Advice for the Garnet Demon Portal

I only started playing about ten days ago, and so have neither a lot of experience, nor a large and diverse deck of cards to draw from. I found The Compass Of Xorr difficult, but succeeded on my second try (the last go of that second try, but still...). I've had to repeat a few individual missions when I found my party was woefully ill-equipped (7 trog wizards? I guess my parry cards aren't going to be much use), but generally I haven't found it too hard.

But I cannot break through the Garnet Demon Portal. I haven't even got as far as the second mission; I've been wiped on the first mission twice now and can't see anything in my deck of equipment that would make things play out better.

I have an elf wizard, a human warrior and a dwarf priest. All at level 11. I'd like to get more items to use, but in all honesty I'm really bad at multiplayer: I can normally score a few points between locations and perhaps one kill, but I lose far more than I win against real people, so it's a painful and frustrating way to get better loot. I can't skip this mission as it's the only one available that I haven't completed.

After getting stuck, I started levelling another group of two wizards and a priest, as my impressions from multiplayer games has been that wizards are somewhat OP, and so are my best chance to break through. Is this a sound plan? The loot from the Mauve Manticore fights seems to be from Lvl1-18, so are they a good way to pick up a little extra equipment that might be handy?

Does anyone have any general advice for dealing with this particular dungeon?

 

Well a couple things. You can actually use your standard team to play old levels just to get equipment, it can also level them up depending on what level adventures you're playing which will boost your overall health.

The demon portals were always the hardest for me my first time through, they become much easier as you gain certain equipment.
To hit the movement heavy demons you will either need wizards or warriors with good step-attacks.
Resistant Hide is a must on your choice of robes for your wizards. If you draw it, just about the only thing that will get through are arcane attacks. - If you get really desperate you can try 3 Dwarf Wizards all who are level 4 (Yes level 4!). This will make it easier to draw resistant hide, and from there it's not too hard. Just try to avoid the demons and pass until you draw it. And whatever you do, don't let yourself get stuck in acid, or bye-bye hide.

 

Oh, thank you Pengwin. I should have thought about looking here. I noticed this forum existed, but didn't read it or remember about it.

I have enough items with resistant robes to go around, and it was pretty obvious that (as a relative rarity) my wizard was the last of my party to die in my two attempts. This and my complete inability to deal with wizard-heavy multiplayer opponents made me figure that would be worth a try for this mission. The imps were also throwing some cold magic at me which was making life even harder for my warrior to get into melee range (and yes, he had access to some step attacks and some range-two attacks) and that meant half my priest's buffs were useless.

Deliberately bringing low-level wizards in order to "stack the deck" to make sure I get the hide more reliably is a very interesting idea! I'll have a go just now with my level 11 and my two level 8 wizards and see what happens instead of waiting until they're all level 10-11. Wish me luck! And thanks!

 

Cards that say "push" instead of "move" will move you even when encumbered (that's the "cold magic" ). If you have some team movements, consider using them against mages, they always have the "push" keyword.
Also, step-attacks and stabs are obviously good. You don't need (almost) any 1-range attacks if all opponents are wizards.
Also, elven wizard is very squishy, dwarf or human wizard would be better since wizards don't need to move around that much either.

 

And cold spells.

Otherwise Vacuity, easiest way when you start to get your hands on some new useful equipments is just to browse the shops Remember that they reset everyday (except randimar, once a week for this one) so you have everything to win by checking those daily.
One tip that may become handy, casting a Smoke Bomb (wizard card) on your three dudes basicly makes your guys unkillable for 2 turns in the maps full of ennemy mages.
You can also find an answer with more mobility (elves, mass movement cards). But I think best advice, besides checking the shops, would be equip your mage with the Resistant hide as stated and put some Shimmering Aura on your other dudes.

Just checked wiki, and seems that Shimmering Aura only appears on Rare+ items so you might not have access to that (but you probably will if you farm the low levels). But if you wanna go with the Smoke Bomb, one common item (so 5 gold each in the shop if you can find it), Ring Of Smoke has two copies of the bomb (so up to 8 on a single wizzard). You can just stall with the bombs till you get your hands on your Resistant hide and then go pawn those nasty imps.

One last thing, replaying previous adventures with your team, if your team members don't have more then two levels then the map, will provide you with more xp which means more levels, more hp and more tokens to use for equips.

edit: actually best way to get your hands on some great items would be the incoming free leagues. In 6 hours, there will be a massive update: http://www.cardhunter.com/2014/04/attack-of-the-artifacts-launches-friday-25-april/
And for one week there will be free leagues in the multiplayer lobby. Half of those leagues use constructed decks means you don't have to own any cool items to shine there. Plus I am sure you will plenty enjoy the daily free chest.

 

I got to the second mission this time (actually, I recognised Gary and Melvin's dialogue and the layout, so I must have made it the first time I tried with my regular trio). On the first dungeon I lost one wizard before she got resistant hide. Got the other two in corners hopping back and forth to keep them as much out of the line of fire as possible, but they were both very beaten up by the time I could go on the offensive.

In the second mission, I got wiped out before anyone got their defensive hides. I feel I may be being unlucky as I'm stacking movements to try and keep me out of trouble until I get the hides, but the hides just aren't showing up for me. I did make a tactical error with an acid spray which I won't repeat again in a hurry.

I'll finish this try, but if it's not successful, I may go for those level 4s as winning seems to simply be a matter of getting the hide before you get picked off.

 

Items with Trait cards (even bad traits) will also reduce your deck size (almost all traits cause you to draw another card when played) to speed up getting resistant hide.

 

This was probably the hardest adventure for me in beta, especially the fourth map (lots of impassable terrain you have to wander around).

• I like using elves in the demon portals for the extra movement.
  
• Check to see what items you have with Shimmering Aura or Missile Block, as well as regular armor.
  
• Level 4 dwarf wizards are extremely powerful with the right items (Trembling Staff, Electroporter Novice, and anything with Firestorm), but you probably don't have much yet.
  
• Mauve Manticore gives items based on your current renown, not the full range 1-18.

 

This advice might not exactly help you now but it might avoid some frustration later.
Clerics are not worth the slot unless you have really great equipment for them.
Use 2 human warriors and 2 human wizards and then adjust the composition of the team to the adventures you play.
And while you level them up you also get more stuff which will make things more managable.

 

Resistant hide is always useful, but isn't as useful as on the other ones simply because of the large amount of arcane sprites and cold spells.

Mobility is going to be useful, and if you are using humans, get some human abilities with team moves. Elves can cover ground quickly to get to the enemies too, so they could help. The only kind of dwarf I can reccomend is a dwarf wizard, for more health yet still being able to attack them.

Step attacks are amazing if you have them. I remember there's a very nice level 7 uncommon weapon called a dagger that can help, and you should be able to buy it.

Finally, Garnet demon portal is the longest non treasure hunt available, so remember to bring some extra gold just in case!

 

I think I have to hold up my hands and say that I'm not very good at this game. I've lost every multiplayer game I've played over the last couple of games, even the ones against the AI (Amy is an AI, I assume, judging by the speed the moves get taken). I don't have much time to play, so that's quite frustrating. I also don't have time to play in the leagues, judging by the way they're set up. That's rather a shame, but if I'm just going to lose, maybe it doesn't really matter.

With the demon portal, I used my two wizards and one priest with my decks stacked as best I could for moves (including group moves) first, armour and healing second, and cards to force the demons to move third (hotspot, acid, et cetera) . I'm still losing. I feel somewhat miffed as I started counting how long it took for my resistant hide to show up. Obviously, people who die before they get the hide don't have a definitive answer, but when there's only 10 or fewer cards left in the deck, they still don't have it, and they die, repeatedly, it starts getting frustrating.

As far as equipment goes, I only have one set of shimmering aura on regular (warrior) armour. The Ring of Smoke that was suggested is a level 13 item, which means I cannot get it on drops in my campaign game. I just bought one from a shop just now (literally), as that's the first time I've seen it for sale. I've already got a triple missile block shield equipped on my priest. It helps him stay alive longer.

I'm a little disheartened at the moment, I have to confess.

Edit: Forgot to say, the last attempt was made with three mages. I finished the first map with one wizard left with 5hp (she'd finally got her hide). I lost the second map with one demon left with 1 hp. Close, but as there's plenty more maps, it's not exactly close overall.

 

In the 'nudie' runs I usually use a 1/1/1 - dwarf/human mix. Having a priest with some healing and melee helps. Any good armor helps. Arcane imps can discard your armor, so multiple armors can help. Dwarves with Charge help beat encumbrance from Frost Imps. Step attacks are a plus, but so are high damage weapons. High damage step attacks ROCK, but tend to be scarce at this level.
If you have weak equipment, fight your way into a good area to hole up. Put a good damage character just out of enemy LOS at each entry point and whack anything that tries to get in. Don't go out until you're healthy and reasonably well equipped. Go out, whack something nearby, then get back to cover before they gang up and kill you. Repeat as necessary. Fortunately there are no victory points on the first 4 maps, so you can take as long as you need to.
The problem with map 4 is that there are no good hiding places. You can 'kind of' hide 2 characters behind the 2 lower pillars for a round or two if you need to work your draws and let the enemy move into range. The Acid Imp is the main problem. Smoke can help by replacing the acid and allowing you to move. Smoke will also prevent ranged attacks, but not if you're at the 'edge' - which you often will be with all the canals. It's a running battle, so watch enemy LOS and hit them as hard as you can.
Map 5 starts with pretty decent cover, but there are victory squares so you'll need to hurry a bit.
Remember your tribulations here, and when you get a good firestorm build it will be fun to go back and burn them all to death in a round or three per map.
I know I enjoy it.

 

Holy severance payments, Batman! I finally did it! I'd picked up a few items from the new Attack of the Artifacts adventures, and even got a nice item from a MP game where my opponent quit on his first round. With a massive amount of patience I got through the first four dungeons with no losses or retries, though some exceedingly high round counts. The last dungeon took me down to my last try though: adventurers tripping on the first round, and other such joys made it "fun", in a not terribly fun kind of way, and frankly, I was going to get slaughtered on the next round (not likely to survive two) if I hadn't won with the victory location.

For future reference, should any other poor bugger get stuck here, this was my build of level 9s:

Human Wizard: Reflecting Staff, and Etched Sparkstaff.
Ring Of Smoke, Citrine Amulet, and Storm Circlet, Rumbling Rod.
Imp-proof Robes.
Disintegrating Boots.
Novice Command, and Apprentice Rifthopping switched with Apprentice Sparking for the last board.

Dwarf Wizard: Greenspark Staff, and Etched Sparkstaff.
Befuddling Stone, Asmod's Telkinetic Chain, The Soulstone, and the Cerulean Amulet later changed for the Hurricane Stone, in turn changed for the Elemental Diadem on the last board. The Cerulean Amulet was not useful in retrospect, and the Hurricane Stone not much better as I was mostly just hiding until I had the right cards in hand.
Forceful Robes.
Disintegrating Boots.
Untrained Ferocity, and Electroporter Novice switched for Novice Electromancy on the last board.

Elf Priest: Long Axe Of Repentance*2 switched for St. Trobor's Maul*2 on the last board.
Spellthwart Shield.
Metzli Mail.
Disintegrating Boots.
Acolyte's Healing Ring, Hand Of Melvelous and Ajan's Glowing Vial.
Superb Insight, and Novice Ablution. This was (occasionally) very useful for removing burning and cold effects. And sometimes I wished I had equipped Novice Piety.

Why the Disintegrating Boots? Because I really desperately needed some more armour cards in my decks! Also, on the boards with Acid Sprites and Arcane Sprites, you're likely to lose your armour before long, so it makes things less hairy to have more armour cards floating in your deck.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Some of the cards suggested I just don't have access to at present, but it's certainly instructive.

 

Gratz! It's great you persevered!

 

Great Job! It gets easier as your gear and skills get better.

 

I went all the game campaign with a classic cleric/fighter/wizard from 1 to 18, did all adventures only once and lost only once (by losing an adventure, I mean losing 3 battles in an adventure). I honestly felt my cleric to be very important.
For demons, clerics are very useful. You just max the number of area heals (healing presence, healing benediction). Then, equip your wizard with lots of lightning spells (they have very long ranges), lava pools and other terrain modification are quite good also with long ranges, too. And your fighter and cleric with max armor, reliable ones are better. Then, play safe, stay behind cover, heal a lot, use your fighter as meat shield (I had a dwarf one) and spam your long range spells. It takes ages, I must admit, but demons can't kill you as long as you overheal them.

 

Armor and damaging spells are always good vs wizards (demons)

 

Dwarven vampires work here as well as they work everywhere else. Fast boots and lots of damage, with a human cleric spamming Mass Frenzy, Dash, Team, Entangle and Martyr's Blessing behind them. You'll cop some hits, especially on the bridge level, but it always ends with the creeps cowering in a corner while your dwarves feed on them. So satisfying.