Bay 12 Games Forum

And those new random spawned elites, oh those elites ...
Sometime you may face a really strong one that is able to destroy you quicker than a dungeon boss, so be carefull

Ha... yeah, some of the bosses are somewhat of a victim to power creep. Sorta', anyway. They still manage to kill plenty of scrubs

But yeah, farportal bosses are (potentially) deadlier than anything the main campaign throws at you, and a classed unique with the right wrong class can easily murder someone like, say, Prox. Or rantha. The weaker spider boss. Stuff like that.

Gragas! Gragas was pretty fun in dominion the few times I've tried 'im. Otherwise I'd guess orianna. She seems to be a more pure caster than Malz, and the orb thingy seems to give a bit more utility.

There's not a list on undone achievements, unfortunately. S'mostly intentional, as a great deal of them are, well, major spoilers.

As for bulwarks, it's mostly just a case of maxing shield wall and tanking your way through the first tier dungeons (which you were doing! Is good.), which'll get you to level twelve or so and open up a fair number of options, including your first unlocked tree, which can bring quite a bit to the table.

Biggest advice in your case (to be considered for your next chara) is to not do kor'pul as your second dungeon. There's six "first tier" dungeons available to all characters (and as many as two more, for some races/classes), and the shade (kor'pul's boss, which is what killed you) is one of the nastier bosses. There's a dungeon to the east of the starting zone (follow the tree line right, until you find a small opening. It'll zig-zag north into a small area with two dungeons and a town.) that has a much easier boss (norgos, in the furthest west/left dungeon in that little area) that you can kill for more experience and a chance at some better loot. Then you can come back and give a try at the shade a bit tougher and better equipped.

As for traps, mostly just pay attention to them -- most of them have set areas of effect and you can avoid them if you're being careful. Remember to rest up after getting damaged (try not to explore unrevealed parts of the map at less than full health, or with talents on cooldown), and don't fight in/on traps if you can avoid it -- and you usually can, though it may mean leading your enemy away from it.

As for what fighter bulwark skills to invest in... best way to help us help you is a character dump or (even better) a link the character's online profile, if you have or can/are willing to make one. Shield wall is a standard thing for fighters, but you can probably safely ignore precise strikes for a while -- it reduces your attack speed, which cuts into your (already hurt from shield wall) damage, and the accuracy isn't terribly needed early on, especially if you're putting some points into dexterity and picking up the passive accuracy booster when you're able. The crit boost is more of a mid/late game thing, when you've got the crit (and a higher dexterity) to really capitalize on it. Early game for a bulwark is mostly tanking it up and beating everything to death with your shield, heh.

Anyway, the biggest habit to break I can think of, that you would have picked up from other roguelikes, is conservation. There are very few limited or unrenewable resources in T4, and unlike many RLs -- RPGs in general -- the melee classes are all very much reliant on regular usage of their active talents. You can (mostly) safely blow everything on every enemy, and then rest up and do it on the next one -- and not only can you, you want to. T4's built such that you're intended to use shield bash (amongst many others) on everything but the most trivial of enemies, so get in the habit of doing that. In DCSS terms, think of yourself as more of a melee-range caster than a fighter or berserker or whathaveyou.

"Should be" is a really very much arguable statement in that last bit, MZ. Punshiment -- and removal from such concerns as mercy and pity definitely count, there -- is only something rightly invoked in a prescriptive statement when it has some functional benefit -- otherwise it's at best revenge and at worst base sadism. If re-integration is not intended, then punishment beyond removal (either by life imprisonment or execution) has no functional purpose -- revenge is certainly neither something societies particularly benefit from, nor something once enacted that does much for most victims.

It's strongly arguable that allowing people to act for vengeance or punishment instead of just or right action is deleterious -- especially on the net -- for the society that allows it. Stripping people of their rights in excess of necessity is definitely not just, nor right, and there are, indeed, some things you can't do to a murderer and retain the position of virtuous -- or even non-immoral -- action. No torture, no slavery, no rape, etc. Though a lot of penal systems have trouble with all of the above. Most of them are some of the most immoral and useless (fucking counterproductive, in many cases! Worse than useless) pieces of shit still allowed to function in a modern society. Understand the urge toward action beyond the necessary and functional (gods fornicate but do I), but right (i.e. "should be"), it is not.

Now, I might be convincible that a sex change op for a lifer isn't necessary, but that's a far different statement from saying that a murderer should have all human rights stripped from them.

Basically, do no harm except the necessary, and never in excess. Even for the worst of human filth, that rule should not -- must not, on an organizational or systemic level -- be broken. Doing so has caused more damage to our species than the collective weight of every murderer that's lived and died.

Also, Ranma as DOMESTIC MAN, da da da daaaah. He is a REAL MAN. He doesn't cook WAFFLES or PANCAKES with SYRUP and BERRIES for BREAKFAST, like a PANSY. He goes out AT DAWN and WRESTLES BEARS and BREAKS THEIR NECKS so he can CARVE THEM UP and COOK THEM OVER A CAMPFIRE.

Suika is fine with this.

goddamnitfanfictioniwastryingtosleep. Also like the third/forth time I've read this fic, which I won't link or name because frankly despite not being graphic the content completely blows away the forum guidelines (I mentioned it a long ways back in the WTF thread!), but WHATEVER. That passage makes me giggle every time I read it. Totally wish I could find more things written like the fic it's from, because it scratches like every single one of my literary itches.

But ANYWAY I'm happy now because I read that again despite being utterly exhausted and it being like 4 AM. Wheefanfiction.

Several are definitely accomplishments (and some are viciously hard, especially if you're not cheesing things), but a few are busy work (reaver and the archmage specialist trees, ferex). It's a bit of a mixed bag, partially intentially -- as a rule, the more complicated the class, the harder it is to unlock. Couple of exceptions, but that's generally how it runs.

The base classes are... well, they're interesting enough. Zerkers and alchies are easily two of the most powerful classes in the game, and archmagi (which aren't base, but usually either the first or second unlock) are god-tier, too. Summoners can cheese their way through the game and are pretty top-notch without it... honestly, all the classes are viable (and have been won, repeatedly), powerful, and interesting. Some are just trickier to get a functional build going

But yeah... I do like alchies, zerks, and arcane blades (of the base classes, though I probably wouldn't recommend ABs unless you've got a really good idea what you're doing; they're pretty weak if poorly built.), so the initial stuff isn't exactly stifling. Several of the unlocked ones have more... zing, though.

You know about the phase door thing, right? Where it's controlled and has a massively reduced cool down and mana cost? You can bounce around like a pinball on crack in that joint. That's why there's a cheevo for not taking any damage. Because you can actually do that

But yeah, the text of that offer might be able to stand a harshening or something. Make it a bit more obvious it can kill you. I guess, anyway. Archmagi trivialize most things.

And there's always yeek/dwarf/undead! They don't even get to try that quest~ Ghoul archmage is kinda' hilarious. Skeleton archmage is best archmage, because skeleton+aegis=win. Close to it, anyway. Etc., so forth. Undead are great in T4, really.

But anyway, yeah, if you want me to hit you up with an unlock file, just yell. It's pretty easy to text-editor your way through the unlocks. Takes seconds, too.