Is it possible to solo Ascension on a difficulty level of Core or more, without being a single class caster class, dual'ed or multi'ed to a caster class? I'm wondering if it's feasible.

IMO, Caster classes are Clerics, Druid, Mages, and Sorcerers. I was debating if a Bard was a caster, but then decided that he wasn't.

Anything is possible ;)
Well, it depends on what strategies you use. If you are an experienced player, than I'm sure you can do it.

Take a pure Fighter through Ascension? That would be a job and a half. You'd get bombarded by Magic, Ranged weapons, and some pretty darn good fighters. Then, you still have to kill the final boss. Sure, you could try and protect yourself as well as possible (with the Shield of Reflection, Cloak of Mirroring, and Hardiness), but eventually, it boils down to living long enough to damage them enough. Not to mention that on Insane, Sendai uses Time Stop -> Harm on you. How do you, save from using your precious Focus ability, stop that?

I consider myself to be an okay player, but I'm interested in learning how in the world other people would adapt their normal strategies to this.

[ 09-18-2003, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: Assassin ]

<font color="orange">Hmm...no, it wouldn't be feasible, but don't let that stop you. :D Try stockpiling weapons and items with charges...definitely rings of invisibility, air control, etc. Hmm. You would really need some good usage of items, no doubt about that. Using some ranged weapons with the various skills wouldn't hurt...hit and run w/ Greater Whirlwind and Firetooth/Taralash. How do the bosses look in terms of immunities (criticals esp.)? (I'm no good with IE.)</font>

As a pure Fighter, you're probably going to hit them all of the time, and they're probably going to hit you all of the time. =/ I don't know about helmets, though.

Ilasera is prehaps the most annoying of all if you're trying for a pure melee'er- although the easiest way to circumvent this is by just wearing the Shield of Reflection, it limits your offensive potential. And trust me, you'll need all that you can get. But it would be interesting- a Fighter with Sanchuudoku and the Shield of Reflection and the Cloak of Mirroring. If you can manage to Focus/disturb Sendai's Time Stop, then you could tag both Aba and Sendai with a scroll of Protection from MAgic, with the Helm of Vhalior. Still, Aba is a dangerous fighter even with his magic disturbed, but I suppose that Sanchuudoku can knock it down to size. Of course, Yaga-shura will be a pain in the butt as well, seeing as he can do good damage and has insane resistances. But Sanchuudoku works there too. I suppose that the most important thing might be to get Balthazar on your side so that he can Glitterdust away Sendai's Invbisibility so that you can use the scroll.

Food for thought. I might actually load up a previous save, SK in the items, change the difficulty to Core, jack up my levels to the cap, and try it out. =/

I believe Cavalier would be the closest. Immunity to fear helps a lot against Demons, Hardiness + Armor of Faith + DOE, ability to use Carsomyr or Purifier, Immunity to Poison, fire and other resistances + bonuses from 9 hells, ...

Also, a couple of rods of resurrection would help. Use it on yourself and it'll act pretty much like a Heal spell.

If you consider the monk a fighter type then I think it is possible [img]smile.gif[/img] My knowledge of ascension is limited, but the difficulties described so far shouldn't bother a high level monk very much.

Other non-caster types that are great at soloing are Swashbucklers and Blades. Of course the Blade uses magic though, so if you wanted 0 magic at all I would go for the monk or swashbuckler. I managed to get a swashbuckler to -27 ac before with the use any item ability. Maybe an assasin/fighter or kensai/thief or plain old fighter/thief. Plenty of tough characters out there.

[ 09-22-2003, 07:34 AM: Message edited by: Devv ]

IIRC, the AC cap is -24. In other words, any AC you get past -24 really makes no difference.

Best non-caster character would be fighter/thief multi.
Of course he would cast from scrolls later.

If even that is "not allowed" then Monk or Cavalier, perhaps Barbarian.