How can i beat the Ashlands solo?

[Physalis]

With what the Ashlands offer, i wonder how i'm supposed to manage this solo. I'm a bit overwhelmed.
Enough has already been said about it, so I'm not going to list the individual things here.

I'm playing melee. I've tried it several times as a mage, but it's not my thing. Apart from that, the armor value is considerably less.

I really love the game, the Ashlands are beautiful, the enemies are cool individually. The music is a masterpiece.

But how do I deal with these crowds? Always running away?
“Don't make any noise” is what was said here in this forum recently. How can I not make noise when fighting is already noisy or I want to mine the ore?

There are three Asksvins, one or two Morgans, maybe a Valk and the Skeletons. That's just too much of a good thing. The near spawners are already destroyed.

I like a challenge, but this is really heavy. How am I supposed to manage it without constantly running away and then not making any progress?
I don't have three minutes to catch my breath. And what's with the fortresses?

I won't mention now that the reduction in difficulty has nothing to do with the masses per se :)

Question over question... As you can see i'm a bit more overwhelmed :D
Please provide constructive suggestions or strategies. Thanks in advance

[Zombits]

I tried solo melee in ash. it's almost impossible.

I recommend mage , use all kinds of staff. staff of the wild may be the most powerful distraction and attack, provided it's at LVL 3.

I use fracturing, has more knockback and dmg than amber, with a direct hit, not on ground. Dead raiser . Frost sometimes, for bonemaw and vultures.

If you don't mage you should really have the shield at least .

Fortresses should be all you need in flametal for solo, cause you'll want gems too.

Btw I was 1 or 2 shot in top melee gear and 3 best HP food. ridiculous. one thing I didn't try is askvin armor for mobility and speed

[Coffee Demon]

I suggest to not do melee until you have the heavy armor. It's too risky imo. Melee is hands down the strongest build in terms of dps with parry but to be reliable you need to reach a certain threshhold of tankiness first to avoid stagger and losing health too fast, which means getting the strongest armor and foods specific to the biome.

The Arbalest for example has big alpha sneak damage (can one shot twitcher and marksmen). Staff of protection gives you the safety to tank anything. The big advantage of magic is that you don't need to use stamina which means you can run away when you have to. With Dead Raiser you can even avoid aggro entirely. (I fully abused dead raiser in those small caves)

Risk of Death is a choice, we usually die because we underestimated the difficulty of what could happen.

You need to get used to running. This biome has too much mob density. If you want to explore you have to run and look for ways to reset aggro. You simply can't kill everything.

[OctoberSky]

II am in the process of updating the guide to combat engineering to include Ashlands material. There is enough in the Ashlands chapter currently that may (or may not) be of use to you. But please be aware that combat engineering is certainly not for everyone. Superior combat players - whether melee, range or mage - will consider it unnecessary and they are absolutely correct. I am most certainly not a superior player but combat engineering makes it possible for me to survive in the war zone that is Ashlands. Please give it a look. I need to add material for taking the fortresses and the last chapter on Fader. But have hope. If a guy who absolutely stinks at combat can survive then you can too.

[Ammikaameri]

I've got around 100 ingame days in Ashlands at the moment, all done solo. About all done except haven't yet killed the boss. My only death so far was because I tried to save time by running to another fortress without killing the mobs on the way - got surrounded in the end by almost every kind of mob in the biome.

I suggest a hybrid of 1 health, 1 stamina and 1 eitr food and going melee and using the spells as support to help that. Few fireballs here and there when you run out of stamina and then the shield buff as needed. Health and stamina pots really help a lot. I'd suggest having the lingering stamina potion up at all times. This works well once you learn how to parry the different attacks.

First priority is to get rid of all spawners. Then when you travel try to engage a few mobs at a time. If you are going to mine, clear out as many mobs you can first. Maybe cause some "test noise" to see what you aggro and deal with them first before starting the actual mining.

If you see any of the larger mobs, make sure to aggro them yourself when the time is right instead of having the noise eventually attract them. If you end up in a situation where you have aggroed too many enemies, try to find a cave to hide in for a moment.

There isn't that many enemies unless you are out at night. You should never go out to the Ashlands at night because there will be a lot of enemies and you will get overwhelmed.

[ZamboTeam67]

Get the new Flamemetal armor asap and the slayer sword. Im at 65 swords and can two tap an askvin with the 2nd attack. Also high ground can still be abused in Ashlands so use any height advantage to kill strong enemies or kite them. Im running with 3 cloaks Mistlands cape, Askvin cape, and armor cape and just swap between em while im running for my life.

[Tomiro]

I recently started a new run, pure melee (+bow) where I haven't touched magic, and I am now ready to fight the Ashlands boss. My only deaths so far were by a tree on day 1, and recently in the Ashlands when walking backwards into a shallow pool of lava, at night, with crappy food when trying to fire arrows at a Valkyrie. So that's on me. Now I'm not the most skilled player, at times I play like an anesthetized rodeo clown, getting slapped around, and missing half my parries.

I'm doing 2 health, 1 stamina foods. Early Ashlands was quite annoying, and required liberal use of bonemass, and felt like I was making little progress, but sometimes, just moving on, and not staying to fight all the mobs in an area that seem to spawn a lot of them might be the solution. Things got noticeable easier when I got my lightning 1h sword and the flametal shield and armor. Sword skill was maybe 60 when arriving and now 70+. Also, I ignore the flametal pillars deep in lava, and only mine those close to the ground. But you could ignore all of them, and get your flametal just from fortresses.

[Steve]

Originally posted by Xena:

But how do I deal with these crowds? Always running away?
“Don't make any noise” is what was said here in this forum recently. How can I not make noise when fighting is already noisy or I want to mine the ore?

There are three Asksvins, one or two Morgans, maybe a Valk and the Skeletons. That's just too much of a good thing. The near spawners are already destroyed.

I like a challenge, but this is really heavy. How am I supposed to manage it without constantly running away and then not making any progress?
I don't have three minutes to catch my breath. And what's with the fortresses?

I won't mention now that the reduction in difficulty has nothing to do with the masses per se :)

Question over question... As you can see i'm a bit more overwhelmed :D
Please provide constructive suggestions or strategies. Thanks in advance

Sure!

* First off, LET THE ENEMIES COME TO YOU. Do not chase to engage. This is precisely why so many of the mobs, esp. charred, retreat from combat -- to bait the player into following!

* You NEED a big boy portal if you want to engage in mining flametal. (It's also available from Fortress raids but we'll work up to that.) This will require grausten (ez), greydwarf eyes (trivial in BF) and molten cores (difficult). Find you a Putrid Hole (love the name), dive in, and DO NOT ENGAGE WHATEVER YOU FIND IN THERE. This is NOT a social call. Raid the cores you find in there QUICKLY and GTFO. (though idk if they're working properly on my seed because I don't seem to recall any morgens in the one I found)

* Every time you leave that area OR every time the day/night cycle flips, you're gonna get respawn in your area. Refer to step 1.

* Invest in a shield generator for your mining outpost. It doesn't do anything about muffling your building noise, but can definitely be useful against ranged trash by using the shield it generates as a personal shield -- duck in and out of its cover to avoid and return fire, respectively.

* Melee-only may be functionally impossible. You will need a good bow, the best you can bring to bear. Raiding charred fortresses can get you some really good material for weapons though. It can be worth planning a hit-and-run where you don't clear the courtyard and just make a mad dash for the chest in the yard. (This is where magic can actually be useful, provided one can make a strong enough shield, switch gear to running gear, and just haul ass.)

[Steve]

Originally posted by Tomiro:

I recently started a new run, pure melee (+bow) where I haven't touched magic, and I am now ready to fight the Ashlands boss. My only deaths so far were by a tree on day 1, and recently in the Ashlands when walking backwards into a shallow pool of lava, at night, with crappy food when trying to fire arrows at a Valkyrie. So that's on me. Now I'm not the most skilled player, at times I play like an anesthetized rodeo clown, getting slapped around, and missing half my parries.

I'm doing 2 health, 1 stamina foods. Early Ashlands was quite annoying, and required liberal use of bonemass, and felt like I was making little progress, but sometimes, just moving on, and not staying to fight all the mobs in an area that seem to spawn a lot of them might be the solution. Things got noticeable easier when I got my lightning 1h sword and the flametal shield and armor. Sword skill was maybe 60 when arriving and now 70+. Also, I ignore the flametal pillars deep in lava, and only mine those close to the ground. But you could ignore all of them, and get your flametal just from fortresses.

You are describing me to a T here. This was a VERY similar experience and approach to mine.

The root fang bow is fantastic. Only a 20% chance for the rooted proc but it's saved my ass a dozen times at least by now.

Do yourself a favor when you fight Fader: Secure the arena. It's worth the effort.

[Physalis]

First of all i thank you all of your suggestions and strategies. I appreciate that very much.

I have set the resource rate to x3, that's better. I can build a stone portal because i was in the putrid hole (also good for swearing). The one morgan inside there is quite manageable. I like him....alone :)

Will take a closer look at your suggestions over the next few days and try out one or two things. The ashlands definitely require precise planning.

Originally posted by OctoberSky:

II am in the process of updating the guide to combat engineering to include Ashlands material. There is enough in the Ashlands chapter currently that may (or may not) be of use to you. But please be aware that combat engineering is certainly not for everyone. Superior combat players - whether melee, range or mage - will consider it unnecessary and they are absolutely correct. I am most certainly not a superior player but combat engineering makes it possible for me to survive in the war zone that is Ashlands. Please give it a look. I need to add material for taking the fortresses and the last chapter on Fader. But have hope. If a guy who absolutely stinks at combat can survive then you can too.

That gives me hope ^^ I'm too old to be a hardcore player. Will definitely have a look at your guide..thanks for the tip.

[Nerevar]

ALWAYS be wary of the terrian around you. ALWAYS. big and big stone arc youre your friends. this can split enemy crowds and make it hard for the melees to get to you. or atleast get to you all at once. then take the biggest dangers out with ranged combat if there is too many enemies. the charred suck at giveing chase. fokus out flyers above all else. for the ground targets priority order :

asksvins first. they are not resistent to pierce and are very good at giveing chase and they can keep up with a running player on flat ground.

then morgens. make sure to use elemental options as much as possible here. frost and lighting are good.

just let the blobs eff themselfs. waste of time and ammo.

if the enemies are able to climb the rock take note of the path they used and wait for them to come up to you. if they come 1 by 1 just take em out. if too many came up just glide down and jump back up or run over to the next best rock/ruin whatever is nearby.

never fight right next to lava on open flat areas. youre asking for an asksvin to come from behind and kick you in. so never fullfill these conditions in the first place as lava is your end no matter how good you are.

use the feather cape. the extra jump height is VERY useful. too many new ashlands players dont use it because some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ youtuber told em it sucks now which is blatant bs. its still better and far more useful than the other 2 capes for surviveing and progressing trough the ashlands. especially if you played mistlands a fair bit your jump skill should be atleast SOMEWHAT developed by the time you make to this biome. beeing able to leap on any rock or ruin or spire or fortress pillar will safe your life more often than you think especially if you get overwhelmed or that "suprise 2 star" joining the fray from behind.

[Masterscubadude]

I play solo all the time never had any friends helping. However what I would mention for single players would be the mod Epic Loot. This gives you the chance to find magical items all colour coded from blue to orange (Mythic level) You can enchant gear to your liking until your heart is content. Nothing beats a beefed up Frostner with extra cold damage and a slowing ability. My next weapon was the Demolisher which has extra blunt damage and is throwable & will return if recal is enchanted onto it. There's nothing like the satisfaction of hearing that big thump break a spawner in the Ashlands as you throw from distance. Other magical effects are so well done with the double jump, waterproof & slowfall (feathercape) being sort after when traversing either the Mistlands or Ashlands. Both the Queen & now Fader very recently have seen the consequences of my hammer. And now the more mobs the happier I am when it comes to Ashlands

[Physalis]

Originally posted by Nerevar:

ALWAYS be wary of the terrian around you. ALWAYS.

use the feather cape. the extra jump height is VERY useful.

I continue to wear the cape, i think it's the best. Jump skill is now at 97. Thank you also for the hints.

Originally posted by MASTERSCUBADUDE:

I play solo all the time never had any friends helping. However what I would mention for single players would be the mod Epic Loot. This gives you the chance to find magical items all colour coded from blue to orange (Mythic level) You can enchant gear to your liking until your heart is content. Nothing beats a beefed up Frostner with extra cold damage and a slowing ability. My next weapon was the Demolisher which has extra blunt damage and is throwable & will return if recal is enchanted onto it. There's nothing like the satisfaction of hearing that big thump break a spawner in the Ashlands as you throw from distance. Other magical effects are so well done with the double jump, waterproof & slowfall (feathercape) being sort after when traversing either the Mistlands or Ashlands. Both the Queen & now Fader very recently have seen the consequences of my hammer. And now the more mobs the happier I am when it comes to Ashlands

That would change too much of the game for me. I want to play it as original as possible. There are enough new weapons coming into the game :)

[Nerevar]

Originally posted by Xena:

Originally posted by Nerevar:

ALWAYS be wary of the terrian around you. ALWAYS.

use the feather cape. the extra jump height is VERY useful.

I continue to wear the cape, i think it's the best. Jump skill is now at 97. Thank you also for the hints.

Originally posted by MASTERSCUBADUDE:

I play solo all the time never had any friends helping. However what I would mention for single players would be the mod Epic Loot. This gives you the chance to find magical items all colour coded from blue to orange (Mythic level) You can enchant gear to your liking until your heart is content. Nothing beats a beefed up Frostner with extra cold damage and a slowing ability. My next weapon was the Demolisher which has extra blunt damage and is throwable & will return if recal is enchanted onto it. There's nothing like the satisfaction of hearing that big thump break a spawner in the Ashlands as you throw from distance. Other magical effects are so well done with the double jump, waterproof & slowfall (feathercape) being sort after when traversing either the Mistlands or Ashlands. Both the Queen & now Fader very recently have seen the consequences of my hammer. And now the more mobs the happier I am when it comes to Ashlands

That would change too much of the game for me. I want to play it as original as possible. There are enough new weapons coming into the game :)

jump 97. yeah. you wont have much issues. just keep that barley wine running and stay the ♥♥♥♥ clear of lava. always respect lava. above ALL ENEMIES. not even a 2 star whatever is as deadly as lava.

if you get suprised or too many enemies join the fight jump on the nearst rock. easy to do with cape and your jump skill. youll stay alive this way no matter what comes. snipe valks asap when you spot them. dont wait for them to notice you. take em out asap.

dont get greedy on flametal pillars should you try to mine one despite the fortresses.
if it starts sinking stop mineing and get the ♥♥♥♥ off the thing. the remaining like 10 metal you could mine aint worth dying for. plus there is more than enough metal inside the fortress chests anyway to cover most needs.

[Draconis]

I play melee in ashlands as well and here is what I found out:

- kiting is important, as soon as you have too many foes around.
- bonemass is your friend
- don't engage the enemies directly. Let them come by themselves
- dont't stay out at night
- if you have trouble finding flametal (like I had in the beginning), build the light armor set first. As soon as available build your favourite weapon and a shield.
- Upgrade your black forge as soon as possible. If you are short an material for new equipment, bring your mistlands set up to level 4 as far as you can.
- spirit damage works in many cases, so mistwalker and spinesnap are an option when you get to ashlands.
- building a wall of grausten can really save your three letters. Especially if you build it long and jump over it during a fight. The foes will take the long way around, which gives you another oppertunity to use your bow. I did that in particular when I wanted to go from my beachhead to a nearby place with a lot of trees in order to keep enemies away from one side. Turned out this really helped.

- learn (just as always) the attack patterns. You might want to use dodge roll more often, if you haven't got an upgraded flametal shield yet.

I don't know if that applies to many others, but I found the combination of light armor and ashen cloak quite effective, as my playstyle involves lots of blocking, parrying und often running and jumping to get a better position. Also this reduces attack stamina costs by 30%.I tried changing to flametal armor later for better armor but then stamina became my problem actually so i switched back.

- You can use Morgens as a weapon. They can roll over your enemies and damage them severely. And with some practice you can parry-lock them. The timing is about the same as for greydwarf brutes from dark forest.

- My valkyrie strategy without bow has become this: If they go up high in the air I keep moving, so their fireballs don't hit me. Circling them works most of the times. If they come down, I block (haven't found the right moment to parry the normal attack yet). If they go a moderate bit into the air, step back. They will start spinning. As soon as they finished their whirlwind I run towards them, jump and strike. Same after blocking the normal attack. I prefer to jump because just attacking does not hit them very often (that is... with a sword. I don't know if that applies to other weapons too)

- bring a demolisher for large crowds if you like. With good food (i use one for stamina and two for health). This together with the 30% reduced stamina cost can enable you to spam the hammer quite a time. Works great if you are surrounded by three or more warriors. They are slow enough that the demolisher's knockback can keep you out of their arrack range.


Well, that's a lot of fighting details. Others may have totally different strategies that work for them, or mine might not work for them. That's okay. What I wrote here was just my experience.

[Warriorsage]

Since I've only played Ashlands solo, I have some input.

I'm assuming you have already maxed the Mistlands equipment of your choice. But I'm gonna tell you that for melee, it's not gonna be good enough. That's what's screwing people up, because that's the first break away from how the other biomes worked.

When you get the new gear, and foods, it'll feel MUCH more doable, with one early exception - the biome's normal spawns are a lot higher than what they should be, SPECIFICALLY given the emphasis on the actual spawners. You run out for half a klick to destroy some spawners, there are gonna be 7 guys behind you where you just cleared a minute or two ago. This is completely SEPARATE from their aggro-range being insane. Wherever you go, just expect to fight on the way back so you don't overextend yourself.

You don't actually need the fob (forward-operating base) you see people talking about. Find a spot of coastline that has one of those big spiral rocks and build a shield generator and portal THERE. Someplace where you can comfortably swim to shore, and preferably there weren't any vultures or bonemaws in that exact spot when you went in so they don't dink your drakkar while you're gone.

If you didn't turn on metal transportation for ordinary portals, another top priority is finding a Putrid Hole cave to get yourself two molten cores for the big stone portal - again, on one of those big spiral poopy ice-cream rocks on the coast. You don't even have to do anything else while you're in there, including fight. Look for the big orange glowing nerf balls.

With your portal established, I recommend a scout setup first - two stam foods and a really good HP food, and Eikthyr's power. Your sole objective is finding flametal deposits and scouting Monuments of Torment that spawn the skeletons. They look like giant gravestones. You're also going to want to find a spot that has at least one asksvin. They look like giant mutant doggo Necks, and you're going to need their parts for basalt bombs. Like most mobs, they respawn in specific spots, and you're going to need a lot of them.

When you've done all that, re-gear for grinding. Just grinding. If your relevant skills aren't at 40+ (probably 30+ for a mage), that's your new job in Valheim. Especially killing the asksvin and lava blobs. Alternatively, you can make a mad dash for those spawners to smash them. You won't have long once you get there, but it's gonna help (just not as much as defenders say it does).

The next stage is all about getting that flametal with the basalt bombs you grinded. Preferably you've cleared the spawners out from around the deposits, because most of the creatures will run right through the fire to get you.

For the actual loadout, be advised that not even the blackmetal tower shield is going to be sturdy enough for half the melee attacks you're dealing with, but it helps. Most people run either the Frostner or Mistwalker. And I personally recommend the Demolisher for those special bulls*** moments. Morgen are weak to lightning, but I find the Himminafl scales kind of poorly and is too slow for their ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cartwheels. I typically bust out the bow for them, you can even pull off the arbalest because of how much they screw around.