Only took 2 recasts for my fight. With Robe Of Vecna there's no problem.
You can still get hit just as it runs out even with the Robe of Vecna. Twice it happened to me and yes, it takes very unlucky timing for this to happen. The real issue I had was that the sling alone just doesn't enough damage even in the hands of a warrior. It took *ages* to kill him. Kangaxx even got morale failure and I had to chase him around the room. Now what I did not know on my wild mage playthrough was that Daystar counts as +4. I could have killed him very quickly.
I just killed him a again last night in my current playthrough. This time, I had Haer'Dalis with the Short Sword of Mask and Korgan with Daystar. Enrage on Korgan, Spell Immunity: Abjuration on Haer'Dalis, Improved Haste on both (he dispelled it but Edwin instantly refreshed it)... I've never seen Kangaxx die quite that quickly before.
Terrible game balance. Either he can imprison your whole team (hard for a new player) or you can use the few things that protects against it and he is defenseless. So stupid.
That's why I find SCS a must to install. If you are protected against undead and you attack him, he (like any other lich) will trigger a C/CC with PfMW, Fireshields, Stoneskin, etc. On top of that he will summon a Mordekainen's Sword and a Fallen Planetar. Not enough? He will also cast a Dispel Magic on his Mordekainen Sword, which will be probably near you (attacking), dispelling your Protection from Undead if you weren't ready for that. At that point you will hear a creepy voice saying "I can see youuuu......"
You can still get hit just as it runs out even with the Robe of Vecna. Twice it happened to me and yes, it takes very unlucky timing for this to happen. The real issue I had was that the sling alone just doesn't enough damage even in the hands of a warrior. It took *ages* to kill him. Kangaxx even got morale failure and I had to chase him around the room. Now what I did not know on my wild mage playthrough was that Daystar counts as +4. I could have killed him very quickly.
Well you're supposed to recast it before it runs out lol, and you're supposed to do that by testing and knowing the lenght of your own spells. Luck has nothing to do with this, luck only exists for fools to hope in it instead of making their own fate.
I used Neera and she can only put one star in weapon slots. Yeah, it takes a good couple hits, but it's worth the wait to get this ring 'relatively' early. Also I could have done the exact same process using my Kensaï and Daystar but the 6th party member is usually targeted first when re entering the room and that's the slot Neera/Mages had. Also something was ironicly hilarious about slaying a crazy undead mage using a weak Young living mage without offensive spells lol
Well you're supposed to recast it before it runs out lol, and you're supposed to do that by testing and knowing the lenght of your own spells. Luck has nothing to do with this, luck only exists for fools to hope in it instead of making their own fate.
I'm not making the argument that it's impossible or even hard, just saying that especially if you haven't used that tactic before, it can go wrong (and no I don't really use Spell Immunity much so I don't instinctively know when it'll run out).
It was rather funny having a little Benny Hill chase with Kangaxx though and really scary at the same time. If he snapped out of it while next to an unprotected character, it was just game-over
All in all I still think it's a pretty silly fight, but that ring... I must have it every time.
I never had used spell immunity before either. The only reason I bother with a mage is to be able to cast Breach and Pierce Magic and stuff. I don't like mages, they're only good once they become liches, and then all they do is sleep in tombs cause they know their existence doesn't make sense anymore. Boring rofl
Right, well then I guess you have to use those abilities that tick. I always forget which ones tick exactly at one round. A couple of quick guesses: bard song, turn undead, true seeing.
Terrible game balance. Either he can imprison your whole team (hard for a new player) or you can use the few things that protects against it and he is defenseless. So stupid.
That's why I find SCS a must to install. If you are protected against undead and you attack him, he (like any other lich) will trigger a C/CC with PfMW, Fireshields, Stoneskin, etc. On top of that he will summon a Mordekainen's Sword and a Fallen Planetar. Not enough? He will also cast a Dispel Magic on his Mordekainen Sword, which will be probably near you (attacking), dispelling your Protection from Undead if you weren't ready for that. At that point you will hear a creepy voice saying "I can see youuuu......"
Yes, SCS Kangaxx is a bit of a nightmare. With the SCS pre-buffing option turned on, Kangaxx will pre-buff with PfMW which eliminates most of the tactics mentioned in this thread.
The only reliable method I found (short of a very high level party with multiple HLAs) is to use a scroll of Protection from Magic on the main character. Kangaxx will kill/imprison the rest of my party but my main character can kill Kangaxx at his leisure (the rest of the party will need to help kill summons before they all die horribly).
There are only two Protection from Magic scrolls in the game. But happily there are only two demiliches in the game!
You can literally kill all of the demiliches in SCS with a fighter Mage with daystar improved haste and si abjuration without ever taking damage...
I did kangaxx easily in one try like that but I did trap the coffin, which I find legitimate because you can tell some powerful undead is coming after seeing what came out of the other two... Then the Demi lich never did anything to me as I blew it up in two rounds...
Without traps the lich would be significantly harder than the demilich...
If I didn't have a fighter Mage it would be a lot harder though and id probably burn a protection from magic scroll. Maybe imoen with daystar or jan?
You can literally kill all of the demiliches in SCS with a fighter Mage with daystar improved haste and si abjuration without ever taking damage...
Fair enough. I didn't have much luck with approaches like that because I couldn't get past Kangaxx's PfMW before he either killed me via time stop + nasty spells, summonr or simply my SI abjuration wearing off.
That's his lich form, and I usually kill that with 2 x Sunray. His demilich form has two attacks: a special Imprisonment spell and an AoE save or die spell. All he does is spam those two attacks. He doesn't even have defensive spells.
That's his lich form, and I usually kill that with 2 x Sunray. His demilich form has two attacks: a special Imprisonment spell and an AoE save or die spell. All he does is spam those two attacks. He doesn't even have defensive spells.
That's because he doesn't need them. He is immune to all spells and has something like 95% damage reduction from all physical attacks. That would be ideal setup if only he had other attacks or if there weren't items which seem to be designed specially to deal with demiliches.
Yeah my new strategy against all liches is 3x Sunray, except for the HLA wielding ones where I have to dodge their HLAs first or someone will be chunked before i get those sunrays off (they cast SLOW)...
You can literally kill all of the demiliches in SCS with a fighter Mage with daystar improved haste and si abjuration without ever taking damage...
I'd like to see you try that He's talking about the SCS spellcasting demilich, not the vanilla one that only knows imprisonment.
So am I, for some reason neither of the demiliches in my game had PfMW up at the start so I just went in with 10 attacks per round and they never got a spell off except for their inate abilities... Maybe I had a bugged install?
Oh my mistake... That's weird. I guess you killed them before their contingency triggered?
The lich had the prebuffs but the demilich did not have the massive prebuff suite that most mages seem to get, at least not for me... I can't remember if Kangaxx had contingencies because I kinda cheesed it by having Keldorn along as a temporary party member for 1 day before sending him off to his wife, and Keldorn with his dispells + Carsomyr made the fight pretty trivial... CHARNAME just whacked at it for 1 point of damage with SI Abjuration and the hammer +4 vs giants (I didn't know that Daystar was changed to +4).
For the WK demilich, I buffed up Charname alone, ran in and just started hitting him and he just kinda kept trying to do stuff and never got to do anything. Critical Strikes + Improved haste + daystar...
There is one more useful item to kill Kangaxx, which I don't think it was mentioned up to now: the Helm of Brilliance, which can be bought from Ribald (I guess from chapter 6). It is in an item list you can see if you pay him 50 gp. The helm has the same Sunray ability, like Daystar.
Shivan casts Thread Necromancy, forum is given no save. Magic Resistance does not affect this spell, however illiterates are immune.
New minitopic within the topic- With what level character have you been able to solo Kangaxx?
I just managed so with a lvl 16 sorcerer
I used a small mount of cheese- I wore Vecna and amulet of power, and I placed a couple skeleton warriors prior to going invisible with spell immunity vs divination prior to combat, making Kangaxx waste his trigger and many other spells on the warriors who are immune to most of it. Importantly, he wasted his wail of the banshee, which is a toss of the coin for me, and he chased them to a far corner and I had my project images keep sending mordekainen's swords his way while pelting him with horrid wilting (which hurts him surprisingly well), no breaching or shield piercing necessary. When his first form died, it was simple enough to pop SI:Abj, and whack him with Staff of Rhynn to death. good times! Probably could've done it at a lower level with the cheese, maybe without it... not gonna bother finding out now...
The real question is, am I going to be able to get the Staff of Magi at this level... maybe I'll wait till 18
I've done it with an Archer dualed to Thief at level 13 (Tactics mod creates an Archer fighter kit so you can dual-class), after recovering my Archer levels but before epic levels. Traps slew his lich form--I was too lazy to fight without them--while I used Firetooth on his demi-lich form. In SCS2, Kangaxx and all mages refrain from using Imprisonment on the main character, but he still has Minute Meteors, Horrid Wilting, and Flame Arrow to hurt you. He also uses Greater Malison and Emotion to disable you, and PFMW to defend himself. He can also remove your defenses with Remove Magic and Breach.
With the Belt of Inertial Barrier and a high HP pool, I could resist his Horrid Wilting and Flame Arrow spells. I baited some Remove Magic spells out of him as well, allowing me to save on Potions of Magic Shielding, which I need to ensure I could resist his Emotion spell (and he has enough Minute Meteors to finish you off if you fail your save). Once I waited out his many, many PFMW spells, I could start to peel away his many, many Stoneskin spells, and used potions and the Rod of Resurrection to heal myself from his many, many offensive spells, always making sure to leave myself enough time to drink a Potion of Magic Shielding when he starts casting Emotion... which he throws out fairly fast, as SCS2 gives him a casting speed bonus.
I used a similar strategy with a single-classed Archer (this one used the Ranger kit). She was at epic levels when I faced Kangaxx, since HLAs were sort of necessary to take down his lich form. She was much better at taking on his demi-lich form, as she could also wear the Corthala Family armor for a total 75% resistance to magic damage, and she used the +5 darts from the Cloak of Stars instead of Firetooth.
@claudius and how do you take care of his first form, just out of curiosity? For a single mage with nothing but Melf's and Spell Immunity in their spell slots the Demilich form is trivial but then it's the first form that may pose some threat
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I just killed him a again last night in my current playthrough. This time, I had Haer'Dalis with the Short Sword of Mask and Korgan with Daystar. Enrage on Korgan, Spell Immunity: Abjuration on Haer'Dalis, Improved Haste on both (he dispelled it but Edwin instantly refreshed it)... I've never seen Kangaxx die quite that quickly before.
If i remember properly it kills him quite quickly (5 attack / round , + huge bonus to THACO = much better than a sling)
If you are protected against undead and you attack him, he (like any other lich) will trigger a C/CC with PfMW, Fireshields, Stoneskin, etc. On top of that he will summon a Mordekainen's Sword and a Fallen Planetar.
Not enough? He will also cast a Dispel Magic on his Mordekainen Sword, which will be probably near you (attacking), dispelling your Protection from Undead if you weren't ready for that.
At that point you will hear a creepy voice saying "I can see youuuu......"
I used Neera and she can only put one star in weapon slots. Yeah, it takes a good couple hits, but it's worth the wait to get this ring 'relatively' early. Also I could have done the exact same process using my Kensaï and Daystar but the 6th party member is usually targeted first when re entering the room and that's the slot Neera/Mages had. Also something was ironicly hilarious about slaying a crazy undead mage using a weak Young living mage without offensive spells lol
It was rather funny having a little Benny Hill chase with Kangaxx though and really scary at the same time. If he snapped out of it while next to an unprotected character, it was just game-over
All in all I still think it's a pretty silly fight, but that ring... I must have it every time.
I never had used spell immunity before either. The only reason I bother with a mage is to be able to cast Breach and Pierce Magic and stuff. I don't like mages, they're only good once they become liches, and then all they do is sleep in tombs cause they know their existence doesn't make sense anymore. Boring rofl
There are also some abilities that tick and are logged for every round.
The only reliable method I found (short of a very high level party with multiple HLAs) is to use a scroll of Protection from Magic on the main character. Kangaxx will kill/imprison the rest of my party but my main character can kill Kangaxx at his leisure (the rest of the party will need to help kill summons before they all die horribly).
There are only two Protection from Magic scrolls in the game. But happily there are only two demiliches in the game!
You can literally kill all of the demiliches in SCS with a fighter Mage with daystar improved haste and si abjuration without ever taking damage...
I did kangaxx easily in one try like that but I did trap the coffin, which I find legitimate because you can tell some powerful undead is coming after seeing what came out of the other two... Then the Demi lich never did anything to me as I blew it up in two rounds...
Without traps the lich would be significantly harder than the demilich...
If I didn't have a fighter Mage it would be a lot harder though and id probably burn a protection from magic scroll. Maybe imoen with daystar or jan?
He's talking about the SCS spellcasting demilich, not the vanilla one that only knows imprisonment.
For the WK demilich, I buffed up Charname alone, ran in and just started hitting him and he just kinda kept trying to do stuff and never got to do anything. Critical Strikes + Improved haste + daystar...
New minitopic within the topic- With what level character have you been able to solo Kangaxx?
I just managed so with a lvl 16 sorcerer
I used a small mount of cheese- I wore Vecna and amulet of power, and I placed a couple skeleton warriors prior to going invisible with spell immunity vs divination prior to combat, making Kangaxx waste his trigger and many other spells on the warriors who are immune to most of it. Importantly, he wasted his wail of the banshee, which is a toss of the coin for me, and he chased them to a far corner and I had my project images keep sending mordekainen's swords his way while pelting him with horrid wilting (which hurts him surprisingly well), no breaching or shield piercing necessary. When his first form died, it was simple enough to pop SI:Abj, and whack him with Staff of Rhynn to death. good times! Probably could've done it at a lower level with the cheese, maybe without it... not gonna bother finding out now...
The real question is, am I going to be able to get the Staff of Magi at this level... maybe I'll wait till 18
With the Belt of Inertial Barrier and a high HP pool, I could resist his Horrid Wilting and Flame Arrow spells. I baited some Remove Magic spells out of him as well, allowing me to save on Potions of Magic Shielding, which I need to ensure I could resist his Emotion spell (and he has enough Minute Meteors to finish you off if you fail your save). Once I waited out his many, many PFMW spells, I could start to peel away his many, many Stoneskin spells, and used potions and the Rod of Resurrection to heal myself from his many, many offensive spells, always making sure to leave myself enough time to drink a Potion of Magic Shielding when he starts casting Emotion... which he throws out fairly fast, as SCS2 gives him a casting speed bonus.
I used a similar strategy with a single-classed Archer (this one used the Ranger kit). She was at epic levels when I faced Kangaxx, since HLAs were sort of necessary to take down his lich form. She was much better at taking on his demi-lich form, as she could also wear the Corthala Family armor for a total 75% resistance to magic damage, and she used the +5 darts from the Cloak of Stars instead of Firetooth.