Komikero: All Consuming Evil

One of the more difficult lesser bosses in Drakensang-Online is the Level 39 All Consuming Evil, which is basically the highest level of the Bog Monster that players will encounter very early on in the game.

This version of All Consuming Evil is found in the difficult setting of Liar's Lair. Other players might find this guy easy, and from a certain point of view, they may be right. This monster is fairly easy to evade since it just slowly dodders clumsily around the area, but since it has an incredible amount of hit points, it takes a really long time to kill. It gets tedious after a while and you just might get killed if you get complacent and lazy.

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This monster packs a smashing attack that can give an incredible amount of damage. You may think you may still have enough life, but sometimes that may not be enough. One whack from this guy reduces my health down by almost 40%. Two more whacks and I'm dead. I have to circle around it, trying to regenerate health before I attack again.

The new skills come in pretty handy because a combination of the Paralyzing Onslaught, Iron Brow, Scream of Rage, and Ground Breaker can damage this guy quite a lot. Just watch out to avoid its smashing attacks.

Oh yeah, I've finally managed to reach Level 39! And with the new level, I get my final quest: KILL HERALD.

Tall order, man! Tall order!

Komikero: I Almost Took Out Khalys Solo

One of the big challenges of the game are the three huge bosses: Khalys, Sigrisimarr Frostclaw, and Herald of the Anderworld.

When my Dragon Knight was at Level 19, I encountered Khalys for the very first time. I died even before I saw her. She hit me with some kind of energy beam that followed me where I went. It killed me instantly. Khalys herself is a Level 26 Unique enemy but, even if I went back as a Level 26 Dragon Knight weeks later, I still couldn't beat her.

Even at Level 32, which is 6 levels above Khalys, I still couldn't beat her. And as with how the game is designed, I can no longer gain experience points when enemies I encounter are more than 5 levels below me. I find it ridiculous that even when I can no longer gain experience points if I beat her, I still can't beat her.

Worse, the stun skills simply won't work on big bosses like Khalys. "Paralyzing Onslaught" simply doesn't work on her at all, the skill that I use to stun enemies as I hack away at them keeping myself free from damage.

I started to think that perhaps I wasn't meant to beat her alone.

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Grouping up with other players would probably be my only option, but since it's hard to find the time that syncs with Jonas and Ysa's free time and not wanting to group with people I don't know, I just went on playing the rest of the game. Unlike Diablo where you absolutely need to kill the big boss before you can progress into the next area, in Drakensang-Online you can actually skip killing these big bosses and play the rest of the game, allowing you to level up and come back when you're strong enough.

And so that's what I did. When I hit Level 37, armed with polished gems that made my armor stronger and weapons more powerful, I returned to face Khalys once again.

Frustratingly, some of the new stun skills don't work on her as well. Along with "Paralyzing Onslaught", "Iron Brow" and "Ground Breaker" don't seem to affect her at all. So my technique of stunning enemies almost perpetually with a combo of those three skills simply will not work. I would just have to go toe to toe with her.

As it turns out, the new skill "Smash" proved to the most useful, as it gave me 200% weapon damage. Since my Extraordinary Duria Mace already gives me a maximum of 111 damage, helped along with a couple of "Essence of War" boosts, I find myself remarkably strong enough to really go toe to toe with Khalys. The perpetual presence of the Powerful Health Drops around the battle area help me sustain my health long enough to keep fighting.

It took a long time of going at it, but I managed to whittle down Khalys' health to around 5%. Unfortunately, I got careless and got a little overconfident. Just as I was about to beat her, I got killed.

I thought, no problem! I could just resurrect myself and keep on fighting. This is when I discovered something even more frustrating about fighting big bosses. Unlike lesser bosses, Khalys' health returned to 100% after my resurrection. Holy crap. I couldn't muster the energy and the will to go toe to toe again right at that moment for another 15 minutes of fighting so I just allowed her to kill me.

I'll just recover, psych myself up for it, and I'll try again next time. Now that I'm level 38, going on 39, I hope it gets easier.

I mean... there's still Sigrisimarr and Herald to go!

Komikero: Dragon Knight Skills Configuration

Hello! Gerry Alanguilan here again, rambling about my Dragon Knight.

Two new skills have been added with Release 046, in addition to to new skills added with Release 045. I think the two new skills are tremendous but it left a few players are asking, "how am I going to fit all those skills in the hotkeys/tabs?"

That's a legitimate question, because as it is, there are more skills than there are hotkeys. The hotkeys, as I like to call them, are the row of buttons between the two globes at the bottom of the playing screen. The hotkeys are divided into two sections. The left section has 6 hotkeys, while the right section has 3 hotkeys.

The right section represents the attacks that are activated by your mouse. The first key represents your left mouse button, which is your primary attack key. In that key, I placed "Angry Strike", which is probably the only skill I can place there because it's the only attack strike that you can use right away without building up "Rage". In this game, "Rage" is generated by using the "Angry Strike" continuously, and as your rage rises, you can see just  how much in the beige globe on the left. When you have enough "Rage", it is only then other skills can become usable.

In the second and third key I placed "Mighty Swing" and "Mighty Wild Swing". The second key is the skill that's activated when you use your right mouse button. Key 2 and Key 3 can be interchanged by clicking "Tab".

Before Release046, I would generate "Rage" by using "Angry Strike" continuously. When my rage level is at maximum, I would then press Button #5 (on the keyboard) to activate "Scream of Rage". This would increase the damage I can give as well as give me speed. I would then use up the rage by using a combination of the "Mighty Swing" and "Mighty Wild Swing".

With Release046, I replaced "Mighty Swing" with "Smash". I did this because "Smash" can be used continuously as long as you have rage. Unlike most other skills, "Smash" doesn't need a cool down period to be used again. You can use it again and again in quick succession.

Not only that, "Smash" brings 200% weapon damage, which is insanely powerful. I love using it because it really kicks those monsters asses. Awesome sound effects too.

Which brings me to the left set of hotkeys. I already mentioned Button #5. I will now talk about the rest. The left set of hotkeys represents a bunch of other skills that the Dragon Knight possesses. They can be activated by the number keys on your keyboard from #1 to #6.

Button #1: Not really a skill but a shortcut for health potions. This assignment is indispensable because I absolutely need a shortcut for health potions which would allow me to quickly regain health when I'm dangerously close to dying. With the increase in the number of skills, it might be wise of the developers assign a different key on the keyboard to activate health potions (probably "H"?) so that this button can also be used for skills. Now I don't know if there is actually a health potion shortcut somewhere on the keyboard. Let me know if there is.

Button #2: Paralyzing Onslaught.

Button #3: Furious Battle Cry. Before Release 046, this button was assigned the "Furious Battle Cry". This is a skill that instantly increases your rage, allowing you to use other skills right away without engaging in battle first. It's useful, but it's a skill I never really used much anyway and I thought I could do away with it by replacing it with the new skill "Rage Jump". Like "Furious Battle Cry", "Rage Jump" can be used right away without needing to generate rage.I like using "Rage Jump" to either jump into battle or escape from it (to regenerate health).

Button #4: Iron Brow.

Button #6: Ground Breaker.

I use Buttons #2, #4 and #6 in one after the other to keep monsters almost perpetually stunned. That allows me to take down the more difficult monsters much quicker, and much easier than before.

One trick I really like to use now is clicking "Iron Brow" and then using "Smash". "Iron Brow" both stuns and lowers the armor of monsters. This makes "Smash" even more powerful when it brings in 200% weapon damage. Big monsters fall like ten pins.

And that's how my Dragon Knight skills configuration stands as it is now. And it's awesome!

Komikero: Level 37 Dragon Knight

Hello guys! It's Gerry Alanguilan again. Today, I'll be talking about my Dragon Knight character, holding currently at Level 37.

All these items above have been found while playing the game (as opposed to buying stuff with Andermant bought with real money). I used to have a Legendary Necklace, which I got through crafting, but for some reason it's disappeared. And I don't know how it happened. I think it was when I was trading medallions I found that my Legendary Necklace got dragged to the trading window instead.

I guess when fighting level 40 Dragons it can get pretty nerve wracking and I get confused.

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At this point, I no longer have any quests to finish, except for killing Khalys and Sigrisimarr, which I absolutely cannot kill on my own. I'll probably team up with Jonas and Ysa at some point when I'm free from deadlines.

What I do now to gain experience is to farm lower levels for Andermant, Crystals of Truth, and Essences of Combat. When I have enough blue essences, I go to Liar's Lair on difficult setting. There I get level 39 and  level 40 monsters: usually skeleton swordsmen, bog monsters, and dragons. The best thing? NO freakin' archers! My Level 37 DK can pretty much deal with these monsters capably, especially considering the new DK skills.

At first I thought the new DK skills, namely the "Iron Brow" and "Ground Breaker" were a little too weak and that the "Paralyzing Onslaught" is still more powerful. But I realized upon playing that I could use those three skills one after the other to keep monsters almost continually stunned. There would be a few seconds between using the skills where the monster would be "awake" but it's not enough time for it to actually attack or cause me damage. I found this amazingly useful with beating more difficult enemies.

I've used this technique quite effectively with boss dragons as well as the level 40 dragons.

With these new skills, the Dragon Knight has become amazingly powerful. I used to save up Andermant to buy Essences of War to combat the higher level creatures, but with the new skills, I can manage well enough with Essences of Combat.

Battle Tips: Choosing where to Fight

In the world of Drakensang-Online, you don’t usually get to choose where to fight but rather fight where your enemies find you.

The type of place you fight in however, offer its fair share of advantages and disadvantages and knowing these can be the difference between life and death for your character.

There are basically two types of battlefields you’re going to find yourself in: enclosed and open space.

Enclosed Spaces

These are spaces which, either because of man-made (fences, walls, etc.) or natural (rocks, trees, etc.) structures, forces your opponents into a bottle neck. Wikipedia defines a bottle neck as a term “taken from the 'assets are water' metaphor. As water is poured out of a bottle, the rate of outflow is limited by the width of the conduit of exit—that is, bottleneck’. Simply put, there’s not a whole lot of space to move.

Advantages
Since space is limited and by positioning yourself in the right place, a bottle neck will force your opponents to come at you 1-2 at a time, giving you a better than average chance of overcoming a horde which would have otherwise overwhelmed you in other environments. This is very helpful when you’re faced with monsters that can inflict high levels of damage (such as dragons) since they can only attack you taking turns instead of all at once.

Disadvantages
Since space is very limited you can very well get trapped with no means of escape. I normally employ this tactic when faced with 3-5 dragons. Beyond that I find that there is a better than average chance that I’m the one who’s going to be getting the short end of the stick.

Open Spaces

Open spaces are environments which don’t have a lot of hindrance for movement and you’re pretty much free to run (or dash) in whichever direction you might choose.

Advantages
These kinds of spaces are ideal for hit and run tactics when battling multiple opponents. You can just pretty much do damage and run away before the enemy can retaliate then swoop back in and repeat as needed. The new skills for Dragon Knights (Iron Brow and Ground Breaker) coupled with the Paralyzing Onslaught are perfect for keeping 3-5 monsters stunned while you whittle away their hit points bit by bit.

Disadvantages
If you’re not too careful however, it’s easy to get surrounded by enemies (especially in cases where you’ve taken on more than you can fight effectively). The thing to do in this kind of situation is try to get away, regroup, and resume your tactic before you get killed.

There are of course permutations to these two types of battle fields and how to use them to your advantage which I will discuss in a future article.

Where do you prefer to battle?

Release 044

At last, the new skills are finally here with the coming of Release 044 for Drakensang-Online!

New skills have been unlocked for the heroes of Duria. Each class of characters will receive two new skills, one at level 18 and one at level 30.

• The Dragonknight will receive the “Iron Brow” skill at level 18 and the “Ground Breaker” skill at level 30.
• The Spellweaver will receive the “Chain of Lightning“ skill at level 18 and the “Frost Wind” skill at level 30. Also, beginning at level 1, the “Lightning Shot” skill will be replaced with the “Magic Missile” skill.
• The Ranger will receive the “Bird of Prey” skill at level 18 and the “Adrenaline” skill at level 30.

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“Release 044 is ushering in a skills renaissance – there will be two new skills available for each archetype. There will also be a new quest in the Norselands and jewels can be improved using the work bench from this point on.”

I’m kinda disappointed with the new Dragon Knight skills though.

It seems to me that the two new skills I got (Iron Brow and Ground Breaker) basically produces the same effect as the Paralyzing Onslaught (produce 20 Rage points, stun enemy, deal some damage) but with different visuals and animation. The head butt courtesy of the Iron Brow skill is useful though as it also weakens your enemy's armor which makes him vulnerable while he's stunned for the next 2-3 seconds.

Still, it would’ve been nice if they came up with something different.

Click here for the complete details of Release 044.