Baptism of Fire - Hardcore

So I can get through the battle easy enough and I can give Runt a good fight but I’ve faced him a couple times now and my only MAJOR ISSUE with this quest is having to do the whole tedious thing again just to get to a difficult fight which I’m probably going to lose.

It’s getting to the point where I’m not rage quitting, I’m quitting because I can’t be bothered.

The way I see it, there two possibles with this quest:

Either I am not at a high enough level, which means I’ll struggle and quit

Or I am at a high enough level, in which case the challenge is not there anymore.

I believe I am at the perfect level for this quest to be a challenge, which I like, but it’s becoming tedious having to start all over again.

I was playing on hardcore too. However before I did it, I grinded out my skills. Unfortunately I oneshotted Runt - _-

Maxed out my strength. Had about 14 or so in agility and beat the bugger down with a heavy warhammer. Maces and warhammers are best against plate.

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Just about the same as bloodysod for me. All that cow punching, flower picking, bunny-hopping and bandit kiting paid off in the end!

Since you have access to Capt Bernard, just train with him till you got most everything you need into the 14+ ballpark, wear a complete suit of full plate, swig some potions before you go in and you’ll massacre 'em.

yeah it is really irritating you have to go through the whole damn battle again if runt kills you or the game crashes
as to beating him; take a weapon with high damage, upwards of 60 in any category. also get headcracker and clinchmeister perks, chain strike and learn 1 or 2 basic combos to really hurt him after a clinch or master strike

Yeah, just Reposte, hit him in the head. Bam, fight with Runt in 5 seconds

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I see people talking about “combos” and I honestly don’t get it. I keep seeing the camera go into slow motion mode occasionally but I have no idea if that is me or my opponent, and i have no idea what I’m supposed to do about it. And then of course I observe when training with Capt. Bernard and he’ll go into one of his rapid fire animations during which my controls become completely unresponsive and my toon just sits there and takes it; I suppose that is him whippin’ out a combo on me?

I just win every battle by spamming keys. I can beat Capt Bernard into submission with wooden weapons just by backing him into the corner and clinching him repeatedly (hold down W and tap F repeatedly) until my stamina regains then whack him a few times (either a jab or a “Master strike” I think, the one where the jab causes me to whack him with the pommel) . . .

I’d like to have a detailed thread on combat and I’m tempted to hijack your thread, but I’ll hold off :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

The reason is that your opponent is blocking your strikes. The higher your stats are for that weapon, the less likely the opponent is able to block your strikes.
For example, I’m at about lvl 17 for sword. I can do 4 strike combos easily with most enemies. However when I started, I could only do a Reposte and stab not more than 1 strike.
So just train and it will come eventually

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I’ve just watched this video. The kind of game “tutorial” video I like: very little flash, dude cannot be bothered to do fancy editing, he just explains it to you, and granted you do have to wait through the delays between the informative parts while he fast travels. But overall, this video finally clarified for me the realities of the system as it stands

And the comment I made, which reflects what I gather about the role of these special scripted mechanics in the combat system

Good stuff, already answered a lot of my questions in the first couple minutes!

Great video! Really clarified what the realities of the system are. It seems like (and I hate to say this, cause I really love the game, and even like the combat a lot, though I think it needs a bit of tweaking), “combos” are pretty much “irrelevant?” A kinda “neat thing” you can try to figure out, but by the time you have the skills to pull them off, you one shot enemies anyway! Not to mention that because of the (realistically!) very dynamic way any given action in combat can be nullified by opponents actions, combos can be quite difficult to “pull off” even once one has the skills to do them reliably.

Anyway, thanks a ton for clarifying it all with your very detailed, and thoughtful review!

It seems a shame that WH have not gone back to touch the underlying parameters that regulate these mechanics.

Not to detract from some more…honest? approaches to this fight, but the surefire, easiest and quickest way to kill Runt is to bring a bow and when he charges you - as he inevitably will - you just shoot an arrow into his face from melee range and instakill him. He’s not wearing a helmet, he brought that anti-climactic end on himself.

Bottom line for me, at least. No matter how many times I’ve quit the game stroking my beard and cursing my monitor, I always come back for more. Either I’m a dirty glutton for punishment , or there’s much to love here. Maybe both.

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In Hardcore he IS wearing a helmet!

And without arows (happend to me last time :smile: ) and only Level7, without perfect block/masterstrikes I had a fight about 15-20 minutes with Runt.

Take care for your stamina(vison get´s blue) and keep distance. Don´t rush! He is not very agressive, so attack and than keep distance again to regenerate.

Most of my armor was under 10% after the fight :blush:

Just to clarify, I wouldn’t change anything about this quest! :slight_smile:

I have improved my skills a little and can get to the Runt fight with ease, I’ve faced him once so far and I got pretty close but alas I fell at the last.

This is how I like it though. I don’t want to OP my way through the game.

P.S. I’m doing an “Aragorn” playthrough: Longsword, bow and arrow, mostly light armour, chainmail is the most I’ll wear. And no head armour, except for a mail collar! So, yeah, it’s a tough fight. :smiley:

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UPDATE

I did it! All of my armour is completely battered and Henry’s face looks like it’s been smashed up against a grindstone but it was definitely worth it. :smiley:

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Oh nice, I haven’t played in a long time, that’s actually a pretty cool change :smiley:

Still nailed him in the face (eyes) with Stinger in HC

I play like you too. I only have noble red pants, dark pourpoint, aachen dark brigandine and shoulder plates and noble shoes ofcourse (and i think judging by the color of the whole outfit you can imagine how i got it early in the game)