 2 runs, took me only 3 minutes longer than a single run without the shortcut, but netted me nearly 2x the stone and iron (modifiers were identical for the runs). Wood and gold were slightly higher as well. Even assuming I got insanely luckier on my 2 runs vs. one (I did not, didn't get a vault on either and I DID on my full run), it was far more efficient with the skip than full runs for farming mats.

The only real reason to do full runs after unlocking NG+ is if you are still struggling to beat anything without the few extra trinkets/orbs you'll get doing a full run.

[Tillmeister]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

It is part of the main game.

To give you additional information without spoiling, considering you have not beaten Shadow Face yet: the cultists try to summon the power of Shadow Face, who is the ruler over the Dark Citadel.

Originally posted by Khadgar:

The "Dark Citadel" is both the name of the main campaign on HoH2, as well as used to refer to the "Dark Citadel" area in the forest, which is locked at the start of the game. When you unlock it, it is just a shortcut to skip ahead in zones, bypassing the rest of the forest, caves, and the new few zones as well.

It isn't a different area, just a shortcut.

Thanks!

I wasnt completly sure since the first time I entered it there wasnt much to interact with and I was almost immediately killed by a swarm (host? school? murder?) of ghosts :D

[Prometheus]

The ghosts are basically a "you must be this tall to pass" function. They are tuned to the difficulty of the enemies you'll be walking into when you use the portal.