Welcome to DQ Forums @deerektheler !
What’s the best balance between offense and defense when scaling past floor 500+: ??
the higher the floors, the more you get 1 hit killed, so Dodge & Block affix, and Sanctuary Mythic are the way to go. also, Rogue & Warrior both have a Talent that gives a chance for enemy attacks to Miss. Mobility around enemy mobs and Crowd Control effects are also very helpful.
why? because Armor & All Resist have the floor level in their formulas, which reduce their effectiveness the higher the floor you’re on, and even if you max your HP, it’s still not enough to keep from being one hit killed eventually.
being able to kill enemies before they can react to your presence is also really cool!
Are there any must-have affixes or sets that help survive tougher enemies: ??
Crushing Blow, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Deadly Strike, Elemental Critical, Elemental Crit Damage are great ways to boost damage easily. using Crushing Flames Set & Demonic Set with Crushing Blow is the best way to kill enemies quickly.
How important is pet selection for deep floors? Any recommendations: ??
it depends on what the affixes are if you have an Eternal Pet, what the Set affix is on a Legend Pet, or if you plan on using an Epic Pet. when climbing floors, the type of Pet isn’t as important as the affixes on it.
Legend Pets come with a Set affix with space for 5 other affixes. if you don’t need a 7th Set, then you just need an Epic Pet with 6 affixes or take the Set affix off of the Legend Pet and put a different affix on it.
What’s the best strategy for dealing with high-floor bosses quickly: ??
Crushing Flames Build, Ascendant & Arcanist Build, Plagued Build, some Proc Builds, and probably a few others can take down Epic+ monsters quickly.
around floor 13k, monsters have INFB HP and can be one shot killed with Crushing Blow. there’s a thread that talks of this somewhere…