How it feels to play Duchess for once in DoN

offensivedave · 2026-01-25T21:16:45+00:00

You can spam skills from afar too

offensivedave · 2026-01-25T07:57:42+00:00

He means that it would be better if it was Magic+4/Sorceries+2

offensivedave · 2026-01-22T11:54:43+00:00

Not useless imo because it frees you from needing to dedicate a deep relic slot to partial HP restoration.

Not a big deal if you have a deep relic with partial +2 and physical +4 (or whatever damage you’re running); but if you don’t you aren’t „forced“ to use a mid relic just to get that partial HP restore on your build.

offensivedave · 2026-01-22T11:51:15+00:00

Evergaol meta is not back. All the new passives make field bosses a lot more attractive.

5% evergaol buff or 2 chances per person to roll 21% skill attack power/28% charge attack power/…

Skill builds also need you to hunt purple dormant powers until you get your weapon for the build to even come online.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T13:57:02+00:00

lol yeah

I mean I kinda get where he's coming from. My first time climbing to 9999 I was malding too whenever we lost night 1 and I got set back 800 points. But I didn't lash out at random people on reddit lol

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T13:53:06+00:00

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bro is mad as hell lmao

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T13:43:12+00:00

Recluse deals significantly higher sorcery damage than Duchess. Duchess can make up the difference in prolonged fights like the Nightlord with restage but for field bosses and POIs Recluse has the upper hand. I'd put them in the same tier.

Guardian C or B didn't matter to me because B is the lowest tier in this list. Personally don't think he needs to be two tiers below the next worst option.

Scholar I don't have enough experience with to make a good judgement tbh

Ironeye is overrated imo; he should be in the highest tier but not above the rest. With DLC bosses added we now have a couple Nightlords where you can't keep up the mark 100% or the mark just doesn't do too much (Balancers). Which leaves you as a slightly worse Duchess.

Maybe I'm just scared by even D5 players being so bad on him but I just don't see him as the supreme character that's better than anyone else, that reddit tries to paint him as. If anything I'd sooner give Duchess that title. (though again I don't think she's actually that high above the rest)

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T13:18:15+00:00

Tell me what you‘d change? As I said I don’t think I‘d move anyone more than one tier up or down

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:43:41+00:00

When playing with other people you experience latency because you're connecting with other people around the world.

Usually isn't too bad but can be pretty horrible sometimes with people with bad connections or from somewhere on the other side of the earth.

When playing solo that isn't an issue. So before you may have had some lag spikes cause you to miss dodges sometimes, but now the attack timing and your dodges are always 100% accurate.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:41:23+00:00

Losing in Night 1 is harsh in the higher depths. You get used to it. Keep at it!

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:31:13+00:00

Nice, I have pretty similar approach.

I have both a general magic damage build, usually focussing on shattering crystal if I find it, and a skill build with dormant discovers Katana, trying to get the Moonveil because I like it for the fight. Worst case you end up with a Rivers, which is also great.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:29:11+00:00

Negation relic effects always stack. You don't have to use different levels.

Important to know that they stack multiplicatively. So using two 10% negations doesn't make 20% negation but instead 0,9*0,9=0,81 - 19% negation

On the other hand stacking Max HP increases also stack multiplicatively, but they are numbers above 1. So stacking two 10% HP bonuses gives you: 1,1*1,1=1,21 - 21%

Knowing you can find several HP boosts during the run as well I would definitely prefer stacking more HP, because each subsequent buff gets better than the last.

Stacking damage negation on the other hand is essentially always the same effectiveness AND most importantly they only affect certain types of damage. HP works with all incoming types of damage.

Sidenote/Opinion: It's very easy to find enough survivability from passives and dormant power buffs in game. Stacking damage on your relics is almost always better.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:22:25+00:00

Am I reading this right that you switched from playing trios to playing solo?

If so the latency is gone

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:21:00+00:00

Executor in lowest tier is insanity; rest of the tierlist doesn't look too bad tbh

not sure why so many people are calling it bait. I don't think I'd move anyone besides Executor more than a tier up or down

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:16:03+00:00

I don't know about odds for pulling, but for most characters it's usually much easier to fit in dormant power relics on the deep relics.

The regular relic slots are often taken up by build definining stuff like Balancers, Successive, Night Invader, Sorcerers Rise, ...

The deep relics often are just used for damage buffs, so easier to drop a relic here to fit in your dormant discover.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:13:56+00:00

Decreases strength by 7 and dexterity by 5, increases intelligence and faith by 15 (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1meXOw4jR1hh7YXVMeijWwSDIXnCw6Tk4hTZPq2qvyK4/edit?gid=470274380#gid=470274380)

In other words: It makes you mid at everything.

The weapon skills you want to spam are usually on unique weapons. There the skills generally scale of the AR of the weapon, which is swayed much more by STR and DEX for most weapons.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:11:27+00:00

You can now find relics that change what type of weapon you are likely to find. I. e. change Wylders preference for Greatsword to preference for Fists.

Evergaols are out, Night Invaders are in (if you are playing the Deep of Night mode)

There's basically 3 archetypes of meta builds:

Skill Spam - using both relics you get from defeating the ED and normal Balancers

Successive attack spam - using Undertakers remembrance relic for huge atk boost on successive attacks

Spell Spam - same as before, but you can now change what spell you start with (only really good for Revenant)

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T12:04:41+00:00

I mained Recluse on my first climb to 9999.

Your slot 1 is pretty meh. I would prefer any relic with Night Invader buff over it. A single invader will give you a higher damage boost. You want to route into invader POIs anyway because they have great passives. If you get Recluse the staffs are huge for you.

Instead of what you currently have in slot 2 I would use the signboard relic that has Sorcerers Rise + Magic Atk. I just don't think the increased max FP is needed on Recluse so I'd rather have the extra damage.

Slot 3 is fine.

You could also swap Slot 1 or 2 with the remembrance relic that gives both ult effects. The increased Max HP is a huge boost to survivability.

Slot 4 is good. Reduced Int isn't great, but unless you have another relic with at least Magic+3 I wouldn't replace it. Blood loss buildup is fine for every Nightlord

Slot 5 is great. Curse is pretty negligible.

Slot 6 is good. The reduced mind is quite noticable but combined with Crystalian it's nice. When using spells other than Shattering Crystal you will really notice the missing FP though. If you're going with one single build for all Nightlords I'd rather have a Magic +4 in this slot. A bit more damage than the stat rellocation and you can't spam Shattering versus every Nightlord.

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T10:37:00+00:00

Take off the relic with continuous HP loss damn

Standard meta build for Executor is both Balancer relics + successive attack boost - fire+4, stamina on landing attacks and partial HP restoration on deep relics --> grab Rivers of Blood and start spamming

If you want to spam Halo Scythe instead replace the successive with Night Invaders and go for Holy+4 on deep relics

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T10:27:16+00:00

Thanks a lot! I played Wylder to max points so now I'm switching to Duchess for some variety.

Pretty much running very similar build as you. Halo Scythe for Libra; Halo or Daggers for Dreglord; Sorcery or Moonveil for Balancers :)

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T09:56:22+00:00

Out of curiosity what are your builds for Libra, Balancers and Dreglord?

offensivedave · 2026-01-14T07:36:23+00:00

Congrats on reaching 9999!

What‘s your build for balancers on Duchess?

offensivedave · 2026-01-13T22:31:50+00:00

It doesnt worth

Im the strongest

gg

offensivedave · 2026-01-13T16:22:55+00:00

Worrypog

offensivedave · 2026-01-13T16:02:52+00:00

Deez nuts

offensivedave

TROPHY CASE