Gzor's Nightmare Tips

Tips for playing on any difficulty, but particularly Gzor's Nightmare.

Introduction

The first half to two-thirds of Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk on Gzor's Nightmare difficulty is quite difficult, with a few specific fights being particularly troublesome. But at some point, if you're well-geared and have strong builds and use good tactics, the game can become very easy to the point of being somewhat boring (except for the final battle). That happens around when the party reaches the 6th Floor and can buy silver/gold gear from the vendors there.

The intent of these tips are to help people who are struggling with Nightmare and don't want to downgrade the difficulty or rely on a full walkthrough.

General Tips

• Save before the end of every fight. Sometimes immediately after a battle there is a second battle or you are forced to make a choice and you might want to reload.
  
  
• Fully explore every area, complete every side-quest before progressing, and always fully level your characters before fighting. There's cheap respec potions to optimize yourself later.
  
  
• After the first few chapters and you have some money, buy every respec potion you can. They are cheap and you may want to respec frequently to optimize or try different builds.
  
  
• Visit each shop at the start of every new chapter, and regularly buy gear upgrades and good but limited consumables (like ice bombs and regen potions). Gear sells for almost as much as it costs so you don't lose much by buying something and then replacing later.
  
  
• Use Ogre's and Dwarf's passives to get more loot and earn more gold, and then respec out of them in the late game. Don't sell anything until Dwarf has the second +gold passive.
  
  
• I didn't find any uses for junk besides an egg and a rope, so I think the rest can safely be sold.
  
  
• Try not to use potions to heal after battle. In the early chapters when the party is very poor, using the inn is generally cheaper than using potions/bandages. Sometimes it is possible to avoid the inn by healing at the end of a fight with spells and then using bandages.
  
  
• +HP regen gear is much better than it appears. This is because it even works when the character is unconscious, meaning it will automatically raise them up at the start of their turn! Spread out all +HP regen gear among your team until the late game when other silver/gold gear is much better. But always keep one piece on the Priestess who acts first and therefore cannot be raised with Randomia's #2 power if she falls at the end of a turn. Note, there is currently a bug with +HP regen gear where you must reequip it after every fight or the regen won't work.
  
  
• Characters can get an additional regen tick per round (for a total of two) by delaying their turn.

Build Tips and Examples

Build Tips

• Agility stacking is legit. With a high enough Agility (and Ranger's Tactic: Protection plus other skills and gear that increase Dodge/Parry), characters will dodge or parry many attacks and they'll never miss (unless the enemy dodges or parries). Don't bother increasing Strength or Constitution on anyone as sufficient damage and defense will come from better weapons/armor, better active and passive skills, buffs, and general attack avoidance.
  
  
• There are some exceptions to full Agility stacking. The first exception is everyone needs some amount of Courage to go first every round, with Priestess having the most so that she goes first and casts her AoE buff (which will give everyone +5 Courage). My Priestess ended up with 30 Courage (24+6 from gear), Ranger at 22 (to use Anticipation), Barbarian at 21 (to use War Cry +crit), everyone else at 20, and then Dwarf at 19 (so that he acts immediately after Ogre tosses him).
  
  
• The second exception to Agility stacking is Wizardess, who needs Intelligence to improve her spell damage. I generally went 50/50 Agility/Intelligence on her.
  
  
• The last exception to Agility stacking is Priestess, who will not usually be attacking and doesn't use Precision with the chain lightning spell. Instead, stack Courage and Charisma on her.
  
  
• I cannot speak for Paladin or Bard, but Priestess and her heals and AoE buff were invaluable. Make her a heal bot plus the AoE buff and chain lightning spells.
  
  
• Get and improve everyone's healing skills (except Wizardess' which can be kept at level 1).
  
  
• CC is king! Go for skill and spell upgrades (and ice bombs with Thief's bomb passive) that cause Frozen/Knocked Over/Stunned instead of more damage. Enemies on Nightmare have a lot of HP and defense, so killing them outright with one or two attacks is not usually possible. A helpless enemy loses their turn and is much easier to hit, which more than makes up for the loss in damage potential.
  
  
• Range is queen! Generally speaking, if you have the choice between upgrading something's damage or range, pick range. The flexibility that additional range provides is incredibly useful. The one exception to this is Ogre's Dwarf Toss, for two reasons. One, Ogre's base damage is so high that the upgrade's +dmg% increase is a massive buff. Second, I generally didn't want to toss Dwarf so far away that I couldn't heal him later.
  
  
• Ignore the party adjacency passives. They rarely come into play and your positioning should be dictated by the ever-changing battle, not those bonuses. The exceptions are Thief's +crit, which is awesome, and Ogre's +impact because he doesn't have a better option.

Build Preferences

• Prefer skills and tactics that get the battle into a decisive win state ASAP over ones that win an already won battle faster ("win more").
  
• Prefer CC effects to more damage.
  
• Prefer more range to more damage.
  
• Prefer larger AoE attacks to more damage.
  
• Prefer ignore protection to more damage (unless +damage% increase is large).
  
• Prefer CC curing to more healing or DoT curing.
  
• Prefer Phys Res and curing Phys CC (Immobilized, Knocked Over, Stunned) to Mag Res and curing Mag CC (Frozen, Scared) due to the former being more common.
  
• In the early-mid game, prefer skills that grant +Precision over others.
  
• In the late game, prefer other skills over ones that grant +Precision.
  
• Prefer Mana regen to flat Mana increases. Statistically, over the course of a battle, Mana regen will likely equate to more total Mana. I never had any Mana problems with the Priestess or WIzardress.
  
• Prefer ignoring Stamina and Stamina regen increases. Stamina won't start being an issue until mid or late game when the characters have several skills each. But at that point, fights tend to be almost over by the time characters are out of Stamina. If you are struggling with Stamina in a particular fight with a character, have them use a Stamina regen potion at the start.
  
• Prefer to keep the Dwarf's gold and Ogre's exploration passives until the late game rather than using respec potions every time they are needed.

End Game Builds

Ranger[i.imgur.com]
• Until Ranger's Precision is high enough to consistently have 100%+ chance to hit, use the Archery Training (+10 Precision with bows) passive.

Dwarf[i.imgur.com]
• Until the party is overflowing with gold in the late game, use the Long End Of The Stick (+/-% gold when selling/buying) passives.
  
• The Steel Beard (+10% Phys Res/+3% Mag Res) passive is used over Mithril Beard (+3% Phys Res/+10% Mag Res) to help ensure the Dwarf is not Knocked Over when tossed by Ogre.
  
• For the final battle, change Steel Beard to the Mithril Beard to help resist Zangdar's CC.

Barbarian[i.imgur.com]
• Until Barbarian's Precision is high enough to consistently have 100%+ chance to hit, use the Sword Training (+10 Precision with swords) passive.
  
• For the final battle, the Rib-Crusher or Steel Barrage actives can be switched for Crom's Brawn if you are trying to kill Zangdar faster.

Ogre[i.imgur.com]
• Until all map areas are explored, use the Ogre Breach (allows access to hidden areas) passives.
  
• Ogre has many desirable passives, so it was difficult to settle on just 9. If HP regen was not bugged, I would have considered switching Annual Bath (+Phys Res per level) with Regenerative Digestion (+2 HP regen) because he has so much Phys Res already.
  
• Diet Plan (+Movement) is also very good, but was skipped because the +2 Movement from Ranger's Anticipation at the start of every battle was plenty to initially get him into the thick of things. Once he was surrounded by enemies, he didn't generally need to move more than his max Movement to reach a new target. Plus, Ogre's gold weapon gives him +1 Movement per hit for the entire battle.

Elf[i.imgur.com]
• +Precision passives are still used in the late game due to the -40 Precision penalty of the One Shot, One Kill! active.

Wizardress[i.imgur.com]
• The Hectic Hailstorm active upgrade can be changed to the smaller AoE with more damage if you have concerns about hitting party members. I generally found the increased area very useful, and if I needed to encompass a party member in order to hit more enemies, they would usually resist being Frozen.

Thief[i.imgur.com]
• Until late game, use the Bomberman (improves bombs) and Cunning Agility (+Agility/+Dodge) passives over Take This! (+% Crit Chance) and And This! (+Crit Multiplier).

Priestess[i.imgur.com]
• For the final battle, switch the Youclidhian Lightning Chain active upgrade for the Youclidh's Laying On Of Hands upgrade (cures Frozen and other DoTs)..

Early Game: Agility and Constiution?

One reasonable suggestion regarding the early game is to not only get Agility but also add some Constitution for general survivability, then respec into Agility stacking later when the characters have more HP from levels and gear. While more HP from Constitution is valuable, especially against unavoidable magical attacks, I still think stacking Agility from the beginning is optimal:

• In terms of defense against weapon attacks, Agility is much better than Constitution. Avoiding an attack is strictly better than having the HP to absorb it. Not only does a character not have to waste their turn healing that damage (or money on potions), the target doesn't risk getting its status effect.
  
  
• Unavoidable damage from enemy AoE spells can be mitigated somewhat by good positioning. Then, if a character isn't getting hit by a spell, they aren't benefitting from the additional HP that the investment into Constitution was for.
  
  
• Constitution improves Stamina regen, but that isn’t useful until mid game or later when characters have more skills. But by then you should be Agility stacking, and fights are usually almost over by the time the party is running low on stamina.
  
  
• Early game characters miss their attacks frequently. Increasing Agility is the best way to improve their accuracy and therefore end fights faster and more consistently. Not to mention the best defense is a good offense.

Combat Tips and Example

• Use Randomia frequently, especially powers #1 and #2 (I used #3 once and #4 never). Don't let it fill and stay there because subsequent increases will be wasted.
  
  
• Overwatch is not particularly useful. Not only do you not get to choose if or which enemies are attacked, it's easy to cancel, the character cannot parry, and they do not have a zone of control. I found mass Overwatch turns to be very underwhelming damage-wise and then result in the party being swarmed.
  
  
• The standard procedure for early game fights is: Focus fire enemies down and don't overextend. The party doesn't have enough attack, defense, CC, or healing to dictate how the battle goes, so you have to rely on killing each individual enemy as quickly as possible and also some luck. Thief throwing 3x3 ice bombs was a godsend throughout the early and mid game, so buy all that you can.
  
  
• The standard procedure for most mid to late game fights is: Start grouped together and let the buffers buff the team, and then everyone else delays their turn to let the enemies run towards them while clustering together. Then, AoE CC/damage them with spells and abilities during the first and second turns, and then focus fire the weak ones down. Dwarf and Ogre are frontline while Barb and Ranger are backup tanks. Spread out a bit to make enemy AoEs less effective and minimize friendly fire, but don't overextend.
  
  
• The exception to overextending is Dwarf. At a certain point, he should be tanky enough to be tossed by Ogre into a dangerous group of enemies and survive/distract long enough for the rest of the team to kill the enemies that overextended themselves. He can also be healed from afar if needed.
  
  
• In some battles, you start in a bad position and should not delay your first turn to let the enemies act first. In those battles, use each character's first turn to move them into a safer location together.
  
  
• Example of ideal late game combat:
  
  
  
  This is, admittedly, a high roll. Plus, I would normally wait for the enemies to approach the party and naturally cluster as they do before dumping AoEs on them. Due to the small room they were already nicely clustered. But this is still a good showcase of my setup and general approach to late game combat.

Final Battle Tips

The final battle against Zangdar has a unique mechanic where you must destroy his invulnerability shield before he can be damaged. On his next turn after you have successfully destroyed his shield, he will automatically recast it as a free action. He is deadly if approached the same way as previous fights, but not so bad if you ignore him and focus on killing his adds first.

Fight Preparation

• This is a long fight, so consumables that last the entire battle are very useful. Bring HP and Stamina regen potions (meleers, Priestess to give away), Murderhobo potions (Barbarian, Ogre, Elf, Thief), Pop-Twit candy (Elf, Wizardress), and an Omniscience potion (Wizardress). My Wizardress and Priestess were never starved of mana, so I didn't bother with those potions.
  
  
• Besides dealing direct damage, Zangdar uses Magical-based CC like Hailstorm and a single-target Scare spell. Resisting the CC of these spells lessens his danger significantly, though he still does strong AoE damage. Having high Courage plus Ranger’s Tactic: Protection skill is sufficient to resist them most of the time, but it’s still a good idea to change the Priestess’ healing spells to cure Frozen (Recovery, Lay Hands).

Fight General Tips

• Zangdar is invulnerable most of the time.
  
  
• Without his shield, he is still very resistant to CC. Perhaps not immune, but he resisted every Knock Over and Stun attempt.
  
  
• Every time his shield breaks, he deals 5-30 global damage to all characters.
  
  
• It is possible to speed up destruction of his shield is by delaying a character's turn. Like regen ticks, a character can get two instrument plays per round by delaying.
  
  
• Breaking his shield quickly also requires grouping together, which makes the party susceptible to AoE attacks.
  
  
• Reinforcement waves join the battle during the third round and every third round after (3, 6, 9, etc).

Because of this, on my second attempt I chose to not try and burst him down but steadily damage him with Barbarian’s Crom’s Brawn skill while the rest of the party dealt with the golem and reinforcements. With this, I was able to do 150-200 damage to him every 2-3 rounds while minimizing the global/AoE damage he deals and simultaneously dealing with the adds.

However, towards the end of the fight I realized that:

• Reinforcement waves are not infinite and there are 4 or 5 total waves.

Therefore, don't bother with Crom’s Brawn and just focus on Zangdar's adds first.

Fight Per Round Tips

• During the first round, buff the party with the buffers. Then immediately spread out your non-buffing party members and have them consume their potions. Utilize Randomia’s #1 power every time it is available to give characters additional actions to consume potions faster (or give potions to others).
  
  
• On the second round, attack the golem (and finish potion drinking). The goal is to kill the golem as quickly as possible while also minimizing Zangdar’s AoE damage and the amount of instrument playing (to minimize global damage from his shield breaking).
  
  
• It is possible to kill the golem before the first reinforcement wave acts. Do that, and then switch focus to the new adds. Try to kill each wave of reinforcements before the next wave begins their actions. The starting locations of each wave alternate between the back of the room and the front.
  
  
• Keep moving the more vulnerable characters (Priestess, Wizardress, Elf, Thief) around the room, forward and back, to stay in healing/buffing/support range while not getting swarmed by the new waves. The other characters should generally stay towards the middle of the room to intercept the adds and stay in range of healing.
  
  
• After all the reinforcements are dead, Zangdar is a piece of cake.

[KNIGHTMARE]

I played on normal for my first run but I found this to be the easiest fight since the tutorial... I killed him before his second turn. Buff priestess and hit him with all the hard attacks.

[dr.antonius]

This battle is indeed quite difficult ; make sure to complete every available sidequest and find or buy all available loot before you try it. If you can, try to start with a full Randomia (when there are few opponent remaining in a fight, you can continue the fight indefinitely while healing your characters, waiting for an enemy to strike a critical hit which will replenish the Randomia meter).
Kill the female assistant before she can use her charm ability a second time but leave the talking gobelin for last, since his dodge bonus requires on average several hits in the same round to effectively deal damage. Spread out our characters to avoid area of effect attacks.

[Varok]

Hey there adventurers,

I purchase this game few days ago and I have been enjoying a lot. I am playing on Gzor's Nightmare difficulty because I have hardcore player. There have been tough battles but epic at the end by playing on this difficulty, but I have reached 5th floor and the battle against the Goblin and the Wheel is tough one (the one you need to defeat two characters) I have done like 7 attempts and this battle seems impossible

Anyone else struggling or struggled on this last battle of this 5th floor?

[TheTHX]

"Characters can get an additional regen tick per round (for a total of two) by delaying their turn."
doesn't work anymore

[dr.antonius]

Regeneration (and music in Zangdar's fight) have been patched. They now only activate once per round, even if you delay your turn.
I believe the other regen glitches (characters raising up at the start of their turn, and items needing to be reequiped) have been fixed too.

[Jealous Witch]

I wish I didn't read this It completely ruins the enjoyment of the game. I just searching for what Bomberman does..

[Lordere]

Personally Zangdar needs at most 2-3 phases where he is vulnerable on Nightmarish difficulty.
Movement&Attack& Precision Buffs & Ministrels buff + Extra Turn on either the orc or the barbarian gets me around 300-500 dmg combining ranged damage with the rest of the team such as to minimize damage from zangdars aoe.

Only thing that gets me is why zangdar scares my orc away on the battles first turn.

[JC]

Final battle i must of lucked out. I only buffed with the ranger and priestess, took down the golem using heavy attacks, split my guys to work on the second wave, and after i dropped 2 of them, i went all in on him. I guess i lucked out and KD'd him with my first attack on him.. He missed his turn, and never went again. I killed him round 6. So basically KD lands it's fight over for him at this point. I personally think i got a cheap win doing it, i made a post suggestion he be immune to KD, he is immune to a lot of things already, but not that.

[Chris_Woods]

Note on the final fight -- I played "Hard" (Epic Geist or whatever it's called) so this might not apply on the highest difficulty.

You can easily kill Z on the second turn. Setup your team in an optimal config to get lots of 3-5 harmonies to crack his shield, then delay everyone on the first turn. Don't buff courage yet, you don't want everyone going before him.

You'll crack his shield near the end of the first turn if your setup is right. Then just bums rush him. AoE buff courage, pummel him with whomever can reach first turn, then second turn you'll go first from exceptionally high courage. Finish him off.

He never gets a chance to reinvoke invulnerability.

Don't forget to burn the fail meter to get extra attacks on characters like the Ogre.

[JC]

a couple things, A you might not have Priestess, so a lot of what you are saying is for her specific party which is fine. But also you might wanna skip courage on other people then use buffs, so you can spend more on agility on certain characters. the other thing is, she has lots of pretty good powers, so it can be fun to use different builds, She has lots of heals, then combine the rabit, and freeze from wizard, that can give you more turns to push out more heals. I'm finding the different concepts fun.