[480] How on earth are we supposed to solo this?

[IndiraLightfoot]

Hi all!

 

I've just tried to solo the 480 BB, level Easy.

 

First, I tried it with my Amauan rogue, and then BB wizard, BB fighter, BB priest, and BB rogue, in that order.

 

All died in the first fight - Medreth - using only their starting gear in the BB.

The one closest to make it was BB fighter.

 

Sure, I'm a bit rusty at the game, so I prolly sucked, but still...

 

I need some serious tips and pointers to even try my hand at that super achievement Obsidian baited me with:

Solo PoE at Path of the Damned, max difficulty and Expert, IIRC.

[MasterPrudent]

Try a chanter. Be sure to use summons. Oh and I haven't tried the new build yet but if they've improved Druids' melee toughness they might be viable too.

[IndiraLightfoot]

A couple of builds ago, I did make a very neat druid build that soloed the Medreth fight and beetles etc at Dyrford crossing, so it may be the best choice for me. I haven't tried summons at all with Chanters, so thanks for the heads up.

[Luckmann]

Your not supposed to solo it.

 

That's, like, more or less the entire point of soloing. The game is intended to be party-based, and should be (and will be) balanced around that fact.

 

If you want to solo it, you're probably going to have to start from the beginning, and squeeze every last bit of advantage out of the game. I wouldn't even try in the Backer Beta.

[Diogenes]

Also when they say you can solo the game, they don't necessarily mean you can complete every single aspect of the game solo. A solo playthrough is likely about doing as much non-combat quest resolution as possible and stealthing past 90% of enemies.

[Odd Hermit]

I just soloed Medreth's group with a Druid and it is substantially harder especially if you start it via dialogue near them. It involved a specialized build and enchanted armor and I had to run away until only 1-2 of them were still following me. The AI can still be lured but it's a lot more difficult now.

 

I image I could do it easier w/a wizard just due to slicken, although it'd be a bit more random 'cause if you missed a single one...

 

With druid I used a combination of fast runner talent + the cloak that gives disengage bonus, secrets of rime for nuking, and I used wolf form to help me run away too as well as KO anything I managed to pull solo along with heals.

 

I had high resolve so I could pull off spell casts under fire as well.

 

The real PITA though will probably be the spiders as they're faster than most things and I'm not sure you could effectively run away from those buggers.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Osvir]

With Rogue, try to use Traps, and also try to use Scrolls (Lore & Mechanics).

Shadowing Beyond will allow you to escape any combat with a Rogue (You could view it as "Flee"). Resting bonus and food bonus would be crucial as well. You'd want to take out 1 or 2 guys in a fight, then retreat with Shadowing Beyond (if you get low Stamina/Health) and Rest. Then rinse-repeat. You'll also be able to bypass lots of combat with a solo Rogue with Shadowing Beyond.

As a Wizard, Concelhauts (Sp?) Corrosive Siphon used to be super overpowered but I don't know anymore, with an Intelligence+Might Wizard (AoE super powerful LifeStaminasteal myes). Flame Wave and Ghost Blades should help too~

Mind you, I haven't had a successful solo run either (I've actually only tried it with a Barbarian and with a Wizard. The Wizard almost took out all of Medreth's group on Normal/Hard, I don't remember, and the Barbarian got squished).

 

Your not supposed to solo it.

 

That's, like, more or less the entire point of soloing. The game is intended to be party-based, and should be (and will be) balanced around that fact.

 

If you want to solo it, you're probably going to have to start from the beginning, and squeeze every last bit of advantage out of the game. I wouldn't even try in the Backer Beta.

You weren't supposed to be able to solo Dragon Age: Origins on Nightmare ("Impossible" according to Bioware developers), yet I've heard that people tried and succeeded (With Rogues). Requires tons of meta, probably.

[aeonsim]

I've managed to solo the Medreth fight with a wizard using traps and spells on Hard about 2 builds ago, pretty hard though.

 

My thoughts for solo play is your going to have to specialise in Sneaking (avoid enemies) and Mechanics (Trap damage) and try to avoid every fight possible (at least on Path of the Damned). It's going to be a case of talking and sneaking your way through the story line and side quests, the point with Solo I think is to finish the game not to kill every creature in the game world.

 

Though an Aumaua Rogue with Sensuki's multiple blunderbuss build with some traps may be able to kill a decent proportion of the enemies if they run away after the first couple of shots.

[IndiraLightfoot]

aeonsim: Nice tips. Thx!   Talking oneself through the game will be tough, though. I recall BG1 back in the day. First time, some minor quest convos were almost impossible to judge how to resolve peacefully. It took meta-knowledge in later playthroughs to get them right, as it were. All I know is that Obsidian's solo challenge will be super-tough.

[Gromnir]

obvious answer: don't fight.  you don't get xp for kills, so avoid as many combats as possible. is almost always non-combat solutions.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited March 13, 2015 by Gromnir

[Odd Hermit]

Wizard wasn't too bad. I used Fast Runner, seems to be the key to run away and come back and ambush from stealth. If you go the dialogue route anyway. Fan of Flames with maxed might hits hard enough to clear them in 2-3, you may have to rest and come back.

 

High int is also important for Slicken AoE. Slicken is the not-really-a-secret to playing Wizard in this game.

 

I think Druid is probably still a bit better since you can go beast-mode after getting a single enemy away from the pack. Wizard is still kinda doomed if anything follows and gets into melee.

[morhilane]

High int is also important for Slicken AoE. Slicken is the not-really-a-secret to playing Wizard in this game.

 

Just don't walk on it with your Wizard. My BB Wizard did that last night (thank you pathfinding) and fell on his ass for the rest of the fight.

[Luckmann]

 

Your not supposed to solo it.

 

That's, like, more or less the entire point of soloing. The game is intended to be party-based, and should be (and will be) balanced around that fact.

 

If you want to solo it, you're probably going to have to start from the beginning, and squeeze every last bit of advantage out of the game. I wouldn't even try in the Backer Beta.

You weren't supposed to be able to solo Dragon Age: Origins on Nightmare ("Impossible" according to Bioware developers), yet I've heard that people tried and succeeded (With Rogues). Requires tons of meta, probably.

 

I can't even imagine that it'd be that hard in DA:O, but yeah, you're right, and that's the whole reason you solo. Because it's not made to be soloable. :D

[Osvir]

Well, I made a Cipher Deathgodlike Aumaua (Solo) and... craft some Rolling Flame Scrolls

EDIT: So, it's universal. But here's what I was thinking.... Whisper of Treason to take control of one to tank (it worked once, almost. I'm fighting the Pwgra, almost won. They were down at Near Death T-T). Follow that up with a Mental Binding, then start gathering some more Focus. Mind Wave most of the enemies Prone.

But first, drag them into a trap (Tanglefoot works well, but it's quite RNG on that one. Got all of them lined up and caught in it once, but all the other times they've been like "COOL TRAP BRO HERE WE COME!" T-T).

Edited March 13, 2015 by Osvir

[Osvir]

Hard, Expert Mode, Fire Godlike (Elf) Rogue.

No combat at all.

10 Might (Which is weird, I was pretty sure I set it to 8 )
10 Constitution (^Same)
16 Dexterity
16 Perception
23 Intelligence (Rest Bonuses+Enchantment Bonuses)
10 Resolve

Why in the blazes that High Intelligence!?!? xD = Shadowing Beyond. Need those seconds (16.5 Seconds. Base 10 Seconds).

Finished Ogre Quest, then started a fight with Tryndil (and did a beautiful Escape behind him, opened the door, closed it, then ran down as fast as I could).

Lots of saving and reloading. Will update when (if, really) I've finished Blood Legacy

EDIT: *groooaaaan* Well, that's it, pretty much. Can't win any fights against the Skaen (it's pretty impossible). And I built my character ever so slightly wrong (I focused on Stealth, when I should've focused on Mechanics). I believe it is doable, but it is 100% trial & error meta.

Here's a failure state xD (reload time!)
http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/39743758153188098/1A52EFFD66512256394F53C7BFE88D438B249D5B/1024x575.resizedimage

Would've been awesome if I could jump and swing with the grappling hook

And here's where I couldn't go any further (Need to make a new character and do everything from the start):
http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/39743758153241298/8D21544116957EACD1DE12601C2B2F4BB44CB756/1024x575.resizedimage

 

I also think there's only 7, total, lockpicks that you can get (BB Rogue has 4, and you can buy 3... I know there's one or two somewhere else too).

Shadowing Beyond also acted a bit odd. It says it lasts for 16.5 Seconds (with Rest Bonus), and 15.5 after resting in the dungeon... but it felt like it lasted like 4-5 seconds mostly... anyone know if those "Seconds" are In-Game Seconds or if they are Realtime Seconds? (Because it's probably a bug if it's the latter).

Edited March 13, 2015 by Osvir

[Osvir]

Well... I did it :D

Now I only have Lhe Rhemen left but I think that's going to take way more time to meta my way through.

Male Fire Godlike (Orlan) Rogue. Hard Difficulty.

Order of Quests:
- Trick Nyfre into Medreth (+1 Level)
- Egg & Ogre (+1 Level, get Lead Splitter and you're able to fight and kill stragglers to make the Shadowing Beyond path longer)
- Dyrford Ruins (+1 Level)

Journal & Level 8 Beta Stats:

Journal:
http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/39743923168304776/6D70A3161686DB4FFB3EF2E7A439A8C63F664AA1/

Stats 1: Attributes
http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/39743923168306470/1999F3AD86B258D522DF19DD3B1EFE0A4049E9C3/

- Rest Bonus Gives: +2 Might, +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence (Don't have it on that screenshot)
- Old Valia: +1 Intelligence
- [Armor Enchantment] Of Intelligence +2

Stats 2: Abilities, Skills & Talents

http://cloud-2.steamusercontent.com/ugc/39743923168308278/E3F749212C757A1C88C6ED1D54F751ACB6177D08/

 

- Coordinated Positioning was a mistake. Adept Evasion would've helped more.
- Focus "Mechanics" as much as possible and save points for it. You're going to need 3 or 4 Stealth IIRC to sneak past the Beetles and the Wolves.

Equipment:

http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/39743923168332099/B1D24C04667A90C145F13EFE3B639D5C38A53265/

- Sell all the BB characters gear, and you'll be able to afford everything you need in town.
- Angio's Gambeson
- Grappling Hook
- Torch, because it looks cool in secondary slot
- Lockpicks
- Leadsplitter is gained from Rumbald by being Deceptive/Clever (I think, that's the path I took). When you have this you'll be able to take out isolated targets (Up to 2 targets, maybe 3 with some luck/good positioning)

EDIT: Going to do some testing with a Rogue like this in a real party (with more normal stats). Because there's potential for a Duelist/Fencer Sub-Tank in there somewhere.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Osvir

[Odd Hermit]

Nice. I tried a solo rogue and gave up myself. It was the damned spiders that I couldn't get past, but I didn't get high enough int for shadowing beyond for it I guess.

[Osvir]

Outside the Ogre Cave or inside the Ogre Cave?

There's a metric ton of RNG in this method by the way, and you need to establish "Checkpoints" pretty much and just trial and error until you get through.

Solo Meta, Strategy Bulletpoint Guide (SPOILERS):

Beetles: (2/2 Camp Supplies)
- You should be able to sneak by them without even using a Shadowing Beyond, and the wolves too
- This way you'll save 2 Shadowing Beyond (you might need to use both against the spiders)

Outside Cave: (2/2 Camp Supplies)
- [Checkpoint] Save Game
- Pull the small spiders towards you where the path begins.
- You can suffer a couple of disengagement attacks (if they even hit) from the small ones.
- When you've got them all balled up, Escape into Shadowing Beyond. It's tricky, because the spiders tend to clog the pathway to the entrance, so you'll need to get a clear Escape. Or don't use Escape and try to pull them away to create an opening to zig-zag around them.

Inside Cave: (1/2 Camp Supplies)

- [Checkpoint] Save Game.
- You can sneak past most/all of it if you're patient. But if you're playing on Hard, you should have at least 1 Camp Supply left and 2 Shadowing Beyond (enough to get to Korgrak, Rest/Save near him (0/2 Camp Supplies) if necessary, and be able to get out and past the Spiders outside again).

Egg:
- No enemies there, just the adventurer's, you can run up there without triggering combat against anyone, and you can pay the 800 cp to get the egg without a fight.

Return to town:
- Restock Camp Supplies.
- Turn in/Finish Egg & Ogre Quests (Lead Splitter from Rumbald)

Tryndil's Shop into Ruins: (2/2 Camp Supplies)
- [Checkpoint] Save Game.
- Getting in behind Tryndil (talk to him to trigger combat, or just open the door and trigger combat), Escape over him, open the door, pause, run past door, pause, close door, run to the ladder and combat may end or the apprentice runs through the door. With Lead Splitter you can take out both of them. However, if you can get down there without killing them you'll have access to Tryndil's store when the quest is completed and they'll be friendly.

 

Ruins: (2/2 Camp Supplies)

- [Checkpoint] Save Game.
- Going down the path, 2 isolated Beetles (one patrolling so you can deal with them 1 on 1). Lead Splitter <3
- In the water, get aggro from Beetles, pull them into the Skaen and then do a "Shadowing Beyond". They start to fight throughout the entire level. This is going to be very important later on. For optimization, you want to be able to do this in 1 Shadowing Beyond.
- After rounding a corner to safety = [Checkpoint Area] Save Game.
- Next area, South, you want to run into the enemies vision, do a Shadowing Beyond and you can run down to a safe area/zone with a Skaen Bone ingredient.

 

- [Checkpoint] Save Game (Rest, 1/2 Camp Supplies)
- You should now have 1 Camp Supply left and 2/2 Shadowing Beyond.
- You want to get to the Grapple Hook area from here, and might need to use 2 Shadowing Beyonds to get there.

 

- [Checkpoint] Save Game (Rest if you used both, 0 Camp Supplies left)
- Use the grappling hook and skimmy over.
- Enter Scout Mode when you re-appear (if you're unlucky with enemy patrols you might start combat instantly).

- [Checkpoint] Save Game (If possible).
- Wait for the gunner to be closest and sneak straight into him, when he sees you and combat begins = Shadowing Beyond.
- When you're next to the door, pause, unlock the door, unpause -> pause, open the door, unpause, pause, click on other side of door (close it after you).
- Might cause a bug where combat doesn't end, and you're going to have to let one dude through (and blast him away with the Lead Splitter  ) or else you will have to reload.
- If all is well, you should be safe and sound inside the Blood room with at least 1 last Shadowing Beyond left.

- [Checkpoint] Save Game.
- From the Blood room you can scout/sneak all the way to the last room where there's some Skaen.
- Trigger combat against them and do the whole Shadowing Beyond running, and pause/unpause/pause open door.
- Cutscene begins, and when it's over and you've done all your C&C (granted that you pick Non-Combat options), all Skaen on the floor turns friendly.

Right... remember how I said it was important to drag the Beetles away? Well, the hidden door behind the Aelys room where the Skaen are performing the ritual is the place filled with Beetles. At this point, you're down at 0 camp supplies and 0 Shadowing Beyonds so I got to say it is pretty genious Because the Beetles were pulled away, you'll now be able to walk up to Tryndil's shop without any resistance

 

Edited March 15, 2015 by Osvir

[Osvir]

Tips n Tricks in Pictures for Solo Rogue:

 

 

Grey = Safe/No Harm (If you can get there right)
Yellow = Detection Zone
Red = Danger Zone/Shadowing Beyond required

Dyrford Crossing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jn3gdux6dfsk3b8/dyrford%20crossing%20solo%20rogue%20pathing.bmp?dl=0

Dyrford Ruins:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bkp4y6qc0j6tt2w/dyrford%20ruins%20solo%20rogue%20pathing.bmp?dl=0

 

Edited March 15, 2015 by Osvir

[Karkarov]

There is only one class actually good at soloing, and that is the Chanter due to their summons.  This game will be VERY hard to solo if not outright impossible.  The devs never tested it, at all.  They just don't **** block you from trying.

[Odd Hermit]

I've been trying a different tactic and it's been working so far albeit it's super cheesy:

 

Island Aumaua

 

20 Strength

6 Con

8 Dex

8 Per

19 Int

17 Res

 

@ Level 5:

 

2 stealth and will add more

2 Athletics and IDK how many I need for the egg if I have the hook but I can buy the shirt that gives +2

9 mechanics

1 Lore for level 1 scrolls

 

 

Crippling Strike

Blinding Strike

Fast Runner

Reckless Assault

 

Using Crossbow to open and then Tall Grass to wreck stuff in melee (sold stuff to grab it early).

 

He is pretty damned brutal in melee. Soloed Medreth's group by luring them away and stabbing them to death 1 by 1. Using plate enchanted w/might and int. Long duration blinding strike is amazing. Will eventually grab multiple ranged weapons to try 1/2 shots on enemies by weapon switching guns. Talent selection is going to difficult though, I'll probably have to skip dirty/vicious fighting.

 

Using Traps + Scrolls used as needed, probably going to have a rough time of the spiders still though.

 

 

Hit and run + luring enemies away 1 by 1 and soloing them in a duel, use traps/scrolls for tough enemies.

 

It's slow going but you can actually kill most things if you cheese it and it's less RNG dependent than crossing my fingers w/shadowing beyond.

 

Edit:

 

Eff you spiders!

 

http://i.imgur.com/6PIT7vT.jpg

Edited March 15, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Osvir]

Can you really call it cheesing when it's a Solo character, though? It's like... you're putting yourself in a very disadvantageous position with a Solo Character. You'll always be the underdog in pretty much every fight you get into, and instead having to more actively, both short- and long-term, use your brain to finding solutions to overcoming obstacles.

Even as you say, you've attempted what you think and feel is "cheesing", yet you can't get past everything by doing it, so you'll have to figure out another solution to the problem

@Karkarov: Not impossible. Not very hard even. Just tedious. You're going to repeat the same area over and over and over, and you better be persistant in forcing yourself and believing in yourself xD "This has to work!", and eventually it does.

There's a different kind of calculative and analytical problem solving in a Solo game. You need to be way more "on the numbers", it's more or less building a railroad, and then also building the train to run on it. And you also have to figure out all the parts needed, because a Solo character doesn't have all the parts.

A full party has all the parts, and the railroad has been tested and polished several times. If your party has trouble in a fight, one of your classes good at dealing with those problems can handle it. A Solo character doesn't have that luxury, but that doesn't mean that there's not some other strength that could or would allow the Solo character to bypass or succeed regardless.

Rolling Flame Scrolls for instance. My Cipher obliterated the 5-6 Pwgra on Hard by using traps, Rolling Flame Scrolls and Cipher abilities (eventually, it took a couple of 10's of failures). Hence: Tedious/lots of work, not quite hard nor impossible, just time consuming and meta-learning every pixel (<- extreme example, not that harsh but sometimes it feels like it) and maybe even dodging abilities in animation frames (Fighting game pro's, MOBA pro's and similar all react on animations and can cancel or dodge out of danger by finding "invincible" frames or time their attacks based on animation frames and so on).

It is possible to dodge auto-attacks and abilities that enemies do by timing your Escape with their expected animation/ability usage by the way.

All you need is an "idea", and then you'll have to polish that idea and make revisions to it until it works.

I intend to play a full party, I've said that several times in the "What party are you rolling?". I can't help but enjoy myself playing with a Solo character, still (the challenge, "is it possible" or like this thread states "How on earth are we going to solo this?". I will most likely play with several casts/groups/parties for fun, for challenge, and because I can, a cast of 2 characters at some point, and 3, and 4 and so on. There's hundreds of class+race combinations you can create, with a party from 1 character up to 6 characters

Edited March 15, 2015 by Osvir

[Odd Hermit]

Yes, you can call it cheesing lol. It's taking advantage of every little **** in the game's armor mechanically. Just because it's a more difficult/different process than going through with a full party doesn't mean it's not using cheese. It's just that kind of need to cheese as you're at a big disadvantage.

 

Anyway, just got the Leadsplitter. It's a good thing you get 2x shadowing beyond 'cause the spiders in that are a bit random. I had one follow me while I was in shadowing beyond running back to the entrance. O_o

[Osvir]

Right, they do that. You can bypass that by stopping briefly, let the spider "touch" or "nudge" you (it won't attack) and the moment it turns around to return to "idle mode", high tail it towards a safe spot (before the SB duration ends).

I believe it follows Shadowing Beyond because the AI still has some form of targeting script/string running, and when you are running away from it it can't complete it.

EDIT: Thinking about it, this sort of Shadowing Beyond solo Rogue kind of reminds me of how I played hardest on Dishonored (lots of Blinks)

Edited March 15, 2015 by Osvir

[Odd Hermit]

Trygil downed, I'm amused how easy it is to run around in circles and avoid and AoEs the AI uses because they aim them where you were not where you're at. Seems to be the secret to not getting burn-spelled to death by his sealy stuff.

 

He was still tough and took me a couple tries though. You definitely need Leadsplitter and Penetrating Shot to gib the other dude right off the bat.

 

I should've used healing potions actually, but I didn't which meant a couple reloads.