How do you beat those mages/fighters on the second level when getting celestial fury?

[Silverblade]

how in the world do you beat those guys ont he second floor of the guarded compound, I'vw tried everything and I still cant get even close to beating one guy!...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...thanx

[Nanobyte]

Sorry, I can't help here. I've never attempted to get the artifact before. I'm sure somebody has though..

[FallenPaladin]

With my Kensai mage, I got some protective spells, a stoneskin, Kaied, and then cicked their asses. I had lready reached the exp cap though so that propably made a difference.

[Grinch]

Usually before preceding upstairs I cast pre-battle spells,like resist fear,bless,chant,and protection from evil. The first thing I do on the second floor is have Jaheira cast insect swarm,next summon monsters as buffers. Send two tanks after Olaf Rassmussen and get Jaheira to pelt the mages with sling bullets.Jan casts breach on them,or spellthrust. It's a rough fight,but you can win it.

------------------
Grinch

[trux]

Like most fights, this one is a piece of cake if you make the proper preparations and watch the fight carefully. these are just some of the spells you should have cast before preceding up the stairs: prot. from evil 10' radius, defensive harmony, imp. inv. on everyone, blurs and stoneskins (for mages,) ironskins for druids, chant, bless, etc.

Summon some creatures to take some of the enemy attacks and to set off some of the traps that are lurking around.

Make sure to have plenty of Extra-healing potions in each character's quick-use slots and if necessary have a cleric sanctuaried running around healing people.

As far as mage spells go, focus on lots of damage spells - chain lightning, fireballs, etc.

Have plenty of breaches and pierce magics for the magic user(s) and have your clerics/druids cast insect plagues and the like to mess up the spellcasters. Whoever is fighting the enemy who wields the Celestial Fury should have GOOD saving throws.

------------------
--
trux

[Amergin]

this is easily one of the tougher fights in the game for many reasons. unlike most other battles, you step right into the middle of it with no way to cast your summons out of sight. there is a trap on either side of the column just past the stairway that cancels any invisibility (including hidden thieves). somewhere along the side of the stairs is a hold/dmg trap as well. besides that there's an enemy thief with 8 invisibility potions just waiting for an unguarded mage to show up.

after MUCH experimentation, this is what i came up with.

before going up the stairs, cast these spells: protection from evil 10', chant, holy might, haste, defensive harmony. if you've got it memorized use chaotic commands as well if someone has bad saves vs spells.

once up i have my mage cast chaos right in the middle of them; one enemy almost always gets affected, sometimes more. ignore them while you take care of the others.

assuming you have someone decent with a bow, preferably an archer, have him attack the enemy kensai that has celestial fury. i prefer to avoid melee with that one. with haste and his poor ac (relatively speaking) he should fall before he can close with you.

if you summon monsters, use I or II as having several average ones works better than just one semi-tough one. i like to cast it just to the side of my party where the enemy thief is and tie her up with them.

your hasted fighters should gang up on each of the monster bad guys, killing each in turn.

by now your mage should have breached their mage and your bowman can take him out.

the cleric will have a blade barrier up so dispel it or wait for it to run out before engaging in melee.

basically there are 3 keys to winning this: prot from evil to boost your saves, a hasted archer to kill the kensai+fury guy, and hasted fighters to take theirs out as quickly as possible.

[Cavern Sniffer]

Tell us who is in your party, it may help decide a strategy for you.

------------------
It's bleedin dark down here, slippery too.
Man, that's a pisser.

The best way to take them out is to go upstairs, give them a second to get a look at you, then go back downstairs. Only a few will follow you (usually the non-spellcasters). If you have some traps set up and waiting for them downstairs, then so much the better. Take them out, rinse and repeat until you've gotten everyone but the spellcasters. Then let enough time pass for their defensive spells to expire, and take them out. Just make sure you have a thief checking for traps...heh heh.

[Tuor]

Casting ice storm ar something similar on their mages really helps but watch the thief-he'll cause major damage if you let him and mind the traps they crippled my party first time I tried it.

Invisibilty, haste, pro evil, defensive harmony, summoned creatures, extra strength potions all help as does the insect spell (don't remember the name) against the mages.

The mages should incidently be your priority knock them out early and you've probably won the fight although the other enemies are tough too.

[Wah]

I did a triple abi-dalzim that wiped out most of them.

The best trick is to use something like holy power - it delivers area damage, or perhaps a fireball = that also delivers area damage.

------------------