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Last time, I rebuilt the character into a Cadence build and got everything ready for Ultimate difficulty.
This time, I’ll actually take on Ultimate difficulty—and then push even further into Ascendant Mode.
Ultimate Is Pretty Easy for This Warder
Maybe because I had already tuned the build quite heavily with endgame content in mind, I was able to breeze through the main campaign on Ultimate difficulty.
As you can see in the video, I even managed to take down a Nemesis boss without much trouble.
To be completely frank, I didn’t struggle even once before reaching Fort Ikon in the main campaign, so I decided to give Ascendant Mode a try.
Ascendant Mode Isn’t That Difficult Either
On paper, enemies should have roughly twice as much durability, but Cadence already hits hard enough to one-shot regular mobs.
At the same time, this build deals very little damage on attacks where Cadence doesn’t proc, so in practice, my actual mob-clearing speed felt almost identical between Ultimate and Ascendant.
Heroes and bosses definitely take longer to kill, but they’re still nowhere near impossible.
…With the exception of Kubacabra.
That thing’s absurd regeneration completely outstrips my damage. No matter how much I attack it, its health just recovers all the way back to full.
So for now, I’ve decided to leave Kubacabra for later.
Drops and Loot-Farming Efficiency in Ascendant Mode
In Ascendant Mode, Legendaries and MIs with Ascended affixes drop frequently enough that the difference is immediately noticeable.
Ascendant-exclusive materials such as Ashes of Awakening, which can also be acquired through mechanics activated via the Ascension Altar, come in at a pretty good pace as well. Overall, Ascendant Mode feels very efficient for loot farming.
That said, when it comes to collecting blueprints and high-tier crafting materials such as Ancient Hearts, running Shattered Realm Shards 20–24 feels roughly twice as fast.
Double rares are also still extremely uncommon, even in Ascendant Mode.
With that in mind, I think the best way to look at Ascendant Mode for farming purposes is as a way to do your normal loot farming while also specifically targeting Ascendant-exclusive materials and MIs with Ascended affixes on the side.
Pushing Further into the Shattered Realm
Last time, I had pretty much hit my limit around Shard 12.
Since then, however, I managed to pick up things like a Gollus’ Ring with stronger health regeneration and a Voldrak’s Crusher with +4 to Cadence while progressing through the main campaign.
Thanks to those upgrades, I was able to push my record considerably further.
I managed to clear up through Shard 23 within the time limit, and although I ran out of time after that, I was still able to clear as far as Shard 26.
Once you get this far, both the quantity and quality of the rewards become excellent. Medal augments and blueprints for Epic gear start dropping left and right.
I also got plenty of MIs with Ascended affixes from the Shattered Realm rewards.
The Dread Absolutely Destroys Me
While progressing through the campaign, I got a chance to fight the Dread, the hidden boss exclusive to Ascendant Mode.
And…
I got absolutely destroyed almost instantly.
It looks like defeating the Dread is going to require some seriously thorough gear optimization.
Defeating the Main Campaign’s Final Boss on Ascendant
The Dread may have completely humbled me, but the main campaign’s final boss, Loghorrean, the Voice of Ch’thon, was another story.
I was able to simply stand there, keep attacking, and kill it.
Even though the build still isn’t fully optimized, the Warder’s health regeneration is ridiculous. Against the final boss, I didn’t even need to use a potion—my natural regeneration alone was enough to completely offset all the incoming damage.
This thing is way too tanky.
And if the Dread can kill a Warder this tough in an instant…
Then the Dread is way too strong.
Goals from Here
Somehow, I ended up clearing the main campaign much more easily than I expected.
From here on out, I’ll work my way through the various DLC campaigns while putting more emphasis on loot farming so I can eventually take down the superbosses—and, of course, the Dread.
*Grim Tool*
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/ZyDva4qV
And with that, enjoy your gaming life!!
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!!!
Previous Log: Rebuilding into a Cadence Warder and Heading into FoA【Warder from a Fresh Start #8】
