u/Skill_Issue_95

Thanks to this wonderful community and a huge shout out to a few of my recent teammates,I got my first taste of D4.

I have seen many posts stating the huge gap between D3 and D4 difficulty but it was the way the enemies moved in D4 that really caught me off guard. At D3, I was so confident as a Duchess, it was like knew exactly after how many hits I give, the enemy will hit back. So I was very comfortable in facing enemies while reviving a teammate. But in D4 it felt all too different. I felt the poise increase was through the roof!

Especially the night invaders, the aggression that they show is significantly different from what I saw in D3. My very first night invader poi, I was swiped by ironeye, not using his bow but his character skill. I have hardly seen night invaders execute their skill, except for a few instances like executors cursed blade and raider.

So to all the D4 & D5 experts, what changes did you incorporate in your gameplay that made you overcome this gap and excel?

LONG POST ALERT

Last night I played a bunch of games that took me from 3300 to 3900 and then from there to 2700. But these games were some of the best games I've ever had. After 400 odd hours I believe I've learnt how to play the game right, thereby making me enjoy it.

When I came into depth 3, I was nervous about the difficulty scaling, I stuck to ironeye irrespective of the boss. I had good relics with him and his character skill made him one of the safest characters to play as. But the whole fun and discovery began when I started to experiment with other characters.

It started with sentient pest and fissure in the fog. I wanted to try wylder because I felt his character skill will help me close the gaps with ease against these agile nightlords. And it did not disappoint! The game was so fun and we even won.

The true fun started when I switched to Duchess. I lost 4 consecutive games but the learning was enormous and the answer to enjoy was right in front of my eyes.

The rules were simple

1. DO NOT RUSH INTO attacking enemies.

2. Play "tag you're it with" your enemies. When the enemy attacks you, focus on dodging. If you want to counter wait for the combo to get over. You'll get room to attack when the aggro switches.

3. When you do 2, your focus on enemies' combos becomes so higher and post a bunch of games you'll instinctively dodge their moves.

4. Make good use of character skills : Characters like ironeye, wylder and Duchess have offensive character skills that can deal damage. Using them frequently and at the right time will really help dish out damage. In case of undertaker, you can use it based on the situation, making her very versatile.

5. Time your ults : I used to be the one who was itching to use an ult the moment it was available. In many occasions ive found saving it for later helps. Eg. When you have the dancer of the boreal valley, you can prevent her from doing the spinning slashes combo if you ult her. If timed right, you can even cancel certain boss' transitions like Maris' arena wide sleep effect or Adels jaw snap

All the 4 games I played with Duchess, I was hardly concerned about whether my teammates were playing well or not. The routine was so addictive and I saw certain boss indicators that I've never noticed before.

I did multiple 3 bar saves even without her ult, when my eyes were always on the nightlord.

I'm no expert yet but for those struggling I strongly feel this ll make your games much more enjoyable.