So I just won my first game yesterday (on Normal)! <some spoilers ahead!>

It feels good! The character was a Dwarf Bulwark: https://te4.org/characters/201294/tome/92058e4b-f02e-445e-aa89-f59268c35a8b. After I won, I went to Infinite Dungeon and immediately got lucky with a 3rd prodigy point - I didn't have Eternal Guard during the main campaign.

• Bulwarks are tanky. At the end of the campaign, I could stand against most enemies (including the final bosses) without really being threatened.
• Resistances are good. Armor is even better.
• I reaaally lacked some adequate damage output. And I am actually uncertain what options bulwarks have in this regard? Should I have taken the "I can carry the world" prodigy instead of "Subcutaneous metallization"? Should I have used more offensive runes/wands?
• Bulwarks are boring (for me)... exactly because they are so tanky :). Or maybe it's because of the way I played - defense, defense, defense. I was steamrolling regular and rare enemies just by bumping them. As a trade-off, some of the boss fights were really tough.

The lack of damage bit me in the butt a few times. I almost failed to kill Grushnak. While he didn't really threaten me, I almost thought I'd have to abandon the game, because I was unable to get through him. It was an hour and a half long fight IRL, just with him. And it took some serious mental effort on my part - I had to start watching when he blocks exactly, what cooldown his healing has, what cooldown is his Battle Shout, I had to watch my stamina levels closely (as I lacked any way of replenishing it other than by resting...), and I had to chain my biting game runes (which I had to swap for my standard regen infusions mid fight) with my attacks just right to narrowly get through him... tough bastard :).

I found that the Prides were the pivoting point of the whole campaign - Vor was the most dangerous fight I had (teleport rune really saved me several times), Grushnak the most durable enemy, Rak'Shor the easiest (of the Pride leaders) and Gorbat (once cleared of his friends) the most average. Oh, and what's up with the hidden vaults in the Prides? I had no issues with them in High Peak, but I had my ass handed to me several times in the hidden vault in the Prides... I had to just skip them in the end.

The final bosses weren't a threat... though I had to chase down Elandar for half an hour before I finally got him. And of course, Aeryn was long dead by then - no chance of saving her.

After the campaign, I tried taking on Atamathon... well, it didn't go well :). I reactivated it, found that I have absolutely no way of even making a dent in his armor/regen and just fled :).

And now it's time to see how far I can get in the Infinite Dungeon!

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Full disclosure: I did play the game a few years back, but I was playing offline and was cheating a bunch (using addons similar to generous levels). So when I returned now, I reset everything and decided to play online to get access to all the stats. Just in case you're wondering why I got a win after only a few deaths - that's because I knew a few things about the game already. And also - stacking armor and resistances on a bulwark will apparently get you far on Normal!