So yeah, I have a tendency to play Melee characters--most of my mages die early and the ones that DO survive seem a bit boring after Floor 1. My problem is, every time I reach Dredmor (on level 10, since I don't use Diggle Gods), he annihilates me. Out of the two times I made it there, the first I managed to clear the monster zoo before fighting him (and dying remarkably quickly.) The second time I made it to him i'll admit I was underleveled (went down the stairs on level 9 to see if there was any good loot on the floor, got Dredmor instead). Even when I loaded up on tons of buffs, though, he STILL killed me. Just a little slower this time. While I was up in his face and hitting him, he didnt seem to be taking any damage at all while he hit me in return for about 20 damage until he cast a spell and I died... which is annoying, since I was a melee character without much else in the means of combat (only got one Holy Hand Grenade). What could be wrong with my builds? The first was (don't remember the levels): Level 23 Maces Mastery of Arms Smithing Burglary Berserker Rage Dual Wielding Archaeology The second was: Level 20 (or 21) Maces up to Ragnar (never got around to maxing it) Assasination up to Et Tu (since procs helped that damage a lot and blackjack is very useful). Smithing up to Chosen by Krong (for weaponry and armor and stuff). Burglary up to Move in Mysterious Ways (for five-fingered discount and mana-free teleport) Berserker Rage up to Berserker Vengance (procs again, but never got around to maxing it). Dual Wielding left unleveled (only got it for the dual wielding part of dual wielding, never bothered maxing/levelling it). Archaeology up to Charlemagne (was trying to get Ancient Kronian Ritual until I failed miserably at Dredmor) Can't remember the equipment exactly, but it was all top-tier melee stuff (at least, if Royal Beatdowns are "top tier"). Anyone know why i'm struggling so much? I only struggle on the levels themselves at 7, 9, and a bit at 10. But Dredmor seems to be the only thing that can kill me (besides those darn named Fizz Djinns in the level 8 zoos).
A couple things about fighting Dredmor: 1) Never melee him, even as a melee character. Just don't. Your best bet - as dumb as this as, and as much as it goes against your character's playstyle and flavor - is to fire you best, most powerful crossbow bolts at him with a high-damage crossbow. Bolts that put Damage over Time on him (DoTs) are best - Clockwork Drill Bolts for Fleshbore, Acid Ampule Bolts, Fire Bolts, etc. 2) He's a ton easier if you have a Movement ability that let's you get out of melee range of him if he closes on you or teleports all up in your grill. 3) Your other best friends for this fight are saving 2-3 each of the Infernal, Hyperborean, and Voltaic Potions - the extra resists are handier than you might think. What I do is - when I see Dredmor - find the nearest door and slam it in his face. Drink every single buff potion you can, eat every buff Mushroom you have, get your DoT and AoE Bolts ready. Open the door, use your Movement skill to get range, and fire away until he's dead. If you take too much damage, going invisible (Ninja Vanish, Invisibility Potions), running the hell away, and healing up before re-engaging is a valid strategy. Basically it comes down to using your mounds of Zorkmids to buy out a couple of Bolt Vending Machines, buffing up, and shooting him full of holes. Or you can try to melee him to death, but you've seen firsthand how well that works.
I would only recommend melee if you have a huge variety of exotic damage types, possibly if you have some specifically anti-undead stuff. Other than that, I will also say part of what you're doing wrong is that you're taking a weapon skill. If you don't have the expansion, try something like... Viking Magic, Astrology, Burglary, Archaeology, Berserker, Alchemy, and [Assassination/Artful Dodger/Shield Master]. If you had the expansion, I'd say drop Astrology for Demonology, but that's not a thing, obviously. Yes, there's very little in the way of actual Warrior skills in that build, but really melee types get the majority of their benefits from their equipment. Viking Magic's Hand of Belimwar and Power of Magic Steel are pretty terrific for melee; Astrology gives some good defensive buffs; Burglary and Archaeology will give you some trap handling skills, the Museum, and a teleport; Alchemy will give you a huge stack of healing and revitalizing potions.
The one thing I can say is that you should get some buffing potions, possibly some wands that you can also use to buff yourself, and the strongest bolts you can find (throwables aren't bad either, but it's more difficult to find throwables as "exotic" as some bolts), and simply spam him to death from range, only getting into melee if you have nothing more to chuck at him. Because Dredmor is like a named monster, only worse, so melee skills your character uses should be used to decrease the amount of strong usables you have to use prior to getting to him, so that you'll have a ton of death sticks and buff drinks to use during that fight instead of just a few. So nothing is really wrong with your build, it's just that the monster you are trying to fight is kind of strong.
The main problem to me is that you can't use your Archetype and have to resort to bolts/thrown/spells to win. Rogues and Mages, on the other hand, rely on their Archetype to win (with spells and bolts). But I've been saying that since around 1.0.3. =p
I could have *Sworn* That Dredmor was made immune to DoTs of all types in a previous patch. Am I mistaken? Traps can and do readily annihilate him though. Stack them up and lead him to his "Prize".
"A couple things about fighting Dredmor: 1) Never melee him, even as a melee character. Just don't. Your best bet - as dumb as this as, and as much as it goes against your character's playstyle and flavor - is to fire you best, most powerful crossbow bolts at him with a high-damage crossbow. Bolts that put Damage over Time on him (DoTs) are best - Clockwork Drill Bolts for Fleshbore, Acid Ampule Bolts, Fire Bolts, etc. 2) He's a ton easier if you have a Movement ability that let's you get out of melee range of him if he closes on you or teleports all up in your grill. 3) Your other best friends for this fight are saving 2-3 each of the Infernal, Hyperborean, and Voltaic Potions - the extra resists are handier than you might think. What I do is - when I see Dredmor - find the nearest door and slam it in his face. Drink every single buff potion you can, eat every buff Mushroom you have, get your DoT and AoE Bolts ready. Open the door, use your Movement skill to get range, and fire away until he's dead. Luckily I tried that the second time (though I used a staircase up instead of a door) with the buffs. Annoyingly, I didn't have a good xbow, all I had was a normal bolt thrower. The first time I had something with like 12 piercing and 14 righteous, but I don't thing I had many good bolts then either. If you take too much damage, going invisible (Ninja Vanish, Invisibility Potions), running the hell away, and healing up before re-engaging is a valid strategy. I'll try that next time. Luckily my build gives me Ninja Vanish. Basically it comes down to using your mounds of Zorkmids to buy out a couple of Bolt Vending Machines, buffing up, and shooting him full of holes. If you consider around 60k mounds, then sure XD I usually don't have that much on me 'cause I museum all my bad/incompatible artifacts. Or you can try to melee him to death, but you've seen firsthand how well that works." "I would only recommend melee if you have a huge variety of exotic damage types, possibly if you have some specifically anti-undead stuff. Other than that, I will also say part of what you're doing wrong is that you're taking a weapon skill. If you don't have the expansion, try something like... Viking Magic, Astrology, Burglary, Archaeology, Berserker, Alchemy, and [Assassination/Artful Dodger/Shield Master]. If you had the expansion, I'd say drop Astrology for Demonology, but that's not a thing, obviously. Yes, there's very little in the way of actual Warrior skills in that build, Hah, yeah, I end up taking a lot of rouge skills since the melee ones aren't that great. but really melee types get the majority of their benefits from their equipment. Viking Magic's Hand of Belimwar and Power of Magic Steel are pretty terrific for melee; Astrology gives some good defensive buffs; Burglary and Archaeology will give you some trap handling skills, the Museum, and a teleport; Alchemy will give you a huge stack of healing and revitalizing potions. Tried Alchemy once, didn't like it. Probably should have stuck with it . I'll try adding some magic skills next time around." "The one thing I can say is that you should get some buffing potions, possibly some wands that you can also use to buff yourself I literally had 15 or so buffs on me. It helped a ton, just not with damage., and the strongest bolts you can find (throwables aren't bad either, but it's more difficult to find throwables as "exotic" as some bolts) I had some Nzappa Zaps, but I dropped them since I expected that pure melee would work., and simply spam him to death from range, only getting into melee if you have nothing more to chuck at him.I think next time if it comes to that i'll run up the stairs and get some bolts of mass destruction/holy hand grenades Because Dredmor is like a named monster, only worse, so melee skills your character uses should be used to decrease the amount of strong usables you have to use prior to getting him, so that you'll have a ton of death sticks and buff drinks to use during that fight instead of just a few. So nothing is really wrong with your build, it's just that the monster you are trying to fight is kind of strong." "The main problem to me is that you can't use your Archetype and have to resort to bolts/thrown/spells to win. I learned that from lurking... well, no, I didn't, since I died twice Rogues and Mages, on the other hand, rely on their Archetype to win (with spells and bolts). But I've been saying that since around 1.0.3. =p" Comments in bold. So, next time, should I replace assassination with alchemy so that if I DO end up fighting Dred and he spams evil spells at me I can drink potions of healing/regeneration/etc? Since there is a pretty good benefit with a combination of alchemy/smithing (double iron ingots->4 rust-> 8 healing pots) Also, does this forum have a spoiler function? I don't want my posts to take up the entire screen.
Most buffs don't really help with damage when fighting Dredmor, since he has high innate resistances and your basic elemental damage probably isn't up to the par to get over the threshold even with the buff. But since getting additional resistance to his attacks allows you to spam him with death sticks more recklessly, it's better to have this than nothing (and, if you have throwables, you might discover the melee power buff from the mushrooms combined with potions to be of some help). Yeah, that's certainly something you have to find out about the first time you get to Mr. D. That engaging the big bad in a full-on melee brawl is never a bright idea. And that keeping the best ranged stuff is a good idea. Getting them with you the first time you get down is even better. None that I know of, but since your post was relevant to the whole thing and still readable (though it might've been easier to read it if you kept the quoted text in "quotes"), I doubt anyone would be angry because of your wall of text.
I seem to recall throwing a rather large number of Holy Hand Grenades at Dredmor on my last kill, so if you still have some after clearing the final Zoo, they're reasonably effective.
I figured. The Nzappa Zaps weren't doing too much for me at that point. If there was a situation where I needed ranged firepower on the fly I could just craft them since you get so much excess iron at that point. I nabbed some the first run, though Dred smashed my face in since I didn't have any buffs. The second run, I didn't see any throwing vending machines on the 9th floor and Dred was in the first room on floor 10. I'll just do that instead.
It is possible to take Dredmor in melee, though it's hard and I've only done it without RotDG content once (on DMPD). Honestly, the Diggle God of Fertility buff makes beating him a lot easier just because it gives you a defensive proc that gives you minor regen a la Knit Flesh, except you don't have to waste a turn on it. The extra 20 HP are nice too. Plus, Boilerplate gear gives resistances, and every little bit of those helps. In 1.0.10, I'd recommend - 1) Having every buff potion you can save on hand, for the resistances if not the damage bonuses (which probably won't go through his resistances) 2) Saving a Pangalactic Gargleblaster for the encounter, and trying to have full MP when you walk in. Syzergy is a beast of a buff. 3) Prioritizing Counter and Block as defensive stats. Both will weaken Dredmor's crit rate and Counter will let you get in extra licks of your own. Big D has enough EDR that dodge isn't as useful against him as it is against others. 4) Get all the HP you can. This is a slug fest. Even with good and all the defensive stats you can find it's going to hurt, a lot. 5) If you can't get loads of and , Dredmor's two biggest weaknesses, try to find weapons that are all mundane damage. With a high crit chance to help bust through Dredmor's block chance you'll get farther with a high or than you will trying to bust through his , , , or .
... wait a tick, does that mean that Dredmor is extra vulnerable to the Mace of Windu? I knew it! He's a Sith!
It's not that he's extra vulnerable. It's just that he doesn't resist the first 10-30 points of those two damage types. Which, I guess, does kind of imply he's vulnerable to those damage types. Just not more vulnerable than most other things you'll meet.
Yeah, he's totally killable via melee. You just need the right equipment. CF: Fax Celestis XVI. http://community.gaslampgames.com/threads/grpd-melee-dredmor-kill-3.2267/
Hah, if only I got the Flail of Peliades recipe that run (+7 aetheral and some more mundane). Instead I got a Royal Beatdown and only one Wand of Bling I WAS using two Beatdowns on Dred though. Thank god for Five-Fingered Discount. From what I know, he resists 10 points of and nothing at all of . I'm not completely sure.
According to Dredmorpedia, the current Lord Dredmors have no . It may have been different in the past. I never fought him during patch beta, for instance.
Neither did I XD most of the time I died, since I thought ALUMINUM items were top tier XD yep, I died a lot. Nice to know that Dred has no . Started a new run, and it's going well so far. Floor 3 and I already have Serpentine Embossed Platemail (actually got it on floor 2 for a while, got really lucky with vending machines and random loot). I'm collecting items to use on Dred. I have two Bolts of Mass Destruction i'm saving, hopefully I won't have to use it on the 4th floor zoo (dang caster-types not fighting like men). My weaponry is a little lacking, right now i'm using a Fine Steel Mace and a steel axe I found in an evil chest with 8 . Current build is Maces, Smithing, Alchemy, Dual Wielding, Berserker Rage, Archaeology, and Burglary. Equipment is a Runed Iron Hjlamr (whatever it's called), Serpetine Embossed Platemail, Girdle of Shiny Steel Plates, Adventurer Pants, Thieving Gloves, Clogs, a ring with +2 +1 , and a copper ring with +2 and something I can't remember. I'm also wearing some copper torc of which I forgot the bonuses. Edit: Found a nice Overclockedwork Power Limb in a fountain (how is that possible without it short-circuiting?) and an artifact Fine Iron Mace with +10 and +3 . Unfortunately I can't find the dang Flail of Peliades recipe. Fortunately, I crafted an Infernal Mace (whatever it's called) and it got 3 more than usual, so i'm set for Floor 9 once I get there. Double Edit: Killed Dred. I just spammed Bolts of Mass Destruction and Bolts of Squid until I ran out. Then I spammed every explosive in my inventory until I ran out. Then I crafted a ton of Nzappa Zaps and spammed them until he died. The funny thing is, at that point I had 34 . Thank you, überchests
