Draconis the mage/dagon

[Xen]

Draconis...he is the son of Abazigal.well i have a little bit of problem with him.In his human form i kill him very quickly but then he turns him self in to a Dragon and he is very tough.Please write some strategies to kill him.
My Party:Korgan(level 22),Sarevok(level 23),Keldorn(level 19),Viconia(level 23),Jan Jansen(Mage level 14,Thief level 17) an finally me Mage Level 22.Please Help me.

Xen

[Kaltia]

Do your mages have mordekainen's sword? And what weapons are your tanks using? Do you buff your party up with protective spells, spread them out so wing buffet affects only one?

[SixOfSpades]

What really screws me up against Draconis is the way he's constantly turning himself Invisible. Your Mages start to cast anti-protection spells to get rid of his Spell Turning, but right before you get your spell off, he goes Invisible again--and you can't cast spells at Invisible creatures. Meaning, you've just wasted your best spells to no effect, and then Draconis pops up a second later and breathes acid all over everybody. Annoying to no end.

Method 1: Try to have as many party members as you can cast True Sight, and stagger each character by about 1 second. A visible Draconis is a dead Draconis.

Method 2: Don't bother targeting spells AT him, just target them NEAR him. Abi-Dalzim's will get him eventually, but you'll have to deal with his Magic Resistance.

[daan]

Try knocking his human-form to behind the big pillars on the left of the map.
You can use dragon's breath and maybe comet i think too for this.
Once you get him to near-death and knock his body behind the pillars, that is where he will dragon-form.
Too bad for him that there's a really big pillar in the way and he cant move anymore.. MWUHAHAHA, he's stuck behind the pillars.
Proceed to throw pebbles at him untill he dies [img]graemlins/firedevil.gif[/img]

(he is actually still quite tough, even if stuck )

EDIT: Rereading my post, i think the pillars are actually on the left....
so changed it

[ 10-09-2002, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: daan ]

[Legolas The Magnificent]

all dragons boast their thick skinned asses giving them bonus on their armour class (Firkhaag is -11 compare to my archer which is only 0), then the best way to defeat them is to lower their armour class with pierce magic or breach. and oh, try casting summon insects to him so that he wont be able to cast any magic...

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by Legolas The Magnificent: all dragons boast their thick skinned asses giving them bonus on their armour class (Firkhaag is -11 compare to my archer which is only 0), then the best way to defeat them is to lower their armour class with pierce magic or breach. and oh, try casting summon insects to him so that he wont be able to cast any magic...

Breach and Pierce Magic are counterspells, not disabling ones. They do not lower the enemies' AC. Spells like Bless and Chant improves your THACO, while Doom lowers their AC.

[Lord Lothar]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: quote: Originally posted by Legolas The Magnificent: all dragons boast their thick skinned asses giving them bonus on their armour class (Firkhaag is -11 compare to my archer which is only 0), then the best way to defeat them is to lower their armour class with pierce magic or breach. and oh, try casting summon insects to him so that he wont be able to cast any magic...

Breach and Pierce Magic are counterspells, not disabling ones. They do not lower the enemies' AC. Spells like Bless and Chant improves your THACO, while Doom lowers their AC.[/QUOTE]Doesn't Doom lower saving throws and THACO only?

[Tancred]

Personally speaking, I've never liked fighting Dragons hand-to-hand. My advice? Get as many party members to open fire with missile weapons as possible on Draconis. This goes for his human form too - that way, you'll avoid the worst of the effects of his immediate wingbuffet when he becomes a Dragon. Use one tough character as a 'lure' - probably the one with the least missile firing capability, like Korgan. Give him Boots of Speed (oh, god, give him Boots of Speed!) and PLENTY of helaing potions. He'll act as a runner, keeping Drac busy while you pelt him with spells and bolts. If the lure is wing-buffeted and Drac targets another party member, fall back - have your party scatter, and have that character act as a new lure until the original lure gets himself ready to run again. You'll have plenty of room to run. There is no excuse NOT to have Hasted the party.

Personally, I cast every single defensive or enhancing spell I could before fighting Drac, and it was STILL hard.

If you don't have any missile capability, I'm amazed you got this far.

Good spells - Keldorn, Viconia, yourself and Jan are all capable of cating True Sight. Use it. Use Spell Sequencers - I find a triple-whammy Spell Trigger of Breach, Pierce Magic and Lower Resistance/Remove Magic works excellently, but have multiple memorisations of Breach, Pierce Magic, Dispel Magic and, if you can get it, Spellstrike - or, more offensively, if it looks like Drac is about to fire off some unpleasant spells, I use three Magic Missiles simultaneously. ONE of those damn missiles should get through, distracting his spellcasting. Note - use of Dispel Magic will cancel spells like Haste, but sometimes you need it (to counteract a stun on one of your party members, for example). Keldorn should be able to deal with your dispelling needs, but make sure you have some backups in case he dies or gets stunned. Area-of-effect spells that don't affect the party like Comet and Abi-Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting are excellent. As menioned, Mordenkainen's Sword is fantastic, far better than even a Planetar or Solar. Summoned creatures that can be killed will die, swiftly.

Keep a Rod of Resurrection handy. You'll need it. Make sure everyone has enough healing potions - time spent dishing out healing spells is time not spent hurting Drac. If one party member is too badly hurt to continue, don't be afraid to run. Pause the game often to keep track of the action. Make sure you've got emergency supplies; Oils of Speed and Potions of Invisibility for all as backup, useful scrolls handy, any neat magic items standing by in quickslots, etc.

Stuff that lowers spellcasting time is fab! The Robe of Vecna is excellent for making SURE those spells go off quickly, as is Lower Alacrity; but generally Lower Alacrity is best used in conjunction with Time Stop, because once you cast 'Lower' you commit yourself to casting spells, and if you have to run for your life at that moment, it's a bit of a waste...

Don't expect to win first time. Don't get annoyed. Be prepared to fight on in the face of deaths - there's always a chance you'll win out. Gradually, you'll get used to the battle of attrition and resource management that you have to fight here.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Just a casual warning that Draconis likes to cast Spell Immunity:Abjuration which will render 99.99% of all your counterspells useless. Use multiple Ruby Rays of Reversal( the only non-Abjuration counterspell) to get rid of it if this happens.

Kudos to the guy for correcting my Doom description.