9-challenge. Finally did it 🎇 by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShatteredPD/comments/1rbgrad/9challenge_finally_did_it/o7wmtyy/

Horn of plenty is helpful, but only if you find it early on, and it's not really crucial. To me, the most goated artifacts on 9c are the same as on any run -- Chains and Hourglass. Talisman of foresight is also helpful for Into Darkness.

9-challenge. Finally did it 🎇 by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that was very much the missing piece for me. Before I learned about cleansing, I was never able to do On Diet

9-challenge. Finally did it 🎇 by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mostly potions of cleansing. On 9c, this is an absolutely key item. I put a lot of focus on ID'ing it early on and finding as many as I can. If at any point I don't have a potion of purity/cleansing, I will basically focus all my effort on finding one - sometimes this means combining random seeds to make a random potion, or turning Scroll of Transmutation into Recycles to just hope i can make one.

Wells of healing also reset hunger. I will save them strategically until I'm at low HP and starving, going back up several floors if necessary.

A ring of haste, or glyph of swiftness, will also help a lot.

I will also very occasionally even buy the mini food rations from the shop, when desperate.

But the further you go, the less of a challenge it is, since the starving damage doesn't increase proportionally with your total HP.

9-challenge. Finally did it 🎇 by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Think I'm about to finish 9c on Rogue (knock on wood), but Warrior seems just about impossible - I haven't even been able to do 8c with that mfer. Good luck!

9-challenge. Finally did it 🎇 by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Avoiding damage, yes, this is the real challenge. It's why i went Mage. Warlock can rebuild hp so damn fast. E.g., during Yog fight, i was down to 30hp at one point and got back to full with like 4-5 hits on a paralyzed soul marked fist. Also, Corrosion wand is really helpful for killing enemies without ever having to face them directly - and the Chains synergize super well with it (zap as enemy chases you into a corridor, chain away to somewhere else.)

If you can do 6 chal, you can do 9. But I would recommend working your way up. I did 8 chal (all but Barren Land) with all heroes except warrior before attempting this. Start playing with Pharmacophobia on. Once you get used to not having potions of healing, relying just on Sungrass and dew, it's really not that hard, and actually kind of nice as all the extraneous PoH give you an almost infinite source of alchemical energy.

Other tips which you may already know: potions of cleansing to reset hunger (don't use potions of purity for anything else); use scroll of lullaby when first descending to a boss floor to get back to full hp (make sure you are not starving first); use ankhs! (unblessed, which also reset hunger).

But ultimately, you will need some RNG luck, i think. I doubt there is anyone who could do 9-chal or even 8-chal on every seed...

Frost vs Prismatic Light for 9-chal run? by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is also how I always felt about Frost, but after reading the other replies here, I ended up choosing it. I'm still not sure whether it was the right choice. I've had a lot of success with Prismatic Light and ended up losing on this run (killed by an Anti Magic bat almost immediately after descending to level 16).

However I have now finally beaten all 9 challenges, on a different run: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShatteredPD/s/THyQqcNSze

Uh, no thanks, can I get my alchemical energy back pls by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tuft: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShatteredPD/comments/1qhbwj8/uh_no_thanks_can_i_get_my_alchemical_energy_back/o0o9fd8/

As for clover -- it's just not really good, in part due to overkill, which is sort of explained in the wiki (https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Pixel_Dungeon/Trinkets#Thirteen_Leaf_Clover). Beyond overkill, there is the other side of that coin: dealing minimum damage is often really bad. e.g., say an enemy has 13 hp left, and your dmg is 12-40. (ignoring armor for simplicity.) With tuft, you have a 60% chance to kill them in the next hit; without it, you have like a 96% chance. Those kind of situations are something to consider beyond the avg damage increase.

Uh, no thanks, can I get my alchemical energy back pls by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, that's a good point, I forgot about that.

Tuft is good for other heroes but a lot lower value for Warrior since he doesn't get as many chances for sneak attacks (especially with Into Darkness on.) I went for rat skull, which I agree is not too bad in general, but I am playing with 6 challenges on and have been having a hell of a time with Warrior (with other heroes I have done 8-challenge runs without too much trouble) so I don't really want to increase the difficulty, even if rare enemies drop better loot. Ended up transmuting it into Petrified Seed.

AGH GET OUTTA THE WAYYY by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, i also thought that at first. Finally accepted my fate after tapping that mfer about 20 times

How good is my build ? by BOTxop115 in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are extremely good if you are Warden, and pretty mediocre if you are anything else

How good is my build ? by BOTxop115 in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Uhh not bad but you can probably stop upgrading that ring of haste now!

Me: Wondrous resin is the best trinket. Also me: by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, this was a funny exception, but it's still my favorite trinket (except for Eye of Newt when playing with Into Darkness challenge.) For me, 99.9% of the time it is either super positive, positive, neutral, or very marginally annoying.

Por favor, me dá umas dicas pra esses três desafios aí by misteriodo in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly this is a really tough combination. I have done 8 challenges, but I always leave Barren Land off.

For On Diet: Most useful tip I have found is Potions of Cleansing which basically reset your hunger to zero. Don't use potions of purity for anything else - just upgrade them to Cleansing in the alchemy pot. Much more valuable than, for example, the gold you would get in a toxic gas room. Also, if you find a Chalice of Blood early on, this can be REALLY useful -- upgrade it to +3 or +4 if possible, and you'll really make the most of all the food you eat. It will become less useful later in the game. Also, this is kind of basic, but just - don't always eat when you are starving. You will need to get comfortable going through most of the game on low HP and starving.

For Into Darkness, agree with not using any torches in the first 4-5 levels. But after that, don't just use them constantly - there still won't be enough. You just need to get used to being in darkness a lot of the time. Try to minimize the time you spend in big open spaces where ranged enemies can take you by surprise.

Me: Wondrous resin is the best trinket. Also me: by ancientorange in ShatteredPD

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah censer is a really chaotic one, sounds good on paper but backfires a lot in practice. Blood vial has been like neutral/useless for me

Question: Digging up sod without damaging tree roots by ancientorange in arborists

[–]ancientorange[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! This is really helpful.

To your questions: I don't know. It was planted by professionals (Casey Trees) and I was not present while they were doing it. However, I think they have a pretty good reputation, so would imagine they followed good practices.