UNIVERSE
I wasn't looking forward to this.
I knew now that despite her initial performance, she would ultimately be forced to turn to melee. What a disappointing realization. Why couldn't she rely on spellcasting for her entire run? Why did spellcasting have to be so bad?
At least I could still enjoy shotgunning things with her Wind Blade. I knew its damage wouldn't last, nor would its shield breaking abilities, but lining up its hits was still satisfying, and perhaps the best moment spellcasting could ever give.
Still, there was no denying that she was a really gimped character, struggling even with Krosse Cave encounters. Where other characters would be able to confidently hit them, or wear them down with constant strike and run maneuvers, she had to waste time running in circles to get enough room for casting her spells. She took more than ten minutes against the Gargoyles! And that's without counting her failures.
At least she could craft the Earring of Magnetism and Emerald Earring immediately afterwards, and those were a considerable help. With the Earring of Magnetism, she could even pretend to be a competent melee fighter, especially with a Ruby Wand that rolled +20% attack! I enjoyed this reprieve greatly, though I knew it would be fairly momentary.
I stumbled onto a very unlikely bit of good news with this rod. This is the first time I ever crafted an HP leeching weapon. For a fighter, this would have been amazing, and even with her weak melee stats, it was still pretty good! The HP Drain even worked on her spells, which was unexpected, but very helpful!
That rod served her well up till Lacuer. When its damage started falling behind, she quickly upgraded first to the Silver and then the Ruby Rod. She didn't have much of a choice, the enemies would swiftly outpace her otherwise!
The rod rolled Paralysis touch, and that carried her through the Sacred Grounds of Linga. Good thing too, as even with a Meteor Ring and the Power Up buff from the Earring of Readiness, she was only doing moderate damage to everything. She was incredibly vulnerable defensively, and died quite quickly when enemies pincered her. Thankfully, I could avoid that situation from arising too often, but these deaths still arrived shockingly fast.
The archer ladies in Hoffman Ruins gave her a lot of trouble, often downing her at lightning speed! She had to constantly run circles around them and hope some of them would eventually isolate themselves and let her wear them down. At least she could forge her ultimate weapon after this fight. I gambled on rolling some good factors, but wasn't very lucky.
Even with it forged, the dungeon was a huge struggle. The kobolds and slimes were easy pickings, but the archers and lizards could easily destroy her, and her offense was clearly falling behind. Why couldn't the Earring of Frenzy come sooner?! Why couldn't spells work better?!
At least she unlocked Tri Shift 2 down here, and it did shore up her attack for a bit. It did not make this dungeon easy, however! She still burned through her stash of Blueberries multiple times, and often ended up crumpled in any fight involving either of the two!
The Halfnyxes were a pushover, at least. Their punches did pack some serious bite, but they often chose to cast Thunder Storm, and that was pretty easy to dodge. I feel like I've figured out the pattern for most non aoe spells down by now, and can dodge all but the fastest of them fairly easily. With Haste, every single one of them can be dodged easily, of course.
For now, she had earned some downtime, as the game wouldn't really pick up again until the continent of Ell. She started working on her support skills, by now I think I have got a good grasp of how high they need to be.
Art could be at level 6, as the nifty statues were accessible at level 8.
Art could be at level 6, as the nifty statues were accessible at level 8.
Compounding could be at level 6, as level 8 granted it fairly good odds of succeeding.
Machinist could be at level 4, as level 6 was enough for reliably making bombs. It also permitted creating everything at reasonable rates, besides the Magician's Glove and Triangle Flask which weren't really necessary.
Familiar could be at level 7, as level 9 permitted the bird with Magic Films to arrive.
Replication could be level 6, though honestly it could also be higher. But level 8 with the right song generally gets enough accuracy to replicate all of the important items fairly reliably.
Familiar could be at level 7, as level 9 permitted the bird with Magic Films to arrive.
Replication could be level 6, though honestly it could also be higher. But level 8 with the right song generally gets enough accuracy to replicate all of the important items fairly reliably.
The rest either weren't particularly essential, or gave most of their benefits at low levels already. Once she hit those targets, she would switch over to maxing Effort. Once she did that? She was effectively done investing seriously into item creation, and could do whatever. I mean, she had forged her ultimate weapon already, there wasn't much left for her!
The continent of Ell was next, and while she still remained a rather underpowered fighter, neither its encounters nor those of the tower were much of a threat. The enemies here are just too laidback to offer a proper fight! Only the lizards and witches come close to providing a challenge. Honestly, Expel is practically won once you get past the Hoffman Ruins, the rest of the content feels like a huge victory lap.
The Cynne fight did little to change my judgement, as he was as weak as ever. His accompanying gargoyles did kill Celine a few times when she charged overconfidently into the thick of battle, but it was frankly still as easy as most fights in the tower, almost. She easily dodged Metatron afterwards, and concluded her stint on Expel. She will tackle a bolder, rougher world next time!
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