Tips
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Save Often Take out Enemies One at a Time Collect Fire Weapons |
Trolls Mages Dragons Irenicus |
General Tips
Save OftenNot only should you save your game after every battle or major dialogue, I also recommend keeping several saved game files for each of your games. This will allow to backtrack several saves if you, for instance, find yourself in an area that is too dificult. I usually have one save game from the beginning of the current chapter, one save game from the beginning of the current area I'm working on, and then one or more in the current area. I often make temporary saves if I want to experiment somewhere but don't want my experiments as part of my main game.
Take out enemies one at a time This strategy does not always work. Sometimes when a single enemy sees you and starts
attacking, all the other enemies in the group will move toward you as well, even if they
are not visible on the screen. Sometimes if you retreat far enough, however, you will be able
to separate the enemies and attack them individually.
Mages
Some mages will cast protection spells such as Mirror Image, Stoneskin, and Fireshield. Cast
Breach, Remove Magic, Pierce Magic, or Pierce Shield on these enemies first to remove these
protections and you will then be able to attack them normally.
The most powerful mages will protect themselves with Protection from Magic Weapons, Mantle,
Absolute Immunity, Globe of Invulnerability, and Spell Trap spells. Since most of these spells
can not be dispelled, you have to way for them to ware off on their own. Run away from the enemy
so that they are not on the screen and are not following you. Wait a minute or two for the
spell(s) to ware off and return to attack them. Although this is somewhat cheap, it is very
effective.
Dragons
The first spell most of the dragons cast is Stoneskin, so have all of your mages who know Breach,
Pierce Magic, or Pierce Shield, cast them to remove this protection and lower the dragon's magic
resistance. Once his stoneskin is gone,
attack him with everything you've got. If a party member is getting hurt, move them
behind someone with a Stoneskin spell so that the dragon attacks that person instead.
You may also want to cast some Summon Monster spells to draw his attacks and
prevent your party members from receiving damage. Dragons have strong Magic Resistance,
but many attack spells can still get through. I found Magic Missile particularly useful
because it is very fast, your mages can cast a lot of them, and every spell sends several
missiles so he may be resistant to some of them, but probably not all of them.
Finally, have patience. Dragons are very difficult enemies and you may have to
fight them several times before you defeat them.
A strategy I use for nearly all difficult battles I encounter is to take
out the enemies one at a time. As you approach the area where the enemies
are, take one step at a time. When a single enemy appears, stop and
retreat a little ways. As the enemy approaches, have all your archers
fire at it. If it isn't dead by the time it reaches your front character,
your front row fighters can finish it off pretty quickly. Once the enemy is dead,
take another step forward until the next enemy appears. This way you will take
out each of the enemies in the group six-on-one instead of being outnumbered.
You can even save between enemies.
Trolls can only be defeated by fire or acid. Attack the troll until it falls
over unconsious and then finish it off with a fire spell or weapon. I
suggest using mostly fire melee weapons or fire arrows and save your spells
for other enemies since trolls do not attack your party when they are
unconsious and you have a fair bit of time to finish him off before he
wakes up.
Mages can range from very weak to very powerful. For very weak mages, such as Orc Shamans and
Kobold Witch Doctors, I usually don't give them any special attention and just kill them when
I reach them. For mages that are a little more difficult, it is often sufficient to defeat
them first in a battle before they can cast too many spells and then defeat the other non-mages
in the battle.
Anyone who has Stoneskin, Mirror
Image, Globe of Invulnerability, and similar spells, should cast these before the
battle. Also take lots of Potions of Extra Healing
with you into battle. Have your fighters drink Potions of Strength (preferable
Cloud Giant or
Storm Giant) to improve their THACO and damage.
Make sure you save your game before you fight, because you probably won't win on
your first try. If you are going to fight Firkraag, cast Protection from Fire on every
one of your characters and you will be completely invulnerable to his fire breath attack.
Even if you are fighting some other dragon, you may wish to cast Protection from Fire on all
your characters anyway, so that you can throw fireballs at the dragon and not have to worry
about hurting your own party.