这几天准备重新开始玩法师，结果人类法师总是死在初级迷宫的巨人手里。而我却毫不吸取教训，总是认为是意外。

初级的法师真的很脆弱，控制技能少，法强还不高，一旦吃了控制技能实在很危险，森林的巨人看来以后要放到初级迷宫的最后打。

加油!我的人类奥术法师！

My minions, I am happy and pround to give you Tales of Maj'Eyal 1.0.1 ! See http://te4.org/

This is the first release since V1 and it brings you much new goodness and improvements!

Enjoy and have fun in Eyal!

 

Note for windows users:  the download link is now a download of the launcher/installer which will take care of keeping your game up to date for the next versions. If you place it in your V1 folder (the music version) it will update it to V1.0.1 with a much smaller download. Enjoy!

 

Don't forget to help ToME by with donations ( http://te4.org/donate ) !

And do not forget to vote for ToME on Steam Greenlight!

 

Release highlights:

• Improved UI, notably the chat, allowing you to join custom channels, read multiple channels at once, ...
• New spell effects
• The Oozemancer: a new class, inherently antimagic, dedicated to protect Nature against the assaults of arcane forces
• New zone: the sludgenest
• A huge list of improvements to many classes and features!

 

Expanded changelist:

• Lowered damage taken requirements of Corrupted Shell and Cauterize to 15k
• Marauders start with Combat Veteran tree unlocked
• Meteoric Crash doesnt stun the caster
• Sun Paladins in Arena mode have a tile
• Temporal Form in addition to increasing paradox also increases the willpower for determining failures & paradox effects by +600
• Reflection Shield rune got it's own icon
• Glowing Chests will not interrupt AE after being openned
• Gesture of Pain correctly checks stun resistance
• Slaves in the Ring of Blood will have all status effects removed when freed
• Disarming Trap now does acid damage too
• When a trap expires without being triggered it refunds 80% of its stamina cost
• Aligned field in registration form
• Fixed Gestures description
• Added a lore popup when wielding an antimagic item as an arcane user
• Added a lore note when killing Ukruk in the ambush, explaining what and why he does what he does
• New lore inthe caverns leading to the valley of the moon
• Added a paper on why sea travel is impossible to the library of Last Hope
• The Demonic Orb of Many Ways can not be used on the High Peak farportals
• All cleansing egos are antimagic
• Stoning Poison does not turn to stone is removed early
• Impending Doom is affected by spell save
• Can swap position with patrols
• Buffed some lesser used artifacts
• Prevent adding more points into Lichform once transformed, as it is useless
• Petrified Wood can be used by the golem with bonuses
• Elemental Surge correctly tiggers from 200 damage, not 300
• Alchemists can not loose Create Alchemist Gems by unlearning Extract Gem
• Talents can be set to require confirmation before use
• Improved talents display to show if a talent has been set with automatic use or confirmation
• Hide In Plain Sight correctly state it takes no turn
• Trapped! quest fails if you somehow escape without killing the assassin or siding with him
• Learning a talent from tree still locked from an escort will not reset mastery
• Note that Fearscape drains vim and ends when reaching 0
• Fixed Flexible Combat to work with weapons
• Great Mummy Lord learnt the Tricks of the Trade prodigy
• Made it clear Nightmare achievements are only when playing Roguelike
• Lowered Irresistible Sun damage a bit
• Easy, Normal and Nightmare mode players are immune to instadeath attacks (but not Insane ones, they are insane after all)
• You Shall Be My Weapon! now only requires being 'big' but ad additional benefits for sizes over it
• No need to use the orb of scrying to id artifacts anymore
• Fixed You Shall Be My Weapon! not triggering its cooldown
• Fixed ambient music in Gorbat Pride
• Increased zigur parties rarity a bit
• Better blood of life description
• Fixed permanent accuracy loss from "Disable" status effect
• Circle of Death and Rigor Mortis can crit
• Impending Doom now "only" reduces healing factor by 100% instead of outright preventing healing
• Doomed talents can now proc mind procs
• Crystaline Focus correctly removes spell save bonus
• Added a failsafe to the staff of absorption quest
• Glyph of Paralysis checks for stun resistance
• Added an ignore option to the chat
• Orc Corruptor in the antimagic test can not crit anymore with spells
• Dream Crusher now (correctly) gives bonus damage and physical power to the dream hammer
• Thought Form Defender resist all bonus from thought form unity reduced
• Dream Forge tree is now generic
• Forge Shield block value reduced, sustain cost increased
• Forge Armor armor and defense values decreased, psi on hit increased
• Reduced Solipsism conversion ratios
• Reduced Balance conversion ratios
• Reduced the save check power on Dismissal
• When the Master resurrects he gloats a bit
• When reaching 0 air you now start suffocating instead of outright dying. Suffocating makes you loose life very quickly and can not be prevented by shields/absorbs/...
• Alchemist gems are now transmogrifiable
• Fixed lore not registering in the library
• Defiled wands now increase max vim instead of procing vim restoration
• Brawlers now get the Mobility tree at 1.2
• Added a confirmation prompt when entering the High Peak
• Added chat channel number aliases (1, 2, 3, ..) and usable quickly by /1 /2 /3 ...
• /r in the talkbox will switch to talking to the last person whispering you
• in the talkbox when whispering will cycle between all last whisperers
• Changed the color and format of whispers when displayed
• Fixed wrong order of loading chained superloads of addons
• Fixed loss of resists/... in some rare conditions when being fed upon
• Sustained talents can now have a "callbackOnAct" method that gets automatically called each turn when sustained
• Drain does not restore vim from your own summons
• Added /join and /part commands to the chat; you can join(and create) any channel you wish (name must be letters & - _ only)
• Added a list of current channels to the options
• Channels are now remembered and will reconnect when the game starts
• Checkboxes now have the box before the text (this is reversable by adding a check_last=true parameter when creating them)
• Fix wild summon:spider healing reduction
• Mind Speed will correctly apply to wild gifts too
• Smoke Bomb cost reduces with level
• Maybe fix the invulnerable after death bug
• Blighted summoning adds Magic to necrotic summons
• Can not drop plot items
• Can not give items to Norgan anymore
• No NPC use talents can not be automatically used either
• Phase Door Rune now also grants a buff that increases defense, resist all and reduces status effects duration
• Invisibility Rune does not prevent healing anymore
• Taint of Telepathy now only reduces mindsave by 10 but also increases mindpower by 35
• Acid Wave Rune now also corrodes the targets
• Lichform does not change donator tile if used
• Can not give items to escorts
• Screen will turn greenish when healing is impossible
• New option to save & exit
• Escorts will never run away further than 10 tiles
• Fixed unlearning talents
• Heat Beam rune now also removes a random physical effect
• Frozen Spear rune now also removes a random mental effect
• Vision runes now also grant ESP for a certain type of creature
• Insidious Poison infusion now also removes one detrimental magical effect
• Greatly increased damage of Wild Growth infusion, it also provides a big boost to armour & hardiness
• Halved the cooldowns of Wild Growth infusion and Taint of Telepathy
• Lightning rune has a higher max potention damage than other runes
• Boss NPCs that can move through walls will have easier time tracking the player; so they wont get lost in walls so much
• Lethality crit chance bonus works for all kinds of weapons
• Fixed Cease To Exist effect tooltip
• Wearing the cloak of deception will make NPC call you human instead of undead
• Slime Tunnels generator will not validate the level unless the 4 pedestals are present
• The Slime Tunnel pedestals now have a nice friendly popup when steped upon to activate them: I'm so nice!
• The Slime Tunnel pedestals now invoke a powerful nasty guardian when activated: I'm so evil!
• Lacerating Strikes is now a costless sustain
• Shivgoroth Form on autocast will not error out in the ring of blood
• Dig spell has turned into Pulverizing Auger; a beam of physical damage that also digs. It switched places with Mudslide in the tree to become tier2
• Stone Wall now also deals damage, cooldown and mana cost slightly lowered
• Body of Stone now also affects Pulverizing Auger and is instant cast
• Can not teleport to the farportal rooms on the side of the last battle
• Irresistible Sun has a particle effect
• Sending an item to a party member correctly marks it as removed from the chest
• Last Stand now also heals you of the amount it increases life and augments the point at which you die (going below 0 like a heroism infusion)
• 2handed weapons now show up with a different tile on the player doll
• Glowing chests are displayed open once opened
• New achievement for saving all the lumberjacks
• Increased cooldown of Spell Feedback
• New UISet:Minimalist:Toolbar hook
• Dominating a headless horror eye will not make the player blind
• Randarts dropped by randbosses should be better
• Reset UI positions requires a confirmation now
• Combat:attackTargetWith now gets a crit parameter
• Improved Body of Fire tooltip
• Dream characters do not get saved to the vault
• Fix Shadow Veil
• Fixed Energy Absorption description
• Glowing chest guardians are hostile in the dark crypt even if you previously sided with the Grand Corruptor
• Restart as same character will preserve addons used
• Having many addons may be faster now
• Harkor Zun fragments have independant health bars
• Deflection tooltip updates correctly
• Upstairs from the temple of creation (2) correctly connects
• Can not recall from Tannen Tower
• BigNews displays higher up on the screen
• Pacification hex checks for stun immunity
• Sacrificing oneself at the endgame is now duly noted in the death message
• Wards are not spells anymore
• Can not loose the savefile by saving on a golem while the master is dead
• New invis shader on the actor
• Player can always see her/himself when invis
• The Grand Corruptor wont trigger his chat while the timeline is fractured
• Unlocking the UI will prevent mouse actions on the map
• The transmogrification chest can be found in Bill's lair too
• Cauterize and Corrupted Shell only require 7500 damage taken
• Becoming a Lich while wielding the Scepter of the Archlich will not give you lower mastery than normal on Star Fury
• Thaloren talents are marked as nature gifts
• Yeek talents are considered psionic
• Devourers' Gnashing Teeth can not make the target bleed if it failed to hit
• Hydra's Grand Arrival will not damage other summons
• New command line parameter to change where TE4 stores data: --home /foor/bar
• Wearing antimagic items as an arcane character will give you a visible debuff to notice of the spell failure
• Psiblades now increases mindpower/willpower/cunning on the mindstars by a % too
• Lure is immune to poison
• Zones can have a "on_loaded" code
• Passive talents can be placed in the hotkey bar, they cant be used obviously but they'll show their cooldowns if any
• Swift Hands prodigy also makes wearing/taking off items not take a turn
• Fixed transfering stacks of items between party members
• Fungal Blood is now instant use, scales more with Constitution and allows on heal effects (such as fungal growth)
• Staff Mastery is trainable in Angolwen
• Mindstar Mastery is trainable in Zigur
• Pearls when used as alchemist bomb do a much more powerful liting effect, able to remove magical darkness
• Correctly flagged some non-metallic artifacts as non-metallic
• New icon in the "main bar" to access talents
• Fixed meteors making staris disappear in the temporal rift
• Fix golem getting multiple stacking high peak buffs
• New particle effects for Warshout, Battle Cry, Shattering Shout, Aura of Silence, Bellowing Roar and Mind Sear
• Smarter autoexplore
• Diagonal targetting in a single dug out line should work
• Storming the City quest will note when urkis is dead
• Sped up parts of the movement algorithm
• Fixed Elemental Surge lightning description
• Revisionist History switches to a special talent to cancel the effect so that you can set revisionist history on auto-use
• New temporal tier 5 artifact staff
• Buffed thorny skin totem, wands of firewall and conjuration, torques of the clear mind, mindblast, thermal shield, charged shield and kinetic shield
• Funfacts do not show for modules unless requested
• Through the Crowd talent can now also prevent all friendlyfire
• Dragonskull now has acid resistance
• Buffed a few artifacts
• Two new nature oriented artifacts
• New class: Oozemancers, who are Nature's answer to archmagi, able to use slime and ooze against their foes, they are also inherently antimagic
• New zone: the sludgenest, it can randomly appear on the worldmap after level 30, Thaloren always get it. Beware you'll be slimed to death!
• Elemental Split can not be used while already split
• Dwarven Unity Crystal Half attack will not hit the caster
• Eldritch Vines now add arcane damage
• Volcanic Rock now makes Deeprock Form also increase arcane dam/pen
• Boulder Throw now makes Deeprock Form also increase nature dam/pen
• Stone Spikes can crit (all 4 separate components)
• Rockwalk and Rockswallow cooldown is reduced by talent level
   

Have fun!

So if you don't know today the seven day rouge-like contest starts today, and like last year I am participating. So This year I am calling my game Iron and Steam (which tells you there will be iron and steam in the game). My vision currently is a version of mount and blade set in a steam punk world. You will also get to build steam powered robots. That and a wilderness map are the only 2 features I am sure about so yeah.... Regardless I am starting at 6pm est on 3/10 and have 168 hours. My progress and final attempts will be posted at http://te4.org/games/iron-and-steam . To my fellow participants I wish you the best of luck, and to all others enjoy the new rouge-likes.

After playing a few cursed, I thought it might be useful to make a guide for people playing their very first.

This isn't supposed to be complete. It's supposed to give you the best chance of winning the game. That's not a subject of complete consensus.

Birth': Cornac are the most effective. Put a category into Rampage, one point into Rampage, and one point into Stalk. Put three points into Strength and one point into Armor Training.

Tier 1 (levels 1-10): You'll start in the Trollmire. Explore, and kill. Don't forget to activate your sustainables, Gloom and Stalk. Use your regeneration frequently.

Soon, you'll get the option to "Give in to your hate" and release your rage upon something that you pick-up. I'm gonna recommend, "Don't." Doing so will unlock a new Generic tree, but will make your early game harder. Not that it's a bad choice to do so; just wait until after your first winner.

Remember: hit and run. If you get down to about (say) half life or so, just get away. Thanks to your point in Rampage, that should be easy. Retreat, use your regen, and then re-engage.

You probably won't be strong enough to tackle Trollmire level 4, not at the beginning. Don't worry about it. Come back later.

When you gain a level, your goal is to get a single point into as many talents as possible. Almost all Cursed talents involve rapidly diminishing returns, so spread the points. Extras, do what you want with. For generics, you'll want Armor Training 3 as soon as possible, so that you can use decent armors; another goal is another point or two into Combat Accuracy, and further points into Weapons Mastery. You can pretty safely put all of your points into Strength, which you'll want to keep as high as you possibly can.

A good order to tackle the tier one dungeons: Trollmire, Norgo's Lair, Heart of the Gloom, Kor Pul, Scintillating Caves, Rhaloren Camp'. Don't bother with vaults: some are safe enough, but you don't know the difference yet, and you don't need them. A safe bet: if it's weirrd, don't touch it, and don't go down that ladder. Chests are an exception: as a Cursed, you can handle any chest. This goes for the rest of the game as well.

After your first or second dungeon, you'll probably have enough money to buy something. Infusions, especially a healing or second regeneration infusion, are a priority for your first purchases. Check out a few towns and see if they have something better than what you have. Infusions aren't sexy the way artifacts are, but throughout the game, your success will depend on your infusions to a much greater extent than it will on any of your other equipment.

After your fourth dungeon, you might as well tackle the Arena in Derth for two free generic points.

As far as equipment, you can keep an eye out for decent off-handers, but you'll probably be strongest just by finding a good two-hander and using it. Pay special attention to +damage on hit, or when hit. At low levels, these are really effective.

Try to avoid runes, because you want to betray all of your escorts to Zigur. In general, you'll want anything that increases Strength, Willpower, Constitution (in that order), but increases to Cunning or Dexterity are also nice. Piercing Sight, Dreamwalk, and Mindstar Mastery are all decent talents to learn.

Tier 2(levels 11-20): You'll want to get your character stronger as fast as possible. A good order to take these dungeons is Old Forest, Sandworm's Lair, Tranquil Meadow, the Maze, Daikara, Temporal Rift, Halfling Ruins, Unknown Tunnels, Tempest Peak. That will net you benefits as soon as you're strong enough to take them.

Your character will start to max strength, accuracy, and combat training by this point. Your next priorities are Thick Skin, Relentless, and enough Willpower to get you every talent (36). Eventually, you'll want 5/5/5/5/0 in combat training. You'll also eventually get a talent point in almost every talent-- skip Cleave, Repel, and Slam. Top priorities for extra talent points are the Rampage tree (you'll want 5/5/5/0 ASAP), Surge, and Sanctuary. After getting sufficient Willpower (to take Surge to 5), it's a good idea to start investing in Constitution, at least until you have enough Con for Thick Skin 5. Seethe and Grim Resolve are good abilities to get to level 1, but not much past that.

At level 10 and 20, you get new category points. It's a good idea to spend these on infusion slots. At level 20, the ideal infusions would probably be 2 regeneration, 1 movement infusion, 1 healing infusion, and 1 heroism infusion. That's enough to keep you alive anytime that you'd need a wild infusion, without being useless the rest of the time, and without being vulnerable to the RNG God. If it leaves you vulnerable to anything, it's Pinning, Worm Rot, and Impending Doom, so be on the look out for those effects. If you get Rotted or Doomed, don't forget to trigger your rampage! Rampage/Tenacity can very easily be the difference between surviving DOTs like this and dying.

In the tranquil meadow, choose the more evil-sounding of all of the options. This will net you a powerful trinket that provides movement speed and physical damage bonuses, without needing to be equipped. In the Halfling Ruins, use your preternatural senses to blindside Subject Z, throwing all of your abilities into killing him before he has a chance to kill the Yeek, and net some free, permanent confusion immunity. It will be tremendously beneficial to have Combat Accuracy at 5 before fighting Subject Z.

You may be level 24 before you reach the Unknown Tunnels-- meaning you might run into the Dark Crypt. That's a dangerous area, and as a Cornac, you don't need to bother with it, so just avoid it.

When it comes time for Tempest Peak, you might just want to skip it. The strongest route for a Cornac Cursed is Anti-magic, but you don't need Anti-magic just yet, and access to arcane equipment might be more valuable in the mean-time. Whatever you decide. When you do decide to take Tempest Peak, don't forget to get your Fungal Growth tree by talking to the Halfling commander after beating Urkis!

You might want to check some shops for any water-breathing equipment and do Lake Nur. You don't need to, though. You don't really need water-breathing equipment either, although it's nice for the first couple of times through. You can also do the Golem Graveyard and the Hidden Compound.

Tier 3: Before you go to Dreadfell, take a chance to look at all of your merchants. Sometimes, they have artifacts like the infinitely valuable Blood of Life. Don't forget the merchant you rescued from the Tunnels.

This is also a good time to get all of the Brotherhood of Alchemists quests out of the way. I like to get the Elixir of Foundations, Elixir of Precision, Elixir of Brawn in that order. If I have the chance, an Elixir of Mastery is also good, as is the Elxir of Focus. If you don't have all of the ingredients for an elixir, you can do the Ruined Dungeon: at its end, there is a puzzle that you can fail repeatedly to grind random monsters (probably not ideal way to handle it, but...)

You'll probably also get your first prodigy around this time. Superpower is always a safe bet for a free, passive +30% damage, +25% mindpower.

In Dreadfell, it is even more important that you ignore vaults. They can and will kill you. Bulwarks start being a pain in the ass here. Think about your unarmed damage, or try to find some disarm immunity, or just take these guys irritatingly slowly. Be on the lookout for counterstrikes.

After Dreadfell, it shouldn't be too hard to beat the orc ambush. Just remember to save the leader for last so you don't die, even if you fail. Reknor is a cakewalk in comparison to Dreadfell.

You'll probably start running out of places to put your talent points. At this point, it's really up to you. I like Preternatural Senses, Frenzy, Slash, Blindside, and Reckless Charge, roughly in that order. Later, I will improve Harass Prey and Dominate. But you can't really go wrong.

Tier 4: Welcome to the East! I like to make my way back to the West ASAP, so I take this Vor's Armoury, Briagh's Lair, followed by a few backup guardians and Tannen's Tower. The Armoury really isn't that difficult, provided you take it slow. That nets access to merchant randarts and Relentless Pursuit as soon as possible. After that, I do the prides in this order: 'Mancers, Summoners, Necromancers, Melee. After that, I probably need to do a few side quests to make it close to 50, then it's time for High Peak. Probably the most dangerous zone at this point is the Shadow Crypt, so you might want to stay away from that one.

Your level 36 category should go into Fungal Growth. There are a few ways to handle Fungal Growth: 1+/1/5/1, or 5/1/1/1. Either is a good way. If Sudden Growth is high, there's no real cost to triggering the infusion, so you don't need as many turns on your infusion, but your Rampages may suffer (not sure). With such a high Willpower, Sudden Growth 5 should give close to 100% of a turn to you. You might need a few points in the first talent to handle infusion cooldowns.

Around level 40, you should be capable of beating the Sandworm Lair backup guardian, netting you your last category point. Predator is a good choice. So is Combat Training mastery. So is Harmony. Let's make it simple, and recommend Combat Training mastery. That leaves you a few generics to put into Antimagic as you see fit, and a lot of talent points to distribute wherever (just go where your heart takes you). You'll also max your Strength, Willpower, and Con-- the extra points go nicely into Cunning, which increases your crit rate and mindpower.

Don't forget to buy randarts from the merchant as often as possible. When I go anti-magic, there are never any good belts (1 exception), cloaks, or gloves for me, so those are generally what I buy. Of those, I seem to get better belts and gloves (too much +stealth on my cloaks).

Your level 42 prodigy is up to you. Draconic Body is nice; Flexible Combat is nice; Spell Feedback is nice; Giant Leap is nice; Garkul's Revenge or whatever is nice. Do whatever you want.

When you make it to the top of High Peak, you should be doing enough damage to win before adds become a problem, before Aeryn falls. Just stick on that caster, and don't forget to beckon!

Some further notes:

EQUIPMENT: Generally, you'll see what's good. But there are a few things worth noting:

Wanderer's Rest is simply the best footwear a Cursed could ask for. Pinning immunity, speed, and a free escape. Don't pass these up. But don't kill yourself thinking that you need them.

Keep a few amulets, switch around. Blindness and invisibility detection is a persistent weakness for Cursed, so you'll often find yourself using this slot to deal with that, either via immunity or via blindsight.

There's nothing special for Cursed in the artifact weapon department, but you can't really go wrong. If you choose to go Arcane, a blighted maul is wicked (Cursed talents work at global speed, not attack speed-- and the maul stacks with cleave and misfortune). There are some tier 4 weapons that are as good as tier 5 weapons, like Anmalice and Truth (frenzy hits four times, remember!)

Blackened Plate is great, even if all that confusion immunity is wasted. But so are any of the other heavy/massive tier 5 armors.

Don't forget a healthy dose of +health, +healing mod equipment. You'll be tempted to take your Rampage and Surge to the max with +speed equip, but +movement, +attack speed are just not going to be as important on you as they would be on another, and nothing with +global speed is worth a damn.

Forget the tool stats: a simple torque of psychoportation is worth all of the Guardian Totems a Temporal Explorer could dig up.

TALENTS: The weird thing about Cursed is that they have a bunch of talents that look offensive, but only shine when used as defense/escape.

Frenzy: This is your best damage. The precise flavor of it matters, too. Watch out for huge amounts of reflected damage (x4!). Or, use it to get huge amounts of damage when you've got a lot of +damage on-hit. Or, use it with on-crit procs to get a huge likelihood of a crit. Etc. Overkill isn't usually very wasted either. To focus your strikes, use it only after you've begun to stalk a target.

Reckless Charge: When surge+rampage nets you +1000 speed, walking there and bumping is actually faster. But reckless charge doesn't have to target an enemy, so you can use it to get the hell out of there in literally no time.

Cleave: This is fun, but there's nothing you could do with cleave, that you couldn't do without cleave. Put a point in it if you want more buttons to press.

Stalk: Don't overestimate this. You rarely get a large number of successive hits on a target. Even with tough targets, you have to break to use infusions. But a single point is great.

Beckon: One of those abilities that NPCs can use to much larger effect than we can, sadly. But don't forget about it: it can't compete with Blindside, but it is another weapon in your arsenal. Works on targets that are out of LOS but seen with preternatural senses, so given enough hate and patience, you can use it to pull.

Surge: It's easy to miss this. Forget the dual wield thing. Surge will give you +100% movement speed when it's maxed. Think about it. That totally nullifies Stuns, even without immunity. And it multiplies. With Surge, you can afford to reposition any damn time you feel like it. The ability to retreat is the ability to survive; the ability to survive is the ability to win.

Dominate: Usually a hate-sink and little else, but there are times when it comes in very handy. The effect on your target's resistances is very large.

Blindside: This is your first-line escape, even though it looks like an attack. Very few classes have a perfect accuracy (at one talent point!), non-arcane teleport. If you want to use it for damage, the scaling (reduced cool-down, increased damage) means that this can compete with Slash at high hate and high talent level, although it is expensive in terms of hate.

Repel: This is actually appropriately powerful, but high level Cursed don't really worry about melee damage. A perfectly played Cursed could benefit from Repel against some random bosses. I don't find it's worth the trouble to think about.

Gloom: It doesn't look like it, but this will be effective through the very end of the game. Feel free to put extra points into this.

Weakness: Even if you're surrounded, which you shouldn't be, this ability underperforms. But a single point is essential, for very rapid Hate generation.

Dismay: If you can use this well, it can be very powerful. The actual ability, with a doofus player like me, is fine. But if you can keep track of who you can get a free crit on-- you can easily maximize your damage, or get awesome weapon procs. Don't worry about losing the Stalk bonus.

Rampage: It will trigger on its own. That's the offensive use of this ability-- just let it trigger passively, which it will do when you most need it, and enjoy the speed bonus. The bigger deal is its use as an escape. Rampage+Surge will give you faster movement than any movement infusion. Tenacity will soak a good 500+ points of damage during a Rampage, enough to survive an otherwise deadly DOT like Impending Doom. Think of it like this: you're paying 11 talent points and a category point for awesome passive boosts, and for an extra movement infusion and shielding rune. Easily worth it. (Brutality is the least important of the line-- well, other than Slam. Don't buy Slam. Not to say that you shouldn't max Brutality, because you should: for the situations where it matters, Brutality is the most efficient conversion of talent points into damage.)

Predator: Good line, four abilities that are worth the category point even if only investing a single point in each. Mimic, for instance, is 7 stat points for one talent point, which is a great deal for Cursed. More effective when you're willing to manage your Mark Prey. I am not.

Cursed Aura: Shrouds is the stand-out. Madness can shine even in the presence of a single point in Dark Gifts. High levels of Misfortune are just fun. Ruined Earth doesn't last long enough to be worth the turn using. Sentinel is similarly disappointing.

Fears: Wish I could say otherwise, but don't bother. Doesn't work well with Cursed playstyle.

Other Races: Friends don't let friends Yeek. Otherwise, the sky's the limit.

Shalore and Thalore are expensive, but the eventual benefits are worth it. (Timeless is insane.)
Dwarves and halflings are always awesome.
Higher are fine.
Yeek are really, really hard, at least in the early game.
Undead: haven't tried them, but hear good things

Arcane: My fave build is actually an arcane Thalore Cursed, which is probably not the best build for winning, but it's what I like. Fungal Growth is far from a requirement, Antimagic even less of a requirement, and there is a lot of very useful end-game Arcane equipment. You don't even have to ever make the decision to go Anti-magic-- just keep delaying it, and eventually all of your generics will be spent. Playing an arcane cursed isn't very different from playing an antimagic cursed. Not even your escorts have to change: sure, you can go for Premonition, Healing, Chants, etc, but you could just as easily betray them all too. With my arcane Cursed, I usually don't make any infusion changes, but a teleport rune would probably be a little bit nicer than a movement infusion (redundant with Surge and Rampage).

Dual Wield: I don't build for dual-wielding. It seems like diverting points into Dex for minimum stats is counterproductive, and with Cursed, there aren't enough generics to divert points into Knife Mastery. The benefits from Surge+Dual Wield are unimportant. Potential benefits from Madness are insufficient to make up for this, in my mind. But just because I don't build to dual wield, doesn't mean I never dual wield! With an armory of +dex items, you don't need to invest, and you can take advantage of what the RNG hands you in the way of equipment. Played to the utmost, a Cursed shouldn't pay much attention to whether a weapon is two-handed, mainhanded, or offhanded, but should use whatever is most effective at the time.

Mindstar Offhand: I don't do this very often, mostly because I can't be bothered to figure out exactly how effective a particular mindstar is. But with their high willpower, cursed can take advantage of very powerful mindstars. Keep in mind that mindstars do full damage when wielded in the offhand-- and that includes when using talents like frenzy! That's right, when you frenzy, your offhand mindstar is hitting 4 times for 100% damage. Still, because of the escort system, you shouldn't build a Cursed around Mindstar Mastery, but you can take advantage of it if the situation comes up.
As with dual wielding, don't feel that you need to use a mindstar because you're some kind of mindstar build. You're not. You were raising willpower anyways. Just use an offhand mindstar when that's the best choice.

Dual Mindstar: I wouldn't recommend this, but I've never tried it. Unlike mindstar offhands, this would need to be a dedicated build, probably involving neglecting strength and elements of the Combat Training tree. It could work, potentially, and it would sure be weird, but it's not the strongest way to build Cursed. Maybe next time I get an alchemist early I'll give it a go.

Shield: I don't know anybody who does this, and I've certainly never done this myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. In theory.

I try to play all rogue-likes by one rule - "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. What kills you makes... your next char stronger". I write that motto on a piece of paper and put it next to me while playing te4, tome 2.x.x, theme, ADOM, and what not.

I think that I should finally add another sentence, just below that one - "You're not Barney Stinson". And I don't mean that in terms of looks, or getting it on with the ladies - there's no arguing with that - but I need to stop accepting all those g'damn challenges!

• See a blood stained track and hear screams of pain on a lvl 1 char? Challenge accepted!
• A monstrous, 10 meter high and 10 lvl higher, horror-like Rare is staring you in the eyes? Challenge accepted!
• Down to 10% life, while opponent is at 20% and I still got one spell charged? Blast'em! Challenge accepted!

That's probably why I've only once won tome 2 and that's with a swamp-scummed character. That's probably why I'm having problems with passing level 20 in te4.

I'm not Barney Stinson. 

Wow, just died again.
I was feeling quite like hey this level x of Dreadfell is so easy...
Died! Some rare killed me with three hits or so, so quickly I didn't even check out the health bar until it said something like 25?!

)

Well unlocked something again, and made a personal level record, lvl 22.

Wow, made it to level 19, personal record.
Killed a dreaming horror! Twisted being :)
Although it was not the same dreaming horror as the one that killed the previous Summoner,
it's at least his/her cousin :) (different dungeon)

Man, love this game!

)

yeah we gotta learn some day...
now I'm level 14 again, the roguelike-difficulty is a good teacher.

I'm coming at you, dreaming horror (who killed my last summoner), after 10 more levels or so :)

Ok, so here's the scoop. I love this game. It's seriously great. The most fun I've ever had with a Roguelike.

I really want to support it. See it prosper, right? Here's my problem; I'm one broke SoB. I have no pretty monies to hand out.

Right, so DarkGod suggests that as an alternative to this, we simply put a message out saying how much we like the game and how thankful we are.

That's a really swell thing to do and all (and believe me, DarkGod, you have my personal utmost support and congratulations on creating such a wonderful experience) but I feel like just putting a smile on his face really isn't going far enough to show my appreciation.

So, you see, without any real idea or expectation of the results that may come from this, I am going to be campaigning strongly for the awareness of Maj'Eyal by the gaming community at large!

This is such an excellent game that I feel anyone who enjoys roguelikes or RPGs in general should be given the chance to give it a chance, so to speak. Every major gaming forum and discussion board I visit, I will spread the word to as many people as possible. PMs will be sent, topics will be bumped regularly, and I hope to infect others with this patriotic vision of manifest destiny that has come over me in the hopes that they too will share in this activity.

I believe that this community thriving individually will make it stronger as a whole, and that it being a better, bigger community will just as beneficial to the individual.

I am not doing this simply in hopes that some generous souls will come along and pick up the slack in donation where I can't, but the possibility of generating more revenue for it does exist, so it's still a win-win for everyone involved.

I hope for a very bright future for this game and I believe in my cause, so I'll do everything in my power to see it through!

Wish me luck everyone! Your blessings are just as noble a deed and serve as the perfect motivation to keep on keeping on!

Yeah... Been playing a while now. Just died with my highest-level-yet chap... well actually it was a female.
Thought that female power would get me far or something.
Anyway Level 18 Summoner, with about 80% exp for the next level. Died in Dreadfell.
Well, to start thinking that the character has the powers to overcome and destroy all that comes...
is a mistake I keep making.

But what the hell, I'll start again. Nice to get good challenge from those that killed me.
I have no idea how to get those, but I guess it's a good way to stay humble.
I wasn't ready for Dreadfell takeover yet.

Right on, I'll be back in the near future, perhaps Saturday, and fight my way to at least new personal level record.
Would like to unlock some classes too.

Peace!