So I just played this game for about a week. Asides from a couple of failed character, I currently run 2 characters: a soldier/occultist (main) in veteran mode, and a shaman/demolitionist in normal mode. They are level 31-33 only
The first thing I want to ask is: what is the efficient way to level up? Do I keep doing bounty quests (I can kill darius cronley with ease, some running around to kill salazar because he’s always 6 levels above me), or do I stick to the main story? My shaman/demo is doing the story and my soldier/occult is running bounty quests.
At what level should I try the steps of torment? My shaman get 1 shotted at step level 5 or so and I haven’t tried again since.
A question about Blade Arc: can it work with attack trigger such as zolhan or malkovian advantage? What about those of nightblade’s? Can it work with shaman feral hunger? I like to build a 2h sustain character so I might try out different combinations.
These are just from my experience. I’ve played through normal to elite maybe 3 times and my 3rd is now in elite.
I don’t do bounty quests unless the area I can kill the bounty is near or higher than my level. So if I am at level 40 I don’t do bounty in Burrwitch estates or whatever. Otherwise I think of bounty as an extra bonus and a way to get the factions reputation.
Personally my obsession is to do sweep and clear of every area of the map! And with that you naturally gain levels. Otherwise sometimes I gain a resource like Royal Jelly and make Balms to help in tough fights or farm dynamite etc… And thus I naturally level.
So I would do the main quest with sweep and clear and do Homestead and go on to Fort Ikon. Lill Loghorean I think easier than steps of torment. Wait to turn in the quest till you hit level 50 and you get a Legendary item instead of a Epic. Ok then make sure you did all the ‘free stuff’ quests in Normal (or Veteran) like that give you One Shot Chests or Devotion Points or Inventory Bags or Stats or Skills. Find on wiki.
The special dungeons Steps of Torment and Bastion of Chaos (need skeleton keys made) I do around level 55 or so and usually I get easy stuff in Elite difficulty first. The Hidden Path is also a high level quest area.
Comment: however the first 3 levels of Steps of Torment and First part of Bastion of Chaos BEFORE the skeleton key is needed is a lot lower level and I do those as soon as strong enough to get the devotion shrines.
You can level quite effectively by doing a 100% area clear of every zone and not farming at all, in my experience. Bounties are better for faction gain than exp gain and grinding in the roguelikes is inefficient at low levels because you won’t have much blood of chthon to make skeleton keys. If you really want to grind, I’d recommend doing Royal Hive for the density of enemies or picking a faction type you’re trying to level and running areas with the enemies that boost that faction.
Blade arc is pretty rad but does not trigger WPS abilities at all for the reason that Mortal Kombat listed. This is true of any skill that is not a default attack replacer. If you want to build a 2hander, consider picking up savagery from shaman or cadence from soldier as default attack replacers. A word of warning for cadence though, the third hit of every 3 cadence strikes will not proc WPS because it is proccing cadence instead, so all WPS will be at 2/3 chance to happen if you play cadence.
For leveling purpose honestly I think just running to the farther area you are able to do and doing as much as you can. I personally finish Normal around 50 and then check with the GrimChecklist any missed quest. Collect them all at once and do as much as possible in one go. If you want to go fast the best way is to have the most stuff in the least amount of space and Quest seems to be giving the most XP. Also if you intend to try the Nemesis think about the reputation there at the sametimes.
Will take Mandragora as an exemple.
A) There is a Quest to kill her (in my case it wasn’t done)
B) Homestead offer 90% Bounties about Hive and near there. I was done so I took the Mandragora one and kept it for a damn long time.
C) At one point in Fort Ikon Black Legion gave me the option to pick on that bounties.
Well AT that moment I went into Pine Barrens and took on the Quest got 3x the rewards in term of Experience was the most efficient XP/Times ratio by far.
My first run in Step of Torment is quite often a 5 to 8 quest with Bounties and Quests from multiple faction. You can also maximise your BoC first run in a similar way or even just the end game were Black Legion and Outcast can give both give you Bounties to clear the same ennemy…that is also one you will cross just getting to Log.
For Hate reputation find Bounties that ADD heroes and don’t cash them in. It is worth more being able to kill them each time you go there than just the reputation you get from the quest.