Anyone know what exactly the special ability for the irongut's Gruts Sickle is supposed to do? I just noticed it and for all I can tell it lets you target a friendly adjacent ally and hit them, for less than weapon dmg. Anyone tested this thing out??
I explained how it works in a previous post. It hits an ally for about 1-5 damage and adds that to the Ogre's strength until end of turn.
This is exactly the right way to play the game. There is no point in rushing lvls if you can't buy skills. Keep doing side quests for better gear and eventually you will be full of gold.
Also thinking of doing this with shadow warrior, priest, slayer, and magic user. Any thoughts on best replacement for grey wizard? Is Bright wizard spell set more offensive than grey's? I've found that at later levels I'm only ever using mindrazor and blade of night. But archmage looks like pointy eared troll bait so don't want to use 'em. and yes this game is very addictive - almost as much as the original board version which stole many a Friday night/Saturday morning back in the day.
It's hard to comment on mages because the build is hugely dependant of the spells you got, however in my games the Bright Wizard is more a Waywatcher replacement than a Grey Wizard replacement. The Grey Wizard has the best utility and is probably the best support character, on the contrary the Bright Wizard is mainly long range damage without chance to miss, so i see him as an improved Waywatcher. No words on the Archmage because i have not bought him yet - would love to read some consideration about him!
The Bright Wizard starts with an attack spell off the back but not a healing spell. His starting attack spell is pretty good though, only costing 4 mana a shot. Other spells I've seen include a debuff that drains toughness, a spell that fires his starting attack spell at all monsters in line of sight, burn which is damage over time, a spell that hits all units around him plus can set them on fire, a solid heal spell, a revive spell, a area of affect attack, and a defensive buff spell. He can do as much damage if not more that the Grey Wizard on average and is generally better at taking out multiple targets. His utility is not on par with the Grey Wizard though who can get better healing and buffs. The Archmage has only one heal spell I've seen, and if he doesn't get it, I find I usually reroll him. It is a good spell as it heals all members of your party, but the main reason is if you bring a caster you want them to do at least some healing and be able to revive fallen heroes. He has the best defensive utility spells, an assortment that either locks down enemies or makes your heroes all but untouchable for the turn they are cast. Most of the Archmage's spells target all of your heroes or multiple monsters. He starts with an average attack spell, but can get decent utility buffs for offense and a couple of solid multi target attack spells, including a stun.
Spiders 4 tiles away suck! Ironbreaker: "Hey what are those things way down there behind us?" Wizard: "Um... they look like gigantic venomous ill mannered spiders!" IB, "What?!? Spiders? Who's watching the ways?!?" Elf, "Hey guys look at my new pretty bow. It helps me hit things better! It's so...<webbed and can no longer talk>." Wizard gets webbed. Marauder: "I just gonna freak out and hit you guys! Oh and give me a bow so I can pack that extra punch!" Marauder berserks. IB: "This is so frustrating! I'm so friggin made right now! Rage!" Enraged dwarf hits nothing this turn. Wizard goes down. Elf almost dead. More spiders and a couple of trolls join the party! IB: "Hey berserker, why don't you gain an insane number of attacks, cut a path to the wizard so I can save him with this beer I've been saving for when I see your sister next." Marauder: "That raging thing is a good idea and looks kinda fun!" gains 8 attacks from battle rage, then uses bracelet of Wrath (28 attacks!!!). Kills dwarf for sister comment, kills adjacent spiders, kills one troll. All the while screaming something about blood for the blood god and something about a skull throne? Webbed elf does nothing, goes down. Wizard dies. Lone murderer (i mean marauder) gets webbed and beat on by troll's brother. Elf dies. Marauder goes down in 2 rounds and dies. ... ... ... And that my friends is how you lose a party of 8th level characters. Thank you bracelet of Wrath (more like 80% chance to beat on your own guys).
Yeah, that Bracelet of Wrath is worthless IMO. It seems like a good way to commit character suicide, and that's about it. Also, the Marauder's IAP weapon (Slayer of Kings) is just as bad. I lost a level 6 Grey Wizard and a level 6 Marauder thanks to it.
I personally think the Bright Wizard is the best replacement for the Grey. He's more of an offensive threat, but he has a great healing spell (Sear Wounds) as well, and a spell similar to Blade of Night. He's also more dependable then the Archmage (who switches between offensive and defensive magic). Another reason to go with the Bright Wizard is that you can share some gear between him and the Grey Wizard.
With every session, I question using the Marauder more and more. I don't like his tendency to disregard commands and kill allies and/or himself. Him and the wizards who have zero to random MP. I'm liking the elves, dwarves and ogre. They're not fancy, but the worst they'll ever do is miss, and every class does that. Every battle is like a big comedy of buffoons.
Try the Slayer of Kings, it's like using that bracelet every turn! I suspect that your Marauder is wielding the Slayer of Kings? I've used that for a while on lower levels. It could be handy as long no one is standing next to the marauder. He will still hit himself but with 1 HP left.
Well, let's put it this way, I bought all of the IAP weapons and the Slayer of Kings is the only one I don't use. Ever.
Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone. I'm low on apple money so i might have to wait on replacing old grey beard till later.
permadeath tips & tricks I played 40+ hours on permadeath and i'd like to share some lessons i learned ... the hard way Lesson 1: New characters, old slot The death of all characters did not force you to start a new game, you can continue with the same save slot. The items of your dead characters are gone, of course. My first company, four base characters, was wiped out i had more or less 5K gold in the bank and a few items in the inventory ... this was great because i got a fast start with my next-gen level 1 rookies. Lesson 2: Buy at least an extra character When the game rolls for loot in the white quests, it uses the higher level character in the company as a reference. This is obvious because you chose the party for the quest when entering the dungeon, but the loot is already set on the map screen. On the contrary, the danger level scales to the party you bring in the dungeon. Buy at least an extra character and try to level them all at the same pace. Even if all four of your party members die you have at least a nice leveled hero alive waiting in the nearest city mourning the loss ... and your new level 1 heroes get much better loot while facing evenly matched opposition. When my second company was gone i had two 5th level character left. My level 1 party was getting the same uncommon blue loot i got before. Lesson 3: Move around the map Guess you know you can travel around from city to city without doing a quest. This is useful in many ways: - you can look at many more quest rewards, so you don't get stuck with loot you can't use; - you can often buy any common items you need in the market ... never leave without healing and Finger of Death anymore; - if you are saving for a great item you can go there and get it as soon as you have the money. Lesson 4: Balance leveling and equipment Leveling is so fun everyone would like to do it as soon as possible, and that 'full' experience bar makes everyone nervous. The good news is that the characters doesn't stop collecting experience even when the bar is full. You can't see it right now but the game keep counting experience points and you get them when you finally level up. But using all your gold for training and forfeit equipment is a bad choice. The danger level scales with the party level and the game assumes that a good level character has good level equipment. If you rush the levels and never buy non-consumable items, there are very good chances that some bad green sword is with you at level 4 ... and this is not a good idea because the monsters should get hit by 8-10 damage magic longswords with a good ability, not 2-4 elven toddler's toys. On the contrary try to slow down and buy good items, leveling up later. As a reference, YMMV: - key equipment should be blue before training to level 3; - most blue and hopefully some orange before training to level 4; - a good mix of blue and orange before rising to level 5. That's all folks ... and share your tips, i need them!
So I beat all 9 missions and I'm almost maxed out lvl however I wanted brute tribe but it seems like I will be maxed out during that dlc so is it still fun paying the brute tribe at max lvl?
Wow, you're already almost level 8 just from the base game quests? I wouldn't worry about level for other content. Levels are actually pretty arbitrary, and honestly if the game had been designed with the max level lower or higher it wouldn't make much of a difference. You'll always reach the max level eventually and the quests tend to adjust for level with ambushes and most of the time loot is what drives players forward. To that end, the expansion certainly has a wide selection of new, high-end items for every character class.
IAP Legendary iteams Anyone have stats on these? At a buck a piece I don't really want to gamble if it's better then what I already got. Thanx
The IAP weapons? I only bought the wizard staff for the one point reduction in mana for spell casting. May not seem like much but it really adds up over time. Nearly OP in conjunction with the Talisman of Power.
