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Old 01-30-2006, 06:39 PM   #91
Aerich
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Both lvl 9 spells are found in LDD, iirc. Look around in Malavon's lab and the barrels in the caves outside.

The point is, focusing on quick level gains for mages just to get quicker or better access to these spells isn't necessary, or even desirable if that mage loses ability in other areas. You have to survive a lot of difficult fighting to get higher level scrolls, so the majority of your working strategies will depend on lower level spells.
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Old 02-27-2006, 02:07 AM   #92
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Fresh update time - I played TotL from the start through the Watchknight Crypts today.

Courtyard - have protective spells active before accompanying Hobart, and make sure you have at least one or two Exaltions memorized with every character that can cast it. Use Song of Kaudies if you have a bard. Otherwise, you know the drill. Summons take most of the pain while you focus fire. Use Call Lightning, as this is one of the only areas in the game where you can. Static Charge is good too, and Chaos can help you out. Because the opening sequence puts your characters in a ring formation, begin by putting your best-AC tank out front a bit, to take as much of the attention as it can. As your tank should have adequate AC and saves to survive for a while with the aid of meatshields, focus the rest of your characters against the harpies harassing them, then engage in some constructive spellcasting. If you've used Call Lightning, don't wander around. Use a tank to draw the attention of more courtyard denizens then walk back to your party. That way, your Call Lightning is still active - it can kill maybe 1/3 of the harpies if you've used multiple castings, so it's well worth keeping active.

My paladin maxed out in the courtyard. A -20 AC or so is quite effective even on HoF; most of the minor monsters (harpies, revenants) you encounter early in TotL can't hit very often.

Tower, Criek of Bane and cronies - Spike Growth and Melf's Acid Arrow to disrupt Criek and the mage makes your life easier. The nasties in this fight are the warrior (stunning battle axe) and the djinni. Get some summons to engage the warrior ASAP, and focus on the djinni. You can't do much against the whirlwind, so just hope and try to get rid of the djinni quick. This is a tough HoF fight because of the hard-hitting djinni and warrior, so break out your best summons. I had to Heal my F/D twice in this fight, despite using Creeping Doom and getting lucky with a Chromatic Orb stun of the djinni.

Tower, Harpy Queen - standard harpy drill of saves-enhancers, Kaudies, and Exaltion. As before, get the tank out front quick and give it some good summons support. It doesn't matter if the summons get panicked. A long-lasting AoE or six edging up against the harpies fighting your tank is a Good Thing; attrition + spell disruption never hurts. The major spells for me here were Stalker, Shades, Death Fog, Spike Stones, Chaos, Acid Arrow (on Mab), and protective spells. Make sure you don't cast all your protective spells before the battle: Mab casts a pretty mean Dispel.

Watchknights Crypt - If you've been using a paladin, the good news is that you can Turn/destroy about 60% of the undead you meet. I didn't really bother using summons at all here, only in emergencies when my paladin got teleported away. Nothing like blasting away Ghosts at 30 k per. The bad news is that among the 40% you can't destroy via Turning are some of the most annoying; Crypt Things. The last thing you want is a weak character teleported across the map, so I recommend always leading with the paladin, keeping the rest of the party out of sight if possible. It has the best saves and has the best chance of getting back to the party because its Turn Undead skill makes it more than a match for normal undead. I recommend removing your ring of free action (you are wearing one, right?) and putting on the speed boots to help your tank get back quickly if teleported. Once a CT has tried to teleport you and failed, don't remove yourself from its sight - they only try once each per encounter but the encounter ends and a new one begins if you go away and come back. They are toast in melee against any multiclass warrior even on HoF, so don't be shy about taking on several at once if you have to, while bringing up the rest of the party.

Mummies, ghosts, boneguard skeletons, and skeleton warriors can all be turned, so if you get a mixed group of these undead with Crypt Things, destroy them with a Turn even if you have to take a few hits from the CTs. Keep turning even if these undead are just turned but not destroyed. They'll go sooner or later. A paladin with fire protection and the Wailing of Virgins (immune to Fear and Hopelessness) is ideal to take on the Greater Mummy all by its lonesome - just Turn for a couple of rounds first to get rid of the lesser mummies. Against Revenants (which don't seem to be undead - they are unturnable and don't take extra damage from anti-undead weapons), use high HP, high saves, high AC tanks. Revenants aren't too bad as long as you don't get paralyzed, but if you do it wears off fairly soon. Finish them with fire, just like trolls. Make sure you press Alt every so often, as there are plenty of goodies along the walls, including the Bastard Sword: Incinerator - which is ideal against Revenants.

[ 03-13-2006, 03:45 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]
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Old 03-12-2006, 03:46 AM   #93
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Castle Maluradek - Interior

Level One - Against spectral guards, use the terrain to your advantage. They have the nasty habit of showing up from all directions and cutting up your weaklings (and not-so-weaklings). They have around 550 HP on HoF, so you need every advantage you can get (I know this because I used the Static Charge + invisibility cheese on the room with four spectral guards on the second floor). Set up the party behind a chokepoint; the corridor entrance is ideal, just watch out for the two guards that spawn inside the corridor when you attack the SGs by the big door. Then send your tank to attack and draw. Use the standard summons and spelltrap. A very high level turn undead skill affects spectral guards, although you are not likely to destroy them outright. I like to draw them, hurt them (with the invaluable Three White Doves), and start turning when I get into trouble. Then block them into a corner with your priest and missile them to death with the party. When going down the far left corridor after the cook, just send your tank with speed boots, so you can whiz back to the party. If you take your party down the corridor you will have to fight on two fronts in a confined space, which can get tricky even if you have summons prepared.

Rakshasas - I tried to dialogue with the tank and speed boots, leaving the party down below to set up the spell trap. It doesn't work - my pally got wiped out because she couldn't get around all the invisible stalkers summoned between "Hobart" and the stairs. My party was up to the task of taking them out even with the loss, but I wouldn't recommend sending a character to die just to hear the unhelpful dialogue - the only thing useful to know is that there is a key on level two. I would force-attack the rakshasa with one character using a missile weapon then hustle back down the staircase and set up a giant spelltrap - it might be worth casting a round or two of spells before the force attack, because invisible stalkers can get on you in a hurry. That is what my five remaining characters did, with good results. As rakshasae and invisible stalkers have magic resistance, it is important to lay multiples of spells, especially disrupting spells, on the area. Use Death Fog, Cloudkill, Insect Swarm, Spike Stones and Spike Growth and the inhibitor-disrupters Web and Entangle. Summons take the pain, as always. I recommend fire elementals because the rakshasa like to cast fire spells. Make sure you cast your spells at the edge of your vision range, which should be a little ways up the staircase - the last thing you want is for the rakshasae to be able to cast spells on your party without getting deep into your layered AoE disruption spells.

Level Two - Water Elemental Kin fall to concentrated missile fire. If you have summons in front to take their attacks, all the better, although they don't hit a well-armoured tank very often. Against beholders, keep the party back while attacking in melee with one spell-resistant character. A fully buffed paladin should be fine, but save often, as a lucky disintegrate could ruin your day (edit: I did say that a fighter/mage with Anti-Magic Shell would be effective, but it's not; Anti-Magic shell doesn't stop any beholder attacks that I can see, so I suppose a beholder's attacks aren't considered "spells" - now THAT should have been implemented). When going down the far-right corridor, remember that a beholder spawns behind you. Go full out against the one in front of you after having summoned some fodder behind you - animals are great, because they are immune to some of spells beholders cast (e.g. anything with "Person" in the spell title). Move your beholder-meleer to take on the second one when the first is down, and it's a cinch. The few spectral guards on this level are widely scattered and pose no problems, with the exception of the four waiting in Maluradek's anteroom - I used the Static Charge and Invisibility exploit here because I was running low on spells, particularly healing spells, and wanted to destroy the guards outright (not send them running) so I could focus entirely on Maluradek. I was also curious about how tough spectral guards actually are on HoF - they have 500+ HP, sometimes closer to 600.

Maluradek - he's just your standard high-resistance caster with a debilitating repertoire. Send your most magic-resistant tank forward with some high HP summons (e.g. stalkers, elementals, or creeping doom), while the party takes him on from afar. Try to keep the party well away, just on the edge of your range of vision, because he likes to cast Symbols. Make sure that you've taken out all the spectral guards along the way, because you do NOT want any to show up while you are occupied with Maluradek. He casts mostly debilitating spells, not damagers, so you should be fine unless his summons or any stray guards get through to your party. Beware of his dispels, too.

As an aside, ever notice how many casters in TotL cast Dispel as compared to the spellcasters in IWD? Be very careful about using a F/M as a primary melee option.

[ 03-12-2006, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]
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Old 03-12-2006, 07:43 PM   #94
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Castle Maluradek - Dungeons 1-3

Dungeon 1 - pull the levers outside the door to release all the inner doors. The creatures inside will fight and you can let them kill each other off or open the door and let them come after your party. Summon an elemental to stand beside your best tank in the doorway and it's a snap. Take out the umber hulks first, e.g. make them the first target for your missile weapons, because a confused character can probably do more damage to other party members at this stage than the creatures can. Every character of mine except the bard has 18/00 Str or better - although the fighter/mage's is achieved with the Strength spell added to his natural power; I'd rather use bracers with a F/M than Gauntlets of Ogre Strength.

Dungeon 2 - ok, apparently I lied above when I said that a F/M with Anti-Magic is ideal to take on beholders. Anti-Magic doesn't stop any of a beholder's rays. Use the tried and true single tank + concentrated missile fire. It's hardly worth casting spells because beholders have such high saves. I wonder if a Blindness spell acts to disable a beholder's eyestalks? Probably not, although that would be neat. The real key to the first area is not to open up more than one beholder's door at one time. Keep your party to the edges.

There's nothing major in the side passages. Spectral guards run from Turn Undead and can be cut down by missiles or spells; the combination of a turner and a druid with Static Charge is an efficient and comical way to take them down. Call it payback for all the trouble their mates gave you in your first trek through TotL on normal difficulty. The stuff in the cells (orog marauders, minotaurs, wyverns) is fodder for your blades - you can take out the contents of every cell in melee if you take rudimentary care to avoid having all enemies target one of your weaker characters. The exception is umber hulks; keep your party well away from hulks, using one tank or summons to keep them occupied while you whittle them down from a safe distance. Now load up on damaging spells for the next area.

Dungeon 3 - The massive HP of olive slimes on HoF presents a problem here, since they are only affected by fire, acid, or magic damage. It's a good thing they are so slow and such poor hitters. Pulling the lever pushes you out into the middle of the next room, so buff up first. Run around a bit to get most of the slimes to focus on your lead tank. Set the rest of the party up in a corner with summons in front of them - if you want summons that can actually damage the slimes, use fire elementals for minor fire damage. Take out any slimes targeting your casters with single-target damagers or cone/fan spells, depending on how many there are - ideal spells here are magic missile, burning hands, aganazzar's scorcher, cone of cold, sunscorch, and alicorn lance. You could even use moonblade or flameblade if you are running short. Then move your primary tank, who has been wandering around in the middle of the room being a distraction, into an opposite corner and fire away with AoE. Remember, only acid, fire, and magical damage do the trick - slimes are immune to all physical damage and electricity. Three Horrid Wiltings can do the trick, and if any slimes didn't get hit with all three, Shroud of Flame is a good finisher - Death Fog and Acid Storm are good if you don't mind going for slower kills, which of course depends on the health of your tank. Don't bother taking antidotes for the slimes' poison unless you are so injured that every HP matters - the poison is weak and wears off quickly.
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Old 03-13-2006, 04:42 AM   #95
Aerich
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Castle Maluradek - Dungeon 4

Getting to the good stuff now.

Upon entering, buff up. Chaotic Commands, Exaltion, Mind Blank, and Impervious Sanctity of Mind ought to protect you against the Sleep gaze of the jackalweres. To be honest, I didn't bother to use any of these, although I had some memorized for contingencies in case of problems.

Entrance - Call up your screen of summons and pace forward while detecting traps. The first corridor is the only part of this area that has much in the way of traps. You can walk right through them, but a dispel trap would be unfortunate. Jackalweres aren't too tough if you can prevent them from focusing on weak characters. The entire area is narrow, so blocking a passageway with two or three tanks is easy. Make sure you disrupt the shamen.

Summoners, Shamen and Glabrezu - disrupt the shamen with long-lasting AoE spells, then cast Horrid Wilting to get rid of all the bats they call up. Hack down the jackalweres with at most three tanks and summons. The glabrezu can be left for later if they are attacking summons or your best-AC tank. When you have all the annoyances out of the way, focus fire on the glabrezu and they will go down quick. They have fire immunity and some magic resistance, so they are best finished in melee. If you wait long enough, more glabrezu will arrive. This would be an ideal spot to camp without sleeping, as I believe the summoners keep pumping out glabrezu. At 50 000 XP apiece on HoF, they give enough XP to be noteworthy for even a very high level party, and they are quite easy to kill when they attack the combined might of your party without anything else to distract your attention. The summoners are a cakewalk once you run them down in melee.

Shamblers - they take half damage from slashing and piercing weapons, and are immune to crushing and fire damage. They are vulnerable to electricity, taking a goodly portion of bonus damage. It is effective to take them on with summons, your best tank using a non-crushing weapon and a static-charged druid. I've used the Slayer spear a lot with the F/D because of the tight quarters on this level. It doesn't matter that his AC is relatively poor, because nothing attacks characters using two-handed weapons if you place them correctly.

Jackalweres in the southeast - be careful, because there are masses of them. It should go without saying that full buffs are needed here. A setup of two or three wide across the passageway is necessary for survival. If you can set up a number of Skull Traps and Glyphs of Warding in the more open area, so much the better. Put some Spike Growth there too, and send your tank in around the trap spells. Once you draw the first one, most of the rest will come. Put out some expendable summons so that the jackalweres cluster around them at some distance from the party, then let them have it with the best AoE in your possession. Mordenkainen's Force Missiles also give good value here. When they close with your tanks, cast or shoot with the protected characters as you choose. Your cleric(s) shouldn't be in the front line, as rebuffing and healing may be needed. Surprisingly, a high AC tank can last for quite a while, but it's a good thing to keep your best healer in reserve.

On a side note, a high level warrior/cleric multiclass is devastating from range. Ogre Gauntlets + Draw Upon Holy Might + magical sling + magical bullets = 20-25 dmg per hit and huge to-hit bonuses. 25 Str and Dex on a slinger is money in the bank.

I'm a little surprised at the amount I fight in melee. I estimate that nearly 50% of the damage my party causes is from melee weapons, with 30+% from spells and 20% from ranged weapons. There are a few reasons. First, I've got weapons with fantastic specials: extra attacks, resistances, extra damage, stun effects, and slow. Missile weapons just can't compare for dealing out copious amounts of damage, especially bows (which do not get a strength bonus) - slings aren't bad, and the repeating heavy crossbow holds its own. Second, I use spells mostly to whittle down the enemy and make them come to me in managable numbers, not to flat-out kill. It's inefficient to use spells just to cause damage, because enemies have so many HP you'd have to rest twice per level. Third, I only have about 1.5 arcane casters, including the bard, and just four slots combined for Horrid Wilting. Fourth, a warrior can generally cause more damage with weapons than a mage or priestly caster using low to medium level single-target damagers, and that damage is more consistently applied - it is not subject to enemy saving throws. Finally, it's a pain to dig in my bags of holding for ammo. I've got tons, but the inventory management is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Old 01-31-2008, 09:24 PM   #96
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Default Re: Survival Guide for a HoF-from-scratch party (spoilers)

Wow, I'm glad I found this thread.

Does anybody know if Sleep will ever work in HoF? It's based on Hit Dice, and I haven't had much luck with casting it so far in my HoF from the start game.

Also, what's the best AC you can reach (and how do you get there)? TIA
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Old 02-05-2008, 01:43 AM   #97
Aerich
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Default Re: Survival Guide for a HoF-from-scratch party (spoilers)

Sleep won't work. Cast Charm Person instead. It's actually a better spell anyway, since your new "friend" probably has more HP and can do more damage than your entire party, at least in the early game.
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Old 02-16-2008, 09:52 PM   #98
Klorox
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Default Re: Survival Guide for a HoF-from-scratch party (spoilers)

I've just entered the Severed Hand.

It is tough, but I think the game is easier now than it was at the beginning.

Entering the Hand, each party member has about 960000 XP.
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Old 02-17-2008, 04:20 AM   #99
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Default Re: Survival Guide for a HoF-from-scratch party (spoilers)

What's your party Klorox? (maybe a new thread so as not to hijack this one)
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