Advice from veteran Iron Man players needed

[Driggs]

Now that you've been playing Iron man for quite some time, I have a few questions for you.
If you could go back in time and restart as any class, what would be your preferred order? First ranked by fun, then ranked by difficulty.

Next, do you recommend playing a "safe" build or maximizing DPS?
Next, what are some areas YOU farmed personally from levels:
4-8
8-12
12-16
16-20?

Next, where did you farm your gold? In the same place as above?
I'm wondering if I should just wait to make an iron man until the mage class comes out
I already play on "Hard" so the difficulty shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Lastly, how did you deal with traps? I have tried to play as an iron man a few times, the longest I went was 10 levels and I got demolished by a nasty trap which took me from 65% hp to 0.

I apologize if there is a thread like this somewhere already, I searched "iron man" in the search bar and about a million threads popped up but none I saw were like this

 

[VDX_360]

If you could go back in time and restart as any class, what would be your preferred order? First ranked by fun, then ranked by difficulty.

First, player choices and character build matter a little more than the class when it comes to assessing fun and difficulty. Each class has different perks and "fun" is highly subjective.
Second, Shield Warriors and Immortal Build Clerics tend to be the more durable builds which offer a lot of benefit in Iron Man. Higher damage builds can be "easier" but with one unlucky error, poof, start over. Do you want to have a better combat fighter and have a higher risk of starting over--or a more durable build with lots of grinding?
Third, generally I found Warrior class, 2-H build, paired with 2-H Gressenda or Healing Hirge, a nice balance of fun and ease on Iron Man. Rouge Archer can be very easy or very hard, depending on a few key choices (and if the agro bug is fixed or broken).

Do you recommend playing a "safe" build or maximizing DPS?

On Iron Man, the penalty for death is starting over, so a safer build or safer approach to the game is recommended. Do lots of grinding and go into every fight over prepared. DPS is important but a slightly lower DPS means you;ll just use a few more potions in the longer fights, whereas, a lower defense might mean death.

What are some areas YOU farmed personally ....where did you farm your gold?

A common, but often useless question. Every build and player has a slightly different take on their build and equipment, making each area slightly different what is optimal. General advice, grind in areas that you can survive easily. Rotate between places to break up the boredom. Places that have good drops give good gold. Watch out for unexpected Rumor Bosses. Spam each dungeon as you come to it until it's a breeze. Plenty of threads and charts on XP and gold per each dungeon. Seriously, there's no magic rare Metal Slime waiting for you. Grind it out till your eyes bug out.

How did you deal with traps?

Traps are brutal. Rouges do better but Warriors and Clerics can have a sold trap spotting ability by having well rounded trait points (spotting, disarming or dodging a trap). Investing in the dungeon skill is possible but I've never needed it. Some equipment gives decent trap spotting bonus (directly or via trait increase). Also, if you've played enough, you tend to figure out where the brutal traps tend to roam. Walk VERY slowly in those areas to give your trap-spotting a few chances to locate a trap. Also, walk in straight lines. Use same path in and out to avoid hitting a trap you walked passed. Keep your HP high---Traps are the top reason I don't like Fury as a skill on Iron Man.

 

[Driggs]

Thank you for the advice, really I do appreciate it. The only issue I'm having with my personal builds is the grinding for leveling. In the normal story mode I was use to just following the quest line and only grinding for specific items, here if I don't grind for exp I end up getting overwhelmed and dying around level 6 or 7.

Thank you for the insight though, it's really appreciated

 

[Salazar]

I find cleric the savest ironman class. Intervention is so good. Additionally it's easy to keep hp always very high. I never really farmed a lot, but places with undead are obviously a good choice (mausoleum has a couple of good cleric-armor drops and decent items to sell).
I know where most traps are. In those areas never walk with not-full hp. Don't take unnecessary paths. When in doubt progress slowly. Cleric has also this spell to reveal stuff.
Oh, resect anything that can stun you.

 

[VDX_360]

Intervention is so good.

The Immortal Cleric build, is built around Intervention as a skill. The upper end potions heal both HP and Mana, making Intervention based builds quite durable. Also, Intervention also allows less risky use of Fury, as the low HP factor of Fury is balanced out by the reviving factor of Intervention.

 

[VDX_360]

The only issue I'm having with my personal builds is the grinding for leveling.

Yep, grinding is a big part of Iron Man as the penalty for an unlucky action is starting over. One missed high level trap, one unexpected rumor boss or one too many moments of spacing out.

One Iron Man tactic is the questless approach. Spam the first few dungeons until you have all the best drops. Slowly move from there. Don't worry about quests. Don't even trigger them. High enough level means the quests get easier AND you have the trait points to get better results.

With out-of-game knowledge, there's a few upper tier items that can be gotten early. For example, Rouge's can get the Stiletto with a few speed and death resistance potions (don't die through!). Often my first equipment purchase is a weapon from Freetown---takes a bit to save up for it but it serves well for the first part of the game. Spamming levels builds up gold and drop items so less of a need to buy equipment.

 

[Kuratha]

Rather than saying to myself, 'Where's a good place to farm?', I decided, "What weapons/equipment haven't I gotten?" This turned 'grinding' into running a place a couple of times till I've filled out my collection. Made myself more of a treasure hunter than a monster slayer. I've found that current gear to lv, plentiful items, and the courage to run makes surviving much more fun~

 

[Salazar]

Intervention is so good.

The Immortal Cleric build, is built around Intervention as a skill. The upper end potions heal both HP and Mana, making Intervention based builds quite durable. Also, Intervention also allows less risky use of Fury, as the low HP factor of Fury is balanced out by the reviving factor of Intervention.

How do you get fury as cleric? Am I missing something or did a patch change that?

 

[Atomos]

Intervention is so good.

The Immortal Cleric build, is built around Intervention as a skill. The upper end potions heal both HP and Mana, making Intervention based builds quite durable. Also, Intervention also allows less risky use of Fury, as the low HP factor of Fury is balanced out by the reviving factor of Intervention.

How do you get fury as cleric? Am I missing something or did a patch change that?

Fury - warrior skill
Intervention - cleric skill
You got everything right, it's just a mixup .

 

[VDX_360]

Opps.... Pardon that, mental hiccup. Flipping through my Iron Man builds for trends and glitched my notes on what build had what. I veer away from Fury on Ironman.


Okay, now I want Fury and Intervention paired....