ironmangaming

I thought I'd share my battle with the 3 early bears in the cave...Done on my second try so I had some luck I'm guessing, but at lvl 2 on PotD, you probably need "some" luck since 1 hit and you're dead anyways... I tried this after Eler in my party died in my current Wizard game (hated resting so he had low health) so I may restart as a Cipher again and start over (Trial of Iron). Never did like the whole limits on casts/day anyways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUprh94zNM4

On my playthrough now with my melee wizard main char on trial of iron (1st playthrough), the summoned staff alone seems to do well enough. Downside is limited castings currently (I'm lvl 4), but since it heals and I'm also playing moon godlike, if you are meleeing, you will probably get hit so it's better than the other weapons I've noticed. With Arcane Veil, your wizard is probably (for a limited time) more defensive than the other tanks even. Thanks Boeroer about the point about weapon focus when it comes to the summoned weapons...I'd hate to waste 2 picks for both weapons...

I notice I just use the staff spell since it heals endurance on hit instead of any of the other spells (not enough spell casts to spare). Being Moon God-like also is so powerful for this build since you get hit a lot and my moon godlike power activates every battle. More importantly, it's auto activate (hidden in log though). I'm now in the 1st town again after restarting (died at 3 wolves)... After resting once after the bear fight,I took on the wolves and the bandits. The wolves were actually a tough fight since I didn't notice 1 was a mama wolf (sloppy) and knocks down and hits a lot harder (was wearing scale)...Had to restart because of it (Trials of Iron). Both fights can be done solo though with the melee wizard easily without anymore resting (3 spells are enough to spare)...and generally, I hate resting or potion spamming to begin with. Bandits don't hit that hard (used 1 spell each fight so 1 left). Being a fan of turn-based games and tactical combat, one thing that I have noticed to make the game more 'tactical' for me is gauging enemies and what they are using (what they attack with) and what they are wearing. Their attack has been more important since the bears slash and the wolves pierce. Scouting them with sneak and re-arming my armor to breastplate made that fight a ton easier vs. wearing the scale Calisca had on...(Breastplate 10DR vs. Scale 5DR against pierce)...I don't think you can use cover unfortunately. This is my first play through so it'd be interesting to see how far one can get without reloads or 'knowledge' beforehand.

Yeah, a lot of the guides seem really out of date so it's hard to search for updated info...I will need to read the forums more closely. I haven't gotten very far in my game yet since I am not sure what I wanted to play yet, but the completionist in me didn't want to 'skip' it before going to town so I wanted a consistent way to beat the 2 bears without having to reload (Trial of Iron play-through).

Just wanted to share my level 2 solo melee wizard taking on the 2 early bears in hard difficulty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48mY4ImHJ2w Personally, I think high PER is better than high DEX (this doesn't seem like the majority view from all I've read so far). I tested a Cipher mostly before tweaking DEX, RES, PER in this fight ...but may go with a Wizard in my play through since they can do a lot more damage (assuming you are rested...). There is also some tactical planning with multiple grimoires, etc... From my play testing, low PER just seems to graze/miss a lot more and having high DEX wasn't as useful since my spells are very limited cast and when I am spelled up, I need to make the most of it in that short window. That said, this fight can be won pretty consistently assuming your slick hits since the big bear's chance to hit you after deflection spells are up is < 10% I think.