Titan Quest dynasty - slow ride through "Legendary" play

[hoopsguy]

Tony, I'm interested in playing multi-player at some point. My schedule stinks right now, but I'm hoping by next week it gets a little more flexible for nights/weekends.

[TonyR]

sounds good. i'll pm you

[hoopsguy]

Quick afternoon session:

We emerge in the Salt Flats again, in a new territory previously unavailable, before quickly crossing over into the Lower Daemon Camp. It is here that we meet Keuthonymos (the guy with a "skin condition") who turns out to be a Neutral Daemon. He tells of an envoy carring an important message to Proseia (didn't we kill here already) who we should intercept and retrieve the message for him.

We encounter an Empusa hero, who drops a quest item named the Frost Stone.

There is a shadewe free from a soul cage who tells a tale of individuals being corrupted in Hades and wonders if the Judges are next. There is another soul cage that we are unable to open (locked by quest).

There is a cavern nearby named the Pools of Mnemosyne, which contains Formacids. A couple of Captains and Priestesses, but mostly Corporals and Soldiers, and they fall quickly.

What is a more interesting encounter is a pack of Machae, the creatures who guarded the caravan earlier. We learn that there are multiple types of Machae, the close-combat guys who hurt us pretty badly last time and their archers, who are smart and move around a lot, making it tough to stand and fire on them when they have numbers. We end up using a few potions to take out a mixed group of eight, while also losing a couple of wolves in the process.

[hoopsguy]

Next up is the Cave of Whispers, which is said to house the Mirror of Psyche (side quest item). The early encounters are with Trogs, including Jailors for the soul cages.

The next round of foes are Albino Spiders, a new enemy. They have some kind of glowing red attack that seems to be magnified if there are more spiders around you when it is launched? Hmm, I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this attack in the past. But they seem very weak, so I'm not going to spend much time game-planning them.

What isn't weak is "The Bloated One" - a quest spider hero who traps me, poisons me, and whales on me. Dead quickly. I move some equipment around to get my Stun Resistance resist up to 120 and my Skill Disruption resist up to 72 - not sure if these are what come into play with being held, but I'll try it while sacrificing some DPS and Combined Armor for one fight.

Nope - still held and killed, while only doing minimal damage. I don't think it is the main spider who holds, but instead the six mini ones that are summoned. Strike that idea - it is the big spider who traps us. I need much better poison/piercing resistance to take this on. Three deaths is enough to teach me this lesson now.

I head into the inventory looking for items that will help and take this time to do a little spring cleaning. We recover a couple of charms from items that are outdated, including the Boars Hide to make a minor artifact, Molten Orb.

Molten Orb (lesser artifact)
11 Damage (compared to 10 Piercing)
36 Burn Damge over 3 seconds
+6% Fire Damage (not using a fire attack now, but could help later)
6% Damage Resistance (like it)
5% Fire Resistance (sure)
+8% Attack Speed (compared to 7%)

We lose out on 20% Poison Resistance, which means that I can't swap this out for the spider, as well as +10 Defensive. All in all, the Molten Orb is a better item and will be equipped soon enough.

I'm going to need to scrounge for items, so I'll hold off on advancing until I can get some equipment specifically for this creature.

[hoopsguy]

On a quick experience run, while looking for equipment, we ding 38. Two more points in Dream Mastery and another in Regrowth (up to 440 health healed by this spell). Attribute points to Intelligence and Dexterity.

I move the Molten Orb into equipped status for now because it gives a 35 point jump in DPS.

Health: 3300
Energy: 1096
Strength: 213
Intelligence: 401
Dexterity: 186

Resistances: Fire 23, Cold 45, Electricity 42, Poison 25, Stun 22

DPS: 385
Combined Armor: 312

Health Regeneration: 2.48
Energy Regeneration: 7.86 (took a dip with Lazarus Helm, I think)

Offensive Ability: 219
Defensive Ability: 252
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 122

Gold: 6,280,291
Deaths: 57

Toughest Foe: Charon (fat spider may be moving into this spot)

Best Item: Grim Orb Staff of Rime w/Valor of Achilles
Worst Item: Diogenes' Loop w/Ankh of Isis

[hoopsguy]

So I put in a little research on the Fat Spider, and I'm not happy with what I learned. I don't have much in the way of stun, which seems to be the preferred way to beat this boss. The other strategy is to avoid the webs, which has been something I've struggled with the last couple of times. But I'm at least going to sweep through that area leading up to her and see what I come up with for equipment - if I'm in better shape for a showdown I'll give it another try. If not, this may be the first encounter I intentionally bypass in the game since it is not part of the main quest.

And I do pick up a pretty nice unique set of armor on the way to the Spider.

Occultist's Raiment (unique)
72 Armor (up 20 from current)
39% Pierce Resistance
42% Poison Resistance
+10% Intelligence (down 6% from current)
+341 Energy (highest I've seen with any item, current item is +5%)
+42% Energy Regeneration (up 2% from current)
-10 Reserved Energy Cost
-10% Recharge

Lose out on +58% Health Regeneration. I think I need to make this move and I want the Hydradon Hide from the current item for the +16% Armor Protection, but I hate to destroy that armor.

[hoopsguy]

Upon further review, I can't slot the unique item (duh). Which is a pretty big deal, because I lose out on over 30 points of combined armor making the switch without the +16% Combined Armor. So I'll keep this armor around for the Pierce/Poison benefits, but otherwise it just doesn't stack up to my current set.

So, time to try the spider and see if I can dent her. We'll use a Scroll of Sky's Rage (lightning/stun) and equip my best poison/pierce resist items, including the new set of armor and the old artifact. That gets my poison/pierce ratings up to 67/39; I have not done a good job of stockpiling resistance items in my treasury with this character.

About halfway killed this time - did a better job of avoiding being entangled, was able to use potions more aggressively (before I was entangled), and I think the resists helped. I'll keep at it.

Died again, but I would have had her if I had made better use of Sky's Rage the last time I fought her. That will be my last death to the bloated bitch. Of course, it took three scrolls to beat her, which cost a total of 900K (had three in my inventory already, so wasn't out the money per se).

The reward for defeating her? One item - Mirror of Psyche. I bring it to Eurydice, who learns that Orpheus is indeed imprisoned. She opens a portal for us to go save her man. He is guarded by tougher Cyclops' than the ones we encountered at Olympus - but not much. And there are only two of them. Fittingly enough, Eurydice grants me a scroll of Cyclops to reward me for the rescue.

[hoopsguy]

From here, we run into another batch of Machae, seeing Master Archers for the first time. The Machae are a tough group of foes, probably the first type of monsters I have respected in the game since the Limos early in Act I. Hopefully I outgrow these guys just as I did the Limos.

We cross into the Upper Daemon camp and meet the Envoy, who we are supposed to kill. No problems there, as he is out for blood upon seeing us. He is a Keres hero who has a stun power and a lot of hits, but we are able to take him out without too much strain. So now it is time to backtrack to our Daemon "ally". We have a few battles on the way there, since stuff respawns after exiting the game, but we make our way there in one piece.

We find an interesting staff:

Ker's Fetish (rare)
59 Base Fire Damage
Speed: Very Slow
+27% Fire Damage (wow)
123 Poison Damage over 6 seconds
+11 Strength
+1.3 Energy Regeneration per second
+2 to Volcanic Orb (don't have this)

Not a great fit for me, but a cool item. I wish I could find an item like this enhancing spells I do use.

[hoopsguy]

It takes a little time to backtrack, but we move through the Upper Daemon camp and into an area known as the Vale of Mourning. It is loaded with Odontotyrannus', which basically are free experience for us. Next is Erebus, which looks like a series of stone platforms hovering over pits of fire.

We find the Necromanteion here, which I will attempt to clear out before calling it a day. It is loaded with Keros in the early going, but a Shrine of Mastery near the entrance means that I go very aggressively after them for the duration of the bonus.

The next groups we encounter are Machae; we are a little more cautious with them but overall seem to be finding a groove against this opponent.

The special creature in here is a large undead wolf called Bonescourge. He goes down very easily. Given that he was supposed to have "enormous size and power" I'm a little disappointed. Stuff like Charon and the Fat Spider were soooo much tougher than this thing. We are given a scroll of Sky's Rage for our victory.

We cross into the Far Plains and call it quits for now.

[hoopsguy]

So, I didn't call it quits - I'm getting closer to the end of this game and I'm addicted. I pushed ahead for a little while without updates, here is a brief summary of events:

- picked up Ashes of Titan, applied both skill points to Dream Mastery
- moved on to the Tower of Judgement, which has six levels (I'm on 5th)
- got Level 39
- picked up a killer item that I can't use

Gloves of the Crimson Guard (unique)
108 Armor
+10% Armor Protection (!!!)
47% Fire Resistance
45% Lightning Resistance (I'm generally not finding items in the 40% for resists, let alone two different ones!)
25% chance of 17 Fire Retaliation
+13% Health
+25% Health Regeneration
+40 Defensive Ability
Grant Skill: Heat Shield
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 290 (not even close)

[hoopsguy]

One other item of note - there is a new class of spear-based enemies out there. The rank-and-file are pretty easy, but their captains can hurt us and they also have a spellcaster type. I've been seeing a mix of these guys, the Machae, and the floating spaghetti monsters who poison in the Tower.

It is interesting that I mentioned Limos' a little earlier this morning, as I just encountered the newest version of them on the lowest level of the Tower. These ones have flame-based attacks. Another pack have frost-based attacks - hmm, have they crossed Limos and Emporas? No matter, they still are not very scary at all.

Cerberus waits at the bottom of this level. It looks like he has borrowed from Charon's example, as poison shoots out from the floor to attack us. We will switch to the poison gear for the rematch.

[hoopsguy]

2nd try with Cerberus goes fairly well - we drop a Sky's Rage on him to start the battle and I'm able to stay alive long enough to take away maybe 2/3 of his health. He has a poison area attack in addition to the room poison, so it is absolutely critical to be able to resist poison for this fight. I'm at 70% or so, which is a good start but wish I had a little better.

3rd try - Cerberus is back to full health. And there just isn't room to maneuver in there. He backs me into a corner and I'm more or less a sitting duck. I'm sure I can do better, but this is definitely a tough fight.

4th try - no better. The bosses on this level are really tough for me. I think they are tougher than they were on the other levels, but I'm not 100% sure because it has been quite some time since I first played the game. I knew what to do against them this time (while telling the story) because I had played acts I - III with two other characters.

[hoopsguy]

Tried it with a scroll to summon a Cyclops, along with another scroll to increase my attack speed. No major difference.

Next - Sky's Rage + Cyclops + Frailty. If this doesn't do it, then I'm not sure where I go from here. Only problem is that I can't find Sky's Rage. Seeing as how my best run involved the use of this skill, I want it for the fight.

No dice here either - I'm going to have to improve the poison resist. I don't want to fight him again until I'm capped on poison resistance.

[hoopsguy]

It has been many levels since it last happened, but my faith in merchants has been restored. I finally found a new ring.

Aristotle's Jewel (rare):
+18% Intelligence (up 6%)
+6% Energy (push)
I swap ou the charm for extra health in exchange for one that gives +25% Vitality Damage and Stun Resistances, as well as +50% damage to demons. That should be extremely helpful for the remainder of Act IV, if the first 70% of the expansion pack is to be trusted.

The bump in Intelligence takes that attribute up to 435 and my DPS to 398. Good times.

Poor system performance forced a restart of the PC. That was not why I was losing to Cerberus, but it certainly wasn't helping matters at all.

[hoopsguy]

We go back to an old helm which moves the Poison Resist up to 80%, which is as good as it gets.

And it works - barely! I get trapped near the door, which means that I can't move around attacks, but it also means that the poison floor doesn't come into play. It seems like I'm on the last 20% of my health for the 2nd half of the battle, but Cerberus never kills my nymph and I keep slugging potions and casting heal spells, while mixing in attacks. The battle is pretty fast and very brutal. Glad to have it behind me.

[hoopsguy]

The path is clear to the Hall of Judgement, where we see the three judges. They tell us that they were trapped here. We learn that Hades is responsible for the unrest we are seeing; he has an army laying seige to Elysium right now. He was trying to take advantage of the assault on Olympus by the Titan. Elysium is doomed, unless we can save their heroes as the blind prophet (Elysius) has predeicted. The judge opens a portal to Elysium for us and tells us to seek Agamemnon, the leader of the Elysian forces.

Tiresius is waiting for us in Elysius. He tells us that the battle must be taken to Hades, but none of the shades may enter his palace without his express permission. So it looks like that is where we come in.

Agamemnon tells us that the battle cannot be won here; Hades must be stopped. Odysseus leads the shade forces. He will help us gain entry into the impenetrable city, as he did Troy before (remember the horse?).

[hoopsguy]

Our first battle here finds the spearmen that we encountered in the Tower. They give us the last relic piece we need to make an artifact.

Sunstone:
+10% Damage
+10% Fire Damage
+10% Vitality Damage
25% Fire Resistance
25% Skill Disruption Protection
+18 Dexterity

With no speed bonus this just knee-caps DPS, bringing it down 60 points. So I don't see using this except potentially to create a better artifact later. I puchase the last bit of storage area with the Caravan and stow the artifact there.

We are asked to take down the Siege Striders - five in number - who have caused great harm to the shade army.

We meet Nestor, who asks us to take a message to Ajax in the Delian Meadows. They need him to reinforce other troops who would otherwise be overrun.

We see our first Siege Strider, which bears some resemblence to the war elephants in LOTR. The shoot fire, which is not our best resistance, but we are able to take down our first without too much hassle. We manage to take three of them down before meeting our first death in Elysium, to a large party of spearmen.

[hoopsguy]

By far my favorite thing about Elysium is that there are shades taking the battle to the daemons throughout the land. Not everywhere - we are still doing the heavy lifting - but there is an actual resistance to the invading forces.

Ajax asks me to help support Menelaus at the Achean Pass, as he does not have men to spare. We are actually given a group of four men to join us! We head northwest into the Delian Caves to see if we can root our foes here - of course, that isn't what Ajax and Nestor have requested, but we are free spirits that way.

We lose our escort by the time we exit the cave. No great surprise, but it was interesting having the extra archers along for the ride. There are FSM's and albino spiders (no fat queens) in the cave and we clean it out with vigor.

Next stop - Elysian Acropolis, where the battle rages between shades and Empusas + spearmen. We find more of the fire-spitting eliphant creatures here. They are a real pain when mixed in with other attackers.

We make it through the Acropolis and find Menelaeus. As we talk to him a massive assault party comes in and we struggle to fend them off. We need to ask Menelaeus to fly the flag to rally the troops. We need to keep the monsters away for a spell, which is nearly impossible as they are endless and tough. The spearmen attack at close range and Empusa fire away from long range - they attack both us and the flag. So even if we defeat all of them the flag falls. We need better crowd control spells to take control of this battle - the pets are just not getting the job done.

[hoopsguy]

So the "defend the flag" mission is pretty much impossible - I'll likely have to reload and see if we can pull it off with the full complement of men that are at the start - just didn't know that was the goal when the initial siege took place. But the 10+ failed efforts to do this mission have resulted in the ground being covered with items and in Level 40.

Two more points to Dream Mastery, which is now up to 28/32. One point goes towards Heart of Oak (10/12).

Health: 3448
Energy: 1149
Strength: 220
Intelligence: 446
Dexterity: 194

Resistances: Fire 23, Cold 45, Electricity 42, Poison 5, Vitality 25, Stun 47

DPS: 403
Combined Armor: 312

Health Regeneration: 1.58
Energy Regeneration: 8.31

Offensive Ability: 228
Defensive Ability: 261

Cast Speed: 127
Run Speed: 139

Gold: 7,042,726
Deaths: 89 (ugh)
Toughest Foe: Cerberus - Warden of Hades (agree)

Best Item: Grim Orb Staff of Rime w/Valor of Achilles (beginning to wonder if I'll ever replace this)
Worst Item: Molten Orb (best of three artifacts, but getting ready to move up towards Greater Artifacts)

[Eilim]

We find a quest item - a Jade Figurine - in a cave in the Jingyang Woods. I have found this with three of my characters now and never been able to associate it with a quest so I can get rid of this item

Just reached village of Zhidan myself, could this be what your looking for? didn't see it mentioned looking back in your dynasty.


Quest:

http://www.uafasach.net/stuff/quest.jpg

Not sure because I'm just about to boot up the game to head out of the village now. :)

Here's where I found it/him:

http://www.uafasach.net/stuff/quest2.jpg

You need to talk to him twice to actually get the quest.

Edit: yep, he is the one for the figurine.

[hoopsguy]

Good to know that I've been clueless three times instead of there being a worthless quest item floating around :) I'll probably teleport back there at some point to unload the item so it stops clogging up my inventory.

By the way, for the people who are now playing TQ - how do your characters stack up by level with my accounting? Are they much more/less powerful? Along the same lines? If there are big differences, do you think that is by virtue of your choices with skills or items that you have found?

A secondary reason for doing this dynasty effort is to have it serve as a reference point for a future game. I enjoy replaying this enough that I'm pretty certain I'll have another character past the Colossal Squid :)

[Eilim]

Funny thing is, thats my favorite thing about this dynasty, (and how I caught that quest when I did) I'm constantly checking to see how I "stack up" with your character.

I'd say up until level 10 or so, you were well ahead of me as far as dps, but I had the slight edge on health. After that I lucked out and seemed to go on a a lucky streak as far as green and blue drops and tended to stay somewhat ahead of your power curve from then on.

One thing I did run into, and I should have took more to heart from reading your thread and your thought process on gear (which is a *great* part of the dynasty I must say.) was I got too narrowly focused. I pretty much went all Strength and HP as far as gear, At the expense of all else. Now this wasn't a problem, atleast not apparent to me until recently.

I had been pretty much the lawnmower man with my Defender fully utilizing the shield charge line to take down casters/heavy hitters quickly, then just stand in the middle of the leftovers and laugh while chopping them down quickly. When I finally went the Warden route, I respecced most of the points out of the charge line, leaving just the single points for the quick in-battle movement and relying on the health and attack percs with the new mastery coupled with my at the time insane str and hp to get me through.

This worked fine until I got to the tiger duo-leaders, caster, assorted melee groups and the draconian<sp?> caster and hero groups. My weakness... stuns.. Up until that point I could cut down casters quick enough they played little role in any fight. Even in the early single caster/leader versions of these I was fine. But two leaders, planting those damn flags.. All it took was the caster not to go down in one strike and I was done.. too make matters worse, sometimes even when they went down in one strike they seemed to release their damn lighting/stun spell upon death.. Which with two leaders, usually 2 or 3 melees or archers.. and that damn flag down, I just couldn't recover from the stun unless I want to wait a few minutes between every fight for colossus to pop.

After getting up to that point with only 2 deaths, both because of mis-clicks on my part... then dying 3 times in a short span, not from any dumb mistake, just from getting my ass owned, pure and simple. I finally learned I need to make some changes, and realized it was for the best as from everything I've read resists are a huge part at the next two difficulty levels. Worse part is, even though I have to admit I cried when my strength dropped below 700, and my health was no longer 4500... When all was said and done.. Even with at the time I think 590 str.. I ended up with more dps, 80% stun resist, and about 350 more armor points. Oh, and I think I boosted my energy a few hundreds points and got 50% increase in energy regen I didn't have before.

Oops.. guess I went a bit off on a ramble off the subject there. Sorry about that. :) Happens when I have this much fun with a game.I'm off to play some more. I don't know whether to thank you for bringing my attention to such a great game... or hate you for giving yet another game I'm hopelessly addicted too.

[hoopsguy]

Heh - I know the addiction feeling well. I'm tempted to take my Defender for another run, as it was the build I was playing before this one. He is stuck at Typhos, but I think I would fare a little better with some of the loot I've stashed for him :)

But first things first - the Squid has got a date with Hades.

[hoopsguy]

The enemies come in three groups - it appears that the first time I tried I got nailed on the third wave. This time we held, although it cost all of the shades in the process. When I tried to re-do it I was never making it past the first wave.

Wave 1 - spearmen and pyromancers
Wave 2 - throw in a couple of fire elephants
Wave 3 - same as Wave 1, but with some elite spearmen in the mix

Happy to have that quest behind me.

[hoopsguy]

There are a pair of bridges; we choose the one on the left and enter Celestia to find shades battling Formicids. Lots of Priestesses here along with a fire trap. The Cave of Apollo is here and loaded with albino spiders. I've found these spiders much easier than the ones that troubled me back in Asia.

There is a large building called the Academy of Sophocles. It is in ruins and empty. We cross it and enter the Fields of the Diadochi. But before moving ahead, there were some areas behind us that require a little further investigation ...

There is a cave named for Artemis that holds Epiales (Flying Spaghetti Monsters) - a lot of them - along with a smattering of albino spiders. There are several rare items in chests at the back of this cave. However, the "yellow dot" indicating a special encounter that I saw is not reachable - must get to double back around after advancing through Diadochi.

[hoopsguy]

A merchant has a staff that is almost as good as our current one - also a Staff of Rine that delivers more damage but is slower. There is a difference of 41 points on DPS, which I don't think would be entirely made up by the 12% Attack Speed by moving the relic. Close, but no cigar. Maybe the 33 cold damage relic + the 19% cold damage would offset it ... nah. When I switch I'm looking for a clear-cut decision.

There is a shimmering purple field in the fields here. I'll explore around it before trying to cross it. Around it are a number of Furies, which are one of the creatures who basically can't hope to defeat us. But there is no quest, no Odysseus, nothing that talks about entry into this area. Hope there are no issues crossing into the purple zone ...

Nope, worried over nothing. The biggest problem is visibility, as it is a little dark. There are a number of Melinoe (spearmen) here, and we hear the sounds of heated battle in the distance. The battle continues with Machae and another war elephant - those guys are a load when I don't have my fire protection buffed (separate set of armor when I know they are coming).

We emerge in the Eronian Highlands, which look tough from the outset. There is a nice blending of Machae and traps and we are losing wolves left and right. This is when the game is fun for me - when I have to move slowly through well designed encounters.

[hoopsguy]

We find a nice set of boots that we won't be able to use anytime soon - like ever.

Proioxis (rare)
114 Armor
28% Fire Resist
+17% Movement
Required Strength: 319 (99 points away)

And another ring upgrade at the merchant. Minor, but I'll take it:

Aristotle's Jewel of Acuity (rare):
+22 Intelligence
+19% Intelligence (up 1%)
+6% Energy (push)

That translates to a 33 point jump in Intelligence and an extra 13 points for DPS. I don't even have to pay for the relic transfer as I have an identical one sitting around in my inventory.

[Eilim]

Quick little interuption of this dynasty.. to report..

Eilim death count: from 5.. to 10 in about a 15 minute span. Typhon just owned me... and all my future children. :(

Time for some more respeccing and checking the vault for some possible gear changing and relic swapping.

I do have to say this though, he's a pretty sweet looking monster, when I start working on my custom modules I see him and variations of him making quite a few appearances.

[hoopsguy]

Heading east, and then drifting south, we move into Argolis. And there is a large troop of shades in battle here, led by Menestheus, King of Athens. They are looking to create a diversion of Odysseus. There is a Melinoe blood queen in camp nearby who has command of the area. Their mission is to destroy the queen in very public fashion to create space for Odysseus to operate. Looks like we are on the job now.

This area is just swarming with high-ranking spearmen, who definitely cause challenges for us. The good news is that we have an army escorting us, so we don't have to confront them head to head. The bad news is there are a bunch of them and they eventually converge on us. One death before getting through and our escort is lost. There were 4-5 of the higher-ranking spearmen in total.

When we face the Melinoe queen we learn that it is a spellcaster, which works much better for us. We are able to dispatch her without too much trouble.

Our merchant in Elysium continues to have interesting items.

Hallowed Wreath (rare):
54 Armor
49% Vitality Damage Resistance
+1.0 Health Regeneration per second
+23% Energy Regeneration
+1 to all skills

I'm tempted to take this one for a spin, even if it does mean giving up a bit of Combined Armor. +1 to all skills is pretty damn nice.

[hoopsguy]

We see our first soul cages in some time here in Argolis. And another 2-pack of senior spearmen. This is a recipe for disaster for us - they hit hard and run fast which makes it hard to elude and drink potions.

We learn that Hades cannot rule daemons when they make their way to the living lands. Thus he created five shards of Erebus to control them. If we are able to shatter the five shards that will mean Hades cannot lead his army. Hmm, this is pretty convenient. The shards are in the palace and obviously will be guarded. Perhaps by the people mentioned next ...

Hades has three Machae annoited as leaders, imbued with his own power. Dysnomion - general of nightmares. Makeria general of wretched death. Trophonios - general of darkness. These generals have powers to rival Titans.

Odysseus does indeed have a way to gain entry. Persephone will help us, if we are able to free her.

[hoopsguy]

We advance past Odysseus' camp and reach the Palace Wall. Here we find a secret passage. Welcome to the Palace of Hades. We hear sinister laughter in the background - haunting familiar to that of Typhos when we were at Olympus.

And there is a reason for that. We meet "Undead Typhos"!!! I didn't have nearly enough potions to deal with him, but he was not nearly as challenging as last time around. He has an attack to hold, as well as another area attack, but nothing that is as deadly as last time around where everything he did cut 50+% of our health. I had five potions, and they were enough to take Typhos down to about 40% health. Time to get supplies and see if he is fully healed.

[hoopsguy]

Twelve potions was the magic number for Typhos in the rematch - about 30 less than the live version when I was five levels behind where I'm at now. Nice trick, Hades.

Persephone awaits. She says that she wanted to depart with Hades, along with the rest of the gods, but he saw this as an opportunity for conquest. So he chained Persephone, hoping that she would join him after he is triumphant. Although we have freed her, she is powerless to stop him. Hades does not think he can fall before a mortal, but it is my lot to overthrow him.

The next area is named The Dark Processional. We also find the final teleportation chamber - so we are clearly close to the end of this Act.

Nothing of note here - a few Melinoe (spearmen) - and we advance to the Aidonean Propylon. Whatever that means. After clearing through a fleet of Melinoe we see a new foe, a new magical statue with a name that is close to Gigantic. He died too fast for me to collect it.

Gigantes - we ran into three of them the next time around, so had more time to get the name. Either way, nothing that scary as we set them down with minimal effort. However, it is a different story for their higher ranking guy who has an area attack that blasts our pets and finishes me off pretty quickly as well. Wow.

[hoopsguy]

I honestly don't know how to beat that thing without a scroll - it sends attack waves out with great range that do massive damage and fires them very quickly. So time to equip the scrolls - Sky's Rage to hold him seems like an option.

We find a battle marker and go in for another round - nope, and that is death #100 for the game. God, prior to Typhos at the end of Act III I wasn't finding much of anything that could drop multiple deaths on us. I'm clearly going to need to do some tinkering with my character in the near future to try and address some of the shortcomings. But I don't know if I can address single-shot damage and crowd control, both of which are concerns.

It looks like the enemy can only shoot those attacks every 10 seconds or so, after blasting them off in rapid succession. So that is the way to beat him - get him to use his ranged area attack, then deliver a lot of damage to him. Hard, very hard. After we get past him we enter the Court of Kouloures.

[hoopsguy]

We find the first shard, and it is not very well guarded at all. Nor does it take much damage to blow it up.

I've got a new monster charm that I would like to use.
Fury's Heartblood:
35 Vitality Damage
+8% Attack Speed
Can enchant all weapons

Back to the Palace, we pass through a set of doors into the Winding Descent. And there is another tough Gigantes here - hopefully we learned a little bit from last time out.

Nope - that attack is just illegal and reloads faster than I recall. Maybe if I had a power that took away his energy? But he still fired it with only 20% or so energy left. I give up - I'm destined to die over and over again to these guys every time I fight them.

We have to keep these guys at range - that is about the only strategy that allows the Squid to fight this thing. Watch him fire a couple of times, hope that the timing is right, and engage. Pets are worthless, as they die to the AOE attack instantly.

[Eilim]

We hear sinister laughter in the background - haunting familiar to that of Typhos when we were at Olympus.

And there is a reason for that. We meet "Undead Typhos"!!!

oh god... Do we really have to fight him again? (sobs in corner)

Anyways... about 30+ health pots later, and the same for energy with two fodder cyclops thrown in for good measure.

http://www.uafasach.net/stuff/woot.jpg

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[hoopsguy]

We find another higher-level Gigantes that blasts fire. He is much more manageable. Maybe I just need to figure out the damage type that the other guy is firing - it isn't fire/cold/electric/poison and I don't think it is vitality. Not bleeding, not piercing. So what the heck is it? Anyone who has played ahead and knows the answer, I would love to know.

We meet the first of the three generals - Dysnomion. He fires a bow that does poison damage. These guys are right in my wheelhouse. It costs about 10 potions and a bunch of wolves, but we take him down on the first try. Next.

Hopefully neither of the other two generals are those damn Gigantes with the wave attack.

[hoopsguy]

The general doesn't guard anything back here. Kind of strange.

As you would expect for an area named "The Winding Descent" I'm heading down a series of stone stairways. At the bottom is a doorway leading to the "Prison of Souls". We fight back a group of Albino Spiders to see a pair of locked jail cells holding shades.

Lots of spiders, but the 2nd of the generals is guarded by a ton of Machae, who swarm us. We fight well, but are overwhelmed by numbers and by ranged attacks that I believe came from the general. Our second look reveals that the foe is Trophonius, and he hits harder than his partner. I think he is delivering Vitality damage.

Upon further review, it looks like he deals out some burn damage - as we are taking damage after the fact at a rapid rate. Yeah, this guy is quite a bit tougher than the other general. But still nothing close, in terms of challenge, to the damn Gigantes lieutenants.

[hoopsguy]

We continue to descend deeper into the Palace, now to the Polis Daemonai. Here we find a third general, who has an attack that sleeps and drops us in poison. Nasty - but if we can avoid it then I don't see much that scares me.

I'm less than impressed by the treasure offered up by the generals - not even green items and not many yellows. Junk.

We defeat the Warden, who is in fact a Gigante hero with a ranged attack. But it does not destroy us the same way as the other creatures do, and we are able to grind it out, minus the pets. He releases a key that allows me to open all the cells that I've been passing. Beyond the Warden's area, we locate the second shard and blow it to smithereens.

There is an Empusa hero who presents some challenges, using the area attack that I saw with Typhos - sucking away health and energy. That is a pet killer and it is forcing me to retreat as well. There is an amulet available at the shop that offers 57% Energy Leech Resist - think I'll take this one for a spin during this battle. 190K is a fair price for this when I'm at 7.5 million.

And it doesn't matter that much - the range attack still sucks away massive health and energy no matter whether I have the amulet on or not. Enter a Sky's Rage - basically my fall-back option when I'm struggling with a creature - and it is game over. We collect a Soul Stone, to match the Frost Stone and Venom Stone collected earlier in Hades. But for what?

[hoopsguy]

Beyond the Empusa hero is a doorway to a new region known as the Crystalline Stellae. Sparks of electricity make their way across our path between crystals - we try not to be there when the sparks are flying. But we do find an unguarded shard. Three down. Make that four down, as another unguarded shard sits very close by. One to go.

We step into the throne room, which locks behind us. Enter Hades. On our first go we take away about half of his health before falling to a slow one-shot attack. It is a very long walk back to face him.

[hoopsguy]

When Hades raises his hand to cast the one-shot attack it is pretty similar to the Typhos attack - optimal time to assault him.

I don't think he is that tough, but there isn't a ton of room to maneuver. Maybe I'm just being impatient, because his health seems to be disappearing quickly enough, but the one-shot has gotten me three times now. He also summons a black circle that chases us around and does a lot of health damage if it catches up - which it can if his damage/sleep attack works.

So the next time I'm patient, and learn that Hades is like frigging Charon - multiple lives. His second iteration is kind of a spirit-like form that throws cold attacks out there. He wins when I'm through my 45 potions. Coming with 100 for next time :mad::mad:

[hoopsguy]

21 potions for the rematch, as he was still in his frost form. Almost all area attacks, making the pets worthless, but not too much trouble to stick and move against his attacks. And boosting up the cold resist to 80% prior to the battle helped, I'm sure.

Persephone congratulates us on our victory and names us Godsbane. The gods leave the afterlife in the hands of human judges and pronounces this the age of man. We get a nice experience bump and a decent amount of loot from the battle. We get a quest item called the Overlord - no idea what this does.

I notice that there has already been a ding against my restistances - this happens as you move up a level in difficulty.

So, I'm done with the Normal level of difficulty at Level 40. I've died 119 times along the way, which is an amazing amount more than I expected to see. It took over 90 hours of play to get to this point, although I'm sure it was slowed by a few hours while typing these accounts. And Hades does indeed show up as the toughest foe I've slain.

[hoopsguy]

Beginning Epic play - time for a character close-up.

Colossal Squid:
Level 40 Ritualist
Health: 3448
Energy: 1213
Strength: 220
Intelligence: 479
Dexterity: 194

Resistances (these are really ugly and have to be addressed):
Fire -17, Cold 5, Electricity 2, Poison -35, Piercing -40, Vitality 50, Stun 72

DPS: 427
Combined Armor: 312

Health Regeneration: 1.58
Energy Regeneration: 8.64

Offensive Ability: 228
Defensive Ability: 261

Cast Speed: 127
Run Speed: 139

Greatest Damage Dealt: 1039
Gold: 6,885,875
Deaths: 119

Helmet: Lazarus Helm

Rings: Insulated Engraved Ring of Frost w/Demons Blood and Aristotle's Jewel of Acuity w/Demons Blood

Weapon: Grim Orb Staff of Rime w/Valor of Achilles

Armor: Priestess's Vestment w/Hydradon Hide

Bracers: Insulated Armlet of the Gryphon w/Herakles' Might

Leggings: Priestess's Leggings w/Hydradon Hide

Amulet: Medallion of the Lynx (empty slot)

Artifact: Molten Orb

[hoopsguy]

Level 41 comes in on the road to Sparta. Nothing much to report here - Epic is very easy so far. I'm expecting to swap out a bunch of equipment in the near future, as the stuff in the first store looks considerably better than what we now have. Just looking for stuff that actually fits well - so far that hasn't been the case.

There are new versions of relics/shards that are incompatible with the old ones. So I have a bunch of that stuff that I can basically unload when I'm tired of looking at it.

Level 41 - two points on Dream Mastery, now up to 30/32. We invest a point in Sands of Sleep to get an area attack spell. Attribute points to Intelligence and Dexterity - will be interesting to see just how many more points I want to spend on Strength/Dexterity once I'm done with Dream Mastery. I may start putting all points into Intelligence.

Other info is very similar to the last post, so I'll hold off until Level 42 to post character updates.

[hoopsguy]

On a totally unimportant note, I've decided that now is a good time to change Tunic colors. So the Colossal Squid is now sporting a black toga underneath the armor.

And here is the first unique item of Epic:

Charon's Funeral Wrappings (unique):
96 Armor (44 better than current, 23 w/charm)
22% Elemental Resistance (4 better than current)
45% Life Leech Resistance
+21 Intelligence
+21% Energy Regeneration (1% better)
+14% Movement
+14% Energy Absorbtion from Attacks

I like it - just wish I could slot it.

[hoopsguy]

It takes all of one potion to take out the Centaur - so far Epic has been a breeze and the terribly low resistances have not reared their head. I know that will not last ...

So I found an item that costs almost 2 million to purchase - and it is a marginal improvement item. Can't pull the trigger for that kind of money without it being clear-cut.

Overall I've added potions since starting Epic while adding the equivalent of one level of experience. I'm expecting the level of difficulty to kick up, but I'm not sure at what point I'll start to feel a sense of fear.

[hoopsguy]

We buy a new amulet for 900K:

Dreadful Beads of Clout (rare):
+71% Bleeding Damage (not used)
+26% Cold Damage
+62% Vitality Damage (do a little)
+30 Strength (may help with equipping items)

Impact - DPS up 7 points, new items available potentially due to strength increase.

And we also complete our first Epic charm:

Epic Boar Hide:
20 Armor
Completion Bonus: +9% Armor Protection
Can enhance all armor

Keeper.

I had forgotten how far Megara and Sparta are from each other. I'm getting tired of porting back to Sparta with my loot. We roll right through the area where the Squid first died - I don't believe I've been under 1,000 health in Epic yet.

[hoopsguy]

And we have a new staff!

Celestial Staff of Torment (rare)
Speed: Slow
64-73 Base Cold Damage
35 Vitality Damage
10% Chance of 4 second Stun
+1.2 Energy Regeneration per second

DPS moves from 424 to 450 and that is without a slotted item. I have a Vitality item that I'm going to slot in this one and see if I can really move this number.

Fury's Heartblood (completed monster charm)
35 Vitality Damage
Completion Bonus: +8% Attack Speed

Wow - DPS moves all the way up to 635!!! I wonder why Vitality damage is scored this way in DPS, compared to other types of damage?

[hoopsguy]

Upon further review, I think the number moved pretty dramatically in part because of my amulet, which has a +62% Vitality Damage number. That, combined with the increased speed for the weapon, must have really shot the DPS into the stratosphere.

Cyclops - untouched, thanks to the new weapon and the Greeks who distract him. That was different. And even more fun that one-shotting demons in the tomb holding the skeleton princes (have rings both slotted with +25% damage to demons on top of new DPS).

The temptation is to get a little reckless with my play, as my damage is higher than I'm used to and our foes have been weak so far. I'm finding myself wading into bigger groups and just slashing away, which is a little dumb. I don't have all that much health, my armor is nothing to write home about, and my resistances suck. Other than that, it seems like a super idea.

I pick up a new item at the store, further lower my resistances. But +20 on DPS and +37 Combined Armor are intoxicating for me until the monsters make me pay a price for my weak resistances.

Bracelet of Speed
+19% Energy Regeneration (-4%)
+24% Attack Speed (+14%)

I lose out on 27% Cold Resist, +22% Elemental Damage, and 5 Elemental Damage but that is offset by the increased speed. And I'm sure I can slot this with something that will mitigate the cold or provide another resist. Or more armor - the Boar's Hide would work for that. But I'll hold off for now to see if I'm going to pay a price on resistances.

[hoopsguy]

Level 42 comes in, and I've final completed Dream Mastery. From here on out the points get to go towards spells. Another point goes towards Sands of Sleep (3/8) - next level I'll be able to impact three targets. I put both points into Intelligence - don't see a compelling reason to spend too many more points on Strength/Dexterity at this point. Maybe some on Dexterity to increase Offensive/Defensive?

Health: 3782
Energy: 1248
Strength: 246
Intelligence: 533
Dexterity: 198

Resistances: Fire -13, Cold -18, Electricity 6, Poison -35, Piercing -40, Vitality 95, Stun 72

DPS: 665
Combined Armor: 375

Health Regeneration: 1.58
Energy Regeneration: 9.29

Offensive Ability: 233
Defensive Ability: 266

Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 124

Gold: 7,397,582
Deaths: 119 (and holding)

Best Item: Celestial Staff of Torment w/Fury's Heartblood (amulet is close 2nd)
Worst Item: Molten Orb (weak artifact), with torso armor in the team photo

[Eilim]

The temptation is to get a little reckless with my play, as my damage is higher than I'm used to and our foes have been weak so far. I'm finding myself wading into bigger groups and just slashing away, which is a little dumb. I don't have all that much health, my armor is nothing to write home about, and my resistances suck. Other than that, it seems like a super idea.


This is what usually gets me. You never know when that unseen uber-Hero or a caster specializing in your one low resist is around the corner just waiting to jump in the fight which sometimes results in the slaughter reversing directions. I just seem to keep forgetting I have that bow second slotted for a reason. :)

[hoopsguy]

Just picked up a redundant item - can't use it, but it made me laugh:

Flaming Talon of Flame (rare):
54-60 Damage
15% Piercing
Speed: Very Fast
+16% Fire Damage
13-22 Fire Damage
12 Fire Damage
Required Dexterity: 222 (off by 16)

We also change out our armor, sacrificing some DPS for a better Combined Armor.

Padded Raiment of Refuge (rare):
80 Armor (28 better than previous)
+8% Armor Protection
+24 Defensive Ability

I give up +16% Intelligence, which definitely hurts, but the Armor Protection on top of the 28 points of armor, along with moving the Hydradon Hide for another 16% Armor Protection, means that the Combined Armor ranking goes up 61 points in exchange for 39 points of DPS. Hopefully we can make that up at some point ...

[hoopsguy]

For the first time in a long while, I'm equipping a yellow item and slotting it.

Curative Padded Raiment of Shelter
84 Armor (4 better than current)
+16% Armor Protection (8% better)
26% Poison Resistance
+38% Energy Regeneration (3% worse)

We lose out on +24 Defensive ability while increasing our armor and shoring up one resistance a little bit. Combined Armor is now up to 469, a 33 point jump from the armor I had just purchased. Getting closer to respectable all the time, although our fights are better when my armor never comes into play :)

[Eilim]

My luck has been insane this morning... or it could just be the fact I've been playign for so many hours straight I'm bound to get some good stuff. Anyways, actually got two of an item that made me think of you hoops, was wondering if you could use either of these. While not really focused on your element I figured the + to dream skills might be useful if only situational.. plus they can be slotted.

http://www.uafasach.net/stuff/clutchstat1.jpg

http://www.uafasach.net/stuff/clutchstat2.jpg

Its actually a pretty cool looking weapon, caught a screenshot of the second one be wielded thinking it might be some uber rare weapon not having seen the first one being wielded (casters are high on my hit list and usually drop quick the minute I see them.)

http://www.uafasach.net/stuff/clutch.jpg

If you want either, just let me know and we can set up a time to pass it along in game.

[hoopsguy]

I've got one of those kicking around in my storage area right now. Figure I might take it for a look when I start putting more points in those spells, but up until recently I've had minimal points on my Dream spells.

I've found an Arcane Formula for epic items and I'm only one fragment away from being able to put it together.

Jade Idol
Required: Embodiment of Golden Fleece, Embodiment of Valor of Achilles (2 of 3), Epic Turtle Shell
10 Damage
+15 Defensive Ability
+17% Attack Speed
-8% Energy Cost

And Level 43 comes in while clearing out the monster camps beyond Parnassus. One point goes into Sands of Sleep (4/8) to bring it up to three targets affected. I'm tempted to bring on another pet (Nightmare) but think I'll spend my points on the existing ones rather than branching out for the moment. In fact, two more points into Call of the Wild (12/16) will close out the points for this level. I want to focus on my ground troops for the moment, while trying to set up a model where they live longer and I fight more from the back. They are now over 2,000 health which is great except that my heal spells really don't make a huge impact for them either. Both attribute points go into Intelligence.

Health: 3782
Energy: 1192
Strength: 246
Intelligence: 479
Dexterity: 206

Resistances: Fire -13, Cold -18, Electricity 13, Poison -9, Piercing -40, Vitality 95, Stun 72

DPS: 640
Combined Armor: 469

Health Regeneration: 1.00 (huh, not a single item helping this along now)
Energy Regeneration: 8.71

Offensive Ability: 243
Defensive Ability: 276

Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 124

Gold: 8,424,050
Deaths: 119 (and holding)

Best Item: Celestial Staff of Torment w/Fury's Heartblood
Worst Item: Molten Orb

[hoopsguy]

And I have my first legendary item - unfortunately I'm not going to be able to use it with this character anytime soon. This came courtesy of a Ratman Rogue prior to the Gorgon Queens.

Griefmaker
126-133 Damage
10% Piercing
Speed: Fast

15% Chance of +133% Pierce Damage
222 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
15% Chance of +131% Bleeding Damage w/+49% Improved Duration
36 Piercing Damage
+27 Strength
+30 Offensive Ability
Requirements: Level 38, Strength 287, Dexterity 235

[hoopsguy]

Level 44 comes while making my way towards the Minotaur in Knossos. Along the way I took my first Epic death, getting bushwhacked by a pack of Maenads and Centaurs. Really stupid death - I hate when I give them away like that. I've also completed my first Epic Artifact - Jade Idol.

Jade Idol
10 Damage
+15 Defensive Ability
+17% Attack Speed
-8% Energy Cost
Completion Bonus: 5-12 Piercing Damage (worthless)

Overall the speed bonus was enough to give a marginal value over the other artifact I was using. But this is still nothing to write home about - I'm hoping for better artifacts to come, but it may be challenging as a number of these artifacts require earlier artifacts as building blocks. I'm not exactly swimming in artifacts ...

I spend two points to cap Heart of Oak at 12/12 - which means the health benefits move from +55% to +65%. So I won't have anymore big health boosts coming unless it is from equipment. The last point goes into Temporal Flux, a new spell. Level one of six grants +2% Total Speed, +3% Avoid Projectiles, and 8% Slow Resistance. Attributes go to Intelligence.

Health: 4026
Energy: 1192
Strength: 246
Intelligence: 389
Dexterity: 206

Resistances: Fire -18, Cold -18, Electricity 13, Poison -9, Piercing -40, Vitality 95, Stun 72

DPS: 667
Combined Armor: 469

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 8.87

Offensive Ability: 243
Defensive Ability: 293

Cast Speed: 112%
Run Speed: 126%

Gold: 9,121,449 (made a few purchases, although none equipped)
Deaths: 120

Best Item: Celestial Staff of Torment w/Fury's Heartblood
Worst Item: Jade Idol (still a lesser artifact)

[hoopsguy]

Epic game play is very similar to the first level, but there are a couple of curves thrown in to try and freshen the story up a little bit. I just encountered one of those outside of the palace of Minos. Talos - Master Automatoi, is a giant automatoi who spits fire, has a lightning aura, and a stun attack when he extends his arm. Nice combination of tactics, along with a mountain of health. I fell to him once when mis-clicking, but otherwise was able to churn through him with a little patience and a lot of pet deaths.

The reward was my second legendary item - an amulet that I can use:

Blessing of the Gods

41% Pierce Resistance
49% Elemental Resistance
50% Poison Resistance
+18 Strength
+22 Intelligence
+18 Dexterity
+200 Health
+91 Energy

It is a massive shot in the arm for my resistances, but am I willing to give up 130 points of DPS? Short answer - yes, when the game convinces me that I will need to do so.

[TonyR]

I've gotten to Egypt on my first playthrough. Level 21 Juggernaugt (Earth/Defense). Going well, am currently at looking for the Sphynx and Eye orb. Only 9 or 10 deaths so far. I can say that I am enjoying this game. Curious as to how multi-player works, but that is for another time.

[hoopsguy]

Tony, I've looked for you before logging on to play over the last week or so but haven't found you during the times I'm on.

Glad to hear that you are making your way along - I really did enjoy the scenery as it switched between each of the Acts.

I've just made my way into Egypt as well on Epic. The Telkine's continue to be pretty serious wimps for the Colossal Squid.

[TonyR]

i've been sticking to one player. thought you were going to name a time as to when to try multi-player.
where is the lost brother or the tomb he went to? haven't found that yet.

[hoopsguy]

Lost brother - can you jog my memory a little bit on that? Is it a quest in Egypt?

[TonyR]

minor quest, sister in Memphis looking for her brother than ran off looking for a demon to fight the monsters. but i found the tomb. so now i'm looking for the eye of chaos.

[hoopsguy]

OK, eye of Chaos is in a pretty remote location - believe it is the farther northeast part of the desert areas.

Dinged Level 45 before calling it a night and found a new staff that takes DPS above 700 for the first time.

Dreadful Delphic Staff (rare):
49-110 Base Lightning Damage
114 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
23 Cold Damage
25 Vitality Damage
+1.3 Energy Regeneration per second
Fury's Heartblood adds 35 Vitality Damage and +8% Attack Damage

That jumped my DPS up about 80 points.

I also have had minor upgrades to a ring:

Plato's Loop of Mana (rare):
+26% Intelligence
+62 Energy
+6% Energy
+18% Energy Regeneration

That was about a push from my current item, but the higher Int % means it will out-perform the other item as I tack on levels. And I still need to slot it.

Level 45 - I bump up the wolf damage (Maul) from level 7 to 9. That means they will each deliver an extra 20 points per attack, along with another 5 piercing. The last point goes onto Temporal Flux, adding another 2% total speed. Attributes - both to Intelligence.

Health: 4026
Energy: 1258
Strength: 246
Intelligence: 500
Dexterity: 206

Resistances: Fire -18, Cold -18, Electricity 13, Poison -9, Piercing -40, Vitality 70, Stun 47 (can bump those numbers up if/when I move the slotted item for ring)

DPS: 779
Combined Armor: 529

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 9.49

Offensive Ability: 243
Defensive Ability: 293

Cast Speed: 114
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 8,470,849 (staff cost a couple of million)
Deaths: 123 (took one to a boss in Egypt, thanks to crappy resists)

Best Item: Dreadful Delphic Staff w/Fury's Heartblood
Worst Item: Jade Idol

[hoopsguy]

On the topic of the Eye of Chaos, I'm now in Egypt searching for this item.

Level 46 comes and it is time to turn my attention to protection from Elements. Enter the Permanence of Stone spell, which gets all three points to give me a 10% Elemental Resistance across the board for the cost of 1 energy/second. I drop one point each on Intelligence and Strength.

Health: 4075
Energy: 1229
Strength: 250
Intelligence: 517
Dexterity: 206

Resistances: Fire -8, Cold -8, Electricity 23, Poison 21, Piercing -40, Vitality 70, Stun 25

DPS: 786
Combined Armor: 545 (swapped in a helmet to give experience bonus instead of best armor option)

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 12.27

Offensive Ability: 243
Defensive Ability: 272

Cast Speed: 114
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 11,829,147
Deaths: 124

Best Item: Dreadful Delphic Staff w/Fury's Heartblood
Worst Item: Deathrattle (substitue artifact)

[hoopsguy]

Another encounter that I think is unique to Epic (going from memory here) is the Manticore in Egypt. He exploits my crappy piercing resistance in the first encounter, but the Blessing of the Gods covers up that sin in the rematch. I'm strongly considering making the move to this full-time when I hit the Orient.

And Level 47 comes after gathering the two main items in Egypt for Imhotep. I cap the Permanence of Stone at 6/6, bringing the Elemental Resist up to 18%. Stats go towards Intelligence x2.

Health: 4387
Energy: 1415
Strength: 220
Intelligence: 555
Dexterity: 206

Resistances: Fire 34, Cold 0, Electricity 31, Poison 21, Piercing -40, Vitality 70, Stun 25

DPS: 830
Combined Armor: 555

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 10.52

Offensive Ability: 243
Defensive Ability: 272
Cast Speed: 114
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 13,926,080
Deaths: 125

Best Item: the same staff until I get around to equpping the Blessing of the Gods
Worst Item: Deathrattle (artifact)

[PiemasterUK]

Bumping this thread to encourage you to keep on going and to let you know that I am now at level 30 with my main towards the end of Act 3. However, spam-healing wolves has started to get a bit repetitive, so I am going to go back and level some alts for a while I think.

[hoopsguy]

I'm still playing a little bit. My killer stretch of work ended on 5/14, but an unexpected new time-filler arrived on 5/15 that is going to limit some of my game time (see my Off Topic post, don't want to thread-jack the dynasty :) )

I'm about 60% of the way through Level 47 and just about ready to exit Egypt. I've picked up a new monster charm that increases vitality damage and slots with a ring - bringing DPS up around 100 points in the ballpark of 930.

The Squid was crushed by one monster hero that did a sick amount of damage. I'm guessing it was Piercing damage, where our resist is -40. That is definitely going to need to be addressed, likely with our Legenedary ring moving into the permanent rotation once Egypt is done.

[hoopsguy]

Got a little time in tonight and finished off Egypt. Just prior to wiping out the Telkine, the Squid hit Level 48. We put all three point into Temporal Flux, which boosts our Total Speed, Chance to Avoid Projectiles, and Slow Resistance. Moving from +4% to +10% for Speed is good for business, I expect. Attribute points are placed in Intelligence and Dexterity.

Also, it is probably worth noting here that I found a new set of armor that really made a difference for our character.

Ymochel's Riddlerobe (epic)
192 Armor (huge jump from 84 on old, but actually down when factoring in +32% Armor Protection)
21% Pierce Resistance
21% Fire Resistance
15% Chance of 123 Life Leech over 3.0 seconds or 1-3 Stun Retaliation
+21% Elemental Damage
+46 Intelligence
+110 Energy
+80% Energy Regeneration
+48 Defensive Ability

This was another 100 or so points benefit for DPS, as well as a shot in the arm for defense, energy regeneration, and pierce/fire at the expense of poison.

Health: 4263
Energy: 1401
Strength: 224
Intelligence: 590
Dexterity: 214

Resistances: Fire 21, Cold 0, Electricity 31, Poison -5, Piercing -19, Vitality 70, Energy 60, Stun 25

DPS: 1054 (up over 200 points from last level)
Combined Armor: 525 (down 30 points from last level)

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regenaration: 14.89 (up nearly 4.5)
Offensive Ability: 252
Defensive Ability: 338

Cast Speed: 120
Run Speed: 134

Total Deaths: 127
Gold: 17,946,291 (was as high as 22 million at one point)

Best Item: Ymochel's Riddlerobe
Worst Item: Deathrattle

[hoopsguy]

Bumping this thread to encourage you to keep on going and to let you know that I am now at level 30 with my main towards the end of Act 3. However, spam-healing wolves has started to get a bit repetitive, so I am going to go back and level some alts for a while I think.

Along these lines, I'm curious to hear where other people are with their games. Has anyone else made their way to face Typhos or Hades yet? Anyone lapping me at this point?

[TonyR]

Nah, I just got past the big Yeti Master that killed me before I was able to take him down. I just needed him to focus on my pet lava monster before I hacked away at him to get him dead. Don't have a lot of time to play, but I am slowly going at it. Up to level 29 though :-)

[hoopsguy]

Level 49, very little of note in the early stages of the Orient. No deaths between levels 48 and 49, which was a nice change of pace.

It is time to introduce another pet to the mix - the Nightmare. I'm not that interested in building up all the Nightmare points right away, but I do have an interest in their "Master Mind" ability, which augments the total damage and regen (both health and energy) for all pets. I'll look to cap those eight points pretty quickly to bring damage up across the board. So one point on Summon Nightmare, one Hypnotic Gaze, and one point on Master Mind this time around. Let's see if the one point Nightmare actually lives through any fights. Attribute points go to INT and STR.

Health: 4281
Energy: 1497
Strength: 246
Intelligence: 625
Dexterity: 232

Resistances (now using the high resist amulet):
Fire 70, Cold 49, Electricity 80, Poison 45, Piercing 22. Vitality 70, Energy Resist 60, Stun 25

DPS: 900 (changing out the high damage amulet)
Combined Armor: 525

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 15.23
Offensive Ability: 273
Defensive Ability: 359
Cast Speed: 122%
Run Speed: 136%

Total Deaths: 127
Gold: 27,268,005
Best Item: Blessing of the Gods (high resist amulet)
Worst Item: Deathrattle (lesser artifact)

[bulletsponge]

ok i got a few questions about this game.

i loved Diablo 2, how similar is this game to it? how many lvls are there in this game? how customizable is this game as far as play styles? i always prefered bows with melee as secondary (think Amazon from D2), is it possible to play this way in this game?

[hoopsguy]

Bullet, if I was picking a game to compare this one to it would be Diablo 2. It is considered a "Diablo clone" in most of the reviews I've read. In terms of play styles, as you describe them, it is exceptionally customizable. If I wanted to use a bow for this character I certainly could although it would be sub-optimal given how far I've progressed in other directions by now. But I've got another character that rotates between using bows and spears as the preferred attack, depending on the quality of magic items and how much I want to mix it up versus firing away from afar.

Even with the exact choices that I've made for classes, I would expect another player could choose to play very differently based on spell selection. In fact, if I wanted to re-slot my spells I can do that in many of the towns in this game as long as I'm willing to shell out some gold to accomplish that.

[bulletsponge]

cool. thanks for the reply. ive been looking for a game to waste away some time and im getting bored of WoW

[hoopsguy]

Happy to help. Earlier in the thread I think someone found both the original game and expansion pack for $45-50 - prices may have dropped again with a few months of time going by since the release of the expansion pack.

Level 50 finds the Colossal Squid making his way further into the Orient. I'm past the Great Wall and now have to face off with the Dragon creatures that really started the portion of the game where I die more frequently. During Level 49 I had some challenges with the Neanderthal Lord who stuns and then one-shots. He got me a couple of times before I bagged him, even with 50+ Stun Resist. Note to people playing this one out - don't ever get stunned against him. Seriously. I could have avoided deaths if I had just run around and let my pets finish him off, but that is boring. And, I guess I like dying more than living a boring lifestyle. Or something like that.

Level 50 - I put three points into the Master Mind spell, bringing my pets damage up from 5% to 20%. Given that I have four of them running around, I'm expecting this to pay dividends. So far the Nightmare has been pretty resilient even with only the one spell level invested. The attribute points go to INT and DEX.

Health: 4281
Energy: 1497
Strength: 246
Intelligence: 631
Dexterity: 236

Resistances: Fire 70, Cold 49, Electricity 80, Poison 15, Piercing 49 (one change in gear helped this number out), Vitality 70, Energy Leech 60, Stun 25

DPS: 915
Combined Armor: 516

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 15.35
Offensive Ability: 278
Defensive Ability: 335

Cast Speed: 122%
Run Speed: 136%
Deaths: 132
Gold: 26,113,248

Best Item: Blessing of the Gods
Worst Item: Deathrattle (got a new artifact that was not better than this)

[bulletsponge]

Happy to help. Earlier in the thread I think someone found both the original game and expansion pack for $45-50 - prices may have dropped again with a few months of time going by since the release of the expansion pack.

i just found em both for about 53$ including S&H

[hoopsguy]

Level 51 comes in the heart of the Wusao Mountain, making our way to the Orient Telkine. All in all, the level of difficulty is still pretty consistent with what we saw last game. The Bull is still a real pain, and I had to get a little chintzy to take him down - establishing a beachhead on the bridge where he wouldn't chase any further. Outside of him, the large packs of charging Dragons in the Mountain got us a couple of times.

All points went into the Master Mind again, adding an additional +15% to damage for the pets. Attribute points went to INT and DEX. We also made a few equipment changes over this level, adding the following ring to the regular rotation:

Molten Loop of Intellect
114 Burn Damage over 3 seconds
19 Fire Damage
+36 Intelligence
Slotted w/Epic Demon's Blood
35% Vitality Damage Resist
35% Stun Resist
+50% Damage to Demons

Additionally, there is a new staff:
Crackling Seer's Staff of Torment
59-133 Base Lightning Damage
Speed: Slow
12-46 Lightning Damage
35 Vitality Damage
10% chance of 3 seconds stun (paid 8 million for this staff for this feature, sacrificing 30 points of DPS in the trade)
+1.3 Energy regen per second
Slotted w/Fury's Heartblood
35 Vitality Damage
+8% Attack Speed

Health: 4281
Energy: 1497
Strength: 250
Intelligence: 690
Dexterity: 240

Resistances: Fire 70, Cold 49, Electricity 55, Poison 15, Piercing 49, Vitality 80, Energy 60, Stun 35

DPS: 1190
Combined Armor: 516 (becoming a worry, has been stagnant for a couple of levels)

Health Regenartion: 1.00
Energy Regenaration: 15.94

Offensive Ability: 283
Defensive Ability: 339
Cast Speed: 122%
Run Spee: 136%

Deaths: 139
Gold: 11,503,071 (went on a spending spree)
Best Item: Blessing of the Gods
Worst Item: Deathrattle (am I ever going to get rid of this?)

[hoopsguy]

And Typhos goes down on the first try on Epic. That was very, very different than "Normal" for those of you who read along with this dynasty earlier. He also dropped a very cool/freaky looking legendary shield called "Bloodthirst the Glutton". Not ideal for this character, but I'm dying to equip it with my defender who is almost high enough level (37) to use it.

[TonyR]

I'm still in the Orient on my way to the Jade Palace. My guys is getting wallopped everytime I run across the group of tigermen with a champion and sorcerer... I've probably totaled about 4 deaths to those darn tigermen.

I thought tigers traveled solo.

[hoopsguy]

I make it a point of falling back when the champion plants his flag. Those battles are a ton harder if you fight with that nearby. I used to destroy the flag first, but just falling back and killing the Tigers when they are out of range seems easier now. Every once in a great while they give me some trouble with numbers, but for the most part I've found them among my easier opponents with this particular character.

[hoopsguy]

Now at Level 52, ready to head into Hades. I'm torn about cleaning up all the Medea missions first. On the one hand, I like the experience and think there is a reasonable chance to collect good items in the Ruins/Throneroom. But I'm also looking to push ahead with the main plot.

I put the last point into Master Mind, which leaves two additional spell points. The biggest vulnerability I'm finding with non-boss monsters at this point is getting charged by groups and overwhelmed with damage. So I can either try to buff my ability to take damage or look for a way to slow them. I opt for #2, going with a point in Distortion Wave and one in Psionic Immolation. Those two together will slow and damage my foes, as well as doing extra damage to demons - pretty much 1/2 of Hades at least. Attributes go to INT and DEX.

Health: 4661
Energy: 1351
Strength: 258
Intelligence: 560
Dexterity: 270

Resistances: FIre 70, Cold 49, Electricity 56, Poison 39, Piercing 72, Vitality 80, Energy 60, Stun 35

DPS: 1115
Combined Armor: 516

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 14.31

Offensive Ability: 346
Defensive Ability: 408
Cast Speed: 122%
Run Speed: 136%

Total Deaths: 148
Gold: 12,807,643

9 Deaths here - I'm averaging about one per boss and taking a few here and there where being jumped by big parties who overwhelm us. Also, DPS is down about 100 points from before as I've transitioned to items that help with resistances and Off/Def ability to create a little more balance for the Squid.

[thealmighty]

Recently bought the game and expansion after having read some of this. Two questions. First, the stupid one...what is the bottom left slot for on your inventory page? It isn't in the original manual picture (page 10) and I don't see it anywhere in the IT booklet. Now, the lazy one...I don't feel like looking through all the posts here for the answer as it might give me spoilers I don't want at this time, but have you mentioned any mods or add-ons you may have used?

Appreciate all the work this must be having now played to level 15- I am on the way to Athens.

[TonyR]

The bottom left slot is for relics.
You get them made by Alchemists when you find a recipe for one.
They require items like Yeti fur, boar's skin, essence of archemedis, demon's blood, etc.

[thealmighty]

Got it. Thanks for the reply.

[TonyR]

NP, just thought I'd help since hoopsguy got me hooked into buying this game also.

[hoopsguy]

Recently bought the game and expansion after having read some of this. Two questions. First, the stupid one...what is the bottom left slot for on your inventory page? It isn't in the original manual picture (page 10) and I don't see it anywhere in the IT booklet. Now, the lazy one...I don't feel like looking through all the posts here for the answer as it might give me spoilers I don't want at this time, but have you mentioned any mods or add-ons you may have used?

Appreciate all the work this must be having now played to level 15- I am on the way to Athens.

Up to this point I haven't used any mods or add-ons. It has definitely been challenging managing the inventory without the vault add-on. I would be interested in hearing about any mods that people are using and enjoying.

It really wasn't all that much work doing this, outside of typing up stuff on my laptop while playing on my desktop. And it was fun recounting the plot - I know I had a blast with it the first time I played through the game. At some later point I might come back around with a game of this genre where I tell the story in first person, trying to create a little more mood. I think that would be much more challenging (think Izulde dynasties, for example).

At this point in the story I'm just posting updates on progress, as well as reporting new encounters. I figure that the plot is similar enough the second time around that it probably isn't worth a recounting from 200 posts earlier. But if there are details that you want that I'm not providing please ask.

[Eilim]

Up to this point I haven't used any mods or add-ons. It has definitely been challenging managing the inventory without the vault add-on. I would be interested in hearing about any mods that people are using and enjoying.

It really wasn't all that much work doing this, outside of typing up stuff on my laptop while playing on my desktop. And it was fun recounting the plot - I know I had a blast with it the first time I played through the game. At some later point I might come back around with a game of this genre where I tell the story in first person, trying to create a little more mood. I think that would be much more challenging (think Izulde dynasties, for example).

At this point in the story I'm just posting updates on progress, as well as reporting new encounters. I figure that the plot is similar enough the second time around that it probably isn't worth a recounting from 200 posts earlier. But if there are details that you want that I'm not providing please ask.

Maybe if I ever get off my rear and finish the multiplayer scenario I was working on (shooting for a semi-persistant, mini-mmorpg feel, run into a few snags.. but can be done with scripting.) , we can get some multiplayer going and you can do a first person based dynasty on our adventures. ;) now off to play some Armed Assault, or maybe some UFO:ET, perhaps some Sim City 4... Might even try to get some TQ in.. *sigh*

[hoopsguy]

So level 53 arrives while traversing the Salt Flats. This was a fun part of Hades last time around, as there were a flurry of quests to complete and the visuals were brand new. I'm finding myself using my multi-creature attack spell pretty regularly, so I put all three points into Psionic Immolation. That adds about 100 points of damage to the Electrical burn damage, with the twin bonuses of +50% versus demons and +45% on Electrical burn. I'll probably be looking to max this out (have eight more points) as I work my way through Hades, unless I spend points on improving recharge times so I can cast this more frequently. My pets are holding solid, but don't really bring much to the table when 4-5 enemies get in close quarters attacking me. For attribute points I go with STR and INT.

Health: 4661
Energy: 1351
Strength: 262
Intelligence: 564
Dexterity: 270

Resistances: Fire 70, Cold 49, Electricity 56, Poison 39, Piercing 45, Vitality 80, Energy 60, Stun 35

DPS: 1103
Combined Armor: 583
Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 14.28
Offensive Ability: 346
Defensive Ability: 408
Cast Speed: 122%
Run Speed: 136%
Total Deaths: 157
Gold: 9,324,334
Best Item: Blessing of the Gods (amulet)
Worst Item: Deathrattle (artifact)

New item: I added some new gauntlets, beefing up my combined armor by 80 points while sacrificing 27% pierce resist and giving up about 10 points of DPS.

Staunch Binding of the Gryphon:
148 Armor
+35 Armor
+18% Elemental Damage
8 Elemental Damage
+16% Energy Regeneration
+12% Attack Speed

[hoopsguy]

I learned a lesson this time through that I didn't pick up on last time. When playing on Normal I died probably 10-12 times to the giant spider queen. She basically would hit me with a ranged attack that held me (webbing) and then chop me to pieces in close quarters. I thought she was basically impossible to fight heads-up, so I went with scroll options to hold her eventually. Well, the spider queen isn't that tough if you avoid her first shot. She still does a lot of damage with her hits, but it doesn't just cut through your health if you are not bound. I was able to hit and run, avoiding the ranged attack (takes about 15-20 seconds between uses) and beat her down after learning this lesson. Only one death to her this time around.

[PiemasterUK]

We find a quest item - a Jade Figurine - in a cave in the Jingyang Woods. I have found this with three of my characters now and never been able to associate it with a quest so I can get rid of this item

My first character was baffled by this too, but I just worked it out with my second character.

Go to the transporter in Asia that is labelled 'Great Wall'. This takes you to a villiage that is a bit of a maze. At the far north of the villiage, tucked away in an area on his own, is a quest giver. He sends you on a quest to get the idol.

[PiemasterUK]

Not sure if you are still reading along, but were you posting over on the Diablo forums last week? Saw a name that looked like yours who was going to start playing. If so, would love to hear how it is going either in here or by PM.

Diablo forums? I doubt it as I have never played Diablo.

[hoopsguy]

Er, meant the TitanQuest forums - wonder what about this game made me think of Diablo? :)

[PiemasterUK]

Er, meant the TitanQuest forums - wonder what about this game made me think of Diablo? :)

I do post sometimes on the titanquest.net forums as Piemaster. Do you post there? Who as?

[hoopsguy]

I'm just a lurker over there - have never posted on those forums or created a user ID.

[thealmighty]

Finished the Normal stage. Died once on Hades when I killed him and stood around, not realizing he would respawn (should have read this more carefully and I would have known).

On to epic now.

[hoopsguy]

So I broke this out last night and had a marathon session where I polished off Epic. I missed my reports on one level (put points into my Psionic Immolation to continue buffing multi-attack spell) but I also collected a bunch of items. The character is pretty different than he was at the last report as he heads into Legendary play.

Colossal Squid
Level 54 Ritualist
Health: 5733
Energy: 1211
Strength: 301
Intelligence: 706
Dexterity: 270

Resistances (just hobbled by moving up a level): Fire -33, Cold -23, Electricity -16, Poison -21, Piercing 75, Vitality 35, Energy Resist 60, Stun 35

DPS: 1184
Combined Armor: 747

Health Regeneration: 1.00
Energy Regeneration: 14.11

Offensive Ability: 354
Defensive Ability: 508

Cast Speed: 124%
Run Speed: 156%

Total Deaths: 182
Gold: 17,925,586

New Items:
Dreamweaver's Vestment (Epic)
210 Armor
74% Pierce Resistance
+300 Health
+34% Energy Regeneration
+2 to Trance of Wrath
+1 to all skills in Dream Mastery

Battlemage Bracers (Legendary)
200 Armor
+34 Intelligence
+190 Health
+18% Energy Regeneration
+64 Defensive Ability
+34% Attack Speed

Battlemage Greaves (Legendary)
+29 Intelligence
+190 Health
+20% Energy Regeneration
+53 Defensive Ability
+32% Movement
Combined with Battlemage Bracers, they grant an extra
+20% Armor Protection
37% Pierce Resistance

Tome of Transfiguration (lesser artifact)
+15% Elemental Damage
10 Elemental Damage
25 Armor
+35 Strength
+25 Intelligence
+10% Attack Speed
+10% Cold Resistance

So, during Epic play the Squid advanced from Level 40 to Level 54. Went from 119 deaths to 182, which was a step in the right direction but still way too messy. I'm pondering a switch to Ironman mode (game doesn't offer it, but I can do house rules) for my next character to see how far I can get.

[hoopsguy]

Finished the Normal stage. Died once on Hades when I killed him and stood around, not realizing he would respawn (should have read this more carefully and I would have known).

On to epic now.

Congrats on finishing up! Are you planning on pushing ahead with Epic?

[thealmighty]

Congrats on finishing up! Are you planning on pushing ahead with Epic?

Already started last night but I'm only to the third portal so far.

[Brillig]

I'm lagging behind you guys - my HD bit the dust, whereupon I discovered that the backups saved my characters, but not their stashed equipment. Kinda burned me out on the game for a month or so. LOTRO didn't help either :)

Finally got back into this last week, but I had to try different character combinations. My highest right now is a 33 Warlock (Spirit/Rogue) - very cool combo but not one I would have thought of originally. Built primarily as a staff user, with Ternion Attack (shoots 3 bolts from the staff instead of one, and the second tier adds a small AoE). A serendipitous discovery is that the rogue's poison skill works on staff bolts! So I'm merrily shooting 3 AoE balls that poison, slow, and confuse. Serious mayhem :) Just getting into act IV, managed Typhon on the first try with only one death (I was a bit too slow and got buried by rubble.)

Unfortunately, this game is terrible for my alt-itis. Every time I get a cool item (which of course that char can't use), I'm overwhelmed with the urge to start another character for that item. Case in point - I picked up a unique shield with +1 to warfare skills AND +1 to defense skills. Now I gots me some warfare characters and I gots me some defense characters, but I don't got no warfare/defense character. Grrrr.

Another thing I'm trying is, I tend to build attribute heavy characters - by which I mean I put lots and lots of points in Masteries, which gives me high attributes, hit points and mana, but crappy skills. My warlock, for example, had both rogue and spirit mastery maxxed at level 31! :P

So for a change of pace, I'm trying the exact opposite. Not being completely silly about it, but where it makes sense I'm maxing the skills before raising the mastery. For starters, I'm doing the easiest - pets. My new Wanderer is level 14, at Parnassus, and simply tearing up the countryside with a pair of level 17 wolves with 13 maul (+1 to skills. I looooove +to skills. To a frightening and unnatural extent.) Heh. Usually pets have trouble with bosses, but so far it's been no big deal. I didn't even have to hit and run on the cyclops, for example, the wolves took him down without even needing a heal. The Telkine will be the first big test I think. If I'm figuring it right, I'll still only have 4 points in Nature Mastery at that stage. Gulp. I'll probably still be doing only 30 or so DPS personally at that point, lol.

The next step up for a skill-based character is a ranged one, so I've already got a level 3 hunter with a stash full of gear he can't use :)

[hoopsguy]

I decided that I wanted to start working on a new alt to help collect some of the crappy items on Normal that I don't have to finish off artifacts. Plus take advantage of some of the items I've left behind, so I started a War guy - first time I've played this build. I've been on the wrong side of Battle Standard enough times, so I'm looking forward to using it against my foes. I believe this is my fifth alt, although it is only my second since getting the expansion pack.

For what it is worth, my "pets" build just ripped apart the Telkines - they were not much of a challenge compared to some of the other bosses out there. I don't believe they were performing at the level you described, either. So that may not be your first big test after all ...

[Brillig]

Warfare is a hugely fun skill set, especially if you go the dual wield route. My second highest char is war/dream - at one point I had a pair of Fell Blades and was running around with an attack speed of 151% I think.

Ginsu comes to Greece.

That character is another attribute build, though, so I only have battle standard at level 1 - seems to make a difference, but it's hard to say how much of one. Doesn't seem to help quite as much as it does the early centaurs, for example.

The 'pets' build is fun to watch though. It's almost like playing a healer in a MMO. I just set the attack puppies to aggressive, then trail around after them picking up loot and tossing the occasional heal. I'm sure later I'll need to coordinate them a little more, but right now, even a single one is more than a match for the typical spawn of five critters.

The item drops have me a little bemused though. On my now-defunct characters, I think I had a lot more set items, but I'd only completed one artifact (through maybe half the hours I've put in). This time around, I've got a baker's dozen artifacts, but collected four set items.

Edit: Just had to add - got a second piece of +1 to skills gear equipped at level 15, and woot! Now I can have 3 wolves out at skill level 18.

[PiemasterUK]

Progress Update - Just completed Normal mode and am eagerly anticipating epic (where I've heard my pets actually become useful again). Didn't manage to complete the generals quest in Hades palace despite the fact I cleared the entire palce and then searched thorougly. Must have missed something somewhere.

[TonyR]

My character for whomped by Typhus. Don't know how I'm going to go and beat him...oh well... time to start a new character

[Brillig]

What's your build like? I doubt it's possible to make something so borked it can't be fixed...

[hoopsguy]

I agree with what Brillig said - I had to go through a number of different builds to find one that worked with Typhos. Tinkering, plus practice getting whomped, eventually led to a breakthrough.

Of course, I have two characters of my own that are sitting at Typhos. But that is more from being obsessed with the current guys than a fear of Typhos. Or at least that is what I tell myself :)

[PiemasterUK]

Having read most of the thread now, I have come to the conclusion that 90% of the major problems you have had could have been resolved by maxing out Plague :).

[TonyR]

What's your build like? I doubt it's possible to make something so borked it can't be fixed...

My character is a juggernaut. Fire/Defense. Don't know too many specifics since I haven't played in a while. But I went up againt Typhos like I did against most mobs since my char is more of a physical attacker, and just got crushed once. Twice went in more reserved with my fire demon set to aggressive, and me being more reserve role shooting off spells/scrolls only to get crushed a 2nd time. Haven't gone back for a third try yet.

[Brillig]

Hmm, well if you've got Earth Enchantment built up, you could just use a staff - run around him in circles, shooting until he dies. Summon pets when they're up, but don't expect them to do much. That was basically how I did it on my warlock.

Or maybe Shield Charge - run away - Shield Charge - etc. I doubt you have Defiance maxxed, heh, but that would probably work great since mostly he does elemental attacks.

The other thing to keep in mind is, you don't have to give up just because you die. As long as you don't portal out of Olympus, I don't think he regenerates. So you can wear him down, as long as you remember to bring plenty of supplies beforehand.

[Brillig]

Having read most of the thread now, I have come to the conclusion that 90% of the major problems you have had could have been resolved by maxing out Plague :).

I've read that plague is really great too, although I can't really tell why it would be just from the description. Details?

[PiemasterUK]

I've read that plague is really great too, although I can't really tell why it would be just from the description. Details?

It's great against really hard bosses because you can just plague them, run away, come back, plague again, wash/rinse repeat. Also because it does damage as a % of total health, it is especially effective against bosses with lots of health who you need to grind down, such as Typhon.

[hoopsguy]

Sounds like I need to revisit Plague - I had it at one point in time, but decided to focus on pets instead.

FWIW, I went back with one of my other alts and whupped Typhos. Heavy defense type, used a bunch of potions and a series of Shield Charges - just took patience and dying once when I hung in too long with his poison + mana attacks doing me in. That character has a pretty impressive set of gear.

Do people who are playing deep into the game have full sets of items? I think the most I have for any of them is three, with several items sets of two. I'll post some of this stuff over the next day or two, depending on when I get time to play again.

[hoopsguy]

Also, one thing that I'm not sure I commented on - the game got significantly easier for this character when I switched to a weapon that did Life Leech and started using some of the Dream Auras to share damage with my foes. Both of those, in conjunction with the Psionic Immolation group attacks, really made the Squid much more effective in Hades the second time around.

Finally, what is the spell effect where a yellow circle appears under a creature? I saw that with a number of the tougher spearmen and ants in Hades, and those guys always dealt a ton of damage. I've never been sure what kind of damage they have dealt, which has made it hard to mitigate.

[twothree]

Along these lines, I'm curious to hear where other people are with their games. Has anyone else made their way to face Typhos or Hades yet? Anyone lapping me at this point?

Played quite a bit on the 4th of July. Started a new hybrid character, a guardian (nature/defender). Got to 10th level near Delphi. Found an epic shield (Captain's Shield?) and one rare item, a gauntlet, along the way. The shield goes well with the defender build, so I was very pleased.

[Brillig]

Also, one thing that I'm not sure I commented on - the game got significantly easier for this character when I switched to a weapon that did Life Leech and started using some of the Dream Auras to share damage with my foes. Both of those, in conjunction with the Psionic Immolation group attacks, really made the Squid much more effective in Hades the second time around.

Finally, what is the spell effect where a yellow circle appears under a creature? I saw that with a number of the tougher spearmen and ants in Hades, and those guys always dealt a ton of damage. I've never been sure what kind of damage they have dealt, which has made it hard to mitigate.

The swirly yellow hula-hoops o doom? That's the warfare Onslaught skill. The more they hit you, the more it powers up, and the more it powers up, the more damage they do.

At least that's what I think you're talking about - I'm not there yet in Hades.

[PiemasterUK]

I actually have both pets and plague going on. What is your build at the moment? Here's mine at level 39 (in Epic Greece).

http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.asp?mastery=Ritualist&master1=4&master2=9&sa=0&m1=32-3-16-0-2-1-8-0-3-1-0-1-0-0-0-2-0-2-1-0-0-0&m2=32-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-0-0-0-5-1-0-0-0-0-0-2-0-0

Note I have a Wanderers Helm giving +1 to all nature skills.

[hoopsguy]

Doing a quick review, here are some of the differences between our builds (currently Level 54, just starting Legendary Greece):
- have Heart of Oak maxxed out
- have a bunch of points in my Nymph, although neither it nor my wolves are maxxed (only two wolves)
- no Plague
- maxxed out Lucid Dream
- near maxxed Psionic Immolation
- similar points in Empathy to your Trance of Convalescence

[Brillig]

It's great against really hard bosses because you can just plague them, run away, come back, plague again, wash/rinse repeat. Also because it does damage as a % of total health, it is especially effective against bosses with lots of health who you need to grind down, such as Typhon.

Hmm, thanks for the feedback. I don't think it's for me though, seems just too cheesy. :D

[TonyR]

Hmm, well if you've got Earth Enchantment built up, you could just use a staff - run around him in circles, shooting until he dies. Summon pets when they're up, but don't expect them to do much. That was basically how I did it on my warlock.

Or maybe Shield Charge - run away - Shield Charge - etc. I doubt you have Defiance maxxed, heh, but that would probably work great since mostly he does elemental attacks.

The other thing to keep in mind is, you don't have to give up just because you die. As long as you don't portal out of Olympus, I don't think he regenerates. So you can wear him down, as long as you remember to bring plenty of supplies beforehand.

Go figure, no points in shield charge. Also, Typhos seems to fire to fast for me to stop and shoot at him and fire at him.

[Brillig]

The one thing you positively have to avoid is the avalanche of doom. Everything else was survivable for me (survivable = 1000 damage or so). Make sure you bring a lot of potions though. Scrolls can also be good... I particularly like Crushing Vortex, as all you have to do with it is run around and not aim it. Pet scrolls are mostly worthless as Typhon'll munch em fast.

Aside from the avalanche, his fire attack seems to take the longest to animate... that's what I'd start with first, trying to attack during that. In fact if you wanted to stick with attacking only during that, it might be a viable strategy to just load up on fire resist, wait for him to start blowing smoke then nail em.

[hoopsguy]

He also gives you plenty of warning for the "avalanche of doom" - you just step out of the way and that is a great time to land a couple of hits before he moves on to his next attack.

I liked having my resists up a decent amount for this fight, as he shows all the elementals and poison in his attacks. I think somewhere in the 50 range for each is doable (going from memory). And I liked having a DPS of at least 300 for this fight, higher if possible. I think I went through about 50 potions in that fight with my defender.

[Brillig]

Finished normal difficulty, finally...

Level 39 Warlock

Health 2755
Energy 892

Strength 123
Intelligence 387
Dexterity 198

Resistances - What are resistances? Poison 5%

DPS 451

Combined Armor 178

Monsters Killed 16,863
Greatest Damage Dealt 737
Elapsed Time 57 hours
Total Deaths 19

Weapon: Shadow Staff of Lightning w/Essence of Zeus' Thunderbolt

Skills:
Spirit Mastery 32/32 (+3 to Spirit Skills)
* Ternion Attack 15/12
* * Arcane Lore 9/6
* Death Ward 4/8
* Deathchill Aura 7/6
* * Ravages of Time 6/8
* Life Drain 4/12
* Summon Liche King 7/16
* * Death Nova 4/12
* * Wraith Shell 4/12
* * Arcane Blast 4/12
* Summon Outsider 5/16

Rogue Mastery 32/32 (+1 to Rogue skills)
* Envenom Weapon 5/12
* * Nightshade 5/8
* * Toxin Distillation 5/12
* * Mandrake 9/8
* Disarm Traps 2/6
----


I noticed some folks are missing the fourth general for the Hades Treasury side-quest. Here's where it be:

In the Fields of the Diadochi (past the eerie purple barrier), there's a revival shrine. There are two wooden ramps, one due west, another more north-west - you need to climb up the ramp and follow them to a small clearing with the Empusa hero.

[PiemasterUK]

I noticed some folks are missing the fourth general for the Hades Treasury side-quest. Here's where it be:

In the Fields of the Diadochi (past the eerie purple barrier), there's a revival shrine. There are two wooden ramps, one due west, another more north-west - you need to climb up the ramp and follow them to a small clearing with the Empusa hero.

I'm one of those really anal people who likes to explore every inch of the map, so I actually found that :)

Grats on finishing Normal. You can now sit bakc and relax because Act 1 of Epic is really easy.

[hoopsguy]

Yeah, I've found it as well but I have not gone back to complete the quest even with the four stones. Probably should do that, as I still have them kicking around the inventory (Epic ones, not Normal).

[Brillig]

Actually, rather than dive right into Epic, I'm thinking of running some more alts through Normal. I've already gotten four Greater Artifact recipes on my Warlock, *none* of which I have the artifacts to complete. This in spite of having completed 13 Lesser Artifacts already. I'm obviously missing a lot.

Oh, and did anyone else get a really cool completion bonus for the crystal of Erebus charm? I got +8% to experience.

[hoopsguy]

Brillig, that is why I'm breaking out some of the other alts now. I had 7 items to collect on Normal and I've pulled in five of them. Of course, those haven't yielded really cool artifacts but I'm still happy to have them completed rather than having two of three components lying around.

[Poli]

I really think I need to get this game.

[Brillig]

If you liked Diablo it's a no-brainer.

[Brillig]

So I decided to go back to my 'all-skills' Nature char. Alastor was no problem, though he did get two of my puppies first :(. Mino Lord was easy. The Telkine was quite long, but not tough - he made me run around a lot.

Having pretty much maxxed out the first two tiers of Nature (Heart of Oak 14/12, Regrowth 6/16, Accelerated Growth 8/8, Call of the Wild 18/16, Maul 14/12), I need to figure what to do next.

I could build Nature up to tier 3, pick up Survival Instinct and maybe even Briar Ward (see if it sucks as badly as it sounds).

Or I could pick up a second mastery... Since the pets are my primary weapon, I'm looking for something to make the pets better.

Dream has Sleep, a useful regen aura, another pet, and at the very top tier, the Mastermind skill which would be great.

Hunting has an attack aura, an attack buff, regen buff, and defense debuff. Also a great poison resist.

Earth has another pet as well, and the fire shield. The attack aura is nice, but too short ranged to use with pets if you're a non-contact char.

Storm has the pet, and a cold/lightning shield. Also the vs archer debuff.

In the end I decided to go with Hunting. The Mastermind skill is too far up the tree, I might not even reach it by the end of Epic, heh. And I can get some small elemental resists in Nature, but nothing vs poison. Finally, the attack aura in Hunting works quite well with the wolves, buffing both piercing and bleeding damage - the wolves don't have any base damage in that category, but their Maul is doing 146 bleed/3 sec and 26 piercing right now. By the time Art of the Hunt is maxxed, it should be more like 244 bleed/3 sec and 50 piercing. The extra damage to beasts and beastmen is just gravy. I'm also a big fan of Herbal Remedy - it doesn't sound like much, but the regen is actually very nice, and it gets to max poison resistance very quickly (6 points). Hopefully I don't regret the choice in Hades when the elemental attacks start coming in heavy. Or (gulp) at Typhon.

[thealmighty]

Anybody else get the Overlord turtle key from Hades? Let's you in to a locked area with a HUGE chest at the end.

[Brillig]

That doesn't sound familiar. Whereabouts was this?

[thealmighty]

The key (called Overlord or something but looks like a turtle) is a random drop when you defeat Hades- at any level. I read about it on a forum. These guys were talking about farming for the key. Some said they had killed Hades 50+ times and no key while others had it drop very quickly.

It opens a special area outside Rhodes and it has a huge Majestic chest at the end of it. They say on the forum that they farm the chest as well but I only opend it the one time.

[ageofquarrel]

Decent Game. I got it about a week ago, leveled up a Dream/Nature to lvl 11, but made an alt because I cant kill the life eaters. Now i Have a Lvl 10 Warrior, haven't decided on a second Mastery. But I did get a blue armor drop that i could use, Labrythine Curraiss with a 100+ armor compared with all the other drops I was getting at 30+.

[Brillig]

The key (called Overlord or something but looks like a turtle) is a random drop when you defeat Hades- at any level. I read about it on a forum. These guys were talking about farming for the key. Some said they had killed Hades 50+ times and no key while others had it drop very quickly.

It opens a special area outside Rhodes and it has a huge Majestic chest at the end of it. They say on the forum that they farm the chest as well but I only opend it the one time.

Thanks for the info - no wonder I hadn't heard of it if it's a rare drop. Assuming the huge chest is like any other chest (except more stuff), I don't much see the point of farming it. I'd rather just play more alts :D

[hoopsguy]

Decent Game. I got it about a week ago, leveled up a Dream/Nature to lvl 11, but made an alt because I cant kill the life eaters. Now i Have a Lvl 10 Warrior, haven't decided on a second Mastery. But I did get a blue armor drop that i could use, Labrythine Curraiss with a 100+ armor compared with all the other drops I was getting at 30+.

Sick - my current Level 18 Warrior doesn't have an item that compares to that one.

Long time no talk - glad to hear you are having a good time with this so far. I really liked the storyline on this the first time through and found the balance interesting enough to keep coming back.

[hoopsguy]

The key (called Overlord or something but looks like a turtle) is a random drop when you defeat Hades- at any level. I read about it on a forum. These guys were talking about farming for the key. Some said they had killed Hades 50+ times and no key while others had it drop very quickly.

It opens a special area outside Rhodes and it has a huge Majestic chest at the end of it. They say on the forum that they farm the chest as well but I only opend it the one time.

I got it when I finished Normal, but had not yet read about it on the forum. Naturally I had flushed it when cleaning out inventory by the time I read about the chest :mad:

[Brillig]

Now I'm hacked off. I picked up the formula for one of the artifacts I'm missing to complete a Greater Artifact... I figure, no problem, since I have at least one copy of every charm and relic in storage (I *never* slot the last one...)

Only to find that the recipe requires a relic so freaking rare I don't even have a partial shard of it.

Grr.

Grr I say!

[thealmighty]

Killed Typhon in epic...died once and it took a while. On to Act IV.

Level 52 Harbinger

Health 5265
Energy 595

Strength 664
Intelligence 262
Dexterity 440

Resistances: Fire- 58%; Cold- 74%; Lightning- -19%; Poison- 14%; Pierce- -13% (this one hurts me with all the archers in the game)

Attack Speed: 191%
DPS: 1060

Combined Armor: 933 (no blocking)

Gold: 100+ million (yes, that's right, unfortunately...see note below)

Weapon: Dual-wielding Sabertooths (they are only 83-90 damage but are very fast. Plus, they are green so they both have a relic/charm on them. They give me 57 dex and about +70% speed bump)

Best Item: Athena's Battle Greaves (legendary):
384 armor
45% fire resist
52% cold resist
49% poison resist
+25% damage
+37 strength
+315 health
+56 defensive ability
+30% movement

Artifact: Soul Prism (not that good but the best I have. Gives necromancy skill which gives me some skeletons that pop in for me in battle)

Skills: (+2 to ALL skills on my cuffs)
Warfare Mastery 32/32 -- I have 18/16 Ancestral Horn and 12/10 Battle Standard. Put those two down and things just fall in a big pile at my feet- except the red monsters. of course)

Dream Mastery 32/32 -- Have nightmare and the bottom trance thing but I have no idea what is good here really. Need to see the man and change these up I think. Suggestions?


I have so much gold because I am the unluckiest person ever when it comes to item drops and merchant ware. I realllly need two new rings, a new amulet and a new helm. I have no intel so can't use a wand, but my bow is still a yellow item and sucks but I never can find one that does better. I had 6 legendary items drop so far but only have one I can use (sucks). Never, ever have had more than one piece of any set, either (sucks also). <end whiny bitch time>

[thealmighty]

dola...

I got two items- Detective Spats and Tarwater's Kickers (look like cowboy boots)- that it says cannot be sold. Anyone have something like that? What's the deal?

They are blue and have good stats on them, btw.

[hoopsguy]

Dream Mastery 32/32 -- Have nightmare and the bottom trance thing but I have no idea what is good here really. Need to see the man and change these up I think. Suggestions?


I have so much gold because I am the unluckiest person ever when it comes to item drops and merchant ware. I realllly need two new rings, a new amulet and a new helm. I have no intel so can't use a wand, but my bow is still a yellow item and sucks but I never can find one that does better. I had 6 legendary items drop so far but only have one I can use (sucks). Never, ever have had more than one piece of any set, either (sucks also). <end whiny="" bitch="" time="">


Dream - I've been coming at it with primarily a spellcaster, while it sounds like you are a lot more physical (duh). But I've really enjoyed the multiple options for electrical burn and vitality damage multipliers that are inherent in this power set.

Lucid Dream, capped at 8/8, gives you +28% damage with +45% for Electrical Burn and Vitality.

Premonition, capped at 6/6, gives you +18% Offensive and Defensive Ability

Temporal Flux, capped at 6/6, gives you +12% Total Speed, +15% Avoid Projectiles, and 28% Slow Resist. I would expect those should have value for your close-up fighting with twin Sabretooths.

Temporal Rift is probably next on my list for my caster - I'll probably respec at some point in place of Psionic Immolation which is clearly superior when all foes are not Demons (Hades).

I've got a bunch of my legendary items tucked away for other alts, as I've only been able to use a couple of them. However, I'm up to two items in a number of sets and up to three items (out of six) with another one that seems to be based out of the Orient on Normal difficulty. Since I still have two alts that are in Egypt, hopefully they can find additional items for that set.
</end>

[hoopsguy]

Add Distortion Field as another close-fighting Dreams skill. No pre-req skills required, capped at 8/8 it gives 39 Damage Absorbtion and 45 Damage Retaliation for 15 second duration (5% chance of activating).

[PiemasterUK]

Just got my first Legendary Item. A Thorny Maul dropped by the first Telkine in Epic Greece. Unfortunately it's completely useless for my character but I'm sure one of my alts can use it one day.

[Brillig]

Got a very cool item for my pet-master from an Act III quest:

Puppetmaster's Talisman

+6.0 Energy Regeneration per second

Bonus to All Pets:
+200 Health
+10% Total Speed

[Calis]

Finally picked up Immortal Throne today, after having not played for at all for a long time. Great expansion, adds lots of new nice things. I've been playing with a friend and have been going Nature with an intent to melee, so far I've just taken Heart of the Oak and Wolves. I'm thinking of taking Dream for secondary and using some of the attack bonuses in there and try out that tree. Having a blast so far

Anyone ever get a FOFC multi-game going? We had some fun doing a Diablo 2 one a few years back. Not sure if it's already been done, don't want to read the whole thread as I haven't got too far in the game yet.

[hoopsguy]

Calis, I think we have a few people that would be willing to do it, if we schedule a time.

I've played with TonyR and EaglesFan once each, and discussed playing with a couple of others.

[hoopsguy]

Got a very cool item for my pet-master from an Act III quest:

Puppetmaster's Talisman

+6.0 Energy Regeneration per second

Bonus to All Pets:
+200 Health
+10% Total Speed

I had never seen one of these with the Squid, but just ran into it with my Paladin. Also, these can be slotted - even better! However, it won't replace the legendary item that I've got slotted bringing all resists up 50% - I can't even think about it with the penalty going from Epic to Legendary, where most of the resists are underwater again. But this would have been seriously nice to have earlier in the game.

[Brillig]

I finally got to Typhon with the pet-specialist. As expected, it was a pretty brutal grind. Even the maxxed Wolves died in seconds - maybe if I'd have been able to max Survival Instinct too... No deaths though, but it took eight scrolls (three sky's rage, five crushing vortex) and about 20 minutes. I should have taken a screenshot afterwards - for some reason, the nymph's corpses don't disappear, so the rotunda was carpeted with em :)

Having lots of trouble in Act IV now though, the casters are killing the wolves in job lots. On the other hand, the Grays, who gave me a lot of trouble the first time around, didn't do much this time.

Getting tired of Shadow Veil and Eye of the Heavens recipes - got four each now. Two pairs as drops and two more as the quest rewards. Blech.

[thealmighty]

Just got to Elysium on Epic... WAY easier than Normal for me. The Master Archers tore me up before but this time they were cake. Swept through from Styx up to Elysium in no time at all completing all quests.

Oh, and I got 3 more legendary items- one I can't use and two I already had. Bah. Are there not that many or am I still the unluckiest bastard ever?

[hoopsguy]

I've probably found 10 legendary items. I'll look to post all of them sometime over the next day or two. But most of them are stashed away for my other alts. My Level 37 Paladin has been a lucky beneficiary of this so far, and the others are gaining on the point where they can use the legendary items on layaway.

[PiemasterUK]

Completely randomly I just got a Legendary ring as a quest reward. Not only that, but it is really balla for my character. Check it out! (http://www.gamebanshee.com/cgi-bin/search/banshee_search.pl?_layout=TitanQuest_Items_Page&_cgifunction=search&TitanQuest_Items.id=768)

The Int boost gave me a whole load of DPS.

[Calis]

Calis, I think we have a few people that would be willing to do it, if we schedule a time.

I've played with TonyR and EaglesFan once each, and discussed playing with a couple of others.

Cool, well we'll have to come up with something some night when people are free/interested.

I for the next couple weeks am going to be playing WAY too much as I've got a nice break from work and school. I have been playing some at nights with a friend like I said with a Nature/Dream build, but for my daytime solo class I've been playing a Warden(Defense+Hunting). I hadn't used either of those trees before and frankly I thought Defense sounded pretty boring, even though I heard it was very very good.

I was wrong.

It's fun. Far and away my favorite so far. I'll probably end up going basically straight defense for a LONG time. Just some great passive skills, and some nice attacks as well. I have only touched the Hunt tree so far to max out Wood Lore, but I think I'll go back sometime soon for some of those boss killing skills, as it can take a LONG time to finish off some of the bosses so far, and I'm not very far at all.

Does the TQ thing work like Battlenet at all? I've been playing even when solo in a MP game passworded just because I wasn't for sure if you could import a character you played SP into Multi, but there's no accounts or anything so I'm guessing it doesn't matter.

Anyway, I've been running a game named FOFC with a password of dola, so if anyone wants to stop by feel free. My guy is only lvl 11 so it's just on normal, but if anyone wants to roll a new guy I can always be convinced or set something up.

[hoopsguy]

My defense guy (mixed with Storm) is up to Level 37 and is just destroying stuff in Hades/Normal at the moment. He has a pretty heavy life leech attack, along with good resistances, so he goes wading into mobs and just outlasts them. I agree it is a fun build - I find myself drifting back to this character instead of moving ahead in my Legendary game.

If people want to run a game with characters between levels 25-40 I'm up for it most of next week after 7:30PM CST. I'm also up for starting new builds during that same timeframe if people would rather go in that direction.

[thealmighty]

Never played multiplayer. Could someone outline how it works. Is it just an amped-up version of the same game with more or higher mobs, etc...?

[hoopsguy]

Multi-player - the person who hosts the game determines the starting point. Anything completed in that game goes towards the hosts single-player game. The number of creatures is bumped upwards to account for multiple players. So yeah, basically an amped-up version of the single-player game.

[hoopsguy]

There was a question about legendary items. I've found a total of 16 of them with Colossal Squid, and he is currently using three of them. With one more level he will be able to equip another pair of items, and one of the items has been farmed out to another alt. So all told, I'm using four of my sixteen, hopefully moving up to six of them by next week.

Griefmaker
Leatherskin Shield
Blessing of the Gods (equipped)
Battlemage Bracers (equipped)
Battlemage Greaves (equipped)
Crystalline Armor (need one more point of STR to use)
Crystalline Helm (need one more point of STR to use)
Bloodthirst the Glutton (farmed out, pretty amusing looking item)
Queen Zenobia's Spear
Borealis
Bone Bracers
Pan's Headeress
Souflay Fork
Amazonian Spear
Teucer's Warbow
Doxa Volo

[thealmighty]

Just complleted Epic level. Much easier than I expected, overall. Hades was easy this time as I was prepared for his second coming. The only thing that killed me were the Dactyl guardian things (black ones with wave spell)- got me three times, actually.

I currently have 10 legendary items but 3 of them are duplicates (how unlucky is that). I only have one that is equiped. :(

[Brillig]

The key (called Overlord or something but looks like a turtle) is a random drop when you defeat Hades- at any level. I read about it on a forum. These guys were talking about farming for the key. Some said they had killed Hades 50+ times and no key while others had it drop very quickly.

It opens a special area outside Rhodes and it has a huge Majestic chest at the end of it. They say on the forum that they farm the chest as well but I only opend it the one time.

Random speculation on the turtle key:

I got a blue drop, not unlike Hoops' W-900 form, only mine was Gronk's Apology


big boss say i haff to rite to explane akshun. OK.

it simple gronk smash ukla cuz ukla make fun of gronks club. you see? i haff every reeson to smash ukla. no need to push gronk in pit of dispare.

i hope you see now that i had no choyce. pleese no pit of dispare? gronk thank you for your niceness!


lol.

Anyway though, I noticed that the background of the item is a scroll, with *drumroll* a turtle on it!

[thealmighty]

Finished Act I on legendary. Pretty easy for what I was expecting. Only died twice- neither to a boss monster, just stupid stuff.

There was some hydra boss that I wailed on for a good three minutes, often with Battle Standard up, to kill (didn't have to run around because it was attacking my nightmare and storm witches (scroll, they lasted a good while). Those nightmares can take an amazing amount of attacks with their 50% (I think?) to dodge.

Drops SUCKED!! Got one legendary item I can use (only 4 total)- Hunter's Hood or something- and did NOT get ONE blue drop the whole time. I now have over 200 million gold. Got so many divine potions it is ridiculous.

[hoopsguy]

I finished Normal with a second alt last night. By the end this character was loaded up with three legendary items, but still only had a DPS of 294 when finishing off Hades. That value is lower than what I normally shoot for when going after Typhos, so I was pretty surprised with how successful he was. But the character is a defender with a ton of life leech, so he could hang around in mobs basically healing himself as he delivered damage. It was such a different experience than Colossal Squid, who as a Nature/Dreams character was always retreating from battle and trying to avoid mobs. Onslaught, which was a very scary attack from bad guys for my caster was pretty trivial for this guy.

So now I'll have two alts who can collect legendary items. I'm trying to rotate between all five alts, spacing them out in different acts. Hopefully they will all continue to progress onwards at about the same rate. And hopefully I don't get "alt-itis" again anytime soon :)

[hoopsguy]

No blue drops over Act I of Legendary is more surprising to me than just the one legendary item. It sounds like your luck really does suck :(

[Brillig]

I went from Medea's place to Elysium with no blue drops. Normal level though.

I've finished normal with two characters now and working on a third.

[Malificent]

I have one character in Legendary - defense/nature. I kind of semi-regret the nature choice, as all he uses in it is Heart of Oak, but Heart of Oak rocks, so not too bad. I've been farming the overlord run in Epic to try and get complete sets of all the bizarre theme sets that the creators seemed to have thrown in.

My alts are very different play styles. I have a glass cannon in my Hunter/Storm character - she currently does 660 dps in Act 3 of Normal, but is getting mauled by most every mob in the act. Then there is my summoner - Spirit/Dream. All about the Liche King and Nightmare (plus the spirit temp summon). That character is interesting because I've totally focused her on health regen rate and right now she's up to 167 health regen per sec, which means, at least in normal, she is very hard to kill unless you can do a tremendous amount of damage at one time.

I also have an Elementalist (Earth/Storm) that I haven't played much and a Harbinger (Warrior/Dream) that is level 23 that I want to turn into a retaliation character - all about getting hit and doing retaliation character. Not sure how effective that will be, but seems like a fun idea.

I'm such an alt-itis freak.

[hoopsguy]

I've found myself playing around with some of those kind of "theme" characters early in the process but bailing as I start to pick up better items that do not necessarily support the concept. For example, my warrior was also a fast-heal guy, with a couple of items that were +2.0 Health Regen. However, when armor that was twice as effective showed up the character fell back to being a little more standard.

Heart of Oak, maxxed out, with defense means that your guy will have a ton of defense and health. I imagine that he is a tough guy to bring down, based on my Level 40 defense guy who doesn't have Heart of Oak.

[thealmighty]

Are there no items available that require a higher level to use? I have not seen any item with a requirement over 45 or so. With mobs that are 10 or more levels above me, and I am in the high 50s, it would be nice if the items scaled higher as well.

Of course, I have had a very easy time in Egypt so far, nonetheless. Have only died once- to Manticore, Beast of Legend (listed as my hardest kill). Maybe my build is built for these parts and I will be in trouble later. Who knows?

[hoopsguy]

From what I've read on the forums the items don't continue to increase in level requirements above what you have found. My guy in Legendary is only about 50% of the way through Greece (nearing Delphi) and hasn't been pushed very hard yet.

What level is your character at now? I've heard it takes forever and a day to level as you hit 60 or so.

[path12]

I had to stop reading once you got to the outskirts of Memphis since that's where I am now. This game rocks.

[path12]

Dola, but maybe I'll post here when I have questions about my kit. I'm still a little fuzzy on some of the benefits/drawbacks. I just try to max my damage per second.

One weird thing, at one point my strength was up to like 180-190, and all of a sudden after some cave it was down to 140 and I had to take a couple of my items I had equipped off because they had turned red. :( I wish I had kept track of exactly what had happened.

[thealmighty]

I'm at lvl 59- a bit past halfway to 60. It takes massive amounts of xp to level now.

The highest level mob I've encountered was 80!!

Finished Act II and at Babylon now. Naturally, I got NOT ONE blue or purple in the entire Valley of Kings or Temple of Whatever. Did get 2 blues finally...both out of the same chest, too, though not useful.

[hoopsguy]

How are you seeing the level of the mobs you are fighting? I'm clearly missing something here ...

Path, that sounds like a ridiculous drop in strength - even if you unequipped an item, I don't think there is much stuff that qualifies as a +30% gain like the difference between 140 and 180. Not at that point in the game, anyway.

One other note on finding special items - I saw something on the TQ boards suggesting that the game loads up with some kind of random modifier on drops. So if you are getting bupkus for drops then it might make sense to exit and reload. But if you are having luck on the drops then don't leave that game unless you have to. I'm not sure if I buy it, but I'm at least paying more attention to the drops to see if I detect trends to support this idea.

[path12]

Path, that sounds like a ridiculous drop in strength - even if you unequipped an item, I don't think there is much stuff that qualifies as a +30% gain like the difference between 140 and 180. Not at that point in the game, anyway.

I don't know if it was some kind of bug or not. I don't remember switching out any equipment, but I hadn't been keeping that close of track. It was just very strange to have everything working nicely and all of a sudden have two of your best items be back out of service.....

[thealmighty]

How are you seeing the level of the mobs you are fighting? I'm clearly missing something here ...

In the general section of the Options menu there is a "show monster level" check box.

[thealmighty]

I have found two divine artifact scrolls. None of the needed parts have I ever even HEARD of, much less have I found any of them.

Don't remember the name, but one gives invulnerability at low health for a certain period of time.

Anyone else found one of these?

[thealmighty]

What better hunter or rogue?

[PiemasterUK]

Path, that sounds like a ridiculous drop in strength - even if you unequipped an item, I don't think there is much stuff that qualifies as a +30% gain like the difference between 140 and 180. Not at that point in the game, anyway.


More likely to be a cascade effect. For example, you remove a ring that is adding 8% to Strength. That then puts you below the minimum for your chest armour which is adding another 10 to your strength and so on. Afew steps and it can drop by quite a bit.

[PiemasterUK]

What better hunter or rogue?

Hunting is widely recognsed to be the mor powerful of the two overall. But it is very difficult to talk in terms of 'best' because it depends on what kind of character you want to play and what you are trying to achieve.

[Brillig]

I have found two divine artifact scrolls. None of the needed parts have I ever even HEARD of, much less have I found any of them.

Don't remember the name, but one gives invulnerability at low health for a certain period of time.

Anyone else found one of these?

Doesn't surprise me much. A divine artifact generally takes two greater artifacts - the chances that you'll have just the right ones are pretty slim. Heck, it's hard to even put together a greater artifact, even with multiple run-throughs.

[path12]

More likely to be a cascade effect. For example, you remove a ring that is adding 8% to Strength. That then puts you below the minimum for your chest armour which is adding another 10 to your strength and so on. Afew steps and it can drop by quite a bit.

That could be what it was, I'm starting to get a better handle on items, and also have myself back up to where I can use those items (well, the Bracers of Atlas anyway, I got rid of the helm for something better). At somewhere like 225 strength now, 1575 or so health points and just killed the Telkine in Egypt.

[thealmighty]

This game sure is easier with alts when you have items to transfer.

My alt is now into hades with only one death so far. Typhon was quite easy, relatively (died 5 times on him the first go 'round).

[hoopsguy]

I'm at lvl 59- a bit past halfway to 60. It takes massive amounts of xp to level now.

The highest level mob I've encountered was 80!!

Finished Act II and at Babylon now. Naturally, I got NOT ONE blue or purple in the entire Valley of Kings or Temple of Whatever. Did get 2 blues finally...both out of the same chest, too, though not useful.

Thought of this just now. I picked up three Legendary items in the span of one hour while working across the middle part of Greece - just after Parnassus. First one came from a chest in the Gorgon/Medusa room, and the other two came in a crypt shortly thereafter.