1/16/2014 update: Combat special dice now have 6 combat instead of 4 combat. This makes combat challenges much easier than before.
Here's some tips on playing SCA tier 6 dungeons. I know there’s probably many people doing it with very high success and may think this is all old news, but this is meant for those having trouble and want some help with beating it to get their stupid lightfoot thieves.
1. Having four rank 30's makes the dungeon much easier. If you don't have at the very least 3x rank 30 and 1x rank 25, in my opinion you should simply avoid doing it because your failure rate will likely be very high. When a companion reaches rank 26, it unlocks an additional die and since a rank 25 companion doesn't have it he will often lose. Wererat Thief is a blue companion that offers four thievery dice, can be obtained at the drake seal vendor in town for 200 drake seals. I do not recommend upgrading him to purple because his active bonus is very weak, but he is a good option for the 4th assuming you only have 3 rank 30's.
2. See this gamepedia page to help you decide on which companions to use:
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Sword_Coast_Adventures . If you aren't certain, four companions I would recommend to get started on a budget and still have companions with meaningful active bonuses for actual in-game use: Phoera (magic), Honey Badger (combat/perception/combat/some thievery), Rust Monster (jack of all trades), purple cat/purple ioun stone of allure (decent thievery). You may ask, "Why honey badger and phoera? They give defensive bonuses and I like to be a glass cannon that dies from two hits from a redcap because I am so cool I stack power over 9000 but I can barely use any of it because I spend more of my time laying on the ground waiting to be ressed and I like to tell people what went wrong when we wiped even though I am the first person to die because I have 800 defense and 2000 hp." Because soulforged is BiS armor enchantment in dungeons, and both synergize very well with it.
3. Because of portals, you want a companion with four magic dice: Sylph, phoera/ystic phoera, lillend, aranea, cantankerous mage, acolyte of kelemvor, renagade evoker, quickling, faithful initiate, blink dog, archmage's apprentice, wayward wizard, and cleric disciple. Imo the best magic companions would be blink dog (my favorite for damage classes), aranea, and if CW cantankerous mage, or if tank acolyte of kelemvor, since their active bonuses are quite good. There are only four companions with all four special dice with thievery: Lightfoot thief, wererat thief, slyblade kobold, and hunting hawk, therefore I suggest just using a purple cat or ioun stone of allure for thievery challenges. Lightfoot thief may be very high dmg boost and if you have it definitely raise that to purple for thievery, or if you have a ranged hunter ranger, the hunting hawk is good both in game and in sword coast.
4. Explore as far as you can with companions compatible with the challenges before going for chests. The only thing you should go backwards is if you see a challenge ahead that you don't think your companions are compatible enough for them, or if you want to do easier challenges so that a compatible companion that is resting can become active again and then go forward. Once you reach the boss, if you have enough health for you to feel safe to open chests, then go hunting for them. Personally I don’t even bother with chests, because I hear you can’t get lightfoot thief from them, only get lightfoot thief from the boss, and the boss can take some tries to beat so I rather face him with as much health as I can.
5. The key to winning a lot is to keep in your mind what each of the die is able to roll, and the odds if it rolling it, and what you will need to beat the challenge. Very often it is preferable to delay on using a die that has the highest amount of what you need in order to allow for more rolls. For example, if you are down to three base dice, and 1 magic/perception dice, and the challenge requires one magic and five combat, and you rolled two combat, thievery, thievery, magic, you will want to use the two combat and roll again without using the magic.
without magic/perception die
3 combat, win
2 combat, 1/2 chance to win with last roll
1 combat, 1/3 chance to win with last roll
magic or thievery or perception, 1/6 chance to win with last roll
with magic/perception die
2 combat, thievery, perception, use 2 combat, reroll, 50% chance to roll combat+1/6 chance to roll magic with base die, 50% chance to roll magic+1/6th chance to roll critical hit that can replace 3 combat, allows for another reroll
1 combat, thievery, perception, use 1 combat, reroll, 1/3 chance to roll 2 or 3 combat+1/6 chance to roll magic with base die, 50% chance to roll magic+1/6 chance to roll critical hit that can replace 3 combat, allows for another reroll
6. There are times where base dice are more valuable than special die and in those situations you will want to sacrifice the special dice instead of the base dice. For example, if a challenge requires 4 combat, you have two base die, and one magic/perception die, and you have to sacrifice one of them, you should sacrifice the magic/perception die. The magic/perception die only has 1/6 chance of rolling a combat, but the two base die have 50% chance of rolling combat (1/6 1 combat, 1/6 2 combat, 1/6 3 combat). On the other hand, if a challenge requires 6 combat, and you have two base die, and one magic/perception die, each of the die will have identical 1/6 chance of rolling the required 3 combat to win, in which case you can sacrifice any of them with equal odds remaining. IF YOU SEE A WHISPERKNIFE RUN FAR FAR AWAY.
7. Every challenge will have a total of nine runes (in this case think of 3 combat as 1 rune). Sometimes they will be all in one section, or separated into multiple sections. The single section challenges will be easier than the multiple section challenges, assuming all other things remain the same. When choosing your path, and you have a choice between a one section challenge or a two/three section challenge, with pretty similar challenge runes, and you are just exploring trying to find the next dungeon level, then it is probably better for you to pick the single section challenge.
8. High combat challenges are the hardest challenges. The main reason why is that special combat dice can only have up to 4 combat runes, and tier 6 challenges have a sum total of 9 runes (with 3 combat counting as one rune), thus making more rerolling to make use of combat base dice to compensate for the relative weakness of special combat dice. There are currently only two companions that can have four combat dice, Galeb Dhur and Armored Orc Wolf. Three combat dice companions can certainly do combat challenges, but the odds of succeeding are lower than any other rune type. Remember to constantly reroll to try to find 3 combat base dice, and sacrifice special dice without combat if they don't provide any needed runes.
9. Each dungeon will have a specific boss, and one of the companions should be chosen to be most suitable to fight the boss. Some dungeons simply can't be finished if you don't have companions with the right combination of dice. For example, Giant Caverns has the boss Magra Curse-Eye, who has a total of 27 combat points. A companion with 3 power dice might be able to beat her, but the odds may be very small, and imo I wouldn't try to do it without a companion with 4 power die after failing about six times in a row against Magra. Over the next few days I will update this post with all of the boss challenge requirements.
Black Dragon's Lair, Black Dragon.
1. 2 magic
2. 1 magic, 1 perception
3. 1 thievery, 6 combat
4. 1 magic, 3 combat
Dracolich's Lair, Dracolich
1. 1 magic, 3 combat
2. 2 magic, 2 perception
3. 3 combat
4. 1 magic, 1 thievery
Defiled Woods, Shatterspine
1. 2 perception
2. 1 key
3. 6 combat
4. 1 magic, 9 combat
Green Dragon's Lair, Green Dragon
1. 1 magic, 2 thievery
2. 6 combat
3. 1 perception, 1 thievery
4. 2 thievery
Pit of Despair, Syndrith
1. 1 perception
2. 2 magic, 3 combat
3. 1 magic, 2 thievery
4. 2 perception
The Darkest Depths, Beholder Tyrant
1. 1 magic, 3 combat
2. 1 key, 3 combat
3. 1 perception, 6 combat
4. 1 perception, 3 combat
The Land of Dreams, Elder Brain
1. 6 combat
2. 1 thievery, 3 combat
3. 1 magic, 3 combat
4. 1 magic, 1 perception, 3 combat
City in the Underdark, Graft-Harrow
1. 1 magic, 1 thievery
2. 6 combat
3. 9 combat
4. 1 perception, 3 combat
Giant Caverns, Magra Curse-Eye
1. 9 combat
2. 6 combat
3. 6 combat
4. 6 combat
Dungeon of Horrors, Malabog
1. 1 magic, 3 combat
2. 1 perception, 3 combat
3. 2 thievery
4. 1 magic, 6 combat
Slave Pens, Xivros
1. 1 thievery, 9 combat
2. 6 combat
3. 2 magic
4. 1 thievery
Red Dragon's Lair, Red Dragon
1. 2 perception, 1 thievery, 3 combat
2. 1 magic, 3 combat
3. 6 combat
4. 3 combat
The Arena, Molly Redstone
1. 1 perception, 9 combat
2. 1 magic
3. 1 thievery
4. 1 thievery, 6 combat
Cave of Skulls, Marrowslake
1. 1 thievery
2. 2 thievery, 3 combat
3. 2 perception, 3 combat
4. 2 magic
Blue Dragon's Lair, Blue Dragon
1. 1 perception, 3 combat
2. 2 magic, 2 perception
3. 1 thievery
4. 1 perception, 3 combat
Black Dragon's Lair, Black Dragon
1. 2 magic
2. 1 magic, 1 peception
3. 1 thievery, 6 combat
4. 1 magic, 3 combat
1.
http://s7.postimg.org/4ep1den97/image.jpg
Not a very good roll, a special die must be sacrificed. The next two challenge sections have only combat. The two green dice have magic and thievery, and both are important for passing the first section. The blue die has magic and combat, both important again. The purple die has magic and perception, but perception is not important. Sacrifice purple and reroll.
2.
http://s7.postimg.org/9fwferupn/image.jpg
Probably common sense, but you will use less die if you use the critical green to do 2 thievery, and use the base magic die.
3.
http://s7.postimg.org/oksjcaiwr/image.jpg
Use the 3 combat base die, reroll.
4.
http://s7.postimg.org/ed9zzvwor/image.jpg
Used a 3 combat base die, forgot to take picture b4. Reroll.
5.
http://s7.postimg.org/snjkbdd17/image.jpg
Another 3 combat base die.
6.
http://s7.postimg.org/eftvmq0cb/image.jpg
Benefit from the 60% chance of getting 3+ combat die from saving the blue die.
7.
http://s7.postimg.org/cdte8h2d7/image.jpg
Given the option to use a magic base die, but refrain, because we want to get as many perception dice as we can get. Use the base perception and the yellow 2 perception dice. Only when we feel safe we can get enough perception without rerolling through a base magic do we use a magic die, most likely a base die, blue (magic/combat) die, since purple (magic/perception) and yellow (perception/thievery) are most likely going to be more valuable unless you roll too many base perception dice.
8.
http://s7.postimg.org/9xw68d9ob/image.jpg
It may seem like a bad idea, but here we have four perception, one magic, and one critical. Even though we will be using the three special die very inefficiently, all of it will be met when the critical is used as a perception.
9.
http://s7.postimg.org/9oylifwvv/image.jpg
Three base dice, one yellow, and one blue remaining. Reroll, because the odds of combat appearing is high, and each reroll gives the yellow die 50% chance of being thievery, and any thievery yellow die means you can reroll the other die again after using it.
10.
http://s7.postimg.org/srhz5d7wb/image.jpg
I’ll take the 2 combat and use the yellow die since odds of getting enough combat is decent now with each roll giving the blue die 1/3 chance of being the required 4 combat or 60% chance of being 3 combat or higher.
11.
http://s7.postimg.org/uxc9zvbcr/image.jpg
No combat from blue die, oops. We still have 50% chance from the base die, and 60% from the blue die.
12.
http://s7.postimg.org/bi1i6ri2j/image.jpg
Combat from blue arrived a bit late but it’s here. If the base die was not combat, it would be sacrificed since the blue die will have 60% chance of meeting the 1 combat requirement, whereas the base die only has a 50% chance of meeting the 1 combat requirement.
13.
http://s7.postimg.org/tyvwxky0r/image.jpg
This challenge requires a total of 1 perception and 8 thievery. You should use critical yellow for the two keys, but should you use the yellow perception for the 1 perception? The next section requires a lot of keys, and you may want the key from the yellow die. You have six base dice, and four key dice, and the key dice are worth more than twice as much as base dice in this particular challenge since you need so much thievery especially in the final section. Sacrifice base dice, try to use a base perception, and reroll constantly to get double thievery dice until the challenge is over.
14.
http://s7.postimg.org/av2lh8l6j/image.jpg
A good reminder that sword coast is 10% companions, 10% player choice, and 80% random number generator.
15.
http://s7.postimg.org/hzkeq9sfv/image.jpg
Another special die must be sacrificed to meet the perception requirement. Purple has perception/magic, yellow has perception/thievery, red has perception/combat, blue has magic/combat. We need 1 thievery in the next section, and 1 magic in the final section, and six combat. I choose to sacrifice purple because blue also has magic, which is required for the final section, whereas yellow is my only special die with key.
16.
http://s7.postimg.org/oejfmxz5n/image.jpg
I only have one base die, a yellow, blue, and red die remaining. I choose to use the red die (perception/combat) because there is no point rerolling since only 1/6 chance of the base die becoming the needed 3 combat per roll in this section or the needed 1 magic or 3 combat in the next section, same as the red die. Blue die being saved for the last sectio
Comments
Some days I have made it to the Final Boss and got my butt kicked real bad and other days I can't even seem to get past the front door??? I do take all Level 30s with me as well. Guess it is just a matter of luck and dice rolls and the way the cookie crumbles...............But watching some step by step instructions on how to use the die to your advantage will be a real help. Also guess I need to level up a thief/rogue type companion that is the only one of the type I have not purchased/earned as I play a Trickster Rogue, so never saw the point to have the same class as I.
Thanks again.
I'm curious about their viability for a good SCA team:
- stone (30)
- archon (30)
- galeb (not yet leveled)
- dancing blade (epic @25)
- Wild Hunt Rider (epic @25)
- wererat thief (blue 25)
- slyblade kobold (blue @20 for now)
- jagged blade (blue @12 for now)
I'd rather not upgrade the wererat/jagged blade for obvious reasons... not useful for my CW.
So what team comp should be ideal if I decide to try&get the lightfoot thief? When I think it's still blue and I will have to upgrade it as well I get twitchy lol.
i am running with a renegade mage instead of galeb, but they do the same thing in the end. I am always completing them, tho sometimes rng might make you lose a fight here and there.
I suggest all lvl 30 for crit chance and also alot of calming pills or cigars or anything that keeps you calm when u;ll not get that thief even after 100 complete runs.
Your ioun stone of allure rank 30 will have a quite better time at doing thievery challenges than a blue wererat thief because it has one additional die, while both will have in total three thievery dice. It also has three perception dice.
Your fire archon is a jack of all trades, but with three magic dice and only one perception dice, a very good complement to the ioun stone of allure.
Galeb is currently one of the only two companions with four combat dice along with armored orc wolf. It is a fantastic pet because high combat challenges are more difficult than other type challenges because a special die can have 2 magic/perception/thievery, but only at most 4 combat. By having this companion you will have the best chance to beat Giant Caverns' Magra who has 27 strength runes, but I think even then it would be quite difficult. Should take him to most dungeons too.
Then the best fourth in the list I would say would be the dancing blade or wild hunt rider, with the dancing blade having more magic and wild hunt rider having more thievery and both having low strength. Slyblade has four thievery dice at rank 26+, but I think its active bonus is very situational, 3 cw cn teams or tr dazing strike spamming or ranger root spamming comes to mind, so I wouldn't suggest people upgrade it unless they know it will be useful for them. Thievery challenges are certainly doable with rank 30 ioun stone of allure/cat, and also your wild hunt rider when it becomes rank 26+.
I'll level up Galeb, Wild Hunt Rider and and the Dancing Blade to 30 these days. Good to know I don't have to pay more AD
- Dancing Blade (29)
- Wild Hunt Rider (30)
- Archon (30)
- Stone (30)
All I can say is do not attempt epics with this setup, or I might just have bad luck, or I might just very well be quite bad at this, although I read tips and paid good attention. I doubt that later tomorrow with Dancing Blade at 30 it will make much of a difference. There were just impossible challenges down the road for what I had available. I'm not entirely sure, but there were times when I had to roll 16 or so Combat dice (if I remember correctly), or other such stacked challenges. All I could do was die repeatedly and just leave the map in the end.
Again, read all the advice, played carefully, obviously not a pro at this, yet I still feel my companion choices sucked. I still have Galeb, he's 16 or so So tired of doing all Sharandar and Dread Ring to level these guys. So tired to spend on what needed upgrades.
And all for blue companion that I don't even know if it's good for my CW or not.
I must be insane :P
Anyway. Are these companions really bad together? Should I avoid some dungeons? I tried my best to "cast" them into the most favorable encounters for what they had to offer, yet sometimes there was just no answer for what was on the map.
Well, not much of a choice. Galeb is the only other epic I have. I still have the wererat and kobold both around 25/blue. Are they better than what I have if I level at epic? I hope not lol.
OK man, thanks. I'll move the training enchants to Galeb right away. And I thought I was almost done Now another few days of full Sharandar joy lol.
Anyway thats my 2 cents about the epic sca.
Using Galeb Dhur, Pseudodragon, Ioun Stone of Allure (upgraded to 30) and Hunting Hawk (upgraded to 30) myself and have no trouble clearing it multiple times a day. Only trouble i seem to have is that my allure stone's roll seem quite wacky from time to time. If i need combat it doesn't roll even a single one combat. Not singled out to that either. Sometimes i need perception and get all dices magic/combat. Leveling up my Mystic Phoera (18 now) so that i can switch it out with the stone just for that.
Question regarding a second 4 group party. Have Rust Monster, Fire Archon, Honey Badger, Will'o Wisp, Cat, Might Stone, Fawn and the Mimic. Which 4 of these would make a viable enough party for another group of adventurers for when the All-Stars are too tired. Can upgrade the lesser ones to epic if needed.
May the rolls favor and the companion drop swiftly to each of you.
In comparison, a challenge that requires a total of 9 magic, and you use a companion with four special magic dice, that companion can have a theoretical maximum of 14 magic.
And to themanticors, all of those companions are rather jacks of all trades, none with four of the same special dice, but still good. I'd go rust monster (really jack of all trades), cat (thievery), honey badger (combat, perception), wisp (magic).
Wanted to give a little info that might interest you. For an upcoming patch (I can't say for sure which one), I've improved all power dice with a combat affinity (Kossuth, Tempus, and Lolth). Any result on those dice that currently shows Combat 4 will now show Combat 6.
I'd initially doubled the middle-value of base combat (2 -> 4), but it didn't quite put the aforementioned dice on the same power-level as non-combat dice, which made combat challenges slightly harder than I'd like.
By the way, do you think you could add more Tier 6 dungeons with more blue companions as rewards, say one companion from each group? Striker, Defender etcc..
That way we can have more fun.
I have some epic companions, and will upgrade more to epic. But it's really a pity that I can't use half of them in SCA because they got (or will get) evil deities' dices, which I don't like to use because of role-playing reasons.
Do you have to clear the entire dungeon or just kill the boss for a chance to get the thief?? I've completed the dungeon about 25 times with no companion drop. But I never am able to finish all challeges even though I usually get all the chests.
It's a boss drop, therefore completing every challenge is irrelevant.
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i need advice for my fourth compagnion. Actually i play tier 6 dungeons with Galeb Dur, Vicious Dire Wolf, Sprite and Ioun Stone of Allure. The Ioun Stone lv25 give me a hard time, so would like to replace him. The hardest battles for me are a lot of Magic mixed with Combat, so I think about upgrading Fawn of Shiallia (because is so cute^^) or buyin Will-o'-Wisp (which i will never use ingame...). Any thoughts?
And of course I didn't get the companion, my RNG is truly bad, I have still yet to find Blink Dog or Eye artifact and I daily run those things since it was possible...
Anyway, thanks for the help, Galeb was essential even while not at 30 yet.
Grats pers3phone . I also lost a lot, like 15 times in a row, simply because I didn't have all rank 30's. Now that I have all rank 30's it has become much easier and failure is usually because I'm too lazy to pick the right dice. Don't let the lack of lightfoot thief drop get you down. My constant checking of lightfoot thief in the auction house makes me think the droprate may be something like 1 or 2%, and I don't expect to find my thief without at least a few weeks of playing, and actually I've been thinking about just farming in game and paying the 3m+ people are asking for for the pet.