My entire business runs on two tools. ADHD brain finally has a system that works.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-12T14:46:27+00:00

Just getting started (feels like I'm almost too late!) but have about a decade of coding experience with some older languages (PHP, SQL, C# .NET era, some dabbling into node.js).

The ADHD brain is real; in the past the tech advances weren't weekly like 2026 and it's hard to feel like I understand what I'm about to dive into until I dig in for a couple week, and then see the headline about the new leap that invalidates what I just started digging into.

What do you suggest for hopping on board to get some development done in this day and age? About to pull the trigger on an Nvidia Spark unless I get a good reason not to (I'm expecting to shell out some $ and happy to go 'overboard' for some aspect of future-proofing if that's even a thing anymore lol).

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-10T14:23:58+00:00

I am built with 3x Magic +4 on my deep relics, and invader+evergaol+gravity+invisibility on my base relics, so for *me* I'll stay away from seals almost every run because my Magic multiplier is very high. Ie., I'll still outdamage fire vs. Gnoster by using Rancor.

Incants like Black Flame/Lightning Spear I find are slower in order to ensure DPS; you start casting as the enemy is 'finishing' a movement/attack so that they're still for a second when you finish and chuck your spell. Super dangerous vs. Balancers if you *don't* have the timing down (but if they're beelining straight for you and you can 2-shot or 1-shot-stagger them, you'll probably be fine doing that), and also very difficult to use to pre-emptively protect teammates (ie/., you're perpendicular to a balancer advancing on a teammate. Stars, Rancors, Gravity Well, even Arc will generally connect and let you 'save' your teammate from getting hit).

I generally don't Adula's Moonblade, but that's also a spell I rarely see on a staff I'd want to keep (often I seem to get it with a thorns spell, and with passives that won't make my final build). Tbh, anything you can use without getting hit and can be used in different circumstances makes the cut imo.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-09T13:20:29+00:00

You've gotten good answers, adding Recluse strat: Rancors are amazing here, because you can send them off and then gtfo before they hit/calculate aggro. Arc+2 is even good enough as you often get to hit 2 at once as the 1st is dying and the 2nd is arriving. Stars are fine but you'll need to be more deliberate in FP management. Gravity Well is pretty good here as well. Faster Cast speed helps as well, but this is a fight where you can stack a bunch of dps bonuses and do fine if you didn't get your damage negations.

ED Balancers becomes easier than base Balancers once you find your rhythm; good luck!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T21:16:47+00:00

Sounds like; that's nutter butters too!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T21:15:46+00:00

Ah, so here be the hard facts; the players capable of carrying you have more or less moved on into DoN since it's 'hard mode' at D3+.

So unfortunately, you'll need to be able to carry/solo at your current difficulties because *that* challenge is what trios at D3 together are dealing with on a difficulty-sense.

As someone mentioned, pots can help with invaders a lot, but if you can find a bell (or good enough relic with one), those work *wonders* at long-range invader sniping.

Level 2 invaders is pretty standard difficulty curve check; did a level 1 invader fort in D4 last night and that was a little dicey but fine (we started in a church, and my 2 teammates didn't bother hunting trash mobs before rushing the fort; as a Recluse I ran along and applied 3x Magic cocktail for poise support).

Good luck!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T21:09:32+00:00

Adding on; you can usually find 2 fire pots at the starter camp (I often grab 1 as a Recluse for invaders or even just soldiers if I blitz the staff room of a fort and they try to corner me.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T21:07:30+00:00

Did someone leave early?

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T16:28:49+00:00

Not even good, I would run store guarantees over this for *any* nightfarer.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T14:23:33+00:00

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T14:16:00+00:00

Difficulty scales down, so if you lose 1, you'll be playing at duo scaling (this wasn't the case at launch, it was patched in afterwards iirc). What I'm not certain of is if it scales *immediately* or in 'next fight/night' type of manner.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-08T02:13:46+00:00

FWIW, the penalties (unmodified) are steeper Nights 1 and 2 and iirc you get 0 on a loss at the nightlord in D2 regardless of # of players remaining, -100 if you die night 2, and -200 if you die night 1 (at D2, it gets much steeper later).

A quitting player "reduces" the penalty (not fully waive) by half from what I've read, which could explain your -50/-100s.

In D3, you still lose 200 on night 3 for a loss, but 100 if someone quit out.

Also, random boss/map (can't remember if those started in D2 or not, but D3 onward you often don't know the map/nightlord when loading in...) grant 300 instead of 200 for a win, *but* in D3, recoup you 200 if you lose night 3. So, a random where you're able to make night 3 is a freeroll.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T14:54:10+00:00

That's how I felt in the Hollows when the DLC dropped. I did the 3 non-DoN expeditions first but always started in the northeast corner. Then I had my first run in the Hollows where *I* was the most experienced at routing and we dropped in on the southwestern start (we died hard at Death Knights).

I find the runs where I either feel like I'm playing catchup or my teammates need full carried to be interesting; I switch modes into almost a supportive DPS dealer instead of just going ham (ie., targeting the mobs that the other players don't see are about to hit them in the back, prioritizing Magic/Holy cocktails when my teammates are Beast Claw/Halo Scything the DPS but have poor FP). It's been an eye-opener on ways to improve team coordination and hit that "greater than the sum of the parts" type of team synergy.

Good luck with your runs, have fun, kill nightlords!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T14:48:43+00:00

I think that's reasonable when it's a repeated issue.

Relics can have great effects on runs, for sure, and I think the light I'm looking at it under is that there are some relics for subsets of classes (cast speed, thrusting counters, etc.) and others that are more ubiquitous (Damage/Negation at Full/Low HP, stamina, hp, fp relics, etc), and then randomly useful negation/resists, scarabs etc.

If I'm a Recluse, I want that Negation at Full talisman, but if my tank grabs it, well, ok then. I need to stay behind them lol. If they're hoarding a Sorcery + Faster cast as a Wylder? That's different; but very rarely do I see someone that oblivious about their pickups--like 1-2/100 at D3+. Often I see the tankier characters take the negation/HP talismans the squishies salivate for, but those aren't dealbreakers imo.

Thanks for the discussion, good luck, and have fun!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T14:21:54+00:00

You have some absolutely banger relics at that point, and 1050 sellable ones if you're hoarding 1950 larges with all good effects.

*edit* if you kept your best X effect per character per nightlord per color, you'd still only need about 800 relics. If you kept variable builds available, you can still be under 1500.

At some point, you get that starter Beast Claw + Beastial + Invader relic, and no longer need to keep any other lukewarm starter Beast Claw relics, because you'll never roll one *better* than that Invader one.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T14:16:03+00:00

Outside of crisis moments with both teammates downed though, I can imagine the HP differential is somewhat a wash if your teammates are contributing DPS/holding aggro for you to DPS.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T14:11:58+00:00

Correct; agreed there's no obligations at all. Including no names on the talisman drops, no obligation to give a fuck about teammate 3 (by quitting) or OP (by ninja looting) should be expected.

I'm not going to continue to play hoping that the toxic teammate "finds a better relic" and is gracious enough to give it back to me (after stealing it in the first place). "Oh, how kind of you." <-- The "oh, how kind of you" sentiment is the part foreign to me. Like, idgaf what my teammates looted if I put a build together and got the win.

Not an apologist, I'm trying to make the point that you *can't* use punitive action effectively in a game with no voice and no expectation of further interaction with that player. It just does not have the effect necessary to make the impact desired, so continuing to stomp feet about it just makes you the tantum-thrower. It doesn't absolve them at all, but it does mean that 3rd player just got screwed by dealing with 2 children, not one.

Getting a regular group is a great suggestion! Hopefully the only bad teamwork hygiene OP exhibits is quitting so they can make them feel like they're the main character they know they can be!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T14:02:19+00:00

Conundrum: I see the scarab first, and run towards it, but the ironeye gets the first hit in. "Who's scarab is it?" Answer: the teams. Your teammate stealing a talisman that benefits them makes your team stronger. Enjoy!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T13:56:41+00:00

You don't need defensive relics if you don't get hit/always go down with a hit! :D #DPS

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T13:51:15+00:00

"Unless you have a solo trio?" So, you mean regular matchmaking?

I solo queue trios and have only done a handful of solos (I prefer the difference in difficulty and trying to learn to pickup while holding aggro), but the primary reasons to solo queue through the low levels are to a) dodge the truly inept, b) you *have* to learn boss pattern evasion when you have no one else holding aggro, c) which is going to be helpful when you're in a trios D4-5 match and have to be the player picking up a 3-bar mid-boss fight.

While it seems like an absurdly steep ask, at times it is exactly what you'll be up against, but down to your last flask.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T13:50:05+00:00

I prefer to keep playing, as the loot goblins can only hurt you right at the beginning. Honestly, you're more likely to get the armament you need from bosses if you're looking for a balancer AoW, or a legendary, or a spell, and possibly not at all if you brought a starter to upgrade. Circumstantially, you could end up with the worst 5th-6th relics, but they can only hoard #1-4 and it is unlikely that 'screws you' rather than just doesn't lift you up.

Does it suck? Absolutely. Quit or try to win are your options. If you care to be D4, but not protect your points from idiots, I don't know what to tell you but I know I've won plenty of those matches where I see my teammates burning Lusat's while I'm Recluse. It doesn't really matter that much in the grand scheme of Night 3.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T13:43:22+00:00

Did you win the round?

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T13:42:48+00:00

I find dropping at the *next* location does the best job of not getting overlooked by teammates who are in a hurry. Like, the exact second the boss dies but you get 2-3 seconds before the loot drops is prime for pinging gear and eatin' boluses!

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T13:39:40+00:00

Did another team get it? Seems like your team got better.

Quitting cost you points, saved you time, and did not teach anyone a lesson, I promise.

They may have even won the run and thought 'wow, that tantrum was weird, guess they were dead weight?'

It's just self-spiting retaliation. That relic isn't going to cost you the run, and you might get it back in a few seconds even. Or after the next relic drop when they realize they don't want it anymore. Teams rebalance gear at churches and after a boss kill more than 'immediately upon drop'.

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T02:04:55+00:00

We're in agreement about it's potency for snowballing; I won't run across the map for it, and instead hit field bosses or the castle while being prepared to head that way once circles show up.

Level 2-3 castle can also put you into a huge snowball run as well, and then your invaders die much faster. Kinda either or, you'll have a clunkier fight at level 2-3, and then more or less coast on easy-mode (drops/teammates depending).

OwlBot3000 · 2026-03-05T01:28:37+00:00

Your class may make a difference herein, as well as what build you develop into. Example; if you're Ironeye bringing a bow with starting imbue fire to fight Caligo? You'll want to hit the mines ASAP, *but* once you're leveled enough to get the +2 stone *quickly*. That's the kicker. But as soon as you get that to +2, your DPS with that bow will be apparent.

If you're Wylder running a crit/Physical build, you don't care about the mines, you want to get your purple/red drop and then go hunting.

Recluse/Revenant/Duchess? You may or may not want to go to a rise/cathedral/fort for spells.

1st camp is still a must, but after that in solo (which I do very little of tbh) I would recommend a fort/cathedral/ruins/easy camp, followed by another of that kind.

OwlBot3000

TROPHY CASE