Ascension 2 is way too hard!

[Jonny]

So I played the game in EA for about 160 hours and enjoy it a lot. I barely lose a game. However, lately (I think 1-2 updates before exiting EA) it's become impossible for me to even reach the 2nd boss on Ascension 2, no matter what character I play. I can only imagine Ascension 3 to be impossible to even finish the 1st room!? Not sure if this is a balancing issue or just pure unlucky RNG I had lately, but I used to be much, much better... Wondering if others feel the same.

FIXED: Had to reinstall, now the numbers align with the ascension level!

[Tayger.K]

No, its just you.

[Xiander]

I al strugling a bit at a14 myself, but I am sure that is mostly due to taking too many risks and playing while tired.
There are a bunch of guides and a lot pf lets ålays you could learn from. Or you could post some failed runs here an i am sure people can advise you.

[Gentlest Giant]

I assume that you mean Ascension 20, right? With the second boss being the second 3rd act?

[Jonny]

Nope unfortunately Ascension 2. Not sure if something is bugged out or so, but while Ascension 1 is so incredibly easy on all three acts even without paying attention to anything I do not manage to get through Ascension 2's 2nd act...it's really like difficulty went up 1000%.

[Gentlest Giant]

Hm. Yeah it's probably a good idea to post something about what happens. A2 adds more damage to enemies in normal fights so one assumption then is that you probably got used to the damage numbers from A1 and 0 and don't pick block/weakness/dexterity/frost enough. It could be something else of course.

[DaBa]

I am going to sound harsh here, but if you have problems clearing Ascension 2, then you need to get a better understanding of the game itself. Honestly this sounds relaly weird because Ascension 2 is not that big of a jump from vanilla game, and if you really barely lose normally, then Ascension 2 should only be slightly more difficult.

But anyway let's assume you actually are having issues. It's hard to give general advice as to how to play the game, there's nothing special you have to be doing before you get to higher levels. The only pointers I can give without context are:

- Pick up some early game value cards to help hunt elites, a single copy of Carnage or Predator goes a long way.
- Don't try to force an archetype, go with what you get and only build upon what the game offers you. If you force builds it WILL kill you, especially as you keep getting higher up o nthe ascension ladder.
- Don't be afraid to take some risks if the payoff is worth it. It will also teach you what you can and cannot get away with which is important for optimizing routes and picking the options during events.
- Make sure to have some form of AOE by the second act, almost every fight in the second fact has multiple enemies. It will really help you get through the floor.

It's really just general game knowledge, you should watch some youtuber that plays a lot of this game in ascension mode, for example Rhapsody is a really good guy, he is really good at the game and often explains his thought process. I learned a lot from him.

[Jonny]

Thanks, but of course I am really not too bad at this game at all ;) As I said, I usually clear out act after act without even paying a lot of attention to anything - hell sometimes I feel like I am severely overpowered.

The reason I opened this thread is to find out if someone else noticed an unfair increase of difficulty suddenly on ascension 2. On my end ascension 2 is basically unbeatable, all of a sudden, no matter what char I play, i.e. the thieves deal damage around 35 and the shelled parasite even around 40-60 which is insane!!

[Trundle]

You just need a good synergy of the deck and the relic

[sandman25dcsss]

A2 increases damage for normal monsters, no surprise it feels harder if you don't pay attention to what you are doing. For example, if monster deals 2 more damage per attack than in A1 and attacks 5 times during the fight, that's 10 lost HP in a single fight. Learn to pay attention and block more I guess.

[DaBa]

Originally posted by Jonny:

Thanks, but of course I am really not too bad at this game at all ;) As I said, I usually clear out act after act without even paying a lot of attention to anything - hell sometimes I feel like I am severely overpowered.

The reason I opened this thread is to find out if someone else noticed an unfair increase of difficulty suddenly on ascension 2. On my end ascension 2 is basically unbeatable, all of a sudden, no matter what char I play, i.e. the thieves deal damage around 35 and the shelled parasite even around 40-60 which is insane!!

Thieves never do 35 damage, also Parasite can never reach 60, most it can do in a single hit is around 30, and you have to be vulnerable for that. Some of the fights are not even affected at this point, for example byrds.

So yeah, as I said before you need to get good. Ascension 2 is not a significant increase in difficulty, making up numbers is not changing that.

[Xiander]

Originally posted by DaBa:

Originally posted by Jonny:

Thanks, but of course I am really not too bad at this game at all ;) As I said, I usually clear out act after act without even paying a lot of attention to anything - hell sometimes I feel like I am severely overpowered.

The reason I opened this thread is to find out if someone else noticed an unfair increase of difficulty suddenly on ascension 2. On my end ascension 2 is basically unbeatable, all of a sudden, no matter what char I play, i.e. the thieves deal damage around 35 and the shelled parasite even around 40-60 which is insane!!

Thieves never do 35 damage, also Parasite can never reach 60, most it can do in a single hit is around 30, and you have to be vulnerable for that. Some of the fights are not even affected at this point, for example byrds.

So yeah, as I said before you need to get good. Ascension 2 is not a significant increase in difficulty, making up numbers is not changing that.

They might wirh brimstone, but then that isn't the fault of ascension.

[DaBa]

Well I assume that after 160 hours he knows what the relics do... but maybe I am giving him too much credit, he can't beat ascension 2 after all.

[Xiander]

Originally posted by DaBa:

Well I assume that after 160 hours he knows what the relics do... but maybe I am giving him too much credit, he can't beat ascension 2 after all.

That is a little harsh, but i guess i was making a similar point.
Losing a2 comes down to making bad choises. Which meams that we need more info on his choises to say much about how he can improve his game.

[Jonny]

All right guys, thanks for "trying", however drilling on this git gud BS is really just trolling.
Issue got FIXED - after reinstalling the game Ascension 2 now has a reasonable difficulty, here I am in A12 now - so it WAS obviously bugged as I already suspected. It's somewhat irritating, though, as I'd like to be able to reproduce this and report, but not sure what went wrong in the first place.

[Dusk_Army]

I was about to ask for a screenshot, actually. Because if your game actually was behaving that way, you're rigjt, that's a major issue that shoud be reported.