QCF Design Community

Roughly, haven't played in a while because of the huge difficulty wall of Vicious dungeons; decided to come back to the game, remembered I still liked it, would like to actually get good enough to make some more progress.
Context:
I've finished HGT purist, but zero vicious dungeons.
Most common race/class combos are Elf Assassin and Elf Tinker.
Terrible at: Potion races, potion management, conversion, gods (that's probably the big one - my first run since coming back (not counting "showing a friend who'd only played alpha Vicious Steel" [which I resigned after finding the bosses] was Elf Assassin in Hexx Ruins, which I won Faithless despite the fact that was not my intent going in - it was actually to get the 'buy all shop items' quest, which I failed.)
Typical preps (for an elf assassin): Elf boots, bet on boss or black market (depending on whether or not I think I'll win), apothecary, more mana, compression seal, perseverence badge, no god, [mana, schadenfreude, reflex, quicksilver] potions.
Not really sure what other information might be useful - feel free to ask.

--
your friendly* local* lich*†
(* disputed)
(† importing undeath to Desktop Dungeons has proven nontrivial, due to something called 'vicious dungeons')

Gnome Warlord of Mystera is a great combo for tackling both Namtar's Lair and Demonic Library, and would be my first suggestion if you're looking to expand your horizons with potion races and deities.

I've done quite a few runs with Goblin Assassin in Dragon Isles as of late, so I definitely back that as a solid approach to vicious. Start the boss fight with Firstborn around level 6-7, use level-ups and mana potions to blast him, reach level 10 then first strike your way to the matron, then poison fight her to death with your remaining resources.

Decided to log my next few games (at least in general; probably not going to log it in extreme detail) and then write up a proper reply after I've actually given these things a try - just saying it so that I make sure I actually do it.
Wouldn't say I typically go faithless - more like "typically grab a god just before the boss and get one or two boons out of it", though.
Also, Tinker loves gnomes and tinkers? Would never have guessed.

(When you two say 'of Mystera', do you prep Mystera or just hope she shows up? Most of the prep penalties seem pretty huge, though Mystera's not that bad I think?)

Nice description how you play and congrats on your win despite having made some mistakes!

One thing you DEFINITELY to change to really get the hang of mystera (and other gods):

You explored half the map doing nothing at all wasting your mana and health regeneration.

Sure you couldnt kill anything at that time, that happens. BUT if you constantly use your mana for BYCEPPS attack something, use BYCEPPS again and so on you will get PIETY!

So this whole time you explored you could have amassed 50 piety easily without sacrificing anything.
Second: If you do this as a sorc you will be surprised what you can kill. Every mana point spent this way will heal you for 2 hp (you know that), but with the concept of regen fighting (attack a monster, explore, attack it again and hope that you regenerate faster than the monster) you will be able to kill much more than you ever thought possible (ESPECIALLY with the monk).

Compare your victory screen (http://imgur.com/ydpOubg) with http://i.imgur.com/6evsWM8.png?1.
Your black (wasted) regeneration bars are WAY to big.
The second screen is something you should aim for. That victory screen is from tinker, a perfect player, but to give you a sense what is possible.

So next time, try to never explore with full mana/health. You can always do something meaningful!

Elf Assassin in Dragon Isles

I'm loving this thread because I am in much the same boat....a decent player who needs some new ideas to get good.

So, I have nothing to add to help, but am enjoying the analysis and tips.

i think the best way to get better is to do PQI and the dailies. Especially the PQI sometimes sets you up with very unfortunate class / race / map combinations, sometimes with difficult badges too. It requires you to be innovative and find new strategies. it also forces you to learn all classes