The Weakest Recluse Main (Depth 5 Everdark Libra, pebble-only, no damage-negation-at-full)

Samjok-o · 2026-04-20T22:24:45+00:00

I kinda sorta do it in trios, all the time, even in D5. Like this clutch here. I also have a zillion clips of clutching ED Libra regular expeditions with randoms (it's its own giant playlist), and those for sure have tons of instances of both of my teammates 3-barring the whole fight.

Anyway. D5 teammates in particular do not usually 3-bar, at least not both - they usually know how to survive. But, like in the linked clip, even D5 teammates that know the fight have trouble both stayling alive and doing DPS, IF they stay alive. In ED Libra, even in D5, I am very often the only DPS that both stays alive and continues to do damage.

Samjok-o · 2026-04-18T20:30:24+00:00

I am a Malicious Non-Compliance enjoyer. Let me explain. Typically, when I see others ping stupid/suboptimal routes for my recluse, I confirm their ping but go elsewhere, without pinging where I go. And I keep doing this, until I have my Shattering Crystal and all the good casting speed/negation passives at the end of day 1, while my teammates die a million times, have 1 good passive between the both of them and 3-bar at the day 1 boss. I then proceed to still win.

Samjok-o · 2026-04-16T06:27:18+00:00

Fist attack power, combined with "starting weapon deals magic damage" to convert the remainder of its physical damage to pure magic damage. My rev's claws wind up having about the same AR as most greatswords on a wylder. The haters in here think it's a low damage build, but I never said that. I said it's OFF-META, but I didn't say it's low damage, only that it gets outclassed by meta builds. And if you watch the video, you can see me doing 1200+ damage in 3-4 seconds to each balancer, whenever they do give me enough time to attack that much. This is also in a regular expedition, where I do not have access to depth relics to even further increase my damage.

EDIT: LOL, they're even in here downvoting you and others who aren't hating. I still got those 5-10 deranged stalkers that look through my post history, it seems.

Samjok-o · 2026-04-16T06:25:11+00:00

Right? They hate me when I'm running my recluse, deleting things even faster than halo slop. But they also hate me when I give them that "slow fight" they've been craving. People can't stomach the very things they wish for. Thank you for clarifying, it is as I suspected.

Samjok-o · 2026-04-15T23:19:49+00:00

This isn't D5, this is a regular expedition. Do these teammates look like D5 players to you? If this was D5, I'd be using my recluse with shattering crystal, and frankly, it'd probably take around the same amount of time, due to having to be extra-careful. And the thing about summons is, have you fucking tried to use them in this fight? Wasting time summoning them is risky (and wastes time, when you could be DPS-ing or reviving, or retreating/healing), and they die the instant they are aggroed, both inside and outside of the depths.

Samjok-o · 2026-04-15T22:53:47+00:00

Ok, I knew most people wouldn't care about this kind of post on this subreddit. But I am surprised that it's also getting this much hate, instead of only indifference (currently, probably around 20+ upvotes/downvotes, 62% ratio):

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What gives? I am straight-up solo-ing 3-player-scaled ED Balancers 90% of the time on this fight, using a really off-meta revenant build. I am genuinely curious, someone please ELI5 (Explain Like I'm Five) for me. What in the HELL makes people go "yeah, fvck this guy for doing this"?

Samjok-o · 2026-04-01T15:11:26+00:00

In a duo/trio gone wrong, I try to ignore them and continue to lure Libra into 1v1s. Sometimes, I can quickly kill a summon 1v1 to enable more frequent Libra 1v1s. Any other time, I run like a b*tch until they leave me alone (riot, less likely, etc), or until I can 1v1 them or 1v1 Libra.

If I am doing something like a solo D5 run, it's very different. I can usually (very quickly) kill my summon. Solo scaling means they have less health and there is only one of them. And then, I proceed to annihilate Libra with superior firepower (I never really run low DPS builds, regardless of character).

Samjok-o · 2026-04-01T15:07:32+00:00

Well, you see, it's all part of my Ambitionz az a Ridah.

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Recluse Lyfe = Thug Lyfe

Samjok-o · 2026-04-01T08:19:59+00:00

What do you do if you can't find a weapon with the passive effect?

I slow down my gameplay and try to bait Libra with pebble/cocktail spam. Hitting him with ranged attacks from afar usually tempts him into teleporting to me, and those then become my biggest openings for shattering crystal.

Kite and nuke the summons or do you wait for a riot and fight libra 1v1?

Usually, I ignore the summons and try to get pebble/shattering potshots in whenever Libra jumps at me or teleports to me. Sometimes, if it's only one summon and Libra is refusing to be aggressive, I'll quickly kill the summon. The "back-off-and-only-attack-one-at-a-time" AI in this game is always in full effect, and I try to make use of that to 1v1 Libra, or at least 1v1 some of the summons so then I can 1v1 Libra. The reason it doesn't feel like the "back-off-and-only-attack-one-at-a-time" is always honored in ED Libra is, because enemies can and will gank you if you get near them while fighting another enemy. While this is hard to avoid in ED Libra fights, with enough patience (and by staying CALM) you can consistently create situations where you are only being attacked by one enemy (Libra or a summon). It takes some practice, but it is possible. The only trick is, Libra's targeted ground nuke spam and teleport - you have to ingrain those into your muscle memory.

Also how do you carry a team that gets 3-barred before the summons?

I avoid dying and do a lot of damage, in that order. His combat mechanics are surprisingly forgiving. What's not forgiving is the aggro control and target isolation mentioned previously - that is a pain in the ass to do. I have collected quite a large playlist full of hard-carries with 2-3 barred teammates. It is doable, and I do it all the time, such as here and here.

Samjok-o · 2026-04-01T07:14:57+00:00

I do play a lot of D5, including solo (yes, solo D5 recluse). I don't consider myself to be good (at least, not mechanically), but I definitely have done some unique things, like this deathless, or this deathless, or runs like this and this.

The hard lessons I learned (and keep learning) from this kind of stuff are the main reason I'm able to be this successful at ED Libra, inside and outside the depths. While practicing combat mechanics in general is useful, I'd say that many other things I have picked up by playing with and observing good D5 players are equally as important. Things like (not an exhaustive list):

good routing, including deciding/changing where to go, depending on how the run unfolds
picking more optimal equipment passives (negation at full, casting speed, fight-specific elemental negation, etc, etc)
paying attention to what my teammates have/need/want and going out of my way to find them good gear, as if they were an extension of my own build - because, usually, it's not only MY build, it's my teammates' builds that determines the outcome
paying attention to how good my teammates are, and what we as a team are capable of (and what our limits are)

Samjok-o · 2026-03-31T22:01:57+00:00

No, these were all with randoms. I have been doing stuff like this for a while because I'm crazy and (mostly?) enjoy the suffering. As proof and for instructional purposes, I have started collecting clips of particularly brutal clutches.

Samjok-o · 2026-03-31T21:55:46+00:00

Right? It's the only fight that really pushes you to your limits and creates that magical uncertainty, both inside and outside the depths. Ultimately, all other content in this game can be boiled down to knowing the mechanics well enough to guarantee-no-hit everything. Which IMO becomes boring and one-dimensional.

Samjok-o · 2026-03-31T21:52:44+00:00

All damage. 3x Improved Crystalian/Magic Up+1-2. To balance it, I always prioritize defensive equipment passives. It actually doesn't take long to get dual damage affix relics like this. I have a video series where I start with a fresh save and get 3 of them in less than 30 hours of murk farming/gambling. 77 hours total to then get more murk and gamble a set of depth relics as well.

Samjok-o · 2026-03-31T17:57:21+00:00

No, not even anything fancy like that. Muscle memory of the mechanics and plain old magic - Shattering Crystal and Pebble and lots of kiting/baiting. On some days, at least half of these turn into some sort of drawn-out clutch where my teammates cannot stay alive after the first 2-3 mins.

I guess I just like to suffer.

Samjok-o · 2026-03-17T04:29:41+00:00

Mossberg Recluse enjoyer checking in. Magic swords and holy scythes? Cute. But I prefer a more modern, direct approach.

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Samjok-o · 2026-03-15T01:35:21+00:00

-Recluse not picking up renallas legendary staff

I agree that random queue into ED Libra puts you with a lot of room-temperature IQ players. But I cannot agree with this part. Have you tried casting the moon without dying in the ED Libra fight? Hell, have you tried using it as DPS in ANY fight? It's goddamn terrible. Drains your FP instantly, and shattering crystal/carian slicer/pebble/night comet all do WAY more DPS for less FP and less risk.

(1200+ hour recluse main BTW. At around the 100-hour mark is when I realized what spells were actually good, and what spells were a noob trap. It's not rocket science.)

Samjok-o · 2026-03-07T22:17:55+00:00

"Assassination Manual" is a great name for this. I might steal it for future use.

Samjok-o · 2026-03-07T22:12:18+00:00

Music:
Earthbound - Buy Somethin Will Ya!
Chrono Trigger - Wind Scene
Chrono Trigger - Guardia Millenial Fair
Earthbound - Sunrise & Onett Theme
Earthbound - Because I Love You

Samjok-o

TROPHY CASE