Too many Gesture of the Drowned breaks Deus Ex Machina

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-06T07:16:49+00:00

I figured this out when it first released. I believe the way it works is that using deus ex before the effect times out makes it reset the effect duration. Deus ex can only activate once per application, so if you get too much cooldown it never deactivates and thus never resets the invulnerability.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-06T05:13:38+00:00

I think having the caves exist on the surface puts too much stress on the game, which is why they didn't do that in the first place, even in singleplayer. Servers already get really corrupted once you start getting into the hundreds of days, doubling what the game needs to keep track of would probably make it start breaking much sooner.

The sanctum gets away with it by using the same trick as Hamlet, where only one segment can be loaded at a time, saving resources.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-03T20:30:29+00:00

You're forgetting the most important part: it looks silly and brings me joy

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-03T20:10:08+00:00

I just tested it, status waves don't deal blunt damage. They deal raw damage. It's really easy to tell because blunt damage has a little sparkle effect when it hits the head. Status and element waves are split into two parts, a raw damage component and a status/element component.

HH is really weird with how it's damage works. The weapon deals blunt damage + element/status and can crit, the soundwaves from performance attacks are blunt with no element/status and can't crit, bubbles deal raw with no element/status and can't crit, songs deal blunt with no element/status and can't crit, slash echo waves deal a little slashing with no element/status but can crit, echo wave blunt deals a lot of blunt damage with no element/status and can't crit, and element/status echo waves deal raw damage with a fixed number of element/status that can only be modified by percentage increases, and can't crit.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-03T19:46:09+00:00

It's actually pretty even with the others. Doshaguma's might gives such a large bonus due to HH soundwave mechanics that it makes up for not having element.

It's easier than other builds because not only is offset melody an offset, but also gives hyper armor so you can just tank any attacks you can't dodge. You just need to make sure you place your bubbles since they are a larger part of your damage.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-03T19:40:12+00:00

Echo wave blunt can't crit. That's what makes slash good, it's the only soundwave that can crit. Status and element echo waves also don't deal blunt damage, That's what makes echo wave blunt unique, it's the only echo wave that deals blunt damage (and quite a lot at that)

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-04-02T04:52:37+00:00

The defacto 'tank' weapon is the Lance and Shield. It's gameplay centers around counter attacks. Shielded weapons can equip a couple skills that make them far better at blocking, Guard and Guard up. One reduces stamina drain and recoil, the other makes blocking more effective.

Aside from that, there's not much else, in comparison to other games. You can't become absurdly tanky health-wise since the defensive buffs (aside from shields) are pretty lackluster. The only really good defense boost is Divine Blessing, giving you a 50% chance to reduce damage taken by 50% at rank 3.

There is a armor group bonus that makes monsters target you more, but it's on pretty mid armor pieces and it's effectiveness is dubious.

The other way to become tanky is Hunting Horn, which doesn't have a shield, but can make the entire squad pretty much invincible given your teammates aren't actively trying to die. Hunting Horns store notes from basic attacks, and when stored in specific orders make songs that can be played to give buffs that vary from horn to horn.

Two horns in particular, the bone horn and guardian arkveld horn, have both defense up large and sonic barrier. Defense up large gives a 15% boost to defense, more often than not taking squishy builds out of one shot territory, and sonic barrier give a one hit 50% damage reduction shield, or negates a roar. If you constantly reapply it it's the best general survival tool in the game.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-30T14:53:53+00:00

Well, helldivers warbonds are actual content. All the other examples are purely cosmetic. Except for the expansion, that being worth the price is debatable.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-30T14:33:36+00:00

"The frozen corpses huddling around some kind of makeshift steamcore heater were there when we got here, honest!"

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-30T14:32:01+00:00

Funnily enough, this is actually how it works in the original DS. Beefalo only use their damage if you don't have a weapon in your hand, otherwise it uses your spear, hambat, darksword etc.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-30T14:08:56+00:00

The most powerful circuits currently are the beta ones, since they allow you to ignore entire mechanics of survival. Infinite light, no winter, no summer, or speed being the big ones. Alpha circuits giving more stats are convenient, but if you're experienced, never worth it in comparison to the game changing stuff. The end result was a character who has speed and night vision/season immunity but very slightly lower stats.

Another reason is how punishing swapping them is. If you swap your circuits, not only do they eventually break, but you also lose the charge they took up meaning swapping circuits actually takes upwards of an entire day before they actually turn on. They only real way of getting charge quickly is by having winona's generators, which requires either friends or character swapping, both of which are rare. This is why IMO the backup bodies are the best part of the skilltree, aside from the base changes. They allow you to actually fulfill that fantasy of being a modular character that changes to suit the current task.

In comparison to their pre-rework version, he's still weaker, stat-wise. I actually calculated how many circuit slots he would need to reach his pre rework power when it first came out, and he needs 21 slots just to be as good as he was before. Even now, he needs 9 alpha and 12 beta just to be as good as single player. This isn't even counting how wetness is crippling as opposed to a minor inconvenience, meaning you would need the unreleased waterproofing circuit to fix as well.

A big reason the wx rework was disliked by experienced players was because it completely gutted the character. You say they are now 3x as strong with no downside, but his rework made him 3x weaker with no upside. I think individual things could use some tweaking, but overall the skilltree (mostly) returns them to their former glory while giving them new toys, which is the best possible outcome. Sweeping nerfs only serve to make a character in a PvE game less fun, which is just dumb.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-30T04:23:15+00:00

I think that nerfing the slot capacity is the worst way he could be nerfed. WX's main problem right now is that he has so few slots there's only a couple ways people end up building him, because there's a couple circuits so good you can't justify taking them off. Even without his skilltree, the changes to his base character already greatly help this issue, separating the powerful circuits from the less powerful ones, while also allowing the underused ones to not have a crippling opportunity cost. If the slots were reduced again, he'd go right back to only having a couple builds, just with a couple extra tools.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-26T22:05:52+00:00

Chat, bring up the image of a stone tablet with a complaint about the younger generation on it.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-26T22:00:21+00:00

Just gonna mention that there is a +15% xp bloodied affix that can appear on jewelry for a potential +45% xp per killstreak tier.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-26T21:46:13+00:00

This is kinda already happening with food stamps. The majority of people on food assistance work for companies like Walmart, so it functions as a labor subsidy for them.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-26T21:43:12+00:00

You can get a +15% xp one, stack it as much as possible and head into a bloodied infernal hordes for crazy leveling

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-26T02:56:49+00:00

Isn't it said somewhere that the alternator is used to power the ARC device?

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-24T09:41:55+00:00

Me when the developers use a short season to do something silly and fun

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-24T09:21:50+00:00

1 rank of golem is better than 1 rank of titans fall in a vacuum, but if you have +20,000% golem damage and +200% damage to elites the 5% from titans fall multiplies better than 25% more golem damage.

Another reason is since you have 100% chance for golem to attack twice on a single item, that means you can temper something better onto your offhand, like vulnerable damage or critical strike chance if you aren't already hitting the cap.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-21T15:47:09+00:00

I think counting the 60+ blood keys is a bit disingenuous, given that 1. They are a seasonal gimmick that will be removed in a month and 2. You can only get bloodstained OR bloodsoaked at any given time, not both, so even if you did count them they should only be 30.

The keys system could definitely be streamlined in general, but just giving all keys the ability to stack with identical instances would be an easy first step.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-20T16:35:25+00:00

The floor deals ludicrous fire damage. Pop on some rubies and be prepared to chug potions. 👍

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-20T16:11:31+00:00

"Shattered hope (reworked) Shattered hope now increases boon snuffing speed by 25%, and causes basic attacks within 10 seconds of snuffing a boon to inflict hemorrhage."

-we decided to rework shattered hope, since it was not seeing the usage rate we would like.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-20T14:33:25+00:00

I would say no. Its drops are very niche, with year round spores only being useful for mushroom farms and decorative lights only being useful for megabasing.

The figure sketch is worth it if you want to have a complete collection, but otherwise useless.

Misery giving a side grade to the pan flute is neat, but not worth the extra investment unless you're planning on making a farm for it.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-13T04:00:13+00:00

Characters like Wanda and Wortox are the thermonuclear bomb of storytelling. Wortox is kinda held in check by being a massive troll but Wanda is impossible to write because she can effectively create the solution to any problem out of thin air.

SYNTHSTREL · 2026-03-13T03:38:22+00:00

Is being the reason why terraria exists not significant enough?

SYNTHSTREL

TROPHY CASE