Hi everyone,

I want to discuss the different strategies to kill the Queen.

First my usual party :

Fighter
Lord
Gadgeteer
Bard
Alchemist
Bishop

When I reach their home ( at about Lvl 14-15) I sneek to the entrance to grab the lazurite stone and merge it to the regeneration stone to make it possible for my Gadgeteer to Heal All. This is possible without starting combat. My Bard has the Dulcimer of Mending so now I have two guys that can perform healing.
After that I place myself near the entrance and start combat. Alchemist and Bishop casted Summoned Elemental, my Fighter and my bard threwed in canned Elementals. Gadgy uses Port'o Potty (necessary to let the combat go on)and Lord casts max Bless.
In the second round my gadgy and my Lord also throw in a Canned Elemental. My bishop cast Enchanted Blade to make my Elementals more efective, my Alchemist Elementshield . Of course the standard protection spells are up. From that point I only have to watch, replace killed Elementals and cast Purify Air if they casted a Firebomb or another cloud or I needed to restore stamina. With some magic nectar in the backpack that's no problem. No one of their summoned elementals ever reached me.
My gadgy used noxious fumes often and my alchemist each round casted offensive spells (no matter what spells they always have some (maybe small) effects on the enemies.The Bishop and the Bard only waited until they're needed.
After the Cultist and the Knight are gone I run into the hall and gave her the rest.
Maybe you call me coward but I like to win heavy combats the easy way.

If you have other strategies to kill the Queen please let me know.

Greetings

that's an interesting approach, loudhy. of course, strategies have to be tailored to the party, but there are likely to be some common themes for people in this situation, since the enemy is the same.

the key factor, to me, is that the big 3 (death lords and queen) have high magic resistance. so unless you leave the fight til late in the game, you have to rely on melee power to finish it. i've done the elemental thing, to supplement, but really, i like to get in and do it myself (and usually i have a balanced-to-melee-heavy party).

ideally, i have chameleon at high enough level that i can round the corner (on the right side, facing in) and get all the up to the stairs without being seen. i'll walk up to the edge of view, then engage with surprise.

one person throws a death bomb into the middle of the room, the other three buff with whatever they have: element shield, soul shield, haste, and eye for an eye are favourites in this situation. i particularly like eye for an eye, as those cultists' niggling turns around and bites them back!

after gaining surprise, i usually stay in place and spend round 2 buffing. superman potions for the fighters, and bless or any buffs not covered above for the spellcasters. the queen and her minions usually cooperate by moving forward into my FOV and/or melee range.

after that, it depends on what they've done, how many elementals they brought in, etc. with any luck, the death bomb will have taken out 5 of the 6 cultists, and there will be less than 2 elementals added to their side. and with full shields up, rounding the corner and getting in a bashup with the death lords can be quite effective (and since we're close, can happen quickly!)

as you can see, i like to get in and mix it up, and usually have a party built to do so. but for tough ("boss") fights like this one, i'll start out trying to give myself every possible advantage and then try to get the job done on my own.

Interesting. Seems to me I've missed one of the greatest spells in all of my earlier games : Chameleon.

From your post I believe that I played it like you in my earlier games . But I often had to run away because I was heavy damaged . Even now I do not use Chameleon. I found some Tinctures of Shadows and used it in the plains but when
the monsters came close they always detected me. I never thought that you can sneak with Chameleon up into the hall and make it to the stairs unseen.

I must think about it ( not with my current party ) but maybe I try another one later .

You know from my posts that I like Canned Elementals. But don't believe I only
fight with them. There are four special combats in W8 I like to use them .
1st: Sorceress Queen , 2nd : Nessie , 3rd : Keeper of the Crypt , and 4th : Souleater. And I found out that it is helpful to use them early in the game ( f.e. Battering Hogar in Northern Wildernes ) .

P.S:
I sounds crazy but I'm happy to hear that I missed a good strategy for this long time because there is something new now for me to try.

about the only place i use canned elementals regularly is the don, because i tend to take him on the first time i get to trynton. my preference is for death clouds (as described above for the temple) and toxic cloud since i like the KOs with the opportunity to take out my frustration :D

regarding chameleon, it's the only effective thing for being able to get up close to enemies. rangers (or high senses) allow you to identify encounters in LOS at a distance (xray even better). and not using the light spell, wearing light (or special) armour, standing still, and hiding in cracks/shadows will help you avoid encounters. but all those effects are TINY compared to chameleon at level 7. i keep it on full time once i get it.

having said that, it wont help you avoid every combat, and if you're seen or if you're close, you will be caught out. but still, it's nice to get the jump sometimes!

I definitely start combat at the entrance or even start running down the hill.

Ive never had enough canned elementals to do what u are saying, but ive summoned a few to slow the opponents down.

Once you can get to the point where they are coming out a few at a time and the deathlords are not using ranged thing the whole fight is much easier.

The only difficult part is the death lords using the instant kill spell really, the fight can be won many ways depending on your party.

Im pretty sure i made some of the priestesses change allegance and fight for me for a while.

All the defense spells are important also. This is a fight I dont think you can win without spell shield and elemental shield. If you dont have them I think you need to be a very high level to have that kind of resistance, and I think at that level you would have easily already killed everything else.

I remember the first time I ran into the sorcerous queen and I definitely thought " What the hell is this????"
I dont think any other part of the game gives you a clue as to expect a extremely difficult fight in the temple up there. Its not really foreshadowed or written into the plot too much, so it sort of comes as a suprise.

[ 10-20-2003, 04:55 AM: Message edited by: the mighty stamar ]

With full buffs up I initiate combat, throw in a level 7 fireball, which kills off all the cultists, then I go in and melee down the death lords and the sorceress queen. Usually I don't have too many problems although the death cloud might kill some of my guys, but the priest always stands ready. Haven't tried with my current party yet (fighter, ranger, bard, bishop)