I'm a Weiner! Err... a Winner...

[Kibblez]

I'm a Weiner! Err... a Winner... (End Game SPOILERS)

Well, I beat Morag last night. She was by far the most difficult fight. My Bard hit level 20 late in chapter 3 and I found chapters 2 and 3 way too easy.

I roleplayed as lawful/good; gave back most monetary rewards; protected my henchmen; and avoided cheezy tactics like using the Stone of Recall or leaving the area in mid-battle.

Spoilers below:





















The two-dragon-fight wasn't easy. I wasn't prepared for TWO of them and was taking a pretty good shellac'ing. I had forgotten to save before entering the room and I was rushing, wanting to get to Morag. I know I could have taken them down if I reloaded and prepared before opening the door, but I used the Stone of Recall for the first and only time.

The first time I fought the Morag's Chosen I "wasted" a lot of my better spells. I didn't realize that the darn cleric would start reanimating them until he began doing so. By the time I killed him, he had brought four of them back to life, and that was quite a battle - I used all my Ice Storm spells and a slew of heal potions. Then imagine my shock to discover I could not rest or teleport out after the fight!!

I went ahead (I really wanted to take down Morag) and tried to take out Morag anyway... three times. No chance; I didn't do a bit of damage to her, but it did give me time to study her tactics and the room. So, I reloaded a save game BEFORE the Chosen and fought them again - this time I used Finger of Death on the cleric immediately, didn't use any good spells on the Chosen, and held off on heal potions (I did use a stack of Cure Critical Wounds - but I had 45-50 of them). I lost my Summoned Tiger, but wasn't planning on using it during the final battle.

Among the bard instruments is the Harp of the Winds. It casts Elemental Swarm. This summons a random Greater Elemental. The real bonus is that as long as the duration lasts, the elemental respawns as soon as it dies - not if it is dispelled, but if it's killed another returns by your side. I had only used it twice all game (once against the two dragons and once while dealing with the first Baalor Lord in the Wizard Chantery early in Chapter 4).

I entered the final battle with 8 charges on the Harp, four scrolls of Horrid Wilting, 4 greater Mantle, 6 lesser Mantle, three Fingers of Death scrolls, four level six spells left (Ice Storm) and 7 full Heal potions. Outside the final door, I went nuts with buffing - I had hundreds of lesser scrolls and potions, and literally gave one of everything to my Half-Orc henchy, the Elemental and myself. Knowing Morag uses Dispell-type spells a lot, I used items I knew I didn't need, like Eagles Splendor, hoping she's dispell that and not Cat's Grace or Bull's Str.

Then I saved.

A good thing, as I failed a saving throw against Finger of Death or Banshee's Wail early and died.

Reloaded.

Died again. Mantle wore off quickly under the onslaught of Morag spells and I died while passing a heal potion to the henchy.

Reloaded.

Died again. Almost had her, but after killing the two Hands and bashing the Statue, I failed a saving throw versus death magic once again.

So after another reload, I adjusted my equipment. At the cost of lowering my dexterity I was able to put on an amulet that granted immunity to Death Magic.

Died again. This time I got sloppy and the henchy ran across the wall of swords and died early. Morag dispelled the Elemental and I got swarmed while trying to use the Harp and cast Mantle at the same time.

I took a break to settle myself. I told my minions to wait at the doorway. I ran in and wacked both Hands (they didn't attack right away unless I got aggressive), then told my guys to Attack Nearest. I tried to manouveer everyone near the statue but could not. Re-Mantled and cast three Ice Storm spells on the Hands. I moved back toward the doorway and told my guys to Follow. One Hand died. At this point another monster appeared from the left. I had never seen this one in my previous battles; it was an Old One Minion (?) and was impressively huge. I cast Finger of Death on it and was overjoyed when it failed it's save and died. I was taking damage (Mantle was gone) so I backed out into the hallway (unlike some doorways, this is considered part of the room and NPCs will follow). Something bad happened while I was guzzling a Critical Heal potion and my henchy died, but the Elemental followed me with the other Hand right behind it. I needed more healing so I ran further down the hall and did another potion. It looked like Morag hadn't followed us. The Elemental died but immediately respawned beside me - I threw a Bull's Str potion at it just before the Hand attacked it and I used a Haste spell on it, then backed away (the Hands went for me if I got too close). The ELemental was getting hammered so I used a Healing Kit +10 on it, but the Hand smacked me several times so I retreated and used a Critical Heal spell on my Summoned. The Hand finally died and I saved the game. Then used critical heal potions on myself and the Elemental, and once again used every buffing potion and scroll I could find; then we lept back into the room. I was low on Mantles so used a Lesser Mantle scroll.

I wear Haste boots so I was able to run past Morag to the statue and bash it several times before the Greater Elemental attacked Morag (a pointless fight as Morag was undamagable with all the Protectors chanting away). The Lesser Mantle only lasted about 30 seconds and I used a mantle scroll
before the statue broke. Morag dispelled the Summoned. I needed to distract her so took the time to play the Harp and this time got a Greater Fire Elemental instead of the usual Air or Water ones. It took half-a-minute for the Wall of Swords to go away, so I cast Incendiary Cloud on the Protector against Swords (it covered the whole circle).

The Protectors laughed and said they were invulnerable. I had to use the last mantle scroll. I tried a Finger of Death on the Fire Protector and it was immune. Morag killed my Elemental and another spawned beside me and began pointlessly wacking on a Protector. I tried my last Ice Storm spell and immediately afterwards a Horrid WIlting scroll. Then I noticed that damage was being done to the Protectors! Some were failing their saving throws and taking damage! Morag ran up and began attacking the Summoned and I noticed I was down to half-health so swallowed a Heal potion. I cast two more Horrid Wilting scrolls into the circle and tried slashing the nearest protector - it died and others were dying
all around me. I went at Morag and hit her for 12 damage! I told the Elemental to Guard Me and we began hammering her. She was still tough - I needed to stop for another heal potion, but we were pushing her back and I noticed that all the Protectors were gone. Then she cried out something like "No! THis can't be happening to me!" Seconds later she was dead and I was literally panting and grinning at the monitor
like a kid...

Final spoiler: get to the portal in a hurry...

Final note: Bards rule! Cast like a junior scorcerer, fight like a minor fighter, loot like a full rogue. A real jill of all trades.

--Kibblez

[Nygma]

I'm going to have to go back and finish my druid/rogue or my cleric if the fights get that entertaining. Bioware didn't enhance the bad guys since 1.19 did they?


This battle with my monk went something like this:

First the two dragons. Walked in (well, figuratively speaking. The monk doesn't walk anywhere) and saw the two of them. Aha, this should be good. Ran up to one and start hitting it. Had two dragons pounding on him and neither one was doing much. Got one down to nearly dead (had to drink a potion or two to keep my HP above 1/2) when Linu hit the other with a spell that did 300+ damage. It went for her, so he finished off the one and headed back to protect her. Few more punches and it, too, was dead. Stepped back to survey the carnage. Unbidden the thought came of what it would have been like to face two Draconises and just about cried.

Went on up and finally came to the final door. Saved and entered.

While Morag was raving on, my monk cast a keen and battle-tested eye around the room. Noticed in the background some flunkeys labeled "Protector from ....". Aha! He would take those out first. Noted some kind of forcefield/spike-trap type thing and sneered. Ha! His saves put gods' to shame. As soon as Morag finished, made a beeline for the protector from mace. CRUNCH!!! Well over 200 damage, no save allowed. As his spirit winged its way back in front of the door, the thought of such a cheap trick seriously roused his ire. Morag would pay dearly for that cheese! This time, went right for the statue. In a few seconds it was rubble. Took out a couple of thugs who were standing a bit to close to Linu, then went for the Protector from Mace. Ripped through it in just slightly more time than it took to take out one of the thugs. Noticed a Protector from Lesser (Protector from non-reptilian?) and took out him (her? it?) as well for good measure. HP was getting below 2/3, so took a potion. What Morag was doing during all this time had no idea really. There were a bunch of vapors and other impressive spell effects, but whatever they were were pretty ineffectual, so no problem. Noticed a couple more thugs attacking Linu, so left the protectors from things-that-weren't-him and went off to protect his lady. Then turned attention to Morag. She already had some damage done, so Linu must not have been completely wasting her time back there. Stepped right up into her face and laid down the smack. In fifteen seconds she was dead.

Being a student of such games, er, battles, he immediately went on guard against some super cheesy respawn by the antagonist. Nothing. Wait! Haedraline has returned! Of course! She is really the evil one. She merely set up Morag till I was weakened! I'll show her... What? You're congratulating me? and showing me the way out? What about THE battle? That's IT?!!!!

[diablo1221]

If you want a harder final battle try setting it to the highest diffuctly and don't use a merc. i tryed this with my monk and it took me alot of reloads. All the summoned guys she has do double damage which is quite alot. trust me.....try this and the final battle is GREAT fun

[Nygma]

What level was your monk? I decided to take your advice and test my level 20 monk at max difficulty solo.

Went back to a save right before the corrupted copper and silver dragons. Set game difficulty to max, dismissed Linu, then entered the lair. Ran up to the copper, attempted quivering palm (I'm still trying to get a decent foe to fall to that feat), failed, then started pounding. They both have fear auras, so the console quickly scrolled up "Will Save Vs Fear: Success (1+22=23 vs DC 18)" and "Will Save Vs Fear: Success (6+22=28 vs DC 19)". Well, it was nice to know it was impossible for my monk to flee in terror.

They alternated between breath and melee. My monk kept making his saves (two failures: "Immune to Paralysis") and the dragons kept missing. The copper was down to badly wounded before they hit. 9 damage.

Killed the copper and then took out the silver. Finished with 175/197 HP. No potions, nothing, just walked up and took out two dragons solo at max difficulty.

Continued on. Came to Morag's Chosen, waited for the projection to finish and then knocked down the cleric. Quickly finished her and then just straight-out attacked the rest. Finished with... 0 damage taken.

Walked into the final confrontation. No special abilities activated, no buffs, no summons with a wand, nothing. When Morag finished her speech, went straight for the statue. Smashed it and ignored the Hands. One did 7 damage before the spike barrier was down. Headed for the Protector from Mace and attacked it. Went down quickly to fists, during which Morag time-stopped things. Right off the bat, lowered my spell resistance from 30 to 20. I failed every attempt to resist spell after that, but it wasn't a problem, because everything she threw at me allowed a saving throw. Fort. Save vs. Negative Energy (15+22=37 vs DC 19). Improved Evasion -> 0 damage from flaming arrows. Several unknown spells that did zero damage after making saves. Killed the Protector from Mace, then headed for Protector from Lessers. Ignored the two Hands that were attacking me, but my monk threw a punch at Morag en route. It did physical damage, but no sonic. Took a while to take out the Lesser Protector, because it was immune to physical and only sonic damage worked. It finally died, and I turned my attention to Morag. As I attacked, noticed she was down to near death (??). Paused and examined her. All her special immunities (knockdown, critical) were gone. I decided, hey, why not, let's knock her down and send her out in ignominy. Executed knockdown and it finished her off.

Final injury report: 109/197.

No buffs. No potions. Max difficulty. Solo. Unbelievable.

If they can't hit you, it doesn't matter how much damage they do. I'm starting to think maybe it IS just the monk, at least at end game. The saves allow him to disregard 3/4 of the damage that's hurled at him. I'll have to finish my cleric one of these days and find out.

[StigTC]

My warrior only have trouble with foes doing masive amounts of physical or elemental damage since he is immune to practically everything (except damage and elements). Morag was NOT difficult. She hardly even touched him.