Honestly, It doesn’t really matter what class you play, how many Reaper Points you have, or even to a large extent, what gear you’re using. I’ve soloed most of the game on R10 at level with crafted gear and the occasional named item that makes sense. Personally, I prefer Sorcerer, Rogue, Fighter, or Artificer.
"stuff" will help in "rare" cases, but simply put, getting hit by ANYTHING = dead so from that perspective 1 hp is all you need.
That said, repeatedly dying, relying on store items, exploiting mobs, or burning through vast amounts of resources just to complete an R10 quest is not an acceptable strategy.
The Reality of R10 Heroics
To successfully complete quests on R10, you need to change the way you approach them and respect the monsters for the threat they actually pose. If you don’t, you’ll die—constantly.
Here are some simple truths about R10:
- If you run into a room blindly, you will die.
- If you do not have healing wands, scrolls and buffs and protections especially shield, pro evil, jump and tumble, you will die.
- If you are in range or line-of-sight of a caster, you will die.
- If any Reaper touches you, you will die.
- If you are within range of a Reaper’s DoT or special abilities, you will die.
- If you stand in lava, you will get baked.
- If you get hit by a trap, you’re dead.
- R10 heroics are incredibly difficult but also incredibly fun. Is it worth grinding for extra Reaper XP? Not really. You’re far better off running R7/8 or whatever difficulty you can clear efficiently.
Factors Many Don’t Consider
There are several things that make R10 heroics uniquely challenging, especially at lower levels:
- Reaper Spawn Mechanics – Every time a monster dies, there’s a chance a Reaper spawns. Older quests tend to have significantly more monsters, which means you’re more likely to spawn waves of vengeance Reapers. Example: Kobold Assault is chaos on R10, while quests like Proof is in the Poison become brutally difficult. vs a level 19 quest like Breaking the ranks spawns level 29 epic reapers scaled to level 21.. Without epic gear, mass mobs and a dragon casting fireball every few seconds for 2k it's probably one of the hardest quests in the game at level 19.
- Reaper Scaling - Reapers are spawned at the Max level and then scaled to the quest level/difficulty. The inflection points (level 9 and 19) are particularly tough on heroics. ie: there is a huge difference between doom/vengance reapers between von 2 vs von 3 (base level 8 and base level 9)
- Old-School Quests Don’t Scale Well – About 90% of levels 1-10 are "old-school" and don’t scale properly at R10. Since they rarely get played at this difficulty, I wouldn’t expect SSG to fix them beyond the last "gimpification" update that made heroic R10 easier than it used to be.
- Bugged Pathing Issues – Certain quest mechanics can make R10 even harder.
- WW Part 3 (Waterworks): When Reapers spawn in the ledge room, they often fall into the water, instantly healing to full health. Two fear Reapers in that room can quickly end your run.
- Depths/Sorrowdusk Rock Elementals: If they grip you, you’re pretty much dead on the spot.
- Low-Level Reapers Are Brutal – At low levels, Reapers don’t scale properly. Their abilities, like Polar Ray, Horrid Wilting, or the Fear DoT, deal more minimum damage than you can possibly have in total hit points. This makes them insanely hard—and often frustrating—to deal with.
The Bottom Line
R10 heroics are a completely different game. You have to think in entirely new ways.
For example, how many times have you turned and run from a kobold? On R10, that’s not only acceptable—it’s often required. If they have line-of-sight on you, you’re a sitting duck.
Playing R10 heroics is vastly more engaging than the usual mindless zerging. It demands skill, planning, and patience. Quests take longer, but the experience you gain—not just RXP, but in actual gameplay skill—is invaluable.
- You’ll refine your skills and become more successful in R10 raids.
- You’ll learn monster weaknesses and how to exploit them.
- You’ll need different weapon types—blunt, piercing, and DR-bypassing combos like Cold Iron + Holy or Flametouched + Holy.
- You’ll actually have to research monster manuals to learn what elements and spells work best. If your DPS isn’t cutting it, you won’t kill fast enough, and you will die.
I don’t particularly care about blogging or making videos, but your welcome to have a look at the 15 or so
Videos I posted last year pre-nurff.
No pots/cakes or store items
Jib is allowed
1 merc is allowed
1 attempt, failure means restart
