rapax castel

[Ziggurat]

Herzbub, have you had luck getting through the castle? I would think either your Psi or Lord can transport you out if you need a "breather". Make sure Ferro is still alive first! You need his stuff for later battles.

My strategy upon entering the castle has morphed as I replayed the game. First time, I went for Ferro because he was a green dot after I got close enough to see it. Second time I went for Ferro because he has cool stuff. This is a difficult strategy. Third time I went to central small room off the first large room and fought off all comers to keep Ferro alive and reduce the Rapax, but more keep showing up. Then I visited Ferro and did many more battles afterward on the way to explore and become a Templar. Now I go towards the left, Templar area up the ramp, to avoid the really long battles and become a Templar first. All strategies work if you have enough resources, depends on how much battling you want to do.

[SkyRanger]

Speaking of the Rapax...what level would you recommend a party being before entering areas such as the Wilderness Clearing and Rapax, Rift, and Rapax Castle?

[Scatter]

Wilderness Clearing can be survived at 10 (i've looted the important stuff as early as 8 on Novice with a Trio, but that's luck--the spawns can be any level if you're below the "minimum").
Rapax areas too, but the best stuff isn't available at Ferro until party average is 15.

[Dedzy]

Skyranger,
This is my recommend, based on a 4 to 6 character party with average skills and equipment, no running or hiding. Your mileage may vary:
Clearing: 12, easier than the temple in SE wild.
SE wilderness temple: 14, have excellent magical resistance and know how to 'lure' stuff out bit by bit.
Mtn. wilderness: 13-14 if you want Diamondeyes, 12 otherwise
Rapax Rift and castle: 14, more important is to have level 7 magic screen plus good elemental resistance.

[Scatter]

For me Mountain Wilderness more like 10, but i have done a lot of practising by then, so my Element Shield is up and i have high Stealth.
And you can get Diamond Eyes without engaging its guards, so whatever level you can survive there on...
Minimum Spawn level there is 10, but the bosses are all higher.

[MasterPooBaa]

Important spells for rapax castle.

1. Magic screen
2. Elemental shield
3. restall
4. healall
5. icebomb
6. blizzard
7. tsunami
8. Freezeall

[Scatter]

Death Cloud (Death Bomb'll kill everything up to Samurai in a few rounds.)

[DBear]

Don't be in such a hurry to become Templars. I've found that if you wait by the entrance, the Rapax will come to you.

I didn't have any problem with beating Rapax, my problem was that Ferro kept getting killed off, until I found that by staying near the entrance, the groups would be too far away from Ferro to attack him.

There were two main waves. Then I ran for the temple, defeated a couple stragglers, and underwent the ritual. Ferro was alive and well, but I already sold the damn rings of protection I need for his weapons. %#%^!

[MasterPooBaa]

well yes, for those that like them duration effect spells are pretty effective.

Deathcloud if you can manage it, toxic cloud, acid bomb, draining cloud, firestorm and even ring of fire do wonders.
Individually the spells dont do that much, but they do effect large groups for multiple rounds, sucking HP from the rapax hordes and hopefully killing a few with the deathcloud.

[Wereboar]

Another nice spell is eye for an eye. When i cast freeze all, it is quite useless, since i position myself so that only few enemies are in sight. But when the rapax warlocks cast it, and the spell is reflected, it affects all rapax that are in the spellcasters sight - usually a lot more.

I am not in hurry to become a templar. I find that these big fights are much fun, especially with magic heavy parties. I only become templar when i want to go to AP.