Mid Game Mage

[Kakost]

So, the way to the Ark finally opened. I still havent finished the Abbot, decided to try to get better items at the Ark first.

Well, that's easier said than done. Those damn glowing lights, blasted hell! It was so much worse than I expected. After a few narrow escapes, I took a deep breath and went threw. Only to find crazy minotaurs at the ruins that were supposed to be my salvation, according to the loreseeker expedition. Damn.

So, it's running and drinking potions again. I hope that stuff isnt addictive - or that it doesnt have long term collateral effects. Is it necessary to consult a cleric before self administering potions?

Anyway, after the initial scare, it was time to consult the Wiki Oracle, so that showed me that the ruins are actually the Sunken City. So, I went there, dodging the blasted lights and crazy Minos. And I got there more out of a need for protection than for truly wanting to do that quest at the moment.

Gotta say thou, Im glad I did it. The Minos there not too scary, just slightly stronger versions of the Maze ones, so that part was a piece of cake for a change. No crazy elemental damage, no insane resistances. Just brute force - but as we all know, intelligence always beats brute force, and intelligence is the one thing my mage has above all.

And the Underking himself? Again, no trouble at all. With my spells I quickly dispatch his minions, and only focus on him. With Griss as a barrier, my staff's heavy damage and my powerful spells, that was a fairly easy boss. I guess I can already tell where this Elementalist build is most successfull. It's against brutes that only employ sheer strenght.

And obviously, Im keeping his crow, so there's a certain underground king that is going down...

Also, I met a certain Valeran, but following the options for trait checks, he simply left, and I guess I lost the unique Thuramian plate mail in the game dammit.

Anyway, still havent got to the ark, now it's the time, but I have no idea what to expect. And now Im having second thoughts... I have no idea how to survive without Griss

 

[Atomos]

@Kakost Thuramian Platemail isn't unique, but highly limited . That being said: I wish stable options of obtaining it were available

 

[Kakost]

@Kakost Thuramian Platemail isn't unique, but highly limited . That being said: I wish stable options of obtaining it were available

The Wiki said that it drops from him alone, and it seems my only chance was fighting him there. Oh well...

Post automatically merged:    18/12/2022

Goddamit, that Ark is a death trap! I had to go into full retreat! How does one prepare properly for that? Will I have to hit the gold farms again and for longer times in order to get the best potions money can buy? Dammit now Im TRULY considering resetting to use Golem (as I predicted it would be the case).

Holy guacamole, I thought that as I lvled things would get easier and that in the Ark I could get better items, but the only pay for this first attempt were a ton of potions for barely no ground at all, and not a single of the magnificent items from the fabled Ark. Do they drop from cursed explosive frogs? Or are those items from chests? (Not that I actually managed to even reach any chest).

My God, I was safer with the radioactive waste outside.

How can anybody finish this game? It's absolutely insane!

 

[Atomos]

@Kakost you can get more Thuramian Platemails like this (not recommended though) :

There might be more options, but I have to finish my arch enemy run to confirm my suspicions.

As for the ark: spend some time in the Sunken Citadel, get yourself some robe and leggings, maybe a staff (that one is rare though and not super good). You'll get yourself some potions along the way. Spam the lighting bolts, check the boxes inside the Ark, and you'll be good

 

[Kakost]

Hunting for Magma Greatstaff before venturing into the Cursed Abbey Again. After killing 5 dragons and a Lich, Im disappointed to get Greatstaff of Impact and Winter. And a second Primal Icicle and second Justice. At least now I really only need Magma to finish my staff collection, but there are no more non rumor dragons to hunt it for nor other bosses that drop it - except for some at the SoH which I'm not willing to try right now.

Lvl 22 now, did a reset on my skills, removed Blizzard and Fireball and instead now I have Arcanist 3, Combustion 3 and Disintegrate 2, and I gotta say, this combination is very powerful; I kept zap 3 thou and I can barely wait for Disintegrate 3.

 

[VDX_360]

The Ark is easy -- once you get used to it.

Enemies do either pure shock damage, or pure physical damage.

If you have a summon skill, that will help keep the spiders off you.

No summons? Well, okay, that's going to get tougher.

Raiding the Ark will start to give you Ark equipment that helps.

 

[Kakost]

I just did the Cursed Abbot. It was surprisingly SUPER EASY.

Everything there just seemed so weaker and less scarier than when I said hello the first time lol.

One thing that helped in my opinion are my skills reconfiguration. Combustion is just so insanely powerful, as is Disintegrate. The amount of damage that Disintegrate does is no joke, and I dont even have it at lvl 3 yet.

At the Ark, I believe I can kill any one single enemy with a single combo of Disintegrate + Zap zap. And if needing a little more oomph, Combustion.

My only fear is to have to face more than one critter at once.

Still, it should be doable. I did kill 3 enemies before leaving, but once I realized that they respawn, and seeing the damage they cause, I decided to postpone my explorings there, but I believe it's pretty doable, albeit potion heavy. But that's the thing, I dont want to just believe I can do it - I want to be entirely sure. That means stocking at least 100 elixirs of Galade (yes, that's a self imposed number) and some scrolls of summoning. After that, I know I can do it without having any unpleasant surprises.

 

[VDX_360]

A key to the Ark is learning to take on the crowds in small groups. The steel wizards aren't so bad, but those spiders can overwhelming.

Mages, esp mages without summons, might struggle a bit in the reactor area of the Ark. Figuring out how to handle groups of spiders + balls of pain will be critical.

 

[Kakost]

Getting myself geared up to take on the Unweakened Undermother BEFORE going to the Ark.

I guess this should suffice.

Post automatically merged:    22/12/2022

Undermother is down.

Now all that is left to do outside the Ark is buying cleaning the Undergrove of the witches filthy, and with that concludes all the lose ends besides the Ark.



That was hard, but not as hard as I expected. 4 scrolls of restoration - guess I overkilled it again buying 33, but it doesnt matter. Challenge finished.

(PS: this would be hell with any other class)

 

[Mattey | RoguesBased]

A few other considerations:

Who ever said that Hirge is a better companion?

I think it mainly depends on which character you're using if you're running with a Mage or cleric for example, you may not want to fight together with Hirge that often because she'll probably eat up your mana pots.

(DISCLAIMER: I haven't tried this, but I will once I unlock Hirge in my Mage playthrough.