I really wish this piece of shit were more in line with the difficulty of the rat and the crab. As it is when I encounter the sad ghost on floor 3 I have to decide whether the cost of food/health, not to mention the sheer annoyance factor, is worth the slim possibility of a good reward.
Having the best choice be just not to engage with one of the dungeon’s challenges doesn’t seem like good design.
The fact that he’s more difficult to handle than Goo is rather insane.
Edit:
#BRUH
Y’all, I can handle the fucking gnoll trickster. This isn’t about “oh this dude keeps ending my runs”, okay?
It’s just that, especially in comparison to the other two minibosses in sewers, he’s fucking EXHAUSTING to deal with. Even reading all of y’all’s advice it still amounts to “yeah he’s a big stupid pain in the ass but if you just carefully and precisely tweak his nipples in exactly this fashion you can beat him”.
I am complaining that he is out of line, challenge-wise, with the other two minibosses. That’s all. Even bringing the other two up to his level would be satisfying, because then he wouldn’t be such an UGH moment.
It seems to me you just haven’t found a good tactic that works for you. You could tell us what you normally do?
Usually I have almost no resources on floor three, so I end up playing peekaboo with the fucker around corners and doors, only he doesn’t move predictably so I end up either waiting forever and wasting hunger or else end up taking cheap shots and have him whittle away my health a chip at a time.
It’s not that he’s particularly deadly, it’s just that he’s way out of line with the challenge of the fetid rat and the giant crab, and even the boss of the floor set.
It’s just not fun gameplay.
So, I think most advice in this thread is actually already pretty good. When you say you got no resources on level 3 I wonder if its just a point of getting better at those first levels. And don’t get me wrong, not trying to diss you here! Just reading that makes me wonder if you are still yet to learn some things about the game.
Anyway, I can tell you what I try and do and I don’t even remember the last time the dude drained my health much or even killed me.
For me the trick is to get him where I need him to be, which is a room with no other exit. If you are close enough to him, he won’t shoot, he will flee. And by going step by step, watching where he moves, you can force him into a certain direction.
It is key that you have explored the full level before triggering the quest, by the way, maybe that was not clear. So then you take your time getting him into an area where he cannot pass you anymore, he will just keep backing off.
You do that until he has to enter a room, with a still functional door, that has no other exit. Then you wait outside right that door. He will 100% try to exit through that door and every time he tries you hit him. He will retreat but you keep standing there, hit him every time he opens the door until you got him.
Goes maybe without saying but if you see him across a large room it is not the time to chase him, he will just shoot you a lot. That is a good time though to throw a stone of blink right next to him, for example. Hope that helps.
This decision IS part of the game.
Not fun, in the same way that not getting the solution you need to puzzle rooms is not fun, hence why Evan spawns the correct items along with the rooms on level gen.
Scorpios have similar challenge design as a floor three mini boss, but they’re an end-game challenge. It’s way out of whack.
With bandits, which also pathfind away from you, they have a slightly reduced movement speed so that you can catch up every 6 turns or so. I feel something similar should be implemented with the trickster. It would preserve the challenge of the boss and its core mechanics, but make it beatable without requiring specific items to counter.
You also encounter thieves three floors later and after a shop. You’re much more likely to have extra tools to deal with them.
Honestly even just bringing up the other two mini bosses to similar challenge levels as the trickster would help with the “aw fuck” feeling of finding the sad ghost on floor 3. Or hell, just swap his position with the crab. One extra floor of preparation with the knowledge that he’s coming up.
Also, Goo is way too easy to trivialize. Having him continue his pump up attack and making it trample grass or even break/pierce walls when line of sight is broken might make him a little more interesting, for starters…
He’s trivially easy. You just have to accept people’s advice or learn the tricks on your own instead of saying we’re wrong or don’t understand you. Is a miniboss not supposed to require advanced tricks? This whole game is about learning how to fight every enemy.
I find the crab to be 3x as annoying because you have to run around in circles forever just to trade blows. Especially when you roll low on your sneak attacks several times in a row. It just drags it out. The gnoll can be killed much quicker and consistently. He doesn’t even melee you!
And the ghost rewards are awesome! I have no idea how you could say with a straight face that his rewards have a slim possibility of being good.
Follow him to a door then retreat back behind the door after peaking through. The trickster will probably follow you back through the door and you can surprise attack. Repeat.
If the trickster doesn’t follow you after however many turns it would take him to get back to the door then persue to the next door. He should not attack as long as he has to run away so he might get a couple of hits in if you lag too far behind.
This works with scorpions in the demon halls as well. Does not work with bandits.
If he doesn’t follow you after peaking you can sometimes get him to follow you by peaking through the door a second time and retreating again if he’s still in view. Saves some hunger if the next door is far away.
But you’re still trading health instead of hunger. Every peek gets you shot in the face.
Nope. He won’t shoot you when you come through a door after him. He’ll use a turn to move away. Then when you retreat he’ll pursue you back through the door most of the time. It does help if you’re pretty close when following him. He might shoot at you if he’s far enough away, but that’s part of managing the fight.
Done properly you can kill him without taking a hit.
He’s pretty much never worked that way for me? Feeling a little confused right now, as I get shot in the face every time I get in LOS with him, sometimes when he’s not even MY LOS, just like every other ranged mob.
