Delves: Strategies, tactics and tips

[TimeKnight]

@noob

You would want to go for 100, 300, and 500

While that’s true, but if you can’t beat it at Level 200, how could it even be possible to do it at Level 300, with much higher stats?

@GrumpySmurf

Mostly using the troops in mirror order

Most of the time, Boss room use almost the weakest team position, so it’s possible to beat it with a better one.

For All Seeing Eye, it’s Ocularen Leech/Xerodar/Ocularen/Watch Mother. Keep stealing stats, then spam skulls with Xerodar, with can also easily inflict Deathmark in that position. Ocularen will help creating more Green gems, while Watch Mother can heal and bring back-up Ocularen Leech.

I did it with just Hoard Level 100 at Delve Level 200, and it’s pretty manageable.

[noob]

@TimeKnight

While that’s true, but if you can’t beat it at Level 200, how could it even be possible to do it at Level 300, with much higher stats?

Wait until you raise your hoard sufficiently? Even if you beat level 200 after multiple tries you basically wasted your time/sigils for very few renowns

[TimeKnight]

200 is the last easy level, with the right team, it shouldn’t take more than 5 tries. And 100 more renown is quite a lot.

While it’s true that lose Delve is a waste of sigils and Delve Chest rewards, it’s not a lot compared to wasting Treasure and Gold to go past Hoard Level 100. I still think that should only become an option once Faction team at Level 500 become too hard.

At 300, it take both plan and luck, so if you don’t have a plan from Level 200, it’s pretty much impossible.

[GrumpySmurf]

Wait until you raise your hoard sufficiently? Even if you beat level 200 after multiple tries you basically wasted your time/sigils for very few renowns

FWIW wasting time doesn’t really bother me. The game is a waste of time to begin with. That’s just wasting the wasted time, which I’m good with.

I’m not leaderboard chasing or trying to play ‘optimally’ by any stretch, so whether it takes 3 tries or 300 tries, it’s fine.

Most of the time, Boss room use almost the weakest team position, so it’s possible to beat it with a better one. For All Seeing Eye, it’s Ocularen Leech/Xerodar/Ocularen/Watch Mother.

Thanks, I’ll give it a shot in that order.

[TheIdleOne]

@TimeKnight

For All Seeing Eye, it’s Ocularen Leech/Xerodar/Ocularen/Watch Mother. Keep stealing stats, then spam skulls with Xerodar, with can also easily inflict Deathmark in that position. Ocularen will help creating more Green gems, while Watch Mother can heal and bring back-up Ocularen Leech.

I prefer Ocularen Leech, Ocularen, Xerodar, Watch Mother.

Ocularen can be resummoned, Xerodar can’t. Ocularen can help refill Ocularen Leech to keep stealing more stats. Xerodar is a bit more luck based in having an alignment show up, so once it’s full (from Ocularen Leech most likely), you might end up sitting on it for awhile. Even if you do have a Xerodar alignment, you have to be ready for Ocularen Leech to take some hits back.

[Lissandra]

I was thinking about the Hall of Guardians team (Great Maw, Alchemist, Dawnbringer, Wrath) and wondered how to make it work at the higher levels due to the fact Great Maw gets one shot at the later levels (Next step up is 300 and I am trying the faction team so I can get the legendary pet…)

I wonder… would it be a good idea to go with Great Maw, Alchemist, Sylvanmore and Wrath? Sure you lose the protection of Dawnbringer but the entangle on every 4 or 5 match makes the first and last room more manageable (Looking at you Gargoyle!) but it still leaves the problem of the middle room.

[StanLevitan]

So, has anyone actually beaten lvl 500 with a faction team? With my hoard lvl under 90 it seems totally impossible. It would be nice if hero weapons could bypass the restriction, since we don’t have classes associated with factions yet. Having all the weapons to choose from would be a big help.

[Gouki]

@StanLevitan

It would be nice if hero weapons could bypass the restriction, since we don’t have classes associated with factions yet.

Thought the same at first, but with stuff like Dragon’s Eye around they could get rid of the faction team aspect altogether then.

[StanLevitan]

You make a good point, but then again why even have that challenge, if you have to pray to RNGesus for the tiniest of chances to make it?

[Gouki]

Yeah it is problematic in how the challenge varies between factions due to its nature.
Aside from making Hoard Levels matter more by increasing the stats it gives to close the gap, especiallly the offensive ones, i don’t have an answer for it. They should also make levelling Hoards in the high regions a bit more reasonable.

[GrumpySmurf]

Update, took me two tries but I got through it.

The first run I ran into Rock Worm room, which systematicallly killed off Watch Mother, which left me short for the last room. Second room went off without a (notable) hitch. Last room still took some effort but it was more efficient.

I’ll try Idle One’s alignment next run at it, probably at 250.

[TimeKnight]

@Lissandra

I wonder… would it be a good idea to go with Great Maw, Alchemist, Sylvanmore and Wrath?

I was thinking of that as well, but decided against it. Dawnbringer is not only for protection from skull, it’s also from spells as well, for all your troops, which is something Sylvanimora can’t give.

That’s why it’s better to just use Archer-Dawnbringer with Entangle-first-turn talent. It will give you enough time to get Maw going, and after that, skulls is not a problem anymore, but enemies’s spell can still be troublesome, even with Dawnbringer’s protection.

This team is pretty tight, as losing one troop can be your doom. Game will be much slower without Maw or Wrath, but without Alchemist or Dawnbringer, you almost have no chance to recover.

@GrumpySmurf

Update, took me two tries but I got through it.

Congrats, GrumpySmurf!

Although, I recommend skipping 250 and go straight to 300. They’re both as hard, but possible with some luck, and you shouldn’t waste your luck on 250.

TheIdleOne’s team suggestion is also great, you just don’t get to use Xerodar’s Deathmark-first-troop-when-damaged as often, but it’s more safe that way. Good luck!

[Lissandra]

Yeah… that’s the problem with using Sylvanimora, you can’t protect your other team members from spells like the Gargoyle’s one shot barrage. Even with the entangle on Archer, getting an unfortunate drop at the start could lead to Maw being silenced at the boss fight which has happened too much for me… Was thinking about it for even for All-Seeing Eye when I go to it. Currently at Faction Team 300 run… not looking forward to it.

[TimeKnight]

@Lissandra

Even with the entangle on Archer, getting an unfortunate drop at the start could lead to Maw being silenced

Sky-drop skulls can be deadly whoever match it. Silenced Maw is so risky, as it extent the the time before you devour their Gargoyle.

But Dawnbringer can keep everyone protected for a long while. I even have one match where Maw is silenced the whole time until only Arcane Golem is left.

So, Dawnbringer’s main role is just creating barriers, not doing damage. The main damage come from looping Alchemist and Wrath with each other, only using Dawnbringer once some barriers are gone. Enraged Maw make boss room’s skull-resistance trait pretty much useless.

[Santandrix]

I’ve been slacking I know. I finally hit 2000 with my first faction.

[Keldi]

Anybody won lvl 300 with the Faction’s Team in All-Seeing Eye?
What level of hoard did you have? How many attempts did it take?

[back]

Did All-Seeing 300 with hoard 100 on the first try. Maybe was a little lucky, but not very lucky. Summoning with Watch Mother helped a lot.

Tried 400 once and failed. Decided to wait until 500 to try again, since I expect to eventually get lucky summons and make it.

Now trying delve level 300 in Hall of Guardians, about 3 or 4 tries so far. Sometimes don’t even make it to the boss room.

[Lissandra]

Hall of Guardians is horrible for the all faction team at 300. Anything with rock or ice worms is immediately out, Guarded Chamber is out due to it’s after effect, Viper room is a mess, dwarf room just sucks in general… honestly, almost all epic rooms suck. Only dragon hatchery seems to be the easiest of the lot and even then, that could be troublesome if the baby dragons become something strong.

[Gouki]

Honestly they should just get rid of the faction team part of reknown as long as you can’t directly target a delve level below your current progression. Faction team delving potential varying so vastly between the factions is bad enough to begin with, locking yourself out of beatable stages of a particular delve by progressing just kills the concept imho.
Faction events are also not a satisfying solution, aside from the growing pool of factions increasing the time for a certain faction to show up in that event in the future, having to spend a really big chunk of gems and many hours on a work day won’t work for many people.
Either make delve levels targetable or get rid of it.

[TimeKnight]

@TimeKnight

That’s why it’s better to just use Archer-Dawnbringer with Entangle-first-turn talent

I have to admit, I didn’t follow my own strategy. It’s not intentional, my class was just stuck with Frostmage/Bard, dued to my plan of other modes’ strategy. I was stubborn to push it and lost multiple times, so I just get to try Archer class in Hall of Guardian the first time today.

I have to say, Archer got it own pros and cons as well. Archer is faster if everything goes right, but once it downs to just Alchemist/Dawnbringer, it become very slow (like half an hour per match) due to the lack of extra magic on Hero like Bard/Frostmage.

The Iron Gate and Worm Tunnels are a big problem to Archer. As in The Iron Gate, you can only use Maw to eat Dwarven Gate, so you have to wait for Entangle to wear off if you want its extra attack stats. In Worm Tunnels, Kruarg the Dread is Impervious, so the lack of Entangle doesn’t save you from getting killed in one skull hit.

In my 3 tries today, the first was a failure, but the other two were successful. First one, Maw and Wrath was dead in Worm Tunnels, but managed to beat it, got pretty close in Boss room (200 life each from almost 1K stats by just keep spamming Dawnbringer’s 30 damage per cast), but lost dued to that one time Dawnbringer casted too late.

The next one, Maw was dead in The Iron Gate, but Wrath made things a bit faster (still 20 minutes) and won it. The boss room was tricky, and I got only Dawnbringer and Wrath left, then Archer’s Bullseye happened, with the help from endless summonings, I was able to win it.

In third try, everything went right. (thanks god…) Bulette Lair was in the middle, but Archer’s Hunter’s Mark made the match goes so fast that both Bulettes didn’t even get to cast and shuffle my team. So, if the game doesn’t troll me too much tomorrow, I will get to try Faction team at Level 500 for the first time tomorrow!