Wicked vid, mad props for it finally working out for you on a clean(er) run. The levels of optimization you had to go through this are nothing short of mental. Well done
You've got good taste in music. Nice strategy, too. Too bad players don't need to think too hard in the base game, though I think this nightmare difficulty is a bit too brutal. Maybe it's just Shadowheart's weakness against Viconia, though.
Appreciate it man! Yeah I generally agree that this level is too brutal. There is a middleground where it's way more challenging than the base game, but way more room for failure than this. I mostly did this playthrough to see if most fights are actually possible at these settings - but I am not sure I wouldn't recommend others try it on the same settings. The SH weakness against Viconia seems bad on paper, but is actually a core part of my strategy for this fight. I'm not entirely sure how to actually beat this encounter without using it advantageously.
using angelic reprieve to bulk up to ludicrous amount of sorcery points to spam scrolls instead of using regular spell slots is kind of a ridiculous expectation to have for players under typical circumstances
Cool video. The HP pool of enemies is a bit ridiculous especially compared to the low damage. A 1000+ enemy dealing 6-15 damage per attack seems to indicate bad mod balancing. I'd rather have enemies with slightly more health than tactician but hitting much harder. Imagine enemies (with slightly more health) but using chain lightning, hitting 30+ with a monk per attack or smiting for 150+ damage... Mods are not mature enough for now. Rumor has it a honor mode is in preparation by Larian. Best thing would be SCS type mod but it would require very talented and dedicated modders. Some advice to make it easy against huge health pool : use flesh to stone spell.
Mods are 100% still in early stages. Things will improve for sure though. But much of what you mentioned does already exist, i.e. Lorroakan using double CL, or gith monks 1 shotting your caster. Specific to this fight, what you see here is basically a perfect attempt. I've actually considered uploading some failed attempts as unlisted videos to show the differences. These mobs typically hit for way more then 6-15. Between the resistance stacking, sunlight, amazing RNG on saving throws, and certain gear, they have been heavily weakened. The crusaders can easily 0-100 even a dedicated tank if you just blindly walk into this.
@@exoethan Not sure how it can go to 100 damage. Here we see a lot of 15 damage. Considering you got the best magical plate which reduce damage by 3 and resistance to all damage you deduce then : (15+3)x2=36. So around 36-40 damage. How much do you hit with your paladin ? I am guessing more than 36 damage per attack. It does not need to go to insane values but my point is the health pool approach of these mods is not smart. SCS was challenging because enemies could one shot you and AI script was improved so that they actually use some defensive abilities and were not complete idiots. Here the mods felt cheap. What is the point of using 4 scrolls each turn just to reduce their HP ? Scrolls are supposed to be rare and not an unlimited resource. Granted the resupply mechanics has not been well implemented by Larian. To sum up : a 150 hp enemy that can one shoot you or incapacitate you and putting some defense is far more challenging than a 1000hp enemy dealing very few damage.
@@RPGLegacy997 Some spoilers ahead if you care: What you're not seeing here is that all of the martials, and especially the crusaders, have a necrotic component to their damage. They do not deal the necrotic damage if you are in full light, which I am extremely diligent to setup with my cleric. That alone is going to deal 6d8 necrotic(I believe it is 4d8 in base game?) per swing. The crusaders key ability, Overwhelming Grief, was buffed and now force-imposes necrotic damage neutrality, and creates a darkness aura for 3m around you. If it lands and they hit you; you are going to take well over 100 damage per turn, even if you have resistance to the physical damage part of their swing. You will lose that party member, 100-0 on that turn. So again, what you are seeing here is a mix of amazing RNG and good planning on my part. As to the AI being dumb... not really? For example, the casters prioritize putting you into darkness to support the crusaders and other melee. This is actually the "smart" thing to do from the AI(because it's how they setup a one shot), but is also easily abusable if you dispel the darkness, or just break their concentration. This fight was admittedly extremely overtuned. To this day I am not aware of anyone who has beaten this fight on the same settings without using some kind of insane game-breaking mechanics, like 4x scrolls per turn. As of now, the current version of the fight is far more reasonable, you may still want to bring a few scrolls, but it's nowhere near as bad as this.
@@exoethan Smart would be to throw a bomb or cast a fire spell to dispel ice terrain. Smart Ai would also put some kind of protection like warding bond, use invisibility, sanctuary or summons (Viconia as a cleric should have access to deva, djinn or myrmidon). Actually in act2 the drider sanctuary abuse makes it very resilient. From what I see in your settings there are 3 dangerous opponents : Viconia and the 2 justiciars. You could use twinned flesh to stone on justiciars with Minthara and scroll of flesh to stone with Shadowheart on Viconia. Then rest of opponents could be aggro with Globe of Invulnerability. There is also something to try with contagion twinned cast. As if you have the cherished staff in your inventory (not equipped) all necromancy spells are then free. In base game contagion is rather useless as fights are too short but here something like slimy doom can be useful on the remaining enemies. So in theory it should be possible to win this fight without abusing scrolls mechanics. Edit : blink is also very useful to protect a character
Really good question. Viconia's AI is slightly unique in that, she will always try and combo SH as soon as she is in range of her. She will actually do it to her own detriment, often running head first into CC or blatantly ignoring other party members just to hit her. This is a huge advantage and something that you can leverage by "baiting" her with Shadowheart. Using Sanctuary tells her AI to go for someone else, which makes the fight way more RNG dependent. Just don't make the same mistake I did and let her break free... or you know, auto crit x3 and SH is down.
Hey, you inspired me to try the Nightmare mod list and I'm having a blast. I've just uploaded a video clearing House of Grief in 2 rounds (buffing before starting the fight). It's basically a showcase of Oil of Combustion + Volley (Hunter Ranger). The fight is won between minutes 11 and 16, in case you want to check it out.
Wicked vid, mad props for it finally working out for you on a clean(er) run. The levels of optimization you had to go through this are nothing short of mental. Well done
Dope. Hope to see more vids in the future and maybe an overview of recommended mods for Honour mode.
Amazing video man, and very good taste in music. Do you have the list btw ? I'm curious to check albums.
fun fact: this is one of the 6 guys summoned when casting Artistry of War
You've got good taste in music. Nice strategy, too. Too bad players don't need to think too hard in the base game, though I think this nightmare difficulty is a bit too brutal. Maybe it's just Shadowheart's weakness against Viconia, though.
Appreciate it man! Yeah I generally agree that this level is too brutal. There is a middleground where it's way more challenging than the base game, but way more room for failure than this. I mostly did this playthrough to see if most fights are actually possible at these settings - but I am not sure I wouldn't recommend others try it on the same settings.
The SH weakness against Viconia seems bad on paper, but is actually a core part of my strategy for this fight. I'm not entirely sure how to actually beat this encounter without using it advantageously.
using angelic reprieve to bulk up to ludicrous amount of sorcery points to spam scrolls instead of using regular spell slots is kind of a ridiculous expectation to have for players under typical circumstances
I read Sorconomic nvm it is a split your awesome
What sort build(s) are you using here? thanks!
Cool video.
The HP pool of enemies is a bit ridiculous especially compared to the low damage. A 1000+ enemy dealing 6-15 damage per attack seems to indicate bad mod balancing. I'd rather have enemies with slightly more health than tactician but hitting much harder. Imagine enemies (with slightly more health) but using chain lightning, hitting 30+ with a monk per attack or smiting for 150+ damage...
Mods are not mature enough for now. Rumor has it a honor mode is in preparation by Larian. Best thing would be SCS type mod but it would require very talented and dedicated modders.
Some advice to make it easy against huge health pool : use flesh to stone spell.
Mods are 100% still in early stages. Things will improve for sure though. But much of what you mentioned does already exist, i.e. Lorroakan using double CL, or gith monks 1 shotting your caster.
Specific to this fight, what you see here is basically a perfect attempt. I've actually considered uploading some failed attempts as unlisted videos to show the differences.
These mobs typically hit for way more then 6-15. Between the resistance stacking, sunlight, amazing RNG on saving throws, and certain gear, they have been heavily weakened.
The crusaders can easily 0-100 even a dedicated tank if you just blindly walk into this.
@@exoethan Not sure how it can go to 100 damage. Here we see a lot of 15 damage. Considering you got the best magical plate which reduce damage by 3 and resistance to all damage you deduce then : (15+3)x2=36. So around 36-40 damage.
How much do you hit with your paladin ? I am guessing more than 36 damage per attack.
It does not need to go to insane values but my point is the health pool approach of these mods is not smart. SCS was challenging because enemies could one shot you and AI script was improved so that they actually use some defensive abilities and were not complete idiots.
Here the mods felt cheap. What is the point of using 4 scrolls each turn just to reduce their HP ? Scrolls are supposed to be rare and not an unlimited resource. Granted the resupply mechanics has not been well implemented by Larian.
To sum up : a 150 hp enemy that can one shoot you or incapacitate you and putting some defense is far more challenging than a 1000hp enemy dealing very few damage.
@@RPGLegacy997 Some spoilers ahead if you care:
What you're not seeing here is that all of the martials, and especially the crusaders, have a necrotic component to their damage. They do not deal the necrotic damage if you are in full light, which I am extremely diligent to setup with my cleric.
That alone is going to deal 6d8 necrotic(I believe it is 4d8 in base game?) per swing. The crusaders key ability, Overwhelming Grief, was buffed and now force-imposes necrotic damage neutrality, and creates a darkness aura for 3m around you. If it lands and they hit you; you are going to take well over 100 damage per turn, even if you have resistance to the physical damage part of their swing. You will lose that party member, 100-0 on that turn. So again, what you are seeing here is a mix of amazing RNG and good planning on my part.
As to the AI being dumb... not really? For example, the casters prioritize putting you into darkness to support the crusaders and other melee. This is actually the "smart" thing to do from the AI(because it's how they setup a one shot), but is also easily abusable if you dispel the darkness, or just break their concentration.
This fight was admittedly extremely overtuned. To this day I am not aware of anyone who has beaten this fight on the same settings without using some kind of insane game-breaking mechanics, like 4x scrolls per turn. As of now, the current version of the fight is far more reasonable, you may still want to bring a few scrolls, but it's nowhere near as bad as this.
@@exoethan
Smart would be to throw a bomb or cast a fire spell to dispel ice terrain. Smart Ai would also put some kind of protection like warding bond, use invisibility, sanctuary or summons (Viconia as a cleric should have access to deva, djinn or myrmidon). Actually in act2 the drider sanctuary abuse makes it very resilient.
From what I see in your settings there are 3 dangerous opponents : Viconia and the 2 justiciars. You could use twinned flesh to stone on justiciars with Minthara and scroll of flesh to stone with Shadowheart on Viconia. Then rest of opponents could be aggro with Globe of Invulnerability.
There is also something to try with contagion twinned cast. As if you have the cherished staff in your inventory (not equipped) all necromancy spells are then free. In base game contagion is rather useless as fights are too short but here something like slimy doom can be useful on the remaining enemies.
So in theory it should be possible to win this fight without abusing scrolls mechanics.
Edit : blink is also very useful to protect a character
Sick video! May I ask how you are critting so often on the lockadin? Maybe it’s a mechanic i’m not familiar with.
That was so funny lol Haste > Prone
Me : well handled, that's gg easy
15 seconds later Shadowheart gets one shot
Me : 😮
Great strategy to bunch them up. May I ask why you don't use sanctuary with SH ?
Really good question. Viconia's AI is slightly unique in that, she will always try and combo SH as soon as she is in range of her. She will actually do it to her own detriment, often running head first into CC or blatantly ignoring other party members just to hit her.
This is a huge advantage and something that you can leverage by "baiting" her with Shadowheart. Using Sanctuary tells her AI to go for someone else, which makes the fight way more RNG dependent. Just don't make the same mistake I did and let her break free... or you know, auto crit x3 and SH is down.
Hey, you inspired me to try the Nightmare mod list and I'm having a blast. I've just uploaded a video clearing House of Grief in 2 rounds (buffing before starting the fight).
It's basically a showcase of Oil of Combustion + Volley (Hunter Ranger).
The fight is won between minutes 11 and 16, in case you want to check it out.
The first volley into combustion was insane! Very good use of volley + comb. oil. Even more proof that hunter 11 is super strong.
Dope