I just went in my first mine last night in my current (light) playghrough, wearing Fenris armor and fighting with an iron buckler and black metal knife!

It wasn't easy, and I got piled on a couple of times, but it shouldn't be easy. I wouldn't go in without bonemass ability and over 250 health, and I always know the way out in case I see a situation coming that I don't want to deal with, which happened a couple of times.

In my case, I had to retreat to the entrance a couple of times to both have an easy path to the exit and to limit their ability to pile on. I've found that a knife is very effective against a seeker, even a 1*, but taking on two or more at once didn't work nearly as well.

The knockback in the game currently is crazy, especially with seekers. With a knife you have to get combos in. it just doesn't work if you're constantly getting pounded and knocked back. It's a similar problem with a sword, but the sword can hit and stagger multiple enemies, and I don't remember the knockback being as bad with heavier armor.

Anyways, just take it slow and careful, and know when to run for the exit.

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

In my case, I had to retreat to the entrance a couple of times to both have an easy path to the exit and to limit their ability to pile on. I've found that a knife is very effective against a seeker, even a 1*, but taking on two or more at once didn't work nearly as well.

Do you mean Mistwalker or some other sword? I can't really imagine it, but I'm not surprised at that type of experience with knives, it must require a bit of adaptation and careful pacing (my own experience with knives having yielded me whole 9 skill levels with that weapon type).

Today when we cleared a dungeon as duo, we both had Frostners, activated Biomass power and went... ham, as is said. But I really mean that lol. Had no other option since my shield-sibling ignored the often-present floor gap at the entrance.

Mines have a bad design that you can get quite a pile of enemy in the doorway. Consider stepping back outside after taking a few swings or shots at them, heal up and repeat.
until you collect enough cores to make new gear, this is the best approach.
I also started using a LOT of medium heal potions in the mines before I got better gear.
finally, the wood-armor chest piece reduces the damage of most bugs by a large amount due to their damage being mostly pierce. Use it.

The mines are a crap shoot. I've been in easy mines, hard mines, and nightmare mines. One mine I was in had a virtual army of seeker soldiers as well as a two star seeker. Try and bait enemies back to the entrance and use your shield. Back out of the exit when necessary.

Originally posted by Zep Tepi:

It's ok for mines to be hard, however, the player has to clear one or more of these areas before they can even begin to upgrade from plains gear to mistlands gear.

But if you can clear the infested mine, then what do you need new gear for? (Maybe the Queen, but until there's something after her, there's not much incentive to worry about it.)

In other words, I agree that mistlands progression is messed up. There needs to be some kind of upgrade prior to facing the hardest content in the biome.

Why? Was there an upgrade before playing with trolls or burial-chamber skeleton hordes in black forest? Abominations or oozers etc in the swamp? Wolves or golems in the mountains? Fulings and berserkers in the plains? No, no there was not. Mistlands progression is fine, in terms of critters.

Originally posted by Kursor1:

Was there an upgrade before playing with trolls or burial-chamber skeleton hordes in black forest? Abominations or oozers etc in the swamp? Wolves or golems in the mountains? Fulings and berserkers in the plains? No, no there was not. Mistlands progression is fine, in terms of critters.

You could theoretically craft yourself full bronze and spear before encountering a single troll, but it seems unlikely. And there's virtually no avoiding the other encounters. Engagement? Perhaps. But at least you'll be aware of powerful non-boss foes in various biomes.

Compare abomination with fuling berserkers. Then look at seeker soldiers. Then look at the lox, and again at the abomination. Remember the stone golem. There's two biomes between abomination and seeker soldiers.

The one big difference between trolls, abominations, stone golems and lox and the seeker soldiers is soldiers being present in dungeons which are essential to progression. But you cannot really say you couldn't have seen them coming.

And then again, I guess the actual big bad of mistlands is gjall, not soldiers.

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Do you mean Mistwalker or some other sword? I can't really imagine it, but I'm not surprised at that type of experience with knives, it must require a bit of adaptation and careful pacing (my own experience with knives having yielded me whole 9 skill levels with that weapon type).

I'm not sure what your question is about the sword. Swords in general can hit multiple enemies. I don't remember if the black metal sword would stagger seekers with the primary attack, but certainly Mistwalker can.

Using the knife in ML does take some adaptation, but, it can take down a (at least) non-starred seeker without the seeker being able to attack, even without a parry, just using a combo of, I don't know, a bunch of attacks in short succession. Normally it's two or three combos, though, due to stamina or whatnot.

I have an atgier for the ticks also that I've used a couple of times to keep multiple seekers at bay for a short time, but that takes alot of stamina.

I tried fighting a soldier, but he was up the spiral stairs, and would hit me before I got close enough and knock me off the stairs. I think the fall damage did more than the soldier!

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Today when we cleared a dungeon as duo, we both had Frostners, activated Biomass power and went... ham, as is said. But I really mean that lol. Had no other option since my shield-sibling ignored the often-present floor gap at the entrance. :RoflOwlcat:

As they say on the London Tube (or at least said back in the '90s when I was there last) : "Mind the gap!".

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I'm not sure what your question is about the sword. Swords in general can hit multiple enemies. I don't remember if the black metal sword would stagger seekers with the primary attack, but certainly Mistwalker can.

I was just wondering how you found them to work. At least on paper Mistwalker causes less staggering since it deals good share of its damage as frost, but the frost slowdown effect is very useful too. I still find Frostner's knockback + slowdown more valuable than staggering with attacks (since parrying is possible anyway), but against the soldiers Mistwalker is far better than the frost mace.

Originally posted by Kursor1:

Why? Was there an upgrade before playing with trolls or burial-chamber skeleton hordes in black forest? Abominations or oozers etc in the swamp? Wolves or golems in the mountains? Fulings and berserkers in the plains? No, no there was not. Mistlands progression is fine, in terms of critters.

Yes, you upgrade deer armor with bones. Bones are primarily found in the black forest. You can also take down trolls before you access bronze and get troll armor. Both of these upgrades are possible before acquiring cores.

For the swamp, the crypts are actually safer than wandering around outside. The monsters in the crypts are separated into small groups or even individuals which can be easily cheesed with a stagbreaker. The swamp crypts are in no way comparable to the infested mines where enemies are free to mob you at the gate. Abominations are optional and very easy to get away from if you're not ready to fight them yet. The player can choose to go for the root armor before or after going into the crypts, and between the two, crypts are easier.

Once again, you do not need to clear a frost cave and kill cultists in an enclosed environment before you get your silver armor. Frost caves are more difficult than free roam, but you don't have to go in there first, or at all if you don't care about fenris armor. You're not required to clear a frost cave before making silver armor.

In the plains, you can selectively pull fulings out one at a time and then sneak in and grab flax and barley without having to clear the entire village, deal with berserkers and shamans, and look inside every single chest hoping to find what you need. Those materials are usually out in the open and right on the edge. You grab and go, get your production started, make upgrades, and then clear the villages for fun, profit or totems.

In the mistlands, there is only one way to progress and that is straight through doing the hardest part first. The alternate armor set does not have an alternative method for aquiring it.

120 health is way too little. That's like the kind of Health you go into as a mage with the barrier protecting you. Melee build you should be looking to get near 200.

I went through the screenshots tab awhile back and noticed something really disturbing—people doing hard content with garbage food.

I saw one screenshot of a guy who still had bronze gear in the Swamp and was using Cooked Boar/Deer meat and a Yellow Mushroom when he could have been using Deer Stew/Minced Meats/Carrot Soup.

I saw another screenshot of someone new to the Mistlands running around with Sausages/Wolf Jerky/Cloudberries.

The more and more I saw, the more I've come to believe that people who whine and moan about difficulty have no idea how to properly prepare for harder content and just go running in expecting everything to fall over with minimal effort.

It's ok for mines to be hard, however, the player has to clear one or more of these areas before they can even begin to upgrade from plains gear to mistlands gear.

But if you can clear the infested mine, then what do you need new gear for? (Maybe the Queen, but until there's something after her, there's not much incentive to worry about it.)

In other words, I agree that mistlands progression is messed up. There needs to be some kind of upgrade prior to facing the hardest content in the biome.

This is a bit of an issue for sure especially if you are solo, You can often lure them back to the entrance and get to a place where they can almost not reach you and cheese them.

You can also kite them around areas you have already been. Also, make sure you are using 2 health foods, 1 stam, have health potions on you and the bonemass buff.

What armor and weapons are you using if I may ask?

You might be doing all these things by no means am I trying to say you are not I do remember my first time I died in 2 hits to a 1 star seeker and made a similar post but I was not using the bonemass buff and my food had run pretty low so I only had about 120 health.

These are more or less just checks to make sure you have these things.

Originally posted by DarthTanyon:

This is a bit of an issue for sure especially if you are solo, You can often lure them back to the entrance and get to a place where they can almost not reach you and cheese them.

You can also kite them around areas you have already been. Also, make sure you are using 2 health foods, 1 stam, have health potions on you and the bonemass buff.

What armor and weapons are you using if I may ask?

You might be doing all these things by no means am I trying to say you are not I do remember my first time I died in 2 hits to a 1 star seeker and made a similar post but I was not using the bonemass buff and my food had run pretty low so I only had about 120 health.

These are more or less just checks to make sure you have these things.

Hi, i had more than 120 health, previous tier armor maximized, black sword and shield. And bonemas skill. I know when entering is a mini "secure" zone. I kicked them with haldberg (long range) and ALL went into the "safe" zone xDD. If i run into mine, sure i would get more monsters, i killed 3 or 4 seekers, but the solidier, with one only weak point.. well , too hard in that position.

Zed Tepi has said very well before , it should be and upgrade, before gettin into mines

Highly recommend popping the Biomass power and going ham while it lasts. Then tip-toe very carefully. That way you'll be able to familiarize yourself with the situation you are in and learn the lay of the land. After a bit of learning process you can clear mines without Forsaken powers, especially with a bit of spellcasting.

1* and 2* seekers are just as hard as fulings of same level when you first arrive in plains.

High level seeker soldiers are probably somewhere around 2* berserker levels.

For those encounters you'll definitely want some superpowers, or at least magic. The first time I entered mines, there was one of those creatures, I no longer remember which. I died, and combed through 3 or 4 other mines before I went back to the first one to get my original stuff back. It's doable, and before long it won't be too challenging anymore.

Edit: 120 health is not enough. You'll need over 200 and health potions.