I've spent down most of my credits on several characters trying to figure this one out. I managed a reasonable strategy for the low levels to get through stage 3, and managed after several attempts to get stage 4 and craft the deck.
But Stage 5? This is stupid. If you save pips you die by mana burn. If you spend them you can't kill the things fast enough. You can't shield enough to keep the inevitable double hit in the 2v1 room from killing you.
I've tried minions, I've tried rare treasure cards that I've been saving up for literally a decade, I've tried stacking blades. But their initial pip advantage means that I can never catch up. These things will mana burn or spectral blast on round 2 of combat.
Any solutions that aren't "rely on the randomness of a super rare pet" or "use will cast talents that you don't have the rare reagents to unlock"? Because I'm sick of those.
I've tried this on a character with a pet the removes blades (he's doing that MORE than my healing pet is healing) and I've tried it on a character with a pet that has three may cast heals.
I only got through the lower levels by using soulsappers - a reliable high damage 3 pip hit, but in the higher levels you need a way to recover hit points fast too, and in the 2v1 battle you are taking damage too fast to reduce the play to a single opponent, where the game rhythm would let you heal when their pips were low.
I'm very frustrated. The only other tower that has made me upset this way was the fire deckathalon when I couldn't get to through the third level on account of damage over time, to get the deck that would let me resist the damage over time enough to get through it.
For the record, I'm trying Balance stage 5 with a Balance stage 4 deck, which is what you're supposed to do, but I've also tried it with a life stage 6 deck (to see if the extra pip would make the difference).
I just wanted to get a stage 5 deck for my balance wizards for the extra pip. Now I am not even sure I'll be able to get the pet.
This deckathalon made me want to rip my hair out, because the difficulty level was just too insane. It wasn't even a good challenge, it was just a chance for me to spend 1-2 hours per day being a punchingbag for these overpowered minions.
Deckathalons in general are a very interesting gameplay experience, and I think they can be a lot of fun, but the Balance one this time around just was not fun. It was stressful more than anything else.
I spent about 14 credits on stage 5 and I didn't once pass it. I got extremely close on my last attempt, bringing the 3rd boss down to about 400/1,000 health when I fizzled the wraith which would've killed him and in that same turn he hit me for 300 damage on a mana burn, killing me. Funny how that worked out. Not surprised though.
I'm disappointed that I couldn't clear stage 5 to get the two pip deck, which was the goal I set for myself before starting this deckathalon 7 days ago. To be clear, I'm not disappointed in myself at all. I tried 14 times, which is far more than anyone should ever be expected to try at a stage, imo. I'm proud of myself for trying at all. I attempted several tactics, and unfortunately the only way to beat the stage seems to be getting uber lucky or having a frozen kraken willcast pet, which as you said is not a viable solution for most of us.
I am disappointed in KingsIsle, mostly, for not balancing this event properly. There has been absolutely no word from them on this, so it feels like they don't care. I know they had balancing/structuring issues with deckathalons in the past, so I'm a bit shocked that something like this would actually release onto live in the busted state it's in.
Hopefully they will fix the event difficulty. Honestly, some compensation should be given out for us having to stomach this nonsense. It's just really bad for them to release stuff in a poor state like this. Most people I know don't care/play deckathalons so I think a large portion of players are oblivious to just how awful this event was.
Balance is my favourite decathalon, but I agree that it is the hardest. The key is to watch the enemies pips closely, and use multiple de-buffs. You want to craft each higher deck as soon as you can, and use jewels in them.
Your first casts should usually be shield, weakness or virulent, or absorb in some combination to survive the opening attacks. Then you can buff for a hit. Don't try to save pips if the enemies have enough for Mana Burn, but after they attack, build to a 4 or 5 pip hit. Repeat as needed. You are probably not going to get off a 7 pip AoE, so don't bother trying. It's different strategy than PvE. But you can stack buffs, and you can use pips to avoid the Burns -- healing, absorb, plague, combination blades, etc.
In the 1v2 fights, it's usually best to take out one enemy as fast as you can, once you get past the first few levels. A frog is enough for 1 - 3 of course. Plan to pick away with smaller hits, not get off a giant attack unless you get lucky.
The fun aspect of the event is being able to use multiple schools -- Death drains for health, myth damage, life and balance spells that add debuffs, etc.
When you get to higher levels, elemental shield helps against Hydra, and with the better decks and jewels, Burn won't kill you. So then it comes down to pip management and dealing with Lore. But you'll still need to hit through weaknesses and mantles, and you'll still want to keep two defenses up to avoid 1hk Hydras. Challenging to be sure.
