Come to know capriphobia as I have! Let's Play Desktop Dungeons!

As you can see, three (and one mana point away from four, grr) BURNDAYRAZ barely left a mark. If we wanted to use our mana potions to keep at it, we'd have to spend health, probably just as bad as getting hit by the Iron Man anyway.



So hey, let's cut out the middleman.



That's the ticket. Ideal bloodmage play involves using your health, easily replenished by blood pools, to deal out physical or magical hits, whichever you consider more effective at the time, and using BLUDTUPOWA to maximize spell effectiveness during exploration.



Slippy's not such a screw-up after all!



And now we can use the basics of blood magic with any class! Some classes can make better use of it than others, of course, but that's nothing new, and BLUDTUPOWA is a vital tool if only because it lowers the odds of IMAWAL being generated.



No victory riches this time though.



I guess I lied. We're not doing the library this time. Triple bloodmage update? Yeah not happening. We'll definitely run a side dungeon next time though.

Next time: MAGIC CHARACTERS COMPLETE! PLEASE IDENTIFY NEXT ARRIVAL: Berserker, rogue, monk, or transmuter?

Monk but you have to say ACHOO every time you attack.

Thanks to this lp I've been playing a lot of this game lately (and this version). It's a lot easier then the old one I had before!

Anyway, go have some fun and take a Berserker into the Library. You deserve it after dealing with that.

I choose the Human Defective Detective! Possibly Detecting in the Library!

halfling rogue!

LET'S RELEASE THE RAGE

YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH

berserker in case you couldn't tell

Monk, you know you wanna

BESERKER HATE BOOKS. BESERKER ANGRY!

BESERKER SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH. By the way, great Let's Play! And if you could not tell before, Berserker in Library please.

This game is pretty awesome! I just wish it were cross-platform so I could play it on my Macbook instead of only on my gaming rig.

That's boring. Berserkers eat the Library for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And that midnight snack you go get just cause.

Zerker for the main dungeon, transmuter for the library to see what happens :P

Oooh, now this idea I like. Berserker was pretty clearly winning already, but library berserker runs are boring and easy. Plus, this means our transmuter, if it wins, will actually unlock something. So this is the next update, guys!

Did he just say "making fuck"?

There comes a time in every person's life where they just have to flip out, take enough hallucinogens to think they transform into a bear, and tear apart a bunch of mages.



This is the berserker! His love for you is like a truck. Also, he would like to commit poorly-worded sexual activities with you.



Berserkers are much closer to the fighter archetype than the actual fighter class: good physical attacks, low magical skill. As you can see, this WEYTWUT glyph is considerably more expensive than usual! Humans tend to make the best berserkers, what with the whole stronger physical attacks amplified further by the berserker's good physical attacks. You'll notice I play humans a lot!



Now, if it wasn't for WEYTWUT, or if I'd converted it straight off, we'd already have lost. But I didn't! Berserkers can still make good use of magic when you're in a tight spot.



The best glyph for any berserker, though, is BYSSEPS. It's already cheap, so the higher cost doesn't mean much, and it just makes your already strong attacks stronger.



Not strong enough, though. Dang!



Hey dude, you had your chance, quit complaining.



So yeah, here's the wraith boss, The Tormented One! To make up for the wraith's general ineffectuality at being a durable enemy, his physical resistance is twice as high. Even so, we shouldn't have too much trouble against him, since we'll hurt him faster than he hurts us if you take potions into account.



Oh man, I've barely killed anything yet, and already this run is turning up a bunch of new goodies! I'll explain the scouting orb in just a second.



First off, the first thing we can actually kill.



After converting a glyph and picking up an attack powerup, we can take down the gorgon from earlier! Yay!



Considering how the dungeon's been laid out so far, ENDISWAL could be a useful investment.



Hah, mana burn. Yeah, real scary there.



Before long, we can finally connect to the older part of the dungeon by getting past this goat!



hahahahahaha yeah no

Slightly more likely, but I'd prefer a Taurog altar. Y'know how I mentioned that Tikki-Tooki doesn't really work well for thief-type characters? That's not the case with Taurog and berserkers. The two go together like Mega Man and Rush.



Anyway, see if you can spot the difference here now that we've bought the scouting orb!



Yeah, now we can sort of see stuff just outside of our regular field of vision! As with the fighter and wizard sensory traits, we can't identify the specifics of things, but we can tell where stuff is. I'm interested in that altar up top.

Also, BURNDAYRAZ. It's still kind of useful for a berserker, but due to the high cost, you're best off relying on physical attacks.



See? Thanks to BURNDAYRAZ, we don't risk getting poisoned! We'd level up from this fight anyway, but it's the principle of the matter!



Binlor it is, then!



Whoops. I guess Binlor doesn't like the destruction of such finely-crafted beings. Slightly annoying, but we'll live.



Especially since between our attack bonus and magic resistance, we can start tearing apart these high-level warlocks!



I AM HUGE! THAT MEANS I HAVE... no, wait. That's wrong.



I got enough piety to use the Mining trait. I probably didn't need to, but I wanted to show it off. Apparently, mining in this way doesn't award piety. Lame!



I, uh... kinda don't remember what happened here. I think I was trying to accumulate enough piety to get the Heroics boon.



I'm a bit short though. Amusingly, had I skipped out on Mining, I could've gotten it.



Anyway, let's fight this guy. As you can see, we both do very little damage to one another, thanks to our respective resistances.



I have potions and remembered to convert ENDISWAL, though.



Bear in mind, this is probably one of my less efficient berserker runs. Compare that to the second bloodmage game I ran, which is probably one of my smartest. Can you tell why I might prefer these guys?



haha, spellcaster award on a berserker

So yeah, that unlocked the warlord! Y'know how fighters have death protection that lets them survive one fatal hit? The warlord is a class built around that mechanic. The CYDSTEPP glyph, which is expensive as hell to cast, bestows death protection on you each time you use it. Additionally, they get damage bonuses when at low health (like, say, just after having used death protection) and when they drink potions. Due to that last trait, gnomes, oddly enough, make for good warlords, but humans and dwarves are a bit more traditional.



Anyway, let's go finish up the library using the transmuter! I won't be running the normal dungeon with a transmuter afterwards, because it won't unlock anything and transmuter runs are kinda samey. They are definitely worth checking out at least once, though.



As you can see, we start with dirt-cheap ENDISWAL. Also, LEMMISI, but due to the lack of innate health regeneration, LEMMISI is kind of worthless for transmuters! Also also, an altar to...



Tikki-Tooki, huh? Not exactly what I'd prefer for a transmuter, but if nothing better comes up, we'll run with it.



Something better came up. Even if the Hardiness boon is mostly useless here, transmuters go about as well with Binlor as berserkers go with Taurog. Even so, two Binlor games in a row sounds kinda bland, so unless the other god is a bad choice as well, we'll try not playing under Binlor. Also, since there's a WEYTWUT glyph there, I might consider Tikki-Tooki more in a bit.



The GETINDARE glyph kinda makes me consider him less though.



Yeah, good to see you again too.



I killed something here. Forgot what it was. Anyway, this is an ideal place to show off the transmuter's key gimmick.



If we ENDISWAL, we gain 2 health per level! And since ENDISWAL only costs 1 mana, we can pretty much combine exploration with ENDISWAL to regenerate health while taking out walls. Transmuters don't have any other extraordinary abilities, but the high amount of healing resources is something to be respected.



I attacked an imp here. Can you see where it went? Me neither, because it fled to the other end of the dungeon.



Welp, I guess we're going Binlor again.



This is the beginning of MINING MADNESS.



Aequitas, you are going to be a lot more annoyed once we "mine" every single bookshelf in this library.



See how quickly we get piety under Binlor? Yeah, transmuters of Binlor can pretty much ignore his pet peeves since they drum up piety at a ridiculous rate.



Hardiness might be useless here, but I want to keep my piety from hitting the maximum of 100 so I can... actually, I don't know why. I'm sure I had a very good reason for it though. I guess to prevent the waste of any piety gain?

At the very least, it turns imps into a total non-threat.



Level 5 and we've already maxed out our piety multiple times. This is a seriously ridiculous combo right here!



I don't want to get Heroics right off. I'd prefer to take it after killing one of the two bosses so I can use the level-up heal.



Speaking of, I can safely attack the Matron of Flame at level 6. How much damage can I do to her?



Not a lot.



Hey, I wonder if the Mining boon heals me?



Most useless boon ev--

Most useless non-Earthmother boon ever.



Oh, screw it. Heroics time go go go go



Once I hit level 10, I get pretty close to taking out the Matron of Flame. Unfortunately, I won't be allowed to gain any more piety now that Heroics has been used, so I have a limit to the number of GETINDARE I can use. Not like that's actually a big problem.



One down, one to go!



I WILL MINE ALL OF YOUR BOOKS! MY BEARD IS SUPREME!



Huh, he actually survived. Whatever will I do now?



lol, potions



So uh yeah. Transmuters: kinda ridiculous.



Killing both bosses of a challenge dungeon without spending any health potions. Yeah.

As a direct result, we've now unlocked the Orc race! These guys can convert their glyphs, not into stat points, but into 5 experience points. This is great for players who like hitting level 10 but don't get much opportunity to do so outside of some crazy god strategies. Class-wise, orcs are best for characters who have trouble leveling up midway through a game (or who want to level up partway through a fight). I don't usually play them, though, but I might try it for one of the currently-locked classes.

Next time: A secret bonus prize in every box: Warlord, rogue, or monk?

Rogue, to get Assassin, to unlock Apheelsik.

Warlord!

Rogue, so you can use Draintouch and angst about not being able to make out.

I'm feeling monkish.

I'm going to keep voting for monk until I see some drunken monkey goodness

Dwarven Warlord just because I like the sound of "Dwarven Warlord."

Why no, I don't care that no one else on the board knows what this is from. Also, I suspect dwarfs aren't actually an exceptional choice for warlords since you're looking to spend a lot of time at low HP, not max health. But Kalir said he's only taking requests for class and not species anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

for the love of god a rogue a rogue!

I WAS going to vote rogue, but this made me change my mind XD

I feel kinda bad for Falselogic. He's been voting rogue ever since it was unlocked, but it never gets picked. Ah well. Warlord time!



Check out this guy. This is the kind of guy you would be honored to call your commander. Or captain. Or sexbomb. Any one, really.

Anyway, we start with the CYDSTEPP glyph. As you may note, it costs our entire mana capacity just to cast it once! But once you do...



On-demand death protection. Ideally, a warlord has this up once already, as well as enough mana to cast it a second time. This effectively lets them land two extra blows (three against low-level enemies) when other classes would be dead.



Also, a scouting orb. It's much more useful when purchased early. Actually, a lot of Desktop Dungeons stuff works best at the earlier points.



Dracul, eh? Well, I do like him, but I really want to get a few levels under my belt before following him. His boons aren't too expensive, so you can usually wait until level 3 or so.



The new monster here is the goo blob. Remember these guys from the tutorial? They're the physical counterpart to the golem, and are pretty damn annoying for meatheads like ourselves.



Even without the piety cost of CYDSTEPP, you guys have seen plenty of Binlor already. Warlords benefit from more offensively-inclined choices, anyway.



BURNDAYRAZ is a good idea against physically-resistant enemies, but most of our mana is going to CYDSTEPP.



That's right, remember her from the Snake Pit? She's just as much of a pushover, especially considering our death protection basically means her main ability is kinda worthless.



Here, you can see two things in effect. First, the Warlord's Determined feature is upping our attack power, albeit only slightly. Second, our death protection will keep us alive, despite the readout saying "DEATH". Warlords have to learn to disregard the battle prediction pretty quickly to be most effective.



Having hit level 2, I get impatient and sign on with Dracul. He notices that I've already killed a bunch of stuff and rewards me with piety, but you'll notice that I'm now level 3.



Unfortunately, that's Dracul's cost: that level grants no benefits whatsoever, aside from the first strike rules. For all intents and purposes aside from that, we're still level 2. Fortunately, Dracul is easy to please, with every non-undead kill scoring 3 points of piety.



Another downside of Dracul's cost: even though this is technically us at level 2 killing a level 5 gorgon, we'll only get bonus experience according to being level 3. Once we get higher in level, this cost won't matter quite as much. Even so, warlords are good at fighting things way tougher than them.



I don't need this glyph, so I turn it into a mana potion. Like I mentioned earlier, mana potions offer a one-shot attack boost to warlords from their Courageous trait. I think it stacks with BYSSEPS, but not with their existing Determined bonus.



Dracul gets angry when you kill undead, but as long as the piety loss won't take you below 0 and you're not trying to get a specific boon, one or two kills here and there won't hurt you. Dracul is a great god for the side dungeons, since they don't have any undead (barring one, but we'll burn that bridge when we get there).

Seriously, warlords have even more brushes with death than the Kid.



We can still use BURNDAYRAZ if we need to. Since we do roughly the same damage to gorgons with either fire or sword, we keep our mana capacity in mind and try not to be wasteful.



Yeah I'm glad we're with Dracul rather than the Pactmaker. How glad?



This glad. As you might recall, all of Dracul's boons, to make up for their low piety cost, lower your max health by 5. Fortunately, since warlords are usually hanging around with 1 HP anyway, that's not a big deal for them.



Man, remember when the dungeon only had goblins and meat men and stuff? Those sure were the days, eh?



But then again, back then we didn't constantly fight for our lives with CYDSTEPP!



Unfortunately, I ran out of mana for another CYDSTEPP against that guy.



This just gives me a chance to use a mana potion for (a) GETINDARE, and (b) demonstrating the Courageous bonus. Hey, wait, maybe it does stack with Determined.



Poison isn't amazingly scary for a warlord, but it's still dangerous.



Yeah, I had to use another potion here. Underestimate goo blobs at your own peril, kids!



This gives us enough piety to get Dracul's most interesting boon: Bloodhunger!



Now, we have a 20% life drain to our attacks! So the damage we do to this guy...



One fifth of it comes back after his attack to heal us! Or maybe before, don't remember. But yeah, life drain is very powerful for players who like to mop up weak enemies, or characters with high attack power. Warlords fit at least one of those two criteria, but they don't need it as much due to their constant life support.



Damn it, that's another potion.



Running out of non-undead enemies here. Oh well, let's go kill Medusa.

As you can see, Medusa has health on a level comparable with Gharbad. Her advantage is that if you're not at full health, you get instakilled anyway. Which doesn't matter at all for us. Warlords are perfect for fighting low-health bosses like Medusa.



Unfortunately, one potion alone doesn't refresh our CYDSTEPP glyph. But hey, we have BURNDAYRAZ, and it refreshes more mana than the cost of BURNDAYRAZ. And it's not like we need GETINDARE, so that's another mana potion for us.



Honestly, though, she's no trouble at all.



And that's the CYDSTEPP glyph unlocked for everyone else! Now, how to wrap up the dungeon...



Hey Dracul, I'm killing all your undead guys! Whatchoo gonna do about it, huh?



Oh.

Yep. When your piety hits 0, you suffer the retribution of your god, which can range from mediocre (Earthmother causes something like poison) to YOU ARE DEAD. Dracul, as the god of death, does not lightly suffer betrayal.



Oh well, we killed Medusa and therefore won.



Anyway. There are four special classes in the game, which are unlocked by clearing the bonus dungeons with one of the hardest classes possible for it. In the Library's case, that is apparently the warlord.

I don't think that's entirely accurate. I can think of at least one class that has a harder time with the Library than the warlord, and when compared with the other challenges, it's kind of underwhelming. Oh well, no complaints here.



This is the last time we'll go to the Library, honest.



I forget if BYSSEPS stacks with either of the warlord's bonuses. Guess we'll find out.



Meeeeeehhhh...



But I haven't even told you my war stories yet!



I guess the challenge part is from the fact that imps might not stay still after you waste death protection on them? That's kind of a dumb reason if you ask me, though.



You are not a zombie and therefore do not scare me.



Taurog doesn't really work well for warlords at all. That whole magic thing really doesn't fly with him. I guess as long as we're by his altar, I'll tell you his retribution: he halves your max health, to match your squishy wizard tendencies.