[Aerich]

That's level 3 of Dragon's Eye, right? The entrance is, IMO, the toughest fight on the level, because it's harder to prepare the battlefield. HoW makes it slightly more difficult because of the Call to Arms feature, which draws all the enemies within a certain radius once ONE enemy sights you. That can lead to overwhelming odds, but it's not unbeatable.

You have to shorten the odds - cast hindering spells like Entangle or Web in front of your party, far enough away that you don't get caught in them. Have party-affecting spells like Protection From Evil 10' cast on your party before you enter the level. Protection from Fire is good to have on your lead character(s) so that your mage can Fireball away. Try doubling or tripling up attacks on one Wight - it's better to have one dead enemy and one at full strength than to have two at seriously wounded. Backline mages or clerics should have a good selection of distance spells - Magic Missile and Magical Stone are very good at finishing off injured wights. This is also a good area for Agannazar's Scorcher. A fire-protected lead character can move around with impunity and cause many wights to get caught in the scorcher.

If you have a decent druid, it will crush the wights. Moonblade does exceptional damage, but it's not even the best druid spell for the level. The spell Wall of Moonlight does great damage to evilly-aligned undead - once you're past the entrance, use one fire-protected character to scout ahead and draw a bunch of wights. Have a Wall of Moonlight cast between your party and the lead, then walk the (non-evil) lead character back across the Wall (the wights will follow across and get really hurt) and hammer the wights with a Fireball. It's a rare cold wight that can survive a Fireball + Wall of Moonlight combination.

If you decide to rest, find a protected alcove. Put all of your characters except one in the alcove and leave your best fighter out in front by a few steps. It helps to have Protection from Fire active. Then when the wights come at you, they'll likely go after your toughest, most protected character, and you can Fireball them with minimal risk. That should bring them down to manageable numbers.

This is a good area to rest - lots of monsters to test out your spell tactics.

Edit: If you are having a hard time using these tactics, you can also cast Haste on your party before you enter the level. It will eventually fatigue you, but it will help you take out the wights more quickly. You can retreat to the lower level and Mother Egenia to rest. Also don't be afraid of retreating mid-fight if one of your characters is close to dying.

[ 10-11-2004, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]