Tips for dealing with temporal storms for beginners?

[Sukkarat]

Hi, I've started playing the game about a week ago and have grasped the basics decently well. But I am in no way good at the game yet and need a few possible suggestions from the lot of you better players.

I've encountered a couple temporal storms and have managed to evade them by cowering in a dirt hole through the whole thing, because the higher level drifters absolutely murder me instantly. I know that you can make armour in the game, but I haven't been able to make any defensive gear fast enough to counter the problem. I'd like to stop cowering in a hole and encounter the threat with a little bravery.

Does anyone have good suggestions for a beginner like me? Thank you for reading this!

[Thorfinn]

Can you fight wolves and black bears? With missile weapons, I mean? If so, you will be fine. Just remember to sprint all the time and keep your head on a swivel.

Otherwise, practice on wildlife until you are comfortable with that. You can survive more mistakes against wildlife.

Melee weapons are really tough to use on double-headed drifters. Those buggers hit so hard it takes mid- to late-game equipment to tank.

Edited July 27, 2024 by Thorfinn

[LadyWYT]

7 hours ago, Sukkarat said:

Does anyone have good suggestions for a beginner like me? Thank you for reading this!

Thorfinn covered most of it, although I think the "best" approach depends somewhat on your chosen class and preferred playstyle. I play Blackguard mostly, which is strong in close quarters combat but weak at range. A Hunter, however, will want to stay out of melee and pick targets off at range, and wearing heavy armor will interfere with that kind of combat.

Personally, I don't really worry about going out during the storms until I have iron weapons and armor(bronze at minimum). Flax fiber is more easily farmed from flax plants, rusty gears are easy enough to acquire via ruin loot or selling things to traders. Temporal gears I really only need a handful of, and these will occasionally drop from lower tier drifters, which don't pose as great of risk. The main prize of temporal storms, in my opinion, is the Jonas parts that can(but don't always) drop from the double-headed drifters. Jonas parts can't be crafted, but are necessary for crafting the late game steampunk gizmos.

If you're really intent on tackling temporal storms with early game equipment, I would build a small watchtower that drifters cannot climb into or spawn in, and then use that as a vantage point to pick off the drifters at range. Spears will do more damage than arrows at this stage of the game, but will have a shorter range and do not stack, so if you're going this route make sure that you have plenty of spears to throw. On the other hand, if you don't mind some really cheesy strategy--build a small covered box(maybe like 5x5 and 2 blocks tall), and chisel out some holes that are big enough for you to poke a spear through, but not big enough to allow a drifter to crawl through. Make sure you have plenty of spears, knives, and healing items, then hide in the box during the storm and poke away when the drifters come after you! There are better ways to build killboxes than this, but you get the idea.

7 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Melee weapons are really tough to use on double-headed drifters. Those buggers hit so hard it takes mid- to late-game equipment to tank.

If you're fighting them melee, you can hit them and then step back out of range right before they swing to dodge the hit. You are correct though, that it is very tough--if you get the timing of your movement even a little bit wrong, the consequences can be dire with good gear, or fatal with early game equipment. Of course, I really don't recommend tackling them melee in the early game, lol, at least without a killbox or other major advantage. They take around 4-5 hits to kill with a good weapon; with a flint/copper spear it's going to take even longer.

[Sukkarat]

Thank you to both of you who replied to this, I will keep your tips in mind and try them out next time I have to prepare for drifter fights.

[Maelstrom]

stone spears.  LOTS of stone spears (12 or so should do).  when a storm comes, be in a flat area about 100 blocks in radius (less when you get better).  Run around the perimeter when drifters spawn, they will form into a conga line.  Run backwards and heave spears at them (often called the Monty Python Maneuver).  When you run out of spears, circle round collect the spears and repeat.  

Believe it or not, you can sprint through drifters without taking damage, so long as they don't start their attack before you are running through them.  I have taken out double headed drifters sans any armor this way.

[Thorfinn]

I generally have an "arena" of sorts (just some flat ground with no bushes or trees) that I place a bunch of torches. When I was learning the tricks, I'd d carry in a stack of sticks and 5-6 stacks of spear heads. Then go around making another stack up and dropping the spears all over the place so I almost can't not pick up a spear no matter where I ran. You eventually learn how to need fewer. I generally go with only 5-6 spears anymore.

A couple of blocks of packed earth 2-3 off the ground, tool racks on the sides is a great place to store spears between storms. The floating blocks also make great places to protect torches in the rain and firepits for the winter. Or really anytime. You can always use fires cranking out more torches. A dozen firepits cranks out an unbelievable number of torches in a temporal storm. Sometimes I think that's the best "loot" you get in storms...

Edited August 1, 2024 by Thorfinn