Played the game many times and finished at least one run with each class.
It's definitely more challenging than Rogue Fable III, but also more simple and slightly more balanced.
Like in the previous one, also in this game there're some talents that are incredibly powerful and you'd like to get at every run. Here's my Top 5 of them:
1- Shield block. Simply broken. Shields will always be good to equip and two-handed weapons that prevent you from using it are very rare, so you're likely to get one everytime. 40% block chance means that almost every other attack on you just misses. Always go for it
2- Shroud of wind. Two very good bonuses in one. Even if it takes you 12Int to get the best of it, Shroud of wind grants 20% reflect chance and Levitation. 1 out of 5 projectiles bounce back from you to the enemy AND you no longer have to worry about pools or unstable terrain (which would grant crits to the enemies). Get it, but only if you want to bring it to LV2
3- Shadow step. Read the description carefully and between the lines as well; it's not "Blinks you close to an enemy", it's "TELEPORT for FREE close to ANY enemy you can see". It's insanely good to prevent being surrounded or getting the annoying enemy healers, and it fully works even at Lv1, so you don't even need 14DEX to get the best of it (though 10 cooldown instead of 20 is not bad at all).
4- Burst of flame. It's a lot of damage, can hit multiple enemies and it doesn't have limited range (for the flame to burst) or line-of-sight requirement. You think inflammable objects are hard to find? Just know that the torches on the walls are inflammable objects as well.
5- Dominate. Useless to say, it's extremely good as anyone would expect from it. It requires 14INT to get LV1 (though you won't probably need LV2), but for 8 mana you immediately get rid of an enemy and turn it against the others. Suggest to use it on enemy wizards (elementals included) as most of them have AoE attacks or on enchanted enemies that would last much more than normal ones.
Honorable mention- Perfect aim. Since 8 classes out of 10 use ranged attacks (duelist requires high DEX, so you''re gonna get a bow), having extra range (and lesser line-of-sight problems at LV2) means shooting from safer places and an extra attack before that obsydian golem gets to you and you have to run from it. Also very useful with Summon skeleton or Domination as you can shoot from behind your minions when they get the front line.
Also, some tips that may be useful for those who still need to clear their first run.
- Not all runs are meant to be beatable. Not with each class. Some seeds just spawn items for everything but your class and you need a reliable build to defeat the final boss. If you see things are not going fine (the first 8 floors are enough to see it), just quit and start a new run.
- Strenght is a must. Always. As it increases maxHP, max encumberance and melee damage, you'd like to always bring it to 12 at least (also for LV2 Shield block as soon as you find it and a shield). You may choose which one between INT and DEX as they both increase ranged damage, but you'll always need strenght.
- Plan ahead and not come to compromises. Enchanting a weapon or a regular equip is not as good as enchanting a 3-stats item (like Mushroom cap shield) or an Attribute-plus item (like ring of Dexterity), and transferance tables are VERY rare (found only one in like 50 runs). Keep enchanting scrolls with you for all the time you need until you find an item worth of enchantment or you get to the gates of Yendor's vault. Also with tomes of skills (gives you 1 out of 4 available talents at your choice), if there's one talent you want but you don't have high enough attributes (YET), just leave it there, level up and then come back to get it.
- If you're new to the game, check each enemy's stats and skills they know, expecially in late game. You can do it by hovering the enemy without clicking. Useful to also check how much damage they deal and if you'll survive the next round without consuming that potion.
- Buy javelins and chakrams and use them. Projectiles have been buffed a lot from Rogue Fable III and are very cheap. A Chakram deals 24 damage (+DEX bonus) to all enemies in a row; that's twice the base damage of lightning bolt. If you see any by the merchant, just take 'em.
- If you run as one of the 5 mages, you're gonna need an offensive spell not of your element (or an AoE of an element if Enchanter). Staves are very rare in the game and it's very likely you'll find enemies resistant to your main element so, unless you're eager to use all your consumables on a couple of ordinarily weak mobs or risk your life and attack them with weapons that deal half your main damage or less, you'll need a spell of another element to use against them, and possibly one that doesn't interfere with your other spells (no Poison cloud if Storm or Fire mage as your attacks would ignite it, for example).
That's all. I finished at least a run with every class (no seeding if not to restart the same run after a dumb mistake/missclick in early), so each one of them is winnable. Just like with every roguelike, you need to fail several times and discover both mechanics, enemies and available items in order to use such knowledge and win.
