Knights of the Dark Renown... are now dead!

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At least, I believe that to be the name. It's the guy from Improved Battles (once again, not positive on that one) that comes to you in Athkatla once you've hit level 15 and challenges you to a fight and you're taken to a remote, small square where you fight him and his rather large party.

I'm currently soloing a Barbarian through Tactics, Battles, Asylum, and Ascension -- the works, pretty much. I've just completed De'Arnise Hold and am level 16. I have two points in Flails, Daggers, and Axes and I am generally weilding the FoA and Belm, though I have other options. I've kept virtually everything I've found that a Barbarian can use. Now I know I can isolate the boy in the graveyard and come back to him later but I'd rather kill them now if at all possible. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

[ February 10, 2006, 02:22: Message edited by: Aahz ]

 

It is from Improved Battles, yes. I'm not sure what the best way to approach the encounter from a solo point of view is, since they're all pretty powerful. But I think if you try to attack them at some time you're not supposed to it may break the scripting.

 

While no instance of opportunity comes to mind in that regard, I'd rather beat them without resorting to underhanded mechanic exploitation. If I simply cannot beat them right now, I'll save it for later, but it would be nice to handle them early on.

 

Invisibility potions works against them, so stock lots of them and try your luck. Attack, go invisible. Shame you can'T backstab.

Though I really think you will need to level up a lot, as this fight is designed for 'parties' of level 15. The melee guys are so deadly!

Give us feedback!

 

I have a few potions and three Rings of Air Control so going invisible is rather simple but the mages all have True Sight so it doesn't last long if I get near them. And yes, the melee characters are quite a hassle. I'm having trouble isolating just one.

My general strategy is something like this. I run to the upper right hand corner and summon a Simulacrum with Vhailor's Helm and then him and myself summon an Air Elemental from the Staff of Air. Then we buff with DUHM (Bhaalpower), Barbarian Rage, Mirror Image from Ilbratha, and Improved Invisibility. Then I summon Ras and send him to tank some spells. Four rounds later, my simulacrum summons Ras for another four rounds. Then I try and lure one fighter or some such but usually get two or three plus the archer. The archer is the main problem here: I can take down a fighter (or two if he goes after my simulacrum who can survive a while with the Rod of Ressurrection) but the whole time this is happening, the archer is shooting me with Called Shots that drain my strength. Not only does this eventually make it so I'm encumbered, sooner or later my strength hits zero and I'm dead. I can actually outrun the arrows (Boots of Speed plus the Barbarian's movement boost) but as soon as I stop, they all hit me and it's pretty much over from that point. I haven't tried using the sleep cloud from the staff yet so I'll give that a shot next time I try. I also haven't tried turning into the rat from the cloak of sewers to see if it fares better against the melee fighters. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

Sounds like you might want to purchase the Reflection Shield from Ribald...

 

Hah, Barbarian wins!

Yes, I finally beat them. Here's how it went. First I ran to the upper left corner and summoned Ras. Ras went and absorbed the two Timestops from the mages as well as a few other spells. Then I summoned a simulacrum. This was a pretty difficult decision, seeing as how I knew he'd be dispelled if the mages saw him and I thought I might need his help in melee but I decided I needed his charges on the Staff of Air more. So we threw out around 15 total sleeping clouds. Unfortunately, it was to no use whatsoever. Things would fall asleep but it didn't do any good because they had members around them who were awake. So, disappointed that I had used so many charges for nothing, I started inching my way forward. I'd always see the mages first but I wanted to save them for last so I snuck around the outside edges to the bottom right. Somwhere along the way, the mages saw my Simulacrum and turned him into a squirrel so he was useless. Then I started sneaking forward from my corner.

First I attracted the monk, used a rage so he couldn't stun me, and just beat him to death. Next was the archer. I have no idea how he does this, but the Shield of Reflection does not turn back his arrows so I had to think of something else. I used the last couple sleeping clouds I had and he fell asleep. Then I started shooting him with Firetooth and Bolts of Biting, afraid that if I got in melee range, I'd attract some unwelcome attention. Well he made his saves at some point and started shooting back. Despite his healing potions, he wasn't too hard.

After healing up, I inched forward and ran into the main guy (Samildanach or something like that) and the axe wielder. Knowing I couldn't take on both of them, I ran back to my corner but they follow me so I was forced to run around the corners and back to my upper left corner. Since the katana guy is faster than the axe guy, he got there first. I used a rage again so I couldn't be stunned by his Celestial Fury and we started going at it. I drank a potion of regeneration and speed and got him to about injured when the axe guy showed up and the two mages dimension door teleported to him. Of course I freaked but I knew if I let him go, he'd just get to full health again so I stuck it out. After liberal use of the rod of ressurection and using the mirror image from Ilbratha, he was down. I waited for both the mages to start casting a spell and I ran. The axe guy followed me but far worse were the two dominations heading my way. I didn't have time to turn on rage but luckily I made my save. Phew.

At this point, it was time for the axe guy (and a random skeleton warrior). He was actually the toughest in melee. Drank a lot of potions and did good damage. I went through the rest of my five charges on the rod of resurrection, an oil of speed, and six extra healing potions but he finally went down. Now it was just the mages (or so I thought). I brought back out the Staff of Air and summoned the elemental. I snuck forward with him in the lead to absorb some spells when all of the sudden some thief comes out from the stupid shadows and hits me. Well since I can't be backstabbed, I wasn't too concerned. Just beat him to death. Then I notice, quite to my dismay, that I've been level drained. As if level 16 just wasn't low enough, I was now a piddly level 13 barbarian. Great.

And now it's mage time. Luckily the elemental was still around so I sent him forward to absorb the Melf's Minute Meteors and Acid Arrows and a single Abi Dhalzhim's from the mages. They were mostly out of spells by this point so it was just a matter of sneaking forward, one mage at a time, and shooting them with Firetooth till dead.

All in all, an excellent battle and I'm definitely glad I did it now rather than waiting. So much more fun this way. Thanks for the help, everyone who contributed ideas -- you're all a big help.

[ February 10, 2006, 01:28: Message edited by: Aahz ]