I really HATE opponents that put themselves into Sanctuary when low on HP and then heal themselves up in safety...
So do I - that's why I attack them anyway. Essentially any item use bypasses sanctuary, so things like potion of firebreath or wand of heavens will finish the opponent off quickly. I'm fond of the double strike from the ring of energy - damage adds up quite fast over time and the scorcher effect allows you to damage groups (and magic damage is resisted by fewer things than fire). Even a wand of magic missiles does a nice job of disrupting all the healing spells tried by a sanctuaried opponent .
@subtledoctor I could have sworn that I have cast spells through damage before, without using any kind of game editing. Are you sure there is no concentration checks in the base game? 1 or 2?
I really HATE opponents that put themselves into Sanctuary when low on HP and then heal themselves up in safety...
How appropriate that I discovered this quote on @Ardanis's Activity Board: "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (C) Benjamin Franklin
The first time I tried to duel Ashatiel on my pure level 11 Mage I got absolutely pasted due to having a very poor selection of spells to counter her capabilities. After a few repeated attempts to learn what I was up against, The next attempt involved me reloading to before heading to Dragonspear Castle and adjusting my spells as follows;
1st level:
- As many Magic Missile spells as you can memorize. (You COULD memorize a couple of Chromatic Orb spells and see if you get lucky, but the spell's saving throw bonus means she's unlikely to fail it.)
2nd level:
- 2 x Invisibillity
- a couple of Melf's Acid Arrow spells
4th level:
- 1 x Improved Invisibility
- 1 x Ice Storm
5th level:
- 1x Cloudkill
- As many Cones of Cold as I could memorize
Prior to the battle starting, cast all your usual buff spells like Stoneskin and Mirror Image. Upon starting the battle, cast Invisibility. Ashatiel's response will be to cast Invisibility Purge. Queue up your second Invisibility spell, and Ashatiel's response will be to cast Detect Invisibility. Now cast your Improved Invisibility spell, since the trick is that Ashatiel only has those two invisibility-nullifying spells available, and leaving Improved Invisibility for last means that Ashatiel can't target you with any direct attack spells, forcing her to rely on her (weak) missile attacks.
Now just cast Cloudkill on the far side of the arena where Ashatiel is (she has no resistances to poison damage, so this is your big hitter), followed by Melf's Acid Arrow, Ice Storm, and then just blast her repeatedly with Magic Missiles. The Cones of Cold are for when Ashatiel tries to cast Sanctuary to heal herself, since you can continue to just target the area she's standing and she'll still get hit by the spells. She has resistance to Cold, but hopefully the damage rolls for Cone of Cold will be big enough that you can damage through her healing and kill her.
Yes, I know that this strategy technically violates the rules of the duel ("No vanishing from sight like a coward!"), but considering that Ashatiel had spells to counter those tactics, I think it's safe to say she wasn't counting on the Bhaalspawn adhering to that rule anyway. :P
All of my failed Ashatiel fights were because one of the random enemies from the battle south just wandered over to my party and smacked someone. Then Ashatiel Screams something about honor and cheating and calls the whole thing off. Like, whoa lady, that was YOUR dude that broke the rules.
Playing warrior type of character, I never had much problem beating her on Core Rules. However, I tend to prefer barbarians and (revised) wizard slayers, so at that point in the game I have solid immunities against her spells. I do recall that I never managed to interrupt her Sanctuary casting.
I just finished the game last night, and ran into that battle. My PC is a female conjurer, so pure magic user. The first time I did that battle she got plastered. Ran through every healing potion and every scroll and never got Ashatiel below "lightly scratched and mildly annoyed".
Then, after reloading, I remembered she had found an Amulet of Awesome Ankheg Summoning. Because it is an amulet, there was no casting time to worry with. In the few moments before Ashatiel starts the battle, she summoned a couple Ankhegs to act as shields while she could get her conjuring on. They bought the farm pretty fast, but it allowed for a second row of skeleton warriors, then another row of spider spawn. With that many summoned creatures, she could lazily shoot off magic missiles and flame arrows until the end.
That one item turned the fight into a piece of cake.
If you managed to obtain it, I think the Statue of Stone Golem Summoning would work wonders for that fight too, since the (Lesser) Stone Golem, while not as strong as a true Stone Golem, nonetheless still shares many of the golem immunities and would be largely unhampered by Ashatiel's spells.
If you managed to obtain it, I think the Statue of Stone Golem Summoning would work wonders for that fight too, since the (Lesser) Stone Golem, while not as strong as a true Stone Golem, nonetheless still shares many of the golem immunities and would be largely unhampered by Ashatiel's spells.
Good point. It was in the bag of holding the whole time... Those might have lasted longer than the ankhegs, which went down distressingly fast, but the key is to get her off of your magic using PC just long enough to spin up. As soon as she had some breathing room, it was game over for Ashatiel. (Though I was concerned that her minor globe of invulnerability was going to outlast both the ankhegs and skeleton warriors - she was on the last one when it went out.)
At this point in the battle, your PC has probably burned through most of their higher level spells, leaving magic missile spam for last. (At least mine did...) Thus, I would note that you really need a fairly high-level summons for this trick. I'm not sure if the wands/scrolls are scaled in SoD, but even the ogres you get with Monster Summoning III wouldn't have cut it. Ashatiel hits hard.
I just completed this fight with my level 11 Dragon Disciple and it was one of the most exciting fights I have ever experienced, even though after reading the comments I realise it might have been easier than I thought. My character was already down to about 20 when the fight started - I was about to start healing when it started. For me the first challenge was to mirror image and heal up a bit before she got her first licks in. After that, I kept spamming Wand of Frost and Wand of Monster Summoning. The first time she cast Sanctuary my heart sank, but I just kept pointing that wand! I enjoyed this fight so much; there are few times when I get to see my main character shine this way.
I beat her the first time, but she didn't drop any items (too much damage in the last hit - that's a thing right?) and then immediately after that, Glint ran over a trap and died, so I reloaded. Then Ashatiel killed me with an early attack a couple of times and on the fourth time around I duplicated the first fight and this time she dropped her items.. I had Glint disarm the traps and he died on the last trap! Before I could curse properly, M'Khiin had already resurrected the poor bugger so I had him pick up all his stuff and continued on my merry way..
Can item use be interrupted? When I tried to summon ankegs, it just wouldn't go off. My shadow dancer ended up using a ring of scorcher to slowly whittle her down. I guess that item can't be interrupted.
Comments
I also seem to recall that if you do the same, she will claim you violated the rules and call in her goons...
So do I - that's why I attack them anyway. Essentially any item use bypasses sanctuary, so things like potion of firebreath or wand of heavens will finish the opponent off quickly. I'm fond of the double strike from the ring of energy - damage adds up quite fast over time and the scorcher effect allows you to damage groups (and magic damage is resisted by fewer things than fire). Even a wand of magic missiles does a nice job of disrupting all the healing spells tried by a sanctuaried opponent
How appropriate that I discovered this quote on @Ardanis's Activity Board: "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (C) Benjamin Franklin
Thank you for reading, and happy gaming to all.
1st level:
- As many Magic Missile spells as you can memorize. (You COULD memorize a couple of Chromatic Orb spells and see if you get lucky, but the spell's saving throw bonus means she's unlikely to fail it.)
2nd level:
- 2 x Invisibillity
- a couple of Melf's Acid Arrow spells
4th level:
- 1 x Improved Invisibility
- 1 x Ice Storm
5th level:
- 1x Cloudkill
- As many Cones of Cold as I could memorize
Prior to the battle starting, cast all your usual buff spells like Stoneskin and Mirror Image. Upon starting the battle, cast Invisibility. Ashatiel's response will be to cast Invisibility Purge. Queue up your second Invisibility spell, and Ashatiel's response will be to cast Detect Invisibility. Now cast your Improved Invisibility spell, since the trick is that Ashatiel only has those two invisibility-nullifying spells available, and leaving Improved Invisibility for last means that Ashatiel can't target you with any direct attack spells, forcing her to rely on her (weak) missile attacks.
Now just cast Cloudkill on the far side of the arena where Ashatiel is (she has no resistances to poison damage, so this is your big hitter), followed by Melf's Acid Arrow, Ice Storm, and then just blast her repeatedly with Magic Missiles. The Cones of Cold are for when Ashatiel tries to cast Sanctuary to heal herself, since you can continue to just target the area she's standing and she'll still get hit by the spells. She has resistance to Cold, but hopefully the damage rolls for Cone of Cold will be big enough that you can damage through her healing and kill her.
Yes, I know that this strategy technically violates the rules of the duel ("No vanishing from sight like a coward!"), but considering that Ashatiel had spells to counter those tactics, I think it's safe to say she wasn't counting on the Bhaalspawn adhering to that rule anyway. :P
Then, after reloading, I remembered she had found an Amulet of Awesome Ankheg Summoning. Because it is an amulet, there was no casting time to worry with. In the few moments before Ashatiel starts the battle, she summoned a couple Ankhegs to act as shields while she could get her conjuring on. They bought the farm pretty fast, but it allowed for a second row of skeleton warriors, then another row of spider spawn. With that many summoned creatures, she could lazily shoot off magic missiles and flame arrows until the end.
That one item turned the fight into a piece of cake.
Good point. It was in the bag of holding the whole time... Those might have lasted longer than the ankhegs, which went down distressingly fast, but the key is to get her off of your magic using PC just long enough to spin up. As soon as she had some breathing room, it was game over for Ashatiel. (Though I was concerned that her minor globe of invulnerability was going to outlast both the ankhegs and skeleton warriors - she was on the last one when it went out.)
At this point in the battle, your PC has probably burned through most of their higher level spells, leaving magic missile spam for last. (At least mine did...) Thus, I would note that you really need a fairly high-level summons for this trick. I'm not sure if the wands/scrolls are scaled in SoD, but even the ogres you get with Monster Summoning III wouldn't have cut it. Ashatiel hits hard.
I beat her the first time, but she didn't drop any items (too much damage in the last hit - that's a thing right?) and then immediately after that, Glint ran over a trap and died, so I reloaded. Then Ashatiel killed me with an early attack a couple of times and on the fourth time around I duplicated the first fight and this time she dropped her items.. I had Glint disarm the traps and he died on the last trap! Before I could curse properly, M'Khiin had already resurrected the poor bugger so I had him pick up all his stuff and continued on my merry way..
What I was wondering is what's the best exp outcome for this situation?