Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post - Questions about HOW and Trials of Luremaster

NobleNick · 01-31-2005, 10:31 AM

Relic,

Welcome to the IWD forum!

(slight SPOILERS follow)

You have a well balanced party. (Yeah, I would second your opinion on trading in the Thief for a Fighter/Thief. And it is still EARLY in the overall game: I'd trade him in now.)

However, the party's experience level I would characterize only as "barely adequate" for anyone not a masochist. CLVL 11 to 13 breathes a lot easier than 9-11. To maximize your party's expo going into each of the expansions, I would do the complete game as follows:

IWD (to just before going up stairs guarded by idol in LDD)
HoW (to just before accepting trip to Sea __ ______ ___)
TotLM (to end)
Return to, and finish HoW
Return to, and finish IWD

And don't be afraid to camp along the way and pick up more expo.

Now, if you want to continue with your light-expo party in HoW, there are several things you can do (in addition to some excellent advice already given for the Wailing Virgins -- what I think you meant by "widows").

First, (and I'm sure you know this by now) scout out new territory with a stealthed/invisible character, and move into new territory very slowly.

O.K., for the virgins: These gals are NASTY, so throw EVERYTHING you have at them FIRST. One tactic I used was to throw invisibility on four of my best warriors, buff them against the mind attack, surround the witch, er, I mean virgin, start the fight by hacking on her, and have her dead before the second round ends. Even then, a few guys would often go into dream land before she went down. I forget if Silence works on the virgins.

Next, the Drowned Dead: These guys move a bit more slowly than most attackers, and IIRC are susceptable to Web/Entangle, so use that to your advantage. Retreat, take out the supporting monsters, then dance around and avoid these guys while whittling them down with ranged fire. (I assume you have the basics right, like focusing fire on one monster at a time until it goes down, then moving all fire to the next.) Yes, it is slow, and uses lots of ammo, but it is better than dying. If you want to hurry up the process, you MIGHT be able to surround ONE of them with AT LEAST 3 warriors and hack away; but this is very hard on HP; and since you don't have access to the Bard's War Chant, I'd suggest sticking to ranged attack.

Finally, you might want to test out your Cleric's Turn Undead skills. My party was beefy enough that I didn't need to resort to this, so I don't know how readily DD are Turned; but it is worth a try. Leveling your Cleric before B.I., to strengthen his Turn Undead skill, is one of the best reasons to wait as long as possible before entering HoW from IWD.

Hope this helps.

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[ 01-31-2005, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

01-31-2005, 10:31 AM	#5
NobleNick Quintesson Join Date: February 5, 2002 Location: Huntsville, AL, USA Age: 65 Posts: 1,045	Relic, Welcome to the IWD forum! (slight SPOILERS follow) You have a well balanced party. (Yeah, I would second your opinion on trading in the Thief for a Fighter/Thief. And it is still EARLY in the overall game: I'd trade him in now.) However, the party's experience level I would characterize only as "barely adequate" for anyone not a masochist. CLVL 11 to 13 breathes a lot easier than 9-11. To maximize your party's expo going into each of the expansions, I would do the complete game as follows: IWD (to just before going up stairs guarded by idol in LDD) HoW (to just before accepting trip to Sea __ ______ ___) TotLM (to end) Return to, and finish HoW Return to, and finish IWD And don't be afraid to camp along the way and pick up more expo. Now, if you want to continue with your light-expo party in HoW, there are several things you can do (in addition to some excellent advice already given for the Wailing Virgins -- what I think you meant by "widows"). First, (and I'm sure you know this by now) scout out new territory with a stealthed/invisible character, and move into new territory very slowly. O.K., for the virgins: These gals are NASTY, so throw EVERYTHING you have at them FIRST. One tactic I used was to throw invisibility on four of my best warriors, buff them against the mind attack, surround the witch, er, I mean virgin, start the fight by hacking on her, and have her dead before the second round ends. Even then, a few guys would often go into dream land before she went down. I forget if Silence works on the virgins. Next, the Drowned Dead: These guys move a bit more slowly than most attackers, and IIRC are susceptable to Web/Entangle, so use that to your advantage. Retreat, take out the supporting monsters, then dance around and avoid these guys while whittling them down with ranged fire. (I assume you have the basics right, like focusing fire on one monster at a time until it goes down, then moving all fire to the next.) Yes, it is slow, and uses lots of ammo, but it is better than dying. If you want to hurry up the process, you MIGHT be able to surround ONE of them with AT LEAST 3 warriors and hack away; but this is very hard on HP; and since you don't have access to the Bard's War Chant, I'd suggest sticking to ranged attack. Finally, you might want to test out your Cleric's Turn Undead skills. My party was beefy enough that I didn't need to resort to this, so I don't know how readily DD are Turned; but it is worth a try. Leveling your Cleric before B.I., to strengthen his Turn Undead skill, is one of the best reasons to wait as long as possible before entering HoW from IWD. Hope this helps. -------------------- What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party On!! [ 01-31-2005, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]