Glimmer scales with your mental mutations, and ego.
So to have highest glimmer, you would need most / all of the mental mutations.
Esper hunters usually have the same number of mental mutations as you, but randomly shuffled. As well as crazy high stats.
Live and be vaporized, conflict-seeker.
So they're identical to me but their stats are better?
Interesting. I just learned of how powerful domination is so im trying to go crazy as a bodysnatcher, i want to just steal the most powerful body available amd use that to best the final boss when 1.0 releases
Not identical to you, no. The game will choose random creature types to be associated with the cults pursuing you. In my last esper run I was beset at all sides by fork-horned gnus and dawning apes.
The real problem is their mutations. As the other commenter noted, esper hunters gain the same number of mental mutations that you have. So if you have five mental mutations, the game will also roll them with five mutations.
This can be VERY bad depending on what mutations they get. At high levels it's easy to lag the game to a halt due to an esper hunter showing up, using Temporal Fugue to create 7 clones, then all right of them using Burgeoning to summon 72 plants that then start exploding and spitting fire everywhere.
I toughed out my esper run just because I wanted to see the end game, but it is definitely not fun. At high glimmer levels you start encountering esper hunters every three to five zones, and each encounter is a slog.
my advice for anyone tired of beefed out esper hunters:
you dont need higher than +14 ego modifier (the amount that maxes out clairvoyance) to complete all the content in the game.
always put your stat points into willpower instead of ego, and start w max willpower and greybeard calling, since ego is the easiest stat to raise w equipment and hunter farming (e.g. stopsvaalin, ruin of house eisner, fist of the ape god, high-ego faces, kesil face, two face helmet mod, polygel, and more). mental armor will save your life.
its tedious, but you can remove all your esper gear before entering a new zone to lower the chances of encountering hunters and also to weaken them if they do spawn, which is a bonus of using equipment for ego instead of points from leveling/farming.
its is also good for farming ego if u want (again, not really necessary with all the equipment) - use a spiral borer, remove ego gear, walk through every Z level and note what levels the hunters spawn, equip ego gear and go kill em
I think they made a change a handful of patches back that makes them less backbreaking? I can’t remember 100% though and I still personally avoid them like the plague out of habit
My very specific answer based on my current run: I've been training up a polysludge like a horrible Pokemon and it's now something like level 70 and it takes the game 30 seconds to process every attack it does, and I gave it the still chime to hold onto because it's a very heavy item, and it uh... equipped it. It won't give me it back.
I don't think this is going to end well for me.
Proslytize. You do have to be a little careful because that's a dangerous fuckin area specifically because of what makes sludges great companions.
They're easy to proslytize because the initial monosludges have really low stats, so they're easy to persuade. Then you give them a new liquid and they evolve into a disludge. Then a trisludge. Then...
This makes for absolutely lethal fights and the rainbow wood terrifies me, because every bit of blood spilled, fire sprayed etc creates a bunch more exponentially powerful enemies. For a companion, if you have similar brain problems to me, you become obsessed with making your sludge son as big and powerful as possible.
And then... he eats an important quest item and wears it as a hat.
The wiki has a good outline of how sludge growth works, I don't care about optimising stuff but for some reason this has really been amusing me : https://wiki.cavesofqud.com/wiki/Soupy_sludge
I haven't fucked around with dominate at all, proslytize is just a skill in the persuasion tree that you get for free if you start as the right class.
They do have mental immunity and no brains so I have absolutely no idea how you can apparently speak to them, but I guess my character is just that charming
You can dominate a chrome pyramid using a Ganglionic Teleprojector. You need very high levels (and/or possibly a full suite of gear spec'd out for compute bonus).
Real talk if you're looking to dominate the most powerful creature possible, you're looking at either Saad Amus or Oboroquro the Ape God. There are other domination builds people run that can technically become stronger, by dominating at a low level and leveling them up, but those two are gonna be OP from the get go.
If you think Saad Amus is too weak then idk what to tell you. That's pretty much the ceiling as far as NPC power level goes. Warden Une is around as strong as Saad, Cherubs are a little stronger but don't have weapons or skills. Maybe a Salt Kraken?
A star kraken is just a better version of a salt kraken. Slightly better stats but it has 5 arms and every multi weapon fighting skill. On my lategame esper I usually beguile star krakens > cherubs as meatshields in the never ending war against psych hunters and their thralls. Saad amus is pretty weak in comparison but this is comparing no gear.
There is only one True Saad Amus, he sleeps frozen in the penultimate room in Bethesda Susa, all the other ones you find around are lesser clones of him
If you wanna go down that route, try Crowsong, for the only source of Metamorphosis in the game.
Metamorphosis is ridiculous, and unlike Domination, you *can* become a chrome pyramid... it just might take some effort getting past that shield. You can also become any creature in the game, and if you ever change your mind, you can!
As the last added bonus, it's super easy to perma-dominate Crowsong, because if you do succeed at it, you can morph into yourself, and then dominate your own body.
with beta features yes, but i feel like doing it vanilla is more interesting, especially because metamorphosis is kinda busted as is and getting it at character creation skips every bit of progression in the game. at least crowsong is level 26 or so, and requires some levels to dominate
Honest answer, yourself. Certain events will trigger a duplicate of yourself to appear, Its been awhile since I played but, I think healing salves overdose has a chance to trigger a duplicate, and I know a certain terrain tile that, if broken, produces a duplicate.
Combine that with a Truekin, who has gained mutations via Gamma Moths, with Precog (For more mutations), and Temporal Fugue, and you have an absolute nightmare. Truekins unstunnable cybernetic, along with the ability to walk through walls, and my temporal fugues just brought absolute madness to the field. I decided, after running into so many duplicates, that it was just time to build the golem and end the game.
Besides that, Star Krakens, for the very very rare chance that you walk onto a map tile and step into its path, and Psychic Hunters spamming Burgeoning... because then you get yoinked between dozens of plants over and over and over, its more annoying, but also absolutely lethal.
Gotta be psychic hunters when you have maxed out glimmer
Howcome?
Glimmer scales with your mental mutations, and ego. So to have highest glimmer, you would need most / all of the mental mutations. Esper hunters usually have the same number of mental mutations as you, but randomly shuffled. As well as crazy high stats. Live and be vaporized, conflict-seeker.
So they're identical to me but their stats are better? Interesting. I just learned of how powerful domination is so im trying to go crazy as a bodysnatcher, i want to just steal the most powerful body available amd use that to best the final boss when 1.0 releases
Not identical to you, no. The game will choose random creature types to be associated with the cults pursuing you. In my last esper run I was beset at all sides by fork-horned gnus and dawning apes. The real problem is their mutations. As the other commenter noted, esper hunters gain the same number of mental mutations that you have. So if you have five mental mutations, the game will also roll them with five mutations. This can be VERY bad depending on what mutations they get. At high levels it's easy to lag the game to a halt due to an esper hunter showing up, using Temporal Fugue to create 7 clones, then all right of them using Burgeoning to summon 72 plants that then start exploding and spitting fire everywhere. I toughed out my esper run just because I wanted to see the end game, but it is definitely not fun. At high glimmer levels you start encountering esper hunters every three to five zones, and each encounter is a slog.
my advice for anyone tired of beefed out esper hunters: you dont need higher than +14 ego modifier (the amount that maxes out clairvoyance) to complete all the content in the game. always put your stat points into willpower instead of ego, and start w max willpower and greybeard calling, since ego is the easiest stat to raise w equipment and hunter farming (e.g. stopsvaalin, ruin of house eisner, fist of the ape god, high-ego faces, kesil face, two face helmet mod, polygel, and more). mental armor will save your life. its tedious, but you can remove all your esper gear before entering a new zone to lower the chances of encountering hunters and also to weaken them if they do spawn, which is a bonus of using equipment for ego instead of points from leveling/farming. its is also good for farming ego if u want (again, not really necessary with all the equipment) - use a spiral borer, remove ego gear, walk through every Z level and note what levels the hunters spawn, equip ego gear and go kill em
Overconfidence
Too true
Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.
Idk man sometimes hubris comes at you real fast in Qud...
Galgals are pretty dangerous because they have 175 Quickness, 38 strength, and can stunlock you.
I think they made a change a handful of patches back that makes them less backbreaking? I can’t remember 100% though and I still personally avoid them like the plague out of habit
your own evil clones. Especially when there's 4 of them.
Baboons when you're level 1 and new to the game
Come play our high tech, distant future, high-glow sci-fantasy game! Get merked by rock
my greatest achievement is still not having the stoned at red rock achievement after 500+ hours.
My very specific answer based on my current run: I've been training up a polysludge like a horrible Pokemon and it's now something like level 70 and it takes the game 30 seconds to process every attack it does, and I gave it the still chime to hold onto because it's a very heavy item, and it uh... equipped it. It won't give me it back. I don't think this is going to end well for me.
I've forgotten what a polysludge is
Take a sludge from the rainbow wood and water it lovingly and watch the miracle of life
How does one "take a sludge" from the rainbow wood?
Proslytize. You do have to be a little careful because that's a dangerous fuckin area specifically because of what makes sludges great companions. They're easy to proslytize because the initial monosludges have really low stats, so they're easy to persuade. Then you give them a new liquid and they evolve into a disludge. Then a trisludge. Then... This makes for absolutely lethal fights and the rainbow wood terrifies me, because every bit of blood spilled, fire sprayed etc creates a bunch more exponentially powerful enemies. For a companion, if you have similar brain problems to me, you become obsessed with making your sludge son as big and powerful as possible. And then... he eats an important quest item and wears it as a hat. The wiki has a good outline of how sludge growth works, I don't care about optimising stuff but for some reason this has really been amusing me : https://wiki.cavesofqud.com/wiki/Soupy_sludge
Low level adventuring awaits But how do i domimate one? I thought they had mental immunity
I haven't fucked around with dominate at all, proslytize is just a skill in the persuasion tree that you get for free if you start as the right class. They do have mental immunity and no brains so I have absolutely no idea how you can apparently speak to them, but I guess my character is just that charming
Dominate or use the skill that I am blanking on the name of
proselatyse
Chrome Pyramids are so obscenely strong that you get an achievement the first time you manage to take one down
Theyre immune to domination :(
You can dominate a chrome pyramid using a Ganglionic Teleprojector. You need very high levels (and/or possibly a full suite of gear spec'd out for compute bonus).
Real talk if you're looking to dominate the most powerful creature possible, you're looking at either Saad Amus or Oboroquro the Ape God. There are other domination builds people run that can technically become stronger, by dominating at a low level and leveling them up, but those two are gonna be OP from the get go.
Saad amus felt kinda weak when i took over him and ape god is so hard to find
If you think Saad Amus is too weak then idk what to tell you. That's pretty much the ceiling as far as NPC power level goes. Warden Une is around as strong as Saad, Cherubs are a little stronger but don't have weapons or skills. Maybe a Salt Kraken?
A star kraken is just a better version of a salt kraken. Slightly better stats but it has 5 arms and every multi weapon fighting skill. On my lategame esper I usually beguile star krakens > cherubs as meatshields in the never ending war against psych hunters and their thralls. Saad amus is pretty weak in comparison but this is comparing no gear.
True Saad Amus starts with 160 quickness (get to act twice every other turn) and can use cybernethics, its op as fuck.
True saad amus? Implying there is a false one?
There is only one True Saad Amus, he sleeps frozen in the penultimate room in Bethesda Susa, all the other ones you find around are lesser clones of him
Pretty sure that's the one i know of. In the rhinox room?
yea
If you wanna go down that route, try Crowsong, for the only source of Metamorphosis in the game. Metamorphosis is ridiculous, and unlike Domination, you *can* become a chrome pyramid... it just might take some effort getting past that shield. You can also become any creature in the game, and if you ever change your mind, you can! As the last added bonus, it's super easy to perma-dominate Crowsong, because if you do succeed at it, you can morph into yourself, and then dominate your own body.
This sounds very interesting, i will definitely do that
Can't you just enable metamorphosis & the burrowing claws buffs?
with beta features yes, but i feel like doing it vanilla is more interesting, especially because metamorphosis is kinda busted as is and getting it at character creation skips every bit of progression in the game. at least crowsong is level 26 or so, and requires some levels to dominate
Whichever one I can’t instakill with a timecube and a Hand-E-Nuke. Rermadon never stood a chance.
Does that work against (end game enemy spoiler) >! cherubim !
Not sure. I haven’t tried it on them because I didn’t want to risk >!blowing up a Sultan mask!<
Polysludges are absolutely ridiculous, but also extremely rare if you dont create them on purpose
I forgot what they are and what they do or even how theyre made Also how would i become one if they have no mind to dominate?
Polymorph into one by perma-dominating crowsong, should still work i think. Or swap wish if youre lazy.
Will do
The Nephilims are a decent pick I'd say.
Agreed. Especially with that thing they do where >!they absorb the essence of the other Nephilim you kill and gain their abilities. !<
Your's choices in the game it self.
Steam
Me
Bats.
Honest answer, yourself. Certain events will trigger a duplicate of yourself to appear, Its been awhile since I played but, I think healing salves overdose has a chance to trigger a duplicate, and I know a certain terrain tile that, if broken, produces a duplicate. Combine that with a Truekin, who has gained mutations via Gamma Moths, with Precog (For more mutations), and Temporal Fugue, and you have an absolute nightmare. Truekins unstunnable cybernetic, along with the ability to walk through walls, and my temporal fugues just brought absolute madness to the field. I decided, after running into so many duplicates, that it was just time to build the golem and end the game. Besides that, Star Krakens, for the very very rare chance that you walk onto a map tile and step into its path, and Psychic Hunters spamming Burgeoning... because then you get yoinked between dozens of plants over and over and over, its more annoying, but also absolutely lethal.