Mastodawn

buo Jan 12, 2025

My highest score: five-challenge ascension!

https://lemmy.world/post/24197367

My highest score: five-challenge ascension! - Lemmy.World

I completed a 4-chal ascension a while back, and I thought I was done with challenges, but recently I got the itch to complete a five-chal run. I just wanted to prove that I could ascend with more than half of the challenges active. It took me 25 or 30 tries, but I finally did it! (I like to play random seeds and let fate decide what equipment I get). I also had to find a combination of challenges that was feasible for me; for example, combining Pharma and Barren Land is brutal. Respect to those who can win with those challenges active! One funny thing is that I ended up with a lot of food (that’s the sniper at the foot of the stairs leading up out of the dungeon): [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5e7c341a-ab7f-454b-8e83-da32058d480b.png] It turns out I could have eaten a lot more food! I spent almost the entire game with 20-40% health. Other equipment notes: * I spent most of the game with a +2 Sickle I got from the ghost. This seed has very few upgraded weapons. * I got a lousy wand of primatic light +1 from the wizard, which was used along with a +0 wand of corrosion to upgrade the wand of disintegration to +3. * I found the chains early on, but they were cursed. I was unable to equip them until the early jail levels. Still, a lifesaver for sure. * The armor is Scale +1, reforged and with three SoU. * The RoH was found at +0 in the sewers, upgraded with the game’s last three SoU. * The RoSS was found at +1 somewhere in the jail. * The shuriken has a troll upgrade plus reforge, and the remaining two SoU. The sniper is awesome, and I don’t know if I could complete five challenges with other classes. Dispatching a scorpion in one round, without spending any charges or energy or anything, is awesome. I’m pretty sure I won’t do six or more challenges, as the game gets so hard it’s no longer much fun. But I’m happy to have gotten good enough at this game to do five challenges!

buo Nov 19, 2024

Bug, or intended behavior?

https://lemmy.world/post/22186022

Bug, or intended behavior? - Lemmy.World

Usually, on level 10, if I don’t have a magic spell holder, I just drop all my spells before opening the door to Tengu. At the end of the battle, my spells are there (along with Tengu’s mask) for me to pick up. This time, I forgot to drop the spells before the first phase of the fight. Fearing getting caught in one of Tengu’s firewalls and losing some spells, I dropped them on the hallway before opening the door to the second phase. However, only the upgrade scrolls were there after the fight! I lost several spells, including a couple of remove curse and identify. Is this intended, or is it a bug?

buo Oct 31, 2024

Blessed succubus healing itself?

https://lemmy.world/post/21496078

Blessed succubus healing itself? - Lemmy.World

I’ve played with the Hostile Champions challenge many times before, but on my last run I faced a particulary nasty blessed succubus. It was the hardest fight I’ve had playing SPD, ever. It hit hard and often, was almost impossible to hit, but even worse, it healed itself! I spent six or seven healing potions fighting it. Anyway, I had never seen a succubus healing itself like that. Is it normal? Has anyone seen that happen?

buo Sep 21, 2024

New between-levels artwork

https://lemmy.world/post/20028716

New between-levels artwork - Lemmy.World

Just a quick comment to say that the new artwork in v2.5 is awesome! Beyond the visuals, it helps to keep the mood between levels. Great work, evan (and the artists!).

buo Sep 21, 2024

Tier 1 run complete! No caveats this time.

https://lemmy.world/post/20028708

Tier 1 run complete! No caveats this time. - Lemmy.World

For a while now, I’ve been playing with a self-imposed challenge: don’t use or equip any melee, ranged, or armor item above a certain tier. Higher tier items can only be picked up and sold, or be thrown into traps and doors. I completed a Tier-3 challenge (with the swarm intelligence challenge) with a gladiator. Then I did a Tier-2 challenge with a sniper. Then I did a semi-T1 challenge, where I allowed a sniper to have a T2 ranged weapon (since the only T1 ranged weapon available to her is not upgradable and not transmutable). At that point I became convinced that a pure T1 run was impossible. Several comments in my previous posts convinced me otherwise, so I decided to keep trying. I tried again with a sniper (using a puny dart), and died in level 21. Tried with a battlemage a few times, once dying in level 23. Tried with a warden, and died in level 24, right in front of the stairs going down to lvl 25! I just tried with a warden again, and this time I was successful! The key was getting a RoSS and a RoH. I had never tried kiting before, but it turns out to be a very powerful technique (but a bit boring). It consumes a ton of food, though, but I was lucky again and scored a horn of plenty early on. I had a blocking enchantment on the bow (don’t love it, but useful). The bow was also enhanced for speed. The cloth armor was enhanced for evasion (since it can’t even reduce damage from a mosquito). I also had luck with the wands, even though I only found three in the entire dungeon. First wand, from the mage in the jail, was regrowth +2. I hate this wand, even though many people love it. I transmuted it and got (arghh!!) a wand of magic missile. Luckily (again!) I found another transmutation scroll and this time I got a wand of lightning (yayy!!). Later on I found a wand of disintegration +2 and another WoL +0, which were useful to harass enemies. I wasn’t super thorough clearing up every level, especially in the demon halls, but I didn’t try to rush through the dungeon either. I ended up with 402 kills, level 29, and all SoU and strength potions. I’m very happy to finally be able to show that a T1 run is possible (even though it requires a ton of luck). I’m going to take a break from SPD for a while (this time for real, I swear!), but I’ll keep reading this forum. I’d love to see reports of others trying similar challenges (and I’ll try to answer any questions as well).

buo Sep 13, 2024

Tier-1 run complete (with a caveat)

https://lemmy.world/post/19733938

Tier-1 run complete (with a caveat) - Lemmy.World

I’ve completed a tier-3 run with one challenge (https://lemmy.world/post/18859193 [https://lemmy.world/post/18859193]) and a tier-2 run with no challenges (https://lemmy.world/post/19011489 [https://lemmy.world/post/19011489]). The idea is to play without ever equipping any items (armor, melee or thrown weapons) above the specified tier. Since then, I’ve been trying to complete a tier-1 run, without success. Since tier-1 armor is laughable, I think there are two feasible strategies: (1) avoid getting hit, and (2) be able to take a lot of damage. In my experience, strategy (2) is not really viable. Melee heroes (duellist and warrior) cannot really sustain the damage taken in the jail. A Monk or a Berserker might conceivably win the game with tier-1 items, but the problem is getting past Tengu. Also, they can normally rely on high-tier thrown weapons. Going back to strategy (1), I had more success with a Rogue, making it to the first level of the dwarven city without too much trouble. I never made it past level 16, though. The ghouls hit too hard! Also, when facing four ghouls, the Rogue is just not quick enough to kill them before they revive and hit again. This left me with one option: the Sniper. There is one problem, though: the sniper needs a melee weapon (not her bow) to activate her lethal volleys. However, the only one tier-1 melee weapon that the sniper can get is uncoated darts, and they cannot be upgraded! My conclusion is that it is impossible to win the game with only tier-1 equipment. So I relaxed the challenge to using only tier-1 armor and melee weapons, and allowing one tier-2 melee weapon. With this combination, I was able to win the game! I had a very lucky run with good wands, and found a couple of shurikens early on. These are ideal to avoid damage, since the sniper gets effectively four shots (one shuriken and three arrows) before the enemy can reply. Nothing except a boss can survive those four shots. I also got a projecting bow early on (just like in my tier-2 run). Projecting bows are so awesome! Still, the run was super difficult, since at times I couldn’t avoid melee combat. A succubus could take me from full health to almost dead in three hits, and dying in the demon halls is all too easy even with high-tier items. Regarding a 100% tier-1 run, I’d love to be proven wrong. I’m pretty sure someone with more skill than I can probably do it.

buo Aug 24, 2024

Tier-2 run complete!

https://lemmy.world/post/19011489

Tier-2 run complete! - Lemmy.World

A few days ago I obtained the amulet using only tier-3 equipment (https://lemmy.world/post/18859193 [https://lemmy.world/post/18859193]). I’ve been trying to win with tier-2 items, and today I finally made it! (No challenges active). My rule is simple: items identified in their description as tier 3, 4 or 5 cannot be equipped, ever. I tried ten times or so with a gladiator, but the leather armor is just too weak. I couldn’t make it past the first couple of floors in the dwarven city; I was taking too much damage, and was drinking potions of healing as if they were water in the desert. I realized that a melee play style is unsustainable with leather armor. I decided to try to keep enemies away and kill them using ranged weapons. This means, of course, a sniper. In this run, I was lucky to get: * a grim enchantment for the bow * entanglement on the armor * an elastic handaxe * a bumper wand * a ring of arcana * the ethereal chains I’m not sure I could have won without that combination. Despite having a leather armor (blocking a laughable 4-12 damage), I ended up with 14 potions of healing. One of the main difficulties of a tier-2 run is that there is simply very little tier-2 equipment in the dungeon! In some runs I wouldn’t find a leather armor, or a good weapon, or neither. I think the best bet is to pray the ghost drops something useful, but more often than not, the drops are either not upgraded or higher tier. Anyway, it was fun! I may decide to do a tier-1 run sometime, but I need to take a few weeks rest from SPD first.

buo Aug 20, 2024

Tier-3 run complete!

https://lemmy.world/post/18859193

Tier-3 run complete! - Lemmy.World

I wanted to see if the game was beatable with tier-3 equipment. The rule is simple: never equip any item whose description includes “tier-4” or “tier-5”. It turns out it’s possible! I played with a gladiator, and the “swarm intelligence” challenge. My weapon was a sword +1 (best tier-3 weapon that I could find), upgraded to +6 and augmented with a kinetic enchantment. The armor was a chain mail +2 (again, best I could find), upgraded to +13 and with an anti-magic glyph. I was lucky to find a good selection of rings. The RoF +3 was a gift from the imp in level 17 or 18, so I only had it for the final floors. The RoE was found at +0. The RoW helped in the first half of the game, and the RoM provided lots of bonus damage to my low-tier equipment. I was also lucky to get a WoC +3 from the wizard. The WoF is always useful to slow down opponents. In the end, it wasn’t too difficult. What I missed most was the feeling of power from one-shotting mobs with a well-upgraded tier-5 weapon while feeling invulnerable with a plate armor. I’m going to try a Tier-2 run next (with a similar rule), maybe without challenges. I haven’t decided what class to use. Has anyone tried it before?

buo Aug 19, 2024

Trying to win with tier-3 equipment

https://lemmy.world/post/18824248

Trying to win with tier-3 equipment - Lemmy.World

All my wins have been with tier-4 and tier-5 equipment. I want to see if I can win with only tier-3 items. My rules are never to equip anything above tier-3, not even thrown weapons. Playing with a gladiator, who is about to go down to level 13, with the swarm intelligence challenge. Has anyone tried something similar? Do you think it’s possible to win with only tier-2 or (gasp) tier-1 equipment?

buo Aug 9, 2024

Finally finished with three challenges

https://lemmy.world/post/18471422

Finally finished with three challenges - Lemmy.World

It took me a long time to finally make it! Swarm intelligence + hostile champions + badder bosses, with a sniper. I was lucky to get a projecting bow and a brimstone armor (plate). I don’t know if I’d have survived the burning fist + dark fist combo without it.