You guys know how the Cowled Wizards come up whenever you cast a spell in the city...

[Kerosene]

I think I've found a way to stop that...

Just keep killing them.

They drop pretty good spell scrolls as well

They eventually send their "Top Officers" around the 4th time you do it, but it wasn't very hard for me.

This actually hasn't been tested properly, but they've stopped for me. Someone else should try it out.

[vonhizzle]

Yup they stop after a few.

[Kerosene]

So other people knew.

Ah well.

Well if you didn't know, there you go.

[Stworca]

Cowled Wizards are fun with Improved Anvil mod. This is the only thing that IA made interesting and enjoyable. Zallanora.

And there are 7? waves, not 4.

[Kerosene]

Well I said around 4 waves...

And I have to try that Anvil mod out... The wizards were too easy :mischief:

[Stworca]

Here's how the fight looks like.

spoiler

Spoiler

7th? wave spawns 2 super high level mages, protected from everything that anyone could do.
Each ROUND (6s) there are 2 new mages and 2 golems spawned.

/spoiler.

Fun

[Saros]

In the vanilla game:

5 waves of Cowled Wizards spawn before the last guardians (Zallanora & co) arrive. Zallanora (from what I know) is a powerful lich, that has taken over the body of a female elf and is the leader of the Cowled Wizards.

The vanilla Zallanora chains 3 Time stops and several other spells, and if not killed quickly, will escape during the third Time Stop via Dimension Door. All Cowled Wizards, including Zallanora, have the chance to drop powerful (and very hard to find otherwise) spell scrolls.

A little known fact is that if your reputation is too low, and you get ambushed by Amnish patrols (which include Cowled Wizards), then afterwards even if you restore your reputation, and cast a spell on the streets, no Cowled wizard will chase you. That, of course, disables Zallanora too.

In improved anvil 5.0.:

There are 5 waves of 'regular' Cowled Wizard enforcer suqads of 4. By 'regular' you should not imagine those easy-to-slay vanilla wizards. The Anvil ones are at least level 18 each (well, maybe one is a little less leveled), and are immune to the thieves' traps that serve so well in slaying the vanilla Cowled wizards on appearance. Well. they're not immune to Time trap, but that's all. All of these suqads come well buffed: two with SI:Abjuration and other protective buffs, two with SI ivination and illusion buffs.

Well, a picture is worth more than a thousand swords:

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216445.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216446.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216447.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216448.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216449.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216450.jpg

Luckily, the only one HLA those guys use is Summon Fallen Planetar, which is bad enough, especially vs good-aligned spellcasters, since the first action of the Planetar is usually Unholy Word that gives automatic 50% spell failure for 1 turn. The Cowled wizards have and will use if needed things like ADHW, Death Fog, Breaches, high-level Remove Magic, Ruby Rays of Reversal, Mordy Swords, etc. Moreover, several of them are resistant to physical damage, and magic resistant too.

Here is an example of what is like the battle with Zallanora:

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216505.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216506.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216507.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216508.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216509.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216510.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216511.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216512.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216513.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216514.jpg

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/19878/216515.jpg

To put it simply: Zallanora is either level 30 or 31. She appears with illusion buffs and SI ivination, is highly damage resistant, and regenerates. She has 5 or 6 Protection from Magical Weapon spells, and uses other high-level wizard spells in combat if not pressed to take care of her own defense. This means that only a higher-level spellcaster has any chance to dispel her buffs via Remove/Dispel magic. Someone would mention Keldorn now. No. Improved anvil nerfs Inquisitors and their Dispel magic is not that good anymore (not to mention that a badly targeted Dispel Magic will leave party members with no buff protection and thus immediately dead). And Carsomyr/SoTM don't dispel magic on hit either.

Moreover, each couple of rounds appear 1-2 more Cowled wizards and 1-2 Coin Golems (coin golems are immune or highly resistant to everything except melee Piercing damage by weapons with at least +3 enchantment- meaning that if a character with a good piercing +3 shortsword and strength of 25 hits them, they will take 6-7 points of damage - and they have around 150-200 hp or mb more, not sure). The additional enemy gating stops when both Zallanora and Kolynuus Paac (the other 'named' wizard) are slain - then all you have to do is deal with the rest.

The battle is fun, once the tactic has been developed, but it's still not an easy one to win, that's for sure.

[Kerosene]

What the ****.

Okay, first, has anyone killed her without cheesing on insane? If not, hard, or any others.

Second, how fast can she kill you?

Third, will you get owned in a second if your party is low level?

[Saros]

Well, this example you see is on Insane difficulty, that's one thing. The reason my character is not harmed is because of proper use/ refreshment of defensive buffs.

Second, this particular fight is not cheesed. If it was, you'd see Zallanora and her associate die under a Time Stop/ Melee combo.

Third, for a low-level party, the fight is over in a second. A couple of enemy Ruby Rays usually focused simultaneously will take out the most powerful party wizard's spell protections (SI:A), followed by immediate high-level Remove Magic, and then a Chained Contingency with 3* ADHW by either Zallanora or Kolynuus Paac. As you can see, the enemies don't lack heavy fighter support (Coin Golems), so provided there are any party survivors, they will be crushed in the next second.

And fourth, in order to get strong enough to fight Zallanora, you must've already defeated all improved enemies in chapters 2,3,4 and 5, which will give you enough preparation on the Anvil fight pattern.

[Kerosene]

Dude, great job!
Sounds hard though... Is it actually hard? And what class and level is your character?

[Saros]

Well, I haven't played IA in a year or so, and I have many IA games, but judging by the Axe of Hrothgar on the second weapon slot I'd say this one is a gnomish F/I, with most probably maxed levels (or something like 40/38). There is helpful new gear in IA, and things like removed XP cap and un-nerfed progression tables, but believe me, without the proper tactic this is still nothing.

[vonhizzle]

Lol you can't even see your portrait, you got so many affects on your character. Maybe your portrait was just really ugly n you wanted to cover it up

[Stworca]

As i said, this is the only reason to bother with IA, for this fight is epic in every aspect.

With this beign said.. it was the only one where i used two sorcs

With HLAs OR multiple mages the fight is beatable if you do everything in the correct order, without it's tough as hell / impossible. Speed is the key here (obviously). One needs to make the mages vulnurable before geting overwhelmed. What worked for me was..

Spoiler

Spoiler

Releasing LOTS of dispelling magic at once, using both contingencies with "see enemy" trigger "nearest enemy" target. This allows you to hit them even invisible. Followed by triggers, and melee assist train, while tanking all the waves with a defensive blade. Tanking with mages will not work here, because every single wizard has true sights / ruby rays / breaches which means.. pain. The fight HAS to end in max 5-10 rounds, unless you can wipe the golems / new mages asap. It's easier than Saros tries to make it look (with all due respect to Saros!), but without chain contingency i wouldn't make it.

Edit : Obviously you want to cast your spells a nanosecond after Zalla has cast hers. Otherwise all the dispelling will be screwed with one pfmw cast by her.

With HLA's improved alacrity makes short work of their protections (you will have to use the majority of ruby rays, pierce shields etc for this single encounter) and annihilate them with your melee monkeys.

I suggest having HLAs for this one, if possible, but it is doable without.

/Spoiler

Just why my opinion about IA is so bad, when they have such great Zallanora? Quity simple - cheesy cheese abilities, cheesy cheese random immunities for enemies, cheesy cheese items (ranger ones the cheesiest.. hmm.. Now i know why Cren likes anvil! ) Remember the items from Improved Asylum party? Anvil makes them trash.

[Saros]

Well, I don't try to make it look easy - it was easy to me because I knew what to do. Reduced casting speed by 3, chaining Alacrities before the current one runs out and proper use of spell buffs + activating multiple HLAs under Alacrity effect did the trick. Most screens of the fight were actually taken during no more than a couple of rounds (actually, I think that Zallanora and Paac were dead both before the end of the 4th round). For a solo, high-leveled F/M, multiple enemy Ruby Rays are no problem, since he can easily use SI + II and other illusion buffs. Still, in that particular fight I decided to give them a fair fight and used SI:A instead.

BTW, I don't know what use is Pierce Magic or Pierce Shield in that (or any other) Improved Anvil fight. Basically, if an enemy is protected by SI:A + other higher level spell protections like Spell Turning, the only spell protections removal that would have ANY effect is Ruby Ray of Reversal. If the enemy is protected by SI and illusion buffs, then if you manage to successfully Remove or Dispel enemy illusions, why bother taking down the already useless SI ?

There IS another way to dispel Zallanora's protections under her impervious-looking SI + illusion buffs - simply try the Wand of Spell Striking. If enough party members can use it, then by proper timing Zallanora will be without combat&specific protections all of the time, and by using Critical Strikes with the party warriors, her low AC(natural + illusion buffs) is rendered useless.

BTW, some of the Anvil items may indeed seem unbalanced, but that's as far as we're talking about the vanilla game ONLY. IA enemies have such absurd resistances and skills, that even with the new items, each fight is very prolonged and deadly if not fought accurately.

And someone asked about the best backstab weapon...well, here it is. Offhand backstab weapon, that is:

http://www.picbg.net/u/29969/20896/229895.jpg

[Stworca]

I said that you make it look harder than it is

The fights closest equivalent in Tactics is Red Badge. A fast and furious fight that isn't complicated at all, but requires a certaint tactic. Here it is dispelling the buffs and ganking the mages.

Don't tell me that Orkus immunity to breach wasn't stupid to say the least and the examples in IA go on and on. With a few tons of gorgonzola less, improved anvil would surely be the best tactical mod today, but chopping through all the leerdamer using your own edam is boring and dull. Anvil does not even require a "guide". Just get MORE powerfull items and win. Period.

[RPGguy]

Lol you can't even see your portrait, you got so many affects on your character. Maybe your portrait was just really ugly n you wanted to cover it up

I know a pic of Cernd the Mighty when I see one...disguised or no.

[vonhizzle]

I know a pic of Cernd the Mighty when I see one...disguised or no.

Puke lol

That Grandfather of Assassins is nasty man. Never thought of using a backstab modifier increasing item offhand, good idea! Quietus +4 in the offhand im gonna try it out.

[Kerosene]

Oh...
My...
God...

I need that WEAPON!

Thanks a lot! Now you've just made me go spastic! :laugh:

[Edar Macilrille]

It requires IA, which is both cheesy and Monty Haul enough that I will not play it...

[Kerosene]

Don't care

I'ma get that weapon.