The luminous arena.............

[evilmogwai]

Umm... I got that (or something similar) as a phase beast challenge not part of the main quest!

I enjoyed it though.

(I'm dumb... ignore me.)

[firethetorch]

I didn't have a problem with this one, but just an FYI, you can run ahead most of it and take out the shock towers and insects beforehand for the first stretch as long as you either don't mind using pots or have ample regen skills.

[bradbury]

I found that part to be creative and massively fun. But I play berserker, so one of my main attacks heals me almost completely every time.

[Feline]

I play a berserker and currently grinding the arena for uniques. Didn't even need to shadow burst, as I've got 2 pieces of the merciless set (great set design, totally love the looks of it!)

[Alcator]

Hello everyone, I've been playing Torchlight 2 as an embermage, and I've been having a blast. Well I was until I got to this quest in the story line, survive the luminous arena from act II. All I can really say it is the cheapest most unfun thing in this game thus far. Its literally ruining the fun of the game. They restrict you into a tiny little circle to fight in, and at the same time spawn massive blobs of monsters and turrets around you while you follow the moving circle. As an embermage, I've been doing just fine until this quest, I literally cannot pass it. I'm level 35 with 115 focus, 105 vitality as my main attribute points and I've been primarily investing in fire magic. Any advice on this quest? I'm within the level requirements yet it is just facerolling me. Though I'm sure there is something I could do to improve my survival, I just want to make note to the dev's that this dungeon is absurd for an Embermage to survive in.... However, I'm determined to beat it so any tips are appreciated. I am playing on Veteran just as a note.

My armor stats: 201 physical, 119 ice, 242 Fire, 23 electric, and 200 poison <-----defenses.

That's strange, I was using Prismatic Bolt (level 1) and was just blasting away. Do you have any protective spell? Are you ready to spam health potions? You can also purchase Rejuvenation potions (superfast healing) if need be. Is your pet set to Aggressive mode, equipped with spells and transformed into a solid monster? Do you have your equipment socketed and boosted by socketables? Are you summoning skeleton, archers or zombies to serve as safety bumper around you?

and of course, you could always just go elsewhere, level up a bit so that you're above monster level, that will give you major survivability boost (higher level character is less likely to be hit by lower level monsters). Search the forums for tips how to re-populate the world.

[asamof]

attempting this as an embermage has pretty much killed all desire to play this game

oh well time to go back to GW2

[paralleluniverse]

Hello everyone, I've been playing Torchlight 2 as an embermage, and I've been having a blast. Well I was until I got to this quest in the story line, survive the luminous arena from act II. All I can really say it is the cheapest most unfun thing in this game thus far. Its literally ruining the fun of the game. They restrict you into a tiny little circle to fight in, and at the same time spawn massive blobs of monsters and turrets around you while you follow the moving circle. As an embermage, I've been doing just fine until this quest, I literally cannot pass it. I'm level 35 with 115 focus, 105 vitality as my main attribute points and I've been primarily investing in fire magic. Any advice on this quest? I'm within the level requirements yet it is just facerolling me. Though I'm sure there is something I could do to improve my survival, I just want to make note to the dev's that this dungeon is absurd for an Embermage to survive in.... However, I'm determined to beat it so any tips are appreciated. I am playing on Veteran just as a note.

My armor stats: 201 physical, 119 ice, 242 Fire, 23 electric, and 200 poison <-----defenses.

Join a multiplayer game.

When I did this on my engineer on veteran with 100% stats in vitality, I didn't stand in the light. I took 0 damage out of the light because my passive healing was greater than the damage.

[MangoMango]

I really enjoyed this part - but then I did play on casual.

There is a secret in this area too; anyone else find it?

Spoiler: show

If you wait at the end before leaving through the portal, a lever appears

[Oswind]

Question does the Luminous area portal disappear after i turn in the quest for it? or can i farm it?

[CrazyDamon28]

Question does the Luminous area portal disappear after i turn in the quest for it? or can i farm it?

You can farm it! I did from like 35-40. Embermage as well, here.

Exit portal, then can immediately reenter and everything resets.

[Oswind]

But can i farm it if I finish the story quest?

[Grummus]

Beat this on veteran first time through.. I loved how the area worked but I will say that I wished it hadn't been part of the main story quests.

As for tips:
Fire pillars/tons of potions/plenty of prismatic bolts! No amount of preparation can prepare you for the quick kill floor blade mechanics so stay on your toes.

-On veteran difficulty I have an embermage lvl 46 now, but I've been farming this area since level 36 hoping for better unique drops for my alts from the manticore boss.
-I agree Blazing Pillar and Prismatic Bolt are extremely powerful, you should have these maxed for your level.
-Also have 1 point in each of fire brand, ice brand, and lightning brand, this gives a big boost to prismatic bolt, and modest increase to Blazing Pillar. (In fact many passive skills are worth a single point investment.)
-Gear that gives a huge boost to any elemental damage is a great choice for gear. I have single pieces that give +50% fire damage, and the bonuses really add up.
-Thunder Locus can also be helpful but be aware of it's cast time, cast this spell ahead of time when you see glowing orange circles showing where mobs will spawn.
-Frozen Fate is also worth the 1 point investment 20% to freeze targets when another dies is excellent.
-Prismatic Rift which teleports any mob that hits you is also a great ability, invest in this as you see fit.
-At this point in Act 2 your pet and yourself should both have 'Heal All Level 3' and cast whenever possible, however I've had trouble finding this spell and I've had to transmute many scrolls to find what I need.
-Use a health and mana potion every 8 seconds if you need to.
-In some areas you need to kill all the mobs for the light circle to move forward, and in other areas you don't, so pay attention and just move with the orange circle.
-Get used to moving around and strafing mobs, don't stand still even when casting at range. Most champion mobs and bosses advertise their big attacks.

[Grummus]

But can i farm it if I finish the story quest?

-Create an Internet game.
-Click the checkbox that says re-roll world.
-Password protect if you want to play solo and just farm this one spot.
-Or make it a public game, I think the dungen resets when others join your game, I'm not positive about this, but it seems to be the case when I've played.

[yclept]

I didn't have a problem with that area with my Embermage on Veteran, but I built her as a Paladin type with Mace and Shield, with her base Strength equal to her base Focus, Vitality as her highest stat, and neglecting Dex, rather than the more conventional glass-cannon type critting caster, so I don't actually know what the advice would be for a more normal build

Generally, yes I do get squished fairly regularly (27 deaths so far, level 39, start of Act III), but I can almost always tell what I did wrong to get squished.

I suspect concentrating on one tree is not the best idea even in a more conventional build, I'm spread out across the trees, but focusing on only one or two actives in each tree (blazing pillar, icy blast, shocking burst, death's bounty) have the brands as one point wonders, and the charge mastery and elemental attunement passive pumped as far as they'll go for her level.

[Riffler]

I'm in the same position as the OP. It's simply abysmally poor game design/testing. There are specs for which this dungeon is a breeze. Then there are otherwise perfectly viable, sensible specs for which it is pretty near impossible. If I stand still for long enough to cast a spell, I end up dead in a poison pool or unable to move because I'm surrounded by mobs. If you don't have certain skills available to you, you basically cannot solo this dungeon as an embermage. So the spec system is a joke. Why allow you to level a character without those skills and provide nothing other than a minimal respec system? Because of this dungeon, I just cannot advance the main quest with this character, and have no confidence that I won't face a similar block elsewhere if I level another character instead.

Say what you like about certain major publishers, they don't let screwups like this through.

[scotland]

two words.


Deaths Bounty


Really curse them all, good luck.

[Waffletime]

Say what you like about certain major publishers, they don't let screwups like this through.

Says you, I've seen enough patches in games to be informed otherwise.

Back on topic, recently tried it on my own Embermage and it's very rough, but doable, I'm sure with some practice I could do it with no deaths.

If only one could cast Ice prison on themself instead of having to move inside it. Gives a nice second or two to plan your next move. Also, Death's Bounty is a lifesaver.

[Lorak]

attempting this as an embermage has pretty much killed all desire to play this game

oh well time to go back to GW2

Laf. I got stuck on this part with both my berserker and engineer, but my embermage owned it first try. This quest was sooo much easier with the embermage for me.

I'm also surprised nobody has mentioned how important electric and poison resists are at this part. The OP trying to do this with 23 electric resist, no wonder he had a hard time. Even his poison resist was too low. Same for Riffler, he straight up says "I end up dead in a poison pool" where if he had better poison resist that would not be the case.

[azifaralus]

Undoable on veteran with outlander ( doge 55%, shield, stone pact, potions, push away hex, crazy jumps) - boss on third spot hits you for 1300 dmg ( 2800 hp char ) - insta dead cause boss is not alone ... something is not tested here properly or i dont have luck with items maybe full orange char can do that wish me luck to find it .. , second thing is a main plot and you cannot jump over it? good to know you can on god mode but is that a proper solution here? ( casual? )

[freche]

On first play through it shouldn't be much of a problem to step outside the light, I don't know how it is in NG+.
I could do it fine with my Engineer (playing on Veteran) and I didn't have any super items or so, the darkness didn't hit for much at all.