Fortressing with Folks!
Apr. 25th, 2020 05:49 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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hpwuAlrighty, so we are now able to Fortress with others from the comfort of our homes. (However, if you select a chamber with no one in it (there's a counter), and click "join" before anyone else arrives, you can still play solo, for what it's worth.) For a lot of us, it's the first time ever not having to do so, and there will be some confusion as to how to best play with others. Doing so well means coming to understand your own profession differently, and having to learn a little about the others.
In case it isn't clear, here's why you want teammates. For one thing, there's a massive boost to the amount of CXP you'll get. Teammates can cover your weaknesses, meaning you can take on tougher Chambers with fewer potions than any of the individual players could do on their own. And those higher Chambers come with more rewards, too. Win! In a perfect world, a team would have at least one of each profession.
Now first things first. If you haven't already, max your profession as far as you presently can. People will assume you have and try to play accordingly. For instance, I had been sitting on a bunch of my red Spell books and green Restricted Section books, because maxing my profession wasn't worthwhile if I wasn't playing in groups. (Fifteen RSBs for "Power vs. foes with 2 or greater impairments"? "3 or greater impairments"? What's the point? It wasn't going to happen.) That's changed now.
Here's a link to an excellent table that will help you with your Skill Tree if you need it. Choose the tab with your profession. Then you'll find it's divided into Offensive and Defensive spells, so you can decide where your priorities lie. You'll want to make progress along both lines simultaneously and *not* attempt to finish one completely before starting the other.
The best way to start a battle is to know how many of which professions are on your team, and know who is good against which opponents. You have a chance to assess that while you're waiting for the battle to begin.
Some simple rules of thumb:
Aurors should take on Dark Forces and avoid Beasts,
Magizoologists should take on Beasts and avoid Curiosities,
Professors should take on Curiosities and avoid Dark Forces.
To expand on that:
Dark Forces are Death Eaters and Dark Wizards.
Beasts are Acromantulas and Erklings.
Curiosities are Pixies and Werewolves.
It's also useful to know which of your foes you can beat faster, so as to help your team get Focus as soon as possible for Strategic Spells. All professions have four different Strategic Spells they can master on their Skill Trees. The Professors' are the most costly to perform, the Aurors' the cheapest. Charms (the green ones at the bottom of your Fortress screen) can be applied either to yourself or a teammate by tapping and dragging the icon from the bottom onto whichever player you want to buff. These either increase player stats or provide some kind of healing. Some Charms (Magizoologist’s Bravery Charm and Professor’s Proficiency Charm) apply to the entire team, so they can be placed on any player and will buff everyone. Hexes (the red ones) can be used on foes with the same mechanism, dragging the icon onto whichever foe you want debuff. These typically lower a foe’s stats or do damage to them.
You won't always get to pick and choose from among your foes, sometimes the mix is bad. Generally, you should start by taking on the highest of the opponents you are proficient against. (You can tell by the little green arrow next to the icon, the more stars it has, and the higher its number. By contrast, leave the ones with a downwards red arrow to last.) If there are too many, you can leave the lower level ones to the others, but try to tackle as many as possible. (There's an exception to this: putting off taking on a particularly dangerous opponent (Elites) until the Charms and Shields are in place, and enough Focus has been generated that the opponent can be Hexed, too.) Trust people to manage their opponents (and make sure you manage yours), those they are proficient against will cost them a lot less time and energy and potions than it would cost you.
The next best choice is to take on opponents you're neutral against if you know your teammates aren't proficient against them. So for example, if I as a Professor am playing with Aurors and the room is full of Beasts and Dark Forces, I should tackle the Erklings and leave the Dark Wizards to the Aurors, and if there are only Dark Forces in the lobby, I would choose the lowest ranked amongst them and leave the more serious opponents to them.
What else...
As you may have noticed, Focus won in a battle is distributed to the whole team. This means Professors and Magizoologists will be better able to use their Charms and Hexes, and less dependent on Invigoration Draughts. Aurors have the ability to share Focus, they can further contribute to the team effort by brewing and quaffing Strong Invigoration Draughts and sharing the Focus that generates so the Professor isn't left figuratively brewing for the entire team. (That only matters at higher levels so the Professor can properly protect the team from the outset. Doing so for a team of five costs 22 Focus, yet a maxed Professor starts with only 4. They need help to make up the difference.)
Aurors starting with four Focus should pass three to a Professor and use the last to Hex an opponent. *Don't* divide your Focus up among the Professors, as one Focus apiece won't help them. Ideally you'd want to pass Focus to Professors until the members of your team have Proficiency and are Shielded. Then you probably want to prioritise passing some of it to the Magizoologist who has the ability to cast Bravery and also keep you alive without you having to resort to all kinds of Health Potions. (That first only helps against Elite opponents. The latter only plays a role at higher levels. Without the ability to communicate, though, that's not a perfect solution. I'll revisit that at a later date.) Any remaining Focus should go again to the Professors who can cast the Deterioration Hex. When maxed, it deducts 40 Stamina with each shot an opponent makes. And don't forget to use your Bat-Bogey Hex, even on teammates' foes. It costs you nothing.
Be smart about how you use your Focus and your Hexes. There are now better things to do with that Focus, so you need to know how those Hexes work to make the right decisions. Any Hexes you can apply to a Professor's foes probably make the Professor more effective, because many of their skills are conditional on how many impairments a foe has, as well as how many enhancements they have. This means your Confusion and Weakness Hexes help Professors. By contrast, if a Magizoologist has been shielded by a Professor, the Weakness Hex applied to their foes no longer helps them, so conserve your Focus.
Your Confusion Hex is only useful on Pixies, Werewolves, Dark Wizards and Erklings. Loosely speaking, it's only good on Imposing, Dangerous and Fierce foes at that; do not apply it to Common or Formidable foes. It's also NOT effective on Acromantulas and Death Eaters, so save your focus and pass it along to a teammate instead.
Professors, if an Auror gives you enough Focus, Professors with maxed Proficiency Charms should then cast that for the group. When maxed, the Charm increases everyone’s Proficiency Power by 44%. It will cost seven focus, most likely wiping you out unless there are more Aurors contributing to your initial Focus. (If people give you Focus early on, the expectation is you will use it for the group and *not* for a Deterioration Hex. DON'T BE SELFISH.) Do it quickly so you have "room" for more Focus if anyone decides to send you some and as it's earned as opponents are defeated. (This is less important if you've maxed your Focus storage.) At higher levels, there's debate that Shields (the Protection Charm) are more useful first, and a good case can be made for both arguments, but at lower levels the Proficiency is definitely preferable, everyone's Stamina will be sufficient, it's cheaper than Shielding the entire team, and without the ability to communicate with one another, Proficiency seems the better bet, so that's an easy rule of thumb. After the Proficiency has been cast, it's helpful to Shield your teammates. This costs three Focus apiece, and increases a single player’s defense by 30%. If you see someone taking a lot of damage (that would be the coloured bar under their names in the lobby), go ahead and Shield them if you have the Focus. (See below how to prioritise that otherwise.) Also, remember to use your Mending Charm on your teammates. While it doesn't do much, there are some lower level players out there this makes a difference for, and it costs you nothing.
If your Proficiency isn't maxed, using the Proficiency Charm is a waste of focus, so cast Shields (the Protection Charm) instead. Look at the types of foes that have spawned so far. If the majority are Beasts, shield the Magizoologists, if the majority are Oddities, Professors should shield themselves, and if the majority are Dark Forces, shield the Aurors. If there's no clear winner, shield the Aurors. Their Stamina is low and they need the help. Simples. Then protect the Magizoologists. Assuming both Prof and Magizoo have maxed out the relevant skills, that means the Magizoo will have immunity (meaning they take zero damage). If they no longer need to spend Focus healing themselves, they can use their Focus for buffing and reviving their teammates instead. (More win.)
Consider applying the Deterioration Hex to the strongest foes out there, regardless who is going to fight them. When maxed, it causes 40 damage to a foe with each strike they make. Ideally you'd save it for the toughest, "tankiest" opponents (those Elite and Fierce foes, particularly Death Eaters and Acromantulas). Once you've finished with the other two Charms and have Focus to spare, you can be a bit more generous with your Deterioration Hexing.
In general, Magizoologists with high enough professional level should be able to help any group succeed in a Dark chamber, if the other players know to pass Focus to them and help by properly hexing their foes. Cast Bravery for the group if Elite Foes put in an appearance and you are provided with enough Focus to do so. Later on and in higher levels, Healing becomes more important. To do this, because we can't communicate with one another, the Magizoologist needs to make sure they keep an eye on the lobby and the Stamina levels of the other players. (That's a bit of a pain. In person they'd be able to cry for help, here they can't so you have to actively look.) If someone gets knocked out, it's your job to revive them. (That's the biggest complaint against the Magizoologists at the moment.) A counter will appear above your teammate's avatar. If it's close to 60, it just happened and it's worth the Focus, if it's closer to 0, they're about to wake up anyway, and it probably isn't worth it. It only costs you 1 Focus to revive a player to full health once they’ve died, but it costs 2 to heal them only somewhat while they're still in play. Clearly it's more efficient to wait, but that means you need to keep checking the lobby. You, too, should remember to use your Mending Charm on your teammates. It doesn't do much, but again, there are some lower level players out there this makes a difference for, and it costs you nothing.
Other than that, if there's an Elite foe out there and any of you have the Focus, cast whatever Hexes you can on it; it will make things easier for the person who ends up fighting it.
It's also worth mentioning, there are a lot of people out there right now who aren't too sure about what they're doing, and it's making the higher chambers a bit of a dice roll. We also can't see how proficient a player is when they join a chamber, nor would that tell us how experienced they are at Fortressing (with or without others) even if we could. Loosely speaking, the more players in a chamber, the more opponents; if the other players flake on you, the higher that chamber, the less likely you'll be able to sort matters on your own. If you're a cautious type, it's not a bad idea to put off the high end of your range until people have gained a little more experience. On the other hand, just be aware of what you're "risking" on any given run, a runestone, how much energy, how many potions, how much time, and find a mix that works comfortably for you.
In case it isn't clear, here's why you want teammates. For one thing, there's a massive boost to the amount of CXP you'll get. Teammates can cover your weaknesses, meaning you can take on tougher Chambers with fewer potions than any of the individual players could do on their own. And those higher Chambers come with more rewards, too. Win! In a perfect world, a team would have at least one of each profession.
Now first things first. If you haven't already, max your profession as far as you presently can. People will assume you have and try to play accordingly. For instance, I had been sitting on a bunch of my red Spell books and green Restricted Section books, because maxing my profession wasn't worthwhile if I wasn't playing in groups. (Fifteen RSBs for "Power vs. foes with 2 or greater impairments"? "3 or greater impairments"? What's the point? It wasn't going to happen.) That's changed now.
Here's a link to an excellent table that will help you with your Skill Tree if you need it. Choose the tab with your profession. Then you'll find it's divided into Offensive and Defensive spells, so you can decide where your priorities lie. You'll want to make progress along both lines simultaneously and *not* attempt to finish one completely before starting the other.
The best way to start a battle is to know how many of which professions are on your team, and know who is good against which opponents. You have a chance to assess that while you're waiting for the battle to begin.
Some simple rules of thumb:
Aurors should take on Dark Forces and avoid Beasts,
Magizoologists should take on Beasts and avoid Curiosities,
Professors should take on Curiosities and avoid Dark Forces.
To expand on that:
Dark Forces are Death Eaters and Dark Wizards.
Beasts are Acromantulas and Erklings.
Curiosities are Pixies and Werewolves.
It's also useful to know which of your foes you can beat faster, so as to help your team get Focus as soon as possible for Strategic Spells. All professions have four different Strategic Spells they can master on their Skill Trees. The Professors' are the most costly to perform, the Aurors' the cheapest. Charms (the green ones at the bottom of your Fortress screen) can be applied either to yourself or a teammate by tapping and dragging the icon from the bottom onto whichever player you want to buff. These either increase player stats or provide some kind of healing. Some Charms (Magizoologist’s Bravery Charm and Professor’s Proficiency Charm) apply to the entire team, so they can be placed on any player and will buff everyone. Hexes (the red ones) can be used on foes with the same mechanism, dragging the icon onto whichever foe you want debuff. These typically lower a foe’s stats or do damage to them.
You won't always get to pick and choose from among your foes, sometimes the mix is bad. Generally, you should start by taking on the highest of the opponents you are proficient against. (You can tell by the little green arrow next to the icon, the more stars it has, and the higher its number. By contrast, leave the ones with a downwards red arrow to last.) If there are too many, you can leave the lower level ones to the others, but try to tackle as many as possible. (There's an exception to this: putting off taking on a particularly dangerous opponent (Elites) until the Charms and Shields are in place, and enough Focus has been generated that the opponent can be Hexed, too.) Trust people to manage their opponents (and make sure you manage yours), those they are proficient against will cost them a lot less time and energy and potions than it would cost you.
The next best choice is to take on opponents you're neutral against if you know your teammates aren't proficient against them. So for example, if I as a Professor am playing with Aurors and the room is full of Beasts and Dark Forces, I should tackle the Erklings and leave the Dark Wizards to the Aurors, and if there are only Dark Forces in the lobby, I would choose the lowest ranked amongst them and leave the more serious opponents to them.
What else...
As you may have noticed, Focus won in a battle is distributed to the whole team. This means Professors and Magizoologists will be better able to use their Charms and Hexes, and less dependent on Invigoration Draughts. Aurors have the ability to share Focus, they can further contribute to the team effort by brewing and quaffing Strong Invigoration Draughts and sharing the Focus that generates so the Professor isn't left figuratively brewing for the entire team. (That only matters at higher levels so the Professor can properly protect the team from the outset. Doing so for a team of five costs 22 Focus, yet a maxed Professor starts with only 4. They need help to make up the difference.)
Aurors starting with four Focus should pass three to a Professor and use the last to Hex an opponent. *Don't* divide your Focus up among the Professors, as one Focus apiece won't help them. Ideally you'd want to pass Focus to Professors until the members of your team have Proficiency and are Shielded. Then you probably want to prioritise passing some of it to the Magizoologist who has the ability to cast Bravery and also keep you alive without you having to resort to all kinds of Health Potions. (That first only helps against Elite opponents. The latter only plays a role at higher levels. Without the ability to communicate, though, that's not a perfect solution. I'll revisit that at a later date.) Any remaining Focus should go again to the Professors who can cast the Deterioration Hex. When maxed, it deducts 40 Stamina with each shot an opponent makes. And don't forget to use your Bat-Bogey Hex, even on teammates' foes. It costs you nothing.
Be smart about how you use your Focus and your Hexes. There are now better things to do with that Focus, so you need to know how those Hexes work to make the right decisions. Any Hexes you can apply to a Professor's foes probably make the Professor more effective, because many of their skills are conditional on how many impairments a foe has, as well as how many enhancements they have. This means your Confusion and Weakness Hexes help Professors. By contrast, if a Magizoologist has been shielded by a Professor, the Weakness Hex applied to their foes no longer helps them, so conserve your Focus.
Your Confusion Hex is only useful on Pixies, Werewolves, Dark Wizards and Erklings. Loosely speaking, it's only good on Imposing, Dangerous and Fierce foes at that; do not apply it to Common or Formidable foes. It's also NOT effective on Acromantulas and Death Eaters, so save your focus and pass it along to a teammate instead.
Professors, if an Auror gives you enough Focus, Professors with maxed Proficiency Charms should then cast that for the group. When maxed, the Charm increases everyone’s Proficiency Power by 44%. It will cost seven focus, most likely wiping you out unless there are more Aurors contributing to your initial Focus. (If people give you Focus early on, the expectation is you will use it for the group and *not* for a Deterioration Hex. DON'T BE SELFISH.) Do it quickly so you have "room" for more Focus if anyone decides to send you some and as it's earned as opponents are defeated. (This is less important if you've maxed your Focus storage.) At higher levels, there's debate that Shields (the Protection Charm) are more useful first, and a good case can be made for both arguments, but at lower levels the Proficiency is definitely preferable, everyone's Stamina will be sufficient, it's cheaper than Shielding the entire team, and without the ability to communicate with one another, Proficiency seems the better bet, so that's an easy rule of thumb. After the Proficiency has been cast, it's helpful to Shield your teammates. This costs three Focus apiece, and increases a single player’s defense by 30%. If you see someone taking a lot of damage (that would be the coloured bar under their names in the lobby), go ahead and Shield them if you have the Focus. (See below how to prioritise that otherwise.) Also, remember to use your Mending Charm on your teammates. While it doesn't do much, there are some lower level players out there this makes a difference for, and it costs you nothing.
If your Proficiency isn't maxed, using the Proficiency Charm is a waste of focus, so cast Shields (the Protection Charm) instead. Look at the types of foes that have spawned so far. If the majority are Beasts, shield the Magizoologists, if the majority are Oddities, Professors should shield themselves, and if the majority are Dark Forces, shield the Aurors. If there's no clear winner, shield the Aurors. Their Stamina is low and they need the help. Simples. Then protect the Magizoologists. Assuming both Prof and Magizoo have maxed out the relevant skills, that means the Magizoo will have immunity (meaning they take zero damage). If they no longer need to spend Focus healing themselves, they can use their Focus for buffing and reviving their teammates instead. (More win.)
Consider applying the Deterioration Hex to the strongest foes out there, regardless who is going to fight them. When maxed, it causes 40 damage to a foe with each strike they make. Ideally you'd save it for the toughest, "tankiest" opponents (those Elite and Fierce foes, particularly Death Eaters and Acromantulas). Once you've finished with the other two Charms and have Focus to spare, you can be a bit more generous with your Deterioration Hexing.
In general, Magizoologists with high enough professional level should be able to help any group succeed in a Dark chamber, if the other players know to pass Focus to them and help by properly hexing their foes. Cast Bravery for the group if Elite Foes put in an appearance and you are provided with enough Focus to do so. Later on and in higher levels, Healing becomes more important. To do this, because we can't communicate with one another, the Magizoologist needs to make sure they keep an eye on the lobby and the Stamina levels of the other players. (That's a bit of a pain. In person they'd be able to cry for help, here they can't so you have to actively look.) If someone gets knocked out, it's your job to revive them. (That's the biggest complaint against the Magizoologists at the moment.) A counter will appear above your teammate's avatar. If it's close to 60, it just happened and it's worth the Focus, if it's closer to 0, they're about to wake up anyway, and it probably isn't worth it. It only costs you 1 Focus to revive a player to full health once they’ve died, but it costs 2 to heal them only somewhat while they're still in play. Clearly it's more efficient to wait, but that means you need to keep checking the lobby. You, too, should remember to use your Mending Charm on your teammates. It doesn't do much, but again, there are some lower level players out there this makes a difference for, and it costs you nothing.
Other than that, if there's an Elite foe out there and any of you have the Focus, cast whatever Hexes you can on it; it will make things easier for the person who ends up fighting it.
It's also worth mentioning, there are a lot of people out there right now who aren't too sure about what they're doing, and it's making the higher chambers a bit of a dice roll. We also can't see how proficient a player is when they join a chamber, nor would that tell us how experienced they are at Fortressing (with or without others) even if we could. Loosely speaking, the more players in a chamber, the more opponents; if the other players flake on you, the higher that chamber, the less likely you'll be able to sort matters on your own. If you're a cautious type, it's not a bad idea to put off the high end of your range until people have gained a little more experience. On the other hand, just be aware of what you're "risking" on any given run, a runestone, how much energy, how many potions, how much time, and find a mix that works comfortably for you.
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no subject
Date: 2020-04-25 01:31 pm (UTC)Lack of communication does create a lot of confusion, as I often try to engage a foe not knowing they are already engaged and end up losing valuable time. But still, it's an amazing improvement. I've ended up spending almost all my energy on challenges, and now I am 12 red books away from learning my very last Auror lesson)
no subject
Date: 2020-04-25 02:43 pm (UTC)Yes, this is important, leaving people to deal with the things they are proficient against. Plus other classes don't seem to understand the damage an Auror can do with their First Strikes. It's a help just to let an Auror pop in all over the place, take one shot and run, leaving the others to do the rest of the fighting afterwards.
Yeah, I'm now two lessons shy of completing the Professor lesson plan, too. 😊
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 03:13 pm (UTC)This is wonderful! I had researched the Professor part in team play but have not seen some of the intricacies of the Auror and Magizoologist roles. I’m happy to say I’ve gotten good team mixes in the forest and have had focus handed off to me so I could help other team members and been the recipient of Magizoologist healing. Haven’t gone beyond the upper forest levels yet. I need to ramp up my fortress potions levels and pluck up some courage before I do!
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 03:40 pm (UTC)many people don't know what they're doing yet, and far too many have discovered you can just show up, collect the boosted CXP, and don't necessarily need to do anything for it, which means it's often harder than soloing. Which is nuts. (I assume they'll address that soon.)
I'm also going to have to adjust the "to do list" above a little, from optimal if people are working together to a little more idiot-proof when folks are mangling it, or just to account for the problems that arise when people can't communicate.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-27 12:59 am (UTC)But then again, there are enough people who just haven't figured out how to push the "join" button... *shrugs*
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Date: 2020-04-26 10:48 pm (UTC)I agree with mts on people who cut out at the last second. I attempted a higher level and got slaughtered.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-27 01:10 am (UTC)What you really need to do is to know if your Proficiency Charm is maxed or not, because that's the thing that drives the other decisions. It's just not worth the 7 focus otherwise.
Ah, yeah, as I was telling her, that may be down to the latency. It's still early days, so there's hope it will improve.