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Etrian Mystery Dungeon |OT| - The Mysterious Adventures of Fight and Heal
- Thread starter Parakeetman
- Start date
Depends on what your crew is. Hexers aren't the only ailment-capable class in the game, they're just the best ailment-capable class in a game where ailments are incredibly important. Gunner can get you through if you spec for binding shots, for example. And you can enchant weapons to cause ailments on hit (low chance, but lots of chances).
One thing of note about ailments is that Paralysis specifically is a very not-useful ailment. The reason I say that is because the AI has a tendency to ignore paralyzed targets. If paralysis sticks, they'll just stop attacking. For this reason I would not invest in anything that causes paralysis.
Hexer's weapon power is pretty much irrelevant. You just want some enchant slots to put LUK in so your ailments don't get resisted as often.
SerTapTap
Member
Dang, it makes sense for AI to potentially emphasize non-paralyzed targets but ignoring them at all sucks.
SerTapTap
Member
The way the rescue team works is really frustrating, so much menus and dialogs when I generally have to go down one floor or two and have zero trouble. Let me set a default rescue team (or hell auto select members it barely matters), auto merge my rescue team's items into storage/inventory when I complete it. The way the game handles it is so fussy. I spend as much time in menus as I do rescuing.
Hmm, I never actually used the rescue feature because the game was so easy for me... :v Unless you're really pressing your luck, wiping while exploring is reeeally hard to do. My rule of thumb was if anyone in my party went down I would immediately consider warping out. If I got low on warp wires then I would go back to the earlier dungeons where they are a common find to collect a few.
I only had one wipe and it was at a boss room and I can't really remember why but for some reason I didn't have to send a rescue party. I might have had one of those items with that sends you to town.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Thats pretty much the same general playstyle I did also.
SerTapTap
Member
Met my first DOE
It was actually going perfectly fine until it summoned about 10 enemies into the room at once. I brought 4 Whirl scrolls this time and my Hexer knows Fear now so I think a full room would be much more managable. I'm still iffy on bringing the Hexer for now, feels like they're not great until higher level, but they're definitely good for rooms full of enemies and the DOE.
Gunner feels great, definitely keeping one as my main leader. So many awesome passives to buff their free, ranged normal attack, add a gun with debuffs and she's unstoppable 1v1
Edit: I killed the DOE, finished a different quest instead of the mission to finish that dungeon, and the DOE instantly respawned?! Ugh
Threads are fairly rare and rescues are super-easy, would much rather rescue until I have a solid stock of them. I mostly wiped on these "one person kills X enemies in Y dungeon" things anyway, wire's no help there. Think I just need to wait longer for those (though my Protector had a hilariously easy time soloing an entire dungeon...also I went to the wrong dungeon for her quest,oops)
It was actually going perfectly fine until it summoned about 10 enemies into the room at once. I brought 4 Whirl scrolls this time and my Hexer knows Fear now so I think a full room would be much more managable. I'm still iffy on bringing the Hexer for now, feels like they're not great until higher level, but they're definitely good for rooms full of enemies and the DOE.
Gunner feels great, definitely keeping one as my main leader. So many awesome passives to buff their free, ranged normal attack, add a gun with debuffs and she's unstoppable 1v1
Edit: I killed the DOE, finished a different quest instead of the mission to finish that dungeon, and the DOE instantly respawned?! Ugh
Threads are fairly rare and rescues are super-easy, would much rather rescue until I have a solid stock of them. I mostly wiped on these "one person kills X enemies in Y dungeon" things anyway, wire's no help there. Think I just need to wait longer for those (though my Protector had a hilariously easy time soloing an entire dungeon...also I went to the wrong dungeon for her quest,oops)
SerTapTap
Member
Uuuuugggghhhhh this snow dungeon. It's filled with enemies that explode in a 3x3 radius and halve your HP and I've killed THREE DOEs and there are still more. Every single one means I run out of TP and have to run away. I can't tell if they're just respawning as fast as I can kill them due to that or if there's just a billion.
Is there a trick to this dungeon? My main party doesn't have a proper way to heal (my protector takes 1 damage from 99% of attacks but >100 from these stupid ice bulbs), heal TP (only my protector has infinite if she takes enough hits) or knock away the stupid ice bulbs.
My party is Protector (no shield bash, can't get it soon), Hexer, Runemaster and Gunner (all normal attack focus). Should I be taking along a Wanderer or Protector that can knock away enemies? Should I bring a healer (I guess I could ditch my runemaster pretty easy)? Should I just totally ignore the DOEs and reach the bottom for now?
I have a Medic, Landsknecht, Dancer and Princess ready to go as a second party at a reasonable level, and wanderer and Ninja at only a few extra levels behind. But I'm not experienced with making them work. I'm used to my protector being out front and everyone wailing on foes at a distance
BTW, does the "curse rate up" skill for Hexer effect the Fear/Suicide Word skills? They're not called curse and they're like half of what I use her for so I'm a little iffy on spending points in that yet. I mostly poison/slow DOEs and Fear/Suicide normal enemies with her with Power Word as a single-target skill (that her AI is a little over-eager to cast)
Is there a trick to this dungeon? My main party doesn't have a proper way to heal (my protector takes 1 damage from 99% of attacks but >100 from these stupid ice bulbs), heal TP (only my protector has infinite if she takes enough hits) or knock away the stupid ice bulbs.
My party is Protector (no shield bash, can't get it soon), Hexer, Runemaster and Gunner (all normal attack focus). Should I be taking along a Wanderer or Protector that can knock away enemies? Should I bring a healer (I guess I could ditch my runemaster pretty easy)? Should I just totally ignore the DOEs and reach the bottom for now?
I have a Medic, Landsknecht, Dancer and Princess ready to go as a second party at a reasonable level, and wanderer and Ninja at only a few extra levels behind. But I'm not experienced with making them work. I'm used to my protector being out front and everyone wailing on foes at a distance
BTW, does the "curse rate up" skill for Hexer effect the Fear/Suicide Word skills? They're not called curse and they're like half of what I use her for so I'm a little iffy on spending points in that yet. I mostly poison/slow DOEs and Fear/Suicide normal enemies with her with Power Word as a single-target skill (that her AI is a little over-eager to cast)
Head bind them and they can't explode.
Trade the gunner for someone who can heal. Dancer, princess, or medic. Dancer is also a fantastic melee attacker. Your hexer can handle binds and your runemaster can do the elemental damage.
I wondered the same thing and I'm actually not sure. I did put points in that skill and never really had problems with Evil Eye not working, despite it not having the word "curse" in its title. Be sure to also give your hexer gear with luck stat, as that's the key stat for ailment and bind success.
SerTapTap
Member
Oh thank god. Any surefire head-binding? I think only my Gunner or Hexer can do it currently, and I'd need to spend some skill points too. I can add it to weapons but Im' not sure how effective it is. Was planning to make a super-status weapon for my gunner eventually, I got a Fear + leg-bind gun and it's very effective when it works but inconsistent.
I think I'll try headbinding all I can before I resort to that. Having more than one melee seems pretty awkward. I ran around with my second band (Dancer, Princess, Medic and Landsknecht) and everyone just derps around and wastes turns if they're not casting buffs/heals half the time. Especially if I bump into an enemy at the door to a room--this is a disastrous place to find a DOE without Command All
Speaking of buffs, does a Princess with maxed TP recovery end up with basically infinite TP just by buffing herself? Was thinking of replacing Runemaster with Princess for buffs + heal (are her heals useful? They seem really limited/situational).
Ah, luck = higher status chance is good to know. Part of why DOEs are so annoying is she takes like 5 attempts to poison them and then my Hexer's half out of MP. "get ailment to restore HP" isn't great either, though I run her into traps sometimes.
I had good luck this last time with Confuse scrolls though so I think I'll be taking those with me for DOE hunting, gives my Runemaster something to do if I want to save her MP.
Also, since I got the chain-paralyze skill I'm super annoyed by the AI not targeting paralyzing enemies. There's nothing like paralyzing a whole swath of foes at once...then watching as my entire party stops attacking.
Hexer and gunner should be able to handle it.
No, because the princess doesn't get TP back 100% of the time.
Scrlls aren't worth hauling around to sell so yeah just use them.
I believe it was in this thread that I warned about that. It's why you shouldn't use paralyze or skills that proc it, like that one runemaster skill.
SerTapTap
Member
Didn't realize the TP return wasn't 100% chance, I think it is for Protector/Hexer but I guess they have less potential to get infinite TP. I'll probably just keep my party as it is then.
I still find the single-paralyze very useful (it's the only skill I have my runemaster AI use) but I hadn't realized how big of a deal it would be to paralyze a whole room. I think I'll get the max fireball skill instead, even though I'm sticking to shock lvl1. Stunlocking bosses is too good and it works on DOEs sometimes with not much extra TP cost (I use Command All for DOEs anyway)
I assume this game doesn't have any neat secrets you can find with the dig/water walk skills? Chocobo's Dungeon would occasionally hide treasure rooms or other secret stuff if you had Dig claws. But without those the Wanderer's skillset doesn't seem appealing enough. If only they could learn all 3 harvesting skills instead of 2/3.
Oh, I guess that is an option, huh. Didn't think of that because I beat the whole main game and half the postgame (before The Incident) without ever using those special blast meter skills a single time...
There are, but they're very rare. I think I saw little side rooms full of 4 or 5 items maybe twice ever, so really not much point in going out expecting to find those.
SerTapTap
Member
I can't imagine fighting the DOE without the blast meter, though it's pretty useless otherwise--but it's a nice full heal every 2 meter. I once bumbled into a DOE at a doorway instead of mid-room and had to use half of my Command All just to get my band of idiots to let it into the room, I probably would have wiped or had to escape the dungeon without it.
Yeah, not too worth it then. It was cool in Chocobo's Dungeon because you could easily carry around a pair of Dig Claws at the expense of one whole item slot and dig in. And as long as you didn't break them they were easy to repair and thus not-quite-infinite. When it costs a whole party member and a bunch of TP, no thanks.
Man I miss weapons in Chocobo's Dungeon. Lots of great stuff like AOE normal attacks, dig through walls, cool saddles and rings too. They made the most out of every equipment slot.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
I literally always forget to use the blast meter stuff. Every time I remember, I get pre-occupied doing something else the forget again when the time comes lol.
SerTapTap
Member
Huh, poisoned a DOE first round, MUCH cleaner fight that way.
It's frustrating the shield counter bases it's damage off how much was dealt to the user. I haven't seen my protector take more than 1 damage (outside of fractional damage) for 3 dungeons. Makes it nearly worthless, unless I can make a shield that counters and adds a status.
It's frustrating the shield counter bases it's damage off how much was dealt to the user. I haven't seen my protector take more than 1 damage (outside of fractional damage) for 3 dungeons. Makes it nearly worthless, unless I can make a shield that counters and adds a status.
SerTapTap
Member
Is there ever a reason to use anything other than a Search fort? Never had a DOE hit a fort (except when I'm actively in the dungeon) and elemental forts seem like a super stupid idea. I hate when elemental design in games seems to expect you to sit there with a strategy guide open to know when elements are relevant because they aren't 95% of the time.
I think I know why allies ignore paralyze foes now, it seems paralysis lasts a very long time if you never hit them? Works basically like sleep does in most RPGs, wasn't expecting that. I still prefer Fear + + Poison+ Suicide Word for room management though.
What's this "draw enemies in room to you" skill on Protector? Isn't that what Provoke does? I can't easily reach it to try it out yet. I feel like I'm leveling really slowly after level 20.
I think I know why allies ignore paralyze foes now, it seems paralysis lasts a very long time if you never hit them? Works basically like sleep does in most RPGs, wasn't expecting that. I still prefer Fear + + Poison+ Suicide Word for room management though.
What's this "draw enemies in room to you" skill on Protector? Isn't that what Provoke does? I can't easily reach it to try it out yet. I feel like I'm leveling really slowly after level 20.
The other forts buff your party's power when fighting in them, so yes, they are useful if you can afford them. I built a lot of elemental forts and they boost your party's attack with that element (at least they seemed to), so they're actually a super good idea. There's no need for a strategy guide, just build forts that play to your party's strengths. The DOEs that appear are randomized, anyway, so there is no wrong answer when building elemental forts.
No, provoke makes enemies attack you. The draw skill literally sucks all the enemies in the room in as close to the protector as possible. It's for those pesky ranged attack enemies and/or if you use melee characters.
SerTapTap
Member
So a DOE got through and I a got a 180,000 gold bill for repairs, couldn't access the in (so, my gear to adventure with or my money to repay it with) and was seriously considering quitting. Then I complete one (1) dungeon and it's all fixed already. They...really should not make the dollar amount so scary or make it way clearer that it disappears in minutes. I was seriously annoyed for a while. I thought it was too crazy to be true considering the game is ridiculously forgiving for the most part.
Don't know how the DOE got through either. It was 10 floors away (and below a fort?!) from the top, I went down 4 floors, suddenly I got the "DOE escaped" message. Will definitely kill them instead of trusting that they won't reach the top next time.
I really like Medic, though I'm not sure she's worth losing the Gunner's damage (and the hilarious ability to leg bind and snipe half the enemies to death at range). She's very useful if my stupid hexer or runemaster die but of course if she goes first it's no good, and combat-wise her paralyze strike is pretty much all there is.
Don't know how the DOE got through either. It was 10 floors away (and below a fort?!) from the top, I went down 4 floors, suddenly I got the "DOE escaped" message. Will definitely kill them instead of trusting that they won't reach the top next time.
I really like Medic, though I'm not sure she's worth losing the Gunner's damage (and the hilarious ability to leg bind and snipe half the enemies to death at range). She's very useful if my stupid hexer or runemaster die but of course if she goes first it's no good, and combat-wise her paralyze strike is pretty much all there is.
Just beat the second boss. My party of Protector/Gunner/Dancer/Runemaster is holding up pretty well, even though the latter was useless against said boss because she ran out of TP while I was exploring. The combination of Provoke and Regen Waltz while the Gunner sniped it from afar made it pretty easy nevertheless.
So far the game seems to be pretty easy. I wonder if I should switch out my Runemaster for a Wanderer for increased utility.
So far the game seems to be pretty easy. I wonder if I should switch out my Runemaster for a Wanderer for increased utility.
Damn the first DOE
was tough. It wrecked my Fort party (they ran out of TP), and when my main party encountered it it took half an hour of a battle of attrition to finally kill it. Protector + Dancer at the entrance of a room are practically invulnerable. The loot was pretty disappointing for all that effort ( ; _ 
Furyhorn
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Damn the first DOEwas tough. It wrecked my Fort party (they ran out of TP), and when my main party encountered it it took half an hour of a battle of attrition to finally kill it. Protector + Dancer at the entrance of a room are practically invulnerable. The loot was pretty disappointing for all that effort ( ; _Furyhorn
I went WAT at first with my fight till I found out you needed to put on negative stats to even damage it lol. Thank god had someone in my PT at the time who could do that and we were in the fort with the backup party so that helped a lot. Granted on occasion the AI controlled characters got in the way of mine so that kinda messed things up. But better them taking damage than me lol
The wanderer while it wastes TP is hilarious useful in the sense of being an early warning system with the rock throwing at enemies from afar. Man when you have 2 of them in the party without having turned off the rock throwing skill you almost feel sorry for the enemies as they must be wondering where the hell did that come from. lol
Later on being able to break through walls and stuff can be useful on occasions.
Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to be unkillable at first. My Fort part had a Hexer, but I found out the trick a bit too late, lol
Still, it'd be nice if we could see its HP. The thing felt like it had practically one hundred times more HP than the other critters. Geez.
Nice to know. I can see how that'd be useful. I'll be keeping my Runemaster for now due to the immediate damage, but I'll try out other party configurations once I feel more confident in their strength.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Yeah its kinda crazy. Honestly did not like that system at all. Not sure why they decided to go that route. As a lot of times the DOEs felt a lot more dangerous than the stupid floor bosses that were just punching bags lol.
Yeah, I feel the need for inflicting ailments kind of hurts party creation.
Well, at least they managed to translate the intimidation factor of the FOEs well, that's for sure.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
That and the D: that occurs if it actually does make it through all the barriers and into town...
Thank god for the fort system and having those support characters though.
Turns into a huge mess if the DOE summons more enemies though. Oh man things went so wrong once due to that. I really need to get back to the game during a dry spell as currently way too many other things coming out or are out at the moment which took its place over this game.
Huh, I went back and killed the remaining DOEs of the Haunted Woods, and either that first DOE was massively stronger than the rest, or going at 8 against 1 made things much easier. Still, advancing time sucks lol. -50 FP is one hell of a toll.
I must say, this game really makes you feel strapped for cash, mainly because you gotta equip your entire guild.
I must say, this game really makes you feel strapped for cash, mainly because you gotta equip your entire guild.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Yeah, that and the default gear in that you can stick on them doesnt really cut it if you want them to survive a bit longer lol. So usually wind up doing hand me downs from the main PT or just buy better stuff.
Am real glad that they gain exp while assigned though.
Worthintendo
Member
Haha, I just did that one the other day for the first time, by chance I used a Sealing attack on it and then I realised I could hurt it. Managed to kill it, teleported out and came back with a Hexer and I'm doing much better now. Also Hexer has Poison up to max so if the DOE tries to summon anything I just use that and end up taking out pretty much everything in a few turns XD.Damn the first DOEwas tough. It wrecked my Fort party (they ran out of TP), and when my main party encountered it it took half an hour of a battle of attrition to finally kill it. Protector + Dancer at the entrance of a room are practically invulnerable. The loot was pretty disappointing for all that effort ( ; _Furyhorn
Managed to get to the bottom of the Haunted Woods last night and beat the boss, had a Hexer, Protector, Medic and Gunner. Hexer just kept hitting the boss with debuffs and posion, Protector getting all the agro, medic to heal people up and Gunner to do damage. Was a long fight but that feeling at the end when I beat it was awesome.
Gotta say I'm really enjoying this, The more I play it the more I enjoy it. I've tried Mystery Dungeon games in the past and they never clicked like this has. I think what I like the most about it is you have a party of 4, you can only control one per turn but you can swap each turn and if you aren't controlling them they move and act on their own. It adds a strangely Turn Based Strategy twist on the gameplay &I'm really enjoying it for that, it lets you play each situation as you need. Also only having 4 characters at a time forces you to choose carefully who you take in for dungeon runs, you can't cover all bases.
Its a really great game, Atlus did well on this one.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Basically any character that can perform status ailment effects will work on the DOEs, but in general yeah a hexer is good to have.
If you are planning on fighting DOEs then yeah its better if you control the hexer yourself rather than leaving it to the AI stationed in forts. At least thats how I see it.
Worthintendo
Member
I'm finding a gunner is good if you focus alot on their status binds, they have the bonus of being able to do alot of damage once the binds are on.
That said Hexer with the Mass Poison is great when DOE's summon all the monsters on the floor to the same room as you.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Yeah a gunner is really useful too for single targets and such. Plus the AI is useful for shooting stuff far away on occasions when it works correctly lol.
Worthintendo
Member
Yup, gunner is pretty much always good to have and leave the AI to manage it, just turn off using skills and it will slowly pick off stuff while you manage The Protector up front handling agro or whichever Spellcaster you have with you.
Only time I will control my Gunner is if I need to Bind something.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
way more cost efficient than the rock happy wanderer... lol
Thanks for the replies everyone, sounds reasonably well-balanced reading people's different party builds (although the Landsknecht doesn't seem to have an obvious strength compared to the Protector, when his high melee damage seems better off being done by the Gunner at range or by other characters with additional useful skills). I find it hard enough to choose 5 in EO, let alone 4!
I can't wait to get stuck into it, it sounds like you feel more like running a wider guild than just an adventuring party with a few substitute gatherers.
I can't wait to get stuck into it, it sounds like you feel more like running a wider guild than just an adventuring party with a few substitute gatherers.
The guild members remaining in town still gets Exp and you'll need a lot of people for the Forts and such, so there really isn't any reason to not fill your guild.
The early game is always pretty rough. I suggest you get a Protector to Provoke and take hits.
That seemed to work well, thanks.
Worthintendo
Member
I'm in the 6th dungeon, those god damn Thunder Hare's can go die in a fire >.<