Watcher's Keep Maze of Portals
Heindrich
Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
I've been really enjoying the battles in the maze as they really offer a nice challenge, and in interesting ways. I've had a few very close shaves and had to revive a few party members, but somehow I haven't died yet. However... after a good 3-4 hrs in the maze, I am now keen to get out, but I am a little stuck, so I would appreciate some spoiler-free advice (hence not checking Walkthrough).
So I have cleared most of the portal rooms of its demonic inhabitants, and following the Madman's Journal, was able to find the cavern with exit portal. However I only found 1 Gem for the Sceptre of Radiance from the Cambion in the cavern. There are two rooms (that I know of) that I have not cleared, the Baatezu demons and the Tanar'ri demons in the Blood War. Something tells me that they have the other 2 gems I need.
I met the Baatezu first, and agreed to kill the Tanar'ri... but after eventually finding the Tanar'ri, I cannot see an obvious strategy for how to pull it off.
The room before the Tanar'ri is a dead magic zone, so I cannot cast any spells there to prepare. So I went one room further back and prepared with Chaotic Command, Resist Fear, Protection from Evil etc... However in going through the dead magic room to enter the Tanar'ri room again, my party gets stripped of all protections, leaving them horribly vulnerable to the barrage of spells unleashed by a host of demons as soon as they enter. I lost 4 party members to stun/confusion before I had a chance to do anything and had to run away again. I thought I crashed the game, but apparently the game just refuses to allow escape until all stunned party members recovered. (which must be a bug cos if it took that long, the demons would have slaughtered the party.)
So... I am kinda stumped for ideas... how do I take on a room full of nasty demons without any magical protections?!
So I have cleared most of the portal rooms of its demonic inhabitants, and following the Madman's Journal, was able to find the cavern with exit portal. However I only found 1 Gem for the Sceptre of Radiance from the Cambion in the cavern. There are two rooms (that I know of) that I have not cleared, the Baatezu demons and the Tanar'ri demons in the Blood War. Something tells me that they have the other 2 gems I need.
I met the Baatezu first, and agreed to kill the Tanar'ri... but after eventually finding the Tanar'ri, I cannot see an obvious strategy for how to pull it off.
The room before the Tanar'ri is a dead magic zone, so I cannot cast any spells there to prepare. So I went one room further back and prepared with Chaotic Command, Resist Fear, Protection from Evil etc... However in going through the dead magic room to enter the Tanar'ri room again, my party gets stripped of all protections, leaving them horribly vulnerable to the barrage of spells unleashed by a host of demons as soon as they enter. I lost 4 party members to stun/confusion before I had a chance to do anything and had to run away again. I thought I crashed the game, but apparently the game just refuses to allow escape until all stunned party members recovered. (which must be a bug cos if it took that long, the demons would have slaughtered the party.)
So... I am kinda stumped for ideas... how do I take on a room full of nasty demons without any magical protections?!
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General advice for the maze: Draw a map, by hand. Identify different rooms by their notable traits (ie. wild magic room, succubus room, Yakman room, etc.). This will help you navigate around and find all that the maze has to offer.
Thanks guys!
I am doing this at the beginning of ToB, but I didn't do everything in SoA, so I 'only' got about 3.5M xp. My party still doesn't have access to the highest levels of magic due to a lack of specialist mages, and cos I've been playing blind, I might have missed out on some equipment, and Charname's weapon proficiencies are a bit messed up. The party consists of F/M Charname, Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira, Anomen and Aerie.
I don't have chain-contingencies or spell triggers, but I do have sequencers and normal contingencies. It would be good to have Chaotic commands as part of a contingency, but it is a Priest spell, so I'm not sure how that'd help.
I guess I'll need to look through my equipment and see if something can be adjusted to compensate for lack of the magical protections I normally rely on. Main problem was stun/charm/confusion that crippled my party in the very first round.
I've never had much of a problem with that fight, however, I had Carsomyr or a Wizard Slayer (yes, I played WS at the time, an only ToB run, very fun playthrough!
Yeah... my Charname is much more mortal. Non-min/maxed stats and he's using Celestial Fury, but only had Katana + until very recently cos I didn't start Katana training until I found Celestial Fury. I also have no idea who Lazarus is... If it is a spoiler, I'd prefer if you don't tell me.
I had a few helm of charm protection, but I sold them once I found better equipment, and had enough Chaotic Commands amongst my 3 Clerics/Druids to protect everyone. Of course, I did not envisage having to fight in conditions where magic cannot be used. lol
I'll try figure something out. In my last attempted which I had to run away from, I got shafted because I had used up all my Chaotic Commands before the battle, only to find it had been stripped away by the dead magic zone, so I couldn't even cast in mid-battle. Next time I'll try to protect a few key party members as soon as I enter.
I do have Dragonslayer... would its protective properties work if I used it as offhand weapon?
Lazarus is a merchant in Saradush, not a spoiler. However he moves. (why and where is a spoiler)
Saying that made me think of spoilers on planes and I pictured an archmage going out of the wing to reduce the lift produce by it.
Anyways thanks guys, I pulled it off! I had Protective Spell Sequencers arranged for Charname, Aerie and Imoen, and also realised that I had a Time Stop scroll, which was lv9, and not lv10 as I thought. So Imoen was able to pull off a 'Time Stop and double Horrid Wilting' combo which helped. Also the Balor was not as dangerous as I feared, the battle was mostly tricky cos of the horde of demons and all the 'Hold Person' they throw at you.
Some battles are a real pain but some are not, I won against the Gambling Cambion with a lvl12~14 party, and we were only 5 men, not even 6 :P
My usual tactic involves casting haste at the start, spreading out to avoid the worst AEs thrown at me and then kiting a lot. Liberal use of the rod of resurrection is also involved. And typically liberal use of the reload ability.