There is no way to happiness: Solo PotD Naked

[Reent]

hmmm, i'd need a vid with the boss to think about a cheese - however "boss" is always together with "forced fight" - so, if i can get to one summon its a "win" in most the the fights... i will play for a bit now, i am quite interested if i can find some Cheese... when i am done with this character i think my ironman chanter will become so much easier... with every trick i learn i can make my ironman run much smoother - do you have any other ways to make my run harder? The more i have to think about possibilities now - the more my ironman chanter will be able to do^^

(and no, worse stats or no summons are no go - not running etc is no go either :D)

[Harpagornis]

The Monk Boss is indeed a forced fight. You can avoid this special fight if you kill the whole monastery but this would be very, very painful. The Monks will sometimes ignore your summons thanks to Flagellants Path so normal summon tanking is much harder. Not to forget: They have multiple CC and insane damage. My Ascetic Monk had to use a very hard cheese that may not be working in 3.02 anymore because it felt like a bug. Otherwise my run would have stopped there. You have nearly no time before they engage you from both sides. But thats something to worry about in the future.

[Reent]

WOW the Iron Fort sucks BALLS!

If i didnt think about trying my 4th lvl summon (i didn't even know why i took it...^^) it would have taken me hours to get the group killed - they killed ogres within 1-2 stacks and it was too hard to splitpull them, they stopped as a group - using "he is attacking so while attacking i can run past the aggro point" didnt work good enough... in the end i used "My Enemy" strategy, used a max vision range summon spore and dominated the enemy - getting him killed xD that worked wonders :D with the aggro split i was able to do it in 2 waves!

 

Enemies running at me... thats partly fine, if i have the last lvl summon i have a ranged summon - i can use that - or the wall off strategy... depending on the layout

 

I will see what happens then, now... i am past the door, maybe iron fort is almost done - at least i really hope so, i dont like it at all -.-

[Reent]

so... the eyeless are a real dissapointment X_x

2 can defeat my ogres before i can call them again - if i use dragon chant all the time... and with dragon chant... they are almost done anyway... they have real low aggro range and its a forced fight -> please, send me a hundred eyeless, i would still get out -.-

[Harpagornis]

The Iron Fort is a joke compared to the Monastery if you are not playing it peaceful there. Yeah the Eyeless should be freewin for a Chanter!

 

News from my Druid: I have also completed WM 1 but - hell - it couldnt be closer. Fighting the Forge Guardians was no option so i had to cheese. The winning strategy was:

 

1. Make sure you have the +2 Movement Speed Resting bonus or you cannot win ground against the Forge Guardians

2. Lure them into the Siren-Ghost-Ambush you ecsaped earlier and make sure to cast "Form of Delemgan" before (otherwise the immobilize of the Sirens might kill you)

3. Thanks to the Siren-Ghost-Group the Forge Guardians will split so you dont have to fight all of them at once

4. In my case i only had to face 3 of them: Summon Slimes -> Relentless Storm (optional) -> Petrify -> Catform.

5. Thanks to petrify your Spiritform will take them down in three blows so all of them should be dead before you transform into human form again.

6. The 3 other Forge Guardians got killed by the Siren-Ghost-Party - good job friends!

7. Once the last Forge Guardian is down -> Rest again -> splittpull the three Paragrunes -> Petrify -> Victory!

 

Without the help of the Ambush group this battle could have been the end. Could have been - but not for now. WM 2 is waiting!

Edited March 28, 2016 by Harpagornis

[Reent]

Jeah, the different groups make for some interesting situations - sometimes charm stops because the 2 enemies i faced werent in the same group at all :D

These bugs... ITS A JOKE -.-

 

I have to fight the monks and... its not really nice, not nice at all... killed 2 monks up to now and man... 1 monk alone kills 1,5 ogres before i can summon them again O_o

I need more knowledge, so i can deal with them somehow, the direct approach looks... bad

[Harpagornis]

Fighting the Monks seems nearly impossible unless you can splittpull them all... can this work? I dont know! My Monk played it peacefully otherwise he would have been destroyed...

 

But man... Reent... you are so fast... are you playing 24/7? I cant follow you - too much work. Will be happy if i can start WM 2 tomorrow - hopefully. Good night!

[Reent]

okay... if i only had different attributes maybe i wouldnt need to fight everything, but it looks to me... as if i have to kill about everything in the path of the main quest EVERYTHING -.-

god, every group is hard, every little group is hard - i looked with nofog and invisible a bit further - since i cant lie to them i have to kill so much

 

I dont know if there is a different way... i can use a shortcut for the first map, but after that? It looks like Diablo 3...

God, sidequests here i come, i want the 20% faster castspeed and the other summon (50% less casting time vs 40% less casting time is 20% faster)... maybe then i will clear it in a reasonable time, else? It looks like i'd need a few hours for this

 

Not looking forward to this quest at all...

 

 

I am a student and i have (a few things here and there ignoring) nothing to do for the next few days :D

Edited March 28, 2016 by Reent

[Harpagornis]

If i remember there is a Perception-Check when you meet the Monks first - and yeah - thats not your main strength.   

 

Clearing the whole Monastery will take some time. My Druid would be in huge trouble there but your Chanter... why not?

 

Hrhrhr...these "free" student times are gone a while now so i have to take it slowly.

 

But to make a short conclusion of our challenge:

 

Naked Chanters and Druids are able to beat White March 1

 

White March 2 will follow - hopefully!

[Reent]

resolve lore or perception - those were the possible choices xD

 

if i dont mind a worse start (really, just 3-4 hours or something more i think, it could be that i am thinking too much and it would be much lower), i could change might and get resolve up - with resolve i could do some more quests peacefully later on and... lets be fair, i cant use the damage later on... dragon chant is too slow for a naked run and damage spells are too slow too - the healing is the only part thats a problem - with more resolve its less interrupts, less interrupts mean cleaner kiting, cleaner kiting=less damage taken...

the parts where it could be a problem? Bear cave - i can accept not doing it. Cliaban Rilag - i killed some casters in melee, however it should be possible without might too...

Before Ogres i attacked a bit more, but cliaban rilag is the one place where it could be a real problem... (main quests are the only thing that make a real difference, everything else is just so i can level better - maybe i cant do nalrend without might... since i have to kill the 2 bears before the ogres - but with resolve it could be that i can kite them since interrupts dont matter)

[Harpagornis]

Oh dear - i cant beat the Eyeless Ambush. Spells are missing a lot, petrify nearly never works, my summons get destroyed, they are immune to lighting and corrode, my Catform cant even beat down one... game over... or maybe level 14 is a bit too low... time to go into farming mode again... but even then... i dont know if i can beat them later... we will see!

[Raven Darkholme]

I already predicted WM2 will be too much, but tbf even an item using solo needs to cheese a lot in WM2.

[Reent]

i havent reached my limit yet - only a point where i have to kill so many enemies that its faster to lvl up a bit first.

 

Your problem is the problem why i play chanter - i dont want to run out of steam, i can either go back to rest some more or i can go and summon until its done...i am sacrificing me first strike for that (not that big a deal with items)

 

I will try and try and try, until something like the ambush makes it impossible - the other possibility would be loading an older safe and getting lore high enough to get into it without a fight... but it would take a few hours since i have no safe before aggroing the monks that isnt a few hours old^^

 

So i think i will go ahead and kill them, i have the weapons to do it i think... everything i saw up to now with the monks looks doable - very very (but a few more verys there) long, but doable... but first a few more quests, if i can manage lvl 16 it should work out (from now on i will make a safe everytime i clear an area - that way i could have lvld uo to 16 and get my lore up before the monks... but you said if i clear all the monks there wont be the bossfight?^^ If its that way, i have a long but clear path ahead instead of a short unclear one xD)

[Reent]

So, onto my next session - the (try) rush to lvl 16 (i am almost 15) session, oh man, my character has only killed 395 enemies up to now, it looks like i have to make that number much much higher in the next sessions

A high killcount is a bad thing

[Reent]

okay... my killcount is wrong :D

My character killed 410 enemies with his fists and spells, 349 enemies with summons and thats not all - but everything that the game mentions, chant kills dont count (so my ironman character would have a MUCH lower killcount - after lvl 9 about everything but the long range CC encounters get killed with the chant)

 

did i say it before? I HATE BUGS!

(wow, its not even as straightforward as "no chant kill is added to the killcount" - some get counted, some dont... nice one^^ clearing raedrics castle with dragon chant atm (cant do it the friendly way, cant wear robes :D) and looking at my killcounter... its not working as it should...)

Edited March 29, 2016 by Reent

[Reent]

And i am lvl 16 - monks here i come!

[Harpagornis]

Okay Reent, your Chanter is our last hope! Why? Because i will stop my Druid for the moment.

 

The reasons are simple: If i have to burn absolutely everything to bring down only three Eyeless its over. Because the final fight not only involves several Eyeless but a big fat sea beast too. This is where limited spell resources will fail. Your Chanter can do the job thanks to unlimited chants and invocations. But a Druid? Not with our strict rules...

 

I will think about other ways in the next days and maybe go on. We will see. I count on you and your Chanter Reent!

 

I will start a new Iron Run with a modified Monk in the meanwhile...

[Xaratas]

Nice thread. Nice challange, I would not know how to do it. Normal PoD is hard enough for me

 

But the question is: Are you camping like mad? Are there still camping supplies left to buy?

[Harpagornis]

My Druid is camping a LOT. But luckly camping supplies are restored once you leave an area!

[Reent]

camping like mad? Hmmm, its not that bad for me, if i get a foothold in a map i can get things done without resting - fight after fight after fight, its not even the difficulty that makes me rest more, its about the foothold, if the foothold is strong i can clear a whole area without resting once - but i am too sloppy for it, dont concentrate enough and try to speed things up.

 

Lets take the Hall of Silence as an example, i didnt trigger the Low Tide Enemies, i attacked a single Low Tide Cipher, got my stacks and killed the Low Tide Monks near that point with the summons, leaving the Low Tide Cipher alive - it would be preferable if the one enemy alive is a slow moving pure melee, however the low tide cipher doesnt do that much more - so i run in circles around the Cipher, summon ogres, let then get the aggro, go near the next group of enemies (without aggroing them) and summon something - i can try for my Spore - if i can dominate the nearest enemy he will soak all the aggro and can die in time... however if i miss its wasted time, i can try to make the 3rd or 2nd hit work, but most of the time i have to get back to the cipher and run in circles - i will keep summoning until the enemies die... with this system the only enemy my chanter fights is the "My Enemy"... every other enemy fights against summons... if they have a nice aggro system (they aggro once and dont run out of engage) i can speed things up, but thats risky...

 

So, you see that the thing that makes me rest isnt my fightings system but my skill in using it... done well i could clear the whole hall of silence without taking a single point of damage!

Areas where the enemies deal extremely high damage - the spore is really strong (most times: high damage=low defense, so easy dominate) its just a question of range (when i summon the spore i dont want the enemies to aggro me - so just inside the vision range)

 

With lvl 16 i can trade my new summon in quite nicely, they deal damage before dying (different to ogres, if the enemy group was too strong they didnt deal damage worth trying to kill them this way)

 

So, while i use quite some camping supplies, its more because i am sloppy.

[Reent]

The Abbey is done! It was much easier than i thought 

I had to fight only 1 group of the normal monks, 1 group of Low Tide monks, 5 enemies that were patrolling and the group with Kaoto... wow, side entrance is really good!

In the end i almost had to redo the whole long long long fight against Kaoto...

 

i almost ragequit:

 

 

no camp supplies, nothing else... to my left? one enemy, to my right? More enemys!

But then... a symbol was shown a Compass! Instead of going left or right i could just go back to Caed Nua! :D

[Reent]

 

Oh wow, the Kraken is kinda easy O_o

I wanted to test the fight, wanted to switch resting bonus but didnt have any camping supplies left... so i simply went in and tried...

first try? I just rushed at her with dragon chant active all the way - used my stellar boxing and... almost finished her with 7 nights... just a little bit more and i would have done it (the other resting bonus should have been enough)

So i saw blood and tried other ways, in the end i killed the Kraken 2 times, the first time 3 eyeless spawned and i died to a tentacle my summons finishing the kraken, i stood up again but the eyeless rushed at me and i died again

the fight i won i was unconscious for the kill too - my summons finished the job - no eyeless spawned - easy.

It should be possible with either strategy - fight her head on while dodging some tentacles so the damage doesnt spike - run so you can summon one volley and switch to pure damage after... the 0 DR makes for a good punching bag, 7 nights deals easily >250 damage, had around 280 the one time i looked... with a few dragon chants and your summons and you attacking... the fight is very short.

Druid should be able to do that fight too, the eyeless dont spawn early for me - the timing is a bit random...

however the way to that point? HOLY, its no fun, it took me some mins if >1 ranged eyeless was there, they switch targets to me and heal too much for my summons...

 

The Kraken has so little defense, with proper planning (i got wound binding so i have to rest less - in fights its not needed since i have no potions) i could have killed her within 20 secs... (maybe even within 13 secs, but i dont think so)

And i am a solo character without items - thats the last boss? I am a naked solo Chanter and i am here saying "if i had the correct resting bonus and one different talent, i could bum rush the last boss?!"

I am utterly, honestly dissapointed, i had hoped i would have to plan how to make it work, maybe cheese them with timings so they dont... no, nothing like that, o preparation, no big plan, just plain trial and error for a little bit RNG luck - with normal luck i was just a bit short everytime.

 

(if you wonder why i dont post a big winning screen with the kraken or something and the achievement - i had to restart the game and use the steam "start" button - else i dont get my achievements -.-) (and i call the kraken the last boss because its the last boss of the latest expansions main story)

Tomorrow i will finish thaos - after that the challenge should be finished?

 

 

 

 

----

and with that i can say:might is needed! - without might this fight would have been much harder... relying on the summons is kinda hard this fight since you always have tentacles that focus you, outlasting them is kinda hard if your damage is low...

Edited March 30, 2016 by Reent

[Harpagornis]

Very cool stuff Reent!!!

 

If the Kraken fight is that "easy" my Druid has a chance. Thats great!!!

 

Sounds like your Chanter has done it because Thaos should be a cakewalk.

 

Now its time for "The Ultimate" no?

[Reent]

ultimate naked? No way in hell...

 

I plan on getting the achievement, i see some difficulties on the way, but the things i learned in this run... will make a really big difference, before i had trouble with some things - those are a real joke now - the "My Enemy" strategy is that much more powerfull in a normal Solo run - i can kill stuff to make a big pile of corpses and use the figurines+white worms to kill the harder enemies on top of the pile - thats how you do it :D

Enable all enemies in one area and deal with them in one long long fight or "without loading"... and your clearspeed is very very high.

 

With items the dragons should be no problem (soulbound weapon so you dont get terrified and the soulbound armor for triggered immunity, should give you enough time to kill adds and get to the summoning circle) so i dont fear the dragons, i dont fear the main story, i dont fear the bounties (did all but one, cilant lis - i need figurines or mass loading to do that^^) - so only the 2 mages are left... i never did them so i have no clue how big the problem will be (2 dragons are fearsome, but if the adds are no trouble the fight is no trouble... so i dont know :D)

[Reent]

Okay... so now the journey is over!

 

First a few pics from before the fight - so you can see my character in all its glory!

 

Then i started the fight, i was confident, oh so confident until the 2nd spell...

 

Thaos had a great opening! I panicked - forgot about moongodlike, forgot to look where i was running... and it was over, i ran into 2 statues and my first try was over long before it realy began!

 

Next try is the charm!

 

 

Looks familiar? Jeah, thats what i thought... but this time i didnt panic, i simply paused the game, clenched my teeth, counted to 10 and resumed!

Gotya sucker! Not even close!

The counteroffense began, summons vs thaos+the hammerstatue - i was using the dragon chant to speed things up, wanted to make another screen aaaand... got caught in his AOE prone attack... almost died (i deleted the shame instantly, who needs such a screenshot - i stood right in his death explosion and got to 9 endurance^^)

 

after that i learned my lesson, i made thaos sit in a corner while i killed his second statue, it was such a nice looking fight (used ogres vs the first statue, with his aoe the ogres are better)

 

After that it was routine to get to the natural result!

 

And with that... Pervert will go his way... together with his mascot - he wouldnt have had the persistence to get this far without her!