How to kill Sherincal?

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Any ideas how to kill her? I can't do that without my party getting decimated. I once managed to make her "Almost dead" but then she killed three of my characters and I ran out of lamp oil and offensive spells to seriously damage her.

 

Archery. You get a ton of magical projectiles in the chapter leading up to her. Don't just sell them, stockpile them. It isn't a big burden if you installed the ammo belts from the ease-of-use or G3 tweak pack.
There are two conveyor belt like stairs controlled by switches on the platform Sherical starts out on. You can control them with missile weapons. Don't let her go down the stairs where she can use that big sword and her monstrous dragon strength to kill you. Keep her up on top of the platform, use the magical arrows, bolts, and bullets you picked up in the last chapter, and turn her into a pincushion.
Use normal, unenchanted projectiles to kill the other guys on top of the platform and to control the switches. There is no need to waste the good (expensive and rare) stuff on them, although you might consider using masterwork or basic +1 bolts (or arrows or bullets or darts, whatever they are best at) with your mages since they have such horrible BAB. The extra +1 might help in this tough battle, but even they should be using normal cheap stuff when they are just taking pot shots when not casting during regular battles with mooks.
Use disabling spells on the people already on the ground to take them out of action until you've dealt with Sherical and the people on top. Having one person run interference may be necessary.

Also don't hold back on any resources that regenerate with rest (spells and class abilities). It is probably a waste to use anything targetted on Sherical due to her magic resistance and high saving throws, but use the disablers on any of the other fighters on the ground.

Oh, there is one other important point. Do NOT approach the temple with Sherical until you have cleared out the rest of the area. Sherical will call for reinforcements from every monster in the area. Kill them all first, then face Sherical.
So search everywhere else, eliminate her army and support, and the battle should be much easier.

 

Maybe share a bit with us on your current party composition -what are their classes/levels/etc ?
A caster heavy party would tackle this encounter a lot differently then a melee oriented one for example, so not knowing what you are working with is going to limit the advice you're going to get.

Obvious things out of the way first are clearing the area up to sherincal, then resting to get your party all healed up and spells memorized before you head into the battle.
Not only Does Sherincal have a high damage reduction, most elemental damage (besides fire) doesn't do a lot to her either, so laying a lot of damage on her fast is going to be hard.
Its the additional foes that make this a lot harder - they can whittle you down a lot while Sherincal is tanking your damage.

A good way to avoid this is to have your party set up in the cubby hole where you normally find the 2 mages, and have 1 tanky party member bait the enemies towards it.
Making use of the cover you shouldn't be attacked by too many enemies at once - just be sure to have your party member that is fighting Sherincal is kiting and not dying to her.
Fire damage is going to be your best source fo damage, followed by magical physical damage - throw in some summons to keep the heat off your party if you have them as well.

Also remember the Gnome you can save from the Remorhaz will act as a shopkeeper and also offer some buff spells to be cast on your party should you need them.
a good idea is to have 5 people wait near the sherincal battle area, while 1 hasted person runs back to the gnome to initiate a conversation and buy the buffs from the shop, then have him run back to the party and start the fight. this will save you some time in starting the battle, so the buffs do not run out halfway though.

EDIT : Whoops, i meant to edit my origial post but i accidentally double-posted. oh well, someone witll come along and fix it i'm sure..

 

Nevermind, I killed her, lost two characters in the process but that werewolf guy (whom I haven't killed) you meet earlier in this chapter revived them. Spent all my money on this though.

 

If you don't eliminate her support, it is really tough. If you let her close to melee, she can smite you with ease. She is DEADLY in CQC. Don't let her get close, or make sure the person she's attacking is a mage buffed with mirror image, stoneskin, blur, and as many ac-boosting things as possible. Have extra castings of mirror image memorized as they will go FAST.

If you kite her or keep her on the opposite side of those escalators, you can attack her at range with impunity. That is the key. She is also vulnerable to fire, but has spell resistance. Although that is something to save those single-target oils for. Don't waste them on trolls, use acid arrow, sunfire, or burning hands.

I know, I keep empathizing ranged attacks. It is how I always beat her. I know it is cheap to use those ramps to keep her confined, but that is sometimes part of AD&D (well, I guess since it is 3rd edition it is just D&D), with puzzle bosses, using the environment creatively to defeat an impossible foe.

 

My strategy for boss fights is fairly universal. Set up your battleground of choice, with a chokepoint, a killzone, perhaps a few summons, then buff up. Send out a "lure" to perhaps run interference in the enemy forces' faces (such as that staircase thing), then retreat back to your chosen battleground. Let the enemies advance on you, summons are your frontline (often AI will retarget when they see summons), then take them down with your strongest melee, spells and ranged.

DON'T expend valuable quiver. That's your money you're throwing at the enemy.

If you are lucky, the entire enemy force trickles in through the chokepoint at a manageable pace. The setup gives you plenty of leeway to compensate for hostile resistance by healing, summoning or casting interference. If you plan to use damaging spells in your killzone, consider that your melee-ers might be damaged, including certain summons which might then become hostile.

Sherincal has a huge pair of wings. It's ridiculous that a slippery staircase should block her path.
I often ended up trapping my decoy if I activated the stairs. The enemy can be dealt with, without using the stairs.
What would be a great surprise to me in that battle, was the appearance of Greater Boneguards (I think) from the hidden pathway to the right, which disrupts my killzone tactics. They were a bigger problem than Sherincal.

 

That is why I don't waste it on cannon fodder, I save it for bosses like Sherical. That is what it exists for. I use those returning arrows or normal stuff that only costs 1gp for 40/100 shots when possible for the normal mooks. I also use the least enchanted ammo necessary when fighting normal mooks, which is usually none at all. Quivers of plenty and returning ammo being the exception, those are my first choice followed by nonmagical ammo.

This is a good general strategy, but in this case you should hunt down and kill all the reinforcements before starting the boss battle.

I agree, she should not have been impeded by those stairs.

Which is why you kill them before taking on Sherical.