Luremaster

luz · Post by **luz** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:41 pm

Ok, 28 reloads after I first began fighting the luremaster with all his spectral wahtevers, my entire party has been wiped out 28 times. Nothing works, not haste, not strength, not summoning, we get dispelled from what seems to be 20 different directions while my mage's summons are murdered within like 5 seconds, followed closely by her, my fighter can't even survive for anything, and this fight has now got me wanting to throw my computer out the window. How can you beat him? I know my group members are all fairly high level, they survived IWD, and all the fights so forth in ToTL, so why are they getting their butts wiped? I havbe no time to redo all the spells taht come off of them at dispell, my cleric can't cast while he's being pummelled to death, and basically, i sit and watch my party destroyed... again. How can I win this fight? There seems to be no exit through which I can escape and regroup my party members. To make things better, this is while I'm on the very easy setting. I'm not sure how they expect anyone to survive this fight, but this goes at the top of my list of unfair faights in PC games.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:49 am

i've never played the expansions, but the usual strategies that work are to lay into enemy spell casters as quickly as possible and as hard as possible so they cannot cast their spells. once they are down, focus on the rest. that strategy has got me through many a tough battle in various rpgs

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:58 am

If you have cast spell resistance often enough (cleric level5 spel, cumulative with itself), dispel magic shouldn't succeed often on your party.

A cheesy way: A lucky chromatic orb cast on the Luremaster

The luremaster can't see invisible characters, so you should get time to summon and buff up if you use invisibility spells.

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:59 pm

I can't say that I've had all that much trouble with the final battle of TOTL, except for the first time.

Just be fully buffed before entering the gate to transport to the LM's chamber. Use Web, Grease, etc. to reduce the mobility of the incoming enemies. Try to use archery and spells to disrupt enemy spellcasting. Try to dedicate one archer to attacking the LM where ever he may go within the room, while the rest of the party (and your summons) deal with the LM's spectral warriors.

This is a tough battle, but not so tough that it should require a gazillion reloads.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:53 pm

Where do you fight from? If you stay in front of the portal, you have to fight on a 180-degree front. If you can get into a corner, it's about 90 degrees, making your spells more effective.

Do you have a druid? If you do, use druid summons instead of mage summons - they're tougher. Do you have the Bone Marrow Belt (random drop)? The BMB combined with the druid's water elemental shapechange gives very high slashing resistance, which enables the druid to survive the spectral warriors quite nicely. Spike Growth is also a fantastic disrupter.

Try to disrupt the casters ASAP with long-lasting spells. Melf's AA is good here, as is Web. An archer with acid arrows or crossbowman (person?

) with bolts of lightning will do well also. Acid Fog is nice.

Once the casters are disrupted, deal with the archers. Use summons to get them into melee. Weak summons are better used here than against the warriors.

Spectral warriors - yes, they are tough. A critical mage spell to help your warriors last longer is Slow. It halves the movement rate and attacks/round of enemies, who must save at -4 vs the spell - it also makes them easier to hit. Your toughest summons should be used here, and once the enemy casters and archers are somewhat neutralized you should put all hands on deck against the warriors then heal up and track down the archers and casters in melee.

luz · Post by **luz** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:23 am

Any other suggestions? My group's been hasted every time, I've tried invisibility, strength potions, everything. 10 reloads into the night now- no survivors. My mage used literally EVERY SINGLE SPELL she had on her- not just the spells she has memorized, but an entire scroll case worth and two bag of holdings' worth of spells, including 4 summoning spells. My people are being slaughtered at a massive rate of speed, I'm not sure what else I could possibly do in a situation like this. It irks me even more that this is on VERY EASY and my group is basically getting squashed like tiny bugs. Definately not a fair fight. No fight in any game should require all the reloads I've had to put up with, or the hours lost just trying to MAKE A SINGLE GROUP MEMBER SURVIVE. Just one, folks! I mean seriously.

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:34 pm

I'm seriously confused. I never EVER had that much trouble with the final battle of TOTL.

When did you start TOTL? I mean, where in IWD1 or in HOW did you talk to the halfling? And what classes and levels are your characters?

I've usually done TOTL right after the Burial Isle in HOW but before going to the Gloomfrost, so my parties were fairly high level.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:40 pm

Considering your level of frustration, I take it you won't complain about cheesy tactics?

Perhaps you could run around with your best tank instead of standing and fighting (and dying). I recommend having either the speed boots or a ring of free action if you do intend to play decoy - if you have any magic-blocking potions left this is a prime place to use them. This tactic would enable your casters to focus on the spectral archers and casters, hopefully without too much interference. The difficulties are keeping your tank alive for long enough to make a difference, and drawing the attention of the spectral figures that spawn later than the first group.

Could you list your party including classes and levels? It's a little hard to put together a detailed strategy without full information.

luz · Post by **luz** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:02 pm

Thanks for all the replies guys! I've never been so frustrated with any fight, not even the end fights! Here is a listing of my party members:
ERIKA- Level 14 Half-elf Paladin
Str. 15
Dex. 11
Con. 15
Int. 13
Wis. 13
Cha. 18
ESTRELLA- Level 14 Elf Ranger
Str. 19
Dex. 13
Con. 15
Int. 13
Wis. 15
Cha. 9
HANNIBAL- Level 15 Human Fighter
Str. 18/00
Dex. 11
Con. 14
Int. 14
Wis. 11
Cha. 10
ALEENA- Level 18 Half-elf Thief
Str. 14
Dex. 15
Con. 14
Int. 13
Wis. 10
Cha. 12
LUZ- Level 14 Elf Mage
Str. 14
Dex. 17
Con. 14
Int. 10
Wis. 11
Cha. 12
GANDALF- Level 16 Human Cleric
Str. 11
Dex. 13
Con. 11
Int. 17
Wis. 11
Cha. 15

I chose to go simple with this team instead of multi-classing all my characters, which did teach me something: never, for the love of God, have a pure mage anywhere in your group. And try to avoid the pure cleric too. The hit points are abysmal and while the spells are great, all it takes is a couple of hits to take them down. Thanks again for all your help! SOrry if I came off a little rude, I'm just SUPER frustrated with this fight.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:03 am

Yeah, I see how you could have problems. None of your fighting characters have very good Dex, so your AC is suffering, and Con is somewhat low also. You don't have any Potions of Agility, do you? If not, Cat's Grace may help a little. Your low stats really hurt you in this fight.

I'd say your best bet may be to potion up the paladin as decoy to distract the warriors and try to knock off the spectral archers and casters with the rest of your party. Bump up your Dex and Con with potions (agility and fortitude), get the best magic resistance you can (spell, potion, items), and bump up your saving throws (Protection from Evil, Recitation, etc, + potion of invulnerability). Items giving physical resistances (Great Shield +3) should help, and a Protection from Fire is good too - it should go without saying that the decoy should also have the best AC possible, even if you have to strip certain items from the rest of your party. If everything on the paladin gets dispelled, don't be dismayed and keep running around. You may have to micromanage the pause button and constantly change your route to avoid being hit in melee. Carry the best healing potions you have - a quick gulp here and there may keep you alive.

When you come through the portal (buffed up, of course), run the paladin out into the middle of the room (but still within sight of the party) and set the rest of the party up in a corner. The paladin's objectives are to stay alive, stay moving, and be so irritating that it is the target for all of the enemies. Your mage, cleric, and ranger should focus on two things: filling the area they can see with movement-inhibiting spells (Web, Entangle, Slow, even Grease) and disrupting casters (Melf's, Acid Fog, summons, and various damagers). Note that of the above, both Web and Entangle will disrupt casters if they fail a save. If the paladin has drawn a lot of melee attention, run it back and forth through the movement inhibiting spells with a Ring of Free Action (cannot be dispelled

) and hope that some of your pursuers get stuck. The thief should be firing acid arrows non-stop at a caster, and the fighter should be using its best missile weapon on either a caster or an archer - decide for yourself which one is more dangerous. The fighter can also serve as a secondary decoy if necessary - you should easily have two Rings of Free Action by this time. Summon one tough creature, perhaps an elemental, right in front of the party and keep it there to intercept any baddies who try to go after your party; don't let it wander off into the middle of your spells - you need a meat shield to give you a fighting chance. If the elemental dies or is otherwise occupied and something comes for you, send in the fighter to run in circles and replace the summons ASAP.

The essence of the above strategy is to draw all most of the attention to a well-protected moving target, allowing the remainder of your party to disrupt and pick off the casters. If the target can stay alive and stay distracting, your party should have much less trouble.

As an additional tip, I wouldn't use Haste (e.g. don't pre-buff with it) until you are sure the casters have shot their dispels - a dispelled Haste still fatigues you. The AI is usually quite predictable in its spell selection, so you should have a good idea of what time to cast it. Also double up the memorization of certain key protective spells (Recitation, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Mirror Image, Defensive Harmony) so you can re-cast if your pre-buffs get dispelled.

luz · Post by **luz** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:36 am

Ahhh, I see what you're saying. I actually did not realize that you only have to kill the luremaster to win the fight. It took me 2 reloads to murder the sob, leaving me with my fighter, cleric, and paladin still alive. As for dex and all that, i don't really understand how that works. Should all chars have buffed-up dex or just some?Thanks for the info! The only thing I really, really wish for now- is that there had been an option to sucker-punch the luremaster in his ending speech as he was dying. Thanks for all your help! You guys are great!

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:02 pm

Excellent. So how did you win, did you just bomb away at the luremaster?

Re: stats, any character that spends much time in melee (e.g. all warriors) should have high Str, Dex, and Con. High Str characters do more damage and hit oftener, high Dex characters hit oftener with ranged weapons and are harder to hit (therefore it is a key stat for all characters), and high Con characters have more HP (non-warrior characters have a maximum of +2 HP per level to ten levels, bonus received with 16 Con; warriors can gain +4/lvl for 9 levels at 18 Con, or +5 at 19-20).

Spellcasters should have high stats in their prime requisite areas - it is Wis for clerics and druids, and Int for mages, specialists, and bards.

Philos · Post by **Philos** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:52 pm

I left the Luremaster alone til the end. **some spoilers**

Congratulations on winning. This is what worked for me. I noticed early on in the fight that the Luremaster kept moving around which was going to either 1. split my party or 2. leave me vulnerable to spells/attacks from the summoned lackeys while I continually tried to run him down.
I decided to let the LM run out of sight and not pursue. As Aerich had suggested I rallied my party in a corner and then focused on the troops. As long as I was out of the LM's sight he didn't cast any spells (at least at my group if I remember right, it's been awhile) and he skulked in one of the corners. Had to handle 3 (I think) groups of summoned troops. Then I healed up and went after him. Having a decoy as Aerich suggested would help too but I had my 2 tanks holding the front while the rest sniped with missle weapons/spells. Entangle/web in the same area will usually snare a good percent of the enemy as they have to save twice to cover the same ground.