PLEASE READ: Helpful tips for those that are struggling with the new patch

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Fidasaind wrote:

For witches having trouble with the new necromancer style mobs

Any class can make corpses useless for the Necromancers.
Keep a low level raise zombie, raise spectre or detonate dead gem around. Just make all those corpses useless, then kill the defenseless Necromancer.

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dust7 wrote:

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Fidasaind wrote:

For witches having trouble with the new necromancer style mobs

Any class can make corpses useless for the Necromancers.
Keep a low level raise zombie, raise spectre or detonate dead gem around. Just make all those corpses useless, then kill the defenseless Necromancer.

Infernal blow also does the trick.

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Garr0t wrote:

3. Pull mobs, don't rush into zones blindly. If you know you are undergeared and/or underlevelled, don't go charging into the middle of the zone and start crying because you get mobbed.

I cannot stress the importance of this one. As a rapier+armguard Duelist, I learned very quickly even in the last patch that thinning the herd is the key to victory if you lack AoE power. This holds for any game, really, and no doubt most of you have heard of 'divide and conquer'. Same deal here. Pull mobs like they're an angry lion's rotten teeth instead of rushing into the beast's mouth.

Another tip, related: once you've thinned the herd enough, *get in there*. I've beaten Hailrake as a new Duelist three times since the patch, each time with new gear. Each time played out the same: I'd get a whiff of hailrake (usually an ice spear), dodge it if possible, thin the herd, and then rush in. Now, by rush in I don't mean click straight on Hailrake. I mean head towards but be ready to dodge an ice spear. That's right, you CAN dodge projectiles and should learn to very early. Once you're in Hailrake's face and swinging away, you might, MIGHT get speared one last time. Keep healing and survive the freeze. And then whale away, because Hailrake, much like Fire Fury, is absolutely useless in melee. Heavy or Dual Strike makes short work of Hailrake.

To beat Kuduku as a Duelist (or melee in general), you have to be a bit trickier still. Phase run is very handy if you have it, because the best way to beat Kuduku is to hit and run *after thinning the crowd*. I like to plant four solid Viper Strikes on it, constantly watching my health, hit phase run and skedaddle. Repeat and rinse: one dead False god.

The molten shell goatmen: most times I can handle them up front, but if you're struggling, just wait until their shell expires.

Chatters...well, good luck. Take unfreezing potions, isolate him, and pray, just a little. You can't hit and run, and getting in his face is asking for a Glacial Hammer down your throat.

Necromancers: priority. BIG priority. Ignore the herd-thinning rule, suck it up and get in there. Use everything to take them down. Then return to picking the bonewalkers off.

Brutus: hilariously easy compared to Chatters. There's a pillar in Brutus' main room. Viper strike him up, and then play 'catch me if you can' around the pillar, watching out for the ground slam. Repeat, rinse, enjoy shower of gore and items.

...that's how an untwinked, relatively unskilled Duelist player made it past the early challenges of this new, very mean Wraeclast.





(as an aside, I'd nix the tl'dr, Garr0t. It's a bit condescending here, I feel.)

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dust7 wrote:

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Fidasaind wrote:

For witches having trouble with the new necromancer style mobs

Any class can make corpses useless for the Necromancers.
Keep a low level raise zombie, raise spectre or detonate dead gem around. Just make all those corpses useless, then kill the defenseless Necromancer.

Unfortunately, unless these gems have turned up, low-level play against the necros in the Prison can be tricky...

I just do what Charan recommends, and plow through and whale away on the necros. They dun do any kinda real damage, themselves, so it's not that tough, IF you can handle the mobs around them. =^[.]^=

My previous strategy in the old patch was shooting a poison arrow then run, let chaos damage do the trick for me. Also the cautious advancement as explained above. Helped me clear chaos with 28 unspent passive skill points.

That's why I love this game. This isn't D3 or TQ or Sacred.

At any point you are given as a quest reward choice the decoy totem or summon skeleton take it. Even if you don't plan on using it for your planned build keep it equipped and never level it up.
As you move across zones like Fetid Pools,Ship's graveyard,the Prison and Merviel's caves keep casting it at the edge of your screen and wait a moment.Any mobs within 2 screens will take the bait and close in using their charge/flicker strikes/suicide bombing giving you enough time to start taking them out without taking any damage.

Use the landscape to your benefit: remember if you can't shoot through a pillar/boulder neither can the mobs.

For the Necros in the Prison peek into the room,make a attack or two and then back out of the room and drag all the other mobs away from the room and kill them away from the Necros. Then when you head back in to deal with the Necro they won't have any corpses to raise.

Use your portal scrolls for areas that have multiple levels to them. Once you zone in drop a portal so in the event you do happen to die(if playing SC) it will save you a long run back.

Also, regarding the necros (but this also applies to other critters), listen for the distinctive sound they make. Necros are heavy breathers.

BTW, am I the only one wondering what it is they're saying when they summon the dead? Not literally a translation, but what it is GGG backards-masked to make those crazy voices?

"Number nine. Number nine... (Turn me on dead man)." =^[.]^=

- Stack up on some defensive skills early on.

I think lots of people tend to gravitate towards all-out damage first. Usually this didn't catch up until the later difficulties - but seems to matter more earlier on now.

If available, get passives for HP, regen, resistances, etc - once you can take a beating, start focusing on damaging. Whats the use of a high DPS if your dead before you can get a chance to make use of it.

This game is extremely forgiving of zone level requirements and gaining xp, so the greatest tip I can offer is this:

Every difficulty, run a zone over and over till you are about 4-5 levels higher than it's requirement, then finish out the act - you'll find it much easier because your gems are stronger, you'll have more passives assigned and will find some level-appropriate equipment to work with. It's how I ranked 1st archer in the cutthoat league.

Fellshrine, Ledge are obvious spots, but pretty much anywhere you feel a good kill ratio works. And now that Pyramid has it's pots back, that's a good way to nab some more orbs while you're xping.

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Psomm wrote:

This game is extremely forgiving of zone level requirements and gaining xp, so the greatest tip I can offer is this:

Every difficulty, run a zone over and over till you are about 4-5 levels higher than it's requirement, then finish out the act - you'll find it much easier because your gems are stronger, you'll have more passives assigned and will find some level-appropriate equipment to work with. It's how I ranked 1st archer in the cutthoat league.

Fellshrine, Ledge are obvious spots, but pretty much anywhere you feel a good kill ratio works. And now that Pyramid has it's pots back, that's a good way to nab some more orbs while you're xping.

Once you outlevel the zones by two levels, you'll have 10% less item find.

I have not confirmed this myself, though. Someone else can probably clarify the actual stat vs. level loss.