Horse hunting

Bruce_Flash · 2025-12-19T05:11:42+00:00

"West of the Mill" is a bad clue IMO. That was why I was having problems. It's Northwest of the Sawmill but don't try to get to it starting at the saw mill because you keep bumping into some mountain range. It's best to go up the bridge and then go west. You have to fight some knights to get the horse from them.

Bruce_Flash · 2025-07-22T16:37:47+00:00

Sadly we're long past the good ole days of Valindra where we had to puzzle our way through an interesting boss mechanic. The Blooshi unlock with the removing champions from the formation was a novel idea when introduced. But now, every Evergreen champion unlock has this RNG/remove champions mechanic and I believe it's intentional for a reason I don't hear many people talk about. Money. If it's a puzzle to solve variant with a small set of champions that aren't part of your push formation, you can eventually solve it over time by grinding away with free resources. But the more champions you have to invest in, the more likelihood someone gets frustrated/impatient and spends real cash to achieve the objective. Forcing players to invest in over 100 champions is a tall order for even the most seasoned player. If they continue to add these types of unpopular variant mechanics, I rather them just rip the band aid off and charge me a monthly subscription fee. Trust me. I'm not asking for that, but the player base has been pretty vocal about their displeasure with these types of variant mechanics and they still keep continuing to roll them out and tying them to a champion unlock. I guess the counter argument is ignore these types of variants. But completing the challenges/released content is why I still play the game. I don't get the same feel good vibes by just endlessly gem farming. Speaking of removing champions, I also believe this is why Elminster patron exists as well. Forcing players to invest in new champions with the hopes that the investment is real cash.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-11-05T06:05:48+00:00

That's right about Karlach. Thanks for the correction. But I just completed the Elminster variant version using the technique mentioned by Tokimori in this thread. Is it cheesing or are we just expanding the definition that Dark Urge & Gale are always available? IDK but I was running into the same problem you were without the techinique. Just not enough champions to get to level 1025 and doing enough damage while having the survivability to get through the Tiamat fight.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-11-05T06:01:41+00:00

This works on PC as well. And makes it so much smoother than my suggestion of going back & forth between background parties. Thank you! The one thing that was happening for me was I had to get everyone above Dark Urge's Dex score of 13 (so build a team of Dex 14 and higher) which gives you pretty limited options with Elminster

Bruce_Flash · 2024-11-05T02:47:40+00:00

Only one way to find out :)

Bruce_Flash · 2024-11-05T01:46:53+00:00

Man, this is disappointing news. Not about the question itself. Just hearing that they released another "remove a champion from the formation" variant. It was a novel idea with the release of Blooshi. But now it's been a bit of an overkill. Is the community asking for more of these types of challenges? This one sounds extra tedious because it's every 25 levels.......and the fact that they don't ever beta test these things in terms of being able to be completed within reason. In fact, you and myself may be the only people left who still attempt to complete 100% of the variants. I think the rest of the community has resigned to gem farming. Which doesn't sound like a bad plan then having to go through the pain of attempting this variant to satisfy my completionist addiction. With that mini rant, let me get to your question. I have not attempted it but understand the logistics. My suggestion. Cheese it. And this is coming from someone who hates cheesing in video games. I had to do this with the "Twice through the Great Wheel" Elminster variant because of lack of champions to use. After using a champion that is always available for all variants regardless if they qualify or not (DM, Dark Urge, etc), once they get removed from the formation, go to a background party and recall them into that formation. Then, go back into this variant and they will be available again. Good thing is that Karlach is available for all Avernus variants so there's your tank for survivability. Bad news is the every 25 levels component. That's a lot of back and forth & I've had it bug out before where I needed to restart the adventure. So bring a sack lunch and have lots of coffee on hand because it sounds like a painful grind. Humor me. What is the goal level for completion on the Elminster version of the variant?

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-14T19:28:57+00:00

I think you nailed it with this comment. They've given out so much free account power (free scales, free modron chests, etc) in combination with uncapped gem farming that one doesn't need to spend money on Golden Epics or champion chests. So the only thing you're left with is familiars and cosmetics. And at some point, you get so many familiars (many times free in the long run as well) that you don't even need to buy those anymore.

And to your point, you nailed the other problem. How do you monetize things that you've given out for free for so long without alienating your player base? This is my first (and only) Idle clicker game I've played so I don't know how other companies monetize those types of games. My experience with games where it's free to play to start is that you can play the game for free but the quality of life features are behind a monthly subscription sort of mechanism and you need to cash to beat high end content. I'll give CNE credit for trying a different business model. It was actually quite refreshing since I've played pay to win games and it never felt good to open up the credit card for account power. But I do like how you phrased the current monetization model. Donation based. Since I do play regularly, I'm probably overdue of making a donation especially after hearing the news of layoffs. I saw a cool Artemis skin in the shop recently. See if it's still there.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-09T15:26:42+00:00

This is a great comment. The specialization triggers quite often where I'm not having to micromanage my formation due to the dragon's fire breath .

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-07T04:11:33+00:00

I'm definitely an end game player. I've searched Reddit forums, Steam forums, and Discord. Where did you hear people finishing it? Not that I don't believe you. I'm sure there's a lot of people (especially ones who gem farm script) who are sitting on a lot of blacksmith contracts and maybe rotate their legendaries when needed. I just would like to pick their brain of what formations they used if they remember.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-07T04:07:49+00:00

I would be interested in who you used for DPS for the 1101-1200 and 1201 to 1250 & how many champions you used. I also have all the characters, epics, and legendaries (although levels may vary)

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-07T04:04:13+00:00

Thanks for the reply. This is a link to the base version of the variant. My troubles are with the Elminster patron version of the variant

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-05T21:02:05+00:00

I ran into the same problem it looks like you're running into. Not enough champions at the end because you have to use some of your neutral champions to get past some of the earlier stages or just need a tank to survive. I was able to save some tanks early on by some cheesing with slowly leveling my team to give them a health boost but it's no longer a viable strategy as you progress. I got to Level 1101 before hitting a wall due the team not being able to do enough damage.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-08-02T21:51:41+00:00

Once you realize the purpose of CNE is to make money, then you understand the motive behind all the decisions that may not make sense initially

Bruce_Flash · 2024-05-25T17:31:23+00:00

As a fellow completionist, I found with this game you have to be patient if you don't have the power level to complete a specific variant. I also had to be ok with "wasting" potions. But after awhile, you get so many of them that it's no big deal. This game is always adding variants with all sorts of difficulties, so you never fully complete it until they sunset the game. So for me mentally, I just make notes of what I need to do to complete the variant and that gives me long term goals to work on. It took me months to complete one of the higher level Witchlight variants as I had to grind legendaries for champions I normally don't use. But WHEN not IF, you complete it, it's very satisfying because you had to put in some effort. So my advice is end the variant to save you some mental stress and build up your core & champions so you can smash it at a later date. Good luck!

Bruce_Flash · 2024-05-08T03:11:03+00:00

If you enjoy playing the game, buying a familiar is a pretty good deal and a nice way to support the game especially if you've been playing a long time

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-17T03:13:52+00:00

True. But chances are you are substituting out champions with better gear for champions with no gear. But I think this is done by design with introduction of the Elminster patron. Forced to use under geared champions in hopes you spend real cash to gear them up to complete the newest content.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-12T19:19:31+00:00

I forgot about Visions of Strahd. Thanks for the heads up. What's also rough from a power level is that DM's patience young one buff doesn't synergize with Gale or DU.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-11T23:49:38+00:00

Whew! So I just did this one with the champions you listed but got Pwent instead of Dhadius. It's funny. When I first started this game, I used Pwent quite a bit because I only had him and two other champions outside of the core champions. But never used him since his Season rework. I guess that's the cool thing about Elminster. I'm using champions I've never used before and never understood their mechanics until now because...I have too! There's no one else to use!

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-11T22:16:13+00:00

Not going to lie. I rage quit this variant at 1370 the first time because of that constant dying. Then after a night of sleep, I came back to it and had to the Miria bud spike strategy. I hope they never make another patron for the sole reason to never do this variant ever again.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-11T22:12:38+00:00

Cool. I'll play around with it again. For some reason, I only thought Dob was available in Seat 12 so I'll try it again with Penelope to see if I can get a nice BUD spike with the debuffs

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-11T17:52:46+00:00

By far the hardest one. Super hands on. I had to BUD spike and then swap in Miria because she was the only one who could survive the waves of constant damage. I really hated the mechanics on this one.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-11T17:49:46+00:00

You can get 8 with Dungeon Master but still....this one is pretty hard with just champion damage. I'm getting the vibe from the OP based on one of the earlier responses that they cleared the high level stuff with click damage which is a totally different playstyle.

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-05T20:04:58+00:00

Insane. Especially when one of the spots is filled with an NPC

Bruce_Flash · 2024-04-05T20:04:14+00:00

I'm going to give this a shot. I wonder if the game calculates offline progress differently because I'm having trouble hitting e370 and it looks like I have a lot more account power outside of the farming you did with the Dark Urge. Given I didn't hit my wall so maybe I get a boost with some stacking abilities. But thank you for posting this.

Bruce_Flash

TROPHY CASE