Difficulty spikes

Started a new game, and ran into a pretty hard wall - getting surtling stones with a 2-quality club as best weapon is rough when I meet an elite skeleton AND a ghost, in a tomb guarded by 4 skeletons outside.

It was a deathathlon!

Now, I'm not a great player. I'm not horribad either. But I think that it's fair to say that with such difficulty spikes, some way of altering difficulty would be greatly appreciated.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
Falaris 0 comments 0 likes

Nascarman replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 2:16:03 pm PST

Originally posted by Falaris:
I've noticed that all of you have ever commented on difficulty in posts to tear down others' suggestions of the same, so your opinion is set in stone. You'all engaged purely in nitpicking and not even adressed the point I made.

Since we're not going to discuss that anyway...

I don't know how the shield mechanics work, but I took 18-20 damage through a lvl 2 shield. I didn't expect a lvl 3 shield to be so much different that it would make you immune. Explain how that works?

Well if you don’t try to parry attacks you’ll take damage. Never not parry melee attacks unless you’ve got a blackmetal shield and are fighting deathsquitos. It’s easy and super beneficial

I don’t find the game hard at all. My main solo playthrough is on day 270, I’ve beaten yagluth and made a grand castle at the top of a mountain and my last death was before day 40 to a sea serpent that spawned in the middle of a lake before I knew what it was. All my suggestions are based on the things I did when I was going through the game. I had a flint spear, level 3 wood shield and leather armor the first time I entered the black forest, and yes, my other death was in a dungeon. But I learned, took proper precaution, and changed how I approached them so that I’d never struggle with them again.

If you claim pre-H&H was easier, I’ve also played through part of the game post-H&H too and found it easier as I used the stagbreaker strategy I told you about to eliminate the threat of all melee enemies in the dungeon (which most of them are anyway)
9:13 am, December 21, 2021
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jonnin replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 1:19:41 pm PST

Not every tomb has a ghost, they are a little more dangerous. Mostly its one on one vs skeletons who are lined up in a hallway unable to get at you effectively. If the tomb you found is hard to handle, look for another: there are many and most sound easier than what you found. you can run past the guards inside if 3-4 guards are trouble for you. They WILL be there when you leave, though! It is not uncommon to have to make a kiln, use it then break it, reuse the cores for the smelter until you get a bronze shield and weapon.
See what else you can make from the things you find outside too .. new food? New wood? Poke around a bit!
12:13 am, December 21, 2021
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Nascarman replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:13:32 am PST

Originally posted by Falaris:
Started a new game, and ran into a pretty hard wall - getting surtling stones with a 2-quality club as best weapon is rough when I meet an elite skeleton AND a ghost, in a tomb guarded by 4 skeletons outside.

It was a deathathlon!

Now, I'm not a great player. I'm not horribad either. But I think that it's fair to say that with such difficulty spikes, some way of altering difficulty would be greatly appreciated.

Instead of giving up and asking for easy mode, you could instead consider a different strategy

Stagbreaker can cheese literally every melee enemy in a dungeon provided you can lead it to the entrance as neither ghosts nor skeletons can climb up the rock platform there.

A level 3 wood shield can block and parry all skeleton attacks, so 1v1 combat should be trivial

Every room in a dungeon has a door, if you wanna take on enemies one at a time you can just only open doors when you are ready to fight them
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Falaris replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:21:01 am PST

This is a difficulty spike caused by going into the black forest the first time.

The first time you go into the black forest you don't have equipment you need to farm the black forest for.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Terraria Smurf 1337 Hours replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:21:09 am PST

one of the parts of the game is testing out different weapons and learning which enemies are weak to which weapon(s)

altough the maze is completely broken as almost everything is weak to blunt damage which is kinda blunt....

[edit] if it isn't clear what I am trying to hint at: maybe the level 2 club is jsut a bad weapon for doing dungeons
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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magilla666 replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:25:09 am PST

Flint axe and wooden shield will take down anything in a burial crypt.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Falaris replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:28:48 am PST

Originally posted by Terraria Smurf 1337 Hours:
one of the parts of the game is testing out different weapons and learning which enemies are weak to which weapon(s)

altough the maze is completely broken as almost everything is weak to blunt damage which is kinda blunt....

[edit] if it isn't clear what I am trying to hint at: maybe the level 2 club is jsut a bad weapon for doing dungeons

You don't have a lot of options when you're straight out of the meadows. You can have the crude bow, flint axe or club. The axe is mostly a wood chopping implement, but it can be used for chopping bones, I guess.


Please note that what I'm talking about here isn't that it's impossible to do. I have played valheim before, and didn't have problems with this stage then.

However, after the recent updates (food rework etc) I just started a new game, and things I had no trouble with before is suddenly a lot harder.

I COULD Have been hit by RNG, that's one thing, but if not, the game has gotten a lot harder at a stage where it wasn't the easiest before.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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TooTall1 replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:33:47 am PST

If you get mobbed and do not have effective crowd control simply run back to the entrance of the Burial Chamber. The slightly raised area at the entrance in the first room will stop all mobs. Shoot all ranged attackers from the elevated position, rest, heal of do whatever you need to do, profit.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Terraria Smurf 1337 Hours replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 11:56:29 am PST

Originally posted by Falaris:
Originally posted by Terraria Smurf 1337 Hours:
one of the parts of the game is testing out different weapons and learning which enemies are weak to which weapon(s)

altough the maze is completely broken as almost everything is weak to blunt damage which is kinda blunt....

[edit] if it isn't clear what I am trying to hint at: maybe the level 2 club is jsut a bad weapon for doing dungeons

You don't have a lot of options when you're straight out of the meadows. You can have the crude bow, flint axe or club. The axe is mostly a wood chopping implement, but it can be used for chopping bones, I guess.


Please note that what I'm talking about here isn't that it's impossible to do. I have played valheim before, and didn't have problems with this stage then.

However, after the recent updates (food rework etc) I just started a new game, and things I had no trouble with before is suddenly a lot harder.

I COULD Have been hit by RNG, that's one thing, but if not, the game has gotten a lot harder at a stage where it wasn't the easiest before.

spear? knife?
every part of the game can be hard. that's how it's supposed to be
no easy mode needed

also this:

Originally posted by TooTall1:
If you get mobbed and do not have effective crowd control simply run back to the entrance of the Burial Chamber. The slightly raised area at the entrance in the first room will stop all mobs. Shoot all ranged attackers from the elevated position, rest, heal of do whatever you need to do, profit.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Nascarman replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 12:17:28 pm PST

Originally posted by Falaris:
Originally posted by Terraria Smurf 1337 Hours:
one of the parts of the game is testing out different weapons and learning which enemies are weak to which weapon(s)

altough the maze is completely broken as almost everything is weak to blunt damage which is kinda blunt....

[edit] if it isn't clear what I am trying to hint at: maybe the level 2 club is jsut a bad weapon for doing dungeons

You don't have a lot of options when you're straight out of the meadows. You can have the crude bow, flint axe or club. The axe is mostly a wood chopping implement, but it can be used for chopping bones, I guess.


Please note that what I'm talking about here isn't that it's impossible to do. I have played valheim before, and didn't have problems with this stage then.

However, after the recent updates (food rework etc) I just started a new game, and things I had no trouble with before is suddenly a lot harder.

I COULD Have been hit by RNG, that's one thing, but if not, the game has gotten a lot harder at a stage where it wasn't the easiest before.

Completely false. Flint spear + leather armor + level 3 shield are all obtainable pre-eikthyr and easily dispatches the greydwarfs in the Black Forest. Once you get some core wood you can make a stagbreaker and clear dungeons with ease to get 10 surtling cores.

The food rework nerfed max hp and stamina, but if you think before you do things, it’s barely any harder.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Falaris replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 12:34:00 pm PST

I've noticed that all of you have ever commented on difficulty in posts to tear down others' suggestions of the same, so your opinion is set in stone. You'all engaged purely in nitpicking and not even adressed the point I made.

Since we're not going to discuss that anyway...

I don't know how the shield mechanics work, but I took 18-20 damage through a lvl 2 shield. I didn't expect a lvl 3 shield to be so much different that it would make you immune. Explain how that works?
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Terraria Smurf 1337 Hours replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 12:38:41 pm PST

Originally posted by Falaris:
...
I don't know how the shield mechanics work
...

git gud

case closed, thanks for coming to my ted talk
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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ShaftAlmighty replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 12:39:41 pm PST

Crude bow not upgraded, 30+ fire arrows, kill Rudolph > use antler to mine copper and tin on edges of black forest, for safety reasons > make copper atgeir > gather mobs close to you > secondary attack > repeat until everything is dead. Instead of blocking, learn to roll. The i-frames in rolling is quite long.

Troll attacks, simply roll into it then secondary attack then jab twice and roll away. Watch your stamina and you're all good.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Xtinction replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 12:52:07 pm PST

this game is a grind game build up your current char first and get the stag weapon u shouldnt have a issue
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Lecherous Lychee 🐸 replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 1:00:48 pm PST

Originally posted by Falaris:
I've noticed that all of you have ever commented on difficulty in posts to tear down others' suggestions of the same, so your opinion is set in stone. You'all engaged purely in nitpicking and not even addressed the point I made.

Nascarman, TooTall1, and Smurf gave you advice on how you can use different strategies.

Yet, in every response you made thereafter, you just kept denying their advice and recycle back to, "Nah, I rather IronGate just listen to me and make difficulty adjustable."

So weren't you just tearing down the advice of others anyway? People are actually trying to help. Perhaps take heed their advice?

I don't know how the shield mechanics work, but I took 18-20 damage through a lvl 2 shield. I didn't expect a lvl 3 shield to be so much different that it would make you immune. Explain how that works?

How shields work post H&H: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw33dzhz21c

More info about shields and damage mechanics:

- https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Shields
- https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Damage_mechanics

Originally posted by Falaris:
Started a new game, and ran into a pretty hard wall - getting surtling stones with a 2-quality club as best weapon is rough when I meet an elite skeleton AND a ghost, in a tomb guarded by 4 skeletons outside.

Now, as for your original post, I created a new character for the sake of this experiment for a different thread some weeks ago. Without killing any bosses, I gathered materials for a club, shield, finewood bow, flinthead arrows, all leather scrap gear, and leveled them to 2-3 accordingly. I got finewood by rolling beech logs against birch trees, which then I rolled them around until they broke. It was tedious, but I made it happen.

Inside the instanced burial chambers, I almost always had my shield up when I enter a new room. I always stayed half a step from the frame of a door and made sure to move back and forth to hit and retreat. If there are archers, I made sure to side step or use my shield. The moment I see 2 star mobs, I exit the chamber, because they're deadly.

We're not expected to be able to take on every single element of the game, even in the starting area until we're stronger. That's what survival games are like. You either use strategy, or recognise when you need to retreat and go back a different day.

Eating the right types of food matter a lot. I normally eat stam/stam/health. I also avoid jumping because that action takes a lot of stamina. I sprint in bursts. If there are trolls, I lure them to narrow places that I can circle around, or take them to ruined towers where skeletons reside, then leave them.

---

Note, I have also suggested that IG allow variables when starting new worlds, such as difficulty, toggle certain features, etc, but until then, we must adhere to better strategy in a survival game such as Valheim. So what better way, than to take into consideration the advice of others?
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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Falaris replied to Difficulty spikes December 20, 2021 @ 1:05:10 pm PST

Originally posted by ShaftAlmighty:
Crude bow not upgraded, 30+ fire arrows, kill Rudolph > use antler to mine copper and tin on edges of black forest, for safety reasons > make copper atgeir > gather mobs close to you > secondary attack > repeat until everything is dead. Instead of blocking, learn to roll. The i-frames in rolling is quite long.

Troll attacks, simply roll into it then secondary attack then jab twice and roll away. Watch your stamina and you're all good.

Trolls are easy. Getting the copper on the outside of the black forest is easy. Getting the surtling cores so you can build the smelter to make any of that was the actual problem.
9:13 pm, December 20, 2021
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