what difficulty? im doing hard atm
Don't get me wrong, it does make the game challenging. I play on the hardest mode on there which is hardcore. You should really try that mode because the enemy stats get an obscene boost that will force you into long fights. But it will also drastically point out the issues. I don't think the balancing act for those drains and whatnot would be too bad on the lesser difficulties. But it is blatantly clear that the drains take that mode up to a whole new level of difficulty by themselves. Just make sure you fully transform all at once before you try combat. Actually.... try to stay full human as long as possible before you transform on that difficulty. You need to get yourself to the point where you can manage at least to hit the mid 20's or higher. Actually, you may want to power level to 30 or so on a first-off play.
The arena is a good option to train yourself if you save up and do soul cultivation. From there, it is a question of what your focus is. Do you want to be a beserker build? They have wicked moves as long as you can build up wrath to keep your flurries of attacks going. That's also a challenge at extremely high levels btw. You will find that you are frequently adjusting your multi-attack options to save on wrath. Soul cultivation is strong but it tends to burn up quickly. You had better stock up on soul force pills to recharge during long fights. Also, it pays to know the game inside and out because the tough fights are going to be much tougher on this mode. For instance, lamias are around like 2k hp in the desert. Uhh, the tigershark girl who's name evades me is like 9k hp at the lake so you get the idea about how things will roll on that mode that starts with an X. The blighted ridge is a nice midlevel zone but it throws 20k encounters like candy so be very careful about taking lust damage in long fights there. My favorite place to power level is a mix between the ocean with their single enemy encounters and the arena matches. Once you get the hang of the golems you can level up fast at first. Try to make it a goal to be able to take pretty much any challenge in the arena before you tackle the rest of the game for real. You will need that power to make sure you can survive the few fights that have game overs for loss.
Frankly speaking, once you try the hardest mode it becomes very likeable beyond the fact that its a hardcore mode. I wish there were an option to play that mode with the same settings just without the hardcore. Fortunately I keep backups since I use programs that clean temp files frequently. As a result I realized that you can keep your hardcore saves that way if you copy the save files while they are still there and store the copies in a safe spot. Then you just restore them to the folder and they work just fine. Like I said, I had to do that because the chances are if I finish a session one day I may not even have the save files the next day I go to play some more. So its a necessary measure for me. Yeah it cheeses the hardcore part a little bit but I don't mind that.
I have also experimented with other builds such as archers. Hmmm, they can be decent in their own way. But I find myself stocking up on healing and or relying on the risky heal spell during combat when it drags out. The mages tend to be both squishy and somewhat powerful once you build them up enough. They require a lot of patience though. Honestly, I find the melee strength builds to be the easiest types to manage on the hardest mode. At least at the beginning. You still need to understand the game and know where to avoid if you don't want to end your run prematurely. Your greatest enemies will be hunger and money to start with. Getting those companions with nightwatch is a must have unless you don't care about being randomly attacked at night. Let's see, I don't think I missed anything else. Maybe some of you will get curious and start trying out this addicting mode too. If you do what I said then you should stand a chance of managing it.