Quote:
Originally posted by Magness:
A primary tank and a backup tank up front, spellcasters in the middle, and the other primary tank and other backup tank in the rear.
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Hello, lovely setup
for a six-person party. Unfortunately, I only have 4: a pally/barbarian (whose illegal nature we have discussed in another thread [img]smile.gif[/img] ), a druid/cleric, a wizard/ranger and the monk/rogue.
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So this is what I had to do to get through the initial battle using essentially the same strategy with fewer party members (once I had tried just walking once and discovered the second group which attacks from behind):
1. Place my tank at the spot where we came down the rope
2. Have the druid cast Selune's Freedom on herself (or drink a Potion of Freedom).
3. Have the wizard drink a Potion of Freedom
The rogue doesn't need this, having bought and equipped "Lolth's Cruel Sting" (Lolth's Blessing: Immunity to Web spells), nor does the Pally, having bought and equipped "Air Genesi Gail Armor" (Spellward: Immunity to Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill, Acid Fog, Suffocate, Cloud of Pestilence and Whirlwind) and using the "Vhogtan's Band" (Constant Effect: User is under effect of the spell Freedom of Movement while equipped) we won at the Palisades. Perhaps you remember me saying I was selling everything but my character's underwear to buy from Nym before he skipped town-- well, this is where it pays off, and yes, I am using the Weimer Ease-Of-Use HoF items in normal mode mod.
4. Have the Wizard cast invisibility on herself and the Druid.
5. Have the Monk hide.
6. Move the Wizard, Druid and Monk to a spot right between the visible group of Hook Horrors and the place the Pally is standing.
6. Move the Monk next to the Hook Horrors.
7. Unhide the Monk. She should get swarmed by the visible group, while the Pally should get swarmed by the second group. Pally and Monk wail away freely (Monk is dual-wielding the Webirific Short Blade with the Glowing Azure Rod, Pally has the Electric Greatsword we won at BattleSquares).
8. Ranger casts Web on one group, Druid casts Web on the second group.
9. Rinse and repeat-- Web is much weaker than Entangle, and does not cover as wide an area. This is why the Wizard and Druid have Freedom of Movement, as the Web areas are meant to overlap each other and may overlap where they're standing, since there isn't much room.
10. Just to be safe, have the Wizard cast Cloudkill on the Pally's group (since the Pally is immune).
11. Wizard and Druid are now free to cast Fireball, Produce Fire, Flamestrike, throw Flaming Oil, or whatever, hopefully killing many HH's before one or more of them gets loose from the Web and comes for them.
Like I said, it was fun once (except for reloading because I didn't realize my druid and wizard--who I hadn't moved from the original point of entry-- were getting attacked, or forgetting that casting a spell makes you visible, so my Druid invalidated her invisiblilty by casting Selune's Freedom after being rendered invisible, or just having the strategy not work like the well-oiled machine that it has to if it's going to work at all).
Now I have snuck my monk down to the end of the hall, and I know there's a bunch of HH's there, and I have a sinking suspicion that the several doors between where we are now and that cul-de-sac are the Monster Pens mentioned in the walkthrough. If I have to do this extremely complicated setup some 6 or more times-- and mostly in very cramped quarters-- it's going to be "not fun" very fast, which is why I'm taking a rest break from playing until I get my strength and enthusiasm back.
It's funny, because I really love some of the other hideous battles I've had. Working my way through all those Moldavians and whatnot protecting Shengarne Dam and then fighting my way across Shengarne Bridge access and saving the bridge was a total blast. The Goblin Warrens were fun, too-- even that section behind the passworded door, which was really hard, with the trolls and the drum and the Neo-Orogs from the other direction.
This, I just don't like.
[ 11-05-2003, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: motub ]