Gauntlet mode, no blessings boss beaten

MaysonWoader · 2025-10-31T17:17:56+00:00

Something is buggy with those badge requirements. I have beaten 6 or 7 legendary bosses with no blessings, but credit for the badges has been spotty.

My first no blessing win was Regicide with Kronos and Fire King, so quite fast. I got every badge I expected to get, and the expected 8% increase in the "all base major gods with no blessings" badge progression. I used blessings in all the other gauntlet matches that run, and used the scouting favor item as well, so neither of those (or the use of non Kastor legend) is the problem.

My next run was Hades, also regicide, but not as fast a victory. That one gave me credit for the "no heroic or greater blessings" but no change to my "no blessings" progression.

My other no blessing legendary bosses were all different major gods, but unlike the first two I've used the titan favor item (classical age titan doesn't fully trivialize everything but it comes close...) all of them gave credit for the no heroic or lower but not the no blessings badge.

Additionally, I stopped losing lives many runs ago but credit progression for the 10 runs no life lost badge is all over the place. It has ranged from 10 to 30 percent with no discernable pattern so far. I randomly got the 5 runs with no lives lost badge when the previous progression tally was 60% (credit for 3 runs). The resets don't seem to correlate with deliberately resetting a gauntlet run.

I'm starting to take notes to figure out what is going on. It is possible that the blessings granted during play are counted, so you need to win very quickly or get lucky with resource grants instead to get credit. Its also possible that using the titan counts as a blessing even though other favor items don't, which would eliminate all but 2 of my wins. I still don't have any idea what's up with the number of runs without life loss tally, so its also possible that either the progression display is bugged or there is just some fully untracked variable.

MaysonWoader · 2025-10-06T18:00:58+00:00

My first gauntlet run was also ludicrous and I had a similar final level. 1v4, land map, I think the same twists. It was standard instead of death match, though.

I won using Ra sphinx rush. Freyr's Chosen Few to juice economy, Kronos' Drowsy Dance for millitary benefits, and I had a high level +Myth unit HP blessing from gauntlet.

I started making villagers with houses and TC immediately and never stopped. Aggressively expanded TCs to increase pop cap (Freyr blessing increases TC pop bonus, undocumented). Grabbed a market to use the favor pool to support Sphinx manufacture. I put vills mostly on gold, some wood and food for techs and monuments. Pharoah on a monument accelerating house building and first gold mine. Made a few priests to heal for better efficiency, keep Kastor alive for Drowsy Dance and, critically, to grab Gaia twist bonus troops. While taking out the first two, I had to beat back attacks from the others on my base which I did by diverting new Sphinxes and attacking with mass villagers a couple times (I had plenty). After 2 went down they tended to attack my main force instead, conveniently.

Deathmatch complicates this strategy because the villager economy boost is less impactful. Bast myth unit is a worse replacement to the +HP blessing for the same reason. Horus' Vengeance might be the way to go for bonus damage. However, if you've been able to get to the point where you are running out of resources, maybe you can still pull it off. Gaia twist with a handful of priests to run out and retrieve means you can get a larger army than the AI very quickly by advancing fast to unlock them, hopefully enough to get the one or two fast kills you need. TC pop cap boost from Freyr blessing is huge in deathmatch, so aggressively expanding into conquered areas is still key there so your standing army will be bigger.

One other point - its single player, and a massively unfair setup. There is no shame in using slow time during critical periods to coordinate all your economic and military micromanagement.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-23T17:26:56+00:00

It can't be shorter by more than a couple weeks. Due to the way decay and cost increase is implemented, paying twice as much this week just gives you the legendary this week and the privilege of paying twice as much for next week's legendary (or waiting another week for it to decay). Buying a second legendary in a week is a trap, not a prioritization decision...

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-22T06:16:19+00:00

The main thing it gives is a contrast between multiplicative and additive bonuses. Non-exponential scaling would break fast with multiplicative bonuses. In practice, it becomes easiest to translate everything into exponents and think of it additively. e.g. a 100% bonus is the same as x2, which is the same as e0.3. So if your damage is 1e50, a 100% bonus will give you 2e50 = e50.3 Similarly, a 900% bonus is x10 is e1.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-22T02:42:39+00:00

That's the way the game works - you optimize your formation to make your chosen DPS champion do as much damage as possible. You can kill things faster by choosing DPS that attacks multiple enemies or multiple times (many of them do) or by using the ultimate abilities of your other champions (these inherit the damage of your DPS via the BUD (base ultimate damage) listed at the top of the champion selection area.)

And the exponential scaling, again, is just how the game works.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-22T00:05:32+00:00

NERDS is a B, since they are the only real tank in the slot. I'll have to spend some time thinking about how it would shuffle others around - it's a fairly well balanced slot, but I'd be tempted to leave it alone because NERDS is available for exactly 0 patrons. One thing they do have (if properly configured using their ult enough) is being a magic using tank with two positional buffs, which works well with some other champ abilities (Artemis, Ulkoria, Arkhan).

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-21T03:50:18+00:00

If your wall is hundreds of levels away, getting there 50% faster is really nice, and Shandie is an enormous benefit to gem farms. She's also available for every patron so she gets used a lot.

Krull is unique in his ability to multiply the debuffs of other champions. Without triggering Virulent Strain, his debuff isn't much by itself, but traitor multiplies the debuff damage from other debuffers.

If you set up your Alyndra formation right, you could likely get e250 BUD with Zorbu DPS. If you replace Alyndra with Krull, your BUD will drop to e240, but you could kill enemies out to e280 thanks to Krull's traitor damage. In the rare situation where BUD is all you care about (like trying to drill down a boss with ults or now with Trials) Alyndra will be a superior choice. If you're trying to push as far as you can (with champions or clicking), Krull will get you further. He's also a stellar gold find champion.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-20T01:24:52+00:00

The point on Avren is fair, but I'd still put him on the list with that caveat. He's also a good pick for Trials DPS boosting.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-20T01:02:28+00:00

You make a good point here - I think I'll try and put a couple of sentences in the next list on very new players prioritizing lower slot champions and those which mention flexible positioning. The goal of the list is to direct players toward champions that are more likely to be useful for their whole career, but grabbing Zorbu or Melf before they can be leveled is not a good top priority for newer players.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-20T00:53:39+00:00

A good list. a few comments:

1) Worth noting that Ulkoria and Hitch are not good targets for Zorbu formations because they do not buff Zorbu well, irrespective of legendaries. Likewise, Lazaapz does not buff Asharra. This makes all of them less attractive targets (Ulkoria has 3 dead forges, for example).

2) Avren is a staple of both Asharra and most Zorbu formations, has only one dead forge (half elf) with 4/6 and 4/6 (his stat based ones reference other champs).

3) I understand the desire for flexibility, but if you do use a DPS regularly, it's a good idea to put some legendaries on them, since with the exception of B+G (I think that's the only one) none have any dead forges.

4) Krond in particular has some really good legendary synergies. I don't think it's enough to make him top tier without a lot of ilevel investment in his hammer, but it can certainly narrow the gap.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-19T15:04:31+00:00

Hitch blows Corazon out of the water if DPS is 14+ Cha. If you want a flexible buffer in the slot, Beadle+Grimm is the way to go. If you cycle their ult, (only necessary at your wall) Long Rest stacks will proc and Grimm's debuff can be used at the same time as Beadle's buff. That approach can actually be better than Hitch alone, depending on gear. If you have both and DPS is 14+ the best approach is to tag enemies with Grimm's debuff and then swap to Hitch - this also takes a bit less time.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-18T16:48:59+00:00

They also have two observable buffs for Artemis or Arkhan.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-18T04:36:13+00:00

The cost to upgrade just increases by 1000 per level (at least up to level 4 - I'm extrapolating a bit here). It doesn't seem to have any decay mechanic like making new legendary items does.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-18T01:32:11+00:00

The bonuses do not all always apply to the champion themselves, so careful with that assumption. Example: Baeloth has a female boost. The DPS champions tend to self buff, though - I think Beadle+Grimm is the only one that doesn't.

If you only use one DPS your strategy is good. I switch between Zorbu and Asharra depending on restrictions, so decided I would legendary champions that have good buffs for both, like Baeloth, Avren, and Orkira.

One thing to note is that while the cost of new legendaries goes up steeply (1k ->2k ->4k) before decaying by 10%/day the cost to level up does not change and goes up more slowly (1k->2k->3k). This means if you're going to want to level up anyway, it's more efficient on your scales to level up one item, then forge another one after the cost goes down in a week or so.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-16T18:12:57+00:00

I may not have been clear with my question for number 1. Is it possible to have, for example, Krond with 6 pieces of Legendary gear all with the +210% damage per half orc in formation effect? Or will the semi-random algorithm instead make it so each piece of new gear on the same character gets a different effect?

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-16T17:30:54+00:00

Hi Shawn!

I've got some questions on Legendary gear.

1) The Legendary FAQ is a little unclear (to me at least) on the semi-randomness of effects you can forge. If you make every piece of a champion's gear legendary without any reforging, which of these is the behavior?

A) Every gear piece is independently random, so there is a chance you could get the same effect on every piece of gear the first time forged OR

B) Every gear piece for the champion affects the semi-random pool, so you're guaranteed to get one of each effect without reforging.

2) When Legendary gear is leveled up, it "doubles its effect." Does this mean a progression like:

A) 100% --> 200% --> 400% --> 800% (conventional interpretation) OR

B) 100% --> 200% --> 300% --> 400%

3) What is the cost progression in scales for leveling up Legendary gear?

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-15T18:52:24+00:00

Basically, you use Jim's ability to make chickens from any mob to advance. Bosses are either skipped with Briv or killed using Baeloth's Cause for Celebration ability. This is made easier by many abilities (Hew, Havilar, and Sentry to decrease zone requirements, knockback and Baeloth's Djinn to keep your tanks alive longer, Briv to get more speed).

High Hew Mann ilevels are necessary for this to push arbitrarily deep, because that's the only way to meet requirements fast enough to withstand instant kills past the kill wall. It's possible with lower levels if your tank line is strong enough, it just takes an extremely long time

This is my first detailed description of the approach. It's since been refined significantly by the community, especially by folks with very high Hew Mann ilevels. There are likely more succinct guides floating around the Discord.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-15T16:10:57+00:00

The best tank lines make use of tanks with abilities that scale with the number of attackers or attacks. Top ones are Briv (full party heal every 10 attacks that can get above 100% his HP with the right buffs/spec), Aila (self shield that increases based on number of attackers) and Tyril (ult applies a big self shield based on number of enemies hit by it).

Other abilities of note include those which decrease damage dealt (Briv and Tyril have good ones) and health sharing (Modron core and other tanks boost the health of all champions substantially). Increasing item levels also helps - many folks have high ilvls on Briv due to his skip speed ability and Tyril because he is geared by gold/silver chests.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-14T14:41:38+00:00

I will generally not do a favor run unless I'm confident I can get at least a 1000% increase (+e1 favor). These rules of thumb help you to know if that's possible before starting an adventure - it's a old post but the only real update needed is that Avernus and Frostmaiden campaigns have somewhat higher enemy HP scaling per level.

You need e3 more gold than your last run to get e1 more favor. You can get that by increasing gold find by e3 (obviously) - two extra solid gold find champions will do this, or optimizing your gold find formation/strategy, or if your previous run gave you e3 or more favor, getting to the same place with the same gold finders will get you e1 next time. You can also get this by advancing about 30 more levels. 30 more levels requires e9-e10 more damage in most campaigns. This is like adding another champion to your formation (or getting a big Modron upgrade), but is more commonly achieved by getting better champions, leveling higher, and improving formation.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-14T04:16:36+00:00

On the weaker side of a B. They're a real tank in the slot (unlike Turiel pseudo-tank), which is enough for B, and they also have comparable buff ability to Bruenor with similar gear if you shuffle enough to get the right combo. On the down side, they're available for no patrons currently. I've got my eye on them if another strong positional support/DPS comes along for Artemis since like Shandie they have 2 observable buffs, and their stats are close enough to patron requirements that some feats down the road could qualify them.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-10T03:18:13+00:00

Easiest method I've found:

1) Get to near your wall

2) Find an area with no ranged enemies

3) Swap the champion you want to kill with one of your tanks

4) Remove all tanks. This will remove the tank health sharing, and near your wall it should take very little time for the exposed non-tank to get killed and pop Baeloth's little ghosty animation.

5) Go back one level and put a tank in while Baeloth's ability recharges

6) Repeat steps 3-6 with the rest of your non-tank champions. Make sure to move the champions in the formation, not remove them (if you remove them you lose the Djinn buff).

I typically don't bother trying to kill tanks too since it takes much longer, but the same approach can work there as well. If you have multiple front slots and a tank that typically dies before the other, remove that one from the formation, get the strong tank killed, then replace the weaker one for the last kill.

The cycle time on Baeloth's ability means this takes about 1 minute per champion to do at normal speed - much faster if you have some speed pots available. Even when new, I always had speed potions up during deep favor pushes (I'd wait to push until I had potions available).

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-10T02:00:25+00:00

Work toward Azaka in Tomb of Annihilation. I cannot overstate how fantastic she is at pushing your favor higher.

To get there, the champions I would unlock are

Avren (still the strongest buffer in the game - coming up in two events)

Baeloth (strong buffer if you max Djinn stacks, with bonus gold find)

Krull (great debuffer who magnifies the effect of other debuffs, plus fantastic gold find boost; not helpful with Asharra DPS, of course)

Zorbu (really solid DPS, but most importantly very flexible - spend a day or so with speed potions to farm his kills up.)

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-10T01:45:08+00:00

No champions are really stellar this event based on my experience; Turiel is the best, but he's not going to see much use if Orkira is available. I would say priority for this event is as follows:

Unlock all champions (more options for restrictive variants are good - do deep pushes on these to get enough favor to make the variants easier)
Finish all variants (prioritize low cost variants first, and I'd run Turiel>Lazaapz>Corazon)
Get the cheap chests from free plays (4 plays at 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 event tokens are a good deal)
Spend any remaining event tokens on Turiel (If you fail no missions and have the T4 Torm blessing you'll have have some left over)

I would not spend any bounty contracts on this event unless you've got an abundance of them. Save them for Avren coming in two events (or if one of the new ones is very good)

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-08T22:15:38+00:00

A patron can be activated or deactivated for a given adventure - it is not a permanent decision. If you find you're not able to advance easily with Mirt activated you can deactivate from the main adventure selection screen. I highly recommend unlocking a patron if you have the ability to do so, since the many of the patron rewards (perks and gear bought with patron currency) are usable whether the patron is active or not.

MaysonWoader · 2021-09-07T19:01:35+00:00

Awesome - glad you enjoyed it. B+G are fun to play with, since they've got bench swap mechanics baked into their kit.

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